Come & See Inspirations (C&SI)

We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
On this weeks podcast as we journey through the joyous holy season of Lent, we provide a pause moment to reflect on the Stations of the Cross. The Stations are a traditional Lenten devotion walking the Via Dolorosa with Christ, meditating on his Passion and Death. In part two of this weeks podcast, we pray the Stations of the Cross using a version from Trocaire.
In part one we have our regular run through the liturgical odds and ends of the coming week as head into the last stretch of Lent before Palm Sunday including our up coming saints of the week.
In part three we pause to reflect on the third Johannine Gospel of Lent  (John 11:1-45) - the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead and what it could mean for us to pause on this Lenten season.  
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If listeners want to dip back into other reflections we have done in the past on the Stations of the Cross check out the archive on our old blog under the tag - Stations of the Cross.
Text us at +353 874668950 or email at [email protected]

We adore you O Christ and we bless you
Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
On this weeks podcast excerpt as we journey through the joyous holy season of Lent, we provide a pause moment to reflect on the Stations of the Cross. The Stations are a traditional Lenten devotion walking the Via Dolorosa with Christ, meditating on his Passion and Death. We pray the Stations of the Cross using a version from Trocaire.
*****
If listeners want to dip back into other reflections we have done in the past on the Stations of the Cross check out the archive on our old blog under the tag - Stations of the Cross.
Text us at +353 874668950 or email at [email protected]

On this weeks podcast we mark Laetare Sunday, Mother's Day (in Ireland and the UK) and of course in Ireland we mark the fact that next week we celebrate the solemnity of our national apostle - St Patrick. 
In part one we have our regular liturgical odds and ends including the Pope's Prayer Intention for the month of March for peace and disarmament and we have a quick run through the up coming saints of the week.
In part two we are sharing a reflection with Michael Keating from the archive where Michael joined us to reflect on the celebration of our national day and ask the question who was St Patrick? Like so many Christian feasts and festivals, St Patrick’s Day has been somewhat hijacked - St Patrick has about as much to do with a pint of Guinness as St Valentine has to do with a box of chocolates. But what does this saint, so strong in missionary zeal and about whom we know very little, have to do with our modern day celebrations? While we have many legends about St Patrick, it is makes sense to look to see what writings the saint himself has left us which are regarded as some of the earliest literature from Ireland to discover who he was. The answer to the question comes from his Confessio itself. 
"My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. I was about sixteen at the time.  At that time, I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity in Ireland,along with thousands of others. We deserved this, because we had gone away from God,and did not keep his commandments. We would not listen to our priests, who advised us about how we could be saved. We have gone aside from your commandments … we have not listened to your servants the prophets".The Lord brought his strong anger upon us, and scattered us among many nations even to the ends of the earth. It was among foreigners that it was seen how little I was." 
In the very opening paragraphs of the autobiography, St Patrick offers a meditation on the gift of faith and the praise that we owe in return to God for such a gift. Perhaps this is St Patrick’s greatest relevance, particularly in a culture that seems increasingly hostile to declarations of faith. He refuses to stay quiet; his evangelising zeal comes from knowing that he must speak to others of Christ:
“That is why I cannot be silent – nor would it be good to do so – about such great blessings and such a gift that the Lord so kindly bestowed in the land of my captivity. This is how we can repay such blessings, when our lives change and we come to know God, to praise and bear witness to his great wonders before every nation under heaven.”
We should enjoy the celebrations of St Patrick’s Day, but also remember Christ’s call to conversion in our lives; a call to conversion and change that St Patrick felt so strongly that he left behind everything he had and followed Jesus so that he might bring the gospel to others.
The Royal Irish Academy published a booklet of the Confessio by Padraig McCarthy which is freely available online HERE. 
In part three we have our weekly reflection on the Sunday gospel which this week is John's account of the healing of the man born blind. 
Text us at +353 874668950 or email at [email protected]

On this weeks podcast excerpt we are sharing a reflection with Michael Keating from the archive where Michael joined us to reflect on the celebration of our national day and ask the question who was St Patrick? Like so many Christian feasts and festivals, St Patrick’s Day has been somewhat hijacked - St Patrick has about as much to do with a pint of Guinness as St Valentine has to do with a box of chocolates. But what does this saint, so strong in missionary zeal and about whom we know very little, have to do with our modern day celebrations? While we have many legends about St Patrick, it is makes sense to look to see what writings the saint himself has left us which are regarded as some of the earliest literature from Ireland to discover who he was. The answer to the question comes from his Confessio itself. 
"My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. I was about sixteen at the time.  At that time, I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity in Ireland,along with thousands of others. We deserved this, because we had gone away from God,and did not keep his commandments. We would not listen to our priests, who advised us about how we could be saved. We have gone aside from your commandments … we have not listened to your servants the prophets".The Lord brought his strong anger upon us, and scattered us among many nations even to the ends of the earth. It was among foreigners that it was seen how little I was." 
In the very opening paragraphs of the autobiography, St Patrick offers a meditation on the gift of faith and the praise that we owe in return to God for such a gift. Perhaps this is St Patrick’s greatest relevance, particularly in a culture that seems increasingly hostile to declarations of faith. He refuses to stay quiet; his evangelising zeal comes from knowing that he must speak to others of Christ:
“That is why I cannot be silent – nor would it be good to do so – about such great blessings and such a gift that the Lord so kindly bestowed in the land of my captivity. This is how we can repay such blessings, when our lives change and we come to know God, to praise and bear witness to his great wonders before every nation under heaven.”
We should enjoy the celebrations of St Patrick’s Day, but also remember Christ’s call to conversion in our lives; a call to conversion and change that St Patrick felt so strongly that he left behind everything he had and followed Jesus so that he might bring the gospel to others.
The Royal Irish Academy published a booklet of the Confessio by Padraig McCarthy which is freely available online HERE. The other writing of St Patrick that comes down to us in the Book of Armagh is his Letter to Coroticus, appealing for the return of Irish Christians who had been taken in a slave raid.
Text us at +353 874668950 or email at [email protected]

On this weeks podcast the C&SI team head to the diocese of Peoria in Illinois in the US to speak to Msgr. Jason Gray who is the Executive Director of the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation to learn about one of the newest Beati/Blessed from the America's, Archbishop Fulton Sheen.
While the official decree of beatification by Pope Francis was issued in 2019, the formal ceremony will recognise the next step in the process towards canonisation of the man known in his lifetime as "America's Bishop". Gaining prominence initially through his radio programme the Catholic Hour  (1930 - 1950) and then from 1951 to 1979 his television series, Life is worth living, Archbishop Sheen was regarded as one of the premier 20th century Catholic evangelists who harnessed the power of what was then the new media of radio and tv, eventually reaching an estimated 30 million viewers each week, which would make it the most widely-viewed religious series in the history of television. He won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality, was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, and became one of the most influential Catholics of the 20th century.
Msgr Gray takes us through Sheen's life story including his role as National Director of the Society for the  Propagation of the Faith, raising money to support the missions, as Bishop of Rochester, his participation in the Second Vatican Council and the cautious approach taken to ensure there was no issues with formally declaring him Blessed. He reflects on Sheen's example to us of daily prayer as Sheen kept a daily Holy Hour and there are many videos of Sheen available online as a resource to us still in the journey of faith. 
Resources mentioned in segment about Archbishop Fulton Sheen
- Archbishop Fulton Sheen Foundation
Book recommendations:
- Treasure in Clay (Autobiography)
- The Life of Christ
- The Priest is not his own
Text us at +353 874668950 or email at [email protected]