Reviewer: Fr Paul Clayton-lea
The Kingdom of God is Close at Hand
Reflections on the Sunday Readings for the Year of Mark
978 1 91786 909 6 • pp 212• €16.99
The Sower Sows the Word
Reflections on the Weekday Readings for the Liturgical Year 2026–27
978 1 91786 916 4 • pp 310 • €19.99
Fr Martin Hogan
ACN Church Resources DAC, 2026
Readers of Intercom will readily know that short excerpts from Fr Martin Hogan’s homiletic resources are regularly featured in the magazine thanks to their helpfully succinct and erudite content. However an even richer resource from his pen can be found in the series of publications that Fr Martin has produced over the years which explore and reflect deeply upon the Gospels as well as alluding to the other readings both for Sundays and weekdays.
His latest works just published by ACN The Kingdom of God is close at hand – Reflections on the Sunday Readings for the Year of Mark and The Sower Sows the Word – Reflections on the Weekday Readings for the Liturgical Year 2026–27 provide an invaluable scriptural and liturgical resource for the coming church year (Cycle B) for preachers, for liturgy and parish prayer groups and anyone who seeks to personally explore with the help of personal prayer the riches that are to be found in the scriptural texts used in the daily and Sunday celebrations of the Eucharist.
Ministers of the Word and others also like to reflect on the readings before proclaiming them at Mass and they too are likely to find Fr Martin’s prayerful reflections born of a lifetime’s ministry and experience will greatly enhance the process.
The coming year’s Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels and most of Mark can be found in both Matthew and Luke and many of the best loved stories of Jesus from the infancy narratives to the Good Samaritan, the Sermon on the Mount and the resurrections appearances are missing from it.
Yet that doesn’t mean as Fr Martin observes that Mark is in any way ‘the poor relation’ of the other Gospels. As he points out Mark, if read continuously by a reasonably good reader from beginning to end can have a powerful impact.
The late English actor Alec McCowen performed a legendary one-man show titled St Mark’s Gospel in an unexpectedly successful adaptation which debuted in London’s West End in 1978 before moving to Broadway and touring worldwide.
The production was highly acclaimed because McCowen memorized and recited all 16 chapters of the text almost verbatim, performing for about two hours on a nearly bare stage without sets or costumes.
And having had the personal experience some years ago of preparing students for their GCSE in Religious Studies and trying that particular experiment with them of reading the entire Gospel in a double class period the results were again surprisingly positive and memorable for many pupils.
There is something about the urgency and intensity – the words ‘suddenly’ and ‘immediately’ are used frequently – as well as the passion of Mark’s no frills Gospel which has appealed to even secular audiences as the stage production shows, that peels the centuries away revealing Jesus, the son of God, revealed by the son of man, the king on the cross, in sharper focus.
Fr Martin uses the title The Sower Sows the Word for his reflections on weekdays as he suggests that the pre-eminent and perennial parable of encouragement found in Mark is that of the Sower.
As he points out ‘the seed of the gospel is always taking root and bearing fruit in the lives of some, and the Lord can work powerfully through such a faithful group.’
That was the case in Jesus’ own time who while he was rejected by many nevertheless was never discouraged, scattering the seed of God’s Word confident that some would fall on rich soil.
This is a particularly hope filled approach in an age when we may feel that much of what is preached or taught falls on barren soil thanks to pernicious or unhealthy influences and distractions.
Particularly the dreaded algorithms which social media companies use purposely and relentlessly to keep users on an endless hamster running wheel of group think and triviality.
The Gospel has the power to interrupt and break that cycle for some and to allow the seed to take root and flourish if it is proclaimed and preached effectively.
Thanks to the techniques of communication and tools of presentation developed and shared in these new resources Fr Martin offers many opportunities to take that step.
In his concluding words in The Kingdom of God is close at hand he quotes Saint Ephrem, the great fourth century theologian-poet, who writes, ‘God has hidden in his word all kinds of treasures so that each one of us, wherever we meditate, may be enriched by it.’
Fr Martin’s work greatly assists in the opening up of those treasures.
Highly recommended.