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.
My experience of ministering to dying people and frequently celebrating funerals one of the commonest mistakes we can make is to assume that simply because the person who dies is elderly their family will feel less grief.
This came to me afresh just watching the ages of those who have died in this present medical crisis.
‘She has had a good innings’, may work well for cricket – not always for loss of someone you love.
The Irish poet Seamus Heaney wrote about his elderly father’s recent death with such a poignant touch:
Dangerous pavements
But I face the ice this year
With my father’s stick.
His father’s stick is both an inheritance and a guide.
The fundamental insight of Easter’s Risen Christ is that love can even overcome death.
The Sunday gospel we explore this week is that evocative story from Lukes gospel ‘the Road to Emmaus’.
Just click on the link below.
Should you wish please pass it on to whoever may be interested.
Every blessing,
Tony
To follow Msgr Doherty’s reflections, visit his YouTube channel – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNTI-unsj934-1HkRkbMaZA
