There are four distinct kinds of Christian prayer: There is incarnational prayer, mystical prayer, affective prayer, and priestly prayer. What are these? How are they different from each other? Incarnational prayer St Paul invites us to “pray always”. How is this possible? We can’t always be praying – or can we? What Paul is inviting…
May 28 – Pentecost Acts 2:1-11 Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13 Jn 20:19-23I Deacon Greg Kandra I can’t remember the last time I heard anyone say, “Happy Pentecost”. We are so eager to send glad tidings at Christmas and Easter, exchanging gifts or food or flowers, but shouldn’t Pentecost be…
In much of the secularised world, we live in a climate that is somewhat anti-ecclesial and anti-clerical. It’s quite fashionable today to bash the Churches, be they Roman Catholic, Protestant, or Evangelical. This is often done in the name of being open-minded and enlightened, and it’s the one bias that’s intellectually sanctioned. Say something derogatory…
Jem Sullivan The Sunday Gospel May 21, 2023 The Ascension of the Lord Acts: 1:1-11 Ps 47:2-3,6-7, 8-9 Eph 1:17-23 Mt 28:16-20 The making of promises is part of special celebrations that mark the days and weeks of spring and the Easter season. As we celebrate graduations, ordinations, weddings, baptisms, and first Communions, we hear…
On the path of these catecheses on old age, today we meet a biblical figure — an old man — named Eleazar, who lived at the time of the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. He is a wonderful character. His character gives us a testimony of the special relationship that exists between the fidelity of old…
Christian discipleship calls all of us to be prophetic, to be advocates for justice, to help give voice to the poor and to defend truth. But not all of us, by temperament or by particular vocation, are called to civil disobedience, public demonstrations, and the picket lines, as were Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Daniel…
Deacon Greg Kandra May 14, 2023 – Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20 I Peter 3:15-18 John 14:15-21 A few years ago, a colleague of mine made a pastoral visit to one of the forgotten corners of the world: Armenia. Here is a country suffering from devastations…
Inside the rite for Christian Baptism there’s a little ritual that is at once both touching and unrealistic. At one point in the baptismal rite the child is clothed in a white garment symbolising innocence and purity. The priest or minister officiating says these words: “Receive this baptismal garment and bring it unstained to the…
The Sunday Gospel Jem Sullivan May 7, 2023 Fifth Sunday of Easter Acts 6:1-7 Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19 1 Pt 2:4-9 Jn 14:1-12 In those early days of the global pandemic in spring 2020, our parish food pantry saw an unexpected and dramatic increase in the number of families in need of food assistance. The…
There’s a saying attributed to Attila the Hun, a fifth Century ruler infamous for his cruelty, which reads this way: For me to be happy, it’s not just important that I succeed; it’s also important that everyone else fails. I suspect that Atilla the Hun was not the author of that, but, no matter, there’s…
Fr Ronald Rolheiser