The week of prayer for Christian unity can be, for many, one of the most depressing weeks of the year; so much aspiration deflated by so little achieved.
Yet the Christian journey and the life of the Church are made up of such paradoxes, some of which verge on outright contradiction.
How is it that a personal encounter with the living God can be one of the most dynamic and transforming experiences in a lifetime, but some religious events, which are intended to contain and articulate it, can be so dull and ineffective?
