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Showing posts from February, 2013

Domestic Bliss

Domestic Bliss There’s wet washing to hang up in the kitchen I need a cup of tea You could crack open a hard-boiled egg between us Your mother hasn’t seen me for a while No doubt she is immersed in drama and dust Among the sofas I settle for a packet of cheese and onion crisps And lie on the bed I made Too much water under the mattress While you sleep in front of the TV Nothing between us now Except an ironing board And a row of clean pressed shirts No longer on my phone We wait to see who will leave first You in a box Or me on a train Jane Frances

Association of Catholic Women Bloggers: Blog Author required

Association of Catholic Women Bloggers: Blog Author required : Hi fellow Bloggers - I am looking for someone to take over as editor for the Association of Catholic Women Bloggers - a Catholic Women Blogg...

Bags

Bags Once I was a shiny new satchel on its way to school.  The universe was full of glittering galaxies. Or a bright red handbag with a new purse and a copper penny. The shop windows were full of possibilities. Matching shoes eager for adventure and in search of cosmopolitan. A travel bag with badges and stickers and labels for far flung countries. Undiscovered islands. A maternity bag with expectations. A shopping bag full of hope. A backpack of exercise. A trolley of library books. Now I am just a battered old briefcase. Wrinkled and worn. Disillusioned with life and its empty metaphors. A life lived in bags. Hand me another drink. Jane Frances

St Augustine

Augustine His theology, it was not the least He used to make Africa his conquest Robed in righteous red and gold Crowned in silver, linen of old The greatest thinker of the Romans then He studied what was to become of Man Stopping to talk to a boy Running near the pebble shore Reminded Augustine of a time When he was free and wild and prime He cannot empty the sea of its salinity Or change the doctrine of the Trinity Yet changed the Christian faith for that The Empire would worship one in Spirit He made the ancient Faith all powerful Like Jesus healing at the stirring pool He turned away from fornication And even those times of insufflation The world stopped going round the Sun And the angels played their Carillion To bring all those saints and sinners back home The merits of Augustine’s ocean of wisdom

The Cross

“ I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit. ” Khalil Gibran   The Cross Weight bore down Almost unbearable Joy and sadness combined  “For now you shall know in part Then you shall know in full.” Almost consumed by the Spirit Such ecstasy Tears and sweat mingling The intense pain and all-pervading joy The suffering and the hope Slowly He gives Himself up To higher things Blood trickles down His companions, one with him His Mother bereft As a sword pierces her soul John takes her head and lays it on his breast In comfort They cut him down and Wrap him in clean cloths Like He was a baby In a manger Joanna Bennett

Musing at the Sea

Musing at the Beach Where shall I start?  An azure sea? So many can describe it – Better than me Indigo and Emerald Green Purple horizon And Silver seam Cloudless sky Dogs playing Fish-fry Kite flying High in the sky A solitary seagull Soaring by Peace Calm Sea Sand Sun Tide creeping in Fingers drumming a tune Time too soon Where shall I start?  An azure sea? So many can describe it – Better than me  Joanna Bennett

Breakfast Christianity

Flicking through the God Channels on Sky TV I am aware that Christianity has become one big Commercial.  I doubt very much this is the Christianity of St Francis or St Padre Pio.  It is like breakfast Christianity - fills you for a few hours but not sustaining.  Most of the Channels are either asking for money or selling their products.  I am sure it is not Biblical to sell a gift that God has given you freely to support some multi million pound consumerist company.  In fact there are some strong Biblical warnings in the Bible about selling what belongs to God.  God has freely given - we should freely give too.  Not that we should stop writing and selling books for edification or making films.  But some of the 'God' channels - there sole (soul) purpose seems to be selling their products.  Also some of them have been selling these products for years.  In different forms.  These products are not what you need to fulfill a Christian life but prayer, the Sacraments of the Church an

Medley Minute with Fr Sam: St John Bosco Teaches Us How to Shepherd Wolves to...

Medley Minute with Fr Sam: St John Bosco Teaches Us How to Shepherd Wolves to... : Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket   or under a bed,  and not to be placed on a lampstand? Listen to my homily...