Pierre Subleyras (French, 1699-1749), The Feast in the House of Simon.
A few words from Father Mackle..
Well here we are in Holy Week. A week when we witness the total and complete self-giving of Jesus. A week when we try in these very different circumstances without any public liturgies to follow Jesus every step of the way.
The pain, the suffering, the struggle with Jesus to the cross at Calvary will give way to the hope and joy of the resurrection at Easter - the joy of Christ risen- strong and alive in himself and alive in us.
The encouraging words of the great English mystic, Julian of Norwich, on her vision of Christ crucified, are needed to be heard today in these difficult times more than ever before -
“All will be well, all will be well, all manner of things will be well...”
Holy Week & week #3 now of us all experiencing some degree of disruption to our daily lives. Thankfully, though, for most of us the disruptions aren't life threatening. Our specific circumstances vary, but one of the things we all share is this opportunity to find meaning in this new and strange experience.
We've all had to adapt to a different daily routine. One of the challenges is to look for the positive in all of this - the silver lining so to speak. One of the things there can be for us is an openness to faith ~ an openness to prayer ~ there can be a turning to God. This lockdown might get monotonous, but it can offer us the gift of time for reflection. All these can help make this Holy Week a fruitful one for us.
There are a couple of lines which the Church in her prayer prays every day - two lines which I feel, for myself, have become so much more meaningful these past weeks - each time these lines are prayed now I feel that they have become more of a powerful plea, a heartfelt petition - "O God, come to our aid" and "O Lord, make haste to help us". These are lovely short prayers - easy to remember and good to repeat often.
This evening would have been our evening Stations of the Cross with our brothers and sisters from the other eight churches in Bearsden. Let us pray for our brothers and sisters in all the other churches - let us pray for one another and for God to work in and through all that is happening.
Thoughts and prayers are with you all
Take care
O God, come to our aid.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Fr Mackle
ps We’re hoping to have a churches together virtual Tenebrae liturgy 8pm this Thursday. More details very soon.
The pain, the suffering, the struggle with Jesus to the cross at Calvary will give way to the hope and joy of the resurrection at Easter - the joy of Christ risen- strong and alive in himself and alive in us.
The encouraging words of the great English mystic, Julian of Norwich, on her vision of Christ crucified, are needed to be heard today in these difficult times more than ever before -
“All will be well, all will be well, all manner of things will be well...”
Holy Week & week #3 now of us all experiencing some degree of disruption to our daily lives. Thankfully, though, for most of us the disruptions aren't life threatening. Our specific circumstances vary, but one of the things we all share is this opportunity to find meaning in this new and strange experience.
We've all had to adapt to a different daily routine. One of the challenges is to look for the positive in all of this - the silver lining so to speak. One of the things there can be for us is an openness to faith ~ an openness to prayer ~ there can be a turning to God. This lockdown might get monotonous, but it can offer us the gift of time for reflection. All these can help make this Holy Week a fruitful one for us.
There are a couple of lines which the Church in her prayer prays every day - two lines which I feel, for myself, have become so much more meaningful these past weeks - each time these lines are prayed now I feel that they have become more of a powerful plea, a heartfelt petition - "O God, come to our aid" and "O Lord, make haste to help us". These are lovely short prayers - easy to remember and good to repeat often.
This evening would have been our evening Stations of the Cross with our brothers and sisters from the other eight churches in Bearsden. Let us pray for our brothers and sisters in all the other churches - let us pray for one another and for God to work in and through all that is happening.
Thoughts and prayers are with you all
Take care
O God, come to our aid.
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Fr Mackle
ps We’re hoping to have a churches together virtual Tenebrae liturgy 8pm this Thursday. More details very soon.
