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Bernard de Clairvaux, Thérèse de Lisieux, Michel de Certeau, Guillaume de Saint-Thierry, François de Sales, Jeanne de Chantal, Jean Eudes, Marguerite-Marie Alacoque, Charles de Foucauld, Abbe Huvelin, Claude de La Colombiére… In his last Encyclical Letter, ‘Dilexit Nos’, Pope Francis has given a place of honour to many French spiritual masters, some well-known, others less. […]

Everything and everyone needs a ‘centre’. A building, a piece of music, a painting is not simply the sum total of different parts: metal bars & bricks; notes & rhythms; colours & brush strokes. We need a ‘centre’ to give unity and provide a sort of ‘backdrop’ of meaning and direction. To ‘lose’ the centre […]

In today’s Gospel we hear of the request made by the sons ofZebedee, James and John, to be at the right hand and left handof Jesus in his glory. In the Gospel of Mark, the expression “right-hand and left-hand”only appears twice. In today’s Gospel, on the journey toJerusalem (Mk 10,37) and on Golgotha (Mk 15,27) […]

Maybe not! In fact, maybe it is not clear at all! Why am I suffering so much, yet I have the job of my dreams, a loving family, a community which does not judge me. Why have I done what I have just done? How is it that I found myself committing such a sin? […]

Today Pope Francis will travel to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore to pray the Rosary and invoke the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary for the gift of Peace. Tomorrow, 7th October, Feast of the Holy Rosary, Our Lady of Victories, the Pope asked for a day fasting and prayer to implore Peace upon […]

“C’est la confiance” is the title of the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. The French word ‘confiance’ has been rendered as ‘trust’, ‘confidence’. Yet these translations give somehow the impression of a spiritual attitude or posture for me to take up, a bit […]

How do you know if you have really had an ‘encounter’ with the Love of God for you? Last Tuesday, 17th September, the Franciscan order kept the Feast of the Stigmata of Saint Francis. 800 years ago. You should know the story (if you read last week ‘Spiritual Seeds’!) After an intense apostolic work, faced […]

Towards the end of his life Brother Francis felt increasingly troubled with preoccupations for the future of his Order and concerned at the attempt to normalize a project of Christian life that, if truly implemented, would have been revolutionary. He also felt misunderstood by a large part of his friars and this increased his discouragement. […]

Estelle Faguette, born on September 12, 1843, into a very poor family, gravely ill and in danger of death, decided to write a heartfelt letter to the Virgin Mary for her healing so that she could continue to support her poor parents. In February 1876, at the age of 32, the first apparitions of the […]

Many of us are about to enter a ‘new’ year. The diary is already filling up with engagements, initiatives, plans… The key word seems to be ‘prioritization’ and ‘time management’. Here for you (and me) a motto quoted by Pope Francis last week: “Be Carthusians indoors and apostles outdoors”. Yes, first of all, we need […]