Questions? Ideas? Share!

I fall for the first time

Sat, 18 Dec 2010 17:47:00 +0000

Well the resolution I made yesterday was a bit of adisaster, why because I forgot, great!! First reaction was oh well next timethen I thought ok lets start again and that is the key beginning again andagain which is worth more to God than me doing it perfect first time so lets goagain. Ah, but I have a back up planthis time, writing it down in my diary in small letters and looking at it firstthing in the morning and during the day to make sure I remember, making aresolution has no point if you don’t remember , we are humans after all andbusy during the day with all the day to day things so writing it down is a way to organise and see that you remember what you set out to do. Round two lets see.

“Be definite. Don’t let your resolutions be like fireworksthat sparkle for a moment, to leave behind as hard reality a blackened, uselessstub that one throws disgustedly away” St Josemaria in the Way

The beginning of the end

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:45:00 +0000

The beginning of theend

What better place to start than right in the middle of thethird week of advent, 9 days to the birth of Christ and of course let’s notpretend to be forgetful all you can eat, drink and lots of presents. But note to myself what am I giving to BabyJesus this year? I really didn’t thinkof it at all to tell the truth till my parish priest reminded me asking what Iwas doing in preparation for the birthday of Christ. Naturally I answered nothing, didn’t think ofit and honestly didn’t have a clue what to do. Fortunately the Priest is a practical man and suggested I sit down andthink of something that would make me go out of my way a little and remind meof the great gift coming soon, like a prayer to Mary asking for virtues to makeme a respectful guest at the manager, or greeting my guardian angel asking himto help me during the day or going out of my way to be nice to a person I findit difficult to work with. Ok....easiersaid than done right. Let’s see whathappens!!

is Church really boring?

Sat, 15 May 2010 17:34:00 +0000

I received a few comments on how boring Catholic Churches are and only seem to be for old people. did you ever think that maybe it is up to us to make it exciting? The parish I go to has loads of young people eager to start up things and getogether and make it exciting. there is a lot you can do, book clubs, talks, social clubs, maybe we can put a list and suggestions together for parishes to use to get the youth involved

Christ is Close

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:34:00 +0000

in preparation of the our Lord going up to Our Father, and the coming of the Holy Spirit it is God to remember that Christ is passing by and even closer than usual, not wanting to go but stay with us and love us. The same way he stayed near his apostles and His mother, keeping them company, comforting them and giving them strength to carry on his work on Earth, it's time to talk to him more and keeping close to Him asking for help and telling Him all our joys and sorrow.

Pray for Priests

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 14:25:00 +0000

With the headlines shouting out the problems of the Catholic church, and how so the Pope seems to be in dealing with the problem, it is time for the catholic family to stand together and in a word pray for the Priests we have to perserve in their struggles which are the same struggles each one of us face everyday. While it is important for the problem to be dealt with (in the correct way) we have to remember we have a responsibility to pray and help our shepherds in their journey towards God. There are a number of articles avaliable if anyone is interested in reading what exaclty the Church is doing we could put them up.

lent

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 19:44:00 +0000

Okay so these are not my words, but those of a Priest I know and I thought it appropriate to put them up for you to have a read and think about

A Short Reflection from Fr Joe

We could say so much about Lent, but above all it's atime of conversion, a time to come back to God. Conversion takes many forms butabove all it is trying to come closer to God and trying to overcome whateverimpedes this. For many of us, it is taking the next step in our relationshipwith God.

So, Lent could - and probably should - involve givingsomething up. It is a practical way of saying "I will put God first, Iprefer God". Giving up chocolate, or alcohol, or television, or certainunnecessary websites, is a way of saying "I prefer God to all thesethings". Indeed, those very words "I prefer God" could be a goodmotto for this Lent.

But Lent is above all a time of grace, when God isespecially willing to show us His love and mercy. We are now entering a periodof the year when rain is more abundant, but this can remind us that God's gracewill be raining down on us especially too. It is very good to "dothings" for Lent, but remember that Lent is more WHAT GOD DOES FOR YOUthan what you do for God.

Lent should certainly involve more prayer: listening toGod, letting Him talk to you. Prayer could be going more often to Mass, prayingthe Rosary, or just sitting before the Blessed Sacrament in a Catholic Churchfor 5-10 minutes each day, "getting to know" Jesus, discovering howmuch He loves you and opening your heart to Him. Committing yourself to someform of DAILY prayer in Lent would be a wonderful way to live this season andcome closer to God.

Lent will certainly involve the Sacrament of Confession:it is the most beautiful and most profound way to convert, to come back to OurLord. No matter what you have done, no matter how much a failure you feel, howmuch you have stained yourself, Christ awaits you in the Sacrament ofConfession to wash you clean. As Isaiah says, "though your sins be asscarlet, they shall be as white as snow".

Lent is not just "giving up" something, it canalso be "giving way", "giving in", "giving back","giving out", "giving time" ... just plain giving. Is theresome way this season you need to give in/give way? i.e.

backing down, being less stubborn. Could you be moregenerous to others?

For example, to your parents, or house or flatmates? Forstudents, the best Lenten conversion might be a renewed commitment to study,making some practical resolution to get down to work and sticking to it. What'sthe point of giving up chocolate if we spend Lent wasting time on computergames?

May God bless you all! I wish you a very holy and happyseason of Lent. Don't try to do too much: one, two, maximum three resolutionswould be enough: Our Lord knows how little we are and that we can only takelittle steps. Take those steps and Christ will be very pleased.

Fr Joe Evan (taken from Thomas Moore Young Adults newsletter 2010)

time of reflection

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:31:00 +0000

with the relics of st Therese of Lieseux in the UK, it is an opportunity for us "normal Catholic" to sit back and reflect on the meaning of our lives. I must say I was impressed and am still impressed by the number of people flocking into the churches to pay their respects to someone who was so simple and quiet but made such an impact. It defies the notion that the are no faithful catholics in this country and that the youth have no interest in the Church's teaching for this little flower did nothing but live the Catholic Faith throughout her short life.

It strengthens my trust that hope is not lost in the world and there are some people who still have a direction in life. That direction is clearly sign posted now for any confused traveller to see that there is more to life in this world all you have to do is question your self to see what that "more" you are seeking is

something someone sent to me!

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:54:00 +0000

The Sands of Forgiveness

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.

After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?”

The other friend replied “When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE.

Update your status!

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:22:00 +0000

Don't you think it is sad how society has now felt th need to air out our problems to the rest of the world through the media, such as Peter Andrea and Katie Price or through social networks such as facebook, twitter or personal blogs, fighting with husbands or boyfriends as I have seen from my friends. The sad thing is we still hide away what we really feel from the world not knowing how to turn to a friend or not knowing how to listen to a friend. My dad said something interesting to me the other day as we walked through a shopping centre. He said we live in an era where we can get everything and anything we want and still have nothing. we all the publicity I am sure Peter Andrea and Katie still feel alone, bitter, empty inside, and all the money gadgets and shopping can never take the place of personal contact with a close friend. We claim a right to personal space and invasion of privacy but allow everyone around to have a glimpse of what we should hold dear and private....................does it make sense?

Always 3 sides to every story!

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:59:00 +0000

I am sure many of us have received the chain email cncouraging the rejection of Tommy Hilfiger's clothing due to a "statment" he gave apparently made on the Oprah Winfrey Show saying his clothes were only for rich white people and if he had known that other ethnic groups were going to buy his clothes he wouldn't have made them.

I admit I was one of those eager readers who passed on the email to everyone in my address book and vowed never to look at his clothes again. The next day another friend sent a reply to everyone who had received the same email as me and politely asked if any of us had botherd to read the whole manuscript on the Oprah Winfrey website before making up our minds. I am ashamed to say I had not thought it important to see the whole picture.

The same goes for anything else we read in newspapers on-line or watch it on t.v. We are constantly bombarded with instant update, twitter feeds and instant messages, but how often do we investigate? The Pope is constantly under attack due to the media picking out only certain information to pass on to us. The same goes for the judge who let the Lockerbie bomber go home, what was his side of the story? Going back in time how many of us watched or read the Davinci Code and did not bother to see if it was true or not?

There are always 3 sides to every story: the two defending their point of view and the truth, how often do we look for the truth before giving the verdict?