Homilies and Letters

“Lift up the light of your face on us, O Lord”. That was the Psalm response – a beautiful prayer, especially for Eastertide. God has lifted up his Son from…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, happy Easter! Easter really is a happy thing. It’s the happy thing.  It’s the happiness that rescues every other happiness, be it great or small. Easter…

“Come, Easter, come” said a poet (Vernon Watkins). Well, Easter is coming – here and now. Coming out of the dark of a long winter. Coming after much Lenten preparation.…

Over the road, in Crown St, are some offices the homeless charity Shelter. Shelter – isn’t that what we’re seeking today, Good Friday? The shelter of divine charity.

The Last Supper, and our Mass tonight, are intense and full of “stuff”; full of words and gestures, of old and new; so intimate and anguished all at once, desolate…

Today’s Mass stands out. It’s one of those diocesan occasions when the Church puts on her best clothes. Here we are, laity, religious, deacons, priests and a bishop. Here is…

Do we love the Lord? We want to, surely. And why do we love him? I mean, why do I, you, each of us love him? Why are we bothered…

Our Lord is not a lonely planet. He’s part of a galaxy, the heart of a galaxy, and many stars cluster round him. And of all who orbit the Lord,…

A fortnight is not a long time, and in a fortnight, it will be Easter. In 12 days it will be Good Friday, and next Sunday is Palm Sunday. Easter…

“It was he who sent me”, says Jesus to his adversaries in today’s Gospel. Jesus was sent by the Father to show him to the world and bring us to…

“Time and again you offered them covenants”. So, says the 4th Eucharistic Prayer. Covenants are the theme of this Lent’s first readings. On the 1st Sunday of Lent, we heard…

1. God, of thy pity, unto us thy children Bend down thine ear in thine own lovingkindness, And all thy people’s prayers and vows ascending Hear, we beseech thee.

Today, candidates from the Cathedral parish and St Joseph’s School will sign up, as it were, to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation later in the year. Through that Sacrament we…

Today we hear from St Mark of our Lord’s temptation in the desert, from Genesis of God’s promise to Noah and family after the flood, and from St Peter of…

May I ask, have you noticed the birdsong? The temperature rises a little and out it bubbles. City life can separate us from these things; it fills our lives with…

Today, the ship of Lent sets sail and we climb on board. Today, Mother Church, Mother Lent – wearing purple – comes towards us, and puts ashes on our forehead.

In today’s Collect we turned to the “Almighty, ever-living God”. We turned to him because he “governs all things both in heaven and on earth. “Hear the pleading of your…

It struck me recently that whenever the Holy Family, this micro-family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, is mentioned in the Gospels, they are almost always on the move. In today’s…

Today we come to the Epiphany – a beautiful feast. Without it Christmas would be incomplete, just as Easter would be incomplete without Pentecost. Without Epiphany – which means “shining…

In the light of the Gospel we’ve just heard, I want to reflect on the experience of the shepherds. I think there are connections there for us.

“A child is born for us and a son is given to us.” Today – I think we’ve all noticed it – is Christmas Day. And here’s a question: is…

Well, we’re there – all but there. We will certainly be there by the end of tonigth’s Mass. We will be in Bethlehem and Bethlehem will be here.

“Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing which has happened which the Lord has made known to us” (Lk 2:15). This is what the shepherds say to…

Advent is a parable. Advent is a good word to describe the whole of life. Isn’t our life a preparation for meeting the Lord?

In about 1945, an American priest founded a group called the Christophers – the name means Christ-bearers. Its aim was to encourage positive action for the good of society. And…

Brothers and Sister in Christ, today Advent begins. In the matter of Christmas, there are two different approaches, two philosophies, at play: the world’s and the Church’s. The world’s is:…

Today’s Gospel is famous, rightly so. The question put to Jesus, “Master, which is the greatest commandment in the Law” was an attack, another attempt to catch Jesus out. But…

This is some Gospel. Let’s explore it. Jesus heads beyond the borders of the Holy Land, travelling north towards what is now southern Lebanon. He is on his way into…

Brothers and Sisters,  last Sunday, I was in Lisbon with the Holy Father for the final Mass of World Youth Day. I was there for the full week leading up…

“Mary set off as quickly as she could”. So begins today’s Gospel. I prefer the more literal translation: “Mary arose and went with haste”. This was the very text chosen…

Today our Sanctuary is different. Here is a replica of the statue of St Michael the Archangel in the shrine of Monte Gargano in southern Italy, which is touring Scotland,…

Today’s Gospel begins with the compassion of Jesus. He saw the crowds, “harassed and dejected” like sheep without a shepherd. And he “felt sorry” for them. He was moved by…

Today is an opportunity to connect with our Lady, Mary, the chief patron of this Abbey. And this can only refresh us.

In an episode of The Chosen, a child asks Jesus what his favourite food is. He replies that he likes many foods, but that his favourite is bread. This is…

In today’s reading from the book of Eccelsiasticus or Sirach (44: 1-15), a Palestinian sage of the 2nd century before Christ evokes his ancestors, first in general and then all…

“The Lord is my shepherd” – is there any phrase in the Bible so well-known? So cherished? Is there any biblical metaphor for the Lord so familiar as that of…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, one of the joys of Eastertide is hearing the accounts of the appearances of Jesus after his Resurrection. Today, we hear the familiar and beautiful account…

Christos voskres! Voistynu voskres! Christ is risen! He is truly risen! Last night I had the joy of hearing those words at a Ukrainian Catholic Liturgy here in this Cathedral,…

When we confess our sins, we generally begin with the word ‘I’. That’s best actually: we are meant to confess our sins, rather than those of others! We begin with…

We continue our Passover, our three-day Paschal journey, and arrive today at the foot of the Cross, with Mary and John and the other faithful disciples. The event of Maundy…

Tonight we are at the heart of our Triduum, our Passover. And how full tonight’s liturgy is with passings, transitions! With the entry of the Paschal candle and the lighting…

Today any preacher is in a good place. All he has to do is say what Easter says. And Easter says: Christ is risen! God has raised the crucified and…

Last Sunday, Palm Sunday, began with St Matthew’s account of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem. And the Evangelist noted how shaken the city was by his coming. And everyone asked,…

“And when he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, ‘Who is this?’” Who is this? Who is this the story of whose suffering and death we have just…

I was once in a synagogue, not in Nazareth but in Aberdeen. We came to the readings. And the question was asked, is there a priest here? i.e., a descendant…

On the 3rd Sunday of Lent, the Gospel of the Samaritan woman was proclaimed. Last Sunday, the Gospel of the man born blind. Today, we hear the Gospel of the…

St Joseph was a quiet man, it seems. He was told by the angel to name Mary’s child – so we know that he pronounced the holy name of Jesus.…

In the hushed, verdant garden of the cloister grow many things: not just wispy beards, but human plants and flowers, shrubs and bushes, trees, every kind of flora. Together they…

Last Sunday, we were taken to the desert, with Jesus fasting for forty days and forty nights, the original Lent.

According to a prayer on Ash Wednesday, we are beginning “[a] campaign of Christian service”. We “take up battle…armed with the weapons of self-restraint”. Lent, to coin a phrase, is…

There’s plenty going on here this evening. The first of the Station Masses that will lead us to Holy Week. The opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The Way of…

Today we receive the ashes, a reminder we will die. Today we hear the call to repent, to change our attitudes. Today the Gospel speaks of almsgiving, prayer and fasting.…

Today many things come together. New Year’s Day, of course, and then the news of Pope Emeritus Benedict’s passing yesterday, and more still. Today is the Octave Day of Christmas,…

Here it is! Christmas Day in the Year of our Lord 2022. “Generations have trod, have trod, have trod”, said a poet. He meant it in a weary, unhappy way.…

He has arrived! The journey to Bethlehem is over, Mary’s time has come, the child has been born, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, there being no…

The President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland Bishop Hugh Gilbert has paid tribute to Pope EmeritusBenedict XVI who died earlier today (Saturday 31 December 2022). Commenting on the late…

What does Mary say to us today? A seminarian told me how he was instructed during preaching practice not to mention “grace” in homilies. We all know “don’t mention the…

Advent means “coming”. We all know this. In Advent we relive our Lord’s first coming, we gear ourselves up for his second coming, and we try to be sensitive to…

Advent is long this year, the longest it can be – four full weeks, with Christmas Day falling on a Sunday at the end of the 4th week. This is…

Remembering Mario, and his long, rich and fruitful life, it’s hard not to smile. He had a certain manner, shall we say, a certain sense of the bella figura and…

Today, for a second time, the Church in Scotland remembers Bishop / Archbishop Conti. Last week, his funeral was held in Glasgow, in the Cathedral of St Andrew he so…

Commenting on the death of Archbishop Mario Conti, the President of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, Bishop Hugh Gilbert, Bishop of Aberdeen said:

Today – All Souls – we are invited to share the care and love of the Church for the deceased. There are, of course, people who pray for children not…

Today’s feast tells us to lift up our hearts and, with the pilgrim Church throughout the world, to open our eyes to what awaits us, to what the Lord has…

In today’s 2nd reading, St Paul encourages prayers “for everyone – petitions, intercessions and thanksgiving – and especially for kings and others in authority.” This is timely. Tomorrow the late…

Sharing the grief of the whole country and beyond, I mourn the passing of a great Christian monarch to whose example of service we are all indebted.

Today we remember with gratitude Deacon John McEwan, we commend his soul to God and we express all our sympathy to his family and all who grieve his loss. This…

How good it is to be together again – and to be together around this altar and in this place, Pluscarden Abbey, the spiritual heart of the diocese as bishops…

Tonight we keep the third of three great post-Pentecost feasts: the Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi and now the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We love hearing stories, telling stories, and a…

In the northern hemisphere, Christmas hallows winter, Easter hallows spring and Pentecost summer. In the beginning, the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of life, hovered over the waters, and…

Here we are in Moray, Banffshire. And at this time of year, we may easily see a field of barley and a burn running beside it. But who first imagined…

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB of the Diocese of Aberdeen congratulates Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth on the joyful occasion of her

“As he blessed them, he withdrew from them…” (Lk 24:51). We can feel uncomfortable with the Lord’s Ascension: a body floating skyward, carried by clouds. But we needn’t.

Today is … what Sunday? Yes, indeed, Divine Mercy Sunday, but much else too. First of all, it is the 2nd Sunday of Easter. We can call it a 2nd…

What do we say today, Easter Sunday? It’s something so simple, so great, so good. Firmly, joyfully, we say Christ is risen, Alleluia. And we can add the Eastern Christian…

Brothers and Sisters, we’ve come to the high point of the Paschal Triduum. On Maundy Thursday, we were made aware of the gift of the Eucharist. On Good Friday, of…

Yesterday evening, we were made aware of the gift of the Eucharist; today of the gift of the Cross. It is the gift of God the Father, lifted up over…

How good to see the church so packed! It reflects what we are remembering this evening – that packed last evening of Jesus’ life on earth. It was so full,…

Bishop Hugh is giving a series of talks on different aspects of the Eucharist on Thursdays at 19:00, (after the 18:00 Mass) at St Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen. Each talk will…

When Noah, with family and animals, emerged from the long floating lockdown in the ark, the first thing he did was to build an altar and offer on it a…

Today we have been led very far, very quickly. The Gospel we heard outside began with “Jesus going on ahead up to Jerusalem” and the Gospel we have just heard…

These last weeks of Lent have their own content and feel. Something shifts with the 4th Sunday of Lent, still more with the 5th and then definitively with the Sunday…

“See, I am doing a new deed.” So says the Lord through the prophet Isaiah in today’s 1st reading. In its original setting, this verse relates to Israel’s return from…

Reconciliation is a word that stands out in today’s Mass. The Collect begins, “O God who, through your Word, reconcile the human race to yourself in a wonderful way…” In…

Today, 19th March, is the feast of St Joseph. Next Friday, 25th March, is that of the Annunciation. The two go together. In the middle of Lent, they take us…

“You shall not kill”. We hear this very commandment as it is being broken in Ukraine. We hear it as a new war is writing itself into history and into…

God often seems hidden, hard to find. Where is he in our lives? Perhaps in today’s readings, there are two clues. “I am the Lord”, God says to Abram (later…

Perhaps thirty years ago, not long after the Iron Curtain had been pulled back, a young Ukrainian woman visited the monastery of Pluscarden. She was a wee slip of a…

This year, most Sundays, we will hear St Luke – the great storyteller. We have today. And I think that, for St Luke, there’s something really key about the Gospel…

“Jesus began to speak in the synagogue: ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’” Today’s Gospel follows on directly from last week’s. Jesus is at the beginning…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I hope you have been refreshed by the celebrations of Christmas and New Year. As you know, Pope Francis has invited the whole Church…

Today being the Epiphany, we remember especially the magi and how they came from the east to worship the new-born King of the Jews. If Christ’s birth had been set…

Today, what happens? What’s happeneing by the Jordan? There are many engaging answers to be had. I just want to focus on one. By being baptised in the Jordan, the…

One of the great privileges of being a priest is friendship with families. It’s a gift, to be allowed in, as it were, to see something of the daily life…

In a recent email to friends, a monk – one of my brethren – wrote, “What happens every Christmas has happened again.”

He’s arrived. It’s happened. He’s here. Sent from God the Father, Inscribed in creation from the beginning, Prophesied in Israel, Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary,…

Today we are close to Christmas. Expectancy is in the air. “Drop down dew from above, you heavens, and let the clouds rain down the Just One; let the earth…

These are dark days. I don’t mean in the north of Scotland in the middle of December. I mean in the world and for the world. It is in a…

Today is the last Sunday of the liturgical year, the Solemnity of Christ the Universal King. This feast makes a resounding end to our journey from last Advent to now.

Today is the last Sunday of the liturgical year, the Solemnity of Christ the Universal King. This feast makes a resounding end to our journey from last Advent to now.…

Sometimes, Christ was alone, as when he went up the mountain to pray. Usually though, we think of him with others: at Christmas with Mary and Joseph, with the shepherds…

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.” What is a homily? One beggar…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Last weekend, in Rome, the Holy Father began what is called the synodal path. What is this? Every few years a Synod of Bishops is held…

“Jesus was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, “Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal…

The people in today’s first reading were Israelites who had just escaped from Egypt and passed through the water of the Red Sea. They were beginning their journey through a…

“Sing, rejoice, daughter of Zion, for I am coming to dwell in the midst of you.” These are good and apposite words for today. We have been short of singing…

This is a timely Gospel. In it Jesus sends the Twelve out on mission – for the first time. He summons them to himself, sends them out two by two…

“Woman, behold, your son” (Jn 19:26). On the Cross, our Lord gave to his mother the disciple he loved, the one closest to him. In doing that, he opened the…

In July 1974, I was visiting Pluscarden Abbey, and the readings were those of today. The monk who was celebrating preached on the line in the 2nd reading, 2 Corinthians…

“The love of Christ overwhelms us”, says St Paul is today’s 2nd reading. He is talking about Christ’s love for us, shown in his self-giving on the Cross. His talking…

In a poem, John Keats imagines the first Europeans to discover the Pacific Ocean. He’s thinking of the 16th c. Spanish conquistadores, Cortez and his men. They don’t even know…

“And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven.” This is the feast of the Ascension, forty days from Easter Sunday. In a…

Today’s 2nd reading, Alleluia and Gospel use the word “love” 20 times. That says something, and it raises the question, what love? Is it common or garden love or something…

Brothers and Sisters, today is the 3rd Sunday of Easter. It’s very encouraging that the Church doesn’t call these Sundays “Sundays after Easter” but “Sundays of Easter”. In the Church’s…

Today is the 2nd Sunday of Easter, also called Sunday in the Octave of Easter. This is the 8th day since Easter Sunday. And in liturgical thinking, the 8th day…

A mini-sermon delivered by Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB at Mass in St Joseph’s Church, Aberdeen.

“This day was made by the Lord; we rejoice and are glad.” That’s from Ps 117 (118), and repeated over and over again in the Easter Octave and the Easter…

Last year we had no Easter in the flesh – just an online version. This year we have a half and half Easter. Next year, the 3rd year of this…

“We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you / because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.” We have just heard the Passion of our Lord according…

We have just heard the Passion according to Mark. It is the bleakest of the four accounts. Jesus dies surrounded by jeering, he dies in the dark, he dies with…

Easter this year coincides with the reopening of our churches and a growing, if cautious, hope for life beyond the pandemic. This is a happy convergence.

Today we keep the 5th Sunday of Lent, only two weeks from Easter. Today’s Gospel from John ch. 12 is set in Jerusalem in the last week of Jesus’ life.…

Bishop Hugh Gilbert’s homily delivered at online Station Mass celebrated at St Joseph’s Church, Woodside, Aberdeen.

Homilies on the Kerygma, St Mary’s Cathedral, 4th Sunday of Lent, 14 March 2021. “God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even…

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” St John…

Homilies on the Kerygma, St Mary’s Cathedral, 3rd Sunday of Lent, 7 March 2021. We come to the 4th of the homilies on the kerygma. God loves us (1) and…

Catechesis on the parable of the Good Samaritan given by Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB

Homilies on the Kerygma, St Mary’s Cathedral, 2nd Sunday of Lent, 28 February 2021. Today the 2nd Sunday of Lent, we have a glimpse of Christ in his glory on…

Both today’s readings speak of fasting. In some languages, Lent is called the “great fast” or simply “fast-time” – the opposite of “breakfast”, “break-fast”. Fasting is part of the Lenten…

Homilies on the Kerygma, St Mary’s Cathedral, 1st Sunday of Lent, 21 February 2021. Today, Jesus goes into the desert and meets Satan, enters into combat with Satan and defeats…

Homilies on the Kerygma, St Mary’s Cathedral Aberdeen, 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time, 14 February 2021. If I’m spared, I want to spend this and the four following homilies on…

Brothers and Sisters, here we are still with Christ in Galilee, still near the beginnings of his public ministry. These are such vivid Gospels, but not just that. They are…

Reflection for Diocesan Religious on the Feast of the Presentation. Lockdown, especially for those living alone, has been a great, if demanding, teacher. It reminds us just how physical and…

“And Jesus entered the synagogue” – so today’s Gospel. It was the Sabbath, and so the thing to do, and his 4 newly- clicked and collected disciples, Peter and Andrew,…

In today’s Gospel we are still at the beginnings of Jesus’ public life. Last week we heard the Gospel of John; this week we hear the Gospel of Mark who…

“Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day.” There are so many settings in which to…

Last Sunday we heard of our Lord’s baptism as told by the Gospel of Mark. Today we hear what happened next as told by the Gospel of John. The story…

Today we remember the Baptism of the Lord. It’s an event that moves the imagination. We can picture Jesus making the journey from Nazareth south east to the Jordan valley,…

“The riches of the sea will flow to you, the wealth of the nations come to you.” The word “Epiphany” means manifestation. Something hitherto invisible becomes visible, something previously hidden…

“The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory” – from the Gospel of John just proclaimed.

We are all very busy preparing for Christmas: there’s an obvious statement! And those preparation are now in disarray. Life is complicated. From the 26th of this month, mainland Scotland…

A message by Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB for Christmas 2020

“O God, who see how your people faithfully await the feast of the Lord’s Nativity…” So begins today’s Collect. This is the 3rd Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday. “Rejoice in…

In her Magnificat, Mary sings, “For he has done great things for me and holy is his name.” At that moment, she is thinking of the “great thing” that she,…

This is an Advent more full than usual of fears and hopes. The grace of Advent is that it sifts these, orders them, purifies them, teaching us to discard where…

Who was he? A 1st c. Jew, a Galilean, born in Bethsaida, son of a certain John or Jonas, brother of Simon Peter. Like him he was a fisherman by…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Peace be with you! As Advent begins I want to greet you, to send you my blessing as we all begin a new liturgical…

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB reflects on Pope Francis’ encyclical ‘Fratelli Tutti’   FULL TEXT Introduction Fratelli tutti. It sounds like a flavour of ice cream, but it is of course…

If I were asked to name the final chorus of Handel’s Messiah, I might answer with the Hallelujah Chorus. But no; that concludes part two of 3three. The final chorus,…

Our liturgical year is drawing to its close. Next Sunday is the solemnity of Christ the Universal King. Then the Sunday after the cycle begins again with Advent. This steady…

This is a thought-provoking time of the liturgical year. On the 1st November, we kept All Saints. On the 2nd All Souls. And throughout this month – today too as…

I must confess that this is one of my favourite feasts. The Monastic Divine Office for it is one of the most beautiful, in its texts and music. At Vespers…

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB Catechesis on the Solemnity of All Saints

Love. In today’s Collect, in the 1st reading, the Psalm – “I love you, Lord, my strength” – in the Gospel, in the 2nd Communion antiphon, there it is: Love.

How good it is, Sunday after Sunday, to hear these Gospels from St Matthew! How good, amid the fears and obsessions wracking the kingdoms of the world, to hear Christ’s…

Today, the Collect, the 1st reading, the Psalm and above all the Gospel bring “forgiveness” before us. St Matthew hands us the parable of the unforgiving servant and with it…

In St Matthew’s Gospel, our Lord both teaches and does. He is the Master of thought and life. The Gospel alternates from one to the other, in a structured way.…

Today’s Gospel is a hard one. It must have been very hard for Peter to hear the words: “Get behind me, Satan.” It’s hard for us to hear the words…

Aberdeen is a rather sombre place at present: still in lockdown, football-less, and most of all mourning the sad event on the train line north of Stonehaven, and the loss…

My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the terrible train incident that took place outside Stonehaven yesterday. In times such as these, our hearts go out to…

Today we meet three people, each of them deeply troubled. In the 1st reading, the prophet Elijah, in the 2nd reading St Paul, in the Gospel Peter. It’s to their…

God is real: “I am”, he says. God is involved. God is on our side. These are the basic propositions of our faith. Sunday after Sunday they’re brought before us.…

Today’s homily is supposed to be “brief and to the point”. So, who are these like stars appearing? “Chosen men”, the Litany of the Saints will call them. Here, briefly,…

Today’s readings are full of the “earth”. So Isaiah: “As the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it…

I once actually saw a fisherman by the lake of Galilee casting a net into the sea. A biblical moment. In due time, he would have drawn that net back…

One of the saints of this diocese is John Ogilvie, born in Keith in 1580 and martyred in Glasgow in 1615. He lived at a time of ferocious controversy between…

“As I am who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me” (John 6:57). The trouble is…

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB Catechesis on Corpus Christi

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB Catechesis on the Holy Trinity

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB homily at online Mass for Pentecost:

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB Catechesis on the feast of Pentecost

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB homily at online Mass for the 7th Sunday of Easter:

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB homily at online Mass on The Ascension of the Lord:

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB reflects on the meaning of the Messianic title of the Lamb of God.

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB homily at online Mass on 6th Sunday of Easter:

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB homily at online Mass on 5th Sunday of Easter:

A talk by Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB homily at online Mass on 4th Sunday of Easter:

Part three in the “A Timely Teaching” series by Bishop Hugh Gilbert, OSB These teachings correspond to a video series recorded by Bishop Hugh. The corresponding video is linked at…

Part two in the “A Timely Teaching” series by Bishop Hugh Gilbert, OSB These teachings correspond to a video series recorded by Bishop Hugh. The corresponding video is linked at…

The present requires us to think differently and to dig deeper into our faith. There may be some teachings, normally overlooked, which can come to our aid now. I would…

A sermon delivered by Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB at online Mass on 3rd Sunday of Easter

Bishop Hugh’s sermon delivered 2nd Sunday of Easter during online Mass streamed from St Joseph’s Parish House, Aberdeen.

The third of three talks by Bishop Hugh Gilbert, OSB – Prayer of the Heart

The second of three talks by Bishop Hugh Gilbert, OSB – Christ Within: Voices from Tradition

The first of three talks by Bishop Hugh Gilbert, OSB – The Divine Indwelling

Bishop Hugh delivers his sermon at Easter Sunday Mass online, full text below the video:

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB delivers his sermon at the Mass of the Last Supper celebrated online.

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB suggests how to make the Holy Triduum at home a spiritual experience:

“What do you think? Will he come to the festival or not?” (Jn 11:56). So the people wondered that April in Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago. Will he come to…

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB reflects on the texts of ‘Mass in the Time of Pandemic’, recently approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB delivers his sermon for Palm Sunday Read the Sermon

“Let my prayer come before you like incense.” In this disturbing time for the world and for the Church, we feel the need more than ever to “lift up our…

Brothers and Sisters, our Lenten caravan is lumbering on. We are like the “mixed multitude” (Ex 12:38) that left Egypt with the Chosen People. We are on our way to…

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife.” Isn’t it good, isn’t it poignant, that our last public Mass for whatever length of…

Bishop Hugh Gilbert at St Joseph’s Church, Aberdeen   “If I should walk in the valley of darkness, no evil would I fear. You are there.” Familiar, famous words. “The…

Almighty Father, Look upon us and all of humanity, in this time of illness, as we are affected by this new epidemic of the coronavirus. We confide to you all…

“There in their presence he was transfigured: his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as light.” Why do we have this Gospel this Sunday? We…

How good to begin this Sunday with the Litany of the Saints! Immediately we feel helped. Whenever the Litany of the Saints is sung, it’s because something big is going…

Those of us familiar with the Lord of the Rings will remember a scene near the beginning. Frodo is in his hobbit hole in the Shire, that good, green, wholesome,…

Brothers and Sisters, as your bishop, my great longing is that Christ be real to us. Ever more real. Real, though physically unseen. Real to the eyes of faith. Real…

Today, as it were, we fast forward. The child in the manger is suddenly an adult by the river. Instead of the arms of his mother, there’s the voice of…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, In the wake of Christmas I want to wish you all a good New Year. At the next Easter Vigil, the number 2020 will…

Brothers and Sisters, why has he done this? Why has God become a human being? Why has the Word become flesh and lived among us? Why has the radiant light…

Brothers and sisters, here we are. Here we are at Christmas, the real Christmas. Here we are, not just in Aberdeen, but somehow in Bethlehem. Here we are in the…

Today the 4th Advent candle has been lit. The Lord is close. There’s a sense of heaven and earth, the divine and the human, coming together. Dew and rain falling…

The grace of Advent is hope. Advent can revive hope when it has been lost, refocus it when it has been misplaced. It puts our hopes in order, raising them…

In the 2nd reading, St Paul says that what was written in the past in Scripture (our Old Testament) was written “that we might have hope”. The stories and the…

Today we’re celebrating an individual, a fisherman from Lake Galilee, a chosen disciple of Jesus, a 1st century Jew with a Greek name, Andrew (meaning “manly”). With time, he’s become…

Today is the last great feast of the liturgical year. At the Annunciation, the angel tells Mary that her son will be given the throne of his father David. At…

There’s so much “seeing” in today’s readings. First of all, in the Apocalypse, John sees – “I John saw”. He sees into heaven. He sees an angel stamping a seal…

On this day in 1976, in St Peter’s, Rome, John Ogilvie was canonized. There’s a full account in the Scottish Catholic Directory of 1978, pp. 432-437. Andrew Mann read the…

Today we keep the anniversary of the dedication of this Cathedral. It’s great to have Sunday for this. In the Gospel, Jesus clears the temple. He’s asked for a sign.…

Today, as usual, there are three readings. Today’s from Exodus, 1st Timothy, Luke; Moses, Paul, our Lord. Three powerful readings. With one binding theme: the mercy of God. In the…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, The idea of venerating someone’s bodily remains may not be appealing, even though there is good warrant for it in Scripture and Christian tradition.…

Dear Dominic, it seems no time ago you were being ordained deacon in this church. Now, here we are again. Another page to turn. Another moment in your biography. Not…

Today Jesus says to us: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive,…

If you’re called Mary, happy Name Day! This Cathedral is dedicated to St. Mary in her Assumption. So, let’s wish it and ourselves and our parish a happy Name Day,…

Today’s readings are Joyce’s choice: Paul to the Colossians and the Gospel of John, ch. 15. The verses of the Gospel just read have been called – by Jean Vanier…

Today we keep Ss Peter and Paul. It’s good to remember them, say thank you for them and ask their prayers. They are very much part of our Christianity. They…

“What do you understand by the Trinity? I understand that there is but one living and true God, and that in God there are three distinct persons, called the Father,…

We are keeping a beautiful feast. “As he blessed them, he withdrew from them and was carried up to heaven”. So the Gospel describes what we are celebrating. “He withdrew…

When has a spring coincided so exactly with Easter? The word ‘Easter’ comes from the name of the old Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring. Spring has been late this year and…

Brothers and Sisters, this is the night when our Lord Jesus Christ passed from death to life. It’s the night he passed from the dark confinement of a tomb on…

Having heard what we’ve just heard, I’d like to share a prayer of a great layman, a good husband and father, an accomplished lawyer, a writer, saint and a martyr:…

Tonight we begin the journey of the Paschal Triduum: our journey, Christ’s journey, a journey to the Cross and beyond, to the empty tomb; a journey with Christ, to Christ…

Today is too much for us really, more than we can take in. There is the entry into Jerusalem: so positive, so promising. Here’s the Messiah entering Jerusalem, hailed as…

Should we make jokes about hell? Anyway, one is that in hell the British will be in charge of cooking, adding to the hellishness. Perhaps a prime example of our…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Easter is almost here. We might picture ‘Easter’ as a person, as someone coming to visit us. She comes with her cortege of feasts:…

In his latter years, Mgr Robert produced – with Anne Oliver’s help – a pleasing booklet, Priests I have Known. Well, he is a priest all of us here have…

Today Jesus meets the Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well. St Augustine captures the energy of the story. “A woman came. She is a symbol of the Church not yet justified,…

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB of the Diocese of Aberdeen invites us to consider using Psalms as a guide through the extraordinary time of Lent to reflect our relationship with God.

“Jesus went on his way …journeying to Jerusalem.” Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem is the backbone, the spinal cord of the Gospel of Luke. He turns his face towards Jerusalem. He…

Bishop Hugh highlights the importance of reflection on the extraordinary people that have been beatified recently in Algeria. 

Today we keep the feast of the Holy Family. And today’s Gospel recounts a dramatic episode in that family’s life: the losing and finding of the 12 year old Jesus.…

Every Sunday Mass, every feast day, has its own set of prayers and readings. Christmas, being a great feast, the second after Easter, has four. It has a Vigil Mass,…

‘There is a child born for us, a son given to us.’ Brothers and Sisters, after so much anticipation, Mary is delivered, the baby is born and Christmas is here.…

This litany is privately composed and can be privately used, or even publicly within the diocese. John the Baptist seems to me to merit a Litany of his own. I…

There was once a Jewish rabbi who asked some of his colleagues, ‘Where does God dwell? Where does he live?’ They were learned men who knew their Bible, and they…

This is the 3rd Sunday of Advent. We feel expectancy rising, a sense of joyful anticipation. This Sunday is called ‘Gaudete’ – the Latin for ‘Rejoice’. It’s the first word…

Today John the Baptizer comes to us: wild hair and beard, camel-skin and voice. He’s a sign Christ is coming. He is his herald, his forerunner. He prepares the way…

“To you, O God, I lift up my soul”. It’s today’s Entrance Antiphon and Psalm Response. It’s the leitmotif of Advent. “I” = all of us, the whole Church, all…

When the angel visited Mary, she heard that the Lord would give her son “the throne of his father David” and that “he will reign over the house of Jacob…

Today we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is not the virginal conception of Jesus by Mary, but the conception of Mary herself. It’s not Jesus’…

At the Scottish Parliament last night, 28th November 2018, hundreds of representatives from various Catholic Church agencies across Scotland attended an event at the Scottish Parliament. The event was organised by…

Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist are – forgive me! – a ‘species’ which evolved after the Second Vatican Council. The main founding document, called Immensae Caritatis, was issued by the…

Brothers and Sisters, at this time of the year, the Church’s liturgy is giving us a course on the “last things”, as we call them, or “eschatology” if you want…

Sunday by Sunday, we are following Christ under the guidance of the Gospel of St Mark. Today we come to a high-point and a turning-point. The high-point is Peter’s profession…

Today is the feast of the Triumph or Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and, dear Dominic, your diaconal ordination. It’s a good combination. And the Gospel says: “The Son of…

Today’s feast brings to mind an episode in the life of the Apostle Paul. It occurs during his second missionary journey, some twenty years after our Lord’s death and resurrection.…

We continue with Jesus’ Discourse on the Bread of Life from John ch. 6. Our Lord is saying amazing things.

‘Lord, give us this bread always’. Brothers and Sisters, for a few Sundays in this Year B, the Liturgy turns away from the Gospel of Mark and back to the…

Today we are offering Canon Stanley’s soul to the mercy of God and his body to Mother Earth. And so he makes his final journey. And we accompany him with…

The Ordination of Douglas Duncan to the Diaconate and of Emmet O’Dowd and Rafał Szweda to the Priesthood Stories about a Scotsman, an Irishman and a Pole are not in fashion…

Today we remember two great figures of Christianity, known well beyond its borders. Two lamp stands burning before the Lord; two olive trees; two founding fathers of our faith. Two…

Today we celebrate the birth of John the Baptist, Jesus’ forerunner. The Bible is full of birth stories. There’s birth upon birth, often with a touch of the dramatic and…

Today – Easter day – there is only one thing to say: Christ is risen! He is truly risen! I hope each and all of us can say it. Let’s…

“Why is this night different from all other nights?” That’s the famous question that the youngest member of a Jewish family asks at the Passover meal. Four times. And the…

Three times in the Gospel of John, Jesus said he would be lifted up (Jn 3:14; 8:28; 12:32). He was talking of his death. And that Friday in Jerusalem 2000…

‘This is my Body which will be given up for you.’ ‘This is the chalice of my blood, poured out for you’ Are there any words quite like these? ‘Hoc…

Today we enter on Holy Week and Christ enters Jerusalem and enters into his Passion. What is it all about?

Oil overflows, spills, runs… This is a very sacramental time of year. Today’s liturgy is a case in point. We recall the sacrament of Orders, bless the oils of Catechumens…

Recently, I was in Washington and visited the Museum of the Bible. Its focus is the history, formation, copying, translating, printing, impact, influence of the Bible. It is new, close…

Today Jesus is driven by the Holy Spirit into the desert, and there he is for forty days, tempted by Satan. It’s a mysterious episode: on the edge of human…

“[This] is the time in the vineyard of the Lord, when, at the planting of the new vines, the old vines are pruned, that they may bear more fruit” (from…

When I became bishop, I found in the house chapel a casket. Inside the casket were relics of several saints. Some of these were actually bones, one or two a…

The power of God’s word is what the today’s readings deliver. The Lord says to Moses, ‘I will raise up a prophet like yourself for them…I will put my words…

Talk to the Religious of the Diocese. I’d like to talk about the memory of God. It is a great theme. God remembers and so do we. So, memory is…

That Gospel has not been read by chance. It was chosen for this occasion by the much-loved man whose life we are here to be eucharistic about: Fr. Bill Anderson,…

Epiphany means ‘manifestation.’ But that’s a heavy word. An ‘epiphany’ is an outburst, an explosion, of light and of a light falling on us, lighting us. This is a beautiful…

Today is both the 4th Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve. This conflation brings certain people before us. They’re not Christ. They’re pointers to Christ. They sketch him. They draw…

Message for the feast of Epiphany 2018 by Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB:  

Today’s Liturgy is full of good things. It helps us begin our New Year under the protection of God’s blessing. It helps us set our compass. Let’s look at what…

The Bible is full of families. It begins with a couple, and mentions three of their children: Cain, Abel and Seth. The story of the people of Israel begins with…

We’ve come to Bethlehem. We’ve heard the words of the angels: ‘Glory to God in the highest’. We’ve come down from the hills and found the cave in the rock…

How good to be in Bethlehem again! How good to be around the Crib!

Christmas Message from Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB:  

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, May I wish you all a joyful Christmas and a good New Year. May I also thank you each and all for your faith…

In today’s Gospel (from St John), and others we have been hearing recently at weekday Mass (from St Luke), our Lord has been saying the one, same thing: ‘you are…

The Gospel we’ve just heard is surely one of the most vivid and gripping of them all. It would make a great sequence in a film. It’s crammed with symbolism,…

‘I tell you most solemnly, unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich…

‘I came forth from the Father and came into the world. Now, I am leaving the world and going to the Father’. So Jesus said at the Last Supper, summing…

Forgive me mentioning a curious detail In 1895, it was a Bishop Hugh MacDonald – a religious – who welcomed the Religious of the Sacred Heart to Aberdeen, and now,…

Let’s begin from the beginning. God the Father has sent his Son into the world. And he sent him through Mary. ‘The Word (the Son) became flesh’ and received flesh,…

How can Mary help us? How can she help us in our journey through life, in our Christian life? How does she help our lives towards fulfilment, happiness, heaven? Because…

The Bible is full of grief. There is even a book of the Old Testament, often read in Holy Week, called Lamentations. The world is full of tear-stained faces and…

Tonight’s the night. It is in a special way the night for Lauren Robertson who is to be baptised. It’s the night for Chisomje and Lyndsey being received into the…

Three times in the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks of being ‘lifted up’. And today this happens. Today he’s lifted up, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert.…

Tonight we climb the stairs to a furnished Upper Room in Jerusalem. Night is falling, but there’s a full moon in the sky, perhaps the colour of blood orange. And…

Jesus ‘cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, here! Come out.”’

‘We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.’ Today, 72 years ago, 9 April 1945, a German Lutheran Pastor,…

Lent is drawing near and today our catechumens and candidates, Colin and Lauren, Lynsey and Chisomje, have taken a decisive step towards Easter. Today, the Lord tells us in the…

‘It will be said on that day, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for…

There’s a piece of old-fashioned, common-sense human wisdom, which says that each of us has a ‘ruling passion’. Not a passion for steam-engines or jewellery or boiled lobsters, but something…

‘“Ah, Lord; look, I do not know how to speak: I am a child!”’, says Jeremiah. ‘Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth and said to…

‘May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.’

We’ve all heard of the Scottish Government’s Named Person Scheme. It has not yet passed into law, but is being piloted in various places, including here. It aims to provide…

Christmas works. Every year we have the same prayers, same readings, same rituals; we hear the same story; we see the same decorations. But it doesn’t pall. It’s always fresh.…

Today is the feast of St Stephen. He’s the protomartyr, the first of many to give their lives for Christ. He’s a protodeacon, one of the first seven appointed by…

‘No one has ever seen God; it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.’ There are so many Christmasses, aren’t there?…

‘Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali! Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan, Galilee of the nations! The people that lived in darkness has seen a great…

‘Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son was made known by the message of an…

One of the great Catholic “basics” is the notion of the “state of grace”. The phrase comes from St Paul’s Letter to the Romans. For him it’s the positive relationship…

Four weeks of Advent (one gone already), four weeks of waiting. Mary had nine months of it. But she and we are in this together, however separated by the centuries.…

“Their sound has gone out through all the earth and their message to the ends of the earth.” That is from Psalm 18. It was quoted by St Paul in…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, ‘The love of the Lord is everlasting / upon those who hold him in fear; / his justice reaches out to children’s children / when they…

Today, we “close” the Door of Mercy. In Rome, the Jubilee of Mercy comes to an end next Sunday, when the Holy Father closes the great central door of St…

All three readings today are from the New Testament. There is nothing from the Old. This is a sign that we are, in some way, in Eastertide. In Eastertide only…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, The recent Referendum has thrown us into uncertainty. Some of this, please God, will be of short duration, but other elements will be with…

Drodzy Bracia i Siostry w Chrystusie, Ostatnie referendum wyrzuciło nas w niepewność. Jeżeli Bóg da, niektóre elementy będą krótkotrwałe, ale inne pozostaną z nami na dłużej.  Nie jesteśmy do tego…

‘Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength”’ (Is 28:18). These…

Living Christ is present in the Eucharist. Watch the video prepared by the Bishop of Aberdeen Hugh Gilbert OSB for Corpus Christi

What is happening today? Breath, air, wind; fire, flame; water, spring, river; wine, oil, anointing; energy, power, grace, fullness, life, light, love, gift. These are names and symbols – just…

Message from the Bishop of Aberdeen Hugh Gilbert OSB for Pentecost 2016

Christ is risen! He is truly risen! In St Machar’s Cathedral on 19th March, the Con Anima Chamber Choir gave a performance of Brahms’ German Requiem. It was composed after…

On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus once cried out, ‘I have a baptism to be baptised with and how constrained I am until it is complete’ (Lk 12:50).  And, further…

Message from the Bishop of Aberdeen Hugh Gilbert OSB for the Paschal Triduum 2016

At the beginning of Advent 2015 I launched an Appeal for the Bursary Fund. This covers the costs of our seminarians, who are training to be priests for our diocese.…

Watch Bishop Hugh’s video on “Preparation for the Palm Sunday 2016”:

St Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen, 17 March 2016. It was good on Tuesday night to admit Andrzej Niski to candidacy, and how good this evening to congratulate Canon Alistair Doyle on…

Watch Bishop Hugh’s video on “Preparation for the 5th Sunday of Lent 2016”:

Preparation for the 4th Sunday of Lent 2016. Watch the Fourth Sunday of Lent 2016 Video by Bishop Hugh:

More effective way of converting to God is by letting others to help us, rather than trying to convert on our own. Watch the Third Sunday of Lent 2016 Video by…

We’ve come to the 2nd Sunday of Lent. Last Sunday we heard the Gospel of the Temptation. We saw our Lord in a desert, weak with hunger, tempted by the…

“Jesus was found alone” – Prayer is that we see Jesus alone in everyone and everything. Watch the Second Sunday of Lent 2016 video by Bishop Hugh:

‘Man does not live on bread alone.’ This is how Jesus answers the devil when he tempts him to turn stones into food. It’s a famous biblical saying. It’s not…

St Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen, Friday after Ash Wednesday 12 February 2016 When someone becomes a monk (a novice), he kneels before the Abbot and community and is asked: ‘What do…

“By clinging to Christ the Victor, the One who overcomes all that threatens and oppresses us we share his victory at Easter” Watch the preparation for the First Sunday of…

“Light from light”. Fr Isaac, a good friend and the Provost of this Cathedral, has asked me to reflect on these words. I am grateful for this and honoured to…

United with those in Rome, in Glasgow and throughout the world, here we are closing the Year of Consecrated Life. It has perhaps been overshadowed by the Synod on Marriage…

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB message for Ash Wednesday 2016

Today’s readings tell of extraordinary things. They tell of unexpected lightning, the lightning that struck Isaiah (1st reading), struck Peter, James and John (the Gospel) and, after the Resurrection, struck…

I’d like to approach today’s readings in a roundabout way. A family was hosting some friends to a meal. The mother asked her teenage son to go to the kitchen…

‘There was a wedding in Cana in Galilee.’ And Jesus was there. This is the Gospel of John, the Gospel with depth upon depth. ‘There was a wedding…’ And Jesus…

We’re told every now and then that we shouldn’t be ‘starry-eyed’. Thank God, the Magi were! I hope we are too. We can’t live without stars, without some kind of…

This feast really is a feast. It’s a well-laden table. First of all, it’s the Octave or 8th day of Christmas. The 8th day completes the circle and in a…

‘O Cave, prepare yourself to receive the Mother who carries Christ in her womb. O Manger, receive the Word who destroyed the sins of all. O shepherds, keep watch and…

When I was a boy, my parents gave me a clock. It was a fine clock; it was blue, I remember; it had luminous hands. I put it by my…

Today, the Holy Door has been opened. The Year of Mercy has arrived. The prophet Balaam is called a “man with far-seeing eyes”. There is something of that to Pope…

An American acquaintance christened his house ‘Love-in-the-ruins’. He has never vouchsafed precisely why. Apparently, the phrase – in the form ‘love among the ruins’ – goes back to an 1855…

Let’s look at today’s gospel. It describes John the Baptist entering on the scene of history. It’s a God-moment, an Advent moment. One beginning of the Gospel story is the…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Praised be Jesus Christ, our merciful Saviour, the face of the Father’s mercy! One of the features of a Jubilee Year is the possibility…

St Augustine has some interesting things to say about the Latin word for mercy, misericordia. It is made of two words: cor and miseria. Cor means ‘heart’, miseria ‘misery’, or…

If there were a litany of St Andrew perhaps it would go like this: fisherman in Galilee, son of John, brother of Simon Peter, disciple of John the Baptist, called…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Advent is here. It turns us to the coming of Christ, his three-fold coming:  as the child of Mary born in Bethlehem; as the…

‘The Lord is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds’ (Ps 145:13). And sometimes this comes home to us with force. What a good providence it…

This is a feast with a lot to give us. It’s like the DVD of that line in the Apostles’ Creed: he ‘is seated at the right hand of God…

We are a people who need comforting. So it is. I think if we just pause and feel ourselves, return to our hearts, we will sense this. There’s a great…

Presiding Officer, Ladies and Gentlemen, Before being bishop, I am a Benedictine monk.  It was thanks to an Act of the Scottish Parliament of 1560 that the monastery I lived in…

My mother died on this feast 9 years ago. I admire her for her timing! This is a great feast. It’s beautifully timed itself. It comes after the feasts of…

This is a wonderful Gospel. And like every Gospel reading it goes beyond itself; it includes us. Jesus at this point in the Gospel according to Mark, for some three…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Last Tuesday, Revd. Dr. Andrew McLellan published his Commission’s Report, a review of current Safeguarding policies, procedures and practice within the Catholic Church in…

Statement by the Bishop of Aberdeen, Rt Rev. Hugh Gilbert OSB, following the publication of the McLellan Report. As Bishop of Aberdeen Diocese I welcome the publication of the McLellan…

Today is a day of uplift. The Collect has the phrase ‘the things that are above.’ The baffling 1st reading talks of a child ‘taken straight up to God and…

‘She named him Moses because, she said, “I drew him out of the water”.’ Today’s first reading summarises Moses’ early life, the early life of Israel’s great prophet, liberator and…

If we think of today’s three readings as pictures to be hung on a wall, we might put the second, from St Paul, in the centre a little higher than…

I know many of you are from the south. I hope you’ll forgive me if I first say something about the area of Scotland in which we are – more immediately…

I ‘I remember the deeds of the Lord, / I remember your wonders of old, / I muse on all your works / and ponder your mighty deeds.’ Brothers and sisters,…

Is SCIAF in the Bible? The first answer is ‘Of course not.’ The second is, ‘Of course it is.’ The inspiration is. After all, we have just heard three readings. We…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, This year marks the 400th anniversary of the martyrdom of St John Ogilvie. It was kept in Glasgow earlier this year. Now it’s our…

‘They will look on the one whom they have pierced.’ This feast comes in this month when summer finally gets under way; it comes in a time of light and…

Faith Formation Seminar, Bishop’s House, Aberdeen, 9 May 2015 [The passage is read: John 15:1-17]. This concludes our series on the Parables of Jesus. Is it, though, a parable? Yes,…

‘Know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.’ These are the last words of Jesus in the Gospel according to Matthew. They’re the words left…

I’d like to touch on three things Scripture shows the Holy Spirit doing. The first is from the Gospel we’ve just heard: Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, ‘Receive…

Sometimes, to understand the readings, it helps to think of them in their chronological order. If we do that today, the Gospel would come first. Let’s begin there, then. Where…

  ‘Lift up your hearts.’ We hear those words at every Mass. And we reply, ‘We lift them up to the Lord.’ It is thanks to the mystery we celebrate…

‘While Peter was still speaking the Holy Spirit came down on all the listeners’ (1st Reading). That’s from the Acts of the Apostles. That book tells the story of the…

‘This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad’ (Ps 117). Today must be a good day to be Pope. He goes out on to the balcony…

‘Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and God’s spirit hovered over the water. Then God said, “Let there be light”, and there was…

‘Then they took charge of Jesus, and carrying his own cross he went out of the city to the place of the skull or, as it was called, Golgotha, where…

As the younger generation would say, this is awesome – this evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, this first moment of the Paschal Triduum. It has so much atmosphere. It’s…

‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ That is how our Mass began this morning. The first thing we do today – this extraordinary day, this…

It’s a happy chance that our Chrism Mass this year follows on from yesterday’s solemnity, the Annunciation.  Ideally, the Chrism Mass is kept on the morning of Maundy Thursday –…

I welcome the clear response by Pope Francis to the allegations made against Cardinal O’Brien, and the urgency of the conclusions that have been drawn. Indeed, it was the decision…

I’m most grateful to Bishop John for the opportunity to contribute to his programme of catechesis. I am here with a sense of privilege and with a full heart. My…

… We’re remembering tonight St John Ogilvie, born in Drum-na-Keith in 1579, died at Glasgow Cross on 10 March, 1615, 400 years ago this year. A Jesuit, a priest and…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As you know, the Scottish Parliament is considering a Bill to legalise assisted suicide in certain situations. It is our human, Christian and democratic…

Around the year 600, a Spanish bishop, St Isidore of Seville, wrote a book about the liturgy of the Church. For historians, it’s a precious record of how things were…

Lent is many things. It’s a spring-cleaning – of our lives, our souls. It’s a stock-taking. Or think of a shop getting rid of surplus stock by way of a…

It’s a privilege to be invited to preach on this occasion. It’s also a challenge. What to say and how? Consecrated life is such a rich, complex, sometimes heavy reality.…

The Lord’s Presentation in the Temple is the last of the feasts of Christmas. It’s another epiphany. It’s a further unfolding of the Incarnation.

Often the 2nd reading on a Sunday is something of a Cinderella. But it’s hard not to notice today’s. It comes from ch. 7 of St Paul’s first Letter to…

We’ve made it. We’ve got here. We’ve made the journey of Advent. We’ve arrived with Mary and Joseph. Here we are at midnight in the bright stable of our church,…

‘Christ could be born in Bethlehem a thousand times – but all in vain until he is born in me.’ So said a German mystic, Angelus Silesius. Here we are…

This is the time of year we’re focussed on Christ’s coming. God has come close to us. In a quite new way, God has become God-with-us, Emmanuel. He has entered…

In the middle of today’s readings, there’s a two-word phrase. It passes so quickly we can miss it altogether. It came in the second reading. It’s from St Paul. It’s…

‘O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin prepared a worthy dwelling for your Son…’ So begins today’s Opening Prayer or Collect.

‘And what I say to you, I say to all: Stay awake!’ Today Advent begins. It begins with a shout, with a cry – with Christ crying out: ‘Stay awake!’…

Today is Remembrance Sunday. It falls, as we are all vividly aware, during the centenary of the First World War,. This takes our memories in a certain direction. That war…

Why has God given us faith? Certainly, we may feel it’s wobbly at times. But let’s forget that for a moment. We do have faith. And faith is a gift…

Today, we celebrate all those ‘standing in front of the throne and of the Lamb’. Who are they? Surely, all those figures of the Old Testament, from Abel and Abraham…

Today is a memorable day. First of all, we are keeping the Nativity, the Birthday, of the Blessed Virgin. Its proper date is the 8th, tomorrow. But this church, when…

Today we celebrate one of the richest, almost luscious, of the Church’s liturgies, that of the dedication of an altar.

I am grateful for the opportunity to preach in this beautiful chapel this evening. Today’s is a famous, even perhaps an infamous Gospel. Certainly it’s one that has aroused much…

How many of us, I wonder, have taken part in a 210th anniversary of anything? To be honest, when I first heard of it, I thought it crazy. I still…

‘O woman, great is your faith.’ Behind all three readings today, there’s one same thing: the great divide between the Jews and non-Jews, the latter also known as Gentiles or…

‘Blessed is she who believed.’ How fortunate, how blessed we are to have things like this – the Assumption of Mary – to believe in and feed our souls on!…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, We are all aware of the conflicts ravaging the Middle East. We feel we should be more than mere head-shaking spectators. But what can…

Tomorrow marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, or of Great Britain’s entry into it. How few people imagined what it would be like! Pope St…

This is the third consecutive Sunday we’ve heard the parables of Jesus – the seven he gives in ch. 13 of St Matthew’s Gospel. Today we hear the last three:…

In the Lady Chapel of the church of Notre Dame du Finistère in Brussels stands a statue of our Lady holding the infant Jesus. It’s made of wood, oak, and…

Isn’t it good to be here? Isn’t it good to have expressed our love of Mary so publicly? And how delighted I am that New Dawn Scotland should have chosen…

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, Ss Peter and Paul, pray for us, All holy apostles, pray for us. The Church is not unlike this monastery. Some bits…

Talk to the Aberdeenshire Theological Club 20 January 2014 Introduction Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this venerable Club. It was about this time of year, last year,…

Two familiar things can be said on this feast day of John the Baptist. The first is that as Jesus’ birthday falls just after the winter solstice when the days…

Today we keep Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. It was in 1264 that Pope Urban IV mandated this feast for the whole Roman Rite.…

‘Is Christ divided?’(1 Cor 1:13). This was the provocative question St Paul put to that Corinthian community he so loved and suffered for. It’s the question that the World Council…

Come, Holy Spirit! Today, Pentecost Day, Whit Sunday, we recall that coming at Pentecost in Jerusalem around 30 AD. We give thanks for it. We believe this coming can be…

‘This day was made by the Lord; we rejoice and are glad!’ (Ps 117:24). We heard this verse in the Responsorial Psalm. It is used every day of the Easter…

‘And is it true?… That God was man in Palestine, And lives today in bread and wine?’ So Sir John Betjeman in his poem Christmas. And is it true that…

How many journeys are reaching their destination tonight! The journey of the two Marys to Jesus’ tomb. The journeys of Elisabet, Balazs, Paul, Alan, Philemon and Philomena to faith and…

We have just heard the Passion according to John. And how many ‘Passions’ there are in the world, going on in the world, how much suffering! Think of the Passion…

‘The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it’ (Jn 1:5). Tonight we’re with the Jesus and the Twelve in ‘the large upper room, furnished and…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, This is a short Pastoral Letter to mark the beginning of Holy Week. ‘Together in Christ’ is the motto of this diocese, and together…

What is a priest? That’s the first question. The second question is a terrible one. Is he a pervert? Normally not, emphatically so, thanks be to God. But there’ll be…

‘I believe in the forgiveness of sins.’ We say that in the Creed. And tonight we’re proving we mean what we say. At the very beginning of Lent, I was…

‘Jacob’s well is there and Jesus, tired by the journey, sat down by the well.’ The good news is: the well is still there. It still exists. It’s certainly very…

We’ve just heard the Gospel of the Transfiguration. It’s not what we’d expect. Such a contrast to last Sunday! Last Sunday it was the desert, a world of heat and…

When Jesus turned water into wine at Cana, the wine was the very best and there was a great deal of it, between 120 and 150 gallons – just for…

Lent – these 40 days – Lent, Holy Week and Easter – Lent and the liturgical readings of Lent – Lent and the practices of Lent (prayer, fasting and almsgiving)…

This is the first of our Station Masses, and a special one. Here are our 10 catechumens. Tonight they are being ‘chosen’, ‘elected’. They can now be called the ‘elect’.…

We’re continuing to hear the Sermon on the Mount. We’ve heard it the last few Sundays and will hear it again next Sunday, the last before Lent. The Sermon on…

Faith Formation Seminar, Bishop’s House, 1 February 2014 Today we leave Evagrius’ 8 thoughts and follow instead Pope Gregory the Great (+604). It was he who first listed envy among…

The following is a copy of the letter I sent to the 22 MSPs whose constituencies fall within the area of our diocese. 30 January 2014 Dear  MSP I write…

King’s College Chapel, University of Aberdeen, 19 January 2014 Isaiah 49:3-6 – Ps 39 – 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 – John 1:29-34 Last Sunday was the feast of the Baptism of…

Talk to Young Adults, Faith Formation Seminar Bishop’s House, 11 January 2014 St Benedict was declared a patron of Europe by Pope Paul VI in 1964. He has been long…

Talk for Faith Formation Seminar for Young Adults Bishop’s House, 11 January 2014  Introduction This talk was advertised as being on sloth, one of the seven deadly sins of the…

Sometimes one hears useful things in homilies. I remember one for this feast pointing out the many different forms water can take, how good it is at changing while always…

This is a beautiful feast. We don’t have to go looking for it; it’s very close to us. It’s in front of our eyes. Today is an explosion of light.…

Many things are being celebrated today – most loudly New Year. But in this liturgy many other things as well. It’s the octave day of Christmas, the 8th day. And…

Today we remember that Jesus belonged to a family. When we say, ‘the Word became flesh and lived among us’, we’re remembering he became a human being. We do this…

We’ve got there. We’ve arrived. Christmas is here. ‘A child is born for us, and a son is given to us’ (Introit). The Holy Spirit works through word and sacrament,…

Isn’t this the most entrancing of all the feasts we keep? It’s as if there’s a procession to the crib already. It’s as if the carols, the announcement of the…

Christmas is very close now. To take Isaiah’s words, ‘the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son’ (Is 7:14). In some liturgies, during the last…

An old monk once told me this story. He was visiting a Catholic couple in Germany in the 1930s. They asked him if he would speak with their son. The…

Extracts from Homilies and Catechesis Isaiah 2:1-5 – Ps 121 – Romans 13:11-14 – Matthew 24:37-44 Beginning Advent Today we’re beginning Advent. It comes gently enough, but it’s not a…

Homily for the Dedication of the church of St Joseph, Invergordon 29 November 2013 What are we doing this evening? First of all, we’re crowning almost a century of Catholic…

In these last weeks of the Church’s year and again, when that year begins afresh in Advent, the liturgy and the readings take us on eagle’s wings, as it were.…

Today is Remembrance Sunday, first of all. We remember the dead of the two World and other wars.  We remember especially the dead of our own country. But not only…

What is happening today? I’m old enough to remember Westerns. And here we are, wagons drawn close, feeling our last days have come and our scalps about to be removed,…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, ‘Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy…

‘The Almighty has done great things for me’ (Lk 1:49).  It’s good to have this feast. It’s good that it comes as summer comes to its climax and the harvest…

Since I was last here, three things have happened. First, we heard that a new Archbishop of Edinburgh has been appointed. He is Mgr Leo Cushley. I met him at…

What good readings the Liturgy gives us today! The hospitality of Abraham, St Paul telling the Colossians how God’s secret plan has now been revealed, Jesus entering the home of…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today we are keeping the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. As part of the Year of Faith, there will be worldwide exposition of…

‘They were all filled with the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:4). After Christmas and Easter comes Pentecost. ‘Today’, said St John Chrysostom, ‘we’ve reached the mountain-top of everything good; we’ve arrived…

Reflecting on today’s three readings, it struck me that the first is about faith, the second about hope, and the last (the Gospel), about charity / love. As bishop, I…

May I begin with some liturgical catechesis. This is a Sunday of many names. It is the 2nd Sunday of Easter. Easter is a season as well as a day. It’s…

Recently I was shown some re-tellings of the Easter story written by children in P2. One boy’s account was particularly accurate and vivid. On Easter Sunday morning, two ladies, he…

Peter ‘then went back home, amazed at what had happened’ (Lk 24:12) – the last phrase of the Gospel we’ve just heard. There is a lot happening here tonight, and…

‘See, my servant will prosper, he shall be lifted up, exalted, rise to great heights’ (Is 52:12). ‘See’ is the first word of today’s first Reading. There is something very…

The Jewish Passover, Jesus’ Last Supper, the washing of the disciples’ feet: those are our 3 readings tonight. Tonight Jesus begins his own Passover. Tonight he sets out to bring…

Here we are beginning Holy Week. Here we are going up to Jerusalem, with the Church throughout the world, with our new Pope, with those preparing for the Sacraments of…

There is a lot happening in tonight’s liturgy. Perhaps we can follow one of the leads the Liturgy gives and fly like migrating birds, away from the cold and the…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today we will all hear the name of our new Pope in the Eucharistic Prayer. We know it already: Francis. He is the first Pope to…

There is a lot going on today. The 4th Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday, after the first word in Latin of the Entrance Antiphon. Laetare means ‘Rejoice’. Couldn’t we all do…

We have just heard the Gospel of the Transfiguration. It has been the Gospel for the 2nd Sunday of Lent since at least the 5th century. Last Sunday we were in the…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, We were all taken by surprise by last week’s news. It is many centuries since a Pope has resigned and hardly anyone foresaw that…

Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 95; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11; John 2:1-11  We have been liturgically blessed this year. We were able to celebrate Epiphany on its right date, 6th January. And we…

Today’s the last day and the last feast of the Christmas season – the Baptism of the Lord. At Christmas, the Son of God eternally begotten of the Father is…

‘After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, some wise men came from the east.’ So, after keeping Jesus’ birth at Christmas, we…

‘When the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman…’ Today, it’s this ‘born of a woman’ that shines out. Today is the octave day of Christmas,…

Had any of us been asked what to celebrate the day after Christmas, it’s unlikely we’d have suggested St Stephen. Suddenly we pass from the serenity of the stable to…

This Mass – in its timing, its prayers, its readings – has a different feel from the Midnight Mass or from the Mass early on Christmas morning, the Dawn Mass.…

What a wonderful night this is! It’s light in darkness, A virgin having a child, A baby in a manger. It’s the son of David born in Bethlehem, Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God,…

‘Come, Lord Jesus! Come, and save us! Come and set us free!’ This is what we pray in Advent. We call on Christ to come and save us. Christ saves…

Talk given at the Benedictine Monastery of Kornelimuenster, Germany on 26 August 2012.  Thank you for the opportunity to address this subject, and especially on such a memorable occasion- the golden…

St Mary’s Cathedral, 11 October 2012; St Mary’s, Inverness, 12 October 2012 (The readings for these Masses were drawn from the Mass for the Spread of the Gospel / the…

Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB, Bishop of Aberdeen, Scotland, speaks to the Newman Association about the Year of Faith on Thursday 4th October 2012.

‘His name is John’ (Lk 1:63). Today we keep the birthday of this John, John the Baptiser. After our Lord, the Church keeps the earthly birthdays only of Mary and…

Princess Elizabeth came of age – 21 in those days – during her 1947 tour of South Africa. In a broadcast marking the occasion, she said this: ‘I declare before…

The Liturgy is always full of signs and symbols, but especially tonight. I’d like to take three: a ring with a dragon, night, and water.

Since 2002, the new Missal has offered a second Opening Prayer or Collect for today – the Friday of the 5th week of Lent. It was used at the beginning…

‘The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me’ (Is 61:1; Lk 4:18).  The parish of Buckie is known for its music. And it’s…

St John Ogilvie was a son of this diocese of Aberdeen and born within the bounds of this parish of Keith, and it is always good to honour him. He…

At 7 pm on first Saturday of each month there is a series of seminars to be hosted at Bishop’s House. These seminars will offer opportunities for deeper formation in…

 I know an American gentleman who calls his house, ‘Love-in-the-ruins’. I’ve never asked him why. But certainly it’s not the kind of name you forget.  If you look at Renaissance…

This night is so full of light and colour and warmth, of poetry, story and song, of memories and comfort and hope. Our hearts overflow! Even if there were only…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, We live in a noisy world. Our towns and cities are full of noise. There is noise in the skies and on the roads. There is…

‘Lord’, asks Peter, ‘do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?’ And the Lord asks in return, ‘Who then is the faithful and wise steward…?’ (Lk 12:41-42). ‘Who…

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Peace be with you. It is a great grace to have become your Bishop. Thank you for the warm welcome I have received from so many…

The first word can only be one of thanks. And in the first place, with Mary, to Almighty God. This is a day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice…