About two years ago I spent four or five days in Glasgow, at  Scotus College. I took part in a very interesting introductory course for foreign priests. There was just one, but serious flaw with the arrangements: the College is very close to the approach of Glasgow International Airport. Every day, from dawn to dusk, planes came to land right…

“Stand up and tell them all I command you”. This call was addressed to the prophet Jeremiah at the very beginning of his prophetic activity. He faced many adversities: kings and lords fighting mercilessly for political power and influence; priests using religion mostly as an instrument of power and a source of income; ordinary people keeping old traditions without their…

Halfway through my studies my colleagues and I were sent to different parishes for five months practise. All the parishes were carefully selected to provide the best quality pastoral work except one. That one had a problem; a young priest had become ill and had had to be released from all his duties. So, the parish needed somebody to take…

Many years ago I was preparing to take a driving test. After a few months of learning and practising I passed the test. The examiner congratulated me and said: “now you are ready to learn how to drive”. That was a very clear message: I passed the test, but I still would have to improve my driving skills. I’ve taken…

For the last few days many people travelled for just one purpose: to meet their loved ones for Christmas. The desire of spending Christmas together was overwhelming and gave people courage to overcome many obstacles made by the bad weather. Some of them spent long hours in long traffic jams, some of them waited for cancelled flights or trains. Some…