"A life lived for others is a life worthwhile." Albert Einstein. On ANZAC Day we remember all service men and women who gave their lives. May they rest in peace. Lest We Forget.
Photo: Fr Joe Phillips O.Carm served as chaplain in the Middle East, New Guinea, Japan & Korea.
In today’s Gospel reading there are two stories of transformation through encounter with the risen Jesus. The first is the transformation of a group of frightened people, hiding in a room to bold proclaimers of God’s love and mercy. The second is the story of the transformation of doubting Thomas to believeing Thomas.
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Celebrating At Home Second Sunday of Easter [PDF]
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Celebrating At Home Second Sunday of Easter [ePub]
When someone dies, one of the things we often feel is their absence. The rooms where they lived with us, the places where they sat are now empty and our hearts ache. In a way, we are all caught in tombs which hold loved ones, our experiences of hurt and harm, our fears and anxieties. What we seem to need above all is presence. Easter is a story of transformation. Where once there was only absence, now there is calm, loving, healing Presence and we know we are not alone. Our tombs begin to empty, and joy becomes possible again. Resurrection is all about death giving way to life, the impossible becoming possible, absence becoming presence. Download Celebrating At Home for Easter Sunday.
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Celebrating At Home Easter Sunday [PDF]
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Celebrating At Home Easter Sunday [ePub]
Our afternoon liturgy is a meditation on the passion and death of the Lord. We begin listening to the words of Isaiah about the suffering servant on whom is laid the sin of all. We are struck by the brutality of the passion. We wonder at the depth of love of a God who gives up his own life that we might truly live. We venerate the cross, not as a symbol of horrible death, but as a sign of the victory of God’s love; the end of one way of living and beginning of another. We pray with Christ’s spirit for the needs of the world. We receive again the Food that nourishes and strengthens us on our journey to Easter day. Download our Celebrating At Home liturgy for Good Friday.
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Celebrating At Home Good Friday [PDF]
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Celebrating At Home Good Friday [ePub]
At mass tonight we recall Jesus’ commandment to love one another, his washing of the disciples’ feet and the breaking of the bread of his own life, not just at table, but also on the altar of the Cross, for the healing and nourishment of the world. The liturgy on Holy Thursday is a meditation on the essential connection between the Eucharist and Christian love expressed in serving one another. Christ is not only present in the Eucharist but also in the deeds of loving kindness offered to others through us. We are the ones who make ‘real’ the presence of Jesus in every smile, kind word and loving action. Download our Celebrating At Home liturgy for Holy Thursday.
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Celebrating At Home Holy Thursday [PDF]
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Celebrating At Home Holy Thursday [ePub]
Many of us experience God as hidden in ordinary things. This sense of the hidden God ran through Titus Brandsma's life. It helped sustain him especially in the brutality of the prisons and concentration camps. He felt God was always with him. He often sang the ancient hymn Adoro Te, Godhead here in hiding, partly to sustain his sense of God's presence and partly because of the joy he felt in knowing God was with him.
In the person of Jesus, God emptied himself into a fragile, naked, tortured human being at the mercy of civil and religious authorities. The God that the religious authorities and the people of Jesus’ time expected in the Messiah is not the God who showed up in the carpenter’s son. Often, too, the God we expect and want is not the God who shows up in the person of Jesus. What we see in the passion of Jesus is just how passionate God is about us humans.
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Celebrating At Home Palm/Passion Sunday [PDF]
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Celebrating At Home Palm/Passion Sunday [ePub]
This leaflet focusses on Brandsma understanding of the mystery of suffering and his experience of the Way of the Cross in his own life. Set against the background of his studies in mysticism Brandsma wrote 2 commentaries on the Stations of the Cross as well as his famous poem, ‘Before a Picture of Jesus in my Cell’ and a talk to fellow-prisoners on Good Friday 1942 in Amersfoort prison.
In this second lecture in the Titus Brandsma Series Dr Dianne Traflet talks about 'Generous Love in a Dark Tunnel: the Priestly Ministry of prisoner, Fr Titus Brandsma.' Dr Traflet reflects on the 'dark tunnels' in Titus Brandsma's life and how he was a 'moment of light' which shone in the darkness. The Series was produced by the Centre for Carmelite Studies, Catholic University of America, Washington.
