Well! What a disappointment! I've just heard that X Factor have been pulling a fast one! The stage in the series when the Judges take the finalists back to their homes for them to be mentored and further selected are not in fact their own houses at all! They're just rented! Apparently, though, this happens a lot. When you see celebrities reclining on their marble mantelpiece or walking in their garden in Hello or OK or any other celebrity magazine you wish to mention it's not necessarily the place where they live. A spokeswoman for X Factor said: "The contestants are invited to a house. We call them the judges' houses, not the judges' homes. Sharon had only just moved in to her new home and hadn't even unpacked so we couldn't have filmed it there. We have never said they are the judges' real homes and it has been this way for the past four years." Perhaps it takes the shine off it. After all, we are inquisitive creatures who like to peep beyond the net curtains and see how the other half live! That's how the paparazzi earn their wage and editors sell their newspapers - because it feeds the enquiring, inquisitive, invasive mind of most of us!
In the house of which I spoke yesterday - you know, the replica of Mary's house at Walsingham - we don't see the real thing - and nobody says it is! There is, of course, the holy house of Loretto - said to be the actual house of Mary transported by angels (stopping off at Germany along the way!) but Walsingham is a replica from Richeldis, the Lady of the Manor who had the vision to build a house and make a home. Perhaps the whole thing feeds our enquiring, inquisitive and invasive minds - not even Mary can get a rest from it! But, of course, there's more to it than that! There must be!
Beyond the net curtains (or voile or venetian blinds!) of our house is the place where we can be ourselves. Of course, there are many homes when people are not free to be themselves and where they live with fear or intimidation but there will be some small place somewhere where we will know who we are and, hopefully, be free to be ourselves. By visiting a place like Walsingham (or Loretto - though I have never been there!) you enter an intimacy, a small space where you can experience the domesticity of God, that down to earthness, where God invites us to be at home and get our feet under the table! There is always a thrill in visiting the homes of heroes and has beens, those people who have made their mark in the world and left their mark on us - be it writers, musicians, figures of faith or huge historical figures. Somehow you are in touch with them or feel closer to them or sense a small seed of something that gives a new perspective on their life. But in the end, we return to our familiar front door and enter the place where we live and it is there that we kick of our shoes, flick through the fascination of a thousand TV Channels or leave the washing up til the morning (or is that just me?!) It's there that faith is fostered and there that we meet God in the way we live our lives. And if we have been invited to be at home with Mary and Jesus, it's only right that we invite them to do the same!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7040283.stm
Showing posts with label Walsingham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walsingham. Show all posts
Friday, 12 October 2007
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Water, Water, Everywhere!
Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink! Well, you can drink it but it may leave you ill! That was the case two years ago, anyway, when a recent magistrate's court case fined Dwr Cymru £60,000 after admitting supplying unfit water that left hundreds ill in North Wales. We take it all for granted, water. That is, until the next drought or health scare and then there's a panicked worry and we all realise how important it really is! I've just returned from Walsingham where I spent a few days with the Federation of Catholic Priests - one of four speakers (though the others were far more erudite than me!) It was a good time together and I enjoyed being part of a new group of priests on pilgrimage. At the heart of the Shrine is the Holy House, a replica of the house at Nazareth where Mary was greeted by the angel Gabriel and told that she had been chosen to be the mother of Jesus. The positioning of the original Holy House of Walsingham was marked by the miraculous flow of a spring of water. Don't worry, there's no contaminated water there: the water is clean and fresh and lovely.
Last year the water in the holy well become a rarity due to dry weather and droughts and people weren't allowed to draw freely from there. In another shrine, further away but closer to home, at Penrhys, the water has often dried up altogether or, even worse, been polluted by the passing vandal or idle layabout! Shrines and water seem to go together, more often than not accompanied with miraculous healings, a symbol of the overflowing Spirit who fills us and flows through our lives, a fountain of life, flowing up and within. Sometimes, though, life may feel as if it has dried up, or that our faith has failed to flow, or that our discipleship has experienced a drought. A case of water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink, maybe!
In the gospel of John, we read that 'On the last and greatest day of the festival Jesus stood and declared: 'If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture says, "Streams of living water shall flow from within him." He was speaking of the Spirit...' (John 7: 37-39). Mary's house in Nazareth didn't have water on tap, of course! But the Spirit of whom Jesus spoke is the same Spirit who overshadowed her and flowed within her, bringing to birth the things that had been promised, like water, fresh and clean and lovely. Visiting a place like Walsingham (and even Penrhys with it's more discreet divine presence, tucked behind a bus stop!) is always a good place to get drenched in the divine. As it happened, it poured down in Walsingham for most of the time. There was water everywhere! But that was nothing to do with the weather!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7039978.stm
www.walsingham.org.uk
Last year the water in the holy well become a rarity due to dry weather and droughts and people weren't allowed to draw freely from there. In another shrine, further away but closer to home, at Penrhys, the water has often dried up altogether or, even worse, been polluted by the passing vandal or idle layabout! Shrines and water seem to go together, more often than not accompanied with miraculous healings, a symbol of the overflowing Spirit who fills us and flows through our lives, a fountain of life, flowing up and within. Sometimes, though, life may feel as if it has dried up, or that our faith has failed to flow, or that our discipleship has experienced a drought. A case of water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink, maybe!
In the gospel of John, we read that 'On the last and greatest day of the festival Jesus stood and declared: 'If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture says, "Streams of living water shall flow from within him." He was speaking of the Spirit...' (John 7: 37-39). Mary's house in Nazareth didn't have water on tap, of course! But the Spirit of whom Jesus spoke is the same Spirit who overshadowed her and flowed within her, bringing to birth the things that had been promised, like water, fresh and clean and lovely. Visiting a place like Walsingham (and even Penrhys with it's more discreet divine presence, tucked behind a bus stop!) is always a good place to get drenched in the divine. As it happened, it poured down in Walsingham for most of the time. There was water everywhere! But that was nothing to do with the weather!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_west/7039978.stm
www.walsingham.org.uk
Friday, 5 October 2007
Who Knows what is to Come!
Cardiff is full of Kiwis! From the moment I picked up a coffee in the Bay this morning until the time I passed through the city centre this afternoon (to catch up on a few things) I couldn't help but bump into Kiwis! Yes, I have been working! But in between I was able to take a few minutes out! (I'm not one of these priests that say they haven't got a moment to breathe! What would be the point of that!) And as Cardiff prepares to host the Quarter Finals of the World Cup between New Zealand and France, the supporters have been trickling into the city to see...what? Who knows! The Competition has given a few surprises and who knows what is to come! There is one thing for certain: rugby has its high and lows, its high drama and melodrama, it's dramatic turns and its turn at drama. That's sport for you!
The Vatican, too, is getting into the sporty way of things! They are to sponsor a sports club affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, a Third Division Italian Football Team, AC Ancona, in order to promote sportsmanship in the game. Their aim is to cut ticket prices to encourage families, and combat racist remonstrations and abusive behaviour! Mind you, I would love to see a new signing in the guise of Uncle Joe (the Holy Father to the uninitiated!) in Midfield, a scene I can imagine fresh from Father Ted! I wonder how much the transfer fee would cost? That's sport for you!
Tomorrow we have our Diocesan October Devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham. Tomorrow we will remember and celebrate that moment when Mary said 'Yes' to God. It's such a small moment, a specific time, when she is propositioned by God and what does she do? She says 'Yes' to him! She doesn't really know what is to come. She has no idea how things will turn out. And only we, armed with retrospect can realise the highs and lows, the drama and melodrama that is to come. Yet she is able to 'Yes!' And that is the nature of vocation and discipleship. We agree to follow. We say 'Yes.' But, in reality, we have no idea what is to come or how things will turn out. There is one thing for certain: following Jesus has its high and lows, its high drama and melodrama, it's dramatic turns and its turn at drama.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7027918.stm
The Vatican, too, is getting into the sporty way of things! They are to sponsor a sports club affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, a Third Division Italian Football Team, AC Ancona, in order to promote sportsmanship in the game. Their aim is to cut ticket prices to encourage families, and combat racist remonstrations and abusive behaviour! Mind you, I would love to see a new signing in the guise of Uncle Joe (the Holy Father to the uninitiated!) in Midfield, a scene I can imagine fresh from Father Ted! I wonder how much the transfer fee would cost? That's sport for you!
Tomorrow we have our Diocesan October Devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham. Tomorrow we will remember and celebrate that moment when Mary said 'Yes' to God. It's such a small moment, a specific time, when she is propositioned by God and what does she do? She says 'Yes' to him! She doesn't really know what is to come. She has no idea how things will turn out. And only we, armed with retrospect can realise the highs and lows, the drama and melodrama that is to come. Yet she is able to 'Yes!' And that is the nature of vocation and discipleship. We agree to follow. We say 'Yes.' But, in reality, we have no idea what is to come or how things will turn out. There is one thing for certain: following Jesus has its high and lows, its high drama and melodrama, it's dramatic turns and its turn at drama.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7027918.stm
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