Pilgrim progress- a disciple on a journey!

This year, more than 120 million babies will be born on earth. And of course, they will receive a name. Some parenting websites say that that a name holds the power to shape a child's self-esteem and his identity and influence how he's seen and treated by others. And then there's the belief that names have been proven to affect everything from a child's self-confidence to his grades in school and his future professional success. On the 3rd of January the Church celebrates the Holy Name of Jesus. In the liturgical revisions of Vatican II, the feast was removed, though a votive Mass to the Holy Name of Jesus had been retained for devotional use. With the release of the revised Roman Missal in March 2002, the feast was restored as an optional memorial today, January 3rd. It might sound like a strange feast. Why do we celebrate a name of a person, do we not celebrate the person? A name is very important, it gives identity. For Jesus, it gave him his mission, his life pr...

Taking time out to look at all the blessings we have in our lives is never a bad idea! In fact, it is such a good idea that it is written into our Rule of Life that each month we are to take a day of spiritual recollection to reflect over the month that has passed and prepare to live the new one with a grateful heart. I had the gift of living that day of recollection today so I had ample time to pray in Adoration and bask in God's generosity and mercy. On our recollection days we keep silence, during meals and about the house so as to create a climate of prayer, listening and respect for the journey that each sister is making. Sitting in prayer, I looked over the past few weeks and  see how stressed I have been about various situations. Nothing seriously life-changing but little things that piled together became big things. There have been numerous visits to the dentist, administration problems, health insurance policies not updated, crossed wires (sometimes burnt wires!), the...