Homily for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C Jeremiah 17:5-8 1 Corinthians 15:12,16-20 Luke 6:17,20-26

Jesus “lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: Blessed are you”!

He formally and publicly declared his disciples blessed, that is, righteous before God – over against the self-appointed judges of righteousness, usually represented in the Gospel by the Scribes and the Pharisees.

Day for the Religious of our Diocese

Pope St. John Paul II designated Candlemas, Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 2 February as a special World Day for the Consecrated Life. This year 2 February fell on a Sunday, making a special gathering on that day less convenient. So our Bishop Hugh decided to gather the Religious of his Diocese together, here at Pluscarden, on the Monday following.

Homily for the Feast of the Presentation, Candlemas, Sunday 2 February 2025

Malachi 3:1-4; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40

40 days after Christmas, the Lord comes to his Temple. In this way he fulfils the prophecy of Malachi, which we had in our first reading today. All lovers of Handle’s Messiah will instantly recognise these words: The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple... Who shall stand on the Day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire… And he shall purify the sons of Levi...

Homily for Sunday 3C, “Sunday of the Word of the Lord”, 26 January 2025

Jerusalem: probably around 80 years after the decree of Cyrus, allowing the Jewish exiles to return home from Babylon. A Second Temple, much inferior to the First, is more or less up and running. But the Jewish people remain dominated by enemies all about. If some of them inhabit the holy City, they do not possess it.