What frightens you?
When I was a child, I was frightened of the Cross.
The crucifix - that is, the image of the cross with the crucified Jesus - in the church I attended as a child, was a very powerful piece of art. I wish I could show you a picture of it. Made of bronze, it shows Our Lord with his head bowed in death. One other detail I can remember is that His right foot is bent round, so that the nail can pierce both His feet.*
As we prepare to celebrate the patronal feast day of St Benedict this Friday 21 March, I want to talk to you about an important principle found in the Rule of St Benedict, which has shaped Christian hospitality for centuries: the idea of welcoming the stranger.
I don’t know if you’ve seen any good films recently. I don’t go to the cinema very often, but there is a movie which has just been released which I simply must see, and that is A Complete Unknown, the biopic of the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, starring Timothée Chalamet.
This week’s theme for the school is Veritas - Truth, and we heard in this week's assembly, a reflection on this theme and its application to the Christian life.
All people who follow a religion believe that there is such a thing as an objective Truth. Christians believe that this Truth (with a capital T) has its identity in the person of Jesus Christ.