The encounter with the risen Lord

The Gospel gives us a number of accounts where Jesus meets the disciples after the resurrection. The response of surprise, fear, initial lack of recognition and then subsequent ‘aha! moment’ of recognition are quite common. They did not expect the empty grave, they did not expect to meet Jesus again, not so soon; even though […]

The gift of Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday is one of the most overlooked days in the Christian year. It is a day that teaches that even in death, Jesus is still active doing His deep hidden work of love and redemption. On the other hand, for the disciples it was a day of shattered hopes; none of them understood the […]

Out of the Silence, Alleluia will Rise

At the beginning of our Lenten journey some of us stopped singing Alleluia, from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday; in our churches, at least. Lent reminds us of experiences in life that challenge us, I will call them ‘desert experiences’, through which desert areas of our hearts get exposed too. I think one of the […]

Finding health in the midst of illness

We are just at the start of the New Year, which can be a good time to examine what our hopes for the coming year are, and what we learned or gained in the past year. Every ending is a new beginning, so now we have a chance of a new beginning. In Genesis we […]

Advent poem

time is drawing near when darkness shall be pierced by a new dawn so there will be stars all over the sky even in the darkest nights Then, when heaven will meet the earth time will go in reverse not to back or forth but within, and eternity will be soaked into the  pores of […]

Silence can be healing

“As the deer longs for running streams, so my soul is longing for you my God” (Psalm 42:1)  Recently I was in America, in Chicago, and a group of us went for a pottery class for my friend’s bachelorette party, which is like a hen party, just a little different. I realised there is something […]

Healing as ‘homecoming’

“The mystery of God’s love is not that he takes our pains away, but that he first wants to share them with us. Out of this divine solidarity comes new life. Jesus’ being moved in the centre of his being by human pain is indeed a movement toward new life.” (Henri Nouwen)  If we look […]

A soothing summer touch

Spring has turned into the summer, with summer showers still watering the flowers that blossomed earlier in the year; there are no more bare trees. Yet summer is not only sunshine, May blossoms and long bright nights, with occasional shooting star. Summer still has shadows too. In some places unlike Ireland the heat can consume […]

Lenten Reflection: A Compassionate Triduum

As we embark on these three holy days of Jesus’ betrayal, death & resurrection, we participate in God’s compassion in the most literal sense, “suffering with” Jesus and those who loved him. Tonight, as we join Jesus and his disciples on the evening before his death, we note the tenderness with which Jesus washes our […]

Lenten Reflection: Compassion as Slowing Down

Lydia is the Education Advisor for Bishops’ Appeal.  She wrote this piece as a spark piece, effectively ignited by a reflection given by Jessica Stone from the Church’s Ministry of Healing: Ireland on tapping into God’ infinite reservoir of compassion.  The result has been a joint Lenten reflection series on the theme of Compassion. Research […]