Monday 28 March 2016

He is risen

Christians, to the Paschal Victim
offer sacrifice and praise. 
The sheep are ransomed by the Lamb;
and Christ, the undefiled,
hath sinners to his Father reconciled.
Death with life contended:
combat strangely ended!
Life's own Champion, slain,
yet lives to reign.
Tell us, Mary:
say what thou didst see upon the way.
The tomb the Living did enclose;
I saw Christ's glory as He rose! 
The angels there attesting;
shroud with grave-clothes resting.
Christ, my hope, has risen:
He goes before you into Galilee.
That Christ is truly risen
from the dead we know.
Victorious King, Thy mercy show!

Friday 25 March 2016

The Stations of The Cross (repost)


Any Catholic is familiar with the Stations of the Cross.  Every church we've ever been to has had them, the art work as varied as the churches themselves.

But this set I keep coming back to over and over - Mary Button's "Stations of the Cross - The struggle for LGBT equality"  I find the art work remarkable, and they can reduce me to tears over and over.

Before you judge them - look at them.  Read the commentary.

The artist herself says it best when she says:

"I believe that we can only begin to understand the meaning of the crucifixion when we take away our polished and shiny crosses and look for the cross in our own time, in our own landscape.
When we look for the crucified body of Christ in the stories of people on the margins of our societies, then we are able to live the Gospel and not simply read it."
You will find the whole series here at :

Tuesday 23 February 2016

Friendship

These words are from St Francis de Sales, and were in my mind very much tonight while remembering a conversation with a priest who I think would allow me to call him friend, and who calls me the same.

"In a well-regulated monastery, perfection in the love of God is the common goal, that toward which all are supposed to tend; it is not necessary, therefore, to speak of it with a particular friend, lest by seeking in particular what ought to be sought in common, one pass from particulars to preferences and divisions.
But for those who live in the midst of the world and yet strive for true virtue, it is necessary to ally themselves to one another by a holy and sacred friendship through which they stimulate, assist and encourage each other toward good.
Those who walk on level ground do not need to hold hands, but those who climb steep and slippery roads need to hold on to each other in order to progress more securely.
Religious have no need of particular friendships, but those living in the world need them as a mutual strength and aid in the many difficult passages that have to be crossed."

Sunday 21 February 2016

"Any Woman" - Katharine Tynan

 I am the pillars of the house;
The keystone of the arch am I.
Take me away, and roof and wall
Would fall to ruin me utterly.

I am the fire upon the hearth,
I am the light of the good sun,
I am the heat that warms the earth,
Which else were colder than a stone.

At me the children warm their hands;
I am their light of love alive.
Without me cold the hearthstone stands,
Nor could the precious children thrive.

I am the twist that holds together
The children in its sacred ring,
Their knot of love, from whose close tether
No lost child goes a-wandering.

I am the house from floor to roof,
I deck the walls, the board I spread;
I spin the curtains, warp and woof,
And shake the down to be their bed.

I am their wall against all danger,
Their door against the wind and snow,
Thou Whom a woman laid in a manger,
Take me not till the children grow! 

Tuesday 2 February 2016

The Devil

A highly unfashionable topic.  Even though Pope Francis mentions him often.  In a 21st Century world, we think of the Devil as being a medieval fantasy, a subject for jokes, or simply non existent.

We forget that he isn't an entity with horns and a pitchfork.

St Ignatius of Loyola spoke often about the "good spirit" and the "bad spirit".  There's a good explanation of this here.

 http://www.ignatianspirituality.com/making-good-decisions/discernment-of-spirits/introduction-to-discernment-of-spirits

On retreat last year I found myself admitting (much to my surprise) in a conversation with a Sister who was also making the retreat, to an experience which I have told very few people about, but which I've been forced to consider a mystical experience in the absence of any other very good explanation.  As I was telling the story, even to my ears it seemed so impossible that I found myself backing off.  "I don't know," I said.  "I know it could just as easily have been my imagination, but..."

Her response was immediate.  "That's the evil spirit talking."  she said.

I thought a lot about that.  Her certainty that my sudden doubt, this voice that was saying to me that God only talks to "special" people came straight from the Devil.  It shook me a bit.  But just recently I found myself in what Ignatius called "spiritual desolation" - relating to something which is an area of my life which - after a lot of discernment and conversation with two good confessors, the Catechism and I have had to agree to differ on, because in a million years I will never be able to give "assent of will" to it.  Neither priest seemed to have any problem with this at all.  The problem is mine.  I come back to it, chew over it, get cross about it, then usually upset.  Over and over again.

Today, when I was starting down that road again, I heard Sister Caroline again in my head, as plain as day.

"That's the evil spirit talking."

I sat down and looked at what I was chewing over again.

"As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly." Proverbs 26;11, KJV


How many more times am I going to pummel the world until I get chapter and verse on something that isn't possible to get chapter and verse on?  What on earth is the point of having a conscience at all if not to give guidance when this sort of thing happens?  Why did I waste my time seeking out good spiritual advisors and talking to them about it if I was simply going to walk back into the same trap of despair again?  Is there anything that anyone could say to me that would actually stop me doing this to myself?  Over and over again?

Perhaps I ought to give the Devil points for a wily attack.  But this time, he doesn't win.  Thank you, Sister Caroline.  I owe you one.

Friday 29 January 2016

Spotlight

Today I went to see the film "Spotlight" - the story of the Boston Globe investigation into the sexual abuse scandals in the Boston archdiocese that ultimately forced the resignation of Cardinal Law, and blew the lid off the scale of the abuse scandal in the States.

I won't say a lot about it here.  Go and watch it.  Seriously.  There's not many films that can make me cry these days - but this one did.  And before anyone starts - it is *not* an anti-Catholic rant.  It's remarkably restrained in a lot of ways.  You just don't want to believe what you're seeing in front of you - and all the evidence is that the truth was actually even worse.


Sunday 17 January 2016

And what is bruised he will not break.

I meant to post this last week, after this hymn was sung at Sunday Mass.  Forgot, then couldn't remember the first line to look it up.  Today at mass, the hymn book fell open to this hymn and a marker that someone had left behind.  Thank you, Lord.  I can take a hint.

The hymn was composed by the Benedictine nuns of Stanbrook Abbey, and in this Year of Mercy I found myself very moved by the third verse, which paraphrases Isaiah.


When Jesus comes to be baptized, 
He leaves the hidden years behind, 
The years of safety and of peace. 
To bear the sins of all mankind. 

The Spirit of the Lord comes down, 
Anoints the Christ to suffering, 
To preach the word, to free the bound, 
And to the mourner, comfort bring. 

He will not quench the dying flame, 
And what is bruised he will not break, 
But heal the wound injustice dealt, 
And out of death his triumph make. 

Our everlasting Father, praise, 
With Christ, his well-beloved Son, 
Who with the Spirit reigns serene, 
Untroubled Trinity in One.