Blessings in not understanding

Fr Matt Blake shocked us all when he was addressing our Central Regional Day last Saturday:  he told us that when someone complained to him about not understanding St John of the Cross, his response was always ‘Good!’  For it was an indication of humility in the person concerned.  One must ‘bathe’ in the saint’s writings, absorbing things here and there, passing over what seems incomprehensible.  St John of the Cross is always striving to explain the incomprehensible, to convey profound mysteries almost impossible to put into words – small wonder that our minds struggle to follow him.  Surely that is why he resorted to poetry – for poetry, like music and the arts, has the vocation to represent what ordinary language is inadequate to express.  Perhaps also the difficulties we have in following his thoughts can provoke us to further study, to further reflection, they call us to go deeper into the mysteries of our beautiful faith. Furthermore, at the end of the day they point us to the fundamental lesson of that faith, that Love is much more important than understanding.

Intercessions:

Cancer: Brian Davis, Bernard (and wife Angela caring for him), Jacqui, Theresa K, Fr Jon B

Siena, Elara – sick children

Wojtek – massive heart attack leaving him incapacitated

David OCDS – housebound

Sophia – blind infant

Joy Smith OCDS – seriously ill

Grace – troubling ailments, job difficulties, family (deceased mother and health of father)

Lucia – Overwhelmed by weariness

Defence of the unborn and the elderly

 RIP Martin Gilham, Sue Burton, little Matthew (six years old, died of cancer)