St Ignatius of Antioch (+ c 107

  Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth week in Ordinary Time  

Night Office Reading	A letter to the Romans by St Ignatius of Antioch

I am God's wheat and shall be ground by the teeth of wild animals

I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.

  No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.

  The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my brothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world. Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I wish. You will sympathise with me because you will know what urges me on.

  The prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to undermine my will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him; instead show yourselves on my side, which is also God’s side. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world. Do not harbour envious thoughts. And supposing I should see you, if then I should beg you to intervene on my behalf, do not believe what I say. Believe instead what I am now writing to you. For though I am alive as I write to you, still my real desire is to die. My love of this life has been crucified, and there is no yearning in me for any earthly thing. Rather within me is the living water which says deep inside me: “Come to the Father.” I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world. I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed of the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.

  I am no longer willing to live a merely human life, and you can bring about my wish if you will. Please, then, do me this favour, so that you in turn may meet with equal kindness. Put briefly, this is my request: believe what I am saying to you. Jesus Christ himself will make it clear to you that I am saying the truth. Only truth can come from that mouth by which the Father has truly spoken. Pray for me that I may obtain my desire. I have not written to you as a mere man would, but as one who knows the mind of God. If I am condemned to suffer, I will take it that you wish me well. If my case is postponed, I can only think that you wish me harm.

Responsory

Nothing will be hidden from you, if you are perfect in your faith and love towards Jesus Christ, for these are the beginning and end of life: faith is the beginning and love is the end.

Arm yourselves with gentleness and renew your faith, which is the flesh of the Lord, and your love, which is the blood of Jesus Christ. Faith is the beginning and love is the end.

---

Let us pray.

Almighty, ever-living God,

  the sufferings of the martyrs adorn the Church,

  which is the Body of Christ.

As we celebrate the martyrdom of Saint Ignatius of Antioch,

  grant that it may be for us a constant source of strength,

  as it was for him the entry into glory.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

  who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

  one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

---

Let us bless the Lord.

– Thanks be to God.

St. Margaret Mary Alacouque

Reading (Breviary):                          A Letter by St. Margaret Mary Alacouque

WE must know the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge

It seems to me that our Lord’s earnest desire to have his sacred heart honoured in a special way is directed toward renewing the effects of redemption in our souls. For the sacred heart is an inexhaustible fountain and its soul desire is to pour itself out into the hearts of the humble so as to free them and prepare them to lead lives according to his good pleasure.

  From this divine heart three streams flow endlessly. The first is the stream of mercy for sinners; it pours into their hearts sentiments of contrition and repentance. The second is the stream of charity which helps all in need and especially aids those seeking perfection to find the means of surmounting their difficulties. From the third stream flow love and light for the benefit of his friends who have attained perfection; these he wishes to unite to himself so that they may share his knowledge and commandments and, in their individual ways, devote themselves wholly to advancing his glory.

  This divine heart is an abyss of all blessings, and into it the poor should submerge all their needs. It is an abyss of joy in which all of us can immerse our sorrows. It is an abyss of lowliness to counteract our foolishness, an abyss of mercy for the wretched, an abyss of love to meet our every need.

  Therefore, you must unite yourselves to the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, both at the beginning of your conversion in order to obtain proper dispositions, and at its end in order to make reparation. Are you making no progress in prayer? Then you need only offer God the prayers which the Saviour has poured out for us in the sacrament of the altar. Offer God his fervent love in reparation for your sluggishness. In the course of every activity pray as follows: “My God, I do this or I endure that in the heart of your Son and according to his holy counsels. I offer it to you in reparation for anything blameworthy or imperfect in my actions.” Continue to do this in every circumstance of life. And every time that some punishment, affliction or injustice comes your way, say to yourself: “Accept this as sent to you by the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ in order to unite yourself to him.”

  But above all preserve peace of heart. This is more valuable than any treasure. In order to preserve it there is nothing more useful than renouncing your own will and substituting for it the will of the divine heart. In this way his will can carry out for us whatever contributes to his glory, and we will be happy to be his subjects and to trust entirely in him.

St. Hedwig, Religious (1174-1243)

Tuesday, 16 October 2012       St. Hedwig, Religious (1174-1243)

Saint Raphael Arnaiz Baron

Dear Wiiliam,   

You noticed Saint Raphael's quote for 23 June 2012 from the DGO.

And now for the Memorial of Saint Hedwig, again, the DGO has favoured the selection from  St. Raphael - as below.

Yours 

Donald.

To: Donald...
Sent: Saturday, 23 June 2012, 20:30
Subject: DGO extract - Raphael Arnaiz Baron

Raphael Arnaiz Baron - DGO extract -  

from William.     

GOSPEL Lk. 11:37-41.
Commentary of the day : 

Saint Raphael Arnaiz Baron (1911-1938), a Spanish Trappist monk 
Spiritual writings, 04/03/1968 (trans. Mairin Mitchell, 1964 alt.) 
 
You purify the outside but God is found on the inside

If the world that seeks my God were to know, if those learned men who seek for God in science and endless discussion were to know, if people did but know where to find God, how many wars would be prevented, what peace there would be in the world, how many souls would be saved! Unreasoning and stupid that you look for God where He is not! Listen, and be filled with awe: God is in our hearts, I know it. God lives in the human heart when this heart lives withdrawn from all that is not Him, when this heart heeds God's knock at its door (Rv 3,20) and, sweeping and cleaning all its rooms, makes itself ready to welcome him who alone truly satisfies.

How sweet it is to live like this, with God in the heart. What sublime peace to find oneself filled with God!... What little trouble it is; rather it should be said, there is no trouble in doing what He wishes, since we love His will, and even pain and suffering are His peace, since we suffer for love. Only God fills the soul, and fills it wholly. Let scientists go on asking: Where is God? He is where those clever ones, arrogant in their knowledge, cannot reach.

Saint Teresa of Jesus, Poem, Benini

Thank you, Fr. Edward, 

to celebrate St. Teresa's 'arrow of burning charity'. (Bernini).

I join in the wonder of the still point of the Iceland horizons.  |

domdonald.org.uk 

The Ecstasy of Saint Teresaby Bernini, Basilica of Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: edward ...
To: Donald ....
Subject: Your blog and some lines

Dear Father Donald,

Thank you for the Email and the account of Jubilees st Nunraw..I hope
that the year of faith will bring you new subjects prepared to
penetrate into the Unknown, which is near to all of us.

I offer you a poem on Saint Teresa which I wrote last night, having
firstly in mind the Sclerder Carmelites, and also the Quidenham
Carmelites who have agreed to a consecrated hermit from here
(originally Lithuanian) going to live with them..
I also include the poem which I thought you would not like - inspired
by the rapid movement of the sun at the horizons here.

....

Blessings in Domino,

fr Edward O.P.

[Our Lady of Light
Carmelite Monastery   SclerderLooe Cornwall PL13 2JD

www.sclerder-abbey.org] 

The arrow-launch and some of its effects

At the Escorial they showed

a bound manuscript propped up in a perspex box,

opened out to display

her scratchy busy writing.

They were the letters she wrote to King Philip;

they contained projects described like arrow-shots,

seeking help to finance convents:

the foundations which her discalced Sisters

chose to make their way with speed directly

within the spiritual structure of the Church

creating austere and joyous houses.

Teresa stressed the long preparation before the Lord awoke her

to tumultuous thinking.

Bernini fashioned an arrow of burning charity poised for despatch

into her deepest heart:

a reward for zeal-driven unwaveringness

in labour unlimited.

Practical there must be

but secured in contemplation:

running after the ointments

which the now undying Christ

disposes of to draw with power

his intensest still and wide open-eyed aspirants

finding among themselves Mothers begetting grace in spiritual daughters,

exploring the Castle's protected rooms,

finding their pace,

whether in common or uncommon graces -

who can here judge?

Alertness and awareness,

connatural, arrow-swift desires,

unwasted efforts.

All articulated

in a new-minted style supported only

by depths untold,

having the dispositions at their deepest

to catch the All of their desires.

Stykkishólmur

14 October 2012

Iceland Skies Tonight

Map showing the dates of midnight sun
at various latitudes (left) and the
total number of nights.

    

Subduing planetary geometrics

The heavens do not sink

nor the orbits of our planets rise.

The heaven of the sun from its brief sinking below the horizon

of polar north to antipodean south

may suffer a slight deviation from its elliptical course,

yet its course can be supposed as deviating from a geometrical

and predictable inner planetary transit

We see ourselves at the still point of a turning world;

the motions outside us,

biological variations in colour are normed against

an axial deviation of the earth itself

as in the local features of weather:

cloud-gathering, snow, hail and rain precipitation,

local and thereby passing,

micro-climactic.
Parallax in an assertion made against geometry

by personal and evident exclusion.

Yet the patterned geometrical tucks into the surface geography

supported by a geometry assumed but delusive,

holding beauty captive,

macroscopically and microscopic.

And all is contained in the inner multiple in unity

Spirit of power and of truth.

Stykkishólmur

12 October

Knox Bible republished today

Knox Bible republished today
Baronius Press has announced the launch of the Holy Bible – Knox Version (also known as the Knox Bible) for the first time in more than 50 years, stating that the translation’s clarity and beauty will help Catholics deepen their knowledge of scripture in this Year of Faith. Welcoming the return of the Bible, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor said: “I welcome the publication of this new edition, as his remarkable work is likely to continue to be of interest for many years to come. I sincerely hope that many will read and profit from this new edition.” Read More ...
Posted: Sunday, October 14, 2012 9:05 pm

“ ...Get one of your angels to put them(words) into poetry. " HE AND i

HE AND i, Gabrielle Bossis.

Month of Rosary quote...

1942

October 8 -  Le Fresne church.

 I said, "We are here all by ourselves, as though we were locked in. " 

 "All the month of the rosary, call My mother 'Our Lady of Love' and say, 'Our Lady of Love, give me love.' How can you make progress all by yourself? Let yourself be carried in stronger arms, just as you did when you were little. Don't be ashamed of being weak and imperfect. Be smaller still; I'll only love you the more. Don't lose sight of the path of  spiritual childhood. Cultivate your confidence; let it blossom as a flower. You can trust Me, can't you? Look back. . . don't you find that I'm worthy of it? My friend, don't put any limits to your feelings for Me. I put none to  Mine for you. Come to Me, little by little, your heart on fire at the moment of death. Find a sweeter name for death. Call it 'The Meeting' and even now, even though you can scarcely see Me in the twilight of time, you will stretch out your arms to Me. Oh, the charm of an impatient heart longing to be enfolded in Mine!"

"Lord, my little words for You are so poor. Get one of your angels to put them into poetry. " 

 "My love listening to them makes them sublime. "

[Le Fresne-sur-Loire is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. It is around 25 km west ofAngers,and around 50 km east of Nantes.]

THE RICH YOUNG MAN (Matt. 19:16 – Mark 10:17-30)

 

Homily 

Fr. Raymond - Organ  

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Raymond . . .  
Sent: Sunday, 14 October 2012, 12:15
Subject: 

Sun 28 B 

THE RICH YOUNG MAN  (Matt. 19:16 – Mark 10:17-30)

Sometimes in the Gospel scenes we find the same story told by more than one of the Evangelists.  The stories are obviously about the same incident but each of the different accounts has its own point of view, its own emphasis, its own peculiar details that aren’t found in the others.  This is true of the story we have in today’s Gospel – the “Story of the Rich young man” It’s only when we put the two stories together that we get the full flavour of the incident.

Today’s version is that of St Mark.  He gives us a much more vivid description of the initial encounter between the young man and Jesus.  Matthew simply tells us that once, a man came up to Jesus.  Mark on the other hand tells us that he actually came running up to Jesus and he knelt down before him.  There is a note of youthful enthusiasm and of beautiful humility brought into the scene by these two words “running” and “knelt”.  It is only from Mark too that we learn that the man was young but it is only at the very end of the story that he tells us that.

Both the Evangelists then tell us that the young man addresses Jesus in terms that use the word “Good”. “Master, what good must I do to  possess eternal life”, we read in Matthew; and “Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” we read in Mark.  In either case the Young man is presuming that Jesus is in himself the personification and teacher of goodness.  When Jesus answers: “Why call me good?  No one is good but God alone.” He doesn’t so much deny his goodness as give a veiled reference to his divinity by suggesting to the young man that he look into his heart and consider why he is so assured of the goodness of the one he is speaking to. He is inviting him to consider: What is this overwhelming sense of goodness that shines forth in this man before me?

Jesus, obviously doesn’t expect the young man to be able, then and there, to realise his divinity, but he is planting a seed that will, hopefully, blossom in due time into such a realisation in faith.   We can remind ourselves here of Jesus saying to his disciples “You cannot understand just now what I am talking about but, after I have risen and ascended to heaven, I will send my Spirit to you to make all things clear to you.”

Jesus then goes on to answer the young man’s question more directly:  “To gain eternal life you must keep the commandments – you know them all” and when the young man answers in simple sincerity that he has kept them all from his youth, then Jesus seems to be, humanly speaking, overwhelmed by this simple sincerity and he gazes on him with love – perhaps even with an astonished love. –remember how he was astonished at the faith of the Centurian.

We know that Jesus looks on every one of us with love, but, like every true human being there were those whom he loved in a special way.  Apart from his blessed Mother, of course, there was John, the beloved disciple, who leaned on his breast at the last supper, and then there was Lazarus whom he raised from the dead, and Martha and Mary his Sisters, and there was Mary Magdalen to whom he appeared first after his resurrection.  Yes, Jesus did have his special loves, just like any of us, and perhaps this young man was one of them.

But finally we have to consider the sad, sad ending of this story.  Here was this young man.  Spiritually speaking, had everything going for him.  He was so innocent and pure, so zealous and enthusiastic, and so humble.  And yet, when Jesus calls him to leave everything and follow him, he turns away sadly because of his great possessions.  What a frightening picture this gives us of the power of the good things of this life to come between us and God.  

... all through our life Christ is calling us. John Henry NewmaN

Newman Reader:
  http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume8/index.html 

Night Office 2^nd Noct. 14 October 2012

Parochial and Plain Sermons, Volume 8.

John Henry Sermons

Statue Cardinal Newman,
Brompton Oratory

Sermon 2 Divine Calls ...

For in truth we are not called once only, but many times; all through our life Christ is calling us. He called us first in Baptism; but afterwards also; whether we obey His voice or not, He graciously calls us still. If we fall from our Baptism, He calls us to repent; if we are striving to fulfil our calling, He calls us on from grace to grace, and from holiness to holiness, while life is given us. Abraham was called from his home, Peter from his nets, Matthew from his office, Elisha from his farm, Nathanael from his retreat; we are all in course of calling, on and on, from one thing to another, having no resting-place, but mounting towards our eternal rest, and obeying one command only to have another put upon us. He calls us again and again, in order to {24} justify us again and again,—and again and again, and more and more, to sanctify and glorify us.

It were well if we understood this; but we are slow to master the great truth, that Christ is, as it were, walking among us, and by His hand, or eye, or voice, bidding us follow Him. We do not understand that His call is a thing which takes place now. We think it took place in the Apostles' days; but we do not believe in it, we do not look out for it in our own case. We have not eyes to see the Lord; far different from the beloved Apostle, who knew Christ even when the rest of the disciples knew Him not. When He stood on the shore after His resurrection, and bade them cast the net into the sea, "that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord." [John xxi. 7.

]

Now what I mean is this: that they who are living religiously, have from time to time truths they did not know before, or had no need to consider, brought before them forcibly; truths which involve duties, which are in fact precepts, and claim obedience. In this and such-like ways Christ calls us now. There is nothing miraculous or extraordinary in His dealings with us. He works through our natural faculties and circumstances of life. Still what happens to us in providence is in all essential respects what His voice was to those whom He addressed when on earth: whether He commands by a visible presence, or by a voice, or by our {25} consciences, it matters not, so that we feel it to be a command. If it is a command, it may be obeyed or disobeyed; it may be accepted as Samuel or St. Paul accepted it, or put aside after the manner of the young man who had great possessions.

        

... We need not fear spiritual pride then, in following Christ's call, if we follow it as men in earnest. Earnestness has no time to compare itself with the state of other men; earnestness has too vivid a feeling of its own infirmities to be elated at itself. Earnestness is simply set on doing God's will. {32} It simply says, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth," "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Oh that we had more of this spirit! Oh that we could take that simple view of things, as to feel that the one thing which lies before us is to please God! What gain is it to please the world, to please the great, nay, even to please those whom we love, compared with this? What gain is it to be applauded, admired, courted, followed, compared with this one aim, of not being disobedient to a heavenly vision? What can this world offer comparable with that insight into spiritual things, that keen faith, that heavenly peace, that high sanctity, that everlasting righteousness, that hope of glory, which they have who in sincerity love and follow our Lord Jesus Christ?

Let us beg and pray Him day by day to reveal Himself to our souls more fully; to quicken our senses; to give us sight and hearing, taste and touch of the world to come; so to work within us that we may sincerely say, "Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and after that receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee: my flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."

Sunday, 14 October 2012

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B

Commentary of the day :

Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890), priest, founder of a religious community, theologian
Sermon «A Particular Providence as Revealed in the Gospel » PPS vol. 3, no.9

  http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume3 ???

"Jesus, looking at him, loved him"

God beholds thee individually, whoever thou art. He "calls thee by thy name" (Jn 10,3). He sees thee, and understands thee, as He made thee. He knows what is in thee, all thy own peculiar feelings and thoughts, thy dispositions and likings, thy strength and thy weakness... Thou art not only His creature (though for the very sparrows He has a care... ), thou art man redeemed and sanctified, His adopted son, favoured with a portion of that glory and blessedness which flows from Him everlastingly unto the Only-begotten.

Thou art chosen to be His... Thou wast one of those for whom Christ offered up His last prayer, and sealed it with His precious blood. What a thought is this, a thought almost too great for our faith! Scarce can we refrain from acting Sarah's part, when we bring it before us, so as to "laugh" from amazement and perplexity (Gen 18,12). “What is man”, what are we, what am I, that the Son of God “should be so mindful of me?” (Ps 8,5) What am I... that He should have... new-made me,... and should Himself dwell personally in this very heart of mine?

Abbot Mark Homily for Golden Jubilee of Profession

 

Golden Jubilee Bouquet from Sisters

   

Introduction to Mass        -     Golden Jubilee of Monastic Profession.

The Church has called us to celebrate a Year of Faith, inviting and encouraging us to renew our belief in God.  Pope Benedict wants us to see the Holy Spirit at work in our world and in each of our hearts

Today is the Golden Jubilee of the opening of the Second Vatican Council on 11^th October, 1962.  On that same day fifty years ago I made my profession as a monk.  So it’s not just because we are celebrating the opening of Vatican II that you have been invited here today.

Homily:

Fr Mark’s  Golden Jubilee of Monastic profession.

I’m sure you will all have vivid memories of the glorious years of Vatican II.  (Well, maybe not all of you!|)  Fifty years ago today Pope John XXIII opened the Council with a great flourish.  He announced in vibrant terms that Christianity was not about gloom and doom but the joy of the Holy Spirit.   Much water has passed under that bridge and has at times been diverted into some waterways.  Those were stirring times, but not everyone found them pleasant.  It must be admitted that some of the enthusiasm did go over bounds.  But the spirit of the Council is still a thing to treasure and to look back to.  It gave us much to be thankful for and to learn from.  But, fifty years on, our world has moved on to some extent and our needs have to be reassessed.  Even so, there are treasures in the Council’s documents that have yet to be mined, and perhaps some of those we have already taken up have still to be properly understood.

Today’s scriptural readings are from the ones that would normally be used for today.  As always, when we look close enough, the Spirit gives us surprises even within our ordinary routine.

‘Are you mad?’ is the encouraging way Paul speaks to the Galatians.  Some time ago I was listening to a radio programme on religion.  There were a number of atheist and believers on it.  One of the atheists was quite fanatical.   

Intercessions

 e said, without any attempt to moderate his view, that anyone who believes in God was mad.  So, Paul must have got it right!
Seriously however, Paul was referring to the way the Galatians had forgotten the real meaning of religion; they had put their faith in externals, forgetting that the new life promised by Christ came from within.

In the Gospel Jesus uses several images telling his disciple that they had to ask, seek, knock, if they wanted to receive the Spirit who is life.  Faith is not an object that we are given and can keep in some safe place.  

Refectory - buffet

It is a living thing that will grow or become less within them depending on how it is lived.  Asking God should be a permanent attitude that we have whenever we need help.  Friendship with God is a relationship that should find us looking for and seeing God as we go about our daily round.  Like any human lovers, Christian disciples have God in their minds and hearts as they go perform their daily tasks.  Jesus tells the disciples that God is behind the door.  If they knock on it, it will be opened to them.

This is another interesting coincidence in today’s readings.  Pope Benedict has written a special letter for this anniversary entitled, as these papal letters are, by the words Porta Fidei, (the Door of Faith.)  It is Pope Benedict’s wish that this year, beginning today, will be a Year of Faith in which we revisit the sources of our faith in the scriptures.  The Vatican II documents were an attempt to do just that.  They looked to the Word of God and the traditions that sprang from it through the years and tried to teach us how we should live them in our own time.  Now, fifty years later, we are being asked to do the same.  Other Christian Churches were represented at Vatican II and will no doubt be encouraged to contribute to the happenings of this new Year of Faith.

We have an ongoing need to revitalise our belief in God.  We need a vision that will carry us forward, one that will support us as we try to live with full hearts and generosity in our following of Christ.  And we need to let that overflow in some way or other for the benefit of our neighbour.  They should be happier that we are around.  Not everyone can be a sparkling companion but being what God wants us to be in ourselves should somehow communicate itself to others.

Those who were caught up in the spirit of the times all those years ago won’t have lost that spark of life that held so much promise for the future.  As often happens, history has its own ways of diluting positive experiences.  Like all good living, so too with the gospel much effort is required to embrace and assimilate its values.  The cross that Christ dies on was not a symbol but a reality for him.  It is a symbol for us of what he achieved.   To be true to it we must ourselves accept the crosses that we have to meet as we try to follow the path to life that Christ opened up for us.

 My monastic life in the past fifty years has had its ups and downs.  (I’ll spare you the telling of those.)  But the things that happened at the various sessions over the four year period of the Council has always stayed with me.  The optimism generated by the Council was a wholesome and life-giving thing..  The yearning within many at the Council and outside it  for new and fresh initiatives is what the Gospel is all about.  Not everything that was hoped for saw the light of day, and not everything that was advocated deserved to survive the scrutiny of the Council Fathers.  But it is also true to say that some things did not come to fruition because people were not ready for them or they were not properly implemented.

Marie and Vincent(brother) Caira
and Br. Philip

  

What happened at Vatican II is what happens to all of us in our lives.  Some things we win, others we lose.  A vocation is just like that.  There are negative forces at work in our lives as well as, thank God, positive ones.  They are the making of who we are and how, strangely enough, God draws us to what we are called to be.  Some of the negative forces may well be of our own making.  If so, we will stumble and fall down.    But falling down is not the problem.  Scripture says the just fall down seven times a day.  What determines our character, our destiny, our holiness, is the getting up.  However, if we get up and allow our minds to remain in the mud, we might as well stay there.  If, on the other hand we don’t give up on our initial ideal and vision, we will not stay down for very long.  That attitude remains true for the Church as well as for people in general.  It is also true for each one of us as we strive to follow God in the ways he beckons.  To misquote Tony Benn who, in his eighties, said ‘Life gets better the longer you live it.’

I thank God for showing that to be true, and you also for coming to share this day with me.

   

Sancta Maria Abbey: http://www.nunraw.com.uk (Website )    Blogspot :http://www.nunraw.blogspot.co.uk |

domdonald.org.uk