And it is Christ who brings us together tonight, Anglican and Catholic with friends, to focus again on what is essential. We are united by the challenges we face here in this place. We are at a spring-time of faith in our dioceses, with citizens hungry for mature and adult faith…(Read More)
It’s Ash Wednesday and today’s reflection takes the form of a five minute podcast. You might listen sitting at home with your morning coffee, or perhaps on the drive to work…(Read More)
And this is the kind of ‘spring-cleaning’ that is the purpose and heart of Lent: a letting go of all that limits us, restricts us, and therefore prevents us finding the happiness we seek…(Read More)
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…(Read More)
Here in the Southern Hemisphere we don’t associate Lent with spring since in these March days we are entering Autumn. But there is a real connection, and in this brief video (filmed in the beautiful Cheviot Hills Domain) you will discover the importance of the relationship between spring and Lent…(Read More)
It’s Ash Wednesday today, and here is the first of the daily Lenten Food For Faith encouragements. I’m very aware of the many people around the world who have signed up to follow Food For Faith online for Lent. Let us keep each other in prayer…(Read More)
In response to requests, Food For Faith is offering an online retreat. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on 1 March and this six week season of growth in faith seemed like an ideal opportunity to begin this new initiative and offer an “online retreat”. Each day from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday a brief post…(Read More)
We are almost half way through the season of Lent. Often by this stage our initial commitments and enthusiasms have faced and the demands and routines of daily life have again overwhelmed us. While this may be a problem for us, it is no problem with God who delights in working in the midst of…(Read More)
One of the first Food For Faith video clips was this one from Lent a couple of years ago. Hurunui readers will recognise the beautiful Cheviot Hills reserve. While the clip was originally published “in the heart of the season of Lent” the content is just as useful for these first hours of this “joyful…(Read More)
The encouragement that usually accompanies the imposition of Ash Wednesday ashes is “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.” But when I was a child the exhortation was a bit more sombre: “Remember man that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.” For some reason it is this latter mantra…(Read More)
In the peace of this Holy Saturday morning I have been thinking back over the past six weeks through the Lenten pilgrimage to Palm Sunday and the Holy Week liturgies. Six weeks ago I wrote about Lent as a springtime, a new beginning, a time of penance. I began with good intentions, and overall (when…(Read More)
“In these days we are in the heart of the season of Lent. The word “Lent” comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning “to lengthen” or “spring – the lengthening of days…” Here’s a brief three-minute video reflection (filmed in the heart of the Hurunui parish at Cheviot Hills) offering a bit of…(Read More)
For my seventh birthday my Godmother gave me my first book without pictures. It was called simply “Aesop’s Fables,” a title made up of two words that I had never heard before. I remember wondering if I would ever be able to read it without the images that usually guided me through books with…(Read More)
Lent only makes sense for those who know that they are sinners. Other good people might engage in Lenten disciplines of fasting and penance, but these practices will only bear fruit for the one who humbly acknowledges their personal sinfulness and sincerely seeks the mercy of God. This might be why for many Catholics the…(Read More)
I’m thinking ahead a couple of days to Lent which begins this week on Ash Wednesday. I heard someone once say that Lent was a kind of “boot camp” for the Christian, a time when the one who seeks to follow Christ becomes much more driven to overcome temptation. I must admit that the…(Read More)
