Sermons

Sermons preached at various occasions by Brothers of St Benedict’s Priory

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent by Br Mpumelelo

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Scripture Readings

Let us pray: Make us to know Your Ways, O LORD JESUS CHRIST; teach us Your Paths. Lead us in Your Truth, and teach us, for You are the LORD of our Salvation; for You we wait all day long. Amen.

EVERY SOUL IS PRECIOUS TO GOD, EVEN YOURS! That is what the Gospel is trying to tell us this morning. The Pharisees and the Scribes are criticizing JESUS, because He received sinners. They are astounded that someone like JESUS would spend His time with “publicans and sinners.” They are stunned that He would receive such wicked and evil people. In response, JESUS tells them three parables. Each of these parables is designed to teach the same great truth: “Every soul is precious to GOD, even yours!”

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Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent by Br MpumeleloRead More »

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent by Br Mpumelelo Read More »

Reflection for Sunday 16 March 2025 – Lent II – by Br Aelred

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Scripture Readings

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

Lent 2025: another opportunity for deep reflection and for strengthening our relationship with Almighty God. Another desert journey to make right with Almighty God, where we have wronged, sinned, hurt or offended His loving heart.

In our gospel passage today, we find our Lord Jesus being warned by the Pharisees that he should leave — flee — for Herod wants to kill Him. Now we might wonder, why the Pharisees? Was the warning sincere or was it part of their scheme to get Jesus away, out of their territory? Whatever the reason may have been, Jesus’ response is declaring His mission, that He is not going anywhere, He is there to heal, to cure and to restore.

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Reflection for Sunday 16 March 2025 – Lent II – by Br AelredRead More »

Reflection for Sunday 16 March 2025 – Lent II – by Br Aelred Read More »

Lent 1C – Sunday 9 March 2025 – Sermon by Br Daniel

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Scripture Readings

Who am I?

This seems to be one of the most consuming questions of the ages, especially of our age, where identity seems to be such a labile and questionable thing.

We live in an age where we are inundated with all kinds of self-help books that are guaranteed to help us find ourselves, our identities, until we don’t, and then just find ourselves even more lost. And I think this is probably one of the main lessons in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, shows us who he is and who we are: beloved children of God. And, as importantly, that we are worthy of that love.

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Lent 1C – Sunday 9 March 2025 – Sermon by Br DanielRead More »

Lent 1C – Sunday 9 March 2025 – Sermon by Br Daniel Read More »

Sermon for the Last Sunday after Epiphany

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Scripture Readings

And so, we come to the last Sunday of the Season of Epiphany, during which we have considered the various ways in which Jesus is made manifest through the Scriptures as the Christ, the One sent from God to save us from our sins. In the verses preceding the gospel passage we read together this morning, Jesus has been at prayer with his disciples, who have recognized that he is indeed the Christ of God. Now, he is at prayer again, on a mountain top, and the select three who are with him see and hear the glory of God in and around him, surely confirming their earlier recognition.

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Sermon for the Last Sunday after Epiphany Read More »

Sermon for Thursday 27 February by Br Mpumelelo

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Scripture Readings:
— Sirach 5:1-8
— Psalm 1
— Mark 9:42-50

Let us pray: Make us to know Your Ways, O LORD JESUS CHRIST; teach us Your Paths. Lead us in Your Truth, and teach us, for You are the GOD of our Salvation; for You we wait all day long. Amen.

Today’s Gospel lesson is about three things: the importance of humility, self-awareness and living a life that is pleasing to GOD The ALMIGHTY.

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Sermon for Thursday 27 February by Br MpumeleloRead More »

Sermon for Thursday 27 February by Br Mpumelelo Read More »

Reflection for Sunday 23 February 2025 – Epiphany VII – by Br Aelred

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Scripture Readings

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

Today’s gospel passage continues from where last week’s passage stopped: Jesus teaching on the Beatitudes on a level place. In the passage before, that which we heard last week, Jesus was speaking to quite a large crowd, all those who came for healing and to listen to Him.

This week, however, He speaks to a much smaller crowd; I believe that there were people who heard the Beatitudes and thought, Jesus lost the plot, He has gone crazy, mad, and so they left and a few stayed behind.

Jesus starts off this week with the words, “I say to you that listen”, almost in a way saying, you think the Beatitudes was crazy, wait until you hear what I have to say next.

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Reflection for Sunday 23 February 2025 – Epiphany VII – by Br AelredRead More »

Reflection for Sunday 23 February 2025 – Epiphany VII – by Br Aelred Read More »

Sermon by Br Josias for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

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Scripture Readings

In the name of God the Creator, the Redeemer and Sustainer. Amen!

What is a good life? Who is a good person? Can we access a good life by studying ethical principles or behaving in a certain way? Can we obtain the benefits of the Kingdom of Heaven in this life, or do we have to wait for another life? Why are we here? Or better: why did I come here? Is this still life-giving for me?

These are the questions that people ask when they try to figure out the life that lies ahead of them. They are questions one asks when one experiences something strange or life-giving. They are questions of yearning and longing for something extraordinary and of deeper meaning. We sometimes reflect on these questions when things are not going according to plan, or when we try to figure out what should be our next step.

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Sermon by Br Josias for the Sixth Sunday after the EpiphanyRead More »

Sermon by Br Josias for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany Read More »

The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany – Sermon by Br Daniel

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Scripture Readings

I wasn’t going to prepare a sermon for today, because this was rather a different week and our Superior preached a wonderful sermon on love and discernment yesterday, taking care of the Corinthians reading. So, I was going to find a nice sermon online and just read it for today.

I wasn’t going to preach on being known and being consecrated by God before he formed us in the womb. How we are not to be afraid, because the Lord is with us to deliver us from those who might hurt us when we do our Good Lord’s bidding. I wasn’t going to preach on the incredible love which God confesses for us in this Jeremiah passage.

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The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany – Sermon by Br DanielRead More »

The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany – Sermon by Br Daniel Read More »

Sermon for the initial profession of Br Mpumelelo – by Br Robert James

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Scripture Readings for the Feast of the Presentation

Just as I was beginning to work on this sermon, an old friend said, “I feel as if I have dropped into my own life, and it fits.” He went on to say that it was more about what was happening within him than what was happening around him. It made me smile. It was such a great description of what we all want to be able to say. There are moments in our lives when our senses awaken and open to a greater reality, a larger world, a more whole life. Those are the moments when our seeing gives way to recognition and acknowledgement of a deeper longing and more profound reality. They are the moments of meeting, moments when divinity and humanity touch, and heaven and earth are joined. That’s what this day, the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord, is about. It’s about presence and longing. We’ve all had those moments when we were fully present, acknowledging that somehow all the pieces of our life fit with an integrity and authenticity and a reality greater than the circumstances of the moment. We’ve all had those moments, even if only briefly. And it was because of such a moment that Mpumelelo requested to make his Initial Profession. In those moments we are living today’s Feast, and we catch a glimpse of what all those present experienced. 

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Sermon for the initial profession of Br Mpumelelo – by Br Robert JamesRead More »

Sermon for the initial profession of Br Mpumelelo – by Br Robert James Read More »

Sermon for Thursday after Epiphany III

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Scripture Readings

Following a time of testing which seemingly confirmed and deepened his sense of his vocation, Jesus returns to his hometown, to the place where people thought they knew who he was, because he had grown up among them. In the already ancient words of the prophet Isaiah, he shares with the people there his sense of both his identity and his purpose. He has been anointed by the Spirit of God in a time of God’s favour, to reveal the depths of God’s heart by bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, letting the oppressed go free. Poverty, captivity, blindness and oppression can be both physical and spiritual conditions, and Jesus worked against all of them as he carried out his earthly ministry.

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Sermon for Thursday after Epiphany IIIRead More »

Sermon for Thursday after Epiphany III Read More »

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