“…This is different. This isn’t the same as the Easter bunny. This is mature. This is chilling. This is important. This isn’t something that is trivial, and is not something that I think I will ever outgrow whatever it means…? (Brian Holdsworth) Take five minutes to watch and then a moment to share…(Read More)
It is Holy Saturday today, and on this day the sacraments of the church are not celebrated until tonight when we celebrate the Easter Vigil, the ultimate liturgy of the Church year. Holy Saturday is a day of waiting. The memory of the suffering and death of Jesus commemorated yesterday is uppermost in our minds…(Read More)
I was on the road very early this morning, soon after 6. As I flicked through radio channels I happened to hear the word “Mass” as one of the morning hosts on a popular Christchurch station was talking about how she was rostered on the children’s liturgy yesterday but couldn’t get her car…(Read More)
I want to share with Food For Faith readers a great grace, a sign of hope that I experienced this weekend in the Catholic community of the Hurunui. We are a small community, with around 80 people spread over four or five Sunday Masses (depending on the Sunday of the month). Some of our churches…(Read More)
I landed in Rome early last Monday afternoon and early Tuesday morning arrived at St. Peter’s basilica just before it opened at 7. It’s a great time to visit the basilica, early morning, an hour or two before the tourists overtake the pilgrims who arrive early for the first Masses of the day…(Read More)
I was skimming through the Food For Faith archive last week and found a Radio New Zealand interview from March 2011. RNZ had phoned me on receiving the results of a survey which indicated that religion was becoming extinct. They asked what I thought, and I was able to share my experience of faith at…(Read More)
Most Food For Faith readers will find this reflection when the sabbath is past and Monday morning has returned us all to school, study, home and work commitments. In the midst of these demands it would be a great loss to forget the beauty and power of Sunday’s gospel reading, so here, at the…(Read More)
School is back after our NZ summer break, and on Friday of this week we mark 175 years since the first signatures were put to the Treaty of Waitangi on Thursday 6 February 1840. Rightly this day is a public holiday in New Zealand, and the day is most commonly referred to as Waitangi Day…(Read More)
In recent months I have had the opportunity to be with many people of faith in several different countries: New Zealand, Australia, Asia, United States and Europe. Earlier today in St. Peter’s Square I was with tens of thousands of people from every part of the world. My experience is that something new is…(Read More)
God-willing I will again this year make it to the Rimini Meeting for friendship among peoples. It is difficult to describe the gathering which annually draws around 700.000 visitors over a week in August each year. Simply, I would suggest that if a meeting were advertised to focus on church, religion, doctrine, faith…(Read More)
At dinner last night, the conversation at our table turned to the movies that each of us would place on our personal list of top-ten films. The prompting for the movie chat was the need to choose a movie to watch as a break from study last evening. Among others, I mentioned the 1987…(Read More)
When most people think of St. Patrick’s day they think of the saint who freed Ireland of snakes. Many people celebrate this day wearing green and enjoying good Irish music, Guinness and dancing at an Irish pub. Such a celebration is great. I enjoy the music and Guinness even if I am not wearing…(Read More)
Over the next couple of days, many thousands of communities around the world will celebrate Masses to mark the ninth anniversary of the death of Fr. Luigi Giussani. In the early 1950’s in Italy the young priest Giussani was struck by the abyss that seemed to exist between faith (as understood by many people…(Read More)
For the thirteen months of the Year of Faith, this Icon of Mary the Mother of the Church has travelled the parishes and schools of the diocese of Christchurch. The icon was commissioned by Bishop Barry Jones for the diocese of Christchurch and written by the studio of St. John the Baptist in Auckland, New…(Read More)
