Jem Sullivan 1 Sm 3:3b-10, 19 Ps 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10 1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20 Jn 1:35-42 The new year is a good time to begin anew in our spiritual lives. Along with resolutions to improve our health, habits and relationships, a renewed commitment to prayer gives direction to our inmost longings for…
Handel’s Messiah offers soul-food this Christmas season, writes Fr Vincent Ferrer Bagan OP The “Hallelujah” chorus from George Frideric Handel’s Messiah is probably the most well-known classical piece of music written for choir. People love to hear it, and they love to sing it. If you have sung in a school, college or church choir,…
David Mills One of the most important rules for living in the world is: You are probably not who you think you are, and many others know you better than you know yourself. This is an old-guy lesson, I’m afraid, one of those lessons one learns from long and painful, often embarrassing experiences. We charge…
Paulina Guzik Every year on the feast of the Epiphany, January 6, Polish cities get flooded with joyful Three Kings Parades. Designed as theatrical performances that recall the historical event of Jesus’ birth and the visit of the Magi who worshiped him 2,000 years ago, the parades’ purpose is to familiarise their audiences with the…
Q: Why doesn’t the Church allow women to be priests? A: The reason why women can’t be ordained priests is because of the pattern set by Jesus himself while he walked the earth. Pope St John Paul II mentions this historical fact as the fundamental rationale for reserving the sacrament of holy orders to men…
The Belgian spiritual writer, Bieke Vandekerckhove, comes by her wisdom honestly. She didn’t learn what she shares from a book or even primarily from the good example of others. She learned what she shares through the crucible of a unique suffering, being hit at the tender age of 19 with a terminal disease that promised…
Deacon Greg Kandra Is 60:1-6 Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13 Eph 3:2-a, 5-6 Mt 2:1-12 On a Sunday that centres on discovery, revelation, and manifestation – the very definition of ‘Epiphany’ – one of the most important discoveries for the magi (and for us!) comes at the very end of this week’s Gospel. A…
Every year, the Vatican unveils a Nativity scene from a different diocese, often using materials or artistic styles from the particular region or country where the diocese is located.
Why don’t we preach hellfire anymore? That’s a question asked frequently today by a lot of sincere religious people who worry that too many parishes and too many priests and ministers have gone soft on sin and are over-generous in speaking about God’s mercy.
It’s usually fathers who ask me, and usually – about two-thirds of the time – daughters they’re asking for. Their children want to become writers or journalists, and they ask me to tell them how to do that. (No one has ever asked me to talk to his child about becoming an editor.)
Fr Ronald Rolheiser