A while back an eclectic Spanish art collection was offered for auction by Christie’s in London. The standout item was a life-sized painting of St Joseph and the Christ Child by the 17th-century painter, Bartolomé Murillo, estimated to be worth millions of pounds.
What a strange choice of readings for a day we call ‘Lætare’ or ‘Rejoicing Sunday’! Our first reading from the Book of Chronicles tells how all the faithful – including the leading clergy – proved unfaithful.
Jacob and Wilhelm were brothers, renowned scholars in philology and lexicography, and authorities on the Indo-European language from which the languages of the continent and the sub-continent evolved.
Peter, James and John are Jesus’ executive team. They join Him on occasions marked ‘private and confidential’, when healing in homes or contemplating Jerusalem or agonising in the garden. Paul calls them ‘the three pillars’ of the early Church (Gal 2:9).
“The Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness.” (Mk 1:12-15) So Mark begins his account of the temptations of Christ immediately after His baptism when that Spirit descended upon Him like a dove.
Today I’m wearing my bishop’s party hat! That’s because we have three big things to celebrate.
Drought, then fires, moths, storms and floods, then plague: what a strange year or two we’ve had!
In 1820, after waiting 42 years, the Catholics of the colony of New South Wales were finally given two official chaplains…
When I was quite young,
and quite small for my size,
I met an old man in the Desert of Drize.
and he sang me a song, I will never forget.
At least, well, I haven’t forgotten it yet.
What does it mean for God to pray? More specifically, why would Jesus, who is God, feel the need to pray?
Clearly, it was not for want of confidence in His divine mission or powers.
Typecasting. If a young lawyer wins a complex case in an obscure corner of the law such as admiralty or financial derivatives, he or she may spend the rest of their life being given cases in that same area.
Some years ago I heard Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta – now Cardinal Gregory of Washington DC – give a World Youth Day catechesis on the subject of Christian joy. He observed that we Christians have every reason to be happy: we have been given life in a world full of beauty and opportunity
