De La Mennais Brothers: Making Jesus Christ better known and loved by young people

For those who understand French, this clip is magnificent: a French author who has suffered the deaths of two daughters, asked to comment on a quote from Psalm 33 - "God is close to the broken-hearted". She explains quite beautifully how she has experienced both those who simply didn't know what to do or say when they met her in the aftermath of the tragic events and others - like the nurse she mentions - who brought consolation by simply being there at her side, keeping her company, manifesting God's loving presence through their sensitivity and compassion, but barely saying a word. She finishes by describing such an encounter, saying,   "An encounter between two human beings; one whose heart is bleeding, the other whose heart is open."   There is immense beauty in her words and in her calm dignity.      

This is a response I gave to an atheist asking for proof of God's existence on the Daily Telegraph's Religion blog, "Holy Smoke" : If I asked you to prove that a relative of yours loved you, there would be a number of experiences that I am sure you could mention, if you so wished, to back up an assertion that "person A" loved you. What if I then said, "How do you know they are not faking it/lying/acting out of predominantly selfish motives, ie. not truly loving you?" I could counter ANY of your arguments to justify the existence of this invisible love with such a statement. It wouldn't give me any pleasure, but I could do so and feel secure that I had "won" the argument. You would KNOW deep down that the person loved you... you would have so many clear memories and feelings to drawn upon. Maybe that person actually saved your life and in the process sacrificed theirs.. "There you are! There's proof!" you would say... But...

Many-a-time I have felt God guiding me into certain places and situations where I have had significant meetings with people, and through which I (and others) have experienced God's abundant graces. But on Sunday morning, I had one of my clearest examples of such an experience yet. Normally on a Sunday (exceptions being extreme weather or having other commitments), I would join the rest of my community for Morning Prayer (Divine Office) at 7.30am, leaving them to meditate for 30 min. whilst I get ready to set off on my racing bike to meet other members of my club ( Birkenhead North End Cycling Club ) at the Eureka cyclists café at the Two Mills crossroads (south end of the Wirral). I would then do my own meditation on the bike, often using a podcast from the Jesuit-run " pray-as-you-go " web site, followed by podcasts from Radio 4's "In Our Time" (Melvyn Bragg - see 2 posts previous) and Radio 5 Live's film review slot with Mark Kermode. Between them, th...

Here's an adaptation of the response I posted to a blog entry on Chris Curtis' blog SPOILER ALERT - for the film "Sunshine". DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING. I thoroughly agree with Chris' take on the film and its thoughtful dealing with issues of science, faith, etc.... I have now seen the film twice. Like Chris I saw thematic similarities with a film I mentioned in an earlier post, "Children Of Men". A specific similarity can I think be seen in "Children..."'s use of the expression "Jesus Christ!" when people see the pregnant Kee, or Kee and her baby for the first time (eg. Theo + Sid) and in "Sunshine"'s use of "My God" (eg. Corazon finding a little surviving plant amidst the burnt out oxygen room - God perceived through nature - and Capa when he sees Pinbacker in the observation room in the near blinding light and Pinbacker replies "Not your God."... I think there's ma...