Long time no blogging

Just managed to reconnect to my blogger account, this is my first blog since 2011 - so much has happened in the intervening 7+ years. Married with a four year old son & two teenage step-daughters. And finally with a non-decrepit Church to worship in - hooray!

After a saga lasting 10 years Welsh Martyrs was finally reopened this autumn and a Mass of solemn dedication held on the 25th October, feast of the Welsh Martyrs - some of whom were actually present in the room with us (well, bits of them at least).

It was a very moving service, though I had no idea that when the Bishop anointed the alter with the oil of Chrism that he was going to splash it on quite so liberally. The really sad thing was those few people who were unwilling to join us in the celebration and weren't there to hear the conciliatory words of the Bishop - well it is their loss, the Parish will carry on without them and they will be poorer for separating themselves from the rest of us.

Here is an image of the newly refurbished Church:

Quite a contrast to the state of the building before work started:

Both of these photos were taken by Kevin McMulkin, I hope he won't mind me including them here.

Quote of the week

"Any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind"
John Donne

Change

God is changing me, creating a new and better person, molding me for something different, preparing me for heaven. I find it an uncomfortable process at times.

The old me and the new me are battling for control, right now the new me is winning, but the old me is there waiting in the wings to step in at a moments notice, even at the smallest sign of weakness.

Maybe the battle becomes easier with time, then again maybe not.

I don't usually plug my own poems, but this one is trying to get across what I feel:
http://gwilymgochpoems.blogspot.com/2011/02/slowly-learning-to-be-me.html

Quotes of the week

"If you treat Me as a stranger, I'll be only a judge. If you trust Me, I'll be your Saviour."

"Don't you know that because of My compassion a single act of perfect love atones for a whole lifetime?"

Both these quotes are taken from a book called He and I by Gabrielle Bossis, a journal of her ongoing conversation with Jesus. He speaks with a very familiar voice, words always full of love. If you can, do get hold of this book.

Yes or No (pt2)

This is hilarously funny, I'm tempted to vote for the No campaign just for doing this!
Lack of official campaigns in referendum 'sad day'

Yes or No

I just cannot decide how/whether to vote on the issue of more law-making powers for the Welsh Assembly.
On the one hand I like the idea of devolving power from the centre.
On the other hand I despise the jumped up local councillors in the Assembly and don't like the idea of them having ANY power at all.
Then again should I legitimise their system by voting at all?

I may not decide until the day.

Calling on all Britons to make a fuss

Once again a major British company has provided me with utterly useless service. Why are so many British companies so crap?

I'll tell you why, it's because we let them get away with it!

So I am calling on everybody in Britain to decide not to put up with it any more - if you get treated like crap, give as good as you get - kick up a stink, make a fuss, be bolshie, demand your rights - COMPLAIN!

Only when everybody starts to complain, and threatens to take their business away from companies with poor service, will we finally see an improvement, so go on put the boot in!