Peter Blog a few random thoughts

One of the strongest emotions that we have as human beings is love. And yet it is one of the things that really are not truly understood. We use the word for so many different things from a football club to a particular kind of food. It is also one of the emotions that we get wrong even more than we get right. But, I know in the past I have spoken about this word quite a lot especially in relationship to other people. But, I want to explore this morning what it means to love self. I remember many years ago reading a very good book called “Why am I afraid to Love?” by John Powell. One of the things that he expressed in this book is that we do not really love ourselves we are not comfortable with who we are and so find it impossible to love others. This is one of the biggest problems that I encounter in my ministry. So how does this manifest itself. There are those who are constantly checking whether what they have done is ok. Others hide in the shadows not believing that the...

From the beginning of the Gospel of John we get this image of the “Word becoming flesh” in order to bring us to God. We are told that he dwelt among us and through the sacraments of the Church he also dwells within us. So we are called to fully participate in the creative and loving activity of God.  We will bear much fruit if we dwell with God. This then implies that we have a deep relationship and friendship with God. And through this relationship we understand and learn how to live. Jesus says in today’s gospel that he is vine and we are the branches we are not then separate from the vine but dwelling and attached to him who loves us. This means that our God is a personal one who is caught up in our lives and wants to be in relationship with us. And through this intimate relationship through the word becoming flesh and knowing him we are then called to give this life to others we bear fruit. What a wonderful God we have that he gives us knowledge and works through us we ...