Homily by Father Olek Stirrat Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Gospel: John 2:1-11 There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. When they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the wedding was all finished, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said ‘Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not come yet.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ There were six stone water jars stan...
Jan 19, 2025•12 min
Homily by Father Olek Stirrat Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Gospel: Luke 3:15-16,21-22 A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people, who were beginning to think that John might be the Christ, so John declared before them all, ‘I baptise you with water, but someone is coming, someone who is more powerful than I am and I am not fit to undo the strap of his sandals; he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.’ Now when all the people had been baptised and while Jesus after his own bapt...
Jan 15, 2025•8 min
Homily by Father Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12 After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east. ‘Where is the infant king of the Jews?’ they asked. ‘We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.’ When Herod heard this, he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and enquired of them where t...
Jan 09, 2025•11 min
Homily by Father Olek Stirrat Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Gospel: Luke 2:41-52 Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquainta...
Dec 29, 2024•9 min
Gospel 21-22 December 2024 - Fourth Sunday of Advent, Yr C. Homily by Father Olek Stirrat Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Gospel: Luke 1:39-44 Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit ...
Dec 28, 2024•11 min
Homily by Father Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Gospel - Luke 3:10-18 When all the people asked John, ‘What must we do?’ he answered, ‘If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same.’ There were tax collectors too who came for baptism, and these said to him, ‘Master, what must we do?’ He said to them, ‘Exact no more than your rate.’ Some soldiers asked him in their turn, ‘What about us? What must we do?’ He said to...
Dec 15, 2024•14 min
Homily by Father Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Gospel: Luke 21:25-28,34-36 Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they awaitwhat menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads hi...
Dec 15, 2024•15 min
Homily by Father Olek Stirrat Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Gospel: Luke 3:1-6 In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the lands of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the pontificate of Annas and Caiaphas the word of God came to John son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. He went through the whole Jordan district proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forg...
Dec 05, 2024•10 min
Homily by Father Olek Stirrat Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Gospel: John 18:33-37 ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Pilate asked. Jesus replied, ‘Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others spoken to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done?’ Jesus replied, ‘Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Je...
Dec 05, 2024•11 min
Homily by Father Peter Zwaans - Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - Mark 13:24-32 - Jesus said to his disciples: ‘In those days, after the time of distress, the sun will be darkened, the moon will lose its brightness, the stars will come falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory; then too he will send the angels to gather his chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the world to the ends...
Nov 18, 2024•12 min
Gospel 9-10 November 2024, 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B - Homily by Father Olek Stirrat - Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - Mark 12:38-44 - In his teaching Jesus said, ‘Beware of the scribes who like to walk about in long robes, to be greeted obsequiously in the market squares, to take the front seats in the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets; these are the men who swallow the property of widows, while making a show of lengthy prayers. The more severe will be the sentence they r...
Nov 11, 2024•11 min
Gospel 2-3 November 2024 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B - Homily by Father Olek Stirrat - Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - Mark 12:28-34 - One of the scribes came up to Jesus and put a question to him, ‘Which is the first of all the commandments?’ Jesus replied, ‘This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You must love your n...
Nov 11, 2024•9 min
Gospel 26-27 October 2024 - 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B - Homily by Father Peter Zwaans - Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - Mark 10:46-52. As Jesus left Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus (that is, the son of Timaeus), a blind beggar, was sitting at the side of the road. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and to say, ‘Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.’ And many of them scolded him and told him to keep quiet, but he only shouted all the l...
Oct 27, 2024•16 min
Gospel 19-20 October 2024 - 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B - Homily by Father Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - Mark 10:35-45 - James and John, the sons of Zebedee, approached Jesus. ‘Master,’ they said to him ‘we want you to do us a favour.’ He said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ They said to him, ‘Allow us to sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.’ ‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus said to them. ‘Can you drink the cup tha...
Oct 22, 2024•14 min
12-13 October 2024 - 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B Homily by Father Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Mark 10:17-30 Jesus was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, ‘Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You must not kill; You must not commit adultery; You must not steal; You must not bring false witness; You must ...
Oct 14, 2024•16 min
5-6 October 2024 - 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B Homily by Fr Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Some Pharisees approached Jesus and asked, ‘Is it against the law for a man to divorce his wife?’ They were testing him. He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ ‘Moses allowed us’ they said, ‘to draw up a writ of dismissal and so to divorce.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘It was because you were so unteachable that he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation...
Oct 06, 2024•14 min
7 - 8 September 2024 - 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B - Homily by Fr Olek Stirrat Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - Gospel Mark 7:31-37 - Returning from the district of Tyre, Jesus went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, right through the Decapolis region. And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue with spitt...
Oct 03, 2024•11 min
28-29 September 2024 - 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B - Homily by Fr Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - Gospel: Mark 38-43,45,47-48 - John said to Jesus, ‘Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us, we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said, ‘You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us. ‘If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just ...
Oct 03, 2024•16 min
21-22 September 2024 - 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B - Homily by Fr Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - Gospel: Mark 9:30 -37 - After leaving the mountain Jesus and his disciples made their way through Galilee; and he did not want anyone to know, because he was instructing his disciples; he was telling them, ‘The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men; they will put him to death; and three days after he has been put to death he will rise again.’ But they did not underst...
Oct 03, 2024•13 min
14-15 September 2024 - 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B Homily by Fr Olek Stirrat Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Gospel: Mark 8:27 -35 Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say I am?’ And they told him. ‘John the Baptist,’ they said, ‘others Elijah; others again, one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he asked, ‘who do you say I am?’ Peter spoke up and said to him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And he gave them ...
Oct 03, 2024•11 min
31 August - 1 September 2024 - 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B Homily by Fr Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23 The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. For the Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow; and on returning fr...
Oct 03, 2024•19 min
24-25 August 2024 - 21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B - Homily by Fr Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - After hearing his doctrine many of the followers of Jesus said, ‘This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?’ Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, ‘Does this upset you? What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before? ‘It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you a...
Oct 03, 2024•14 min
17-18 August 2024 - 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B- Homily by Fr Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - John 6:51 -58 - Jesus said to the crowd: ‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’ Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied: ‘I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the f...
Oct 03, 2024•16 min
10-11 August 2024 - 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B - Homily by Fr Olek Stirrat Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - John 6:41 -51 - The Jews were complaining to each other about Jesus, because he had said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ‘Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph’ they said. ‘We know his father and mother. How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus said in reply, ‘Stop complaining to each other. ‘No one can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sen...
Oct 03, 2024•10 min
3-4 August 2024 - 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B - Homily by Fr Olek Stirrat Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - John 6:24 -35 - When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered: ‘I tell you most solemnly, you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted t...
Oct 03, 2024•12 min
Gospel 27-28 July 2024 - 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B - Homily by Fr Olek Stirrat Mount Gambier Catholic Parish - John 6:1-15 - Jesus went off to the other side of the Sea of Galilee – or of Tiberias – and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by curing the sick. Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples. It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover. Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some br...
Oct 03, 2024•10 min
20-21 July 2024 - 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B Homily by Fr Olek Stirrat Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Mark 6:30 -34 "The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’; for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat. So, they went off in a boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But people saw them going, and many c...
Oct 03, 2024•8 min
13-14 July 2024 - 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B Homily by Fr Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Mark 6:7-13 "Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits. And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic.’ And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you...
Oct 03, 2024•11 min
29 -30 June 2024 - 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B Homily by Fr Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Mark 5:21 -43 “When Jesus had crossed in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered round him and he stayed by the lakeside. Then one of the synagogue officials came up, Jairus by name, and seeing him, fell at his feet and pleaded with him earnestly, saying, ‘My little daughter is desperately sick. Do come and lay your hands on her to make her better and save her life.’ Jesus wen...
Oct 03, 2024•13 min
22-23 June 2024 - 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Yr B Homily by Fr Peter Zwaans Mount Gambier Catholic Parish Mark 4:35 -41 With the coming of evening, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him. Then it began to blow a gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped. But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep. They woke h...
Oct 03, 2024•14 min
