Food for Faith now offers three podcasts. You can scroll down to view all the latest episodes or click these links to view each individual podcast:
Lectio Divina - daily prayer with the scriptures
Homily Studio - weekly discussions on the sunday scriptures
Food for Faith - talks and reflections from fr john o'connor
Join Kath Petrie, Jane Maisey, John Kinder & Triona Doocey in conversation reflecting on the scriptures for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Read the scriptures for this Thirteenth Sunday at this link.
Read the scriptures for Thursday of Week Twelve in Ordinary Time at this link.
Read the scriptures for Wednesday of Week Twenty Six in Ordinary Time at this link.
Read the scriptures for Tuesday of Week Twelve in Ordinary Time at this link.
Read the scripture for the Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist at this link.
Read the scriptures for Sunday Week Twelve in Ordinary Time at this link.
Join Kath Petrie, Rory Paterson, Catherine Gibbs and John Kinder in conversation reflecting on the scriptures for the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time at this link.
Read the scriptures for this Sunday at this link.
During the conversation Catherine referred to the Be Still and Know hymn – listen at this link. Kath Petrie referred to I’m a Believer (from the Monkeys) – listen at this link. John Kinder refers to the Holy Saturday reflection – listen at this link. Rory mentioned Fr. Anton McLean.There is a powerful reflection given at his funeral by his friend John Perriam. Listen at this link.
Join Jelvine Cortez, Kate Kearins, Colin MacLeod and Triona Doocey reflecting on the scriptures for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
My apologies for this Homily Studio arriving a little later than usual.
Read the scriptures for this Sunday at this link.
Over the decades I have celebrated and attended many funerals, including the rites of Christian Burial (to use the formal name) for many priests.
It is relatively rare for the eulogies and homilies given at these funerals to get to the heart of the matter. Very often the focus is on the earthly achievements of the person with stories told of grandad’s golf and grandma’s baking, of Father’s Monday hobbies and parish organisational skills.
Very often a person of great faith is buried without a mention of their great faith.
One funeral last week was very different.
Anton McLean was a diocesan priest who had made his home in recent years among the people of my home diocese of Christchurch. I had great love and respect for Anton, and was not surprised when a Press obituary referred to him as “a friend of Jesus.”
There is no greater praise for a priest – or for any person.
I thought you might like to hear one of the most powerful funeral homilies I have ever heard for a priest.
While John was sharing a eulogy rather than a homily it is my hope and prayer that we might learn both from Anton’s life and from John’s reflection to seek more passionately (as Anton did) the ultimate relationship with (as Anton reflected in the title of his book – available at this link) Jesus A Friend Within.
Read the scriptures for Sunday Week Eleven in Ordinary Time at this link.
Latest Blog Posts
While the visible and external world of healthy religion is inspiring, a maturing faith requires an openness to the inner life. The external practices and precepts of religion are signs that point us towards a deeper reality, a world where integrity is found, becoming ourselves in relationship with the divine.
Today, the day before Ash Wednesday, is commonly known as ‘shrove‘ or ‘pancake’ Tuesday.
This day is more widely known in many parts of the world as Mardi Gras (ie fat Tuesday), or ‘Carnival‘ (literally ‘goodbye meat’). These celebrations began years ago when the fasting really was tough: 40 days without meat or dairy products hence the bingeing on pancakes to empty the larder.
I recall at this time last year a friend who lives above the equator Facebooked: “Spring is in the air and it is GOOD!” That may be true for the northern hemisphere, but here in the south the leaves are beginning to turn and fall: it’s almost Autumn for us.
Lent as ‘spring’? That doesn’t sound right.
It’s hard to know what to say when greeting grieving family at a funeral. In that awkward and unrehearsed moment we want to get it right and offer some real comfort. Several years after his own mother’s funeral a grieving son was still laughing when recalling one church leader who took both his hands as he stood at the hearse and commented “if it’s not one thing it’s another”.
That’s been on my mind a lot these days with news of day after day suffering in every part of the world. After the Auckland floods earlier this months there was the Turkey Syria earthquake with a death toll nearing 50,000 and now the cyclone devastation in the north of Aotearoa .
I’m always happy to receive invitations for parish retreats or missions. My latest invitation is from the Catholic parish of Ponsonby / Herne Bay in Auckland.
An Invitation to begin the work and study year with a deepened appreciation of the presence and action of Jesus Christ, God-with-us, in every moment of the year ahead.
I offer these sessions, using the scriptures of the day as a starting point for encountering Jesus Christ in the reality of our lives. Each of the sessions stands alone, come to one or two or all as your time allows.
The discipline of daily writing keeps me alert to the presence and action of Jesus in my life every day.
