The Sunday Gospel While the first reading and responsorial psalm are chosen to connect with the Gospel of the day, it occasionally happens that the second reading touches on the same theme. The mercy of God to sinners features in each text this Sunday. In the first reading (Exodus 32:7-11.13-14), when the Israelites worshipped a calf…
A wise old Augustinian priest once shared this in class. There are days in my life when everything from the pressures of my work, to tiredness, to depression, to distraction, to flat-out laziness make it difficult for me to pray. But, no matter what, I always try to pray at least one sincere, focused Our…
Great crowds accompanied Jesus on his way and he turned and spoke to them. “If anyone comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:1-2). The size of the crowd did not impress Jesus. He could read their minds and intentions. Some…
Communication is vitally important in any relationship, but all the more so when it comes to the deepest relationships of marriage and family, writes Jason Osborne Consistently listed among the reasons marriages break down and families fall apart is a failure of communication. It need not necessarily be some big fall-out or argument either that…
There’s nothing new-age about the effect adopting a sunnier outlook has on your life, writes Jason Osborne I recently finished Joan Druett’s Island of the Lost, a book concerning shipwrecks on the Auckland Islands, a desolate, uninhabited place 290 miles south of New Zealand. Situated in the stormy South Pacific Ocean, its shores have seen many…
Everyday Philosophy Trust is a funny thing. To see why, imagine you’re betting on a horse race. You’re betting on the favourite, Philosopher’s Rant, but you’ve heard some background information about the horse and his competitors reckon he still only has a 33% chance of winning. In this situation, you want to bet if you…
‘Hunger stones’ reveal ancient drought warnings With an intense drought causing rivers across Europe to shrink, stones with etchings warning of hard times ahead have been re-appearing in a number of the continent’s rivers. One such stone is to be found on the banks of the Elbe River, which begins in the Czech Republic and…
Overturning Roe vs Wade is the result of a nearly 50-year effort committed to a singular outcome – protecting the lives of the unborn human. Without debate, this decision will carry profound political, social, and personal effects regarding pro-life topics throughout our culture, not only in America but indeed here in Ireland. We are already…
Personal Profile In June of this year, the parish of Kilskeery gathered in St Macartan’s Church for an eagerly-awaited day – the celebration of Canon John McKenna’s 60 years in the priesthood. Reflecting on his six decades of service, Canon McKenna told me that no life “could have been more enjoyable and rewarding”. He recalls…
Henri Nouwen once suggested that if you want to understand the tragedy of the Second World War, you can read a hundred history books about it and watch a thousand hours of video documentaries on it, or you can read the Diary of Anne Frank. In that single memoir of a young girl imprisoned and…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Ben Conroy
Ruadhán Jones