May my life be FIRE and WATER Knowing the torment and passion of love And the calm refreshment of reason. Let it be full of contrasts: Brightness—Shadow, Colour–Clarity Warmth– Coolness Energetic dance and  Restful inactivity.  May my spirit be alive and active Fired by desire to transform and be purified Yet content with stillness And the often, drop-by-drop pace of ...

On a recent visit to France over Toussaint (Feast of All Saints and Holy Souls) it would seem as if the whole of France stops to visit the graves of their loved ones.  It is customary to bring flowers – chrysanthemums of various colours and sizes to place on the tombs of their dead and war memorials. The cemeteries throughout ...

Pope Francis and the Church of St. Francis The Post-Western Age of Catholic Rediscovery Lamin Sanneh, Yale Divinity School Contemporary Catholicism has gone through at least two major revolutions within the last half century. Vatican II instituted changes whose repercussions are still being felt today, however uneven the impact. By general consent, the modernization of Catholic theology and corresponding changes ...

“Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness…”            “Ode to Autumn”, John Keats 1795-1821 After all these years, this line of Keats still captures the essence of Autumn so vividly, as we awake to morning mists, followed by the trees emerging in a blaze of glory. They do this, even in the process of seeming to die as they shed ...

With the northern hemisphere continuing to tilt away from the sun, the mysterious and nostalgic season of autumn dons its coat of many colours. The mood of this season, with its movement of death and life, with the fear of the unknown often hiding new life, reflects something of the startling images of our current humanitarian crisis as it spirals ...

Gentle, grace-filled, quiet space, Tender, delicate, gossamer place. Filled with light, a soft caress, A gift from One who loves me best.   Silence, oh so loving, warm Radiates around my form. Peace enfolds me, grace abounds, Limitless love washes me round.   Completely open, unafraid, A sense of waiting, not dismayed. Quiet pleasure, day and night Awaiting God’s great ...

How often do we stop to think about the bread we eat? Hidden from our eyes, that tiny seed sown in early spring now harvested in the September will become for us our daily bread. The work of many hands has become for us a bountiful gift. That tiny seed: buried in the dark, watered by gentle rains, warmed by ...

It was an October morning and the presence of Autumn was becoming more evident; cooler mornings with the sun taking longer to bring warmth.  I stepped out the front door inhaling deep breaths of the freshness of a new day when I saw a masterpiece displayed over the hedge! Its beauty drew my attention and I moved towards it to ...

We  are now well into summer and the beauty of the long summer days invites us to recall the wealth of God’s continued providence and presence in our lives and in the whole of creation. Gerard Manley Hopkins expresses the holiness of creation, of which we are a part, in the following words, “The world is charged with the grandeur ...

We are all aware that the world today is beset with tensions and violence in the North and South, in the Middle East, in Africa and many other countries.  There are threats, new conflicts and other evils in the news every day.  We have all been saddened by the enormous earthquake in Nepal and the appalling tragedies of migrants who ...