Shows
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 23 Oct, 2021Perseverance and commitment are what is needed inner faith journey as well as as God’s grace. Today’s Gospel shows that in our lives, Jesus is asking us not simply to seek and search but also to never give up hope. Are we ready to wait and to keep seeking? If we are, we will find that God notices and blesses our enduring commitment to seeking God’s blessing. That is our faith journey.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. ...2021-10-2204 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 22 Oct, 2021All too often in life and no less in our relationship with God we think it’s all and only God’s work to bring the change we seek or the remedy we long for. This Gospel underlines that it is in our hands to read the “signs of the times” and make a response that is appropriate as we reckon with what needs to be done. God works with us but not without us.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. 2021-10-2104 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 21 Oct, 2021Conflict and division, however unpleasant and undesired by us they may be are nevertheless an unavoidable part of life and sometimes those are closest to can become those with whom we have the deepest and most painful divisions. What are we to do? Often enough it is only the grace God that can bring these divisions to be healed. It is only when we let gothic God can be God and bring the healing we need.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta...2021-10-2004 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 20 Oct, 2021Faith is a matter of an invitation we receive from God and then the response we make to that invitation. God doesn’t do everything for us because, to be effective, we have to be ready and full in our response as God has been generous in his invitation to us to join the Kingdom and give ourselves in his service.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit 2021-10-1904 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 19 Oct, 2021The mission of the Church is to point to the coming and the presence of the Lord. And sometimes the is a costly vocation as it was for the first Jesuit missionaries in North America who paid with their lives in gruesome martyrdoms for doing just that among the North American indigenous population. Ours too can be a costly vocation in a different way but still costing us our lives.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For ne...2021-10-1804 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 18 Oct, 2021Luke is the best writer in the New Testament at narrative description and story telling. His stories are rich in detail, color and context, making his point clearly and openly. Today’s text is no different and goes to what is entailed in following and witnessing toJesus so we can follow him and do his work.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.com
F...2021-10-1705 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 17 Oct, 2021Despite being with Jesus for as long as they have been with him, his followers really get very little of what his message and meaning is. Lest we think ourselves to be a cut above these simple rustic types, we need to recognize that we are in much the same situation. Every day is a new day and every day we are asked to make a fresh start and begin again the search for God and the discovery of how Jesus is calling and drawing us. And we have something new to learn each day.About the...2021-10-1606 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 16 Oct, 2021We continue today the “hard sayings" of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel. Luke is the master of narrative and tells some of the richest stories in the New Testament. He makes Jesus message vivid, rich, deep and often consoling. But heals describes how high the stakes arena how difficult the challenges are. We can’t hope to meet those challenges without the saving blessing of the Spirit’s guidance and support.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news...2021-10-1504 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 15 Oct, 2021St Teresa Avila is a most remarkable woman. She is a Doctor of the Church, a mystic, a Church reformer in a time of great disturbance and turmoil in the Church and one who today points us towards where we can find the sure foundation for our service of God and the Church - in our own mysterious union with God in the Spirit.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in and about the Church i...2021-10-1405 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 14 Oct, 2021This section of Luke’s Gospel is brutal and extreme in the way it paints Jesus’ grim attitude to his contemporaries and the choices they make about following or abandoning him. What he is saying is that in the grimness of the times, Jesus wants his followers to make a choice for him even in the darkness and in that choice seek the light of Christ even as it appears to be a choice in the midst of darkness.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit peri...2021-10-1304 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 13 Oct, 2021Jesus is plainly very angry with the religious hypocrites of his times. He sees what counter-signs they re to the very with they think they are promoting and protecting. But what actually can he do about their attitudes and behavior? Nothing! He upsets them but he can’t change them. For them to change would require personal examination and choices based on things where they lose control. Without faith and a deep relationship with the God who renews and sustains them, that change is very unlikely.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and En...2021-10-1204 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 12 Oct, 2021Again, Jesus testifies to the fact that he just doesn’t fit into the narrowband controlling categories prescribed for him by the religious authorities of his time. Jesus is remarkable because besides not fitting, he actually goes about then creating the world where he can fit and one where others can join him and discover the liberating richness of the grace filled space offers for his followers to live and grow in.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. F...2021-10-1105 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 11 Oct, 2021Today’s Gospel proclaims just what faith in Jesus is about - not marvel at the signs and wonders he works but trust in the steadfast love he has for us and which can save us. This is about our relationship with Jesus and not simply an account of the benefits accruing to us because of what Jesus can and does do for us.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in and about the Church in...2021-10-1005 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 10 Oct, 2021Sometimes people take an attitude to faith that vindicates Karl Marx’ judgment of religious faith - that it is the opiate of the people. Not so Jesus for whom faith is always presenting us a challenge and another aspect of the challenge is in today’s Gospel. The reality is we don’t get what we want when we want it just because we ask for it. What we need is dedication and perseverance as we persist in the requests we make of our God who is generous and attentive but not instantly compliant with what we might request or dem...2021-10-0905 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 9 Oct, 2021Responding to flattery of both him and his mother, Jesus cuts straight to the bone and emphasizes what is essential to faith: not blood relations but the spiritual bonding that comes with being children of the same father – God.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.com
For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.comTo...2021-10-0805 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 8 Oct, 2021Today’s Gospel goes to the heart of the perennial question posed to us believers: how can we be confident that God is at work in whatever is moving us? There is really only way to answer that: are there the signs of the Spirit’s life at work in us, are we at peace, are we joyful and are we more attentive to others needs and energetic in responding to them?About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For...2021-10-0704 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 7 Oct, 2021Our relationship with God is not simply a matter of our rejoicing in God’s largesse. Yes, our faith is based on God’s abundant generosity. But as in any real relationships with God: it is not matter of simply stating our terms and conditions. God does not act at our whim. Perseverance is what God asks of us in our relationship with him and in seeing from God what we need.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For...2021-10-0605 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 6 Oct, 2021Jesus is many things to us including a patient teacher and in today’s Gospel he isa patient teacher of prayer. Today’s version of the Our Father begins with the words that remind us of our original and unifying bond as human beings - that is the creation of us by God, our Father. We could spend all day simply contemplating that mystery.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in and about the Church in As...2021-10-0504 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 5 Oct, 2021Martha’s objection to the apparent laziness or at least irresponsibility of her sister in paying attention to serving their guests and asking Jesus to correct her behavior produces from Jesus one of the sharpest lessons in just what discipleship asks of Jesus follower - keep and focused attention to discipleship rather than the routines, as in this case, of hospitality. Putting the service of Jesus ahead of all that shows how the key priority of serving God first and above all must prevail in our following of Jesus.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jes...2021-10-0405 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 4 Oct, 2021St Francis of Assisi is the preeminent reminder of just how inexhaustible God’s love is, how far and wide it reaches and how challenging it is to live as a disciple of Jesus. We can only do it with God’s helpful which we need to ask every day.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.com
For news in and ab...2021-10-0305 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 3 Oct, 2021There are two hard stories in today’s Gospel - first that God asks us some things will never b able to realize left entirely our own resources; and that we need to recover the innocence and trust of a child if we are to come to appreciate what God’s love can accomplish in and through us. Both are part of our faith journey and both can only be discovered by doing and enacting them.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Catt...2021-10-0205 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 2 Oct, 2021Angels in Jewish and then consequently Christian though and piety have a simple force and purpose: they are the carriers of God’s presence who come into our experience to prompt our openness to God’s invitations and to assure us of God’s enduring and effective presence in our lives Our alertness to God’s presence and action gets shape and focus by our alertness to the angelic promptings.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in a...2021-10-0105 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 1 Oct, 2021Although today is the Feast of St. Therese, the Little Flower, there is nothing flowery about the Gospel we have for this feast day. At this stage of Luke’s account of Jesus journey to Jerusalem, Luke shows Jesus to be very frustrated and expecting much more of the crowds following him than they appear to be ready to offer. Perhaps the richest and deepest prayer for us at this time in Luke’s Gospel comes when we spend time with Jesus in his frustration and disappointment and wait with him for the Father to indicate what steps he shou...2021-09-3004 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 30 Sept, 2021Today is the Feast of St. Jerome to whom we are indebted for several foundational elements in our faith - collecting together what became the the Canon of the New Testament and secondly for translating those books in the New Testament into Latin for the Vulgate edition. Jerome saw how foundational the Word scripture is to founding and developing our faith. Today’s readings specify just how foundational the Word is to grounding and sharing our faith.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Ci...2021-09-2904 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 29 Sept, 2021Nathaniel is declared by Jesus to be “an Israelite incapable of deceit” or one in whom there is no double dealing. Nathaniel is straightforward, reliable and honest. Nathaniel is astonished at Jesus’ judgment but all the same and for Jesus, this assessment is made only as the first step to introducing Nathaniel to something much deeper and more significant - that he will be offered direct engagement with God through the angels ascending and descending where the angels are the carriers of God’s presence and gifts.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and Engl...2021-09-2803 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 28 Sept, 2021Today’s Gospel is a further instance showing how far Jesus’ disciples have to go to understand who he is and what his message is. They are trapped tribalism. But as today’s Gospel demonstrates, so are the Samaritans and that blocks them from hearing Jesus message and living a new life. That is a gift for God to give.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.uc...2021-09-2704 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 27 Sept, 2021What an appropriate Gospel reading for today’s Feast of St. Vincent de Paul. This French priest became a model of sacramental ministry but also someone to urge and encourage service of the poor as a hallmark of not just of Christian service but of Christian discipleship too. There is a highly acclaimed film of the life of St. Vincent de Paul that has the Saint on his death bed speaking to a young and enthusiastic follower who, in his innocence asks the saint for the secret to his holiness and St. Vincent replies “Give, give all you have for...2021-09-2604 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 26 Sept, 2021How do we manage people who’re like us and doing things we are familiar with but don’t subject themselves to the same institutional constraints we do? We can see them in all sorts of negative ways or we can look at them, appreciate and celebrate the good things they do and put to one side the competitive instinct that seeks to overpower them. The key is to allow god to share the space with us and not allow our own power drive to dominate.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and Engl...2021-09-2505 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 25 Sept, 2021Today’s Gospel is the text focused on Jesus’ identity and what that means for what is to become of him, his mission and to his followers. Jesus faces the full prospect of failure and defeat and warns his followers that their destiny won’t much different. So he invites them to face this prospect with courage and confidence based on their union with him.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in and about the Church...2021-09-2405 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 24 Sept, 2021Today’s Gospel text goes to the heart of just what Jesus is afraid of seeing develop among his disciples: marveling at signs and wonders and through paying attention only to them, missing the centerpiece of Jesus’ real message. That message is simple: you will only appreciate what God is offering in Jesus if you appreciate that he is inviting his followers to surrender to God in the heart of suffering. Jesus’ message is good news for those enmeshed in tragedy.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respec...2021-09-2303 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 23 Sept, 2021In today’s gospel episode, Herod shows all the insecurity someone in power can display when one more apparently threatening event occurs and the insecure person seeks to eradicate the threat. The insecure power holder really wants to eradicate the threat but dares not allow his real fears to become known. That is what Herod is trying to do unsuccessfully because his ploy is so obvious. What should he or we, when we rein such a position, do to overcome our fears? The truth will set us free.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit pr...2021-09-2205 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 22 Sept, 2021Today’s Gospel makes it very clear how Jesus expects his followers live and act while on their missions for him - with full dependence on God’s mercy and provident generosity. Placing their trust in God’s provident generosity does two things at least: it specifies where their strength and commitment comes from and explains who is adding the increase bringing the fruit from these events in God’s service. It is the Spirit that adds the increase and it is God’s service that Jesus’ followers are performing. There is no other source or center of their lives and wo...2021-09-2105 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 21 Sept, 2021Suitably enough, we have the Gospel text telling of the calling of St. Matthew to be read and heard on this, his Feast day and this particular text sums up one of the most important things Jesus teaches - that his followers are not the ritually pure or the always correctly living. He came to call sinners and being righteous and pure can be a big obstacle in our way to recognizing our real condition - before God and one another. Tax collectors are the agents of the Imperial invader. The morally lax are the least observant of the...2021-09-2005 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 20 Sept, 2021Today is the Feast of the Korean martyrs who are the seed bed of one of the most lively churches anywhere in the world. Martyrdom is the abandonment of any control or direction of lives into the hands of people who may or may not bring our lives blessing. Martyrdom means surrender to the will of God who does infinitely more than we can or imagine It means recognizing are in God’s hands and it is God’s work to make something of our efforts and plans. It is the journey of faith in its most basic format.2021-09-1905 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 19 Sept, 2021Clearly, this parable comes from the period of Church life after the death and resurrection of Jesus and reflects the way the early Christians are coming terms with the reality that lots of people don’t enthusiastically embrace Jesus and his message. It has a lot of reference for us any Christian community today too. Through it all, the message is clearly that the initiative is with God and our response depends on our readiness to allow God to lead and change us and not allow ourselves to be swamped and distracted by voices and messages that will take us...2021-09-1805 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 18 Sept, 2021The most important thing about today’s Gospel is not that here Jesus describes four types of disciples and we can portray ourselves according to one of the characterizations Jesus offers us. The most important thing to appreciate is that God is always at work in whatever situation or circumstance we find ourselves and inviting us to grow deeper in God’s loving embrace if only we can recognize that this is God’s work, not ours, and that God can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesu...2021-09-1705 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 17 Sept, 2021Today is also the Feast of St. Robert Bellarmino, Doctor of the ChurchToday’s Gospel gives us a look at how Jesus and his community of disciples were sustained and provided for - who among their group bought and prepared food, and most likely how the group was able to find support and resources in the community through the network of attentive women serving the “out reach” project is leading.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. Fo...2021-09-1604 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 16 Sept, 2021Some people can use their faith to structure the way they categorize other people, control their own behavior, use the characteristics of faith to make them feel secure in their superiority. Faith of course has nothing to do with such selfish purposes. It provides a platform to launch us into life, interact respectfully with others and be alive to the promptings of God’s Spirit.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in and about the Chu...2021-09-1503 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 15 Sept, 2021Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The Cross is exalted so everyone can see it so that they not only behold the means of our redemption but so that we are drawn to it and taken up into its healing and saving strength. The Cross is lifted up so that we are both drawn to it but saved by it and through it.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in an...2021-09-1405 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 14 Sept, 2021Today is the Feast of St. John Chrysostom, an early Doctor of the Church. He stands as an example of what we need more of today - leaders who can stand between contesting parties and bring them together. The Gospel today suggests some of the characteristics needed to effect real reconciliation: humility before God as the giver of the gifts needed for respect and unity and deep abandonment to God as the one who brings unity and understanding unseen and unexpected.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the...2021-09-1306 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 13 Sept, 2021Authentic humility is a great gift because it allows us to appreciate and appropriately value the gifts we have been given and on which our lives depend. The Centurion in today’s gospel is, of course, not a Jew. But he is still overtaken by the abundant generosity that flows over him from Jesus’ goodness. Underling that is the fact that God’s gracious abundance knows no boundaries of family, ethnicity, nationality or loyalty.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. 2021-09-1204 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 12 Sept, 2021Today’s Gospel text in many ways briefly summarizes the message of Jesus - that it is only by throwing in our lot with Jesus and letting go of the pursuit of our own self interest that we can give a welcome to the freedom and liberation that Jesus promises. The only question we have to answer and we have to answer it every day is this: are we will to let go into God’s mercy and take all that life brings as gifts of God’s goodness, even if they are dark blessings?About the Speake...2021-09-1105 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 11 Sept, 2021With the practical and indeed rustic common sense so characteristic of Jesus in his story telling, where he tells stories in simple terms that the people of his time and all times will grasp the meaning of, he once again goes to metaphors and stories that people in rural settings will grasp immediately. Firstly, today it’s about the simple truth that only good trees bear good fruit. Then it’s Jesus making the simple point that buildings only survive if they rest on firm foundations. What does this mean for our faith journey? It means it all rests on t...2021-09-1005 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 10 Sept, 2021One of the most arresting effects of finding fault with other people’s views or behavior is that we become completely blinded to our own shortcomings and limitations while we focus on where others are at fault. How do we get away from this destructive distraction? Simple: every time we see or feel a rush of negative judgment come over us about others, simply turn to God and seek the blessing of the Spirit on the one we are finding fault with.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of th...2021-09-0905 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 9 Sept, 2021Today is the feast of St. Peter Claver to whom I have a special devotion. He spent his life serving African slaves in a city to the north of Latin America. They were left out and neglected to a point where they were expected to die of the neglect, hunger and disease that became their lot in the service of their Spanish and Portuguese “owners” who thought themselves well above the slaves in social standing and in the eyes of God. Claver was there to make hose delivering this misery think again.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kell...2021-09-0805 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 8 Sept, 2021The justly very famous Lutheran theologian Karl Barth made a very helpful distinction that applies to today’s feast of Mary’s nativity: there is a profound difference between the miracle happening by God’s grace and the mystery it points to which in this instances the birth of the Son of God, Jesus, because Mary is acclaimed as the “theotokos” or the God Bearer.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica. For news in and about the Church in A...2021-09-0704 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 7 Sept, 2021Something that has people glued to Jesus is his capacity to heal them of the possession by evil spirits who torment and destroy them. One of the things he empowers his followers to do is share that healing power he has and bring tormented people to some stability. At the heart of Jesus ministry and the ministry of his followers is the Spirit who brings healing, renewal and strength.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and...2021-09-0604 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 6 Sept, 2021It’s hard to exaggerate how mind numbingly self-destructive we humans can be. So it’s comforting to know that Jesus saw just how self-defeating we can be and offers a way that can see such futility reversed or neutralized. What Jesus does is stand on the firm ground of common sense to break the spiral of self-defeating religious mumbo jumbo and just asks his detractor to fault that appeal to commonsense and what they know to be the foundation of their religion. But guess what? The fanatics still find cause to fault him!About the Speaker: Fath...2021-09-0504 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 5 Sept, 2021The story in today’s Gospel recounts the reversals which have come one man’s way. Jesus enters that life to reverse the fortunes of the man afflicted with the reversals and lead him to a fuller, richer, deeper life of blessing. Bu the core message is that whatever our life brings - blessings or hardships - they are all opportunities for engagement with and gratitude to God.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the...2021-09-0405 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 4 Sept, 2021Common sense and recognizing the priority attending to actual needs rather than simply standing on his dignity to see that the rules are kept is a hallmark of the way Jesus operates. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus demonstrates how down to earth and practical he is. He invites his followers to focus on people, service and self-sacrifice a long way ahead of keeping the rules.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the Church in Asia...2021-09-0304 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 3 Sept, 2021In today’s Gospel story, Jesus faces the recurrent question of what is needed to bring lasting change - How deep and complete does the change need to go? To the roots? Case by case and a bit here and a bit there? Jesus asks the question because the change he invites is transformative and no half measures will bring the transformation he is inviting his follower to embrace.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and ab...2021-09-0205 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 2 Sept, 2021Today’s Gospel is as powerful a story as we find in the New Testament about God’s determination to see his will done and to the limits ways in which we can block or impede God accomplishing the very purposes and outcomes that the divine purposes have been focused on. God’s will is done apparently without the disciples even noticing. That is in fact our daily experience if only we can open our eyes.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattol...2021-09-0106 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 1 Sept, 2021Today, we see a focus on two of the key features of Luke’s Gospel - Jesus contest with dark spirits that bring confusion, division and death with his Spirit, which brings joy, peace life and love. Curiously, the demons know who Jesus is. The disciples are confused and uncertain - very much like us in our shallow and uncertain faith. To compensate for the shallowness of their faith, they try to get hold of him, control him and keep him from his mission. They are just like us when loves’ substitutes hold sway. But he moves on and he d...2021-08-3105 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 31 Aug, 2021Today’s Gospel is taken from early in Luke’s account. The Synoptic Gospels all share presentation and portrayal of Jesus as then leading God’s fight against the spirits of death and darkness and offering life and love with which the dark and evil spirits are vanquished. This is not just a weird and eccentric account of a world afflicted by evil spirits which our more sophisticated and science based explanations of human behavior can dispense with. Evil spirits are at work in and among us bringing death. Just look at the record of human destructiveness in our times...2021-08-3004 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 30 Aug, 2021Here at this stage in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus receives the clearest outline of his prophetic mission, as Luke recalls what that mission is as described as being by the Prophet Isaiah. Then Jesus goes on to describe what the mission of a prophet will cost the candidate for the prophetic mission - misunderstanding and rejection. Jesus knew his destiny from the beginning his ministry.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the Church in As...2021-08-2905 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 29 Aug, 2021Jesus makes it very clear that what he calls his disciples to is not a religion of empty formalism but one that lives from and is nourished by a conversion of heart that aims to transform the lives of his followers and make them new as saved and redeemed people. He wants to change our hearts and so change our lives rather than just change our behavior and that is all - conformity to a new etiquette - as if that can answer the hungers of our souls for redemption.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a...2021-08-2804 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 28 Aug, 2021To follow up the Gospel story we heard yesterday, this Gospel today directly addresses the matter of our response to Jesus’ generous call to us. God gives all the good gifts we receive not for the to sit-in the security of some place where we can ignore them but so that we do something with them, show some initiative in our response and make a return to the Lord who has blessed us so generously.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica....2021-08-2704 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 27 Aug, 2021The love of God and the call of Jesus in the Gospel can be talked about in a way that completely ignores that the call of Jesus invites a response. Jesus doesn’t simply present a call that that works its way without the need for any engagement by the humans to whom it is directed. Plainly God respects our freedom to respond or not to this invitation and the response to the invitation is the way we join the journey and pilgrimage with Jesus to our everlasting engagement with God in a life that knows no end....2021-08-2605 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 26 Aug, 2021Once called by Christ and if we have responded openly and generously, it is incumbent on us to remain alert to where God appears in our lives and what he asks of us newly. What God asks us never remains the same because the circumstances and challenges we face will vary and so the terms of God’s invitation must change with the circumstances. Alertness to new terms and conditions and readiness and energy in our responses are the hallmarks of Jesus’ disciples.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of t...2021-08-2504 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 25 Aug, 2021We are in a place in Matthew’s Gospel where the prophetic impulse in the Gospel is strongest. Jesus is declaring “Woe to you…” for being such two timing hypocrites and wants to show his followers how to live in God’s love, outside the judgment that comes on followers of Jesus who are "two-timers” and frauds and so therefore what integrity of faith delivers to us in our living.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about th...2021-08-2404 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 24 Aug, 2021How do we come to faith? Everyone has their own mysterious biography - the people and events who spark interest and openness to Jesus’ presence and message, the arresting experiences that force us to sit up and take notice, the slow and enduring force of people and God’s presence that take us over gradually. Each of us has our own journey, our own milestones, our own turning points. But in them all is the power and strength of God’s Spirit drawing us on to follow Jesus.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest...2021-08-2305 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 23 Aug, 2021Jesus wants an alignment between what his followers say and what they do in their following of him. He wants us to be sincere and authentic. Sincerity and authenticity are relatively modern ideas - at most no more than 500 years old as fully developed concepts. Burt they take us right to heart of what Jesus is inviting us to be and to do as pilgrims on our faith journey. That’s all very welt to recognize. But living it and living from it is another matter and we can’t live from it if the spirit doesn’t give us the...2021-08-2206 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 22 Aug, 2021Following Jesus requires making and living from a real choice: can we entrust our lives into God’s hands and leave to God making something of the surrender and sacrifice into God’s hands of all that God first gave us.? Because that is the journey of faith.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.com
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UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 21 Aug, 2021Today’s Gospel is a very brief summary of just what following Jesus entails for us as relive our discipleship of Jesus. Are we ready to delay our own gratification and delay rewarding ourselves for following Jesus? Can we really entrust ourselves to god to allow God’s grace to add the increase?About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.com
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UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 20 Aug, 2021It can appear very simple: following Jesus is about two central things - loving God and loving our neighbor. And while that’s true, it’s simplistic to say that’s all it is because following those two simple commandments opens a door to a demanding and challenging pathway for us to follow. Of course we can’t do it on our own or just by our own energy and efforts. The energy and effort that matter are those that God gives us to follow Jesus.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English...2021-08-1905 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 19 Aug, 2021Clearly there was puzzlement in the early Christian community over why the Chosen People were not rushing the callow Christ. What are they to make it? The only answer the Gospel gives is that people are free not to hear theca of Jesus but if they don’t respond that is their responsibility. This call from Jesus is an entirely free offer. But failure to respond has consequences.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about th...2021-08-1805 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 18 Aug, 2021We have a sequence of Gospels in these days that underline what a paradoxical, surprising and unpredictable message Jesus is proposing. Jesus is not saying that following him will be simple and yield predictable results by following the pattern that comes with a rule book or set of instructions which, if followed, bring a predictable result. In fact, Jesus is saying that following him will mean the pathway is unpredictable and outcomes anything but what you would expect - the first will be last for example.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and...2021-08-1705 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 17 Aug, 2021It is difficult for us humans - apparently so well endowed and swell resourced - to discover and accept that all the gifts and blessings we have can bean impediment for us in our faith journey. The only way they can assist us in that journeys to accept that they are gifts, put them tone side and allow the Spirit total us on the next stepson our journey.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about...2021-08-1606 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 16 Aug, 2021It is difficult for us to see and name much less surrender what stands between us and God’s deeper embrace of our lives. We are often blind to what blocks our growth as loving people building God’s Kingdom. That can be because we think it’s all our work and so handgun to what we think will best serve God’s purposes. But mostly it’s because we can’t seesaw we are trapped in the good gifts God has given us and can’t see beyond them. That’s why Jesus ask us toilet go and let God lead us...2021-08-1505 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 15 Aug, 2021Today’s Gospel cuts straight to the heart of who Mary is for us and why we should be so grateful to her: she embodies discipleship and shows us the way to follow her son, Jesus. The story of the Assumption is plainly miraculous but is only that so so that we can enter more deeply into the mystery of our relationship with God and what that relationship will mean for what becomes of us.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica....2021-08-1405 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 14 Aug, 2021Today’s Gospel reading at Masses, curiously enough, about as appropriate as a reading could be for the saint whose feast we celebrate today - St. Maximilian Kolbe. He was executed in a Nazi concentration camp in WW2 after he substituted himself for a Jewish refugee headed for a gas chamber. It takes the innocence of a child to do something as innocent and generous as that. It takes someone as wondrously unselfish as as an innocent child to surrender their life for a needy and vulnerable person who needs all the help they can get.About th...2021-08-1305 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 13 Aug, 2021Jesus’ teaching on marriage seems very harsh and restrictive if it is taken literally. But understood as a teaching as applying to all who might ambition to marrying as God would have us do, this teaching really narrowly specifies the criteria that must be met for a marriage that Jesus would bless. As such, we follow an ancient principle in interpreting Scripture and interpret hard teaching in a narrow and restrictive sense.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For ne...2021-08-1205 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 12 Aug, 2021The forgiveness we are called on to offer those who have wronged is is a reflection of the forgiveness God has offered us. Forgiveness is the fluid of our faith life - flowing to us, through us and to all that wrong us. Why? Because God has first loved and forgiven us and invites us to be noels forgiving of those who wrong us that God is to us for our failures love and live from the love God has for us.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of...2021-08-1105 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 11 Aug, 2021Today’s Gospel is a special moment where we can see how the early Christians resolved conflicts and disagreements. The most important thing for us to grasp is that they kept things very personal and engaged. They didn’t allow the conversation to to float off into abstractions. They kept is very personal, very engaged and very communitarian.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.com
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UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 10 Aug, 2021This extract from the Gospel of John comes after the declaration of John’s message through the SIGNS Jesus uses to express what he wants to say and before he goes into the long Last Supper discourse. Curiously, this short and sharp expression summarizes exactly what John is saying is the way into Jesus life and the service of his mission - letting go so God can be and do do all.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For ne...2021-08-0905 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 9 Aug, 2021Today’s Gospel is a further gloomy prediction: that the one whom the apostles are following is to comet a painful end when he is given into the hands of ruthless people. Haunted by the looming Cross, Jesus suggests to the grief stricken disciples that will only find their way along the pilgrim path with the Complete faith in God.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.uca...2021-08-0805 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 8 Aug, 2021In our journey in faith, we are invited to journey every day deeper into the life of God in our midst. God wants us to share the life of Father, Son and Holy Spirit every day in a deeper and deeper way, for God to b our inspiration and our energy for the journey of faith. And the Eucharist is our nourishment for that journey and the way welcome to share the life of the Trinity every day.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical...2021-08-0703 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 7 Aug, 2021This Gospel scene is a decisive statement of just what Jesus' miraculous work is really about: faith - inviting it and nourishing it. It’s not about signs and wonders with Jesus provoking people to “look at me!”. It’s about inviting people to faith, it’s about nourishing their faith and actually it begins with their faith!About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.com
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UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 6 Aug, 2021The Transfiguration which we celebrate today is the feast that keeps our eyes and attention focused on what God’s grace can do even as we are smothered in circumstances and impacts that seem destructive and overwhelming in their impact that we feel powerless the face of them. This text appears at Mass in Lent to take us from despondency over our own mediocrity and into the confidence and vitality that come-on the full flower offer love of God.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit per...2021-08-0505 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 5 Aug, 2021Today’s Gospel is really what someone would call the clearest and simplest mission statement Jesus could articulate - that he is from God, has a mission from God, this will entail renunciation and suffering but the sacrifice will save people from their sins and that his followers need to embrace that pathway of self-sacrifice and suffering if they are to be his followers and be part of the reception he offers.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For ne...2021-08-0405 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 4 Aug, 2021Things never happen as and when we want them to happen and today’s story in the Gospel is one underlining the force and significance of perseverance in our requests for Jesus’ intervention. It jolts Jesus into action.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.com
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UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 3 Aug, 2021Today we have a powerful sequence of stories about the healing that Jesus’ presence brings. This powerful effect is completely free of any effort on the part of the apostles, and in some instances even of their requests. Overwhelmed and bewildered as they seem to be, they are transformed by Jesus’ healing power.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.com
For news in and abou...2021-08-0205 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 2 Aug, 2021Today’s Gospel is a decisive turning point in the fortunes of Jesus because the fate of John the Baptist - his execution by Herod’s agents - is a pointer for Jesus to just what lay ahead for Jesus himself. Personal courage and faith in God’s care for him as he remained committed to what he knew God was calling him to are the hallmarks of Jesus journey in faith now.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For ne...2021-08-0104 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 1 Aug, 2021We have reached the climax of John Chapter 6 and the climax of John’s teaching on the eucharist - that this is how God nourishes us for the journey of life and faith with the body and blood of Jesus, blessed and broken as he will do in the Passion narrative which in John’s Gospel comes after this long section. This chapter addresses the deep hungers that beset a searching disciple and offers the richest nourishment we could hope for.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the resp...2021-07-3105 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 31 Jul, 2021On the Feast off St. Ignatius Loyola we would do well to consider his two great contributions to the life of the Church - firstly the way he provides for sand introduction to the mystical life and the following of Jesus though his Spiritual Exercises and then what he has done in the way he describes and organizes the lives of Religious through the book of the Jesuit Constitutions and so provides a structure for the lives of active apostolic religious as no undid before him and so provides a framework for religious life that has been instructive for t...2021-07-3005 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 30 Jul, 2021Human beings - like all of us - don’t like change and do everything to resist it. This is especially so hen we have grown comfortable with a familiar view of other people or the circumstances we have experienced and have some control of. Jesus is dealing with just this circumstance in today’s Gospel. Those familiar with him cannot fit a new experience of him into the categories they’ve used to interpret, understand and control him in the past. This is a very familiar challenge for believers.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesu...2021-07-2905 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 29 Jul, 2021Feast of St Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Today we celebrate the feast day of some friends of Jesus who turn up in the Gospel narratives at various points and are very instructive when they do. Today’s Gospel text allows Jesus in John’s Gospel to display the last of the signs his book of signs when he brings Lazarus back to life.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www...2021-07-2805 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 28 Jul, 2021Again, Jesus uses some very simple but just because they are simple, they remain extremely powerful images and metaphors for the action off God in our world. They suggest just what we need to do in response to the invitation to live by faith: give our lives into God’s hands as we live from God’s goodness and not our own virtues and strengths.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the Church in Asia...2021-07-2704 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 27 Jul, 2021This text explains the parable of the sower which is a simple story but one which even from New Testament times has been difficult for disciples to appreciate. So, the evangelist goes through the story so everyone listening to the Gospel as proclaimed will work out exactly what the evangelist wants the early community of Christians to get and that is that the initiative remains with God both in the story but also in producing outcomes. We are in God’s hands to do as God wishes and by God's grace.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is...2021-07-2605 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 26 Jul, 2021The feast of Saints Joachim and Anne has a special place in the calendar of Christian saints even though they are not Christians. It is special because they are Mary’s parents and the grandparents of Jesus. As in all families, parents and grandparents have a big impact on the faith development of their children and grandchildren. It’s right we should recognize and celebrate Joachim and Anne for the part they play in the unfolding the history of our salvation and turn to them in prayer asking for assistance in what we need: tom deepen our trust in God’...2021-07-2505 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 25 Jul, 2021Today’s Gospel story comes from John, chapter 6 which is in John’s narrative another of the signs John offers to demonstrate and explain Jesus' message. But it is also the heart and soul of John’s teaching on the Eucharist. Just as God provided for the people as they watered through the desert, so too, John shows God providing nourishment and sustenance through Jesus as they wander along their pilgrim way.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news i...2021-07-2405 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 24 Jul, 2021Yet another use of an agricultural metaphor by Jesus to show the gentle and often mysterious way in which God nurtures the growth of the divine life among us. What it asks of us is patience and trust in a God whose infinitely more for us than we can ask or imagine.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La Civilta Cattolica.For news in and about the Church in Asia, visit www.ucanews.com
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UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 23 Jul, 2021It’s a mystery we can behold every day - growth in people, growth in groups and growth in movements that is as certain as it is mysterious and often invisible. How does it happen? Why does it happen quickly and palpably in some circumstances and not in others? That’s the mystery. All we can do is give ourselves to god, receive the blessings that come our way and patiently wait till all that we pray for compass God has promised.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the r...2021-07-2206 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Thursday 22 Jul, 2021Today is the feast of St. Mary Magdalene and suitably enough the gospel for today’s Mass is the one recording Mary’s most important contribution to our faith and the story of Jesus -her witness to the Resurrection. Mary of Magdalene is ne of the first and most important witnesses Jesus’ rising. It is the women following Jesus who are the outstanding witnesses to the Resurrection. What subsequent Church history and eve New Testament records have done to the standing of women in general and Mary in particular as apostolic witnesses and advocates cannot detract from just how founda...2021-07-2106 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Wednesday 21 Jul, 2021There is such a familiar accessibility to the stories Jesus tells and today’s Gospel is a classic instance of this - the way grain grows as metaphor for how the Word of God takes root and grows among those drawn to hear it and accept it. Today’s gospel has so much common sense in it, and you can almost imagine yourself in Jesus’ presence, listening to hat he is saying and agreeing that what he is saying makes smooch sense, you can just see yourself nodding and saying “yes, I want my faith to be that simple and my Y...2021-07-2005 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Tuesday 20 Jul, 2021One of the recurrent themes in Matthew’s Gospel is how the message of Jesus, originally meant for the people of Israel, is actually a universal message meant for all humanity. The same happens withe growth of Jesus’ own appreciation of the full reach of his mission - to Israel as constituted in his time, to “the lost sheep of the House of Israel (namely the lost 10 tribes) to in fact the full reach of the human community. But the message is the same - a new life of intimate engagement and salvation by God’s grace is available for all...2021-07-1905 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Monday 19 Jul, 2021Today’s Gospel puts the challenge of faith in Jesus very starkly: our faith is in the crucified and risen one and there will be no signs and wonders drawing us to faith beyond what we discover in the person and message of Jesus and ho0w our faith grows as we trace God’s vitality as active in our own biography. Are. We ready to be patient and wait for God to show his hand or do we want God to be active on our terms and as we command? If we want the latter, we don’t have f...2021-07-1804 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Sunday 18 Jul, 2021The demands made of Jesus in his ministry - people relentlessly chasing him and drawing on him, in a way that exhausts him and his apostles - says something firm and direct about following Jesus and doing his work: if you commit to share his ministry, there is no exit from the demands of the daily following of Jesus. Every moment offers another invitation and another challenge to find, celebrate and respond to Jesus' invitations to praise and thank the Lord even in times that suggest the opposite is an easier response.About the Speaker: Father Michael...2021-07-1704 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Saturday 17 Jul, 2021In this Gospel text, we hear not only the declaration of what Jesus is doing and wants to do but also of how he is doing it and foreshadows his mode of operating hen he gets to Jerusalem. Jesus reveals with under pressure. But there is such complete coherence between what Jesus says here and what he will do in his Passion that this declaration must be taken s a major statement who Jesus is and what he would expect of his followers to effect the transformation his reception offers.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is...2021-07-1605 min
UCA News PodcastReflections with Fr. Michael Kelly - Friday 16 Jul, 2021Today’s Gospel reading has one of the most significant pointers to how we are to serve God, follow Jesus and live at the prompting of the Spirit: The Law is made not for our slash obedience because the Lord is the Maser of the Sabbath and what Jesus has told us is that slavish obedience is not the way to meet and serve God but to find the Prompting of the Spirit guide our journey in faith.About the Speaker: Father Michael Kelly is a Jesuit priest and English language publisher of the respected Jesuit periodical, La...2021-07-1504 min