This summer will mark my 21st anniversary as the priest in Rosbercon Parish. Being in the parish for twenty one years is a gift. Now, when I celebrate a funeral Mass, I know the person whose funeral I am celebrating. I know the family, and who is related to the deceased. This pastoral knowledge is…
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…
One hundred and seventy years ago the world was plagued by the cholera epidemic.
In his poem ‘In Memoriam’, Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote “Ring out old shapes of foul disease”. Could he ever have guessed that his words would ring true again with the Covid Pandemic! The human spirit is strong and now again, we…
On Tuesday 6th January, we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. We are celebrating how the Three Wise Men or Magi saw a new and different star in the sky and decided to follow it. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, that star led them on a remarkable journey to a humble stable where they recognized,…
Over the centuries there have been many powerful leaders in our world. In the last 100 years we have had the Tzar in Russia, Hitler in Germany, Mugabe in Zimbabwe, Idi Amin in Uganda and Mussolini in Italy. Some of these leaders seize power but many of them were elected and were popular in their…
The Nativity Scene or the Christmas Crib is first of all a beautiful Christmas decoration. But of course, it is much more. Its origins go far back in history. St Francis of Assisi, on a visit to Rome, had been struck by the mosaics, showing the birth of Jesus, in the Roman Basilica of Saint…
