-
Confidence and Spiritual Childhood
With an abundance of approaches, methods and forms, the spiritual life can sometimes seem quite complicated – you can’t actually get anywhere until you first decide how you are planning to get there; you need to find your way before you do anything else. I suppose it’s a bit like looking at a map as you get into the car, and you put your finger on the destination you hope to reach; but then comes the planning – you need to decide the particular route you will take before you have any hope of getting there. Only then can you set off on the journey. If you are reading that…
-
The Words of Faustina
I remember once reading a biography of a particular holy person. Now, this person had already written a great deal about their own spiritual experiences and their spiritual thoughts on a number of matters. Commenting on this, in the foreword the biographer had noted – rather astutely, I thought – that to really get to know a Saint or holy person it is not sufficient to listen to what they say about themselves; it is crucial that we listen to what others say of them, too. For this reason, I try always to read the biographies of those Saints who are of interest to me, as much as I read…
-
Michael and the Archangels
When the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel – with his companions Saint Gabriel and Saint Raphael – comes round each year, I always smile and say a little ‘thank you’. I do this because I remember something which occurred one particular night many, many years ago, and something which I have not written about nor referred to before now, other than once or twice over the years in private conversations with a couple of trusted friends. I was travelling home from work one very dark night. I had gotten off the bus, after which there was a walk across a long bridge. That night, I was entirely alone and…
-
Answering The Call
It can sometimes seem that we go to Mass on Sunday, have practically forgotten all about it by the time we get home and then we don’t give it much of a thought again until we are going back to Mass the following Sunday. In the intervening days, there is little that differentiates us from anyone else, little that says we believe, that we are living a life of faith. It’s all just so much routine, little more than repetitious habit. If the living out of our faith feels like we are inside a hamster wheel, there is a very good chance we are doing it wrong. I was thinking…
-
Saintly Calling Cards
As a teenager, I loved rummaging through the little booklet library at the back of our parish Church. This contained a whole pile of those small booklets about various aspects of the Faith – it was by means of such small booklets that I originally discovered that the Popes were in the habit of writing documents for the edification of the faithful; before then, I don’t think I had any idea that this was the case. This was the early 1980s, so I came upon various documents written by the Holy Fathers of the decades leading to that point – reading them opened up my understanding of what the Faith…
