30/09/2021

I have often wondered how the crowds who listened to Jesus were able to hear him especially as his teaching was often outside in the open air. Today I find the answer in the Old Testament. Ezra had had a woodern pulpit erected so that his words were not muffled by the multitude of listeners. The priests who were in the crowd translated and passed the sense ot the Scriptures on to the people who received the "Word of the Lord" with joyful hearts.

Jesus' disciples must have performed the same function but there is nothing about  a pulpit in the New Testament. One visible result of Vatican 2 was the removal of pulpits from our churches. I suppose that the advances in technology had made them redundant. 

What happened to the 72 whom Jesus commissioned  to fufill the role of John the Baptist, preparing the way of the Lord.? What is the "peace" that in the event of it returning to them they were to abandon the town to the punishment of Sodom? 

Abandoning me to my deserved punishment is exactly what our God does not do.  The Mercy of the Lord is always with us. The Incarnation, life and death of God  the Son has brought the Kindom of God to this world. The Trinity has revealed the Persons of God. The will of the Father is ever present in that Body that is the Church. The Son has Risen from the dead. The Joy of the Holy Spirit fills our hearts with the Peace that is always available.

I have some awareness of God. I can hear the Word. I am yet a sinner in my deeds.

Dear Lord let me not add my bit to the sinful world that you have redeemed. Let me accept with open arms the Love that comes from you and continue from this moment throughout my life with more moments of true worship unclouded by sin.

 29/09/2021

The words of Jesus confirm the words of the Old Testament prophets that there is communication between God and his Creation. He confirms that there is a constant coming and going of Angels between his Father's great house of many rooms and the here and now. The descriptions of this mansion have to be undertaken using human words and so images of visions are created. 

Angels are created beings without our physicality. They have carried messages from time to time and are known by these tasks. "Hail Mary" is the one that shatters Creation. God is with us from that day forth. The Evergreater has taken his place within our humanity. The Incarrnation has brought God to our world. 

The Son teaches and suffers to enable us to be free of the chains of sin. The Holy Spirit constantly feeds our thoughts and guides our consciences. The Father Son and Holy Spirit are totally present in the Sacraments.

Why is it that I know this but still fall into sin?

Dear Lord you know me in your eternity plesase loosen the chains that bind me to my sinful life and let the prayers of your Angels Saints and Holy Mother bear fruit in my sinful soul here in time on earth.

 28'09/2021

The belief in the revelations of Gqd by himself will spread throughout the world and ten will cling to a Jew to learn from him the way to come to the Lord. If we are to take that litterally we have to increase the ten to millions as the number of us who have clung to  Jesus is beyond counting. 

Something is not quite right about this prophesy as the Jews themselves have turned from God. The ultimate rejecton of God took place iin Jerusalem. This event is known to God from all eternity. We know it now as history but we must accept it as being of God even though the enormity of it  is  beyond our comprehension.

The diisciples wanted to call immedeiate punishment on the village that refused to accept them and their master and the rebuke of Jesus is for us all who using human judgement want to see the guilty punished. The Creation is in the hands of God and my life is God's. He has given me freedom to choose but it is sure that he wants me to choose what is right.

My time that passes second by second is not the eternity of God. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are beyond time but that eternity touches our time when the Sacraments are worthily celebrated and received.

I will also touch it at my death. May God be with me.

Dear Lord you know what I am. You know everything including my place in eternity. Let me truly search out your will and do it. Look after all whom I know and turn their minds to right knowledge and good deeds. Hail Mary. Pray for us.

 27/09/2021

The Jews have again been called back to Jerusalem.  Were the injustices perpertrated on the Arabs who were still  living there necessary or were they a result of man's greed and pride? I don't think that that question can be answered without challenging our belief in God; and it is belief in God that is missing from the new Israel occupying the sacred places of the Old Testament.

The disciples walking the first steps of the New Testament behind Jesus were not immune to pride or greed and today we hear of them sqabbling about what they had yet to understand. I too do not understand the political situation in the birthplace of Jesus; the place where God took on our humanity and wallked in our shoes to torture and death, pain unimmaginable on the cross.

The Jewish people are still favoured by God but are they separate from the People of God that is the Church? God allows us all to live in freedom; we are made in his image and likeness and we have to refute evil. We are guided in our choices by his revelations and our moral code is still that revealed to Moses and the Hebrews of the wanderings. We are the People of God but I am still failing to put all my Faith in God and am looking for a human understanding of the workings of God's providence. 

Dear Lord let me feel the Love for sinful humanity that took your Son to the cross, let me feel it so that I can avoid pride and greed and truly be a person of the people of God secure in Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

 26/09/2021

From the first reading it seems that the Spirit of the Lord was something physical that could be seen to be shared. The recipients began to prophesy which I take it to mean to bear witness audibly to the presence of God. But outside the Tent of Meeting there were others who too were able to "prophesy" and Moses' companion from of old was mortified that this did not happen through Moses. 

James, who writes like an Old Testament prophet, testifies that those who are rich now without righteousness will come to know that their physical goods are nothing and in this he follows the treaching of Jesus who offers a radical alternative to sin.

Jesus tells us that anyone who is doing good by trying to live by the Name of Jesus is to be encouraged. Jesus is not a possession of anyone just as the Glory of the Lord was not exclusively Moses'. Encourage the Good but beware the Bad. Our teachers and pastors need to think deeply before indulging their own egos in nonsense; the little people of the Lord need to have true and responsible guidance.

Dear Lord let me be open to you the Holy Spirit that  the Father and Son can see my heart gladdened by the precepts of the One God that you are. 

 24/09/2021

How is it that even though I really want to pray and turn myself to the Lord, I wake up each morning to face a struggle to avoid falling into a reverie dominated by thoughts of sex enjoyed and sex missed. I am not on this earth to be a creature without a future. I am here to do the will of God. I know that now but half-an- hour ago I had to force myself to remember that I am not alone for God is always with me to guide me into what it is he has willed for me. 

Reading the passage about God's will for Jerusalem and putting it vaguely into the context of the care for Israel shown by God in the Old Testament I felt the need for the same care for myself and for all those sheep seemingly abandoned by our pastors. My first concern is for myself and ever since my childhood I have ever wanted to have the responsibility for myself be taken away from me so that I could avoid the guilt that comes from sin.

The disciples didn't know instantly the Jesus that we read about in the New Testament but they must have had the support of the Holy Spirit to abandon everything and follow him. As Jews they could place him in an Old Testament context but couldn't consider him to be the Second Person for God was One Indivisible. All knowledge of God comes via the death and resurrection of this same Jesus they listened to and walked behind.

Did they too have to renew themselves each morning as do I?

Dear Lord help me to be strengthened by sincere reflection and desire to avoid being pleased by words that come from me; all that is good in me is from trust in the  Love that is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 24/09/2021

God is ever greater. "G" "o""d". In English these three letters make up the word which represents the source of all being of all that "is". I cannot try to go further than gasp and become wordless before the vastness of that. I cannot develop the  "idea" but I can "love" the persons. I don't need to pursue my or anyone else's concept of God but I can try to return the love of God who has revealed himself as three persons.

In the desert wanderings and in the Holy Land God speaks to his favoured people in the person of the Father. His glory is in the form of Gold and Silver shining within the grandeur of his Temple. At the same time his Spirit is preparing a hidden prayerful narrative to welcome the Incarnation. The testament takes place in time but for God there is no time. I can recognise God's Word but I live in time which is why he creates a story that I follow from glimpses of  the Word and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Mary is the culmination of the Covenant; she bears the "Humanity" that will be used to beget the Son. From before the Creation of the World she was known to God and through no merit of her own she carried and gave birth to Jesus. 

Mary is not God but she is the perfection of Humanity and the true source of the righteousness that is still Jesus' Church here on earth. Hail Mary.

Dear Lord let me continue to feel your peace throughout this day and let my thoughts and words avoid the sin that ever insinuates itself into my heart.

 23/09/2021

The psalm proclaims that God tales delight in his people. The first reading chides the same people for not completing the task that God had revealed was their duty, their purpose in being brought back to Judah. And Herod, he who liked to listen the words of John the Baptist although he was perplexed by them, cancels the possibility of Jesus being the same John the Baptist having been brought back to life with a  blunt "I chopped off his head".

"You are the Christ the Son of the Living God" has been the answer preserved by our Church for the last two millennia . Can I honestly looking at my life see anything for the Lord to delight in? There are so many of us in this world and our Loving Father knows us infinitely more than we know ourselves.

I have to know God ,love him and serve him and thus build up his new Temple, the living body that is his Church and thus as a sinner striving on the way to the truth and the life I can do my bit to be part of the people in whom the Father, Son and Holy Spirit take delight .

Dear Lord, let me be truly part of your body which is the Saints in heaven and Sinners on earth. Let my hidden prayer be supported by your Holy Mother and all your Saints so that all of us may know your glory and be a delight to you.

 

22/09/2021

If I ask myself what is the "Good News" I know that it is the salvation that has been given to all the humanity of the world by the historical events that are recoded in the books of Good News started by the followers of Jesus. Some of these same followers were sent to spread the "Good News" to their countrymen and yet the central event had not yet taken place.  Did they know Jesus as the Son ? The narrative of the synoptic Gospels reveals that they did not. They preached only to their countrymen in the frame work known to all Jews.

They were Jews and they followed Jesus for they saw him as another prophet sent by God to stir up the faith of their nation which was submerged by the Roman Empire and its continuation of the Hellenization which had begun with the glorification of Alexander Some of them had political hopes which were totally destroyed by the real "Good News".

God has continued to guide the special relationship he had with the Jewish Nation from the days of the patriarchs and with the Incarnation of the Living God into that nation he completed the covenants but was again rejected. Jesus is  the "Good News" for although "God  punishes he also has mercy",. The Superabundant Mercy that is God is brought to all the world by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son. But this power is not compulsion we have to have to make the choice to accept and live by it.

Dear Lord, I pray that I may avoid sin and partake of that Mercy which surpasses all understanding. 

 21/09/21

St Paul who was a Jew and had been a Pharisee is an inspired teacher. He must have  been a charismatic preacher; but, we are told that he was not of striking physical appearance. he tells us today that we must be unified by our faith and accept that within our community there are by its very nature different roles for different believers and that we must accept this division of labour as a vocation, a calling to each of us by God.

Paul's former colleagues are shown to be focussed on the letter of the law that they practised so meticulously and Jesus reassures me that it is the sinners that he came to call to God's table. We must practise mercy ourselves. What about those, however, who reject God's mercy. Those who persist in grave sin. There are many such and by pretending not to judge and advise we do a grave disservice to those.

We all have the duty to build up the Body of Christ our Church but we cannot do that without facing up to the problem posed by the relationship of public sinners to our community,

Pope Francis "Who am I to judge" is remembered by all.  Last week, however he made it clear that those outside of our community cannot receive the Eucharist. Will that be remembered and acted upon?

Dear Lord let not the sight of public sin blind me to the sin which is in my own being. May your mother and all the Saints help me to truly receive the Grace which you pour unceasingly over all our world.

 20/09/2021

The return of Israel from the Babylonian captivity is repeated in our present age. The working of God's providence in favour of this particular nation continues to this day. God is true to his original covenants and the descendants of Abraham are indeed a great nation. But where is the Temple of the Lord that was Cyrus' reason for letting Jews return to their Holy land?

Jesus tells us not to hide our light once we have lit it. Is our light something to be hidden for if it is it will be revealed. What is it that we have that will be increased by God's gift? What is it that we have to do for even our little to remain with us. This unexplained parable leaves me gasping for I do not understand it. I am sure that Jesus is not talking about physical possessions. If I think of the "having" as being about spiritual gifts I am still not better off in my understanding. If "listen" had been the verb rather "hear" I could have understood that as a warning about false doctrine. 

The Korean martyrs must have been filled with the Holy Spirit to defy the strictires of their Confucian/Buddhist culture where even today all ranks of society are aware of their places and to disobey an elder is the greatest sin imaginable. God is surely the "Evergreater".

Dear Lord open my understanding to receive your Word so that following the example of your martyrs I may never deny the Truth of the Father, Son and holy Spirit.

 19/09/2021

Everyday I know the Love that is God for I continue with my life even though I am a sinful man. My own love is but a poor reflection of God's Love because I am a sinful man. St James warns us that we are to avoid the basic sin that is putting our self before everything. Wisdom offers an insight into evil's reaction to the presence of the good man. He has to be tested to breaking point and this is what happened to Jesus.

We have to believe that Jesus did know the disturbances through which his Church, founded out of his Love, would have to go. Not only in these later days, but even as he walked in front of  the weak humanity he had chosen to trust and to build up. The chosen disciples were so close that they could touch the physical presence of the Kingdom of God on earth and yet they started to argue about rank within the nascent Church.

So much strife in the Church results from self-centered ambition; child abuse is a result of self-centered bodily desires; "cover ups" are self-centered efforts to avoid the shame that should rightfully be accepted.

Dear Lord, enable me to overcome the strife that is inside myself so that putting You and all others before myself I may come to that peace that is yours, beyond understanding; the Father. Son and Holy Spirit.

 18/09/2021

I have been away from my computer for the last few days and am now pleased to be back. The world is such a complicated place and the works of man have got to be admired as with great struggles huge and beautiful edifices are erected and in the cities numerous people scurry purposefully about their business.

All of these are known to God in the same way that I am. Some of them are also turned inwardly to God and are the rich soil of the harvest. That inward longing for holiness is not apparent to mankind but is known only to the sower who will reap the rich harvest.

I know also that I failed to receive the grace of penance as I inexplicably could not accept the priest and did not have the humility to listen. 

The following is from the Vatican Website’s Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Sacraments of Salvation

1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify.⁴⁸ They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. the Father always hears the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.

1128 This is the meaning of the Church's affirmation⁴⁹ that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: "by the very fact of the action's being performed"), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God."⁵⁰ From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.

1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation.⁵¹ "Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature⁵² by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Saviour

My Commentary

In   # 1127 there is a powerful explication that all the graces are given by Jesus himself working through the priest; that the Holy Spirit touches us all and ensures that grace is poured into our hearts. I have never found it necessary to either question or really think about this. But now I have noticed the qualifying phrase with which it starts “Celebrated worthily in faith” which is given as a condition for Jesus to be present with us in the celebration. The phrase can only mean that the Minister must be worthy and fully believing.

#1128 shows that authors of these canons are not stupid. They are fully aware of the questions raised by “Celebrated worthily in faith”. But avoid the “going through the motions” implications of “ex opere operato” by turning the “work” from not that of the ordained minister but into the saving grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Which is of course independent of the spiritual condition of the minister. Of course it is! Then why does the efficacy of the reception of the Sacrament depend on the spiritual condition of the recipient? For this canon closes with another condition “Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.”

The message here is we priests do not need to be holy to confect the Sacraments but to receive them you must be! Sin is all right for us but not for you. Is that the message of the pulpit? Is it for this that the Incarnation Crucifixion and Resurrection had to be undergone in all its painful humility and humiliation?

I have always believed #1129’s “the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation.” What am I to do if I cannot find them in the Church founded by Jesus. Would that our Overseers do their duty and remove from office those priests who openly flaunt their persons and those who do not follow the rules for the distribution of Sacraments. In the past the Church was almost broken by the sinful vanity of its prelates and the ignorance of its clergy. We the laity were here to do what we were told but it is to us and for us that the Love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was incarnated, lived, suffered, died and resurrected so that the Church might have a source of Grace to share with all mankind.

Dear Lord let me learn to be holy and let all my sins receive the forgiveness so dearly won for us .

 13/09/2021

Of course the liturgy as we know it today was not present for the first Christians. Those in Jerusalem continued to meet in the Temple until they were banned and met privately for the "breaking of bread."It is for this meeting, the forerunner of the mass, that St Paul offers his advice, the preparation for the Eucharist has to be prayerful and peaceful and above all we should know that we are there because our Father wants all of us to be saved. That is what all creation and life is about. God wants us to come joyfully to Him. The self-sacrifice of the Son the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit are to be known and acknowledged by the unity of our prayer.

There is no hint of "Liberation Theology" in St Paul. "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" is what guides St Paul. Slavery is a condition of life for many in the Roman Empire and also in Israel itself. St Paul teaches that we must treat slaves as our brothers with forbearance and kindness. 

The Faith shown by the Centurion is explained as a product of the political authority with which he lived his life. Jesus knows this but does not chide him or it. To accept Authority is not wrong in itself if it produces good. What is disastrous for us is that the moral authority of our Church has been destroyed in this Age by the sinfulness of many who do know better but who prefer their selfish desires to the Loving Authority of our Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord let me be able to achieve my plan of receiving your pardon in the Sacrament of Penance and let my confession and sorrowful regrets be sincere without any little holding back trying to hide somewhere in the depths of my being.

 12/09/2021

Our Lord makes no bones about it . We have to renounce all our selfishness. We have to root out all signs of egoism. We have to abandon our selves to "the Way, the Truth the Life" that is Christ. He tells the disciples about "His Way"; he will be completely forsaken and that they too have to be ready to follow this "Way" to be true followers of him. Peter is not up to accepting this  and remonstrates "Oh come on Lord you don't really mean; it nothing like this is going to happen to you". Jesus' rebuke is total and uncompromising. "It is the Lord who speaks" and we have to accept it as the word that is  direct and unchangeable. 

Some of Jesus' teachings are foreshadowed in the OT and in the Isiah we see "Turn the other cheek". Isiah's contemporaries show very little evidence of accepting this as having the force of Moses'  revelation; just as we do not show much acceptance of the Lord's command. 

St James' letters were written 30 years or so after the resurrection and they must have grown out of the prayer and experience of those first Christians in  Jerusalem . What he writes is the barebones of Christian dogma in its original Jewish setting. The "faith" he preaches is the "faith" taught by "Brother Isa" and as such it must become visible in our behaviour. Belief is not just  something existing between God and me and only happening in my brain. I must do good by avoiding sin but also be of positive benefit to those around me. "Maranatha" was the word in the Temple and we can ask those on whose lips it was first spoken to intercede for us in heaven.

Dear Lord as I start this day I, as usual, become aware that what I think and write must be visible in my behaviour. You know that now I am quite pleased with myself for the reflections above. Let me accept the chidings and scruples of my conscience as being inspired by you. I make this prayer through Father Son and Holy Ghost.

 09/09/2021

St Paul teaches today what we should strive for everyday. Jesus in the Gospel instructs us that total unselfishness should be the aim of every Christian. The right choices from both readings cannot be ignored. "I believe" is not enough. In our world we have the opportunity for  right action. "Put on Love" "turn the other cheek".

Loving my children and my family is not enough. Sinners do that. I must love my enemies . I have often thought that I do not have any enemies. I cannot think of anyone whom I totally dislike to the point of hatred. And then I remember the rages I have all too often succumbed to without any control and am faced with the self accusation that such behaviour warrants

Our forgiveness of others is what is going be the standard Jesus judges us by; that is scary; God is indeed merciful and compassionate even to death on the Cross. He also needs our cooperation. How can mercy be bestowed on those who deny the Lord and his teaching.? The vastness of the Love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is beyond comprehension; there is an infinity of mercy  more than enough to forgive all sinners to keep Hell empty.

  Dear Lord help me to be Christian in all my thoughts words and deeds and let your mother and all your saints continue to plead on my behalf.

 11/09/2021

Today Jesus warns us that the mere acknowledgement of the Power of God by itself is meaningless. We have had the Glory of God revealed to us and can in the beauty of creation get a faint idea (through a glass darkly) of the Beauty of God himself. God does want us to know him. 

But that is not enough. We are empowered by the Grace of the Father, the works of the Son and the coming of the Holy Spirit to live lives that are themselves a witness and revelation of the  Love with which the Father created, the incarnate Son redeemed and the Holy Spirit inspired  the world. 

But that is not enough. Faith Hope and Love have to be built solidly on unmoveable foundations for them to be able to bear witness. Our foundation is the teachings of Christ and his sinless life. I can and must accept that for the visible Church is getting very close to "it collapsed and what a ruin that house became".

Dear Lord let my striving after you bear the best fruit it is capable of; let me become the person you created me to be and let your Holy Spirit enter into those whom I know here on earth that even without knowing you their fruit becomes  acceptable to you.

 10/09/2021

It seems that St Paul was always aware of his sinful past, which he counts as blasphemous, but never allowed the guilt he felt to paralyse him  into nonaction. I too have to overcome the weight of guilt that my sins have created and in my case I cannot find comfort in the idea that I was in ignorance when I committed them. I was about to use "we" as subject of  the last sentence and as I started to type"we" I realised that it is that that Jesus warns us about in today's Gospel.  Any confidence the blind have in leading other blind is bound to result in disaster .I have to lever the plank out of my own eye before I can presume to judge and lead.

The message of the Gospel is not just for me, however, all of us hear the same words but take that message into our individual hearts. My responsibility is for my own response but even so I cannot let the falsehood of false teaching into my heart. Jesus teaches that we shouldn't judge. Jesus teaches that we should beware of false prophets. Jesus teaches that we should not condemn. Jesus teaches that we should avoid falsehood. Jesus teaches that we should find the plank of falsehood in our own selves before looking at others We have to know and act upon the Way the Truth and the Life and only then can we say with St Paul "the grace of the Lord filled me with faith  and with  the love that is in Christ Jesus"

Dear Lord lead me along the path that sees you as all in all. Let me share in your infinity of Love and proceed throughout this day without being tainted by sin. I make this prayer inspired by you the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 08/09/2021

I am sure that we cannot rely on this date as being the actual birthday of the Mother of God but we can be sure that she was born into this world the same as we all were.God has chosen that he would redeem humanity by himself being born into humanity in the same way as all his people. Mary was chosen to carry the bodily being of the Son which had been fertilised in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit for nine months until his birth at Bethlehem. The Love of God is immeasurable and  the humility of our Creator beyond comprehension

It is impossible for us to understand; but human understanding is of no use when we are faced with the truths of our own being and the revelations of the Trinity. We can believe and then from that belief rationally follow a way of life that is demanded by that belief. All will be known at death. God did become incarnate and live our life. He did hunger and thirst and he let himself be tested but did not sin. He suffered unimaginable tortures and even seemed to lose sight of his own divinity. No one witnessed the resurrection but the Risen Lord offers to us all the prospect of a becoming part of a new creation in which we will understand what God  really is and that understanding will be the perfection of our being without time. Life and Love everlasting.

Dear Lord I feel that I am getting able to believe my own words but I am still too much myself. Let Mary and all your Saints in Heaven channel the superabundance of your Being/Love to  us the suffering humanity being swamped by your creation here on earth

 07/09/2021

The Epistles of St Paul are never superficial. His faith is evidently present with him whenever he bigins to write or dictate, It is "news" as it is so un-Jewish. Even circumcision can become an image of what he has learnt from and about Christ. I still wonder how his letters were received by the people who heard them for the first time; they were obviously counted of great worth and would be studied assiduously always bearing in mind his warning against being trapped by philosophy,.

We have to take Jesus as our only role model in life. Trinitarian prayer to the Father is the most important for him and in the world he continued to pray in his humanity. How could I pray for an hour continuously; even in the Holy Saturday liturgy I always at some point turn off into a reverie  a long way away from the  prayer that I should be committed to. Jesus prayed all night and and then appointed the twelve from whom all that is good in our earthly life has been generated.

I know what it is that St Paul warns against; I must follow Jesus in being aware at all times that my duty is to the Father and that the Apostles form the nucleus of our earthly Church. One sentence in words but a whole way of committed life and so easy to forget.

Dear Lord, let me be receptive to the graces that you shower upon the world and let the love and prayers of your Mother and all the Saints bring our Church and its leaders back to the simplicity of your true religion. burst the bubble of self-esteem and selfishness and let your priests  see that without their personal holiness many of their sheep will stray from the fold and that you will be asking them why this happened. I make my prayer to the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

 06/09/2021

What is amazing in the teaching of St Paul is that what he is saying is still essential knowledge for us who are living so long after him. The Church as the Body of Christ is still part of our learning and it is one of our building blocks held together by the mortar that is Love. Many of the people who heard this teaching were unfamiliar with the OT and had only a superstitious awareness of afterlife. The Philosophers had thought out a discreditation of  the Olympic Pantheon;  mystery cults from the East were beginning to attract those who had time to think about such things, Even in Rome it was said that the "Orontes was flowing into the Tiber"

St Paul teaches that the resurrected Christ has an existence that is outside the created universe and that this life which is never ending is shared by all of us who recognise and bear witness to him. How do we bear witness? By living our mortal lives in obedience to the Law revealed by God first to those whom he favoured in the Middle East and now to the whole of mankind. He also teaches that the dead too share in the eternal living of Jesus and can intercede for us in the presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

This new heavenly existence is there for us to attain through the Incarnation, Life Death and Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus here on earth 2000 years ago. The Son of God walked this earth 2000 years ago and was rejected to the point of being tortured on a Cross and I am still contributing to that torture by failing to live without sin. God forgive me.

Dear Lord you know in person each one of us mortal souls; send your love into to the billions of beating hearts that we may truly believe the revelations of your Son and his Apostles and find peace in the New Creation you have prepared for us.

 05/09/2021

Today our Lord is walking from Lebanon into what is now partly in Jordan, the Decapolis; the ten cities of which most is heard of Capernaum. It makes me think that as most of the population must have been,  Jesus was bilingual and spoke both  Ahramaic and Greek. Jesus as true man would not have allowed his divinity to intrude into his life on Earth. His miracles came from God. In Jesus God has emptied himself and taken on our flesh with all its weaknesses except sin

St James' social teaching is now part of normal living even for those who never think about God except to despise him. It is supposed to be a norm but for many "Celebrity" always takes first place. 

Jesus would also have known Hebrew the language of Scriptures but not used it for everyday transactions. I was familiar with the use of Latin in Church until I was 22 years of age but recently attending a performance on behalf of the Latin Mass Society I couldn't say I was impressed or happy to be at the Mass of my youth. For the most part I didn't recognise it at all. The LMS has got it wrong and the promotion of "The Mass of the Ages" is just modern marketing to the middle well-educated classes lacking the sincerity of a true mission. St James's warning to avoid social judgements is still to be taken seriously.  Many supporters are disaffected with the Church we see today but the Church of the Latin Mass still has the same problems as that of the Novus Ordo and these only our Father Son and Holy Spirit can solve.

Dear Lord you know this sinner who is turning to you strengthen my resolve and let me with the aid of your Church, the Mystical Body cover myself with the Love that Is Father Son and Holy Spirit.

 04/09/20/21

In the collect this morning we pray that the Church may follow the example of Christ as seen in the life of Sr Cuthbert and seek out the lost sheep and bring them safely to the fold. We too need  to be found and even though we are in name Church and are dispersed the fold itself needs to be secured. We need the  prayers of St Cuthbert to gather the rocks of Northumberland and plug up the gaps that  have appeared and are  appearing exponentially in the structure founded on the rock, Peter.

Jesus saw us as dejected and harassed like sheep without a shepherd. That is how we are. Moses argued with God and persuaded him to save the mixed batch of humanity called Israel. Can I argue with God? I only know that what I see in the Church today is not  God's revelation of himself to his mother and all the saints . The Church was to be the place of safety where all the peoples of humanity could be secure in faithful adherence to the teaching of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We really do need shepherds who, immersed in the Love of God, can in holiness lead us faithfully to the Way, the Truth and the Life. We do need sincere labourers in our vineyard and must pray that God sends them to us.

Dear Lord I  pray that my thoughts and frustrations do not blind me to the good that can still be found in your Church. let my heart be open to you Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 03/09/2021

Where do our thoughts come from? Some are remembrances of times past which grow into full blown fantasies. Others are the reaction to our perceptions. Others belong completely to ourselves  as we try to work out problems by using what we see as our power of reasoning, Some are in answer to the direct prompting of another. Our consciousness of living is a complete mishmash of thoughts appearing in our minds from we know not where.

"You are the Christ the Son of the Living God" Peter's answer is a response to Jesus demanding full thought from each of us. Full concentration closes out memory, imagination and fantasy. face to face with the Lord each one of is alone in the focused vision of the all-powerful. And it is this God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who also provides the answer to his own searching of our being."You are the Christ the Son of the Living God"

St Paul is at his most pastoral; he too knows the living presence of the of the Son of God and declared that the Church must be filled with a mother's love handing over to her children everything even her very self.

St Gregory has some great thoughts  associated  with his feast today. Let his present intersessions become as fruitful as were his missionaries.

Dear Lord, I know that you are always directing my thoughts to right behavior ; let not my sinfulness choose to disobey. Mary mother of the Church intercede with your son to let our clergy not neglect to follow the path to which they have been chosen and ordained.

 02/09/2021

St Peter is chosen together with his work mates. It is God that chooses his followers and not vice versa. My backsliding is thus a direct refusal of God's grace; his calling of me. St Paul is well aware of how the attractions of sin can lure us away from the path revealed to us. He prays that our faith can be bolstered by knowledge and spiritual understanding. This is what we have to acquire. He also calls us to "perfect" wisdom. The ambiguity is mine; St Paul uses "perfect" as an adjective to describe wisdom. Perfect wisdom seems to be a tough target but we are strengthened by the absolute power of God.

St Peter is an encouragement to all Christians. He is not from the high and mighty nor is he from the absolute destitute. He does not waver in his first response but together with future Apostles leaves the boats and literally follows Jesus. This commitment has inspired many saints and unknown followers of the Lord. Peter's backsliding at the time of the crucifixion is almost as bad as Judas' but his remorse is accepted and as the forgiven one he is called to lead the first missions. His name is now "Rock"the place for the foundation of our Church too be laid.

Dear Lord let me  not stop from following you and trying to learn more about how it is you want me to live out my life. Let the prayers of your Mother and other saints bring me the grace which is the total being of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 01/09/2021

The letter from St Paul reveals that it was not only he who brought the  Good News to the towns of Asia Minor. What he still recommends has never changed. We need to keep our minds firmly fixed on our Father in heaven and on the graces that he has stored up for us to share in. We have this duty to live in the world  without harming our souls by being submerged in what is needed to stay alive. 

Every day that I try to do this seems like a failure as at least four hours is spent mindlessly in front of a T.V. I don't know how to subdue this as I do not have the will power to resist. I do try to keep the message of Jesus in my mind; that is why I try to start the day with the scriptural readings from the mass of the day but I still waste many hours.

This morning, Peter's mother-in-law must be in the minds of our clergy. They have taken vows to remain unmarried. Chastity is a requirement for all of us. We all know how difficult that is as sex is probably the greatest bodily pleasure that we can experience. We can pray for the help of the Holy Spirit in this regard and empathise with the guilt that human weakness brings to our Clergy.

We cannot, however,  understand or support how the successors of St Peter have put their biggest efforts into avoiding scandal and failed to be Christian by not confessing their sins. 

Dear Lord help me to look into my soul and scour out the remaining residue of selfish lust that is there.