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Gifts Of Grace
One of the marks of a Catholic life are the reception of the Sacraments, from birth right through to death. We begin with baptism – the point at which our lives as Christians begin – and later move on to the sacraments of Reconciliation, first Holy Communion and ultimately Confirmation. Later still, we may receive either the Sacrament of Matrimony or that of Holy Orders. Here in our parish, one of those great Sacraments was celebrated last night – the Sacrament of Confirmation. This Sacrament of ‘Confirmation’ is the Church’s way of declaring that we have reached a certain maturity in our understanding and practice of the Catholic faith –…
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The Rituals of Death
One of the things the Church does well are those rituals which surround death and the remembrance of it. Death is something which is present for every one of us, no matter how well we try to avoid it; it is the inescapable final episode of life. And at that moment, the Church can offer something deeply important not only for the dying person, but also for those close to them. In the Church calendar, November is set aside as the ‘month of the Holy Souls’ – these being the dead, whose eternal fate we can never be certain of and whom we hope are at least enduring the purification…
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Empty Chairs
I’ve noticed that whenever there is a specifically religious event taking place, there seems to be something of a sense of unadulterated joy expressed, proclaiming that the faith is being lived out fully in whichever place that event has been held. I saw something of this sort on two occasions in recent memory – the first was the visit to Carfin of the relics of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux a couple of years ago; and most recently, the visit of the relics of Saint Bernadette Soubirous. Each visit was accompanied by the public declaration that “the faith is alive and well” – this, based on the numbers of people visiting…
