December 2010
17 posts
Take courage
Put a sprig of mistletoe under your pillow tonight. That’ll help you dream of your future partner. Eat a very large supper, which will ensure food in plenty for the coming year. The direction of the wind today will indicate political trends for the next 12 months.
Those are among quaint Celtic customs for marking the New Year. We all celebrate it in different ways. For some, it’s a...
Angel delight
What did the angels have to say at the coming of Christ? That was the question posed by our local Catholic bishop, Kieran Conry, at the Midnight Mass in Arundel Cathedral. It’s made me think ever since. After all, out of everyone, the angels must know God’s mind.
So I looked up the Gospel account again. It’s inspiring. ‘Glory to God in the highest,’ said the...
Coming to a town near you
Bethlehem. The word is almost magical. It means literally ‘house of bread’. It’s the name given to a town or village with a bakery.
The nearest equivalent in our culture might be something like ‘Milltown’. There are many ‘Milltowns’ around the world - particularly across Ireland, the UK and America. Jesus’ birthplace had such a common name, it...
Charming fruit
I know. Call me daft. But just before Christmas, I have made our Easter drink. That’s because it’s sloe gin, and it won’t be ready for a couple of months. I have to tuck it away somewhere and let it brew on its own, away from prying eyes.
We picked the fruit at the end of the summer with our friends the Bellamy’s. Then I read it’s best to harvest it after the first...
The advent question
We wrap presents. We write cards. We wait for Christmas Day. That seems to sum up the seasonal build-up to the big moment. But is there an even deeper meaning to Advent?
In the Catholic Church, Advent is the start of the liturgical year. It’s a time of preparation, and in ages past, even a period of fasting - a ‘little Lent’ - in readiness for the feasting of Christmas....
Lifelong learning
We all want a quick fix. So we have instant coffee, instant mash, instant custard – and now, instant spirituality. I just received an e-mail from a religious organisation in America, offering me advice on how to ‘accelerate the glory of transformation’.
It was nice of them to think of me. However, I’ve learned from my own limited experience there is no quick or easy path...
Land of the shadow
Christmas brings deliveries. But did you know it also brings deliverance? And, more specifically, it brings deliverance from the ‘land of the shadow of death’.
This mysterious phrase is at the core of Christmas. If you attend any church services over this festive season, you’ll hear it when the reader recites a quote from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah - ‘The people that...
“I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered....”
– The Prisoner, 1967.
“This is a special time, because it is our time, the time that we have.”
– Bishop of Arundel and Brighton Rt Rev Kieran Conry, Pastoral Letter, First Sunday of Advent 2010
Burn out
Flames poured out of the oven. I’d been making the Sunday dinner. But now it was on fire. In a scene that could’ve been filmed for a Fawlty Towers revival, I dragged out the steak-and-Murphys pie and realised the top of it was ablaze.
The rest of the family rushed into the kitchen in response to my feeble cry, ‘Fire! Fire!’ Thankfully, the flames died down. But the top of...
“Life’s like a play; it’s not the length but the excellence of the...”
– Seneca, Roman philosopher, mid-first century.
“When I was a kid, it was all doom and gloom. I spent my nights as a...”
– Guillermo Del Toro, Mexican film director, interviewed in Tribune magazine, Ireland 14-11-10.
The longest day
Boiler had spewed out its entire payload of water, all over the kitchen worktop. That’s how Tuesday greeted me - along with a snowfall outside. And I was supposed to be getting a train up to London to meet an important client.
After mopping up the kitchen and phoning the engineer to fix the boiler, I realised my time was running out. I had to get on the road. My sweet daughter Emily lent me...