Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of the Holy Season of Lent. This is the time every year when we make a special effort to focus on our faith and to prepare for Holy Week and Easter. It is through the events of the first Holy Week that we are redeemed.

On Ash Wednesday we wear…

Outside a Metro Station in Washington, DC, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. The man playing the Bach pieces was Joshua Bell, playing incognito as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities, organized by the Washington Post.

“We sing a song to Brigid, Brigid brings the Spring,

Awakens all the fields and flowers, and calls the birds to sing”.

We celebrate Saint Brigid’s Day on Sunday, 1st February, traditionally, the first day of Springtime. We have noticed the lengthening evenings and the increase of light in recent mornings. The old people…

In mid-winter as we are now, only the barest signs of Spring are visible.  But we have no doubt that Spring is just around the corner even though the ground still carries many of the dead leaves of last Summer.

We continue to live in a time of change, in society, in political life,…

Many people are attracted to silence and solitude. They find the peace and quiet of nature very much to their liking.  Some people are attracted to the sea shore to gaze on the vast ocean. Others find their way to the great outdoors.  Others again take up hill walking or mountain climbing. All these activities…