To ponder the sufferings of Jesus Christ is to ponder the encounter between the mystery of iniquity and the mystery of divine love. Evil is a mystery because it overwhelms our capacity to understand it. Divine love is even more of a mystery because it both grasps and overwhelms evil....

Mary wondered what the greeting of the Angel could mean. In fact, she was deeply disturbed by it. It’s only some days later when she visits Elizabeth that we gather that Mary has understood the Angel’s greeting. The words of her Magnificat show that the penny had dropped. “My soul...

FROM THE END TO ITS BEGINNING   Until 17th December, Advent is focused on the end of time and the return of Christ in glory to judge the living and the dead. Then, suddenly, the Liturgy shifts the camera back to the beginning of the end: to the first coming...

ONE SPIRIT, TWO MEN … FOR NOW   The prophet Elijah was sent by God to the people of Israel at a time when they had fallen very seriously into the sin of idolatry. The temptation of idolatry has always been around and will probably always be around. At its...

So, we are told to rejoice in the Lord this Sunday! I remember a song once called, “don’t worry, be happy.” I suppose it was good enough, but rejoicing is more than being happy. Joy is the fruit of our awareness of love, both of loving and of being loved....

VOICES During Advent, a lot of voices are mentioned in the Scripture readings and hymns: “Hark! The herald voice is sounding!”; “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘prepare ye the way of the Lord’”; “I will hear what the Lord has to say, a voice that speaks of...

AN ADVENT INVITATION Watch less TV, ipad, iphone, etc.. Use the time to seek silence around and within. Seek the Lord in that silence and you will also find your true self. Work on one sinful or bad habit you have. Consider the damage it does. Ask the Spirit to...

REVEALED  “Revealed” is a word you will occasionally see as the headline of a news story. This past Thursday, there was a headline in the “Daily Mail” which read: “Lockdown tiers for England are finally revealed.” Another in “the Guardian” ran: “Revealed: UK supermarket and fast-food chicken linked to deforestation...

THE ROYAL WE  The “majestic plural” is used by monarchs (including Popes until recent times). It does not imply that the person using it has haughty ideas about themselves. On the contrary, it signifies identification with the people whose monarch (or Pope) that person is. It doesn’t mean that the...