In a December reflection, I mentioned of my plan to ignore the rush of Christmas. I was going to sit in the stable in silence and prayer with the holy child. It was going to be a personal retreat. But it didn’t happen. There were too many wise men and women, too many shepherds. The Read more
This month, we celebrate the sacred birth in an animal shelter. Why such a lowly place? Our views about status miss the message, and we must wrap this birth in splendour – angel song, an unusual star, three kings coming to bow before the child. The wrapping continues until Jesus is lost under layers of Read more
A number of people missed an ecumenical retreat called “The Wisdom Years.” Some have asked for the one-day retreat to be repeated. That is not possible at present, but I can give a written outline of the three sessions in that day. You may wish to walk with Jesus through them. The Child As children Read more
Most of us know what a “thin place” is, but it’s not easy to describe it. Perhaps that is because the experience is beyond our limited sensory system and, therefore, beyond logical thinking and description. Yet we have all had experience of a “Thin Place” as something belonging to a greater reality. Like you, I Read more
Teenage Christianity can be so anxious that it can hardly be called “Faith.” At least, that was my youthful experience. Being Cristian was a serious business. I was so busy with self-correction that I often missed the beauty of Jesus in my life. It seemed that every church I attended wanted to warn young people Read more
It was a crowded church in Singapore, and a young priest was talking about a recent first communion. A little girl had run back to her parents, shouting, “I just ate Jesus!” Later, the child asked her mother, “How does Jesus get from our stomach to our heart?” The mother replied, “Jesus can do anything.” Read more
Poet Robert Burns wrote: “Oh that would the Giftie gie us, to see ourselves as others see us.” But we all have that gift, whether we know it or not. We call it projection. A wise woman once told me: “Projection is the greatest evil.” However, projection can be positive. Years ago, an Australian nun Read more
This is not an easy article to write, but it has been with me for a long time. It comes to the surface when I’m told that priests feel threatened by the ordination of women. Of course, they feel threatened. Would a starving man feel threatened working with a chef? I believe that the option Read more
Have you noticed how the Sacred Presence brings gifts of understanding when you need them most? It’s the sentence that lifts off the page. It’s a few spoken words that go directly to the heart. We all have these experiences. One gift that has stayed with me, came from an old Jewish rabbi. He wrote: Read more
How did we learn to read? We might remember putting sounds to the letters of the alphabet and then trying to make those sounds into words. We struggled. We made mistakes. Then what happened? One day it all came together. We could read, but we didn’t know how it happened. Those words held hands with Read more