As I’m sitting in the chapel, I hear the clock in the sacristy ticking in the silence. The tick of every second is the ever-fleeting present leading to the next moment – the future St Teresa of Kolkata’s words come to mind, “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let…
Q: I once heard a priest talk about Ordinary Time and that it didn’t mean ‘plain’ or that other times were more important. Of course, I can’t remember how he explained it. Can you explain some more? A: I personally was not there when your priest was giving his talk, so I can’t comment specifically…
We live this life “mourning and weeping in a valley of tears.” This was part of a prayer my parents prayed every day of their adult lives, as did many others in their generation. In the light of contemporary sensitivities (and one-sided spiritualities), this might sound morbid. Are we to understand our lives as time…
In the second book of his Dialogues, Pope Gregory the Great tells of the holiness of St Benedict, whose memorial is celebrated on the 11th day of July. We learn that Benedict lived for three years in Subiaco, some 40 miles outside of Rome. He fled the ancient city that was self-destructing in its moral…
Born and raised as an evangelical Christian in the South of England, I grew up immersed in Protestant Christianity. My father was one of the three leaders of the congregation I attended. Every Sunday, I was brought to church and participated in youth groups throughout my childhood. Christianity was a significant part of my upbringing.…
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.…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser