Liam Fitzpatrick Personal Profile Fr Yanbo Chen felt lost. Working in a job he didn’t enjoy, he turned to his faith and a few Catholic monks to provide him with guidance. The monks presented Fr Chen with a piece of paper that changed his life. “I kneeled down to prayer, and I pulled a little…
Many of us are familiar with an often-quoted line from T.S. Eliot: “The last temptation is the greatest treason; to do the right deed for the wrong reason.” This, he suggests, is the temptation of the good person. What’s the temptation? In John’s Gospel, Jesus asks his listeners this question, “How can you believe who…
For the past seven months we have been exploring the Laudato Si’ Goals (LSGs) which are a blueprint for the Church community to live out the call of Laudato Si’, a roadmap towards achieving ecological sustainability. The LSGs help us to live out our vocation “to be protectors of God’s handiwork” (LS, 217). This month…
The Sunday Gospel If you want to know what to believe, study the creed. If you want to know how to behave, study the Sermon on the Mount. And if you want to know how to pray, contemplate the Our Father, today’s Gospel (Luke 11:1-13). The disciples were deeply impressed by the prayerfulness of Jesus.…
Our faith tells us that we have much to be grateful for but we rarely live as though that’s the case, writes Jason Osborne The pandemic was a real wake-up call for me when it comes to gratitude. I spent the better part of lockdown thinking and complaining bitterly about the sorry state of affairs, which…
Mindful Living To talk about what matters most in life we often have to turn to metaphor because words are inadequate to the task. James Finley has an evocative metaphor that captures an essential truth about the human condition. He suggests that we spend a great deal of time walking on the outer circumference of…
Shapeshifting microrobots brush and floss teeth A shapeshifting robotic micro-swarm may one day act as a toothbrush, rinse, and dental floss in one. The technology, developed by a team at the University of Pennsylvania, is set to offer a new and automated way to perform the mundane but critical daily tasks of brushing and flossing.…
Liam Fitzpatrick Personal profile Sleepless night-induced eyebags aside, most college students enjoy their first true taste of freedom in third-level education, seizing the opportunity to grow and develop before the ‘adult world’ whisks them back to reality. But for Michael Tierney, college caused him to “drift” from his Catholic upbringing, meaning he relied on Christ,…
We have many photographs of Thérèse of Lisieux. Her sister Celine loved using a camera and took many photos of Thérèse, but there’s an interesting thing to note in those photos. The British Carmelite Ruth Burrows once did a study of those photos and commented that in all of them, Therese is always somehow alone,…
Elderflower cordial can be found in most stores, making this a delightfully easy yet impressive summer cake to whip up for a party or just as a nice dessert. Ingredients For the roasted rhubarb 400g rhubarb, cut into 4-5cm slices 100g caster sugar ½ lemon, juiced 3 tbsp elderflower cordial For the cake 115g…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser