19/10/2022

Burglary in the first century sems to have been not a matter of breaking locks etc. Jesus is telling us to be always on guard for "the burglar" will even break down the walls of his targeted building to get at the wealth concealed inside. 

The disciples often have reactions to parables that reveal their human failings. "Is this message just for us?", asks Peter. Jesus is the fullness of God's revelation of himself. This fullness is completely available to all of us who have heard the Word and obeyed in belief and deed.

Jesus did give a foretaste of Resurrection when he revealed the Glory of Father, Son and Holy Spirit to only three of the Apostles on Mt. Tabor. St John does acknowledge that Jesus' teaching was much greater than his contemporaries could record, but the "mysteries" referred to by St Paul are firstly the events of Jesus' life recorded in the New Testament and then the Liturgical celebration of these events "do this in memory of me". They are both an "open book".

The first centuries of the Church were plagued by the mindsets derived from the Pharisaical teaching that had preceded and had been contemporaneous with but condemned by Jesus' life on earth. The term "chosen people" still means more to some than it does to God. "The Mass of the Catechumens" also preserves the "institutionalised" nature of "the Church" with its rite of entry, that we see in the vast wealth of buildings, palaces and of art that is called the "patrimony of St. Peter" by some but "that tainted thing" by Jesus.

St Paul's journeys were beset by the danger of traveling even in the Pax Romana, but he succeeded and and never lost touch with the Holy Spirit, Father and Son the glory of whose being had been revealed to him on the road to Damascus. If we, the present-day Church, have the same Faith as preached by Paul the same Sacraments perpetuating the Passion, Death and Resurrection in human time and freedom, the support of Mary and the Saints and the message of the Gospels all contained in the persons of the priesthood first ordained by Jesus in the Apostles, why are so many of us leaving the practice of our Religion and casting out God from our lives?

Dear Lord you know that I am but one sinner turning to you. A sinner who can doubt my own sincerity which is always questioned by my deeds. Help me to return to a Church in which I can be sure that you are really present; a Church which is not disgraced / "degraced" by its ministers. May Mary and all the saints continue to fight against sin on our behalf and let planks be removed from my eyes so I can see clearly that your Mercy is for all of us.