28/02/2022

St Peter begins his letter with praise of God for the mercy he has shown us; by the Resurrection he has given to us  a new beginning, a new birth by which we all have the ability to become Children of God. Our lives will not be all plain saving; we will be faced by difficulties but as we grow older we become closer to the hope of Eternity. We must fear God for that is the beginning of the wisdom that tells us that all the things of this world are valueless in comparison with what our Father has prepared for us in Heaven.

The young man wanted to receive eternal life. He lived according to the Law. Getting rid of all his riches by giving them to the poor was a step too far for him to take. How many of us do take that step? Our Church is choked with riches. Christian religious orders with vows of poverty are full of wealth and the monks who according to their rule should stay put to raise praise without ceasing move from place to place just like the rich.

By the economic standards of the first century  I am to be counted as rich. Augustus had more power than I do; but he could not get into his car and drive down to Naples at a whim. He had live entertainment but the least of us can turn on the tele if we want to relax. The riches of the tele and internet are available to the poorest of our people. They are so available that they hold our attention away from God. How much prayer has been missed by preference for some TV show?

I cannot disinvent the TV, radio, computer etc. but I can try to avoid them replacing Father Son and Holy Spirit as my greatest joy on earth. I have no need whatsoever of a Mobile when I die.

Dear Lord I am living in this modern world and so am surrounded with diversions that lead me away from you. Help me to keep in my mind that the only Good is you; that I know you, love you and serve you and with the aid of your Mother and all the saints I am able to place all my trust in you.

 27/02/2022

In our first reading today we are told that we can know other people by their words. The potter's kiln tests the work of the potter. The fruit are proof of the soundness of the tree. Jesus too tell us pretty much the same thing; that our words reveal the state of our being. We must not be quick to evaluate each other especially when we are not aware of our own defects. The planks that show us to be the hypocrite that we are.

St Paul tells us us that we are able to overcome the power  of death. Christ has won victory over death. The words of St Paul come from what fills his heart. He has seen the resurrected Lord and Christ is who fills his heart. His teaching comes from Christ and from  the Old Testament and from what the other Apostles have taught him. He is the fully trained disciple who is like his master even unto a death by violence.

"The sting of death is sin and sin gets its power from the Law." I will have to spend some time today trying to understand what is in St Paul's heart and mind when he writes this.

Dear Lord let me be today a Christian man aware of the completenes of your presence in your Universe and in me too; a seemingly nothing but by the grace of your knowing me, I too become immeasurably greater for I can by my thoughts, words and deeds offer praise worship and service to you Father Son and Holy Spirit.

 26/02/2022

Jesus tells that we should welcome him with the openhearted trustfulness of a little child. St James tells us that we should pray always. What is prayer? I was taught as a child that it is the raisinng of the heart and the mind to God. Jesus taught his disciple to pray. When they prayed they were to turn to God as little children to their father and even to the extent of addressing him with a childish word for father, "abba" "Daddy".

Such a familiarity with the "One who Is" had never before been heard and must have shocked his listeners. But Jesus the true Son, begotten not made, shows us a new way to come to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.God is our Father and is to be loved as such and worshipped as the Creator and Saviour and Inspirer of mankind.

St Paul told us that as an adult he put away the things of childhood; the petty selfishness of all babies, the greed of toddlers, the argumentiveness of teenagers and as  a man knew that he could have a pure knowledge of God unclouded by the murkiness of his own self. This is possible for me too but I must sincerely cooperate with the abundance that is the Grace of God.

Dear Lord all over your world sins are being committed by we your stupid ones. We have been saved but in our evil stupidity want more from this world than is possible for it to give. Your eternitity is the place where we will know that You God are our only place of peace and spiritual contentment. Let me and mine  this day live our lives in acccordance to your will for us.

 25/02/2022

What is it that St James warns us about when he commands us to not take oaths? It is not something that  I come across everyday. As a child, I can remember "Honest to God" being said amongst us but in adulthood except during legal procedings an oath is not something that is part of my life. But OMG is everywhere on the internet, perhaps it is this all too familiar use of the word that is the name of our God against which we are warned. The taking of the Lord's name in vain is what will bring us to judgement.

We get married once. We have relations with one woman. We live our lives as a family and do not change partners. That is Jesus' command. We cannot avoid it. There are no excuses. We can be forgiven but that forgiveness has come at the huge price paid by Father Son and Holy Spirit on Calvary. There are no special groups who know more about Love than the one who gave up his life to save us. We must not act in sin on the basis that God will forgive. I must be reponsible for my own being in thought word and deed,

Dear Lord you know how I want to be true to you in this life. You know how often I fail to live up to your grace. Let the eternal love known by your mother and all the saints touch each of us this day and bring to an end to all conflict both trivially private and spectacularly public. Let your peace prevail.

 24/02/2022

Our familiar theme is continued in the first reading. It is strange that very few humans since the Ancient Eygptians have tried to ensure that they do "take it with them" when they die. We all know that to completely preserve the things of this life after our death is nonsense. Even gold will ultimately fade away and as for "block chains", do they really have a true existence at all as they are produced and stored by machines. "Who has seen a blockchain"; they belong with the Emperors "invisible clothes".

Jesus tells us that an act of true charity performed out of belief in the Him is more valuable than all riches. We the "little ones of the Lord" are to be treated equally with love and not with the contempt that arises out of pride. All our sins damage each of us and and most of all offend the Love that Father, Son and Holy Spirit generated to create us out of "zilch".

Our true lives are lived in our consciosness of "being" and Faith in the Way the Truth and the Life. This is the familiar theme that we must grasp onto trying to respond only to the Love of God and avoid  the hypocrisy that is the obstacle before our eyes; the weight that will bring eternal consciousness but without the Love that is our God crucified and resurrected.

Dear Lord let me follow your Love in thought word and deed this day. May the community that is Mary and all the Saints join with us on earth to pray for the salvation of all the Human race that we may use our time to know, love and serve for there is nothing better we can do.

 23/02/2022

St James tells us that it is sinful to know the right thing to do but not do it.None of us should forecast what we will do tomorrow for only pride knows what tomorrow will bring. Most of the world that I live in is about tomorrow. As a child I went to school to prepare for adulthood. I got married to have a family that continued to grow into tomorrow. Now in old age I try to prepare for tomorrow trying to fix my mind on God for whom there is no tomorrow only the eternal now that is my aim. St James wants us to be aware that what we should do is to "live quietly and go on doing what is right" and thus avoid sin in our humility.

Jesus is not going to reprimand anyone doing Good in awareness of him. If we do not attack God and join him on the Way, the Truth and the Life then we are secure in his loving guidance. We who try are "less likely to fail". How do we attain the security of perfect faith in Father Son and Holy Spirit? Alone we can do nothing but for God nothing is impossible.

Dear Lord my sins are all known to you. I am still as I was as a child. Let me come to you for the forgiveness that in your mercy you have promised to all who ask for it. Let me join you the Way the Truth and the Life and face tomorrow with grace off your Hope.

 22/02/2022

St Peter speaks as an elder to the other elders of the fledging Church and "not for sordid money". We have to accept that the geriatric Church that we have now is what God wants for us.  A bigger cynic than I would say that our Church is all for sordid money,

"Be not a dictator" wrote Peter. I wonder if today Pope Francis applies those words to himself; he certainly must remember the dictators of his homeland. "Be an example" writes Peter. Is the travelling circus that the succesors to St Peter have become ever since the invention of the jet plane the example that God wants us to have.

I have a vested intererest in the feast "St Peter's Chair in Rome" as it  was celebrated on  my birthday now it has been incorporated into St Peter's Chair in Antioch which is today. At the time of Jesus Caesarea Phillipi had a mixed population of Jews and Gentiles and it is there that this question was posed and not in Jerusalem. From the answers recorded as being received it seems that the gentiles had not attempted to answer.

Peter's answer and Jesus reply have grown into the enormous institution that is the Church today. Is this  really what Father Son and Holy Spirit wants for mankind?

Dear Lord help me to find the Holiness that is still somewhere in the Church that you founded Let me add my prayers to those of the faithfull that worship you today.

 21/02/2022

Today's readings place us in a world that we can recognise in the passage from James. Most of us  have lived in a world were being successful is the norm and all of us compete to have more of everything. Even on my allotement I always compare my vegetables with those on neighbouring plots. I have to try not to be jealous. James makes it clear that what is normal for the world; growing richer, having a higher place in society, having more "likes" on social media is not what God wants of us. Kindness and compassion are the virtues that we need to become the "peacemakers" who are blessed by the Lord. Everyday I have to ask myself whether or not I am a hypocrite for I am always concerned that what I write and pray is holiness without sincerity of heart.

The world in the Gospel is most definitely 1st Century Palestine. There is a crowd of people hoping see to the sensational new preacher who has astounded their world by wonders of healing and words of wisdom. The young man is not sick but he is possessed by a devil. The close followers of Jesus are unable to do anything for the young man. The whole crowd was amazed to see Jesus who was able to cure the sick one. He also preached. Jesus' discourse with the crowd was somewhat ill-tempered. "If you can"? is sarcasm that we do not expect to hear from Our Lord. " You faithless generation how much longer do I have to put up with you?" is not "gentle Jesus meek and mild".

The words in private "this is the kind that can only be driven out by prayer"do not do a lot to explain what has just been recorded.

Dear Lord facing this Gospel of today is not easy, as you do seem to be dissatisfied with your created beings. I have always known you to be kind and compassionate and with a message completely open to all of us. I do believe but today I am in need of more Faith as I put myself in the crowd of your listeners.

 20/02/2022

We see David not profiting by the opportunity he had to end his probems with Saul. They were enemies. David respects the Lord's anointed one to the extent that he does not kill him. "Anointed" is a key word for David to explain why he did not act.

Jesus is concerned with "enemies" not with any of their characteristics. There are not any charateristics other than the difference between us that Jesus uses to give us this command. I am and so is the other. We are in conflict so we are reciprocally "enemies". I hit him and he is not to retaliate in a normal human reaction but he has to turn the other cheek. Wow!! This is a 100% reversal of what is considered to be normal human behaviour.

We automatically pray for the victims of a terrorist attack. Jesus tells us that we should be praying for the attackers too. Praying is turning to God in complete sincerity. God knows. Can I honestly say that I have the best interests of someone I am in conflict with when I turn to God to pray or is it really true that I want God to tell my "enemy" that he is wrong and even punish him for not agreeing with me.

Jesus is the complete challenge to our human behaviour, to our religion to our self centeredness and to our love. We must wish the best for all peoples of the world; for the holy ones and for the sinners; for the rich and for the poor for the learned and the ignorant. We must do this without judgement or condemnation. We can do this only by being totally with Jesus for he is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Dear Lord you know how we have made heavy work of your teachings; you know this weakness of your creation. I know the strength of your incarnation and that the agony of the Crucifixion has defeated evil and   cleared the way for us to hope of heaven. May the Glory of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the prayers of Mary and all your saints be with me and with all the world this day. I know your strength help thou my weakness.

    

 19/02/2022

I can trthfully say the St James' reading came as if for the first time. I can't remember having either heard or read it before. Teachers are to have a severe judgement. This a straight forward message. Jesus will protect our Church , even to the end of time. Today false teachers are legion. Their tongues are the devil's spreading falsehood without respect for God or Man. What good does it do to a man to tell him that sinful fornication is a product of this day and age when God has told us that it is sinful behaviour. Of course God is merciful but he requires our penitence, our cooperation for his Mercy to act. 

The Transfiguratoin is the Glory of God. It is witnessed but it is not proclaimed . The resurrection is the Glory of God. It is not witnessed but it is proclaimed. There are very few examples of a "secret teaching" by our Rabbi. Jesus' teaching is not a Gnostic onion being revealed layer by layer. Jesus speaks to all men directly just as all men can speak to Abba, Dad who is in heaven. Our clergy are our teachers and leaders of liturgical worship but Father Son and Holy Spirit know me and all of us directly as a Soul created in Love for Love and to practise Love in this world and to find Eternal Love in the eternal Glory of the Kingdom.

Dear Lord let my tongue be controlled, let my heart be opened let my sins be scourged and let me do your will today. Mary Mother you know the weakness of humanity, gather the Saints to bring the grace of holiness and common sense into the hearts and minds of our teachers that they may not fail in their God-given duty to open the way to heaven.

 18/02/2022

The Lords words that we read in the gospels everyday were first remembered and then written. There are very few words that are accepted as having come directly from Jesus' lips. There is a very short list of them that are accepted by all New Testament scholars. 

I can't remember any of those "true sayings" of Jesus but I do remember that the Gospels did not take on their accepted and unchangeable form until some 300 years after the Resurrection. Three hundred years is a long time and it is because of knowing this that the various copies of the scrolls and books were studied and consolidated to produce the New Testament we read today.

The key words, for me, of today's Gospel are "I tell you solemnly that there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God coming to power". The people who copied  these words must have been tempted to drop them as they were not proven in any real sense. Our scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit and have to have "Truth" but what exactly this particular "Truth" means is not clear to me.The commentators I have just googled and skimmed through suggest that here Christ is referencing his Transfiguration which will happen within the week. Why not the Resurrection which is a couple of years away?

St James is quite clear that our life with God is not just a mental exercise but a complete commitment that is not just the avoidance of sin but a commitment to be  proved by deeds.

Dear Lord let me be guided by you as remembered by those who walked with you. Father Son and Holy Spirit let that love flow through Mary and all the saints to us all who, although like Herod perplexed wish to open our very beings to the Faith that is your  gift to us and your Church.

 16/02/2022

I still feel self-conscious about using the word "religious". James' epistle makes it clear that there is no cause for embarrassment in religion. Although there are certain negative connotations"religion " is the word that contains within it all that is fitting about a man and his realtionship with God. God wants us to bear witness to the truth about ourselves living in creation. I am, not because "I think" but because God made me. He knows me. He loves me. I have my one and only opportunity to recognise the Glory of Father Son and Holy Spirit today, now. That is religion that is pleasing to God.

I can say that, but I am suspicious of my motives. Am I playing to an unseen gallery? Has my life shown the sincerity that is the only way to be true to God; to have religion in this world. In eternal life in God's presence there are no doubts. God's Mother knows Jesus, Father Son and Holy Spirit perfectly and it is that perfection that I hope to ultimately be part of by the power of God's Love for a sinful man who knows that heaven is possible but only by the Grace that inspires my religion. Every one of us is a temple a church to worship our Creator. Religion is our response to the Love that is the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. God knows our response not collectively but each one of us is known by name and never forgotten.

Dear Lord the blind see the lame walk and the poor, everyone of us alone before you have the Good News.Let me not forget this today and let me behave in the way that you want me to.

 17/02//2022

St James tells us directly that our behaviour on Earth is part of our religion. The norms of human society are not to be practised among God's faithful. Social differences are nothing in God's eyes. There is even something wicked about social difference for if we give value to them we are corrupt and not followig Jesus' path. The rich are blamed for the problems that the poor face in life. 

If we look at our social problems today it is hard to blame the rich for everything that we know to be wrong. Except it is always true to say that we are all  rich in leisure time and the devil truly does make work for idle hands. Our children have grown up in a world that is so different from the time of Jesus and his apostles. The world has changed but not the teaching.

Peter who is to be entrusted with the Eucharist, with our Church, with the Body of Christ is rebuked  for all of us for putting the world before God. It is quite clear that Jesus is not going to accept the familar human excuse of all times " but in this day and age". His Crucifixion does not change with time for it is God present, Father Son and Holy Spirit enduring torture and  Death, not because it is inevitable for him as death is for us but because he Loves me and everyone of us. 

God knows us better than we know ourselves and this message is delivered to both Jews and Pagans for today Jesus is among the pagans in the Decapolis.

Dear Lord help me to avoid the corruption that is human thinking and confuses my soul which should be concerned only with you. Let me know the humility with which you faced a hopeless death and thus ensured that we could approach the Father, Son and Holy Spirit with a Christian Hope that surpasses all understnding. May you Mary and all Saints channel the Love of God into my heart and into all God's  people living on earth and waiting in the unfulfilled safety of purgutory.

 15/02/2022

The words of Jesus are not always easy to understand. The Apostles in the boat with him misinterpreted "yeast of Herod, yeast of the Pharisees". They thought that it was real bread that was in their Rabi's mind. The rebuke makes it clear that this was certainly not so. The thing about yeast is that a very little can go a long way and prove many times it own weight of flour and water.  Prior to this verse, Mark had related how some Pharisees had asked for a sign. Is it this asking for proof that Jesus warns about? What is the yeast of Herod? Herod who killed John is recorded as liking to listen to John preach but being perplexed by him. Is this vague sort of interest in the things of God that we are warned about.

It seems that Jesus is telling his followers that he is doing enough to reveal to them that he is God; it is their perception that is faulty. God is forever with us and he can never change. Politicians can pass laws about marriage and sexual relationships. Meaningless laws that are the work of the tempter. Priests can seek to quibble in the cause of "mercy" and thus fail in their duties to bear witness to the unchangeable limits to our freedom as revealed by our unchangeable God.

The "Happy the man whom you teach O Lord" of the psalm makes clear that God rules for our good alone. We are free within creation but creation is not chaos nor are we wild things taking and doing what we want. Father Son and Holy Spirit are Love and it is towards eternal Love that we are led by laws that come from God no matter how attractive is the "Yeast of pharisees and of Herod". 

Dear Lord you know how my mind is confused and unable to clearly understand your teachings as recorded by your first disciples help me to hold onto the chain of knowledge that stretches back to you walking and talking on the roads of Palestine and know that your Love for each one of us never changes.

 14/12/2022

St Paul and all the Apostles are Jews and so become for us the link between Old and New. The message that was rejected is Jesus. And specifically the resurrected Jesus. Born of Mary and so completely human, begotten by God and so completely God.

I need to remember that I worship God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, who is also man. The 72 are sent out to preach to all the places where Jesus himself will be seen. We have the specific instructions of how they are to behave but what they are to teach is that the "Kingdom of God is very near to you".

The 72 had become followers of Jesus but they were still Jews and their teaching about God could only have been Old Testament based. For them the Kingdom of God was the kingdom of David and Solomon. It was not their, at that time, political situation where they were ruled by appointees from Rome. It is entirely possible that they understood their message as political; their understanding of Jesus was that he was the Messiah sent to free God's people.

They were right, of course, for wrong reasons. Jesus in his ongoing teaching constantly stresses  that His Kingdom is not of this world but even up to the time of the Resurrection those closest were expecting rewards in this world.

Each day the readings at mass present us with the revelations of the Scriptures. We can find in them all that God is saying to us and use them to direct our prayers.

Dear Lord let me be near to you this day and let my response to your care for me and all humanity be truly a sincere emptying of self so that you will be my all in all.

 13/02/2022

The perfectability of human behaviour is praised by Jesus in the Sermon. The Old Testament reading is much the same. We follow the Lord "even through the shadow of death" and have done our duty with the  reward of living water. St Paul is facing a heresy that has arisen out of the "Resurrection".By some it has been denied that we will  be risen from our deaths,  but Paul's preaching and that of the other Apostles is a proclamation of the Living Body of Jesus, our Lord and God. Jesus is the witness that at the end of time our bodies will become a new form of life just as Jesus was the 1st fruits.

Without the Resurrection we are indeed the most unfortunate of beings for we have the Risen Lord who was seen and touched by the first witnesses as our guarantee that with our cooperation we live in a cloud of Unknowing Love that protects us now and prepares us for the rewards of heaven.

Blessed are we who know, love and serve the Lord no matter the hardships that come upon us because of our service. Our flesh/the matter of the universe has no life in it and will be destroyed into a nothingness but we by the reality of the  Resurrection can live the perfect life now to reach the Eternal worship of Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord may your words and their repetition by prophet and Apostle remain in my heart this day so that I will be without sin as I grow closer to you. May Mary and all the Saints add their prayers to mine that your Clergy here on earth come to their senses and truly believe what they hear and say today during the Eucharist.

 12/02/2022

Jeroboam soon is aware of the power of the Temple which draws his subjects away from him. The Levite priesthood still has the religious authority so the king follows the way of all Old Testament apostates and revives the gods of the "high places". 

Today I and others are reading this passage and trying to understand the ways of God. The freedom we have in his creation soons captivates us and we continue to push out the boundaries of our knowledge and power.

We humans' are strong with the abilities given to us by our Creator. Success in our society is marked by wealth and the respect of others and it could be said to me that I am beavering away at this keyboard because of my failure in society. My lack of wealth and power  is being compensated for by my creation of an idea of rewards afer death.

I look at that point of view objectively and know that the material of our universe is not out of a random mixture of atoms and molecules but all of it is a creation by You our God. The purpose of Creation is to show us in our human freedom that it is your Love that must be accepted and adhered to.

Man's golden calves and ideas are not to be worshipped but to be known as the nothing that they are for it is only You who are , Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord who kept us as survivors during the dark days of our births, keep us in your care as we walk towards the end and let us come to know the perfection of your Love and leave this world knowing that you will care for those who live with the same genes as ours  after us. My prayers are known to you without words my Lord and my God.

 11/02/2022

 The Old Testament makes it clear that God's first revelation was to the Jews. He supports and punishes them throughout their history. They are still God's Chosen People even though they have made it quite clear that they are more concerned with themselves than with following God's revelation to them and later to us. Jesus humanity is ultimately from Adam, as are we all, but Jesus is from the line of David that in the first reading of today is torn off from the descendants of Israel. Mary, the chosen womb for the incarnation, is from this line as is made clear in the genealogies. So the Jews are always with God in a very special way.

Jesus' Mother is the Perfect Woman. Created to bear the Incarnate Son, she is without sin and the first witness to the Glory of God present in our world. She requests the first miracle out of concerns for the social embarassment of her acquaintances. Jesus reveals himself to friends and neighbours to prevent not his crucifixion, but social embarassment. Wow!!! He is completely a Good Neighbour.

Our Lady knows Jesus as no other of us can. She bears his torture and death with the horror of a mother. Her sufferings can still be seen in the faces of images from war. She with the other Maries and John weep at the foot of the cross and together inspire the Love that is the reason for the Church, to be carried out of Jerusalem into their  world and our time.

Dear Lord, I pray today as always, that I might grow better with age and not worse. That I can recognise neighbourliness as next to Godliness and that I not stupidly take pleasure in my own words but always know that Father Son and Holy Spirit can bring me to my true self and open room for me in the Eternity that is Now. Our Lady of Lourdes pray for the poor in spirit who reach out for healing and forgivenss and for me..

 10/02/2022

Everyday when I try to start the day with the mass readings, I have to avoid the numerous headlines that the computer throws at me. I have this wish to put God before everything that I do but it is not as easy as it seems. My body has needs, my eyes are captivated by the sunshine of this morning and my mind can be anywhere throwing up trains of thought that are distractions from my puirpose. My true purpose to love and worship the Lord our God.

Poor Solomon; after his brilliant begining he deteriorates into the old man being led hither and thither through the pantheon of false deities by his wife of the moment. I, on the other hand, have had a mixed beginning mostly sinful but veering towards the Church and now in old age still aware of sinfulness, I ask for grace to follow the revelations of the Bible and the teaching of the Church.

Jesus has been accused by the seeming lack of Love in his words to the Sidonian woman. Does he really call her a "house dog"? Is this another of Jesus "hard sayings" or is it reality. Jews must be first for they received the first revelatons of God. We don't have many records of how non-Jews reacted to this. This Sidonian woman was not content with Jesus' retort for she knew that he could cure the sick and and she needed even the scraps of this power. Jesus did as  she had demanded.

Can we "demand" grace from God to strengthen us in this life. "I will be with you even to the end of time". persistence won justice for the woman in her law-suit. We don't need to "demand" for your grace is overflowing. We need to recognise our need for it and then you reply without being asked let alone confronted.

Dear Lord let me continue  this day in prayerful awarenes of your Love always knowing that Father Son and Holy Spirit know who I am and will guard me and mine and all the world from the evil that arises within us.

 09/02/2022

The wealth and wisdom of Solomon are acknowledged by the Queen of Sheba to be marks of God's favour. She consults Solomon about questions that have arisen out of her heart, her very being, and his answers truly amaze her. What those questions are we can only guess and each of us will supply an answer that is a question about our own selves. We sort of know ourselves but what we really are in relation to life and the sparkling Universe that is and was so obvious to desert dwellers is our life's mission to face up to and find the right answer.

But we are not alone in the desert night that seems to grow out of the visible horizon into the vastness of the  heavens. We know God's creation and we have received his revelation of his being and his will. The creator of the vastness that Solomon saw each night unpolluted by man speaks to us and Jesus states clearly that dietary laws do not bring sinlessness. Sin is the evil corruption in the heart that exhibits itself in unrighteous behaviour. 

We cannot justify sinfulness by talking about "this day and age". Any who try justify themselves by talking about the "greater good" to condone birth-control and abortion are lying to God and to themselves. The stupidity of man to man sexual relations cannot be purified by human legistlation, by calling another  man your husband. It is all nonsense and ultimately evil for they say that God created them to be like this. They directly accuse God of creating them to be challenges to his word. "Man and woman he created them" is the revelation of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord all of us face the challenge of the sins of the flesh. Those sins are usually pleasurable for the moment. Our world is captivating in its variety and challenge to our understanding. Scientific study fasxinates our attention and even Theology can distract us from the true worship we need to offer to you. Let me this day be true to you and sincerely pray turning my whole life over to you our God. let me and mine know without doubt that you are the author of life and of Love.

 08/02/2022

Jesus is a man talking to men when he condemns those who are scrupulous over minor observances of their religion but without the inner conviction that brings truth to these same observances. Is "Latin" a necessity to reach salvation?

In these days many are grasping onto the surface of our Faith. Am I one of these? The hypocrite is brilliant at fooling even himself. Am I one of these? I woudn't ask myself this question if I didn't think that I was sincere. But am I even near to "giving up everything to follow the Lord?. 

I am closing out my life and coming nearer and nearer to my last day. I am beset with doubts about the Church founded by the Lord. I know that there are many priests who fail in their simple duty of following the facts of Holy Communion. They preach that the Sacrament confected by them must be received with a pure intention to be effective. They offer the Host with "Body of Christ" even to those who are openly living sinful lives. Are they not thus confirming the sinner in his sin ? After that first act it is repeated and repeated again.  The first sin is renacted time after time. Does not this sin have some effect on all of us? Should we just ignore the daily scandal performed by Clergy?  If he ignores the cooperation with Grace that is required of the sinner, does not the priest fail in his duty to help the sinner to repent?

Dear Lord allow me to put everything into your hands and let Holy Priests in heaven with you and Mary grab the clergy by the scruff of the neck and shake them into the reality of your loving presence in your Sacraments. Let me not forget you this day and let my will to be sinless come to fruition in the Love that is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 07/02/2022

The Ark contained only the Law brought down from Sinai by Moses; its resting place in the Temple became the centre of the worship of the Old Testament. The Centre of Worship for the New Testament is the presence of the Son; for three years the reality of the person Jesus, known to be the son of Mary and thought to be the son of Joseph but revealed by his teaching and deeds to be the Son "born of the Father before time began." 

The people were in awe at the deeds of this Nazarene. Illness was being cured as they listened to him. Devils were expelled from the most sinful of men; such was his power that health could be restored by the touch of his garment.

Today the presence of Jesus is still the centre of  our worship. He is present in the Sacrament reserved in our "Tent of Meeting"; he is present in the Mass and he is present in the faithful who receive the distributed hosts.What people have their God so close to them as we do? 

This Liturgical Presence was instituted by Our Lord even before the Sacrifice it recalls and the twelve (including Judas) were consecrated to be priests by the Lord our God, on his knees performing the service of a slave, to be authorised to act in memory of him.

Jesus promised to be with us even to the end of time. Sin seems to be the order of the day not only in the world but also in the Church and in the institutiions within her dedicated to prayer and support for the faithful. I can only acknowledge this reality and turn to Father, Son and Holy Spirit praying for the intervention to turn us sinners back to the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Dear Lord the beauty of your creation is captivating in its being and awe-inspiring in its detail please let not the beauty that we see hold us back from seeking Father, Son and Holy Spirit with the Love that is right worship. May your Mother and all the saints who together with us form your Mystical Body support the Church, blocking the sinners and revealing those who are selflessly dedicated to you.

 06/02/2022

Guide me Lord in my understanding and keep me away from myself, letting me be open to the inspiration that is available to all men as we read the Old and New Testments. Isaiah blessed by God and dedicated to his Word, is the source of many "according to the Scriptures"we read from the lips of Jesus and all the Apostles.

The heavenly vision is beyond my ability to recreate in my imagination by building on  his words. The wish to see God as he really is is somewhere at the back of my being. It is in my soul and not in my mind. St Paul has seen the Lord. He has attacked the first Christians but been dragged into the Church and filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit that is Father Son and Holy Spirit. This is what he preached and it is  possible for me to see this preaching in my imagination for all of those in his teaching are human beings. The Son too is a complete human being but with the same being as the Father and Holy Spirit and this is beyond my comprehension but I can worship and be in awe.

St Luke records that Jesus had begun his mission before the calling of the Apostles. The crowds with him witnessed the miraculous catch and listened to his words. Were these first witnesses to the Word a mixture of Jew and Gentile; did they retain their awe at the miracle of the Lord; did they continue with their daily lives or did they drop everything to follow him?

Dear Lord let me become as those first witnesses full of awe and with a sincere belief in Grace come to an appropriate way to continue to know Faith Hope and Charity, avoid sin, and ultimately be granted a heavenly vision that can be shared with all in the Love that is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 05/02/2022

Solomon's wisdom is proverbial. It is a gift from God to repay him for asking for it. Goods of this world followed on from it. Both the wisdom and the riches were God's gifts to David's son. The humanity of Jesus is also of David's line. "God does not have favourites".

The people were lost when Jesus escaped across the lake. The Apostles had exhausted themselves during their first missionary journey and Jesus had compassion on them and took them by boat to a deserted place to rest. When they arrived it was to a crowded place as many had anticipated Jesus' evasion. So Jesus continued his teaching of them for they were like sheep without a shepherd

Jesus' teaching for us is the same as it was then; Love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy neighbour as thyself. I have been taught that since my birth as have all who have witnessed Christ's message. We are to know Father,Son and Holy Spirit and to love one another following the teaching given to us all. 

Jesus did not teach that new generations would have new teaching . In fact, he warned us about false prophets. Heaven and earth will pass away but my Word will stand. "God does not have favourites" for each and everyone of us is that as God cannot be more or less and is always Evergreater.

Dear Lord each of is unique and known fully by you. Let me continue to grow in your Love and sustained in this way grow to be ever faithful and sincere in my thoughts and my prayers. "Fear not for I am with thee always."

 04/02/2022

The religion of the Jews revealed to his Chosen People by the Lord our God, Father Son and Holy Spirit is coming to an end in Herod's palace just as its splendour is upheld by David's praise in the 1st reading.

The People broke the covenant too many times but the Lord still remains with them although their worship has lost its Temple.

Herod's fault is the simple unthinking sin of the drunken man who the next day is horrified by the previous night's stupidity.  Herod liked to listen to John but was "perplexed" by him. This Herod is in a few words made human and so we can pity him for his weakness and pray for the forgiveness of his sins.

We all are perplexed by the Word by the Being of God by His manifestation even more so than our wonder at our own being.

The scene in Herod's court is a prefiguring of the one before Pilate which happened only a few years later. The outcome of this confrontation was to be the Resurrection for which John's Baptism had paved the way. 

Dear Lord my sins are always before me as is my repentance, just as Herod I am all too ready to sin but have a conscience that looks for forgiveness.Let me too as did David "put all my heart" into this prayer and let me live without sinning "just for today".

 03/02/2022

There are many who deny that Jesus appointed priests and that we are all at liberty to ponder the Word and act as personal priests. Today we hear  of  the first mission and there are the twelve who are appointed. Jesus needs to have no ceremony to directly access his own authority. He didn't authorise all of his disciples but only the twelve were sent. Their mission was to warn the people of their sinfulnes, to drive out devils and to cure the sick by a ceremony of healing.

Preaching repentance must have been  supported by the revelations of the Old Testament as the New was unfolding in them as they lived. Their preaching was hindered as the Temple and its Scribes and Priests were an organised religion with a calendar and all sorts of functionaries who must have  been all too ready to protest about these ignorant upstarts who were taking on their roles without any of the training and formation undergone over many years to serve in the Temple and read in the Synagogue.

Today our priests are the spiritual descendants of those twelve who inspired by the Holy Spirit and their nearness to the Son had the inspiration needed to walk into strange villages and begin to speak about God. Did they do this in the market place or in the Synagogue? I don't think that we are told; but the great leap of Faith inspired by the presence of the Lord, that was taken by these men of the first century is the example that we must all follow especially our Clergy. Preach, combat the devil and heal the sick is what our Lord first required from his priests and our Church.

Dear Lord let my prayers this day be sincere and without any guile. Let my thoughts be pure and focused on You. Let my love for Father Son and Holy Spirit govern all my actions and let me grow nearer without fear to the time when You will be my all in all.

 02/022022

The reading from Malachi is chosen as it can be interpreted as a foreshadowing of the incarnation. It is God's revelation to his covenanted people that there will be a future different from what they know now..

The psalm is another paen of praise and it is the Glory of the Lord that is praised. Praise that is netither petition or thanks. A praise from my very self to the Lord for his being. Creation in direct line to Creator; totally aware of the Father and wanting nothing but to be a poor reflection of his being.

The prophecies at the presentation of the Lord have become part the night prayers in the prayer guidance chosen over centuries to be followed by the clergy of our church and are familiar to all of us. The night prayer of the Church is the care we all need at end of life. The greatest thing that we can do during our lives is to bear witness to the Incarnation and having done so know that at our deaths we will see the Glory of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord you the author of all were pleased to be presented to your Father in the way all of your people were. The humility of Father, Son and Holy Spirit continued throughout your eartly life to the supreme humiliation of your death on the cross. The Glory of your resurrection is my hope for Heaven. Let Mary and Joseph, Simon and Anna continue in their prayerful support all of us still bound here on earth.

 01/02/2022

Absolom, hair tangled in a tree, totally vulnerable meets a dismal end. For David the grief at the loss of his son is overwhelming. His kingship is bringing him nothing but sorrow after the original joy over the defeat of Goliath. 

Jairus daughter is dead and her family's grief is also overwhelming but Jesus is there and the little girl gets up from her presumed death bed. 

God knows everything; even in the moment that the pebble destroyed Goliath, he knows of the outcome of David's reign and supports him in righteousness and deserts him in his sin. God knows that the little girl will get up and complete her life.

The miracle on the way to Jairus' house tells that  God is ready to respond to faith. The woman then had an advantage as did all the people of 1st Century  Palestine (Jew and Gentile) for the incarnate one, the Son, was with them and performing wonders amongst people that they knew. She was living at a wonderous time AND  her Faith was correspondingly raised to a high level.  We are far from those days and the sense of the presence of God is weak amongst us. I do not really expect my prayers to be answered but look to live my life righteously and come to miracles in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Dear Lord you know me better than I do myself let me not forget Father Son and Holy Spirit and know that if I have Faith I will be strong both in Hope and Love. Pray for me Holy Mother and all the saints that I may be strong to resist all temptation.