02 December 2024

Are we now living in the Great Apostasy? (1)

by Ray Caldwell

Is original sin no longer applicable?

Is the message of salvation from our sins through obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ now null and void?

Do we no longer need to be born again through baptism and filled with the Holy Spirit?

Charles Darwin 1809 – 1882, portrayed as an ape in a cartoon
in The Hornet Magazine, 22nd March 1871

27 November 2024

Assisted Suicide: a look at the issues

Recently the Catholic Union of Great Britain hosted a panel discussion on the upcoming parliamentary bill that seeks to legalise 'assisted dying' in England and Wales. The Evangelical Alliance has also been very active in presenting Christian moral arguments against the bill.  

Below are three links.

12 November 2024

Our response to God: a reverent love

By Fr Ian

In previous posts I suggested we ask ourselves three big questions about Christian faith and spiritual life: who is God? What is he like? What, if anything, does he ask of us? 

In this post I’d like to give an answer to the third question, and I’ll start by referring to a passage from Saint Augustine’s Confessions, which ends with what is probably one of the most famous single sentences in the history of Christianity:

29 October 2024

Conscious choice-maker: the definition of what I am

Ray Caldwell reflects on the reality of human free will, responsibility and accountability. Despite the fall of our first parents human beings are still essentially defined by our capacity to decide freely to choose good or evil, love or sin, heaven or hell.

I.

"I am an invisible spirit who chooses, chooses, chooses, all my conscious existence". This is called free-will.

21 October 2024

God reveals himself to us (5)

by Father Ian


'It seems that many church members today lack a developed sense of God’s overwhelming holiness and divinity and majesty. Instead, their attitude is nonchalant, casual, indifferent. What this almost certainly means, unfortunately, is that they have not yet had a significant encounter with God in their lives. If they had, they would have begun to realise how inappropriate casualness, nonchalance and indifference are.'
______

In a recent short book Catholic theologian Ulrich Lehner 'reintroduces Christians 
to the true God: not the polite, easygoing, divine therapist who doesn't ask much of us, but 
the Almighty God who is unpredictable, awe-inspiring, and demands our entire lives.  
(Click on the picture for the book's Amazon UK page.)
______

29 September 2024

God reveals himself to us (4)

by Fr Ian


'In many ways the 'Spiritual But Not Religious' outlook appears as an outgrowth of affluent western consumer culture: it has a strong element of the modern therapeutic search for personal wellbeing and security and tends towards a rather individualistic, inward-looking and self-serving attitude.'
What I want to look at now is: 

C. Some mistaken ideas about God

Let’s go back to the three central questions I suggested we consider earlier: who is God, what is he like, what, if anything does he ask of us?

24 September 2024

God reveals himself to us (3)

by Fr Ian

(Part One here, Part Two here)

God's revelation of the truth about himself is available for us in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Christians must trust these sources above our personal opinions and ideas. God speaks to us, 'not to impart information, but to invite us to share his life and to elicit a response to his invitation'.

Saint Jerome, c. 342–347 – 420, the patron saint of biblical scholars: 
'Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ'

‘I Heard it through the Grapevine’

Jesus the True Vine and His Father the Vinedresser
The grapevine as a metaphor for the course of our lives 

By Raymond Caldwell

'There is one essential gift available to us while we are yet alive and still able to think and make choices, and that is GRACE.'

Christ True Vine, Russia, 19th century, icon, unknown artist

16 September 2024

The POSITIVE OPTIMIST and Positive Thinking

By Raymond Caldwell


Are you an OPTIMIST or a PESSIMIST?

Many good books have been written on the power and benefits of positive thinking. We can have a tendency to think either positively or negatively. It is similar to the magnetic field of Planet Earth with north and south poles, or the negative and positive forces of a magnet.

How are you polarised? Which pole are you attracted to? Positive or negative? (There is also attraction and repulsion, but that is another subject.)

God reveals himself to us (2)

by Fr Ian

(Part I here)

First of all then,

A. the fact of God’s self-revelation.

'Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, 
for the place on which you are standing is holy  ground.’ (Exodus 3: 5) 
Picture: fresco by Raphael Sanzio, 1519.

The root meaning of the word ‘revelation’ is the drawing back of a veil so that we can see something that would otherwise be concealed or obscured. 

'Divine Revelation' refers to the fact that God, at various points in the course of human history, instead of leaving us in the dark about his existence and his character, and the purposes that he has written into human existence, has ‘pulled back the veil’ so that we can see him, know him and enter into relationship with him.

07 September 2024

God reveals himself to us (1)

Fr Ian reflects on one of the foundations of Christian spiritual life: that the God we are called to know and love has not left us in ignorance about who he is and what he's like, but has revealed his nature and character to us. 


Mark 12: 28–30.

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength”...’.

I think these verses from Saint Mark’s gospel, where Jesus talks about a wholehearted, all-encompassing love towards God as the first or greatest commandment, get to the heart of what we, as Christians, mean when we use the expression ‘the spiritual life’.

12 August 2024

Is Britain coming apart at the seams?

Last week Roland referred to the riots that took place across the UK following the murder of three children in Southport. 

Here's an interesting discussion by two commentators, Paul Embery and Inaya Folarin Iman (click on the picture below). Interesting analysis?

A Catholic writer reflects on the Olympics cause célèbre

Another scene from the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics

Fr Ian comments:

I recently came across a response to the Paris Olympics controversy, published a week ago (5th August) by Dr Thomas Rourke.

Here's a link to the full article for anyone who might fancy reading it:

07 August 2024

'The best neighbour is a good fence' - a reflection on recent controversies

by Revd Roland Barnes


PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 12: The Olympic rings are seen on the Eiffel Tower ahead of the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on June 12, 2024 in Paris, France. The 2024 Summer Olympic Games begin on July 26. (Photo by Kiran Ridley/Getty Images)
I write this message (actually my most recent Sunday sermon!) as a contribution to the FFF, in the context of the controversy over the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris. 

Some people found the content "heretical" and felt the need to protest and complain. Actually I watched the whole ceremony and all I saw was a French depiction of French culture and history. 

03 July 2024

A seminar on prayer?

by Fr Ian


I've still got two final posts on prayer to add to the eight sections already available.

In the first two posts, I tried to give a broad definition of Christian prayer, and Roland responded with some observations and criticisms in a post of his own. There was a good discussion in the comments below the posts.

Since then I've quickly added a further six posts, focusing on different aspects of prayer.

It occurred to me that we might be able to look at these six posts as a whole (because they're really just separate sections of a single essay) and have a kind of seminar using the comments box below this post.

So to make it easy to read them in order (by clicking on them, of course) here are the other posts so far:

Post 3: the necessity of prayer

Post 4: the primacy of prayer

Post 5: vocal prayer and mental prayer, or meditation

Post 6: affective prayer and contemplative prayer

Post 7: Christian meditation

Post 8: A method of contemplative prayer

I hope that at least some readers of these posts will find them interesting and even helpful. And I hope we might have an interesting and productive discussion below.

Here are all the posts, in the form of two PDF documents. Part 2 includes a section on the drift towards prayerlessness in the modern Church and another section containing some reassuring facts about prayer.

Christian Prayer: reflections from a Catholic perspective (8)

by Fr Ian

A method of contemplative prayer

Father James Borst, a Mill Hill Missionary priest who worked in India for many years, formulated a basic method of contemplative prayer for use by all Christians.

Jim Borst, 1932-2018

02 July 2024

Christian Prayer: reflections from a Catholic perspective (7)

By Fr Ian

Keeping in mind everything that we’ve covered so far, in this post and the next I’d like to advocate two simple and practical ways of praying. These are two concrete practices that can help us move beyond a superficial level of prayer towards a more contemplative experience, strengthening the bond of communion between ourselves and God in the process.


'But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and you our Father who sees in secret will reward you' (Matthew 6:6) Photo: a room in a Capuchin Franciscan retreat centre.

Preparation for prayer: recollection

First let's recognise that if we want to pray well we can’t just turn rapidly from our ordinary daily activities and glide easily into profound conversation with God. We have to prepare ourselves beforehand. The Catholic spiritual tradition envisages three stages of preparation for prayer: immediate, proximate and remote.

Christian Prayer: reflections from a Catholic perspective (6)

by Fr Ian

Different types and different stages of prayer, cont.

Alonso Cano, The Apparition of Christ Crucified to Saint Teresa de Jesus
Spanish, 1629, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado

C. Affective prayer

A well-known saying of Saint Teresa of Avila is that in our relationship with God the important thing is not to think a great deal but to love a great deal.[16] The goal of prayer isn’t to entertain profound ideas and thoughts about God, even less to construct original theories about God, but to strengthen the bonds of a real, personal communion with God.

Christian Prayer: reflections from a Catholic perspective (5)

by Fr Ian

Different types and different stages of prayer


We can divide prayer into two broad categories, which also describe the two main stages of progress in prayer: active and passive.

The early stages of Christian faith, the period of initial conversion, ascetic discipline and the development of basic Christian attitudes, tend to entail a lot of activity and effort on our part. As we progress spiritually we learn to rely far less on our own natural abilities and we surrender increasingly to God’s influence and direction.

29 June 2024

Christian Prayer: reflections from a Catholic Perspective (4)

by Fr Ian

The primacy of prayer

Prayer has primacy in the life of Christian discipleship first of all in the sense of priority: it comes first and constitutes the foundation on which all other elements of Christian life are built. 

It has primacy also in the sense of being, ultimately, the most important activity in Christian life. Of course Christians must give concrete expression to their love of neighbour and their commitment to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. But we also have to take to heart Jesus’ important teaching during his visit to his friends Martha and Mary (Lk 10:38-42).

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary by Johannes Vermeer

While Martha made agitated efforts to serve Jesus, Mary sat quietly and conversed with him and listened to him.

Christian tradition has always interpreted Jesus’ remarks on this occasion as affirming the greater necessity of contemplation over activity. Attentiveness to God, adoration of God and listening to God have to come first, before acts of practical love and service of God and neighbour. Jesus taught Martha this lesson by reprimanding her gently, suggesting that in her state of fuss and distraction she was neglecting ‘the one needful thing’. Mary, by contrast, had chosen ‘the good portion’.

25 June 2024

Christian Prayer: reflections from a Catholic perspective (3)

by Fr Ian

In Parts 1 and 2 I tried to give a basic definition of Christian prayer and I claimed that prayer is a necessary activity, and the primary activity, for Christian believers. In the next two posts I'll say more about these two aspects of prayer. 

'Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, 
left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed' (Mark 1:35).

The necessity of prayer

As human beings we need prayer because we need God.

We don’t have to be religious-minded to conclude that human beings are driven by a kind of ‘hunger of the heart’, made up of various needs or longings that overlap and connect with each other. We have a longing for happiness and fulfilment in our lives. We seek purpose and meaning in our activities and our relationships, and we have a need for love - a need to give love to others and to receive love from them.

20 June 2024

Is it time to re-think what we mean by prayer?

By Revd Roland

Before Fr Ian continues his series on prayer Revd Roland questions the relevance of such a traditional understanding.

Does the conventional view of God treat us all like children?

Ian's articles on prayer are interesting, profound and very conventional, but I think it is Ray's simple comment that really challenges our understanding of prayer. I too would challenge those who speak in the language of :

"Oh, when I have a problem, a question to solve in my life, I ask God and he answers me" (and presumably always gives the right answer).

18 June 2024

Christian Prayer: reflections from a Catholic perspective (2)

by Fr Ian

(Part 1 of this reflection is here)

Our essential poverty

Saint Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430)

I ended the first part of this reflection on Christian prayer with Saint Augustine’s remark that before God we are all beggars. And certainly for many of us it’s some experience of overwhelming need or suffering, beyond our control, that first drives home to us the essential poverty of our human condition (Mt 5:3; Lk 6:20) and provides the impetus that moves us to prayer.

According to the moral theologian Fritz Tillman, if an individual doesn’t pray when in need, whether it be either spiritual or material, ‘he is without the most efficacious source of interior strength, and it is thus his own fault if he cannot muster the energy to overcome the trial’ [2]

Turning to God and asking him for help, with trust in his goodness and power, honours God and brings us closer to him precisely in the Father-child relationship that he invites us into.

Christian Prayer: reflections from a Catholic perspective (1)

by Fr Ian  

Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7.)

A Carthusian monk praying in his cell

In a series of six or so posts I’d like to try to broadly define the nature of Christian prayer, to spell out some of the different types and grades of prayer, and to explain some of the attitudes we need to cultivate in order to pray, and to pray well. 

In addition to that, I’ll try to present some reassuring facts about prayer, to help counter the discouragement we can easily feel towards an activity that most Christians have always found difficult - difficult to grasp and difficult to practise. 

Then, to end with, I’ll outline two specific ways of prayer: meditation using Scripture, or perhaps some other appropriate spiritual writing, and a simple form of contemplative prayer advocated by the Mill Hill Missionary Father James Borst.

~~~

11 June 2024

Sowing seeds, the Kingdom of Heaven

Revd Roland Barnes, pastoral leader of the C-inW Bro Moelwyn Ministry Area, reflects on the relationship between the Kingdom of Heaven and the world we live in.  

Jesus proclaims God's Kingdom to the crowds

Great to read people’s various comments in response to Ian’s article and subsequent writings. Whether we agree with each other or not, it is so important to “talk.” Sharing thoughts and opinions and having them challenged is such a healthy thing to do. So thanks to everyone who has added their “penny’s worth.”

Parables of the Kingdom


I don’t know about you, but I have read and re-read Jesus’ numerous parables about “The Kingdom of God” (eg Mark 4. 21 – 34) and am still none the wiser.

“This is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like,” Jesus declares, “A seed planted, which grows and then is harvested.”

Ah!, what has that got to do with the Kingdom of Heaven, what does it tell us about the K of H?

29 May 2024

The Hazards of Modernisation

In our first post Fr Ian Dalgleish, parish priest of St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Blaenau Ffestiniog, reflects on some potentially negative aspects of adapting Christian faith to the values of modern society (approx. 2,500 words).

(click on the photograph for a modern celebration of Pentecost 
from the Archdiocese of Chicago)

In the Catholic Church, at the time of the Second Vatican Council, there was an Italian word which came to sum up the Council’s purpose and goal, and that was the word aggiornamento. It meant ‘up-dating’ or ‘modernisation’. It also had the connotation of renewal and re-energising: the renewal of Catholic spiritual life and the re-energising of the Church's mission.

It’s difficult to say very much briefly without oversimplifying things but I don’t think it’s misrepresenting the facts of Catholic Church history to say that by the 1950s there was a conviction among many Catholics - certainly among many of the Church’s bishops and theologians - that the Catholic faith had become in a sense fossilised, out-of-touch with modern society, perhaps even with most Catholics’ experience of everyday life.

Are we now living in the Great Apostasy? (1)

by Ray Caldwell Is original sin no longer applicable? Is the message of salvation from our sins through obedience to the gospel of Jesus Chr...