fatherfladerblog

Christ chose his apostles and gave them the mission to go out and bear fruit, fruit that would abide. He warned them that they would be persecuted as he was. After his ascension into heaven they went to the upper room to pray. We too have been sent out, into a very damaged world, and […]

  Jesus has loved us “to the end” and we should love him in return, but in spite of our good intentions we all sin. In this meditation we use texts from Scripture,  St Augustine, St John Vianney and St Josemaria Escriva to consider how: We cannot avoid sinning For a sin to be mortal […]

Pope Francis has given us the new feast of Mary, Mother of the Church, celebrated on the Monday after Pentecost. In this meditation we pray about the background of the feast, considering: Passages of Scripture on Mary, Mother of the Church Texts of Fathers of the Church and Popes on this teaching Proclamation of the […]

The Second Vatican Council called Our Lady “model of the virtues”. In this meditation we use texts from the New Testament to consider how Mary teaches us various aspects of the virtue of charity: In the Annunciation, her love for God moves her to say yes and to bring the God who is Love into […]

  In the Last Supper, Christ instituted the Eucharist and gave the apostles his Body and Blood as Holy Communion for the first time. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, the Catechism, St Josemaria Escriva and St John Vianney, the Cure of Ars, to consider how: In Holy Communion we receive the living […]

On Holy Thursday we celebrated the institution of the Eucharist by Christ in the Last Supper, in what was his last celebration of the Passover. Even though In these extraordinary times of a pandemic most of us are unable to attend Mass, we can still be very united to the Masses being celebrated and so […]

  On 27 March 2020 at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome Pope Francis conducted an hour of prayer broadcast around the world to pray for God’s help in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world. He based his homily on that occasion on the Gospel passage of Christ calming the storm on the […]

  When the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary in the Annunciation, he invited her to welcome the Son of God into her womb and into the world. She said yes and our redemption was at hand. In this meditation we ponder this great event as related by St Luke and consider that: Because of the […]

Prayer is one of the three principal focuses of our Lenten discipline, along with fasting and almsgiving. In this meditation we consider how: Christ himself gives us an example of fervent and assiduous prayer Prayer unites us with Christ and helps us become true friends with him Prayer can take four forms Prayer requires effort […]

    It has often been said that the quality of our interior life is the quality of our prayer. In this meditation we use especially the Catechism of the Catholic Church and St Josemaria’s book The Way to consider how we can improve our personal conversation with God in mental prayer through such means […]

  Everyone loves Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. In this meditation we use the Catechism of the Catholic Church and texts of St Josemaria to pray about why God became man and the consequences this has for us. According to the Catechism, God became man for four reasons: to save […]

Pope Francis called the Communion of Saints one of the most consoling truths of our faith. Indeed it is. In this meditation we use texts of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, St Bernard, St Therese of Lisieux, St Josemaria, Pope Francis and Kimberly Hahn to pray about this union of the saints in heaven, […]

Jesus warned his followers on one occasion that they would be hated and persecuted for the sake of his name. Today this is happening on a grand scale, in part because the Catholic Church is the largest single religion in the world and in part because the Church stands firmly for what the world is […]

We all have situations in which we wish something were different but we are not in a position to change it by ourselves: our job, finances, health, relationships, etc. In these circumstances we can sometimes become discouraged. It is then that we need to grow in hope, to trust more in God. In this meditation […]

Jesus told the apostles in the Last Supper that they had not chosen him, but that he had chosen them for a particular mission:  to go out and bear fruit. God has created each individual for a purpose: to fulfil some definite part of his plan for the salvation of all souls. In this meditation […]

  The sacrament of Penance is truly a sacrament of joy, a sacrament of mercy. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, St John Paul II, Pope Francis and St John Vianney to consider how: Christ gave the sacrament of penance  to the Church on the very evening of his Resurrection The sacrament corresponds […]

    St Paul tells us that the greatest of the virtues is charity. If we are to live this virtue well, we must first grow in love for God so that his love fills us and overflows into those around us. In this meditation we consider how: The more we love God, the easier […]