Living and working in the centre of a city, one cannot but be affected by the sight of the homeless on the streets. They are almost an expected feature of life in a big city, and it is tempting to think there is little or nothing that can, or even should, be done about it. This is not so.

Basil Hume

Categorized in : Think City Life Homeless

The great gift of Easter is hope - Christian hope which makes us have that confidence in God, in his ultimate triumph, and in his goodness and love, which nothing can shake.

hope christian faith

Soon after you're dead - we're not sure how long - but not long, you'll be united with the most ecstatic love you've ever known. As one of the best things in your life was human love, this will be love, but much more satisfying, and it will last forever.

love-you long death

Why God should want and need us is a mystery. But it is true: otherwise he would not have created us and life would ultimately have no meaning for us. It is good to remember that in God the is a constancy, a consistency of attitude which never changes, irrespective of what we are or how we act: he never changes in is wanting us or needing us.

consistency attitude needs

We have really lost in our society the sense of the sacredness of... by Basil Hume

We have really lost in our society the sense of the sacredness of life.

sacredness society lost

Deep down, we remain human, very human and have all the desires t... by Basil Hume

Deep down, we remain human, very human and have all the desires to love and be loved by one person.

humans desire love

From aquaintances we conceal our real selves. To our friends we r... by Basil Hume

From aquaintances we conceal our real selves. To our friends we reveal our weaknesses.

weakness real self

Moral choices do not depend on personal preference and private decision but on right reason and, I would add, divine order.

divine-order choices decision

Death remains about the one certain fact in the lives of each one of us, and there will be suffering, sorrow, and sadness next week as there was last week.

sad suffering next-week

Christ shared our experience; he suffered as we suffer; he died as we shall die, and for forty days in the desert he underwent the struggle between good and evil.

suffering struggle evil

Let us remind ourselves that if we are to be our Lord's disciples, we must take up his Cross and follow him.

remind follow us lord

When we are truly praying, then we can begin to see Christ in our neighbour; when we are really praying, we can begin to live for the Father.

live see father christ

Our response, our attitude, depends on our realisation of God's attitude toward us. If I experience love or have experienced it, this is the means whereby I can explore the mystery of God's love.

experience god attitude love

It is not because we are drawn to prayer that we first begin to pray; more often, we have to begin prayer, and then the taste and the desire for it come.

more taste prayer desire

In my opinion, it is a mistake to expect in prayer a response from God. Often, God's response is outside prayer. And often, we do not link up an outside response with the effort we put into prayer.

effort prayer god mistake

We are blind: we cannot see God with our senses, and our deductions from what we know or are thinking about the word of God itself - how little power they have to bring us to God! We are blind, and our eyes need the touch of our Lord's hand to enable us at times to even see dimly.

eyes power god thinking

The experience of prayer when there is no awareness of God and no apparent response from ourselves should not lead us to escape from prayer or give it up.

escape experience prayer god

Even though you find yourself in an intolerable position, one in which you think you have no right to be, accept it here and now as the Cross; then, later, you can plan how to do better.

yourself better think you

It is axiomatic that the Cross we get is the one we most dislike: we would choose any other. But it is equally true that the Cross which is ours is the one Christ wants us to bear.

choose us true dislike

What did our Lord do by his Passion, Death, and Resurrection? He bridged that gulf which exists between God and man, a gulf which can only be bridged by him.

man passion god death

Behind every crucifix stands our risen Lord. Hidden in every suffering and pain is the joy of closer union with him. His is the victory. He invites us to share it.

victory pain suffering joy