The Gospel of St. Luke is the one which most tells us of Jesus at prayer. Jesus does not so much fit prayer into his busy schedule as fit his schedule into his intense prayer life. For prayer is not so much something we do as who we are. Jesus...
When I first went to see Rose a few days after Bob died, I remember thinking what a resilient person she was. Despite her profound grief, she showed an immense strength of spirit in the acceptance, in the steady eye contact and in her clear and calm manner of expression....
Martha welcomed Jesus into her house. How welcome is Jesus in myhouse, the one around me, and the one inside me, my heart and soul? Martha loved Jesus as Jesus loved her and Mary and Lazarus. Theirs was a second home to Him. But Martha and Mary teach us much...
What Jesus is saying to the disciples is: don’t be joyful because you have power (or have anything!), but because heaven knows your name, that is, because I love you. Powerful figures of history write their names on huge monuments of stone to be remembered. But the names of those...
After the Angel had freed him from prison, we hear St. Peter say, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod.” We then hear St. Paul say, “I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me...
It was so lovely to see on display the many talents and gifts of our St. Mary’s P7 children at their graduation last Thursday. It was even lovelier to hear the applause and feel the love and encouragement coming from their parents and teachers. For them, the most important gift...
As she was dying, my late mother said to me: “Peter, son, I am going home.” On this Trinity Sunday, let’s not tax our minds to try and grasp (in vain!) the eternal Mystery of God but instead let’s allow our hearts to be drawn to understand God as our...
Believers will often say to children when someone close to them has died: “your grandad has gone to heaven” or better “Jesus has taken your grandma to heaven.” It’s a way to reassure the child and us too that the dead have gone to a better place. We cannot know...
God is the author of every human life. He is its protector from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death. He is the One who sustains it at every point in between. Mary visits Elizabeth because both have first been visited by God with the gift of...
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he descended onto the earth. He came seeking out Adam and Eve who had fallen from heaven, and all their children. To find them, He descended into death and the underworld to rescue all who would accept Him. So, when He ascended back to heaven,...
