Spirituality is another word for our spirit, our soul, the way we are. It is a kaleidoscope of doubt, hope, response, growth and aspiration. It is a personal and communal construct. Mine is centered on the Person of Jesus and with others, the building of the Father’s Kingdom.
HE IS NOT HERE.The person in white sitting by the tomb had spoken. We don’t know where they took him.So spoke Mary from Magdala Where then, do we find Him? Should we look for Him in Notre Dame Paris, amid the cinders and molten lead from shattered stained-glass windows? A museum-cathedral gutted and desecrated by both fire and the shame of sexual abuse over so many long years. Should we look for...
A talk given at the close of a Seminar-Workshop on Religious Formation July 20-27 1986, Antipolo, Manila After reflecting on, and sharing about, our person dreams (i.e., our deepest longings, hopes and aspirations as individuals and as members of Religious Congregations), we proceeded to workshops in small groups and reflected on the dreams of the Filipino people at the present time: what are the...
Introduction: In 2003, while associated with our local church community, I assisted families prepare their children for the Sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation. Instead of using standard “religious” texts, I used the video “Ice Age” as background to worksheets for the children. “Ice Age” presents the Jesus Story unequivocally, and in a much more...
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” has always been a must-be-sung Xmas Carol, ever since it was written in 1868 by Phillips Brooks, an Episcopal Priest from Philadelphia. However, the sweet, lilting melody and the serenity of the town as painted by the lyrics are in harsh contradict to the history of Bethlehem. Going back some 1300 years before Christ, up to the very present, Bethlehem has...
The excellent charity work of the St Vincent de Paul Society (Vinnies) is well known throughout the length and breath of Australia. However, perhaps not so much is known about the person of Vincent, his background and life story. It is an amazing and confronting story and is told in the reflection below. The reflection was written by Fr Daniel Franklin E. Pilario, C.M. of the St...
March 6, 2020 A Statue of Jesus There is a statue of The Sacred Heart in our home, a classic Catholic image of the person of Jesus Christ. This was given to me as the Religion prize when I finished primary school in 1959 at St Brigid’s Sisters of Mercy Catholic School in Howlong, a small rural hamlet then, on the banks of the Murray River some 20 kms down the road from Albury in NSW. When our...
February 9, 2020 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Wise Men, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Wise Men. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning,Rachel...
December 3, 1919 Australia currently is in the grip of a terrible drought. When we travelled to Victoria in October we drove firstly from Rockhampton to Dubbo, a town in central western NSW. That part of the trip was a 1,000 kms. Over the whole distance there was not one crop of anything in evidence. A barren landscape. There has been no planting for 12 months over this vast area. There has been...
September 30, 2019 We are creators, innovators, builders. We are teachers, philosophers, deep thinkers, researchers. We are scientists, farmers, machine operators, technicians, IT specialists. We are pastors, counsellors, administrators. We can do it. We have done it. We used do it. We wish we could still do it. We were good at it.Comes a time when we cannot do it. Not like we used to.Reduced in...