30/09/2022

God's revelation of himself to Moses "I am who I am" tells us once and for all that God exists. Moses Job and I know that we too exist. The nature of conscious being is to know itself. Job knows that the source of his consciousness is the all powerful other whose actions are witnessed by him each day but cannot come under his control. The irony of Job's interrogator "You must be very old by now?" is definitely the human reason responding to its own thought and so Job is one with the unenlightened Philosophers of Ancient Greece who were similary using human reason to unravell both the physical universe and meaning of human life.

The psalmist is responding to his joy that he is alive. He is one of the lucky ones who has benefitted from God's revelation to Moses and grown in knowledge of the Lord .He knows that God is the all powerful creator. His joy is in the now we can all know in our human time. He does not in this prayer look for anything greater than this moment his heart burst with the joy of life and thanks to his Creator.

Job knows the"after life" as a place of vague shadows. He has no concept of reward and punishment for his life. The response to the psalm "Lead me,O Lord, in the path of life eternal" speaks of "heaven" but is probably a late addition. Jesus is completely forthright. His revelation is the total truth of Father Son and Holy Spirit and he makes it quite clear that  if we reject him and his obedience to the will of the Father then it is Hell that awaits us after death.

Dear Lord we all pray that we may fulfill our lives in accordance with your will; that we avoid evil and shout for joy for the Spirit, upholder and saviour of our being, is always with us. May Mary and all the saints in Eternity help us to build a Great Wall of Faith to protect all the world from the evils of the fallen angels. May trust and belief in Father, Son and Holy Spirit sustain me throughout this day, keeping me and mine from sin.

 29/09/2022

In the visions of  God's Glory granted to the prophets there are always spiritual beings who are usualy in motion around God. Jesus too talks of angels ascending and descending. Mary's total obedience to God's will at the Annunciation was relayed by an angel; Gabriel carried her "fiat"into heaven. At the Nativity crowds of Angels sang their joy at the Glory of God.

There is not much more that can be said about this order of being which definitely is not human and must therefore be  called supernatural for it is unknowable to our human senses. We know that they are real for God has often used them as messengers to inform his people on earth of his intentions beyond our comprehension. 

The overweening pride of Angels is seen as the advent of evil into God's created being and no matter how long I live and pray to be only in the presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the non-created Evergreater Glory and Love,  I have a resentment that my best intentions, my commitment my sincerity are  perpetually at war with the non-human source of the sin of our race. 

Our Father in heaven knows that as Job, I do not curse him but more than Job can only be totally awed by the human life of Son in Jesus and his continuing Eucharistic Presence. God  is Evergreater, Power and Glory and also Evergreater Humility Love and Mercy which he shares with each human body and soul especially with those who are damaged by sin to the extent that their pride leads them to deny the Word and refuse the Mercy that has been poured out endlessly on Calvary.

Dear Lord lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil. Let me stay true to your teaching and know that there is no danger in life greater than the refusal of your merciful love. Let me focus on your cross and your Mother present with you at every moment of your humanity and may she with all the Angels and Saints lead us to victory against the evil one the creator of Evil and Enemy of God. 

 28/09/2022

Not many records of how the first men reacted to their own being within the temporal reality that they inhabited have survived. Although the Book of Job was written much later than its historical setting it presents a man  who recognises that all that he sees and hears and touches is  the work of another being than himself. He knows that God is the Evergreater by his natural experience and by the memories of his forebears which have survived since Noah. Job is presented  as certainly pre-Abraham  and  his "words"  as an acceptance of God and his realities by a man unenlightened by revelations but accepting of his own experiences.

Jesus  enlightens all by telling us that our Faith, our commitment to him cannot be selective. We have to follow him all the way. We have to recognise that there are no comfort zones in which to lay down and rest our consciences and our belief convinceing ourselvesthat we are following God's will for us. Filial devotion or necessary work do not replace the the total commitment that Jesus , Father Son and Holy Spirit, shows on his way to the Cross. Jesus the perfect Man is not only the way, the truth and the life he is also both Judge and standard against  which we will be judged. We all have great need of God's Mercy if we are to be fit for the Kingdom. 

Dear Lord for a few moments each day I pray. Let my prayer be acceptable. Guide me on the way to your Holiness that I might be cleansed by touching the hem of your garment. May Mary and all the Saints who have lived their lives without turning back be with your Faithfull and support us by their prayers.

 27/09/2022

Job gives vent to his despair  as he laments the futility of his life. He sees the grave as rest from the evil fortunes of this life. he knows that he is but wishes that he were not. He has been conceived and born into  meaningless futulity and the only solution for him is the peace of the grave. Job bitterly complains to God whom he accuses of being the obstacle to his happiness in life. However he does not deny the existence of God or of "being" after death.

The Samaritan villagers deny entry to Jesus for he is on his way to Jerusalem, to Zion, and bypasing their Temple Mount, Gerizim. As usual the disciples know what is "right" and demand that the village in question should be destroyed. John is portrayed later as the beloved disciple, the Apostle of God's Loving Kindness but here he is truly a "Son of Thunder" with the reaction to the slighting of the Lord worthy of  rashness of St Peter at his most thoughtless.

The patience of Father, Son and Holy Spirit with humanity is very much part of the Revelation that is to be found in Scripture. God listens to our cries.  His Love knows the reality of our sometime helplessness. As Job we sometimes face the wall and scream out against the perceived unfairness in our lives. As John and James we demand the destruction of the perceived enemies of God. Jesus knows that our freedom has to be curtailed but not by an act of the Father rather by us bringing our freedom into line with his, the Evergreater. Jesus listens but continues to another village.

Dear Lord me let me listen to your teachings and follow your example. I must not give in to any perception of futility in my Life. I must not react in petulant anger against the  thriving of Evil over good that is still part of this world. May I never lose sight of the support that is the  prayer of Mary and all the Saints in eternity. May St Vincent de Paul uphold the members of the society that bears his name, in their work for the needy and poor of this world.

 26/09/2022

We do not know much about Angels. We have assumed from the few mentions of them in the revelations of them in both Testaments that they are spiritual beings created by God and bearing witness to him in a spirtual creation that exists about God as "Thrones and Dominions". From these the tempter fell. Satan is his given name and in the Book of Job it is Satan who attacks God in his very being as he had done with his temptation of Adam and Eve.

We have so much to consider when setting out to live our lives according to the self-revealed guidance of God. The basis of everything in my being and life is that I am not the only being. I am one of billions of others equally known to God who is the Evergreater Father Son and Holy Spirit known by Love which creates our World. Words can go only so far in explaining our human situation. Sometimes they can go too far and in trying to match my brain to the recorded thoughts of intelligences far greater than mine I am feeding my own ego when I do understand and, more usually,  wasting a lot of time when I don't.

In Jesus days on earth he lived a completely human life. He knew all the conflicts that fill our beings. He needed human food; he ate and drank and got rid of the waste in a purely human animal way. He got footsore and wrapped his face to avoid the dust of the deserts. He rubbed the dust from his eyes and he knew that all his disciples both then and now have to face up to the great temptation of putting ourselves before not only God but also our neighbour. We have been taught nothing greater than when Jesus tells us to call our Father and his "Dad" for then we are true to our being, children; the brothers and sisters all created to know love and serve in this world in preparation  for the Eternity in which we will  completely know God as he knows us.

Dear Lord help me this day to be true to your teaching and never forget that the sacrificial death you accepted in atonement for my sins was as real as my own will be but far worse for you emptied youself in an Evergreater humility which can only fill us with awe for human thoughts and words cannot approach the enormity of your Saving Act. May the Saints led by Mary continue to share the grace that they now have in super abundance with your struggling people on Earth especially with your clergy in the Church they lead and care for.

 25/09/2022

Amos paints a picture of what was the luxury of  life known by the rich in the Midle-East of his day. As with all ancient civilisations this lifestyle was built on Military power and slavery. Amos' inspiration is to warn his fellow Jews that in "the day of the Lord" those who delight in the transient goods of their times will lose them.

St Paul continues his formation of Timothy by extolling the virtues of faith and love and  to always remember the promises that he made when he professed his belief in the Resurrection and thus has come to know Father Son and Holy Spirit. He too must be ready for "the day of the Lord" which now can be specifically identified as the "Appearing of the Lord". The Second Coming of Jesus.

Jesus himself tells the parable of "Richman and Lazarus". In this he makes it quite clear that it is only in the human "now" of our life on Earth that we can open our hearts to the revelations prepared by the Old Testament and continued in his human life with us on Earth. He has indeed returned from the Dead place of Dives and the relationship between God and his creation has now been made clear. Blessed are we who have not seen but believe and blesed is the infinite Mercy of God which has revealed the way, the truth and the eternal Love that he has prepared for us.

Dear Lord may I this day avoid sin and not be so engrossed in life that I forget you. May all your priests take St Paul's words to heart and strive to become as Timothy and Paul his mentor. May Mary continue in  her loving and sorowful support at the foot of the cross even in the face of the great blaspemies that we on Earth are perpetuating.

 24/09/2022

The translation of the words of Ecclesiastes is beautiful poetry which held my attention to the very end. Each day we face on awakening the wonder of being alive in this wonderful world. The writer captures the flavour of Youth for whom the delights of this world are being revealed and increased as the body grows to maturity, but his purpose is to warn that this too will pass.

In my youth I was aware that I was living in the sight of God. I knew then that I would have to answer for the deeds of my life. My conscience was never at rest. I was acutely aware of my sinfulness. I still am for this is to be human.

Even my attempts at prayer and meditation are in danger from my sense of self. My vanity is the vanity of vanities, puffed up ego that can always find excuses to turn me away from God. Jesus tells us to keep his words constantly  in mind. Constant prayer keeps  our souls open to the Holy Spirit who fills the world with the Loving Grace that is the being of Father Son and Holy Spirit. It is Love that we must welcome in the mornings when we are awakened by the same Grace from the terrors of the night which are the result of sin.

Dear Lord, there is nothing I can say that is fitting for you so all my prayer has to do is  know you and accept your will for me in my sinfulness. May Mary and all your angels and Saints pray that we on Earth can come to a destruction of our pride and truly know that you are our Lord, our God and our Eternal Now.

 22/09/2022

The world-weariness that is evident in the first reading of this morning's mass is only valid of a world without Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The world is truly meaningless, without pupose, if God had not revealed himself to Abraham for the descendants of Moses had lost sight of the creator of the Universe and of Adam and Eve the first of us made in the image and likeness of our Creator God.

God has no need of us. It is his Love that is so abundantly overflowing that we are created out of his joy at his being; that the Creation, natural and supernatural is alive with a real being; we, image and likeness  are the apex of our world reality and we have within our spiritual being the freedom to chose or not, to know, love and serve.

Choosing to believe needs to be followed through by the behaviour that is revealed by the Holy Spirit through the Word. Jesus has eternally been the the way, the truth and the life and it is his history, in the real time in which we all live that is God's final revelation and our ultimate security that we are all loved and have available, the grace that will enable us to see God in  Eternity, the House with Many Mansions that the Father has prpared for us.

Herod is always seeking; first, the Child, then, the Baptist, then the Saviour, but he is also always destroying. That is also the effect of sin in my life.

Dear Lord the greatest Wsdom of our lives on Earth is to hear your Word and follow it . May I come to share this Wisdom with all your peoples so that our sins may be forgiven in the sincerity of our answer to your call. May Mary whose obedience was a true reflection of you Divine Love continue with all the Saints to praise and seek salvation for all our world.

 23/09/2022

The first reading contemplates man's role in the world. Everything we do is done within time and at the correct moment therin. We can think about events in our human time and understand them but Father Son and Holy Spirit are in Eternity which is beyond our ability to understand. 

Each day we are aware that God is beyond our comprehension but we can understand much about his creation. Even the Cosmos can have its secrets unveiled by human intelligence. Man made machines can absorb and process in seconds what is far beyond a single lifetime of  human brain power. God is still far beyond the limits of human and  machines knowledge and thinking.

Our daily tasks are an intrinsic part of our  use of time and we do them in the order that time creates for us. But in the totality of our time which we know from birth to death our main task is to have  answered  Jesus' question which he puts to us all in this morning's Gospel, for he is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In our lives on Earth there is nothing that takes precedence over this. In our human weakness we have to always be on guard for the delights of our mind and flesh can so easily consume our alotted time. 

Can we have a positive answer to give when faced with " Who do you say that I am?" at the end of our human time?

Dear Lord you know how I live my life. Let me always be receptive to your grace and truly know that your life on Earth forecast and recorded in Scripture is the way truth and life that all souls need to follow in this world, for it is only now that we can answer you man to God. May your mother and all the saints fight against the promoter of all temptation and sin that we may be sure of the loving presence of you Our, Lord and our God.

 21/09/2022

Jesus preaching is primarily to his own nation. His main context is the Old Testament and his listeners too are familiar with this. Today he quotes "What he wants is mercy and not sacrifice". Some of the Pharisees would have been shaken by this for although they have such a bad reputation there were some among them who realised that Jesus, his person, his miracles and his teaching was raising questions that called for answers from the heart and not legal sophisms.

The concept of ritual purity had come to dominate the Judaism of the day. Washing before meals and prayer, avoiding contact with the "unclean",not eating with Gentiles and also tithe-giving were the public face of their religion. Jesus pointed out that in this outward show they resembled tombs of the dead a facade that concealed putrification within.

Jesus' call to Matthew reminds us of the call to Peter and the other fishermen of Galilee. A stranger comes up to him and says "Follow me". He does! Matthew is a hard-headed businessman who has won (somehow) the contract to collect taxes. Way before the religious sophisticates  begin to understand Jesus' call to turn to back to Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the merciful grace of the Father through the  Spirit stirs up in the hearts of the simple, Faith to believe in this carpenter from Nazareth.

Dear Lord I pray today that I may continue to grow in sincerity of belief in your Evergreater Holiness so that I can atone for my many sins and come to worship you with a pure heart. May the prayers of Mary and all the Saints help to purify the Church that, as you told us, is full of sinners and all of us who need the fruits of your Sacrifice, Mercy without bounds.

 20/09/2022

The Proverbs continue to praise virtue over vice and Jesus' adds to them "My Mother and my brothers are those that hear the word of God and put it into practice".We too, to be able to to do the will of God, need to accept all others as "family" for he preaches to the whole world not just to us in our church or chapel. He preaches to us all, accepts death is the Resurection and when we meditate asking "What does it all mean?"he guides us through the Holy Spirit.

The words "Mother and brothers" have caused many to deny the virginity of Mary, Mother of God. Their case has long since been answered but by placing their own prideful intellects before the Word they have persisted to this day. Mary was placed in the care of John and it is into  this maternal love, the first known by Jesus at his birth that the  institutional Church of Peter, "Feed my sheep" was founded.

Mother of God, Theotokos, Immaculate Mother of the Church are not just empty words They  are heavy with meaning and with the Grace that is our Father Son and Holy Spirit. In the messes, created by the institutional corruption that have damaged our Faith over the centuries, Mary has remained the incorruptible loving obedience to the Father which will never fade. "Heaven and Earth may pass away but my love will stand". Mary and Jesus are the human guarantors of this promise.

Dear Lord each day brings its own grief but also the opportunity to worship and pray. From my being I pray that my body and soul may find the peace that comes from honesty and above all from a clear conscience that I have kept myself within the boundaries that you have revealed are the way to  become human in front of your Glory. May Mary's prayers be the cause of a love of righteousness returning to all your priests and Bishops. May they use their vocations to become holy before feeding their egos by the seeking out of office.

 10/09/2022

Today we  have the funeral of our Queen whose 70 years of reign has, by the will of God, been a blessing on our Nation. She has been dead for some days now and her soul has already been through the judgement that will face us all one day. We can pray that she is still known to Father Son and Holy Spirit and that as part of the Communion of Souls we can pray that she can/has been loosed from her sins.

The proverbs that are the first readings at mass this morning were surely referenced by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount . We remember that Jesus, even as a twelve-year-old, impressed the scribes and Pharisees in the Temple by his knowledge of Scripture and as Son he is in totality with the Father and the Spirit. The psalm too emphasises how we are to live our lives in this world. We must not be absorbed in our good to the detriment of others. Mankind is made up of brothers and sisters in the Love out of which we were created. We are equally able to live lives that  return Love to God and care for our neighbour.

Our souls are none greater than the other and and we all have the will to follow the way  walked by Jesus the self-humbled Evergreater.

Dear Lord inspire those who today are stirred in their being by the funeral of your servant Elizabeth that we may not lose the inspiration of the love for her, let that love bear fruits in the way that we continue our lives that we may hear words of welcome at our deaths. May Mary the Queen given to all peoples, living and dead, continue with her prayers to support us all in our struggles of this life that we might by God's will, come to the Eternal Perfect Love that is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

 18/08/2022

The readings today are about how we can live our lives in the world where we have to live within the Love of God in a world that has come to believe only in money. Jesus praises the astuteness of skilled financiers but warns against our following their example for we cannot split ourselves into devotion for God and devotion to money. Being successful with money may result in power and influence but it will not take us into Eternity. Or will it?

Jesus tells us to use that tainted thing, money to win friends who will welcome us into the tents of Eternity. Jesus continues to praises honesty which can be proved in this world by our dealings with other men in business. We cannot buy our way into heaven. So the way that we use money can only have significance in this world where we have to know love and serve Father Son and Holy Spirit . So what does Jesus mean when he tells us to use money to buy friends? I am perplexed by this and will try to find an answer throughout the rest of this day.

Dear Lord help me to understand the truth of your teaching. I am geting old and my understanding is going downhill too.May Mary and all the saints pray for me that I avoid false humility and help me in my prayers truly devoted to increase my belief by giving Glory to God and not to the "I" which is my being in this world.

 17/08/2022

St Paul makes a disinction between"soul and spirit". I can't say that I ever been aware of this before today. I was bemused and wondered why I could not recall it ever having been explained in any sermon that I have listened to throughout my life. Our bodies are transformed at the end of time and so must our souls  be be too. 

Jesus' parable, however warns us that we must always grow ourselves in his revelation of Father Son and Holy Spirit We all receive the seed as grace but  it is how we accept it that is within our control. We can be like the rocks or the thorns  We have to know that the Devil is always ready to steal the seed from our hearts. We all should be welcoming of the seed and nourish it in faith and deeds. 

Our faith is in the resurrecton of the body which is raised into the unperishable being that Jesus showed on the "third day". Our material being will no longer be the dust of this Creation and subject to earthly time but we will have become the "image and likeness" that the Father created us to be. Jesus' life has shown us theWay, the Holy Spirit is always with us to be known and called upon and the Loving Mercy that is Father Son and Holy Spirit is our guarantee of future happiness.

Dear Lord let me not be distracted from your loving purpose in this life that you have given to me. Let my eyes see, my ears hear and my voice repeat your Word that is revealed in the scriptures and the writings of Saints and other holy men. May Mary the only one of us who truly knows you and is without sin plead with all the Saints that the sinful nonsense being proposed by the leaders of your Church in Germany corrupt none of us on Earth.

 15/08/2022

The Christianity that is the reason for our being, for our lives is founded on the human life of God on Earth. This final revelation of the Evergreater is unseperable from the true man Jesus who was  born not created. By the power of the Holy Spirit Mary conceived and Jesus was begotten not made.The life of Jesus is unseperable from his Mother who was with him at birth and death in earthly time and is with him still, for although she experienced great sorrow in her life she was spared the pangs of death and taken bodily up to Heaven.

We have been condemned as a Church for treating Mary as if she were God but in fact although she has the titles Theotoksos and Coredemptrix, I have always been taught that Mary is not divine but is the greatest of all beings created by Father Son and Holy Spirit. 

Sin is always lack of obedience. Jesus, the Word made flesh, humbled himself and allowed our sins to heap humiliation upon him. Naked, spat upon, scoffed at he hung on the cross in complete obedience to the will of God. This act of God in human time can never be equalled but Mary comes close to it in that her"fiat" is an inseperable part of God's loving plan for mankind through which we are still livng. We call our obedience to this plan "Christianity".

May the words of today's reading inspire us by strengthening our willing obedience to God knowing well that Mary and all the saints in the full presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit never cease  to plead for us who are now living out our human lives in the temptation that they by the Grace of Calvary were able to resist. May Mary bring comfort to  the grieving and to all the children whose first taste of life is sorrow and suffering.

 14/09/2022

Everyday that we are alive we exist in the Love of God. We know that our  life is God's and that he has revealed himself and part of his revelation is that we are absolutely free to accept or not his conditions for our humanity. God is completely out of our time and so is aware of our lives as individuals within the millions of posibilities our freedom can choose for us. In the eternity that is God the Son is always present in the Father Son and Holy Spirit but in Jesus God took on our flesh and emptying himself  of his eternal  being became man. 

The event of The Cross is the mystery of God. It is mystery because it is an act of the eternal within time. We can only work towards an understanding of this event and God has left us with more than the dumbstruck awe of the Apostles at the resurrection but with the abilities to know that he is Father Son and Holy Spirit and that his supreme act of Love in Creation, self-revelation and the Glory of Jesus' atonement means that we can use our human freedom to come  face to face with him in his Eternity.

This is the act of Faith demanded by the Scriptures and Christ's continued presence on Earth in the community of faithfull believers that is his Church.

Dear Lord you know my weaknesses and the horror that my sins created for Jesus as he slowly lost his life on the Cross. Let me be overcome in the cloud of your Mercy and for this day continue in the awareness of you with which I have begun it. May Mary whose "yes" was the human act of faith necesary for salvation continue to lead the Church in Heaven in the fight against sinful corruption here on Earth and may her mother's love be with all thy suffering children.

13/09/202

In today's first reading St Paul's theme of Unity is continued. He has seen the Resurrection and received his mission directly from God. In this he is not alone but it  has been accepted by the Apostles and the earliest Church that his teaching is authentically of God. He is covering vast distances and preaching to thousands of diverse people but knows not only that he is doing God's work on Earth but that  God is always present in the communities of believers that continue to meet together in worship after he has left them. This is Church, the Body of Christ on Earth.

All of his teaching is about the Good News. God has visited his people. Jesus has shown once and for all that God cares for his people on Earth to the extent of taking on the physical humanity that is part of our being. But not only has the Evergreater humbled himself to become man, he  has also accepted the humiliation of his being wrought by sinful man that is the public death of a criminal on the cross. 

The Resurrection!

Jesus' teaching during his three years of public ministry is a preparation for this event. Even the closest of his disciples did not understand that the  preached "Kingdom"is not something greater than this World. All the Apostles and finally Paul had seen the Resurrected Lord and taken on his mission to share their awe and wonder at the Glory of Father, Son and Holy Spirit manifested in the man Jesus with all the World.

Dear Lord all your living disciples are one in the grace that you pour over the world. May each of us be safe from sin and true to each other for we have all been made ready for heaven by your blood poured out on Earth. May Mary who on earth knew so much joy in your presence followed by the abysmal horror of Calvary continue to add to our prayers here on Earth that we may truly know love and serve.

 12/09/2022

St Paul is addressing the faults of a community that has lost the unity which he had preached to them. They have btoken into factions and the individuals do not have any idea of Liturgical worship. Although, they seem to be meeting to be together as St Paul taught them,  they do not control their  own egos and are the same rich and poor, strong and weak, educated and ignorant but most of all they are still Jew and Gentile.

I know my own ignorance of Scripture as I read these selected readings and am aware that my reaction to the passages in the Missal are not at all scholarly but they are my reaction to what I read.. It seems to me that St Paul is trying to tell the Corinthian Church that their meetings must be unified by a meal that follows the pattern that he had learned from the Apostles. This meal has got to be a unified and unifying event for the new believers and has no room for improvisations. Jesus did say "This is my Body" and it is the immensityof the meaning of  that statement linked to the Resurrection that provokes the awe that acompanies the Mass to this day and in the days of the infant Church, changed human life for ever.

Mary the Mother of God the source of Jesus' humanity is also the source of our faith.  She is the one created being, the Love, that stayed with her Son until the very end on Calvary and it is Mary's love to which we have to turn when conflicted in our belief for in the presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit she is not corrupted by the all too human institution that Jesus' foundation on Peter has become.

Dear Lord I have to thank you for my being and for all the graces that you have given to me. My sins are still the offences against your Holiness that they always will be but I know that your Mercy is as you are, Evergreater. Today the Holy name of Mary is commemorated by your Church. May Mary add her heavenly prayers to those of that Church that the words uttered become deeds of simple holiness.

 11/09/2022

The History of God's covenant with the chosen people is full of his merciful acceptance of the pleas for mercy for the wayward nation by individuals who have retained the righteousness to which all are called.

We all know the temptations that drew the the prodigal into a life of debauchery and in this we can see that the wealthy of this world have a greater struggle to follow the teaching of Jesus. The young man who came to Jesus at night went away sorrowfully for he knew that he couldn't give up his possessions. He   was a man of great wealth.

The New Testament emphasises God's total love and understanding of his creation and especially of his most complicated, mankind. He is ultimately aware of all the potentials and possibilities of the human psyche and as Jesus, one with the Father and Holy Spirt, preaches he is aware of the sympathy for the plight of the faithfull elder son that is the reacton of some of the crowd gathered to listen to him.

We are created in the image and likeness of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and as such we have a freedom within the being given to us that is as much ours as is God's own uncreated Will is his.We are faced with many choices in this life but we are given not only hints "through a glass darkly "but direct commands on how to use our freedom to achieve the Holiness that is God's purpose in his being and in his creation.

Dear Lord you know how difficult it is for me to come out of sleep and face another day of reality. The readings at mass this morning are all familiar. St Paul is full of thanks and the hope that we too can become  like him completely forgiven for our sins and on the way that leads only to you. May Mary the supreme example of a life lived only for God never cease in her prayers for our other Holy Mother that she too today come back from the waywardness that has tripped up so many devoted faithfull. 

 10/09/2022

Jesus is speaking to us directly when he warns us out of his Love that he is deadly serious in his teaching. We can gain nothing by a worship that is not put into practice during the time we have on Earth. Rotten trees canot produce good fruit; neither can ashes or decombosing bodies. In our brief span we have to face up to the fact that our time is limited and that our worship has to be straight from our hearts from the essence of our very beings. It is my "I" and all the other "Is" that have to return the Love of the Lord.

Our lives are short but our daily time seems long and so our daily lives are filled by the things of this world. St Paul in such a short time after the Resurrection makes it clear that the liturgical forerunner of today's masses must make it clear that the worshipers of God must not have anything to do with the  idolatrous worship that surrounds them in their pagan world. He does not say that the bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ but words "this is my Body" were known and repeated wherever the Gospel was preached.

During the time of the Living Lord his disciples would discuss among them selves the meaning of his words e.g. "what can it mean "rise again on the third day". They had witnessed the crucifixion .Then Jesus was with them again on the third day. Now they knew what it meant but the "why"and "how"were still being asked and have occupied the minds of many over the last 2000 years; 

Lazarus' sister Mary chose the better part but the work of Martha has to go on. We all must work eat and sleep but not allow our worldly needs to swamp the prayer and meditation that is the fruit of the heart of our beings. It is God's will that we should know, love and serve; it is also his will that we ourselves choose to do so. Our created wills are completely free in our humanity; we must not forget this and so can only blame ourselves for our failings.

Dear Lord let the grace of your Love be received here on Earth; let my heart be open to receive it and let the prayers that are being said throughout our world be from the hearts of all your people. May Mary continue to lead the souls that have entered into the bliss of heaven in a never ending petition of support for us who are facing the daily struggle to avoid sin in this world and to prepare our souls for the inevitability that is death.

 09/09/2022

St Paul was a Jew raised in the diaspora at Tarsus. He was a Roman citizen the judicial rights of which he claimed for himself. He is here writing to the Corinthians and uses images that were most familiar to his flock. The tightly religious Jews of the day abhored the display and glorification of of the human body that was part of the "games"but St Paul was certainly aware of how images of this Gentile culture could be adopted to encourage the infant Church in its belief. 

The Roman World of the first century was the culmination of thousands of years of civilization. Jesus' people were true to the revealed God of their ancestors but had to consciously resist the insidious influence of the Hellenistic culture that surrounded them. 

Today we are swamped by a culture that is so appealing that it is anchoring us all to its human and hedonistic values, It is a culture that is openly anti-God; its values contradict the nurturing of the Old Testament and the Truth of the New and we have to be constantly on our guard and responsive to the Grace that is always available to bring us back to the Love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The plank that blocks the vision of us all  is indeed the culture that grabs our attention as soon as we awake. Today will be filled with media grief and political hypocrisy for yesterday our beloved Queen died. God alone knows her fate but we should pray that she can be loosed of her sins and be blest  in the presence of the Eternal King. In the presence of God all of us on  Earth are equally able to respond to his will and it is this response for which we are all answerable. 

May God have mercy on her soul and on the souls of all the departed. May she rest in peace.

Dear Lord, help me to respond truthfully to what I read each morning and let not my vision be occluded by the cultural values that help shape my response. I am not meditating for any other reason than to be open to you. You know everything and care equally for each soul that fill this planet and Purgatory. May your mother continue in her ceasless prayers and may we all come to you in the eternal joy of your Heaven.

 08/09/2022

We believe that Jesus is true God and true man  He is Father Son and Holy Spirit in the timeless Eternity that is God. This is God beyond comprehension not found by human thought but revealed by the inspiration first given to "The Chosen People", "the God of Isaac and Jacob not the God of the philosophers." Mary's birth is the begining of a new covenant for she is the woman chosen by God to be the source of the humanity with which to grow Son on Earth. The awesome humility of our God  to accept for  himself the limitations of the embryonic state that is the begining of all life can only be grasped in silent worship; an act of will inspired by the grace of faith in the power of the Evergreater.

St Matthew is writing sometime after the Resurrection and was part of the founding community that was the fledgling Church. He had known Jesus and had witnesed the Risen Lord. He was known to Paul. That early Church was still in the process of comimg to an understanding of what it was that they had witnessed  only a few years before. The divinty of Jesus the man was, as always,  a matter of faith but his humanity was proven by the genealogy of Mary with which he starts his Testament. This makes it clear that for the Jewish converts Jesus is part of God's plan for mankind revealed in the Scriptures; a plan that now includes  all of humanity.

Mary the greatest of all the created universe  knows God as has no other created being. She did not taste death but was taken by the power of God into his Eternity where she is ceaselessly interceding for her children here on Earth and in Purgatory. It is Mary, the sinless one, at the foot of the cross and in the eternity that we call heaven who is the only one close enough to God to call him to renew the wine of faith that his Church has squandered through its prideful impiety.

Dear Lord I am doing my best to "know" you, let my attempts at service be acceptable for their sincerity. Love is easy to say but impossible to feel. Let me avoid sin this day for that is enough for me. Listen Lord to the pleas of your mother and bring to us Shepherds who can lose their sinful egos in endless worship of you and care for their flocks.

 07/09/2022

St Paul's warnings about marriage are consistent with our experience in this century. Marriage isn't always plain sailing but most couples can stay together and enjoy the pleasures of family life. Little children are lovely but when we are enjoying their delight in life we are also aware that this too must pass and the squabbles of teenage puberty are not far away. Now that fertility can be controlled by man or woman there is an increased temptation that St Paul did not anticipate, to ignore the purpose of human sexuality and to put the pleasure first. Our age is dominated by the fornication we know to be  sinful but it is in this age that I am now living and it is the sins of our flesh to which I  have been most attracted and still am.

In St Luke's version of the Beatitudes there is no hint of marital guidance but in St Matthew's we are to be pure of heart and it is in this state that we will find happiness. One thing of which we can be sure is that man/man woman/woman do not enter into the married state approved by God and if there is sex involved in such relationships it is sinful. The freedom that has been given to us does not include the right to do what ever we fancy to achieve sexual satisfaction and the "love" that is claimed for man/man is a self-delusion of sinful egos.

St Paul does approve and advise abstinance and if this is our choice the grace to live in  this state will be given. The way to failure of sinful clergy to live up to their commitment is so horrific to contemplate that this seeming failure of Father, Son and Holy Spirit has panicked their Bishops into "coverup" mode and thus sin has been lathered on sin and so destroyed confidence in the Church and most importantly in God. 

Jesus knew when he founded the Church that he had chosen sinners to work with the purpose of continuing his presence here on earth; "Get thee behind me Satan" "I don't know him" Peter was chosen to be the holder of the keys but Jesus also promised to be with us always even to the end of time. My  constant hope is that the "Institution" is not the only place to live in God's Love; that Mary's constant "yes"is greater than Peter's keys and that even though the  Institution may pass away, the Word will stand.

Dear Lord you know the totality of my being, my sinfulness and my weak sentimental love for the idea of you; help me to be truely in your presence and to find the way to a love stronger than sentiment. Send your Holy Spirit into the hearts of all your clergy that they may withstand the devil, the world and the flesh. May Mary pray for the foregiveness of all sinners that we may be true to the promises made for ur us in Baptism.

 06/09/2022

We all gathered, Jews and Gentiles to be close to Jesus who had been praying to his Father. The sick wanted to touch him and receive the healing-power that came out of him in direct responseto that touch. All those present were aware  that this man was unique in their experience and that his words came from God.

Twelve of those present were chosen to become the seed out of which the Institutional Church was to grow.They had already shown that they had the willingness to become followers and had abandonded their own lives to be completely at the disposal of this wandering Rabbi. What happened to the rest of that crowd? Did the cured enjoy the rest of their lives without a thought back to the source of their wellness? 

It is the same today for us. Most of us are the anonymous crowd from Jerusalem, Judea and the coastal regions around Tyre and Sidon but we are all equally known to Father, Son and Holy Spirit as the twelve chosen ones because there can never be anyone greater among the beings  created and cared for by God.

We are never anonymous to the grace of God and must return that grace to the source of all being. We have to guard the holiness of the salvation initiated for us by the events commemorated in the Easter Liturgies presided at by the spiritual descendants of the twelve and repeated in all daily masses.

St Paul is aghast that the "world" should play a part within the Church he had nurtured in Corinth. What would he feel about the action of devil, word and flesh that has so tarnished the  "Body of Christ" in this age even to the extent of driving out  simple anonymous believers who have become   the crowd pitied by Jesus, the sheep without a shepherd.

Dear Lord let me never forget that I owe you a debt for "the wonder of my being", that you give me the Grace to be true to your word and that evergreater Love that is Holy Spirit will always be true to me as long as I prepare myself by my will and your Grace to hold fast to the Holiness that is your being and witnesed by the life, on Earth, of Jesus. May Mary and all saints pray that you drive out all evil from my life and from the Church which seems to be so lacking in these times.

 05/09/2022

The ways of our world, the popular trends in morality are all wrong. You do not own anything in this world. You cannot join yourself to just any male if you are woman nor or any female if you are a man.You cannot decide for yourself what is right and what is wrong. God out of His never ending love created humanity to live in his creation in complete freedom but also  shows in our consciences the correct way of living. St Paul is quite clear about this. A "church" has to be a community which is in one mind that has been formed by the history of the Old and the example of the New. We are still to live in Holiness for Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one in being and that being is holy. 

Humanity has grown in number and in capability over the last two thousand years and much in our world would be unrecogizable to the the Apostles and their first converts. They would however recognise the preaching and worship that is still with us for the essence of our being is still only from God. The rich and famous, the "influencers and their followers", the intelligent and their admirers, the successful and the failures are equally in the Love of God during their lives and it is in this same equality that we end our lives. 

My fame or lack of it, my wealth or lack of it, my commitment or "my lord, lord" to the Gospels, and to  the saving Grace of Calvary are finished at the moment of my death. My soul will be in the spotlight of God who knows everything about me and I will be judged on how I have used my freedom to seek out the holiness that comes from knowing, loving and serving. 

The Pharisees sought to trick Jesus into breaking the Sabbath. Modern man does not have this subtlety but stands in the face of God shouting a defiance that challenges God. This is the world that we must avoid and it is in this world that we must judge how to avoid the insidious effects of Satan in all walks of life. Being here and avoiding is not enough we need to stand out in our determination to oppose those who are creating a reverse morality in an unholy counter-reality.

Dear Lord, you know that I am truly bothered by what I read and see in  this world and that I am weak and useless when I get off this keyboard. Grant me the grace to be true to your will and if it be your will stir me up to be a true follower and not "in secret for fear of the Jews". May Mary and all the saints for whom time has ended in your Holiness continue to fight against the evil one and Pray that the Holy Spirit will renew the face of the Earth.

 04/09/2022

The Old Testament is full of wisdom not only in this book of Wisdom. Wisdom is what enables us to respond to God and to our place in his creation. Wisdom enables us to understand that, this morning,  Jesus is telling us to avoid the attachments that take the place of God in our lives. 

We are completely free in our beings. We can make choices without constraint as we live out our lives. Our bodies are limited by our flesh. Our minds can soar throughout our imaginations. I know that even as I write my mind can wander into past present and future and be anywhere than it should be. In this "now" I am trying to be accepting of my cross and follow the Lord even though I am without Sacramental life.

If we try to work out what it is to be on Earth, to live out our lives within the limits of human understanding is hard enough for us. We know that our interests and our search for financial security can dominate our beings and these can be pursued in innocence. But if we remain in this "innocence"without thought of the revelation that has come from God then we are not using the Wisdom that is part of the gift to humanity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Human thought can achieve an understanding of the world and our lives in it but there is a snag in that, for the wisdom of the World is limited by the "dust" that is the Universe in which we all live and that "dust" is corrupted by the power of Satan which has convinced so many that humanity is enough unto itself and that recognising God is a mark of primitive ignorance and without Wisdom. Our Creator is the Evergreater and so is beyond our power to understand but by the grace of Holy Wisdom we are able to know, love and serve in this world and be enfolded in Love in Eternity.

Dear Lord, I hope that I am not egotistically thinking thoughts but am really serving you who have no need of anything. Jesus seems to be a hard master today but his life, death and resurrection are the source for eternal life for your suffering humanity and so we trust that he is warning us and not telling us to hate the people nearest to us. May Mary's, whose mother's love was the first love encountered on earth by your Son, prayers be heard continually in the war between our souls and the legions of the devil and let the merciful grace of  Calvary flood over the whole world.

 03/09/2022

I wouldn't like to be in the shoes of the Pope this morning as the Gospel shouts out to him the message of the Lord. Can Francis read this without cringing in his very being? He should do, for not only our Pope but the entire human hierarchical  structure that should be the Body of Christ on Earth has got to ask what has gone wrong. Priests too have to face up to these words of foundation. Are they showing by their lives that they are one with the words of Peter. We the people are not without fault too for it is we who have not demanded that the teaching of the Church be followed both in Liturgy and homily and in the daily lives of our pastors.

Jesus is the model that we have to follow and it is St Paul whose fearless proclaiming of the Good News was in direct response to the words of Christ, the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the Glory of the Father, did so much to build up the communities of faithful believers that have now grown into the Institution that does not live up the Grace poured out in the blood of Jesus on the Cross. 

St Paul's total commitment to the immensity that shook his whole being, closed his eyes  and opened up his soul shines out with a clarity that belies the "glass darkly". His living without the guile of deception, looking for praise or money but only and always in the sight of God is what we are all called to do and we need our aproach to Sacramental Grace  be unimpeded by the scandals of the Ordained.

"Who am I to Judge"? I too ask this many times a day and know that it is God who entrusted the Good News to Paul and the Apostles and promised that he would be with us to the end of time. The standards for human life have been revealed to us. Francis, how can anyone know that he is  living righteously if he does not judge himself first?

Dear Lord, your love fills the whole world and I pray to be able to share in it. I pray that the words of both Paul and the Gospel shake up your ordained ministers especially those who are confused between Magisterium and Body of Christ and that the Church becomes the sheepfold where the sheep can be safe and unharned in the care of the Good Shepherd. May Mary too implore the Holy Spirit to enter into the hearts of us all so that we may remain true to the way the truth and the life. Lord Jesus save us!

 02/09/2022

My keyboard has been renewed and I am getting back to what has become my main act of worship. Yesterday St Paul reassured us that the Word comes to all of us not just to those whose intelligences  can hold many languages and can develop ideas even to the extent of approaching an understanding of the Glory that is Father Son and Holy Spirit. The Theology of the Doctors of the Church is very interesting and clever in this world but only in death will our souls be free to see  God really is and our souls will stop trying to understand, for they will know God as he knows us.

At any rate that is how I understand St Paul yesterday and today. He isn't telling us to become ignorant or to stop thinking but to know that it is not we who find God but in his revelation to the chosen people and in his life death resurrection God shows that he is for all to see and to love.

St Paul is not being over scrupulous when he questions his own conscience. Our consciences are open to the promptings of Satan."Get thee behind me Satan". It is our human freedom to choose to live by the revealed will of our Father in heaven. We are not forced to submerge ourselves in the Love of God,,but for those who do the way to the Father, has ben revealed by Son on Calvary and supported by Holy Spirit here on Earth.

Dear Lord, let me not be overcome by pride masquerading as  a false humility.  I realy am not up to the thoughts of a St Thomas or St Anselm. I am your creation and my soul has been lead along a perilous path by my human ego. You know my sins and I believe that you want to forgive them. May I be truly worthy of your Mercy shed on your creation by Jesus the perfect man your Son. May Mary knowing the fullnes of your Glory in heaven with all the saints continue to pray for the suffering ones in this world that by their lives they will choose God and by their suffering atone for their sins.