Here, on this day, we enter the desert with Christ. As we ponder His temptations, conquered both by His strength and His humility, we pray that He may likewise conquer the evils of our own time, particularly the pandemic, by which we are all afflicted in different ways. May His peace rest upon us this […]

From Isaiah: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, […]

Here is part of our Old Testament reading, from Isaiah: ‘Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor […]

Here is today’s Old Testament reading, from Deuteronomy: ‘See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then […]

Here is part of today’s Gospel, from St Matthew: ‘Beware of practising your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. … And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that […]

Today is the last day of ‘Ordinary Time’, for tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Today is a day for prayerfully pondering the choices we will make for our keeping of the holy season. This year, much is laid upon us that by its very nature is Lenten; it is for us […]

‘At that time men began to call upon the name of the Lord’. These are the final words of our Old Testament reading, from Genesis 4, after the killing of Abel by Cain, and the birth of Seth. In these days of pandemic, may we all learn the lesson of calling upon the name of the […]

Here is our New Testament reading for today, from 1 Corinthians: ‘So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offence to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my […]

In the Gospel for today, Jesus says, ‘I have compassion on the crowd’. The people have been with Him now for three days, and have eaten nothing. This is the prelude to the feeding of the four thousand, with seven loaves. It is Jesus’ compassion that is at the heart of this story, and that […]

St Benedict of Aniane is known as the ‘Second St Benedict’, after his reform of Western monasticism in the eighth and ninth centuries. His biographer wrote of him: ‘Benedict had great concern not only to refresh his own people with food of preaching, but also to nourish with heavenly bread whomever he happened to encounter. […]