Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

Although this Sunday we have a very long Gospel, it has the shortest sentence in the Bible: "And Jesus wept." "And Jesus wept." Why did Jesus cry? Because there is power in tears. There is solidarity in tears. When Jesus saw his friends Martha and Mary, he was overcome with compassion for them as they suffered the loss of their brother Lazarus. Yet, the tears that flowed may have been also a response to the deep wound of sin which caused death. Death consumed the creation God has created since the time of Adam and Eve. The wages of sin are death and Jesus was getting ready to pay the price. Death had taken Lazarus once and it would take him again. This step of raising Lazarus from the death would stir the hornet's nest of the religious leaders to take action to seek out Jesus and put him to death. Yes, Jesus wept. Yet in this rollercoaster of emotions, Jesus carries out one of his greatest miracles in raising his good friend Lazarus from the dead. Love alwa

Annunciation by Nesterov For the solemnity today, the liturgy of the day offers us Luke's narrative of the Annunciation for our reflection. We all know how the story goes. I wish I could always muster a classy yes like Mary’s. “Let it be done with me according to your word” is a far cry from my usual “OK Lord, if you say so.” We do the best we can. We notice the very human details of the Annunciation. It happened in a specific place, to a specific person and so I look at my story and how I give my 'yes' for the small and the big moments of life. Mary’s fiat, as it is called (Latin for “let it be done”), was a yes to the Unknown. These are the only yeses that really count. A yes to the Unknown—this was the fiat of Mary as she accepted the impossible message of the angel. This was the yes of those Wise Men following the star to only God knows where. This was the yes of Jesus as he accepted baptism by his cousin John. This is my yes to the Lord as He continues to lead me

Like so many Christian feasts, St Patrick’s Day has been somewhat hijacked. St Patrick has about as much to do with a pint of Guinness as St Valentine has to do with a box of chocolates and a romantic meal for two. But what does this saint, so strong in missionary zeal and about whom we know very little, have to do with our modern day celebrations? The answer comes from the Confessio itself.  In the very opening paragraphs of the autobiography, St Patrick offers a meditation o n the gift of faith and the praise that we owe in return to God for such a gift. Perhaps this is St Patrick’s greatest relevance, particularly in a culture that seems increasingly hostile to declarations of faith. He refuses to stay quiet; his evangelising zeal comes from knowing that he must speak to others of Christ: “That is why I cannot be silent – nor would it be good to do so – about such great blessings and such a gift that the Lord so kindly bestowed in the land of my captivity. This is how we can

This verse from the first reading of today's liturgy for the 3rd Sunday of Lent is one that challenges deeply. It may be the question on many people's lips. Is God with us? Where is God in the events which are bombarding our world at present? Where is God in the fear and anxiety, the sickness and the death? These following lines (redacted) have been seen on many social media pages but it may remind us exactly where God is. He is here with us, walking with us every single step of the way. He is in the brother and sister whom we encounter, be it physically or digitally given the current situation. "All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way All over the world people are waking up to a new reality To how big we really are. To how little control we really have. To what really matters. To Love. So we pray and we remember that Yes there is fear. But there does not have to be hate. Yes ther