Category: Conferences

Beginning with his homily on Good Shepherd Sunday, +Jerome has given extensive teaching concerning the imagery and concept of the Good Shepherd and its practical realisation in the lives of 21C Christians.

Delivered during broadcast Mass on Good Shepherd Sunday 2021

• His Grace reflects on the personification in Christ of God as the Good Shepherd described in the Old Testament, made a present reality in the fulfilment of Christ’s gospel mission, His passion, death and resurrection;
• of the Gospel as vocation i.e. God calling humanity to Himself in the voice of the Good Shepherd, via the incarnate Word and of the necessity of the sheep to discern and recognise the voice of the Good Shepherd through Divine Revelation and the Apostolic tradition and doctrine;
• how to recognise the “hirelings” referred to in the Gospel (John 10) by their nature, behaviour and false teaching, contrasting their doctrine with the constant and consistent doctrine of Christ in His Church via the legacy of His Apostles and their true successors i.e. those still preaching without deviation, the doctrine received from Christ.

Delivered during Mass broadcast on the Feria of (Monday following) Good Shepherd Sunday

• His Grace speaks to vocational discernment i.e. the general vocation of the Gospel to all humanity and then of the particular vocation of individuals;
• of the individuality of our calling as unique persons purposed, conceived and given life by God for His Will, called by name by God to communion with Him;
• of the importance of individuals discerning, honing and disciplining their “skills, gifts, talents, abilities and predispositions” as innate gifts bestowed by God equipping them for the realisation of His Will i.e. of the ultimate good of humanity, realised through communion with Him by extension within the fellowship of the Church;
• how Christian adults and communities should be places where young Christians i.e. younger people, may be helped to discern their “skills, gifts, talents and abilities” guided and mentored by the older and experienced members of the church family, perhaps supplanting or substituting for the lack of individual discernment available in a school system designed for the many rather than the individual;
• of the necessity ideally of church families being collaborations between baptised individuals identifying, nurturing, mentoring, enabling, cooperating and pooling together their particular “gifts, skills, talents and abilities” to realise them for the common good of the Church and of the community they would serve.

Delivered during live broadcast 19th April 2021

• His Grace begins by reflecting on the portrayal of God in the Old Testament as shepherd and then how that metaphor becomes reality in Christ as the Good Shepherd;
• then he shares an anecdote about the experience of a tourist with Middle Eastern shepherds, observing how sheep recognise and follow the voice of their shepherd and not another, but learns that sheep will follow any voice when they are ill and how this relates to so many people who, having stopped learning how to recognise and discern the Good Shepherd’s voice, end up wandering off and getting lost, falling into despair or confusion often through an affliction – of lack of faith, doubt, distraction, self interest etc;
• His Grace then reads from the prophet Ezekiel about false shepherds and God’s statement that He will claim His flock back for His own, Christ becoming the realisation of this prophecy;
• through Divine Revelation and the Apostolic teaching we can learn to know and recognise the voice of the Good Shepherd, but this requires us to study, availing ourselves of the benefit of 2’000 years of collective insight, wisdom, knowledge and lived experience, this is how we become “good sheep” through familiarity with the Scriptures and embrace of the consistency and constancy of the Apostolic teaching within the Church;
• the Holy Spirit enables baptised Christians through the sensus fidelium to innately recognise the authentic voice of Christ when presented with new doctrines – comparing it with the consistency and constancy of the Apostolic tradition;
• to be “good sheep” requires effort on the part of individual Christians themselves to use the God-given attributes of humanity to rise above the maelstrom of emotional and subjective thinking to use the higher intellectual capability to reason above the limits and constraints of our empirical experience of life, to grasp and exercise objective reason to perceive and realise the ultimate good i.e. God’s love;
• adulting as Christians means rising above the subjective and emotional and engaging the rational mind to overcome and subdue feelings, the antithesis to the contemporary zeitgeist which seeks to elevate subjectivity and emotions above facts and objective truth;
• adulting as Christians means being able to recognise one’s identity ultimately in relation to God’s image and growing into His likeness, through humility and subjugation of self will to embracing His Will and recognising the fulfilment of His Will as the ultimate good and purpose of their life;
• being “good sheep” means also to trust in God’s providence, having a balanced appreciation and understanding of incarnational living i.e. a balance between the spiritual and the material and the right appreciation of material things as tools for enabling God’s Will rather than as ends in themselves or for ourselves, to trust in God to provide what is necessary for us to sustain life and share His love;
• that “good sheep” have as the foundation of their lives, prayer – as an expression of communion with God and the means of effecting and realising communion with Him.

A NEW series of conferences by His Grace for Advent exploring the Sunday liturgies, the themes, Scripture lessons, Propers and customs of the Traditional Latin Rite. Titled “Lumen gentium” (light to the nations) the series will continue after Advent into the New Year through Christmas and Epiphany to Candlemas.

Every Monday, Archbishop Jerome will explain the thematic context of the Sunday’s liturgy of the day before. What is it Holy Mother Church wants us to experience, to believe, to live from the worship she has developed and offered over two thousand years to adore and glorify God? What is she asking us to believe about God, about ourselves in relationship with Him and what does this mean for our lives and how and why we should worship Him and manifest this belief in our lives?

Taking the Proper (Latin: proprium) of the Mass i.e. those variable parts of the liturgy reflecting the liturgical season, or of a particular saint or significant event; the Archbishop will explain the Scriptural derivation, context and thus relevance to the theme of the liturgy. From the Introit through to the Communion Antiphon, the Archbishop will explain the origins of the verses and the “anamnesis” i.e. what we are supposed to remember or recall of God’s saving deeds.

His Grace will also take us through the lections i.e. the readings of the Mass, using exegesis to explain the context and thus the relevance of the reading to the theme of the liturgy. Part bible-study and part spiritual reflection, the Archbishop will draw out the themes Holy Church wishes us to understand from the Scriptures.

Finally, His Grace will explain how all this information may be relevant to our lives as Christians; what it means for worship, what it means for our understanding and knowledge, what it means for our lives and the application of these lessons to our living out of the Faith. If there’s time… His Grace will take questions live from viewers in the comments!

Watch the series below as each episode is aired and recorded

EPISODE I The first week of Advent

• Background and history to the development and observance of the season of Advent.
• The context of the Mass liturgy within the structure of the liturgical office i.e. the connection between the Mass and the Breviary.
• The First Sunday of Advent liturgy.

EPISODE II The second week of Advent

• Why the discrepancy between Protestant and Catholic bibles ref the numbering of Psalms.
• Isaiah the prophet of the Messiah, the keystone of the Advent liturgy.
• The Second Sunday of Advent liturgy.

EPISODE III the Third Week of Advent