Our greatest human desire is not to be free of suffering and pain, but to live whatever reality is present in the great company…
hopeful endurance
None of us likes to suffer, but on reflection we do know that at times we have had the maturity and the patience to endure times of difficulty knowing it is the only pathway to a greater reward.
in great company
It was a delight to spend time last night with five of our six seminarians for the diocese of Christchurch at Holy Cross Seminary in Auckland, and later in the evening...
a calling
Early every morning here at Mundelein, as the sun is rising, I walk around the lake on the university campus. The circle takes about 45 minutes. This campus, the lake,...
heroic priesthood
I have been privileged over the past couple of months to live and study with some of the young priests who feature in a brief new video called "Heroic Priesthood." Tap...
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I AM
I try not to repeat these daily Lenten posts year to year but there are times when the same scriptures pop up annually and I realise that I can’t write it better than I did last year. Today is one such day, not only because of the thought I share but even more in the comments that are added by FFF readers. Today I have left some of last year’s comments helping us to appreciate the power of today’s readings.

my word your home
The heart of the home in years past was the hearth.
It was at the hearth that the family gathered for the warmth and light of the flame and the food that was prepared there.
The fire was treated with respect since the same flame which provided energy for the home could just as easily destroy it.

stand up look up
The Israelites in their forty years in the desert were journeying from captivity to freedom, but the struggle of their desert years made them vulnerable to attack from every temptation as today’s first reading continues

confident in God
I’m not sure if children today are told the great story of the Emperor’s New Clothes, but if not let’s make sure that the parable is taught at all schools of higher learning.

the teenagers
A few years ago I discovered the wonderful way that God uses my imagination in my prayer.
Such openness to imagination when seeking God does not take us away from reality into fantasy but instead brings me into what is most real and inescapably personal and intimate.