'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.'
Open exploration of all aspects of faith and spirituality today. Sponsored by the Anglican and Catholic communities of Bro Ffestiniog.
29 September 2024
God reveals himself to us (4)
'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.'
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'.
‘I Heard it through the Grapevine’
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
First of
all then,
A. the fact of God’s self-revelation.
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)
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’.
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...
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In our first post Fr Ian Dalgleish, parish priest of St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church in Blaenau Ffestiniog, reflects on some potentially ...
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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...
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By Revd Roland Before Fr Ian continues his series on prayer Revd Roland questions the relevance of such a traditional understanding. Does th...