This final Sunday of the Season of Creation coincides with the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, but it’s no coincidence! People of all religions and none recognise Francis as an exemplary figure in the matter of respect and love for the created world. For Catholics, and for some other...
Some of the most important things in life we can sometimes take for granted. Among them are, perhaps, real jewels of prayer that have been handed down for generations and centuries. On this Solemnity of St. Mary, Star of the Sea, here in Largs, I thought it might be useful...
NASA tells us that on a clear, dark night our eyes can see about 6,000 or so stars in the sky. They seem to twinkle, but in fact they are shining steadily all the time. The twinkling is caused by turbulence in the earth’s atmosphere which causes the starlight to...
The information we have been receiving in recent days about the upturn in Covid-19 infections is probably not entirely unexpected. There’s no point in denying though that it is again stirring anxiety and fear among us in different ways and to different degrees. While it would be foolish not to...
Crucified Lord Jesus, We have been bitten by the fiery serpent of covid-19. We bring to you all who are suffering from the virus itself, all who are suffering because of it, be it from pain, grief or fear or anxiety, and all who have died of it. By your...
Over and above the central teaching of the parable of Jesus in today’s Gospel, which is to forgive as we have been forgiven, it contains another important lesson. If we look closely at the wicked servant, it is obvious that he is a wasteful man. He is a waster....
Yesterday, I was watching how both the ferry to Cumbrae and the sailor of a small yacht were going with the flow. They adapted themselves skilfully to both wind and water. In part, they were respecting the power of the elements, and in part they were using it to their...
On the four previous Sundays of August we have considered the power of Jesus. That power is his love. We have seen how he exercises it over our hungers (feeding of the thousands, curing the sick, compassion for the harassed and dejected), fears (rescuing Peter from sinking into the...
Today’s is a Gospel of great reassurance, a morale booster of the first degree. For though the Church may seem to be in endless turmoil, She is still the handiwork of the Son of God. As He himself says, “I will build my Church.” The Church is not Peter’s...
We are roughly half way between Easter and Christmas, and the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven is the second feast this month (the other being the Transfiguration) which lifts our gaze upwards, towards our final goal. Christ does not only want to exercise his power of love to help...
