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A Sign of Contradiction
In his Gospel, Saint Luke gives us the account of the presentation of the baby Jesus in the Temple. The account is probably best remembered for the prophecy of Simeon, which the Church calls the ‘Nunc Dimitis’ and which it includes in the Office of Night Prayer, so that it is prayed every single night. His words are about a promise made by the Lord long ago, and being fulfilled that very day as Simeon takes the Child in his arms. It offers us a beautiful message of hope and of patient trust in the Lord, Who always keeps His word. Here, however, I wanted to focus on something which…
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Gathering In, Sending Out
One of the themes I have heard over and over in recent weeks, and from all sorts of sources, is the idea of ‘gathering’ – as a Church, we are ‘gathered’ by the Lord. And the very word itself is repeated again and again in Scripture, associated with all sorts of imagery to illustrate the meaning behind the word. Christ tells us that when we gather in His name, He is there among us (Mt.18); and John tells us the Lord gathers into one those who are scattered (Jn.11). The Psalmist (Ps.102) also speaks of nations and peoples gathering in order to serve the Lord. Deuteronomy tells of the Lord…
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Locked Out
One of the most extraordinary furores has been taking place over the last few days within the realm of social media, but also extending far beyond it. Twitter decided to limit the ability of it’s users to interact with the platform – limiting the number of posts a user could see and respond to, and distinguishing between different layers of membership, so that what each user could do was defined by what type of membership was held. You will have almost certainly seen or read the reaction to those limitations being imposed. What was really astonishing about this is that the platform is designed precisely to encourage engagement and interaction…
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Heavenly Lightning
In all of nature, one of the most beautiful and powerful events is lightning. Although it can sometimes seem a little frightening to us, it is hard not to be awed by the magnificence of a lightning storm as those great streaks flash across the sky. This lightning makes it’s presence clearly known, the brilliant luminance illuminating everything around it. In Christianity there is something similarly powerful and magnificent, whose strength is beyond measure – it is the Holy Spirit. This weekend, we will celebrate the great feast of the Holy Spirit – Pentecost. This is the culmination of the season of Eastertide and it is the fulfilment of the…
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The Kingdom Is Like
A piece I read recently spoke about the notion of Hell as a strong – though imperfect – motive for doing good; it went on to describe the more perfect motive as being that of loving God, in order that we attain Heaven one day. But what exactly is Heaven? We refer to Heaven as the ultimate fulfilment and final expression of “the Kingdom of God”. But beyond that, we are really at a loss to offer an adequate explanation or description – after all, how could we human beings in our present perception describe something so utterly beyond our understanding or real comprehension? The Church doesn’t tell us a lot…
