Peter Blog a few random thoughts

The X Factor, Big Brother, Come Dine with me, Wife Swap, How to look good naked and so on and so on here we have a list of shows that promise and seek fame. They also promise wealth but it seems that it is missing out on something really quite fundamental. The pursuit of fame and wealth seems to be the new God.   And there is a lot to tempt us with this new God.   Let us take the National lottery and even the classic games show Deal or no Deal. What actually both of them do is play on the feeling that we don’t have enough of what society calls good and also on our people’s sense of greed. I wonder though what is behind all of this why do people want to feel that to make it means to have a load of money and fame. Surely it says something about the human condition. Surely it says something about us as a human race that money and power and fame have become important for us. After some reflection on this I think that it may go a lot deeper. I think that a lot of people are sea...

Day of Recollection for Sisters “ Martha, Martha” he said “you worry and fret about so many things and yet few are needed, indeed only one” This quote comes from the story of story in Luke’s Gospel of the visit of Jesus to the sister Mary and Martha. This story shows us the two aspects of service and also being the human person. We have the Martha who is running around doing so much and being so busy and then the Mary figure who is quietly listening to Jesus. It seems to me that both of these views are good. A lot of people class this story as the difference between the active Church and the contemplative way. It seems to the reader that one way is better than the other. But surely we need a bit of both in order to be an authentic human person and in relationship with  Jesus. Let us take a few minutes to look at both. THE BUSY CHRISTIAN: The Martha effect When I often pick up the phone at the office the often the first thing that I get from the parishioner is these immortal w...

I don't usually put other things on this but this is worth sharing: Enjoy. Just in case you were out and missed all the excitement  http://www.whufc.com/page/Home West Ham     5  -  1     Burnley Hitzlsperger scores a stunning goal on his West Ham debut By Michael Da Silva West Ham strolled into an FA Cup sixth-round tie at Stoke with a comprehensive win over Championship outfit Burnley. Thomas Hitzlsperger, making his long-awaited Hammers debut, opened the scoring with a trademark thunderbolt. Carlton Cole looked to be offside and to have handled the ball when he slotted home before his classy lob over Clarets keeper Lee Grant made it 3-0. In between Winston Reid's header and Freddie Sears' fine high finish, Jay Rodriguez was gifted a consolation. While Burnley had chances to exploit the home side's shaky defence, the cups continue to liberate the east Londoners, who have recorded three more wins in knockout competitions than in th...

Sometimes when writing a homily I realize that what I say and what I write down can quite different. I am today going to attempt rather than put my homily down put down the Links and ideas that got me too the homily I gave. You may find it interesting. So my first thing was to look at the word love. I realized that I did not really understand the word because we use it for so many different things and ideas. I saw that we use the word for so many different things for food, drink and family. Maybe then, I thought, that we use the word far to widely Just goggling the word gave me that idea and this song by the Black eye peas Where is Love?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpYeekQkAdc This idea of an eye for an eye comes from the Book of Exodus.  And looking at the Rabbis interpretation of the law and how it was used in the time of Jesus. The story I told at the end of the Homily comes from this story from the 16th Century Once a great order, as a result of...

This evening we had our first book group.  So this is a quick blog to tell you that the next meeting is on Wednesday 30th March at 7.30pm in the Regis pub. So what book are we looking at first of all well its: The Shack  Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against Mackenzie Allen Philips' better judgement he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, 'Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?' The answers Mack gets will as...

I have decided that I am going to try and do a little bit more on this Blog. But don't worry. I am not going to tell you what I had for breakfast or the weather. But the one thing that I do really appreciate is the comments that you write. It helps me reflect on my homilies and make them better. So keep them coming and be honnest

Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time When I first read today’s Gospel it came across as being quite an angry statement from Jesus. The opening line seems to be telling the listeners off: “I tell you, if your virtue goes no deeper than that of the Scribes and Pharisees,  you will never get into the kingdom of Heaven” Anger is something that we all have to cope with. I don’t believe a person who says that they never get angry. We even see Jesus himself get angry in the episode of the overturning of the money changers. And in this Gospel as I have said Jesus seems to be angry with the Pharasises and the scribes at the way that they gave lip service to the law and we will see this as an occurring  theme throughout Matthews’s Sermon on the Mount. There are many ways that people deal with Anger.  The first group are those who swear blind that they never get angry. In itself this is bent up frustrations and itself quite an angry statement because they are hiding real emotions. The se...

Over the last few weeks I have been reading a book called the Shack. I won’t spoil it for you but it is a book about a Man called Mack and his search for God. In the deepest darkest moment of his life in what the Author describes as the great sadness he meets God. I can’t tell you what happens because I have not read the whole book yet. Often and this is a criticism of the Church as well we put God in boxes. It is safer that way. We keep God at a distance and yet is not God bigger than this. Often what happens is that we do not let God in and so he cannot work through us. We are asked today to be salt for the earth and a light in the darkness that so often elopes round people. And so we must ourselves learn to love God and also learn his ways. We can do this by a number of ways. First by prayer: listening to his voice calling us into life. Secondly by receiving the sacraments especially the Blessed Sacrament at Mass and going to Confession but also and this is something that we migh...

Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time Ghandi’s favourite text in the Bible was the Beatitudes. He was deeply impressed by Jesus and what he said but not the way that Christians lived them out. They are a perfect expression of the reign of the Kingdom that was expressed in last week’s Gospel. But what relevance do they have in today’s society. It seems that modern society has changed these lovely phrases around. So what we have are blessed are the Rich the reign of the world is theirs. Blessed are those who are violent and get their own way they shall trample on others.   And there seems in some parts of society that people celebrate the fact that they persecute, people who have different beliefs and ideas than them.   In the last few years with the rise of the reality show there has been a desire for a lot of people to be rich and famous thinking that it will make them happy. And yet in the Gospel today we have a different kind of Group that Jes us says are blessed. This group are...