I wrote this little reflection whilst isolating with covid last November… I have covid…I am self-isolating. In my room I lie on the bed and ponder. The bottom of two big windows are fully open and the sunshine is streaming through. It is a good day to ponder. Some people hate flies (especially the big… Continue reading I Fly With My Little Eye

I met a friend the other day at mass and we went for a coffee afterwards to talk. Not long after we sat down two women sat at the table next to us and were engrossed in their smart phones, looking up occasionally to converse. Even if I wasn’t talking to my friend I would… Continue reading To Scroll or to Ponder?

Does God ever find our behaviour puzzling? Does God ever puzzle over our puzzles and with morning coffee and newspaper set out the dots that we could do with joining to other dots?! I know I am always banging on about smart phones and an over-reliance on the internet to make all our connections, but… Continue reading Joining the Dots

Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves (Genesis 11:4) Some people think that I have drifted into a fantasy world of conspiracy theories and as a consequence have become very anti-technology. Ben, the new Luddite! I don’t think… Continue reading Blind-sided

During a recent discussion on the liturgy in my Exodus 90 group a priest said that ‘Vatican II has not yet been implemented.’ Vatican II was the herald of a ‘new springtime in the church,’ where the laity would become more involved, where the church would gain new tools for evangelising the world and where… Continue reading Jubilate Deo

There is an amusing folk song that extols the virtues of the county of Norfolk in England. The last line of the chorus proclaims, ‘we are the boys that are Norfolk and Good.’ Say it quickly and you get the message of a profound insight into the human condition! I recently watched a documentary on… Continue reading Norfolk and Good

‘Every whisper, of every waking hourI’m choosing my confessionsTrying to keep an eye on youLike a hurt, lost and blinded fool.’ (REM ‘Losing My Religion’ 1991) How easily we make assumptions. How easily we absorb ideas and concepts without exploring them a little further. ‘Oh no I’ve said too much, I haven’t said enough’! I… Continue reading Absorbing New Religion

Just what is it that you want to do? We wanna be free We wanna be free to do what we wanna do And we wanna get loaded And we wanna have a good time That’s what we’re gonna do (No way baby, let’s go!) We’re gonna have a good time We’re gonna have a… Continue reading Primal Scream and the End of Pop Music

Our current age loves demons, devils and hell…but only in horror movies! Try relating it to our everyday experiences and you are considered a bit peculiar. Sure, if we are depressed and despondent aren’t we a little physiologically out of sorts and can be fixed by a good therapist? But if God is the cause… Continue reading The Demons that Like to Try It On