Author Archives: acollins16

Transfigured

Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration here in Australia. There is so many aspects to break open in that narrative. The divinity of Jesus, revealed. God’s presence – yet again encountered up a mountain. Scripture fulfilled in the presence of Moses (Law) and Elijah (Prophets). The simple humanity of Peter, trying to hold inContinue reading “Transfigured”

The Future Entrusted to Us

It starts in the present. Catholic theology begins with the conviction that creation is gift. The earth is not merely raw material waiting to be exploited, but part of a created order entrusted to human care. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis challenges a model of progress measured only by production, consumption and extraction. Pope LeoContinue reading “The Future Entrusted to Us”

Looking through the eyes of grace

There is a kind of seeing that asks very little of the eyes. It does not scan the room for evidence, or gather visual proof, or measure worth by what is seen on the surface. It is a slower and quieter seeing, the kind that waits long enough for the truth of a person, aContinue reading “Looking through the eyes of grace”

Accountability

There is a sentence that sounds brave until you hear it from the underside of power. You need to hold them accountable. It is often said to the person who has already been wounded. The person who has already carried the cost, already spending too long wondering whether they are overreacting, whether they misunderstood, whetherContinue reading “Accountability”

More than decency

There are moments when grace does not feel like peace, it feels like being cracked open. Not destroyed, not humiliated for the sake of humiliation, not reduced to the worst thing within us, but interrupted in that deeply uncomfortable place where our carefully maintained sense of innocence begins to fail. Most of us prefer graceContinue reading “More than decency”

Babel with better WIFI

There is something almost biblical about artificial intelligence. Not because it is magical or demonic. Nor should we gather around a laptop and start looking for the Antichrist in autocomplete. AI is biblical because it exposes us. It reveals what we want (think back to the show Lucifer on Netflix (I think)). It reveals whatContinue reading “Babel with better WIFI”

The Strange Holiness of Growing Up

Maturity is one of those virtues we rarely name directly. We praise leadership, resilience, professionalism, courage, wisdom, kindness. Yet underneath all of them sits maturity: that quiet, costly capacity to be more governed by truth than ego, more committed to the good than to being right, more responsible for one’s impact than attached to one’sContinue reading “The Strange Holiness of Growing Up”

When we really need the joy of Sacraments

There is a particular kind of joy that arrives when it has no business arriving. It is not the polished kind, nor the carefully staged version that depends upon circumstances behaving themselves, calendars clearing, bodies cooperating, relationships mending, or the world remembering how to be gentle. Sacramental joy is stranger and sturdier than that. ItContinue reading “When we really need the joy of Sacraments”

For the troubled heart

There are sentences in Scripture that arrive like a hand placed gently on the table. Not dramatic or loaded with sentiment. Not loud enough to silence the room. Simply there. Steady. Present. Waiting to be noticed. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Jesus speaks these words in John’s Gospel on the edge of loss.Continue reading “For the troubled heart”