“Simon, son of John, do you love me?” – a question asked not once, but three times. Each time when Simon Peter responds, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you,” Jesus invites Peter’s response to go beyond words, to action, “Feed my lambs, feed my sheep.” These weeks beyond Easter Sunday present us with the…

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…

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…

Sometimes God just breaks in. That phrase, “You can’t pour from an empty cup” makes sense to me and so for Lent this year one of my commitments was to take time out. On a sunny Thursday morning I took myself to Ards Friary – for quiet time. A few days previously a friend of…

Children’s Corner   When scissors are introduced into a child’s world for the first time, all sorts of mayhem can ensue, but what could be better than putting their skills to good use and recreating one of nature’s most-loved reptiles? Turtles and tortoises comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours; certain species can…

My wife came in to my office with a sheepish look on her face. She said that my son’s friend had just called to the door, and had asked if he could go to the park to play. She confessed that she had said “yes” and that he was now gone – out into the…

I am a GAA mammy. I spend a lot of time on the side-lines of matches. Whether it is Gaelic or hurling there is skill, speed and courage involved. Most players and coaches that I know are committed to playing hard but fair. Unfortunately, there are those who favour cynical fouling, outright aggression and even sledging…

“But marshmallows are a St Patrick’s Day tradition!” my eldest daughter righteously insisted, aghast at my ignorance on the subject. “Don’t you remember, we all had giant marshmallows last year?” she asked in total incredulity. It was as though I had suddenly announced that I’d never heard that people bring little pine trees indoors and…

Human race needs green space The great outdoors may be one of the cheapest therapies for children, a new study from Denmark shows. Kids who grow up surrounded by nature have up to 55% less risk of developing various mental disorders later in life, according to the paper from Aarhus University in Denmark, published in the…