6th Sunday C

Jeff Bagnall • 4 February 2025

In the first reading ( Jer 17:5-8 ) we have a very straightforward message which applies to our time as much as to Jeremiah’s. This passage is in the form of a typical wise message which is also found in some psalms (including the responsorial psalm for today). We must remember that the way the writings attributed to Jeremiah came together was not that he wrote them, but that some of the remembered preachings of his were later recorded and only eventually added to and structured as we have them today. There is an early Greek verion of the OT called the Septuagint which in places has slightly different texts. Indeed the main force of our reading is also found in the ancient writings recorded of the Egyptian wise man, Amenemope (see here ).

The second reading is from 1 Cor 15:12 onwards omitting verses 13-15. There was no real certainty throughout the OT that there was any life after death (perhaps this is why some saintly charaters were attributed very long lives). And it seems from our reading that even some Christians were a little uncertain about this, despite stories of Jesus appearing to people after His death. It is for this reason that Paul has this clear message in his letter here. It would have also been a comfort in the early church where Christians in some contexts were being put to death for their beliefs. It is now a comfort to us that just as with Jesus, so also when someone dies, their life is not so much ended as brought to completion – fulfilled,

The gospel is from Luke 6:20-26 preceded by verses 17,18a (“ He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases “). This introduces what we now call the beatitudes – each starting with the word “happy,” followed by what we might call “woes” now translated as “alas for you who…” This is an uplifting message for those who need cheering up or just re-assuring. but also a warning for those who see themselves as well-off in worldly things.

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Jeff Bagnall was a lecturer for many years at Craiglockhart College teaching RE to many future Catholic Primary teachers.

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2025 - Year C

by Jeff Bagnall • 10 October 2025

The first reading is a story from the Book of Exodus, telling the tale of one of the many incidents from that epic journey of escape from slavery in Egypt, through many ups and downs until the entry into the promised land. The whole book was put together from various collections of stories that had been passed down through at least four or five centuries of retelling. The point of the whole and of each individual story, in general terms, is to say something about God and ‘the people of the Book’ and the relationship between the two; to teach people about their responsibility towards God and about His attitude towards them. The details in this tale about warfare and the rod of Moses, if taken literally, say nothing we would regard as true about the relationship between God and people; it was this rod that seemed to clear the sea for the people to cross when escaping the Pharaoh’s army, and this rod that produced water in the wilderness. But we get closer to the point of the story’s transmission and survival in our sacred Scriptures, if we see its significance for us today; it reminds us that the power of God is in everything, though we usually think of various sacred objects as reminding us of this.

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2025 - Year C

by Jeff Bagnall • 2 October 2025

These readings might speak to us when we are going through difficulties or hard times. We must trust in God, do what we should, but most of all thank God for the benefits that we do have. Naaman had to listen to his servants and not give up because there was no dramatic exhibition of a miraculous cure. The early Christian leaders, especially, had to be prepared to suffer for the work they were doing and the beliefs that they had. And like the lepers, we should be prepared to keep the rules as long as we can, but that wont save us; it is God who saves those who are faithful, as He is always reliable. The first reading reminds us how people in the time of the Old Testament lived; there were kings or tribal leaders with nobles under them, they had servants who worked and cared for them, they had their own gods who operated in their territories, miracles and drama were part of their religions and the different small nations were uncertain of each other’s ambitions and motives. The lead up to the first reading is necessary for it to make sense; Naaman was a well-respected leader in a country adjoining Israel, who had leprosy and could find no cure; one of the servants of his wife was from Israel where Elisha was well known as a prophet and man of God; she suggested a visit to him might be helpful. The party set off with plenty of payment and gifts, but Naaman was disappointed when Elisha did nothing dramatic, but merely said go and wash in our river Jordan seven times. He was about to return home disappointed when servants persuaded him to try it all the same. And then we are into today’s reading. Elisha rejects any gift for the miracle and Naaman thinks the god in this land is powerful, so takes some of the land back with him to his own territory.