My restless mind is rarely pleased with the status quo. It’s always looking for learning opportunities, whether new hobbies or skills. Several years ago, inspired by a particularly hot Scottish summer, I became interested in growing trees – not just any trees, mind you. I didn’t own the land, and my residency, by definition, isn’t permanent. Bonsai, the Japanese-style miniature…

It took ten days or so to cover the distance of about 200 miles between my home county and the national Marian shrine of Jasna Góra (The Bright Mount). A walking pilgrimage that was a staple of my summer for eleven years. Except for the very first one, I was involved in organising and running those walking pilgrimages in various…

The three-day-long journey was excruciating and exhausting, not so much physically as mentally. With every step closer to the destination, the weight of the inevitable was getting heavier and heavier. At the same time, there was nobody to share it with, to talk about, despite having his long-expected and dearly loved son as his companion for the journey. Abraham felt…

Agnes, Babet, Ciarán, Debi, Elin, Fergus, Gerrit, Henk, Isha, and Jocelyn; these are the names of nine storms that have affected the UK over the last five months. They just topped the overall challenging weather conditions last autumn and this winter. It feels like it’s been raining (or snowing) all the time, with only a day or two of respite…

As I emerged from the sacristy to start Mass, I instantly spotted in the pews a couple of people I hadn’t seen in ages and hadn’t expected to see there and then. We knew each other from a previous parish of mine in quite a distant past.  It was a lovely surprise, so much so that, at the end of…