Pious Fantasies I couldn’t fault my doctor when I went for a private consultation, but in his own home, he seemed to have left his
It was at Easter in the 1970’s that I first met my wife. I received a phone call from the local convent asking me to
The local Charismatic group were celebrating forty years since their foundation and were preparing a special Mass for that purpose. The readings, the psalms, and
Some Catholic authors write as if they belong to a Church Beleaguered, not the Church Triumphant. Articles tend to be either defensive or angry
The Holiest Man I Have Ever Met During a series of talks that I gave to Cistercian monks in Cameroon, I was able to spend
Book Launch I said in the first part of the lecture to launch my book, that the famous moral philosopher Professor Joad insisted that the
On the 15th February, I had the honour of sharing the launch of my book, Wisdom from the Christian Mystics with Kevin Grant, former editor-in-chief of
Many years ago Bishop Casey of Brentwood, England, asked me to set up a Residential Retreat and Conference Centre in Chingford, London. He wanted to use
My school report was so bad that my eldest brother was commissioned with the task of teaching me to read. But when he could not
I saw my grandfather forty years after he died. I loved I him with all my heart, not because he gave me toys, bought me
A friend took me to a Christmas dinner at a local pub noted for its good food. It was also noted for something else too
The Sacred Heart Is Mr. Loving When I was a boy, I used to call people by what they did. My older brothers used to
Like most European Catholics I was born and brought up in the aftermath of the Renaissance influenced by a spirituality that owed as much
In his book, Small is Beautiful, Schumacher said,”Although people go on crying out for solutions, they become angry when they are told that the restoration
I found myself placed next to a high powered High Court Judge at a dinner party in one of the most exclusive clubs in London.
Although we do not like to admit it, even to ourselves, we still believe that prayer suddenly happens, or never happens at all. We kid
There may be evidence for a Big Bang, but there is no evidence that there was simply nothing, ‘no- thing’ whatsoever before it. What went
I first began to understand certain mystical truths as I prayed at the place where Jesus was crucified on the first Good Friday. I have
Did you know that you can’t really pray without distractions? Don’t take my word for it, take the word of St Teresa of Avila. When
When Helen, said to be the most beautiful woman in Greek antiquity fled with her lover to Troy, she did not receive the reception that
A hermit I know used to say, “When you stop falling you will be in heaven, but when you stop getting up, you will be
The Message First Delivered to Poor Shepherds Of the whole gamut of myths, legends and fairy tales that have been told in human history, not
When the Crusaders opened up the Holy Land to pilgrims, they set the scene for a new dawn in Christian Spirituality in the twelfth century.
Almost 25 years ago, I spent Christmas with a family who had one son who was adored by everyone. However, that Christmas there was another
