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Home / 2019 / April / 04

Thursday of Week 4 of Lent

In cases of controversy we must decide which approach is the better, more life-promoting outcome…

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8 comments
BRENDAN HOBAN: Fr Sheehy is on the wrong side of history
November 20 2022
Paddy Ferry
Soline, that is an excellent piece by James Alison but it is not one of the two Tablet articles I have referred to. I think the Tablet articles were in August 2018. I am having problems accessing the Tablet archive but I will send the links when, and if, I get in.
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1 comments
27 Nov 2022 – 1st Sunday in Advent, A
November 27 2022
Thara Benedicta
Key Message: We will do the preparation!! God will give the provision!! Homily: We are in the preparation time for the birth of our baby Jesus. Let us analyse how two thousand years ago two people prepared for His coming!! Right guess. We will walk with our Mamma Mary and St. Joseph on their days of preparation. Some excerpts are taken from the book, "The Poem of Man-God". St. Joseph was shocked when he came to know that He and Mamma Mary had to go to Bethlehem, when Mamma Mary was about to deliver the baby. Mamma Mary consoled St. Joseph saying that "Isn't it written that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem? How great is God's work? God will take care!!" Mamma Mary was not worried because she trusted God and knew that whatever would happen it was all in God's plan. All the dresses woven for the baby and all other arrangements had to be left then and there. They were not able to carry any check-in baggage. Only a hand baggage of a bag of woollen clothes. They knew they were insufficient for their journey. But they knew God would be the provider!! When we are not able to provide for ourselves, God will miraculously provide for us. They could not do any advance booking for the rooms. When they started they did not know where they would stay. They put the issue into God's hands. Are there uncertainties in our future When we surrender our uncertainties God will be excited to take care of it as His responsibility. They could not afford two donkeys, so that if St. Joseph also came on a donkey, the number of days of their travel would have reduced. St. Joseph walked and walked thinking about how Mamma Mary would be comfortable travelling on the donkey for long hours. He was not able to provide her with more than a donkey. But he knew that God would note her hardships and take care of her much more than what he could do for her. Mamma Mary, in the final stage of pregnancy, travelled all the way along, thanking and praising God. Any other woman in that situation would have naturally questioned God, "What wrong did I do in my life to undergo all these? Since you are Almighty You could have better taken care of me instead of allowing me to take up this journey at this stage... " But Mamma Mary was very excited, as she was doing God's will. Our sufferings also will become exciting once we know that we are doing God's will. As they were nearing Bethlehem a shepherd boy gives Mamma Mary a cup of milk to drink. Mamma Mary thanks God for the beautiful surprise!! God winks at us with little little surprises!! They arrive at Bethlehem. Mamma Mary says to St. Joseph, "I really think that the time has come to deliver." St. Joseph knocks at the door of each inn, looking for a room for Mamma Mary to deliver. Every innkeeper said, "Not available". He also implores some of the travellers. He points out that they are all healthy men, that there is a woman about to give birth to a child. He begs them to have mercy. But all he gets is their indifference. If there had been no trust in God, St. Joseph would have got a heartache at this stage. He had an inner deep trust that there was somewhere a good place God has destined for us. God is taking us to that place through all these. Why did God not allow St.Joseph to get a room in an inn, but He made Him go into a stable? Only because it was a stable, the shepherds were able to get in. If child Jesus was born in an inn, the innkeepers would not have allowed the shepherds in. God wants to be in a place accessible to anyone and everyone. He is not a God of a few but a God of everyone!! We may wonder why God is not giving us an inn but only a stable. God knows that we will be better in the stable than in an inn. Even the little donkey which carried Mamma Mary and the baby Jesus inside her also found food and water in the stable to eat, drink and take rest. God's choice is always the best!! There was a rich Pharisee who looked at them with obvious contempt and when Mamma Mary went near him, he stepped aside as if he had been approached by a leper. Joseph looks at him and his face blushes with disdain. Mary calmed St. Joseph saying, "Don't insist. Let us go. God will provide." When people reject us, we should move on, realising that we are God's favourites!! We see that St. Joseph and Mamma Mary lived their passions and turned them to joy. There was no question from them, "Why, God, why? When God, when?" They only submitted themselves to the will of the Father. The special grace provided to them did not protect them from any hardships. They had to go through the same difficult path like all of us. John the Baptist who was sent solely for preparing people for the first coming of our Lord Jesus said, "Do your work sincerely without any fault like taking bribes and so on.. " So preparation for the second coming of our Lord Jesus is to be committed to complete all our assigned tasks. The journey may be hard but beautiful when we trust in God just like St. Joseph and Mamma Mary!!
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8 comments
BRENDAN HOBAN: Fr Sheehy is on the wrong side of history
November 20 2022
Soline Humbert
#4 Yes Paddy, I am aware of the sad, tragic reality of this internalised homophobia and the extensive damage it causes to so many in the church, and in society. Was this article by James Alison the one you mention as being rejected for posting? https://jamesalison.com/the-unexpected-shape-of-forgiveness/ All of James Alison's articles& interviews are available on his website.
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1 comments
23 Nov 2022 – Wednesday of Week 34
November 23 2022
Paddy Ferry
Can I ask why Columbanus is now called Columban? I was in the company of a Sister of Mercy tonight who joined in online with Mass in Clonard in Belfast this morning and she had the exact same query as myself having heard him referred as Columban.
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