The other Sunday I listened to “Something Understood” on Radio 4. The theme was on abstinence. The programme ended with a favourite poem by Robert Herrick written in 1648: To Keep a True Lent. Is this a fast to keep The Larder lean? From fats of veals and sheep. Is this to quit the dish of flesh, yet still To ...

“Scripture is at the centre of everything the Church does. The word of God shapes our prayer and worship. The Bible shows us how to understand the world, how we are called to live and relate to each other” 2020 is the 10th anniversary of Verbum Domini – Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Exhortation on ‘The Word of the Lord’ and ...

O Little town of Bethlehem how still we see thee lie . . . . . . the hopes and fears of all the years  are met in thee tonight. This special hymn will be ringing out in our shops and on our radios over the next few weeks along with our secular festive songs. How many of us will stop ...

The Season of Surrender Be not deceived my friend, as you watch trembling fragile leaves of every hue refusing to relinquish and let go of their ecstatic, comfortable hold on life and all that has been: gradually and finally succumbing to the unrelenting dictates of gravity and the teasing gentle inroads of wind and rain. How hard to say farewell ...

So many of us never know where our commodities like tea, coffee and cocoa come from. Even more so, we never stop to think of the processes it takes to reach our mugs or tea cups! Those on mission in many parts of the world are privileged to meet those who provide for us      . . . and when we ...

Recently we have been reflecting more deeply on the amazing achievement of fifty years ago, when for the first time ever, man travelled to, and landed on, the moon. Many of today’s youth almost take this for granted, as the rapid advance of science has enabled various types of space exploration. For those of us who followed, with baited breath, ...

Just recently journalists were trying to reproduce for numerous colour magazines a strange phenomenon – three rainbows! As we all know, there is usually one rainbow and often there is a second as a shadow…even that is remarkable and we stand to look in awe – but three distinct rainbows! Scientists were scrambling to offer explanations but too, were baffled ...

It was not by chance that the Catholic Missionary Union decided to use Hothorpe Hall, near Market Harborough, for their venue for a retreat to be held for teachers, chaplains and RE coordinators. This particular site appears in the Dooms Daybook (1086) and the manor has passed through the hands and lives of many famous families, including the Catholic family ...

In the course of a conversation, a friend said to me, “Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine.” Not being an Irish speaker, I asked her what it meant. She replied, “In the shelter of each other the people live”.  This proverb stirred deep within me; as I reflect on it, I continue to discover its profound, rich meaning, ...

As I pray, I watch the candle flame burning itself out for the Lord, giving its all. Then I see and feel its movement—it is Dancing!  And I really feel my heart is dancing too, moved by the awareness of a Divine Presence.  God is the Infinite Mover—God dances too!   God dances through the music and rhythm of life: the ...