Ninety hours in the pilgrim town of Assisi brought me from the milieu of an interesting cultural experience, to the dissonance of attempting a meditative journey amidst the life-line and highway of a major tourist town, and thence to a more balanced reflection on the 800 years that had since passed from the austere beginnings…
A glimpse of the sweet morsels from the fruiting mango tree that feeds the young black-naped oriole in the south garden. Here the mother indulgences in her young, while other birds look on, and await their turn at the fruit basket. Now its the turn of the yellow-vented bulbul to partake of the…
This is a Sunday where the divine and the merciful meet. Consider reflecting on the Last Testament and Will of St Pope John Paul II, first written in 1979, and edited on various anniversaries of spiritual exercises, as his Petrine ministry raced towards the Third Millennium. He recalled the wisdom of his mentor Cardinal Stefan…
Last year. this time, in the Gardens Reflections on Good Friday, I had cited two verses from the Gospel of St John: “they went to a place which was called Gethsemane” (Mk 14:32), “across the Kidron valley, where there was a garden”(John 18:1) “In the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in…
Gospel of Mark 7:14-23 It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean Jesus called the people to him and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man…
The Calling of Saint Matthew is a masterpiece by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, depicting the moment at which Jesus Christ inspires Matthew to follow him. It was completed in 1599–1600 for the Contarelli Chapel in the church of the French congregation, San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome, where it remains today. It hangs alongside two other paintings of Matthew by Caravaggio, The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew (painted…
In the stillness of the late afternoon, as rain continues to drizzle relentlessly in the wettest January in recent memory, the flora in our narrow west garden sparkles even as the day dims. Nature bestows her life-giving water, beauty, and continually sustain the earth. I have come that they may have life, and have it…
“Walking through one of the buildings where I hadn’t been before, I came across a reproduction of Hazard Durfee’s beautiful flute player with the text by Henry David Thoreau: ‘Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps…
The Gospel readings across the New Year is full of evocative pinings for the reflective, contemplative believer, to ponder, reflect, and discern deeply. Heb1:1-2 At various times in the past and in various different ways, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our own time, the last days, he has spoken…
The Road Not Taken The term “the road less traveled” has often meant different things for different writers. A travel writer in the Straits Times in 2006 used it to evoke the adventure of lesser known destinations. Others have used it to define a course of action or life that is not in keeping…