despair and hope

From lamentations 3 1-34
first on despair:

"I am the man who has known affliction
I have felt the rod of his wrath"... yes we are all feeling the wrath of God, our world is imploding and in the next generation a new order and govenance will have to be established if we dont want to destroy all.

However look at the enormous messsage of hope in the text following despair:

 Hope
"the memory of my distress and my wanderings,
is wormwood and gall.
remember, o remember, and stoop down to me;
All this I take to heart, and therefore I will wait patiently; the Lord's true love is surely not spent, nor has his compassion failed;
they are new every morning,
so great is his constancy"
Let it give us the tools to accept change and change our world for the better!

au revoir

This weekend a dearest friend and godmother to my daughter passed away after a long battle with cancer. I met her in the sea in greece 7 years ago and our friendship was intense and her love for my daughter inmense. She was a great artist, photographer, photographing with an eye to behold for the future. She was a devout christian and helped me through the maze of complex greek orthodox rituals. We often spoke of the closeness of the catholic and orthodox traditions and how this  would evolve in my daughter.
With her passing I cried not for her death but for the missed opportunities to be more together to enjoy life. How often would we try to arrange a visit and would work or other activities creep in.
By chance I fell on a BBC programme which documented 6 people, believers and nonbelievers, who voluntarily went on a retreat to rediscover silence. They were told to switch off all machines and to learn to be in the silence. Their biggest realisation was how we stuff our lives in order to be busy, hence risking to bypass the truly essential things in our lives.
Today I feel that more than ever, as in this world I will not see my dearest friend again. I will treasure those moments I passed with her, and feel blessed forever.
pie jesu by faure
May she rest in peace

sunny sunday or dimanche soleil

This sunday is the last sunday in our parish before the breaking of the summer holdiays of our children. As we are an international parish, many will leave for their home countries. To celebrate on the feast of St John the Baptist, we all pitch in and prepare a huge barbecue in the grounds of the cloister attached to our church. Old and young, sit hopefully in the sun, fathers are cooks for one day behind the fires. it is a very joyful occasion, unifying our community.The following words of Peter sum up for me this moment:

"to sum up:be one in thought and feeling, all of you; be full of brotherly affection, kindly and humbly minded. Do no repay wrong with wrong, or abuse with  abuse; on the contrary, retaliate with blessing, for a blessing is the inheritance to which you yourselves have been called" 1 Peter 3 8-9

If we could but keep life simple, enoy each other for what we can give and share joyful moments to sustain us in the lonelier times!

Corpus Christi a leap of faith

Today is Corpus Christi, when catholics commemorate, and adore the eucharist, which to us represents the real body and blood of Christ. It is a leap of faith which to nonbelievers is not easily understood.How many times in one's life do we not have to take a huge leap of faith, which seems totally unbelievable? The New Testament prepares the way and then at a certain stage in your life, you are touched by the holy spirit and you believe. I cannot put this in an easier way except to say that this is what happend to me, I grew up a catholic, with anglican and protestant influences but at a certain stage in my life became intellectually cynical and did not practise anymore. Then came a long period of self analysis and suffering where I rediscoverd my belief.

 I recently read a book by french author and televison producer, Thierry Bizot. He was a catholic by upbringing, but like me had lapsed. One day through the teacher of one of his sons, he was inspired to follow adult cathechism and rediscover his faith. In his words, he felt a fool as his enviroment; telelevion and french intellectualism was not condusive to announcing one's conversion! If you want to know more about his story read his book Catholique Anonyme( I"m afraid it is still only in french but available online) and the film his wife Anne Giazzeri made of the book!

writing about faith

It is so difficult to find good books about faith, that can help us in a world that persists in relegating faith to a small corner.What I enjoy most is writers passing on their experiences and most of all from those that have converted to the christian faith. In my university days in the UK I first came across C.S. Lewis, (1898-1963), converted anglican. He taught literature at Oxford and was a close friend of Tolkien( he of the Lord of the Rings!). You can still find his books on;line and I would really reccomend "The Screwtape letters", which is essentially a dialogue between two demons, an uncle and a nephew.Another I would reccomend is "The Problem of Pain", in which he looks at christianity and pain, why  do we suffer  if God loves us. This point has always been difficult for me too as I battle with sadness as I see a close friend in her battle with cancer.

Slightly earlier is G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), whose two novels, "The Everlasting Man" and "Orthodoxy", are great favourites of mine. He defended the roots of christianity in a matter of fact fashion which even today gives you great clarity.