There are five great discourses in Matthew’s Gospel:

Sermon on the Mount (5-7)

Missionary Instruction (10)

Parables Plentiful (13)

Community Life (18)

End Times (22-24).

Matthew develops the first ever rule of life for a Christian community in chapter 18.

He does this using a symmetrical technique.

Think of an arc, with two foundation stones, one on the left and one on the right, and a keystone at the top, stopping the structure from collapsing.

The foundation stone on the left is conversion unlimited.

John the Baptist insisted on moral conversion, while Jesus insisted on filial conversion. That is, we are called to become increasingly aware that God is our Father, Abba. A lifelong journey.

The foundation stone on the right is forgiveness unlimited.

There is no love without forgiveness. There is no forgiveness without love.

Today’s Gospel is in the middle-right of the arc.

What to do with believers who are losing the plot?

Pray for them. Go to them and ‘speak the truth in love.’ If that doesn’t work, pray again and go two-by-two.

Communities suffer if people do the wrong thing without reproach.

We will no longer attract people to our beautiful way of life.

AMEN.

The Vatican News Service recently reported a fascinating fact.

Pope Leo XIV will travel to France 25 September to 28 September. It is the first papal visit to France in 18 years. Pope Benedict XVI visited in 2008.

The papal visit will include a gathering with young people in a sports stadium, with a capacity of approximately 80,000.

When tickets became available they sold out in just one hour – in the blink of an eye.

What is happening with young people? Why a renewed interest in faith?

I have set myself the goal of trying to speak with as many young people about this phenomenon as possible. I ask them what is motivating them. Then I let them speak freely, without interruption.

They say two things.

There is too much fluidity in life. They want some solidity.

The Church has a 4,000-year history, from Abraham and Sarah until now. In the middle stands the rock – Jesus Christ.

Secondly, many of them say they have experienced God.

Specifically, they speak of how God has come to them in an intense time of suffering.

I was not surprised by the first reason, but certainly by the second.

AMEN.

From Paul’s most mature work:

I beg you, in a way that is worthy of thinking beings, by offering your living bodies as a holy sacrifice, truly pleasing to God (Romans 12).

We are spirit, soul and body (1Thessalonians 5) – a profound unity. What we do in the body affects our inner life and vice versa.

Pope St. John Paul II (1978-2005) developed the Theology of the Body, which opens up Paul’s invitation.

George Weigel, papal biographer, claims that the ‘theology of the body is a theological time-bomb, due to be detonated some time in the 21st Century.’

No doubt we are familiar with Original Sin, but now we have three original experiences prior to Original Sin:

Original Solitude

Original Unity

Original Nakedness.

These are primordial experiences, yielding important discoveries:

The experience of solitude helps us discover that our bodies are symbolic.

The experience of unity helps us discover that our bodies are spousal.

The experience of nakedness helps us discover that our bodies are beautiful and free.

Naturally enough:

Sexuality is symbolic, spousal, beautiful and free, wounded yet redeemed.

We have an antidote for toxic sexuality. We have a medicine for corrupt sexuality.

Thank God.

AMEN.

Pope Leo XIV spoke to young people at Rimini, Italy, beach destination:

Against the false realism that rearms minds, words, and nations, Catholic culture today must set the realism of mercy, in which there can be no enemies, and all people, even adversaries, are brothers and sisters to be looked in the eye and encountered in truth.

Imagine a time without mercy. We don’t have too:

The 20th Century was full of war and death, with revolutions abounding – political, cultural, sexual.

What to do in the face of it all? Run and hide? Give up?

Perfectly understandable, I guess.

But that is fear, and fear doesn’t mature humanity or build nations.

Psalm 63 hits the nail on the head:

Lord, your love is better than life.

And the pope hits the nail on the head:

A relatively unknown figure in our tradition helps interpret the popes words. St. Joseph Cafasso (1811-1860):

Was a social reformer, ‘priest of the gallows,’ spiritual director to St. John Bosco.

He accompanied 59 young men to the gallows.

A statue was erected in memory of him with the inscription:

Human justice must be tempered with divine mercy.

Is this our deepest desire?

AMEN.

The Lord Jesus Christ built his Church on a rock:

You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church (Matthew 16).

Peter was the first pope. Pope Leo XIV is now the 267^th successor of St. Peter.

How has the Church survived and thrived for so long?

Fidelity to the truth. Adaptability to change.

Pope Leo XIII (1810-1903) is indisputably the first truly modern pope:

He is the earliest-born person captured on film, believe that or not.

Elected in 1878, he systematically modernised the Church:

Promoted St. Thomas Aquinas method of philosophical and theological thinking (1879)

Opened the Vatican Archives (1883)

Published first modern Social Teaching Document (1891)

Setup the Biblical Commission, restoring the Bible to Theology and Prayer (1902)

Approved the new modern constitutional arrangements between Church and State.

Leo was a faithful-evolutionary.

His predecessor, Pope Pius IX (1846-1878), was nicknamed ‘Pio No No,’ because he was anti most things modern.

Rather, Pope Leo XIII embraced modernity with faith, not fear:

Nothing is more useful than to look upon the world as it really is, and at the same time to seek Elsewhere (God) for the solace to its troubles (Rerum Novarum 18).

AMEN.

What is beauty?

The modern, more subjective definition is:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

A more traditional – and realistic – definition is:

That which when seen delights (St. Thomas Aquinas)

Are we permitted to dilate St. Thomas’ definition?

That which when heard, tasted, smelt and touched delights.

Pope Leo XIV – Assumption of Mary into Heaven:

The glorification of Mary, body and soul, teaches us that our true beauty does not lie in hiding the signs of aging, but in revealing the signs of love that never end, and are even impressed on our flesh (1 Corinthians 13:8).

The ramifications are truly significant:

We are invited to reexamine many of the aesthetic standards, predominantly hedonistic and consumerist in our world. These standards risk trapping us in burdensome expectations, causing us to waste precious energy on what does not really matter and does not last forever.

In everyday life, we encounter people whose faces are marked by the years and by suffering, yet who are capable of radiating serenity, kindness and peace around them; just as we may observe others who are perhaps outwardly attractive but hard and cold at heart.

Pope Leo XIV – thank you very much!

AMEN.

St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941) believed that the world is passing through a time of intense spiritual crisis:

A crisis of truth. A crisis of love.

The rise of identity culture and politics surely highlights the issue:

I naively identify as a pensioner.

But the employee at Centrelink says, ‘Bad luck buddy, you were born in 1963 – you don’t qualify.’

What I take seriously is rightly rejected by the fella behind the counter. Truth be told.

In our time, too, mercy and forgiveness are in short supply, yet forgiveness is at the heart of our relationships because we are weak and sinful:

Forgiveness bears witness, that in our world, love is stronger than sin (CCC 2844).

Mercy draws good out of evil, something only God can do:

God is so good that in his hands, even evil brings about good (St. Augustine).

Notice the language and petition of the woman in the Gospel:

Out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me (Matthew 15).

This is why we ‘shout out’ our sins as Mass begins, and beg for grace:

Lord, have mercy.

A moment of truth and love.

AMEN.

Pope Leo XIV recently visited Assisi, home of St. Francis and St. Clare. The occasion was a Franciscan Youth Gathering with the theme, ‘Go!’

The visit took place on 6 August 2026, and the Holy Father celebrated the Mass of the Transfiguration for the young ones:

We have come here to understand where history is heading and where we ourselves are going.

Assisi is a good place to get our bearings.

We know that St. Francis stayed awake for many hours each night asking God two questions:

God, who are you?

God, who am I?

Francis died age 44. Was his premature death due to lack of food and lack of sleep?

It doesn’t matter.

He reached his goal of sanctity and eternity, and like all the saints awaits his definitive resurrection in the Lord.

If we let ourselves be taken, just like Peter, James and John (Matthew 17), then we will be transfigured in this life and the next.

Or we can take another route that ends in disaster:

‘Disfigured’ by separating ourselves from Jesus and from others.

It all begins with letting ourselves be taken by the Lord, or by refusing to be taken.

AMEN.

We have the unusual pairing of God appearing to Elijah on Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19) with Christ walking on water (Matthew 14).

Why the pairing?

God commands Elijah to ‘go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’

He soon discovers that God is not in the form of a mighty wind, an earthquake, a fire. No, rather God is in ‘a voice of silence.’

Too many translations weaken the expression into ‘a still, small voice of silence,’ something that can do no harm. But it must stand in all its self-contradiction.

The experience is not one of weakness or gentleness, but one of effortless mastery, which needs no further assertion (Henry Wansborough, OSB).

Silence speaks with effortless mastery. Jesus acts with effortless mastery:

He makes the disciples cross the sea. The crowd he dismisses. He climbs the mountain to be with his Father.

In the fourth watch of the night (3am-6am) he walks on water.

He speaks with authority, ‘Courage! I AM! Do not be afraid.’

We are invited to experience the effortless mastery of God – in times of silence and stillness, and in times of darkness and chaos:

We need an effortless master.

AMEN.

St. Carlo Acutis (1991-2006) realised – from a very young age – that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist.

So convinced of this truth, that he set about documenting 136 Eucharistic miracles throughout the history of the Church.

What is a Eucharistic miracle?

The Church has taught, teaches and will continue to teach that when Christ said of the bread he held in his hands at the Last Supper, ‘This is my Body,’ that he meant what he said.

The bread became, becomes, will continue to become his very Body. The only thing that remains of the bread is its appearance.

It still looks like bread. Tastes like bread. Feels like bread. But it isn’t bread. It is his Body.

A Eucharistic miracle occurs when the appearance of bread disappears and the flesh of Christ’s Body becomes visible.

Some Eucharistic miracles that Carlo documented vary from this basic definition. If you are interested, do some searching.

Why did Christ transubstantiate the bread into his very Body?

Because we need him, more than we realise:

Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty, though you have no money, come! (Isaiah 55).

Let us come fervently.

AMEN.

The Lord comes to Solomon in a dream and asks him what he desires. Solomon responds:

Give your servant a heart to understand how to discern between good and evil, for who could govern this people of yours that is so great? (1 Kings 3).

Solomon is prudent, not prudish.

The former comes from the Latin providens, meaning ‘seeing ahead.’ The latter from the French, meaning ‘shocked by someone’s behaviour.’

We need prudent men and women in every age, but especially now with the collapse of reason and faith.

Prudence is one of four cardinal virtues – a ‘hinge’ virtue, enabling ‘doors’ to be opened to virtue, and ‘doors’ to be closed to vice.

What is prudence?

It is our ability to:

Discover and know basic moral principles.

Take these principles and discern the right (good) outcome, and the right means to achieve it in the concrete circumstances of life (cf. Catechism Catholic Church 1806).

The best leaders down throughout history lived and acted in this way:

They knew where they wanted to go and they knew how to get there.

We would be wise to emulate Solomon.

Don’t forget – it all started with a ‘divine dream.’

AMEN.

You: ‘I don’t know how to pray.’

Me: ‘Of course you don’t.’

You: ‘Seriously, I can’t pray.’

Me: Relax. Let Paul direct you:

The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words (Romans 8).

We are good people, but weak. Take this magnificent passage from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense, but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession (CCC, 2843).

On the one hand, this passage is entirely realistic:

Life is full of offenses. Sometimes people intend to offend us, but mostly not. Either way, we feel the pain. It’s hard to forget.

On the other hand, the passage is entirely fantastic:

We offer our hearts to the Holy Spirit and transformation occurs, surpassing human capacities.

Injury becomes compassion. Hurt becomes intercession.

What would our political, social, cultural and communal life look like if we took the Spirit seriously?

AMEN.

Matthew has five great discourses.

Chapter 13 is number three. It is ‘chock-a-block’ with parables.

In my opinion, the ‘Parable of all Parables’ is the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-9), with its allegorical interpretation in Matthew 13:18-23.

Brendan Byrne, Lifting the Burden (2004), wants us to be more perceptive and receptive:

Where does the seed fall? What is the reception and response to the seed? What are the three failures and the three gains?

The evil one ensures infertility. Trials and persecution disrupt. Worries and the lure of riches choke the seed to death.

It is true. We are not always fruitful and faithful. But, prodigious yields are a reality:

The gains are hundredfold, sixtyfold, thirtyfold. Who cares about the losses?

The seed is widely thrown around precisely because the sower knows the gains far outweigh the losses (Byrne).

The seed, which is the Word of God, has grace, truth and power. It cries out with persistence:

Throw me. Sow me.

So many people are living in loneliness, with no coherent meaning.

Who will scatter the seed that yields a rich harvest?

Let’s bring people the good news. What a beautiful thing to do.

AMEN.

Pope Leo XIV begins chapter five of Magnifica Humanitas with a helpful reflection on the ‘tragic issue of war.’

He notes that ‘the past sixty years have been marked by conflicts of astonishing brutality.’ He warns of the danger AI poses for future conflicts. He defends the just war theory as a last resort in cases of legitimate self-defense.

He then moves to help us to answer the question:

At a time of great change, what should our attitude be?

Pope Leo XIV speaks of the need for a Eucharistic spirituality, ‘a spirituality of ecclesial unity in love.’

The Son of God has become one of us in his Incarnation and has given himself to us in his death and resurrection:

This gift of Christ remains present and active in the Eucharist, in which the Lord gives himself and gathers the Church together (MH 234).

The pope observes Mary of Nazareth’s attitude:

Nothing has changed around her. The Romans continue to control her land, and her people are still subjugated and humiliated. Yet, everything has changed within her (MH 243).

With Christ within us, we can face the future with courage, with faith, hope and love.

AMEN.

Modern life is replete with addictions.

Alcohol takes its toll. Illicit drugs kill. Pornography is plentiful, accessible and destructive.

Experts say that the gambling addiction is the hardest to break.

One thing is certain: therapists will not be without work.

Can we offer anything from our rich spiritual tradition?

Well educated, formed in the Jewish faith, Saul of Tarsus undergoes an unexpected conversion, re-orientating him from persecuting Christians to the warm embrace of Christ and his body.

The Letter to the Romans is his most mature work:

When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in his death.

In other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life (Romans 6).

Those who suffer from addictions have access to the most profound spiritual movement in history, which saves, heals, forgives and frees.

With Jesus, one can die to addiction, rest from it and rise to life without it.

Accompaniment is needed. A wise spiritual director indispensable.

There is hope.

Addiction can be broken and defeated. New life emerges.

AMEN.

Chapter Four of Magnificent Humanity is important. Pope Leo XIV claims:

Truth can be manipulated. Freedom can descend into anarchy. Work can become slavery.

The traditional definition of truth is the ‘alignment of the mind with reality.’

But because we are body, soul and spirit, ‘truth is the conformity of the body, soul and spirit with reality,’ with the ultimate reality being God.

The search for truth is fundamental, not only on a personal level, but for democracy itself. The pope quotes philosopher Hannah Arendt (1906-1975):

Totalitarianism is fostered by people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist (MH 134).

The pope says one of the best ways of battling totalitarianism is by strengthening intermediary organisations that lie between government and the individual, with educational institutions occupying pride of place.

The Rule of St. Benedict combines prayer, work and study. Working with our hands leads to creativity of mind, and along with prayer we begin to feel our freedom as an interplay with God’s freedom.

That’s a good experience.

But we must be vigilant lest AI enslave us in new forms of addiction and slavery.

AMEN.

The experience of success is important. Joy is the word that comes to mind.

However, it may be that the experience of failure is more important. Paul speaks in Romans of the mysterious failure and fall of Adam.

We find it in Genesis 3, where God responds to failure, not by accusing, but by questioning Adam, with no less than four questions!

The questions are designed to enable Adam and Eve to understand the experience of failure more deeply. This helps them to go forward with renewed purpose.

Notice God’s way of acting:

He responds to failure, fall and sin with the offer of salvation.

God never focuses on sin alone. God never focuses on salvation alone. Rather, in the one breath he speaks of sin and salvation.

Romans 5:

Adam prefigured the One to come, but the gift itself considerably outweighed the fall.

If it is certain that through one man’s fall so many died, it is even more certain that divine grace, coming through one man, Jesus Christ, came to so many as an abundant free gift.

We don’t flee failure. We don’t fear failure.

Rather, we embrace it with Christ Crucified and Risen.

AMEN.

AI will bring great benefits. In personal use, Pope Leo XIV says:

Three aspects deserve particular consideration: the ease with which results are obtained, the impression of objectivity and the simulation of human communication (MH 100).

Surely science, innovation, education and health will benefit enormously through AI.

But it is artificial, not human intelligence:

AI surpasses human intelligence in speed and computational capacity, yet this power remains tied to data processing.

AI does not undergo experiences, does not possess a body, does not feel joy or pain, does not mature through relationships and does not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean (MH 99).

We must avoid the temptation of transhumanism and posthumanism. That it, thinking that we can supercharge human performance or even create a hybrid-humanity:

Vulnerability, suffering and failure are not foe, but friend.

Within our limitations the following find a place: compassion, sincere concern for others, generosity in the midst of darkness and failure, spiritual experience and God himself (MH 119).

Besides, humanity is transformed through resurrection. This process ‘surpasses every capability of created nature’ (St. Thomas Aquinas, MH 127).

That’s it:

We are spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5).

AMEN.

Strategic plans are helpful, but they are not a panacea:

The harvest is rich, but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest (Matthew 9).

Prayer is the panacea.

We have to stand before the Lord and ask him – beg him – to send labourers.

God desires labourers everywhere – in every walk of life:

The eyes of faith behold a wonderful scene: that of a countless number of lay people – men and women – busy at work in their daily life and activity, oftentimes far from view and quite unacclaimed by the world.

Unknown to the world’s great personages, but nonetheless looked upon in love by the Father, they are untiring labourers who work in the Lord’s vineyard.

Confident and steadfast through the power of God’s grace, these are the humble yet great builders of the Kingdom of God in history (John Paul II, 1988).

We must be men and women of petitionary prayer.

An ancient prayer expresses it well:

Lord, be the beginning and end of everything we do and say. Prompt our actions with your grace and complete them with your all-powerful help.

No prayer. No harvest.

AMEN.