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Showing posts from November, 2015

Give Us This Day - reflection on Mass readings for today

Today I read the following in the Give Us This Day iOS app and it spoke to me very deeply, especially as I've been reflecting on personal fears recently in the context of the book by Bro. David Steindl-Rast osb, "Gratefulness, the heart of prayer". At the Heart of the Invitation Our world seems to run on the fuel of fear. Simply watching or reading the news can fill our tanks with enough anxiety-provoking material to keep us running for days. Work and family concerns, fretfulness over jobs and money, disquiet about health, and apprehension over other things can turn us into nervous wrecks. Constant worry is exhausting, and that exhaustion typically leads to more angst. Jesus offers a clear warning that might be easy for anxious people to miss. Do we think we’re off the hook because we are not out “carousing” or getting drunk? Not so fast. It seems that the “anxieties of daily life” are on the watch list as well, and that is a net likely to catch many. It could be easy to

A refreshing take on a familiar passage.

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DVO App October 20 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me." Matt 16:24 Take up your cross - Part One "We will never create anything more powerful or significant than our lives." Erwin McManus. I posted this quote on Instagram a few months back, and I copped a little heat for it. Someone said that they felt this was the most selfish statement they had

Prayers for Paris

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“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” - Victor Hugo. Photo by Mathieu Rivrin. Where do we go from here? There will be counter-measures, there will be further drone strikes and other retaliations and there will be further volunteers flying out to the Middle East... How do we break this cycle? It's pretty much impossible to imagine the hearts of the people ready to carry out such atrocities ever changing despite all the prayers in the world. But we must keep on praying: for ourselves and for them, for us ALL.  Are we heading towards a larger scale conflict? Is it inevitable? If it is, it will be a conflict like no other in the past and the thought of how it might pan out frightens me.