De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

This is the Pastoral Letter from Brentwood's Bishop Alan Williams which was read out on Sunday: We have now begun the great journey of Lent. All of us, whether as catechumens preparing to enter the Church, or as experienced Catholic Christians, are called to go forward towards the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. Lent is a grace-filled time, a sacred time; a time for conversion and a time for change. In today’s Gospel on this first Sunday of Lent we hear that Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days where he struggled with temptation and the extremes of the desert. This example of Jesus had a profound effect on the early Church when many Christians followed Jesus into the desert and it was in the desert that the first flowerings of Christian monasticism were found. These brothers and sisters consecrated themselves to God and embraced the struggle alongside Christ. In the desert, “human life is precarious, indeed almost impossible… the only living things are thorns...

The Fight Between Carnival and Lent by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1559 Today is Shrove Tuesday in England, in France it is Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) and in Italy it is called Martedí Grasso and is the climax of Carnival, from the Italian "Carne levare" or the Latin "Carne vale". In English the term Shrove Tuesday comes from the word shrive, meaning "confess". Today is the day we go to Confession, and make a special point of self-examination; of considering what wrongs we need to repent, what ways we need to mend our lives, and what areas of spiritual growth we especially need to ask God's help in dealing with. Becoming true disciples means turning to God. This may be a new thing for us; we have to first of all come to a position where we recognise who we are-and who God IS-a process of repentance & restitution, the twin towers of prayer. Rowan Williams explains it this way in his book Insubstantial Evil : "...to read the world ...

At Brentwood Cathedral over Lent this year, Fr. Martin Boland, Dean of Brentwood Cathedral, and one of Brentwood's best and brightest is indulging his personal fantasy to be Michael Parkinson by interviewing six priests about books which have influenced them in their spirituality. Fr. Martin (left) & Fr. Kevin. Last night, for his first interview, Fr. Martin spoke to my own Parish priest, Fr. Kevin Hale. I know Fr. Kevin well and feel very privileged to be a parishioner of Leigh-on-Sea for the last four or five years. Privileged largely because through his gentle ministering, I have found an ever deeper love of Christ and His Church. Being a parishioner at Leigh-on-Sea has taught me so much, largely through the example of a man who puts himself at the service of his flock in a way I have not experienced before. Because of Fr. Kevin, I have discovered the importance of time spent in prayer and reflection. I have been given opportunities to discover and understand the tru...

I met Bishop Coyne on Twitter (@bishopcoyne). He is a great figure to follow, as he regularly makes apposite comments and posts reflections on scripture daily. We did plan to meet up when he was in Rome for the ad limina visit last year, and I was on a jolly, but alas, he was too busy on the day. He is currently an auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Today he posted this comment about fasting during Lent on his Facebook page, which I thought was very interesting and worth sharing~ I' m one of those who does not count Sundays in Lent as days of fasting and abstinence. I do this for many reasons, much of which, I guess, comes from my studies in liturgy and history (I have a doctorate in liturgical studies). You know, if you count up all the days from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, there are forty-six days in Lent. But if you subtract the Sundays, there are forty days. That is because the ancient practice was that Sundays were outside of the fas...

Every year, Father Kevin puts on a series of talks or reflections for Lent. They are always very good and, in my opinion, constitute a real aid to our journey through Lent. The evenings take place at Nazareth House in Southend and every years take a different theme. I was honoured to be asked to present a talk myself a few years ago when the theme was 'The Last Words of Jesus', but we have also had really good speakers like Rev Dr. Andrew Pinsent who gave a superb talk on Faith and Science and Father Tim Finigan on the Reform of the Reform. Nazareth House This year, inspired by the Holy Father and the Year of Faith, the theme is The Legacy of Vatican II. Last night (Thursday 14th February) was the first talk by Fr Martin Boland, Dean of Brentwood Cathedral. His talk was entitled: The Universal Call to Holiness ( Lumen Gentium ). Father Martin is one of Brentwood's really talented priests (we are so blessed to have so many) and also authors a very well written bl...

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...