Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A.

The best laid plans…

Our Jubilee got run over by a pandemic. Well, yes and no. Already, several of the events that were to highlight the 175th anniversary of our founding have been cancelled, and a number of others in the summer will likely suffer the same fate. More than the events themselves, the anxieties and preoccupations… Read More »The best laid plans…

On the road to Emmaus

As the curtain rises on this famous Gospel scene, we find Cleopas and the other unnamed disciple walking away from Jerusalem in something of a daze. They’re unfocused, literally disoriented – walking away from the East, away from Jerusalem, away from the Resurrection. Another component of their darkness is that… Read More »On the road to Emmaus

Easter Sunday, April 12th

Eugène Burnand,The Disciples Peter and John Running to the Sepulchre on the Morning of the Resurrection Happy Easter! Chances are the feelings that we associate with Easter this year are not the same as usual –  and there’s something unsettling about that. I’ve always been struck by the joy of Easter morning and how it insinuates… Read More »Easter Sunday, April 12th

Good Friday, April 10th

Photo by Josh Applegate Such enormous, inexplicable pain in the world. Looking back at Good Fridays over the years, there’s always something: a Marathon bombing, a school shooting, a deranged pilot to graphically illustrate the point. This year we’ve gone global, with the whole world sheltered in place, while the “invisible enemy” takes its… Read More »Good Friday, April 10th

Wednesday, April 8th

“Surely it is not I, Lord?” Valentin de Boulogne, Last Supper The early Christian community was deeply shaken by what Judas had done. That one of the inner circle, to whom he had confided so much, could have betrayed him, was shocking. That comes through in today’s Gospel when, after telling… Read More »Wednesday, April 8th

Tuesday, April 7th

The impetuous one goes to school Gerard Seghers – Repentance of St Peter I’m drawn to the apostle Peter on this Tuesday of Holy Week. Peter, the impetuous one. “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”  We can call this another moment in the… Read More »Tuesday, April 7th

Monday, April 6th

Letting her hair down. We’ve taken to responding “perfect” these days to texts and emails making arrangements of one sort or another. It’s so common that, however reassuring, my contrarian self usually avoids it. Not so with what Mary does in today’s Gospel: anointing the feet of Jesus with a large quantity… Read More »Monday, April 6th