When a month ago the date of King Charles’ coronation was announced, most of the population of the United Kingdom reacted with a great shrug of their shoulders. While there are staunch monarchists on one side and vigorous republicans on the opposite side, most of our fellow citizens are really indifferent to all things royal most of the time. I…
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The Scottish leg of my priestly career started in Elgin. The parish priest and I covered a huge area between Lossiemouth in the north, on the Moray Coast and Tomintoul in the south, deep in the Cairngorms. To those unfamiliar with the area, it took an hour to drive between Elgin and Tomintoul along mostly winding roads. I was particularly…
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“Utterly or obviously senseless, illogical, or untrue; contrary to all reason or common sense; laughably foolish or false.” This is a brief definition of the word absurd. It seems to increasingly define our lives’ social, intellectual and political aspects; the dividing lines get sharper and opposite views are dismissed as invalid, worthless or utterly absurd. Consequently, people get entrenched in…
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“Zacchaeus made his appearance: he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man […] but he was [..] short.” This was a concise introduction of today’s gospel’s main character. A bit further down the line, St Luke indicated how Zacchaeus had been seen by his local community, when “they all complained [about Jesus] that He had gone…
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You might remember that in my sermon two weeks ago I told you the story of how I had tried to move the eucalyptus tree to improve visibility at St Joseph’s car park in darkness. This was in reference to Jesus’ schooling on faith and replanting mulberry trees. You might also remember that my attempt at moving the eucalyptus tree…