15 May: Implicit Prayer

Love and truth belong together. Love is more than a feeling, more than physical passion. Love is a force that lives in the depth of us, a force stronger than death, that cannot be bought — a longing for life so intense that it may at times seem to be more than we can endure.

When you find that nothing you possess, nothing that surrounds you, is enough, remember that what you are meeting is not just your own limits; you are perceiving the beginning of God’s unlimitedness. That kind of experience is an implicit prayer. Remember that you bear the Spirit’s seal, that you are more than flesh and blood. That is your deepest truth.

You receive the seal in the form of a cross. On the cross our Lord Jesus Christ carried all that is human through death into life. Nothing in us, nothing about us is hopeless. That is the message of Easter.

My friends, today you are confirmed for life! Live, then, in accordance with your origin, live by the seal you receive. That way your life will have a beautiful meaning, it will have a goal.

From a homily addressed to Confirmation candidates by Bishop Erik Varden, April 2024.

After reflecting yesterday on Newman’s reflections on not praying enough, along comes Bishop Erik to say that ‘nothing is hopeless’, and that the feeling that nothing we have or experience is ever enough is actually an implicit prayer. We are closer to God than we can ever imagine.

Let us pray that the Spirit may teach us to recognise these moments of implicit prayer in our daily lives, and to give them our conscious assent.

Sculpture at Saint David’s Cathedral, Pembrokeshire

11 May: Safe at Anchor

Safe at anchor, now at rest,
With the many of our fleet,
But once again we will set sail
Our Saviour Christ to meet.

This verse is inscribed on the grave of William Marsh, one of at least three master mariners in Saint John’s churchyard, Woodbridge, Suffolk. He was in his 80th year, so surely he did not drown at sea, but died safe at anchor in his own house in the town.

One last time he set sail to meet Christ; the One he would have met more than once on the ‘lonely sea and the sky’ of Masefield’s poem, Sea Fever. Or as Psalm 107 has it:

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

Let’s pray for all seafarers, and thank God for their hard work and the good things they bring us. Let’s remember, too, the port chaplains of Stella Maris, ministering to sailors and their families often far away.

HMS Vale, in the upper photo, saw service with the Swedish Navy before becoming a Royal Navy training vessel and finally a cafe on the River Deben near Woodbridge. There you can sit in peace, watching the birds and the constantly changing light over the water.

4 May: A Chill.

A CHILL 
What can lambkins do 
All the keen night through? 
Nestle by their woolly mother 
The careful ewe. 

What can nestlings do 
In the nightly dew? 
Sleep beneath their mother's wing 
Till day breaks anew. 

If in a field or tree 
There might only be
Such a warm soft sleeping-place 
Found for me!
           Christina Rossetti.

A robin is building in our hedge, carefully entering cover a distance away from her nest site. The squirrel who has taken up residence nearby would soon eat her eggs, as would passing rats, so precautions must be taken and will be until her babes have flown. And yes, they will shelter under her wings until they are fledged.

The lambs in our photo look almost as big as their mothers, but still they know where to find a warm drink of milk or a reassuring comfort from their ewes.

As for Christina Rossetti - longing for rest, longing for loving company - have we not felt the pangs of loneliness at some time in our lives? But read this as an Easter poem. Christina was an Easter person even if this poem leaves us hanging on desire; we are rather more complicated creatures than robins or sheep.

May all the faithful departed rest in peace and rise in glory! 

2 May, Consider. Creation 2024, VII.

Consider by Christina Rossetti

Consider 
The lilies of the field whose bloom is brief:—
We are as they; 
Like them we fade away, 
As doth a leaf. 

Consider 
The sparrows of the air of small account: 
Our God doth view 
Whether they fall or mount,— 
He guards us too. 

Consider 
The lilies that do neither spin nor toil, 
Yet are most fair:— 
What profits all this care 
And all this coil? 

Consider 
The birds that have no barn nor harvest-weeks; 
God gives them food:— 
Much more our Father seeks 
To do us good.

This poem is full of trust! Let us take confidence from the Easter event and rejoice in the care Our Father has for us, in time and eternity. Let us spread that joy, day by day.

28 April: Hearts on fire, feet on the move.

The start of the pilgrim journey from Canterbury to Rome; the disciples’ starting point was the upper room, where Jesus appeared the evening after showing himself to the two disciples at Emmaus.

In this post Canon Anthony Charlton of Saint Thomas’ Canterbury reflects on Pope Francis’s Message to us all, each one a missionary disciple. Help! Help is at hand.

Pope Francis’s theme for Mission Sunday last October was “Hearts on fire, feet on the move,” which he said was inspired by the story of Jesus and the disciples on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection. We are all familiar with this incident at the end of Luke’s Gospel.

After the crucifixion of Jesus, two of the disciples of Jesus had turned their backs on Jerusalem and were full of sadness and disappointment because they had such high hopes for Jesus. They did not recognise the stranger that joined them as Jesus and they told him the reason they were sad; “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”

They are full of disappointment. Yet their meeting with Christ in the Word and in the breaking of the bread sparked in them the enthusiastic desire to set out once again and go
back to Jerusalem and proclaim that the Lord had truly risen.

The Pope points out that, in this Gospel account, we perceive this change in the disciples through a few revealing images: their hearts burned within them as they heard the Scriptures explained by Jesus, their eyes were opened as they recognised him and, ultimately, their feet set out on the way.

It is easy for us to get disheartened when we hear that we are called to be missionary disciples. We are not sure what is expected of us. We are sometimes more comfortable with quoting the saying attributed to St Francis of Assisi, “Preach the gospel with your lives, only use words if necessary”. Yet Jesus is calling us to go forth. This is what the two disciples did.
Renewed and encouraged by the encounter with Jesus at Emmaus they returned to Jerusalem.

An evangelist, Roy Fish, made an interesting observation saying that there is a difference between “come and hear” and “go and tell.” The “come and hear model” is when we say to others come and hear the Gospel proclaimed in our church we hope to be yet Jesus is inviting us to “go and tell.” We are like those two disciples, we need to be refreshed by the Word of God, nourished by the Eucharist and so share with others the joy of meeting the Lord.

So, let us set out once more, illumined by our encounter with the risen Lord and prompted by his Spirit.
Let us set out again with burning hearts, with our eyes open and our feet in motion.

Let us set out to make other hearts burn with the Word of God, to open the eyes of others to Jesus in the Eucharist, and to invite everyone to walk together on the path of peace and salvation that God, in Christ, has bestowed upon all humanity.
Our Lady of the Way, Mother of Christ’s missionary disciples and Queen of Missions, pray for us!”

(Pope Francis’s message for World Mission Sunday 2023.)

27 April: Become more like Him.

Make use of this Holy Easter Season, which lasts forty to fifty days, to become more like Him who died for you, and who now liveth for evermore.

He promises us, “Because I live, ye shall live also.” He, by dying on the Cross, opened the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers. He first died, and then He opened heaven. We, therefore, first commemorate His death, and then, for some weeks in succession, we commemorate and show forth the joys of heaven. They who do not rejoice in the weeks after Easter, would not rejoice in heaven itself. These weeks are a sort of beginning of heaven.

Pray God to enable you to rejoice; to enable you to keep the Feast duly. Pray God to make you better Christians. Come to God, and beg of Him grace to devote yourselves to Him. Beg of Him the will to follow Him; beg of Him the power to obey Him.

This world is a dream,—you will get no good from it. Perhaps you find this difficult to believe; but be sure so it is. Depend upon it, at the last, you will confess it. Young people expect good from the world, and people of middle age devote themselves to it, and even old people do not like to give it up. But the world is your enemy, and the flesh is your enemy.

O how comfortable, pleasant, sweet, soothing, and satisfying is it to lead a holy life,—the life of Angels! It is difficult at first; but with God’s grace, all things are possible. O how pleasant to have done with sin!

From Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII (of 8) by John Henry Newman.

The splendid Processional Cross, Saint Edmundsbury Cathedral, pointing the way to heaven, which for Edmund was through death by being shot with arrows. 

26 April: A Calm partnership

We have reflected on suicide in our posts before and will no doubt do so again. Railway companies have been involved in suicide prevention for several years as so many people attempt suicide on the railway by jumping off bridges or walking in front of moving trains. This post is about how one company is working with the suicide prevention charity CALM. The train in the photo has a message for anyone who’s ‘feeling rubbish’: you belong! life is always worth living.

Click for the full post, and here is an extract.

125 lives are lost to suicide every single week in the UK. 1 in 5 people will have suicidal thoughts during their lifetime. CALM is here to show that there is always a reason to stay. Through our partnership, we aim to de-stigmatise mental health struggles and join their movement against suicide, encouraging everyone to seek support when they need it. 

Let’s pray for everyone who feels life is rubbish. and for all rail workers who look out for them.

25 April: Indifference.

Philosophy should always know that indifference is a militant thing. It batters down the walls of cities, and murders the women and children amid flames and the purloining of altar vessels. When it goes away it leaves smoking ruins, where lie citizens bayoneted through the throat. It is not a children’s pastime like mere highway robbery. Last Words by Stephen Crane.

Stephen Crane’s opening statement appears at first sight to be plain wrong, until we reflect a little.

It is because someone is indifferent to the humanity of others that he can destroy, rob and murder.

Indifference to other human beings allows war, injustice, slavery, fraud and all manner of sins.

Indifference to other human beings leads to indifference to the common good, which should be the basis of society.

This is one of those areas where we can take an initiative and make a difference. Could we be indifferent to Jesus? Let’s hope not; we would be up the wrong path altogether. But other people! Some we like, some irritate us, some are on the margins of our lives; people we pass day by day in the street, sit near at work or on the bus. A smile won’t hurt them.

Let’s pray for an openness to our fellow human beings. Each one of them created in love by God, put on this earth with a personal mission; may we not get in the way by being indifferent and uncaring. And let’s pray for those who come along after the destructive indifferent ones have laid waste to people and property. Let us support them also with our giving.

24 April: Darkness cannot overcome

Christ yesterday and today,
the beginning and the end,
Alpha and Omega,
all time belongs to him,
and all ages.

Paschal Candles at Canterbury Cathedral.

My health did not allow me to attend the Easter Vigil in person this year so I tuned into the live stream from Saint Thomas’ in Canterbury. Once everyone present had gone outside to bless the Easter fire and Paschal Candle the church was plunged into darkness. My screen showed a single dark grey stripe in an otherwise pitch black church. Light from the street perhaps produced the slightly paler stripe.

Be that as it may, I was in the dark, and only caught the occasional phrase of the blessing: ‘by his holy and glorious wounds’. But the words are familiar from years of being there; I knew what was being said, sung and done.

Light came in, radiating from the Paschal Candle, carried by Father Giovanni. Away from the resplendent flame, it reached into the corners of the Church but gave a silver-grey monotone to everything. Despite the shadows, the altar flowers glowed white.

Finally, when all were gathered into the building, candles were lit all around, and colours returned to everything, and Father Giovanni was able to sing the Exsultet, with its words, ‘

Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,
ablaze with light from her eternal King,
let all corners of the earth be glad,
knowing an end to gloom and darkness …

On this, your night of grace, O holy Father,
accept this candle, a solemn offering,
the work of bees and of your servants’ hands,
an evening sacrifice of praise,
this gift from your most holy Church.

And the candle is a reminder that light in every corner, in full, glorious colour, is a gift from God to us; and that we should be glad in our heart of hearts, despite all the evil that seems to have our world in its sights.

23 April: One, holy, Catholic …

Geneva was one of the centres of the Protestant Reformation and is today the home of the World Council of Churches but also of international bodies such as the Red Cross and some departments of the United Nations. Their presence over the last hundred years has changed the nature of the city. It is international, interfaith and ecumenical.

I lived nearby in 1973 and wandered the streets and lakeside on days off. It did not take too long to find the then new Catholic Church of Pope, now Saint, John XXIII. This is an English-speaking parish for all those ex-pat Catholics who want to worship in their own language; it was, and no doubt still is, a welcoming and diverse community.

During Mass this Easter morning I was transported back to Saint John XXIII’s. Our church of Saint Thomas in Canterbury was crowded with people from all over the world! The first person to greet us at the end of Mass was a friend from Nigeria, but we had already exchanged the sign of peace with people from India, Italy and Ireland, to name but three countries; there were many more.

All this is good.

We are one family. we are part of the Church Universal; we are the Church Universal, in Geneva, Canterbury, Italy, India, Ireland, or wherever you are reading this! Happy Easter!

And Let’s pray, as Jesus did on Maundy Thursday, that All may be One.