There has been a truth that I have avoided, denied and suppressed my whole Catholic life until recently – I feel most distant from God during Holy Week, and especially on Good Friday. This is my sharing as a self-professed “recovering pharisee”. I have always been concerned about what I should understand and believe about […]
Author: animann
It Takes Longer Than You Think
This reflection first appeared in my Begin Again monthly newsletter for September 2022. When it comes to our interior journey into authenticity and wholeness, we all begin with unrealistic expectations. I mean that everyone tends to think that the journey can be made relatively quickly so that we can carry on with our lives as […]
Waiting to Heal
Many want wholeness but don’t want to wait. But what if wholeness only comes to those who have learned to wait? And what if waiting is not passive but includes the most full-hearted surrender of ourselves that we can possibly imagine? What if it means putting ourselves out on the line, but at the same […]
Finding God in My Jigsaw Puzzle
For the past week, my husband and I have been working on a jigsaw puzzle. It was a gift from a friend and since neither of us are puzzle fans, it had been left untouched for a while. I finally decided to open it after a tough couple of weeks where my head and heart […]
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As my birthday drew to a close this year, it hit me that this year marks 25 years since the first time I asked God for my mission – the mission He created me for. 25 years since Christ responded with, “Are you willing to suffer for me?” 25 years since He tenderly yet very […]
We Need to Talk About Bruno
We All Have a “Bruno” A friend recently expressed surprise that Encanto’s “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” has surpassed Frozen’s “Let It Go” in popularity. In fact, it recently hit #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart – a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by any song from an animated Disney feature since “A Whole New World” […]
Honouring, Grieving & Letting Go
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1 “Can we get a cup of coffee sometime?” My heart sank when I saw this question come from yet another person who would like to talk to me about the work I do. I took a deep breath and […]
It Wasn’t Pride – It’s Shame (and It’s OK)
In my last blog entry (Dear Envy, What Are You Saying?), I shared how listening to an attack of envy helped me to recognise that underneath my envy was actually fear. Well there’s another aspect of my interior experience that I had mislabelled and misunderstood for decades until I had started learning about and recovering […]
Dear Envy, What are you saying?
I used to try and smash out any ‘sinful tendency’ the moment I detect it, and that often meant that I squashed any emotion that seemed less than virtuous. I would try to “pray them away”, often asking God to set me free from my weaknesses and to rescue me from temptation. But the more […]
Stumbling Steps
He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. -C.S Lewis- It used to be that whenever I failed to respond to God’s love or to love my neighbour as well as the […]