I daresay there are times when we all find ourselves at a loss for words; just like me at the moment! I need to write a short piece but am unable to find the right words.

All of this indicates that I need to rediscover words of wisdom spoken or written in the past by wiser minds than mine – and importantly to ponder on that wisdom.

We hear much today of the supposedly intractable differences between “us and them.” Even so whilst cultures, languages and traditions are strange to us we should strive to realise that these strangers – like us – are in God’s image. Jonathan Sachs noted that …”science takes things apart to see how they work. Religion puts them together to see what they mean.”

I sometimes wonder if we Christians give a false impression to observers. Karl Rahner noted that..”the main cause of atheism is christians. Those who proclaim Him with their mouths and deny Him with their actions is what an unbelieving world finds believable.”

Thomas Merton eventually discerned that …”Life is either spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.”

And there is a word of warning relating to our children from Hans Urs von Balthasar who cautioned that we should not instruct them in Christian teachings at a young age only to leave them to make up their minds at some unspecified date as to their future practice of faith.

All if which teaches us that history is a great teacher. We are never too old to learn from the past.