Thoughts and Reflections

Acts 2:1-11/ Ps 104(103)/1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13/ John 20:19-23 Some years ago, I was privileged to accompany a group of young people who travelled to Poland for World Youth Day with Pope Benedict XVI. One of the tours arranged for the groups attending was a visit to the Auschwitz extermination camp. Here we learned the story of Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan priest who was a detainee there. A prisoner had escaped and the camp commandant had ordered the deaths of

Acts 1:12-14/ Ps 27(26)/ 1 Peter 4:13-16/ John 17:1-11a Most of us know only too well what it is like to be delayed at the airport. The flight is delayed, no information, no departure time, and no explanation. The frustration can be seen all around, people are restless, pacing up and down, even getting angry with staff, or they just give up and try to sleep on the seats. We feel trapped, with no control over when we might get going. We know this feeling of waiting, with littl

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17/ Ps 66(65) 1 Peter 3:15-18/ John 14:15-21 Imagine being in the work staff room having a break, when a colleague says, "I noticed you go to Mass. Can I ask you something? Why do you believe all that?" This comes out of the blue, no warning, no time to prepare. What would we say? We might mumble something about it being a family tradition, try to change the subject, wish for a moment that the ground would swallow us up. Without judging I would suggest this wou

Acts 6:1-7/ Ps 33(32)/1 Peter 2:4-9/ John 14:1-12 Today the corner or foundation stone is often just a plaque on the wall. In ancient times the cornerstone was critical to the construction of a building. All subsequent stones were aligned on that first stone. If the laying of that first stone was faulty, the entire building could eventually crack, divide, and collapse. That is the context in which we should hear Saint Peter's words in the second reading today. He challenges u

Acts 2:14a, 36-41/ Ps 23(22)/ 1 Peter 2:20b-25/ John 10:1-10 Imagine the terror that set in on Holy Thursday when Jesus had been arrested. His closest friends, the ones who had spent three years with Him, eating with Him, and watching Him perform miracles, fled to the locked upper room. Peter, the man who had just sworn he would die for Jesus, was so terrified that he denied even knowing Him. He was a sheep who had lost his shepherd, paralysed by the wolves closing in around