Here I have put together a selection of homilies. The Word of God is ‘alive and active’ says the Letter to the Hebrews. That is not to say that it lives a hidden organic life we can trace through a microscope, as if it were a virus; but that it is inspired, a bearer of God’s eternal Spirit. Therefore it resounds to this day with quite as much force as when it was first spoken. It ever has something new to say. The preacher’s first task is to listen intently to this Word at once ancient and new, then to make his own, necessarily limited words its vehicles. I have not been able to provide translations of texts in other languages; but if you rummage around a little you will find a fair amount of material in English.
What's it supposed to mean that Noah, after the flood, planted vines, not cabbage? That man refuses to accept the world as merely a vale of tears, a wilderness of thistles to be conquered in the sweat of his brow - that within us there's remembrance of a more harmonious earth, created for delight.
Continue reading In the vocabulary of the Old Testament, an offering is literally an 'elevation' — it refers to the movement the priest performed when he lifted up before God whatever gifts people brought, a sign that all earthly accomplishments point towards a heavenly finality, that even our corn, our wine, our cattle carry a seed of eternity and can come to be a vehicle of blessing.
Continue reading It is tragic (I don't think the term is too strong) that the word 'grace' in our parts, in the wake of the Reformation, became a harsh word. To live 'on grace' is humiliating in Norwegian vocabulary - it's about being seated on the beggar's bench just inside the door, hoping for someone to drop a coin into your hat, ready to bow low in response.
Continue reading We cannot take away another’s freedom or force him or her to act in a certain way. But we cannot simply look on resigned while someone self-destructs - at least we should call out, ‘Come back, I’m here for you!
Continue reading We too live in times in which much is broken to pieces. That is nothing to get too excited about.
Continue reading Peter wields the key to the kingdom as trusted servant, not as lord - it's an important distinction to bear in mind, showing us both the dignity and limit of Peter’s authority. When Peter presumed that his position entitled him to dictate Christ’s course of action, he was rebuked in the strongest possible terms.
Continue reading For hearts wounded by sin, closure is the default movement - our heart must learn to reopen like an oyster to discover, and reveal, the pearl within, the pearl of great price. The tearing of the temple curtain symbolises the resolve of conversion by which we reaffirm our option for what is great, universal, and whole.
Continue reading If God is truly God, he is present everywhere, even in his apparent absence. The God of action is also a God who waits - what he waits for is our response, our obedience, our getting up to go.
Continue reading Let us, as Catholics, hold firm to what is palpable and real in the legacy of St Olav and leave it to the secular authority to bask in fantastical abstractions.
Continue reading If the call to ministry has come to seem irrelevant it is at least in part because many a flame that once burnt brightly is now perceptible only by way of deduction on the basis of heaps of burnt-out ash. Tend carefully the flame that today is lit in you through the sacrament of Holy Church, our Mother.
Continue reading Once we find ourselves well and truly fallen, with our nose in the dirt, we are relieved of illusions about ourselves. We can start a new life afresh based on reality, in truth.
Continue reading The heralds of the Lion of Judah transformed into flowerpot-holders!
Continue reading It's never been easier to pass as a prophet, we hear the word prophecy used a lot. There's a risk, though, that the term is devalued thereby, becoming self-referential, wordy, tiring — boring, quite simply.
Continue reading The Heart of Jesus is not a geiger counter that catches, measures, and evaluates sin with precision just for the sake of statistics; it is touched by our options, wounded when we do evil and prefer darkness to light. Each of us can bring the Heart of Jesus grief or consolation.
Continue reading The Tower of Babel was preeminently a synodal undertaking, though self-destructive, which is why the Lord undermined it. To be on the road together is a fine thing, but what really matters is where one is bound and whose lead one follows.
Continue reading A human being that lives beautifully becomes beautiful, such a human being also becomes whole. The call to holiness is not a call to become someone else - it is a call to become who you are.
Continue reading For us who live in the wake of the 1969 lunar mission, it is almost impossible to read those words without seeing before our mind’s eye the image of the Apollo rocket fired off from Camp Kennedy.
Continue reading Is a just societal order possible in the long run without a higher, divine standard, unmeasurable in terms of silver and gold, before which we stand accountable?
Continue reading We want to be left tranquil, to have a good salary and at the same time plenty of leisure to do what we want, and access to 5G internet browsing. But then a massive crisis can, in a trice, turn reality upside down.
Continue reading The greatness of our works, the integrity of our discipleship, is not about making spectacular impact — not about having others gathering around us saying, ‘Ah!’ The greatness is a function of perseverance within our limitations, letting grace accomplish there something beautiful and healing.
Continue reading The Christian condition is not a life wrapped in cotton wool. We show ourselves Christians when we stand in the eye of the storm and yet are at peace.
Continue reading We’re always conscious of all we haven’t got, and tell ourselves, Ah - If only I had this one thing, I’d be satisfied. Though of course we wouldn’t.
Continue reading Our time lets us assume that we can, armed with the appropriate App, master not merely our own existence, but reality as such. Therefore the image of a saving God seems superfluous to us.
Continue reading Avoid a disproportionately contemporary and self-centred vision of things which may make the faith more graspable, perhaps, but also reduces it to something banal. No political or sentimental aim will rejuvenate our soul and inflame our heart, but only the unchangeable promise of God revealed in Jesus Christ, the same today, yesterday, and forever.
Continue reading The sacrament you are about to receive is no private matter, no pious formality. The sacrament equips you to embrace an urgent task - to participate in healing a world that is sick.
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