Today’s feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus has got me thinking again about church building. Let me explain the connection. In recent years I have been reading about the importance of beauty. Beauty is one of the three transcendentals, not an opinion in the eye of the beholder but an objective reality that corresponds…(Read More)
Mountain tops are significant places in the Bible. In the Old Testament God was thought to dwell in the distant heavens therefore if you wanted to get close to God you might climb a mountain. Think of Abraham and Isaac, up a mountain in today’s first reading, or Moses coming down the mountain with…(Read More)
It is Saturday evening as I write and I have just arrived back in Amberley after the Vigil Mass at Hanmer Springs. The Christian Sabbath has begun. In my homily at tonight’s Mass I recalled a pilgrimage I made to the Holy Land a few years ago. One of the distinctive natural landmarks about…(Read More)
This week-end’s (6 August) feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus has got me thinking again about church building. Let me explain the connection. In recent weeks I have been reading about the importance of beauty. Beauty is one of the three transcendentals, not an opinion in the eye of the beholder, but an…(Read More)
Today’s feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus has got me thinking again about church building. Let me explain the connection. A couple of years ago with a group of pilgrims from Our Lady of Victories parish in Christchurch, I visited the Mount of the Transfiguration. It is not too far from the Sea of…(Read More)
It was on this Second Sunday of Lent two years ago (24 February 2013) that Pope Benedict gave his last Sunday Audience in St. Peter’s Square. On that Sunday, the gospel reading at Mass was the same as today’s reading: the Transfiguration of Jesus. You can read a summary of Pope Benedict’s…(Read More)
Today’s feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus has got me thinking again about church building. Let me explain the connection. A couple of years ago with a group of pilgrims from Our Lady of Victories parish in Christchurch, I visited the Mount of the Transfiguration. It is not too far from the Sea of…(Read More)
During the week I met a young priest new to New Zealand and on loan to the Christchurch diocese. On of his tasks of that morning had been to write the reflection for his parish newsletter for this Sunday. I was interested and he shared it with me. I was inspired. In a most captivating…(Read More)
