Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels, 29th September 2022 How to describe the ineffable? In our Wednesday masses in the monastery grounds, we work out the meaning of the readings between us, which led yesterday to the question, ‘Just how does Revelation work? How do we hear God’s word or …
The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, 30th May 2022 Pope Francis is very keen on personal encounter and especially on looking someone in the eye: the eyes have it, one might say, for there we read one another’s thoughts and learn to love. We transmit more than we know so …
Saints Philip and James, 3rd May 2022 Paul is writing against a dualistic mindset among the Corinthians which over- emphasises the spiritual against the physical. No, the Resurrection of the body of Christ really happened; it’s, in a way, a complement or logical working out of the fact of incarnation …
St Catherine of Siena, 29th April 2022 We’ve attended a series of funerals recently, with one more to come today. And each was accompanied by a moving and marvellous eulogy, but also, in at least two cases, a real aversion to the full Christian Script where Christ’s sacrifice obtains for …
Saint Mark, 25th April 2022 There is always a temptation, in any form of writing or teaching, to conform the words to an already expected pattern of thought or belief rather than simply reporting what is seen – I’m probably doing it now. And it’s unfortunate that we celebrate the …
See of the Apostle Peter, 22nd February 2022 We’ve had a mixed bag of Popes over the years, parishes have had a mixed bag of priests and bishops over the years and monastic communities can say the same of their superiors, too – it’s the way of human nature. But …
Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, 2nd February 2022 What is so striking in today’s gospel passage is the readiness of both Simeon and Anna to receive; a readiness brought about by long years of waiting on the Lord, of making themselves present to this possibility; that is, of …
The Conversion of Saint Paul, 25th January 2022 Be very wary of people who know for sure what they have to do and say in order to do God’s will. Paul is a prime example of this: I studied under Gamaliel….I was as full of duty towards God as you …
The Baptism of the Lord, 9th January 2022 Nothing is as it seems, or so it seems. In Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism there is no dialogue between Jesus and John and the revelation of who he is seems a very private matter for Jesus alone for later John sends …
Feast of the Holy Innocents, 28th December 2021 ‘Half of my family were killed in Shatila,’ Fatima told me after dinner. ‘My mother’s sister and all her immediate family. Her daughter was pregnant and the Israeli soldiers made a bet, for a can of beer – boy or girl? Then …
