Feast of the Visitation . . .

Today we celebrate yet another beautiful feast of Our Lady, the Feast of the Visitation.

It was at this meeting between Mary and her cousin Elizabeth that Mary first proclaimed her wonderful hymn of joy, 'The Magnificat'.

As members of Teams of Our Lady, we close our monthly meetings by praying the Magnificat together and we are also encouraged to pray the Magnificat daily at home.

It always causes a smile as we rummage for our prayer cards at the end of our meetings and someone nearly always comments, 'surely we don't need prayer cards, we must know it by heart by now!'

True enough, but I've lost count of the number of different translations I've come across over the years. Now, I often use my iPhone Apps (iBreviary, RC Calendar, Divine Office) for Evening Prayer when I don't have my breviary to hand, I've discovered yet more variations!

Here's a beautiful musical rendition which I hope you'll enjoy.

Bank Holiday fun - Come on up, the food is free!

Another great email from Sr Anastasia:

Feeling a little peckish? How about this for a way to build up a healthy appetite?

First, take the tram up to the start of the trail . . .

Now follow the path . . .

Be sure to hold on to the 'railing' . . .


Keep an eye on the person in front of you . . .


Be very careful when passing someone going in the opposite directions . . .


Now just up a few steps (on the left in the photo) . . .

Gets a little steeper here so put your toes in the holes . . .

A few more steps to go . . .

Finally in sight . . .

Isn't it amazing! 'The Restaurant' This restaurant is in China. If you manage to reach the restaurant, the food is free!

Let me know how the food is . . . I'm not going!

Well, I never! . . .

Someone gave me an award! Thank you very much Breadgirl over at Last Welsh Martyr for giving my little blog a Sunshine Award. It may not be the Nobel Peace Prize, an Oscar or an Oxbridge First but it's very much appreciated nevertheless.

We all need encouragement and things like this really pick you up.

Now comes the hard part; it's payback time and this is what I have to do now:

The rules are as follows:

1. Post the logo on your blog and/or within the post.
Check!

2. Pass it on to 12 other bloggers.

Not quite so easy; I follow lots of different blogs but it's not always easy to tell who'll appreciate light-hearted things like this so I hope I don't offend anyone by nominating them. I hope they'll also consider it as much of a compliment as I did.

3. Add links to these 12 bloggers within your blog.
Here goes;

Mulier Fortis

Mother's Pride

Catholicmumof10militant

Libera Me

Time for Reflections

Catholic with Attitude

Veni Sancte Spiritus

In Hoc Signo Vinces

Mrs Pogle's World

The Eyes in Which I See the World

Drawn to Catholicism

Campionist

4. Let them know they are receiving the award.
Check!

5. Share the link of the person from whom you received the award.

Check! Good, all done, now I can relax and bask in the knowledge that I've done my bit and that it's comments that make the blogosphere go round.

My Cup Runneth Over . . .

My cup runneth over . . .

A wonderful Solemnity celebrated with a beautiful Mass; amazing weather and a very prayerful Rosary and Benediction in the afternoon.

And . . . we now have worktops on our new kitchen units, and . . . a working oven - still waiting for a sink and a hob but hey, you can't rush perfection!!

Just one little blot on the landscape - we were invaded by ants in the dining room! OK, not exactly a plague but enough for me to declare war on the formicidae. All gone now and hopefully they've got the message after being sprayed with ant powder and shown the insides of our hoover!

I know all you ant-lovers out there are muttering about how marvellous ants are; performing important tasks in the ecosystems where they live; turning and aerating the soil, dispersing seeds, helping pollination etc. etc. . . .

I'm sure you're right and that's fine with me. Well done all you helpful ants but please do all those useful things outside in the garden and don't invade my indoor ecosystem!

The Solemnity of Pentecost . . .

Usually when I post videos, I'm drawn to beautiful images with a background of classical music or chant. This is not my usual style of video at all but the very 'differentness' of it appealed to me and it seems somehow appropriate for today's Solemnity.

Fr Ignatius - an E-book . . .

I hope from time to time some people pop into some of the blogs listed in my sidebar. That, I think, is one of the main purposes of listing other blogs.

If you've ever visited Victor's blog, Time for Reflections you'll be familiar with Fr Ignatius. This fictitious parish priest, a creation of Victor's, is a gentle, wise and often humorous priest. He has a starring role on Victor's blog and his escapades are followed by many.

Recently Victor has published a collection of stories taken from his blog in the form of an E-book. It's free to download and you can do so here. These brief and gentle stories are very easy to read but always have an underlying message or sometimes relate to Church teaching. If you haven't yet made Fr Ignatius' acquaintance why not pop over and say hello.

Forgiveness . . .

From time to time I receive emails from Sister Anastasia that I really want to share with people. Sometimes because they make me smile, and sometimes because they move me to tears. This time, it is the latter. It is quite a long post but worth reading, I think. It really made me realise what true forgiveness is all about.

A STORY ABOUT FORGIVENESS –
FROM THE BOOK "CALL ME DAVID" THE MEMOIRS OF BISHOP DAVID CREMIN.

The story is one of Nelson Mandela's from “The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission”.

A frail black woman stands slowly to her feet. She is over seventy years of age. Facing her across the court room are several white security officers, one of whom, Mr. Van de Broek, has just been tried and found implicated in the murders of both the woman's son and husband some years before.

It was indeed Mr Van de Broek, it has been established, who had come into the woman's home many years back, had taken her son, shot him at point-blank range and then burned the young man's body on a fire while he and his officers held a party. Seven years later Van de Broek and his cohorts had returned to take away her husband as well. For many months she heard nothing of his whereabouts. Then almost two years after her husband's disappearance, Van de Broek came back to fetch the woman herself. How vividly she remembers that evening, going to a place beside a river, where she was shown her husband, bound and beaten but still strong in spirit, lying on a pile of wood. The last words she heard from his lips, as the officer poured gasoline over his body and set him aflame, were `Father, forgive them.'

And now the woman stands in the courtroom and listens to the confession offered by Mr. Van de Broek. A member of the commission turns to her and asks, `So, what do you want? How can justice be done to this man who has so brutally destroyed your family?'

‘I want three things” began the woman, calmly but confidently. `I want first to be taken to the place where my husband's body was burned so that I can gather the dust and give his remains a decent burial.' She pauses, then continues, `My husband and son were my only family. I want secondly, therefore, for Mr Van de Broek to become my son. I would like him to come twice a month to the ghetto and spend time with me so that I can pour out on him whatever love I have remaining within me.

'And finally,' she says, `I want a third thing. I would like Mr. Van de Broek to know that I offer him my forgiveness because Jesus Christ died to forgive. This was also the wish of my husband. And so, I would kindly ask someone to come to my side and lead me across the courtroom so that I can take Mr. Van de Broek in my arms, embrace him and let him know he is truly forgiven.

As the court assistant comes to lead the elderly woman across the room, Mr Van de Broek, overwhelmed by what he has just heard, faints. And as he does, those in the courtroom - friends, family and neighbours, who were all victims of decades of oppression and injustice - begin to sing softly the great hymn, `Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me...'

(Author of "Call Me David" is John McSweeney).

What's in an acronym? . . .

What's the difference between an RM, an RT, and an RTL . . . or even an RML?

Growing up with two bus-mad brothers these were the sort of questions that dominated my childhood. At the time, I really couldn't have given a fig and still find it hard to understand their fascination with what is (to me, at least) basically just a means of getting from A to B if you don't have access to a car; it's too far too walk or your destination is nowhere near a railway station.

However, I must admit the the new Routemaster bus showcased in the news today is rather appealing. It almost makes me wish I had a bus pass!

I expect I'll get a few comments now from my siblings!

The Vatican goes 'techy' . . .

This item on EWTN News caught my eye this morning.

"New Fibre Optic Communications Infrastructure in Vatican

VATICAN CITY, 11 MAY 2010 (VIS) - The Governorate of Vatican City State and Telecom Italia have announced the signing of a contract for the installation of the first nucleus of the "Integrated Communication Infrastructure for Vatican City State". This consists in a broadband IP network capable of voice, data and video transmission within the territory of the Holy See and Vatican City State, according to a communique published today.

The plan includes, among other things, fibre optic cable links between the ten main extraterritorial sites including the Pontifical Villas at Castelgandolfo and the radio stations in Santa Maria de Galeria."

It's when I see news items like this that I really wish I had a gift for drawing cartoons. I can see some wonderful images in my mind's eye of the Holy Father with his iPad on his knee checking out his YouTube channel! (No disrespect intended Your Holiness!)

We're having a lot of trouble with our broadband at home at the moment which is excruciatingly slow at times. I wonder if I should get 'our people ' to talk to 'their people'. LOL

Tantalisingly close . . .

Wooh hooo!

I have a new oven . . . a new hob . . . and a new sink . . .

The only trouble is . . .

They look like this . . .

Whoever said politics was boring?! . . .

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's been glued to the TV (or news stream online) all evening.

Whatever else you might say about the recent General Election and the media coverage, no one can ever claim it's been boring!

Surely it can only be for the good that people have suddenly 'tuned in' to politics in an unprecedented way. That much is evident from the high turn-out on Thursday. Wherever you planted your cross on the ballot paper, the important thing is that you bothered to get out there and vote. That must be better for all concerned than the somewhat apathetic reaction to politics in recent times. (Doubtless due, at least in part, to the inexcusable behaviour of some of our politicians recently.)

How often has the forthcoming election been the topic of conversation in such diverse places as the local pub; High Street coffee shop; outside the school gates; in the parish club; at the gym . . . etc. ?

One of the many things that struck me this evening was the sincerity in Gordon Brown's resignation speech. And finally, now at the end of his tenure, he looked more relaxed than I think I've ever seen him before.

So, now we are all waiting to see what unfolds in the coming days, weeks and months. I think it will hold our attention for quite a little while yet.

One thing for sure, it's been fascinating to experience such a historic election first hand. Just imagine, the first Coalition Government since the 2nd World War.

Right, that's my first and last post with a political twist. I'm a little bit out of my comfort zone here but I felt I couldn't let this momentous day pass without comment.

Reasons for my absence - #6

All of the aforementioned! I'm back now and, as they used to say on my school reports, must try harder!

I must admit it's been very refreshing not having the blog always at the back of my mind.

Lots of things going on at work, in the parish and at home. We still have no kitchen but as everyone says, 'just think, it'll be lovely when it's all finished.'

If I've learnt one thing from the experience, it's how much one can actually cook with just a microwave! It's been a bit like camping this week with just 2 plates, bowls, cups and sets of cutlery, washing up between courses if the one sharp knife has been used!

In the midst of all this, the election of course. I had the foresight to rescue our polling cards before chaos descended so I was quite pleased with my forward planning!

Anyway, enought of my ramblings. I hope to be posting more in the days to come. Thank you for your patience.

Reasons for my absence - #5

Reasons for my absence - #4

Reasons for my absence - #3

Reasons for my absence - #2

Reasons for my absence - #1