Don’t lose heart is the message in today’s gospel. Can we really be bothered with God? How persistent are we in prayer and faith? Here’s our daily reflection.

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BIBLE READINGS: You can find the readings for Saturday of Week 32 here (Universalis Website)

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There are many derogatory terms used for Christians. Some of them are formed in the playground, often used to bully others— words such as “Bible Bashers” or “Bible Thumpers.”

Another such phrase is “God Botherer” which is actually used for those who appear to bother others with their faith even when it’s unwelcome. In some parts of the world, it’s used to describe those who go from door to door promoting their beliefs.

Perhaps we can turn that phrase on its head after hearing today’s gospel. Jesus tells a parable to his disciples about persistence in prayer.  The widow in the story is constantly bothering the judge for justice. The judge appears to be full of himself, not really concerned about what God or others think about him—but in the end he relents simply to get rid of her.

We can’t entirely equate the judge with God because the focus of the story is really on the widow as an example of persistence. She just doesn’t give up. So, too, in our lives as Christians, Jesus says we should persist in prayer, reaching out to God constantly. It’s not so much about bothering God, but about being bothered with God.

However, our prayer shouldn’t be a simple shot in the dark, isolated from every other part of our lives—a desperate attempt to manoeuvre God into place.  Our prayer should be full of faith, drawn from a life of faith which is persistent and ever present.  His words today are words of encouragement. Don’t lose heart.

So the question is, “Can we really be bothered?”

 

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MASS TODAY

Mass today on Saturday 15 November is at S Mary’s Church at 1130am.

There is also Sung Mass to celebrate St Dyfrig’s Patronal at 12 noon. You’re welcome!

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DAY BY DAY

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer then check out our DAY BY DAY pages.

 

“Meditating upon the world around as and at our feet, can raise our hearts and minds to God. Today’s reflection from the Daily Mass

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BIBLE READINGS: You can find the readings for Friday of Week 32 here

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Pablo Picasso said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

As we grow up, we can so easily lose our sense of imagination and creativity, thinking that play is just for children. What we think is possible can become clipped, and we can settle for the ordinary. That’s not to suggest that the ordinary isn’t important. Perhaps it would be better to say that we can so often fail to see the wonder in the everyday.

“From the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator,” we read in the book of Wisdom. Perhaps we can relate to that at times. A beautiful sunset, a vast open landscape, a sky-blue sea. But we don’t have to climb mountains or travel abroad for awe inspiring moments in the midst of creation.

We know that being grounded in the natural world can help improve our mental health. But as Christians we know that we can’t separate the creation from its creator. So meditating upon the world around as and at our feet, can raise our hearts and minds to God. He reveals himself to us in so many ways, if only we can pause awhile and watch and wonder. 

 

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MASS TODAY

Mass today on Friday 14 November is at S Saviour’s Church at 10am. You’re welcome!

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DAY BY DAY

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer then check out our DAY BY DAY pages.

 

“The seeds of Gods kingdom grow within us through lives filled with love for God and one another.” Today’s reflection from the Daily Mass

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BIBLE READINGS: You can find the readings for Thursday of Week 32 here

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Oscar Wilde said conversation about the weather was the last refuge of the unimaginative. And yet the British seem obsessed with talking about the weather.

According to research, 94% of British respondents admitted to having talked about the weather in the past six hours, while 38% say they have in the past 60 minutes. Whatever Oscar Wilde said, we will no doubt carry on being obsessed by the weather, wishing for sun, hoping for rain, wondering when the storm will come.

In the gospel reading, the Pharisees are viewing the kingdom of God like the weather. “When will it come?” they ask Jesus. His response is that that Kingdom of God won’t come in ways that can be observed. You can’t point it out ands say here it it or there it is. There is no weather forecast for the Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is among you.

The seeds of Gods kingdom grow within us through lives filled with love for God and one another. It is revealed when we allow the Law of God’s love to control our lives. We experience the Kingdom when we seek peace and reconciliation, and when God’s justice prevails—when the hungry are fed and the poor have good things.

By the way, today’s weather forecast is sunny intervals and light winds with a high of 15 degrees. 

 

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MASS TODAY

Mass today on Thursday 13 November is at Ss Dyfrig and Samson at 630pm. You’re welcome!

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DAY BY DAY

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer then check out our DAY BY DAY pages.

 

“Discipleship is not about sitting back with open hands and an empty lap, expecting gifts to fall from heaven.” Here’s today’s reflection from the readings at Mass

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BIBLE READINGS: You can find the readings for Tuesday of Week 32 here

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“Don’t ask what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country,” is,of course, a famous quote from JF Kennedy in his 1961 inaugural address. It’s an effective quote which gets us to look at our lives and relationships to others in a different way.

In the gospel reading, Jesus’ parable is rather stark and, on first hearing it, we may side with the servant rather than with the rich man who seems to approach life with a sense of entitlement. Perhaps we think the servant is entitled to a rest rather than having to wait on his master, especially one who shows such ingratitude. But, as the servant says, he’s just doing his job.

Likewise, this is how we should view our relationship to God. We know his commandments, we have decided to follow Christ, we are called to lay down our lives as he did— not for personal gain or because we feel entitled to all the benefits, but because we are his faithful and obedient servants. Discipleship is not about sitting back with open hands and an empty lap, expecting gifts to fall from heaven. But getting up and getting on, and putting God’s commands into action as his good and faithful servants.

 

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MASS TODAY

Mass today on Tuesday 11 November is at S Mary’s Church, Butetown at 630pm. You’re welcome!

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DAY BY DAY

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer then check out our DAY BY DAY pages.

 

We are called to faithful to God in the small things of our lives. Here’s our daily reflection from today’s readings at Mass

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You can find the readings for Monday of Week 32 here

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St David’s words are so well known, perhaps you don’t need to be reminded of them. “Do the little things you have heard and seen me do.”

In a society and world that seems so demanding of our time and energy, our money and attention, St David teaches us to value the small things.

In the gospel reading one can feel the desperation in the voice of the disciples. “Increase our faith,” is their request to him. Jesus, response is remarkable. In one sense, he suggests they don’t have much faith at all, because all they need, he says, is faith as small as a mustard seed. Perhaps they have found his previous teaching of constantly forgiving others, too much to take and so they recognise that perhaps their faith doesn’t enable them to do that.

Our experience and living out of our Faith, doesn’t consist in thunderclaps and bright lights, angel voices in the sky or great miraculous feats. It consists of being faithful to God in the small things of our lives—recognising the miracles which already surround us and embracing the opportunities which God drops into our path. It could mean forgiving others or turning to them in repentance for what we have done wrong. It may be offering a smile or a small act of kindness, giving a few moments of our time to someone in need, or treating someone with the dignity they deserve. In other words, doing those little things which are within our grasp. Who knows what effects they will have?

 

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Mass today on Monday 10 November is at Ss Dyfrig and Samson at 630pm

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“Whenever we achieve good things, we give praise to Christ.” Here’s today’s reflection from the readings at Mass

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BIBLE READINGS: You can find the readings for Friday of Week 31 here

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Have you ever been proud of yourself? Maybe you’ve achieved something, but you didn’t want to boast about it. Or you did something that made a real difference, and no one seemed to acknowledge it.

We have a strange relationship with our own achievements. Some people flaunt their successes, whilst others hide behind them.

In his letter to the Christians of Rome, St Paul says, “I have reason to be proud of my work for God.” That may sound rather arrogant and self opinionated. Except he goes onto say, “For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me.”

Each of us has the potential to do great and good things. Depending on our personality, we may or may not want to take credit for them. If we can say, as St Paul does, that we won’t speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through us; then we will be leaving our selves behind and give praise to him who works through us. Whenever we achieve good things, we give praise to Christ. So, don’t be afraid of acknowledging your gifts. They are God given. And they give God glory.

 

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MASS TODAY

Mass today on Friday 7 November is at S Saviour’s Church, Splott at 10am. You’re welcome!

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DAY BY DAY

If you’d like more resources for daily prayer then check out our DAY BY DAY pages.

 

In today’s reflection from the Daily Mass readings, we reflect on the church of God and the banquet of heaven.

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You can find the readings for Tuesday of Week 31 (St Charles Borromeo) here

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Depending on your personality and circumstances, a full house can be either  a burden or a joy. Or maybe you enjoy having visitors to stay, and have an equal joy when they leave.

Whatever is the case for you, if you arranged a party or a special celebration, you’d be left rather joyless and disappointed if nobody came.

It’s the picture Jesus paints in his parable. Like all parables, he reveals something of the mystery of God’s kingdom. There is an open invitation to all. God has a desire for all to be saved.  But each of us can make the simple decision of whether we wish to accept this invitation.

Our churches may not be as full as they were. The church may not be blessed with numbers as before or as is experienced in other countries.  But we can fill this house of prayer with joy at the presence of Jesus. We can fill this house with prayer and praise. We can fill this house of the church with a generosity for all that God has given to us, and all that he promises. Though life may be difficult and our hearts not always in it, we can keep our sights set on God’s Kingdom, of which, in this Mass, we receive the first fruits. Here we have a taste of the heavenly banquet, and a vision of what life will be.

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Mass today on Monday 4 November is at Ss Mary’s Church, Butetown at 630pm

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Today is the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, also known as All Souls. Here is our daily reflection

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You can find the readings for All Souls here

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In the prophecy of Isaiah, Christians see the image of the suffering servant as referring to Jesus, where the prophet described him as “Acquainted with grief.”

Each of us, in our own way, is acquainted with grief. Not just the grief of bereavement when a loved one dies, but so many other griefs which puncture our lives. Break ups and farewells, leaving behind our good health, our past—through all the changes we experience in life.

In the village of Nain, Jesus meets a woman who has already experienced the grief from the death of her husband. And now she is grieving for her only son. She is more than acquainted with grief—and Jesus is filled with compassion for her, doing the unimaginable by raising him from the dead.

We do not experience the same miracles in our lives—except that, through Christ’s own grief-stricken life and death, and his resurrection from the dead, the possibilities of our life has now changed: the gates of heaven are flung open, and the life of heaven is within reach.

It’s with this confident hope, that we commemorate all our faithful departed brothers and sisters. We pray that they (and one day so will we) hear the voice of Jesus as he reaches out to them and us, and says—as he did the young man in Nain—“I say to you arise.”

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Mass today on Monday 3 November is at Ss Dyfrig and Samson, Grangetown at 630pm

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“He has exalted the lowly,” sang Mary of her own life and all that God is doing in the world. In today’s reflection from the Daily Mass Readings we explore what it means for the humble to be exalted.

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The readings for Saturday of Week Thirty can be found here

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Every river, no matter  its length, width or depth begins somewhere—maybe a small spring or a lake, slowly gathering momentum, washing through the earth until it becomes the size it is and then out to sea to even great depths.

Great rivers like the Amazon and Nile, the Tiber and the Thames all have its source, even though the source of some of them are disputed.

There may be no mention of a river in the gospel reading today—Jesus is dining at the home of a ruler of the Pharisees. Whilst they are watching him, he is observing them, and sees how they assume great privilege by taking the seats of honour. They have such a high opinion of themselves. However, he advises them to do the opposite. Humble yourselves so that you may be raised higher— which is less shameful than being asked to give up your seat for someone more important than you are.

As a small spring can become a surging river, so too can those who consider themselves little become exalted. God can make a mountain out of a molehill. We only have to looks to Mary, whose memory we venerate today, to see how God regards the humble. In her Magnificat song in the hill country of a Judah that’s what she sings. “He has exalted the lowly and pulled down princes from their thrones.”

One old proverb says, “No river can return to its source but every river has its beginnings.” Tomorrow, we celebrate the feast of All Saints—how God’s grace has triumphed in the lives of so many and exalted them to the life of Heaven. It may be worth remembering, to quote Oscar Wilde in his play, A Woman of No Importance, that “Every saint a has a past and every sinner a future.”

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Mass today is at S Mary’s Church, Butetown at 1130am

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