In what would be his last sermon, Pope Francis emphasised a contrast between the way of the world and the Way of Jesus. He said: Today’s builders of Babel tell us that there is no room for losers, and that those who fall along the way are losers. Theirs is the construction site of Hell. …
A grain of wheat
John 12:23-24; Luke 9:23 Sprouted shoots of barley and wheat. Walk into almost any church, and you will see one of two realities – either the predictable machinations of moralistic therapeutic deism and passive consumer religion, or the beauty, mystery and enthusiasm of a gathered community of Jesus followers, experimentally living out their faith. One reality …
Continue the journey
2 Timothy 3:14-16 Sunset on the road to Gilgandra, northern New South Wales, Australia. As we come to the fifth and final reflection on Paul’s second letter to Timothy, let’s review what we have learned so far. Among various points of advice and encouragement in this profound pastoral letter, we have looked at four requests …
Grasp the word
Last month I spent a few days in Brisbane helping my dad to downsize, and among the piles of papers and memorabilia from several lifetimes of collecting were the architectural plans for the house my grandparents built on what was, in the 1940s, vacant land at Warrawee. File photo. This is not the plan of …
What would George do? (Part 5)
G. H. Morling on further purposes of suffering Not all suffering in our world can be assigned a purpose; nor, arguably, should it be. One problem in searching for purposive explanations of suffering, in contrast to causative purposes, is that so much is left to the imagination. For example, we may identify clear evidence-based …
iDigress 