Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

  There is absolutely nothing we can do on Holy Saturday, and that is the point. It is a day of desolation and nothingness, a day of darkness and utter emptiness. The day is and should be the most calm and quiet day of the entire Church year, a day broken by no liturgical function. Christ lies in the grave, the Church sits near and mourns. After the great battle He is resting in peace, but upon Him we see the scars of intense suffering. The mortal wounds on His Body remain visible.  There is nothing to do now except wait… and waiting is the hardest part in this digital and instant age. Holy Saturday is the silent pause between what we have done and what God will do – what only God can do. On this day God is silent, yet God is still at work. Scripture tells us Holy Saturday is the day Christ descended and ministered to those in Hades, or the place of the dead. This is not a trivial or side matter, which is why “He descended to the dead” finds mention in the Apostles’ Creed. Chr...

 Beauty and suffering are always hand in hand. At the top of the mountain is also the painful reality that we must descend. The beauty of truth also embraces offence, pain, and even the dark mystery of death, and that this can only be found in accepting suffering, not in ignoring it. The One who is Beauty itself let himself be slapped in the face, spat upon, crowned with thorns. However, in his Face that is so disfigured, there appears the genuine, extreme beauty: the beauty of love that goes "to the very end"; for this reason it is revealed as greater than falsehood and violence. This is Love Transfigured, it is the ‘beauty that saves the world’. This is Love lifted up on the Cross for me, for you, for the whole world.

Supper was special that night.  There was both a heaviness and a holiness  hanging in the air.  We couldn’t explain the mood.  It was sacred, yet sorrowful.  Gathered around that table          eating that solemn, holy meal          seemed to us the most important meal          we had ever sat down to eat. We were dwelling in the heart of MYSTERY.  Though dark the night,  Hope felt right—         as if something evil          was about to be conquered. And then suddenly  the One-Who-Loved startled us all.  He got up from the table  and put on an apron.  Can you imagine how we felt? GOD IN AN APRON! Tenderness encircled us          as He bowed before us.  He knelt and sa...

As we journey on this Holy Week, we have arrived at the day which has come to be known as Spy Wednesday where Judas Iscariot finalises the plans which will cost Jesus his life.  Yet Jesus knew exactly who would betray but still He continued to love Judas. He cared intensely for Judas. He was discouraged. He hurt. He felt pain. He wept. He loved Judas even when Judas was enshrouded by darkness because: “the light shines in the darkness” (John 1:5). The readings which we will hear today at Mass, although heavy with the impending doom of the death of Jesus, should also bring us hope and relief.  God loves us so much.  We should be both overwhelmed by what our sinfulness has done to our relationship with God and also touched by the extremes to which God goes in order to bring us into a closer, restored relationship.  During this Holy Week, it might be good to take some time to see how at times we can 'betray' others by our words or actions, by our silence and our ...

'Conscience' by Nikolai Nikolaevich  As we journey on this Holy Week, the readings today contain a richness of which we often just scratch the surface. Today we see Jesus predict the betrayal which will cost Him his life. Often in a relationship, the betrayal is so shocking because we don't expect it, we didn't see the signs. Yet Jesus knew exactly who would betray but yet He continued to love Judas. He loved Judas even when Judas was enshrouded by darkness. “The light shines in the darkness” (John 1:5). The other disciples would betray Him in other ways but Judas could not turn back and accept the merciful love that would forgive even this most deceitful betrayal. Each one of us at some stage of our lives have had our trust broken. Often it is not easy to bounce back as we fear that a new relationship or friendship will end up the same way as soon as we let down our guard. As we journey through life we seek people to trust and who support us. We are called to d...

“Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, the house was filled with the scent of the ointment” (John 12: 3) As I listened to today’s Gospel being read on this Monday of Holy Week, my mind returned to the day of my Perpetual Profession back in June 2011. The text of the Gospel was that used for the liturgy of the rite of Profession. It is a passage from John’s Gospel where a woman anoints the feet of Jesus with precious ointment (John 12:1-8). The story of Jesus’ feet anointed with tears and perfume by a sinful woman is a love story, pure and simple. Not some cheap romance or TV soap love but one of complete and oblivious donation! As I stood on the threshold of complete dedication to Christ in religious life, I saw this biblical woman’s gesture and felt Jesus  saying to me: “Louise, are you ready to do the same? To be this self-emptying gift of prayer and joyful love, unafraid of stares or conflict from an often uncompr...