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A Synodal Prayer
I composed a prayer with synodal intentions which I thought I might reproduce here. This prayer is especially for the ‘local Churches’ in whichever diocese and whatever area or place we find ourselves within the broader Church. All of the quotations within the text of the prayer are taken directly from the Final Synthesis Report of the first session of the Synod of Bishops. I hope you might find it useful. Merciful Lord, thank You for the faith which acknowledges that this gift of the Synod is “a time of grace which encourages us” and which invites us to “a mode of being Church”. Give us the hope,…
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A Pathway To Mercy
Twice a month, Psalm 50 (51) is included in the Hours of the Divine Office, and Morning Prayer today was one of those occasions. You are probably familiar with this Psalm, which used to be known as ‘the Miserere’, its Latin name deriving from the opening words – ‘have mercy on me’. As these words suggest, this is a penitential Psalm – one of seven such Psalms, expressing a strong sense of sorrow for sin. The very concept of ‘sin’ might seem odd in this early part of the twenty-first century. Are we not beyond such things as sin? Have we not moved on from such old-fashioned beliefs as that?…
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Lord, Open Our Lips
I read the other day a quip someone had posted online – ‘the days where I feel least inclined to pray, are the days when I most need to pray’. There is truth there at the superficial level – but there is a deeper truth present also. And this deeper truth is that we need to pray every day. Prayer is not – or rather, should not be – a chance and intermittent encounter with God, one we do some days but not others. If our prayer is to be authentic and to achieve what it is designed to do, then it is offered daily and we see it as…
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Rosary Meditations III
Here are some further brief meditations on the Mysteries of the holy Rosary. Each Mystery focuses on one brief line from Scripture as the starting point for meditation – the meditation is the soul of the Rosary, even as the words of the prayers are it’s body. It can only truly come to life when both parts are present. I hope you might find these simple meditations beneficial. The Sorrowful Mysteries The Agony in the Garden “Jesus..came forward and said to them – whom do you seek? They answered Him – Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus said to them – I am He.” (Jn.18:4-5) Merciful Lord, how often we seek…
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The Fragrance of Prayer
We know that as Christians we are obliged to pray and to live, as best we can, lives of prayer. Prayer, then, becomes not so much something that we do, as something that we are – it is not action, but being. That might well be the goal – but it is not always easy to achieve. Our Lord in the Gospels make clear the command to pray so that we might “become perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect”. The Apostles and Evangelists take up the same call, and the Church follows up on this command over and over again down through the centuries. It is repeated in…
