So you can't forgive?
In this article, Brian Lennon SJ tells us that forgiving is a journey. It is wrong to say that Christian forgiving is only about loving our enemies. It is about more than that. It is also about challenging wrongdoers, and about separation from evil. .... |
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Can you recover?
There isn't a family or an individual living that hasn't had its own "earthquake" or "can of worms". "Can you recover?" asks Jesuit priest and psychotherapist, Paul Andrews. The answer, he sees, is in the Gospel parables - the lost coin, the lost sheep, the prodigal son - and in the story of Judas .... |
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Mistakes in the past and the primacy of conscience
Has the Church made mistakes in its pronouncements in the past? If a person today finds themselves in conflict with Church statements, what should they do? Seán Fagan SM tries to shed some light. .... |
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Recapturing wonder
"Philosophy begins in wonder," wrote Aristotle. After serving six years as Provincial of the Anglo-Irish Province of the Discalced Carmelites, Vincent O'Hara spent a sabbatical year in the Carmelite desert house in West Virginia. There he rediscovered the beauty and poetry of true leisure that .... |
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Maori and Pakeha
Fr Paul Andrews reflects on some of the very positive qualities he discovered in the people he met during his stay in New Zealand. .... |
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Our drift into darkness
This month - November 2007 - Pope Benedicts XVI asks us to pray 'that legislators and medical researchers have deep respect for human life, from its beginning to its natural conclusion'.
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The whisper of God
If God wants to speak to us - to you or me - how do you think He goes about it? From his experience John Callanan SJ gives an insight as to how this works. .... |
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Iraq
'When I hold the Host in my hands, it is really He who is
holding me and all of us, challenging the terrorists and
keeping us united in His boundless love.' These words of Fr Ragheed Ganni were spoken as his testimony at the Italian Eucharistic Congress at Bari. The theme of the congress was: .... |
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Disappointment
Life doesn't always turn out the way we thought it would and we are sometimes tempted to indulge our disappointment. Paul Andrews SJ says Jesus would not want us to waste energy blaming ourselves. .... |
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On not despising matter
Donagh O’Shea OP warns against the tendency to think of the material world - especially the body - as something to be despised. Christian spirituality enjoins respect for all creation. .... |
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Journey into self, journey into God
Tony Baggot SJ describes the contours of that exploration of the self which we need to undertake in order to have compassion on ourselves so that we can grow spiritually. .... |
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Season of great expectations
In this Advent homily, Celestine Cullen OSB explains that the new world promised in the liturgy of Advent is not a world without pain or conflict, but a world in which God's grace, power, and presence will be there to support and strengthen us. .... |
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The Santa Claus of loneliness
Bill Long remembers spending Christmas with his friend Thomas Merton at the Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemane, Kentucky. .... |
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Three companions for the Advent journey
James Wallace C.Ss.R. proposes that we take three model characters as our 'companions' for Advent: John the Baptist, the prophet Isaiah, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. .... |
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Jesus and the individual
Sean O’Conaill draws attention to Christ’s stress on the importance of the individual, but he warns that this is radically different from present-day individualism. Instead, it is an invitation to join Christ on his “downward journey”. .... |
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Hints of the divine
John Horan reflects on the heart’s longings, on how we may fill our lives with pleasures of all kinds, yet still find our deepest desire unfulfilled – until we discover that union with God was the answer all along. .... |
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Croagh Patrick
Traditionally, the last Sunday in July is associated with the pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick, a mountain near Westport in Co Mayo. .... |
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The mother-love of God
Carmel Mongey SSC finds a rich vein of knowledge about God’s motherly love for us all in a parable from St Luke’s Gospel and she suggests an Ignatian approach to exploring this text. .... |
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The blessing of Galway Bay
Eustás Ó Héidáin OP describes the Blessing of the Bay ceremony held each year in the Claddagh, Galway. He sees it as a colourful expression of ancient, local faith. .... |
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Lough Derg: the spirit of a holy place
John Cunningham, a retired headmaster in Fermanagh, looks at the legends and the deep spiritual traditions in Lough Derg’s lengthy history as a place of pilgrimage. .... |
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Saint Benedict on personal prayer
Andrew Nugent OSB explores the Rule of St Benedict for what it might teach us about personal prayer. .... |
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The forgotten art of blessing
Blessings are an important part of our faith, writes Sascha T. Moore; it’s time we made them an important part of our lives. .... |
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The lasting greatness of devotion to the Sacred Heart
Ever since the 17th Century, when St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was granted visions of the Sacred Heart, the Jesuits have played a pivotal role in spreading this devotion and expounding its meaning for Christian life. In the middle decades of the twentieth century, however, many Jesuits felt called to .... |
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God in everyday things
Brian Grogan, S.J. finds God busy behind the scenes as the haphazard events of each day unfold. .... |
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Fools for Christ’s sake
Kevin Seasolts OSB traces the significance of the clown or the fool in Christian spiritual and cultural perspectives. Invoking the visions of such artists as Fellini, Rouault and Picasso, he reminds us that the only way to climb the ladder of holiness is to climb down the ladder of humility. .... |
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What’s the sense in suffering?
Anne Marie Lee, from her experience of working with deprived people, stresses the importance for each of us of the value we attach to human suffering. .... |
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We are Pentecostal people
Kevin Seasoltz OSB sees God’s gift of his Spirit as a continuous transformation of the world. The Spirit is woven into the fabric of human life; and, even though the anguish of life may remain, the Spirit always provides the possibility of healing and renewal. .... |
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Why do Catholics still go to Confession?
A brief note on the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is a celebration of the forgiveness of God, and it helps us to put the the past behind us and go forward in optimism. .... |
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Why let worry rule your life?
John Horan SDB advises people to try to become aware of the ingrained habits of mind which may turn life into a constant source of worry. .... |
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The Franciscan hermit: recluse in an open wind
Greagóir Ó Seanacháin OFM takes a look at the eremitic tradition as it was observed by St Francis and his followers, paying special attention to St Francis's 'Rule for the hermitage'. .... |
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Never really sure ... the dilemma of scrupulosity
Daniel L. Lowery C.Ss.R. explains how some people's spiritual lives can be afflicted by scruples, a debilitating fear and anxiety about sin and evil, related to obsessive-compulsive psychological conditions. .... |
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Spiritual and psychological difficulties
Tony Baggot SJ identifies a common problem of people who earnestly seek to develop spiritually -- the problem of not coming to terms with their psychological experience and trying to graft a spiritual outlook onto this unresolved reality. .... |
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Social snobbery and the gospels
'Status anxiety', argues Sean O'Conaill, is far from the spirit of the gospels and from Jesus' own low birth and preference for poverty. .... |
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Survival at the chalkface
Tim Quinlan describes his personal key to survival, a spiritual perspective which helps him to bear the high stress levels which secondary school teaching induce in him. .... |
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Lucky people
Anne Power recounts her experience of deepening in prayer and meditation and discovering that this was bringing her back, after many years away, to the Catholic Church of her youth. .... |
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Michelangelo's spirituality
George Bull uncovers the depths of Michelangelo’s spirituality, his profound passion for beauty and his struggle not to let this draw him away from a Christian vision of the world.
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The Lord’s Supper in the first Christian communities
Pierre Simson goes back to the scriptural accounts of the eucharist to see what exactly Christ meant by enjoining us to come together to celebrate his supper in memory of Him. .... |
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Meister Eckhart: living without a 'why'
James McFadden sees the spirituality of Meister Eckhart in terms of detachment, of letting go of everything and living without a why. .... |
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God, heaven and a garden
Magali Nicole takes a look at gardening. In it she finds a model of 'subduing the earth' which does not involve exercising absolute mastery over it, but rather entails working with God and helping to create heaven on earth. .... |
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Practicing the Lectio Divina
Michel de Verteuil CSSp explains in a practical way the prayer method of Lectio Divina, a manner of contemplating scripture and integrating it with all the goings-on of one’s life. .... |
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The Holy Spirit is gift
Thomas Heath OP suggests that we try to recognise the Holy Spirit, who is gift itself, in the many gifts which we have received and which show themselves in our lives of seeking God. .... |
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The priest who helps others grow
Marilyn Rodrigues recounts the story of Grow, a community mental health movement co-founded by Fr Con Keogh after he himself suffered from mental illness. .... |
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The spiritual pains of Christian life
Ronald Rolheiser plots the course and pain of growing in the spiritual life. .... |
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The courage to be imperfect
Maynooth professor, D. Vincent Twomey SVD, a former doctoral student of Pope Benedict XVI, reflects on the transformation of his university teacher into the Universal Teacher of the Nations.
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Creating Soul-Space
Donal O'Leary stresses the importance of giving time each day to creating "soul space" in our lives. .... |
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No excuse for autobiography
Wondering whether he should write his autobiography or not, Paul Andrews SJ in the end decides against it. He doesn't want to mislead himself or others. .... |
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Holy ground
Here Paul Andrews SJ talks about making contact - with people and with God. .... |
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Take up thy cross
Jesus wasn't an instant success. He had to endure the triumph of failure. Paul Andrews SJ shows haw we can do the same. .... |
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Catholic dreamtime
Although he acknowledges the risk of commercialisation, Father Paul Andrews SJ is sure there is a real place for images, symbols and popular devotions in all true spirituality. .... |
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Blessing
Giving out about the state of things in the world is not a Christian occupation, says psychotherapist Paul Andrews SJ. But blessing is. We have the power to bless and approve, and it carries more weight than we imagine .... |
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A cup of cold water
We may not be able to take on "the big picture". We may think we cannot "change the world". But doing one little thing that we see can change things for the better is significant and we should never miss that opportunity. Jesus praises the widow who put in her mite; he condemns the man who buries .... |
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Let go, let God
We often wonder how we ought to pray. Paul Andrews SJ points to some not too difficult ways we could start. .... |
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Home comfort
This month (December 07) Pope Benedict asks us to pray 'that all people show care for those stricken with AIDS, especially children and women, and that they see the Church as a sign of the Lord's love'. Gerry Clarke SJ explains. .... |
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The many faces of Christmas
Gail Northgrave gives us some perspectives on the real meaning of Christmas. Her message is: "If you look close enough you'll see Him smiling at you through your loved ones". .... |
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Oh no, not you!
Has someone ever refused to accept your greeting of peace at Mass? How would you feel if they did? There are people who are consistently rejected by society, to whom the "Oh no, not you!" message is consistently given. Paul Andrews SJ talks it over. .... |
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Baldy
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Caring for teachers
Paul Andrews SJ says: "Teachers need pastoral care for themselves. Their daily work exposes them to a merciless manipulation of their weaknesses by sharp-eyed and clever teenagers." .... |
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Aim high
Paul Andrews SJ explores the legacy of that secular saint, Edmund Hillary, and how such a man's doubt helps us to see how extraordinary the Incarnation truly is. .... |
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Four months in a country town
Paul Andrews SJ recounts his time with the parish priest in a New Zealand parish and how the way of life there gives expression to the gospel message in the 21st century. .... |
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Say it to my face
Paul Andrews SJ discusses what it means to deal with disagreements as a Christian. .... |
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The Lord's day
Bernard McGuckian replys to Joe's question about the Catholic approach to the Sabbath. .... |
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Time out
John O'Callaghan tells of some of the fruits he has found in the Lay Retreat Association of St. Ignatius (LRA). .... |
