Yesterday morning I was at Nazareth House, a Christchurch retirement community, for Ash Wednesday Mass. This Wednesday Mass is a weekly appointment for me and I look forward to it and the conversations with the residents before and after Mass.
john oconnor
the inner life
While the visible and external world of healthy religion is inspiring, a maturing faith requires an openness to the inner life. The external practices and precepts of religion are signs that point us towards a deeper reality, a world where integrity is found, becoming ourselves in relationship with the divine.
a new spring
Today, the day before Ash Wednesday, is commonly known as ‘shrove‘ or ‘pancake’ Tuesday.
This day is more widely known in many parts of the world as Mardi Gras (ie fat Tuesday), or ‘Carnival‘ (literally ‘goodbye meat’). These celebrations began years ago when the fasting really was tough: 40 days without meat or dairy products hence the bingeing on pancakes to empty the larder.
I recall at this time last year a friend who lives above the equator Facebooked: “Spring is in the air and it is GOOD!” That may be true for the northern hemisphere, but here in the south the leaves are beginning to turn and fall: it’s almost Autumn for us.
Lent as ‘spring’? That doesn’t sound right.
thriving ?
It’s hard to know what to say when greeting grieving family at a funeral. In that awkward and unrehearsed moment we want to get it right and offer some real comfort. Several years after his own mother’s funeral a grieving son was still laughing when recalling one church leader who took both his hands as he stood at the hearse and commented “if it’s not one thing it’s another”.
That’s been on my mind a lot these days with news of day after day suffering in every part of the world. After the Auckland floods earlier this months there was the Turkey Syria earthquake with a death toll nearing 50,000 and now the cyclone devastation in the north of Aotearoa .
living abundantly
I’m always happy to receive invitations for parish retreats or missions. My latest invitation is from the Catholic parish of Ponsonby / Herne Bay in Auckland.
An Invitation to begin the work and study year with a deepened appreciation of the presence and action of Jesus Christ, God-with-us, in every moment of the year ahead.
I offer these sessions, using the scriptures of the day as a starting point for encountering Jesus Christ in the reality of our lives. Each of the sessions stands alone, come to one or two or all as your time allows.
moving ahead
The discipline of daily writing keeps me alert to the presence and action of Jesus in my life every day.
truth seeking
A faith that is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ is adult and mature. It is this friendship that opens us up to all that is good
a conversation
a podcast conversation between Siân Owen RSJ, Merv Duffy SM & John O’Connor
the blessing
Nothing can take this peace from believers. Indeed, sufferings do not undermine but build up our hope,
the ultimate call
Quite soon, I shall find myself before the final judge of my life… as I continue on the path that leads to you.
Latest Posts
A.S.K.
If I like to be asked, then perhaps God likes to be asked as well?
signing
Yesterday morning I was with nine others at a FFF cafe gathering.
our father
let’s grow to appreciate at a deeper level the beauty of these two words
hopeful pilgrims
the real life of a pilgrim is to let Jesus encounter each of us every day in the midst of our circumstances
tempted or attracted
Temptation is a flaw in our logic causing us to think that we need more than we really need