David

Big happy families

For all the wonders of Western thought, I do not believe there is a single philosopher or theologian in the long history leading to the modern era ever to busy himself (they were all men!) with this fundamental fact of our existence: we are family people, familial beings, born, growing, learning and dying in family groupings.

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Joseph the protector

  Their desperate attempts to find refuge are often not final solutions but new beginnings. A long journey into the unknown is marked by fear, danger and daunting obstacles. Mid-2020 data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that worldwide numbers of forcibly displaced people surpassed 80 million. According to their statistics, 26.3

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Viewpoint

The war on drugs hasn’t worked and never will. Every now and then police announce a large seizure of drugs and parade the bags of methamphetamine, cocaine or heroin before a large media contingent. As a marketing exercise it looks good on camera but in reality it achieves little.

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Jesus says to us: hear and speak

There are two miracle-stories that occur only in Mark’s gospel: the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida, and today’s story of the healing of the deaf-mute. Both stories reveal to us the truly human face of Jesus who responds with compassion to people’s infirmities. But they also reveal the healing powers of the promised Messiah who will ‘open the eyes of the blind’ and ‘unseal the ears of the deaf’ (Isaiah).

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