Mission Sunday Fr Hugh MacMahon SSC has travelled the world for his missionary work, including assignments in China and Korea. However, it was a location here in Ireland that inspired his recent book, Voices from the Desert. During a visit to the Skellig Islands, he pondered why individuals would choose such an isolated and difficult…
The Sunday Gospel The prayer of the blind man, Bartimaeus, is a model of prayer. It is full of reverence, simplicity, trust and perseverance. It is the basis of what is known as the Jesus Prayer. This has always been popular in the Orthodox tradition but forgotten in the West until recent times. The prayer…
From Covid to Malaria, authoritarian Venezuela to struggling South Sudan, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart continue to educate and feed the needy, writes Chai Brady The life of a missionary is filled with new experiences and challenges but having a good humour and the ability to laugh at yourself is one of the key…
The Sunday Gospel For the past few weeks, the Sunday readings from Mark’s Gospel set us on the road, following Jesus on the way towards his death and resurrection in Jerusalem. The Gospel each week is a challenge asking us are we true followers or not. Last week, you might remember, a rich young man…
Ireland’s wake culture is necessary for establishing a healthy relationship with death, hears Jason Osborne The pandemic brought the Catholic tradition of memento mori (‘Remember your death’) back to the forefront of the public’s mind, a virus which proved deadly for many intruding upon the removed safety of our daily lives. Key to combatting the…
Daughters of Charity Sister Geraldine Henry tells Ruadhán Jones about the rewards of missionary life The work of a missionary can be tough. Their life’s mission is to travel to the most marginal communities, often placing their lives at risk in ministering to the poor, the sick and the outcast. But it is exactly this…
The Sunday Gospel Jesus was setting out on a journey, a road that would ultimately lead him to Calvary as the suffering, serving Messiah. Are his followers prepared to overcome self-centred ways to follow him? Today’s second reading tells us that the Word of God is alive and active, as sharp as a sword, like…
The Sunday Gospel Today’s Gospel (Mark 10: 2-16) is first of all about the sanctity of marriage between husband and wife, and then about the touch of God on their children. The background is a trick question about divorce in an attempt to trap Jesus. “Is it against the law for a man to divorce…
Jesus cannot be reduced to a Buddha-like figure who came to bring a message of enlightenment, writes Dr John Murray Whilst it is perhaps good to see Dr Noel Keating encouraging “the Christian churches” (sic) to pursue contemplation, it is deeply worrying to see how he describes this contemplation and his background beliefs about Christ…
The Sunday Gospel The Sunday Gospels these weeks are about Jesus on the way to Calvary and how his followers are to take up their crosses also. Today’s reading (Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48) is a challenge to be Christian not only in name but also in the way we live. Do I belong to Christ…
Chai Brady
Ruadhán Jones