God’s presence sanctifies all. Space and time – the dull and superficial space and time of our daily lives – are sanctified by Christ’s presence. Think of that this Sunday, when your priest comes out of the Altar holding the chalice … Read more

I’ve always found it difficult to think of sacredness in terms of space (or time, for that matter). If sacredness is (as it is) a result of God’s presence in the world, I cannot see how space or time can … Read more

People are right, Iona truly is ‘a thin place’, a great Celtic expression, describing special places where Heaven and earth are drawn together. What I didn’t know before I came for this week (and perhaps, what many of us do … Read more

I don’t know what to write today. It is all too immediate, too close to me still, and I lack any sense of perspective. It’s been a beautiful, sunny day. I finally got to St Columba’s Bay – all by … Read more

Why am I here?… What have I come for? How much more alone can I get? I’m a monastic, I’ve felt my family, I’ve left my country; I’m now on a tiny island, in a small tent, in the middle … Read more

One week on Iona. Alone, in my tent. A few days and nights with nothing to face except Christ’s love for His creation: you and I. A few days suspended from the empty rush of this life. Some time out … Read more

Pray by night. Pray alone. Pray using no book, no image, no thought. Just stay awake for ten minutes after you wake up to have a glass of water, after your child or a nightmare wakes you. Stand there in … Read more

Here is a gift for you: a Cross from Iona, in anticipation of the Second Sunday after Pentecost, when we celebrate our Local Saints. This is the Feast Day of our Monastery, the Feast of All Celtic Saints. This is … Read more

Don’t waste your time and energy hunting for a predetermined idea of who you are; don’t waste your life hunting for an ideal, an image or a name, because it really is irrelevant what you call yourself. You are not … Read more