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.
Glorious inheritance
“I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation…so that…you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe…” (NRSV, Ephesians 1:17,18, 19)
When we think of the Blessed Saints our minds probably turn first to Our Blessed Lady, the Queen of Heaven and the Apostles, the Princes of the Heavenly Court. But besides them there are countless others whose lives on earth reached out beyond the heroic to the sublime, and who, at this actual moment are in Heaven in the Visible Presence of God himself.
Generosity and sacrifice
“…the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them…has not left himself without a witness in doing good – giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy” (NRSV, Acts 14:15,17)
Paul, accompanied by Barnabas, was on his first missionary expedition, around 17 years after Our Lord’s Crucifixion and Resurrection. He had set sail from a port in northern Syria and after landing in Cyprus and traversing the length of the island, had embarked again and sailed across to the southern coast of what is now Turkey. The two missionaries quickly pushed into the interior and after a series of adventures found themselves in a town called Lystra.
The vision of God
“…I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven” (NRSV, Matthew 18:10)
Heaven is not where God is, but where God is seen. It is the immediate sight of the Eternal Maker, of the Lord in his glory, “…who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (NRSV, Revelation 1:8). And that sight of the King in his beauty (Isaiah 33:17) is what the angels are at this moment enjoying.