Tag Archive for ‘doubt’
Friday 21 August
ST PIUS X, POPE Ruth 1:1,3-6,14-16,22; Ps 146; Matthew 22:34-40 Love God and your neighbour There’s no doubt – sometimes it’s difficult to feel any neighbourly charity. Loud parties, rubbish that doesn’t get disposed of, cheeky children, bossy know-alls, the borrowers that never return … It can be convenient to assume Jesus wasn’t talking about […]
Friday 3 July
St Thomas, Apostle Ephesians 2: 19-22, Psalm 117, John 20:24-29 My Lord and my God Much has been made of “doubting Thomas.” He was the apostle who could not believe stories about the risen Jesus: he had to see the evidence for himself. Once, I saw this as weakness because I’d been taught that doubt […]
Tuesday 3 February
Hebrews 12:1-4; Psalm: 22; Mark 5:21-43 Example of Christ Our focus must be firmly on Christ who brings our faith to its perfection. In moments of doubt and weakness we are to take courage, remembering the example of Christ. He was innocent but endured the cross showing us how we must stand defiant against all […]
Thursday 11 December
SAINT DAMASUS Isaiah 41:13-20, Psalm 145, Matt. 11:11-15 Hope Christmas draws nearer. The words of Isaiah are creating an increasingly clear picture of God. Not a fearful, distant, omnipotent being. But a father, holding our hand. Assuring us, ‘don’t be afraid.’ A helper. Giving drink to the thirsty. Greening the earth. Flattening mountains. The mountains […]
Monday 13 October
Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1; Ps 113; Luke 11:29-32 Doubt and faith ‘Miracles, if produced on demand, can sabotage the faith they were meant to strengthen. For the truly faithful, no miracle is necessary; for those who must doubt, no miracle is sufficient’ [Nancy Gibbs]. We praise and thank God who has ‘raised the lowly from […]
Thursday 11 September
1 Cor 8: 1-7; Psalm 139; Luke 6: 27-38 Twenty-two Ways I was once in conversation with a Gaelic speaker who apropos of nothing told me that in Gaelic there are twenty-two ways to say “I love you.” In today’s Gospel the Lord Jesus tells us, in just about as many ways, that we are […]
Monday 17 February
James 1:1-11; Ps 119; Mark 8:11-13 Freedom from doubt James tells us that God will give freely if we ask with faith and no trace of doubt. That’s hard. Placing a request before the Lord starting with “if it be your will” is full of doubt. Thinking to myself as I pray for something “nothing […]
What I wish I’d said to Tom
I mentioned in the September Messenger that one day I would like to talk about Tom, someone to whom I owe amends as part of my 12-step addiction recovery program. It had not occurred to me that I would attempt it so soon but it keeps niggling me. I met Tom in 2004. He and […]
Scruples
I’ve been plagued with religious scruples all my life. They run in my family. If I give way to them they become more demanding … expecting my daily living to be some kind of saintly sacrifice which is totally beyond the efforts of ordinary folk like me. The trap is to think these impulses come […]
Consider the lilies…
In paddocks around New Zealand, along neglected little gullies where farmers have yet to realize that that little quarter acre could be useful and productive, arum lilies grow. The flowers stand out white and pure among the weeds and broken bits of old farm machinery, beacons of beauty among the weeds and rubble. An English […]
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