During my monastic years, I was involved in the project of inter-religious dialogue.  Along with a Benedictine sister, a Buddhist monk, and a Hindu nun I pioneered what came to be known as Australian Monastic Encounter.  It was a privileged experience, through which I visited a number of different monastic centres around Australia and enjoyed the hospitality of various Buddhist monks exchanging with them pathways in the spiritual life. In the work of inter-religious dialogue, we often detect great similarities and parallels between the religious traditions.  Yet, we are also confronted with striking differences. Out of the desire to create a universal sense of fraternity, it has been a danger to try to…

Last Sunday, I shared how the times may leave us feeling like getting into our own little boat and heading off into the middle of the lake where no one can disturb us, and where we may be free from the concern that swirls around us as we continue to navigate the threat of the pandemic. However, once we are out in the lake, we are not guaranteed serenity. I remember once picking up a small poster which read, “Dear God, help me; the sea is so wide, and my boat is so small.”  The size of the lake itself can be overwhelming, and then storms whip up so that the…

This time last year, the word ‘unprecedented’ seemed to be on everyone’s lips. It was the word most commonly heard on the media. At that time, it referred primarily to the drought we, in Australia, were experiencing. It then transferred to the bushfires and smoke to which we were subjected from October to February. None of us could have predicted that, within a few months, we would be in our current situation battling our way through a pandemic. Curiously, we rarely hear the word, ‘unprecedented’ now. It is as if the circumstances of the moment are too historic in character for the word, ‘unprecedented’ to do justice. The word, ‘unprecedented’…

Once upon a time there was an old man who lived on the outskirts of a town.[1]  He had lived there so long that no one knew who he was or where he had come from.  Some said that once he had been very powerful, a king, but that was long ago.  Others said no, he was once very wealthy and generous, but without much now.  Others said, no, he was wise and influential, and some even said he was holy.  But the children just thought he was a stupid old man and they made his life miserable.  They threw stones at his windows, left dead cats on his doorstep, ripped up the garden, and shouted…