Going To God Together: Reflections Along The Way
Throughout the world, we find traces of an insatiable thirst to bow down spiritually before the Mystery that surrounds life. We see it in a Buddhist temple and in a mosque; in a Passover celebration and a Hindu Diwali festival. A mysterious sense of the Absolute, the transcendent, urges us to reach out beyond all that is around us, excavate deep within us and, above all, make some form of declaration with the whole of our being that we want to be in harmony with God, with others, within ourselves.
Faith Questions
`The "door of faith" (Acts. 14:27) is always open for us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church'.
With these words, Pope Benedict XVI began his apostolic letter Porta Fidei for the indiction of the Year of Faith.
His Mass And Ours : Meditations On Living Eucharistically
Brendan Leahy offers this loving explanation of the dual dimension of the Mass - Christ's gift and our existential participation, His action and our daily cooperation.
Brendan Leahy, "Holy Week invites us to lift up our hearts in Hope", Irish Times 30 March, 2021.
Holy Week moving into Easter is a yearly invitation to lift up our hearts and keep on hoping against hope, contemplating in hope whatever signs of the resurrection we find around us, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. We each have our own resurrection world opening up in, through and around us.
Brendan Leahy, "Rekindling the Passion for Christian Unity: So that All may Believe", The Furrow (2021): 3-8.
The very recent publication of an Ecumenical Vademecum/Guidebook by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is an occasion for Catholics to look again at our ecumenical commitment, especially in this month when we celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian unity (18-25 January). While the Vademecum, available on-line, is specifically focussed on reminding bishops of the priority of ecumenism, it is indirectly addressed to all of us, inviting us to rekindle the passion for unity that the Spirit has underlined through the ecumenical movement. The search for unity, we are reminded, is intrinsic to our identity as church.
Faith and the Marvelous Progress of Science
The contributors to this book write from a faith perspective but respectful of the place and role of science, both historically and today. Some write from direct scientific expertise while others draw on philosophical and theological perspectives to engage in reflection upon issues such as: how the division between faith and science arose; the nature of science; scientists and the phenomenon of atheism; the assumptions behind some contemporary debates; and the often-forgotten eschatological issues, the where-are-we-heading questions. It is hoped that readers will benefit from the many rich perspectives offered in these pages.