Sci-fi, God and inspirational things...

by Tony | 2/05/2009 in , | comments (1)

Most of my friends know this about me already: I am a sci fi fan. I love most things of the genre: Star-Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars, etc. I also really like Battlestar Galactica (both the high-camp 1970s version and the current 're-imagined' masterpiece).


Now I don't commonly attach any particular religious significance to sci-fi, I just enjoy it for the escapism and the story-telling so imagine my surprise and delight when tonight I happened across the translation of the lyrics used in the main titles of Battlestar Galactica... It's the Gayatri Mantra, sung in Sanskrit, and is a sacred verse from the Hindu tradition, although to me it speaks volumes about how we humans reach out to the Divine in all our traditions. Regardless of how we individually view those traditions and their efficacy (for want of a better word right now), that movement towards God, that reaching out, that yearning for the Divine can be stunning and beautifully profound. Discovering this verse was one of those moments of realisation of beauty that I will treasure forever.

The desire for Good, the opening of our hearts for God to guide us, that willingness of spirit to be led somewhere better and to be better than we are now... that is something we surely all can learn to appreciate and love.

No matter who you are, what your tradition is, perhaps we can all join in our hearts with this prayer:
  • Aum bhoor bhuwah swaha,
  • Tat savitur varenyam
  • Bhargo devasaya dheemahi
  • Dhiyo yo naha prachodayat

It has many translations, but the most common is:

  • Oh God! Thou art the Giver of Life,
  • Remover of pain and sorrow,
  • The Bestower of happiness,
  • Oh! Creator of the Universe,
  • May we receive thy supreme sin-destroying light,
  • May Thou guide our intellect in the right direction.
May we all be guided by our God towards the Right and the Good and may we all seek that Guidance from God whom we love.

Oh... and enjoy Battlestar Galactica on the way too! ;)

Candlemas Day

by Tony | 2/02/2009 in , | comments (0)


LORD Jesus Christ, You are the true Light enlightening every soul born into this world.

Today we celebrate the feast of Candlemas.

Before Holy Mass, the priest blesses the candles, whose wax is the humming summer's work of countless bees.

The flames of these candles will shed their light upon the altar at the Holy Sacrifice.

Help us to realize, this day and every day, that our own humdrum daily work, if it is done for love of You, and in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, will be a supernatural work, and will shine brightly before You for all eternity.

Help us realize, too, each time we see the blessed candles at Holy Mass, or at the bedside of the sick, that they are a symbol of Yourself, the Light shining in the darkness of this world.

Help us to live in that Light, to make it our own, and to kindle it in the souls of others, increasing the area Of light and lessening the darkness in the World.

This, dear Lord, help us do, through the merits of Your own dear mother, Mary, who did everything for love of You, from the moment she brought You into this world till the day she joined You in the realms of light at her death.

Then we, too, working for You, shall be light-bearers who will help to spread Your kingdom on earth, and increase the number of those who dwell in heaven, the city of eternal light.

Amen

Letter from Gaza

by Tony | 1/20/2009 in , | comments (0)

This Sunday our parish priest read out an open letter from Fr Manuel Mussallam who is the priest for the tiny Catholic community of 200 in the Holy Family parish in Gaza. The profoundly moving letter recounted the situation in Gaza under the conditions of war imposed by Israel over the last few weeks. My heart broke at this passage:


I announce to you from the heart of the father and priest, the death of the daughter of our school in Holy Family, the dear, Christine Wadi al-Turk, the first Christian to die in the war. Christine was in the tenth grade in our school and she died this morning, Friday, January 2, 2009 as a result of fear and the cold. The windows in her home were open to protect the children from glass fragments and the missiles that pass above it. The bombing that hit her neighbor's home caused her whole body to shake in horror. She could not bear all this, so she went to complain to her Creator about her situation and request a home and a refuge where there is no crying, screaming or wailing, but joy and happiness.

I find it deeply distressing that any nation should seek to wage war on innocent civilians and, in particular, that a child should be driven to death by fear.

The letter is reproduced in full on our parish website: http://www.saintdominics.org.uk/news.htm 

Please take the time to read it and, perhaps, to join in prayer with the Christians of Gaza as they recite the words Fr Manuel has provided for prayer at the top of each hour:

O Lord of peace rain peace on us, O Lord of peace, grant peace to our land. Have mercy, O Lord, on your people and do not keep us in enmity forever.

Amen.

The abundance of God’s blessings

by Tony | 12/11/2007 in , , , , , , | comments (0)




I have just returned from my diocese’s Discernment Weekend for those considering applying for entry to the Priesthood.


From Saturday onwards there have been moments each day that have been very special.


Moment 1.


We had an hour of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday afternoon. It was in a normal room. No churchy surroundings or inspirational paintings or anything. Just us and the Blessed Sacrament. I won’t go into too many details, but after about 50 minutes I had what I can only describe as a moment of perfect clarity. Well, more like five minutes of moments actually. And it was wonderful. In the proper sense of the word: I was filled with wonder. And awe. And joy. I felt changed. And that wasn’t the end of it.


Moment 2.


On Sunday we went to Mass at the nearby church. We walked there -  a group of seven of us - down lanes and between fields, and even past a roundabout inhabited, astonishingly, by a large number of seemingly feral chickens. Which was a bit of a surprise! Anyway we got to St Edmunds in Bungay and I discovered that it’s lovely (both the church and Bungay itself). Just being in that glorious church in such magnificent surroundings would have been good enough, but no, there was more. There was an organ. A REAL organ. With pipes. And an organist. And there was even more! There was a choir. A REAL choir. That can sing. They have a soloist. Who can SING. (And they even have hymns pitched such that I can sing them too!). And then there was a full complement of altar boys and girls, with an MC. I couldn’t help but feel blessed that I was able to attend Mass there. Afterwards we all went for coffee and were made to feel very welcome.


Moment 3.


Perhaps I am revealing my more ‘modern side’ here, but I have just discovered a most amazing piece of music. It’s ‘Agnus Dei’ by Rufus Wainwright and it’s nothing like any Agnus Dei you’ve ever heard before. It took my breath away. Wainwright performs the piece outstandingly: his voice portrays such longing and draws one right into the music. On first hearing it, it ‘knocked my socks off’ and served to remind me that there is a rich seam of religious music that can be reinterpreted and rescored in a modern way without losing any of its purity or its ‘punch’.


(Latin purists will want to be pre-warned that ‘Agnus’ is pronounced badly in the song - with a rather hard G - but in my opinion it takes nothing away from the passion in the piece).


Moment 4.


Finally, today I have discovered http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/. Produced by ‘Jesuit Media Initiatives’ I couldn’t fail to be impressed. It’s made it straight to the top of my list of web favourites and I foresee that it’s going to be a great resource for my daily prayer life. I thank God for the effort that has gone into it.

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Welcome to dotCatholic. This is the personal blog of the editor of dotCatholic.com containing entries largely written from a Catholic perspective. I hope you enjoy reading.

Please note that dotCatholic.com is currently still in development but it is hoped that it will provide an 'online community' linked to the 'real world' through social and parish events, sources of information, fund-raising, communication and of course prayer. Tony

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