06. November 2023

As far as I remember I have always been fascinated by the beauty of Creation, the lilies in the field, the shimmering colors of a sunset, the immensity of the sky with its billions of billions of stars. I remember being stunned by the infinity big and the infinity small of Creation, by being one in this universe and uniquely loved by my Creator. The Psalm 8 expresses my prayer of this time: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in...

18. April 2022

That is six years that I am wandering the paths of the Ingwagwala trail, St Lucia (KZN) and, indeed, I have always been enchanted by the concert that the birds give in the little forest surrounding our property but often, also, disappointed not to be able to see them, hidden in the dense vegetation. A group of birders, joining us for our first weekend of retreat ‘Birding & Praying” in 2020, stimulated my curiosity. 180 species of different birds in a few days! How possible? How possible...

07. December 2021

Enjoying a weekend to rest & pray in the Isimangalso Wetland Park, a bird-watcher's paradise. 12-15 November 2021

22. September 2021

In these trying times where there is so much going on and so much despair, caused by all that we are going through as the world, country, community, family and individuals. We go through so much on a daily basis such that we feel suffocated and in dire need of ways to break free. In my short time of being a Spiritual Director and a giver of the Spiritual Exercises, I have had the privilege of meeting people of all ages and from all walks of life. These were people who were in search of their...

17. February 2021

After being one on one with the Lord for a period of 30 days, I can dare to say like Mary of Magdala that, “I have seen the Lord!” (Jn 20:18). By this I mean to say that my encounter with the person of Jesus Christ was a golden opportunity for me to know better the Christ I have been following for years now. It was also a time for me to look at myself before God and to realise how sinful I am and yet God still loves me unconditionally. It takes an event like this extraordinary intimacy with...

09. February 2021

After having 30 days of retreat at Saint Lucia centre, if I was to answer the following questions: How is Saint Lucia? Is it an appropriate place for an encounter between God and his creature? I would start by saying that Saint Lucia Retreat Centre is a place of WONDERS. Yes, it is a place where I came to experience the wonders of God such as His beautiful creation. And through that creation, I may reach to a clear conviction of God’s Love for me (St. Ignatius S.E 231). The Retreat Centre of...

28. January 2021

Weekly Blog: Contemplating Br. Neil McGurk’s “Faith, Physics and Love” Sunday 31st January 2021. Scripture for the week: Ephesians 1: 3-14 True conversion doesn’t happen just because we change our minds about something. Our choices won’t change until we truly believe a more compelling story. And as much as we want it to, the world won’t change until we ourselves become active participants in the expansion of consciousness and the restoration and healing of all things. (1) In the...

21. January 2021

At the beginning of this New Year, I walked on the labyrinth of the St Lucia Retreat Centre mown through the grass facing the estuary of the Lake. Amazed at the twists and turns the labyrinth takes, coming closer to the centre in a wandering way, it reminded me of the twists and turns life takes. Searching the path within the labyrinth has been symbolic of the mystical journey of our allotted time. It is a meandering drawn always into the “...still point of the turning world”, which lies in...

30. December 2020

FAITH, PHYSICS AND LOVE is a cosmology which reconciles the scientific accounts of the origin of the universe with the mystical knowing, from Christian revelatory experience, of how Creation and the human person, as embodied spirit, came to be. Through an account of the historical development of language and by engaging with the scientific enquiries from Newton’s theory of gravitation to quantum theory, Br Neil McGurk, fms, reveals the limitations of a phenomenological understanding of our...

20. October 2020

These words from Richard Rohr’s The Universal Christ became alive for me and so real in a deeply profound way, during my recent stay at the St Lucia Retreat Centre. Whenever, I return to the Retreat Centre and St Lucia, I feel like I am stepping through that magical wardrobe and into Narnia. A new adventure each time! On this visit, unlike other times, I had no expectations or goals, spiritual or otherwise that I felt a need to aspire to. I was ready to receive and embrace whatever came my...