Mass Readings: Zechariah 9:9-10 Romans 8:9, 11-13 Matthew 11:25-30 Anyone who has ever worked for some time in the countryside knows the quiet strength of a donkey. It will never win a race. It does not impress anyone by its appearance. Yet it patiently carries burdens day after day without demanding attention. It is…
Q: I have a question about the last judgement. When Jesus comes again to judge us all, how public will this be? As in, will everyone know each other’s sins when this happens? A: There is a lot that we simply don’t – and indeed, can’t – know about what our first-hand experience of…
Because J.R.R. Tolkien was a serious Catholic, one might assume religion would be obvious in his literary masterpiece. Yet there is no religion in The Lord of the Rings in the usual sense. There is magic and even glimpses of the demonic, but the world Tolkien creates is wholly contained within itself: large, old, mythological,…
Jesus said: take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls The Gospel Matt 11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and…
Before Mother Maria Catherine Iannotti entered the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate as a Catholic religious sister, she was somewhat frightened by how serious their foundress, Mother Mary Teresa Tallon, looked in photos. Her perspective changed, however, when another sister encouraged her to keep Mother Tallon’s photo in her room and pray for her intercession…
Over twenty thousand adults and adolescents were baptised into the Catholic Church in France at Easter this year. The island of Ireland has roughly one tenth of France’s population, so an equivalent number here would be two thousand. I smiled when I read that the influx in France represents a ‘major challenge’ to the French…
In St Peter’s Square in Rome, the great colonnades of Bernini begin at either side of the Basilica and wrap around most of the square’s perimeter. In the mind of the architects, the body of the basilica was designed to symbolise the body of Christ, the dome symbolised Christ the head of the Church and…
Whoever finds his life will lose it; whoever loses his life will find it The Gospel Matt 10:37 [Jesus said:] “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matt 10:38 And whoever does not take up…
“He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.” There are moments in life when words fail, when our hearts ache under the quiet weight of disappointment, loss, fear or guilt. Sometimes we smile on the outside while silently wondering if anyone truly sees what we carry. But God sees. His love reaches into the…
A peculiar thing happened at the Irish Reformation Parliament, held in a number of sessions between 1536-1537. As the name indicates, the Parliament was called to enact the Reformation of Henry VIII in Ireland, a venture that had just been completed in England. Bringing Henry’s Reformation to Ireland involved a series of enactments, most notably…
Fr Dominik Domagala