Columns

Thirteenth Sunday: Fear is useless. What is needed is faith

Jun 26, 2021

The great fear that we all must confront is the fear of dying. We know that none of us is going to get out of this life alive, but we fear death.
Reflecting on the Psalms: All sufferings will turn to joy

Jun 26, 2021

One of the words often used in explaining the psalms is ‘eschatology’. The word means literally ‘talk about the end’. For Israel, it was the idea of the end of the nation of Israel, the end of the universe or the end of an individual’s life.
What is love asking of me now?

Jun 26, 2021

We cannot protect ourselves against the spontaneous feelings that beset us, both when things go well and when they go badly – and most of those feelings tempt us away from love.
Vanity of vanities?

Jun 19, 2021

During these lockdowns, we see many people struggling as job losses mount and many others struggling with underemployment.
Pilgrimage Psalms – Journeying to the Temple of the Lord

Jun 19, 2021

Pilgrimage psalms or Songs of Ascent are recited by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for pilgrimage feasts or hag. Four levels of this going up to Jerusalem can be discerned: the physical journey, the reliving of the first ascent from Egypt at the Exodus, the ascent from Babylon at the return from the exile, the anticipation of the final ascent of all nations at the end of time.
A Eucharistic Prayer …

Jun 19, 2021

As a seminarian, I was privileged one summer to take a course from the renowned liturgist, Godfrey Diekmann. This was back in those heady days shortly
In tough times, resist the temptation to target bogeymen

Jun 12, 2021

Hatred and prejudice of the ‘other’ often find fertile ground during times of national hardship and economic difficulty.
More than a house or a place

Jun 12, 2021

Home is more than a house or a place on a map. It’s a place in the heart, the place where you most want to be at the end of the day.
Appreciating the language of the Psalms

Jun 05, 2021

The psalms are, first and foremost, the prayers of Israel. They were composed by authors who had a keen sense of their covenantal relationship with God.
Losing the song in the singer

Jun 05, 2021

Often, when listening to someone singing live or on television, I close my eyes to try to hear the song so as not to let the singer’s performance get in the way of the song. A song can be lost in its performance; indeed, the performance can take over so that the song is replaced by the singer.