Daily Prayers

Prayer is Love, I want to Love

Fr Johns Weekly:

  • St Mother Teresa

    Our beloved Mother Teresa is being canonised today: St Teresa of Kolkata (Calcutta). There are celebrations in Rome and India and throughout the Catholic world. She was the best known Catholic woman of the 20th century, and her work for the poor and abandoned has inspired many – most obviously the Sisters of the congregation…

  • Italian Earthquake Victims

    We pray for the people of Central Italy, devastated by the deaths and injuries of loved ones and loss of their homes and livelihoods. We pray for the marvellous rescue workers, risking their lives to release the trapped and injured, and for the specialist teams ready to come in from other parts of Italy and…

  • Hell and Heaven

    Every now and then appear letters in the Catholic press complaining that not enough is said and written about hell these days. Do you miss hearing/reading about hell? Do you wish there were more pages and sermons devoted to hell and, perhaps, heaven, which doesn’t often have a mention either? What do the complainers want?…

  • The Gift of Life

    On the cover of this month’s Crusader Magazine is a picture of Francis Gajowniczek receiving Holy Communion from Pope John Paul II. I read Francis’ story in the Reader’s Digest when I was a boy. He had been a prisoner in a Nazi Concentration Camp in World War II and he had been sentenced to…

  • The Media

    Here is a glimpse, again, of news from the Catholic press, especially from The Tablet . . . 1. A friend of mine is a recovering gambling addict who mentors young people with a similar problem. They are in ready supply, given television adverts that promote a potentially home-wrecking activity as a harmless bit of…

  • Praying (2)

    Today’s readings at mass have “Prayer” as their main theme. Do you pray for or about, in praise and thanksgiving or asking, with hope or hardly thinking about what you say? The Cure of Ars (St John Vianney) said that he thought people prayed as though they were throwing a few crumbs in God’s direction…

  • Peace

    Another bewildering week. We are saddened by so much in our world, and we pray. The blind killings in Nice are a horrifying reminder of the everyday evil that people are capable of living. The continued violence in Southern Sudan between the Dinka and Nuer tribes, although both are Christians and fought together against the…

  • Praying (1)

    It has been a week for sitting down, moving on, going forward, taking stock and of incredible and absolutely incredible everyday events like rain, scoring a goal, winning a tennis match. Quite an ordinary week, really. This coming week you must hit the ground running, especially getting out of bed, put on a face, get…

  • Looking Inside

    Whatever we hope and plan for includes human nature – likings and loathings, loves and hatreds, loyalties and betrayals. We are watching it happen as the first fruits of Brexit. But it was all there before, simply hidden.

  • Who Is Our Sister?

    In a fine article in this week’s Tablet Sarah Teather, former LibDem MP and now a director of the Jesuit Refugee Service, asks “Who are they with whom we weep?” and talks about Jo Cox, the murdered MP, who spoke so passionately about refugees. So who is our sister? Is she a Syrian in a…

  • Attitude

    This time next week we shall all be alive, in or out of Europe, in or out of the European Football Championship, and you may be excited, feeling disappointed or just as you are today. But the horrifying killing of Jo Cox reminds us that people are capable of making important issues matters of life…

  • Who Reigns?

    Queen Elizabeth’s official birthday, funeral of Muhammad Ali, opening of the European Football Championships, England v Sri Lanka at cricket, Cardinal Sarah’s latest statement (we can’t keep him out of the headlines), the EU Referendum debate driving on – our days and minds are full. Are they? How much does our Queen Elizabeth and her…