A Journey Into the Real Meaning of Easter
Some exciting news to share with the parish! Deacon Sean has released a new book just in time for Lent. Having written about the birth and death of Our Lord, this final book in the series concentrates on the joys of his resurrection and what this means for our lives of faith. As a result the reader is taken on a spiritual journey starting with Lent before being led into Holy Week and the Easter season. The book comes to its end, quite rightly, with reflections on both the Ascension and Pentecost. Here is how Deacon Sean describes the book for himself,
‘Imagine just being able to reach out and touch God or imagine what it is like to actually experience God in the here and now. Then imagine what it must be like to realise that God is closer to us than we could ever imagine just waiting for us to understand that we are sharing in his very life, every moment and every second of our lives.
These are just some of the areas explored as the author invites us to delve deep into the mystery of God. This book is about the God who, in and through his Son, Jesus Christ, comes in search of us. Here we find the God of unconditional and overwhelming, generous love, who not only shares his very life with us but includes everyone and excludes no one. This is the God who not only suffers with us but allows us to see, realise and understand that the key to being fully human is to do everything we can to relieve the pain, misery and suffering of others. Only then will we be able to grasp that the God revealed by Jesus Christ actually stands in the darkness of the tomb with us, takes us by the hand and leads us out into the light of his glorious resurrection. This book takes the words of Jesus, ‘Do not be afraid’ and invites us on a journey through and beyond his death, into the real meaning of Easter. Reading it might just change your life.’
The book was written against the background of the current COVID-19 pandemic and its overwhelming message is one of optimism, hope and joy as we celebrate the most important event in our faith – the resurrection of Christ, our Saviour, from the dead. He alone brings light where there was only darkness, love where there was only hate and of course life where there was only death. Essentially the book is all about GOOD NEWS – the Good news of our faith, which, perhaps, now more than ever needs to be both proclaimed and celebrated.
At the same time the book also has special significance for our parish of Our Lady of the Wayside. This is because it shares in and reflects the original vision of Father Paddy O’Mahony for what the church is called both to be and do in the world. For this reason all of the profits from the sale of the book are being donated to, ‘The Father O’Mahony Memorial Trust,’ set up after his death to continue with his work of reaching out to and supporting some of the poorest and most desperate people on earth. In essence this is a call to our Christian vocation, to accept the invitation given to each and every single one of us by Christ to recognise and serve him in those who are most in need.
The book ends with something special, a personal reflection by Deacon Sean on how the church building itself at Our Lady of the Wayside reflects the original vision of Father O’Mahony. Finally, we are taken on a guided tour stopping at various points to allow Deacon Sean to explain how his own spiritual journey and writing was formed by his experience of Christ at Our Lady of the Wayside.
Ultimately, however, the book is about Jesus and how his death and resurrection allows us to ‘Share in his Life – the Life of God’ and this is the GOOD NEWS of our Easter faith.
‘Sharing in the Life of God – A Journey Into the Real Meaning of Easter’
Currently available in dual format from Amazon.co.uk
If anyone has difficulty in obtaining a copy from Amazon please let us know by contacting the parish office on 0121 744 1967 or by email olw.shirley@rcaob.org.uk and if you live locally we will do our best to deliver a copy to you as soon as we can.
The book is available as an electronic copy, which you can only purchase from Amazon or as a paperback. It will, of course, make ideal reading for Lent, which this year begins on February 17th with Ash Wednesday.
The parish has also ordered a number of copies and these should be available to purchase in church soon. If you do this more of the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to the ‘Trust.’
Finally Deacon Sean describes the book as, ‘his gift to the parish and people of Our Lady of the Wayside and in memory of Father Paddy O’Mahony Parish Priest in this place from 1962 until his death in 1991.’