The vineyard as an image of God’s kingdom occurs a number of times in the Old Testament. When he told this parable our Lord must have had today’s first reading in mind. The owner did his best to make the vineyard fertile. He gave the tenants time to produce the fruit. He sent his servants […]
This is the first of three parables which have the same basic teaching Jesus tries to make it clear to the leaders of the Jews that the fact that they were God’s chosen People and that they were strict in their observance of the details of the Law does not assume them of a place […]
Peter asked Jesus how often he ought to forgive his brother, but he answered his own question by suggesting that he should forgive seven times. According to Rabbinio tradition a man must forgive his brother three times. So Peter thought he was going very far by suggesting seven times with eager self-satisfaction that it would […]
Because of a slight difference in the text, some people see this passage as dealing with the duty of one member of the community to correct another who has done something wrong, others see it as dealing with the problem of making peace between two people, when one has done wrong to the other. It […]
The following is the Homily given by Fr. Fred Franklin during the Eucharistic Celebration on the Solemnity of The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. There’s a very tenuous personal link between John, myself and our Founder Herbert Vauighan. When we came to St Joseph’s College, Mill Hill, in September 1962, it was the custom for […]
The apostles had already expressed their faith in Jesus as the Messiah when he asked them who they believed him to be. Because people were waiting for a Messiah who would overthrow the Romans, Jesus warned them not to tell people that he was the Messiah, because they would want to make him the centre […]
Jesus and his disciples are about 20 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and on the eastern side of the Jordan. Caesarea Philippi was then a new town. It was built by Philip, the Tetrarch of Iturea and Trachonitis, at the time our Lord was still a boy. It was named both after Philip […]
Tyre and Sidon were two cities on the coast in the south of the country called Phoenicia. The word Canaanite stresses the paganism of the woman, because the Canaanite were the ancient pagan inhabitants of Palestine, from whom the Israelites conquered the land, and who were the main enemies of the Jews and their religion. […]
Moses provided miraculous food for the Israelites in the desert, God provided food for Elijah to strengthen him for his journey to Mount Horeb; Elisha miraculously fed a hundred men. Now in today’s Gospel Jesus miraculously feeds a large number of people. All these were signs of the Eucharistic food that Jesus would give to […]
The clear theme of the shorter form of today’s gospel is that the followers of Christ will always have to live with opposition. We all know how it is very important to weed our corn and our coffee, because the weeds take away the good things in the soil that are necessary to make the […]
Herbert House, Liverpool, UK – Friday, 12 June 2026: As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus today, we entrust all our missionaries to his meek and humble heart. We also joyfully celebrate the jubilees of four missionaries from the British Region: Fr Bernard Fox, marking 50 years of missionary service; Fr […]
Published on the Missio UK website, the article marking 90 years of the Red Box partnership, celebrating a simple but lasting way for Catholics in England and Wales to support mission work around the world. The anniversary highlights the shared legacy of Blessed Pauline Jaricot, who founded the Association for the Propagation of the Faith […]
