Niagara Falls Pictures

I arrived in Toronto on Tuesday evening to a mild snowfall and below freezing temperatures. After the frozen highlands, though I felt well prepared. I am slowly getting a feel for the place and people seem really friendly. The church of St Patrick's is beautiful and the rectory is warm and comfortable. Today I visited the falls for the first time. Visibility wasn't great but and my pictures don't do the view justice but hopefully you can get a feel for their majesty.

January Retreat

After a busy Christmas in our south London parish, I have been able to begin a sabbatical. This isn't time off, but a time to pursue something different. I began with a month long retreat in Craig Lodge, Dalmally. it was a wonderful blessed time and I came away refreshed, relaxed and renewed. Retreats always stir things up for me and this was certainly the case in Craig Lodge. I have been thinking alot about forgiveness and of my need to forgive people. I need the liberation of forgiveness, because frankly I have been holding onto resentments as a security blanket and I need to move on. much to ponder as I begin my time in Canada. More of the later, meanwhile Scotland pics!

Christmas Blessings

The Nativity by Michael D O'Brien

Well the feast is on us again and I am pondering my Christmas homily. O'Briens image of the Nativity always moves me and my reflections of the feast have this year been shaped by the books '10 things they never told you about Jesus - A beginners guide to a larger Christ'. So I'll leave you with his words to ponder

An Alternative 'O little town of Bethlehem.' by the Rev. John Bell

O little town of Bethlehem, how rowdy you appear
as homecome emigrants are buoyed
by sentiment and beer.
The long haired tearaway returns
grandfatherly and grey,
and former glamourpusses’ pasts
emerge in all they say

Who knows if Ned the publican
whose rooms could take no more
would pleasantly or angrily
greet strangers at the door?
Who knows if he had cats and dogs
around his cattle shed,
or whether robins twittered on
or even Mrs Ned?

But if he let his stable out
to be a labour room
for some expectant teenage mum
and her embarrassed groom,
the breath and stink of tethered beasts
would set the midwives wild
If keen to minimise the risk
to Mary and her child.

And would poor shepherds, when disturbed
from midnight peace and calm,
presume a newborn baby boy
would want to hold a lamb?
And if the magi from the East
did ‘enter in all three’
were they distinctly Siamese
In bending just one knee?

And did the baby never cry,
and was the mother mild
when Herod sensed that he’d been duped
and let his men run wild?
And was the father pre-programmed
to take a passive part
when one old man foretold the child
would break his mother’s heart?

Christ was not born at Christmas time
invoked by practised choirs,
embrace by plastic mangers
and fulfilling our desires.
No kindergarten was his home,
no drummer boy his page,
no earth had frozen snow on snow
when God had come of age.

Instead, on the periphery,
eccentric through decree,
the power behind the universe
was born a refugee;
A refugee from heaven above
Is the world’s creator,
and chose an unknown peasant girl
as host and liberator.

May God bless you and those you love.

12 days of Christmas

Christmas is a season of the Christian Year that last for days beginning December 25 and lasting until January 6 -the Day of Epiphany - when the church celebrates the revelation of Christ as the light of the world and recalls the journey of the Magi. From 1558 until 1829 Catholics in England were not allowed to practice their faith openly. During this era someone wrote 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' as a kind of secret catechism that could be sung in public without risk of persecution.


The song has two levels of interpretation: "the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of the church."


Each element in the carol is a code word for a religious reality.

1.The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ.

2.The two turtle doves are the Old and New Testaments.

3.Three French hens stand for faith, hope and love.

4.The four calling birds are the four Gospels.

5.The five gold rings recall the torah (Law) the first
five books of the Old Testament.

6.The six geese a-laying stand for the six days of
creation.

7.Seven swans a-swimming represent the sevenfold gifts
of the Spirit.

8.The eight maids a-milking are the eight beatitudes

9.Nine ladies dancing are the nine fruits of the spirit
(Gal.5).

10.The ten lords a-leaping are the Ten Commandments.

11.Eleven pipers piping stand for the eleven faithful
disciples.

12.Twelve drummers drumming symbolize the 12 points of
belief in the Apostles Creed.

There you have it, the HIDDEN meaning of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and the secret behind the song.

Catholics also wore rings with 10 bumps on them so they could do their rosary and not be caught with the beads in public.

Wednesday, 23rd December

O Emmanuel, you are our king and judge, the one whom the peoples await and their Saviour. O come and save us, Lord, our God.

Tuesday, 22nd December

O King whom all the peoples desire, you are the cornerstone which makes all one. O come and save man whom you made from clay.

Monday, 21st December

O Rising Sun, you are the splendour of eternal light and the sun of justice. O come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.