Tag Archives: Reflection

Julian of Norwich was an English anchoress of the Middle Ages who received a series of visions or “shewings” of the Passion of Christ in 1373. Her writings on the subject, now known as the Revelations of Divine Love, are thought to be the earliest surviving English-language works by a woman. Pope Francis sent a message on Friday 12 May, ...

The first work attributed to Patrick is a short open letter, directed against a British chieftain, Coroticus, and his armed followers, in which Patrick excoriates and excommunicates them for having slaughtered some and kidnapped and enslaved others of his newly baptized Irish converts to Christianity’. The second work is a far more informative source (essentially Patrick’s biography): Patrick’s Confessio. Described ...

As we open our hearts and minds to Spring, to all the possibility and to the emergence of all that light calls forth, by participation, we also open ourselves wider to all of creation that takes in both its breathtaking beauty and its abject suffering. Some time ago I read the original piece written  by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D entitled: ...

St. Brigid of Ireland, Brigid also spelled Brigit or Bridget, also called Brigid of Kildare or Bride (Irish Bríd) was born, according to tradition in Fochart, near Dundalk, County Louth. She died c. 525, in  Kildare. Her feast day is February 1.  She is remembered as virgin and abbess of Kildare, one of the patron saints of Ireland. Little is known of her life but from legend, myth, and folklore. According to these, she ...

Speaking with the heart ~ “The truth in love” (Eph 4:15) After having reflected in past years on the verbs “to go and see” and “to listen” as conditions for good communication, with this Message for the 57th World Day of Social Communications (21 May 2023), the focus by Pope Francis is on “speaking with the heart”.  (See full text HERE) ...

We reach the final day of the octave of prayer for Christian Unity (18 to 25 January 2023). The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU) is celebrated, as an ecumenical initiative in which Christians from all over the world belonging to different traditions and confessions, gather spiritually in prayer for the unity of the Church.  The theme of this ...

I was at a recent funeral of a friend of mine who was an avid fan of the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh.  But more than that, a person who saw in Patrick Kavanagh the life of the farmer, poet and mystic completely intertwined. Someone who communed so readily with God through Nature, and who through his words could open this ...

From 6 to 18 November 2022, the governments who are parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will convene in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt for the conference widely known as “COP27.” Sharm el-Sheikh sits on the Sinai Peninsula, the land held sacred by followers of Abrahamic religions as the place where God appeared to Moses and called him to ...

The Nativity of Mary is one of the most ancient Marian feasts (8th September). It is thought that this feast originated in connection with the Feast of the dedication of a church dedicated to Mary, now the Church of St Ann, in Jerusalem in the 6th century. Tradition holds that this is where the house of Mary’s parents, Joachim and ...

Today (22 July) we celebrate the Apostle Mary Magdalene.  She was a  follower of Christ, who travelled with him and the Twelve during his earthly ministry, together with several other women who supported them. “While [Mary Magdalene] has often been sentimentalized or sexualized, there has not until recently been the slightest threat of her being divinized, and her intact humanness ...