Catholic Homilies By Fr Linus Clovis

The Pharisees had complained to the Lords disciples why does your master eat with sinners and tax collectors and the Lord compared Himself to the physician. He says that the healthy do not need the doctor, but the sick do. And so since all of us are sinners and therefore spiritually sick, He has come to heal us all. In today’s passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel, we’re told that it’s John’s disciples that came to Jesus, although the other evangelists tells us the Pharisees came with them. But in either case, John’s disciples use the Pharisees as an example, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not”? This sounds like a criticism of the Lord and of course of His disciples. And John’s disciples are to be blamed for the attitude they’ve adopted towards Our Lord. They felt envious because of the fact that Our Lord was drawing disciples to Himself and the people were following Him. They complained to John, “The man you bore testimony to, He is baptising down the river and everybody is goin

Our Blessed Lord had worked a number of miracles which were obviously the work of God. And so we notice that St. Matthew tells us soon after the Mount of the Beatitudes, the delivery of the Beatitudes, then the teaching that followed, that a leper came to Our Lord and said, “Lord, if you want to, if you will it, you can cure me.” By this he was showing that he knew the Lord had power, but what he doubted was the will. The Lord said, “Of course I want to be cured and instantly he was cured”. And then there was a centurion who came, or rather sent messengers, “My servant is sick at home, in terrible pain”. I will come and heal him Myself. The centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, say the word and my servant will be cured”. The centurion went on to profess his faith in our Lord’s divine power. Then there were the demoniacs, whom our Lord commanded and the demons left them instantly. Then there was the incident, crossing the sea with the boat about to be swamped and He got up

We know of course that our Blessed Lord chose twelve Apostles. These Apostles, He kept with Him for three years, teaching them and training them to proclaim the message, the Good News of the presence of the Kingdom of God. He sent them out, the twelve, into Galilee as preparation, as training for what would come later, namely that He would send them out to the whole world. But now, in the last year of His life, we’re told by St. Luke, in fact we’re told by St. Matthew and St. Mark, that He appointed seventy two others. He sent them out, ahead of Him, in pairs to all the towns and places He Himself was to visit. This would be not in Galilee, but in Judea. This is because Our Lord was making His way to Jerusalem. The question we should ask ourselves is: What happened to the seventy two? Who are the seventy two? What was there task, there role, there position in regard to the twelve? Well we don’t know the names of all of the seventy two, but we do know the names of some. For instance, Matthias was one of them

St. Mark relates how the Disciples were on the road. They were on a journey to Jerusalem. Our Lord walking ahead, the Sheppard leads the sheep. We’re told there were in a daze and those who followed were apprehensive. Why were they in a daze? Because they could not believe the things Our Lord had said along the road. He was speaking bleakly about His passion and He slowly goes to make these words, the mystery of His passion known to them more plainly. But we also get the impression that it was not just the twelve disciples, but then St. Mark brings out the twelve specifically. They were apprehensive because they knew of this conflict that existed between our Lord and the authorities and they perhaps wondering how could they, so few could be able to overcome the many. So with the disturbance of the soul, our Lord, again calls the twelve to Him, once more taking the twelve aside. He began to tell them specifically what was going to happen to Him, so they would understand that He went willingly to His passion,

Fr Linus Clovis, reflects on the Church and the challenges she has faced throughout history.  Highlighting the four great heresies, he then unpacks the latest heresy, that of modernism.  Refocusing his investigation, Fr Linus then contemplates St. Peter's mission and reviews the current Papacy as well as previous Popes from the last century.  The message of Fatima is ever relevant and is made more relevant here with regards to the recent attacks on the family.  Fr. Linus closes by providing us with formula we need to stay Catholic and to survive these trials.

Our Blessed Lord had given us the beatitudes, which ended with the encouragement, rejoice and be glad when you’re persecuted for the cause of righteousness, when you’re persecuted because of His name, because you’re reward will be great. If we are able and if we do keep the instructions given to us in the beatitudes the Lord tells us then we will be like salt, and the salt of the earth. In other words, we will be able to preserve, that which is on its way to corruption. And even as there’s an encroaching darkness, if we observe the beatitudes we can be of the light that reveals God’s truth. And so this is what He offers us - to be salt and to be light for others. But what about Himself? Isn’t He the light that has come in to the world? He is the light, that the darkness can not overcome. Yes He is. And so He tells us in a way, that we have to look to Him as well. And we can imagine these are the beatitudes, He’s on mount of beatitudes, the crowds are listening and He’s going to develop what He has said in the

Our Lord had said He did not come abolish the law or the Prophets, but rather to fulfill them. And the fulfilling of the law consists not only in keeping each and every part and element of it but also as Our Lord goes on to show now, the spirit of it. It is also necessary that each person observes the law in its detail. That is not just looking at what we’re not to do, but also what we are to do. The Lord says particularly if your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and the Pharisees you will never get in to the kingdom of Heaven. He does not deny that the Pharisees and the scribes had some degree of virtue – they did because they were concerned about the observance of the law. But it was a case of lip service. They were interested only in observing the details, without any love and certainly without any desire of improvement in there lives. The disciples were criticised by the Pharisees for eating, picking and shelling corn because it appeared to break the Sabbath. And it did break the Sabbath,

To say we are living in evil days is an understatement. For these are the days of great confusion not only in the world but also in the Church, especially in regard to the question of marriage. From the passage we have heard, this is at the very beginning of Our Lord’s ministry. It’s the mount of beatitudes. He has already delivered the 8 beatitudes, one of which is Blessed of the pure of heart for they shall see God. He expands on each one of the beatitudes, He develops it. And He develops in the Gospel passage we heard the beatitude that talks about purity of heart. He begins with the commandment given by Moses. ‘You have learnt how it is said, you must not commit adultery.’ That certainly is in the commandment, but also there is another commandment, the ninth, ‘Thou shall not covert thy neighbour’s wife.’ The law, human law can only regulate external actions. Divine law regulates internal dispositions, because what Our Lord is doing is building up the new man, so He is in fact rooting out the very cause

The people asked Him ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants. Are we to keep the commandments, if the commandments, which ones.’ But our Lord does not answer keep the commandments, though, this is of course foundational as He said to the rich young man. He says ‘No, this is working for God, you must believe in the one He has sent.’ Not just believe the one he has sent, for we do believe the prophets, we do believe the apostles in their testimony, their witness. But we do not believe in them. To believe in them someone is essentially to place your whole life, the present and future into this persons hands. It is to love and to honour and to trust that person with your very being. That is opening yourself up to the possibility of injury. When our Lord says this, they respond, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you?’ How do we know we can trust you, in other words. ‘What sign will you work?’ Then harking back to the manna, in all of this, they had been fe

It was late in the evening when the Lord had fed the five thousand. The people saw this great miracle and wanted to make our Lord, king. Something of course they couldn’t do because He was born a king. ‘Where is He that is born the infant king of the Jews?’ the wise men had said. The Lord however dismissed His disciples they got into the boat and He Himself went into the hills to escape the madness of the crowd. And then in the middle of the night, at the third watch, about three in the morning, He walked across the water as we read in the other Gospels, terrifying the disciples and they arrive on the other side. In the morning now the crowds when they have got the wits together, realise that there was only one boat. The disciples had gone in the boat and crossed the sea of Tiberius, and they were certain that our Lord didn’t get in. So, not knowing what to do, they decided the best thing to do was to follow the disciples. So when the other boats came in from Tiberius, then they got into those boat

So great is this feast, that we break our Lenten penances, our fasting, our abstinence and we rejoice because of this great saint about whom we know so little and yet such a great deal. We know little because the scriptures give us little about him and about his life. Not even his words are recorded in scripture so he is the saint of silence. Yet there is a great deal to be deduced from this. St Joseph has many, many clients, many of the saints, exalted in him. Among them was St. Bernardine of Sienna. In his writings on St. Joseph, St Bernardine said ‘When God chooses a person for a particular vocation, a particular calling’, that includes all of us, ‘He gives the corresponding grace.’ So if we are called to the priesthood, there is a particular grace for it. If we are called to the married state, God will provide the graces necessary for that state. If we are called to the single life or consecrated life, God likewise will provide the graces. If we are called to government, to be the head of the nat

On the 15th June '16 Catholic Voices organised a set of presentations asking the question "Are Catholic values best served by remaining in the EU?". Family Life International were on hand to document and record this event. There were a total of 4 speakers contributing to a number compelling arguments from a Catholic perspective.

On the 15th June '16 Catholic Voices organised a set of presentations asking the question "Are Catholic values best served by remaining in the EU?". Family Life International were on hand to document and record this event. There were a total of 4 speakers contributing to a number compelling arguments from a Catholic perspective.

On the 15th June '16 Catholic Voices organised a set of presentations asking the question "Are Catholic values best served by remaining in the EU?". Family Life International were on hand to document and record this event. There were a total of 4 speakers contributing to a number compelling arguments from a Catholic perspective.

On the 15th June '16 Catholic Voices organised a set of presentations asking the question "Are Catholic values best served by remaining in the EU?". Family Life International were on hand to document and record this event. There were a total of 4 speakers contributing to a number compelling arguments from a Catholic perspective.

The passion of our Blessed Lord is at many levels, certainly there is physical in the physical treatment or ill treatment or the abuse that He received. But there is also the spiritual passion, because our Lord suffered for us, for love of us, to free us from our sins and save us from death. There is also the emotion passion of our Lord that those whom He loved abandon Him. There is of course the physiological as well, because our Lord is not only God, He is also man. So all of the sufferings we go through, our Lord went through as well and to an even greater degree. He didn’t just suffer as one man, but He suffered for the whole human race, for every single human being, so all of our sufferings are really contained in His. This is true for the Church universal; we are members of the Church. So the Church also has Her own passion. Certainly in our time, we know what the passion of the Church is. We see how She is lacerated, how those who are the successors to the Apostles seem to be running away. Th

On this, the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Gospel acclamation was ‘Blessed as the Virgin Mary who treasured the word of God and pondered it in her heart.’ The word of God is a treasure beyond all imagining and like every treasure, it’s something we discover or we are given and yet there is work to be done on it. In case of the word of God, it requires pondering, prayer, consideration, application and this is what Our Lady did and excelled in. Every word of God is a word of life and she kept this life in her heart. From her conception, she was already destined for the glory of God, to possess, to inherit the glory of God. The Prophet, Isaiah tells us, “I exhort to join the Lord, my soul, rejoices in God and my Saviour, for He has clothed me with the garments of Salvation. He was wrapped me in the cloak of integrity, like a bride dawn in her jewels.” The Lord indeed wrapped her in integrity, in as much as He created her for Himself and kept her safe for Himself, so that her heart could be in no ot

Today we celebrate the feast of the most Sacred Heart of Jesus. A feast that reminds us of His great love, His inexpressible love for us, a love where He was ready and willing and indeed laid down His life. ‘A man’ He says ‘can have no great love, than to lay down his life for his friends.’ But He’s done even that which is great and that which is greater and He’s done greatest of all; for He didn’t just lay down His life for His friends but even for His enemies. As St. Paul says, “While we were yet enemies, God sent His Son”. This love of Christ is something that we ought in gratitude alone, we ought to return and yet it is so difficult for us, because we still cling to things that do not lead us to Him. Who, St. Paul says can save us from this body of death. No one except Christ Jesus, so even though our inclinations and our passions and our desires belong to this world, yet we hope we have that faith in Christ’s love for us that He will draw us back to Himself even against our inclinations, desires and pl

As you heard the passion was long and I shan’t lengthen your passion with a long sermon but just a reflection. Our Lord came into the world to redeem us. His work of redemption was essentially His suffering, death on the cross. He spent thirty years of hidden life, three years of ministering publically, three hours sufferings. The most important part of His life was those three hours, because that’s where our actual redemption was worked out. St Paul tells us that we have to work out our redemption with fear and trembling. So the two things for us to work out our salvation, the two things required fear and trembling, and of course we don’t hear that very often in our world. We are told we shouldn’t be afraid of God, of course that is madness. We should be afraid of God, there are two kinds of fear; there is filial fear, fear of offending God because He is our Father. There is servile fear, fear of offending Him because He can punish us. So we need to keep these two in mind. These two kinds of fear,

Good Friday, has a very special meaning for not only Christians but every single human being. On this day, we remember the suffering of one Man in human history. This is a great mystery when we think about it, that we should commemorate the suffering, the unjust suffering, the most cruel suffering, suffering that consisted not only of physical abuse, but also of emotional trauma, of injustice, of unmitigating violence, of much indignity, insults. In short, suffering that all of us at some point has experience, not to the same depth or magnitude, but suffering which we can identify. Every single human being suffers. Suffering is not limited to any particular race, class or gender or age. Everybody suffers and so we can identify with the suffering of this Man, who is God. This is where the mystery is. That God chose to identify in the one thing we all experience, suffering, deprivation, anguish, isolation, solitude, pain, desertion, treachery and the list goes on and on. Why did He choose to suffer? B