Along the Track

2025

29 April - Bless our Home

Home. What a powerful word that is.  Home is much more than a house. We can buy or build a house, but we have to create a home. That takes more than time or money.  While the building may not change all that much over the years, the home may. It can go through stages just as we do.  

22 April - Kindness

My little granddaughter brought me a baby skink today.  They are all over the place at the moment, taking advantage of the last rays of sunshine before winter. If it wasn’t dead then it was very, very close to it or doing a very good job of acting but ‘no’, we had to look after it and find a warm place in one of the pot plants and find something for it to eat. We spent quite some time beside the pot plant while she sang one or two songs to comfort it. 

25 March - An Invitation

A long time ago now, not long after I first started teaching, I was assigned a pretty tough class, only four or five periods a week but that was enough for them and for me!  Many, if not most of them just wanted to be out of there and into the workforce. The worst of it was that I had them for the last two periods on Friday afternoons and fellow teachers will understand what I mean by that. 

11 March - The Sacraments

Jesus came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man to him and begged Jesus to heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village where he spat on the ground and made a mud pack. He rubbed that on the man's eyes and then put his hands on him and asked, "Do you see anything?" He looked and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around." Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes again and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly (Mk 8:22-25). It is dramatic isn’t it. He could have just said ‘be cured’ and walked away but instead we have this ritual. There’s a message in that.

25 February - What is Lent?

Michael Leunig offers a very appropriate prayer for Lent:

On this day (at this time),

your gift to us O God,

help us to move simply:

To look softly:

To allow emptiness:

To let the heart create for us,

11 February - Nothing Special

There’s an ad on television that, apart from trying to flog us a product, reminds us of the special moments in life we so often take for granted – dinner with friends, or at home with family, visiting grandma and so on. When we are asked, what did you do last night or over the weekend we so often reply “Nothing special.” Yet these are the special moments that make life worthwhile, that help us understand who we are and that give our lives purpose and meaning.

28 January - Another Year of School

Once again our schools will welcome students to another year of learning, of discovery.  For some it will be easy, for others this year will present challenges. Some will return reluctantly, some full of excitement, others with apprehension.  And parents and caregivers and teachers will do their best to guide them through this adventure, the highs and the lows, the successes and the failures.

2024

17 December - A Christmas Reminder

Our world is a big, complex place, rich with different cultural traditions, beliefs and customs  and, at every moment of every day, somewhere on this planet a new life is being born, young life is taking root, people are celebrating the beginning of a life. 

3 December - Grace

Recently I received a gift of $100,000, completely out of the blue, a generous gift with no strings attached.  It wasn’t a payment for anything or repayment of a loan.  Just a free, undeserved gift. But what to do with it?  Put it away for a rainy day? I have five children – divide it up five ways?  But does one need more than the others at this stage?  What about a new car?  A decent overseas trip? Is there a charity that needs a donation, people who desperately need help. The reality is, such a free gift welcome and generous as it is, asks something. 

26 November - Christmas Cards

Do you miss getting Christmas cards? Do you still send them? Christmas cards seem to be a disappearing custom for all sorts of reasons, not the least the cost of them I suspect and social media offers a quick and efficient alternative.

19 November - Happiness

Am I happy? Is my life a happy one?  Happiness is very elusive. It is even very difficult to define. Some define it as a feeling, others define it as an absence of feelings like anger or tension or conflict. Money can’t buy happiness. It can buy pleasure, but pleasure is not necessarily happiness.

5 November - Saying Goodbye

I recently read the blurb on the back of a book about three women separated by centuries yet somehow connected. A shared creative spirit and imagination linked their lives, though centuries apart. It was not a story about reincarnation but a reminder that somehow we are still connected to ‘those who have gone before,’ but understanding that requires a generous and open heart and a mind not burdened by our need to know, to explain, our need to be in control but a mind and heart open to the grace and wonder of God. 

29 October - Halloween

Halloween can be fun for young and old.  Some years ago, there was a lot of grumbling about importing this American custom but the smiles and laughter of the children visiting the homes for Trick or Treat removed many a frown and silenced many a grumble (mine included). A couple of years ago, even pouring rain did not dampen the visitors’ enthusiasm.  Last year, a group even came in a bus!

22 October - Divide and Conquer? Really??

Division starts in small ways. We argue and dig in rather than agree to disagree. We make judgements without listening or simply on appearances. We let our prejudices loose sometimes or we give ear to someone we know is sowing division or discord or we let a put down of someone go by, laugh even.   

15 October - Life Has Changed

We meet many people throughout our lives but not many fall into the category of the Most Unforgettable Character. Mary Duffy certainly did. She had a great influence on the lives of so many of her students and fellow teachers, including me. She had an extraordinary ability to remember the names of both students and teachers even decades after she had left that school, not just names but what they were doing and all sorts of details about their lives.  It was born from a great love of people, her most endearing quality.

8 October - The Altar

Some months ago I read an article by a priest who was leading a pilgrimage to Thessaloniki in Greece.  When he saw in the museum the small marble table from a Roman-era home adorned with carved acanthus leaves and the body of Dionysus, he quite unexpectedly broke down crying. Several months later, while giving a talk in his diocese about Scripture and the Eucharist and discussing these tables, the same thing happened. 

10 September - 'Just look at me'

Each of the Gospels include the story of Jesus feeding the thousands of people who had come to see him. Mark starts his account in this way: When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. Mark 6:34

27 August - Being Big Hearted

Jesus was a great story-teller. He had the right words for the right occasion, the right story for the right question, the right message.  He was approached by a very sincere questioner: “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” Not an outlandish question – we probably all want to know that. Jesus told him: “If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” 

13 August - The Kookaburra

The Kookaburra sits very quietly watching. He has been coming every day for weeks, always about the same time. He sits and watches and waits.  He is a model of patience.  I wonder, do the fish in the pond know that he is watching and waiting?  He got the last lot so we replaced them and put netting over the pond.  And he sits and watches and calculates.

30 July - Silence

There is nothing that resembles God so much as silence. Meister Eckhardt.

23 July - Finding Ways to Come Together

There’s a cafe in Melbourne where the meals are made from ‘waste’ or donated food. It a place worthy of a visit, or two or three or…It is not the only one that is addressing the waste of food but this project brings together people of all ages and all nations, from all stations of life, who have perhaps never come together before. It is a very social place to visit with no pretensions, just good food and good company. Those who came talk away over the meal like old friends, even if they may have just met. No social distinctions here, just the need for nourishment and for connection.

16 July - Little Things Mean a Lot

There is a timeless passage in scripture (just one!?)  where the Lord tells Elijah to stand on the mountain because the Lord will be passing by. There is a great wind, an earthquake and a fire, but God is not in them. Then Elijah hears a gentle whisper and he covers himself in his cloak. It is the Lord. (1 Kings 19:11-13)

25 June - If you want to nourish your soul, nurture your stories

Who doesn’t love a story.  They can make us laugh, or cry, they can entertain or inform, they can challenge our way of thinking or unite us with others. One day people will tell stories about us, if they aren’t already! What is the story you would most like them to tell about you? What story would you most like to be forgotten?

11 June - Good News for a Change

Some time ago I watched a TV program* on how some dairy farmers and people in the fishing industry were facing the challenge of a lifetime to save family farms and protect a way of life.  They faced downturns in their industries, the collapse of co-ops, plunging prices for their products and rising prices for what they needed and, as if that weren’t enough, along came the droughts, fires and flooding rains. Despite the fact that many had given up and left, these farmers were surviving and even prospering in hard times.

28 May - Pineapple

One of the houses listed for inclusion in the heritage list in NSW elicited this response from a potential client: "You wouldn't buy it from the outside would you?" To which the architect replied: "Would you eat a pineapple from the outside?" 

14 May - On Eagles' Wings

I was recently talking to a car salesman when a call came through.  “I’ll have to take this”, he said.  “She rings just about every day expecting her new vehicle to be here.” Despite ordering it months ago, the vehicle, a very up market campervan, had not even been built yet. She was getting more and more anxious as she wanted it as a surprise for her husband’s upcoming ninetieth birthday.  She was only eighty-eight and they planned to travel around Australia for some months, if not longer.

30 April - An Easter Wish

Across the world, each year Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on or after 21 March. Although the Eastern rite churches calculate the date differently, Easter is liturgically related to the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere so the reminders of new life and new beginnings that this season brings may not be as obvious here. That’s a pity as we can just let this celebration pass by without being conscious of how renewal is part of every life, ours included. 

16 April - The Resurrection

We can’t say we weren’t warned.  ‘I am going away but in a little while you will see me.   Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. I will not leave you orphans.’ We thought he was dead, our hopes and dreams destroyed.  We loved him, his message just didn’t inspire us – it gave us life, a purpose! But it is over, finished just like those prophets before who promised us so much.

26 March - An Invitation

Over the past three years at Easter time, a hand written letter has appeared in our box inviting us ‘to attend the most important event for Christians – the annual commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ’.  Others too in our neighbourhood receive similar invitations from the local Jehovah’s Witnesses Congregation.  The invitation invites us to attend personally or by video link.

19 March - The Last Supper

I have longed to eat this Passover meal with you, Jesus said.  So had we, it meant so much to each of us. But there was something wrong.  It didn’t feel right.  There was tension in the air, sadness. ‘Don’t let your hearts be troubled’? Jesus said. But they are.  Something is not right. These confusing messages - a little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me. I am going to prepare a place for you, he says. Where are you going?  Are we coming too?  Why are you going away? ‘I will not leave you orphans; I will come back to you’. So why go?

12 March - The Olive Grove

How many times have we been here before to this peaceful place?  To sit quietly above the city of Jerusalem, to see the Temple, that ancient shrine, God’s holy place.

27 February - Not Lent Again!

Joyce Rupp, in her latest book Jesus, Companion in My Suffering: Reflections for the Lenten Journey asks how do you continue to approach Lent with fresh eyes over and over again? It's not a focus on her sinfulness that elicits inner change, she has found, but rather a re-centering on the goodness that is already present, the assurance of the Spirit living and active within.

13 February - Listen

When one of my granddaughters came home on her first day at school, her mother unpacked her bag.  “You haven’t eaten your lunch!”  The teacher said: “Eat your fruit at lunch.”  So she did. Nothing else, just the fruit.

30 January - 2024, The Year of...?

Happy New Year!  And may that happiness continue throughout the year too!

What will 2024 be ‘the year of’ for you?

2023

12 December - Christmas Cheer

Christmas is, for many of us, a wonderful time perhaps even the most wonderful time of the year especially if you are a child. But did you know that there really is such a thing as “Christmas cheer”? In December 2015 in a study run by the University of Denmark, twenty people were shown images with either a Christmas or non-Christmas theme while having their brain monitored by an MRI machine.  When the participants saw photographs of Christmas themed images, or heard Christmas music, a network of brain regions lit up … well, like a Christmas tree.

5 December - Getting Ready

Francis of Assisi, three years before his death in the thirteenth century, celebrated Christmas in a new way. Francis had a manger prepared and hay carried into the church then an ox and an ass were led in to stand next to it. Up until then, the nativity scene was portrayed in paintings by famous artists but Francis wanted everyone to see and have some experience of the drama of Christ’s birth. It was his attempt to make scripture ‘come alive’ as it were. 

28 November 2023 - As Time Goes By

Sometimes we wonder where the time went.  It just seems to disappear, perhaps not in the down times when it just seems to drag on and on but in general we wonder, where did it go?

Songs can strike a chord (pardon the pun) and they sometimes capture how we feel.  I Dreamed the Dream is one.

14 November - Close to the Ground

I read in a book recently: ‘He looks like he has lived his life close to the ground’. I had not heard that expression for years. It was one my father used and it was meant as a compliment.  He didn’t like dealing with bankers or accountants or lawyers, despite the fact that he wanted to join the bank when he was young. He warmed to them a bit more if they had dirt under their nails or on their shoes!  That said something about integrity, connectedness, understanding to him, I guess.

31 October - Visiting the Family

Just about all my ancestors are buried alongside each other in a quiet spot in a country cemetery.  It suits them. Here they are, these rather quiet, shy people who shunned publicity or the spotlight – these quiet workers who came in poverty but made their mark. This spot seems just about right for them – a long way from their native Ireland but tucked away under a gum tree in Australia in the farthest corner of the cemetery.

17 October - A Timely Message

When Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word,” we are introduced to a woman of extraordinary faith. 

3 October - The Light Within 

There are some people who light up our lives.  They are good to be around, we spark up when we see them and they can make a dismal day seem so much brighter.  And they don’t seem aware of it.  It is not a deliberate tactic or strategy – it is just who they are. 

5 September - The Changing Face of Faith

I grew up in harsh times, in the aftermath of the horrors of WWII, then the Korean War and the fear of communism, sectarianism was rife and Catholics felt under pressure – we put up the barricades and the survival of our faith was a key priority. Learning the doctrines, being faithful to Mass and devotions, mixing with other Catholics were all part of surviving.  Strangely, there was a comfort in looking inwards.

22 August - The Living Water of the Holy Spirit

St Cyril of Jerusalem didn’t have an easy life.  He was a bishop in the early church (mid 330s) during turbulent times.  He was thrown out of office, reinstated, thrown out, and then reinstated again. Now he has been declared a doctor of the church for his teaching that was acceptable, then not, then accepted and so on. 

8 August - Mist

Fogs and mists were very much part of my childhood.  When Winter came and with it the mists and more often fog that often accompanied it, our father used to send us down the hill to see what sort of a day it was. The fog could sit over us for days. There’s a big difference between fog and mist, though. They are both made up of tiny water droplets but mist is less dense than fog, so it is easier to see more clearly through it.

25 July - Losing my Religion

Faith isn’t comfortable.  It’s a struggle, a lifelong one. Perhaps the easiest way to react to it, and many do, is to say “I no longer believe".  It is easy enough to find reasons why, particularly in the sort of society we live in today that sees little or no place for faith or religion. It is seen as out of step, out of place in the modern world, even a bit naïve, out of date. Divisive even.

11 July - Finding the Well

Out the back of the old house where I spent my early childhood, there was a well.  It supplied all our water. I remember it always being very cold, very ‘fresh’ and invigorating.  I have no idea why! We always kept an eye on it. It was a precious resource. 

20 June - Mission Accomplished

Sometimes we are privileged to meet and even come to know an extraordinary person.  We meet many people in life, we can become friends with numbers of them for a short time or even a lifetime but once in a while, along comes one who stands out from the rest.  They don’t have to be a great speaker or a prize winning athlete or even a great comedian or story teller.  But they make their mark, perhaps because of their vision, their sincerity, their authenticity.

6 June - Tis

Tis is the second book written by Frank McCourt, the author of the bestselling book, Angela’s Ashes. Tis means ‘it is’, as in ‘tis a fine day’ and the like. The book ‘Tis’ is a memoir of McCourt’s time learning how to live in New York City where he went after an impoverished childhood in Ireland.

23 May - Courage (Easter)

In his 2022 Easter Homily, Pope Francis issued us with a challenge: "We cannot celebrate Easter if we continue to be dead; if we remain prisoners of the past; if in our lives we lack the courage to let ourselves be forgiven by God who forgives everything, the courage to change, to break with the works of evil, to decide for Jesus and his love.” 

9 May - Blessed

Perhaps the most familiar text in the Christian scriptures is the Sermon on the Mount. It is not really a mountain but a small hill that overlooks the Sea of Galilee. It is a particularly inviting and restful place even though it can be quite crowded. 

25 April - Returning to Galilee

There is a very appealing post resurrection scene described in John’s Gospel by the Sea of Galilee where the disciples were about to moor after a fruitless night of fishing. They were not too happy! When they got to the shore, they found Jesus making breakfast for them—fish cooking over a charcoal fire, and some bread. “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said.  It sounds like it was a familiar sight to them from the years they spent together. 

28 March - Who Do You Say I Am?

The road to Emmaus is a beautiful story (Mark 16:12–13 Luke 24:13–35). It is unusually long so, when Mark and Luke chose to include this story, they did so for a purpose.  It was, in their view, something we all needed to hear.

14 March - The Cross

Two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.……. Luke 23:33

28 February - Meeting Jesus on the Way

Holy Mary mother of God, pray for us sinners now and forever, Amen.

What a heartbreaking scene. Wasn’t it bad enough, but now mother and son meet. 

21 February - Ash Wednesday 

Most Australians know a lot about ashes.  For thousands and thousands of years, the first people of this nation used fire as a tool to 'care for country'.  When Europeans came, we largely ignored those methods to our peril and bushfires became a destructive force across much of the country. It is only in recent times that we have begun to learn lessons by ‘sitting in the ashes’ as it were, heeding the wisdom of the past and learning the lessons of today.  

14 February - Jesus Takes Up His Cross

Jesus went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

31 January - Jesus is Condemned to Death

Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, and said to them, “You brought this man to me and said that he was misleading the people. Now, I have examined him here in your presence, and I have not found him guilty of any of the crimes you accuse him of.  Nor did Herod find him guilty, for he sent him back to us. There is nothing this man has done to deserve death.  So I will have him whipped and let him go.” 

24 January - Australia in the Making

The first time I visited Ireland I was living in Townsville.  On the very first night I was asked by a person who recognised the accent: “I have friends in Perth.  Would you know them?” That was the first of many such questions. 

2022

13 December - My Christmas Census

Joseph and his very pregnant wife Mary are required to travel to Bethlehem, their family’s hometown, because the Emperor ordered a census of the entire Roman world. Caesar Augustus wants to take stock, to count the number of people under his control

29 November - Beyond Words

Sometimes words aren’t sufficient. A piece of music, a scene or an event we have just experienced can make us speechless, what we try to put into words is just inadequate.

15 November - They are not long

All Souls’ Day is a reminder of a number of important and timely lessons, about the living and that those who have gone before, in some way, are still connected to us. It is a reminder that we too will join them, to put it bluntly.

2 November - Where are the others?

Luke chooses to tell the story of the ten lepers in his Gospel.  He could have told other stories but he chose this one about Jesus healing ten lepers, outcasts who called out to him from a distance as they could not approach him closely. They were considered unclean. Jesus sent them off to show themselves to the priests, the only ones who could pronounce them to be clean.  Could you imagine what that must have felt like!  Being able to go back to family, to be able to mix, to walk around freely….we know something of  what that is like after lockdown!  But only one came back to thank him.  And he was a Samaritan. ‘Where are the others?’ Jesus asks.

18 October - A Tiny Ripple

Psalm 23 is a beautiful piece of poetry.  It is uplifting, encouraging, its imagery speaks to our deepest souls. Fresh and green pastures in the barren wilderness, quiet, refreshing waters, safe paths even in deep, dark valleys. One wonders what were the circumstances that lead to this beautiful psalm being written.

5 October - You have reached your destination

Travelling in a Strange Land is an intriguing and beautifully written novel. It describes a father’s one-day journey from Northern Ireland to Britain to pick up his ailing son at Christmas time. That solitary time leads to an inner journey of discovery and transforming grace along the way.

6 September - A Gathering Story

About fifteen years ago I was lucky enough to attend a synagogue in Jerusalem for that community’s Sabbath worship.  After the service, the community gathered in small groups to discuss the scripture readings used as part of their worship that day. The next hour was filled with a very passionate and lively discussion.  Despite differences in their interpretations, there was a common bond.  They loved this Book, it was part of them and they were part of it.  They brought their life experiences to it.

23 August - Is it any wonder?

We expect a lot from our teachers, and rightly so.  We entrust our children to their care and we expect them to guide them, to teach them, to open their eyes and hearts and minds to the world around them. We want them to inspire their imaginations and share with them the richness of our history and our culture and our faith. We want them to help our children discover their talents and build on them and learn the skills necessary to contribute to the world we live in today. 

9 August - Marriage

Families come in many shapes and sizes, many different incarnations. I worked in a remote area of Papua in the late sixties and early seventies.  An enduring and endearing memory are the families I met in the small villages scattered through those remote mountains – their closeness, their care for one another, particularly when tragedy struck as it often did with infant mortality. The family unit was usually one husband, four wives and the children. 

26 July - Lessons from the Past

The prophet Jeremiah had a terrible time. Right from his calling in his early twenties he was constantly in danger, particularly from the corrupt religious elite of his time. His fellow priests did not accept the legitimacy of his priesthood. They were suspicious of him. He was an outsider.  He and his message were not acceptable.  It was not surprising – they had too much to lose, they enjoyed their power and authority. His job was to carry God’s messages “over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant” (Jer. 1:10). 

19 July - Telling the Truth

One of the most famous passages about the resurrection is the following:

While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’  If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.  

21 June - The Silent Word

Learning a language is hard.  Not just learning the words and the syntax and the grammar, but the pronunciation and the accent too.  And then you think you have mastered it and you try it out with other ‘native’ speakers and they can’t understand you! Language is much bigger than words. It embodies a culture, stories, a way of looking at the world, beliefs and traditions, a dialect that embodies long held local histories and customs.  It is hard to pick that up in a language class. 

7 June - Thank God for the Explorers

Could you imagine Italian food without tomatoes? Yet the humble tomato arrived there around 1500 all the way from South America, brought there by the explorers.  Until then there were no tomatoes with pasta or any other Italian food. Two hundred years later, mass migration helped the tomato to spread across the globe.  Not all such discoveries were as beneficial – tobacco hasn’t been a huge boost to the health of humankind. But so many discoveries have resulted from curiosity, from the desire to discover, to try out new ways, new ideas, new tastes.  

24 May - Song of Joy

Ein Karem is a beautiful little town.  It has an atmosphere that makes one conscious very quickly that something special happened here. It has a population of around 2,000 but attracts three million visitors a year, mostly pilgrims from around the world.

10 May - It's Just Harmless 

I was in college with a person who was a master at labelling others with nicknames, myself included.  Some were clever, some were funny, some were incomprehensible, some were original, witty even.  But they all had one thing in common.  They hurt.   And I suggest that they encouraged the one who thought up the taunt.  He was well known for it, even fifty or more years later.  But it also encouraged the recipient to share the pain and hurt.  We called his victims by those names and sometimes we even made up our own. 

27 April - Joining in the Neighbourhood 3

Fr James Martin SJ, in an article in the Tablet magazine, refers to the rejection of Jesus in the synagogue (Luke 4:14-30) in his home town of Nazareth.  Up until recently, Jesus had lived for thirty or so years in that town of perhaps 200 to 400 people so when Jesus stood up to speak, these people would have known him, and he them.

29 March - Joining God in the Neighbourhood 2

If we think about Jesus’ great missionary command, we probably think of “Go out and make disciples of all nations, baptising them etc” as we read in Matthew. That’s one but not the first. The one before that is probably more relevant to today....

15 March - Joining God in the Neighbourhood 1

Missional: Joining God in the Neighbourhood by Alan J. Roxburgh is a very timely book.  It should be required reading for any Parish Council or anyone trying to build community intent on mission.  To do this book justice in a few hundred words is impossible but there are a couple of thoughts worth considering.

1 March - Finding a Place to Call Home

It is not surprising today that there are so many films and TV shows about a place to call home.  Arguably, we are witnessing the greatest migration of peoples across our planet in history. Sadly war or violence or poverty or destruction force many of them to leave their homes and even their countries.  They don’t have a choice so they go in search of a place to call home. 

15 February - Christmas in February

Luke announces Christmas in this way: I bring you good news of great joy, a joy to be shared. Luke 2:10.

1 February - For Those Going to School

The start of another year so at this time we think of all those going back to school, the students, the teachers and all those who work to make the school a place of welcome and discovery.  We pray especially for those who are starting out on this new stage of life. And memories may come flooding back about our own school days too.

27 January - This Year I Resolve to...

Happy New Year! Let’s hope that 2022 plays out very differently.  While 2021 may have had some highs, some good memories, I don’t think many of us will be sorry to bid it farewell.  It was a tough year.

16 December - The Pandemic Christmas

So here we are, Christmas 2021, the closing days of this Pandemic year. To say the very least, it has been an ordeal like no other for tens of thousands, millions of people. As we near Christmas, we join our hearts and minds with those who have lost loved ones, those who have lost livelihoods, those who suffered if not from the illness of the virus then the loneliness or the depression it left in its wake. We join our hearts and minds with those who have no home, those we cannot name who sought safety, a new life on our shores and have been cast aside.

2021

14 December - A Friend in Me

When they (the Magi) had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.” Mtt 2 13 -15

30 November - Birthdays

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139: 13

It’s your birthday. So, here’s to being alive but also that you are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made!’ (Psalm 139). Birthdays remind us to celebrate all that is wonderful in our life, just being alive, love and friendships, achievements, our goals and dreams. 

16 November -  Never too Late

I copied this paragraph from a magazine in the doctor’s waiting room:

And when it is time to truly rest, I can be laid in the soil and a tree planted so that my children can hug me still, lay their weary head against my limbs, trace the lines of my life….we remain embodied in place that they may be always connected to the ones who loved them, saw their light and sung their songs when they had forgotten them.

2 November - Something to Consider

During the pandemic one of the front-line doctors wrote: When I ask patients what they want at the end of life, many are genuinely bewildered. “I don’t know. I didn’t think it would happen to me.”

19 October - Joseph 3

So what might Joseph have to say to us today?

The passion, the purpose of Jesus on earth, was to make the good news of God’s redeeming love present, to enable people to understand it, to embrace it and to live it.  That was his vision, his dream.  He called it the dream, the vision, the reign of God.

5 October - Joseph 2: With a Father's Heart 

From the brief details we hear in the two gospels we know that Joseph cared for his wife and son and in their care Jesus grew in age, grace and wisdom (Lk 2:51-52).  It wasn’t always easy.

14 September - Joseph I

Pope Francis has invited us to remember St Joseph throughout 2021, focusing on the theme of “With a Father’s Heart” So what has Joseph got to say to us today? 

7 September - Open and Listening

I read a thought provoking article recently written by a person who described himself as an Irish Catholic by baptism, culture, and upbringing but one who is “lapsed but listening,” though still a “sceptic”.  Others in that same article describe themselves as “believing without belonging”.  There is another category “longing without belonging” mostly used about those who are searchers but who are not touched by present Church language.  Some time ago, I listened to a group who described themselves as ‘Catholics in remission’.  Others though are still practising, still believing, still finding a place in their church and still finding it to be a sign of hope.

24 August - In Disguise

Sr Ursula Hayes was an elderly Brigidine sister when I met her in Ararat many years ago.  She had been there for a long time, teaching music at the end of her career.  A wing of Marian College is named after her.  She told me the story that, as a young woman from a wealthy Irish family, she was sent to finishing school in Ypres but war broke out and she was summoned home.  During the journey the train stopped in the north of France and a troop train stopped next to it.  The young soldiers gave those in her carriage hastily written notes to loved ones at home and begged them to post them.

10 August - Affirming Difference

In her book, Late Migrations Margaret Renkl recounts that in 2007, the fossil remains of a severely disabled prehistoric man was uncovered in what is now Vietnam.

27 July - I am Afraid

In Irish sign language for the deaf (perhaps in others too), the sign for fear is holding five or even ten fingers against your chest, close to your heart in a kind of rapid touching motion. The sign for courage includes that same fluttering of hands and then moving your hand into a fist.  So, in sign language, courage literally emerges from fear. 

13 July - A Better Idea

According to surveys, 62% of Australians are becoming less interested in news.  Many have stopped watching or reading it. Around 44% of Australians think our news is too negative, even more so than readers and viewers in other countries. 

15 June - Why am I so Angry

Along the Track is in its eighteenth year, believe it or not!  Over those years I have received a variety of emails in response to particular editions but I always know I will receive many, many emails if I write about either forgiveness or anger, especially the latter.  It seems to bring out very deeply held and strongly felt emotions.  Whatever I write or suggest is always wrong!  So why not avoid it?  I could say that anger is all the rage, but I won’t.  But there is a lot of anger around.

1 June - Mind How You Go

‘Take care of yourself and mind how you go’ is used often as a farewell in parts of Ireland. I heard it many times and took heart from it.  It seemed a much better greeting than ‘see you later’ or ‘see you around’.  So how do you take care of yourself, how do you ‘mind how you go?’

18 May - Babel

Ancient stories, often very familiar to us, can teach us very up to date and relevant lessons. The story of the building of the tower Babel in Genesis starts this way: "Now the whole world spoke the same language, using the same words." The people propose to build a mighty tower right up into the sky, a building that would make them famous and fill future generations with wonder and amazement. 

4 May - Never-ending Journey

Nick Cave, Australian musician, singer-songwriter, author, screenwriter and composer wrote to some of his fans who questioned his belief in God:

Does God exist? I don’t have any evidence either way, but I am not sure that is the right question. For me, the question is what it means to believe. The thing is, against all my better judgment, I find it impossible not to believe, or at the very least not to be engaged in the inquiry of such a thing, which in a way is the same thing. My life is dominated by the notion of God, whether it is His presence or His absence. I am a believer – in both God’s presence and His absence. I am a believer in the inquiry itself, more so than the result of that inquiry. 

20 April - Towel People

We are the towel peopleSoothers, cleansers, healersOf feet tired and sore and cut from the journey. 

Christ’s sent people,Wiping away the dirt and blood and spittleOf the world’s hatred spewed onto the faces of the weak. 

On our knees before others –And in homage to them,for Christ is there.           (Anonymous)      

30 March - Palm Sunday

The significance of Palm Sunday is often forgotten. It is all about fear.  Jesus of Nazareth, this itinerant preacher from nowhere arrived at the gates of Jerusalem in a parody of imperial pomp. Instead of a stallion, he rode up on a borrowed donkey. In place of an army, he had a bunch of people throwing down their cloaks and palm branches as if he was someone important. And he was. 

16 March - The Spring of Hope

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way……..

2 March - Like Children Part 2

In 1945 TS Eliot wrote: ‘the trouble of the modern age is not merely the inability to believe certain things about God which our forefathers believed, but the inability to feel towards God as they did.” 

16 February - Like Children

It is a wonderful experience to live with small children.  It is easy to see why Jesus said: " I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”  (Mtt18:3). Not become children but like them again. They are easily amazed, they see the forgotten, the overlooked as well as the spectacular in the very ordinary. They love a story, and their imagination is a well-honed skill. 

2 February 2021 - Cathedral Thinking

The idea of Cathedral Thinking is not new. It goes back to medieval times, when architects, stonemasons and artisans laid plans and began constructing the huge places of worship, the massive community gathering spaces that many of us have visited. Architects and builders would start work on a cathedral knowing that they would not live to see the project’s completion. 

26 January 2021 - Australia Day

For all the controversy around the date, there is much to celebrate about Australia.  It is an ancient, vast and beautiful country with a history few can match.

2020

15 December 2020 -  And so...

In the words of John Lennon:

And so this is Christmas,  And what have you done,

another year over, A new one just begun. 

Another year over….. and what a year! 

8 December 2020 - Which Stories

I read somewhere that our lives expand or contract, depending on the stories we tell ourselves, and we get to choose which world we wish to inhabit by becoming conscious of which stories we want to share, amplify and embody each and every day.

1 December 2020 - A Friend in Me

When they (the Magi) had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.” Mtt 2 13 -15

17 November 2020 - We Don't Learn Everything in a Classroom

Some time ago I purchased a compilation of short essays* on the recommendation of Fr Ronald Rolheiser who writes a weekly column.  The author is a gifted and observant writer with a sharp eye for the smallest detail that often makes the event or the scene come alive in the reader’s imagination and emotions.  

3 November 2020 - Following the Footsteps of Others

As the youngest in a large family I was often asked “Are you going to follow in your father’s footsteps?” Or my brothers? I didn’t.  My father had me ear marked for life on the farm. That wasn’t my path.

20 October 2020 - The Bucket List 

Is there something you would like to finish but for whatever reason, you didn’t quite get it done? Is there someone you would like to catch up with but you haven’t quite managed to do it? Is there something you want to do or say, a place you’d like to visit but it may not be an option? We just run out of time and energy or the opportunity doesn’t arise again. 

6 October 2020 - A Lonely Time

“Illness can be a very lonely time,” Michael Leunig wrote in a poignant article describing his diagnosis and treatment for an aggressive form of melanoma.  What he wrote revealed much about his own courage and sensitivity, but also the surprises and the disappointments about how others reacted and what that meant to him.

8 September 2020 - Kindness

I have experienced only two bushfires and that was too many.   They both came so quickly and without warning but they lingered for days.  The second one was worse, perhaps because by then I was old enough to help fight it. The men of the district gathered with all sorts of primitive equipment.  There were no fire trucks on hand then. It was terrifying. The smoke and the roar of the flames didn’t quite manage to drown the sounds of the frightened stock that were running all over the place in panic.  It was my job to muster them, to gather them together in the middle of this chaos and get them out the gate.  It was so difficult to see or breathe at times and they certainly didn’t want to follow the directions of a fourteen year old.

25 August 2020 - Friendship

A mirror reflects a person's face, but what they are really like is shown by the kind of friends they choose. Proverbs 27:19

I lost a close friend in recent times.  We first met almost sixty years ago. I admired him greatly, his sense of fun, his endless energy and tireless commitment. He was an extraordinary character, no pretensions, no false airs but his defining characteristic was his love of the underdog.  

11 August 2020 - The Prism

My brother lived in a retirement home interstate for four or five years until his death a couple of years ago. He celebrated Mass there every Sunday for the residents and the many neighbours who chose this as their place of worship. On one Sunday when I happened to be visiting, we all listened to the readings and he began his homily with this question:

What did you hear today?  What words from these readings have stayed with you?

28 July 2020 - The Music Makers

Long ago the world was a silent place.  The Book of Genesis describes it as ‘formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep…’. There was no sound, no noise and there was no music, there were no songs. I wonder who was the first person to sing, the first person to make music. Music was one of our first inventions. Primitive flutes have been found among the relics of very, very ancient civilizations. Did the first singers listen and learn from the songs of the birds around them? 

14 July 2020 - Social Distancing

Life is made up of the ordinary. Otherwise there wouldn’t be the extraordinary. The extraordinary, although usually very welcome, is not the stuff of life. Sometimes you read of people continually chasing the next adventure and you are left to wonder whether they miss out on the real joys of life in the meantime.

23 June 2020 - Spiders that Sail

Scientists in Britain have discovered that an ordinary little spider, one we have all seen hundreds of times, is actually a very adept sailor. Some species of spider form diving bells out of silk to enable them to breathe under water.

9 June 2020 - Winter

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater. Isaiah 55:10

26 May 2020 - This Quiet Time

And so we are being ‘let out’.  Our weeks of isolation are gradually being eased and we can see that there may be an end to this stage of the dreadful virus.  There is a sense of relief and growing optimism.  But it has been a time of contrasts.

12 May 2020 - The Call of the Spirit

Our parish priest sometimes finishes Mass with the question: And what will the Spirit call you to do today?  What will the Spirit ask of you?  How will the Spirit inspire you today?

28 April 2020 - Staying at Home

And so we stay at home, if we are not required to go out. Kathleen O’Meara from Wisconsin described this time:

And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

14 April 2020 - The Challenge

Don’t we love a challenge? We watch them on all sorts of programs on TV and other media platforms.  The weekly footy is usually laced with the language of challenge, the survival of the fittest. Reality TV even makes a cooking show a challenge and pretending to survive in a jungle.  Video games are designed to challenge the player at many levels. We humans like to think of ourselves as dominant in just about every aspect of life.

24 March 2020 - What is Happening?

The shelves are empty – no tinned food, no cleaning fluids, no toilet paper, then no meat, no bread, just shelves rapidly being stripped bare.  And some very angry people, abusing fellow customers and checkout staff.  Not a pretty picture.  What does that say about us?  Just a few short weeks ago we were congratulating ourselves on such a generous, compassionate response to the victims of the bushfires.  And now this.

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