So runs the chorus of an old English folk song that compares human life to that of a leaf, changing with the seasons. At first glance the song seems rather fatalistic, focusing as it does on our inevitable ageing and afflictions – the ‘frost’

In the realm of music, a ‘counterpoint’ is created when someone adds a different melody on top of or underneath another melody, so that the two work together, in harmony, interdependently.

“We gather today to offer this Funeral Mass for the late Monsignor Meagher, a priest of Jesus Christ who served God and the people of Sydney faithfully for nearly 60 years, and died last week aged 91.

When people complained to Picasso that his portrait of Gertrude Stein did not look like her he famously replied, ‘No matter – it will.’ Picasso’s point was not merely that as Stein aged she would become more likely the unflattering face he had painted

When Mary MacKillop was about 20 years old, living in Portland, Victoria, she was accidentally locked in the church overnight. You might think that was a rather spooky thing to happen to someone

I was not lucky enough to have Rev. Professor Paul Ryan as one of my philosophy teachers when I was in the seminary. But I do recall with gratitude many things I learnt in philosophy that underpinned my theology, pastoral life and administration ever since.

The miracle of the loaves and the fishes is the most reported of all Jesus’ miracles: it appears in all four Gospels and in two of them twice! John’s account (Jn 6:1-15) underlines the connection with the mystery of the Eucharist.

When the great art historian, museum director and broadcaster, Kenneth Clark, finally entered the Catholic Church on his deathbed, he fulfilled an earlier prediction. He had said that when that time came it would be like a painting entering the Louvre: “It would find itself in some pretty queer company, but at least it would be sure that it had a soul.”