Fr John’s Reflection – What do we look for in a Good Shepherd

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What do we look for in a Good Shepherd

What do we look for in a Good Shepherd? This question comes to mind as we reflect on the weekend’s readings. There is a diverse amount of commentary that seeks to guide our understanding of how we form young men for the priesthood. We are called to help form people into shepherds of souls. Yet this is not something that can be done in isolation from the people whom they will be called to serve.

The Vatican study group that reflected on priestly formation emphasised the important role that women undertake in that formation process. This recognises that women and men have an equal dignity in sharing their charisms in building up a community of faith.

Those in formation for the priesthood need to grow in maturity and confidence through the mentorship of those they are called to serve. They need to be immersed in people’s lived realities. This shifts from a purely academic, insular training to one that seeks to build communities of faith through active discernment of God’s voice in their daily lives. This engagement seeks to explore how, in a digital age, we can be cluttered by the many things that seek to draw our attention away from Gospel living. As Pope Francis says, they need to have the smell of the sheep. They need to be familiar with walking among them and listening to their voices.

We can see in the readings that everyone needs to encounter themselves as beloved by God and to bear faithful witnesses to that abiding love. We cannot share with others what we have not received ourselves. They need to hear the voice of God that speaks to our hearts as we hear St. Peter stress the need to die to our own faults and live for holiness. It is through our wounds that we are healed.

This is stressed in the Acts of the Apostles: we are called to repentance, forgiveness of sins, and baptism. This movement, stressed by St Peter, calls upon people to have their broken hearts healed. In this, we start to see that the sacrament of penance is not just a ritual to be undertaken but an encounter with the risen Lord.

As we seek to recognise what ties us up in knots, we are called to an honest evaluation of what burdens us so that we can speak it aloud. This allows the Lord to meet us when we are in deepest need and when we carry a load that is too heavy for us. The weight of our sins is not just a quick fix for all our problems; it addresses the inner darkness that threatens to destroy us.

The psalmist stresses how God seeks to lead us to good pasture, guides us by restful waters, and revives our drooping spirits even in the darkest night. The psalmist also sees this as leading us to a banquet that will be prepared even in the sight of our foes. This is to seek goodness and kindness that allows us to dwell in the House of the Lord.

What appears essential is that we do not need to be perfect when we set out on the journey, but we need to trust that we are heading in the right direction. We care to encounter the person of Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The Gospel stresses the need to hear his own voice. This calls us to be close to the shepherd who leads us in and out safely. We are awoken to an awareness that Jesus seeks to walk with us on our journey of faith.

God will always be faithful if we open our hearts, especially at moments of brokenness, grief, and sadness. Thus, a shepherd is a person who can bear his own wounds so that he can shepherd and guard others. Thus, the person called into ministry needs to recognise themselves as a wounded healer.

So, this poses a deeper question for us: how do we recognise the Good Shepherd who walks among us and calls us to nurture people in their vocation? It draws us back to take our baptismal calling to be disciples to heart.

Priests do not appear by magic; they emerge from communities like ours. They seek to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd that will help others to be guided to be healed, nourished and forgiven. As we pray for those discerning this call, we also seek to nurture our own baptismal vocation to be priest, prophet, and king, helping others to meet the risen Lord.

Fr. John Armstrong

“The intellectual quest is exquisite, like pearls and coral. But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether. Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to wonder.” (Rumi Wisdom; trans. Timothy Freke)

Fr John’s Reflection – 3rd Easter

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How do we find our way home?

This only makes sense when we are away from home, when we start to notice the absence of what is familiar and everyday. People leaving on a journey or taking a step into a new environment often feel this sense of separation. They are open to new realities, but eager not to lose contact with the people they love.

Often, this deep longing can feel like a sickness, weighing heavily on a person as they feel disoriented by a new reality. They often need to talk to another person on the journey to find what makes sense. This can even be seen in people posting on social media or by making telephone calls, if only to have a familiar presence who helps us make sense of what we are experiencing.

When we encounter the two disciples on the walk back to Emmaus, we encounter the same reality. They are all too aware of all the events leading up to Jesus’ life and death, but struggle to make sense of the empty tomb. This is not just idle chatter; it is a faith conversation about how their hearts have been broken and their hopes dashed.

The supreme irony in this story is that they are unaware that Jesus walks with them and seeks to make sense of who he is, which is more important than the events that have unfolded. Jesus listens to what is most disturbing them and then guides them to understand the scriptures that speak about him. Then, when they reach their destination, he takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, and shares it. These show how this Eucharistic action is mirrored in our celebration whenever we gather for Mass.

What is central to this Eucharistic moment is that Jesus shares himself both in Word and Sacrament. Saint Peter points to this when he notes that the tomb cannot contain him and that he has freed us from the corruption of sin and death. This allows us to understand the fulfilment of the promise that he would sit at God’s right hand and that we would experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

We start to discover that our true home is in heaven and that God walks with us on the journey. This is not just an abandonment of our day-to-day encounters, but a call to accompany each other, especially when we walk together. This shows that true happiness does not come from our own efforts but from our willingness to meet the person of Christ.

We recognise that we cannot meet God on our own or manufacture grace. We are called to a point where, especially when we are besieged by the events of life, God will meet us there. Where two or three are gathered in His name, He is present in their midst.

As we continue our journey together, Jesus makes himself known to us. These may be fleeting moments, but they help us to glimpse the truth. This is the reason we gather each week to celebrate the Eucharist. To listen to the Word broken open for us and the bread taken, blessed, broken, and shared as the precious Body and Blood of Christ. Jesus does not abandon us but walks with us, often unseen, as we share our stories of faith. He enkindles the fire within us so that we may notice his footsteps alongside our own.

Fr. John Armstrong

“The intellectual quest is exquisite, like pearls and coral. But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether. Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to wonder.” (Rumi Wisdom; trans. Timothy Freke)

Fr John’s Reflection – Christmas

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How do we become people of discernment

Joseph shows us the importance of listening to the voice of God. He was a man of honour who sought to live in accord with his Jewish upbringing and in relationship with his betrothed, Mary. The Annunciation and Mary’s yes to the angel raised questions in his mind and heart.

The central question seems to be how he could be faithful to both God and Mary. This would have caused him some sleepless nights about how to show his love for both without being untrue to what he knew to be right.

This is where Joseph is a person who can pray with us when we face difficult choices. In the midst of his dilemma, he opened his heart to God and, in a dream, was prompted to be faithful to God by taking Mary home as his wife.

This is at the heart of our prayer whenever we feel fearful. God works with us so that our prayer guides us to reflect on what is the next obvious step.

As we approach Christmas, we may have many things on our minds and hearts. There is hope that all things will turn out for the good and that we will have a peaceful time.

May any of our sleepless nights be calmed by God, who shows us the way to be faithful in our daily lives.

Fr. John Armstrong

“The intellectual quest is exquisite, like pearls and coral. But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether. Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to wonder.” (Rumi Wisdom; trans. Timothy Freke)

Fr John’s Reflection – 4th Sunday of Advent

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Do Not Lose Heart

There can be impatience that builds into our activity, making us want Christmas to happen too quickly. Yet this is a time when we can take even a few moments each day to notice how the regular events of the day can refresh and renew us. This waiting helps us treasure the moment we are in and the way God speaks to our hearts.

How do we translate the messages that we hear every day? There can be an emphasis on bad news and how people can be so allured by money, power and success. Yet John the Baptist seeks to discover whether Jesus is the one we are waiting for.

Jesus answers that the blind see, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, lepers are cleansed, the lame walk and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor. This is what we hope for: that God will meet us in our most profound need.

As we approach Christmas, may we return to the source of all life and accompany each other along the way. May we hear the words, Courage, be not afraid. That we discover the joy that is not counterfeit but restores the soul to life.

Fr. John Armstrong

“The intellectual quest is exquisite, like pearls and coral. But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether. Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to wonder.” (Rumi Wisdom; trans. Timothy Freke)

Fr John’s Reflection – 3rd Sunday of Advent

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Do Not Lose Heart

There can be impatience that builds into our activity, making us want Christmas to happen too quickly. Yet this is a time when we can take even a few moments each day to notice how the regular events of the day can refresh and renew us. This waiting helps us treasure the moment we are in and the way God speaks to our hearts.

How do we translate the messages that we hear every day? There can be an emphasis on bad news and how people can be so allured by money, power and success. Yet John the Baptist seeks to discover whether Jesus is the one we are waiting for. Jesus answers that the blind see, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, lepers are cleansed, the lame walk and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor. This is what we hope for: that God will meet us in our most profound need.

As we approach Christmas, may we return to the source of all life and accompany each other along the way. May we hear the words, Courage, be not afraid. That we discover the joy that is not counterfeit but restores the soul to life.

 

Fr. John Armstrong

“The intellectual quest is exquisite, like pearls and coral. But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether. Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to wonder.” (Rumi Wisdom; trans. Timothy Freke)

Fr John’s Reflection – 2nd Sunday of Advent

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How do we judge things with integrity?

There can be an urgency in modern culture to have an opinion about everything. This calls us to make instant judgment based on limited information and marginal engagement with the people involved. Yet into this situation, Isaiah shows us how the Spirit of God is called to rest upon us. A spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge and awe. This calls us to be people who seek justice with an integrity of heart that sees the person first and does not seek to make premature presumptions based on what others may say.

St Paul develops this theme when he says that we need to follow the example of Christ in giving glory to God with our lives. This is reflected in how we treat each other in the same friendly way that Christ treats us. This calls us to become people who seek to follow God in all things without making anything into God. John the Baptist wants to discover that the Kingdom of God is close at hand, inviting us to make our paths straight.

There, in the midst of car parks that are full to overflowing, we are called to become people who witness to the glory of God. The kind word, the consideration for people overwhelmed by the simple act of shopping, the person who needs to reverse out of a parking space into a line of traffic. There are numerous ways in which we can show this maturity of presence by seeking what is for the good of the person. We build a kingdom not made of stone but one that abides in the person of Jesus Christ.

Fr. John Armstrong

“The intellectual quest is exquisite, like pearls and coral. But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether. Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to wonder.” (Rumi Wisdom; trans. Timothy Freke)

Fr John’s Reflection – First Sunday of Advent

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Stay Alert

These words echo as we begin the season of Advent. The challenge of staying alert and awake to the reason for the season can often elude us amid the hustle and bustle of modern-day life. There can be many things that demand our attention and divert our attention. This does not just include preparing for Christmas, but it is also the act of remembering the people who are important to us.

There can be a sense, when we are drawing up Christmas card lists, about whether we will send a general email, an ecard, or trust our greetings to an actual card. How do we stay in contact? What do we say, will this sustain our connections, and who will we respond to? This is more than just an obligation; it is a way to notice and pray for those who have influence in our lives.

By way of suggestion, as you are drawing up the list, consider what our prayer intention for them may be this year. This will allow us to go beyond a generic greeting towards a heartfelt invitation to allow God to touch their lives.

This could address the environment in which they live and how they could make a difference. Then write the card. Hopefully, this should not take much time and will help make writing Christmas greetings not another task to be ticked off.

It helps us to notice what intentions we have for each day of Christmas. Make an intention list for each day and pin it on the fridge. These can serve as reminders of what we need to pray for each day.

It also allows us to see how we can touch people in our own square metre by making a conscious effort to act justly, walk humbly and love tenderly as we journey towards Christmas

Fr. John Armstrong

“The intellectual quest is exquisite, like pearls and coral. But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether. Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to wonder.” (Rumi Wisdom; trans. Timothy Freke)

Fr John’s Reflection for Sunday 23 Nov 2025

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Christ knocks at the door and waits

William Holman Hunt drew a picture of Christ the King knocking at the door. The door is overgrown by ivy, and Jesus stands outside in the garden with a lantern. This image invites a more profound reflection: when people viewed it, they noticed there was no handle on the outside of the door.

While Jesus knocks at the door, he gazes out into the world, inviting us in. This profound invitation lies at the heart of this solemnity. Christ looks out to us and seeks to enter. What holds us back?

The Gospel reading may hold some clues for us. Jesus presides over the people from the Cross. It is almost like the picture drawn by William Holman Hunt he is frozen in place. We witness people throwing scorn on Jesus. The leaders and the soldiers both misunderstanding this saving act. They understood salvation as a remedy for present ills rather than a divine embrace.

It is only the good thief who is able to perceive this embrace when he prays to be remembered in the Kingdom.

So our hearts and minds are pierced by this reality that seeks to transform how we see God entering into a relationship with us. This is not a salvation that overlooks suffering but one that seeks to transform it for the good of others and the whole of creation. The answer to the paradox of the Cross is not outside us but how we open our hearts to let Christ enter in.

Fr. John Armstrong

“The intellectual quest is exquisite, like pearls and coral. But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether. Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to wonder.” (Rumi Wisdom; trans. Timothy Freke)

Fr John’s Reflection for Sunday 16 Nov 2025

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The coming of the Lord

Having just started the thirty-day retreat, I am taken back to the experience that I had during my time as spiritual director at the Seminary. I was returning from a rest day in the exercises and as I drew closer to the retreat centre, I could see an ominous cloud of smoke on the horizon. As I drew closer, this only seemed to intensify the sense of danger.

When I pulled into the car park, there was a smell of ash and smoke in the air, and all the cars had disappeared. I then found the seminarians happily playing volleyball at the bottom of the hill. Yet the danger remained throughout the retreat; we had evacuation plans in place and times when we had to stay put, awaiting advice from the SES. In the midst of this, the seminarians maintained the silence and more deeply encountered the Lord.

The reality is that, in everyday tasks, we often become overwhelmed by real threats to our lives and livelihoods. Yet in the midst of these adversities, we are called to trust in the Lord who comes to rule the earth. This is so that rather than being distracted by whatever everyone else is doing, we are called to remain focused on what has been entrusted to us. In this way, we quietly go on working and earning the food we eat.

Jesus echoes this reality when doomsayers emerge in our midst. Calling us to fear the future based on the fact that we know at the moment. Yet we are called to build on firm foundations, knowing that it is in discovering Christ that we make a person who can sustain us against our deepest fear and our greatest peril. He seeks for us to endure even when we do not know what to say or do. He provides the courage to take the next obvious step.

Fr. John Armstrong

“The intellectual quest is exquisite, like pearls and coral. But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether. Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to wonder.” (Rumi Wisdom; trans. Timothy Freke)

Fr John’s reflection for Sunday 9 Nov 2025

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Crossing the threshold of hope

Over this last year there has been a pilgrimage of hope that has seen millions of pilgrims pass through the Holy Doors that have been opened for this jubilee. In the city of Rome, there are four major basilicas each of which opened a holy door for the Jubilee of Hope.

These are the basilicas of St Mary Major, St Paul outside the walls, St Peter’s Basilica and Archbasilica Cathedral of the Most Holy Saviour of Saint John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, also called St John Lateran for short, it is oldest and is the mother Church of Rome and the whole world.

As we honour the mother Church of the whole world, we are called to ponder the importance of a Church building that is dedicated to the worship of God.

It is the Pope’s cathedral and was dedicated in 324. We are called to prayer for how these sacred places shape us into places where we encounter God in a profound way.

Yet it is the liminal space where we stand at the lintel of these holy places that we are called to notice the transition that takes place. We move from the outside to the inside and are often stunned by the beauty that has been preserved over the years. Yet do we notice the beauty that we encounter within ourselves.

Any pilgrimage is more than taking photos or recording experiences; it looks to what lasts rather than what is transitional. As people return home from entering these four buildings and praying there what remains of the experience that is foundational for our Christian life.

St Paul hints at this when he says, “you are God’s building”. Building on the foundation of Christ we are called to discover the sacredness not just of Churches but of people who gather in them.

The building in its essence helps us to discover how the Spirit of God is living among us. As he says the temple of God is sacred and you are that temple.

I think this is what provokes Jesus into a rage where he overturns tables, scatters coins and drives out animals. It is trying to block the person’s encounter with the sacred through trading in spiritual goods.

We should always have this in our consciousness of how we make it easier for people to develop the sacred space within them.

Ezekiel when he points to how a stream of water flows eastward from the temple. This water seeks to make the sea wholesome. It also allows fruit trees to flourish, produce fruit and leaves that are medicinal. The essence is that what flows into the temple also flows out into the world.

We are called to be people who have the mind of Christ and look at what helps people to thrive. To allow people space to discover holiness and listen to how God is moving in their lives.

This is a slow patient process that allows them to be nurtured and watered with life giving water. We are called to become people who proclaim a jubilee of hope.

Fr. John Armstrong

“The intellectual quest is exquisite, like pearls and coral. But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether. Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to wonder.” (Rumi Wisdom; trans. Timothy Freke)