On this day, the feast of All Saints, in the year 1541, Michaelangelo‘s Last Judgement was unveiled on the rear wall of the Sistine Chapel. There was no coincidence in the date: the feast of All Saints was a most appropriate day to dedicate this masterpiece of art. Michaelangelo’s ceiling tells the story…(Read More)
It’s Monday morning at the office and a few of the staff are arriving at work with groans and moans after relaxing and satisfying weekends. Even Pope Francis was talking about moaning when yesterday he spoke on his visit to Lithuania commenting that “before his invitation to hope, Paul repeats three times the word…(Read More)
It’s Fathers’ day today in New Zealand and Australia. A couple of years ago Pope Francis shared the following reflections on Fatherhood: “Father” is a term familiar to everyone, a universal word. It indicates a fundamental relationship, the reality of which is as old as human history. Today, however, one has reached the point…(Read More)
Each month Pope Francis invites the people of the world to join him in praying for a particular intention presenting a brief video to extend his invitation. This month, July, he wants us to pray for priests. I often ask people to pray for me, and I ask people to take my request very seriously…(Read More)
Last weekend I was with a group in Sydney who are seeking to live with greater familiarity with Jesus Christ. “Familiarity with Christ” was a recurring mantra of the retreat: under the broader theme: “see I am doing a new thing, even now it comes to light. Can you not perceive it? Newness is one…(Read More)
Just after 8 each weekday morning the NZ Concert Program features a few minutes highlighted as the day’s “Beauty Spot”. These minutes regularly include some of the most beautiful music of all time, chosen I suspect to entice people who have yet to know the pleasure of the classics of the music world. This…(Read More)
Late last night New Zealand time Pope Francis’ new Apostolic Exhortation “Rejoice and be Glad” (Gaudete et Exsultate) was published. Those who were looking for a dense document heavy with dogma and definitions will be disappointed. Instead the pope opens with this point clarifying that his work “is not meant to be a treatise on…(Read More)
A couple of times each year I take part in the dialogue of the Anglican Roman Catholic Commission of Aotearoa New Zealand (ARCCANZ). This dialogue is made up of half a dozen members of each church, appointed by the bishops, seeking to work on behalf of the Anglican and Catholic bishops of New Zealand towards…(Read More)
In today’s gospel reading we meet a tax-collector called Matthew, previously known as Levi. I like him. His life before encountering Jesus was probably a bit worldly with a view of reality distorted by attachment to earthly possessions. Pope Francis has said that one of his favourite works of art is Caravaggio’s…(Read More)
With yesterday’s celebration of Christmas we began the eight days (the Octave) of Christmas, and we conclude our December retreat with a relaxed journey through the Octave with the last of our daily emails arriving in your inbox on New Year’s day. I thought you might be interested in Pope Francis’ homily for…(Read More)
I remember someone once defining an intelligent person as one who can hold apparently contradictory thoughts in their heads at the same time without having to attach to one thought or another. I suppose another way of expressing this would be to say that an intelligent person can live with a degree of ambiguity rather…(Read More)
It was my paternal grandfather who first taught me about the night sky pointing out notable stars and constellations. Later when I became familiar with the scriptures I discovered that the stars are often mentioned as a way of helping people to keep perspective in the midst of human challenges. Wise people would gaze up…(Read More)
I am privileged to count as a friend Archbishop David Moxon who this week completes his term as the director of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the Holy See. David is also good friend of the Catholic community of New Zealand. Last year in Rome we shared…(Read More)
TED introduces Pope Francis: “A single individual is enough for hope to exist, and that individual can be you, says His Holiness Pope Francis in this searing TED Talk delivered directly from Vatican City. In a hopeful message to people of all faiths, to those who have power as well as those who don’t…(Read More)
It was on this morning four years ago that in New Zealand we woke to the news that Pope Francis had been elected. I recall being in the Cheviot Four Square store a few months later in a conversation with others waiting at the check-out line when a tourist, learning that I was the…(Read More)
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