I have found a way round my keyboard problems of yesterday. There were many excuses made when Jesus called us to follow him in the 1st century. "My keyboard has died was not one of them" then but it did pass through my mind that my excuse was on a par with those written in the Gospels; my excuse came out of putting the things of this world before those of God as it was compounded by a family visit.

St John  the Baptist was a human relative of the humanity that God had chosen for the Incarnation of the Word. There are only pious legends of Jesus' childhood but perhaps Jesus did know John when they were both growing up. Jesus did acknowledge John as a his precursor even to the extent of receiving baptism as a symbolic gesture from him and John was the first to declare his recognition of the hidden nature of Jesus just as we can find the Trinity at the scene of the Baptism in the Jordan. 

In my life I have been well protected from the violence that is accepted by many as a way of life. A click of the mouse can reveal small and large scale killings happening everywhere in the world. The drama of Jesus' betrayal torture and death is well recorded and we are moved by the words of the Evangelists but this killing of John  is quick and casual revealing the power of the temporal rulers of Jesus' day.

Thoughtlessly ignoring the needs of my own soul is a violence against myself. There should be nothing that comes between me and my maker and I have no excuses for ever ignoring the Grace of Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Father in Heaven, Jesus' dad, you know how small I am and helpless too, drive away selfishness and hypocrisy from my being so that what I think and do can be serviceable to you and not just a pathetic ego hiding from Life. May Mary our Mother in Heaven continue in that unity which is the Communion of Saints to support all of us here om Earth and in the Community of Penance that is Purgatory. 

 

 27/08/2022

This morning's Gospel is not an easy one especially coupled with the continuation of St Paul's letter to the Corinthians. St Paul tells us that the chosen ones of God are not the intellectuals and the leaders of his day but the simple people and slaves who do all the manual work that supports the marble palaces, temples and theatres of the Greek world.

Jesus' parable praises the active trading done by the first two servants and utterly condemns the third who still had the one but had not increased its value. He is condemned to what seems like Hell, a place with no joy but only pain and suffering. This does not seem like the Jesus of the beatitudes. The gifts that the man gave were in proportion to the abilities of the servants. 

To make sense of this parable it could be possible to view the gifts in reverse order. St Paul tells the Corinthians that God has chosen the unwise and untalented to build up the Church. These are  those who receive 5 and 2 talents. It is the rich and successful who are satisfied by their place in this life who receive only one gift from God and put it to oneside as they go through life satisfied that at the end they will be able to draw out the Faith that they have done nothing to increase.

If I do  nothing to grow in the grace distributed to all of us by Father, Son and Holy Spirit and for this failure blame God ,"I sin because you the All-Powerful made me this way" there is no reason for me to think that by fishing out a remembered belief from the back of mind I will be able to become acceptable and fit for eternity.

Dear Lord help me to grow throughout this day and let my will align itself to yours. This morning's parable has exercised my mind and even though my understanding is probably wrong you know that I have tried my best to find a positive interpretation as giving more to those who already have seems to be an injustice. May Mary and all the saints continue to keep us in their prayers to support the sick and needy and to cheer me up as I have started today quite bemused by the Gospel,. May St Monica's prayers still be heard for all parents who want their children to follow the road of righteousness.

 26/08/2022

St Paul's letter to the Corinithians continues to confrim that I should not be worried by my lack of understanding of the wisdom of the philosophers. I am unable to retain in my mind the theses of Theology and try to explain this lack of understanding and retention by telling myself that God's great love can be undestood to the fullness of my abilities and I cannot pass beyond that point. A half-pint glass cannot hold a full pint. I must still stive to eke out and replenish my  knowledge for it  is like the oil carried by the bridesmaids; it needs to last until the coming of the the Lord.

I still like reading Theology and have previously remarked that in this I am like King Herod who liked to listen to the Baptist interpretting the Scripture but was perplexed by  him, Paul stakes his all on the inspiration, the Faith that comes from God. Illogical foolishness is what he rightly proclaims the surface of his preaching  to be. But now he tells us that "this foolish" Wisdom comes from the grace of faith for what seems foolish and illogical to us in fact is the evergreater Wisdom of God.

The Cross is the saviour of our souls. Defeat death and despair are held up on the wood of the cross. Everything comes clear in the light of the Resurrection. We still have to do justice to our "image and likeness" by striving to "Know"God. We can "Love and Serve" but by concentrating on the Cross we can know that all that is Good comes directly from the one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord. you know how each morning I turn all of my being to you and in your Scriptues I find Faith Hope and Love. Let these virtues even at the end of my life grow so that the lamp that is my soul remain full of the Light of Your Love and so enter into full communion with You, Your Mother and all the Saints. Your people on Earth are still scandalised by the way of the Vatican. May Our Lady and all the Saints' prayers turn the eyes of the  princes of the Church to the poverty humility and obedience displayed by your Son on earth and act accordingly.

 25/08/2022

St Paul's letter to the Corinthian was written les than 40 years after Jesus, God and Man  had walked the earth. The people who had joined to be one mind in their worship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit were Pagans as well as Jew. The Jews would have had some knowledge of God's dealing with mankind  from Scriptures which they read when keeping the Sabbath. How did the Greeks and other races become believers? 

This unbeautiful but eloquent tentmaker had come to them with stories of a visitation to our world by the only one God. He had condemned Zeus Athena Aphrodite and all the Olympian  Pantheon as non-existent and hence powerless; the Son of this God was not a hero or superhuman; he was from an unknown family of peasant artisans in that strange province from which all the Jews that they knew had come. The carpenter had done wonders but made no attempt to take over the State. He taught that the Love of his Father in Heaven was the only source of being. That poor and destitute were the objects of his special care and that to the violent there was to be no resistance. He was a king but his kingdom was not of this world.

Nothing in the basic story of  Jesus was attractive in any way to the epicures and sophisticated intellectuals of the Greek world. He even died as a common criminal naked and humiliated before the mob of his countrymen who had rejected him. He rose from the dead. Those five words are  the core of the Good News brought by all the Apostles on their missionary journeys. Those words uttered  and expounded by all the Apostles, known and unknown, must have been accompanied by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on them and their listeners for the Word is spread in our hearts by God and it is through God's grace that we can come to be ready for his coming. Maranatha!

Dear Lord may the beginning of this day stay in my mind and let my soul rest in your grace. Let me be ready for anything you might need from me and let the support of your Holy Mother and all the saints be with the poor and suffering who are greatly in need of your Love.

 24/08/2022

The God-given Bartholemew found by Philip but already known by Jesus, is counted among the Apostles by John. "What good can come out of Nazareth?" is attributed to  him. The remark arises out of typical human rivalry between nearby towns and villages; Nathanael/Bartholomew was from Cana. Jesus promises him a vision of God's eternity with everything in this world known by God; this awareness is personified by "angels" the touches of God received by human souls; the spiritual beings that were the first of God's creation. Gabriel it was that revealed God's purpose to Mary and together with all the heavenly host sang of the Nativity to the shepherds of Bethlehem.

None of us know of the guardianship we have received from our own angel. We do not even know the  name of this spiritual being except that it has been created by God and is thus like Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the same way that is all creation but without matter.

The Apostles are the foundation stones of our Church. They witnessed the risen Lord. They had lived walked and talked with Jesus. They had been awe-inspired to the extent of leaving home and families behind in order to be with this man. They had had huge expectations and had received the great "failure" of Calvary with despair. The Resurrection was more than they had ever anticipated. They then realised that  it was to spread this "Good News that that they had been chosen.

Today the descendants of the Apostles are cluttered with management problems;each day they are faced with the problems of living in a world where the false values of the fallen angels have swamped out that Faith that drove their originals to spread the Good News Each fallen priest and Bishop adds to the pain and disbelieve of those God has put into their care.

Dear Lord awaken your church leaders to their true purpose which is to assure their people that what God wants of the living is Faith, Hope and Love. What need have you, the Evergreater, of vast Bascilicas and human art.? I pray again that with your help I might keep my sight fixed firmly on the Heavenly Jerusalem where all souls are in the glory of your presence. May Mary continue in her support of all who are sick and troubled in this life especially caring for the poor souls who are hving to flee their homes because of the wickedness of Sinful Humanity.

 23/08/2022

Most of us do not like criticism of any sort and if one does state a negative opinion in public there is usually a chorus against the "Judgemental"one. The truth is that we have to be "judgemental" every second of our lives if we are to always be ready to put the will of God before our own. St Paul warns the Thessalonians to beware false announcements of the Second Coming or the End of the World. 

A Eucharistic Minister who attends and takes part in a Protestant Communion service is not doing right and needs to be told so . A priest who is known to be abusing has to be exposed. Episcopal cover ups cannot be tolerated and have to be exposed. The Financaial Shenanigans at the very top of the Human Institution the Church founded by Christ has become cannot be tolerated, and present for us the poor people of the Lord a huge obstacle to our belief and understanding of our place on earth.

Jesus' attack on the Pharisees this morning was not greeted with a chorus of "don't be judgemental, they are only human". The people of his day were all aware of the sinfulness of their leaders but were not active to think about it. We have only one father and our Father is aware of all and it behoves us to look for the true way to his Holiness.This can only be done by using our consciences to judge between truth and lies, good and evil. The enemy of Father, Son and Holy Spirit inspires so many of our people with a false sense of freedom that they sincerely believe that humanity can do what it wants with our God given lives.

Dear Lord, at your birth the first human love that you knew was that of your mother may that human love be mingled with the Divine, Father Son and Holy Spirit,  Love you have for the Church and prune out the dead dying and corrupting branches that choke our desire to love and sincerely worship you. May all the saints and their heavenly Queen continue to plead for the suffering ones here on earth.

 22/08/2022

Paul and Timothy are full of delight and praise for the Thessalonians who have responded and remained faithful to the Good News received via Paul from Jesus. These early Christians are usually faithful to the eye-opening that thay have received by the Grace that comes from God. There is some backsliding and bickering of course, they, as we, are only human, but the Faith that is ours today grew not by force of arms or state dictat but by the love that inspired the preachers and priests of those days long ago in the past. 

Our faith in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit  and our place in Creation brought to us directly by the the Resurrecton is still exactly the same as it was when Paul/Saul approved of the execution of Stephen and accepted the commission to harry the converts in Damascus. Saul's conversion to Paul was the the direct call of the Resurrected Son and his Sanhedrin-approved mission was radically overturned into preaching the life death and Resurrection.

There is a great contrast between Paul's joy and Jesus assesment of the "Church" leaders of his day. I felt so disappointed on first reading the Gospel for Jesus words more than reflected my own concerns about the condition of His Church today. ( I felt a rant coming on) but yesterday I was drawn to a TikTok posting by an African priest whose joy in the Gospel of the Lord shone out of screen and I remembered  being in my parish Church some time about 1950 when a Missionary priest forecast in his sermon that those to whom he was now preaching in Africa would one day bring the Faith back to us. Amen!

Dear Lord I have still to live through this day dedicated to Mary our Queen and Mother. Let me be close to you and far away from the sins that fill my consciousness and life. Just because the Western Church has lost its way in the concerns and stupidities the secular "isms" and direct challenges aimed at you put before our eyes each day does not mean that you are not still present with us even to the end of time. Of course, all this is known to you please accept my feeble response. May Mary whose feastday as Queen and Mother is celebrated today, place before you all our troubles in this life that we may become more secure in our knowledge that your grace never leaves us even if we ignore it.

 21/08/2022

We are all the chosen people of God, some by adoption some by right of birth. Isaiah a chosen prophet of the chosen people had it revealed through him that all the peoples of the world past, present and to come are living a being, an "isness" that is a reflection of the Eternal Being, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is the simple truth. Today I woke up and took some time to come round. I began my routine in the knowledge that I had not followed the Lord yesterday as I had promised to do and was still as sinful as I have always been. 

 The plain reality of human life is this. Each day that we live under the sun is filled by us with tasks that are brought to us by the necessities of our bodies and then we work or play; we continue to support our bodies by food drink and exercise, some of us are stong or weak, healthy or sick; newly born or at death's door. There is not one basic difference between the humanity of each individual of our billions.

When we are called to end our lives we will not be called to give an account of our wealth or our poverty, our rise through the ranks of human society or our failures in the human time that we have now left. We will be judged on  how we have been faithful followers of the living road that has been revealed to us; the living road that has both been mapped out by and is Jesus.

Dear Lord, let me be filled with the courage that can face up to my own sinfulness and accept the punishments that can bring me to the human maturity that knows the ever present reality of your Love and share in it with all those living and dead who will be touched by eternity. May Mary whose being has never known sin continue to care for us entrusted to her care by Jesus/Son at the horror that was the Crucifixion, and may she have extra care for the victims, the sick, the innocent for whom this world is an ever present suffering. As always, this prayer is a response to the grace that cames through Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Blessed be God!

 20/08/2022

One of the ways The Lord made himself known to his people, Israel, was by giving visions of his Glory to his prophets. We have the record of those inspiratins in the Old Testament. We know that Scriptures are not man-made literature for Jesus used them and prayed from them; his last words were taken from a psalm. He explained his death and resurrection on the road to Emmaus by reference to the prophets.In our New Testament we have the words of witnesses to his life death and resurrection; we have the words that lead us to Father, Son and Holy Spirit, words that lead us to eternal life.

The leaders of Jewish people were students of Scriptures. They memorised masses of text. Their descendants who kept alive the knowledge of their ancient contract with the Being whose name could not be uttered in human language, lost God in "secrets" found by arcane theories and manipulation of text; they became objects of awed respect and were all called Rabbi.

The Word which is always God's eternal Being became man and curtailed himself to accept the limitations of human freedom. Although exalted in Father, Son and Holy Spirit he is the humbled one even to the willing aceptance of the humiliation of a public death, scorned by the scoffing mob, naked on Calvary.

Our Church cannot lie to us as we have the promises of the Holy Spirit to that effect. The teachings that she formulates and approves; the Liturgies that she celebrates; the code of conduct with which she guides our human lives is the Sacramental life approved by "Our Father", our Dad in heaven. Within the sinful humanity that make up the Church there are to be found all human faults and the self-driven pride that seeks to advance a personal ego. The priests who pray the words of this Gospel this morning are all called "Father"in the languages of this world. Did Jesus not mean what he said? 

Dear Lord help me this day. Let my sins be left behind in true recognition of what they are. You have shown me the way to live and let the fog that occludes my sight of you be lifted so that my will is yours alone. May the Mother of our Church, Mary's prayers bring the Holy Spirit into the hearts of all priests that they may seek to do only your will and inspire the hearts of the faithful in this world that they might be happy in the next.

 19/08/2022

If we lead ourselves out of the love of God we become the dry bones; the inaminate material that is the dust to which we will return. It is "dust", it is the foundational material created by God out of nothing but without the living breath that is our soul. We are indivisibly created beings of flesh and soul with a consciousness that draws us to God. God it is that reveals himself and with his love encourages us to search him out.

Without the guidance of God we wander in a meaningless desert. Beautiful though it may be the star-filled Cosmos is as nothing before its evergreater Creator. Jesus tells the Pharisees that loving Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the beginning of the Law, the beginning of Wisdom the beginning of righteousness that is the result of recognising and obeying the will of Our Father of whose being Jesus has emptied himself to live as a true (although without sin ) man..

Jesus takes on the sins of the world to bring us to the Father. An eternal life is what we have now. We are taught the way to the being of the eternal Father by example of Jesus/Son. The Holy Spirit is the inspiration and guardian of each of us and of the Community of Souls that our church was founded to be.

The "Church" of Jesus' days had developed into a tangle of legalisms which  were disputed by the schools of Pharisee and Sadducee and it is with the mindset of having him agree with their interpretatons that they sought out his opinions. Since the first century Jew and Christian have disputed in much more terrible ways. We must not forget that what happened on Calvary was by the will of God and that Jesus' humanity is Jewish and that our Church has inherited the mantel of God's Covenants. The symbolic rainbow belongs to Noah and not to the sinners who have misapproprated it today.

Dear Lord, let my life be moulded by your love, let the dross of my being become truly aware of your love, let me live this day without sin and let me learn the atonement that is a sincerity inspired by The Holy Spirit. The real leader of our Community of Saints is your Mother present in your Eternity but able to touch innocent souls here on earth. May all your priests today "Hear the word of the Lord" and seek to lead the dry bones along the way, truth and life .

 18/08/2022

It is hard to imagine anyone in this age who would refuse an invitation to a Royal Wedding. Evenso Jesus' comparison still is an image of our lives in this  world oblivious to the real truth of our being. Ezekiel passes on revelation of the Lord that He is and his Holiness is his being. The people have lost touch with Holiness which has to be sought out if we are to be the living humans God has created us to be. We are not stone but living flesh and the living that we are graced with is the Love of God, the infinite mercy that has never lost touch with our souls since Adam was created.

What is revealed in the created time of our Cosmos is contained in the Scriptures and through the Scriptures is revealed to us. Father Son and Holy Spirit has created our lives and shows us the perfection of being that we can aspire to, a perfection that we have to attain by our own living, understanding growing in this world in the footsteps of Son/Jesus. 

We are not a race living as the chosen ones. We are a community of believers. Each one of us is known as an individual even though we are a raggle taggle of rich and poor, healthy and sick, wise and foolish. All humanity is as known as Adam was and it is to  this standard of prefall man that we are all called. Our newly baptised souls are the best we can ever be in this world and it is this sinless condition that is our wedding garment.

We are free to choose but only by the grace of God.

Dear Lord only one of the motley crew called to the wedding feast was found to be unworthy of the honour. Can I hope that this is the reality of today? You know that the consciousness of sin all around me is unavoidable and to ignore it would be turning my back to the reality of your Holiness. May Mary, the only sinless human, other than her son, ever born, continue her care of Jesus on this earth the Jesus who founded the Church to continue his Father's mission through the Love of the Holy Spirit.

 17/08/2022

The situation that Ezekiel is blasting with words of God happened in the Middle East more than two and a half thousand years ago. The ruins that  inspire us with the abilities of their builders, who without modern day tools, created palaces and cities were still standing and occupied by thousands of people. Of these the Jews and their prophets were the only ones to have had God speak directly to them.. Others had sought by thinking out their human situation to understand the nature of life and had recogised qualities in their experience of self-awareness which they deified and attempted to worship. God's revelation and promises passed on through individual prophets are wonderful events but seemingly powerless to contain the human freedom that inevitably backslides from the Truth revealed to his people.

The Church that was founded by Jesus on Peter has grown so that in her can be found all elements of God's revelation of himself. She is full of saints and sinners. I am not alone in being overwhelmed by the sinfulness but inspired by her words. Ezekiel inspired two and a half thousand years ago is speaking directly to the institution that is still the Church of Peter in this modern age. The Father Son and Holy Spirit still creates the same love that is the Sacrament of Life on the altar; the same Love that was the broken body taken down from the cross and accepted by Mary; the same Love that is that Body on Earth, the Church.  The perfect Freedom that is our God wants only to pour out Love to draw our human freedom into the Love that is Eternity. We are welcomed no matter how puny are our efforts but first we do have to accept the invitation to work in the vinyard.

Dear Lord let me be found waiting for your work even in the eleventh hour. There can be nothing in your gift of Love that is other than that for it is all and part of you and freely bestowed. In my prayers I hope that I am touching Eternity where your mother and all saints are in your freedom unconfined by human time but through the grace of God attentive to the needs of we thy people on Earth.

 16.08/2022

The King of Tyre is exactly what mankind has grown to be since those days. Although we have had the the meaning of our beings made clear to us by the Incarnation we still devote our lives to Mammon; with the pursuit and acquisition of wealth the sole good. Of course the wealthy and powerful of this world will say that such as I are only motivated by jealousy. For they enjoy their money; they admire themselves; they really do tell themselves that they are great ones but no matter how desperately they try to prolong their lives there comes a day when they are unable to dump the burden of wealth from their camel back.

I  really do question myself too; am I jealous and search for God because I have never had the the wisdom and intelligence needed to acquire wealth in this world? Am I fooling myself with "pie in the sky"? At death will I become nothing and thus not know the answer to my search for meaning during my time of being?

I can be sure "as eggs is eggs" though that no wealth will be with me when I breath my last breath. I do not expect an instant happiness and all answers at that moment. My hope is that I will be able to atone for the sins of my being, committed in human time and know that I have responded well to the will of our Creator and no trejected the Love that is the being of Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord let not the knowledge of the  sins of others  be in any way satisfying to me. Jesus has come to the world to abolish sin even the King of Tyre's and I too must pray for my enemies and yours for it is through love that you show that "nothing is impossibel to God" May Mary help me to acheive repentance that Jesus/Son will protect me and all mankind from the lure of human experiences and wealth that will not last and so doing make us ready to be taken into eternal love.

15/08/2022

Ezekiel is a sign for all the exiles in Babylon. He has lost the joy out of his life. He faces up to the loss and does as he was commanded by God. The people too loose their joy; they have to face up to the destruction of the Temple and deaths of family who have been left behind. The things dedicated to God  are not God. Loving our churches and their contents can become a form of idolatry with which we busy ourselves because "zeal for your house" is not the same as living with love and a heart open to welcome our Father Son and Holy Spirit.

In some ways I am living the life of the exiles in Babylon. My trust in the Church has been eroded. The Temple was lost by the freedom given to us all. Our God knows about the state of our  "temple" that has grown out of his life death and resurrection. He knows what it is that has so weakened his clergy and why our human religion is crumbling so quickly. We are tempted to say "Come on God do something about it".

We have been created capable  of knowing God but we have rejected his love and become immersed in the wealth of the world. The young man left dejected because he knew that he could not leave his wealth for the "perfect life" offered by Jesus. Our daily task is to know that we are in the sight of God, to approach him with our love and to serve him by living without sin. Nothing is impossible for God!

Dear Lord you know that my purpose is confused but that the failure of words cannot harm a pure intention. Keep my soul directed to you and let not failure of clarity become more important than right intention. Let my prayer focus on you and not on my self-image. May Mary your Mother include me and mine in her prayers to you as indeed she must,as she is in the timeless eternity of your Glory.

 14/08/2022

Today celebrates the Assumption of Mary Mother of God, the God Carrier,Theotokos. No matter how many titles I pile on the Ever Virgin I can never come closer to undestanding the unassessabe significance of her still-continuing  life. Faith tells me that her place in creation is second to none for it is from the Incarnation that took place by natural process in her womb that salvation was brought back into the world  where it had been expelled from, by the sin of our first parents.

The ecstatic vision of the Book of the Apocalypse is the Glory of God as revealed to the writer, a Jew in the tradition of of all the prophets who must know as he writes of his experience that the words he uses do not come close to the  mystical touch of the eternity of our God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. Mary's own experience of the immensity of the closeness of God is the Magnificat. Nothing known  by man approaches the beauty of this recognition of the Glory of our Creator Eternal Being felt by this human being who is touched . Mary has been chosen from all eternity to be the Mother and the humility of our God is already growing within her. 

Yes indeed is she blessed among women and blessed are we by the fruit of her womb.

Dear Lord may my deeds approach the meaning of words both read and written. Let me be cleansed of sin and ready for whatever your will has prepared for me. Mary whose glorious being is present in her glorified body with Jesus Son and all saints continue in prayer for us who are still trapped in time but longing to do the will of God and so come to be in the presence of our creator in the eternal now.

 13/08/2022

 Over the years I have tried to pay attention to readings at Mass. I remember Ezekiel for the measuring of the Temple and the bones that will be revivied.I cannot recall having noticed today's passage before. Here is God's promise to treat everyone as an individual. My personal feeling has been that I am also personally responsible for my own children and I have felt guilt that none of them can respect the church founded by Jesus. It is true that I am not a good example of Christian virtues but I am not totally responsible. I pray for  the mercy that I have received to be shared also by them and all ill-taught children. "They **** us up our parents do".

This record of prayer has the title "Alone but Known" reflecting my estrangement from the "institution " that was founded by the Lord as the Church which was to be his body on earth. In this morning's reading I can see that God makes it clear that I am responsible for myself and my children likewise. God knows that I would like for my family to know the greatness of God and accept the living Word born of the Father before the world was made. This is my prayer.

The Gospel must provoke unhappy reflections in all of us especially in those who knew of deviant clergy but did not report to the civil authorities when it became obvious that Church Elders only tried to do the impossible and protect reputation, the public image not the Soul, of the Church. Jesus was speaking of real children who could have grown up to be the infant church. There is also the image all of us who indivdually have to acquire the simple faith of a child in the God the Evergreater even to the extent of calling him "Dad".

Dear Lord it is hard to continue in your love where it is totally refused. Let me be open to your superabundant grace and turning the other cheek accept your chatisement of my weak self and self control. May the Saints in heaven lead by Our Lady pray for me that I might treat all in the way I would like to be treated.

 12/08/2022

Again the word of God is recorded by his prophet in fantastic imagery. Ezekiel captures the minds of listeners by elaborate images that he embellishes and interweaves but never loses sight of his initial purpose. The people of Israel were as an abandonned baby and, as was usual at that time,  a female when chosen by God as a spouse. She had nothing and faced certain death but was brought up to be beatiful without compare and was even more favoured by the contract, the promise God made to her even binding himself.

Jesus always opens our eyes to the reality of our lives and our relatonshhips first to God and then among our neighbours. How can we face and understand the gender/sex of  our beings. Man and woman. There is no mention of any other variety of human except for the eunuch. Jesus came to fulfill the Law of Moses not to break it and here tells us that in God the breaking of vows and "marrying" another is fornication. 

The eunuch is a man who is either without sex organs  by birth or by mutilation. Celibacy can be a deliberate choice in order to devote oneself to prayerful devotion to God. Father Son and Holy Spirit have never recognised the state chosen by many to indulge in sexual activity with their own kind. This is the corrupter of the innocents, the bain of mankind and the ruination of many priests.

Dear Lord let your  Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your people, especially your clergy, that we may become able to resist the power of the devil's media and confirm in our very beings your truth, confirming that we were created man and woman and let any other teaching be refuted in public by the Church. Mary whose virginity even though the Mother of God remains as the perfect woman just as Jesus the man is the perfection of man, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our deaths. 

 11/08/2022

Ezekiel must have lead a life that was so devoted to doing the will of God that he is almost an extension of God. Of course, that is an impossibel exageration but he was chosen by God to prepare the rebellious chosen people for a return to their birthright and a renewal of the Temple where God received the sincere worship and recognition of his being that is the only way to true life.

Jesus is not an extension but truly God and a human body. The mystery that is the Trinity is there as the body that is truly man. God cannot lie and thus we too must strive for the perfection that it is possible for us to have. The chosen people rebelled and rebelled again and still do. What are they thinking of in again occupying their promised land and acting as conquerors denying lawful possession to other owners?

The Father Son and Holy Spirit show us in the teaching of Jesus that it is completely false to think and act as if might were right We must treat our brothers in a way that would be still the best for us to receive. The king in the parable not only forgave the servant but reversed the punishment into reward. The sincere grief that was witnessed by the king was enough to open his heart and reveal the mercy that was concealed. 

I always wish to immediately condemn the evil of the steward but Jesus teaches us that the standards we apply to others are those that we will have applied to us. God is merciful to me a sinner, how can I condemn or throw the first stone.?

Dear Lord let me live through this day knowing and believing what I have read and have accepted sincerely. Clare believing in holy poverty gave up her riches. In heaven with her mother united by the  Celestial Vision, Father, Son and Holy Spirit she  can join her prayers with Mary to intercede for sick suffering and sinful people united by Son here on earth.

 10/08/2022

Today the readings from the New Testament remind us that open handed giving is  required and approved by God.  In another reading we are taught that  the value of  giving does not depend on the amount but on its relationship to the wealth of the giver. Great charitable foundatons have recently been created out of the wealth of young gifted and hardworking computer scientists but the nature of their skill means that they still continue to accrue billions. The rich young man of the gospels was told to give all his wealth to the poor and went away sadly for he was a man of great wealth. It was much harder for him to acquire his wealth than it is for anyone today.

The seed sown by the Apostles has grown into the Church we know. The true wealth of the Church is only in the preaching of the Gospels. The good news has to be spread thoughout the whole world. All the wealth of the world will not last. How much wealth is tied up in the land and property owned by our Church? Its a commonplace to complain of this but what can be done? I know that Jesus' body on earth does not require the magnificence of Rome. The Temple has been destroyed and the return of the remnant is characterised by the arrogant Atheism of its replacement nation. 

There is nothing we can do about the growth of wealth in this world; it is as inevitable as the passing of time. What we have to do is avoid a preoccupation with money and seriouly consider whether or not our Church should divest herself of all wealth and become as her founder so that we can follow relying only on the providence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord I try to concentrate on the meaning of your words but my inner self keeps drawing me to look at my own. As I pray I need only to await your gift to me and then my words are not my own. Holy Mary Mother of God intercede for me that my angel may overcome the powers that assail me and my service become not of the lips but of the heart.

 09/08/2022

Edith Stein was a woman of great intellect and academic prowess who repeated in her life the story of the chosen people and of Jesus.

The first believers to follow the teaching of Jesus and write their memoirs that have become our New Testament were all Jews and worshippers of God.  Many were persecuted by their co-religionists and many also lived to see not the Second Coming, but the complete obliteration of the centre of their worship. The Temple is no more but its teaching is our Old Testament.

I have read the life of this great saint but can only recall from my memory that her studying and teaching of philosophy drew her to the teaching of her fellow Jew and that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit called her to become a life devoted to worship. In her death the result of a denunciaton she also followed Jesus and was one of the victims of Nazi challenges to God.

There was a time in my lifetime a period when Bishops ( the Dutch Bishops in this case) did the right  thing and denounced evil politics and war. My own Bishops are characterised by avoidance of conflict with the state and with the politics that not only deny God but advise their fellow citizens to do the same.

Jesus in his Incarnation brought Good News. Our sins can be forgiven and our consciousnes of  Beauty Truth and Good can live on if we in our total being Know, Love and Obey.

Dear Lord newly inspire your Church to follow the example of your Saints and find joy in their choice to follow you. Let them avoid the perfidious influence of Satan working through the ever challenging denials of your teaching by the those who wield the power of politics and media influence. May your mother and ours help me to control my mind and know that there is nothing that is false in a life lived knowingly in the sight of her Son, the Resurrection and joy of all humanity.

 08/08/2022

Coins do not have a prominent place in the New Testament. Jesus' attack on the money changers in the Temple obviously comes to mind. This miraculous finding of the coin in the fish is repeated as true history. It is not the easiest of miracles in which to put our faith.The contracted tax collecters did not approach Jesus directly but reminded Peter about it. The validity of the Church's quest for financing in this world has been seen as revealed in this episode.;as was "render unto Caesar" in refence to the support paid directly to the Temple.

The visions of Ezekiel are received during the exile and truly "by the waters of Babylon". The question which I ask is as usual, in the case of attempted descriptions of God, were these images a reality outside of the being of the gifted one or were they an attempt to recreate the overpowering knowledge of Father Son and Holy Spirit that by the will of God they had been chosen to receive?

I ask because I and the rest of mankind have become familiar with the products of computer aided special effects passed before our eyes by tvs and cinemas. These alternative realities take place before our eyes but have no value for although we are captivated by them second by second they are still unreal, mere shadows on a screen. Shadows which darken the truth of reality even more than do our own eyes naturally; as St Paul well knew, "we see as through a glass darkly."

We are all known by God in our complete reality. The Evergreater chooses those to whom he reveals himself and is still totally Glorious beyond their ability to describe or our ability to follow.

Dear Lord in the  Life, Death, Resurrection you have given  us all an image that is seeable for the Word is also true Man. Let me be true to this Good News and find it anew each day. May Our Lady continue to support us as she is the only human who knows you as do all mothers know and weep over their children.

 06/09/2022

The writer of today's reading from "Hebrews" is certain that what  has been witnessed in the Person of Jesus and the foundation of the Church is a manifestation of the will of God. The same manifestation had been shown in the history of the Jewish believers for whom he was interpreting this "will" in the light of the Resurrection and the witness to this  of  (himself?) and the disciples.The Church is interpreting this by presenting to us the "Wisdom" that tells us that what we all are, is by the will of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; we are chosen to be the ones "to be made glorious" by God.

The poetry of the psalm is inspired by the joy given by God to those of us who can really know Him in the depths of our hearts. This gift of Faith celebrates itself by prayer for "praise is fitting for loyal hearts". Prayer does not bring us to God but God approves of us by recognising our thanks for the Glory of his being shared by us. Our share is infinitesimally small but we are small and yet large  enough to recognise it by knowing, loving and obeying.

Jesus' parable contains all the meaning of the the history of the Jews and his own Incarnation. Every human  is known by God and entrusted with life that should be lived according to his will revealed to the prophets, announced by them and confirmed by Jesus the Son. Today's message from Jesus' lips is without room for any interpretaton on grounds of ambiguity. Those who have received the gift of Faith have to guide the will that is their being, their human will, to complete the Will of God that Faith reveals to us all.

God does not drag us into heaven as we rebel kicking and screaming. We have to choose whether to honour the revelations of Father, Son and Holy Spirit or go "kicking and screaming" into that other place.

Dear Lord I hope that today I can with a truly open heart live on in the knowlege that I am known and loved by you. You know that my heart does not burn within me when I try to face "g""o""d" my will is weak and my understanding weaker. May Mary whose love of you was awakened by the message of an angel support me, as the loving mother she is, and all those in my family for whom I now pray. Forgive us all our sins and let us be ready for an individual "last day" or your "return"to us all. Maranatha!

 06/08/2022

I always find it difficult to recreate in my own mind the Old Testament's and St John's visions of the Glory of God. The scenes that they record are beyond my mind's capacity to store and imagine. John Peter and James witnessed the Jesus Son born of the Father through all eternity. They beheld the Glory of God from God. They saw three figures. The narrative of the Gospel makes it clear that this was not a dream enclosed in their own minds but an event outside of themselves. They were admonished not to tell of this great event they had been chosen to accept.

Later on in the story of Jesus of Palestine we are given a much more public and less awe-inspiring sight of God.We see him powerless beaten and bleeding carrying his own deathbed through the streets of Jerusalem. We see him manhandled by foreign soldiers, pagan servants of Rome. Vilified by his own nation and denied by his own followers he appears to be without hope as he cries out the words of a despairing Psalm and is dead.

Many more than three witnessed Jesus' body in its resurrected form. They were not warned to keep it as esoteric knowledge only for the selected few but on the contrary to go out and announce this Good News to the whole world. Father Son and Holy Spirit knows us and loves us and has prepared a tent for us to be in the Eternity that is his being. Wow!!!!

Dear Lord let my soul be cleansed of the sins of this world, let my mind dwell only on you and let my body obey my will as directed by you. May Mary who on earth knew the Glory of God and his complete humanity in her son Jesus now in heaven with all the Saints continue in her prayers for all her children here on Earth. Each day I pray the same petition although I know that she can do no differently for Mary is a living prayer.

 05/08/2022

The dedication of the  Basilica of Our Lady in Rome is commerated today. The "greatness" of the Basilica thrusts the contrast between the humble girl of Nazareth and this mighty structure built to celebrate her obedience to the will of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, into our faces. We cnnot ignore it. When the church was built in the 5th century the Church was already the structured institution that would eventually reform the crumbling Empire of Rome and already contained the seeds of her own crumbling that we cannot ignore today. The people who made up this institution were all "believers" but just we are, believers and still sinners. 

Even within the close circle of Jesus' friends there were sinners other than the traitor. It is to us the sinners that God has willed the salvation brought about by his own torments on Calvary. The great buildings dedicated to the worship of God are but by-products of the Incarnation and nothing more. They are also nothing more than the material manifestation of the  voiced "Lord, Lord" that Jesus warned us about.

St Mary's "greatness"is not in her worldly images and displays but in that she was chosen to be, the Mother from whom God begot the Son who together with the Holy Spirit is, without growth or change, the source of all being, the creator of this Universe and of each indivual who has or is or will be living a life of human freedom limited only by the need to worship and obey. Our Lady's "greatness" is in her "Fiat"an instant alignment of her human will to God's. We are all called to do the same; not to shout "Lord, Lord!"but to do the will of the Father.

Dear Lord may all your people keep from sin this day. May the example of Faith that is the known life of your mother inspire us to the true worship you have taught us in your begotten humanity.  Let Holy Spirit guide us and strengthen us in our fight against your enemies who are determind to deny you and teach the world to do the same. May Mary and all the saints bring comfort to the sick and all the suffering peoples especially to the children and innocent peoples of  this world.

 

 04/08/2022

Each day it takes time for me to wake-up properly. I cannot say that my first thoughts are of God or prayerful in  any way. It is an act of will to remove the fanatasies and rememberings from my mind but the waste matter leaves my body by instinct. God is not naturally in my mind. It is an act of human will to turn to the Father Son and Holy Spirit even though God promises to be in our hearts so that he can be Our God and we his People. 

We are not, however,  imprinted chips but completely free agents in our spiritual beings. God chooses us but we must agree with that choice to fulfill are callings on this earth. The prime example is the "Fiat" of Our Lady but today the Church remembers the Cure d'Ars who made an impression on so many sinners and priests during his parish ministry. There are not many other Parish Priests who have been canonised.

Today St Peter is the first to voice recognition of the true being of his wandering Rabii. Our being as humans is made up of created matter and spirit. This is witnessed by ourselves in everyday living and by our reading and meditations of Scripture. St Peter calls out the truth known to his soul. "You are the Christ the Son of the Living God". Jesus immediately calms his fervour by reminding that the Faith displayed by this son of Jonah is a favour from our Creator. Peter is inspired by Grace. 

St Peter's soul is inspired to make that momentous declaration. However, it does not take long for his humanity to race ahead and dispute the need for God's will to be fulfilled even though he is in the presence of the Son/God whom he has just been inspired to acknowledge. God's ways are not man's that is why we can worship him for he is the Evergreater.

Dear Lord may the memory of St John Mary Vianney remind us as mass is celebrated today that it is possible for us to have holy priests and that sins are forgiven in Confession by the promise of Jesus. The necessry suffering of Jesus has won for us the graces necessry to keep us sinless and holy. May Mary and all the Saints continue to let us know that if we maintain our Faith, our suffering ends in the instant bliss of God's Eternity. 

 03/08/2022

God promises in the Old Tesatament  that he has not abandoned his beloved Israel and that he will restore the riches of this world that will be a result of the return of his support. Jesus is rebuked by the Canaanite woman for refusing her request on the grounds of race. His words that are recorded can be heard as unpleasant to say the least. Of course that interpretation is far from his intention. It is true that the incarnation is a follow through of God's covenants' with his "people"and now Father, Son and Holy Spirit are with all the peoples of the World. He is the God and all humanity is his people. Our human time and creation has been touched once by the Eternal Word and God has walked with his people as Son for 34 years 2000 years ago. 

We have been given this witness by Jesus true man and true God and during his human lifetime Jesus made known his authority and his love by miracles. The Canaanite woman had not witnessed any of Jesus' miracles, they had all taken place amongst the Jews of Palestine but she believed what was being said about Jesus and implored his help. She talks back at him out of belief  and Jesus praises her Faith. So many people appear once in the Gospels. I wonder how she progressed in life after this great encounter of such importance to her and her family.

We know much more of Jesus than did that woman. The Resurrection is always with us. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

Dear Lord I pray to stay away from sin today and let my faith grow to be as all-consuming as was the faith of many whom met you on the highways and byways of Galilee, the Decapolis, the parts of Lebanon around Tyre and Sidon, Samaria and Jerusalem. Let me return as a remnant to your presence in the Church that is failing in her duty to know love and obey. May your mother Mary whose Faith was as breathing is to me, continue to seek help for all the sufferings in this world and for those waiting for the Mercy of the Lord.

 02/08/2022

Peter's sinking into the lake is blamed on his lack of faith. The dramatic fall in the believe in God that has been witnessed in my life-time is a lack of faith in the Church first of all and then a crumbling in our understanding of life. There is no one who speaks with the assurance of a prophet against the onslaughts of the atheist hedonists who rule our people through the technological marvels that have substituted themselves for what should be our aim in life. Social -Media "influencers" carry much more weight with our people than do any representatives of the Institutional Church or its breakaway reformed offsprings. Nonsense spouted by pop musicians is taken into the hearts of our youth and squeezes out any vestiges of the presence of Jesus.

The only answer to this modern manifestation of the the "Great Wound" is for us to be reminded daily  of  the "Great Truth" that nothing in this world will last for ever. Each individual human of this world will one day come to the abiding truth of his own death and he will find at that moment that the being he knows as "I" is not the powerful leader, the great thinker, the humble servant, the holy man of God, the down-trodden slave he has worshipped all his life but the creation of our loving Father, Son and Holy Spirit who at the never to be repeated moment welcomes us  into eternal life with loving mercy or rejects out of hand.

Dear Lord strengthen faith, fulfill hope and manifest your love to all the peoples of the world that we can turn our hearts and minds to only you as Jesus did on the mountain as Peter and your disciples battled the storm of life. Our own inheritors of the mantle of St Peter need to recognise that they are sinking and forgetting about the transitory "patrimony" get rid of all the wealth that ties them to this world and the values of Mamon so that you may become for them the all-in-all. May Mary and all the created saints in heaven in the Eternal moment of their being bring succour to those still suffering here on earth.

 01/08/2022

The prophet of peace can only be known as truly from God when his words are proven by events. It's never happened yet. Jesus words of strife and conflict are proven to be true each day that I live. St Francis achieved nothing lasting by his example of poverty and love. The Crusades and other wars continued and within families there are still quarrels and dissensions. The nearest we get to political peace is when all antagonists are equally capable of destroying the whole world. I will say nothing about the state of the Church founded and bequeathed to us by Jesus.

Today's Gospel is Jesus caring for the hunger of his followers. There was a time when Father Son and Holy Spirit in the flesh of Jesus was present in the created time of our humanity and world. Jesus, true man and true God spoke words of absolute truth and acted in perfection. His absolute understanding and knowledge of all Being past, present and future told him that we humans would find plenty to ponder and argue about in his life and deeds. He knew that the perfect human freedom created in mankind would continue to result in strife and wars even though his body was here to bring about the perfect peace and that his incarnation was to be man's saving grace.

Perfect peace in which each individual is aware of his own being and equally aware and considerate of his neighbour is only possible when we can curb ourselves to be without threat or harm to each other. This can only be achieved when we are in the reality of  eternity that is "face-to-face"with the Glory that is God. We have to renounce all of created being that blocks our path to Father, Son and Holy Spirit and ultimately not cling on to this life but to hope for the Peace of heaven with all our hearts.

Dear Lord, I am still much too clingy to myself. Let me abandon all selfishness. Let me not seek esteem or respect of man and let the words above become not mine but a truth that rules my remaining life in your presence. May Mary the mother of God who requested the first miracle of feeding at Canae support all the worldly efforts to reduce the suffering of the sick and hungry and remind those doing it that it is a service to God who is present in all suffering humanity.