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Raphael captures the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus anticipating both his Resurrection and our own. As children of God we are heading for the full, glorious sight of God and we gain heartening glimpses of that radiance on earth. Made in God’s image we are being transformed into his selfless likeness from glory to […]
Our Lord said, ‘How blest are those who know their need of God’ (Mt 5:3). Isaiah invites, ‘Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.’ Jesus fed the hungry and still feeds us in the Eucharist. Ask, trust and receive—God delights to provide healing, peace and joy. At all age Eucharist we use these two of […]
Andrew Mayes’ Diving for Pearls, drawing on St Isaac of Syria, recasts today’s pearl of great price (Matt. 13:45) as a descent into God’s grace rather than a climb by our own effort. At Holy Communion our “Amen” is a surrender into Christ, the priceless Pearl. May our hearts be widened by God’s mercy and […]
Mary Magdalene went seeking the body of Jesus, yet found the risen Lord seeking her. In her grief he called her by name: “Mary.” Fear gave way to faith, sorrow to hope: “I have seen the Lord!” Christ still stands beside us, calling each by name, bringing healing, hope and the promise of eternal life. […]
I can still see Fr David Charles every third Sunday when I cover passing in front of the altar at the end of a procession of up to twenty young people heading for children’s church. God, as the book of Wisdom says today is sovereign and governs all things ‘with great forbearance’ acting as he […]
Anne’s deer seeking the water beautifully illustrates the thirst for God of which today’s saint, Bonaventure, wrote. Echoing Psalm 42, “As the deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God,” he reminds us that true wisdom begins with a heart that longs for God more than knowledge alone. Jesus declared […]
This morning’s scripture sets the natural processes of seed time and harvest depicted by my wife Anne within a bigger picture linked to what grows within human souls and shapes the whole creation – the word of God. Our spiritual frustrations at best express discomfort at the way we are, the way the church is, […]
Anne’s picture chimes in with today’s Gospel about the Church’s commissioning to ‘reach the lost sheep’ (Matthew 10:6). Every heart hungers for God who shows his face through Jesus, then through the Church’s ministers and faithful. We can’t find God unaided – Church, Sacraments, and Scripture satisfy our seeking. At the Eucharist, Jesus comes face […]
A family visit to Bedford and John Bunyan’s Meeting House comes to mind this morning. We’ll be losing burdens – dropping symbolic rucksacks before the altar – at my old parish of St Giles, Horsted Keynes as I return to celebrate an all age Eucharist picking up on today’s Gospel especially Matthew 11:28-30. Things that […]
Whilst Anne and I were serving among Amerindians in Guyana, a youth believed he had been attacked by the evil spirit known as kenaima. When I saw him, he appeared close to death and his family were preparing for his burial. We prepared him for Anointing and Holy Communion, reminding him: ‘He who is in […]
