Where should we be casting our eyes? Upward, downward, or just on the road that we’re walking? Well there are different kinds of spiritualities: Spiritualities of the Ascent, Spiritualities of the Descent, and Spiritualities of Maintenance, and each is important. Spiritualities of the Ascent are spiritualities that invite us to strive always for what’s higher,…
A Parent’s Perspective At the Easter Vigil Mass in St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh some years ago Archbishop Eamon Martin recalled how St John Paul II loved to quote St Augustine: “Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and Alleluia is our song.” As a child, a lot of my…
Amidst the devastation of the fire, what was most noticeable from social media was the outpouring of faith and emotion that the blaze caused. People stopped in their tracks at impromptu vigils and sang Marian hymns and prayed rosaries. Many people were weeping, and there was obvious relief when it emerged that the façade of…
Mainly About Books by the books editor The other day I was reading a publisher’s announcement of a new book about 1916 (yes, another one, too late in the day we would have thought, with the centenary of the first Dáil upon us). In the article I came upon on a striking error. The…
The voyage of Italy: 200 years of travel guides National Gallery of Ireland 16 March – 15 September 2019 Room 11 | Admission free The National Gallery is currently showing selected items from the Sir Denis Mahon collection of guides and travel books about Italy. Naturally these were bought by the donor for the…
My son sat in the front seat next to me as we drove westward. The silence was deafening as drove through the rolling hills of southern England. The reason things were so quiet was that we boys were on solo mission to bring a busload of our stuff from the Isle of Wight back to…
Green Fingers “The world’s favourite season is spring. All things seem possible in May.” – Edwin Way Teale In May your garden starts to show what it’s really all about. Shrubs are a riot of colour. The new leaves on trees are almost see through when back lit by the sun and the colour so vivid. New life awakens. With all the new growth and the soil damp,…
Hannah Harn Fr Seán Hyland lost his two children in the 1970s. In 2008, he lost his wife. Now, he has found renewal through the priesthood and is using his own experiences to help others on their paths through grief. “Having lost two kids earlier in life, Liz got me through it,” said Fr Seán.…
Priests must be among the ‘crowds’ Pope urges clergy Just as Jesus always sought to be with the people to serve, teach and heal them, so too must priests always be in the midst of God’s people, “pouring ourselves out” for them, Pope Francis said. Being with the people “is the most beautiful place” to be, he told priests during the Chrism Mass…
At many parishes across the world, Massgoers enthusiastically sang “Easter glory fills the sky” on Sunday morning. It was dark plumes of smoke that filled the skies above churches in Sri Lanka as parishioners gathered for the most important festival in the Christian calendar. Occasions like Easter Sunday and Christmas Day are usually occasions of…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Maria Byrne
Peter Costello
Paul Gargan
Michael Kelly