At the time of writing, a few days before Ash Wednesday, it has been reported that a parish in the West of Ireland will be offering ‘drive-thru Ashes!!’ I see the funny side to this and I can understand it’s appeal. It comes as no surprise that it has been described as ‘cool’ and ‘moving with the times’. I get this but it’s not the full story. I appreciate as you read this you will have either received your Read more…
Next Wednesday, March 1st, is Ash Wednesday. All over Dublin, indeed all over the world droves of people will turn out to get their ashes. I do not know how true it is but apparently a number of years ago a famous politician was known for topping up his own ashes during the course of the day, mindful of the cameras. Yes, they will come throughout the day for ashes for themselves, and for the sick and elderly Read more…
THE DEVIL (stuff you need to know!!) ‘You are the devil in disguise, oh yes you are, the devil in disguise!’ A harmless, popular song by Elvis, lamenting being wronged in love, but is there a devil, and even more importantly does he come in disguise.? In one sense he is often talked about, and yet he is the topic so many want to avoid. Perhaps more than any other issue, there is cliché after cliche about Read more…
‘And some say love is holding on and some say letting go Some say love is everything and some say they don’t know’ Perhaps Love, John Denver/ Placido Domingo One can only imagine the amount of songs that have been written about love. This is not to mention all the love poetry and songs. Whilst he does not appear in the Church liturgical calendar, this week will see a big focus on St. Valentine. The first Valentine Read more…
I wonder did this ever happen to you? Where you ever looking for something, searching high and low, to the left, to the right, only to discover that if you stopped, dropped your head, opened your eyes, there it is in front of you. We use phrases like, ‘it was under my very nose’, and ‘it was staring me in the face’! We often remark on how easy it is for us to miss the obvious. I have Read more…
Long, long before he became affectionately known as one half of the ‘chuckle brothers’, and on a more serious note, being an important part of building peace in Northern Ireland, I had an encounter with the Reverend Ian Paisley. It was not a pleasant experience, as a matter of fact, it was quite frightening. It was Church Unity Week, I think around nineteen seventy-nine, and I was attending a talk in St. Anne’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Read more…
You may remember that over the New Year I shared with you the idea that I was really only going to make one New Years resolution and that that was by the end of 2017 I would hope to know Jesus of Nazareth better, and have deepened my relationship with him. The ‘rumblings’ this week, in a way, mark the first tentative steps in this regard. I suppose if I am honest the quest for the real Jesus Read more…
The question,’ Well how did you get over the Christmas?’ is a fairly tired question, and usually provokes similarly tired responses. ‘Yea, grand, quiet enough’. The reality is probably quite different. Some will have jumped, bopped and danced through it. Some may well have staggered through it, in some form of fog. Others no doubt took refuge under the duvet, and peaked out with various degrees of wishing it gone. I suppose I would like to address a related, Read more…
The topics of discussion for the last few days of any year are so predicable. The weight we have put on over Christmas, the ongoing battle with the cigarettes, the decision to go to bed earlier and get up earlier, maybe we could get fitter, walk more, maybe even run, spend less, save more. Before we know it we are into the realm of resolution. The R word! Even people who make up their mind, that’s it, never Read more…
In a way I should not really be calling it a shock because I should have seen it coming. I mean to be honest I was a little bit suspicious something like this was going on behind the scenes. The other problem with this is you may be reading this on Christmas morning and I am not sure how suitable it is given the day that it is. Now having said that even though I have called it Read more…