De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Please join me in this prayer for our Holy Father and for his successor. February 2013 Heavenly Father, we thank and praise you for the wonderful gifts of leadership, wisdom, holiness, charity and integrity which you have bestowed upon our Holy Father, Pope Benedict. In these coming weeks and months, guide and protect Your servant Benedict. Grant him we pray, a spirit of courage, knowledge and love. Comfort him as he begins this new chapter in his life, and bless him with joy, peace and serenity. Lord, source of eternal life and truth, We pray for an outpouring of your Holy Spirit upon the cardinals as they gather in conclave for the election of a new Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Our Lord Jesus Christ. May the hearts of our cardinals be open to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, beyond any human judgment, to elect the person most pleasing to You, Heavenly Father, who will guide the Church at this momentous time in history. We invoke our Blessed Mother Mary, united in prayer with all the...

Welcome to this, the thirtieth of my reflections on the theology of the Sunday readings at Mass. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I sincerely hope that this reflection will inspire you. You might find that it answers a few questions you may have, but most of all I hope that it will show you how fantastic Sacred Scripture is and perhaps enable you to share some of my love and passion for the Bible as you begin to comprehend how layered and multi-faceted it is, and what a carefully considered part of the Mass the readings are. If you want to know how these posts came about, please read my first post in this series  here . I would like to think this regular blog would be a great help to anyone who reads at Mass, to enable them to foster a deeper understanding of the message they are trying to impart to the congregation. There are several different ways to read this post. I would suggest the first thing to do is to look at the relevant  re...

Cardinal Francis Arinze, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, tells us what it felt like to be a Cardinal in the room as the Pope announced his plans to resign and talks some sense into all of us who are feeling sad that the amazing Joseph Ratzinger, a man who does not rush, who is not rash, who is clear-headed and firm of purpose, is standing aside from the Chair of St. Peter. He is brilliant isn't he? The key point I think here is that he states that our faith does not rest on the Pope, but in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Kind of brings you to your senses a bit. What he says about sentiment is a brilliant observation; that we all get caught up in a pope's style, the way he looks, the way he speaks. I remember feeling as afraid when Pope Benedict was elected as I do now, waiting with trepidation to see who will be next. But as Cardinal Arinze so wisely says, the Holy Spir...

This is a useful little video from Rome Reports which explains what will happen next!

Professor Scott Hahn made this interesting comment regarding the Pope's resignation today on his Facebook page: Back on April 29, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI did something rather striking, but which went largely unnoticed. He stopped off in Aquila, Italy, and visited the tomb of an obscure medieval Pope named St. Celestine V (1215-1296). After a brief prayer, he left his pallium, the symbol of his own episcopal authority as Bishop of Rome, on top of Celestine's tomb! Fifteen months later, on July 4, 2010, Benedict went out of his way again, this time to visit and pray in the cathedral of Sulmona, near Rome, before the relics of this same saint, Celestine V. Few people, however, noticed at the time. Only now, we may be gaining a better understanding of what it meant. These actions were probably more than pious acts. More likely, they were profound and symbolic gestures of a very personal nature, which conveyed a message that a Pope can hardly deliver any other way. In...

Some shocking news this morning that Pope benedict XVI is to step down from the Papacy due to ill health. His full statement: Full text from Pope Benedict XVI: Dear Brothers, I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has d...

I for one am not shocked or surprised that the House of Commons approved the bill for Same Sex Marriage, it seemed inevitable to me in a society that has such high divorce rates and so many co-habiting couples. Many couples today ask why they need the piece of paper to prove that they love each other. Indeed the fact that society simultaneously seems to reject the conformity of marriage whilst asserting with such authority that anyone in love should be able to get married seems slightly schizophrenic. With such a poor understanding of what marriage is and what it is about, can we really be shocked that legislation that seeks to define the institution to mere sentiment is supported? Historically Marriage has seldom involved sentiment, and has been more about security, social progress, and a framework for the birthing and rearing of children. It is usually defined as the legitimate union between husband and wife. Love is undoubtedly part of a good marriage, but I always think that lov...