All of us want the best that is possible.  However, this can easily insinuate itself through all of our life to make for unrealistic expectations. In our relationships we can easily be led into thinking about how we might achieve the best partner, or the best marriage, or the best relationship.  We can even subtly begin to look for the perfect partner, the perfect family, the perfect friendship, the perfect parish, the perfect government – and become very disappointed when we don’t think we have found it.  Of course, what we do find is always someone that is imperfect and limited.  Every one of us is limited.  Our partners are…

The philosopher, Rosa Luxemburg once wrote: “The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening.”[1]  Luxemburg is a Marxist thinker, but I think this declaration is to be something quite true. The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening. It reminded me of a wonderful sentence in Pope Francis’ recent exhortation to the Youth of our Church when he declared, “I ask you to be revolutionaries, I ask you to swim against the tide; yes, I am asking you to rebel against this culture that sees everything as temporary and that ultimately believes you are incapable of responsibility, incapable…

 I often think how different life would be without emails. Emails now seem to rule the day, and it seems to me that the management of emails has become one of the most important skills to learn. One of the ways that I seek to manage it all is by having multiple email addresses, each one for different purposes. I have one for my parish and diocesan work, another for more general personal communication, another for news feeds.  And so, in this way different kinds of emails get lodged into different boxes as it were. The last of these ‘boxes’ so to speak I open through the MSN website. I…

Whatever of our Republican aspirations, I am sure that many of us have been bedazzled by the recent celebrations of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. For many of us, it has been a trip down memory lane as images of the Queen’s long life and reign have greeted us – almost from another world. Monarchy speaks to something deep within us; there is something archetypal in its presentation. It sparks something deep within us. In particular, royal weddings capture our imagination. With great vividness, they bring before us something for which we all long: the simplicity of falling in love, the promise of exchanging a commitment to each other, the hope…

We are often used to saying, “distance makes the heart grow fonder.”  Sometimes, though, we are not so sure.  We know how long-distance friendships or relationships suffer for lack of contact, it seems that the saying is true only when actually come into contact with each other from time to time, or when we are constantly reminded of the one we love.  Then, the separation we experience with someone we love does act to deepen our love.  This is why the photos of those we love but who have died become so important to us.  Our constant reminder of them through these symbols means that our love does not extinguish…

One of my interests is choreography – not that I know very much about it, but I certainly enjoy watching productions of dance and motion.  Perhaps this is because my parents were enthusiastic dancers and one of my most delightful memories as a child was watching them dancing.  One of the most poignant dances I have seen is that of the Turkish whirling dervishes.  This is a sacred dance with its very particular choreography.  It begins with very slow motion and gradually builds with intensity so that the many individuals who enter the dance inter-weave their steps to create an extraordinary circular effect.  It is one of the most sublime…

Last Sunday, the fourth week of Easter, the Church’s liturgy explored the life of the Risen Christ through the imagery of shepherding.  Through this image of shepherding the Gospel of John develops the inter-relationship between the life of Jesus and our own lives.  The image speaks of the particular bond by which we have both our identity and our direction.  It is through this bond, and through this bonding, that we experience the life of the Risen Christ.  The bonds that unite us therefore are not incidental to our Easter experience; they are one of the primary means by which we touch the life of the Risen Christ, How does…

Often, it’s out of children, the youngest, that we hear the most wisdom.  Children have the most disarming way of speaking the truth.  And they have an uncanny capacity for observation – especially for when it comes to understanding the nature of love.  At weddings I often like to share these delightful observations about love Q – When is it ok to kiss someone? A -You should never kiss a girl unless you have enough bucks to buy her a big ring and her own DVD, because she’ll want to have videos of the wedding. (Jim, age 10) Q – What is the right age to get married?A – Twenty-three…

Lent, as we know, is a time of examination, a time of review and evaluation.  It’s the time in the year, in preparation for the celebration of Easter, where we re-focus and regain our single-mindedness.  Many centuries ago, St. Benedict taught that such self-examination and review should be a characteristic not simply of a single liturgical season but indeed of our whole life.   As we examine our life with renewed depth, and walk forward, our gaze is on the Christ ahead of us who invites us, who beckons us, who waits with arms open to receive us.  Our gaze must be firmly on him, full of invitation and full of possibility.  This is critical…