If I ask anybody here if they love to experience pain, particularly physical pain, well I'd think you’re a masochist if you would ever say yes.

The Gospel this Sunday has a beautiful healing story. Jesus heals a person who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. In the Gospel, we are told that, unlike some of the miracles of Jesus, we see a ritual being performed here.

There was an old woman who was very conscious about observing the “one-hour fast” before receiving communion. She went to Mass one Sunday noting the time she finished breakfast, which was shortly before she left the house.

Born in a small town in Madagascar, Marius Razafimandimby could not have imagined in his childhood that he would one day be living in Australia and completing his final studies towards becoming a Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) priest.Born in a small town in Madagascar, Marius Razafimandimby could not have imagined in his childhood that he would one day be living in Australia and completing his final studies towards becoming a Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) priest.

But, he says that coming across the world to complete his formation at the SVD formation house, Dorish Maru College in Melbourne has broadened his horizons.
“Missionary life is a widening of everyone’s horizon,” he says.

Today’s Gospel reminds us that our faith journey can sometimes experience some serious challenges.  Jesus had said things about Himself and about eating His body and drinking His blood that a number of his followers could not accept.

The movie “Alive” which came out in 1993, featuring John Malcovich and Ethan Hawke, is about the Uruguayan Rugby Team whose plane crashed on the side of the Andes and a lot of their team mates died, together with the pilots and the flight attendants.

As a way of honouring St Mary of the Cross this morning, would you mind if I respond to those words by sharing with you some reflections on the mystery of the Cross?

Maybe once in a while we have met some people who seemed to have everything in life; a good house, a flash car, a high-paying job, manage to travel around the world at a moment’s notice but somehow there’s something that is missing.

In today’s gospel the story of Jesus’ feeding of the thousands that came to hear him preach is a story of a very different kind of miracle.

We used to have a saying in the seminary, “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies those he called.” The first reading and the gospel for today tells us exactly that.