De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Before anything else, I want to say how grateful I am to each of you who reads, subscribes, comments, shares, and supports this work. Your attention, encouragement, and prayers mean more than you know. Writing in this space is not a monologue; it is a quiet conversation, and we are deeply thankful to have you here. Today is the long-awaited day. In Jesus, God’s Son, we receive the most precious gift imaginable. Through His birth, we are reborn. Through His coming into the world, we are enabled to live in the light of Him who is the radiant light of God’s glory. Christ makes it possible for us, not merely to know about God, but to share in the very life of God. Read my Christmas Reflection in full HERE

 From The Lord , by Romano Guardini: THE Christmas liturgy includes these beautiful verses from the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Wisdom: "For while all things were in quiet silence and the night was in the midst of her course, thy almighty word leapt down from heaven from thy royal throne..." The passage, brimming with the mystery of the Incarnation, is wonderfully expressive of the infinite stillness that hovered over Christ's birth. For the greatest things are accomplished in silence -- not in the clamour and display of superficial eventfulness, but in the deep clarity of inner vision; in the almost imperceptible start of decision, in quiet overcoming and hidden sacrifice. Spiritual conception happens when the heart is quickened by love, and the free will stirs to action. The silent forces are the strong forces. Let us turn now to the stillest event of all, stillest because it came from the remoteness beyond the noise of any possible intrusion -- from God. Luke...

The beautiful Crib at Our Lady of Lourdes & St Joseph, Leigh on Sea The Christmas liturgy includes these beautiful verses from the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Wisdom:  "For while all things were in quiet silence and the night was in the midst of her course, thy almighty word leapt down from heaven from they royal throne..." The passage, brimming with the mystery of the Incarnation, is wonderfully expressive of the infinite stillness that hovered over Christ's birth. For the greatest things that are accomplished in silence — not in the clamour and display of the superficial eventfulness, but indeed the clarity of inner vision; in the almost imperceptible start of decision, in quiet overcoming and hidden sacrifice. Spiritual conception happens when the heart is quickened by love, and the free will stirs to action. The silent forces are the strong forces. Let us turn to the stillest event of all, stillest because it came from the remoteness beyond the noise of any...

My attention was drawn this morning to a Pastoral Letter for the First Sunday of Advent, written by the (relatively) new bishop of Lancaster , the Right Reverend Paul Swarbrick. It's not horrendously long, you can read a pdf of the whole letter here , but it does remind us of some simple, yet eternally powerful and fundamental Christian teaching. Teaching that seems to be seldom (if ever) heard these days. Teaching which is being constantly undermined by church-men who seek to modify the Gospel. To temper the life-changing power of the Cross with what they tend to term "radical inclusion" but which in actuality amounts to nothing more than confusion and an abandonment of the Gospel message. Bishop Swarbrick's letter begins with this: Beginning our journey towards the crib at Bethlehem, the Church reminds us of God’s call for each one here to safeguard a sense of the sacred. Each one is called to know the Holy One. Each one is called to be holy. But this is no...

I have found myself in prayer this Christmas, reflecting on the scandal of the Incarnation. It really is the most unbelievable scandal, that we would presume to believe that the all powerful creator of the Universe, time, space, matter - the will that brought all things into being and keeps all things in being - should enter His own creation in such a meek and vulnerable form. However, any study of the early Church reveals that the first Christians did not doubt that Christ was God, what they struggled with was the extent to which He was in fact man. It seems extraordinary that the situation has somehow inverted itself today. The doctrine of the Incarnation holds that Jesus, the preexistent divine Logos and the second hypostasis of the Trinity, God the Son and Son of the Father, taking on a human body and human nature, "was made flesh" and conceived in the womb of Mary the Theotokos (Greek for "God-bearer"; Latin: Mater Dei , literally 'Mother of God...

Today is the long waited for day. In Jesus, God's Son, we receive the most precious gift imaginable. Through His birth we are reborn, and we are enabled to live in the light of Him who is the radiant light of God's glory. Christ makes it possible for us to share in the life of God. The incredible hush & stillness of Christmas Day always reminds me anew and forcibly of the uniqueness of this day of mystery and joy. Famously in the past hostilities have ceased, enemies have fraternised. All over the world, people are seeking out their family and friends, and there is an attempt, however fleeting, to be kinder and more open and sympathetic. The opening words of the prophet distill all these precious qualities: good news, the heralding of peace, happiness, salvation and joy. All of this comes about through the arrival of a message, the proclamation of a Kingdom, a face-to-face meeting with a King, the most intimate of encounters. This is the birth of Jesus, the advent o...

This time of year is intense for lots of different reasons. Since Ruth died, it has been a period where Lou and I have experienced a heightened sense of loss. There are hundreds of people in similar situations and even in the weeks leading up to Christmas this year, each story of tragedy on the news, the shooting in Connecticut, the war in Syria, the conflict in Afghanistan, the pensioner attacked and killed on his way to midnight Mass on Christmas eve, even the terrible car crash on the M6 on Christmas day itself all bring with them a terrible heightened sense of anxiety and empathy for the effect and terrible grief such life-changing events will wreak on the families.  For many of us, Christmas is like this. A reminder of who is not there, a reminder of grief and pain and heart ache. On Christmas eve, Lou laid out the children's presents in sacks each bearing their own monicker. She used Ruth's sack for Mary, even placing it in the right order (W, M, R, J) and we bot...