Two Poems by Saunders Lewis

As we begin Holy Week this year Tim Griffin, who attends Holy Cross Catholic church, Gellilydan when he is in North Wales, introduces two poems by Saunders Lewis, one of the founders of Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales. 

John Saunders Lewis, 1893 – 1985, left, photographed with D.J. Williams and Lewis Valentine.

‘O happy fault,…’: original sin and its consequences (4)

by Fr Ian

Punishment and Promise

The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise by Benjamin West (1738-1820)

Chapter 3 of Genesis concludes with an account of God delivering his sentence on Adam and Eve - and the serpent.

The serpent is cursed by God to ‘go upon its belly’ and ‘eat dust for all the days of its life’. Eve learns that from now on she will experience great pain during childbirth, that her relationship with her husband will be contaminated by lust and a struggle for dominance. Adam is condemned to onerous and frustrating work which will often be largely fruitless. (Genesis 3:14-19).

‘O happy fault,…’: original sin and its consequences (3)

By Fr Ian 

The consequences of the first sin

It would be a huge mistake to read chapter 3 of Genesis with a purely legalistic mentality that sees the original sinful action of Adam and Eve as mainly the breaking of a rule or a commandment. The real essence of their sin was the breach of their personal relationship with God, the rupture of their harmonious friendship.

Jesus' portrait of a loving parent: The Prodigal Son by Nikolay Losev (1855-1901)

‘O happy fault,…’: original sin and its consequences (2)

by Fr Ian

 

The nature of the first sin

God showed his protective care and his trust of his human creatures by issuing a strict commandment, a prohibition: ‘...of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die’ (2:17).

Apart from what this says about God’s character, it also tells us that human beings weren’t created as robots; their reverence and obedience towards God wasn’t somehow pre-programmed and automatic. God made them so that they had to choose voluntarily to co-operate and share responsibility with him in the care and maintenance of his Creation.

‘O happy fault,…’: original sin and its consequences (1)

For many church communities the Season of Lent started again a week ago on Ash Wednesday. Lent is the main penitential season of the Church's year and in a series of articles Fr Ian discusses the Catholic view of human nature as it was originally created by God and as it became after the fall of Adam and Eve. 

A lantern slide depicting the original harmony that existed between God, humanity and creation

A change in awareness

‘2025 is the time for an expansion of human consciousness that will shock some, but be welcomed by others,’ argues David Derrington, in this thought-provoking philosophical reflection.

Sometimes you wake from a dream wondering if it has a significance. One morning recently I woke from a dream, remembering nothing except it ending with me walking through a gateway and a clear understanding of its meaning.

'In the midst of life we are in death'

In one of our fortnightly 'Services of Prayer and Reflection', organised jointly by the Anglican and Catholic church communities of Blaenau Ffestiniog, Revd Roland offered some thoughts on Christian beliefs and practices concerning mortality and life after death.

I'd like to say a few words today about death. Not about how we cope with the grief and emotions of death - there are vast amounts of literature on that subject - but how we try to understand the religious/theological significance of death.

Looking Back at '7/7'

by Fr Ian

This year the BBC has broadcast a four-part documentary about the terrorist attack which took place in London on 7th July 2005 - twenty years ago this year. The series is still available on BBC iPlayer.

Photo of one of the 7/7 London bombings from The Guardian newspaper

I remember that at the time I wrote an article for a Catholic website (now defunct) and I thought I would re-publish the article here in hope of encouraging discussion and debate on the forum. Apart from a few small grammatical improvements and the addition of photographs I've left it completely unchanged, so the references are obviously dated. I wonder how far I've changed my mind since then? The issues are still very topical, as shown for example by Hamas' incursion into Israel on 7th October, 2023, Israel's retaliatory military operation in Gaza, and the car attack in Munich yesterday (Thursday 13th February) by an Afghan asylum seeker.       

In any case here's what I wrote in 2005:

Are we now living in the Great Apostasy? (4)

by Ray Caldwell

New Age authors offer an alternative to New Testament Christianity. Here I look at one such effort, A Course In Miracles Made Easy by Alan Cohen.

Are we now living in the Great Apostasy? (3)

by Ray Caldwell

(Part 1 here, Part 2 here)

The Garden of Eden by German artist Lucas Cranach der Ältere (c. 1472 - 1553)

The Christian Explanation

It seems to me that too many people fail to comprehend the Adam and Eve account in the book of Genesis in the Bible. It is about God bestowing upon humans the gift of free-will. "Made in God's image" means, created to reflect God's nature and glory. 

Orbs and Spirituality

Photo taken from the website Pure Spiritual

David Derrington ponders if there are connections between Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UFOs), past religious revivals and the contemporary spiritual quest. Is our planet entertaining angels unawares, or are we being visited by some other form of Non-human Intelligence?

~~~

Orbs aka “drones” are in the news, especially since this photo (below) taken by a pilot from his plane at Manchester Airport has gone viral.

Are we now living in the Great Apostasy? (2)

In the long-awaited second part of his essay Ray Caldwell asks 'What is the Great Apostasy?'

(Part I here)

"The Great Apostasy is a concept within Christianity to describe a perception that mainstream Christian churches have fallen away from the original faith founded by Jesus and promulgated through His twelve apostles" (James E. Talmage from his book The Great Apostasy).

A New Year Service of Prayer for Peace in 2025

Before the start of the service

On Monday 6th January, at 2.00pm, members of St David's C-in-W church and St Mary Magdalene Catholic parish came together to pray for an end to war and violence in 2025. 

Rev. Roland presided and Fr Ian offered a reflection taking this passage from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as his starting-point: