(Week 42) The Bauhinias are in fully perennial bloom – and they are joined by a rare flowering of an epiphytic pink phalaenopsis orchid on the adjacent black bamboo (Phyllostachys-nigra)in the garden. A rare beauty and a true blessing, four weeks to Easter Sunday. (Week 18) The first flowers. And more. The plant looks very jaded,…
The late Ms Harper Lee, the author of To Kill a MockingBird, (described by some as the perfect American book of the 20th century), is amongst a rare group of individuals whose fame had been secured by their first and overwhelming success, and would eventually overshadow everything else that they did, or would or would…
These two photographs of the Golden Gate Bridge in Mist, and By Crissy Field, were taken six hours apart on a mild autumn Sunday. There is a certain timelessness about a still photograph (or two) that is lost in a motion image. The still image allows one to return to a day of finite proportion, and to transform…
Saint Augustine, the great Bishop of Hippo (modern-day Annaba, Algeria), Africa, chose to appoint his successor four years before he died. Thus, on 26 September 426, he gathered the people to the Basilica of Peace at Hippo to present to the faithful the one he had designated for this task. He said: In this life…
Pentecost and the Gifts of Faith, Hope and Love Dr Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926-2004), the noted author of the ground-breaking work, On Death and Dying (1969), once wrote in her memoir (The Wheel of Life, 1997), “the only thing I know that truly heals people is unconditional love”. Pentecost Sunday marks the end of the Easter…
Psalm 104: 10-14 He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the sky nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;…
The readings at Easter always throws us back to a time when the Church was new, and reflecting on the accounts in the Acts of the Apostles, we imagine ourselves in the place of the followers (or apostles!), wondering if we too, could stand up to the challenges of being early adopters of the faith.…
In times of uncertainty, people look to a solid and stable anchor to underpin their underlying values and principles. This search for something that is incontrovertible and unshakeable is a concept at the centre of the debate between absolutism and relativism. In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of the unique relationship of the Father and…
Would you rather be a wise shepherd leading a flock of docile sheep, or be the wily leader of a band of hungry wolves? Not infrequently, this module on leadership in business school or executive training, walks participants through the pros and cons of two team-leader role-models. As the discussion and classroom scenarios play themselves…
There is something deeply attractive about the narrative of the two disciples who encountered the Risen Christ and walked with him from Jerusalem to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Countless artists have painted the Road to Emmaus, often bathe in a shade of gold as the day draws to a close, when dusk beckons, the silhouettes lengthen,…