Hanmer Springs and Stations
Looks like Jesus and Simon are out for a run
Oh what big hands you've got Veronica
Jesus loses weight
Arnett and myself at Hanmer Springs.
No I have loss no weight in fact........
(By the way if you double click on the pictures they treble in size)
Well a happy St Blaise day to you all and I hope all your throats are blessed by the patron saint of throats. The do not seem to follow it over here. I presume it is because it is the middle of summer and not many people get sore throats at this time.
Well it has been a very busy week in the hospital. It is suprising how quickly the turn over is in the people coming and going. In the good old days a patient could exspect to be in hospital at least two weeks and after an operation another three weeks to get over the trauma of the event. Now it is usually less than a week. Over the week I try and see all the Catholics that are known to me(Here unlike England they give you a list of all the Catholics who want to be seen) and give them the sacrament of the sick and Holy communion. Some of the patients not truly understanding the nature of the sacrament say, ‘I’m not ready to die yet father.’ Then I explain the sacrament of the sick and then they willingly receive the sacrament.
I always fnd it a bit difficult to ask a person if they are a practicing Catholic so I have devised a little cunning plan that gives me some idea how the land lies. I ask them what parish they are in and those who are practicing their faith usually know straight away and know the current parish priest. I do hear some stories about why they are not practicing and I must say once I hear some of the stories I am not surprised why they have stopped. In the end however we must not be put off loving God and our neighbour and practicing our faith by people or because the Mass is not in latin anymore. We practice our faith because we believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the founder of our Church. Once that fact is deep seated in our hearts it wont matter too much what people say and do, they will never put us off following our faith in Jesus. It never put Jesus off by having a motley bunch of characters around him, in fact he used them to spread his good news. (theme of my homily this week), therefore it shouldn’t surprise us to see in our church a great number of different characters. I digress yet again. The hospital gives the Lord a great chance for him to touch people with his welcoming and healing love, and let people know that he is also walking with them in their pain and suffering and that he would never abandon them.
On my days off this week I went to Hanmer Springs which is about 70 miles from Christchurch. It is a lovely place very quiet and quaint. It is in a valley north of Christchurch and surrounded by hills. It has hot springs there and people come to take the waters. I went in with uncle, even though the sulpha waters smelt like bad eggs. They say that the waters are good for your joints and help you to recover from some illnesses. I was talking to a lady and she told me that through the waters, which she bathes in every day, she has managed to get over the effects of a stroke she had over a year ago. Now she can walk and talk and do nearly all the things she could do before the stroke. However for my troubles in Hanmer I got sun burnt on my shoulders and chest and turned a beetroot colour. Got a sore shoulder, tired feet and a lot of nasty insect bites on my legs. So the moral of the trip for me is ‘If your well don’t go to bathing in the spa springs.’ Saying that I have committed myself to taking a Philippino priest there this Wednesday. I wont take the waters.
It was the Phillippino priest who actually alerted me to the stations of the cross in the Cathedral which were a great source of controversy when they were put up, to such an extent that there were demonstrations outside of the cathedral. The augument was that not only were they crude but one of them was phonographic. I will let you judge them yourselves. Personally I did feel that they were a bit like a ten year would do at school if they were drawing them. They would be all right in a modern church but in a classical building as the cathedral is they do not seem right. Mind you saying that until they were pointed out to me I never even noticed them, which also tells you something. Nearly every dipiction of Jesus is different which I also find off putting. Another anomally is the crucifix. I must say it is the most ugliest and not very well carved crucifix that I have ever seen and rather than meditating on it ones eyes tries to avoid it.
Well it has been a very busy week in the hospital. It is suprising how quickly the turn over is in the people coming and going. In the good old days a patient could exspect to be in hospital at least two weeks and after an operation another three weeks to get over the trauma of the event. Now it is usually less than a week. Over the week I try and see all the Catholics that are known to me(Here unlike England they give you a list of all the Catholics who want to be seen) and give them the sacrament of the sick and Holy communion. Some of the patients not truly understanding the nature of the sacrament say, ‘I’m not ready to die yet father.’ Then I explain the sacrament of the sick and then they willingly receive the sacrament.
I always fnd it a bit difficult to ask a person if they are a practicing Catholic so I have devised a little cunning plan that gives me some idea how the land lies. I ask them what parish they are in and those who are practicing their faith usually know straight away and know the current parish priest. I do hear some stories about why they are not practicing and I must say once I hear some of the stories I am not surprised why they have stopped. In the end however we must not be put off loving God and our neighbour and practicing our faith by people or because the Mass is not in latin anymore. We practice our faith because we believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the founder of our Church. Once that fact is deep seated in our hearts it wont matter too much what people say and do, they will never put us off following our faith in Jesus. It never put Jesus off by having a motley bunch of characters around him, in fact he used them to spread his good news. (theme of my homily this week), therefore it shouldn’t surprise us to see in our church a great number of different characters. I digress yet again. The hospital gives the Lord a great chance for him to touch people with his welcoming and healing love, and let people know that he is also walking with them in their pain and suffering and that he would never abandon them.
On my days off this week I went to Hanmer Springs which is about 70 miles from Christchurch. It is a lovely place very quiet and quaint. It is in a valley north of Christchurch and surrounded by hills. It has hot springs there and people come to take the waters. I went in with uncle, even though the sulpha waters smelt like bad eggs. They say that the waters are good for your joints and help you to recover from some illnesses. I was talking to a lady and she told me that through the waters, which she bathes in every day, she has managed to get over the effects of a stroke she had over a year ago. Now she can walk and talk and do nearly all the things she could do before the stroke. However for my troubles in Hanmer I got sun burnt on my shoulders and chest and turned a beetroot colour. Got a sore shoulder, tired feet and a lot of nasty insect bites on my legs. So the moral of the trip for me is ‘If your well don’t go to bathing in the spa springs.’ Saying that I have committed myself to taking a Philippino priest there this Wednesday. I wont take the waters.
It was the Phillippino priest who actually alerted me to the stations of the cross in the Cathedral which were a great source of controversy when they were put up, to such an extent that there were demonstrations outside of the cathedral. The augument was that not only were they crude but one of them was phonographic. I will let you judge them yourselves. Personally I did feel that they were a bit like a ten year would do at school if they were drawing them. They would be all right in a modern church but in a classical building as the cathedral is they do not seem right. Mind you saying that until they were pointed out to me I never even noticed them, which also tells you something. Nearly every dipiction of Jesus is different which I also find off putting. Another anomally is the crucifix. I must say it is the most ugliest and not very well carved crucifix that I have ever seen and rather than meditating on it ones eyes tries to avoid it.
posted by Fr Kevin @ 9:37 am
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