Drought Here in the South-East of England we have been living with a feeling of aspects of Autumn around us since August.  During our long, hot and dry summer, leaves have been blowing from the trees since July.  It felt like a false autumn having come early.   The stress of drought has caused the trees […]

On Tuesday (29 September), the Western church celebrates the Feast of St Michael and All Angels. Because of its convenient placement near the autumn equinox, the feast day has given its name to the academic and legal term that starts every autumn (‘Michaelmas term’).  As the drawing by Albrecht Durer drastically shows, the central story […]

I am finding it very difficult to pray. I forget, I fall asleep while doing it, I wake up in the night and start to pray about fictional people and situations I have dreamt about, as if they were real. It does not feel good. My spiritual director pointed out I am in a period […]

(Monday this week) The cross on which our Lord was crucified has become the universal symbol for Christianity, replacing the fish symbol of the early church, though the latter has been revived in recent times.  After the end of the persecution era, early in the fourth century, pilgrims began to travel to Jerusalem to visit […]