Solemnity of the Trinity

For some months we have heard about ‘social distancing’ and the need for it. It is wrong to call it that. It should be physical or spatial distancing. It suggests a violent attitude. But social distancing is not a new phenomenon. It was enforced upon us prior to the current pandemic by government policies with regard to asylum seekers as well as detaining them, people who are poor, homeless or unemployed.

Solemnity of Pentecost May 31, 2020

In 1938, Albert Camus expressed his concern that as preparations for the World War II were underway, the number of victims grew, and as fear spread, the Church seemed unconscionably silent. When it did speak out it was obtuse or abstract.

Solemnity of the Ascension

As the corona virus pandemic continues to grip our lives, accompanied by great hardship, especially for vulnerable people, we ask how the readings today encourage us to respond as friends and disciples of Jesus.  

Sixth Sunday of Easter 2020

The call to us is to realise that the Spirit of Christ resides in everyone - and in all of creation. It's not dependent on externals like going to church, being a Catholic or even a Christian, but on opening our eyes and on waking up to the Spirit's presence everywhere - despite the self-induced sleep and blindness of ‘the world.’ We are all temples. Our bodies matter- not buildings. It's simply about opening our eyes and embracing the truth that God's Spirit is like the very air we breathe. It's like Paul will later say in his Areopagus speech about the ‘Unknown God’ (Acts 17:28): Everyone lives and moves and has being in God's Spirit.

Fifth Sunday of Easter 2020

Sr Donna L. Ciangio, OP tells the story of a small boy leaving the house with Twinkies and juice boxes. His mother asks, where he is going. He says, ‘I am going to find God.’ He heads off.  At a local park he sits on a bench next to a homeless woman. He offers a Twinkie and a juice box to the woman. Both eat, talk and and enjoy each other. Then, he sets off for home and the woman rejoins her friends. When his mother asks, ‘Did you find God?’ he responds, ‘Yes, and God is a woman!’ When the woman joins her friends, she says, ‘I met God in the park today – and he is a little boy!’ Both, the boy and the woman, manifested God where they were, and how they related to each other. ‘Where I am you also may be’ and ‘Whoever believes in me will do the work that I do.’