I recently chatted to a priest friend and as we discussed prayer he asked me if was familiar with the ‘Father’s Lap’.  I was not. This prayer intrigued me and sounded very appealing.  Basically, we all know what it is like to see a young child settle into their parents or loved one’s arms.  Most...

We are surrounded by changes in our daily lives at the moment.  Schools are reopening, workplaces are resuming on-site practice, people are moving on.  Life for many, though not all, is suddenly ‘unpaused’ after six months of a reset. My daughter, my only child, started secondary school this week.  Commencing secondary school is an exciting...

A thought that I often find myself contemplating and that I returned to many times during ‘lockdown’, is what brings joy and peace into my life. I can say that I know it is not the material things that bring a fleeting pleasure. Instead, it is the free, simple things in life that, in my...

In this strange year of 2020, many things work a bit differently. One of these are big celebrations: weddings, funerals, anniversaries, festivals, birthday parties – all of these have scaled down, postponed or cancelled all together. All kinds of events are affected, from the Olympic Games and the European Football Championship, to the Cannes Film...

A friend, an avid Liverpool Football Club fan, recently sent me a picture message. It was an image of the cup presented to the 2020 Premier League Champions, bedecked with ribbons, and underneath it, the caption read, ‘With God by your side, You’ll Never Walk Alone!’ It made me smile. Having grown up in a...

Pope Francis has a natural flair for vivid and figurative language. In one of his first interviews as pope, in September 2013, he was asked to reflect on how he saw the church. He replied,“the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful;...

When I was a journalist, and John Hume was a politician, there were a few things that stood out about him: his courage, his fortitude and his stubborn refusal to compromise his message. In fact, political reporters, who love something new and unexpected, would often complain that John Hume was forever delivering his single transferrable...

During these pandemic days and months, many of us have retreated back into the warmth of our kitchens to comfort bake. Such was the case for me on an early Saturday morning just a few weeks ago. I wanted to bake my 87-year-old mother’s Irish bread; the bread she had baked for me for my...

How many young people are ever given the opportunity or take the time themselves to consider their lives in terms of a vocation? I am only seventeen and know how hard it can be for young people to decide what it is they want to do in life. We want guidance…so why not ask God!...

Where did you spend the lockdown? What environment were you in? What environment are you in now as the lockdown eases? What have we been surrounding ourselves with? What do we surround ourselves with? If you think about a seed – a seed can be so small and apparently insignificant but it has such potential....

The door of my parents’ home knocked and when my mother answered it she greeted an old gentleman with a warm smiling face. He asked her if this is where I had lived when I was a young man and if she was my mother. Slightly bewildered at this point, my mother replied yes to...

While spring cleaning recently, I found boxes of schoolbooks belonging to my children going back over 20 years, many of which were only half used. As I flicked through the books I remembered how, in the 1970s, we were forbidden to tear out pages when we made a mistake because each book had only enough...

Teachers, this will be a summer holiday like none other! Covid-19 invites God’s people to look at life through a new lens. There is no going back to anything. There never was. Now, more than ever, people are cautious as they move forward. These words ‘we are in this together’ are regularly spoken during the...