Tablet Newsletter

I was with a young ordinand shortly before his ordination. He was naturally excited at the approach of this milestone in his life. He was fairly well-adjusted as the trouble he had with his seminary authorities suggested. He described how some other students were preparing for their big day.

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It was too cold for snow. Everyone was wrapped up tightly but not thinking of the weather. The rabbi, black hat and coat and graying beard, who had come in from another town, was at the centre of the group and very present, a focus for the camera team. But I sensed that maybe he was, and understandably, the most absent. A guest asked back too late by those who had rejected his predecessors. What might he be feeling, apart from the cold?

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The Magi got much clearer and more definite responses.

“Has anything happened on the island since I was here?” It was far too leading a question to ask an island resident. But listen to the pauses and the silence as well as the evasive answer and you might guess whether anything significant has transpired and even where you might look for it. Read more »

This year in my role in The World Community for Christian Meditation I have been meeting with our national coordinators in six regions of the globe. We began with South East Asia and the Pacific in January followed by meetings in  three European regions. We have just finished the regional meeting with N. America, Mexico, Haiti  and the Caribbean countries and I move on now to the last of this series in S. America.

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If there were Londoners who wanted to escape the tensions of their city in recent weeks they might have been well advised to go northwards to the now peaceful lands of their ancient enemies, once the terrorists of their day. Read more »