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Thursday |
Oct-28 |
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'When hiking on any mountain it is always recommended that one hikes with at least one person in case of an emergency. There is also a second and more positive reason, someone with which to share the joy of the experience. ~Brendan McGuire
At the foot of Carrantuohill, Ireland's highest mountain, (1050 metres and 3414 feet high), there is a big notice warning people of the dangers up on the slopes. It warns about much cooler temperatures up higher, the need to take adequate warm clothing and the importance of hiking in groups of two or more. It is much the same with our spiritual journey. It is difficult to do it on our own and there is so much more to be gained when we journey together. Jesus gathered people together on the sides of hills, in the homes of neighbours/friends and along the seashore. Today we have different places of worship, churches, cathedrals, synagogues, mosques, chapels, oratories and so on. All serve the same function, to give people a chance to come together to worship and pray. We are occasionally reminded about the many personal benefits we gain because of our particular faith journey. But it is one we cannot do exclusively on our own. Growing in faith together is a journey that is good, beneficial and supportive. Its advantages far outweigh trying to do it all on our own. |
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Sunday |
Oct-24 |
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Our reflection today is by Fr.Tom Cahill
The Race The legendary Greek, Pheidippides, ran the first marathon in 490 bc. Running 40km from Marathon to Athens, he brought the good news of Persian defeat. Unfortunately he overdid it and dropped dead. Besides his good-news message, he brought another too, albeit unintended: if you run a marathon, prepare for it. You have to train a lot. You have to sacrifice time and comfort. And you must be able to cope with physical stress and endure pain. Yet each year more than 800 marathons are held worldwide. That means that several hundreds of thousands of people run 42.195 km in what is considered to be recreational running.
In today's Second Reading (2 Tim 4:6-8) Paul says that he has fought the good fight and finished the race. Neither is recreational. The distance he covers is not measured in kilometres, miles or any such units. It's measured in terms of spiritual maturity. The units used to measure this distance are: faith, witness and proclamation. His, as ours, is not a race that covers distance. It covers time, and life's experiences both good and bad. It covers advances and retreats, ups and downs, and the about turns we make in life. It covers the walls we face that block our progress to God. It has its highs too: the exhilaration of insight, the thrill of hope's promises, the calm of a clear conscience, the peace of mind from goodness shown and the security of God's love.
This good news is worth dying for. Paul did so. This is not Greek legend.  |
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Sunday |
Oct-17 |
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The following reflection is by Fr.Tom Cahill
'Spiritual Makeover' It's one approach to getting people off the dole, but it's controversial. To ease unemployment in the Netherlands three local councils are offering unemployed single women a %u20AC1,400 fashion and beauty makeover. The better you look the better your chances, the idea seems to be, of finding a husband or a job. Those chosen for the scheme will also be schooled in the social graces. When the crash course in carrying oneself is completed a professional photograph of the new you will appear on the website of an exclusive dating agency that claims a 75 percent success rate. However, with over 600 unemployed singles eligible not everyone considers the expense involved as money well spent.
It just goes to show the importance some people attach to outward appearance. Today's Second Reading (2 Tim 3:14-4:2), however, doesn't. It presents us with a different set of values, ones concerned with the quality of what's inside a person rather than their skin-deep looks. For a thorough spiritual makeover Paul reminds us there's nothing better than immersion in what he calls the sacred writings. All scripture is inspired by God, he tells us. And it has many uses. It can teach, correct, reprove and train in righteousness. It motivates and equips people both to be good and to do good. While this type of spiritual makeover doesn't cost a penny, it doesn't come cheap either. Its cost isn't in euro, but in the currency of faith, hope, love, generosity, kindness, service and other equally attractive characteristics. Too bad not everybody wants to employ these.  |
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Sunday |
Oct-10 |
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The following reflection is by Tom Cahill
Faith or Prozac There's something fishy going on in our waters. And it's all to do with drugs. Last year in England doctors prescribed 39 million courses of antidepressants. That's a third more than in 2005. After due process, these drugs filter into our waterways and the sea. Effluent concentrates in estuaries and costal regions, the habitat of shrimp and other marine life. Shrimp are ingesting the excreted drugs of whole towns, with depressing results. Instead of swimming away from light and scuttling under rocks, as normally they do, these souped-up specimens swim towards sunlit water and become prey for passing fish. By feeding on fluoxetine, the active chemical in Prozac, they are five times more likely to swim towards the light. This harms the ecosystem's delicate balance.
In light of that, today's Gospel (Luke 17:11-19) is of particular interest, especially Jesus' statement: "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well" (v. 19). It would be very interesting to have a breakdown on those 39 million prescriptions. One wonders how many were for people of no faith.
While faith alone doesn't heal the lepers in today's Gospel, it does bring them to the source of health: Jesus. Clearly, one can't simply link the presence of illness with an absence of faith. But it's well to remember that faith doesn't serve pie-in-the-sky. It instils a healthy attitude of hope towards the future. But also it enables us to cope with things now. For some people that might be a more bitter pill to swallow than Prozac.  |
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Tuesday |
Oct-05 |
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'Often in the evening, I reflect on the people I have met that day. I remember them in prayer, aware of life moving, changing and growing. Time, though fragile and passing seems to have an eternal dimension. One evening I wrote: "time stands still here, a time beyond the daily chime or ticking of the clock, a rhythm in tune, with eternity". ~Patricia Byrne
Time for the most part seems to go by quickly. We plan lots of things in any given day and time allows us to do only so much. Sometimes when we plan better, we can push to one side activities that eat time and are not life giving. We can concentrate on those things that really matter, those things that need priority and importantly give us energy and life. Putting such a plan in place is easier said than done, but the benefits are impressive and noticeable. It is also so healthy and wise to recall at the end of each day those moments where time seemed to stand still. It was a moment that was special and one that we would have liked to stay in. Time pushed us on but in recalling the beauty of that moment later, we are in in some sense in touch with eternity. In recalling one or more of those moments at the end of any day, is in fact a beautiful prayer to God. |
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Sunday |
Oct-03 |
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The following reflection is by Tom Cahill
I wonder can a gene affect a soul, or spirit, that part of us that doesn't show up even under the most intense scans, or the most powerful of microscopes? It's strange then that in today's First Reading (Hab 1:2-3, 2:2-4), dating from about 600 bc, the prophet Habakkuk could shrewdly note 'the spirit of the proud is not right in them' (2:4). There's something wrong with them; something askew inside them. But I doubt if knowing their DNA sequence would right their spirit.
When it comes to having a right spirit inside us, I'd say right parents are needed. A survey by the Catholic Children's Society of the Westminster Diocese reported that on average people give one hour daily to primetime TV shows, but only 49 minutes daily to their children. Some 68 percent of parents said that their need for money was the reason for giving so little time to their children. The Catholic Children's Society said that from experience they know that children need relational stability, the self-esteem that comes from feeling valued for who they are and knowing they're loved by their parents.
DNA is undoubtedly important: Deeply Needed Attention, that is.  |
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