Purgatory...CNY...and the super new website!

Well, it’s been over three weeks since I posted...and there was a reason for it. Three weeks ago I was hit by a triple whammy of shingles, a possible ocular migraine and high blood pressure. So, I was confined to bed and fed a diet of day-time Sky television (- thank goodness for re-runs of ‘Bargain Hunt’, the auctions programme!).   

I always thought shingles was a disease suffered by the very elderly and that I would have another twenty or thirty years of peace before it hit me – wrong!

Front of body (side and back not shown)

The spots appeared overnight, on one half of the trunk, on the front and on the side and on the back. And they were extremely sensitive, rather painful at times - causing at least a couple of utterly sleepless nights – and then turned itchy beyond belief. At one stage it felt like my body was on fire, which reminded me of Purgatory (and the Other Place).

The jury is out on whether Purgatory (the after-death purification that leads to a level of holiness permitting entry to Heaven) is a geographic place where excruciating pain of the senses happens - the early Church Fathers favoured a cleansing fire - or the later, equally painful but entirely mental, realisation of one’s separation from God and a desperate longing for Him – or a mixture of both, or something entirely different. Various visionaries have referred to Purgatory and it is interesting to compare the testimony of, say, St. Faustina and the Medjugorje seers. 

On a lighter note, today is the first day of the Chinese New Year (CNY) of the Horse.

So, Happy New Year! Kung Hei Fat Choi!

As I walked through Chinatown in London today, the area was awash with strings of red lanterns and decorations. CNY is a happy time, a family reunion time, a time for celebrating, feasting and eating auspicious foods.

 

 Finally, the website of Sacred Heart Church in Hove has been updated – and it’s really good. Go on – have a look!

Sacred Heart Church, Hove