Homilies | Multyfarnham Friary

On being salt of the earth; light to the world

On the fifth Sunday of Year A, Kieran connects last Sunday’s Gospel, the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:1-12), with this week’s Gospel (Mt 5:13-16), which opens with Jesus telling his disciples that they, “are the salt of the earth.” As Kieran points out, Jesus did not say that they “must become” but that they are! What an amazing message to hear – a compliment for sure, and in his homily, Kieran points out that this is “the natural state of the baptised person.” Affirming and all as this is, and as we read the words of Jesus more deeply, isn’t it really about how we are, or are meant to be, as a community? We aren’t meant to act alone; one example is that The Franciscans base their apostolate on life in fraternity. They go out as brothers to the world, not as loners! So maybe Kieran is challenging us to truly live up to that affirmation that we are the salt of the earth, light to the world.

Homily for 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time: Christian Ethics and the Beatitudes

In Fr Kieran’s homily for the fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, he looks at the Sermon on the Mount, the eight beatitudes or blessings. We might benefit from a short introduction to the Catholic tradition of reflection on what it means to live a good life as a follower of Jesus. In other words, a peek at moral theology down through the years!

Homily for the Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr Kieran reflects on the Gospel from the Mass of the thirty-second Sunday (Lk 20:27-38) when Jesus is confronted by the Sadducees with a question designed to catch him out.

Homily for the Feast of Corpus Christi (Kieran Cronin OFM)

Irish people are proud of their traditional image of being an hospitable, welcoming nation. Céad Míle Fáilte, a hundred thousand welcomes, is a familiar greeting for our foreign visitors! I imagine that this reputation, handed down from generation to generation, was...

Triduum in Honour of St Anthony – Homily June 12 (Kieran Cronin OFM)

My dear friends, in this Triduum in honour of St Anthony, we have been focusing largely on our young people, especially as they’re in the midst of their exams. We continue to think of them and pray that the Lord, through the intercession of Saint Anthony, will help...

Triduum in Honour of St Anthony – Homily June 11 (Kieran Cronin OFM)

At the end of a series of lectures given by an American theologian Richard Gula which I attended, he invited questions from the audience. One person asked his opinion on what the most worrying trend in American culture from the ethical point of view. He replied that...

Triduum in Honour of St Anthony – Homily June 10 (Kieran Cronin OFM)

We’re so used to praying through St Anthony to God, asking him to intercede for us for various things we need. But of course, we mustn’t forget the other important dimension of saints, which is that we’re supposed to, in some sense, imitate them, or at least, learn...

Homily for Pentecost (Kieran Cronin, OFM)

The Holy Spirit is probably the hardest person of the Blessed Trinity to envisage. Father and Son are more familiar images and more easily relatable to than a dove or fire, or wisdom. Granted, there are other more personal images used in the Gospels, such as a...

Homily for 6th Sunday of Easter (Kieran Cronin OFM)

During his last supper with his disciples, Jesus is concerned about what will happen to them when he leaves. As one theologian put it, “Jesus had the unmitigated gall to leave his friends, not once, but twice – first on Calvary and then when he ascended to his...

Homily for Saturday of the Third Week of Easter (Kieran Cronin OFM). Eucharist; a test of basic faith.

We come now to the concluding section of the Lord’s discourse on the bread of life in the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel. Up to this, the rejection of his message has come mainly from the religious authorities, but now it is the disciples who are scandalised by his...