The response of the world at the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II was a sight to behold Throngs of people of every religious affiliation gathered in Rome and in cities all over the world to show their respect Particularly obvious was the participation of young people Why was this man so lov

We are bombarded with talk of love Advertisements capitalize on it with inspiring scenes and gestures music extols its virtues and greeting cards convey tender sentiments And yet there seems to be so little genuine love in the world Perhaps this is because we do not think that some people have

I have always found the aroma of bread freshly baked very comforting That smell always makes me feel somehow at home Perhaps it is because bread is such a staple of life Furthermore it is difficult to limit oneself to a single piece of bread that has just been taken out of the oven It is almost

quot The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the fellowship or community koinon a of the Holy Spirit be with all of you rdquo This passage taken from Paul rsquo s First Letter to the Corinthians is familiar to many of us for it is often used as the greeting in our liturgy

So many stories in the Bible recount the wondrous working of God In some of them the events are reported in such unremarkable ways that one wonders whether or not anything exceptional really happened An example of this might be God rsquo s revelation to the prophet Elijah in ldquo a tiny whisper

The time between the feast of the Ascension and that of Pentecost is a period of liminality an in-between time Jesus has left but the Spirit has not yet come God rsquo s promises have been fulfilled in Jesus but in our liturgical observance we await the coming of the Spirit We now live in the