Author Archives: hughpol

In 1789 William Blake wrote about child chimney sweeps: “A little black thing among the snow; crying weep, weep, in notes of woe. Where are thy father & mother say? They are both gone up to the church to pray.” A few decades later in Oliver Twist, Dickens was still complaining about child labour asContinue reading “12th August”

On the hottest days in Rome you could see two Poor Clare Sisters going round the market dressed in their woolen habits gathering food for the convent. They have one of the simplest and poorest ways of life. Right from the start St. Clare, in the 13th century, wrote poverty into their rule and whenContinue reading “11th August. St. Clare”

I don’t visit many care homes at the moment unless called in for emergencies. But yesterday I had to go in and see Mary Henry, who the staff were concerned about. Mary is a famous character in Kendal as for many years she was the night sister at the old hospital. Her care for herContinue reading “8th August. St. Dominic”

This is where Jesus appears in glory, surrounded by a bright light, with Moses and Elijah on the mountaintop, traditionally Mt Tabor, and it is witnessed by three of the apostles, Peter, James and John. If you climb to the top of Mt. Tabor you do have an incredible view of the whole of theContinue reading “6th August. Feast of the Transfiguration”

St. John Vianney entered the priesthood in France some years after the French Revolution, a time when being a priest was not easy. He nearly failed to be accepted because he had trouble passing the exams in the seminary. However he became a famous parish priest, people travelled miles to his Masses and especially toContinue reading “4th August St. John Vianney”

Today’s gospel is the Feeding of the 5000 from Matthew’s gospel. There is a distinguished school of scholarship that would say the real miracle here is not that the loaves and the fish really went round so many people, but that the miracle was that the crowd actually shared the food they had among eachContinue reading “2nd August”

Ignatian spitituality has helped many people and become well known these days well beyond Catholicism. The fact that Ignatius grew up as a soldier and courtier with little attention to religion bar what was socially required and then discovered, discerned he would say, the power of knowing Jesus in your life, a power that overturnedContinue reading “31st July. St. Ignatius of Loyola”

St. Martha gets a hard time because she is told off for not putting down her household tasks to listen to Jesus, unlike her sister Mary. But you cannot help feeling that Jesus is going to appreciate the supper Martha is about to provide for them all. She is also one of the first peopleContinue reading “29th July. St. Martha”

Do you ever have the feeling you might be losing the plot? Usually I only have it when I am trying to speak to BT and Openreach, but of course you cannot speak to Openreach, even though they are a Communications company, well I thought they were but I am starting to doubt it. ByContinue reading “27th July”

We don’t usually celebrate feasts on a Sunday but today is the anniversary of my ordination twenty odd years ago and so I have a big attraction for these two who were traditionally the parents of Mary. This is the sort of day when you can get into looking back over the years, and IContinue reading “26th July. Ss. Joachim and Anna”