Posts Tagged ‘Joy Cowley’

Deep down things

Thursday, May 16th, 2024
Deep down things

Easter is behind us, and everything is back to normal. The resurrected Jesus is cooking fish for his friends. We are not told how he got the fish or given details of the preparation, but we can imagine silver fillets laid out on red hot stones and the air fragrant with breakfast. Was everything back Read more

How was your Christmas?

Thursday, February 8th, 2024
Christmas

In a December reflection, I mentioned of my plan to ignore the rush of Christmas. I was going to sit in the stable in silence and prayer with the holy child. It was going to be a personal retreat. But it didn’t happen. There were too many wise men and women, too many shepherds. The Read more

The humanity of Jesus

Thursday, December 7th, 2023
Jesus

This month, we celebrate the sacred birth in an animal shelter. Why such a lowly place? Our views about status miss the message, and we must wrap this birth in splendour – angel song, an unusual star, three kings coming to bow before the child. The wrapping continues until Jesus is lost under layers of Read more

The gifts of ageing

Monday, November 13th, 2023
ageing

A number of people missed an ecumenical retreat called “The Wisdom Years.” Some have asked for the one-day retreat to be repeated. That is not possible at present, but I can give a written outline of the three sessions in that day. You may wish to walk with Jesus through them. The Child As children Read more

The thin place

Thursday, September 7th, 2023
Christmas

Most of us know what a “thin place” is, but it’s not easy to describe it. Perhaps that is because the experience is beyond our limited sensory system and, therefore, beyond logical thinking and description. Yet we have all had experience of a “Thin Place” as something belonging to a greater reality. Like you, I Read more

Teenage Christianity – It all comes together

Monday, August 7th, 2023
teenage christianity

Teenage Christianity can be so anxious that it can hardly be called “Faith.” At least, that was my youthful experience. Being Cristian was a serious business. I was so busy with self-correction that I often missed the beauty of Jesus in my life. It seemed that every church I attended wanted to warn young people Read more

God within

Thursday, July 6th, 2023
Discernment

It was a crowded church in Singapore, and a young priest was talking about a recent first communion. A little girl had run back to her parents, shouting, “I just ate Jesus!” Later, the child asked her mother, “How does Jesus get from our stomach to our heart?” The mother replied, “Jesus can do anything.” Read more

Projection: evil or gift

Thursday, June 15th, 2023
Projection

Poet Robert Burns wrote: “Oh that would the Giftie gie us, to see ourselves as others see us.” But we all have that gift, whether we know it or not. We call it projection. A wise woman once told me: “Projection is the greatest evil.” However, projection can be positive. Years ago, an Australian nun Read more

Married priests, women priests and laity send Terry and me to Hell

Monday, May 22nd, 2023
married priests

This is not an easy article to write, but it has been with me for a long time. It comes to the surface when I’m told that priests feel threatened by the ordination of women. Of course, they feel threatened. Would a starving man feel threatened working with a chef? I believe that the option Read more

What God’s life school is all about

Monday, April 24th, 2023
the gift

Have you noticed how the Sacred Presence brings gifts of understanding when you need them most? It’s the sentence that lifts off the page. It’s a few spoken words that go directly to the heart. We all have these experiences. One gift that has stayed with me, came from an old Jewish rabbi. He wrote: Read more