Continuing in the footsteps of St Ignatius, Brian Grogan SJ recounts Ignatius’s vision of “Our Lady with the Holy Child Jesus” and what effect this had on his journey on for the greater glory of God.
In what it has to say about Mary Vatican II inserted a special chapter into the Constitution on the Church “Lumen Gentium”. By this it was signalling that it wished Mary to be seen as a prototype of the disciples of Jesus. Philip Fogarty SJ develops this spirituality.
Margaret Silf invites us to participate in the great conversation about our origins and our destiny, what it might mean to become fully human and our own response to these challenges. Written in lay terms it offers an emerging synthesis between science and spirituality.
Families come in a variety of configurations: divorced or separated, widowed, single-parent stepparent, childless, blended, adoptive, multigenerational, aging. Wendy M. Wright aims to adapt her spirituality to suit all configurations. It is a book that digs deep and touches many a nerve.
Patricia Carroll OCSO draws our attention to Aelred of Rievaulx, a Cistercian saint and spiritual writer who specialised in writing about friendship as an image of the relationship between God and each person.
Some movies do it, some movies don’t. Michael Paul Gallagher SJ identifies what is required for movies to contribute to our reflections on the meaning and mystery of our existence.
Brian Grogan SJ continues his series on St. Ignatius of Loyola, delving into that most crucial moment in the reformation when Inigo’s heart came alive.
St Ignatius read the “Life of Christ” allowing his imagination to situate him among the people and places where the events were taking place and encouraged his followers to develop a similar contemplative attitude in prayer. This enables the follower to develop an interior knowledge of the Lord. Brian O’Leary [...]
In 2002 Pope John Paul II suddenly introduced five new “mysteries of light” to the Rosary. Was it that he recognised that there was “a gap” in the traditional Christian faith statements, like the Apostles’ Creed and used the popular devotion of the Rosary to try to remedy it? Patrick [...]
In this book Christina Rees argues that the only way we can know God is through our own experience; by embarking on a personal journey of discovery and gradually learning to recognise how God is at work in our world and lives.
Journalist Miriam O’Donohoe recalls her time in China and how it strengthened her Catholic faith.
Daniel L. Lowery C.Ss.R. explains how some people’s spiritual lives can be afflicted by scruples, a debilitating fear and anxiety about sin and evil, related to obsessive-compulsive psychological conditions.
Decision making is often a process marked by fluctuations of mood and even by struggle. Change and new commitments stir up feelings – both of anxiety and self-doubt as well as enthusiasm and energy. These feelings lead self-awareness and can be the way God indicates where he wants to lead [...]
This article on the Rosary is taken from John Follan’s book, “The Light of his Face: Spirituality for Catholic teachers”. It brings out how, despite the agro the recitation of the Rosary causes in families, it can be found to have a significant place.
James McCaffrey OCD gives a thought provoking account of the influence of Mary, Mother of Carmel, on Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Elizabeth of the Trinity, Edith Stein and Thérèse of Lisieux, and offers essential insights and fresh observations for both the Carmelite scholar and lay reader alike.
Hell, for many people, is a fiery place full of horned creatures wielding pitchforks. Theologian Lawrence Cunningham explains what the church really teaches.
Frank O’Reilly met Anne Looney who heads up the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment(NCCA). He talked to her about her work and her religious beliefs.
On 24 March 1980, Archbishop Romero was assassinated while celebrating Mass. He was the most high-profile victim of El Salvador’s civil war between powerful landowners and the dispossessed.
Ignatius was the youngest of thirteen children – eight brother and four sisters. His mother died when he was a child and his father when he was about sixteen. This lack of a protective maternal presence may explain why he was a wandering adventurer during most of his life. He [...]
Brian Grogan SJ describes the insecure journey of Inigo as a poor pilgrim from Montserrat to Manresa and focuses on how he begins to see things through the eyese of a beggar. He goes on to ask the reader to reflect on their own experience of poverty or of helping [...]
This article is a chapter from John Bollan’s book on religious education, “The Light of His Face: Spirituality for Catholic teachers”. I consists of reflections on the mysteries which, as he says himself, “cross over into any sphere of life and work”.
Fr Jack McArdle offers his pastoral thoughts and insights on different aspects of Christian living. He looks at different signposts and gifts we may have. Always easy to read, this book will be helpful to many.
Many academics and media people in Ireland have little time for a Catholic literary tradition. In fact, they don’t take the very idea of Catholic intellectual activity seriously. Eamon Maher, whose translation of Jean Sulivan’s memoir of the death of his mother, Anticipate Every Goodbye, was published recently by Veritas, [...]
Mass attendance in Ireland is continuing to fall. Desmond O’Donnell, OMI, argues that counting heads at Mass is not the most important thing.
How do the choices we make in adolescence affect the direction of our future life? This is the theme implicit in Fr Brian Grogan’s account of the adolescence of Ignatius Loyola.
“An expression of his chivalric spirit, never satisfied with the good but always seeking the better” is how Brian O’Leary SJ explains the “greater glory” in the Jesuit motto, “Ad maiorem Dei gloriam”. It is also the expression of his lively apostolic spirituality.
Two unexpected visitors to Fr Brendan Comerford SJ are what he calls his “unlikely inspiration” for his article about Mary. Like them, she is our “unselfconscious exemplar”.
This book by the Benedictine Mark Patrick Hederman gives an introduction to the Tarot, a history of its uses and abuses, a practical guide to its value as an underground map to the unconscious where the springs of our creativity are hidden, and where God can enter our lives. It [...]
Michael Byrne reflects on his journey from vagueness and doubt towards certainty and faith, and he considers what it means to be a committed Catholic in Ireland today. Kevin O’Higgins SJ responds to Michael’s article.
