Jesus sometimes speaks words that can sound severe, even shocking, and this Gospel is no exception. “Anyone who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not worthy of me.” At first hearing, we might almost want to step back from them. Surely the Lord does not ask us to love our families less? Surely the Gospel does not make us cold, harsh, or indifferent to those closest to us? Of course not. Christ does not destr

The year is 1630, and a Dominican friar is writing home. Fr Dominic Ibáñez de Erquicia has been preaching the Christian mission in Japan for the last seven years or so. He arrived in Japan in answer to the call for more missionaries, after Tokugawa’s persecution had depleted their numbers: our brother Dominic was thirty-three. Now forty, Fr Dominic sees that the persecution is reaching a new level. Whereas before, he was able to disguise himself as a merchant to visit Cat

The Lord's feeling for the crowds and the action he takes speak to what health and holiness is. We believe health and holiness are when everything works as it is designed to do. Sickness and sin are inhibitors of the Creator’s design. We should just recognise that sickness and sin are used by God to make himself known to us: a sudden cure or a quick turn reveal the hand of God. But apart from that, there remain those times when we must contend with sickness and sin. Then