Look what happened to the people who built the Tower of Babel. They said to themselves, without any reference to God whatsoever:

Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves (Genesis 11).

What was the result of this godless egotism?

The Lord dispersed them all over the face of all the earth.

Its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth and dispersed them.

Common language collapsed. Communal life disintegrated.

In our time, genuine discussion has become more than difficult. Shared values are no longer.

Pentecost reverses the disorientating experience of Babel:

Something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire. These separated and came to rest on the head of each of them.

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech (Acts 2).

The tongues are symbolic:

The tongues symbolise eloquence.

The light from the fires symbolises wisdom.

The warmth of the fire symbolises love (St. Robert Bellarmine).

Speak with eloquence, wisdom, and love. Things will change – quickly.

AMEN.

The Church teaches that priests receive the triple Munera when ordained. This Latin word means both gift and service. They are called to govern, preach and celebrate.

Governing means forming the Body of Christ. Of great importance, too, is:

The preaching of the Gospel, which is the primary role of priests, and celebrating the mysteries of faith, which is the principal role of priests (Vatican Council II, Order of Priests, 5).

Romans 10 sheds light on the matter:

How are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?

Pope Leo XIV spoke recently about creating a vocational culture:

We must have the courage to make strong and liberating proposals to young people and to ensure that there are forms of youth ministry centred on the Gospel, for this is where the call to total gift of self emerges and matures.

It is necessary to keep a vocational perspective in every pastoral setting, particularly in those involving young people and families.

This seems eminently sensible and doable. We begin anew.

AMEN.

Luke is writing to Theophilus (Acts 1). That is, he is writing to you and naming you as ‘Lover of God.’

What a beautiful thought.

The love of God is within us:

Where did it come from? What is its origin?

We take our cue from Pope St. Leo the Great (440-461), an excellent teacher of faith.

He says that ‘great mysteries are established and great truths revealed between the days of the ‘Lord’s resurrection and ascension’:

The Lord set before the eyes and hearts of his followers one consideration: that the Lord Jesus Christ, who was truly born, truly suffered and truly died, should be recognised as truly risen (Ascension Sermon 1).

Embed that word ‘truly’ in your spirit, soul and body.

These mysteries and truths enter the hearts of the faithful in such a powerful and tangible way that the Lord’s ascension leads, not to sorrow, but to joy.

The death of Jesus, Leo says, filled us with fear. Our faith in the resurrection, says Leo, was hesitant, but no longer:

The days between the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus are the gamechanger.

Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection has entered us.

We are Theophilus.

AMEN.

A study of recent popes (Pope John XXIII-Pope Leo XIV) revealed that Pope Francis refers to the devil more than any other.

Jesus called the devil a murderer, deceiver and accuser.

So, when we read in Acts 8 that ‘unclean spirits came shrieking out of many who were possessed,’ we can be sure that death, deceit and defamation are being confronted and expelled.

Pope Francis highlights the accusatorial role of satan:

The devil is the arch-defamer of humanity. He revels in accusing.

Failure is a constant in human life. Sometimes sinful, sometimes not. The devil loves to accuse us when we’ve failed:

‘There you go,’ he says, ‘you’re no good after all.’

‘You’re a waste of space.’

On the contrary, the Father and Jesus send forth the Advocate:

‘One called to our side.’

It is he who encourages and enlivens after our experience of failure.

We live in times of generalised moral decay. Unless faith and reason are pursued, we can expect further deterioration.

Now is the time to sow seeds of life, truth and hope – not death, deceit and defamation:

‘Come Holy Spirit,’ we pray, ‘come, stay with us, reveal the Father and Son.’

AMEN.

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Why are people surprised that popes are on the side of world peace?

During World War I, Pope Benedict XV was criticised for calling for peace. Pope Leo XIV recently held a prayer vigil for peace with the troubles in the middle east.

What is surprising is that some people accused Pope Leo XIV of dumping the Just War Theory. He did nothing of the sort.

Notice what the pope actually said:

In the context of the 2003 Iraq war crisis, Saint John Paul II said with deep emotion:

‘I belong to that generation that lived through World War II and, thanks be to God, survived it.

I have the duty to those who are younger than I, who have not had this experience: No more war, as Paul VI said during his first visit to the United Nations.

We must do everything possible.

We know well that peace is not possible at any price. But we all know how great is this responsibility’ (16 March 2003).

Peace is not possible at any price. There are times when we must defend ourselves against unjust aggressors.

It is helpful to read what Leo XIV actually said.

AMEN.

The Gospel of John has seven ‘I AM’ statements. Today we encounter:

I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14).

We have a 4,000-year spiritual tradition. It all began with Abraham and Sarah, Christ being the foundation stone.

Catechisms attempt to capture some of the richness that has been bequeathed to us. They follow the structure of Creed, Code, Cult, Communion:

Jesus is the Truth. We have a Creed (beliefs).

Jesus is the Life. We have a Cult (sacraments).

Jesus is the Way. We have a Code (morality).

Jesus teaches us to pray (communion).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church was published in 1994 and is one of the best the Church has ever offered.

Then followed the YOUCAT series. A superb collection of resources, forming the minds and hearts of young people:

YOUCAT

YOUCAT Prayer

YOUCAT Confirmation

YOUCAT My First Holy Communion

YOUCAT Confession

YOUCAT Bible

DOCAT

YOUCAT for Kids

YOUCAT Daily

YOUCAT Love Forever

YOUCAT Faith Course

YOUCAT Dialogical Catechesis

There is surely a special place in heaven for those who take the truth of our faith and put it into palatable language, forming heart and mind.

God bless them.

AMEN.

Luke speaks of the ‘narrow door’ (Luke 13). Matthew speaks of the ‘narrow gate’ (Matthew 7).

Either way, the metaphor is evocative, challenging:

The difficulty of Jesus’ path is not some kind of ascetic self-flagellation either. It is simply the difficulty of choosing and persevering in the distinctive way of life outlined by Jesus (Montague, Companion God, p.117).

Experience is helpful.

We decide to ‘roll the dice’ and make a lifetime decision. What seems restrictive is, in fact, expansive. The commitment – the ‘narrow gate’ – liberates us:

A young couple ‘roll the dice’ and enter matrimony – a word that means ‘mother making,’ and by implication, ‘father making.’ The adventure of love and life begins.

John, for his part, dilates the metaphor of the ‘narrow gate.’ Christ is the gate:

I AM the gate.

Anyone who enters through me will be safe. He will go freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture (John 10).

Moreover, Christ is the ‘pasture,’ transcending human understanding.

With Jesus there is ‘breadth and length,’ ‘height and depth’ – a love surpassing any form of human knowledge’ (Ephesians 3).

We ‘roll the dice’ again – and walk with others through the ‘narrow gate.’

AMEN.

Popes write teaching documents for faith-edification.

Pope St. John Paul II published a document in 2004, meaning ‘Stay with us, Lord.’

The opening paragraph is exquisite:

Stay with us, Lord, for it is almost evening (Luke 24).

This was the insistent invitation that the two disciples journeying to Emmaus on the evening of the day of the resurrection addressed to the Wayfarer who had accompanied them on their journey.

Jesus, our Wayfarer. He walks with us. We walk with him:

We have come from God. We are going to God. God is with us, every step of the way.

Note that there are two disciples. They had lost hope, but not their memories.

Jesus gave a clear missionary mandate to the seventy-two:

Go out two-by-two (Luke 10).

Nothing worthwhile happens on our own. Everything worthwhile happens with others.

Together they walked. Together they received a resurrection appearance of the Lord. Together their hearts burned within.

Together they speak in the plural, not singular, and plead with Jesus to stay with us. Together they celebrate the breaking of bread. Together their eyes are opened.

Let’s be insistent in our prayer life:

Stay with us, Lord. Please!

AMEN.

Easter proclaims:

Go out and tell the people about this new life (Acts 5).

What is this ‘new life’?

The whole community remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2).

Furthermore, and not an optional extra:

The faithful all lived together and owned everything in common.

The Church has always defended the right to private property.

With the advancement of the Industrial Revolution in the 19^th Century, society faced a double-edged sword:

One, an explosion of material wealth, but unevenly distributed.

Two, the utopian socialist solution advocating the abolition of private property to address the inequity.

The first truly modern pope – Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) – faced the challenge with competence and courage.

He defended both the right to private property and the right of association.

However, the right to private property is a ‘relative right.’ Pope John Paul II coined the phrase that all ‘private property has a social mortgage’ on it.

That is, we have a right to possess things, but we must use these gifts for the benefit of others.

In this way, we can be one with the early Christian brethren.

AMEN.

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The four gospels have discrepancies in detail, including the resurrection of Jesus.

Not so long-ago academics postulated that the discrepancies arose because of the political posturing of the four gospel writers.

However, our ‘brilliant academics’ forgot to factor in the nature of oral tradition:

The slight variations between the gospels show all the marks of oral tradition, for in genuine oral tradition each ‘performance’ is different.

Different people tell the story slightly differently, stressing different aspects (Henry Wansbrough, Universalis).

John’s account of the empty tomb varies from that of Matthew, Mark and Luke.

In the ancient world, it was the custom for thieves to raid tombs, take the expensive cloths, and sell them on the black market, and leave behind the body – mortal remains – of the deceased.

Not so the tomb of Jesus.

Peter walks right into the tomb, sees the linen cloths, but not the body of Jesus.

It is a counter-cultural event par excellence.

Deferring to Peter, John waits at the entrance, and then he enters the sacred sepulchre.

John reveals that ‘he sees and he believes.’

In we go, after Peter and John, and we let this prodigious, dramatic and splendid counter-cultural event penetrate us.

AMEN.

Theology seeks to understand the meaning of events, so as to help us spiritually.

After praying the Angelus, Pope Leo XIV spoke about the meaning of the resurrection of Lazarus:

This event invites us to free our hearts from habits, conditioning and ways of thinking which, like boulders, shut us away in the tomb of selfishness, materialism, violence and superficiality.

In these places there is no life, but only confusion, dissatisfaction and loneliness (22 March 2026).

Surely we feel like this from time to time?

We can be terribly selfish. We let ourselves be swamped with materialism. We acquiesce with violence, tolerating it in movies and on social media. We forget our foundation stone – Christ – and reap a harvest of superficiality.

The pope wants us to enter the scene and hear Jesus say:

Jesus also cries out to us: ‘Come out!’ (John 11:43), urging us to emerge from these cramped spaces, renewed by his grace, to walk in the light of love, as new women and men, capable of hoping and loving, without calculation and without measure, according to the model of his infinite charity.

We are very weak.

Our strength is the word and voice of Christ.

AMEN.

Jesus of Nazareth is murdered.

His innocent blood flows freely in and over each one of us.

Matthew 26-27 begins with a critical preamble.

An unnamed woman anoints Jesus at Bethany (Matthew 26:6-13). The apostles are not happy, but Jesus ‘sets them straight’:

Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a beautiful service for me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.

By pouring this ointment on my body, she has prepared me for burial.

The Greek word ‘kalos’ means ‘beautiful,’ and carries the connotation of ‘appropriate or fitting for this occasion:’

In other words, this unnamed woman understood the cost of the passion of Jesus, demonstrated by her extravagant – beautiful – use of the ointment (Brendan Byrne, SJ).

Contrast this with Judas who sells Jesus cheaply. She, not he, understands the infinite worth of Jesus.

An early second century homily rallies around such thinking:

We ought to regard Jesus Christ as God and judge of the living and the dead. We should not hold our Saviour in low esteem.

Jesus is unique. There is no one like him at all.

We let reverence and love be aroused.

AMEN.

Pope Leo XIV is an Augustinian. Is it any surprise he likes to quote St. Augustine?

The pope recently visited the Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Ponte Mammolo (Rome), and naturally enough he cited the saint:

Saint Augustine, speaking about the face of God, of which we are called to be a mirror in the world, said to the Christians of his time:

‘What sort of face has love? What form has it? What stature? What feet? What hands has it?’

‘It has feet, for these carry men to church. It has hands, for these reach forth to the poor. It has eyes, so that we consider the needy’ (In Epistolam Joannis, ad Parthos, 7, 10).

The Catholic Church is the ‘universal’ Church, because we embrace all peoples and cultures.

The Church is often referred to as the People of God, less often as the Bride of Christ.

The Body of Christ is the most popular term, found in the preaching of St. Paul (Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians).

Why?

Christ is the head. We, his body, are called to love as Christ loves. Augustine continued:

‘Take it, clasp it. There is nothing sweeter.’

AMEN.

Research affirms what makes great parishes:

Good Community

Good Teaching and Preaching

Good Music.

In other words, an experience of love, an experience of truth, an experience of beauty.

With Christ at the centre of our community, teaching, music and art, we shall – with the help of Almighty God – create great parishes.

Recently, the pope visited the parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Rome. It was Pope Leo XIII who asked St. John Bosco to establish the parish near Termini Train Station.

Pope Leo XIV:

Dear parishioners, I see in you a special presence of closeness, of proximity amid the challenges of this area.

In fact, there are many young university students, commuters who come and go for work, immigrants looking for employment, young refugees who have found the opportunity to meet peers.

Within a few metres, you can touch the contradictions of this time: the carefree spirit of those who come and go with all comforts, and those who have no roof over their heads; the many possibilities for good, and rampant violence; the desire to work honestly and the illegal trafficking of drugs and prostitution.

Amidst the contradictions of life, we can make a difference.

AMEN.

The Gospel of John has seven signs.

John prefers to call them signs since all events are exterior and interior by nature. This accounts for the different reactions and responses people can, and do, have to them.

The healing of the blind man from birth is earthy, tangible and dramatic:

As Jesus went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. Jesus spat on the ground, made a paste with spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man, and said to him, ‘Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam, a name which means ‘sent’ (John 9).

The blind man responds well and believes in Jesus. The Pharisees react badly and do not believe.

Why?

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) taught that two things are needed to believe:

First, an exterior event such as a miracle, or some revelation through teaching or preaching that arouses interest.

Second, an interior grace is required.

God has to act in the soul, preparing and tilling it for belief:

We must assert another internal cause, which is from God moving us inwardly by grace (ST, 2-2, q.6, a.1).

We best try and be sensitive to this inward grace.

AMEN.

Bishop Erik Varden gave the Papal Lenten Retreat 2026 and spoke about biblical paradox.

The word comes from the Greek:

Para - Beyond

Doxos - Opinion.

It is one among many literary techniques that is able to express profound truths, not open to conventional language. For example:

Less is more.

Apparently, Adolf Hitler hated the Bible because it is full of paradox.

Life is full of paradox, and so we find metaphorical language to express it. John’s Gospel highlights the paradox of Jesus’ death:

It is the supreme moment of glory.

What presents as a complete and utter failure, is the salvation of the world.

Each of us is a paradox. We are faithful, yet full of infidelity:

When Jesus spelled out what it means to remain with him, to enter the Kingdom towards which he was pointing, ‘many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him’.

They would not put up with his discourses about sacramental realism, the indissolubility of marriage, the necessity of the Cross.

When Christ was crucified on Calvary, the synodos that had walked with him six days before was no more (Varden).

Let’s be honest with ourselves this Lent.

AMEN.

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John will be the dominant evangelist for Lent from hereon in:

Today the Woman at the Well, then the Healing of the Blind Man, followed by the Raising of Lazarus. The Holy Thursday Gospel features John. Good Friday always rolls out John.

On route from Judea to Galilee Jesus ‘had to pass’ through Samaria – a common phrase in John, indicating Jesus’ faithfulness to the Father and the Father’s will.

We should not underestimate, for a minute, John’s alertness to Jesus’ humanity:

Jesus, tired by the journey, sat down there at Jacob’s well. It was about noon (John 4:6).

What a wonderful thing it is to feel tiredness, don’t you think? Especially if you have been doing God’s work.

Take notice of the well:

It’s a trysting place – a rendezvous for lovers.

Isaac’s servant met Rebecca at a well. Jacob met Rachael at a well. Moses met Zipporah at a well.

The unnamed woman meets Jesus at a well.

Take notice of her journey of faith:

She calls Jesus sir, then prophet, then messiah.

Yes, with our chequered backgrounds, our reluctance, our dullness of spirit, it takes time to fall in love with Jesus.

But it does happen.

AMEN.

SPECIAL NOTE: The Scaffolding Newletter’s speeches, podcasts and weekly reflections are now available on the website tongues-of-fire.org.

Visit www.tongues-of-fire.org for more details.

Pope Leo XIV, on annual retreat, has been sitting at the feet of Bishop Erik Varden (Norway) who reflected on the question:

What is truth?

Christ is truth itself and so truth is personal – both objective and subjective.

When I can say, ‘I am not a thief,’ I have taken the objective truth – ‘Thou shalt not steal’ – and internalised it perfectly.

Varden makes this claim:

Ambition represents a particular form of capitulation to untruth.

Why would this be the case?

Because humility is truth.

We offer ourselves in service, after the example of Christ, not wanting to take the ‘higher places.’

Varden enlists St. Bernard (1090-1153) to cement his argument:

Ambition is a subtle ill, a secret virus, an occult pest, an artisan of deceit; it is the mother of hypocrisy, the parent of envy, the origin of vices; it is kindling for crimes, causing virtues to rust, holiness to rot, hearts to be blinded. Remedies it turns into illnesses. From medicine it extracts apathy.

Now that is some spiritual flurry. Varden says:

Ambition alienates the mind. It is a madness that comes about when truth is forgotten. A form of insanity.

A good, spiritual workout for Lent!

AMEN.

SPECIAL NOTE: The Scaffolding Newletter’s speeches, podcasts and weekly reflections are now available on the website tongues-of-fire.org.

Visit www.tongues-of-fire.org for more details.

Evidently, the first two weeks of Lent encourage us to reflect upon the mystery of Jesus.

The testing of Jesus manifests his humanity (Matthew 4).

Our good friend Brendan Byrne, SJ, says Jesus is being invited to the false self, and what is true for Jesus is applicable to us:

We are tested to identify with what we do.

We are tested to identify with what people think of us.

We are tested to identify with possessions – wealth, thoughts or ambitions.

The transfiguration of Jesus manifests his divinity:

There in their presence he was transfigured. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light (Matthew 17).

Eyes are opened – Jesus reveals his glory. Ears are opened – the Father speaks with clarity:

This is my Son, the Beloved; he enjoys my favour. Listen to him.

Our good friend Austin Cooper, OMI, sees in the transfiguration of Jesus the essence of Christian spirituality:

Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone.

We let ourselves be taken.

We put aside the false self in favour of the true self.

AMEN.