Daily Prayers

Prayer is Love, I want to Love

Fr Johns Weekly:

  • Synod: 2021/23 (2)

    Bishop Flores of Brownsville, Texas, has written a beautiful letter about the Synod. Its theme is: ‘We cannot love the Church as we wish she were but only as she is.’ He talks about God’s healing our wounds and Christ’s suffering on the cross as sign of how much God loves us and invites our…

  • UN, Ukraine & UK

    “I hope to save lives and end suffering” were the inspiring words of Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, before and during his visits to Moscow and Kyiv. He was everything we hoped he would be from the impression he has given in recent weeks during the terrible invasion of Ukraine. We can…

  • Catholic Schools

    The congregation for Catholic Education at the Vatican has issued a document on schools and their Gospel-inspired mission, stressing that Catholic Schools are for all who want to attend “especially for the weakest.” A good school offers education as a model of “a Church which goes forth, in dialogue with everyone.” We must not lose…

  • Forgiving Others

    On Thursday afternoon I was taken over. Planning for two funerals was being made so I could not phone out, as I like to do each day, to the lonely, ill, housebound in the parish and around the country. I have a generous contract with BT that allows unlimited calls (landline or mobile) for a…

  • Mother’s Day – True Believers Live Faith, Not Religion

    On Mothering Sunday we pray for Mother Russia sending her Russian children to kill her Ukranian children, and controlled by the Godfathers, President Putin and Patriarch Kirill. This is the latest horrifying example in our world’s history of the poisoned alliances between religion and politics. True believers live faith, not religion. Faith reflects God’s love…

  • Ukraine Invasion By Putin (Russia) (2)

    I read the report from Reuters – the world’s most trustworthy news service. The end of the war in Ukraine is in sight. Putin cannot win but needs to save face: (1) Crimea (2) North East Ukraine (3) Ukraine not to join NATO. President Zelensky will know how to negotiate those terms. Meanwhile, the suffering…

  • Ukraine Invasion By Putin (Russia) (1)

    Each time I saw the ambush of the Russian tanks I found myself rejoicing and then ashamed. How could I want to see anyone blown up, suffering, dying? Those Russian soldiers are boys, deceived by men in suits and medalled uniforms to fight and die for what is hateful – conquest of a free country.…

  • Ash Wednesday

    Two men went to pray on Ash Wednesday. The one was holy with goodness to spare, so that he could pray in reparation for those who were sinners. “I thank you, Lord, for my virtuous life. I pray twice in the week, pay my mite, have sympathy for all your suffering people. I wish I…

  • Church Abuse & Guilt (1)

    ‘Best Catholics in the World’ is a powerful book which looks perceptively and honestly at the Church in Ireland. The author wanted to understand how the horrors of child abuse, Magdalene laundries, Mother and Baby homes, had so long gone unquestioned. One of the searching chapters is about the families who disowned their daughters, afraid…

  • A Week Of Moments

    It has been a week of moments. The first was Vincent Doyle (hidden son of a priest) whose ‘Open Letter to Pope Francis’ was printed in The Tablet. The final paragraph reads: “Holy Father, until it faces these questions, your Church is failing the hidden children of your cardinals, bishops, priests and nuns and all…

  • Mind And Heart

    I attended a conference, heard a brilliant presentation, even breathtaking. At the break I was talking with his wife and said how good the talk had been. She agreed and she added “It comes at a price. He is so caught up in his wonderful work that the family is relatively unimportant. None of the…

  • Blessed Rutilio Grande, Nelson Lemus, Manuel Solorzano & Cosme Spessotto

    Last Saturday, 22nd January, in the main square of the capital city San Salvador and in front of the cathedral, four men were beatified – all murdered by orders of the military government of El Salvador. The ceremony represented a new spirit in the countries of Central and South America where right-wing military governments have…