Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

  In the Gospel today we read that as Jesus comes in sight of the city of Jerusalem, he 'sheds tears over it' because of the inability of its inhabitants to welcome the message of peace. In the Book of the Apocalypse John 'wept bitterly' because there was nobody fit to open the scroll and read it. This is the awareness of the human condition which limits us from that fulness of life which God continually offers to each of us.  Revelation 21: 4 reminds us that ‘God will wipe away every tear’ yet Psalm 80:5 says that the Lord ‘has fed them with the bread of tears and made them to drink tears in large measure.” So which is it? Does God want to console us when we are hurting or does he want to make us cry?   We cry because we are sad or fed-up. We cry because we are hurt and lonely. We cry because we have been betrayed or disillusioned. We cry because we have regret, we wonder why, how, where, what. We cry because...sometimes we don't even know why we are crying.   If y

Today the Gospel offers us the story of Zacchaeus. It is the story of the hospitality of God shining a light into Zacchaeus’ darkness. Jesus goes to eat at the house of a tax collector- and people complain!  For me I see that this story presents two kinds of “lostness.” There is the lostness of Zacchaeus, a social outcast, a man who suffers from a different kind of poverty than we normally think of—and there is the lostness of the crowd, which we need to identify with ourselves. We who call ourselves Christians are not immune to this kind of lostness. Often, we judge and we look-down-upon, we fold our arms and we distance ourselves, and we make little biting comments about each other to others or in our own minds.  Yet Zacchaeus could have declined the offer to have Jesus come and dine. God leaves us free. God is not about forced entry and the door must be opened from the inside as the beautiful image of ‘Christ, Light of the World’ depicts. We must make the decision to yield to His me

I often wondered where the expression "throw in your 2 cents ", originated from. Well today as I was praying with the Gospel for this Sunday, the penny dropped (pardon the pun!). Whilst it has come to mean to voice an opinion or to express a view, in the past it was also associated with gambling, to throw your last two cents on the gambling table, to risk losing everything. In the Gospel  we will see the woman, a widow, in the Temple in Jerusalem who puts everything she has into the offering box...2 small coins. When you have a moment find 2 little 1 cent coins...they're very small, tiny! Hold them in your hand and imagine this is your life savings, your whole financial stability. Then give them away....freely, selflessly , no drama. Could you do it?  I always recall my nieces when they were toddlers and used to go to Mass with my mother. She would give them 2 coins, a bigger coin the 50 cent and a smaller coin, a euro. The 50 cent was for the donation basket and th

After the Beatification of Blessed James Alberione I have walked among saints, even ones who have not yet been entered in the canon of saints....or who never may be.  I take a virtual tour in my mind and heart and think of the many tombs of Saints, Blesseds and Venerables and Servants of Gods I have prayed before.   More than often my prayer was very simple- pray for me as I try to imitate Jesus. Here is my little litany of saints. To Saint Paul, fervent apostle of Christ, I have asked your enthusiasm in preaching the Crucified Jesus, and acceptance of the thorn in the flesh which leads us to live only for Christ and not for ourselves. To Blessed James Alberione our Founder, I have asked intercession to be a faithful Disciple and a Pauline, following in the footsteps of St. Paul. Pray for us. To Blessed Timothy Giaccardo, our first Pauline priest, I have asked the simplicity of life and complete offering when sickness and trials comes. Pray for us. To Venerable Mother