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SOMETHING HAPPENED (Easter 2026)

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  From the breakfast table I look towards the rising sun and over the distance to where I celebrated Easter last year, somewhat torn between two loves. It’s a “shepherds warning” kind of morning. Beautiful, with red blushed clouds that might be promising a later rain, but we will not dwell on that for now. Storm Dave pounded on the roof of St. Anne’s Church during the Easter Vigil last night, rattling the doors, giving a kind of Pentecostal drama to the liturgy which was led by Auxiliary Bishop Donal Roche, accompanied by Emmet the Parish Priest and myself. All I had to do was sit back and take it all in and it was wonderful to experience, special for an Irish congregation to witness the baptism of a teenage boy and three adults receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation. Something that we have been used to in England and becoming more common in Ireland now. In the archdiocese of Dublin alone 139 adults have joined the Catholic Church this Easter. It seems there is a similar trend t...
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TREMBLING (A Holy Thursday)

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The blush of green On brown bushes Winter giving way To Spring Luminous in sunlight Fresh new leaves Trembling in the breeze A heart in the face Of adversity A soul trembling At the approach of God The tremble of anticipated Love The full extent of it On its knees Serving the reality That it encounters In this personal moment Of Salvation  
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MARY

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She  stands at the crossroads Of time and eternity Intersection of all creation A desire as old as Eden Burning in her soul The yearning of every child Who has graced the earth Embodiment of humanity’s Hope Of Redemption, Restoration She has held in her heart The wandering aridity Of the desert and there God comes to find her Lifting her up and keeping Her as the apple of His eye Humanity has found A response to God in her From her is deliverance Brought forth in Christ In Whom we are born and breathe Our perfect peaceful consummation Healing for our scars
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YOU NEED TO WEAR A POLO NECK

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  "You need to wear a polo neck" said the cashier at the supermarket checkout.  I wasn't sure that I heard her right and said, "pardon?"  "You need to wear a polo neck" she repeated. "Why do I need to wear a polo neck? I asked. "You need to hide this" she said, pointing to my clerical collar. "I don't need to hide it." I said.   Then she asked me if I had the app for the supermarket on my phone and I asked what the advantage of it would be, but I was too distracted by her comment to understand what she was saying now.   She was calm. I was calm. There was no hint of aggression in her tone and I took no offence, thinking that she might even be protective towards me, warning me that it could attract negative attention. Which it might, of course, and with good reason.   But it felt surreal and the phrase that stuck in me was, “you need to hide.” It would be easier to hide at times. But it's not the best thing. And I wear m...
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PATRICK OF TOKYO

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  Naomh Éanna's chapel “…proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, call to obedience – but do all with patience and with the intention of teaching.” (2 Timothy 4) +++ The Gospel given for this St. Patrick’s Day Mass was somewhat surprising – the parable of the darnel in Matthew chapter 13. And yet appropriate because it is true. The Master planted good seed in his field, only to have his enemy come along in the secret dark of night to plant darnel alongside the wheat. Both crops grow up together. They are very alike, so that it’s difficult to distinguish one from the other and, what’s more, the darnel hooks itself onto the root of the wheat so that separation is quite tricky. That’s why the Master doesn’t want the darnel uprooted before harvest time, because the wheat, the good could be uprooted with the bad. It’s clear that the enemy of God has planted darnel in the good field of His people. It has happened in the Church and in ...
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Mother's Day Blessing

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May the Lord, who formed you in love, bless you with joy for the care you have given, patience for the days that feel long, and peace for the moments that weigh heavy. May Mary, Mother of God, wrap you in her gentle mantle, guiding your heart with faith and tenderness. May the Holy Spirit strengthen you,  filling your home with grace, your hands with kindness, and your life with the light of Christ. And may Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son ✝, and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen
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This Tired and Thirsty Jesus

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  During the Sahara Desert retreat six years ago, we walked for about seven hours every day for a week. There were three breaks during the course of a day and the toughest part was in the afternoon when the heat was at it's height and we were feeling pretty tired.  One afternoon we came upon a well out in the middle of nowhere. A well with a pump from which we drank of its abundance, soaking our cheich's (Moraccan headscarf) in it. My scarf was a middle-eastern kufiya, given me by Chris, a parishioner who had served in the Iraq war.  I remember placing my saturated, dripping kufiya on my head. The cool wetness of it. The sheer relief of it, until it dried out all too quickly. But in the moment it was pure bliss, not only physically, but it seemed that through the physical touch of water God was reaching into the weariness and deepest thirst of my soul. Reaching in, speaking to my inner reality, ministering to it and somehow releasing me. So, I feel for Jesus in the Gospel...
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