The first two days of November turn our thoughts to heaven (All Saints) and to purgatory (All Souls). Traditionally, long before Remembrance Sunday was ever instituted, the Church has called on us to pray for the faithful departed but also to consider our own eternal destiny. To do so is...

The Solemnity of All Saints draws our minds and hearts to that dogma of the Catholic faith which is called the “communion of saints.” The word dogma has become a bad word today. People use it pejoratively when, for example, displeased they call someone “too dogmatic.” What they mean is...

The pandemic has laid us all a bit low in so many ways. In my contacts with parishioners I have come across all kinds of emotions and states of mind and heart. Among the difficult ones are anxiety, fear, boredom, loneliness, depression, anger, frustration and apathy. By no means is...

In common parlance, it’s refreshing to hear someone being described as “on a mission.” It points to purpose and resolve. Someone is determined to get something done, be it anything from finding the exact degree of “medium rare” in frying a steak to clearing the name of a son accused...

During Evening Prayer this past Friday (from the Liturgy of the Hours), the Short Responsory began with a text taken from the Book of Revelation: “Christ loved us and has washed away our sins with his blood.” It stopped me in my tracks for some reason and left me pondering...

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...