Happy Anniversary

It is, perhaps, not the done thing to draw attention to oneself. Nonetheless, I want to share with you my first anniversary of blogging. Looking back over the records I see that my first blog, my 'virgin blog' I think I called it, was on 29 January 2009. There you have it.

Missed the anniversary by two days, but those who know me will know that this is not atypical. Happy Anniversary, not least to those faithful followers who have been there throughout the journey. God bless you one and all. What a journey and it's only just begun!

At the risk of becoming maudlin, we'll leave it there, huh? Probably best.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols - Installation Blog

If you don't already know that there is a blog for the Installation this coming week, then you can link to it here! All I have to say is, read it. I'm so proud to be Catholic when I read this blog. Why? Simply because it's a great celebration of all that we are. I love the thought of His Grace kneeling on the floor, as the site says: The Archbishop will kneel at the threshold, surrounded by the great marble medallions on which are representations of twelve sainted Archbishops of Canterbury. A fanfare will sound. Too right. How Catholic is that? We'll be using the "ancient Catholic rite"; talk about pre-Vatican II. This guy is so steeped in Tradition, he makes Trent look lightweight.

Whoever is behind it - well done. It's hitting just the right note, and at the risk of sounding horribly sycophantic, it's my favourite blog read at the moment. Everyone who is going along, and it tells you on the site if you are going or not i.e. if you have tickets, please, please, ensure you celebrate well. We ought to all rally behind our new Spiritual Father. I suspect in +Vincent we are in for a treat, and you who are there to witness it will be representing the many millions of Catholics in our land who join you spiritually.

Do us proud, folk.

Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum:

Habemus Blogam!

Go check out the new blog which the students of Oscott Colllege are launching this very day. It promises to be excellent reading, if I say so myself. Their mission statement says:

The Seminarians of St Mary's College have created this blog in honour of the Year For Priests which the Holy Father has promulgated for the coming year.

With what seems like days to go now, I better get adding my piece soon.

You can get it direct on http://www.yearofthepriest.blogspot.com/

Great name, guys.

If you have nothing to say...

...then say it.

I don't recall who said that, but today it has been on my mind. Having recently become a blogger, and spending not a little time surfing around on other peoples blogs, I decided to take some soundings and advice about what I could usefully blog about. Opinion is quite mixed on the merits of blogging, and I have been quite surprised in how much my opinion has changed in recent days.

Firstly, I was set against this concept of the modern media and, what I perceived at least, the need to be out there and telling your story. Like anyone really wants to know. This is a reflection of my own self-centredness. What I suppose I meant was I don't want to know. You know, it's really very interesting, what people write about. Secondly, the quality of blogs is very varied. Very varied indeed. Whether you think they are interesting, stimulating, boring, dull or just plain daft, they are people's stories and that makes them interesting.

One person said, to me, something like, never has so little been said by so many, and he is correct. There is, on the surface, a lot to get through. Many, many blogs and thousands upon thousands of words; more than you might imagine. I have to confess that I have spent far too much time reading blogs of late. Already I am starting to be quite fast to form an opinion that reading this or that is not a productive use of my time. What is productive time, though? And who gets to make the qualitative judgment?

Here our core values begin to kick in. For me, at least, that is a measure against which I judge my life to be useful or not. Asking myself the very simple question: Is this building the Kingdom of God? If yes, then carry on, but if no, then do something that is. You are either building or you are not.

Pope Benedict tells us to tell our stories, to share our values, and this is the proclamation of the Kingdom. This is building. The third mystery of light (as introduced by his predecessor) allies building with repentance. I am so very much looking forward to Lent for all sorts of reasons. Lent is a great time to take some space, to pray and to prepare for the coming of the Resurrection. This Lent I plan to do all three of these things. Do you? I wonder, what will you be doing for Lent this year?

Now, the logic of my opening statement is, of course, say nothing. To quote Ronan Keating, "you say it best, when you say nothing at all." Be still and let the Lord talk.