“The last will be first and the first will be last.” Now there’s a phrase that we’ve all heard (misused) before. It is scriptural, of course: it occurs in one of the gospel passages that will be proclaimed this month. It is spoken by Jesus during his attempt to explain the Kingdom of Heaven to the disciples. As is often ... Read More »
During this month when the Church in Australia calls us to reflect more deeply on the idea of our ‘vocation’, I would like to focus on the vocational call and life of one particular man. You may be surprised to learn he was not a Dominican. Well, not officially. But I like to think that St Bernard of Clairvaux – ... Read More »
I HAD to attend a function at the High Court in Canberra some years ago. After the interminable round of dull speeches and presentations, there was the usual progression of drinks and canapes during which we were expected to mingle and ‘network’ with one another. By this time I had already set my sights on entering religious life, and the ... Read More »
BROTHER Christian and I have renewed our vows. We have now been professed for three years; and have renewed our vows for a further twelve months and, if we wish to continue and the Order wishes to accept us, we will thereafter make solemn profession – until death. And though the profession formula and the vows remain the same each ... Read More »
I MET a man recently who makes his living by selling expensive household whitegoods. ‘Miele’ whitegoods, as it happens. And he mentioned that, some years ago, he had a colleague who had his left upper arm tattooed with the motto of the company – ‘immer besser.’ (Always better) On learning this somewhat startling fact I asked, ‘And was he made ... Read More »
DURING my days at university I worked night shift at a geology laboratory, in order to keep myself in the semi-impoverished manner to which I had become accustomed. I would spend the early hours of the morning grinding coal samples and loading them into submersible metal canisters, which were then pumped with various elements from the periodic table at differing ... Read More »
What’s wrong with turning stones into loaves bread? If Christ had the power to satiate His hunger in the desert, and doing so was not going to harm anyone, why was it one of the ‘temptations’ that we hear about on the first Sunday of Lent? (Matthew 4:1-11) Why was it something Jesus refused to do? The answer lies in ... Read More »
PREACHING Practice – the weekly highlight of our semesters here in St Dominic’s Priory in Melbourne – affords the student body the opportunity to hone much more than simply our skills in the art of rhetoric. Our collective sense of humility and charity is also fostered by this salutary practice. Being able to receive criticism and offer some healthy fraternal ... Read More »
‘YOU dug up the wrong pipe.’ These portentous words were uttered by the student master on the occasion of a recent student meeting. It was during our ‘break’ from formal studies and the students in the priory had each been assigned a variety of fascinating and engaging tasks, in keeping with the prevailing philosophical disposition of the student master – ... Read More »
The Catholic Leader Keeping Faith with You
