23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time – 2026

Welcome to everyone who has come to St. Mary’s Cathedral to pray together this morning. Happy father’s day to all the fathers and grandfathers present among us and joining this Mass online.

There is a little sentence at the end of today’s Gospel which we know so well that perhaps we no longer hear how extraordinary it is.

Jesus says: “For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.”

Notice what he does not say. He does not say: where two or three think about me. He does not say: where two or three agree with me. He says: where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.

Christianity is a religion of presence.

God did not save us from a distance. The eternal Word became flesh and lived among us. Jesus walked the roads of Galilee. He sat at tables. With his touch, he healed the sick. He allowed people to come close to him. And on the night before he died, he took bread into his hands and said: “This is my body.”

God comes close.

And that is why gathering for Mass matters.

Sometimes we hear people say, “I can pray just as well at home.” Of course we can pray at home. I hope we do. We can pray while walking along the beach, sitting quietly in the garden or driving to work (I do that most mornings). God is not confined within the walls of a church.

But something happens here which cannot happen when I am alone.

We gather in the name of Christ.

At Mass, Jesus Christ is not simply someone about whom we think. He is present among us.

This morning’s Gospel reminds that He is present in his people gathered in his name.

Look around this Cathedral. The person sitting beside you matters.

The senior parishioner who has worshipped here for fifty years matters. The young family trying to keep a child settled matters. The person who has slipped quietly into a side pew carrying a wound known only to God matters.

And you, each one of you, matter.

Your presence changes this Eucharistic assembly.

We sometimes approach Sunday Mass thinking, “What am I going to get out of it?” Perhaps that is the wrong question.

The better question might be: “What am I bringing to it?”

I bring my faith, even when that faith is struggling. I bring my prayer. I bring the week that has just passed and place it upon the altar with the bread and wine.

And I bring myself.

There may be somebody here this morning whose faith is stronger because you are here. You may never know it. Someone sees you coming through those doors Sunday after Sunday and is encouraged to keep going.

We carry one another more than we realise.

Perhaps that is why the first reading gives Ezekiel such a demanding responsibility. He cannot simply mind his own business. God has made him a watchman for the house of Israel.

Saint Paul takes us even deeper. “Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour.”

That is the heart of Christian community.

Not interference. Not judgement. Love.

You know, genuine love refuses to abandon another person. When someone is struggling, we do not write them off. When relationships are damaged, the Gospel always leaves open a path towards reconciliation.

That is precisely what Jesus teaches today.

The Gospel we have just heard is directed towards winning the brother or sister back. Even when there has been hurt, the purpose is restoration. Christ is always drawing his people out of darkness and into the light of communion with him.

Then we come to this altar.

The priestly prayer of Christ gathers all our prayers into his own great offering to the Father. Back in my little primary school of St Aloysius, when I was in Grade 2, our teacher told us to imagine ourselves on the paten, the dish, with the host being offered to God. So as the Bread and wine are placed upon the altar, we place ourselves there too. Our joys come with us. Our disappointments come with us. The people we love come with us.

And Christ takes what we offer and gives us something infinitely greater in return: himself.

Then we receive Holy Communion.

We call it Communion because the Eucharist draws us into communion with Christ and, through him, with one another.

We come forward as many people to receive the one Lord.

And then we are sent back into the world carrying his presence.

That is where the final words of today’s Gospel become not merely comforting but challenging: “Where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.”

If Christ is here among us, then what happens here cannot remain here.

The fire placed within us at this altar is meant to burn beyond these Cathedral walls.

In a few moments we will profess our faith together. We will pray together. We will come to the altar together.

And Christ is here.

Not because we are particularly remarkable people nor because our faith is always strong.

He is here because he promised “where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.”

What a wonderful promise that is.

And what a wonderful reason for us to be here.

Most Rev. Anthony J. Ireland
Archbishop of Hobart
6 September 2026