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A Message Of Mercy
Christ is merciful – indeed, He is mercy itself. He sees the needs not only of each one of us as individual human beings, but also as a human family. He sees the faults and failings we have as people and as a society, the selfishness and sinfulness which is present amongst all of us, and the consequences of all the wrong decisions we make because of our human fallibility. And yet despite all this, He loves us – and His love is infinite. Because that love is given to us “whilst we were still sinners”, as St Paul describes it eloquently, we call it ‘mercy’ – mercy is a…
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A Fount of Living Water
Scripture uses a very beautiful expression in several difference places – it is the metaphor of God as a spring of ‘living water’. In the Old Testament, the prophet Jeremiah recounts the Word of the Lord which has come to him, admonishing the faithlessness of the people. Those words of the Lord use many motifs but among them, there is this line – “they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters” (Jer.2:12). The same idea is mentioned again later, when the prophet castigates the people – “O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be put to shame; those who turn away from You shall be written…
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Saints Of The Day
I had written a post yesterday called ‘A Spiritual Weapon’, in which I sang the praises of spiritual reading, something I find very beneficial in my own attempts at having something resembling a spiritual life. Looking through the bookshelves here in the little study upstairs, I see a collection of books which have been gathered across the years in order to provide some of that spiritual reading. The inner front cover of each one is inscribed with the date on which I bought it – so these books now provide a sort of timeline for what I’ve been doing and reading over all those years, I suppose. There are books…
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An Ocean of Mercy
Our parish Church – like almost every other Catholic Church – has a side altar dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the solemnity of which is celebrated today. Our side altar has stained glass which references some of the great documents of the Church – such as Haurietis Aquas – which are concerned with the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In this way, our little altar becomes something of a lesson regarding the devotion. Stemming from the revelations given to Saint Margaret Mary at Paray-le-Monial, France, beginning toward the end of 1673, we are all now very familiar with this image of Jesus exposing to us His…
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Consecration to the Sacred Heart
Sometime around 1995, I write a little prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. As we are now in June, the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart, I thought I would share this little prayer here. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Abyss of Mercy and Source of every grace and blessing, I unite and consecrate myself entirely to You without exception or reserve – all that I am and all that I have; both temporal and spiritual; past present and future; through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Your Mother. I leave myself entirely at Your disposal with complete confidence in Your mercy and love; and I beg…
