According to the renowned mystic, John of the Cross, we have three essential struggles in life: to get our lives together, to give our lives away, and to give our deaths away. What is asked of us in the first two struggles is more obvious. But what does it mean to give our deaths away?…
In its calendar, the Church singles out special seasons to celebrate – Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. But, outside of these special times, it invites us to live and celebrate Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time. For most of us, I suspect, that phrase conjures up images of something that is less than special – bland, flat,…
Our own complexity can be befuddling. We are better than we think and worse than we imagine, too hard and too easy on ourselves all at the same time. We are a curious mix. On the one hand, we are good. All of us are made in the image and likeness of God and are,…
In much of the secularised world today, we live in a climate that’s somewhat anti-Christian and anti-Church (as contradictory as this may sound in a culture that still considers itself Christian). But the truth is that in many circles today it is fashionable to bash Christianity, especially its churches, be they Roman Catholic, Protestant, or…
What is the Ascension? The Ascension is an event in the life of Jesus and his original disciples, a feast day for Christians, a theology, and a spirituality, all woven together into one amorphous mystery that we too seldom try to unpackage and sort out. What does the Ascension mean? Among other things, it is…
We are all priests from our baptism, and with that comes an invitation, namely, to pray for the world as a priest through the prayer of Christ and the Church. What does that mean exactly? Everyone who is baptised as a Christian is baptised into the priesthood of Jesus Christ. The priesthood is given to…
I work and move within Church circles and find that most of the people there are honest, committed, and for the most part radiate their faith positively. Most churchgoers aren’t hypocrites. What I do find disturbing in Church circles though is that many of us can be bitter, mean-spirited, and judgmental in terms of defending…
Why do we no longer get along with each other? Why is there such bitter polarisation inside of our countries, our neighborhoods, our churches, and even in our families? Why do we feel so unsafe in many of our conversations where we are perpetually on guard so as not to step on some political, social,…
All things considered; I believe that I grew up with a relatively healthy concept of God. The God of my youth, the God that I was catechised into, was not unduly punishing, arbitrary, or judgmental. Granted, he was omnipresent so that all of our sins were noticed and noted; but, at the end of the…
In a poem Serenade, Brazilian poet Adelia Prado speaks of a painful ache we feel inside us as we forever wait for something or someone to come and make us whole. What are we waiting for? Love? A soulmate? God? No matter, the frustration eventually pushes us towards a choice, go crazy or turn…