De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

The Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot 'A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter.' And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory, Lying down in the melting snow. There were times we regretted The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, And the silken girls bringing sherbet. Then the camel men cursing and grumbling and running away, and wanting their liquor and women, And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters, And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly And the villages dirty and charging high prices: A hard time we had of it. At the end we preferred to travel all night, Sleeping in snatches, With the voices singing in our ears, saying That this was all folly. Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley, Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness, And three trees o...

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to be invited to the beautiful Ordinariate Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Gregory in Warwick Street by my friend Fr. Jeff Woolnough for a service of Carols for Epiphany. The Ordinariate has quickly become a watchword for orthodoxy and beautiful liturgy and it was really interesting to see how many people were there that I knew. The beautiful event was led by Mgr Keith Newton, and featured readings from the works of Bl John Henry Newman, T S Eliot and G K Chesterton, as well as seasonal lessons from the Scriptures which ended with the Gospel; John 2; the wedding feast at Cana. I thought this was brilliant. These weren't random readings picked out because they were nice. The readings were carefully chosen and ordered to lead to this crescendo of epiphany! I really got the sense we were being taught something; that something important was being revealed to us. You see, if we consider the chronological implications of the Cana ...

In this fascinating video from CNS, Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno of the Vatican Observatory talks about the possibility that the Star of Bethlehem was a real astronomical event.

Epiphany is a great feast, one were we all can reflect on our search for God, just as the wise men did 2,000 years ago. Where do we find Christ today and what are the signs that point to Him? The word "Epiphany" comes from the Koine Greek: ἐπιφάνεια,  epiphaneia , "manifestation", "striking appearance" or "Theophany" Ancient Greek (ἡ) Θεοφάνεια,  Τheophaneia,  meaning "vision of God". It is the day when we celebrate the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ. Epiphany is one of those great feasts that has lots and lots of meaning packed into the narrative. There's a lovely way of looking at it taught by Blessed Pope John Paul II that emanates from the very mystery of human faith. If we consider faith in God in the light of the Epiphany, we can see that far from having its starting point in nothingness, in plain self-deception, in fallible opinions or in uncertainty, it is based on the Word of God who canno...

Welcome to this, the twenty-sixth of my reflections on the theology of the Sunday readings at Mass. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I sincerely hope that this reflection will inspire you. You might find that it answers a few questions you may have, but most of all I hope that it will show you how fantastic Sacred Scripture is and perhaps enable you to share some of my love and passion for the Bible as you begin to comprehend how layered and multi-faceted it is, and what a carefully considered part of the Mass the readings are. If you want to know how these posts came about, please read my first post in this series  here . I would like to think this regular blog would be a great help to anyone who reads at Mass, to enable them to foster a deeper understanding of the message they are trying to impart to the congregation. There are several different ways to read this post. I would suggest the first thing to do is to look at the relevant...

Welcome to this, the twenty-fourth of my reflections on the theology of the Sunday readings at Mass. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I sincerely hope that this reflection will inspire you. You might find that it answers a few questions you may have, but most of all I hope that it will show you how fantastic Sacred Scripture is and perhaps enable you to share some of my love and passion for the Bible as you begin to comprehend how layered and multi-faceted it is, and what a carefully considered part of the Mass the readings are. If you want to know how these posts came about, please read my first post in this series  here . I would like to think this regular blog would be a great help to anyone who reads at Mass, to enable them to foster a deeper understanding of the message they are trying to impart to the congregation. There are several different ways to read this post. I would suggest the first thing to do is to look at the relevant ...