Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

 

Yes, this day two weeks will be Christmas Eve! As much as I absolutely love Christmas and all its celebrations, it's not Christmas yet! We are still in Advent- a beautiful time of prayer, preparation, stillness, reflection to ask ourselves how am I preparing for the birth of Jesus? How will it change my life in this year 2022/2023?  Here are some suggestions to prepare for Christmas in these next 2 weeks:  1) Light a candle, take even just five minutes to be still- no phone, no gadgets and remember how much you are blessed and loved in many ways.  2) Check out God's word each day: the readings are powerful and remind us we are all on a journey towards Bethlehem and beyond. There are lots of apps online or you can visit this page: https://www.catholicbishops.ie/readings/ 2) Make the decision and take the opportunity to go to Confession- so you can be truly at peace with yourself, your neighbour and with God. Most Parishes have their Christmas/Advent schedules on their webs...

Disclaimer: I know, it's not pink today. It is ROSE! Yes, it is that time again. Third week of Advent means Gaudete Sunday, a day which takes its common name from the Latin word Gaudete ("Rejoice"), the first word of the entrance antiphon of this day's Mass: Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico, gaudete. Modestia vestra nota sit omnibus hominibus: Dominus enim prope est. Nihil solliciti sitis: sed in omni oratione petitiones vestræ innotescant apud Deum. Benedixisti Domine terram tuam: avertisti captivitatem Jacob. I am sure that the Latin scholars will be able to translate this but just in case, here’s the text! “ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. Lord, you have blessed your land; you have turned away the captivity of Jacob.” We should re...

Many people get confused with the feastday we celebrate today! Just to explain it is she , Mary herself, who is the Immaculate Conception; the day does not refer to Mary's conceiving Jesus by the Holy Spirit, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, by Mary's father, St. Joachim. What makes her conception immaculate is not that she was conceived by the Holy Spirit of a virgin, as was Jesus but that from the very moment of her conception; she was filled with grace by God. The Opening Collect for the Mass today begins: "Father, You prepared the Virgin Mary to be the worthy Mother of Your Son..." As this prayer emphasizes, the Immaculate Conception is not so much about honouring Mary, but making Mary a worthy bearer of God the Son in the flesh. The Church, East and West, has always held that Mary was no ordinary mother, but the Mother of Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. With this come special graces and honours, not on account of who Mary...