I listened recently to an excellent interview with Dr Hannah Vaughan-Spruce who presented a hopeful vision for the future of the Church, where parishes become centres of discipleship, evangelisation and authentic community. Hannah is Executive Director of Divine Renovation UK, a ministry that inspires, connects and equips parishes to become missionary (see www.divinerenovation.org). She also…
World Friendship Day, celebrated on July 30, invited us to pause and give thanks for one of God’s greatest gifts: the people who have walked beside us on the journey of life. A while back, my wonderful family treated me to an evening at the musical Wicked. They know me well enough to realise that…
*** Bless our hearts, when my husband and I had been married all of three months, we signed up to become a team couple with our local Engaged Encounter program. We had enjoyed the retreat that we took as a requirement of our pre-Cana preparation, surprised to find it fun and helpful, not the drudgery…
Darkness is only bad because there is light. Sin can only happen if first there is love. Karl Rahner makes a very insightful comment about the text in the Gospels where Jesus is being crucified and says of his executioners: “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do!” Rahner suggests that they knew…
Any of us who has ever suffered a grievous loss, a terrible illness, a physical or mental handicap that consumes us, knows the pain of such loss. Why did my brother have to die? Why do I have this disease or this limitation? Yet at the same time, many of us know that losing someone…
History has not been kind to the valiant daughter of Magdala. Dismissed, tarnished and relegated as an afterthought in Christ’s journey by individuals within the secular world, this is a travesty for the memory of Mary Magdalene, whose loyalty to Jesus in his direst time of need was only eclipsed by that of Our Lady…
‘Faith in a time of anxiety’ is a journey from fear to faith, writes Fr Chris Hayden Illiness; death; bereavement; uncertainty; worries about loved ones; wars and rumours of wars; economic and housing instability; energy shortage; disruption to health services; climate change; environmental degradation; terrorism, bio-terrorism and cyber-terrorism; the disruptions and perils of AI; memory…
“Peace comes when we put the pieces within us together to make a beautiful melody”, writes Fr Ron Rolheiser Catherine de Hueck Doherty, the founder of Madonna House, once gave a particularly insightful interview. She acknowledged that her path wasn’t easy, that she had her fair share of inner struggles. Why? Because, like the rest…
“I thirst” is the shortest phrase of the Lord’s last words (Jn 19:28). Short though it may be, it contains unsearchable depths. The Lord was telling of his physical thirst on a first and properly literal level. The physical thirst of the Lord was no trivial detail in the Passion story but was foretold in…
All I know is I once was blind but now I see! As the gospel is very long, it is more practical to read it from your own Bible. Initial observations This story is found only in the Fourth Gospel, although the other Gospels do tell of blind men (never women!) recovering their sight. Our…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser