In these weeks the country has been on heightened alert for bushfire. We have known just how destructive the fires have been on the north coast and in Queensland; it has been difficult for us to imagine the scale of bush destroyed and we have felt the despair of the people who have lost their homes and property, especially those who have lost loved ones. Here in Sydney we have recognized the situation by the pall of smoke covering the city now for some days. All of us feel a sense of trepidation about the forthcoming summer. As we see the pictures of devastation and view the smoke that engulfs…

In many ways I am coming more and more to the conclusion that we live in an age of isolation, especially in our modern Western and brilliantly technological societies. There is a great paradox in this since with the communication revolution that is also a characteristic of our time never before have we been so connected to one another.  If we are as connected to one another as never before how can we be suffering from such isolation? This, indeed, is a critical question. Yet, the symptoms of isolation which mark our current social experience are all around us.  Tanveer Ahmed wrote some time ago: “Modern technology is vastly increasing our connectivity,…

One of the people that stand out in my memory when I was engaged in the ministry of spiritual direction was a young man, James (not his real name).  When I first met James he had completed a degree in film and was involved in film-making, and was becoming quite successful in his endeavour.  But James was also struggling.  He was depressed and the depression was becoming more significant. I met with James regularly over perhaps a twelve-month period, seeking to listen to him and understand something of his life’s journey. Through our conversations it became apparent that though he was becoming quite successful as a film-maker he actually didn’t like what he…

Sebastian Moore, the English Benedictine writer, once wrote that we need conversion not so much from sin, as from innocence.[1] It was a curious declaration: we need conversion not so much from sin, as from innocence. What may he have meant by this enigmatic pronouncement? Perhaps, he was alluding to the aspect of us that wants to have everything and everyone perfect, the part of us that expects everything about us and around us to be ideal, and the need to let this go. How easily we demand that our relationships, our marriages and our families be ideal even as we struggle in the recognition that they are far from so.…

The Admission to the Ministry of Acolyte of Hien Vu and Martino Hoang The Admission to the Ministry of Lector of Shane Hyland Luke 8: 1-18 There can be many times in our lives when we know the temptation to lose heart. Sometimes life’s events simply take away our strength to keep hoping.  And we incline to despair. Yet this Sunday we are told a story by Jesus about never losing heart. It seems that we are to be like the importune woman, while God is presented like the judge who eventually gives in to our persistence.   Yet, perhaps there is another way of looking at the story Jesus tells us.  …