Tag Archives: John Flader

Hope in the Resurrection

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

The spirit of Lent

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

Interview on life after death

I was recently interviewed for an hour by TNT digital radio on life after death, with reference to my books Dying to Live and The Final Exam. The interviewer, Jason Olbourne, asked good questions, and if you are interested in seeing the video, here is the link: https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-fvx94-1590b39

Sowers of peace

The prophet Isaiah announced the coming of one who would be called Prince of Peace. When Christ was born in Bethlehem, the angels announced peace on earth, and Christ later told the apostles that he came to bring peace such as the world cannot give. But when we look around us, we see a great lack of peace. In this meditation, we use texts of Scripture, St Gregory of Nyssa, St John Paul II and St Josemaria Escriva to consider:

- How the Scriptures speak repeatedly of peace
- What peace is
- How peace begins in the human heart
- How we can grow in peace by loving God more and following the promptings of the Holy Spirit
- How we can spread peace around us, in our family, our workplace and in society

God is my Father

One of the great revelations that Jesus gives us, especially in the Sermon on the Mount, is that God is not just the Supreme Being, the creator of the universe, but truly our loving Father. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture to consider what God’s Fatherhood means for us:

Our Father God has a plan, a mission for each one of us
He loves us dearly and we want to love him in return
He invites us to talk with him in prayer, including the Our Father
He respects our freedom, allowing us to sin but always welcoming us back
He disciplines us, as all good fathers do with their children
He watches over us in his loving providence, moving us always to trust in him and not be anxious

The first Christmas gift

Christmas is a time for giving gifts. The wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus, but the first Christmas gift was Jesus himself, a gift from the Father to all of mankind. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture to consider how we can live Advent like Our Lady and St Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men, to show our gratitude to Jesus by:

Growing in our life of prayer in all its forms, especially through meditation on the Scripture passages that refer to Christ’s birth
Living a life of sacrifice, as has been traditional in Advent, to clean out the stable of our soul and make it welcome to receive Jesus
Giving of ourselves to those around us, for what we do to them we do to Jesus
Preparing well for four comings of Jesus: at Christmas 2000 years ago, at the end of time, everyday when he comes into our life in different ways, and when he comes to call us to eternal life with him.

Devotion to the Holy Souls

The Holy Souls in Purgatory

The Church dedicates the month of November to praying for the holy souls in Purgatory. This should be a constant devotion for us, since through the Communion of Saints we can help these souls and they can intercede for us. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church and saints to consider:

Why there should be a state of purification of the soul after death
The pains experienced by the holy souls, along with the love and joy they experience
That Purgatory is a manifestation of God’s holiness, justice and mercy
Accounts of souls in Purgatory who have communicated with people on earth
How from the earliest days the Church has prayed for the faithful departed
The benefits for the holy souls and for ourselves of devotion to the souls in Purgatory

Love for the Church

As we love our mothers, so we should naturally love our holy mother the Church. But it can sometimes be difficult to do so, especially when we see the human failings of members of the Church and the many difficulties she faces at the present time. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, Fathers of the Church, Popes and St Josemaria Escriva to consider how:

To love Jesus Christ is to love the Church, which is his Mystical Body
The Church is truly our spiritual mother
The Church is not a merely human institution but the Communion of Saints, with Christ as its head and the Holy Spirit as its soul
The very survival of the Church to this day in spite of all the problems it has faced throughout the centuries can fill us with faith
From the time of the apostles, there have always been human failings in members of the Church
We should love the Church and pray very much for the Pope, the bishops and all in the Church.

Bringing our friends to Christ

In his Gospel St Luke relates how the friends of a paralytic went to great lengths to take him to Christ, going onto the roof of the house and lowering him down through the opening they had made. We too should do all we can to bring our friends and relatives to Christ. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, St John Chrysostom and St Josemaria to consider how:

Christ wants all to be saved but he needs us to help him
For some of our friends and relatives, we are the only one in a position to help them find Christ
We can help them in various ways: explaining how important the faith is for us and for them, giving them an article or book to read, inviting them to a talk and, always, praying for them

fatherfladerblog

Meditations and mutterings from a Catholic priest