God behaves in the psalms in ways that God is not allowed to behave in theology. That quip comes from Sebastian Moore and should be highlighted at a time when fewer people want to use the psalms in prayer because they feel offended by what they sometimes find there. More and more, we see people…
Tags: prayer
A fraternal embrace that is also a commitment
Cardinal Kurt Koch January 5 and 6 marked the 60th anniversary of the meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras. It was the first meeting between a pope and an ecumenical patriarch since the one between Pope Eugene IV and Patriarch Joseph II during the Council of Ferrara (1438-1439). This important…
A displaced person’s prayer
The other day to a female associate of mine (which is modern speak for my wife) who remarked to me that she had a clear recollection of a prayer used in her Dublin convent school in the early 1950s, she thinks about 1953, which the diocese had asked to be used in both schools and…
Pope Francis: Scripture not meant to be stuck on paper but fixed in one’s heart
Praying with Scripture is not meant to be a mindless repetition of biblical quotes but instead is a gift that is meant to be accepted in people’s hearts, Pope Francis said.
Gratitude leads to much-needed hope and joy, says Pope
The gratitude that comes from encountering Christ’s love and mercy is enough to bring joy and hope to a troubled world, Pope Francis said. “If we are bearers of gratitude, the world itself will become better, even if only a little bit, but that is enough to transmit a bit of hope,” the Pope said…
A place of Papal prayer
Lourdes: 160 years of healing Greg Daly details how various Popes have been linked with Lourdes from the 1850s to today In an 1873 letter to Blessed Pope Pius IX, St Bernadette, then Sr Marie Bernard, recalled how Our Lady had appeared to her just four years after the declaration of the doctrine of…
A head bowed in reverence is a sign of humility
At the end of every Roman Catholic liturgy, there is an invitation given to the people to receive a blessing. That invitation is worded this way: “Bow your heads and pray for God’s blessing.” The idea behind that, obviously, is that a blessing can only truly be received in reverence, in humility, with head bowed,…