So much of our struggle and anxiety each day comes when we lose sight of the big picture. I like the story about the wise old man who was asked by the boy to explain eternity. They were walking on the sand at the time and the old man took a speck of sand from […]
It was only a few short months ago that I posted some pictures taken at this spot (in the Cheviot Hills Reserve) on the Food For Faith Facebook page. The pictures were of daffodils among the trees here behind me. Well, it’s a very different scene here today. There are Autumn leaves everywhere…
I sometimes re-read the books that I consider to be classics. Some of these were written decades or centuries ago. Others, including Pope Benedict’s second “Jesus of Nazareth” book are more recent. In the first volume, published in 2007, the emeritus pope reflects on Jesus’ ministry from his baptism in the Jordan up to the Transfiguration. In volume two he […]
At the risk of you turning off even before we begin, I want to offer a word of encouragement about temptation. We all experience temptations. Jesus was tempted. I enjoy the story about the abbot who asked the young novice whether or not he was entertaining temptations…
One of the great privileges in the life of a priest is to celebrate weddings. I am very aware that the last thing that the couple or their family and friends gathered for the wedding want to hear is a homily from the priest. But I almost always take the opportunity to share an encouragement…
I often think that no-one struggles with temptation more than I do, so I find it very encouraging to hear every now and then from friends who are also engaged in the battle to follow the deepest desire for the good, the true and the beautiful. Too easily we settle for sin, which never delivers what […]
A few years ago I rediscovered one of the most beautiful and intimate Catholic prayers: the Memorare. It was one of the prayers my father taught to me as a very small child when he put me to bed, but over the years it had slipped off my prayer radar. The intimacy in the prayer […]
It’s Saturday morning here in Amberley and over coffee looking out from my office to the Autumn garden I am thinking back over a few of the moments of the week. Some years ago I realised that the things that happen during a week only have power to make or break my week if I give them that […]
It was twenty years ago that the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch launched its first website. At the time I was working for a few hours each week at the diocesan Catholic Education Office and was beginning to discover the potential of the internet for communication and evangelisation. My suggestion that our diocese develop a website fell […]
When did you last suggest to someone that God might be calling them to serve as a priest? This Sunday (“Good Shepherd Sunday”, Fourth Sunday of Easter) is celebrated throughout the Church as Vocations Sunday. In a real sense, every Sunday of the year is a day of focus on the Christian vocation to live […]
