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Notre Père qui es aux cieux, que ton nom soit sanctifié, que ton règne vienne, que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel. Donne-nous aujourd’hui notre pain de ce jour. Pardonne-nous nos offenses, comme nous pardonnons aussi à ceux qui nous ont offensés. Et ne nous soumets pas à la tentation, mais délivre-nous du Mal. (Car c’est à toi qu’appartiennent, le règne, la puissance et la gloire, pour les siècles des siècles.) Amen You can find my initial reaction to attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015 in yesterday's post . Image Credit: Flickr, CC License

Today is the 75th anniversary of the Coventry blitz during the 2nd World War. The following day the Provost of Coventry Cathedral stood in its ruins and spoke 2 words, "Father forgive". These words are now engraved behind the Altar of Reconciliation in the ruins of the old cathedral. Kathryn Fleming, Canon Pastor points out in her blog post 'From Coventry to Paris' those 2 words, "Father forgive" is a sentence with no object so to pray that is to avoid pointing the finger at 'them' but instead to pray for us all: 'It's not "Father forgive THEM" - projecting the violence and hatred out to the other, and thereby justifying acts of reciprocal violence and vengeance...Rather "Father forgive" is a prayer for us all - for the many ways, great and small, in which we wound one another and mar God's image in us day by day. I can't imagine those words were universally popular in the city, as people emerged from air...

The Armistice that ended the fighting of World War 1 on the Western Front, between Germany and the Allies, came into effect at 11 am ( Paris time) on 11 th November, a date which coincidently is St Martin ’s Day. I am not posting about Armistice Day today but you can see a previous post on that theme in Armistice Day 2014.  Today I'm concentrating on St Martin. Who was  Martin ? There are several people known as St Martin. The Martin remembered today by Catholics and Anglicans is Martin, Bishop of Tours, the patron saint of beggars, soldiers and conscientious objectors. Martin was born about AD 316 in the Roman city of Savaria (now  Szombathely in Hungary ) but spent his childhood in Italy . His father was a tribune, a senior cavalry officer in the Roman army. His parents weren’t Christian but Martin was attracted to Christianity because of Christians he met. As a youth he wanted to be baptised, but was deterred because the law required he follow his...