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.

Fire of enthusiasm

“And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them” (Catholic edition RSV, Acts 2:2.3)

So was God’s irresistible spiritual power let loose on the world.  The living Spirit of God was given of whom Our Lord had told his disciples, ”…he dwells with you, and will be in you” (Catholic edition RSV, John 14:17), and the effect was immediate and startling.  From that moment they were different men.

Read more: Fire of enthusiasm

Love and boldness

“…and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.  Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common” (NRSV, Acts 4:31,32)

Although we mention the Holy Spirit every time we say the Creed or the Glory be or the Grace, yet in our thinking about him we are conscious of a vagueness and elusiveness, with the result that, apart from Confirmation or Pentecost, he may seem to play only a small part in our personal relationship with God.

Read more: Love and boldness

The Holy Spirit in the Church

Wait in the city of Jerusalem “until you have been clothed with power from on high”.  “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” (NRSV, Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8)

After the clamour and violence of Good Friday, Holy Saturday in Jerusalem was quiet, for it was the Sabbath, and the whole city “…rested according to the commandment” (NRSV, Luke 23:56).  No one, not even the Apostles, appreciated the meaning of this lull which contrasted so sharply with the agonising tumult of the previous day.  For them, it was the day after the burial of their Master, marking the end of all their faith and hope, the calm that comes with the fall of night.

Read more: The Holy Spirit in the Church