Word in the Hand

Trustful prayer in time of adversity Abraham - Liverpool Christ the King  In your great heart I place my own, O Lord Let the rhythm of my life follow your desire. In your knowing of me  Let me know myself Feel the flutterings of fear, O Lord As a fledging shivers for its mother Let your wings be a shield around me Holding me close You are all and everything to me, O Lord  Gatekeeper and shepherd you lead me home I fear neither the howling of wolves  nor shrieks of carrion birds Your arm defends me Into your great heart I place my own, O Lord In your knowing of me  Let me know myself Blessed be wordinthehand2012

Gospel John 20:19-23  Feast of Pentecost In the evening of the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. ‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ After saying this he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’ The feast of Pentecost is most clearly recognised by the  reading from Acts - the 'Gospel' of the Holy Spirit -  it almost feels that that reading would have been enough;  more than enough given the drama of the  Holy Spirit's entrance.  By itself, it could be imagined that this is a whole new shift in God's pla...

Feast Day 24th May  Hail Mary, full of grace The Lord is with thee Blessed art thou amongst women And blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Holy Mary, Mother of God Pray for us sinners now And at the hour of our death Amen  I know the image you have of me; young and beautiful, the contentment of motherhood showing on my face. My arms held wide in the openhearted gesture of a mother to all those who have been given to me. In the beginning, only he was given to me; he was the ‘Yes’ of my life, my heart and my soul. The ethereal otherness of him was wrapped in prophecy, his baby eyes were wide with the guileless love that my gaze returned. Our future lives were given into God’s care, to His Will. At the Temple I wore the simple veil of a proud, young mother, knowing that, despite the gossips, my child had every right to this moment, this presentation into his Father’s hands; confident that he would receive His blessing as I had been blessed. That Love was ours...

Gospel of Mark 16: 15-20 The Ascension of the Lord Jesus showed himself to the Eleven, and said to them: ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.’   And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven: there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it. In England we get two opportunities to celebrate the Ascension - Thursday and Sunday - so two opportunities to reflect.  On Thursday it was the mystery of the m...

Gospel Mark 16:15-20  The Ascension of the Lord Jesus showed himself to the Eleven, and said to them: ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.’   And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven: there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it. The world of men is dreaming, it has gone mad in its sleep, and a snake is strangling it but it can't wake up. D H Lawrence There is a lot of debate about this ...

For reflection and blessing go to .... Feast of Brendan the Navigator

Mother and child - St Julian's  Church, Norwich It’s Mother’s Day today in the States. Mother's Day here happens in Lent which probably tells us a great deal a lot about our attitude to motherhood. In fact, that Sunday is to honour the Church as mother  - human mothers  don't get a day except by association.  If it wasn't Sunday it would be the feastday of Our Lady of Fatima.  Mary would say that she has no right to be honoured except by association to her son - she certainly knows what motherhood is about. There is very little about Mary in the Gospels; there are some who believe that her only duty was to be the human ‘incubator’ - the Ark of the Covenant as we said during her Litany today - and there is nothing else to thank her for. If this is the case, Jesus may as well have sprung fully formed, like Venus, from the sea. There is a lot more to motherhood than incubation! We have come to understand about the courage that Mary needed to say that f...

Sunday Gospel John 15:9-17  J esus said to his disciples: ‘As the Father has loved me,  so I have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this  so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete. This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants any more, because a servant does not know  his master’s business; I call you friends,  because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. You did not choose me:  no, I chose you; and I commissioned you  to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last;  and then the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name. What I c...

Gospel John 15:1-8  Jesus said: ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more. You are pruned already, by means of the word that I have spoken to you. Make your home in me, as I make mine in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is like a branch that has been thrown away – he withers; these branches are collected and thrown on the fire, and they are burnt. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it. It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then ...

Gospel John 14:7-14  Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If you know me, you know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him.’ Philip said, ‘Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.’   ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip,’ said Jesus to him, ‘and you still do not know me? ‘To have seen me is to have seen the Father, so how can you say, “Let us see the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak as from myself: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing this work. You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; believe it on the evidence of this work, if for no other reason. I tell you most solemnly, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, he will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask for in my name I will do, so t...

Gospel John 14:1-6  Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house; if there were not, I should have told you. I am going now to prepare a place for you, and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you with me; so that where I am you may be too. You know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus said: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’ Step Ten - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it . How often we take the opportunity to smile at Thomas; the one who always seems to be a step behind the rest; the doubtful one; the one who would not go anywhere without a map and a compass. In this respect, maybe Thomas is a better example than we as...