Good Friday
Jesus dies

Jesus dies

I spent a couple of hours during the week with the teachers in one of our Catholic primary schools.

Good Friday

Good Friday

Anyone who really wanted to get rid of suffering would have to get rid of love before anything else, because there can be no love without suffering,

facing fear

facing fear

We spend most of our lives running from death and the daily moments that feel deathly. We do our best to avoid such uncomfortable realities and expend time, energy and resources trying to avoid anything that hints at death.

Good Friday

Good Friday

There is one moment in the year when  Christians around the world gather at the same hour, 3.00pm on Good Friday for the celebration of the Lord's Passion. This is one...

the Triduum

the Triduum

These three days, from Holy Thursday evening until the Saturday evening Vigil of Easter, are at the heart of our life as Christians and therefore the core of our human...

Ave Verum

Ave Verum

The depths of human pain,  suffering and grief can produce some of the most exquisite beauty in art. The suffering and death of Jesus is an example, and one of the most...

the CROSS road

the CROSS road

This evening I plan to be at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament choir and orchestra performance of Bach's St. John's Passion. Details below. But before then, at...

these three days

these three days

This Holy Triduum beginning with this evening's Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper is at the heart of our Christian faith, and therefore at the centre of our human...

Christians together

Christians together

This Good Friday morning, in the Good Shepherd Hurunui parish, and around NZ as in other parts of the world, Christians of all denominations gather to carry the cross...

facing fear

facing fear

The liturgy of Good Friday gives us an opportunity to face our greatest fear, the fear of death.

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highway for God

highway for God

Unbridled ambition is problematic and resentment is exhausting. Love, generosity and forgiveness really is foundational,

by rote

by rote

Rote learning was a norm in my primary school days, repetition of the times tables, two times two equals four, three times two

so simple

so simple

So simple that children who naturally and naively live with open eyes and ears get it, when we adults too often miss the point.

mountains & roofs

mountains & roofs

. The prevailing sense in the Old Testament was that God lived in the heavens (above). Therefore mountain-tops (where heaven and earth seem to intersect) were a logical place of encounter with the divine. We see this in Moses, the holy Old Testament leader of people,...

opportunity knocks

opportunity knocks

I find it very helpful to hear Jesus speaking directly to me, not as a fearsome threat but as an invitation to not miss the divine presence in the midst of the routines and demands, the ups and downs of my daily life.