https://www.facebook.com/399298416606323/

St. Anthony's Catholic Church, 44 M. L Sultan Road, Durban Central, Greyville, Durban (2026)

15/08/2026

ALWAYS TOGETHER - ASSUMPTION of MARY

1 Question. Could Jesus allow the womb that bore him, the breasts that nourished him, the hands that caressed him, Mary whose flesh he was, to decay in the grave? Never! He was ALWAYS INTIMATELY UNITED with his mother, from his conception in her womb right up until the Cross when the sword that pierced his heart pierced her soul. Always one with her, could he be separated from her when her earthly life ended, she being in the grave and he in heaven? Never! As God, he had the power to assume her to himself, and this he did. Indeed it was only fitting that his blessed Mother, having shared so intimately in his battle against sin and death, should also share in his glorious victory by being assumed into heaven at the end of her life.
2 The Church has celebrated Mary’s Assumption from the early centuries. This ancient belief was formally declared a dogma only in 1950. Why then? It was after two horrific world wars which produced over a hundred million corpses. Against this background of the cheapening of human life, the dogma of Mary’s assumption into heaven “BODY AND SOUL” emphasised the SANCTITY of the human body destined for eternal glory.
3 Some believe that the afterlife is only for the soul which, at death, escapes from the prison of the body, like a snake shedding its skin. Such belief devalues the human body. Christians believe that the human person is a UNION OF BODY AND SOUL, destined for resurrection. I am my body. Jesus rose with his glorified body, showing Thomas his bodily wounds; eating fish with his disciples; and ascending into heaven with his body. Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven.
4 Our body too, TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, is destined for heavenly glory. St. Paul says, “you are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:19-20). This means we must:
a not harm the body - eg no murder, abortion or euthanasia.
b not mutilate our body eg by futile ‘s*x-change' operations which dishonour our God-given s*x.
c care for our body - through proper eating and drinking, exercise and sleep.
d not use our body as a toy for pleasure - whether through drugs, drink, food or dangerous, daredevil activities.
e not engage in fornication: “the body is not meant for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (1 Cor 6:13). As the bodies of a married couple belong to each another, so our bodies belong to Christ, our Bridegroom, making fornication an infidelity to him (cf 1 Cor 6:15).
f bury the body with dignity - in the case of cremation, the cremated remains may not be thrown into the sea (to become fish-food) or onto the ground (to become bird-food). Instead they must be interred in the ground or entombed in a niche.
5 Mary’s ASSUMPTION is a sign of sure HOPE and COMFORT to us pilgrims. Let us live purely, constantly seeking the things that are above, until we come to share, body and soul, in the glory of the resurrection, together with Jesus, Mary and all the saints.

08/08/2026

WEATHERING THE STORM (Mt 14:22-33) - Ord Time 19 A

1 St. Anthony of the desert lived in morally corrupt 4th century Egypt. He gave his many possessions to the poor and went to live in the desert - not to self-righteously opt out of the world but to prayerfully intercede for the world and do penance on its behalf. St. Paul says, “we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against… the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). He says we must “fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Tim 6:12). This SPIRITUAL BATTLE, St. Anthony knew, is won and lost in PRAYER. “The ‘spiritual battle’ of the Christian's new life is inseparable from the battle of prayer’’(CCC 2725).
2 St. Anthony said, ‘’A time is coming when men will go mad. And when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him and say, ‘you are mad, you are not like us’’’. Our world is suffering from moral madness - the madness of killing an ‘unwanted’ baby in the womb; of assisted su***de; of same-s*x ‘marriage’; the madness that I can change my s*x by an operation; the madness of serial marriage and divorce with its inevitable suffering.
St Anthony teaches us that prayer enables us to WEATHER THE STORM of the world’s madness, as well as our personal storms: sickness, financial stress, family trials, dryness in prayer, personal failings etc.
3 Today’s first reading describes the prophet Elijah fleeing from vengeful Queen Jezebel whose wickedness he has challenged. Exhausted, he reaches Mt. Horeb where he waits in prayer. There comes a wind, earthquake and then fire – but God is not in these dramatic phenomena. God finally comes in “a still, small voice”. Out of this silence He speaks to Elijah, renewing his strength and vocation.
4 People seek God in spectacular miracles, in sensational healings, in extraordinary visions, in loud, ‘vibrant’ Masses. But St. Anthony of the desert and Elijah teach us that GOD COMES in silence, in the SILENCE OF PRAYER.
5 In today’s gospel Jesus allows the disciples to battle the storm all night while he prays on the overlooking hills. Eventually he comes to the rescue, chastising Peter for his little faith. In the storms of life we must have faith in the providential care of God who sees everything in the light of eternity. Persevering through storms increases our faith.
6 A trainee sailor, climbing the ship’s tall mast, became dizzy and in danger of falling as he looked down on the rough sea. An old sailor shouted out: ‘’Look upwards, not down!’’ Doing this the boy completed his climb safely. As you feel in your face the spray of the storm, look up to God in prayer. If you focus on the storm, you will sink - as Peter did initially. In prayer FOCUS ON JESUS who calls out, “Courage, it is I; have no fear’’. He will raise you up out of the stormy sea, just as one day he will raise you up from death into eternal life.

01/08/2026

ALL ATE AND WERE SATISFIED (Mt 14:14-21) 18 A Ord Time)

1 The feeding of the 5000 is the only miracle of Jesus recounted in all four gospels. Although tired, Jesus is moved with “compassion” for the plight of the multitude. Indeed God is not distant or aloof but in love wants to appease our hunger: “you open wide your hand, O Lord; you grant our desires” (today’s ps 145 )
2 The miracle occurs in the eremos (lonely place/wilderness/desert). It was in the eremos that the merciful God fed the Israelites manna on their journey to the promised land under Moses. Jesus, the New Moses, is to nourish his people with the NEW MANNA, the EUCHARIST, on their journey through the desert of this earth to the promised land of heaven.
3 Indeed the miraculous feeding of the 5000 foreshadows the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper which miracle is described in the same words: Jesus “took”, “blessed,” “broke,” and “gave”, and also “gave thanks” (eucharistia) (Mt 26:26-27). The Eucharist in turn foreshadows “the WEDDING FEAST in the Father's kingdom, where the faithful will drink the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ” (CCC 1335).
4 Jesus required the people’s OFFERING of FIVE LOAVES and TWO FISH before miraculously multiplying it into food for over 5000 thousand men. He wants us to co-operate with his grace. A fisherman cries out in a storm, “The sea is so vast and my boat so small!” You may feel hopelessly overwhelmed by our modern culture’s killing of babies in the womb, euthanasia of the sick and elderly, breakdown of marriages and family life, increasing addictions to drink, drugs, gambling and s*x etc. But if you entrust yourself to God with your loaves and fishes, he can change the world around you. Consider young, worldly Francis of Assisi. Responding to the call to “repair my church”, he let God use him to enlighten a dark world, and become the founder of the worldwide Franciscan order.
5 A LITTLE BECOMES A LOT if placed IN GOD’S HANDS. In Mass we bring to God’s altar wine and bread - a little offering which could satisfy our hunger for only a few minutes. However, through the invocation of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, it is elevated/transformed/‘trans-substantiated’ into the Body and Blood of Christ, the superabundant “food of immortality”.
6 After the multiplication of the loaves “all ate and were satisfied”. But Jesus has come not just to fill the stomachs of 5000 people outside Bethsaida. As the “Bread of Life” he satisfies all mankind’s hunger for truth, goodness, beauty and ETERNAL LIFE. “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn 6:54).

25/07/2026

JESUS, OUR PEARL BEYOND PRICE
(17 A Mt 13:44-46)
1 We all like a braai, a holiday, a party, a new cell-phone/car/clothes etc. But these passing pleasures are not joy. JOY is found only IN GOD: “Find your delight in the Lord who will give you your heart's desire” (Ps 37:4). Certain Alpine lakes are nurtured not from an outside river but from water welling up from within. Indeed joy comes not from exterior earthly pleasures but from within, as a gift of the Holy Spirit.
2 Some years ago atheists painted on London buses and taxis the slogan: ‘’There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.’’ But can you ‘enjoy your life’ if, as atheists believe, it is going nowhere, if life is just a countdown to its bitter end in the grave, if life is like a long day that ends in night? Christians know where we are heading: not to the sunset but to the sunrise. The ‘night’ of earthly life ends in day, the eternal day which has no sunset.
3 This ETERNAL DAY Christ inaugurated by rising from the dead as the Light of the world. In the Easter Vigil the burning Paschal Candle, symbolizing the Risen Lord, is carried aloft into the church. From it the people’s candles are lit, transforming the dark church into a blaze of light. Then is sung the joyful Exultet: “Exult, choirs of angels! ... Rejoice, O earth ... Let this place resound with joy!” Why the exultant joy? Because the RISEN JESUS has scattered the darkness of sin and death, inaugurating the eternal day that knows no sunset.
4 This exultant joy will culminate in heaven but even now it flavours our earthly life. That is why, even from prison, St. Paul could write, “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil 4:4), why the martyrs, facing death, could rejoice in the sure hope of resurrection, why you and I can rejoice in the midst of suffering.
5 In today’s parable the man discovers treasure. Surprisingly, he does not dig it up and take it away. Instead he first SELLS ALL HE HAS so as to buy the field with the valuable treasure (symbolic of Jesus and the kingdom). The point is this: the kingdom of God cannot be grabbed effortlessly but requires great sacrifice.
6 “I count [all things] as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ” (Phil 3:8). Is Jesus your prized treasure worth everything else, your only TRUE LOVE? If so, do not leave him outside the gate of your life, nor even in the doorway. Instead welcome him right inside. Let him take over your life, becoming the one in whom you live, move and have your being (cf Acts 17:28). Surrender to him your every thought, word and deed. Live in unceasing, intimate communion with him through prayer, honouring his Word, receiving him in the sacraments, and serving him in the poor. Then you will experience true joy. For joy cannot be pursued (through pleasures or possessions) but ensues in loving God and neighbour with all your heart.

18/07/2026

WHEAT AND WEEDS Mt 13:24-43 (16 A Ord Time)

1 “A man sowed good seed in his field; but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat”. There is a BATTLE between God who is always sowing good (WHEAT) versus the ‘enemy’, the Evil One, who is always sowing evil (WEEDS). Jesus himself had to battle against the devil’s continual temptations - from his forty days in the wilderness at the beginning of his public ministry until the final temptation to come down from the cross.
2 St. Paul said at the end of his life, “I have fought the good fight” (2 Tim 4:7). Each of us must engage in this spiritual struggle. It demands a CHOICE: either to live out our exalted baptismal status as beloved children of God, or to accept the devil’s counter-offer to live according to the world and the flesh.
3 In today’s parable the weeds the enemy sows become so intertwined with the wheat that they cannot be extricated without uprooting the wheat. Indeed EVIL IS INTERTWINED WITH GOOD. Therefore, we should not seek to extricate the evil weeds but instead ensure that the good wheat grows, not point out sinners but rather purify ourselves, not curse the darkness but rather shine out as bright stars.
4 A certain lady complained to a priest, “The Church is full of sinners. I’m leaving to join the Halleluia Happiness Holiness Church’’. The priest responded, ‘’know that the day you join the Holiness church it ceases to be Holy’’. Indeed the line between good and evil does not separate opposing groups (the good here and the evil there) but cuts through our own heart where good and bad co-exist. That is why in Mass we say, “I confess…that I HAVE GREATLY SINNED”, and “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof”. The season of Lent and the sacrament of Confession exist precisely that we may leave evil for good.
5 On earth we all rub shoulders, enjoying God’s sunshine together. Yet the harvest Day of Judgement reveals a separation into SEPARATE DESTINIES: the weeds being thrown into the fire (hell) and the wheat being gathered up into the barn (heaven).
6 Until that Day God allows evil. Why? Not through indifference but through mercy. In his mercy he gives sinners such as Paul of Tarsus, the Samaritan woman, Mary Magdalene, Zaccheus, and you and me today the opportunity to repent and become great saints. Every sinner has a future; every saint has a past. Use wisely each remaining earthly day. Reject the devil’s temptations so as to live as the Heavenly Father’s BELOVED CHILDREN.

10/07/2026

A FRUITFUL LIFE
15 A Ord Time Mt 13:1-9

1 In today’s parable the seed is the word of God; the Sower is Jesus himself. He casts the seed extravagantly, everywhere. Indeed our generous God offers the GOOD NEWS TO EVERYONE – gratuitously and indiscriminately. The four kinds of soil on which the seed falls symbolise the four corners of the earth, the whole world.
2 Seed is full of powerful potentiality but its fruitfulness depends on the fertility of the soil. The seed falling on the PATHWAY is snatched away by the birds which symbolise the Evil One. This hard soil is the hard-hearted person who denies God entry into his life.
3 Some seed falls on ROCKY ground. It grows but soon withers because of its shallow roots. This rocky soil represents the shallow Christian who does not persevere. From some spiritual rally, pilgrimage or retreat he returns excited, on a high. But he is not able to pay the cost of discipleship eg giving up old habits or certain company. Consider those who stop attending church after Confirmation or after completing RCIA.
4 Some seed falls in THORNS which choke its growth, preventing any fruit. The thorns are not adultery, murder or blasphemy but the “cares of the world” and “the delight in riches”. This thorny soil represents the Christian who in time becomes too busy to pray, to fast, and to help the poor. His trust is in the world, not in the providence of the Heavenly Father.
5 Some seed falls in GOOD SOIL. This fertile soil represents the person who hears the word and “UNDERSTANDS” it, the word entering not only his heart but also his mind. He has an intimate, prayerful communion with God, knows the catechism, reads the Word of God, frequents the sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession, lives an upright moral life, and witnesses to his faith. He bears fruit - superabundantly – 30, 60 and 100 fold!
6 Consider St. Benedict. Born in 480 AD, his life is still today bearing MANIFOLD FRUIT - as evidenced in the numerous worldwide Benedictine monasteries, in monks living in poverty, chastity and obedience, and in today’s hospital system founded by the Benedictines. Consider the fruitful lives of two married Catholics. Louis Pasteur was the founder of modern medicine and life-saving vaccines. And Jacques Maritain helped draft a key document of the United Nations viz. “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”. Again consider Mother Teresa. Her life continues to bear fruit today in the Missionaries of Charity serving the poor worldwide.
7 At the end of Mass we are COMMISSIONED to “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord”, to go forth and bear fruit. Let us remain close to Christ as branches in the vine, and so bear manifold fruit in our families, in our parish, at school, at work, and in the world.

04/07/2026

REVELATION TO INFANTS
Mt 11:25-30 14A Ord Time

*1. Murder Drunkenness Adultery and Theft are all sins. But the worst sin is the mortal sin of PRIDE. Pride is “an inordinate self-esteem or self-love, which seeks attention and honour and sets oneself in competition with God’’ (CCC 1866). Satan fell through pride, refusing to bow down to God, his motto being: “better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven”. Adam and Eve also fell through pride, the creature arrogantly seeking to be like its Creator. Pride is the silent killer of the soul. It may cause many, including seemingly ‘good’ Christians, to fall on Judgement Day.
2 An OUTWARDLY PIOUS LIFE of Sunday Mass, daily prayer, keeping the commandments, doing devotions, fasting in Lent etc can, shocking to say, be the OCCASION OF SIN - IF done with a PROUD HEART that looks down on others. We must perform our religious duties HUMBLY, ensuring they bear the fruit of kindness, compassion and forgiveness of others. True holiness is not showy but often hidden. For St Teresa of Lisieux holiness did not mean miracles but a simple smile, a kind word, washing the dishes, doing an unnoticed good deed, persevering in pain etc.
3 Jesus said, ‘’WHOEVER HUMBLES HIMSELF SHALL BE EXALTED’’ (Mt 23:12). He humbled himself by becoming man, obedient even unto death on a cross, and was thereby exalted by the Father. The world says, “Get to the top, climb the ladder of
success.” But the ladder to the heavenly heights is ascended on the rungs of humility eg choosing the smallest portion, taking the lower seat, persevering without complaint, regularly confessing one’s sin, seeing the good in others, speaking only when necessary, dressing modestly without attracting attention etc.
4 “The gate is narrow… that leads to life”, said Jesus (Mt 7:14). This ‘narrow gate’ cannot be entered by the proud who are pompous, puffed up and inflated but only by those who have made themselves small and childlike. The Father, says Jesus today, reveals the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children. St. Teresa’s favourite Bible verse was, “unless you turn and BECOME LIKE CHILDREN, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 18:3) Her life was a self-abandonment in child-like trust into the arms of her loving God, ‘Abba’ (daddy/pappa).
5 Mountains, trees, flowers and animals give glory to God by simply being themselves, being what God wants them to be. Children teach us to be ourselves, without pretence. A child can forget himself for hours in some activity. He does not think of himself nor compare himself to others nor care what they think of him. In daily prayer let us lose ourselves in the love of our Heavenly Father. Let us abandon any desire for worldly status and instead live out the exalted status the Father has bestowed on us in Baptism: that of being his BELOVED CHILDREN.

05/06/2026

“WITHOUT THE SUNDAY EUCHARIST WE CANNOT LIVE” (Corpus Christi)

1 A famous person may be remembered by a statue or a painting. A beloved deceased may be remembered by his/her photo. The night before Jesus died, at the Last Supper, Jesus did not just leave us some symbol of himself but he left us his VERY SELF. He said about the blessed bread, “This IS (not ‘symbolises’) my Body” and about the blessed wine, “This IS (not ‘symbolises’) my Blood”. Through his ‘’Real Presence’’ in the Eucharist Jesus remains forever present to us.
2 Matthew, Mark and Luke describe the Last Supper in four key words: ‘’TAKE…BLESS…BREAK…GIVE’’. Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them. He says, ‘’DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME” (Lk 22:19). Ever since, the Church has obeyed this command by faithfully offering HOLY MASS. The priest, in the Person of Christ, ‘takes’ the bread and wine at the Offertory; he ‘blesses’ it at the Consecration when it becomes the Body and Blood of our Lord; he ‘breaks’ the bread during the Lamb of God; then he 'gives’ (distributes) the Eucharist to the people. So we obey the command to ‘’do this in memory of me'’ by celebrating Holy Mass - offering ourselves, joined to Christ, the Lamb of God, to the Father, for the salvation of the world.
3 Secondly, we obey Jesus’ command to “do this in memory of me” by our own LIVES OF SELF-GIVING, by saying in effect to our neighbour what Jesus said before his sacrificial death, “This is my body given up for you…my blood poured out for you’’. Receiving the Lord into ourselves in Mass, we are sent forth as 'other Christs', to serve others as He did. "He [Jesus] laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren’’ (1 Jn 3:16).
4 In the year 304 in Abitene, North Africa, 49 Christians were arrested for breaking the Roman Emperor’s law prohibiting the Sunday Eucharist. When interrogated, a certain Emeritus replied famously: “WITHOUT THE SUNDAY EUCHARIST WE CANNOT LIVE”. They were prepared to die physically, knowing that without the Sunday Eucharist they would in any case die spiritually.
5 These 49 brave martyrs put to shame those of us who miss Sunday Mass or come half-heartedly. “For these Christians the Sunday Eucharist was not a commandment but an inner necessity. Without Him who sustains our lives, life itself is empty” (Pope Benedict). The Didascalia (an ancient Catechism) says, “Leave everything on the Lord’s Day and run diligently to your assembly… to hear the Word of Life and feed on the divine nourishment which lasts forever”.

30/05/2026

GOD IS A HOLY TRINITY

1 The Holy Trinity is the fundamental mystery of our Christian faith. It is the mystery of who God is in himself namely three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God, He is not one-third of God. The Son, Jesus, is God, He is not one-third of God. And the Holy Spirit is God, not merely one-third of God. Each divine Person is God and yet they are the one God.
2 Our Christian life begins with our immersion, our baptism, into the Holy Trinity: “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. The Sign of the Cross shows our belief in the Trinity as we pray: “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.
3 Only Christians say that “GOD IS LOVE” (1 Jn 4:8) - not just that God can act with love but that “God is love” in his very being. “God is love”. Therefore he cannot be ‘the Force’ or ‘Mother Nature’ or an unreachable Supreme Being - because that would preclude a relationship of love.
4 “God is love”. Therefore he cannot be a solitary figure (e.g. an isolated old man with a beard) because then he would have no-one to love. Love requires a lover and a beloved: the Father and the Son, as Christians know. From all eternity the Father is loving the Son, and the Son is loving the Father. And their mutual love is so intense as to be the eternal third Person, the Holy Spirit. “God is love”, the SELF-GIVING LOVE FLOWING ETERNALLY BETWEEN THE FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT.
5 Now LOVE cannot contain itself but OVERFLOWS. God’s love burst forth in his act of creation. Sadly, mankind rejected this love by sinning against his Creator. Nonetheless God’s love overflowed again in his TWO SENDINGS. Firstly, He sent his Son who makes visible to us the eternal, self-giving love flowing eternally within Himself. Secondly, He sent the Holy Spirit to fill us with this divine love.
6 So we SEE GOD’S LOVE in JESUS, especially Jesus CRUCIFIED. And we RECEIVE it through the HOLY SPIRIT: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). This happens in Baptism when the self-giving love flowing eternally between the three divine Persons begins to flow in us. Mind-boggling! Filled with God’s love, we in turn are called to POUR OURSELVES OUT IN LOVE for one another - just as the three divine Persons of the Holy Trinity are doing in eternity.
7 What is our final destiny? To be fully assumed into the eternal communion of love flowing between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - together with Our Lady, the saints, the angels, our beloved departed, and the great multitude from every tribe, tongue and nation. How do we prepare for this glorious destiny? By LOVING OTHERS - with the love we see on the Cross, the love which has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

St. Anthony's Catholic Church

15/08/2026

08/08/2026

01/08/2026

25/07/2026

18/07/2026

10/07/2026

04/07/2026

05/06/2026

30/05/2026

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Contact The Place Of Worship

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Listing takedown request