Your Story is Important

At the age of seventeen I picked up a slim paperback of the Gospel of Saint Luke and read it cover to cover. Being part of family which went to church I knew the basics of the story but somehow it had not touched me deeply. Weeks before my life was thrown upside down when I found my grandfather dead in the living room. He had adopted me and we were very close. And so I clung to every word from this little book offered. At the end when the two disciples in Emmaus remark ‘Did not our hearts burn inside when he (Jesus) spoke,’ I too could relate to this experience. I offer this story because I believe that each of us has a story to tell and in particular a spiritual story. In our more traditional liturgical settings we don’t give space to these testimonies. We maybe offer the sign of peace to our neighbour but do not know how God has spoken to them over the years. We too easily take these things for granted.

As a priest it is easy to get distracted in the hundred and one things that make up the business of running church. But one of the main tasks of a priest must be to hear the spiritual stories. Even the simple act of telling our story and being listened to can be surprisingly empowering and liberating.

So as a small beginning I offer anyone the opportunity to come and spend time telling me the story of God in their lives. It may be that stories include failures, doubts and struggles. Even these experiences can be strengthening and we should not be judgemental. We all have struggles. I do all of this not because I want to be nosy but because I think that this can build up our spiritual lives. Naturally this would be done in a context of confidentiality so that stories remain private.

The above article was put in the church magazine for the October issue. If you want to share your story on-line please feel free to. You could add it as a comment (public) or email it to me (confidential).

Angels, Archangels, Powers and Dominions

Many people in the New Age movement are interested in angels and have a belief in guardian angels looking after each of us. It is easy to criticise the New Age movement but on this occasion there are bridges that can be made to the Christian tradition. This is because it is difficult to imagine angels, who are personalities, without reference to THE ultimate person (or in Trinity theology - "persons").

The New Age movement does not engage with the idea of a personal God - which is the heart of the Christian message. So I would argue that we can use the concept of personal beings close to reflecting something of the nature of God. But even more theologically controversial is the Christian concept that angels are not the pinnacle of creation. We are.

Harvest Homilies

Having never celebrated Harvest Thanksgiving before I find myself having done six in seven days. Not bad for an initiation in 'We Plough the Fields and Scatter'.

I was a particularly fussy eater as a child and had a enourmous hate list which narrowed things down on the savory side to Steak and Kidney Pie, KFC and Heinz Ravoli. I recall at the age of six being put in detention with the tomato I wouldnt let touch my lips. Each time I found more crafty ways to hide my nemesis, out of windows, down the loo, under pot plants. Today I still hold some food hates, including mushrooms, cauliflower, and whites of eggs. Every year I have celebrated a Passover and to get into the spirit of things I made sure I go for the boiled egg in full. It reminds me that like the bitter herbs of Passover - our spiritual journeys includes the things we dont like.

The food I most appreciate is chocolate. I must border on addiction here. I lived in my paternal grandparents deli in Bruxelles for two years and they often had whole displays made from either chocolate or marzipan. Of course these shop window pieces all had to go and someone had to eat it!!! But in this more enlightened age we are asked to consider where does my chocolate come from? Who made it and at what cost? Is there someone at the other end of the world picking cocoa beans for a pittance so that I might enjoy it.

Food, the ones we like and the ones we don't, have much to prompt us to think about our neighbour and our spiritual journey. The greatest food is of course the bread of life, Jesus Christ, who comes to us in our Eucharist that we may feed on him. We eat so we may be transformed, or to quote St Augustine, we become what we eat.