A message from Fr John

Dear Friends

Good morning - surely not more rain

A couple of thoughts today on prayer:

The first is from St Ignatius of Loyola - founder of the Jesuits. It’s a hard saying because it demands both courage and humility.

“Act as though success depends entirely on you and in no way on God; trust yourself to God as though God had to do everything and you had to do nothing.’

This is an acknowledgement of God’s gift of freedom to humankind and also God’s freedom to act on behalf of humankind. This is getting to the heart of prayer; a mature relationship with the God who loves us so much that he lets us do what we want, and who wants us to do nothing more that what God wants.

Secondly, a suggestion from Abbe Six:

'Try to let your morning paper be a prayer. Read it first to get the general picture. Then read it a second time; read the main articles closely. But do not stop there: read it a third time: “Lord, I pray to you for …."'

We don’t read the newspapers as much these days; we rely on radio or television for our news. But the idea is the same; we pray for the important things in our world - not just disasters and what’s going wrong. We pray for clarity in the confusion which besets us and so many people across the world. We pray for those who might be struggling in any way. We pray that we too might build bridges not walls.

St Joseph, rock in our confusion, pray for us

Every blessing

Fr John