Faith Journey

This edition of Faith Journey is arriving in your inbox in the fourth week of the Australian federal election campaign. For those of you who love the rough and tumble of politics, there will be plenty of media banter to fill your days. For those of you less interested in politics, it’s probably wise to turn off all your devices and connect with friends and nature!

Have you heard the expression, “to carry one’s cross”? Its original meaning relates to Jesus carrying his cross – the cross on which he died. It’s a familiar saying among Catholics and it means to shoulder a burden – be it grief, illness, loss of a loved one, and so on. But more particularly it means to carry the burden with acceptance, without hatred of the oppressor, indeed, to let it go. And, can I say, it can be a really hard thing to do.

A few years ago, Marie Kondo became a household name. If you’ve not heard of her, she’s famous for her passion for keeping things tidy, especially the home. Her website states:

“Through tidying, you can reset your life and spend the rest of your life surrounded by the people and things you love the most.”

We are one month in on the start of a new year. What were your new year resolutions - to lose weight, exercise more, drink less alcohol, eat more vegetables, be kinder to your kids? As a subscriber to Faith Journey maybe your resolution was to discover more about God, Jesus and the Catholic faith. Or, if you are already a Catholic, maybe you considered attending Mass more regularly. 

As a mum of four children, I have sat through many graduation speeches. Some have been inspiring and memorable and others have been cringeworthy. As we draw close to the end of the year, some of you will be listening – maybe even in person, if COVID-19 restrictions permit – to farewell speeches as your young ones finish primary or secondary school, or even university.

Our Faith Journey article takes a different tack this month. Normally, we don’t focus on explicit activities in the Catholic Church in Australia, but we thought recent events were worthy of mention.

Have you ever heard Nick Cave’s song, “Into my arms”? Its opening lines intrigue me every time I hear them...

In a recent edition of The Weekend Australian Magazine, Greg Sheridan wrote about three well-known people who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Scott Morrison became a Christian at the age of 12, Peter Cosgrove has been a Catholic all his life and Bill Hayden “was a conscientious and intellectually serious atheist” until he decided to embrace Catholicism in 2018.  

The way my four adult children deal with what life throws at them is intriguing.

One of them tends to share her emotions with the entire world. Well, maybe that is a slight exaggeration, but if she is angry or “ticked off”, or excited and joyful, we all know! The others often require a bit of prodding to prise out of them what is percolating inside.

In the middle of the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020, my mother-in-law announced over the phone that one of the hardest things about losing her husband of 67 years was not having him to pray with. Her daily routine of praying alongside her beloved husband, as well as not being able to physically go to Mass, was adding to the great sadness that his death had brought.