Posts Tagged ‘loneliness’
The Rise of the Fur Baby
Fur babies: substitute child, family asset or living therapy doll? In this blog we discuss some different views on the rise of the Fur Baby culture. For years, our daughter pleaded with us for a dog – every birthday, every Christmas, the same earnest plea. And for years, we had our stock reply: “We’d have another baby before…
Read MoreLent: A Marriage Make-over Opportunity
Lent – the annual invitation to lean in closer to the Lord in our pursuit of holiness through fasting, prayer and almsgiving. This year, we’re looking to do something together to grow both in faith and love. It’s typical to approach Lent as individuals, each of us committing to our own plan of renewal. Yet our marriage vocation reminds us that being…
Read MoreKeeping Our Eyes On What Matters
The day after the biggest birthday in the world (i.e. Christmas), is the feast day of St Stephen. He also happens to be the confirmation saint chosen by Byron some 50+ years ago. As the first Christian martyr, Stephen’s story is featured in Chapters 6 and 7 of the Acts of the Apostles. Selected as one of…
Read MoreBlessed be the (Relationally) Poor
Embracing the Call to Love in an age of relational poverty. Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te (Latin: I have loved you, Rev 3:9), reminds us that faith and love for the poor are inextricably linked. He writes, “We have to state, without mincing words, that there is an inseparable bond between our faith…
Read MoreGod is close to the lonely
Towards the end of July we celebrate World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. This year (2024) the theme is loneliness and references Ps 71:9 “Do not cast me off in my old age”. Loneliness is defined as ‘a subjective, unwelcome feeling of lack (or loss) of companionship’. It’s different to ‘aloneness’ which describes ‘the…
Read MoreProtesting Against Disconnection
Have you ever had an argument and been left wondering what it was actually about? We can remember a number of occasions where we dug in and defended our opinion with great vigor, only to find ourselves twenty minutes later losing track of what we were defending. Somehow, the original point of disagreement – which…
Read MoreMarriage in the Wilderness
It’s Lent – the season that recalls one of the great wilderness events in the Scriptures: Jesus fasting and being tempted for 40 days. What insights can we draw from this event for our marriage? We’ve heard the story many times: following his baptism in the Jordan River by John, Jesus spends forty days in…
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