Gratitude & Thanksgiving

Heb 10:22-24 calls us to live out the three theological virtues. Therefore brethren... Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of  faith ...   Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering... L et us...stir up one another to love and good works...

It is the Christian’s task  to bring goodness where there is evil and healing where there are wounds.  We have many opportunities  in the course of the day either to foment anger and enmity or to soothe it, opportunities   to roughen a wound  or to smooth it down.  As we know from our failures to do this,  such works are the works  of the Spirit of Christ, supporting our own weakness and  triumphing over  our  own leanings  towards evil. (Taken from commentary on Universalis based on Mark 16:15-18)

The body (soma)  Is our physical nature Is   our solidarity with all of material creation. Relates us to others. The soul (psyche)  Is our intellectual nature Is the natural principle of life, resulting from God’s creative act.   Belongs to the mind with its ability to reason, organise and think. The soul’s horizon is what reason can see. The spirit (pneuma) Is our spiritual nature  Is the highest part of the person. Is the person’s openness to the transcendent , to mystery , to God . In the human person,  The body relates us to material creation The soul  organises our life The spirit  is our reaching out beyond ourselves. The healthy development of the human person happens when all three of these are functioning properly and their activity is integrated. ——— Archbishop William Goh spoke about the body, soul (mind) and spirit (heart) in his Scripture reflection (15 Jan 2021): “As human beings, we are constituted of body, soul and sp...

Pilgrimage has a special place in Christianity.  Fidelity to the goal, and keeping one’s eye on the ball is a thought which underlies the whole idea of Christian pilgrimage.  Moses was faithful as a servant, but Christ is faithful as the master of the house.  We are still on a Pilgrimage, a journey of vital importance. Pilgrimage is an expression of dissatisfaction with the present state of things and with oneself and one’s own part, a time of withdrawal from normal preoccupations in order to re-focus on the goal, to assess the obstacles in one’s own way of life.  By being cut off from the normal distractions, subterfuges and supports of daily life, the pilgrim is led to be more objective about himself or herself, often helped by fellow-pilgrims in the same state of mind, and by meditation on the holiness of the shrine at the end of the pilgrimage, whether it be the Holy Land, or Lourdes or Canterbury or Compostella. (Commentary from Universalis based on  Today...

Archbishop William Goh (18 Jan 2021)