Every year the sight of footpaths lined with shrivelling Christmas trees, lying strippedof the last remnants of the season, gives me a tinge of sadness at the realisation thatthe Church enters once again ‘ordinary time.’ In reality, ‘Ordinary Time’ is far from aliteral description, but a new season and opportunity to more deeply contemplate themystery … Continue reading The Magi lead us into our ‘Ordinary days’
Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. - John 15:13 There is something about driving in traffic that brings out my least merciful side. All of a sudden many of my fellow drivers become highly unlovable creatures and I find myself asking my steering wheel … Continue reading ADORATION LENTEN REFLECTION – WEEK 6
Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!" -John 19:15 Public humiliation is the hardest and most painful thing any human being can endure. But public humiliation by a lover – a break-up, a failed marriage proposal, the exposure of infidelity - has a … Continue reading Rosary Reflections – The 3rd Sorrowful Mystery
"When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them from all their troubles" - Psalm 34:17 Who are the righteous?Righteous is a word that gets a bad rap, self-righteous immediately springs to mind, as well as pharisaical and smug and sanctimonious. But righteous, like many words, has kind of lost it's real … Continue reading ADORATION LENTEN REFLECTION – WEEK 5
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. - Matthew 5:7 Mercy: compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm. Lent is a season in which it is easy to develop a punitive attitude to one’s self. “Dang! I failed at my fast - again…I am … Continue reading Adoration Lenten Reflection – Week 4
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. - Psalm 27:14 This line forms the last verse of a psalm composed by Judah’s King David – with its famous opening verse The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? Psalm 27 has an interesting “voice” and mood. It is … Continue reading Adoration Lenten Reflection – Week 3
“ He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and agitated.Then he said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, let … Continue reading Rosary Reflections – The First Sorrowful Mystery
"At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil"- Matthew 4:1 What has the Gospel of Matthew got to do with the German fairy story of Rumpelstiltskin? I didn’t know either, until I started writing, but it goes something like this. When we pray the ‘Our Father’, … Continue reading Adoration Lenten Reflection – Week 2
“Nothing in all of creation can ever separate us from the love of God.” - Romans 8:39 In 1930, after his conversion to Christianity, TS Elliot wrote several poems of Lent, I found that this one from Ash Wednesday - Part 6 really speak to me about this week. “This is the time of tension between … Continue reading Adoration Lenten Reflection – Week 1
For a good deal of my life, the only time I “adored” was in the Lolly Shop close to home, oh, and on Holy Thursday when I dutifully followed the priest to the altar of repose. This term, “altar of repose”, I only learned when I was 28 and having a conversion to the Catholic … Continue reading Adoration and the grit required to Adore
