Sunday 30 November 2014

Brothers

"And I ask of you a favour: bless me and the Church of Rome"

Patriarch Bartholomew of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Pope Francis - the apostle Andrew holds his long separated brother Peter in his arms, and the world changes, just a little.

I was going to write a long piece about this, and I deleted it.  It doesn't need it.  The photograph says more than I could ever do.

Tuesday 11 November 2014

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.


Remembering the Jesuit martyrs of El Salvador

The text below was written by John D. Whitney S.J. and can be found in its entirity at

https://www.facebook.com/notes/john-d-whitney-sj/standing-with-the-resurrected/10154859340170389?pnref=story




"The murder of these Jesuits and their companions 25 years ago this week is only one small instance of all the unjust deaths that cry out from our world. It is but one moment in a vast history of cruelty and fear, of murder and oppression that stretches from Zimbabwe to Algeria, from the Ukraine to Guantanamo, from the beheadings of ISIS to the unmarked graves of the Mexican teachers. All the victims of oppression and terror, of fear and savagery, of hatred and despair—all who languish in prisons for believing in justice, or who watch their children die in refugee camps because justice will not come, all who suffer under the indifference of their oppressors or by the oppression of those who remain indifferent—all of these call to us today and challenge our professed faith in God and in the resurrection promised through Christ.

The promise of the resurrection is not a promise of life after death, but a promise of life that transcends death. It is a promise, written in the blood of Jesus Christ, that everything we are in faith now, we will be in fullness then. Everything for which we look in hope now, we will see with clarity then. Everything we hold onto now in love, we will possess in fullness then.

In their death, the Jesuits and companions of El Salvador received not resuscitation of their bodies, not life after death, but resurrection. All that had opened to Christ through their work and their teaching, through their manner of life and their witness, became Christ; all in them that had hungered for Christ was filled with Christ; all that had—through the work of their hands—begun to be Christ in the world, returned to them in their witnessing of Christ with their own lives as men and women of the resurrection. "

Wednesday 17 September 2014

I'm furious

Seriously furious.

Non Catholic probably don't know there's a Synod on the Family coming up in October.  Catholics (mostly) don't know or don't care.  The few idiots like me who actually read all the crap that comes out of Catholic websites, both Trad and Liberal, may have come across this gem this morning.

"Cardinal George Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, and a member of the Pope's G-9 advisory group, in a foreword to a book entitled "The Gospel of the Family," to be released by Ignatius Press on Oct 1, has written, "The sooner the wounded, the lukewarm, and the outsiders realize that substantial doctrinal and pastoral changes are impossible, the more the hostile disappointment (which must follow the reassertion of doctrine) will be anticipated and dissipated." (hat tip to Fr James Martin SJ on Facebook).

Now allowing for the fact that this particular Cardinal has not entirely covered himself in glory over Australia's child sex abuse scandals, and that the Internet is full of his less well advised sayings, this one to me hits a new low.  Lump together the segments of the People of God that he just wishes would go away and shut up, and say that the sooner they get over their collective whinging the sooner we can get back to the status quo simply beggars belief.  No, that's wrong.  I wish it did beggar belief.  The fact that I've almost come to expect this sort of crap off certain segments of the hierarchy speaks volumes, because the huge lack of compassion in those words resounds in my head.

Ironically, I've barely ranted about the Church since Papa Francis came in, because so much of the crasser outpourings from Cardinals old enough (but not wise enough) to know better has been toned down.  But it's still there.

Lay aside whether or not anything can change, will change, or should change.  The lack of compassion by someone who considers himself a shepherd of men should have Cardinal Pell on his knees by his personal confessor tonight.  Sadly, I doubt it.

I need a drink.

Thursday 11 September 2014

Seek and you shall find...that which you were not looking for

I went searching for a Thomas Merton quote today.  I still haven't found the one I was looking for which is quite annoying because I remember reading it somewhere in the last 48 hours.  But I found this - which fitted the rather negative mood I was in beautifully.  And reminded me that silence is also an answer.

The quote comes from a letter he wrote to a woman named Katherine Champney on the 10th of November 1966.  It can be found in its entirity on the Web with a bit of searching, but these two paragraphs jumped straight out at me.

"That is my quarrel with religious people. They are selling answer and consolations. They are in the reassurance business. I give you no reassurance whatever except that I know your void and I am in it, but I have a different way of understanding myself in it. It is not that much more delightful. But it does to me make a great deal of sense—for me. I will say this, that it is to me after all reassuring to be able to run into Zen people and Moslem masters and so on and realize we understand each other perfectly. And I hasten to say that you don’t have to feel all that alone either. Incidentally, in an earlier and less chastened version of that article, I said that really I felt much more at home with unbelievers than with believers. In a sense I do. But I can’t that easily evade the embarrassment that Church people cause in me perpetually. 

So, friend Katherine, I am not Father Merton inside the warm Church calling you to come and sit by the fire of positive thinking or something. I am out in the cold with you because (forgive the flip saying) God is where He isn’t. And maybe that’s where the Church is, too (when all the miters are off and the vestments are hung in the closet). I won’t run on anymore, but I think I have said enough to make clear that I think the whole business of faith and the message of faith is in the process of finding a whole new language—or of shutting up altogether. Hence the answer to your question: if God does not speak to you, it is not your fault, and it is not His fault, it is the fault of the whole mentality that creates the impression that He has to be constantly speaking to people. Those who are the loudest to affirm they hear Him are people not to be trusted. But, nevertheless, there is a way of understanding that non-hearing is hearing. Maybe it is all too subtle."

Tuesday 12 August 2014

I live for those that love me

This is a poem of which I have known the last verse for a long time, but I never thought to look up the rest of it.  Now I wish I'd gone looking for it earlier.

What I live for - George Linnaeus Banks

I LIVE for those who love me,
  Whose hearts are kind and true,
For heaven that smiles above me,
  And waits my spirit, too;
For all the ties that bind me,       
For all the tasks assigned me,
And bright hopes left behind me,
  And good that I can do.
 
I live to learn their story
  Who’ve suffered for my sake,       
To emulate their glory,
  And follow in their wake;
Bards, patriots, martyrs, sages,
The noble of all ages,
Whose deeds crown history’s pages,       
  And Time’s great volume make.
 
I live to hold communion
  With all that is divine,
To feel there is a union
  ’Twixt Nature’s heart and mine;       
To profit by affliction,
Reap truths from fields of fiction,
And, wiser from conviction,
  Fulfil each grand design.
 
I live to hail that season,       
  By gifted minds foretold,
When men shall rule by reason,
  And not alone by gold;
When man to man united,
And every wrong thing righted,       
The whole world shall be lighted
  As Eden was of old.
 
I live for those who love me,
  Whose hearts are kind and true,
For heaven that smiles above me,       
  And waits my spirit too;
For the cause that lacks assistance,
For the wrong that needs resistance,
For the future in the distance,
  And the good that I can do.

Wednesday 6 August 2014

Conversation with eight year old son

This conversation took place today (this is a much shortened form) with eight year old son.  He made his First Communion this year, and clearly took away a lot to think about from it.

Him - So, why did God make all the Greek gods like Zeus if he's the only God.
Me - Well, you have to think of it like a big jigsaw puzzle.  At different times in history, people found bits of the jigsaw and thought they had the whole picture.  But they all saw it differently.  The Ancient Greeks saw God in a different way.
Him - But didn't they know what the picture was?
Me - No - the jigsaw puzzle hadn't got a picture on the box.  So people put bits together, and got an idea of part of the picture.
Him - So what happened then?
Me - They all started fighting about it.
Him - That's really, really stupid.
Me - Yes.  People are.

I've got an infant theologian here.  My PP is convinced small son is a Jesuit in the making :)

Sunday 3 August 2014

Tuesday 24 June 2014

Love

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
Guiltie of dust and sinne.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.
"A guest," I answer'd, "worthy to be here," Love said, "You shall be he."
"I the unkinde, ungratefull?
Ah my deare I cannot look on thee."
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
"Who made the eyes but I:"
"Truth, Lord; but I have marr'd them:
let my shame Go where it doth deserve."
"And know you not," sayes Love, "who bore the blame?"
"My deare, then will I serve."
"You must sit down," sayes Love,
"and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.


[George Herbert: "Love"]

Friday 20 June 2014

If Christ had become incarnate now...

If Christ had become incarnate now
                and were a thirty-year-old man today,
            he would be here in the cathedral
                and we wouldn't know him from the rest of you —
            a thirty-year-old man, a peasant from Nazareth,
                here in the cathedral like any peasant
                from our countryside.
            The Son of God made flesh would be here
                and we wouldn't know him —
                    one completely like us.

            How shameful to think that perhaps pagans,
                people with no faith in Christ,
            may be better than we
                and nearer to God's reign.
            Remember how Christ received a pagan centurion
                and told him, "I'll go and cure your servant"?
            The centurion, full of humility and confidence,
                said, "No, Lord, I am not worthy that you go there.
            Just say a word
                and my servant will be cured."
            Christ marveled, says the gospel, and he said,
                "Truly, I have not found such faith in Israel."
            I say:
            Christ will also say of this church:
            outside the limits of Catholicism
            perhaps there is more faith,
                more holiness.
            So we must not extinguish the Spirit.
            The Spirit is not the monopoly of a movement,
                even of a Christian movement,
            of a hierarchy, or priesthood, or religious congregation.
            The Spirit is free,
            and he wants men and women,
            wherever they are,
            to realize their vocation to find Christ,
                who became flesh to save all human flesh.
            Yes, to save all, dear brothers and sisters.
            I know that some people come to the cathedral
                who have even lost the faith and are non-Christians.
            Let them be welcome.
            And if this message is saying something to them,
            I ask them to reflect in their inner consciousness,
                for, like Christ, I can tell them:
            the kingdom of God is not far from you,
                God's kingdom is within your heart.
            Seek it, and you will find it.

            The Bible has a very meaningful expression:
                The Spirit makes all things new.
            We are those who grow old,
                and we want everyone made to our aged pattern.
            The Spirit is never old,
            the Spirit is always young.



Archbishop Oscar Romero
From the chapter "Evangelizer of the People"
The Violence of Love
Sermons and writings, 17 December 1978, Gaudete Sunday
pp. 108-110


Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (August 15, 1917 - March 24, 1980) was a prominent Roman Catholic priest in El Salvador during the 1960s and 1970s becoming Archbishop of San Salvador in 1977. After witnessing numerous violations of human rights, he began to speak out on behalf of the poor and the victims of repression. This led to numerous conflicts, both with the government in El Salvador and within the Catholic Church. After speaking out against U.S. military support for the government of El Salvador, and calling for soldiers to disobey orders to fire on innocent civilians, Archbishop Romero was shot dead while celebrating Mass at the small chapel of the cancer hospital where he lived. It is believed that those who organized his assassination were members of Salvadoran death squads, including two graduates of the School of the Americas.

Monday 2 June 2014

Nothing...

Headsup to the people at peopleforothers.loyolapress.com for this one.  Thanks folks.

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime.
Therefore we are saved by hope.

Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history.
Therefore we are saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore we are saved by love. 

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own.
Therefore we are saved by the final form of love,
Which is forgiveness.

-Reinhold Niebuhr


Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite a virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.
— Reinhold Niebuhr - See more at: http://peopleforothers.loyolapress.com/page/2/#sthash.Pmnz1R56.dpuf
Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite a virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.
— Reinhold Niebuhr - See more at: http://peopleforothers.loyolapress.com/page/2/#sthash.Pmnz1R56.dpuf
Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime,
Therefore, we are saved by hope.
Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
Therefore, we are saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone.
Therefore, we are saved by love.
No virtuous act is quite a virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.
— Reinhold Niebuhr - See more at: http://peopleforothers.loyolapress.com/page/2/#sthash.Pmnz1R56.dpuf

Monday 26 May 2014

The Rules





Saw this today on Facebook and I remember being told something very similar to this in my first year at veterinary college.  I  thought today that they weren't bad rules for spiritual formation either.  Especially number 11, which is the main reason I'm still a Catholic.  I've found a lot in my faith to love, which is as it should be.  I've found a lot that drives me crazy too, which is probably also as it should be.  I've found that ignoring the tough questions is never a solution but prayer, patience and discussion of said questions often is. 

Number 3 I believe is actually a direct paraphrase of St Paul. 

"Do not quench the Spirit.  Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil." (1 Thes 5:19-22)
  
 




Thursday 22 May 2014

European elections

Just saw this reposted by a friend.

"I do like a polling card that can touch the floor when you hold it. So, the choices were: Socialist, Neo-Socialist, Crypto-Socialist, United Reformed Socialists, Real Socialists, TRUE Socialists (leader, Bob Crow, Deceased), Film Socialisme, UKIP, Not-Quite UKIP, Get Out Of Europe Free, Ex-UKIP, Get Out of Europe AND the United Kingdom, The Green Party, The Greener Than Green Party, Christians United Will Never Be Defeated, Tom O'Connor, Independents United Against Other Independents and the Conservative Party....yet people say there's no one to vote for!"

Sad thing is, judging by my ballot paper today, I don't think he was joking....

Thursday 8 May 2014

No idea who the author of this is, but since they want it passed on I'm happily doing so.  Sad.  Really very sad.


OBITUARY FOR THE LATE MR. COMMON SENSE
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense,who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and Maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6 year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get Parental consent to administer Calpol, sun lotion, or a band-aid to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 3 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.
A moment of silence.

Tuesday 22 April 2014

He is risen



Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

John chapter 21, vv 11-18, New International Version

Thursday 17 April 2014

Betrayal

This has been my meditation for Holy Week - the subject of betrayal.  At what point did Christ know that Judas would betray him?  Was he even to the last hour hoping that this was not going to happen, that somehow things could be different?  Had he chosen the man in the certain foreknowledge that this would be who gave him up to the shame and the executioners?  Or had Judas free will, and right to the last, could he have chosen differently?

Every branch of the Christian faith would probably give you a different answer.  I think this has been on my mind this week because of some of my own problems in real life - and they seem so petty.  Troubles at work where two groups of people are each blaming the other for something that if it is anyone's fault at all is almost certainly between the two.  A governing body which I fear is going to seize on a convenient scapegoat and either punish one or both simply so they are seen to do something.  At present nobody is blaming me, but I am squarely between the two groups with the feeling that at any moment either group could turn on me to try to shift the blame.

And a prayer I don't like to even think about is nudging its way into my consciousness.

If someone blameless is to carry the blame in the end - why shouldn't it be me?  I call myself the follower of Jesus Christ who was delivered innocent to his tormentors, shamed, scourged and nailed to a tree? 
If it is inevitable that blame will be dealt out, and punishment will follow, and the punishment will be unjust no matter who it falls on - better it should be me?  Better that it should fall on my shoulders than a young vet who would be devastated by it?  If a fine is to be levied, better that it should fall on me than someone who in having to pay it would lose their home?  If public shame is going to follow, better that I should carry that than the other people who would lose jobs if it happened?

I can't ask it.  Not yet.  I pray for the justice I don't expect, and that somehow that justice will indeed prevail and this whole cup may pass.
And I pray for the strength that if justice does not prevail, that I might actually be able to pray that this falls on me, and not someone who will be destroyed. 

Dear Lord, take this cup away.  Let this pass.  But not my will, but thine be done.


Sunday 6 April 2014

Purgatory

Today I caught on Radio 4 a BBC dramatisation of Dante's "Divine Comedy".  The first episode was last week so I missed the Inferno and caught up with Virgil and Dante on the slopes of Mount Purgatory. 

It has been many years since I read the whole of the Divine Comedy and clearly I need to go back and read it again, as there's so much I'd forgotten. 

According to Wikipedia, "Purgatory, according to Catholic Church doctrine is an intermediary state after physical death in which those destined for heaven "undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven".[1] Only those who die in the state of grace but have not in life reached a sufficient level of holiness can be in Purgatory, and therefore no one in Purgatory will remain forever in that state or go to hell. This theological notion has ancient roots and is well-attested in early Christian literature, but the poetic conception of Purgatory as a geographically existing place is largely the creation of medieval Christian piety and imagination."

Purgatory was always a hard concept for me, and never one that I felt I really understood well.  The "Dream of Gerontius", a poem by John Henry Newman, brought me closest to understanding, the redeemed soul flying in love and desire to the feet of its Creator though the touch brought agony and the desire to be made fit to be in the presence of God.

Angel

                              …. Praise to His Name!
The eager spirit has darted from my hold,
And, with the intemperate energy of love,
Flies to the dear feet of Emmanuel;
But, ere it reach them, the keen sanctity,
Which with its effluence, like a glory, clothes
And circles round the Crucified, has seized,
And scorch'd, and shrivell'd it; and now it lies
Passive and still before the awful Throne.
O happy, suffering soul! for it is safe,
Consumed, yet quicken'd, by the glance of God.


Soul

Take me away, and in the lowest deep
              There let me be,
And there in hope the lone night-watches keep,
              Told out for me.
There, motionless and happy in my pain,


Perhaps my best understanding of it came from giving birth to my son.  It was a thirty six hour labour, for various reasons the pain relief I was given was ineffective, and I counted out those hours in love and desire, and fear, and great pain.  And I listened to the monitor that they had rigged to let me hear my son's heartbeat, and somehow bore out the hours of helplessness a heartbeat at a time.  When I heard his loud cry and knew he had been born alive and strong, then all the pain and exhaustion didn't matter any more.  They put him into my arms - and I looked into the face of Heaven.   Heaven had huge eyes and dark hair and soft pale skin and was utterly perfect.  And I finally understood the journey through Purgatory, with Love waiting at the end.



Sunday 23 March 2014

Thoughts for Lent

Over the next weeks I will be posting a number of images linked for me to Lent - always a time of reflection, and this time for me a time of thinking about pain.  Other people's pain.  Pain I inflicted, or that was inflicted in my name (with or without my knowledge), or pain that I became implicit in through my silence.  It is no accident that at the start of the Roman Catholic Mass we ask the forgiveness of God for what we have done and for what we have failed to do, and more than one other Christian denomination adds the request for forgiveness for what was done in our names.

The image for today is a rose, and the poem accompanying it is by Joseph Mary Plunkett.  A simple reminder that Jesus will carry his cross to the end of the world, in the pain of his people.





I

I see His Blood Upon the Rose
 
I see his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.
 
I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice—and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words.
 
All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree.

Friday 21 March 2014

Bishop Philip Egan and I are sharing a brain cell. This is scary.

Bishop Egan for many reasons I won't go into here has rarely been one of my favorite people.  The Bishop of Portsmouth is rarely backward in coming forward when speaking to the press, and I consider some of what he has said in the past to be not the best way of reaching out to people who are walking away from the Catholic Church.  That's all I'm going to say, so asking me for details won't get them.  Feel free to google what he's said in the past.

But that doesn't mean he's always wrong either.

Just today I found this.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/english-bishop-exhorts-faithful-to-be-charitable-online/

"In moral decisions, including the decision about what to post online, “we cannot choose simply on the basis of what gives us pleasure and what causes us pain,” wrote Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth in a pastoral letter released March 19.

Instead, in the letter titled “Sin, Lent, Redemption," he said people should focus on “what is right and what is wrong, recognizing that often, to do the right thing involves self-sacrifice.”

Bishop Egan asked Catholics to pay attention to their interactions on the internet. “How do I use Facebook or Twitter? Am I charitable when blogging?" he asked. "Do I revel in other people’s failings?”

“All this is grave matter,” Bishop Egan taught in his letter, which will be read at parishes of the Portsmouth diocese March 23. Grave matter – something that directly contradicts one of the Ten Commandments – is one of the three necessary conditions for a mortal sin, he noted.

So Bishop Egan, if you're reading this (which I find unlikely in the extreme) - on this point I will happily agree with you one hundred per cent.  God bless you and keep you, and no doubt we will disagree again, which is also unlikely to ever worry you.  But God bless you anyway.

Sunday 16 March 2014

We are one in the Spirit

This is a hymn that was sung in the Catholic church where I went to Mass as a small child.  I have never heard it in a Catholic church since then.  It doesn't appear in the hymn book at my current parish.  And yet I have had it echoing in my mind since the arrival of Pope Francis, simply because Catholic Social Teaching suddenly became front and centre again, and Liberation Theology came out of the closet.  The verse about work - working with each other, guarding each other's dignity and pride by doing so - rings strange to our ears and it shouldn't.  The concept of the dignity of work and the right of a worker to a living wage is central to Catholic teaching - but it's been submerged for many years.

Also the refrain "and they'll know we are Christians by our love" - a salutary reminder perhaps to think once, twice and three times before putting up that blog post that I've composed in anger.  Anger is too easy, and in the faceless Internet it is too easy to lash out blindly at the person who has hurt you by their posting.  "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored,
And they'll know we are Christians
By our love, by our love.
Yes, they'll know we are Christians
By our love.

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand.
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand.
And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land,
And they'll know we are Christians by our love


We will work with each other, we will work side by side.
We will work with each other, we will work side by side.
And we'll guard each man's dignity, and save each man's pride.
And they'll know we are Christians by our love.


All praise to the Father from whom all things come.
And all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son.
And all praise to the Spirit who makes us one.
And they'll know we are Christians by our love

Friday 14 March 2014

Rest in peace, Tony Benn

RIP Tony Benn 1925-2014

One of Britain's political greats, even if there was a lot he said and did that I didn't agree with.  And these words which he said in 2005 should be written in letters of fire on the door of the House of Commons.

Ask the five great questions

What power have you got?
Where did you get it from?
In whose interests do you exercise it?
To whom are you accountable?
How can we get rid of you?

Only democracy gives us that right.  That is why no-one with power likes democracy and that is why every generation must struggle to win it and keep it; including you and me, here and now.

Rest in peace. 

Tuesday 11 March 2014

I haven't heard this hymn for a long time, and for some reason it came into my head tonight.

“Do not be afraid” written by Gerald Markland, based on Isaiah 43:1-4

Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by your name;
you are mine.

When you walk through the waters ,
I’ll be with you;
you will never sink beneath the waves.
Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by your name;
you are mine.

When the fire is burning all around you,
you will never be consumed by the flames.
Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by your name;
you are mine.

When the fear of loneliness is looming,
then remember I am at your side.
Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by your name;
you are mine.

When you dwell in the exile of a stranger,
remember you are precious in my eyes.
Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by your name;
you are mine.

You are mine,O my child,
I am your Father,
and I love you with a perfect love.
Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you.
I have called you by your name;
you are mine.

We all spend so much of our lives afraid.  Even now it is so hard to believe in a promise this huge, a love this all-encompassing.  We can't believe it might actually be this simple - a God who loves us, holds us, redeems us, calls us by name.  It just can't be that simple.

Can it?


Thursday 27 February 2014

Only for today....

Blessed John XXIII said so many wise things that it's hard to find one to pick up - but for me it would have to be his Daily Decalogue. 

  1. Only for today, I will seek to live the livelong day positively without wishing to solve the problems of my life all at once.
  2. Only for today, I will take the greatest care of my appearance; I will dress modestly; I will not raise my voice; I will be courteous in my behaviour; I will not criticise anyone; I will not claim to improve or to discipline anyone except myself.
  3. Only for today, I will be happy in the certainty that I was created to be happy, not only in the other world but also in this one.
  4. Only for today, I will adapt to circumstances, without requiring all circumstances to be adapted to my own wishes.
  5. Only for today, I will devote ten minutes of my time to some good reading, remembering that just as food is necessary to the life of the body, so good reading is necessary to the life of the soul.
  6. Only for today, I will do one good deed and not tell anyone about it.
  7. Only for today, I will do one thing I do not like doing; and if my feelings are hurt, I will make sure no one notices.
  8. Only for today, I will make a plan for myself; I may not follow it to the letter, but I will make it. And I will be on guard against two evils, hastiness and indecision.
  9. Only for today, despite appearances, I will firmly believe that the good Providence of God cares for me as no one else who exists in the world.
  10. Only for today, I will have no fears. In particular, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and to believe in goodness. Indeed for twelve hours I can certainly do what might cause me consternation were I to believe I had to do it all my life.

Sunday 16 February 2014

Found written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  
Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  
Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  

Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  

It was never between you and them anyway.