One thing about church buildings is that they demand a lot of attention – and I wish it was just of the TLC kind! Over the past 18 months at St. Mary’s in Largs, we’ve had to call in roofers to deal with numerous water ingress problems. Just when...
The Son of God drew his humanity from Mary. Hers was a uniquely pure humanity, soaked with the fullness of grace and matured by the fullness of her freed yes to God. Being free from sin did not make her less human, because to sin is not human. It is...
There is a lot going on today to make us feel uncertain, afraid or negative. Almost anywhere you turn, there seems to be nothing but bad news. That can spill over into our personal and family lives, too, making things even worse. We can either give in to the...
If God’s gift of marriage is the crowning of creation, his gift of the family is the crowning glory of marriage. Man and woman were created in his image and likeness, but that image is perfected in the gift of children. The family is the image of the Blessed Trinity....
The way in which the Christmas story is depicted nowadays can make it seem like a story just for children, magical even. The advent of Santa Claus as a major Christmas character reinforces that perception. What can then happen is that we adults get caught up in a kind of...
The very personal and moving encounter between Jesus and Peter in which Jesus asks him three times “do you love me?” tells us what sin is really all about and what mercy is really all about. This scene takes place back in Galilee, and the apostles are doing what...
The two names assigned by the angel to Mary’s child are Immanuel and Jesus. They are both verbs, not nouns. Immanuel means “God-is-with-us” and Jesus means “God saves.” As Immanuel, God is with us in his divine compassion, which embraces and permeates us completely. As Jesus, God saves us,...
