Homily for Wednesday in the Second Week of Eastertide, delivered at New Auckland Place Aged Care Residence, Gladstone, Qld., 2022.

"... at night the angel of the Lord opened the prison gates and said as he led them out, ‘Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new Life.’ They did as they were told; they went into the Temple at dawn and began to preach... The captain went with his men and fetched them. They were afraid to use force in case the people stoned them." (Acts 5:19-21, 26).

"Jesus said to Nicodemus: ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved... On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world men have shown they prefer darkness to the light... because their deeds were evil." (Jn 3:16-17, 19).

Artwork: Nicodemus coming to Christ, by Henry Ossawa Tanner (c. 1924-29).