Peter Blog a few random thoughts

One day two men were walking along the seashore discussing the mystery of God. However they were not making much progress. Suddenly they came across a small boy planning on the beach. He had dug a hole in the sand and kept running down to the sea, dipping his toy bucket in the water and running back to the beach to empty the water into the hole. The two of them watched this boy for a while as he ran back and fi=fourth filling and emptying the bucket. They found the scene amusing. They went up to the boy and asked what he was doing. Very seriously he told them he was emptying the ocean into the hole he had dug in the sand. The two smiled and walked on, resuming their discussion about God. After a while one of them stopped and said to the other “You, know we were amused just now when the child told us what he was trying to do. Yet what we have been doing in our discussion about God is exactly the same. It is impossible for us to understand the mystery of God is for that child to p...

In the Liturgy this weekend the emphasis changes from looking at the Resurrection and focusing on what is to happen after the Ascension we see the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit the Advocate. In a few weeks’ time we will see the power of the Holy Spirit and how it transforms peoples’ lives. A few weeks ago a parishioner cam and asked me why the Church never seems to promote or talk about the Holy Spirit. “After all” he said “it hardly ever appears in the Mass.” Although one can be quite dismissive of this statement at first it is true that the Church sometimes has looked upon the Holy Spirit as there but never really spoken about.  I gently reminded him and asked him to look out for the action of the Holy Spirit during the Mass. After Mass he admitted that in fact it is there quite a lot more than he had first thought.  From the opening dialogue to the epiclesis through to the dismissal the Holy Spirit flows through our liturgy. Sometimes the Holy Spir...

Good Shepherd Sunday   The image of Jesus as Shepherd is one of the oldest images that we have of Jesus. It is one of single devotion of the shepherd to his flock. Shepherds in the biblical times are very different from today. For example when Jesus says that “I am the gate” in the gospel today the Shepherd would lie down and be the gate at night and sleep there guarding them from danger. The shepherd knew his sheep and they recognized his voice. They would not stray because with him they felt safe.   Our Good Shepherd is Jesus he is the voice that we follow his is the voice that we hear and although we sometimes go astray we find our way back to him. To follow the Lord and to hear his call is our Vocation in life and after all that what we must do. There are many vocations in the Church to be single, to get married to be a religious or to be a priest. On this good shepherd Sunday I want to focus on one of them the priesthood. I once asked a young man at the ba...

The death of Kennedy, The first landing on the moon, the fall of the Berlin wall, the death of Diana princess of wales England wining the world cup. These and many many others are pivotal days in history. IF you remember them then you can usually remember where you were when you heard the news or where you was with watching the events unfold on TV or radio.   Today we celebrate the most important day in history. One that has changed the world for ever. For it is here today that we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord from the death. The Church as the Exult says “shakes with joy.” We today share in that Joy. We have renewed hope, for we are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song. So what does it mean for us to be this Easter people and to be the most important day in history? There are three things I think that we must try our best to do. The first thing that we must do is to allow this joy to penetrate our hearts. For so many people depression and anxiety rule the...

Today as we embark on the most holy three days we remember in a very special way the mystery of God’s love for us. We gather this evening as the disciples did in that upper room. We gather with Christ. We watch and listen to the words and actions. And that is what I want you to do this evening. I want you to watch and listen and learn about God’s love for us. Watch as the feet are washed around the Church in a few moments. As Christ did for his disciples who he was sent to serve so I as priest do to you who I have been sent to serve. And think of what it means the feet the most used part of the body sometimes smelly sometimes tired and they are washed as a sign of service and love.   So today is the institution of the priesthood. It is one of unselfish service and love for all people. Shown in this beautiful act of service. The drama continues at the Altar a symbol of Christ. It is here that we discover the institution of the Eucharist. Listen as Christ tells to “Do this in ...

Palm Sunday 2014 Reflection: In the Passion story: Who am I? What am I feeling as I hear these events take place? Take this person or people and stay with them over the first few days of holy week. Ask yourself why you identify with the person and bring it to prayer. 

  Jesus says in the Gospel today that “I am the resurrection and the life” and in another place it says “I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.”  I want to focus on today one word that both these passages have in common the word “Life.” When I was a student I had a poster from Trainspotting a film from the early 1996 about people who took drugs.  The last phrase after going through many different situations was “Chose Life.” This always struck me as a positive statement. But, many people are in dead end jobs where they are stuck and there life is just one long commute. And when they get home they are too tired to do anything. It is interesting that the BBC have done a poll where they saw where the jobs that gave people the best job satisfaction the worst was publicans and the best was being a priest or a vicar. When people have no life then they can be in what Pope Francis says:  “perpetual lent without any hope of Easter.” So who br...