In the 21st century, a sense of spiritualism has taken over. This is the sense that people are really made up only of their souls – their bodies do not matter. This is an attractive philosophy because it says that all that really matters is that someone is a good person ‘on the inside’, and…
Prayer is most needed just when it seems most useless. Michael J. Buckley, one of the major spiritual mentors in my life, wrote those words. What does he mean by them? In the face of so many problems we can get the feeling that praying about them is useless. For example, in the face of…
Watch what parents do when they pick up a baby. Whether a swaddled newborn, a smiling infant or a squirmy toddler, parents start to sway when they hold their child. Swaying is our primal rhythm, the instinct to move to calm and comfort. Slow, steady rocking can soothe a baby, relax their body, soften their…
The Sunday Gospel Ps 123:1-2, 2, 3-4 2 Cor 12:7-10 Mk 6:1-6 The Messiah, it turns out, isn’t quite who people expected. In Mark’s Gospel this Sunday, Jesus returns to his ‘native place’, his hometown of Nazareth, and when people hear him teaching in the synagogue, they can’t believe it. “Astonished” is the adjective Mark…
Q: If a Catholic couple gets married in the Church but later it emerges that one of them is suffering from a severe mental illness with psychotic episodes, can that marriage be declared invalid due to mental health issues? A: Yes, in principle severe mental illness can be a reason why a marriage might be declared null.…
Do you feel like you’re on a treadmill that never stops? Do you need some quiet time? Some family time? Some time when you can renew your mind, your body and your spirit? Then maybe it’s time to reclaim Sunday as a day of rest! There was a time when Sunday was a special day.…
There is a saying, dubiously attributed to St Francis de Sales but it sounds more like Venerable Fulton Sheen to me: “Every one of us needs half an hour of prayer every day, except when we are busy – then we need an hour.” It’s a clever phrase – and true, too. When parenthood and…
We all like things neat, uncomplicated and in good order. But as we step over the threshold into the virtual world created by artificial intelligence, it seems to me that inclination may be more problematic than ever. Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen a number of images circulating on social media. A baby dolphin,…
Q: A Catholic doctor who has to prescribe birth control pills as part of his job does not agree with the Church’s teaching on contraception. He says the Bible does not talk about contraception. If contraception is stopped completely, abortions will go through the roof. Doesn’t it make sense for Third World countries to use…
What has been given you to carry? Where do the needs and pains of others conscript your freedom? When is freedom mitigated by circumstance? What are the situations that you are born into or meet in life to which you must respond, perhaps even at the cost of your life? What may you not walk…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser