Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

 We are full of good intentions at the start of each year. How come we fizzle out by February?  Here are some tips to keep you going… Be realistic. If you have a number of goals, do NOT attempt them all at once.  Research has found that if you stagger your goals, you will have...

This is so easy that most of us can do it at home: simply climb about five flights of stairs a day. So says a recent study, published in the journal Atherosclerosis. It found that climbing stairs on a regular basis may reduce the risk of strokes, blood clots, and heart attacks by as much...

Have you ever stared at a single word for so long that, suddenly, it looks very odd, and loses its meaning? It is a phenomenon known as ‘Jamais Vu’, and you can experience it if you try scribbling a single word around 30 times, or for about a minute. Suddenly, it will look very peculiar....

Editor:  With Christmas coming, there are very few News stories around now that will be relevant for your January magazines. But we can at least offer you the following! Responding to the Israel – Gaza War Bishop introduces Bill to allow humanitarian visas for those seeking asylum Synod backs trial of special services asking for...

Sundays of the Month Editor:  We thought you might find it helpful to know what the Sundays of each month are called… 7th Jan             First Sunday of Epiphany – Baptism of Jesus 14th Jan           Second Sunday of Epiphany 21st Jan            Third Sunday of Epiphany 28th Jan           Fourth Sunday of Epiphany 4th Feb             Fifth Sunday of...

Matthew and Luke tell how the angel instructed that Mary’s baby was to be named Jesus – a common name meaning ‘saviour’. The Church recalls the naming of Jesus on 1st January – eight days after 25th December (by the Jewish way of reckoning days).  In Jewish tradition, the male babies were circumcised and named...

The name Jesus is a transliteration of a name that occurs in several languages. It is of Hebrew origin, ‘Yehosua’, or Joshua. There is also the Hebrew-Aramaic form, ‘Yesua’. In Greek, it became ‘ Ἰησοῦς’ (Iēsoûs), and in Latin it became ‘Iesus’. The meaning of the name is ‘Yahweh delivers’ or ‘Yahweh rescues’, or ‘Yahweh...

Basil was most people’s idea of the perfect diocesan bishop. He was a theologian of distinction, who as a monk devoted himself to much prayer and teaching. He leapt to the defence of the Church from the persecution of the Arian emperor Valens, but also appreciated great secular literature of the time, gave away his...

‘Discipline’ is now virtually a banned word, along with ‘risk’, ‘problem’ and ‘failure’. They seem to have been replaced respectively by ‘focus’, ‘safety’, ‘challenge’ and ‘opportunity’. On the occasions when we do recognise and applaud the virtue of discipline, it’s usually in the lives and activities of soldiers, police officers, dressage horses and the dog....

Quite frankly, this hermit was about as weird as they come. But he loved God, and God blessed him, strange though he was. So perhaps Simeon Stylites (390 – 459) should be the patron saint of all REALLY eccentric people. Simeon was the son of a shepherd on the Syrian border of Cilicia. He joined...

On 6th January we celebrate Epiphany – the visit of the Wise Men to the baby Jesus. But who were these Wise Men? No one knows for sure. Matthew calls them ‘Magi’, and that was the name of an ancient caste of a priestly kind from Persia. It wasn’t until the third century that they...

The story of the coming of the Magi grew in the telling. By the 6th century they had acquired names: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. By medieval times they were considered to be kings. Whoever they were, we do know from Matthew that they brought three gifts to Jesus. What about their gifts of gold, frankincense...