Godzdogz

Psalm 38 is the prayer of one who has reached rock bottom. It is the lament of a supplicant who cries out to God for help in physical pain and mental anguish.  Read more

Psalm 102 is a psalm of a somewhat depressing nature. Do we know what this person who wrote the Psalm was experiencing? Loneliness, depression, gloom, wretchedness. G.K Chesterton wrote that “Pessimism is not in being tired of evil but in being tired of good. Despair does not lie in being weary of suffering, but in being weary of joy. It is when for some reason or other good things in a society no longer work that the society begins to decline; when its food does not feed, when its cures do not cure, when its blessings refuse to bless”.
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Today the Order of Preachers celebrates the feast of Blessed John of Fiesole, also known as Fra Angelico, a recognised renaissance genius. Read more

Today's gospel (Mark 8:22-26) is rather perplexing: it is the only miracle account in which the healing is not initially completely effective, and it is not immediately clear what we are supposed to make of this. In fact, some suggest that it is for this very reason that Matthew and Luke omit this event from their gospels. Read more

To my shame, I’ve never actually been to Lourdes. Nor have I been to any of the other apparition sites, or great shrines of Marian devotion; the notable exception being, of course, England’s own Nazareth, Walsingham, which I’ve been to many times over. But this lack of experience has always left me feeling quite at sea whenever I have to talk about Lourdes, or Fatima, or really any other place associated with Our Lady.  Read more

Today we celebrate the martyrdom of St Paul Miki and Companions, twenty-six among the thousands of Japanese martyrs. Their courage, fidelity, and unrelenting love of Christ even to the point of death are an example to us all. On the Feast of these martyrs, my usual feelings, of concern for what I would do in the same position and admiration for what these martyrs did in fact do, have been made particularly acute by Martin Scorsese's film Silence, and all the conversation it has generated. Read more

It is fitting that I start our reflection on the Psalms this year with Psalm 51. In Psalm 51, we find the passage that begins the Liturgy of the Hours, “Lord open my lips, and we shall praise your name” (Ps 51:15). It is a piece of text which is of importance to those who pray the Divine Office, as these words are supposed to be the first words you say at the start of the day. So, think of penitence with this Psalm!  Read more