Spiritual Reflection – Christlike  When preachers exhort us to be Christlike, we mostly feel frustrated at being asked to do the impossible. It is probably true, as Saint Augustine often said, that whatever Christ was by nature we can become by grace, and yet, for most of us, this represents an impossible ideal.  This is…

Beatitudes  Thirty-eight years ago, in 1971, I heard a sermon that I still remember. The gospel of the day was the Sermon on the Mount and, in particular, the Beatitudes. The point that really stayed in my mind was that the preacher repeated the refrain, “Oh, if only we were hearing these words for the…