Tag Archive for ‘prayer’
Positive Prayer
I’ve just been re-reading a book “Adventures in Prayer” by Catherine Marshall. She stresses the importance of being explicit in asking what you want of the Lord. She quotes the story of the blind man, who came to Jesus. “What do you want of me?” says the Lord. Jesus knew the man was blind […]
Saturday 26 April
St Mark Acts 4:13-21, Ps 118, Mark 16:9-15 Mystery Mystery is an important element of the Christian life. Three persons in one God, the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and Jesus rising from the dead are Christian truths that defy explanation and our human understanding. These mysteries challenge our faith and enrich it. […]
The Strange Case of the Missing Prayer
We are a strange mob, aren’t we? A muddle of contradictions that, in our rational moments, make no sense at all and yet that’s often where we seem to spend the majority of our lives. I have just been reading an interview with the children’s author whom many of you will know, Mem Fox, who […]
Saturday 29 March
Hosea 5:15-6:6, Ps 51, Luke 18:9-14 It’s about love, not judgement Humility can be a hard lesson. We try to please God and may feel delighted with our progress – for example, by using prayer and self-discipline to overcome particular faults. Nevertheless, Jesus points out we mustn’t judge others: rather, we should persist in humbly […]
Sunday 2 March
eighth sunday of the year Isaiah 49:14-15, 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, Ps 62, Matthew 6:24-34 Replace anxiety with prayer Jesus understands what it means to be human and knows how easily distracted and overly-concerned we can become with looking good in the eyes of the world. His words are balm to an unquiet mind – “do […]
Monday 24 February
James 3:13-18; Ps 19B; Mark 9:14-29 The power of prayer James letter is very hard-hitting, don’t you think? For the last week he has been laying down for us how we must behave. Then there is the puzzling statement of Jesus at the end of the Gospel, that prayer was required for this type of […]
Saturday 8 February
1 Kings 3:4-13; Psalm 119B; Mark 6:30-34 Be careful what you ask for In today’s first reading, Solomon asked for wisdom, and received it. He also received other things he might have asked for, but did not. Now that the Holy Spirit is with us, we don’t need to rely on the Lord appearing to […]
Friday 24 January
memorial of St Francis de Sales I have been chosen David is so filled with the Holy Spirit that in a cave, he respects Saul and does not get jealous as happens so easily. Saul honours David as so favoured by God he will surely be king [1 Sam 24:3-21]. Psalm 56 is a prayer […]
Thursday 23 January
Jealousy and envy oppose and destroy Saul is jealous of David but Saul’s son Jonathan can see David is endowed by God so defends him [1 Sam 18:6-9;19:1-7]. Psalm 55 is a beautiful prayer to use when I face opposition. Similarly, Jesus has so many followers now the authorities see him as a threat to […]
Thursday 16 January
My wake up call So often in life there is suddenly a change of fortune. Bad things often happen as a warning. Samuel and the people are defeated in a battle even though God’s presence is among them in the Ark of the Covenant. Why? Because the priest leaders have become corrupt. Similarly I must […]
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