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The Gift of Prayer
Prayer is a funny thing. Sometimes it seems to come to us relatively easily, while at other times it requires of us the greatest effort. At one point it is filled with delight and joy and illumination – yet at other points, it can seem we are calling into the void, and it leaves us cold and untouched. I suppose this might be one of the reasons many people can find prayer difficult – there is not always an obvious return. But then, neither should there be; if our purpose in prayer is nothing more than what we receive back at the affective or sensual level, then we have missed…
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A Step Too Far
A number of weeks ago, I was walking past one of the major hospitals in Glasgow. Standing outside the perimeter wall were a number of women who were silently protesting against abortion. One or two of them were quietly praying the Rosary, while a couple held up placards saying what they were doing and why. When the women are approached, they are very happy to be engaged in conversation and will very politely explain the purpose of their actions. Similar silent protests are in place outside at least one other very large hospital in Glasgow. There is no aggression, no hostility, no shouting – they are simply, quietly there. At…
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Latter-Day Simeons
There’s a man who comes to the Church on Saturday afternoons, at least an hour before the evening Mass begins. After lighting a little candle, he then goes and sits toward the back, gazes at the Tabernacle and prays until Mass begins. There is another man who comes in the morning and he does much the same as the first man. And there are the women, too. The ones I am thinking of come along to the Eucharistic Holy Hour on Sunday afternoons and spend that hour simply being in the presence of the Lord, praying silently and placing everything before Him. These people – and countless others like them…
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Altar of the World
The appearances of Our Blessed Lady at Fatima in 1917 are unanimously agreed to be of such importance that Fatima has often been called “the altar of the world”. For anyone who is not familiar with the detail of these appearances, the full story of Our Lady of Fatima is recounted here. Despite this, these – and all similar and approved – appearances fall into the category of ‘private revelation’, which is far beneath that of the ‘public revelation’ of the life and works of Our Lord, recorded by the Evangelists in the Gospels. Private revelation adds nothing to the core of our Catholic faith – rather, it points us…
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Pope Francis – Ten Years
Ten years ago this evening, I sat watching the white smoke rise from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, indicating that a new Pope had been chosen. Millions of others around the world were similarly watching the news broadcasts with great interest and curiosity, wondering who this newly-elected Holy Father might be. And then Cardinal Tauran, the Cardinal Protodeacon, came onto the loggia of the Basilica and uttered those words we all recognise – “Habemus Papam..” – ‘we have a Pope’. There was a momentary pause and then the name of the new Pope was declared – “Franciscus”. It was the first time a Pope had ever taken…
