A few years ago, this ‘Grumpy Old Man’ wrote a tongue in cheek article about the obligation for Christians to attend Sunday Mass. I was taken to task then, and one correspondent said ‘Going to church should always be a pleasure, After all its part of our leisure.’ As Advent approaches, and as we celebrate the great Feast of All Saints and the commemoration of All Souls, we are reminded of our duty and our task over and above our ‘leisure.’ Also, on Advent Sunday, the obligati

“Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” I’ve sometimes wondered which would be worst: to be completely blind or completely deaf. Not that I would want to be either. To be completely deaf would be to be deprived of the enjoyment of music, of the sounds of nature, of the laughter of children. To live in a completely silent world would be awful. But you can communicate with others. You can learn to lip-read and you can learn sign language. You can read and you can write. Bu

Gospel: Mark 10: 35-45 Everybody wants to be somebody. Since the dawn of history human beings have been trying to move up the scale of importance. The serpent in the Garden of Eden said to Adam and Eve “when you eat of the tree of good and evil your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God.” The Dutch theologian and psychologist Henri Nouwen wrote: “The long painful history of the church is the history of people ever and again tempted to chose power over love, control o

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. When I was much younger and much fitter than I am now I used to enjoy long distance walks. I say enjoy, but looking back those walks were sheer purgatory! The Pennine Way, the Coast to Coast, Hadrian’s Wall, Of

The Holy Angels I thought for a change, rather than look at the Sunday Gospel, we might look at one of the great feast days from the last week. Thursday last was the Feast of St Michael and All Angels. I’m not a great fan of musical theatre, but I do rather like Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – such fun and a lot of really sing-along-able songs. But there is one song that really irks me every time I hear it. When Joseph’s brothers go home a