Mixing ideas about Easter with a Buddhist notion here. How these two traditions dovetail just amazes me all the time. But this is only my take. My imaginal ramblings. Hope you enjoy them. Part Two coming in an hour.

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I've never tried to do this before. it always feels beyond my ability to talk about the finer points of theology but here we go. It's the Good Friday moment. And that's the first of three moments. The second is Holy Saturday. The third is Easter Sunday. So in this series of three, I'm dealing with them in sequence. Today I reflect on Good Friday, in the next podcast I will explore the one we rarely think about and that is Holy Saturday, and finally I'll try to share what really belief in Easter means for me. So this is part one of three.

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Well I began with a reflection on Lough Derg where I went last Easter with a friend for holy water, and then I couldn't resist rambling on about some amazing Buddhist history. I hope you like it, mingling dream, fantasy, faith, and two religions as we approach Easter. Let your faith be fun, and a fuel for your imagination. Or maybe that should be let your imagination be fun and a fuel for your faith. Happy weekend !

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Maintaining faith in a God gets difficult in the world we live in. We seem to be facing chaos and darkness and suffering everywhere we look. So I'm delighted to share my personal strategy on it, and why I would bother holding on to this thing called faith. I suppose what perplexes me is Evil and the sense that God could hardly wish all this suffering of War Disease and Death to be inflicted on sentient beings. 

I find that true, and I have no answer. Unless I change the focus and turn my attention to love as it exists in the universe. Then everything changes. 

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Yes. Something very different today. (And in a way a little homage to philosophies of "embodiment, " especially that of Merleau-Ponty. )

A simple story of how much my concertina matters to me even though I can't play it. I see it as a secret object, used in rituals whereby beautiful sounds come into the world.

 The absurdity of developing a relationship with a musical instrument and the theology behind it. Even though I can't play it.

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Body

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I know it's a few weeks away yet, but there was always two things that defeated me in the Christian tradition. One is the empty tomb. And the other is the heartbroken cry of Jesus as he died. One concerns a belief that defies science. The other is a cry of despair that defies faith. How do I reconcile them. How do they actually contain the real secret of faith.

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I couldn't find anywhere else to do this. So it's recorded in the car which is why it sounds a little like it was recorded in a car. I wanted to explore if it was possible to meditate in the car. And it is. So I'm delighted to present the results. Have a great weekend. 

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A couple of trees fell and they got me thinking of how the landscape around me always changes and how nothing is permanent. I hope you survived the windy weekend and that you are ready for Imbolg. That's the new name for St Brigid's day. I prefer saint Brigid's Day. But never mind. Please enjoy this meditation on impermanence and stand by for an extra podcast early next week to make up for the lapse which happened during the storm. I'm going to say a few more words about Buddhism. It's such a rich well of wisdom and we haven't been there In a while and Brigid's day is a good day for going to the well. And there's no well more holy than the well of Buddhist wisdom contained in the Tibetan tradition. That's next week. IN the meantime enjoy my reflections on the storm and have a great weekend.

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A good Christmas was had by all. And now where are we. Me moving more deeply into Christian faith, cos I know now that this Christ is for me. Cosmic and personal, this transformed universe is had to believe in when you look at the politics of our age. But Christmas is the moment when you can feel that Cosmos awakening again in your heart.

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A friend came visiting recently and the story is at the end of the episode. The rest is just one beautiful idea; Be grateful in every moment

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