To be attentive to the things of the Spirit, in a frantic age such as ours, is pure gift. There is nothing more important. Without exploring the depths of our own hearts, we can never be truly happy. The unexamined life is not worth living. We notice a difference about those people who take time out each day – even a few minutes – to reflect on their lives. There is something special about them. […]
In my pastoral experience a common cry from those seeking a fuller life concerns the inbuilt sense of inferiority and the fear of being judged. That is why we pretend; tell lies; it is why we try to impress in a thousand ways; it lies at the heart of our untold misery and even tragedy. Whether in the least competitive of small communities, or at the heady heights of political or religious power, you will […]
People are surprised at the extent of the choice they have about the direction of each day’s living, leading to profound satisfaction or disillusion. With God’s power in us, we are all blessed with the grace of choosing our way of being in the world. We do not have to be victims of what happens to us; instead we are blessed with the power of discerning our demons as disguised occasions of grace. But we […]
As priests what are we doing when we bless? Are we actually making something holy, adding on something that was missing, spiritually disinfecting a merely natural object? Or are we revealing hidden richness, divining a wellspring of sacred presence, already secure below the surface of everything? Is that not the true meaning of Incarnation? Is consecrated ground more sacred than the kitchen floor burnished and blessed by the feet of the families who played and […]
The coming of summer touches us all and opens our hearts. At these times there is often a pathos, a poignancy and a bitter-sweet tinge to our emotions. Many of us have memories of one special day, recently or long ago, when deep in our soul something beautiful happened. As summer approaches do you have any such intimate recollections to linger over, memories that will never go away, a shining moment you will never forget? […]
When I look at the utter magic of nature, at the exquisite colouring and shaping of all things, the endless variety of species, the time and tuning of things, the rhythm and rhyme of things, the miracle of scientific discoveries, the astonishing newness of life’s unfolding, I say to myself, ‘Is this source, force and energy of life the same mystery that we call God; the God we worship as the Father of Jesus, the […]
Pentecost reminds us that the Holy Spirit is a power at work in a continually renewed universe, and is present in the innermost mystery of all things. Grace and science come together to offer a fuller picture of what is true: that God’s love is embodied in all humanity, and in the evolving world itself Breakthrough into new vistas is an essential dimension of Pentecost. This Sunday’s collect implores God to, ‘fill now once more […]
Our understanding of the Holy Spirit is mostly too limited and too undeveloped. It is time now to acknowledge and release her surging power throughout all life. We need to begin delighting in, and celebrating the dynamic Spirit pulsing through the Church, through humanity, through the evolving universe and through every corner of our own hearts. We were on our way back home after Benediction one bright night, many decades ago, my mother and myself, […]
The balance of our minds is a fragile thing. The daily diet of bad news has profound effects on our moods and our thinking. The terrible tragedies and mindless acts of cruelty that are relentlessly reported eventually disturb the delicate equilibrium of many souls. The resulting insecurity is constantly spreading and is too often expressed in break-down, despair or thoughts of suicide. A serious, silent tipping point is gradually being reached and vulnerable people are […]
Caro Papa Francisco, After reading your encyclical Laudato Si’ I had a dream. Before I tell you about it may I thank you on behalf of millions who are finding new hope in your redeeming leadership. You are parting the veils for us, allowing us glimpses into the meaning of mystery, liberating us by the beauty of your vision. Like Plato and St Thomas Aquinas before you, your word for this way of seeing and […]
You are away from your family. Your family is in trouble. You pray for the family. You hope the prayers will work. But you are still anxious. You decide to go back home. You arrive at home. You bring your full attention to the whole situation. You are there in person, with your total concern, your full involvement, your truest self. It is your home, where you began your life’s journey. It is where you […]
Echoes of Intimacy The Risen Christ told St Theresa that he needed her eyes to look with love on people and places. ‘The real aim’, wrote Simone Weil, ‘is not to see God in all things; it is that God, through us, should see the things that we can see.’ And touch the things that we can touch. And hear the things that we can hear. The theological giant Karl Barth, somewhat infatuated with the […]
Too often we regard Holy Week, the Stations of the Cross, the ceremonies of the Triduum, as having to do with the salvation of our own souls only. There is a persistent tendency in many of us towards a private kind of religion. Irish Catholics of a certain age are prone to confine the mystery of redemption to a personal transaction between God and the individual. Heavily influenced by a flawed and limited grasp of […]
It’s a week since we celebrated the magnificent Easter ceremonies. We remembered our story, we prayed our hearts out, we took part in the Vigil liturgy as best we could. And then there was the Bank Holiday and soon we were all back at work as usual. The Paschal banquet of sublime mystery was over for another year. But have our lives this past week been different because of it? Do we have a clearer […]
In my pastoral experience a common cry from those seeking a fuller life concerns the inbuilt sense of inferiority and the fear of being judged. That is why we pretend; tell lies; it is why we try to impress in a thousand ways; it lies at the heart of our untold misery and even tragedy. Whether in the least competitive of small communities, or at the heady heights of political or religious power, you will […]
People are surprised at the extent of the choice they have about the direction of each day’s living, leading to profound satisfaction or disillusion. With God’s power in us, we are all blessed with the grace of choosing our way of being in the world. We do not have to be victims of what happens to us; instead we are blessed with the power of discerning our demons as disguised occasions of grace. But we […]
As priests what are we doing when we bless? Are we actually making something holy, adding on something that was missing, spiritually disinfecting a merely natural object? Or are we revealing hidden richness, divining a wellspring of sacred presence, already secure below the surface of everything? Is that not the true meaning of Incarnation? Is consecrated ground more sacred than the kitchen floor burnished and blessed by the feet of the families who played and […]
Everything about us reaches out to be loved and to love, to become the other. We long for intimacy. We are born for it. We are drawn and driven by this original and persistent desire of our being. Astonishingly, we are already encompassed by this ultimate and unique embrace – but we will not, dare not or cannot believe it. We risk staying stuck too long in the trappings of routine religion. Beyond our familiar […]
The mirror was as big as the wall of the room we were gathered in. It was my first Pilates class. Half way through I caught a glimpse of myself writhing on the floor, arms and legs all over the place like a beached octopus. Around me flexible bodies rotated rhythmically on their mats, balancing, stretching and pulsing to the music and the instructions. Sweat was dripping off my chin. My limbs were hurting. And […]
Recently, I took a walk along the prom here at Blundellsands. The crisp dry November evening brought families out, to stroll, fly kites and generally enjoy this beautiful Sunday, here was I, among my new neighbours. It felt good. However, as time went on, in the far distance, my attention was drawn to what seemed to be a stately vessel resting on the deeps, it was set against a backdrop of the faintest pastel hues […]
Love is all that we spend our lives seeking, but we forget along the way that love is present the moment we surrender to it. And the moment we surrender, we are no longer afraid of dying, or whether or not there is eternal life, because we have already found it, in love. Just one glimpse of true love, within and around us, shows us heaven. Love is eternal life. Because love sings forever, and […]
When it comes to buying a suit, I’m an off-the-peg kind of customer. I’m neither a big man nor a small man – I’m somewhere in the middle. I was recently trying on a suit-jacket, in a local store. I was feeling pressurised by the sales assistant to purchase a suit that I did not feel comfortable in – something that wasn’t really ‘me’. I resisted the pressure and decided to wait for another day […]
The Christmas hype is all around us but the meaning of Incarnation has no ending. In January, the month of courageous beginnings, Christians will try to live out in their lives the Feast of Love and Mercy they have just celebrated. In a weeping world they will put love where there was no love and thus continue the human Incarnation of divine love. Life itself, all that it brings, all that we experience, every sensation […]
English poet Christina Rossetti was looking through the lens of Incarnation when she prayed: Lord, purge our eyes to see, Within the seed a tree Within the glowing egg a bird, Within the shroud a butterfly. God is now fleshed. To perceive the world in Christmas light is to discern the hidden depths of everything, the astonishing possibilities in all that happens, the extraordinary mystery abiding within the ordinary. This Christian revelation of an […]
The bishop was patient with us. We were working our way through the Any Other Business section at the diocesan Episcopal Vicars’ termly meeting some years ago. There was a request from the Catholic Women’s Ordination (CWO) group to publish the venue for their next meeting in the diocesan newspaper. Those who spoke were all against it. ‘But why are we afraid?’ I asked. ‘These women are not the enemy. They belong to, and love […]
This Year of Mercy is already seeing some powerful articulations and celebrations of divine compassion throughout the Christian world. A million lives will be transformed. A million hopes renewed. A million holy doors opened in human hearts. For this blessed springtime of the soul to continue Pope Francis emphasises that our celebrations of mercy must reach beyond any routine actions and prayers; they must be fleshed and heart-felt. In Misericordiae Vultus, his Bull of Indiction […]