The empty place

OK folks, it's that time of year when the batteries are running a bit low, and I'm lucky enough to get away for a bit of recharging. So there'll be a pause in postings for about 12 days, while I'm on holiday. I'll be spending half with my family, and half in warmer climes, visiting an area I've never been to before. With  so much uncertainty in the air in my little world - about a summer supply, about a replacement for Fr James, about a new archbishop etc, it's time to throw up my hands and say "I'm off!"

I'll take the opportunity to thank you, gentle readers, for your support. I'm amazed this blog is still going - and, indeed growing. One of my aims was to try and put across something of the everyday life of priests, and something of our ordinary backgrounds - we aren't parachuted into this world with dog collars already around our necks!

So, if you are also lucky enough to get away this summer - enjoy, and come back refreshed, ready to labour in the Lord's vineyard.

Meanwhile, here is Andrej Rublev's famous icon of the Trinity at the Oak of Mamre from Sunday's first reading. God came to Abraham and Sarah in the form of three men. Rublev shows them sitting around the table with food prepared. All that's missing is someone at the fourth side of the table - and that, of course, is you...
Click on the icon for a bigger version