The Sunday Gospel Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24 Ps 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15 Mk 5:21-43 or 5:21-24, 35b-43 Deep below the outskirts of Rome is a vast network of underground tunnels and chambers, known as the Roman catacombs. There, the early Christians made burial spaces outside the city walls where…
According to the renowned mystic, John of the Cross, we have three essential struggles in life: to get our lives together, to give our lives away, and to give our deaths away. What is asked of us in the first two struggles is more obvious. But what does it mean to give our deaths away?…
When an individual or secularised culture has largely abandoned Faith, the Virgin Mary often lingers in grace-filled whispers. Take the ‘Hail Mary pass’ in football, or the lovely musical renditions of the ‘Ave Maria’, both of which remain popular in secular society today. As the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris burned in 2019, strains…
Q: John 6:54 states the following: “Jesus said to them, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.’” I just met a sister in Christ who has a problem. She has a common law spouse and…
Jb 38:1, 8-11 Ps 107:23-24, 25-26, 28-29, 30-31 2 Cor 5:14-17 Mk 4:35-41 Rembrandt got it. Centuries ago, the artist captured the scene in this Sunday’s Gospel – a scene full of raging waves and gathering clouds and sheer, unabashed terror. The apostles are screaming in fear. One of them is leaning over the side…
Regular prayer has always been regarded as an essential part of Christian life. In capitalistic Psalms, the believer is compared to a tree planted by a stream that still bears fruit, even in times of drought, remaining full of sap and green, even in old age. Jesus is the one who can give us living…
According to the renowned mystic, John of the Cross, we have three essential struggles in life: to get our lives together, to give our lives away, and to give our deaths away. What is asked of us in the first two struggles is more obvious. But what does it mean to give our deaths away?…
What does it mean to listen to survivors of abuse? It’s something that the Church repeatedly and emphatically calls us to do. But the call to listen is in danger of becoming an empty slogan if we do not take the time to stop and think about what, exactly, this listening involves. To help us,…
Rohan Healy We are reminded daily of the many social ills that the internet, and social media in particular, perpetuate. The increased sense of social isolation, despite early promises to bring people closer together, the negative effects on self-worth as we are constantly bombarded with exaggerated examples of others success, the ever-present temptation to get…
Sr Hosea Rupprecht When I was a kid, my main form of media consumption was books. I used to go to the library and check out four or five ‘Hardy Boys’ books at a time. I don’t know why I never got into Nancy Drew (I am a girl, after all), but I think it’s…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser