30/05/2022

Today there are some of our grandchildren staying with us. They know so little of God and if I were to tell them there would be havoc in our household. Thus we were told by the Lord. Those who belong to the world will resist the Word with great force. Families will be divided and there will be no peace to be found. Moslems present this recorded teaching of Jesus as  proof that the Nazranis they knew 600 years after the birth of Christ, cannot have been following God's teachings. God is Peace.

St Paul's colossal efforts in the vinyard of the Lord continue today. He walked from Corinth to Ephesus; the Peace of Rome and Roman roads made this possible. What was the Holy Spirit that results from the baptism in Jesus' name? In my prayers, I have to ask such questions for Jesus has made everything known to his disciples and we their descendants. I cannot come to an answer. What is "speaking in tongues"?

The first thought of this day; my failure to pass on the Faith to which I try to bear  witness each day stops there without any thought of a solution.

Dear Lord help me to find a solution to my weakness in not spreading your word. May our Lady and all the saints support me in providing for me a specific solution. A soluton that is true. That all may come to know Father Son and Holy Spirit and live in this world according to thy word.

 29/05/2022

Jesus' prays for unity. A unity between those who believe having been with him; those who experienced the Crucufixion; those who knew the total despair of his death; the incredulous joy of the resurrecton and us who believe what the Apostles and Evangelists taught us.

Those of us who deplore the fragmented state of believers over the centuries take these words "May they all be one" to refer to the institutionalised "churches"and vast amounts of time have been spent in finding the true teaching of Christ in the particular institution to which the believers belong.

"There is something greater than Moses here!" Jesus is talking about individual human beings who know  that  God  loved the Son before the creation of the world and mankind, in the Love that is the Holy Spirit. The unity is between Father Son and Holy Spirit. 

The unity that Jesus' implores his Father to bestow on the human race is a place for each person to become part of the Trinity and for each of us to know this in his innermost consciousness of being. There can be no sin in a world ruled with this knowledge. The crucifixion is atonement for my sin and for the sins of each member of the human race. God so loved the world that Son suffered and died to bring us not institutionally but  individually into Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord let my soul be open to your teaching and let the Unity of Holiness as between Father Son and Holy Spirit overcome the evil that I know, opening the gates for me and all souls to the place prepared for us, each and every one. May the leaders of our Churches come to awareness of how much their wordly institutions mask the true presence of God and begin the internal reform that will purify the Sacraments that they mock by sinfulness.

 28/05/2022

The early days of the Church were filled with hope and joy. Many converts joined with original apostles and disciples in prayer and in belief in Jesus. There is no doubt that many of the original believers were sure that they would witness the return of Jesus as the Sovereign of all mankind; first of the Jews and then of the Gentiles who were asking for baptism in ever greater numbers.

Paul's letters and Gospel texts were works in progress and there were soon circulating other works, of which fragments remain and imaginative versions of Christ which St Paul particularly warns against. As time passed upto the destruction of the Temple more and more thought and prayer had to contend with the whittling away of the first hopes and accept that the parouisia would not be upon them. They had to realise that Christ means what he says; Christ's is a spiritual Kindom.

To guard against false prophets and clarify their own Faith the believers continued to find Christ in the Old Testament and to create the New Testament that we know today. It is in these works of revelation that we find the Way, the Truth and the Life that God wishes us to follow for our souls are his image and likeness and he wishes for us to find life eternal.. Soon science will be growing "humans"in laboratories and claim this as a great advance for mankind. Those scientists will die and face the true reality that is not of this world but is the Eternal Now that is Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord you know how many of us strive to do your will and how many of us fail. Let us know that no matter how great are the wonders of your creation they are not You for You are "ever-greater" than any human knowledge and understanding. May Mary and all your Saints pray that the Holy Spirit enters into the minds and souls of our leaders that they may find Faith Hope and Love and that thy suffering peoples find the comfort of your Love.

 27/05/2022

St Paul is quite clear that his mission, although to all men, is not about anything but God. His words are for God to hear and as such cannot be with any falseness or deceit. These words of mine are also for God, Father Son and Holy Spirit,  to hear and I pray that my heart and mind are open to any promptings that that I might receive from the Holy Spirit. I am always aware of the danger that I can be trying to justify myself but I really do turn my being totally towards God for these few moments inspired by the Mass readings.

The great number of disciples sent by Jesus to prepare the way for him have very few instructions recorded in the Gospel. They have to reduce themselves to a state of absolute poverty and to have total trust in God.The words they are given as a message is a statement of fact. God is near. We have no reference to what the result of this misson was but when we remember the crowds who first welcomed and then condemned Jesus and the few who remained with him to the end we cannot think that it was a great success.

God has created us with a freedom that is unrestricted and with his revelation of himself. He does not twist our arms but wills  that we should use our freedom to make right choices to live in holiness close to the "Kingdom of God" in this world and in the Eternal Life that he brings within our reach.

Dear Lord may the readings today for the feast of St Augustine inspire your priests with a fervour to do your work on earth and encourage your people to maintain their lives in the holiness of faith Hope and Charity. May Mary and all the Saints never cease to pray for the Holy Souls and for us the people of God on Earth. All the victims of war, famine and disease cry out for help let them know that they are not alone.

 26/05/2022

Even after the events of Eastertide the disciples seem to be confused about Jesus. They ask him at table if the Kingdom is to be restored in Israel. They are still thinking in a worldly, political way that Jesus, who has repeatedly told them that his Kingdom is not of this world, is going to lead them out of the power of Rome.

We read these passages in commemoration of Jesus' return to the Father. He has borne witness within and part of creation to the Creator of all our world past, present and future. He has laid the foundation of his Body on Earth. He has by his suffering caused all our sins to become capable of forgivenes. He has revealed the Kingdom of God which is for our souls to accept in Faith, Hope and Love and for our Church to preserve in all holiness until he returns.

The life we have been given is not of this world. We are as was Jesus son of Mary, part of this world. We and all God's people have to strive to be uncontaminated by the works of the devil the world and the flesh. Jesus gives us the grace to be able to live without sin and we must not talk ourselves into believing our self-made excuses. The life that has been given by the Freedom of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the Eternal Glory which is beyond our understanding but is to come as "sure as eggs is eggs".

Dear Lord I cannot say "Lord Lord" as you have warned us about the shallowness of humean praise. I need your grace to even spend only twenty minutes with thoughts of you. Let me ask to spend this day working within your grace and with the avoidance of sin that you have promised. May Mary and all saints continue in their worship and prayers for the sick and troubled of this world and touch our time with the Grace of Eternity.

 25/05/2022

The stark contrast between the words of Jesus in yesterday's Gospel and the reality in which I am living left me speechless and close to despair. Jesus promised us life according to the Word. Life in which the Holy Spirit would show us the way and a Church which would be the guardian of our way through life. What do we do now that our Church has lost its way in the quagmire of sex, power and  money? 

There is only one Truth one righteous way for us to live and worship. Jesus taught it to us and created the Church to be of service to mankind in that it would be a home for us where we could be sure of his presence throughout time.

Priests do knowingly sin by unworthy celebrations of the Eucharist. How can we be part of an unholy congregation? We are all sinners and we should know that when we are in a state of Mortal Sin then it is bread and wine we receive and not the Body and Blood of Christ. What good is done to the sinner or  to any of us by priests/bishops who knowingly distribute Holy Communion to those in a states of Mortal Sin.

Some Athenians scoffed at St Paul's assertion that Jesus rose from the dead. We do more than scoff when we do not honour the sacredness of the Blessed Sacrament. I cannot despair for Jesus, Father, Son and Holy Spirit has promised to be with us to the end of time but God knows how difficult it is for sinners to turn back to him living in the attractiveness of a sinful world and faced with the corruption of a sinful Church.

Dear Lord my soul has got to be saved. Only you can bring me to heaven. I have to truly accept your will and knowing that your are the supreme good search for the grace that you give to all souls who do your will on earth. May Mary, our mother and leader of the saints in heaven continue to pray for us all that we can be true to her Son, Father Son and Holy Spirit.

 24/05/2022

The people who had listened and condemned Paul and Silas were shocked into belief by the shaking of the earth; the breaking of the captives chains; by the collapse of the retaining walls; but most of all by the refusal to escape. The whole family was joyous at its conversion into belief in God. I was born into a believing family; into a believing Church; into a beliving nation where "Abide with me" was sung at the final event of our Football season.

Some 80 years later I am alone in believe in my immediate family. Thanks be to God, one sibling has stayed true to the Faith but not one of my nearest and dearest has the faith that brought joy to the gaoler's family and has been my mainstay in life. The Church that I entered some 10 days after birth has been weakened by quarrels, changes in liturgy, but most of all by the personal sins of its adherents and pastors. The nation's Christianity is no longer here, not even with the lip-service it has had for most of my life.

Jesus "proofs" of the Advocate seem to have passed us by for the World has taken on the role of arbiter of sin that Jesus promises the "Holy Spirit" will be. The "world" tells us how to behave and we present a futile facade of protest. 

 23/05/2022

Paul and his companions are now preaching for the first time in Europe. The  Sabbath on which he goes to the meeting is still a Saturday and the people he preaches to are all mainly Jews. The language they use is likely to be Greek which was the lingua franca of the Roman Empire. An interesting fact is that there seems to be only women at this Sabbath meeting. Where were the 10 men needed today for Jewish communal prayer?

John continues with specific insights into the nature of God and our duty towards him. The Holy Spirit comes from the Father. Father and Son are one. The Holy Spirit proceeds from Father and Son. Hence the "Filioque" a word out of which our, clergy Eastern and Western were able to "justify" the breaking of the Christ's body on earth. Millions of words have proceeded out of this rupture and deaths too as Crusading Westerners treated the Eastern Orthodox believers as heretics deserving of death. What paltry excuses we can always come up with when we want to deny that we are sinning!

Jesus tells us that the evil still in our world happens because we do not know our God. His words are not just about first century Palestine but are true for all times then and now. Jesus is still the Resurrected One whose being is  present in our world and in the Eternal Trinity of Heaven which is the place prepared for us until the end of time.

Dear Lord I hear your prayer that we all be one and know that your life, death and resurrection have prepared the way for us. Let your Church on Earth be ever mindful for your teaching. May all the Saints led by Our Lady in the Glory of heaven never cease to implore mercy for me and all the  peoples of Earth.

 22/05/2022

Today's readings condense all that we know about our God and our duty towards him. We have grown out of the Old Testament and still cling to it. We know God as three in one. Father Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus has cleared the Old Testament of the duties focussed on one people and opened up the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem for us all. John's Apocalypse is the last Jewish vision of God's Glory.

Before the Apocalypse was written, the first Church, the witnesses of the resurrection in Jerusalem, were becoming overwhelmed by the success of their missions and were faced with the difficulties presented by the teachings received from God and heard by the Apostles. These were the proclamations made in the Portico of Solomon and repeated by Paul in Syria and Cilicia. What a row there must have been between the learned Jews and those filled with the Holy Spirit who understood that the Resurrectiion had changed everything. They were filled with passion for they expected the Lord to be with them  again in a little while.

We are still saying "maranatha". We are still praying for the return of the Lord. We are still waiting with open hearts. Our souls are still yearning for the "return". This "return we expect to be outside of ourselves; We expect to be witnesses of a great cosmic event. We pray that God may intervene and purify the Church and the World which he has warned us against. 

Jews who believed in Jesus had to reset their whole way of life and worship. We have to know that the awaited imminent return happens to each of us in every nano-second of our beings and that peace perfect peace and holiness are here for me to grasp for we are touched by Eternity in that God knows each little one of us.

Dear Lord there is so much thought (perhaps known) and written about you. But there is no greater knowledge or worship than to say that you choose us and in your choice of me I can live according to your wishes. The prayers of your people are heard and join with the Saints and your mother Mary that on earth thy will be done as it is in Heaven . Forgive me my sins.

 20/05/2022

When Jesus calls us he wants from us an instant answer. It is no good saying,  "Let me fill my pension pot first then I will come to you" or "Let me take care of my family". Jesus' call is for this moment and it seems that it must be now. The trouble I face is that my mind is telling me that what the Gospel tells us cannot be Jesus' complete intention. Do we all really  have to sell everything to give to the poor?

The Holy Spirit is the Strength of the Apostles, our first Christian priests, and Peter thus inspired announces that it is through Jesus that the miracle in the portico has happened. He actually says "through the name of Jesus". As usual I have to come to a stop to think what exactly this can  mean. It is certainly not a word of magic as in "open sesame". Saying "Jesus" will not achieve anything. Nor will any lip-service to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. "Jesus" this word is the "Holy Name" for it belongs to the begining and is with God and is incarnate before time began.

On Earth, Jesus  man fudged nothing in his preaching. Jesus Son brought perfect obedience to "Our Father who art in heaven" . This perfect obedience and Love is the Holy Spirit; the "Name" through which the Church, although corrupted, can bring Faith Hope and Charity to all mankind.

Dear Lord you know that I don't need clear thinking or any human wisdom but Faith alone. Let my soul be sincere in its efforts to follow the way truth and life that leads to you. May your mother and saints continue to support your priests as they did St Bernardine and let me and mine come to know your peace.

 19/05/2022

It is always difficult for Goyim, Gentiles, Non-Jews to be unaffected by the concept of Chosen-People as revealed in the Old Testament. The Horror perpetrated on Egypt  at the time of Exodus cannot be welcomed or really understood by us whose knowledge of God is based on the Sermon on the Mount and the life and deeds of the Son as revealed in the New Testament.

It is true that God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, is revealed in the Old Testament and it was Son who pointed this out to his disciples during his time on earth. Peter says that the Father has approved the welcoming of Pagans into his Body on Earth, the fledgling Church and offers as proof  an undisputed fact that the Holy Spirit has been given to them just as it had to those who had walked with and seen the risen Lord.

What was the mark of the Holy Spirit that could be discerned so directly that the the listeners to Peter remained silent without dispute? 

Dear Lord may my heart and mind remain open to the Holy Spirit and let my Soul recognise your presnce in the way that Peter and his congregation did. You have blessed the Faith of those who have "not seen", let this Faith be my Hope in the Love which you lavish on your creation and the way to eternal life for all peoples on Earth.

 18/05/2022

It seems that the majority of the first believers knew the Resurrection but considered themselves to be Jews still bound by the Law of Moses. In Antioch there had grown a Church that was filled with Gentiles who had come to believe in Jesus who was not exclusive but Father, Son and Holy Spirit for all men. The dietary laws had already been abrogated by St. Peter's vision but the disputes continued. Men are always human and it is hard for us to accept even small changes that are required of us. There must have been turmoil in the Portico of Solomon and wherever else the believers met.

Today is no different in our Church where quarrels about Liturgy about Vatican 2 divide the Body of Christ. The vine is still growing but the sects are divided against each other and also internally and we all have to face the great challenge that is about the very nature of mankind. God created man and woman to be able to worship and fill his creation. 

Today people are telling us that we are able to choose what sex we should be. As teenagers we become sexually active and look for sexually satisfaction wherever we can get it. Sex is such a great driver that anything that brings satisfaction is welcomed by our bodies. This drive for satisfaction is a source of sin and totally difficult to resist. But it is not the source of life. God knows our weaknesses and can forgive us our failings but to teach children that they can choose to be boy or girl is not only nonsense but wicked beyond compare.

Contraception, abortion, same-sex relatopnships are direct challenges to the God who created us man and woman to know him love him and serve him  in this world. God's truth is simple and direct for our souls need not be confused; the love of God can keep us in the simplicity of his grace to enable to us end our lives into the Eternal Now that is God in his Heaven

Dear Lord hear all thy people as we face the bewilderment of life in this world. We cry out for your help in facing the onslaught of sin that attacks us every moment of our day. Purge thy people and especially the Church founded on St Peter which you know is full of avarice and filth. Let my soul become pure and full of your love. May Mary and all the saintly souls in heaven join in the great chorus of praise that is my hope for the end of my life and care for the sick and wounded humanity which can only survive in God's will.

 17/05/2022

It is possible to book a "pilgrimage" that follows these missionary journeys of St Paul. The ruins that can be seen are the remains of what were thriving communities in the first century. Paul and his companions were there at the peak of the Roman Peace and were able to travel on foot unmolested from city to city.

Paul was stoned for what he preached; Jesus the resurrected Son. 

Jesus teaches that what he brings to the world from Father, Son and Holy Spirit is Peace and he deliberately contrasts it with the wordly peace in which he spent his time on earth. The cities of Antatolia have thrived, disappeard and regrown over the centuries. Today Rome's power is no more but the Word that is the Love of our God for each and everyone of us "little ones" is still, as then, God's greatest gift to his creation. We have to seek it for it has been won for us by unimaginable suffering.

Dear Lord help me to pray by opening my soul to you that I might know the peace that comes from your love for mankind. I, a sinner, ask that the prayers of Mary, apostles, martyrs and all the saints be joined with mine seeking comfort for my family and for all the suffering ones in this unpeaceful world. 

 16/05/2022

Barnabas and and Paul have to escape a potential stoning but are then faced with a worse situation after the curing of the cripple, for they are mistaken for Gods  What is now central Anatolia was divided into a number of provinces themselves ancient kingdoms. It was teeming with life and riches that can be seen to this day in the ruins of the cities  mentioned by Paul in his letters and named as the seven cities by John.

I do not know of any other instance in Greek and Roman history when living humans were declared to be Gods and had a sacrifice prepared to honour them.

John's report of Jesus' words continues with Judas' (not Iscariot) mystified interruption. He wants to know whether Jesus' revelation is exclusive to the Apostles. The response confirms that Father Son and Holy Spirit are the Love which is Jesus and that anyone can share in Love by keeping to the directions given by the Way, the Truth and the Life. We must obey what has been revealed to us  and not let self-deceit create false gods from the world, the flesh and the devil. 

Dear Lord your eternity is totally beyond my human capacity to understand. I know your commandments and strive to keep them. You know my weakness and sinfulness. Forgive my sins and let me always seek the help that is Love. May your mother and all the other human souls who have faithfully followed Jesus in this life share their love with those on the this earth who  are suffering and surviving with great hardship.

 14/05/2022

Jesus chose us. Matthias was chosen by lot. I am not born of my own choice. Not one of the billions of people in the world chose our own parents. We are totally in God's hands but we are also free beings. God gives us freedom in his Love. We remain  within God's mode of being by now choosing to keep his commandments

We become friends of Father, Son and Holy Spirit by keeping the commandments. Jesus is quite plain speaking. The Love in which we can choose to live is there for us to choose it is not  a condition of being as is Oxygen. We are chosen to make the human choice to serve God. We are chosen to try to know God and avoid false teaching which is human thinking. Everything that we do has to be guided by God's revelation.

As was Matthias, Priests are also chosen by lot. There is nothing in the being of a priest that he has chosen for himself. All is from God and priests too such as Peter and Matthias become "Friends of God" by keeping the commandments. Our World, our Flesh are such a rich playgroud for the enemy of Love that many justifications are made for sin even to claiming that souls have been created in order to sin. The Truth stated by Jesus denies this ; "This is my commandment to you Love one another as I have loved you. A man can have no  greater love than lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you to."

Dear Lord you know how I have missed the target of your Love, I pray that I may be able to live out my life in consciouness of your Love and just as you did put the needs of others before my own. May your Church on earth never forget that everything must be done to further your Glory and may Mary and all the saints of heaven fight unceasingly against the evils that we know and also the insidious corruptions that grow unbehest in our human souls.

 13/05/2022

The collect prays that we may do more to further the reign of Christ. Isaiah rejoices in "integrity" and the Gospel records praise of Mary because she is the one whose flesh has become the dwellling place of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Where do we find a garment of Salvation today. The Church does not follow her own teaching. Bishops give more time to protecting their ever-diminishing political influence than to caring for their flocks. Our local Bishop, having presided previously over a Seminary of doubtful reputation, now in our diocese continues with the nonsense of promoting Mercy to the non-contrite who receive the sacramnt and then flaunt their "pride" in sin.

The Church has taught for centuries that worthy reception of the Body and Blood of Christ depends on the recipient being free from mortal sin. I know that many cohabiting couples take commuion but maintain their sinful unions. Politicians who support abortions, same-sex marriages and the stupidity of gender adjustment are not refused access to the Sacrament.

Surely today's readings will have some effect on our clergy. "Integrity" is the most unlikely virtue to be applied to the institution that seems to have no confidence in Father Son and Holy Spirit even though we have Jesus' promise to be with us until the end of time.

Dear Lord, forgive me if my knowledge of the failings of the Church you built on St Peter dominates my prayers and thinking. I look to be part of the Church of Love which cannot do wrong for it consciously looks to St John and the Marys who did not desert you on Calvary. May your mother in Heaven lead all the saints in prayer to cleanse the institutional Church of all its failures and failings.

 12/05/2022

Today's readings make it quite clear that St Paul was quite clear in his understanding that what he preached was a continuation of God's promises to the Israelites. He had been trained as a Pharisee and knew the Scriptures of the Old Testament probably by heart. St Paul would have taken at least two weeks to travel from Perge to Psidia but when he arrived he was welcomed by the Synagogue. News of him must have preceded him. The whole of the Middlle East must have been full of the Good News brought by the Apostles. Did the leader of the Synagogue in Antioch know that St Paul had joined the new sect and would preach Jesus, the Resurrection?

St John's recollection of Jesus at the last Supper underlines the need for pastors to show humility before their flocks for they are the servants of God's people and not their masters. They are also the servants of God and have to show to their sheep the same love and service as shown by Jesus. In Jesus we have Father Son and Holy Spirit as well as Humanity. Jesus knowing the events to come after the end of this meal is a manifestation of his Eternity, God's time without any change or movement. As man he accepted the time of creation but as God he "knew" in the divine mode impossible for us to understand.

Dear Lord for whom there is no past, present or future, send your Hoy Spirit in to our time-bound world and by your grace free us from the pains and trivialities of this life encouraging us to look only to you the loving Father. Let those who share your eternitiy continue to support humanity in its sickness and bring all our souls to the health that can truly love God.

 10/05/2022

The reading from the Acts is a summing up of how the Infant Church was growing; not only in numbers but also in teaching. The first nucleus had been dispersed by the attacks of the Temple.They had escaped to cities that were not predominately Jewish and had aroused the interest of Greeks, Egyptians and Phoenicians.  The universality of Christ's message  had became apparent and the Risen Lord was proclaimed also to the pagans. Antioch in Syria was to become a great Church and the first seat of St Peter before he went to Rome.

These events of the first century were to become the great shift in the history of mankind. The obscure wandering preacher from despised Galilee was indeed one with God. The story of his resurrection, spread by mouth through the lowly people of the Roman world and beyond, shook mankind to its very roots.

It was Jews who challenged Jesus in the Temple and Pilate who at Jesus' trial retorted on behalf of all Gentiles, "Am I a Jew?". In less than fifty years that huge divide had ceased to have any doctrinal significance as we all became "Christians". The teaching of the Evangelits and St Paul, the teaching that inspired both Jews and Pagans has been the same for 2000 years but the Modern World is proving to be greater than earlier times, at promulgating sin and challenging Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord let your will be done in our world. Let the Holy Spirit inspire resistance to all false guidance as to how to live our lives and let the words of Jesus regain the force that they had in the first days of the Church. Your Mother and so many Saints know the truth; let the example of their lives support us as  we face the hostility of Satan the pain of disease and the perceived lack of holiness in your Church.

 09/05/2022

Although we tend to think of Palestine in the first century as the "Promised Land" a land only inahabited by Jews, there were Greeks, Egyptians and other non-jewish people living there. Galilee was despised by Jerusalem as being "of the nations", a place of mixed blood.

The sea ports which were visited by Peter were places where the sea had "washed up" numerous pagans and it is for the salvation of these that Peter is inspired to break with those most unifying of Jewish religious  practises, the dietary laws. It is simply amazing that Peter was strong enough to argue and convince the converts in Jerusalem, many of whom belonged to Priestly Caste, that the all food was from God and without taint of "uncleaness". This was not the complete end of the problem as many Jews continued to follow the "Law" given to their ancestor but they did not insist that Gentile converts do the same.

Those first believers were very close to the time of Jesus. They believed in the Resurrection and wanted to be with those who had known the Lord before Calvary; and sought to practise the way that would lead to eternal life. That seems to be a very long time ago and although Jesus is still the gate, the sheepfold is full of thieves and brigands who provide faulty leadership which is a danger to souls, both their own and those of the people of God.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, dear Lord, inspire us to remain true to your words and have the discernment to refuse the "thieves and brigands" who now fill your depleted sheepfold. You are still the Gate and are open for anyone who sincerly wishes to live a Christian life. May the prayers of Mary and all the saints support our priests and guard them from the attractions of Devil, World and Flesh. Our souls too are in need of Faith Hope and Love; may the gates to our souls always be open to the Holy Spirit.

 08/05/2022

These early days of our Church can fill us with hope for these messengers from God, Paul and Barnabas, were the source of dissension wherever they went in central Anatolia. Dissension in the synagogs but joy to the pagans who listened to the revelations of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the first time in their long history.

One can understand the Jews who were descendants of Abraham, chosen by God to be the source of His favourite nation in their anger against these "polluters"of the Scriptures which had been the way of life of their ancestors since the days of Noah. The joy ascribed to the pagans is another matter and shows that God can be present in our world and influence our daily lives. It can only be through the will of God that the pagans, hearing the totally unprepared for message that God has forgiven all our sins and prepared for us an eterntity in his presence, instantly believed and started to spread the word.

It has got to be through the grace of God that any of us believe and follow the teaching of the evangelists and St Paul. Conversion can happen instantly as it did for St Paul but are their any words that will bring the self-satisfied to the Lord's table. EWTVN presents devout sermons and liturgies but without the fire of the Holy Spirit. Individuals such as myself, who keep plugging the same message, often fall into the trap of selfish egoism. Our prelates and clergy have lost, maybe "given up" is better, whatever moral authority they ever had. Our churches lack the sense of sacred and have become "spaces" that can be used for any purpose the "community" feels fit.

Dear Lord you manifested yourself long ago in the missionary journeys of your Apostles. You guided the written memories of your evangelists; inspired defenders of our Faith aganst heretics; please come today and revive your Church among the pagans, who cover the whole world of these modern tims. Let the fire of your Grace find willing souls to reveal by their words and deeds that you are indeed the source of eternal life. Mary, knower of God as no other, continue to lead Saints in their prayers for the sick on earth and the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

 07/05/2022

St Peter is shining in his faith today in both the main readings. God's chosen ones Peter and Paul are not without faults. Paul as Saul approved of the martyrdom of Stephen and Peter!  The first missionary journeys in Palestine bear much fruit both among the Jews and Gentiles and miracles take place; miracles that attest to the power  of God. 

Although it was in their lifetimes that Jesus had been crucifed to rise again on the third day by the insistence of their High Priests and Jerusalem mob, the Jews of Palestine were able, by searching the Scriptures to recognise Jesus as the one foretold, the Messiah. What about the pagans? Their religious sensibilities were not backed by a worked out theology of revelation and the foundaton of both Paul's and Peter's teaching was lacking to them.

"My flesh is bread, my blood is drink" was a complete turn off  for many during Jesus' lifetime. They are still with us. Jewish dietary laws demand that all blood is drained from meat before it is consumed so Jesus' words recorded by John are "intolerable" to many of the disciples.

Jesus to this day tells us that his message is directly from Father, Son and Holy Spirit and that it is our spiritual welfare that is important about our lives. We have to take in all that Christ has revealed by word and deed and even though we can be realistic about the Institutional Church when we ask ourselves "Where should I go?" our answer has got to be St Peter's magnificent reply face to face with the Lord. "Where should we go you have the message of eternal life and we believe that you are the Holy One of God"

Dear Lord I know that my thoughts can help me to keep Faith. Teach me to worry less and hope more for it is faith not thought that brings us all to the everlasting life of your Eternity. The Saints in Heaven together with our Mother Mary live for ever in this moment. May my prayer be heard and the consolation of the Holy Spirit support all those suffering in this world.

 06/05/2022

Our Lord has taught us that we should live our lives always looking above the natural world. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit can act in this world but it is to their eternal life that we guide our human created existence. Our souls live in this world but are created to belong to the same Eternal Spiritual life that is known by God.

St Paul is on his way to combat the influence of the Resurrected One in Damascus when he is hit by a direct spiritual revelation. He is in the body but sees the light of the Eternity, and hears the voice  of the Lord. Physically blinded but reborn in the Spirit he begins his work with baptism and thus starts his missionary journeys around the Roman world. 

Not only Jews but also anyone  who has heard the words "This is my body" has got to ask himself "How can this man give us his flesh to eat"? St John records Jesus teaching without any attempt to weaken the words of the Lord. Mankind of all times has seen the bread and wine of the Eucharist and asked the same question.

Bread and wine become Jesus' flesh and blood reality. We have to believe this and treat our Eucharist with total respect for  this unseen but total spiritual being. God is with us and we have this great opportunity to join Him and all His Saints in eternity. There is nothing greater in our world than this. 

Oh that our prelates and clergy would know, believe and teach this to the millions of souls given over to their care!

Dear Lord let my thoughts and words be not empty noise. Guide my soul to the state that will make me welcome in Heaven No-one can win a place with you for it is only through the life death and resurrection of the Son of God recognised and preached by Paul that our souls can reach what they were created for. May Mary lead all the saints in prayer for the cure of the sick and the wellbeing of all the innocent  faithful.

 05/05/2022

The Jewish early Church had soon found in the Scriptures the foretelling of Christ, even of his sufferings. The Ethiopian listened, understood and accepted, then requested Baptism. He accepted the grace to believe. There are Jewish Ethiopians to this day and, of course, Christians too, He accepted the Faith that had come to him from God but he was still Jewish and continued to read the Old Testament. I am wondering what happened to him after Philip left him. He went on his way rejoicing but for how long?

All of the early believers had to have contact with each other and with the Apostles for there was no Gospels for them to read alone. There are very ancient texts that are from the Apostles especialy from St Paul which explain the Faith and warn of the dangers of false teaching. 

John's record of Jesus' teaching which is now available in his Gospel shows that our Faith was already a thinking Faith. Jesus tells us that we must be like little children in our belief but we must think about the  immensity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit that is contained in the words we use. The Father teaches us in Jesus' words that the bread from heaven is the flesh of of the incarnate Son. He proclaims that "Everybody who believes has eternal life" . He does not tell us how this can be possible but that it is what we have to know as truth to be able to come to the Eternity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord, help me face today as it comes. Let me not be blinded by the beauty or hardships of this world but see in everything that is good as a product of your grace. Let the horrors being faced in so many places come to an end and may the perpertrators and their victims be filled with  Holy Spirit and regret and forgive following your words. Let those in my family and in the world who are sick be strengthened by the prayers and care of our Mother Mary but let everything be according to your will.

 04/05/2022

The English Martyrs refused to put the commands of  Caesar above the commands of God. They maintained their Faith as a minority with very little support throughout this country. There were in fact not many of them. Most English Bishops and priests regardless of the responsibilities to feed the sheep of the Lord, followed the trend and kept their land, lives and livelihoods. 

The ones who truly believed in the Lord suffered unimaginable pain from torture and execution and the Church continued under constant oppression until the lifting of the Penal Laws.When I read of the latest scandal in our Church, I cannot help but think "Did my martyred forebearers suffer and die for this?" 

At the time of the enquiry into child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in England I saw our leaders squirm under cross-examination. Jesus told us that the words to answer the Sanhedrin would be given to us as they were given to St Stephen and to St John Fisher. Why did our Cardinal and Bishops perform so poorly? Would Jesus, "suffer little children to come unto me" want to support those who  had connived for years in a despicable immorality. 

For our priests and prelates their Institutiion has become more important than their Faith and we are left as sheep without a shepherd and are forced to pray alone. Alone but Known for Father, Son and Holy Spirit are always with us to guard and guide us against sinful corruption.

Dear Lord send your Spirit into the Church founded to support your people in their quest for your promised Eternal Life and encourage the holy men to force out the dross for whom dressing up is about the limit of their Christianity. How much pain must we cause for Mary and your saints in heaven?  Let Mary and your saints continue to support me a sinner and the innocents who are in need of the pure Sacramental grace that flowed with your blood on Calvary.

 03/05/2022

Today's readings tell us without any quibble that we need to believe what we read in the Scriptures. We are not told that we need to understand. Jesus is the Eternal Word, the Son conceived in the flesh of Mary by the power the Father in the Holy Spirit. God is three persons in which each person is one God. We are told that by the Gospels particularly at the Annunciation. We do not  need to undestand but we have to believe the revelation of God himself. God the eternal creator tells us what it is and we have to believe without quibble or modification of the Word.

St Paul tells that any other beliefs are a waste of time. Nothing that we learn about our world requires belief for we can understand our physical universe by research and observation. Even sub-atomic particles can be known and manipulated. Our mistake is to think that this scientific knowledge is superior to belief. Science and technology are great achievments by mankind but they must not  be put before God.

The mystery of the Trinity has to be contemplated by faith. Our Lord tells Thomas that he who sees Jesus sees the Father. Philip chimes in with a request to see the Father. Jesus is  annoyed in his love, for Philip has been with him for years and not understood. Jesus is God. All of his deeds and words; his teaching example-setting; are the works of God for that is what he is.

I have to be on the way, in the truth  into the life that God has shown to me and recorded in the scriptures. Eternal life in the Glory of God is what the Father wants for us we only have to accept this Grace and it will be ours.

Dear Lord you know what I am facing in my life. You who promise to grant whatever I request bring healing to the suffering ones and let my belief in you not be lip service but a genuine condition of the heart. May Philip and Thomas add their prayers to those of Mary and all the saints that the suffering in Purgatory may bring atonment for sins committed and that we on earth bear witness to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 02/05/2022

Stephen is chosen to be the first to die for the new faith. What does it mean to die for the faith? I try to imagine the situation he found himself in. He was preaching in the Temple. He was a Jew albeit a native speaker of Greek rather than Aramaic. He had followed Jesus' deeds for the previous three years. He had been among those who had seen the risen Lord. He had been chosen to be a helper of the Apostles. He had learned to pray in the way that Jesus has taught. He believed in the one sent by God. This was the faith he knew.

There were many more who in the first months after the Resurrection joined with the Apostles in the Temple and then joined together for the meal at which they honoured the memory of Our Lord and God. They underwent no long formation. As Jews they knew the Scriptures as Jews they expected the return of the Lord. Stephen could not be defeated by the words of the Sanhedrin so he was taken out and stoned to death.

Jesus tells the crowds who have chased after him that they have come in search of more free food. What were the signs that they had not seen? We think of his miracles as signs of his Divinity. He is Father Son and Holy Spirit. What were the other signs that the crowds had missed? Have I missed them too?

Dear Lord I am still searching for a way to be what you have willed for me to become. I hope that as I try to undrestand your words and deeds I am pleasing to you and not just swelling my own ego. May  your mother and all the saints in heaven help me and mine by their prayers and in the light of their virtues let me see how lowly and undeserving I am.

 01/05/2022

The first reading has been used already this Easter. Peter stands up to the Sanhedrin in contrast to his shameful behaviour at Jesus' trial and crucifixion. St John's vision of the Glory of Heaven is of the eternal reduced to words and words that do not give us a clear picture of what had been revealed to him. It is the continuation of the visions of Ezechial and Daniel and I don't think that these revelations continue into our Christian era but they have inspired many to try and decipher them in order to find a secret knowledge of God.

God speaks to us directly by the lakeside in Galilee. He is definitely a body, the human body that had walked with the disciples for three years prior to being broken and dead on the cross. John is quite clear that Jesus shows himself in his resurrected form; he is there but only when he chooses do the fishermen have sight of him. He is with them for a third time by John's reckoning and is accompanied by a miracle and then continues with more of  the words that will be used to establish the primacy of Peter amongst the Apostles.

His questioning is about Love and not about power. Peter is entrusted with the task of feeding God's sheep. This is always taken as figurative language and the "feeding" is with the Sacraments. We read yesterday that the Apostles were so engossed with preaching the word that assistants were needed to help the poor and needy. Jesus by the shore fed the Apostles with fish before he, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, spoke to them. 

Dear Lord help me to truly understand and to put into practice your teachings to your disciples. Help me  to understnd the visions witnessed by John and others gifted with a mystical vision and may the care of my earthly needs not blind me to the things of the spirit. I continue to  hope that Our Lady and all the Saints can support all of us on earth  in need of healing and support.