Oscar Wilde once said, “be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” It’s a call to really be the unique and unrepeatable person you are. There is something very compelling about authenticity and the choices we make say a lot about who we are.

I recently received some Christmas cards in the post. It’s such a novelty, because receiving actual post which isn’t a shopping item or bills is unusual. I enjoyed checking the postmark and looking at the handwriting to figure out who had sent it. The anticipation of opening a card from someone I’ve not seen in months forms part of the excitement!

At the beginning of the holidays one summer, after a long year, I stumbled across Anna Karenina. All 800 pages. You may have read or heard about it.

Emotional intimacy isn’t something that happens overnight; we could spend our whole married lives working towards it. Here are six things we can do in our marriages to cultivate stronger emotional intimacy:

No matter what level of faith people have, Lent is a time of year that always captures attention. Not least because we mark the beginning with ash on our forehead! Maybe it’s because of long established cultural norms here in Ireland that we’ve always associated Lent as a time when we ‘give things up’ and you might find, in conversation with others, that it’s never really considered as a time people look forward to!

St Augustine is noted to have famously said to God, prior to his conversion to the Christian faith, “give me chastity and temperance, but not yet!” After many trials and tears, this man went on to become a renowned saint and Doctor of the Church - meaning his writings and teachings have particular importance and value.

Being prepared to give an answer for the hope that lies within you can be daunting. It might seem like no one is really interested in their faith anymore.

Recently on a work trip to London, I took advantage of the opportunity to visit The National Gallery. One painting which took me by surprise was one by an artist I’d not heard of before, Annibale Carracci. In his painting ‘Domine, quo vadis?,’ he depicts Peter the Apostle as appearing stunned when he sees Christ walk past him with great vigour, carrying the cross.

I do not think anyone would argue with the breathtaking beauty of our planet. God’s creation is a true wonder for us. Our faith tells us, however, that this world is just our temporary dwelling and that there is an eternal dwelling that far exceeds anything we could imagine.

The first time I heard anyone publicly speak about sex was at a ‘chastity workshop’ in school when I was 16 years of age. We received a workshop that felt more in line with a talk about what is ‘forbidden’ by purity and abstinence, rather than learning about how the virtue of chastity might enrich our understanding of sex and its purpose in our lives.

One of the great things about being the mother of a large family is that there is always someone to hand the baby to when you need a few minutes to get something done. One of my little girls is the ‘go-to’ second mum in the house and she delights in being her little brother’s first choice!

What does Easter mean for you? Is it just another of those feasts that turn up on the calendar charting the arrival of spring? Bringing in its wake hosts of golden daffodils fluttering and dancing in the breeze, as the famous poem says? Or does Easter have another deeper meaning in your life’s trajectory?

Here we are in Holy Week, on the cusp of Easter. In a sense, this final week of Lent is like that last final stretch of a marathon; we are nearly there and the end is in sight. Yet this is also the time when we might feel most tempted to give up on those resolutions we’ve set ourselves because…well it’s almost Easter.

Walking through Dublin city centre on Ash Wednesday, I exchanged glances with a gentleman passing me on the footpath. Both of us were wearing ashes on our foreheads. It was a moment of connection, acknowledging each other's faith and observance of the holy day.

Trust has been described as “Choosing to risk making something you value vulnerable to another person’s actions”.

When we are offended, aggrieved, wronged we win when we do the forgiving. We win when we become vulnerable and take the “hit” for someone else’s wrongdoing.

This blog is not an attempt to deal with any one issue, but to look at the bigger picture and perhaps try to answer the questions: Why is there suffering in the world at all? And what is God doing about it?

Right down through our history, Christianity has been a hallmark of Irishness. It inspired the rise of independence, resilience in the face of poverty and the combat of disease by missionaries on a global scale.

One of the benefits of dark evenings is that the night skies become more visible. Taking the opportunity on a clear night to step away from the street lights, and with a break in the clouds, the most dazzling array of twinkling lights in the black sky appear.

Pope Francis was once asked by a student “What can I do to convince my fellow students who are all atheists to believe in God?” Pope Francis answered him quite clearly. Do nothing. The last thing you need to do is to say something. Start to live your life, and they will ask you “Why do you live that way?”