Silence plays a mysterious and important role in a healthy spirituality, writes Jason Osborne “There’s nothing so much like God in all the world as silence,” 14th Century German mystic and theologian Meister Eckhart is reported as saying. Whether he said it or not, it certainly sums up a certain vein of the Church’s spiritual tradition,…
Faith in film The Christmas and New Year’s period is a great time to sit down as a family and watch a film. But it’s not always easy to agree on what to watch, or to know what is suitable for younger children and what isn’t. So here’s a suggestion, a lovely animated film which…
Saint of the week One of the most famous poets in history, Dante, in his masterwork, the Divine Comedy, glimpses a moving scene: the stoning of a young man, who, while dying, asks forgiveness for those casting the stones at him. Dante chose to commemorate the unparalleled charity of the man often held up as…
Sr Josephine Garrett CSFN New Year’s celebrations can be a mixed experience. On one hand, the holidays have brought us opportunities to be renewed in our relationships with family and friends. On the other hand, secular media can present this sort of ‘new year, new you’ approach that may not really jive with our actual experiences. Catholics must stand…
Questions of Faith The Catholic Church teaches that moral values are objective – that is to say, certain actions are always good or always bad, regardless of the circumstances or what anybody thinks about them. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states this quite explicitly in CCC 1756: “There are acts which, in and of…
Swiss theologian, Hans Urs Von Balthasar, once wrote: “After a mother has smiled for a long time at her child, the child will begin to smile back; she has awakened love in its heart, and in awakening love in its heart, she awakes recognition as well…In the same way, God explains himself before us as…
The Sunday Gospel The liturgical celebration of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, has been ascribed to several different dates down through the ages. The liturgical reform which prepared the way for the Second Vatican Council prompted the restoration of the feast to January 1, the completion of the Octave of Christmas, the eighth day,…
Spiritual programme Exodus 90 challenges men to become better through prayer, asceticism and fraternity, writes Jason Osborne Exodus 90 is touted as a “roadmap” to a more fulfilling life for an increasing number of men year on year. Started in a seminary in the US in order to help seminarians grow spiritually and to overcome…
Faith in film The undisputed Christmas classic is It’s A Wonderful Life. The 1946 drama tells the story of an upright businessman, George Bailey, who needs the intercession of an angel to understand the true meaning of his life. It’s a decidedly Christian story from an era that was unashamed to be so. Through his…
Saint of the Week “In his loving providence, God made St Peter Canisius his own ambassador at a time when the voice of the Catholic proclamation of faith in German-speaking countries risked falling silent.” So wrote St John Paul II of St Peter Canisius SJ, in a letter to the German bishops to mark 400…
Ruadhán Jones
Fr Ronald Rolheiser