Welcome to the Spring edition of Madonna. Spring always surprises. Our theme 'Letting God Out of the Box,' explores our relationship with God, reminding us that the healing mysteries of God's work amongst us in our world often escape our expectations.
Music creates a space where souls speak and are heard; places where silence can sing. Sometimes simply walking in nature opens our hearts to the sacred. To look through the microscope sparks delight in discovering God at work even in the tiniest fragments of matter. When we are confronted every day with media reports of conflict generated by religious hatred, we need to remind ourselves that nothing masks the face of God as bad religion. The Holy Spirit will always escape such attempts to define and control in God's name.
Sometimes we keep God in a box of our own making - deciding that we will take control from now on, often in those times when God seems to be absent. Yet God's perfect freedom speaks even in the flight of a bird.
In November, we celebrate the Feasts of All Saints and All Souls. Remembering those who have passed can be sun and rain in one day, as days often are in spring. There is poignancy in the loss of those we love; but sometimes, too, a quiet joy as we recall the blessing they were for us. Remember with gratitude that we belong to one another in the spaciousness of God's loving care. In the Daily Prayers this edition, we pray in the company of Mary our Mother, celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary with a special feature marking the Centenary of Fatima, and the three Little Shepherds to whom she entrusted her call for peace.
God always surprises.
Margaret-Mary Flynn, Associate Editor.
COVER IMAGE. Antonio Gaudà commenced La Sagrada Famiglia Cathedral in 1880. Like great Cathedrals of the Middle Ages, it has taken over a century to build, evolving along the way. The last stage is expected to be completed by 2026.
Gaudà was inspired by Gothic, Art Nouveau and Cubist styles, but above all by nature's fluid curves, shapes and textures. The porphyry columns, with their interlocking branches suspended over the vault of the Nave and Transept, reaching 45 metres above, represent trees and branches. The building has inspired controversy from the first; liked or loathed, it demands a passionate response. Its vastness of scale, intricacy of detail and endless imaginative possibilities speak of God and the beauty of God's ongoing story shared with us, creatures made to create in response.
