Last autumn I reached an important milestone in my life: I turned 50. I supposed to have a midlife crisis but none of the typical tell-tale signs indicates that. The craziest purchase I’ve made since then was a small bottle of sake – Japanese spirit – for a whopping sum of £17. Since I got it, I’ve only had a…
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Today’s feast, the Baptism of the Lord, is a tiny bit bizarre. It closes the liturgical period of Christmastide but doesn’t belong to it. On the other hand, this feast opens the Ordinary time but doesn’t belong to it either. The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is like one of its main characters, John the Baptist. He closes…
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On 21st December last year (2020), Jupiter and Saturn appeared to almost touch in the sky. The event was called the Great Conjunction and was the closest of the two planets in 397 years. It resulted in an exceptionally bright ‘star’ visible to the naked eye in the sky. Some scholars have suggested that the original Christmas star, known as…
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“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” – George Burns Christmas dinner is an event we look forward to with excitement but want to leave soon after it has started. Rows and arguments over the turkey can replenish our resentments towards other members of the family for months to come. So, although unintended, today’s feast…
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Suddenly their perfect and comfortable life came to an abrupt end. At first, they were terrified, with no obvious way out of their hopelessly dire situation. Gradually they learnt to live in a new ‘normal’ life; resembling their old one but unmistakably different; far more restricted and limited, with the danger of crashing down lurking in their minds. They hoped…