Here in Canterbury New Zealand these past few years we rarely share our stories without telling of earthquakes. Our stability has been rocked in every way. We had...
hope
facing fear
The liturgy of Good Friday gives us an opportunity to face our greatest fear, the fear of death.
how to respond
It has been a week when violence and sadness has saturated media headlines. The Paris attacks have shaken us all deeply. It is significant that as the majority of...
sign of hope
There is something about the rainbow that gives a boost of hope in the midst of a day's demands. The Bible account of Noah's ark is well known - and this is where the...
extinct religion ?
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....
funerals, and hope
Last month I celebrated Mass on the anniversary of the death of my mother (9 February 2009) and father (10 February 2010). My father would often comment that we could...
papal apps
One of the Apps on my phone is a Pope Francis daily encouragement. You might guess that I'm a Francis fan, but before you get too excited, I became a papal fan and...
no optimists
This third Sunday of Advent is known as “Gaudete” Sunday, or "Rejoicing" Sunday. The rose coloured candle on the Advent wreath is lit today. We remember that our reason...
Advent encouragement
This is Pope Francis' first Advent so we have not yet heard much from him about the mission of these pre-Christmas days. This gives us the opportunity to savour some of...
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another way
It’s one of my favourite feasts today, that of Peter and Paul. The message for me every year in this feast is one of the extraordinary love of Jesus for sinners. Peter and Paul each did things that are considered objectively bad (to say the least).
maturation
“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.
the fixed gaze
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.
desire for life
“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.
Corpus Christi
Orvieto is a beautiful Italian hill-top settlement where all roads lead to the magnificent medieval Cathedral. The ‘treasure’ of this church is the corporal onto which the host was said to bleed during Mass at the nearby town of Bolsena in the year 1263.
In that Middle-Age era of scepticism and instability, reports of the miracle spread rapidly and widely as a message of hope and confidence in the reality of Jesus present in the form of bread and wine. What Christians knew to be true was verified once again. The people were delighted.