Whenever priests meet the highlight is the personal conversations over slow food and drink especially when struggles and failures are shared with honesty and humility. There is laughter too, much laughter

If you are ready for a broader faith perspective you might appreciate this offering – something a little different

In every encounter, local and afar, with people of every age and at every stage of life, the struggles and joys of people are remarkably similar.

Both readings are personal favourites and every time I hear them and ponder them these texts speak to me in new and powerful ways.

“God never permits anything to happen unless it is for our maturity”. (Luigi Giussani)
The gospel reading assigned to today’s feast of the birth of John the Baptist concludes with an often overlooked fact.: through his toddler and teenage years John the Baptist grew and his spirit matured.

Most of my recent weekends have been spent with groups of people on weekend retreats and the most recent of these was last weekend at the Trappistine Abbey of Our Lady of Mount Matutum near General Santos in the southern part of the Philippines. 

“Here is the man: a desire for life, for love, for happiness”.

The title says it all and nothing is more adequate than “all” for any person including the thousands who overflowed the magnificent Cathedral of Milan for Wednesday’s funeral of Sergio Berlusconi, a man who dominated the Italian political scene for three decades.