A retired priest from the Archdiocese of Sydney has chosen to start recording weekly reflections on the Gospel.
Monsignor Tony Doherty has started a series of reflections called “Breaking Bread Together” on a personal YouTube channel.
The reflections were designed for parishioners of St Joseph’s Neutral Bay, part of the Parishes of Sydney Harbour North, but he warmly welcomes those outside of the parish to the video.
In his reflections, Msgr Doherty reads the Sunday Gospel, provides a reflection, and then allows for a time of prayer towards the end.
Today is Poetry Day.
Which gives me an opportunity to tell you about an English poet I have recently become acquainted with. Wendy Cope.
Here is an example of the power of her abbreviated style.
A verse simply entitled ‘NAMES’.
She was Eliza for a few weeks
When she was a baby –
Eliza Lil. Soon it changed to Lil.
Later she was Miss Steward in the bakers shop
And then ‘my love’, ‘my darling’, Mother.
Widowed at thirty. she went back to work
As Mrs Hand. Her daughter grew up,
Married and gave birth.
Now she was Nanna. ‘Everybody
Calls me Nanna’, she would say to visitors.
And so they did – friends, tradesmen, the doctor.
In the geriatric ward
They used the patients Christian names.
‘Lil’, we said, ‘or Nanna’
But it wasn’t in her file
And for those last bewildered weeks
She was Eliza once again.
A few simple lines captures the fragile life-cycle of a woman. A tender story told in 107 words.
This attached Sunday Reflection for the second Sunday of Easter is the story of a little child praying for her grandparents. Hope it brings you a pause in the chaos.
Just click on the link below.
To follow Msgr Doherty’s reflections, visit his YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNTI-unsj934-1HkRkbMaZA
