Personal Profile When Sr Helen Freer made her first profession to the Redemptoristines in Dublin a few weeks ago, the celebrant said that “God is a God of surprises”. This is a truth that Sr Helen’s life testifies to – it was only in 2016 that she entered the Catholic Church, a journey sparked by…
Medical Matters This month figures show that the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland has surpassed 400,000 since the pandemic began. The death toll due to the coronovirus now stands at more than 5,000 of which about 75% occurred in those aged over 75. In fact, half of all deaths…
“No man is an island.” John Donne wrote those words four centuries ago and they are as true now as they were then, except we don’t believe them anymore. Today more and more of us are beginning to define our nuclear families and our carefully chosen circle of friends precisely as a self-sufficient island, and…
Living Laudato Si’ Earlier this month, the Archbishop of Dublin’s first pastoral letter, ‘The Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor’, was launched in An Tairseach Ecology Centre, Wicklow. During his address, Archbishop Dermot Farrell noted, “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor go hand in hand. There…
The Sunday Gospel It was an attempt to start an argument with Jesus, to disconcert him, when one of the Pharisees asked for his opinion on the greatest commandment. Jesus cut through all their commentaries and debates with a simple and challenging answer. “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with…
900-year-old sword found encrusted in shells off Israel A sword believed to have belonged to a crusader who sailed to the Holy Land almost a millennium ago has been recovered from the Mediterranean seabed thanks to a sharp-eyed amateur diver, the Israel Antiquities Authority has said. Though encrusted with marine organisms, the metre-long blade, hilt…
Let the preacher say, you have permission to be sad! In a book, When the Bartender Dims the Lights, Ron Evans writes: “There’s a line I came upon in the musings of a preacher: On a Sunday morning many of the people sitting before you are the walking wounded, and you need to give them…
The Sunday Gospel The prayer of the blind man, Bartimaeus, is a model of prayer. It is full of reverence, simplicity, trust and perseverance. It is the basis of what is known as the Jesus Prayer. This has always been popular in the Orthodox tradition but forgotten in the West until recent times. The prayer…
Picking up a new language is a daunting prospect with a tantalising reward, but it’s easier now than ever, writes Jason Osborne Most of us would like to be able to speak at least one other language, and most of us leave school without the ability to do so (unless we attended a Gaelscoil). Or at…
Mindful Living These articles on meditation each month are written to point towards a contemplative way of being in the world and to nourish in readers an awareness of who they are at the deepest level of their being. It is not particularly helpful for anyone to take a single article and to draw inferences…
Ruadhán Jones
Dr Kevin McCarroll
Fr Ronald Rolheiser