Short Talks
This section of the website comprises short stand-alone talks and articles on different aspects of the Christian Faith, including the teaching of Jesus, the seasons of the Church’s Year and Feasts and Festivals. More talks/sermons/homilies/articles will be added in due course.
The section of the website entitled The Christian Faith provides more extended teaching on larger content areas, such as the Creed and the Sacraments.
Herod Antipas
“Herod was delighted to see Jesus; he had heard about him and had been wanting for a long time to set eyes on him; moreover, he was hoping to see some miracle worked by him. So he questioned him at some length; but without getting any reply” (Jerusalem Bible, Luke 23:8)
Our Lord’s trial before Herod on Good Friday seemed almost accidental. It was when Pilate, faced with the dilemma of inflaming the Jewish leaders against him or of having an innocent man tortured to death, was seeking desperately for a way out, that he discovered that Our Lord was a Galilean. At once he leapt at the opportunity to shift his responsibility on to King Herod Antipas in whose territory Galilee lay and who happened to be staying in Jerusalem at the time.
Pontius Pilate
Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went out…” (NRSV, John 18:38)
Pontius Pilate was the Roman Procurator or governor of the southern area of Palestine which formed the imperial province of Judea. As such he had been personally appointed by, and was directly responsible to, the Emperor Tiberius himself. His principal duties were to maintain law and order among the turbulent Jewish people and to arrange for the collection of the annual tribute which was then paid into the Emperor’s private treasury.
Mary
"Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother..." (Jerusalem Bible, John 19:25)
After the Archangel Gabriel had told the Blessed Virgin that she was to be the Mother of God’s Son, she visited her cousin Elizabeth and there she sang the Magnificat, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour” (NRSV, Luke 1:46,47).
And we must be glad for her sake that she did rejoice because her joy was short-lived. When her holy Son was born and she presented him in the Temple to God, a shadow fell across her life as she heard the ominous prophecy of old Simeon that her Son would be for a sign that would be spoken against. And a sword would pierce through her own soul also – through her innermost being.