We are called as Christians not only to love God and to offer our days to Him, but also to shine as a living example to the people we meet each day. We are called to that apostolate which is a part of being a Christian, to proclaim the truth of Christ to the world. There are all sorts of ways in which we can approach this mission. There are those who feel called to preach the Gospel aloud in busy streets, asking passers by to pause for a moment and listen to the word of God. For others, it might seem a brave act to say to a person who might not know us very well, in the course of conversation: I am a Christian [ … ]

Jesus offers the parable of the wicked tenants as part of a larger discourse in which he responds, in the Temple, to the challenge of the scribes and the elders of the people concerning his authority. The parable leads the entrenched Jewish authorities to see the truth for themselves and yet still to reject the truth about themselves. Though their lives could have been enlightened by the parable, they refuse conversion and rather seek to arrest Jesus. They have the option to choose good; they choose evil [ … ]

There are people who say: I forgive, but I do not forget. Why? we may ask. Of what use is this? It is as if we were to attach a condition to our forgiveness, saying, in effect, that we forgive up to a point, but that our forgiveness is not total. Our forgiveness comes with a threat: Your crime is noted. We are really saying: we don’t forgive you all [ … ]

In the parable of the marriage feast, Jesus continues to attack the scribes and the Pharisees, the Jewish authorities, who have found themselves threatened by Jesus and who reject him. It is a bold and dangerous message to those who have established power in the Jewish community. Jesus could hardly be telling them more clearly that they have got it wrong, that they were called, by God, long, long ago, and yet they have rejected God’s invitation, that, for all their trappings of piety, they are not with God; they have rejected Him [ … ]

The parable of the workers in the vineyard is addressed especially to the Jewish people, who were called long ago by God to be his people. Now, through the course of the day, new labourers are hired to go into the vineyard. These are the Gentiles, non-Jewish people, who are called now to become part of the new people of God [ … ]

It may seem strange to the modern Christian that Christ should have so earnestly told his disciples to remain on high alert for his coming. Jesus does not speak of a repeat Nativity, of his coming once again being in the form of a vulnerable infant, humbled by the obscurity of the place of his birth. Nor does it seem that those of the elect who live to witness his coming might be easily deceived by the false claims of others to be the Messiah. Rather Jesus’ return is to be unmistakeable. He will come in ‘clouds of glory’. This will be an apocalypse. No one knows when this will be, but we feel it is imminent [ … ]

We are taught to use the great gifts God has given us, not to bury our abilities, to take risks, not to be afraid of your Master, to work the gifts we have received to bear fruit for God and the Kingdom, to open ourselves fully to God in the spirit of the New Law, then the Kingdom will grow and welcome all of us.
In the Parable of the Talents, the gifts each servant receives are not identical [ … ]