Rev elations

What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, – The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candle may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The pallor10 of girls' brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds. Wilfred Owen, September - October, 1917 Wilfrid Owen’s poetry introduced me to the reality of war as a student at secondary school, along with Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves these were the writers that helped me see the sacrifice that we ask others to make on our behalf when we send them to fight for us. These writers showed us wh...

All Christians have a calling to be saints. Each one of us as a Christian is a saint, one of the blessed ones of God – that is our inheritance and the hope that we have. Child or elderly, man or woman, whoever we are, we are God’s holy children, made blessed. Jesus’ teaching in the beatitudes* is a description of the lives of Christians, of saints. Our blessedness is to be found in certain qualities; qualities that mark us out, that define us and that enable us to live in God’s eternal kingdom. And they are surprising. They challenge us. We have lived with these ideas in the Western world for a long time, generation after generation, and they have left their mark on our society. But they are challenging and demanding as well as being a gift. The Christian life is a life held in tension, a tension between blessedness and trial. Jesus’ life is the perfect example of blessing – the healings, the miracles, the relationships and the peace. But on the other hand the extraordinary tr...