It is often remarked that it is children who make Christmas.  Often, they are at the centre of our thoughts and practices when we come to celebrate Christmas – whether it be our own children, or grandchildren, nieces or nephews.  Christmas is an enchanting time for children – they are full of expectation and excitement.  Their sense of wonder at the decorations, the music, the family customs, Santa Claus, and our gift-giving are all infectious.  We lead them to the crib, and we bend down to their level and see the scene through their eyes.   The characters of Mary and Joseph, the baby Jesus, the shepherds, the wise men and…

One of my small claims to fame is that I was in correspondence with the late Princess of Wales.  I should hasten to add that the full extent of the correspondence between us was a mass produced card of gratitude from Kensington Palace in response to my rather lengthy epistle to Diana in which I had expressed gratitude for a comment she made during her famous – or infamous – 1995 BBC television interview with Martin Bashir.[1]   In that much publicized exchange I had been remarkably struck by the explanation of her struggle with royal politics which had rendered her particularly vulnerable.  Diana put forward, “there’s no better way to…

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 that expects everything about us and around us to be ideal. 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. We demand that our jobs and professions…

In his book, “Beyond Belief,” Hugh McKay, the Australian social researcher outlines the deep vein of ambivalence about religion that runs through Australian society: on the one hand many Australians do not actively worship, yet they still like to see local churches operating, and we still turn to churches to baptise our children and to educate them.[1]  Around two thirds of Australians say we believe in God or some ‘higher power’, but fewer than one in ten of us attend church weekly.  So those of us gathered here for Mass are an extraordinary minority no matter how mainstream we might consider ourselves to be.  And all of his means 90%…

Jesus was a great storyteller, and as a storyteller of his time in 1st centrury Palestine he knew the means that a storyteller used to convey the meaning of what he wished ot share.  One of those techniques is hyperbole: something is overstated to make a point. It was an excellent technique in an oral culture, used to the art of storytelling. The hyperbole, itself, is not to be taken literally. People would go away and remember the over-statement and in time understand what was being said underneath. The use of juxtaposition is another technique: two statements are put aside each other, one informing and opening the meaning of the other. We…

The famous anthropologist of the 20th century, Margaret Mead was once asked what sign we had about when civilization began.  The expectation was that her reply would concern the discovery of some ancient artefact such as a tool, or a weapon, or a segment of art.  Instead, she simply replied, “a healed femur.” A healed femur bone is the sign we have of the beginnings of civilization.  Why did Mead claim this?  She claimed this because for the first time we had an indication that a community had cared for someone.  Previously, there would be no evidence of a healed femur, for the person who had experienced a broken femur would be left to die. There comes…

Many years ago there was quite a popular film that was made called, “Dead Poets Society.”  It starred Robyn Williams as a slightly eccentric schoolteacher – if ‘slight’ can ever be used to describe Robyn William’s eccentricity.  At this school, though, he mentored a group of students into realising their potential.  The catchcry of the film, Carpe Diem, “Seize the Day”, became somewhat famous in itself and got to be widely used.   The film was very much a portrayal of the philosophy of Henry Thoreau.  Thoreau was a well-known American humanist philosopher of the 19th century. His famous work was called, Walden, and was an account of him leaving the city and retiring to the side of…