I’m sure at some time or another we have all had a beautiful piece of pottery or ceramic or porcelain which has been dropped and broken. Heartbreaking. Devastating, especially if said item was an heirloom or a piece of nostalgia. We try to get the pieces back together, align them just right, use minimal glue, but strong glue, and hope that the join is invisible. That the item looks as it was before the break. I’ve done that, for sure. A number of times, with, I have to say, l

There used to be a blog called ‘Kim Jong-Il Looking at Things’, I was a great fan. It showed the leader of North Korea being taken to see things, and he would look at them with a degree of interest, depending on the Thing he was presented with. Sometimes, one of his (rather obvious) body doubles would take his place, and their look of sheer incomprehension of what they were being shown could be telling, a little like when a mechanic shows me what is wrong with my car, I simpl

The Jews looked down on the Samaritans as religious and racial half-breed heretics. It’s hard for us to understand the animosity that existed between these two groups. If you think of the Bosnians and the Serbs or if you think of the Palestinians and the Israelis, you’ve got the right idea. So why did Jesus “have to” go through Samaria when the Jews either didn’t go there at all or passed through as quickly as possible? The answer is simple and profound: Jesus went because he

There are themes in Lent of course. Quieter music, a lack of flowers, greater options for prayer and reflection, and I hope, a great amount of admittedly restrained joy at the Easter season fast approaching. Each year the second Sunday of Lent story of the Transfiguration of Jesus comes as the Gospel, taken in turn from each of the Gospels. But we may, because there is only so much that we can take in, and we can be less then attentive at times, not have noticed that the firs

I wonder what we should believe. I don’t mean in terms of the faith – that has been handed down to us, and we have the Bible and the church fathers to go back to if we encounter a new situation in which to apply it. People like to moan about the church ‘changing’ but it has remained astonishingly the same for two thousand years, just applied to a whole variety of contexts, all of which it makes sense of and informs. I mean in terms of people and what they tell us and even wha

There’s a phrase we hear a lot these days, especially in talent shows like Britain’s Got Talent or The Voice. Just before someone walks nervously onto stage, there’s that moment when a presenter or judge will say, “Go on, it’s your time to shine.” Cue the music, cue the lights, cue the drama. And if all goes well, a spotlight finds them and a star is born. I find that phrase “your time to shine” a little loaded. As if it’s all up to you to dazzle. As if the light has to come

OK, yes I know that Christmas is ‘sooo last year’, but when do you normally take your Christmas decorations down? Is it as soon as possible on St Stephen’s/Boxing Day? Do you stick with them until just after New Year? Maybe they sparkle until Epiphany, or………do they remain, pristine and glitzy until Candlemas? If so, you are being way more traditional than most, and in keeping with the Medieval calendar. For those traditionalists, Candlemas was the final deadline to take down

We are familiar with the almost comically unfamiliar Kings that we meet today, journeying in Eastern finery, sticking out like a sore thumb so much that they are strangely familiar, as though there has been a fire alarm in Funny Girls and all the cast were out on the street, exoticism suddenly brought face to face with minicabs and rain and litter. The Magi are not the dusty east of poor Palestinian peasants under Roman occupation, but the spice-laden Persian east, the Aladdi

Are you hoping that they will come, or are you hoping that they will go or are you just waiting for the next lot to come around New Year? Have you had enough of your family yet, not enough or does it not matter very much but you could do with some help eating the ham? At this time of the year when some families move heaven and earth to be together for a few days and some do quite the opposite, it’s appropriate that the Church presents us with the image of the Holy Family. It

Gaudete, Gaudete Christus est natus. Ex Maria Virgine, Gaudete. Rejoice, rejoice! Christ is born of the Virgin Mary. Rejoice. Gaudete. Rejoice. The Messiah, the Christ is coming. He will come to be the light to lighten the gentiles and to be the glory of His people Israel. And as the Gaudete carol continues: Deus homo factus est natura Murante, mundus renovates est a Christo regnante. God has become man, with nature marvelling. The world has become renewed by the reigning Chr