Catholic Homilies By Fr Linus Clovis

Our Blessed Lord watched the rich young man go away. He made no attempt to draw him back to convince him. So the Lord shows us that whilst we’re free, He doesn’t compel, He doesn’t compel us. So we’re entirely free to accept He’s invitation or not. If we do accept His invitation, we do that freely, we don’t do it for His benefits, but for our own. He said to the young rich man, “Go sell what you have, give to the poor, you will have treasure in heaven, come follow me.” But for the young man, he couldn’t even begin the first part, which was to sell what he had and to give it away, or rather to exchange it. This is what Saint Mark tells us. That he went away sad, for he was a man with great wealth, and so instead of being a possessor of what had been given to him, he became rather it’s guardian and consequently it’s slave, for for he couldn’t free himself from it… For Fr. Linus’ complete homily please listen to the Audio.

Today is the feast of Corpus Christi. We celebrate another one of those great mysteries, which Our Saviour has left us. It is the Sacrament of He’s presence among us and so fulfilling the promise that He made as He departed visibly from our world, behold I am with you always even to the end of the age. And sadly in our days we do not appreciate the greatness of this sacrament and its mystery is disappearing from our consciousness and we see the sacrament violated and treated as ordinary bread. Sadly this means in many cases, sacrilege and consequently we see its effects which is a laceration of the Church, laceration of the Body of Christ. Even as He was scourged on the very day, the night He was betrayed and the day of His crucifixion. But we shouldn’t be surprised for as the head is gone, so necessarily the body follows as well. What is a Sacrament? This is the question we need to ask and the question we need to answer, if we are to avoid this great violation, abuse of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of

Having encountered resistance in Judea, in Jerusalem, Our Lord went off to the other side of the sea of Galilee, but the crowds still followed Him. The reason, because they were impressed with the signs He gave, in curing the sick. Whilst it’s not perfect, there’s certainly nothing wrong in that, whatever reason we seek the Lord, the important thing is that we seek Him. In finding Him our faith will increase but it is not only faith, our love likewise should grow even greater. And certainly the cures that He effects would generate a sense of gratitude, spirit of gratitude on which love is founded. The Lord climbs the hillside we’re told and sat down with His disciples; the crowd do not climb the hill. Looking up when He sees them, He said to Phillip, “Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat”? In St. Matthew’s Gospel, in fact the other three Gospels, record this incident, this miracle and we’re told that they were the ones who approached the Lord and said send the people away, so they can buy fo

Our Lord speaking to Nicodemus declared plainly that He was from above and that He brought testimony from God. Then Our Lord went back to the region, Jordan, where He had been Baptised and John was still Baptising. The Lord was drawing people to Himself so much so, that John’s disciples prompted by jealously, complained to John, ‘The man whom you bore testimony’, they said ‘Is low down the river and everyone is going to Him?’ And again, John remonstrated with them, trying to convince them that Christ was the one whom they should follow. He said that he himself was merely the friend of the bridegroom and he, John, rejoiced to hear the voice of the bridegroom. The disciples are still reluctant, so John continues to speak to them, to admonish them and even to place a warning, telling them they risk losing eternal life and in fact the anger of God would remain on them if they refused to follow the light. So how does John argue, again from common experience, John the Baptist said to his disciples ‘He who comes fr

Our Blessed Lord speaks to Nicodemus on that mysterious night about God’s love for the world. Nicodemus came looking for a teacher, but what he found was a Saviour. The Lord at this very first encounter, speaks about He’s passion. No one, He said, has gone up to Heaven, except the One who came down from Heaven. The Son of man who is in heaven, so He calls Himself the Son of Man. As the Son of man, He says, ‘The Son of man must be lifted up, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert.’ So that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him. So the death of the Saviour, the Son of man, is going to be the means, the vehicle, by which we receive eternal life. But what is the reason for this great sacrifice, this great mystery? It is nothing other than God’s love, which the Lord continues to explain to Nicodemus. God loved the world so much, that He gave His only Son. There are two things that come out of this. That the world is good because God loved it or better still, God loves it. What is the world but

The story of the rich young man is well known to us. It’s a story that applies to all of us, because the disciples ask this question “If this is how it is, who can be saved”, so evidently it’s not just the rich that our Lord was speaking about, but every one of us. Our Lord we’re told was setting out on a journey when this young man ran up. He shows great respect for our Lord for we are told he knelt before Him and put the question “Good master what must I do to inherit eternal life”. He had heard our Lord speak no doubt about the kingdom and how we must become little children in order to enter in. But his approach to our Lord is that of one who is a good teacher, a good master, a good man, where of course Christ is much more than this. Our Lord answers him according to the spirit with which he questions, good master, our Lord says “Why do you call me good, no one is good but God alone.” In other words we cannot judge goodness without reference to God. Only God is absolutely good. Our Lord is indeed

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the most holy and glorious Trinity, one of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. In fact, if one does not believe in the Trinity, one cannot be a Christian. The very definition of a Christian is one who believes in the Trinity because it is from this mystery that all the others flow. When we talk about the mysteries of God, it is not in the sense of something that cannot be known. But rather it is a truth that is slowly being revealed to us. Yet because we are creatures and therefore finite, we cannot grasp the full depth of the mystery. We cannot understand the full truth. If we think about it when we were children how did we learn? We didn’t learn everything all at once, but we were given truths bit by bit. We were told of the realities that exist in small amounts and it was on this that we built the foundation of our knowledge. So when we look at children, their books, usually have very large print, the words are simple and there are pictures to ass

The resurrection of our Blessed Lord, is the central, is the bedrock to our faith. In the letter to the Corinthians, the first letter St. Paul relates, if Christ has not been raised from the dead, everything we believe is uncertain is false even, if Christ is not be raised from the dead, we are the most miserable of all peoples because we are still in our sins. If Christ has not been raised from the dead, we are even guilty of blasphemy, because we have called God to witness that He has risen from the dead. But Christ has been raised from the dead, and His resurrection means our sins are forgiven. That is there is now a sacrifice by which all of our sins of which we repent are forgiven. How can we know this for sure, because Christ came into the world for sinners. That was the reason for His entry into the world, to save sinners. And more than that, we know also that God desires the salvation of all. That there is no one outside of His mercy, even the worst of sinners is included in His mercy. The pr

The votive mass for our Blessed Lady in the Easter season from St. Johns Gospel uses the narrative of Calvary. We’re told by the cross of Jesus stood His Mother, His Mother’s sister Mary of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene. Then we’re told that Jesus, seeing His Mother and the disciple whom He loved standing next to her, said ‘Woman behold your son’ and to the disciple ‘Behold your mother’ and from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home. Everything our Blessed Lord did whilst on earth is full of mystery and full with innumerable teachings for our mediation and for our spiritual growth. We can never exhaust this rich wine to which He has invited us. We as Catholics have been chosen by God, not because we have done anything special, but because He wants us to do something special for the world in which we live. In other words, we are servants who have been given a responsibility. This does not, and should not make us proud. Our Lord said to His disciples ‘When you have done all the things

Christ came into the world to save sinners. The manner in which He chose to do this which was by suffering, by dying for us. But His life didn’t end in death because His life is life, He rose from the dead. So, the Apostle tells us, since Christ suffered for us, He did so, leaving us an example, what do we need an example for? That we may follow in His steps. ‘Beloved Christ has suffered for us, leaving you an example that you may follow in His steps’. Yet when suffering comes our way, we complain and grumble. The reason of course is that we don’t look to Christ and so see the purpose to which God has put the suffering. Suffering is a consequence of sin, Adam’s sin primarily but ours also. It is something that is inescapable, but Christ in His goodness has shown us how we can use something as suffering to our own spiritual advantage. And so the Apostle continues, ‘Christ did no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth.’ Everything He said was truth, in fact He declared Himself to be the Truth. A

Making His way down to the Kedron Valley to the garden, Our Lord speaks more and more clearly, openly to His disciples. They are deeply agitated, they are afraid. They sense the impending evil. Already the Lord has spoken about them being scattered. The shepherd will be struck and the sheep will be scattered. He had spoken about the betrayal. He had spoken even to Peter, saying ‘Satan had got his wish to sift them like wheat.’ He gives them some consolation as He speaks with them, some encouragement. Even though at the same time, there minds are perhaps not all there, He is speaking of His departure, and of course that would cause them much grief. But He consoles them, when speaking of the advocate, ‘When the advocate comes whom I shall send to you from the Father.’ So He is the one who will send the advocate, yet He also speaks of the Father sending the advocate as well. For the Third Person, the Spirit of Truth who issues from the Father, this Third person is being sent into the world, not that

Our Lord had called Himself the vine and we the branches. He had in many ways told us that we can only have life as long as we remain united with Him. If we fail to remain united with Him, we will loose our life and we will not only not bear fruit but would also perish. He came into the world out of love for the world. That is the world that He created. He uses the word world in several senses, inasmuch as He has created it, it is good. But when sin entered into the world, it took possession of all those who submit to it. And so the Lord calls the world, those who are opposed to Him, to His plan of redemption, to His plan of giving life, all those whose character is such that they love the darkness. Basically those who love sin. Therefore in this sense the world opposes Him, and consequently the world opposes us, and so the Lord not hiding anything from us tells us, ‘If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before you’ In this way, He shows He is the standard barer, we are to follow Him. Yet a

If we are to gain fruit from reading the scriptures, then we must do so prayerfully. We must find a quite place into which do so prayerfully. We must invoke the Holy Spirit and of course we must read the sacred scriptures, with devotion and attention. In the scriptures it is Christ Himself who speaks to us. And every word that He says is of importance. And therefore we should even pay attention to the words that He uses. For example in today’s Gospel He tells us, ‘If anyone loves me he will keep My word.’ He puts it in the singular, no divisions, no multiplications, just my word. And the reward He promises is, ‘My Father will love Him, and We shall come to Him, Father and Son and We will make Our home with him’. So in keeping Christ’s word undivided, whole and entire, we obtain the love of the Father Himself and we obtain the communication of Father and Son inasmuch as They come to us and we in Them. Or in other words we share in the divine nature. What about those who do not love him, He says ‘Tho

Our Lord invites us to prayer. Prayer is the means by which we are in touch with the reality or to put it more clearly the truth. God is truth; God is the only reality that exists. We exist only because God has brought us into existence. He has not only destined us for this world, but our destiny lies in knowing Him face to face. Seeing Him as He is and being able to love Him in His essence. How does this come about, it begins because the Son of God, entered into our world. Our Lord in the Gospel said to the disciples and of course to us that ‘You believe that I have come from God and that the Father has sent Me’ which is in fact a declaration of His divinity. I have come from God and this is what we profess in our creed, God from God, light from light, true God from true God. This is His internal generation within the blessed trinity. From all eternity the Father begets His Son, His Son is His own self knowledge. And this begetting of the Son, the perfect copy of His invisible image as St. Paul te

Our Lord called Himself the true vine. The true vine that brings forward sweet fruity, the vine that brings forth the blood, that inebriates and gives eternal life. And this vine, also known as His mystical body, also known as the Church, includes each and every one of us. He has called us after all, the branches of this vine. And the fruit that comes from Him passes through us, or better still, we bear that fruit. When we think about it, the sap in the vine passes through the branches, the branches themselves do not produce the sap. And when we compare it to ourselves life comes through Him, He is life. We don’t have life of our own, but rather the life we have, the true life we have comes from Him. Equally the joy He spoke about is essentially His, and He shares it with us. So when He says, I am the true vine and the Father is the vine dresser, He is telling us that in His human nature He is the vine and we because of our human nature are grafted into Him. But the one who ensures that we remain in

The Lord had gathered the disciples at the beginning of His ministry. He had chosen them, each one individually. This choice was of the divine will. Even Judas had been chosen. He had been chosen to do what was necessary. Likewise Peter was chosen. When Andrew brought his brother Peter to the Lord, saying we have found the Messiah, the One Moses had spoken about. He brought Peter to the Lord, the Lord looking at Peter, at least it was Simon as he was then, said ‘You are Simon, you are to be called Peter.’ So the Lord with His disciples spent some two years working miracles to prove the truth of what He taught. He encountered some opposition from the authorities, who refused to accept Him and more importantly to accept what He said. He pleaded with them ‘If you do not believe Me, at least accept what I say because of the signs.’ So the Lord decided the time had come now to choose the leader of the little band of the Apostles or more correctly to choose the rock on which to build His Church. So mo

Our Lord had said to the disciples, ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me’, in this way declaring His equality with the Father. For, if we trust in God as He commands and also trust in Him with that same trust, then there must be equality. He’s given peace, He says, ‘My peace I bequeath to you, My own peace I give to you.’ His peace is that divine peace, that divine harmony that exists between Father, Son and Holy Spirit and this is what He confers to us. It is evident that we cannot give something we ourselves do not have. So if He gives it, we know that its source must be from the very bosom of the Holy Trinity. This peace became manifest first of all in the holy family on the night when He entered into our world. The angels descended from Heaven singing ‘Glory to God in the highest and peace to those of good will.’ So it’s this same peace from the blessed Trinity, through the holy family, in Himself that He confers on us. He makes it clear that it’s not the kind

Our Lord had used many images to describe Himself. In His relationship to us, He is the gate of the sheepfold, He is the good shepherd, He is the light that comes into the world, which dispels the darkness. He is the lamp, but here He calls Himself the true vine. The fact that He adds the adjective true, tells us that there is another vine. This other vine in fact Israel and about Israel the prophet complained, I planted a vine, instead of bearing fruit it bore sour grapes. But Our Lord is the true vine. He is the true vine in regard to His humanity. As Israel was to be the means by which God would redeem the world and failed, in as much as the Apostles said, our fathers were unable to observe the law. Our Lord who is the true vine obeyed His Father even unto death and therefore He is the true vine producing the fruit the Father wanted. So He is the true vine and at the same time, His Father, our Father is the vine dresser. So, in His humanity, He is the true vine, in His divinity He is the vine dre

Our Lord gave the Apostles the same mission that He received from His Father. ‘As the Father has sent Me, so do I send you.’ Here in St. Marks Gospel He tells the eleven, go out into the whole world. Before they were only to go to the lost sheep of the house of Isreal, but now He has won salvation for all, He sends them to proclaim the good news to all creation. That commission given to the eleven is given to the Church. Given to the Church, it is given to each and every member of the Church of which we are individual cells and therefore we have that same commission to proclaim the good news. One who hears and believes, receiving baptism is saved. So we are instruments in the salvation of others. For those who will not believe, the Lord gives a warning, condemnation. Charity demands that we desire and work for the salvation of all. Our Lord also tells us there are signs by which believers maybe seen, detected, and then indeed believe. One of the signs is found in St. Peters first letter but throu

Our Lord, as we just said, washed His disciple’s feet which had scandalised Peter. ‘Surely you’re not going to wash my feet?’ To which the Lord said ‘You do not know what I’m doing now, later you’ll understand.’ Peter said ‘You will never wash my feet.’ Our Lord said ‘If I do not wash your feet, you will have no part of me.’ The threat of being separated from Christ was so great that Peter said ‘Not only my feet, but my head and my hands as well.’ To which the Lord responded, ‘He who has washed, doesn’t need to be washed again except for his feet’, because our feet keep us in contact with this world. Our eyes, St. Paul tells us, should be in heaven where Christ is. So our hearts long to be where He is. As Peter was fearful of being separated from Him, so also we should be not fearful of being separated, as anxious to be joined to Him. But already we are joined to Him, we are disciples by His grace, we are His servants by His favour… For Fr. Linus’ complete homily please listen to the Audio.