The virus is dead. That’s a matter of scientific fact. A virus is a string of genetic code, unable to do anything on its own. It’s not alive. To thrive it needs a host, namely a living cell. Without such a hospitable environment, it can at best (from its point of view) lie in waiting, disintegrating quickly when exposed to…
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Lord, we do not know where you are going. This short phrase from today’s gospel can summarise how many of us feel after two months of Great Eucharistic Deprivation and – in many cases – facing personal or domestic challenges, troubles or tragedies caused directly and indirectly by the pandemic. Even if we fully accept the restrictions on the cognitive,…
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I had some great ideas for this sermon. Then on Friday Pope Francis used up all my ideas in his powerful sermon in the Vatican and I was back to the drawing board. By Saturday lunchtime I scraped some other ideas, planning to turn them into a sermon, but then Bishop Hugh recorded and published on social media his powerful…
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There seems to be a recent theme with my walks: large bodies of water! Loch Kinord last week, Loch Muick this time round. Actually, I planned this walk for a few weeks. I walked along its eastern shore in May 2011, on my way back from climbing the White Mounth range, and the loch really made a great and long-lasting…
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It took two visits to the Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve to walk the route I had planned. My first attempt was cut short by deteriorating weather (driving snow). Rather unexpectedly I had another chance a couple of days later thanks to an unusual alignment of stars and a leap year (just kidding…). Unlike at the first attempt, the…