A message from Fr John

Dear Friends

Good morning

Yesterday we prayed for a sense of clarity through these muddled times. It was also the feast of St Robert Bellarmine one of the great figure of the Church as it was re-configuring its mission in the aftermath of the Reformation with all of its confusions and ‘wall building’. He recognised that real ‘bridge building’ could only come about through a deeper configuration to the person of Jesus. He was a Jesuit priest who followed the pattern of discernment taught by St Ignatius (of which there will be more over the next few weeks).

In one of St Robert’s treatises he wrote:
Therefore consider that to be for your real good which brings you to your goal, and that to be really bad which cuts you off from this goal. Prosperity and adversity, riches and poverty, health and sickness, honour and ignominy, life and death should not be sought after for themselves by the wise man nor are they to be avoided for themselves; if they contribute to the glory of God and your eternal happiness, they are good and to be sought after; if they are obstacles to this, they are evil and to be avoided.

The language is somewhat old-fashioned but the purpose is clear - in the midst of confusion - and all the information overload that seems to go with it - seek only the glory of God and one’s ultimate happiness and joy.

Or to put it another way:

‘I’ve realised why we are here,’ whispered the boy.
‘For cake?’ asked the mole.
‘To love,’ said the boy.
‘And to be loved,’ said the horse.

St Joseph, our strength in the storm, pray for us

Every blessing

Fr John