Homiles in 2021 (7)

In our first reading today, we see the people of Israel moaning about the hardships of life in the desert and looking wistfully back at their life of slavery in Egypt. We might be surprised at this attitude – surely freedom is far better than slavery no matter the cost. If …

In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, much of the comedy revolves around the relationship between Benedick and Beatrice, who use their razor sharp wits to duel with one another in a game of brinkmanship that becomes increasingly acerbic and antagonistic as the play …

21 years ago, Mel Gibson starred with Helen Hunt in the Hollywood blockbuster film What Women Want. Through a freak accident the character played by Mel Gibson acquires the ability to hear the secret thoughts of any woman who is within a radius of ten meters of him. Of …

There is no free lunch. Or so we have been taught to believe in the capitalistic societies that we live in. Even if it’s someone’s else’s charity we are benefitting from, the lunch that we get free has to come from somewhere, value is not just created out of thin air – …

Japanese culture is one of the most highly stratified and hierarchical on the planet. I have been told that until you know a person’s social ranking relative to your own, you cannot talk to them, because you do not know how to address with the correct protocols of respect. …

It is said that on the evening of June 18, 1815 a man stood in the tower of England’s Winchester Cathedral gazing anxiously out to sea. At last he found what he was looking for – a ship sending a signal by use of lights. He strained to see the message. All of England held …