Time for fraternity

This time the invitation was received from a diffeent source, and gladly accepted.

Tonight, priests in this part of the world sat together to pray on the eve of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. This was a significant moment, as we were invited to remember various elements of our Mother, the one who brings us all to the heart of her Son with such efficiency that we cannot resist the invitation.

Having taken the time to touch the divine (or at least to be conscious of it), we were then invited to sit at a different table ... one where stories were told. where food was shared, and where fraternity was built, not with bricks and mortar but with words, laughter and the confluence of ideas shared.

In an era where many are asking questions about priests and our relevance, it is even more important than ever before that such moments as these are made available, and capitalized upon as occasions for reinforcing the bonds of friendship and indeed the sacred ties that unite us all as servants of the sacred.