I wish to share the striving, risk and chaos I have experienced in my life as well as the growth and fulfilment that has come my way. It is a way of “writing upon the wall of humanity”, sharing with innumerable people the task of searching for the meaning of all that is around and within us. I invite you to join with me in this enlightening and creative process.
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...
Early on the morning of Tuesday 13th October 2014 I had a conversation with the anaesthetist at the Hillcrest Hospital in Rockhampton. He informed me that colon cancer was the best cancer to have. Well, I thought, that is if you have a choice. As it happened I did not have a choice and was happy to take his assurances that I had a “good” cancer. He was proven correct in that the surgery later...
Eddie was a little boy I met on Smokey Mountain on Good Friday 1986. Smokey Mountain was the Manila garbage dump situated in barangay Tondo, Manila. All day, every day, garbage trucks unloaded their cargo of rubbish on top of the “mountain” and the residents scavenged among this garbage for their livelihood. In the hot months the mountain smoldered and little fires would break out because of the...
There are some specific September dates I find very easy to remember. September 11, 2001: The coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States. September 12 2014: The day our business in Rockhampton – Clear Waters Financial Planning – celebrated its final release from the Franchise Company Elders Financial Planning (aka The Crocodile...
Anak dagat Can you really study theology while living in a fishing village, in a small hut of four rooms, sleeping on mats, sitting cross-legged taking your meals, cooking on a charcoal burner outside the hut? Such was the situation of four young men studying to be Redemptorists when I visited them in barrio Anak Dagat (literally, Child of the Sea) in Batangas Province, Philippines. ...
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...
Written in 1986 Leaving the Redemptorist Seminary on Mariposa Street in Cubao, Quezon City, you turn left and walk about three hundred meters to C Benitez Street. Turn right at the T-junction and you walk past a Buddhist Temple behind high cement walls. There are many high cement walls in this area. Three hundred meters past the temple the cement walls give way to high...
Mark 1: 29-39 Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Mark presents Jesus as the MessiahThe Messiah crucifiedWho by his suffering and death would redeem humankindAnd so fulfil the Plan of the FatherThis Jesus is acknowledged as the Son of GodBy the Spirit in the form of a dove following his baptism in the river JordanBy the demon expelled by Jesus in the synagogue at CapernaumBy the Centurion as Jesus...
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...
The Father had a dreama vision for all peoplewho live under the starsupon the earth by the seasa vision of life whereinharmony as a white riverflowed between hills of caredown valleys of justicea dream of prosperity forthe farmer who cares for his cropas a mother cares for her childa dream of abundance forthe fisherman who with courageand risk braves the uncertaintyof the watersto recover life...