Today we come together as the Church, to commemorate the Memorial of my Dominican Order Name
Saint, that being St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

This particular Saint was given as my order Name Saint because my Bishop noticed there seemed to be
many similarities between the life of St Elizabeth Ann Seton and the life of myself. We both share the
fact that we have both overcome many life traumas and adversities, but yet, we both always have
remained strong of faith regardless of the things life has thrown at us.

Mother Seton founded the first American religious community for women, named the sisters of charity,
and so she was a keystone of the American Catholic church. Mother Seton also opened the first
American parish school, and the first American Catholic orphanage. All this, she had accomplished by
the age of 46, whilst also raising her own five children.

Mother Seton is a true daughter of the American Revolution, she was born on Aug 28th 1774, which was
only two years prior to the declaration of Independence.

By both birth and marriage, Mother Seton was linked to the first families of New York and enjoyed the
rich fruits of high society, but this situation wasn’t to last.

Mother Seton suffered the early deaths of both her mother in 1777, and of her baby sister in 1778, but
far from letting it get her down, she faced each new ‘holocaust’ as she called it, with a hopeful
cheerfulness.

At only aged 19, she married a handsome wealthy businessman named William Magee Seton and they
had five children together. But William’s business failed, and he died of Tuberculosis when Elizabeth was
aged 30, leaving her widowed, penniless and with five young children to support. Many of her family
and friends rejected her when she converted to the Catholic faith in March 1805.

As a means to support her children, mother Seton opened a school in Baltimore which always followed a
religious community pathway and her religious order of the sisters of charity was officially founded in
1807.

The thousands of letters of Mother Seton reveal the development of her Spiritual life from that of a
person of Ordinary goodness, to one of heroic sanctity. She suffered many great trials within her life yet
with her strong faith, she overcame them all. Trials of sickness, of misunderstanding, the deaths of her
loved ones (mother, baby sister, husband, and even two of her own children), and the heartache of
having a wayward son.

St Elizabeth Anne Seton died on January 4th 1821, she became the first American=born citizen to be
beatified in 1963, then Canonized in 1975. She is buried in Emmitsburg in Maryland.

Let us pray:

O Father, the first rule of our dear Saviour’s life was to do your will. Let His Will of the present moment
be the first rule of our daily life and work, with no other desire but for it’s complete accomplishment.
Help us to follow it faithfully, so that doing your Will may be pleasing in your sight.

Amen.

Today, we come together as the church to commemorate St John the Apostle.
But, who was John the Apostle?

Who is this disciple whom Jesus loved so very much? Is he a secretive person that does not want to
identify himself to us? Our dear Lord Jesus chose him, he was a fisherman, and was called the son of
Zebedee, the brother to James. He also wrote the gospel of John and the Epistles of I, II, and III, John and
Revelation.

The famously known portrait which was painted by Leonardo DaVinci which shows the disciples sitting
next to Jesus, and the one closest to Jesus in this portrait is John as he is shown to be leaning on the
shoulder of Jesus which is symbolic of his love for Jesus. This comes from the Bible “Now there was
leaning on Jesus bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. (John 13:23) Then verse 25, says, “He
then lying on Jesus’ breast said unto him, Lord, is it I?” John never mentions his name in the gospel but
we believe this to be him.

Again, at the crucifixion of Jesus, John is there next to the Blessed Mother Mary. identified as ‘the
disciple whom Jesus loved. (JN 19:26) At the resurrection, he is identified as the disciple whom Jesus
loved. (20:2) Then next, on the fishing trip with the other disciples, he is mentioned as ‘the other
disciple.” (21:7,20,24) Why, is his name never mentioned? He was giving honour to our Lord Jesus only,
John knew this wasn’t about himself!

So Who is this John, the Disciple? They called him “The Son of Thunder”. The Big Fisherman! The man
with a Big heart, a loving heart for people. Whatever he did, John always did it wholeheartedly! He was
not one to ask questions like the other disciples would do. He never critized. He was always straight
forward and precisely to the point! They described him as being a deep thinker, he was the silent
disciple. He was determined to always do what was the correct thing. Most of all, John was the
spokesperson like Peter also became later in his ministry. He was in his wholehearted believing, the
greatest friend to the Lord Jesus.

John had an intense deep love for Jesus. HE LOVED JESUS SO VERY MUCH! And he loved his brothers just
as much in the Kingdom of God. They described John as being courageous and bold in his love for Jesus.
In a quiet way, he served his Master with all his body and soul. The love of Jesus was totally within his
heart and this deep love is what energized him each and every single day. John was intense, he was
sincere, he was unselfish as he wrote his gospel and his epistles, and also revelation.

An eagle would be the best way in which to describe John. He was Soaring high, but with eyes looking
out for the young who needed to learn to fly and who also needed to be fed. He spoke the truth and in
love for the followers of Jesus. When he was with Jesus for 3 years, He was easily teachable and was
very much impressed by the love Jesus showed to him and he couldn’t wait to tell the whole world
about the Love of Jesus. He may have been the silent disciple but he will never forget those last days of
Jesus’s life upon on the earth, because his experience of this made him one of the strongest of all of
Jesus’s disciples.

Jesus looked to John to care for Mary, his Mother. But Peter was about to fail Jesus, but Jesus needed
John to look after Peter as well. He did not say to John ‘feed my sheep’ because John would do it
automatically anyway. Whilst the other disciples scattered at the cross, not John! It was John who had
the visions of Jesus, who told us in writing and it is John who is still standing in the end!

CONCLUSION: A friend told the story of his son when he was down in the basement and was carrying his
books up the stairs. His son wanted to also help him, so the son walked in front with some books as well.
And of course, half way up the boy tripped and fell backwards and safely into his dad’s arms. So now
they both went up the stairs together and were so relieved that nothing serious happened! Jesus walked
behind John and numerous times rescued him. To become known as “The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved”
leaning on the bosom of Jesus. Amen.

Standing Firm: St. Stephen the First Martyr

Today, the day after we have celebrated the joyous birth of Our Lord and Saviour, and after all the
enjoyment of festive food and the giving of gifts which we traditionally do at Christmas, and with this
being the first time many of us have been able to have any joyous type of occasion this year amid all the
covid19 pandemic situation, we now come in total contrast to that of the celebrations of Christmas day,
to the Feast of St. Stephen who was the first Martyr to die for his faith in Our Lord.

Throughout the Old Testament we see time and time again, of the faithful being persecuted and often
even killed by those without faith. But it’s not just an Old Testament phenomenon. This is what humans
can do in their natural and unredeemed state. We as humans don’t like our sins to be pointed out to
us. We manage to make ourselves believe that we’re really not all that bad. We work hard to justify our
sins and failings. We find the really, really sinful people in history—men such as Nero or Stalin—and we
tend to compare ourselves to them and actually start to feel pretty good about where we stand before
God because we don’t believe our sins are as bad as those of such people. And that’s when one of
God’s faithful workers comes along—someone who, while by no means perfect, is living a life renewed
by grace and who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit—and suddenly all the illusions we’ve built up about our
own goodness are shattered and we get angry. Like Cain, instead of acknowledging our sins and instead
of repenting, we torment, persecute, and sometimes even kill God’s people when they show us up.

Jesus weeps over Jews, knowing that they will continue to kill those whom he sends as his messengers.
They won’t stop at only Jesus’s messengers, but they will indeed kill our Lord and Saviour himself soon
also They won’t heed the warnings. But brothers and sisters, Jesus warns us—the faithful—too. To his
disciples he says:

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you dear brothers and sisters when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds
of evil against you falsely on the Lord’s account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven,
for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Jesus prepares us for the fact that as we joyfully follow him, and joyfully do the work of his kingdom,
and as we witness the great Christmas joy we’ve found in the manger and at the cross—as we live a life
of joy before our King—we will face persecution from the world. To submit ourselves to that seems
nonsensical. How can we find joy in persecution? We find it there, because when we make Christ our
Lord, he gives us that eternal perspective we’ve been hearing about all throughout Advent. Suddenly
the things of this world are so much less important. Our focus is on Jesus and on building his kingdom.
Our focus is on being witnesses of his new life and taking his Good News to the world. And that change
in perspective means that if we can effectively communicate the Gospel to others whilst being
tormented or with the risk of even being killed, well then, so be it. Our joy in living in and sharing Christ
is greater than our joy in the things of this world—even in life itself, because we know that our share in
eternal life is so much greater than anything this world could ever possibly give. But it’s not just about
joy. It’s about love too. That’s another theme that is carried throughout the season of Advent. We saw
Love Incarnate in the manger yesterday. And now because God has so changed our perspective by
loving us, we start loving as he did— if we are indeed true children of God and his faithful servants, we
simply can’t help it! And it’s not just that we love God’s Church or that we love our brothers and sisters
in Christ, but that we even love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us. That’s the hardest
command of all for us to obey, but the reason it’s so hard is because we haven’t been perfect in love
ourselves. The closer we grow to Christ, the better able we’ll be to live it. But it’s also true that the
better we live it, the closer we will be to Christ! It is a never ending circle.

However, we fully know that Living that way is hard. We so often get bogged down in matters of this
world. We focus more on life here than we do on life in the Kingdom of Heaven. . We fall back into
living in fear instead of living in faith. The witness of St. Stephen should focus our eyes on our Lord and
Saviour and on living the life he has given us. No one knows for sure why this feast falls on the day after
Christmas, but one thing I’ve realised is that it’s easy to be excited about grace and to live as Christmas
people on Christmas Day. But dear brothers and sisters, as humans we’re incredibly fickle, and the next
day many forget about being Christmas people and go back to living in fear and in faithlessness. We
forget our witness. How often do you come to worship God on a Sunday morning, getting excited about
grace, and yet even as you drive home someone on the road does something that makes you angry and
you forget all about grace; or you get bad service while you’re out having lunch, and you forget all about
grace; or you get a bad news the next morning about your job, and you forget all about grace. The
Church reminds us today that being Christmas people requires real commitment on our part and that as
much as it’s joyful work, it’s extremely hard work and work that requires truth and devout faith in the
promises of God.

The story of Stephen actually begins in Acts Chapter 6. He was among the group of seven men
appointed the first deacons by the apostles. They were the servant-ministers of the Church in
Jerusalem. Stephen was excited about his work. Acts 6:8 tells us:

Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.

He was doing what he was supposed to do as a Christmas person and he attracted attention. The
problem was that he attracted the attention of Jews who didn’t like what he was doing. Now, I say “the
problem”. That just shows how our perspective isn’t fully where it should be. We see it as a “problem”
when we face persecution. We forget that God is sovereign and that he’s working everything out for the
good of his people and the spread of his kingdom. Persecution is hard and painful, but it’s still “good”.
Remember, Jesus tells us that we find blessing in it. So it was a “problem” that the Jews were upset by
what Stephen was doing, but it wasn’t really a problem. God was still in control. We need to keep that
in mind in our own lives: Christians don’t have “problems”, we have “opportunities” to exercise our
faith.

And Stephen knew that, even as these angry men dragged him before the Sanhedrin and produced all
sorts of false witnesses who attested that he was as a blasphemer. He was on trial and it wasn’t going in
his favour. And yet even as these men told lies about him, St. Luke tells us that Stephen sat there with
the face of an angel—he was peaceful even in the face of condemnation. The one other place in
Scripture we hear a description like this is of the face of Moses after he had been with God. Stephen
was close to his Saviour and was experiencing the “peace of the Lord”.

In fact, when the high priest gave Stephen a chance to defend himself, what did Stephen do? He didn’t
try to explain away the things he had said and done that he got him into trouble in the first place. No.
He took the opportunity to preach the Gospel to the whole Sanhedrin! He addressed them and started
with Abraham and told the story of redemption down through Joseph and Moses. He told them the
stories of their fathers who were rescued from slavery in Egypt and then again how God cared for them
in the wilderness and drove out their enemies in Canaan to give them a home—and he stressed how all
these things were made possible by God and were his gifts. And as he told the story, he noted how over
and over the people rejected God—gladly claiming the great things he gave them, but never truly
receiving God himself. And with that Stephen brings them right down to Jesus and he says:

You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your
fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who
announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,
you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. (Acts 7:51-53)

He doesn’t pull any punches. He tells them that in rejecting Christ, they’re doing the same things that
their fathers had done before them in rejecting the grace of God and in being disobedient. We don’t
have time this morning to read Stephen’s full sermon, but I urge you to read through it—Acts
7—sometime this next week. This was a man who was full of passion for his Lord. He was full of passion
to share the Good News, even when he was in the lion’s den. What strikes me is how what Stephen
does here runs counter to so much of what the Church today tells us to do in terms of evangelism.

We’re told today not to be confrontational; we’re told not to talk too much about sin—or not to talk
about it all—because that might turn people off; we’re told to focus on the positive; we’re told to
witness the Gospel with our lives and that we might get into trouble sharing it with our mouths. Look at
what Stephen does! Not only does he live the Gospel, but he speaks it out loud and clear! He confronts
these men right for being the religious hypocrites they are. Stephen didn’t just sit there, quietly and say
to himself: “I’m not going to bother with these guys. I’d just be casting my pearls before swine.” No, he
shared the Good News with them and he did it peacefully and joyfully. And he did it because he was
living in the grace and love of Christmas. He knew that these men might never come to know the
Saviour but for his witness, but he also knew that if they were truly reprobate, their rejection of his
Gospel sermon would simply confirm to them and to the world their rejection of the Saviour, and God
would have greater glory in their condemnation. God’s Word never returns void. Stephen knew that.

St. Luke continues the story and tells us their response:

Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full
of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of
God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of
God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then
they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a
young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:54-60)

We might read that story and think, “Wow. Stephen certainly had a bad day!” Our eyes are blind to
God at his work. Stephen took a faithful stand for his Lord, and even as they got ready to drag him out
to be stoned, God granted him a vision of his own glory and of Jesus enthroned beside him. Stephen’s
“bad day” was a good day for the Church, because on that day God set Stephen before the rest of us as
a witness—a lesson as to what it means to be Christmas people—people of his grace and his love and his
power. He showed himself to Stephen so that Stephen could show himself and his faith in Christ to the
rest of us.

But Stephen’s story does more than just encourage us to share the Good News and to stand firm in our
faith. He reminds us what it means to witness the Gospel in our deeds. Stephen had that vision of the
Lord Jesus before his eyes, and so even as these evil men started hurling stones at him, he responded
with Christlike love. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, do you remember what he prayed? He said,
“Father, forgive them, for they know now what they do.” To the last Jesus was concerned with the souls
and with the eternal state of the people around him—even his enemies. He was an evangelist to the
end, even when there were no more words to say to his persecutors and murderers, he was praying for
them. And Stephen, with his eyes on Jesus, does the same. There was nothing left to say to these men
and there was nothing left for him to do, and so he prayed for them: “Lord, do not hold this sin against
them.”

Luke tells us that St. Paul was there that day. He was holding coats so that people could do a better job
throwing rocks at Stephen. Of course, this is when he was known as Saul—before he met Jesus on the
Damascus Road and had his life changed forever. The next verse, 8:1, tells us that Paul approved of
Stephen’s execution. What we don’t know is what impact Stephen’s loving and gracious response had
on Paul’s future conversion. But Luke certainly included this detail for a reason.

Brothers and sisters, Stephen reminds us that we need to be living as Christmas people, not just on
Christmas, but each and every day. But he also shows us very dramatically what it means to live in the
life and grace of Christmas—especially in light of St. Luke’s note that Paul was there that day. We never
know who is witnessing us and how those around us may, or may not, be impacted for the Gospel by
what we say and what we do and by how we deal with the circumstances of life. Who would have
thought on that day that Saul of Tarsus—Hebrew of Hebrews and member of the Sanhedrin, the man
who hunted down Christians and brought them to trial before the Jewish authorities—who would have
thought that Stephen’s witness of love and grace that day might change the whole course of Church
history as Saul later became Paul, the apostle to the gentiles.

And lastly, Stephen teaches us something about the extreme nature of grace and love and forgiveness.
These men were more than just run-of-the-mill enemies. These weren’t just men who didn’t like him or
were just angry with him. These were men who saw him as a threat to their existence and wanted to kill
him—who did kill him. Stephen didn’t reciprocate their anger. No, he saw them as Jesus saw them:
sinful men whom he loved and who would face eternal damnation without the Gospel of love and grace.
Stephen knew the love that overcomes a multitude of sins and he knew it because he had experienced it
himself through Jesus Christ. St. John reminds us that anyone who claims to love God, but hates his
brother is a liar—that you can’t have experienced the redeeming love of God and still hold grudges and
hate in your heart against those who have wronged you. Friends, to hold a grudge, to resent the sins of
others, to fail to show a forgiving spirit, is to be self-righteous—it’s to ignore what God had done for
you! Stephen could look on these angry men with love, precisely because he had himself experienced
the love of Christ and God’s forgiveness—and he knew that there was nothing these men could do to
him that was as bad as even his own smallest offences against God. God had forgiven him so
much—and he realise that so well—that it was a “small” thing for him to forgive these men and to show
them love. Lest we think that Jesus and John are just speaking in hyperbole when they tell us to love our
enemies, St. Stephen shows us how the love of Christ really does work out in our lives—or at least how it
should, if we truly claim to love God and to have experienced his grace and forgiveness.

So remember today: We are a Christmas people, living in the grace and love of God. But remember too
that God calls us to be Christmas people every day of our lives and not just in the Christmas season..
The joy of Christmas is something that should permeate every aspect of our lives that we might be
witnesses, even to our enemies and even to those who would kill us, of the love and grace that God has
shown us through his Son. And so we pray, “Grant, O Lord, that in all our sufferings for the testimony of
your truth we may look up steadfastly to heaven and see by faith the glory that is to be revealed and,
filled with the Holy Spirit, may learn to love and pray for our persecutors as St. Stephen your first martyr

prayed for his murderers to you, blessed Jesus, where you stand at the right hand of God to help all who
suffer for you, our only mediator and advocate.

My dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Today we come together as the church to celebrate the joint feast day of two Saints, those being Sts Simon and Jude. Not much really is known about either of these saints apart from the fact that they were called by Jesus to be among his band of disciples and were later named amongst the Apostles.

Let us firstly take a look at what is known about Saint Simon:

Simon was a simple Galilean, a brother of Jesus, as the ancients called close relatives in those times, including such as uncles and first cousins. He was one of the Saviour’s four first cousins, together with James, Jude and Joseph. These were all sons of Mary, the wife of Alpheus, or Cleophas, both names being a derivative of the Aramaic Chalphai. According to tradition Cleophas was the brother of Saint Joseph, Jesus earthly father. All the sons of this family were raised at Nazareth, close neighbours of the Holy Family.

All were called by Our Lord to be Apostles: pillars of his Church. Saint Mark tells us that Simon was born in Cana, the place, according to Saint John, of Jesus’ first miracle. Some traditions identify Simon as the bridegroom at that wedding and suggest that he became a disciple as a direct response to witnessing that miracle, a miracle that was, after all, performed, at the request of Mary, to get the newly-weds out of a somewhat embarrassing predicament.

Saint Simon is not mentioned anywhere in the New Testament except to be included in the lists of the Apostles’ names.

Tradition has it that Saint Simon preached in Mauretania (an area which approximated to present day north-west Africa and southern Spain), in Egypt and in Libya, leaving behind him the fertile hills of Galilee, where he had been engaged in cultivation of the vineyards and olive gardens. He later rejoined his brother Jude in Persia (modern day Iran) where they laboured and died together, probably martyred, hence the change to a red altar frontal in their honour on this their feast day. At first the Persian king respected them, for they had manifested power over two ferocious tigers that had terrorised the land. With their king, sixty thousand Persians became Christians, and churches rose over the ruins of the idolatrous temples. However, when they visited other parts of the Persian kingdom unconverted, pagan hordes commanded them to offer sacrifices to the Sun god. They prayed for mercy and offered their lives to the living God but the idolaters fell on the two Apostles and massacred them, while they blessed God and prayed for their murders.

Now let us take a look at Saint Jude:

Saint Jude is also known by a variety of other names. He is called Lebbaeus in Matthew chapter ten and Thaddaeus in Mark chapter three.

In the backs of our Bibles, we find The Epistle of Jude. It is a short work of only one chapter containing just 25 verses. Here we are warned against corrupt influences that have crept into the church.

St. Jude is often and popularly referred to as the patron saint of desperate or lost causes, the one who is asked for help when all else fails. Possibly due to prayers for intercession, to be asked of the other Apostles first. Hence, Jude has come to be called ‘the saint of last resort’, the one whom we ask only when desperate.

What, then, can we in today’s world learn from the lives of these two relatively unknown Apostles?  Firstly, they, like the rest of the twelve, ‘forsook all and followed Jesus. Can we be accused of doing that? Could we, and should we, give up some of our modern comforts and privileges and live our lives more like our Lord? Secondly, if tradition tells us, St Simon was the recipient of Jesus’ first miracle. We should be reminded that, even two thousand years later, that miracles still happen. We must always be aware that the Holy Spirit is at work in the world and he does not always do things in the way in which we would have him do them.

Thirdly, judging by his epistle, Saint Jude proved to be an avid supporter of gospel truths.

So then, are we truly passionate enough about the tenets and doctrines of our faith? Do we hold fast to the creedal affirmations of the Church?

Both Sts Simon and Jude, spent their lives preaching the gospel to a very pagan world and it is believed that they died a martyr’s death for their faith. We may not be called to be martyrs like they were (hopefully), but we shall be called to make other sacrifices. Are we ready to suffer for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?

Let us, thank God for the lives of his Apostles Saint Simon and Saint Jude.

Brothers and sisters now Let us pray:

Father,

you revealed yourself to us

through the preaching of your apostles Simon and Jude.

By their prayers,

give your Church continued growth

and increase the number of those who believe in you.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

One God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

My dearest Brothers and sisters in Christ, Today we come together as the church to commemorate St. Luke the Evangelist, Patron saint of Physicians.

Luke, from his perspective, records for us in his Gospel writings, the life of Jesus=from His birth at Bethlehem, through His ministry and His many healings. How Jesus heals the blind, the deaf, and the lame.

Luke tells us of the peace which Jesus speaks to all, because Jesus is indeed the peace and healing of God, then in human form. That is why in Luke 10, Jesus tells the 72, to say, “Peace be with this house”, as he sends them out as apostles of his peace.

Jesus gives us spiritual healing and peace which forgives our sins, and which reconciles us with God, our Heavenly Father, by His death upon the cross for us.

Jesus is truly the physician of our Soul. He knows all too well, that we are sick with sin, but it deters him not. Each and every one of us, is precisely why He came to earth to be amongst us, the reason he lived with us upon the earth, and why he suffered, bled, was tortured, and died for all our sakes.

Jesus came down from Heaven to our world, to take from us our dark sickness of sin and of death, and to heal us, to bring us true life and salvation. He took all upon himself for us upon the cross, our sickness and death, died with the Lord, to all who truly believe, love and follow Him. We are forgiven, we are healed, we are saved, we are at peace.

If we truly examine our lives, we will see our constant need for healing of the sins of this world. As with the body, if we are sick, we see our dr for diagnosis and treatment, that’s why today, we give thanks to God for His servant, Luke, the Evangelist. It’s Luke’s role to bring Jesus, His healing and peace to each of us through the living and active word of God.

The word of God is the scalpel of Jesus our physician and saviour. With total precision, Jesus’ laws cuts us and ‘kills’ the sickness of the human condition, so that he can heal us, and give us true life.

Each of the commandments of Jesus is a precise incision of his law. We have failed to fear, love, and trust God above all else as we ought to do. We have failed to use God’s name as we should, and to call upon him as our Father, as his children when in every trouble or need, or to give him worthy thanks and praise. We have ignored God’s Holy word and preaching, we have not loved our neighbour, or helped to eased their needs. We have been bad stewards of earthly material things such as money, or possessions. We have failed in giving kindness and forgiveness to our brothers and sisters.

So indeed, our human sickness of sin is dire=without Jesus as our Lord, our Saviour, and physician, the diagnosis is terminal.

But Jesus is merciful, he does not delight in punishment. Jesus our physician of our soul, cuts with His law in order to heal us with His Gospel. The Lord heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds (PS 147:3). Jesus has kept on our behalf, all those commandments, which we have failed to truly follow.

If we want to call our doctor, we pick up the phone, and wait for an appointment to become available. But Jesus as our physician for our souls, is contactable 24 hrs per day, every single day with no exception. He is contactable easily anytime, day or night, by the important communication of prayer.

So let’s end today with the simplest but most important prayer of all, to our Saviour and physician of our soul:

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,  have mercy on me, a sinner.

Amen.

Dearest  brothers and sisters in Christ, Today we come together to honour the Passion of St John the Baptist.  The life of St. John the Baptist was indeed a very dramatic and eventful one. It definitely could never have been classed as boring or mundane that’s for sure!! Even in his mother’s womb, he leapt with joy when Mary greeted Elizabeth on the occasion of the Visitation.  At John’s birth, there was an amazing occasion= that being of the choosing of his name which  was that which restored the power of speech of his father Zechariah, and which also left the astonished local people wondering who he would he grow up to be.  John’s appearances at the river Jordan preaching repentance and baptising people earned him the reputation of “the Baptist” and he was even the one who baptised our Lord Jesus himself in the River Jordan.

John indeed had an extremely illustrious ministry. Yet in essence, he was a prophet and his greatest action as a prophet was to point out to all that Jesus was indeed the Lamb of God.  And as a prophet, he had fulfilled his ministry mission by proclaiming the ways of the Lord to all, and pointing out  to them, their sin and their evil ways, and calling for their repentance and  for their conversion.   St. John the Baptist paid the consequence for pointing out Herod’s sin, as for doing this, he was captured and was imprisoned in Herod’s fortress and was beheaded. If the life of John the  Baptist was dramatic and illustrious, his death was equally extremely dramatic, and it was also a death which was  extremely gruesome in it’s nature.

John’s death by being  beheaded, reveals the true character of the person of Herod, of Herodias, of her daughter, and also of all the guests that were present, as they did nothing and said nothing to stop the heinous act.  For a great prophet like St. John the Baptist who had such a dramatic and illustrious life and ministry, his death was so humiliating, yet indeed, so terrible of nature.

Yet, today, we the Church come to  honour him. Over and above all else, we honour him for his faithfulness to God and  also for his  great courage in the acceptance and fulfilment of his mission of being God’s prophet.  Even for us, in all the drama of  our lives,  whether in times of spills and thrills, or whether in times of being mundane and monotonous, what counts for us will be our faithfulness to God.  Because in the end, it will be the depth and strength of our faithfulness to God that mattered.  This mattered to St. John the Baptist. It also matters to God and it should indeed be what matters to us!

The life and ministry of John the Baptist, and his willingness to die for his faith and  devout service to God, is an excellent example of how our lives as Christians, and as children of God should be. There is much we can take from John the Baptist and can and should, live by such within our own lives.

Let us pray:

O God, who willed that St John the Baptist

should go ahead of Your Son

both in his birth and in his death,

grant that, as he died a Martyr for truth and justice,

we, too, may fight hard

for the confession of what You teach.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,

who lives and reigns with You

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today, as we gather to celebrate the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, my heart is particularly full. For those of us in The Order of Preachers Independent, she is our beloved patron saint, a beacon of faith and perseverance. And for me, personally, Mary Magdalene has been a profound inspiration, long before I ever joined this holy order.

In today’s Gospel, we hear of Mary Magdalene, a woman often misunderstood yet profoundly loved by Christ. Her story is one of unwavering devotion, a story that unfortunately, for centuries, was obscured by a grievous error. For too long, a wrongful label, tragically perpetuated by a Pope, cast her as a “sex worker.” This singular, incorrect designation fueled wild rumors and misconceptions, diminishing her true significance in the early Church. It’s crucial for us to understand that this was a human mistake, a historical misattribution that does not align with the scriptural accounts of her life. Mary Magdalene was not the sinful woman; she was a woman of means who supported Jesus and his disciples, a devoted follower who stood at the foot of the cross when others fled.

It is true that Mary Magdalene, the one depicted in the Gospels, whom we honor today. She is rightly celebrated as the “Apostle to the Apostles,” a title she earned through her extraordinary fidelity and courage. While the male disciples were still grappling with fear and confusion, Mary Magdalene, driven by an unyielding love, did not sleep in. After the horror of the crucifixion, as soon as it was permissible, she went to the tomb. Imagine her grief, her broken heart, yet her determination to show one last act of devotion to her Lord.

She probably faced ridicule from the Roman centurions guarding the tomb. Perhaps they scoffed at her tear-stained face, her solitary vigil. But something, or someone—the Holy Spirit—was urging her to make history. And she said “yes.” She said “yes” to that inner prompting, “yes” to her deep love, “yes” to the unknown.

And because of that “yes,” because of her unwavering presence at the tomb, she was granted the most sublime privilege: she was the very first person to see the Risen Christ! Not Peter, not John, but Mary Magdalene. And not only did she witness the Resurrection, but Christ himself commissioned her to spread the good news. She became the very first evangelist, the first to proclaim, “I have seen the Lord!” She ran back to the disciples, her heart bursting with joy, to share the incredible, life-altering news.

What an example she is for us, especially for us Dominicans, members of The Order of Preachers Independent. Our calling is to preach the truth, to seek out those who are marginalized or misunderstood, and to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ with courage and conviction. Her importance to our church, The Order of Preachers Independent, lies precisely in this apostolic zeal and her unwavering pursuit of truth amidst misrepresentation. She embodies the spirit of inquiry and the courage to challenge falsehoods, which are hallmarks of our Dominican charism. Just as she sought the Risen Christ and proclaimed His truth against all odds, we are called to seek and preach the Truth of the Gospel, particularly to those who have been overlooked or misrepresented. Mary Magdalene teaches us that true apostleship isn’t about status or gender, but about a heart aflame with love for Christ, a willingness to go where others fear to tread, and the courage to speak the truth, even when it challenges prevailing narratives.

Let us ask Saint Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles, our patron, to intercede for us. May her steadfast faith inspire us to seek Christ with an unquenchable desire, to embrace our own call to evangelization, and to courageously proclaim His resurrection in our words and deeds. May we, like her, always say “yes” to the whisper of the Spirit, making history in our own small ways for the glory of God.

Amen.

Today we both as a church and as Christian brothers and sisters, come together to commemorate The Apostles Sts Peter and Paul.

Many, when thinking about the early church, mistakenly believe that in the historical times of Peter and Paul,  that the church was only filled with love, respect and agreement; but in fact, it was Parallel in many ways to the experiences we have within our own churches even today.  It wasn’t all loving Christian actions, there was also turmoil, dissension, and disagreements.  In the times of Peter and Paul, it was even more difficult than we have it today to iron these things out, and to come to an agreement that it is for us today, as we have two thousand years of experience to assist us to deal with issues within the church.  In the time of Peter and Paul they didn’t have history to draw upon to assist them.

Let us look at Peter and Paul. Both Peter and Paul were very gifted church leaders,  however both came from entirely different backgrounds. They each had different educational backgrounds and distinct personalities.  Due to this, some of the churches,  mostly in Corinth, were divided into rival parties depending on whether they preferred Peter or Paul.

What made them so different from each other, these two  great church leaders and Apostles?

Peter was a person who had much less education than Paul.  He was a fisherman by trade and was married with a family. Peter had the blessed privilege of having both known and worked alongside Jesus during his earthly ministry. Peter was a simple man,  who our Lord Jesus chose to lead the other Apostles, but he was also a rather impulsive by nature and would often speak and act without thinking first.

Peter was passionately sincere in his love of our Lord, but seemed to find it difficult to put things into writing and this can be seen if you compare his letters with those of Paul.

Paul, by contrast, was a graduate of the universities of that day. He had been tutored by Gamaliel, who was a famous leader of a school of Rabbis.  Largely due to this, Paul knew the scriptures inside-out and was a person who lived strictly by Jewish law.  He was fluent in Greek,  and knew enough Latin to get by.  Paul had spent his early years persecuting Christians, so because of his experience, he was able to see things both from the Jewish and the Christian perspectives.

Because of their differences, Peter and Paul didn’t always get along of agree with each other and we know from Paul’s letter to the Galatians that the two had a major row in Antioch about the question of whether Jews who had converted to Christianity could eat separately from their Gentile brethren.

Paul was firmly in favour of the principle that both Jews and Gentiles should eat together, because he saw that unless this happened, it would lead to two separate Eucharists, one for the Jews and a separate one for the Gentiles in each church and that from there it would only be a short step to rebuilding the division which Our Lord Jesus, through his cross and resurrection had broken down.

Peter, however, felt differently. He felt sorry for the Jewish Christians because they were expected to leave behind the habits they had done all their lives upon becoming Christian. So, he agreed to eat with the Jews separately and even persuaded Paul’s friend, Barnabas to join him.

So although both Peter and Paul had the best of intentions, they both came to see each other as one who was letting the side down.

However, years later, both Peter and Paul were able to make up their differences.

Even in our churches today we see similar issues.  We have the people like St Peter, who are kind and generous, and who want the church to be a welcoming place where everyone gets on happily together, but in doing so, are a bit too lenient and cause the message of Christ’s salvation to be blurred.

Then we have people like St Paul, who realise that if the truth which is in Jesus is allowed to be obscured or rejected in the cause of kindness, generosity and inclusion, that the church could end up more like a club of kind  people and less like the living Body of Christ on earth, losing the message of salvation.

From their disagreement, we can see that, regardless of our personal beliefs, there are specific truths to which we must cling in order to fully serve the Lord.  As our Lord prayed, so do we:  That we all may be one, as Christ and the Father are One.

Both Peter and Paul were put to death in a great persecution that had broken out in Rome under the Emperor Nero, following a great fire in AD 64, which Nero probably started and blamed upon the Christians.

We know that before this, Peter had wrote his second letter and had come to realise the importance of Paul, just as Paul had also realised the importance of Peter.

Grant, we pray, O Lord our God, that we may be sustained by the intercession of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, that, as through them you gave your Church the foundations of her heavenly office, so through them you may help her to eternal salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen