Scripture Reflections for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“The Holy Spirit of the Risen Lord gives the Body of Christ both unity and diversity; diversity and unity. This is not an easy dynamic”

"This week we hear from St. Paul’s brilliant meditation on love. Everything in religion and theology revolves around love. It is at the heart of everything. Nothing matters without love,..."

"In the thirteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul sings a hymn to love. He tells us that love is patient, gentle, kind, not snobbish and..."

"Our second reading for Mass this weekend is one of the most beautiful and oft-quoted in the Biblical tradition: Paul’s hymn to love in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians...."

“The lesson we should take from Jesus is not that boundaries are irrelevant; this is not a call to anarchy. The lesson we should take is that maybe we need to reassess what boundaries we have in place.”

“Traditions and customs are hard to change. Jesus faced this as he began his ministry, seeing crowds rise up because they were uncomfortable with the change of world view he posed.”

“Prophets are the ones who remind us of love’s qualities and challenge us to live them”

“What Jesus directly challenges, is the misdirected human instinct for survival at all costs; the survival of the individual, and then the survival of those immediately around us, or even just self-betterment, at the expense of everyone else.”

“When we feel that we possess God, things are beginning to go wrong. We can never possess God, rather he possesses us and that gives us our true dignity.”

“Preachers of God’s Word carry a message that reaches beyond racial, political and religious boundaries to link up with the humanity of the other person, who is also a son or daughter of God, a brother or sister of Jesus Christ.”

"Sr Magdalen entered the Benedictine Abbey at Jamberoo, NSW in 1996 and made her Solemn Monastic Profession in 2001. Since entering Sr Magdalen has studied for an MA (Theol.) which..."

“Are we willing to make room for other people and to praise their success, to live in love and faith in our God and other people? Or, are we living in fear in uncertain times, clinging to what we have, trying to keep other people out, and in the process, preventing our own progress and success?”

“sooner or later, we are probably ALL called to be loving in the face of the taunts, rejection, or out-and-out cruelty of others”

“Those who share Christ’s prophetic role through baptism cannot hope to avoid persecution in this life. At the same time, we cannot give in to hatred, bitterness, and self-righteousness. Unlike the people of Nazareth, we have to practice love”

“Love of God, others, and ourselves is the big picture. But often it gets lost amongst the trees. Often love just slips away, and passes through the midst of the trees, just as Jesus slipped away through the crowd.”

“We may not want God to come too close, but we do expect him to be more on our side than on anyone else’s; it’s a belief common to most of the human race that they’re a bit more special to God than the rest”

“Speaking the truth is not always easy. It can be particularly difficult to speak the truth to one’s friends or family. But there is no true friendship without it.”

"Friends, Jesus tells us his messiahship is one of service, not self-interest. As sinners, we have a tendency to understand our religious lives in a self-interested way, but the grace..."

"Today’s scriptures clarify that the mission of the Messiah will not just be for the benefit of Israel, but for all the nations. Through the Jesus the Messiah, the Lord..."

"Baptism is literally a Christ-ening, a turning of someone into Christ. This means that all baptized people must assume the three-fold office of Jesus: priest (sanctifier), king (leader), and prophet..."