Leave the past in ashes!

The ashes have been given out in all the morning Masses around here, and we have been truly marked as disciples of Christ.  Ash Wednesday is upon us with all its newness and calls to repentence.  We are reminded that we are ambassadors for Christ - isn't that great.  But the Church doesn't have that view at all.  Look at the Scriptures - they are very positive and reassuring.  "Come back to me", the Lord pleads to us  "don't let fear keep us apart." How could we refuse such a plea?  So we'll put away our guilt and fear and turn to God who always forgives, always welcoms us back, always has a smile on his face and love in his heart.  Of course.  He is God.

Even the way he challenges us is positive. "I don't want sacrifices, but mercy!" he thunders.  "Don't put on a pious face and let people know you are fasting!"  "The sort of fast I want is to break unjust fetters, let the oppressed go free, share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor. Clothe the one who has no suitable garments, and do not turn away from your own kin!!"   That is being a true Christian person. 

And our reply?  It has to be 

"Have mercy on me, O God in your kindness, in your compassion blot out my offence.  For in sacrifice you take no delight. My sacrifice is a contrite spirit because I know a humbled, contrite heart you well not spurn"  (cf Psalm 50)

He never spurns us - read the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) to see the sort of God he is.  As a Prodigal Daughter I am so grateful for that, and for the chances he gives us all the time.

Have a good Lent, enjoy tomorrow, St. Valentine's Day, and show real Christian love, not the purple heart variety but the heart that is glowing with kindness and love of others.  You can do it!  We'll pray for each other.  

Thank you for your prayers which have helped me in my low moments.  God bless.  We'll meet again next week.

The healing power of God

February 11th is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.  That was the date of the first apparition to Bernadette in that little market town at the foot of the Pyrenees  in 1858. It is now renowned for its pilgrimages and for its many healings, not all of them, of course, physical ones.  It is a place of prayer, of much love and of a tangible presence of the compassionate love of our God, passed on to us by his mother.

 

It is also a place which attracts people of all ages, all faiths or none, from all over the world. And it began with a young girl who suffered from asthma seeing "a beautiful lady" perched high up on a rock beside the nearby river Gave. That smiling lady, who so attracted little Bernadette and her companions on that raw day in February a hundred and fifty five years ago, was the Mother of God.  The rest, as they say, is history.

In this Year of Faith, the anniversary of that momentous meeting, draws all of us into that loving embrace of God.  Lourdes is about  living our faith. Like all shrines, particularly those dedicated to the Mother of God, it calls us to express our faith in pilgrimage, to share with others our belief in the healing and loving response of God to the needs of our beautiful, but fragmented world.   As one young pilgrim once said while kneeling at the grotto: "This place is awesome!"  That just about describes it.

Yet it started in simplicity, and, in spite of the somewhat tatty shops that have sprung up around the shrine, it remains simple, loving and awesome.  We cannot all go to Lourdes on pilgrimage, but we can all partake in its blessings.  On Monday, let's  pray fervently to  this "beautiful lady" of the Pyrenees, and ask her to heal us of the smallness of our minds, our greed, our attachment to money and success. If those things are taken singly, they are manageable, but, taken as a whole, they can be great blocks to our spiritual life.  Our Lady knows this, and she so wants to reach out to us with that gentle love that is so evident in Lourdes itself.

Another thing we need to ask her to heal within us are the memories of long ago traumas, rejections, absence of love, injustices and  the  painful relationships in the past, which cause residual anger and depression. She will do it, there is nothing more sure. But we have to believe that a transformation can take place.  Ask her for help.  She is, after all   "health of the sick, refuge of sinners, comforter of the afflicted" as her litany points out.  We sing fervently enough the words which snake around the grotto on Summer evenings in Lourdes:

"For poor, sick, afflicted thy mercy we crave and comfort the dying thou light of the grave! Ave, Ave, Ave Maria... " 

She loves to hear words like that, as we place all our hope in her who is the mediatrix of all graces.   Have a good remembrance day on Monday!

The 12th February used to be the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  In our Congregation this feast has special significance as it was the day when we became officially a Religious Congregation way back in 1872.  Our Founder, Mother Magdalen Taylor, made her Vows for life on that day, so we too hold it in great veneration, and offer our lives once again for the Church and the world.  Pray for us won't you, and we will remember you too.  We shall meet in that loving heart of Mary in our prayer. 

 

We'll talk again on Valentine's Day!! Until then, take care.

 

 

 

 

Happy February!

The 2nd February marks a turning point in the Church's calender. It is the feast of the Presentation in the Temple, the day when Jesus was offered to his Father to redeem our world.  We used to call it Candlemas Day - do you remember that?  It still is the day when all the candles to be used in the Church's ceremonies this year are blessed. It is a reminder that Christ is the light of our world, and that his coming lighted up all the dark places of this planet, not just physically dark, but places where people are lonely or depressed, sad, and without hope.  That is real darkness. 

 

But, you and I have been given a task, and that is to bring the light of Christ to bear on all those dark places where people feel hopeless and there is no one to lead them to Christ. He has given us his hands to work with, his heart to love with and his mind to illumine the world.  Us?" Yes, actually All of us.  We have to make people feel better for having known us. We have to bring Christ into our own homes, our schools, our places of work and recreation.

 

That doesn't mean being a 'holier than thou' sort of person - it just means that we remember each day to smile at that person who never seems to be happy, to pray for all those on the buses and trains we travel on, those who walk our streets.  Just a little prayer, that God will bless them. Bringing the light of Christ to every situation we find ourselves in is really much easier than it seems. We never know what good a little prayer does, but one day we will meet those people we prayed for, and they will thank us in Heaven.  That is sure. 

I hope you remembered that February starts with the feast of St. Brigid.  By any standards she was a remarkable woman.  Her father was a chieftain and her mother a slave in his house! Brigid was their only child. She had a special gift of helping others.  She was never known to refuse anyone who asked her for help, especially those who were poor.  Often she was in trouble with her father because she gave away some of his possessions to the poor!

 

She was very good-looking, and her father wanted her to marry, but she became a nun and founded a monastery in Kildare which was famous for its learning.  Brigid could turn her hand to anything. She did beautiful art work, especially illuminated scrolls, and she and her seven companions produced a famously beautiful illuminated book called The Book of Kildare.  Wasn't that something in the 5th century?  She was made an Abbess by St. Mel, which meant that she had the same authority that a Bishop had.  It was remarkable that a woman of that time could become so famous and so powerful, in the sense that she was revered and listened to by kings, chieftains Bishops and priests alike!  What a blow for the advancement of women! There were of course, great women around at that time, in fact the pre-mediaevals were known for the valour and holiness of their womenfolk!

 

What I like about the feast of St. Brigid is that in Ireland they call it the first day of Spring.  I went out on Friday to look at the ground and to search for signs of that welcome the season.  I really could smell the quickening of the earth, or was it just wishful thinking?

 

Anyway, pray to St. Brigid for wisdom, courage and generosity.  She will surely smile at you and give you something of what you ask.  Have a good month of February.  More next week!

 

 

 

Click here to learn how to make a St. Brigids Cross.