We regularly hear of good and holy men and women falling from grace and we are shocked and surprised.
sinners
self-esteem & sin
It is perhaps surprising that in a time when fewer people have a sense of sin, more people seem to suffer from a lack of self esteem. Could it be that a deep awareness...
saint & sinner
I am always saddened when well-known people are pushed into the headlines for inappropriate behaviour. Fifty years ago no one would have known, but today every word and...
skype & sun & rain
Many readers will remember Pope John Paul’s visit to New Zealand in November 1986. I had been ordained as a priest just twelve months earlier, and because our...
priests are sinners
In 1984 as a seminarian I spent three months on pastoral placement in the parish of Pukekohe, South Auckland. It was a very good experience for me. I recall attending a...
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Annunciation
A couple of thousand years ago, a young Jewish woman was going about her normal morning routines, perhaps with a mixture of house and garden work, chatting with parents and neighbours, aware of the local drought, the sickness of a neighbour and annoyed by the neighbourhood’s lack of sleep caused by the Romans’ noisy party the night before, when God broke into her routine and entered her life in a new and powerful way.
the real centre
Over the last month I have had the opportunity to work with many people across Aotearoa and further afield. In every retreat and seminar I have been with committed and faith-filled people who often feel as though they are on the periphery of the Church
the adventure
It’s easy to make the mistake of seeing life as a treadmill, day after day ups and downs, a movement through time from youth to old age, then death and beyond.
Too often if feels as if we are helplessly captive carried along by the momentum of all that is expected of us and demanded from us, and we risk falling into an existence mode, a daily rhythm of survival, enduring, coping and so the treadmill rolls on.
the bigger picture
Over the years, and even in recent months, weeks and days, I’ve prayed many prayers which have not been answered as I had hoped.
You’ve probably had the same experience: praying and wondering if and when or how your prayer will be answered.
moving waters
Bible questions still pop up regularly in quiz shows and they often cost otherwise sharp players much needed points.
I’m ready for a question asking for the two names for the last book of the Bible. The book often known as Apocalypse is perhaps more often referred to as the Book of Revelation.
It’s common (thanks to movies) to think of an apocalypse as a devastating and unwelcome time of destruction.