07/20/22

Today the Rosary is celebrated in Churches throughout the world. When I was young, boys in our street used to accuse me of "worshiping the Virgin Mary". It is a hard to believe now but all the children in our street used to go to Sunday School of some sort and as a result had knowledge of the Scriptures. "Abide with Me" was the climax of the "Community Hymn Singing " that used to precede the FA Cup Final. My past seems like a foreign country.

St Paul is dealing with the Jews who although, accepting his preaching the Resurrection, cannot be convinced that salvation is not an exclusive covenant with their race, the descendants of Abraham. St Paul is always faced with this problem for he is first welcomed by Jesus' own people in the diaspora but always has to convince them first that it is the Law of Moses that has been completed by Jesus and that surface trappings of his first belief circumcision, dietary laws, phylacteries etc are not part of the Love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit that Jesus has brought to the whole world.

As a boy I didn't really understand what I was being accused of. The part Mary plays in the God's plan for the whole world has been decided by God in the Beginning. The Word is God and the Word is the man Jesus and Jesus' humanity was Conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Litle bits of the immensity of God come to us sporadically as his Eternal Freedom touches ours and in the events of Jesus life as pondered in the heart of Mary in the Rosary we have the opportunity to immerse ourselves in Jesus' Life Death and Resurrection. The Protestant boys in our street were all wrong but it has taken long time for me to understand the reason why they were.

Dear Lord, you know that it is hard for me to face up to the fact that you seem to have abandoned your people on Earth. The onward march of social norms that deny any belief in you, the insidious corrupting of your priests, my own sinfulness and lack of visible faith can this be reversed?  May Mary pray that a return to the rosary on my part will be blessed by your Grace and may she continue to pray for comfort for the poor and suffering of this world.