Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

The story of Cinderella is one of the most treasured fairytales of all time. It has been retold many times and has made generations of young girls say, “I want to be a princess when I grow up.” However, do we think of this story as a way to live the Lenten journey? We go back to the beginning of the Grimm’s fairytale and read: “In the evening when she had worked herself weary, there was no bed for her. Instead she had to sleep by the hearth in the ashes. And because she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella.” Yes, Cinderella of the Ashes! The Bible has a number of references about ashes. Dust and ashes are also synonyms of the word earth (adamah). From this word are derived ‘Adam’ and the Hebrew word for ‘man’.  Genesis 3:19 even makes a play on these words with: "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return," a sentence which is echoed in the Ash Wednesday service. Another reference comes in Genesis 18:27. Here Abraham is bargaining wit...

 A chalk drawing by Sr. Marie Paul O' Brien, pddm (Dublin) The birth of Jesus Christ in that stable in Bethlehem is where all my questions begin to be answered” . (Cardinal Basil Hume) Part of me understands these words from the late Archbishop of Westminster for it was during Advent about 9 years ago that I only began to understand the mystery of life, of death, of birth, of motherhood, the real meaning of Advent and Christmas and the preparation for the birth of the Infant King. “The people in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:2). That previous summer, our journey as a family was plunged into darkness with the sudden death of our father at the age of 47. Two days afterwards, my sister announced that she was expecting her first child. God, through his mysterious ways, had already begun to comfort us and assure us that life would go on. A few months afterwards, I recall how on the first Sunday of Advent, my sister told us that she had already named th...

In today’s liturgy, we are presented with two different miracles. One in the first reading from the First Book of Kings and the second in the Gospel according to St. Luke. Baker's Dictionary of the Bible defines a miracle as "an event in the external world brought about by the immediate agency or the simple volition of God." It goes on to add that a miracle occurs to show that the power behind it is not limited to the laws of matter or mind as it interrupts fixed natural laws. The origin of the English word goes back via Middle English and Old French, to the Latin miraculum , from mirari , to wonder at, from mirus , wonderful. We also get the word ‘ mirare ’, ‘to look upward’ in Italian. Since the end of my lectures a few weeks again, I have had a little bit more time to ponder and to wonder at the smaller details of life. C. S. Lewis tells us that “miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too l...

• Give your full attention to whatever you are doing, and you'll recognize the constant renewal of life all around you. • Walk the path of beauty and notice the spiritual radiance in people, places, and growing things — more signs of rebirth. • Leave the past to God's mercy. Leave the future to God's discretion. Living in the present moment, the only time when God brings forth new life, is a way of affirming your belief in resurrection. • Whenever you with compassion open your heart, mind, and soul to the pain of the world, you help bring suffering beings back into the land of the living. • When you cultivate the art of making connections, the walls of separation come crashing down and new life can spring up out of the rubble. • When you regularly pray for others as part of your devotional activities, you are practicing resurrection. • Enthusiasm is the mark of a life-giver. When you can laugh and sing and relish life, you are practicing resurrection. • Faith enables us ...

I am resposting this talk that I gave in our Chapel last Lent. Enjoy! Dear God, we know that every journey begins with a first step. Be with us this evening as we take another step in our Lenten journey. We began this journey with the sign of ashes on our forehead, reminding us that this is no ordinary walk. We move one step forward in the promise of your light. We seek new meaning in the Easter that awaits us all. But first, we must walk with you to Jerusalem , to Calvary , to the Tomb and beyond. Every religious experience begins with emptiness. We began the Lenten journey in the desert and we continue to walk, making the journey from Ashes to Alleluia.   On Ash Wednesday we came forward to have ashes placed on our forehead and to hear the words “Remember you are dust and to dust you will return”. The burnt palms, symbol of the joy and majesty which accompanied Jesus during his entrance into Jerusalem , become the dust and ashes placed on our forehead.   Burned into ...

Literally, I haven’t been to Emmaus. But the moment I intend that question in a figurative sense. I do not refer to the Palestinian village several miles from Jerusalem , but I refer rather to our own Emmaus, because Emmaus is the place you go when there is nowhere else to go. Emmaus is the place of lost hopes, shattered dreams, and heavy hearts. Emmaus is the place you retreat to when you are bone-tired, beaten down, and broken up by the tragedies and disappointments of life. It may be a village, but it is often a state of mind, characterised by the absence of joy, the lost sense of meaning, the frequent loneliness of the human condition, and the seeming absurdity of life. Have you been to Emmaus? It is the place you escape to when you are hurting and in need of healing, when you are crying and are in need of comfort, when you are exhausted and in need of renewal. If you have lived at all, I suspect you have been to Emmaus or maybe you are still there. The road to Emmaus is frequ...