24/04/2023

It seems that St George's feast has been transferred to today as yesterday was a Sunday. At the time of the Council there were a whole host of changes to the Calendar that had remained unchanged since the Council of Trent. Although a very popular saint, the legends around that "name" owed as much to paganism as to the knight of the red cross patron of Crusaders and patron of England.

 I seem to remember that at that time there was much agitation to drop saints about whom there was a lack of historical evidence, from the Universal Calendar. "Duplicate" feasts were also dropped which annoyed me as "St Peter's Chair in Rome" 18 January, my birthday was combined with "St Peter's Chair in Antioch".

At the time of Trent the Church had institutionalised itself to the extent that it had been putty in the hands of Roman aristocrats, French Royalty and Spanish degenerates for at least twelve hundred years. Jesus had reassured Pilate "My Kingdom is not of this world" but within four hundred years Bishops of Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, Byzantium and Cyprus were squabbling about not only theology but also about the extent of their political authority.

The legacy of that disobedience to the Word of God is still with us. We are not making war against each other as did the Crusaders taking the words of Rome at their face-value and grabbing what they could  from Byzantium for there was no sin in killing either Muslims or Greek heretics, but the Mystical Body of Christ is still a scattered mosaic of churches, cults and sects lacking the unity in love and obedience that we all owe to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord, help me to turn to the Church Triumphant with you in heaven for the support that my Faith needs here on Earth. May Mary and all the saints pray for all of us who are unable to believe that Sacramental Good can coexist within the sinful body for whom "ex opere operato" has become "going through the motions" and not the true intention to unite actions done here on Earth with yours in heaven and so care for our souls on earth.