Humility

One of the most fundamental virtues is humility. Many of the saints, among them St Augustine and St John Vianney, stress how important it is. In this meditation, we use texts of  Sacred Scripture, St Augustine, St John Vianney and St Josemaria to consider how:

  • Humility is the foundation of the other virtues
  • Our Lady is a great example of humility
  • Humility centers our attention on God and others, not on ourselves
  • God loves a humble person and rejects the proud
  • We all have pride, in different ways
  • By praying about it, we are helped to identify our particular manifestations of pride so that we can struggle against them

The spiritual Olympics

Spirirtual olympics

Athletes go through a rigorous training regime in order to achieve their goal of winning a medal in the Olympic games. Our goal is much higher: eternal life with God in heaven. We too need a training regime. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, especially of St Paul, and of saints like Augustine, Bernard and Josemaria, to consider how, like athletes, we need:

  • A goal
  • Determination to reach the goal
  • Sacrifice and self-control
  • A training program: a plan of life
  • A coach: a spiritual director
  • Ability to keep going when we encounter failures and disappointments
  • Someone to heal our injuries: a priest
  • Effort to follow the rules: the moral law
  • Time-outs to rest and reconsider our plan: retreats and recollections
  • Determination to finish the face and receive the prize

Heart in God, not in goods

The widow giving her two mites, all she had

The Scriptures invite us to love God above all things. But in an affluent society, where goods abound, it is easy to put our heart more in goods than in God. In this meditation we draw on texts of Scripture, Popes Paul VI and Francis, and Fathers of the Church, to consider how:

  • We must strive to love God with our whole hearts and to keep our minds on the eternal reward that awaits us in heaven
  • We should adjust our priorities so that we are detached from the goods we possess and we do not buy things we do not need
  • We can endeavour to live a more simple lifestyle, appreciating the little things of life
  • We should be generous with our wealth in helping those who are less fortunate

Loving with the Holy Spirit

Mary at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles.The Holy Spirit is love and, as St Paul writes, love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Since God has loved us first, we should love God with our whole heart, and love one another. In this meditation we use the Scriptures and a letter of Mgr Fernando Ocariz to pray about important aspects of love for our neighbour:

  • Understanding
  • Forgiveness
  • Spirit of service

Hope in the Resurrection

Th resurection of our lord Jesus Christ the principal message of Easter.

When the women went at dawn to anoint the body of Christ on Easter Sunday, they didn’t know how they would remove the huge stone that closed the tomb. To their surprise, they found the stone already removed. In this meditation we use the homily of Pope Francis in the Easter Vigil in St Peter’s Basilica in 2024 to consider how:

  • There are many stones in our own life which may seem like insurmountable obstacles
  • Over the years these problems, by the grace of God, have been solved
  • The Resurrection of Christ fills us with hope that our present problems will also be solved

The Light of Easter

Christ is risen. Easter.

The resurrection of Christ brings light into a world in darkness. That darkness may be of unbelief, of sin, of lack of hope. In all cases, Christ is the light who can dispel the darkness with the light of his Resurrection. In this meditation we consider how we can respond to this light of  Christ in three ways:

  • Accepting the light
  • Keeping the light alive and making it burn more brightly
  • Sharing the light with others

Lessons from Holy Week

Holy Week should be holy not only in its name and in the events we commemorate, but in the way we live it. In this meditation we consider the numerous lessons we can learn from this week and how we can put them into practice. We will consider:

  • Palm Sunday – praising God by our life
  • Holy Thursday – frequenting the sacrament of Penance
  • Washing of the feet – spirit of service
  • Institution of the Eucharist – love for the Eucharist and prayer for priests
  • Prayer in the garden – spirit of prayer
  • Passion and death – spirit of penance
  • Jesus gives us his mother – love for Mary
  • Resurrection – joy and hope

The spirit of Lent

Face of Christ in the Passion

In Lent we prepare for the celebration of our redemption by Christ’s death and resurrection. In this meditation we consider how:

  • We can accompany Our Lord in his forty days of fasting and prayer in the desert by our own greater effort in prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
  • Lent is a time for conversion, of starting anew in our spiritual struggle.
  • As Christ loved us to the end by dying on the cross for us, we should be generous in our Lenten discipline.
  • When we live Lent well, we have a true springtime, new life and growth, in our spiritual life