De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in an Australian country town, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value. Later, when the nurses were going through his meagre possessions, They found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Melbourne .. The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas editions of magazines around the country and appearing in mags for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem. And this old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet. Cranky Old Man What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see? What are you thinking .. . when you're looking at me? A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise, Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with ...

In which I wax lyrical about Murrisk, Clew Bay and all things Mayo, and tell you a story about my connection to John Lennon, The Beatles, and an uninhabited Island in the Atlantic ocean. Dorinish Dorinish  (Irish: Deoirinis, pron: door-wrench) i s a place which is very close to my heart. It is an island in Clew Bay on the West coast of Ireland. Clew Bay has been immortalised in many a song and has featured on the television not infrequently as it is, without doubt, one of the most beautiful places in the world.  Dotted with small islands, it is over-looked by the sentinel-like Croagh Patrick (Irish: Cruach Phadraig), the pyramidal mountain where St. Patrick stayed for forty days and nights in the fifth century. Siobhan & I climbing the Reek. My friend Siobhan Kelly at the oratory on top of Croagh Patrick after an exhausting climb. The tiny island is one of the most special places in my life as my uncles bought it from John Lennon (of all peo...

The Incredulity of St. Thomas by Caravaggio 3rd July 2012 Today is the feast of St. Thomas, remembered for his incredulity regarding Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. Lots of us identify with St. Thomas because he expresses such an understandable doubt: he wants proof, and many of us echo that yearning for certainty, indeed, this is one of the most prevalent themes of the Psalmist, the verses of the Psalms are the way Jesus prayed, and the Psalmist cries out to God: "How long will you hide your face from me" Ps 13 "Thy face LORD do I seek, hide not they face from me" Ps. 27:9 "As a hart longs for flowing streams, so my soul for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God?" Ps 42:1-2 "Why do you hide your face" Ps 44:24 "O God, thou art my God, I seek thee, my soul thirsts for thee; my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is." Ps 63:1 ...

Hadleigh Castle, The Mouth of the Thames - Morning After a Stormy Night'  by John Constable, 1829 In this picture you can see the piece of wall running along on the left and the tower on which Constable stood to do his painting on the right. There would have been more of it in his time. This weekend was the first couple of days this year I actually felt a bit summery. It has been the wettest June since records began, and although we did enjoy a bit of a dry spell way back in April/May, it didn’t have that real summer warmth that makes you smile. This was the first weekend I sat out in the garden and read for a bit, the first time I wanted to wear shorts and Birkenstocks. We had the junior school summer fete and I even came away with a bit of colour! On Sunday evening, William and I visited Two-Tree Island to take Harry our Border Terrier puppy, out for a wander. Looking up the hill towards Benfleet, Hadleigh Castle stands prominent a majestic relic of bygone glo...

Many pink baby clothes have been purchased... 3 out of 4 rooms have been decorated and carpeted. Furniture has been purchased and assembled... Said furniture has been tested and found to be satisfactory... 1 Car seats have been unwrapped Things are starting to seem a little more real! Only 3 weeks to go!!

The 'Wailing Wall' in Jerusalem when I visited. I had the honour of reading at Mass this morning, a powerful reading from 2nd Kings 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-36. One of those passages that had me reaching for my study Bible as soon as I got home because it mentions a couple of things that always fascinate me. One is 'the Ban', the ancient custom of slaughtering every man woman and child of a people in order to avoid retribution. The other is the survival of an Israel loyal the to the Covenant despite overwhelming odds. The Assyrians suffer the loss of one hundred and eighty-five thousand men and struck camp without firing an arrow. Wow! My analytical mind immediately wonders what is the history behind this passage? Did this really happen? Psalm 91 seems to say that the Assyrians were struck by plague and thus decimated. The theological ramifications are serious. Think about it in this context: Today, more than half of the six billion people alive in the world trace thei...

On Saturday it was my great pleasure to take part in a very special Mass. It was Father Kevin's 28th anniversary of ordination. He was travelling to France for someone else's ordination and had asked me if I would drop him off at the airport. As he wouldn't get another chance to say Mass that day, he suggested we meet at the Church at 7am for Mass and leave after that. I love Mass, I think there's no better way to start the day, and God knows, I have lots to pray about. So, of course I jumped at the opportunity. Clearly this was an opportunity for Father to, liturgically speaking, please himself, and in doing so, please God, by offering the most perfect Mass he could. He used the altar in the Lady chapel, which necessitates ad orientum , and said the Novus Ordo in Latin. This presented somewhat of a challenge to me as the only respondent! I am, by now, fairly conversant with the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, and where all the parts are. I am less familiar with...