Some people today define “grace” as “God’s riches at Christ’s expense.” Others gloss it as “unconditional gift” or “undeserved favour.” Still others prefer to see it as God’s favourable disposition toward his people. However, the word grace in the New Testament (Greek charis) simply means “gift.” The content of the gift is determined by its Read more
God shows his love, not with great speeches, but with simple, tender acts of charity, Pope Francis said. “When Jesus wants to teach us how a Christian should be, he tells us very little,” the pope said, but he shows people by feeding the hungry and welcoming the stranger. Celebrating Mass in the chapel of Read more
When I was young, another child would sometimes let me fill in a page of her colouring-in book. As she handed me the crayons, there would be the warning, “Don’t go over the lines!” I always did. In spite of good intentions, a crayon would slip, or I’d try to improve the picture by adding Read more
God is like a mother, He loves us unconditionally. However, too often we want to take control of this grace in a kind of a spiritual book-keeping, Pope Francis said during his homily at Mass this morning in the chapel at Casa Santa Marta. “God’s closeness is such that he is presented like a mother, Read more
So I say to my competitive, jealous, and accumulative self, “Remember, but for the life-giving and loving gaze of God, you are but dust and to dust you shall return. “In reality there is no profit, no extra, no surplus, because all is God’s, and but for God’s generosity, there is nothing.” On Monday my Read more
I read “I’m a Catholic but …” in CathNews NZ on Tuesday 6th August, and pondered upon it as I stacked the firewood. I walked over a carpet of camellia flowers – some pink, some brown, some crackly, some squishy. They need to be collected and put on the compost to be transformed, and later, Read more
I read … “I am amazed how often I meet people who ‘once were Catholics’. You never ask why they left the church. There will be umpteen reasons why just as there are umpteen people. But millions have remained true to their Catholic faith.” Merepeka Raukawa-Tait in The Daily Post, March 19, 2013 I wondered Read more
A couple of weeks ago I was caught up in a conversation with a group of people which left me wondering if they had really grasped the Good News of the Gospel at all. Their point of the conversation was all about sin and how dreadful the world is and what sinners we are. To Read more