Faithfood 27 March
Faithfood is a new weekly email to help you grow in your faith knowledge and be connected with the best writers from across the diocese and faithful content from around the world.
Faithfood has partnered with the Ogilvie Centre for New Evangelisation and Catechesis to bring strong Catholic content designed to build and inform your faith here in the North of Scotland. We hope you enjoy it and thank you for subscribing. To subscribe, and if you have any feedback or comments, please email us at faithfoodweekly@gmail.com
Andrex and the Birds of the Air
Welcome to the first Faithfood email! I write this having just watched our Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the UK into lockdown. It is quite a surreal and worrying time for many of us. We have all been in the supermarkets and saw the effects of panic and fear in those empty aisles. Some of us may be worrying about our jobs and businesses. Our children are missing out in their schooling forcing parents to become teacher. But in this moment God has an answer, and I can tell you, it is not grab as much Andrex as you can! I will simply quote directly from our Lord:
Mathew 6:25 – 33
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Biblegateway.com New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition.
This at its most basic level is a promise from God to you. Sometimes the key question in our lives is not so much about whether we believe in God; it’s whether we believe God. Do you believe He loves you? Do you believe He can and will act in your life? This is a declaration of His love for us, that we can be lifted from the care and burden of gaining things for our lives so we can live with a childlike faith trusting our Lord to provide for us. It does not mean we do not work or seek careers; as with most things the Lord teaches us, it’s a heart matter he is addressing. Do you give or withhold? By giving it may well be cost, but by withholding you may well violate Gods desire for you in that moment. Faith is easy when all you need to do is turn up at Mass, volunteer in whatever ministry you do and say all the right things. But it is not so easy when you feel called to give a large sum of money, or talk to that colleague of yours about Jesus, or step out into a new endeavour God has planned for you. Do you feel compelled to do something and yet refuse? God has a way of reminding us… how is he reminding you?
How then do we have this faith you say? There are many keys and tips we can learn but the main thing is this: God loves you and desires the best for you. That best may not look like a new Jag or fancy house but it is better with your soul. As the old hymn goes; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know it is well, it is well, with my soul. Horatio Spafford
In this time of great uncertainty have faith in our God who dearly loves us and is not surprised by anything.
God Bless – Eric Hanna
Curated Content for You
The Eucharist: The first of a Two-Part Podcast from Bishop Barren on the Eucharist. It was a response to a recent Pew Study that found 70% of Catholics in the US did not understand the Eucharist. No doubt the UK will have similar figures. https://www.wordonfireshow.com/episode223/
St Oscar Romero: A short video on the Vatican YouTube page commemorating the anniversary of the assassination of the Archbishop of El Salvador. A man whose message resonates today as much as then. https://youtu.be/2dY03-b6Bvc
Patrick Stewart being brilliant. AGAIN!: https://twitter.com/SirPatStew/status/1241506250086666241. Who cannot love Patrick Stewart reciting a Sonnet? I can’t think of a soul who wouldn’t. You do not need to have twitter to listen. He is reciting a Sonnet a day on his twitter page.
A Church without Sacraments: Our very own Fr James Anyaegbu of Beauly has his own blog and YouTube channel and will be a future contributor here. Please click the link for an interesting response to our closed Churches. https://frjamesanyaegbu.com/a-church-without-sacraments-bro-casey-cole-ofm-answers-our-questions/
St Nicolas Cabasilas homily on the Annunciation: To mark the Solemnity of the Annunciation have a read of this homily from this well known theologian and mystic from the Orthodox Church. https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2013/03/homily-on-annunciation-by-st-nicholas.html?m=1
Can’t get to the Uffizi? No problem: https://aleteia.org/2020/03/19/spending-lent-at-home-take-these-online-tours-of-the-worlds-greatest-museums/
