Soul Food for St. Patrick’s Day / Fifth Sunday of Lent, 17th March 2024
There’s a little piece of Cork in “St Patrick’s Church”, a parish in the central city of Taichong, Taiwan. 5 years ago, the parish priest asked me if I could get a statue of Ireland’s national saint for our church’s side altar; my parents donated a statue which is now a permanent feature of the church. Like many Irish missionaries, it travelled a long way before finding a new home in a far-off land.
Author: - February 26, 2024
Soul Food for the Feast Day of the Presentation of the Lord, Friday 2nd February 2024
Easily the best biography in English of Francis Libermann, the Second Founder of the Spiritans, was written by the late Dutch Spiritan priest, Adrian van Kaam, in 1959. Significantly, the title, “A Light to the Gentiles”, is a direct quotation from the Gospel of Luke which is always proclaimed on 2nd February, the Feast Day of the Presentation of the Lord. 2nd February also happens to be the day on which Libermann, a convert from Judaism, died in 1852 aged only 49.
Author: - January 21, 2024
Soul Food for World Day of the Poor, Sunday 19th November 2023
I have been very fortunate to have visited Assisi in Italy many times. Walking its narrow, winding streets, one would almost expect St. Francis to come around a corner, such is the palpable spirit of the saint that inhabits this special place. On one such visit a few years ago, while at Assisi railway station awaiting a train to Rome, I came across a notice promoting the then upcoming World Day of the Poor...
Author: - November 9, 2023
Soul Food for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 29th October 2023
To love God and to love your neighbour goes to the centrality of Jesus’s life. The gospel phrase goes to the heart of belief and action, and it is the phrase that attracts many people to Christianity. In Ireland, we have a great love of people who put themselves at the service of their neighbour. This came to the fore during the Covid pandemic...
Author: - October 11, 2023
