In the last few minutes news reports have estimated that the death toll in yesterday’s Philippines Typhoon is in the vicinity of 10.000 people.
A number of readers of this blog live in the Philippines, and a significant percentage of our Good Shepherd Hurunui parishioners are from the Philippines and awaiting news from friends and family. This morning I received replies to three messages I sent yesterday to friends in the Philippines, and I am waiting to hear from another who lives in Cebu, one of the most seriously affected regions.
On Tuesday evening (November 12) I will celebrate Mass with the Filipino parishioners here in the Hurunui remembering in prayer all those who are suffering the devastation and grief of this tragedy. In moments of suffering, when we don’t know what else to do, it can be a great comfort to light a candle as we commend people and our intentions to God. The website gratefulness.org has a page where you can light a candle. Visit the page by tapping on the image below. If you are at a loss about how or what to pray as you light a candle, I encourage you to pray the prayer that is no doubt being prayed by our sisters and brothers in the Philippines at the moments as they cling to those they love in hope: Our Father…
A couple of thousand years ago, a young Jewish woman was going about her normal morning routines, perhaps with a mixture of house and garden work, chatting with parents and neighbours, aware of the local drought, the sickness of a neighbour and annoyed by the neighbourhood’s lack of sleep caused by the Romans’ noisy party the night before, when God broke into her routine and entered her life in a new and powerful way.
Over the last month I have had the opportunity to work with many people across Aotearoa and further afield. In every retreat and seminar I have been with committed and faith-filled people who often feel as though they are on the periphery of the Church
It’s easy to make the mistake of seeing life as a treadmill, day after day ups and downs, a movement through time from youth to old age, then death and beyond. Too often if feels as if we are helplessly captive carried along by the momentum of all that is expected of us and demanded from us, and we risk falling into an existence mode, a daily rhythm of survival, enduring, coping and so the treadmill rolls on.
Over the years, and even in recent months, weeks and days, I’ve prayed many prayers which have not been answered as I had hoped. You’ve probably had the same experience: praying and wondering if and when or how your prayer will be answered.
Bible questions still pop up regularly in quiz shows and they often cost otherwise sharp players much needed points. I’m ready for a question asking for the two names for the last book of the Bible. The book often known as Apocalypse is perhaps more often referred to as the Book of Revelation. It’s common (thanks to movies) to think of an apocalypse as a devastating and unwelcome time of destruction.
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