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

An intesting article from Mike Donehey, lead singer/songwriter with Tenth Avenue North (used as part of a devotional Bible reading plan at YouVersion.com - check out their free Bible app). What Donehey says reminds me of the words of French philosopher Maurice Blondel when he talks about all our human desires ultimately being imperfect, human expressions of the one desire: our desire for union with God, a desire w hose satisfaction is the only thing that can break the cycle of human desire and bring us deep happiness and fulfilment (my own emphases in bold ). Here's a fan video for the song that inspired Donehey's words. Shadows I grew up thinking Jesus wanted to ruin my good time. No seriously. Everything I wanted to do, it seemed like Jesus was always telling me I couldn't. My friends would get drunk and party; I wasn't allowed. All the other kids were sleeping around. Jesus said I had to flee sexual immorality. When people wronged me it felt so good to be...

A Merry Christmas to you all in the blogosphere! My former university Chaplain and spiritual guide Fr. Michael Garvey (Uni. of Liverpool in the late '80s) sent me the following reflection the other day and I have asked him if I might share it on here (thanks Mike!). Christmas Greetings 2012 Seasonal greetings, vieing for attention, fill our shelves. Some stand out because of their design. The best remembered are those bearing the names of people special to us. Instinctively we can pick them out in an instant. So it’s more the greeter than the greeting! The tattiest of greetings from the right person means more to us than the most elaborate and expensive. Animals, restless, noisy and smelly, a straw filled wooden trough, the chill of the night air, the total lack of security, it’s the greeting we all recognise, the very opposite of sophisticated and well-heeled - but how well do we know the Greeter? He knows us, intimiately. He loves us, individually. He delivers on his promises. F...

   The film geek in me just loves this... :-) I do hope that, as the article suggests, it is indeed the beginning of a viral marketing campaign for a new Indiana Jones movie. I just hope it doesn't have Shia Le Boeuf. No offence intended - I thought he was very good in "Holes" and apparently earned his adult acting chops recently in "Lawless" alongside Tom Hardy, but he ain't no Harrison Ford.    Shared via feedly // published on MovieViral // visit site University of Chicago Receives Mysterious Package Addressed for "Indiana Jones" Fans of Indiana Jones are well aware that in addition to his whirlwind adventures stopping Nazis and chasing Crystal Skulls, Dr. Henry Jones Jr. was also an esteemed professor of archaeology at the University of Chicago. Now, more than thirty years after first walking through the university's halls on screen in Raiders of the Lost Ark , the school has once again found itself part ...

I have always had a soft spot for the band Third Day since being introduced to them back in the early '00s when working in St Austin's Parish, Liverpool in the LifeTeen youth ministry as Music Minister. I have now got most of their albums. They have a distinctively rootsy Southern US rock sound and stunning vocals from lead singer Mac Powell who has a voice like no other. Their latest album "Miracle" is, in my opinion, one of their best. Here's one of the tracks from it: Posted with Blogsy

Here's a very interesting article from the BBC about age-related happinees and unhappiness. Seems to make a lot of sense, especially the link to the "glass half full" attitude, being able to see the positive in things and ignore the negative. ***************** When it comes to happiness, it seems that the young and the old have the secret. And it turns out what's true for humans is also true for our primate cousins, explains neuroscientist Tali Sharot. How does happiness change with age? Most people assume that as children we live a carefree existence, then we go through the miserable confusion of teenage years ("Who am I?") but regain happiness once we figure it all out and settle down, only to then grow grumpy and lonely with every additional wrinkle and grey hair. Well, this is utterly wrong. It turns out that happiness is indeed high in youth, but declines steadily hitting rock bottom in our mid-40s - midlife crisis, anyone? Then, miraculous...

I would like to share with you a reflection resource in this month’s “Magnificat” book of Mass readings, Daily Office and reflection materials. The text itself was written by Chiara Lubich (an Italian Catholic activist and founder of the Focolare movement). Here it is: Extreme poverty of soul and the Banquet          When the soul doesn't sing, then something is occupying it and this something should immediately be given to God. The suffering could be brought on by external things (and these are more easily overcome by souls who want to love Love); the sufferings could be within us (scruples, doubts, melancholy, temptations, emptiness, homesickness). They all need to be given to God. The quicker the giving, the sooner love descends into our hearts.         But be careful: a giver cannot go on keeping for herself a gift that's been given away. If you feel something, whatever it may be, which doesn't al...

As has often been the case in recent times… no blog posts from me for weeks, then, like London buses, a whole herd of them come at once!! Well, at least two in my case… here’s my second of today. I really like the following article on “Skyfall” (the new James Bond film… as if you didn’t know!) from a London Institute For Contemporary Christianity mailing . Here’s their main website, on which you can sign up for regular e-mails on “Connecting With Culture” and “Word For The Week”: http://www.licc.org.uk and here’s the article: **SPOILER ALERT** Skyfall: A Tale Of Two Sons Skyfall  may or may not be the best Bond film ever but it is certainly the most compelling psychologically, thematically and culturally. At its throbbing heart is the question of sacrifice for a cause. How do you respond when your leader allows you to be tortured, perhaps killed, for the sake of the nation?  In Skyfall , two agents respond in very different ways. Bond, sacrificed by M, looks...