Using mechanical tools improves our language skills Our ability to understand the syntax of complex sentences is one of the most difficult language skills to acquire. In 2019, research had revealed a correlation between being particularly proficient in tool use and having good syntactic ability. A new study, by researchers from Inserm, CNRS, Université Claude…
The Sunday Gospel Have we forgotten why we celebrate Christmas? A friend told me she got a card wishing her a very merry ‘Winter Festival’? Could you beat that! People tell me they have to search in shops for cards that portray the nativity but there is no shortage of fir trees, snow, red robins…
The Christmas story is surely one of the greatest stories ever told. It chronicles a birth from which the world records time as before or after. Moreover, it is written in a way that has inflamed the romantic imagination for 2,000 years. This hasn’t always been for the good. Beyond spawning every kind of legend…
Personal Profile Sr Ursula Sharpe, recently elected congregational leader for the Medical Missionaries of Mary, has spent the entirety of her vocation dedicating her life to those on the margins. Whether in leadership or on the missions, she knows that her vocation must be about people. For a time, the Sharpe family was based in…
Stress always threatens in the run-up to Christmas, but there are ways to manage it, writes Jason Osborne I recently wrote about preserving our Advent experience, but these days, it’s impossible not to run through some of the Christmas logistics early on in December, even just a little bit! With that in mind, December can be…
Mindful Living We are all called to live life to the full. That calls us to live beyond the limitations of the ego. Psychology teaches us that in the first part of our life we need to develop the ‘ego’, as part of our survival instinct. We need a healthy and balanced ego, which provides…
“Lily please stand up,” I asked my daughter during Sunday Mass. Her reply: “Mammy, I don’t want to. You know I am not into it like you are!” This happened to me a while ago. My youngest daughter wanted to sit when others stood, she sat when others kneeled. When I encouraged her (at the…
I could never be a literary critic, not because I can’t tell good literature from bad, but because I lack the hard edge. If I dislike a book, I hesitate to say so. Conversely, if I like a book, I tend to be more its cheerleader than its critical assessor. Be that as it may,…
Italian tries to dodge Covid jab using fake arm An Italian man who wanted a coronavirus vaccine certificate without actually having the jab tried to play the system by presenting health workers with a fake arm, an official said. Despite the realistic skin colour, nobody was fooled by the silicone limb, and the man –…
Sweet Treats One Christmas food tradition I enjoy is a bread from Germany called stollen. It is a sweet bread with marzipan, currants and sultanas in it, and is really delicious toasted and buttered. I absolutely love having cinnamon rolls for special occasions, and thought that a cinnamon roll would be the perfect way to…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Ruadhán Jones