Spirituality Sylvia Speer Spirituality Sylvia Speer

Where is Hope found this Christmas?

I recently received some Christmas cards in the post. It’s such a novelty, because receiving actual post which isn’t a shopping item or bills is unusual. I enjoyed checking the postmark and looking at the handwriting to figure out who had sent it. The anticipation of opening a card from someone I’ve not seen in months forms part of the excitement!

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Spirituality Siobhan Scullion Spirituality Siobhan Scullion

Welcoming the Child Jesus this Christmas season

Maybe you’ve been distracted by the run-up to Christmas - frantically buying last-minute gifts, worrying about the budget that was stretched too far or dealing with tough family dynamics. To quote the well-known cliché, we can end up forgetting the real reason for the season - God made man - and that all these things we do, are a means not an end.

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Meaning Hearts + Minds Team Meaning Hearts + Minds Team

What's on our Bookshelf? Advent and Christmas

Welcome to our literary series on the blog, “What’s on Our Bookshelf?” where we’re delighted to share our reading recommendations with you. Whatever your genre of choice, we’ve tried to include something for everyone. This month we’re sharing some of our recommendations for the season of Advent and Christmas.

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Spirituality Siobhan Scullion Spirituality Siobhan Scullion

Finding Peace by Surrendering to God This Advent

In this last week before Advent, I always have mixed feelings. I’m torn between letting myself give in to the sheer and unadulterated excitement my children have about all the December merriment and climbing back under my duvet in fear and terror at the prospect of organising it all.

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Spirituality Anne Gormley Spirituality Anne Gormley

Humility: is it a forgotten virtue? (Part I)

One day in 2018 while on a visit to the Holy Land, I took a short day trip to Bethlehem. I joined a large queue outside the Basilica of the Maternity, a Byzantine-style church marking the birthplace of Christ. In front of me stood a woman in her mid-eighties very small in stature.

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Meaning Maire Cassidy Meaning Maire Cassidy

How Can Trust Help you Grow?

Charles Feltman, author of “The Thin Book of Trust,” has described this virtue as “choosing to risk making something you value vulnerable to another person’s actions.” Whereas having a lack of trust is us deciding that “what is important to me is not safe with this person in this situation."

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Spirituality Anne Gormley Spirituality Anne Gormley

Why do Catholics pray for the Dead?

Our lives are measured by time, during which we change, grow old and die. No one is exempt from death. It affects everyone. St Ambrose once said, “death is the end of earthly life, but not of our existence since the soul is immortal.”

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Meaning Anne Gormley Meaning Anne Gormley

The Power of Reading for Personal Growth

Perhaps some of you may have managed to read the recent letter from Pope Francis about Literature which is intended to be a means of formation for priests and a way to grow in personal maturity. However, when I came across that letter, I realised immediately how literature and books hold hidden chambers that we can all unlock and use in ways that can help us not only flourish, but also grow in wisdom.

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Meaning Hearts + Minds Team Meaning Hearts + Minds Team

Do you have a growth mindset?

How many times did you hear the phrase “practice makes perfect” growing up? I know I certainly did. Especially anytime I struggled with something; playing an instrument, learning spellings or algebra, speaking a new language. Something about it never sat easily with me though. What if I didn’t know the best way to practise?

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Relationships Hearts + Minds Team Relationships Hearts + Minds Team

Conflict in Marriage: 4 things to avoid in our communication

For all the married ladies out there, were you ever taught how to best argue with your spouse?! On your wedding day you might not have pictured your future self arguing with the man of your dreams, but there’s the ideal and then there’s the reality. We’re only humans after all. We aren’t perfect and there will come a time when conflict and arguments arise.

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