We experience many painful goodbyes in life. There are times when someone we love has to go away, or we have to go away. There are times when someone has to move on and irrevocably change a relationship. This can be painful..
It is October and the Holy Father invites us all to consider a fresh pair of intentions throughout the month. Like his predecessors did, Francis entrusts these intentions to the Apostleship of Prayer, his own worldwide prayer-network, for us to spread to the whole people of God.
In light of the current exhibition at the St John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, the Jesuits in Britain Archives look at the items relating to Thomas More in their collections.
I have a very good friend who is a drug addict. He hasn’t used any “stuff” for about four years now, but he still calls himself a drug addict. And his story is the usual one.
Pope Paul VI was once approached by an enthusiastic spirit-filled young man who told him that he wanted to be a martyr. “No,” said the Holy Father after due consideration, “be a teacher. That is much, much harder.”
Baptism means being where Jesus is. It places us in the place of Jesus. The New Testament makes it clear that one of the most important ways in which this is expressed is through the fact that we pray the prayer of Jesus as we stand in the place of Jesus. That is, in the Holy Spirit we say, ‘Abba, Father’.
There used to be a tradition in Ireland that at a christening the godparents would give the newly baptised infant a little silver christening cup. But when my mother was asked to be godmother to my cousin Catherine, she didn’t have the money to get it immediately.
In this month of September, we get ready to say goodbye to summer for another year. Some of us have to get used to going back to work after a summer break or,to get ready to go back to school or to begin a new course of studies, perhaps in a new place.
