To fall in love! We use the expression to cover many things. You can fall in love with a baby, a sports team, a city, a job, or another person. However, we reserve the prime analogate for this expression for one thing, emotional infatuation, that intoxicating feeling we first get when we meet someone who…
Matthew’s Gospel is our source of light for most of this year. Where has he led us so far? When the voice of John the Baptist was silenced, it was time for Jesus to leave his workshop and home, and to proclaim his mission. He announced it in one short sentence. “Repent, for the kingdom…
Pilgrimage is an age-old Christian tradition for a reason, writes Zac Davis So many significant moments in my spiritual life are tied to sights, smells, sounds and emotions felt on a pilgrimage: The deep sigh after walking all the way up from the train stop to the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi. My jaw…
I’ve already looked at several films from the Vatican’s list of 45 significant films. This week, I will add Monsieur Vincent. The 1947 French film is a picaresque account of the life of St Vincent de Paul, founder of the Daughters of Charity. As Catholic film critic Deacon Steven Greydanus puts it, there are many…
Paula of Rome was truly a woman of the world. Born to a prominent, wealthy Roman family in 347 AD, she married a senator, Toxotius, with whom she had five children. A person in such a position would have wanted for nothing, and indeed, Paula didn’t. Until the age of 32, Paula lived a life…
The Wisdom of Pope Francis The different religions, based on their respect for each human person as a creature called to be a child of God, contribute significantly to building fraternity and defending justice in society. Dialogue between the followers of different religions does not take place simply for the sake of diplomacy, consideration or…
The famous quote goes something along the lines of, “The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he did not exist”. If the topic of this week’s ‘Questions of Faith?’ column caused you to cringe or laugh, you’re doubtless not alone in that. Whatever about the existence of God, the existence…
In his Confessions, St Augustine describes how his conversion to Christianity involved two separate moments of grace, the first that convinced him intellectually that Christianity was correct, and the second that empowered him to live out what he believed. There were nearly nine years between these two conversions and it was during those nine years…
Ghandi’s favourite reading was the Sermon on the Mount, especially the Beatitudes. He was deeply impressed by the life of Jesus Christ but not by the lives of Christians. Last week our Gospel was about the mission of Jesus to restore the world to the reign of God. Today we start the Sermon on the…
One of the great products of the Second Vatican Council has been a renewed understanding of the common priesthood of the baptised. We are all called to exercise our baptismal priesthood through participation, “each according to his own vocation, in Christ’s mission as priest, prophet, and king”, the Catechism tells us. By virtue of this…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Ruadhán Jones