Hi there! Wherever you may be – welcome to my blog.
I’m Deacon Peter McCulloch, a Deacon of the Diocese of Broken Bay in Australia. I’m married with 4 children and a bunch of beautiful grandchildren. Let me share a small part of my story with you.
Early in 2008, as my wife and I travelled by train from Florence to Pisa in Italy, she read a book while I chose to pray. Train journeys are always a good time to pray, but this day I had a specific request to make. I was at a crossroads in my life and I needed divine direction.
I prayed to Jesus: ‘Tell me what you want me to do with my life, and I’ll do it’. My prayer was heartfelt; it was genuine. I prayed this one sentence over and over and over again. And suddenly, to my surprise, I got a reply.
As clear as a bell I heard these words: I want you to learn.
That was all the answer I got, but it was enough. These five little words went straight to my heart and turned my life upside down. I knew the message was genuine. I knew exactly what it meant.
Jesus wanted me to start learning, seriously learning, about him. He wanted me to change the way I lived. He wanted me to become an active disciple, rather than a passive follower. And so I did. When we returned home I started a Masters Degree in Theology and in 2012, after 4 years’ formation, I was ordained a Permanent Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church.
I haven’t stopped learning since. Learning about Jesus, about the spiritual life, about our Christian faith, is such a satisfying thing to do! And I’m more than pleased to share what I discover with others. After all, gifts are meant to be shared.
When we think about learning, we usually only think about engaging our brains. But as St John tells us, God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), and to truly learn about God and his loving nature and his plans for us, we must also use our hearts.
That’s why I’ve given my reflections the tag Learning by Heart. I hope you find them worthwhile. Please feel free to share them with others.
As St Isodore of Seville once said, The more you devote yourself to the study of sacred utterances, the richer will be your understanding of them, just as the more the soil is tilled, the richer the harvest.
Deacon Peter
Please note: These reflections may be copied and adapted for your own use. However, they cannot be commercially published without the permission of the author.