“take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of thy peace”.
john oconnor
humble in prayer
It is a beautiful thing to stand and sit and kneel with others in liturgy. While our voices pray in unison the prayers and responses of the Mass, so too our bodies stand together, and sit together and kneel together.
come in!
Tragically we fail to realise how much happier and healthier we would be if we recognised the sound of Jesus at the door of our lives and responded by inviting him in.
a new deed
…self-esteem is not a human achievement. Healthy self-esteem is the fruit of knowing that we are loved even as imperfect, weak and vulnerable sinners.
keeping hope alive
Christian hope is not the power of positive thinking, but a deep knowledge that God will carry us through situations that seem hope less.
the adventure
The scriptures of today’s liturgy remind me of one of my touchstone passages of scripture: “If you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal.”
remembering
The punch line in yesterday’s post was the toddler saying to his newly arrived baby brother “will you tell me what God is like, I think I’m beginning to forget
God is…
Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.
your choice…
You would expect that any sick person would want to be healed, but Jesus understood that even unwelcome, painful and harmful realities can become attachments, burdens that we hold on to
healthy living
Illness and suffering have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. In illness, a person experiences their powerlessness
Latest Posts
solidarity
They labelled us “Solidarity” after the Polish trade-union movement. We liked the name and it stuck.
just practicing
A homily for Good Shepherd Sunday 2022, from Church of St. Thomas the Apostle in Timaru.
what’s the story
We walked into the Speight’s Bar where we found a quiet spot and picked up our pints
housekeeping
People often ask how I go about preparing these reflections and are surprised to learn that I don’t spend much time at the computer
lest we forget
Thank you to FFF readers sharing their experience of Jesus in their lives through this Lent – Easter journey.