A woman once shared this story in one of my classes: She had been raised in a religious home and had been a regular churchgoer. However, during her years at university her interest and practice in religion had progressively slipped so that by the time of her graduation she no longer attended church or prayed…
Are we made in the image of God or the machine? asks Fr Barry White When I watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes in 2011, an unsettling thought came to mind: human beings can create something they believe they control, only to discover that it has developed beyond the limits they imagined.…
Around the lamb I saw angels hovering during the whole time, for the space of one hour and a half or longer; I saw their wings fluttering, but I did not perceive their heads or faces, which were not turned to me’’ (Patrick Hill, witness). The angels seen at Knock belong to a reality deeply…
Companionship, family, security, marriage gives us all of these. But what is God’s plan in designing it this way? We would like to share three principles, each drawn from Sacred Scripture, and each quietly at work in every ordinary marriage, including our own. Marriage is a sign, not just an arrangement St Paul writes in…
For every generation of Christians, it is the saints who invite us to think differently and creatively about God, the universe, the person of Christ, human beings and how they all relate, one to the other. In the words of Bishop Robert Barron: “Each of the Saints in his or her own utterly unique manner,…
I know officially the Catholic Church is against the death penalty, but what about Genesis 9:6? A: It looks like there are two dimensions to your question: the Church’s teaching on the death penalty, and how we are to read the Old Testament as Catholics. Starting with this latter aspect, it’s good to keep…
We live in a world where, as Karl Rahner says, our lives are always an unfinished symphony. In this life there is no final fulfilment. Mostly we are unconscious of that, and also unaware that this creates a certain gap inside us that makes us grasp greedily at life. But certain things can help bring…
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Matt 19:30 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. Matt 20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard.…
It is fitting and right that a series of fifty-two meditations on the saints should include one on Mary, the Mother of Jesus. She is one of the saints and pre-eminent among them because of her unique role as Mother of the Saviour and as the one who shares fully in the divine life, being…
Q: In the Gospel’s account of Peter’s confession of Christ, Jesus responded with: “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.” I sometimes wonder if it wouldn’t have been better if Jesus would have skipped the wordplay and simply said: “Peter, I’m making you the first head of my Church.” The…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser
Fr Barry White
Fr John McCarthy