Sunday:

Snow. Walked to Mass through whirling whiteness. Jamie has a bad cough and cold. V. interesting sermon about the encounter with Christ on the road to Emmaus - had never really thought about this incident before and it suddenly came alive and assumed its true significance - as I write this I find myself thinking of that Caravaggio (sp?) painting...

To Mother's: I had got a video of some vintage Dad's Army episodes and it was 50p well spent. Watched and laughed and drank tea while addressing envelopes for the big mailing to all clergy in 4 dioceses for the Festival of Catholic Culture (one quarter of one diocese done - so am on track to get all completed by September!)

Talk this evening to local World Youth Day group. They start their meetings with prayer before the Bl. Sacrament, and Benediction. It was touching to see all these young people kneeling in silence in church when I slipped in at the back, rather rushed and breathless. Leading the group is Fr Dominic Allain of St Pius X church, next parish along from ours.

I had been invited to speak about the Holy Father (ref. my book on him). Extraordinarily, I just this week acquired an excellent book about his theology: Ratzinger's Faith, by Tracey Rowland. I'll be writing a lot more about this later. Tracey R. is a crunchy writer and thinker, Dean and Associate Professor of Political Philosophy at the JPII Institute in Melbourne. She's also a great friend and I'm thrilled to have got her book, fresh off the press from OUP.