Red Sardines or Herrings on Piety and a WATWB Shoutout

This is one of those red herring posts. I started calling it red sardines because the
Portuguese are rather fond of their sardines - cold or grilled. Anyhow, I’m digressing off the digression and may be taking the wrong pilgrim path!

Popular piety and devotions can be a mix of the good, the bad and the downright zaney. Some of the sovenier shops are awash with cheap and gaudy plastic statues of St. Anthony of Padua in various colours. Often they are shelved near wood carved images of over size penises that act as beer bottle openers! Oh, the irony! St. Anthony is, of course, the saint raised by the Portuguese who went to join the Franciscan Friars and became associated with Padua in Italy.

A blessed relief came in the cathedral of Santo Ildefonso in Porto, where this tasteful and original word carved side-altar offers pilgrims a quiet pause with one of their favourite saints.



Speaking of spreading good news I’m very grateful to the We Are The World Blogfest crew who have given me a month off from posting in their Blogfest. The last Friday of each month they share stories of good news and you can follow them on the hashtag #WATWB.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When We Are More Visits Us

In our local Church this evening we had an interesting visitor. This person must have felt safe to join us. They were burdened by a severe mental health episode. It was lovely to see how our people kept him, and each other, safe until more qualified help arrived.  It reminded me of an earlier reflection in We Are More .  It is reminder to us of the delicate balance of our health and our need to support each other.
Read more

Near Restful Waters

Image
Near Restful Waters On my first attempt at writing this blogger crashed and I lost the post. Now I’m trying to piece it together from the fragments of my own memory.  It was meant to be about water. So, here goes... As we walked the Camino Portugues I became very aware of water. On day one, we walked from Porto to Vila de Conde, and did so by the sea. On many days we passed pools, fountains, ponds, brooks, streams and rivers. At times these waters seemed to call out: “Stop. Be still. Come and rest by me.” We also became aware of basic needs that water slakes. Walking in the heat, where hard surfaces deflect the sun back towards us, our thirst became greater. We needed to drink more water. On the two days I felt the affects of dehydration,  I noticed how debilitated we can become.  But water has a blessed relieving function too. Oh the joy of the shower at the end of the walk each day. Washing away the dust and sweat and grime and just invigorating the body and so
Read more

Messages of Prayer and Concern for Elder Parishioners During Coronavirus aka COVID-19

Image
We have heard from some sources that the impact of isolation and lack of ability to access electronic information is becoming quite traumatic.   This can be especially so for some of our elder parishioners. Below are a few photos of places where some of them live. We know that some parishioners have been connecting with some people. They have been  dropping off things or running errands. Others have done phone or video calls to hear the voice or to see the smiling face. What a great thing to do! Not all of our elder parishioners can access all these things.  But they may be able to receive messages.  Some of us can remember when we were younger and our mothers or grandparents loved sending and receiving letters.  They would keep the letters for years and read them over and over.  A good example is of writer Roald Dahl and his Mother in Love From Boy . So, we are launching a request for parishioners to write in messages and prayers of love, support a
Read more