ponderings on life and faith
The process of trying to understand what God is calling you to become is known as “Discernment”. Posts in this category relate to the process of discovering a deep-rooted sense of purpose in our loves, placed there by God.
Shepherd me, O God, Beyond my wants, Beyond my fears, From death into life. What follows is the majority of the text that made up a Lenten Mission given in 2015 at St. John Chrysostom parish in Newmarket, and in 2018 at Saint Aidan parish in Toronto. The three presentations that were delivered have been compiled into one document. […]
As mentioned in our weekly bulletin, here is the text of the Canticle of Zechariah from the Morning Prayer of the Church , for your prayers in Holy Week ….. Luke 1:68-79 – The Messiah and his forerunner Blessed + be the Lord, the God of Israel;he has come to his people and set them free. […]
In early 2016, I had the opportunity to preach about Mercy over a number of Sundays. This post combines those reflections, with the intent of exploring how Mercy can be a powerful theme as we enter Lent in this Extraordinary Year of Mercy, But, before we can start to look at Mercy as a Lenten […]
Many of us have been touched by the words of the 23rd Psalm ….The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want …. When my Father died, and again many decades later when my Mother died, I took great comfort from those words. And I suspect many of you find comfort from those words. Marty […]
The process of trying to understand what God is calling you to become is known as “Discernment”. It is the process of discovering a deep-rooted sense of purpose in our loves, placed there by God. In this process there are two persons: God and you. And in order to discern God’s will in our life, […]
Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul. As the wind loves to call things to dance,May your gravity by lightened by grace. Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth,May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect. As water takes whatever shape it is […]
In my Homily reflections about Prayer and Lazarus, (and again in 2020 in our reflections during a pandemic) I had suggested that as Catholics we have a real need to be able to listen to the voice of God – which is increasingly difficult in this noisy modern world and our hectic lifestyles. Just suggesting that […]
One of the beautiful gifts we have in our Catholic tradition is the “Spiritual Director”. Despite its name, a Spiritual Director does not really “direct” a person. In reality, they become a companion on a person’s spiritual journey. A spiritual “co-discernor”. Someone who can assist you is seeing and hearing how God is calling you to […]
I have always found John Shea’s reflections to be powerful and inspiring. Used, with permission, I would like to share one with you this Christmas 2013. Blessings ! …….. Seeing Haloes – For Anne Even at Christmas,when haloes are pre-tested by focus groups for inclusion in mass market campaigns, they are hard to see. Annie Dillard […]
