31/08/2023

What is it about the Thessalonians that so pleases St Paul.? He must have spent some time with them and got to know the individuals who listened to his teaching to become the Church, the Body of Christ, in Thessalonica . What is it that they received from him to grow their own community of faithful servant-friends of God and make him thank God for their faith?

Paul had studied the Scriptures and knew the intricacies of the devotion of the Pharisees. We can be sure that he did not burden them with this "law". God is never changing so we can be sure that the Holy Spirit was no stronger then than now. 

Paul had been literally blinded by the Resurrection and was possessed by the Holy Spirit to do the will of the Father. He was an extension of Christ, preaching the same Gospel as Jesus. He was a learned man but his teaching was unmarred by any human thinking. He was the same Paul, preaching the same message who had been received much less successfully down the road at Philippi.

God has created us all to be free beings. We are in his image and likeness. Our bodies are limited in the same ways that all animals are but our minds and souls are free to choose how we will live out that life which is a free gift from God. In those Gospel times Jesus walked on earth and completed God's will for mankind but he did not force anyone to obey him. 

Jesus told us that there is a place for all of us in the glory of his "Father's House"but equally warned us that there are limits to the "free gift". The first Church of Thessalonica chose to respond positively to the Good News. The Philippians were less positive. Today we humans are conquering space, defeating the causes of disease but what good can come to anyone of us if we do not guard our most precious possession. Jesus warns us that the burglars are prowling all around us. May we all be warned.

Dear Lord, Please help me in the daily task of being watchful and awake to the dangers the comforts of our world bring to some of us, may the less fortunate be aware that the sorrows of this world will also pass away as do the riches. May Mary and all the saints implore thy mercy on all this world so that rich in their pride and poor in their misery know that God will ensure a just eternal outcome for us all. For rich or poor we all have the freedom to know or reject you. May your grace ensure that we are all true to you. May the drowning migrant and the dying pampered billionaire accept the grace you offered  to the repentant thief. Help me to become deeds not empty words.

 30/08/2023

The First and Second Readings  for this morning are both from the New Testament. They are held together by the O.T. Psalm that sings in praise of the "Ever Greater". The Psalmist rejoices that everything is entirely known by our God. Everything!

St Paul speaks directly to his converts and reminds them and, thus all Pastors, that he laboured to bring the Good News to them. While he was with them he worked to support himself and acted as does a father diligently caring for each of his family. Paul praises God for the way in which the Thessalonians reacted to his message. It seems that he did not have the trouble with them that he had experienced at his previous stop along the road.

Jesus again warns us to beware of hypocrisy. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, God praised by the Psalmist knows everything. He knows us better than we can ever know ourselves. Everyday I have to try to confront my own being which includes everything I have ever done and includes the present moment. 

Today the Church remembers three Martyrs of England. They were killed by the State for refusing to acknowledge the State-Sponsored Church. 

I can only ask and pray that each Mass-celebrant in England today compares his own self with Margaret Clitheroe, Ann Ward and Ann Line and give an honest answer to "Do I believe and trust in Father, Son and Holy Spirit as did they? Do I love and respect the Church as they did? Do I live and preach as did St Paul?"

Dear Lord, you know what I am and how I try to live according to your will. I fail because of my own faults. Your Church has to first worship you in truth and then guide sinners along the way to truth and eternal life. Let her free herself from the World and Mammon and with the humility of St Paul truly care for sinners in this world by being seamlessly united with Mary and all the Saints and Martyrs who in heaven make one Church, (the Mystical Body),with the repentant in Purgatory and with us who are still striving here on Earth.

 29/08/2023

St Paul covered hundreds of miles to spread the Good News of the Resurrection and hundreds more were covered when the letters were circulated among recipients. He tells us all that he is doing God's work and that there is nothing he is seeking for himself. There is no way of understanding his life except to see him as a messenger filled with the Holy Spirit, Father and Son. He himself tells us that we too can/should be filled with Christ.

About twenty five years before St Paul wrote to the Thessalonians the events recorded in today's Gospel took place in Herod's palace. Some scholars of recent times have tried to explain Jesus as a "revolutionary". This was also a common view of their Messiah Rabbi by many of the disciples. This is simply not correct for Jesus' Kingdom is still "not of this world". 

Jesus' reaction to the death of John was to go into the wilderness away from the crowds who would certainly have focussed on him to protest Herod's injustice. Jesus knew that "his time had not yet come". It seems to me that for the thirty three years and nine months that the Jesus was on Earth he had chosen to empty himself and acted on earth only as "True man". He was still truly God as Father Son and Holy Spirit. 

His was the perfect sinless being of humanity that Adam had broken and acted as such throughout his life. St Paul had seen the Glorious being of the Resurrection and had through that inspiration become  able to  continue to spread the story of  Christ's Love, which he had learned from the Apostles, throughout the Empire that had crucified, as it was written, the "King of the Jews".

Dear Lord you know how I become confused by too many thoughts. Help me catch hold of the thread that can connect me to your will and thus live a life without sin or fear. May Mary and all the saints continue by their prayers to open mine and all the other hearts of sinners in this world that we may be able to accept the free gift of God's mercy.

 28/08/2023

I don't know where St Paul was when he wrote  this letter, but I do know that he was somewhere in the Roman Empire. Caesar's realm made it "easyish" for God's Good News, the Resurrection, to be spread as quickly as it was.

I do know, however, that Paul had not anticipated that this is what he would be doing when first he became a student of the scriptures under Rabbi Hillel. None of the Apostles had any idea of what was going to happen to themselves and to the whole world when first they met Jesus.

Jesus and his Church completely changed how we live our lives as individuals and in communities for ever. He explicitly taught that God cares for each one of his creation. He taught that we are all free in our being and can freely respond to God's Love. He taught that although we are responsible for our own lives, Father Son and Holy Spirit will never forget to strengthen us with Love.  It was he who taught that after our life has been lived we will be judged and continue to be ourselves in a New Life of perfect happiness or pain.

In the Gospel Jesus continues to condemn the hypocrisy that is evident in Temple Worship. The Temple in Jerusalem was no different from the hundreds of other vast structures the remains of which can still be visited around the Middle East. All temples had twin purposes they served a religious cult and they protected wealth. There could never be pure worship of God in the Temple of Jerusalem for that space was shared with Mammon. It was a "Central Bank".

Jesus' radical challenge to each of us is mirrored in his open challenge to the Temple then, and to the Church of our day. "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's". Our Church was already going in a wrong direction that led to Caeseropapism, the Crusades, the Papal States and Holy Russia  by the time St Augustine was converted.

Dear Lord, help me to live with my mind firmly fixed on virtue and with the safeguard of your grace avoid the self congratulations that have disguised sins of my past. Help my picture of the past be close to the reality you knew on earth and let the prayers of Mary and all the Saints bring your free gift of Love into my heart to be shared with all sinful souls on Earth and with the contrite in Purgatory.

 27/08/2023

Yesterday, I was reading about the civilizations that evolved in the Middle East. There are millions of surviving clay tablets that are the records of the business dealings of those days. I was amazed that the cuneiform writing inscribed into wet clay could be deciphered and that I could read the "bank account" details of another human who had died four thousand years before I was born. 

These and similar records from Egypt, India and the Far East tell us of the long history of man before Jesus was born.  Ur of the Chaldees had been a Sumerian city for hundreds of years before God's revelation to Abraham. 

I thus have to include within my belief in Father, Son and Holy Ghost, questions about the fate of millions of souls created, as we are, in the Love of God, who have died before the biblical record of revelation begins. 

I am truly disturbed by the thought that God would have created souls whose "being" was only to be damned. Such a "being" could never have the "freedom" which is part of our image and likeness to the Creator nor receive the grace of the Resurrection which is eternally for all.

St Paul, who was similarly disturbed by the idea that any of the chosen people would lose their souls, tells us today "It is impossible to penetrate God's motives and interpret his methods" and he asks"Who could ever know the mind of the Lord?" We can only agree with St Paul and accept Jesus' commissioning of St Peter for " All that exists comes from him; all is for him and to him . To him be glory for ever." Amen.

Dear Lord I cannot hide anything from you. You reveal to me what I need to be able to care for the soul that is my image and likeness of you. I do not see myself as outside of the community you founded on St Peter and know that the true heart of your Church was at the foot of the cross waiting for your corpse to be put into her arms. May Mary and all the Saints support the Church invisible which has been forced out by the worldly corruption within  your foundation on St Peter.

 26/02/2023

As I think and type these words I know that I am alive not through my own will but by the will of God, the creator of everything. 

Ruth became used to living in a foreign land as the dependent of her mother-in-law but knew that to be accepted completely she needed to find a man and give birth to sons. If she had stayed at home this would have been impossible so she asked permission to follow the harvesters, gleaning the barley that had been missed by the reapers.

Boaz did notice her as she had planned but claimed that it was because of her character that he had chosen her. As with all human relationship it was a "bit of both"; looks and moral worth. Ruth's son was welcomed into Naomi's life and he became the grandfather of David.

The great temple being completed in Jerusalem during Jesus' lifetime was served by devout scribes and priests, the "Fathers" of their day. They performed the sacrificial rituals and studied the scrolls. They searched for signs of God's providence and were themselves obedient to claims of ritual purity that they passed on to each other.

Jesus was always at odds with these "Fathers" but never condemns their teaching. For us the "Church of Peter" is still the guardian of the "Law" that rules our lives in "God's Providence" and the only source of God's "Eucharist". The immorality of "Fathers" damages the "Good News" but Jesus tells us that God is with us in His Providence, that the Love of  Father, Son and Holy Spirit has only to be acknowledged for us to become the human being that God created us to be and thus we can sincerely "approach the Altar of God; of God who gives joy to my soul".

Dear Lord, you know more about me than I know myself. Please share that knowledge with me and let the inspiration of the Holy Spirit not be blocked by my weakness. Let me this day avoid sin and with the help of Your Mother and Saints let this prayer have a fruitful fulfilment.

 25/08/2023

Each one of us is responsible for our own life. My life has to be an acceptance of God's will. God knows the billions of us who have ever lived. He teaches that each soul is equal in his eyes. In our eyes however there are vast differences amongst us in all that makes us human.

"The chosen people" are "chosen" not to be better than other people but to be the first recipients of God's revelation of his own being. For all the prophets God became visible. There were three "strangers" at the oak at Mamre, Jacob wrestled with an Angel, Moses was marked for ever by what began as a crackling fire in a thorn. 

In the Gospel Reading for today Jesus is confronted by human knowledge and piety accumulated over the centuries. Wilful mankind, in the person of the Old Testament, challenges  Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the person of Jesus, true man and true God. The pharisees had devoted every day of their lives to the study of the scriptures and knew that an attempt by anyone to answer "Which is the most important of the Commandments?" was likely to result in confusion for Jesus for whatever his answer it would be open to further challenges.

God does not leave us alone to search out and do his will. His revelations are all recorded in the Bible. We each have to use our freedom to live our lives within the bounds of his Love. This has to be a daily resolution as it is so easy to let the results of God's Providence occlude the Glory of his Being. 

The Universe which is created out of nothing for us by God, the wonderful scientific achievements of mankind within that creation, the great minds that have lived throughout the ages are all "good" but they are not God. God is the broken body on the cross which promises each one of us a personal Resurrection  in the  glorious eternity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord, let my thoughts and prayers be a reflection of your Love for me. Let me not be overcome by Devil, world and flesh. Let me stay within the bounds of  of the freedom that is part of my being. May my prayers together with the prayers of Mary and all the Saints become united in a Church unrestricted by modern Scribes and Pharisees. May the Holy Souls in Purgatory and our sinful souls on earth receive the Mercy that you pour out from your bodily wounds inflicted by sin on Calvary and may all the world hear "Come beloved of my Father"when God becomes "All in All".

 24/08/2023

I really do not have a good knowledge of the Scriptures. I have learnt most by listening to Mass readings and references by authors to their sources. I once took the trouble to check and write out the references made by one writer on one page. His page turned into more than ten when the cited references were written out in full. Writers such as Pope Benedict repeat and interpret the whole of scripture.

Visions have always been difficult for me. How can the vastness described by John be contained in the sight of man? The modern camera lens can  capture vast distances and scenes like the parting of the Red Sea, for example, which I know that, if I had been present, I would only have seen what was in front of my nose and not the front, back and top of the destruction of the pursuing Egyptians that I saw in the cinema.

The world always deceives us. It will pass away. We are all to some extent captives of the media. Most of us spend too much time in front of the TV. It has become a substitute for life and is the opposite of Jesus' description of St Bartholomew for it is only deceit. A video of the Blessed Sacrament Exposed is not the Real Presence in my mobile or living room and trivializes the passion and death of Our Lord.

God never deceives us. His New Covenant promises us a home with him after our time on earth. His Resurrection is the first fruits of the New Being. It is the  true body of the true man and true God that died on the cross. Incarnate Son was present body and soul with the fulness of God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, in Palestine for those days after the Resurrection. This was not a "vision" of the Lord but his supernatural reality.We all have the opportunity won for us by our Saviour to share this New Life that is not a "vision" but the reality of God's Infinite Love.

Dear Lord help me to avoid all sin today; Let me be truly thankful for all the gifts that I have received. Keep all my children and grand children safe during their time on earth and let them come to the awareness of your Love that is the only lasting good that we can find on earth. May Mary and all the saints' infinite prayer bring your Mercy to the Holy Souls in Purgatory and to the repentant sinners confined to time on earth.

 23/08/2023

The  trees of the first reading are all reluctant to accept the responsibility that is part of the authority of kingship. Their basic argument is that as trees they are much too useful in their produce to give up their "treeness" to become king. The thorn bush of the desert does not have any valuable properties except its ability to burst quickly into flames. It is an almost dead plant with very little sap and very little nourishment except for the goats which thrive on the edges of deserts.

Are we to take from this the idea that our rulers are the least productive of our societies? Or is it that they are to be feared as the fire that can easily catch hold of them will destroy even the ancient forests of the Lebanese mountains.

Jesus leaves us with no difficulty. He is Lord of All. His Mercy cannot be dribbled out. On Calvary he poured out his blood. He did not die a little bit but gave up the total life of God incarnate, a sacrifice far greater than the guilt of our sins.

Our God of Mercy and Compassion freely gives all his Mercy to each one of us. A "yes" to his offer even with our dying breath will be rewarded with the same sight of God as that known by the the greatest of the saints. There is no greater joy than the presence of the Lord and no greater joy on earth to work for the Lord especially when known only to God.

Dear Lord, you know how difficult I have found it today to understand  your OT Word. You know also of how I have rebelled as did the first comers to the vineyard. Let me truly know that I only AM because of your grace. Let my being sing with Mary's whose complete "yes" to your will brings about a Church that returns your love in fullness of spirit. 

 22/08/2023

Yesterday's Gospel prompted me to consider how I had spent my life comparing it with the heroic faith  shown by Fr Schwartz. I am still the young man who crumbled at the thought of embracing poverty by rejecting all my worldly goods. He is with Father, Son and Holy Ghost, with Our Lady and All the Saints completely out of human time.

A lot of my human time is spent watching Korean TV. During Fr Schwartz time there, Korea began the turn around which has resulted in it becoming one of the  world's greatest producers of wealth. The sanctity of poverty, which Fr Schwartz saw and grasped in the manner of the "Poverello" of Assisi, has now become  maybe even more hidden than the poverty that was present in his own world at the same time his eyes were opened in Pusan. The world of "Korean Drama"has little in it of the holiness with which Fr Schwartz and his first converts lived. It does however follow aimlessly every "social trend" ( sins of the flesh ) of the West.

I may be the "young man" of yesterday's Gospel. But I have not wandered away. I cling to my mornings' devotions and try to fit the Mass readings into my own Act of Faith. The opportunity to follow Fr Schwartz has long gone. The naked poverty, the Jesus, he found in Korea, however, is still with us on the migrant trails that criss-cross our world and in the countries which cannot provide a home for their people.

Let us pray that the Migrant Jesus will inspire the "least important" among us and through them achieve what  Fr. Schwartz was instrumental in doing in Korea. "For God everything is possible".

Dear Lord may this day be filled with only love for you and kindness to those around me. Help me to remain true to my Baptism and at all times be ready for your final call. "For God nothing is impossible" please save me Lord Jesus. May Mary and all the saints of heaven join in praying that the work of Fr Schwartz is not corrupted by Mammon as much of the Church founded by Jesus has been.

 21/08/2023

I have always considered the Church to be what she claims to be; what she describes herself as, "The Mystical Body of Christ", God on Earth. There was no "fudging"; her teaching was "what had been heard from the lips of Jesus" and repeated by the Apostles and preserved in the hierarchical structure that has lasted up to today. The whole purpose of the Church is to pass on the forgiveness won by Our Lord and to help all people to become holy on earth to reach the perfection of heaven.

I went to work as a teacher overseas in 1964. At about that time a candidate for Canonization Fr. Aloysius Schwartz  went alone to Korea. 

In Istanbul we were shocked by the vast crowds of people and the poverty of some. The "poor are always with you" has cushioned us against the injustices that give rise to poverty; it seems to tell us that we cannot do much about poverty but it is a Christian duty to alleviate its results. Jesus loves the poor.

In Busan Fr Schwartz was met with the abysmal poverty that modern warfare had inflicted on what had been a highly cultivated society for hundreds of years before the Normans had conquered England or America had been colonised. He saw ragged bundles of children and beggars dying on the streets and immediately started to do something about it.

He did not have the wealth of the Vatican behind him but became incardinated in the Korean Diocese of Busan and shared the poverty that surrounded him. He saw the suffering of Christ repeated in the broken bodies and the helplessness of "Eli, Eli lama sabachtani" in the eyes of the inhabitants of those shanty towns.

The young man went sorrowfully away. The widow gave her all as did Father Schwartz and all the unknown saints who even today don't just see Jesus on the altar or in the Tabernacle but, as he told us, in the person to whom they give food and drink. 

I am still "going sorrowfully away"as is our Church which if she were to be true to Christ would be trying to divest herself of riches not to protect the patrimony of St Peter but to do the will of Our Father.

Dear Lord, forgive me my sins and help me to become poor so that I can be with you. May Mary pray with Aloysius and all the saints that even at this age I and all sinners on earth and in Purgatory may be open to receive the forgiveness won by your suffering on Calvary and by your daily repeated suffering with the poor on earth.

 20/08/2023

Today is another beautiful day. Walking with my dog, I tried to conceive an idea of the vastness of the Universe created and of the ever greater Creator. God is beyond all thought and we would have no way of imagining his greatness if he had not revealed himself to us. We have to thank God for the words of the Old Testament which we have to follow with the integrity that we accepted them when first we believed..

Science examines the physical universe and sees it as a never ending "Big Bang", a non destructive; a creative explosion but that is not God. God is greater than all imaginable Universes but he knows every speck of matter that he has ever created and he knows me.

St Paul is pretty difficult to follow but he tells us that we are saved, reconciled to God because the first Chosen People could not cope with their part of the agreements made, forgotten, renewed, and renewed again which are documented in the Old Testament. Trying to express in language that could be understood by themselves, the totally greatness of God's Mercy becomes the "Happy Fault"of Adam, all mankind and particularly Judas in the Holy Saturday Liturgy.

Dogs are not usually seen in Middle -Eastern homes so the reference to "house-dags" by Jesus comes as a great shock. Does he really insult the Syrian woman so badly as to call her a dog.?There is absolutely no trace of sin in our "True Man and True God so we are to understand this metaphor as applying to his Mission and not to the persons he was directly addressing?

Dear Lord help me to become true to you and let my striving become a witness to your Love. Your Love is for all your created worlds and it is as intensive as it is unchanging. May Mary's prayers help me and all sinners to understand the life she shared with you in Palestine and let our hearts be open to receive the Mercy you have created for each and every soul in our world and time.

 19/08/2023

I have been without my regular morning routine for 3 days. I still tried to pray but I was in such a wonderful place that although I did try to thank God for the surroundings, both natural and manmade, I knew that if I had been born into the wealth of centuries which had created the Hall and its Park, it is  probable that I too would have had too much to do on earth to pay sufficient attention to the Kingdom of God.

The young man went away saddened for he believed the words of Jesus and knew that he could not pauperize himself neither for the sake of the poor nor the Kingdom of Heaven. I wonder whether he changed his mind later in the days after the Resurrection when the fire of the Holy Spirit burned into the souls of so many.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit, however, are not a "Convenience Store" to which we pop when we are out of "holiness". God knows us in all places and times which are all components of his creation and would all cease to exist if he did not choose to maintain us in his Providence. 

From Joshua we again hear that we are not to put anything before our God. The Israelites were tempted by false Gods. There are not many people today, however. who would choose to be a devotee of Zeus or Venus. ( |What on earth was the Pope doing with that bit of black wood which somebody rightfully dumped in the Tiber?).

Our false Gods are also, however, all of our own making as were the statues of the Amorites etc. Disney and other studios create countless counterfeit beings which are in reality "the Gods" which block Jesus from the view of the little children which we are, whom he called to be with him in the Kingdom.

Our world and all that is in it is so huge and beautiful that we need another intervention by God to save us from it for its beauty is in no way evil. Please, Jesus, please return to save all of us who cannot overcome the attractions of this world without you. Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus. Come!

Dear Lord, I know that you have redeemed us all and left us with the means to ensure that we do your will on Earth. There are too many allies of the "Prince of this World", however, even in the institution to which you gave the "Keys" whom by their wealth, beauty captivate the souls of young and old alike and thus become Idols, false Gods, sinful blasphemies.  May Mary and all the Saints pray for us to be open to your grace to receive the Mercy that was created by the unimaginable suffering of Calvary.

 15/08/2023

John's vision has always puzzled me. It seems an awful lot of imagination. An awful lot of symbolism in contrast to the direct words of Paul. John hears a great shout from his vision of heaven. The Old Testament is concluded. 

Paul teaches "Just as all men sinned in Adam so will all men be brought to life in Christ; but all in their proper order ". Christ is the first fruit of the new harvest. At the Ascension Jesus began the new creation in which "there are many mansions". He is completely God but he is also the New Man who dazzled St Paul into blindness. 

He is the first human to be with the Father body and soul. Mary who is much more glorious than the tongue of man can say, was born without sin;. her body sheltered the natural growth of the true man and true God; it is as "Theotokos" that she is taken to her rightful place, body and soul, in the heaven that is the "still quiet place"full of love.

Mary's song of praise raised in the hill country of Judea echoes throughout the Universe of time and space. There is, has been and will be nothing greater than Father Son and Holy Spirit; Holy is his name!

Dear Lord my heart can sing with Mary in the joy of my "being". In the purity of her being there was no need for forgiveness but she carried your Son to be born "Saviour of the World" and saviour of me. May the hearts and minds of all  sinners be open to receive the free gift of your mercy, which is greater than any thought that can be thought by man. Help me to keep my thoughts centered on you during the next three days that I will be away.

 14/08/2023

For me the "great sadness"of the disciples is nearly joy. 

The disciples couldn't understand that their beloved rabbi had to die. "What would happen to them in the world without their teacher to guide them?" St. Maximilian responded to a similar cry of great sadness uttered by one of his fellow inmates who cried out in fear not of his own death but for his own family who would be left to suffer alone in the horror that was Europe of 1941.

The joy in the "great sadness"is the heroic faith of the Saint who was allowed to take his place.

Many others throughout history have made the split second decision to save another, truly their "neighbour," and to accept unjustified suffering themselves. Jesus, our Lord, praises them for their "love"but he is the only one, true man who has chosen to live knowing that the end of his life will be the brutality of Calvary.

This feast praises Father Son and Holy Spirit for the example of faithful fortitude he has given us in St Maximilian. Our Lady in Heaven was his great support in faith but even she is unable to offer her protection unless we respond to the loving grace of  mercy won for us by "the Greatest Sadness of all time."

Dear Lord, we know only a few sentences about your life and the lives of your saints but you who know everything and forget no-one, know the truth of what was in the heart of Father Maximilian, in the heart of the one saved and in the hearts of the guards and thousands of prisoners that day in that Hell on Earth, Auschwitz. We can only implore your Mercy for all sinners who contribute to such a denial of your Love as is all war and violence. May Our Lady and all the Saints pray with St Maximilian that the Church show us that she really does know the Love which you demonstrated in Jerusalem so long ago and founded the Church that will be your presence with us to the end of time.

 13/08/2023

Of course God is in the storm and raging thunder. He is in floods and earthquake. We ignore him at our peril for his providence does not pick and chose; his sun shines on the wicked as well as on the righteous.

St Paul is very much a Jew. He knows the sound of the gentle breeze and he has also been called by the intense light of the Resurrection. He knows that the body which reveals the new life of the resurrected Jesus is his own flesh and blood descended from Abraham. When he offers to repeat Jesus' sacrifice in his own flesh, he is not denigrating the Supreme Love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit which accepted the sacrifice of the Son incarnated to be Jewish from before the beginning of time, he is horrified that any of God's chosen ones would keep themselves from heaven.

There has been no prayer that can approach the Glory of Calvary. St Paul knows this but he is human and he too has fought as we do to find words and ideas that can interpret the longings of our own souls. 

St Peter is total human sincerity, but he does let his actions speak much louder than a gentle breeze. As far as we know he is the only Apostle even to attempt to get out of the boat. In Gethsemane he drew the sword. He wanted to stay on Mount Tabor. He would have avoided Jesus' sign of loving humility at the Last Supper, but most of all he took on the role of Satan by putting the things of this world before God, and. as such, was duly reprimanded.

We who are alive on Earth in 2023 cannot avoid seeing the volatile foundation stone in the present all too human institution. Human technology, however, enables us to search for the still quiet voice throughout the world and communicate our belief in Father Son and Holy Spirit to the Universe.

Dear Lord help me to pray and to avoid being self-centered. You will be with us to the end of time and are in the heart of the Church which is not only an institution on earth but also the loving community of all faithful souls on earth, You, your mother, all the saints in Heaven and the Holy Souls happy in the knowledge that they are able to atone for the sins of which they now know the true horror and stupidity.

 12/08/2023

Today Moses encourages the Israelites by promises of the goods of this Earth which they will obtain thanks to the Love and Covenant God has with the descendants of Abraham.

Jesus is "true man and true God". Moses knows only One God. IAMIAM is total "being". He is and we have to love him to the extent of writing his name on our foreheads so that we are always aware that  we are because HE IS. His providence for Israel deprives other nations of their birthright. This is a recorded fact. It happened three thousand years ago and is happening again in my lifetime. 

Jesus knows the writings that we now call "The Old Testament". They are the scrolls he read from in the Synagogue. He does not ever refer to the history of the displaced peoples or hint at the injustice done to other tribes. He does, however, express dissatisfaction with his own nation. He also continues and concludes the revelations made throughout the Old Testament.

"My kingdom is not of this world" "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar and to God the things that are God's". In these words Jesus is telling us to not be overcome by the quest for a position in this world. Many Popes and Bishops have either not understood or ignored the straight forward meaning of Our Lord's words. The worldly behaviour of the institution founded on St Peter by the Son of God even in the days of Christendom has lead many of us into the "temptation" Our Lord's directive on prayer pleads not to happen.

When Jesus walked on earth he was "true man" so his faith was perfect. Anything he asked the Father on earth was done. Jesus tells us that if our faith were perfect we too would be able to achieve what seems impossible.

Dear Lord you know how I "wobble" when I challenge myself with your "hard  sayings" or "hard deeds". Modern "ethnic cleansing" is a hateful act. I can convince myself that Moses is "wise after the event" but I would rather be able read the Old Testament with the confidence that I do the New. Help me to understand the workings of your Providence in the Holy Land. May the prayers of Mary the perfect woman whose every prayer must be heard and granted as were the prayers of her Son continue to pray for your loving Mercy to be poured over all the weak and sinful souls, such as I am, who need to atone for our sins and to avoid new ones.

 11/08/2023

There are many people in the world that are far cleverer than I am. There are some who are too clever for their own good. I am sure that the words attributed to Jesus in today's Gospel made a lot more sense in the previous translation than they do in today's. How is it possible to save one's life by losing it? As I come to death's door it is my soul that will be present for judgement. My body is lifelessly still present on earth where my bios came to an end.

When Jesus spoke to the disciples about "rising from the dead" they did not understand until it happened and even then reports of the Resurrection were disbelieved. We can be sure that Thomas was not the only doubter among the disciples.

The priest's homily has to interpret the "Word" contained in the Scriptures. In the Gospel readings of long ago I remember "life" being contrasted with "soul".  "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul" ?

The pride of the "clever ones" tells us that the concept of "Soul" was not in the Jewish mind of Jesus and his disciples. "Soul" only comes into the Church as a result of contact with Hellenic Civilisation. This  would require hours for the priest to explain to the congregation the reasons for  changing "soul" to "life" and would be a complete waste of time as our minds still accept the  "life" that has to be saved as "soul".

Dear Lord help me to have a mind that can try to understand but does so in complete humility. Let me boast only of the greatness of the Living God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and let my Soul overcome all desire to sin by only longing to do your will on earth and come into your heavenly presence after the punishment I have made necessary for myself. May Mary and all the saints who are glorified with you continue to plead for the Mercy that all on Earth and in Purgatory need to save their souls from Hell.

 10/08/2023

There are hundreds of organisations in this country that are called "Charities". All of them are started with enthusiastic zeal to do good. Many of them become "professional" and provide a career pathway for their employees. They thus all resemble the Church founded on Peter by Jesus. 

We are not told much about how Jesus dealt with the economic problems of his daily life, which we all face, except that his trusted "Treasurer" became first a pilferer of petty cash and then a traitor. The Apostles soon had to back away from the domestic problems of communal life and handed over the distribution of food and money to deacons, from whose number came the first martyr and also the Saint whose heroic example and death we commemorate today. A hierarchy of mission and service was thus soon accepted by the nucleus of the Church.

Those who had heard directly from Jesus,"Go out to the whole world and spread the Good News" and "do this in memory of me" became the authorities and charismatic leaders. Of these, we only hear of St Paul supporting himself and it is he who delivers funds collected for the relief of the Early Church in Jerusalem.

Today the twelve have become thousands and  they control property and other forms of wealth worth Trillions of Dollars. In the face of this worldly wealth coupled with a visible moral corruption many of the faithful are loth to give money in "support of their pastors". 

 The most visible sign of our Church is the Hierarchy and the buildings that they use. The Vicar of Christ may be personally austere but he and his Bishops inhabit and use huge palaces and cathedrals. Even humble parish priests and monks in the West have a life style that mocks the poverty of some of their own congregations.

I believe that there is also a Church of Faith that is hearts and souls consciously living in the love of God. I cannot be more visible than these humble thoughts and words inspired by the Mass readings of the day. I can only join Mary, John and the other Marys at the foot of the Cross waiting for the bloodied corpse to be taken down and returned to his sinless yet sorrowful Mother. 

Dear Lord you know me better than I can ever know my self. Let me avoid all sin and let my heart and soul be open to the Love that is all I need to know on earth. May Mary and all the angels and saints continue to plead for your forgiveness to be given to me and all sinners still breathing on earth and to the holy souls in Purgatory. We are all in your hands; help us Lord.

 09/08/2023

In the first of today's readings Hosea makes his revelation in nuptial imagery. God will treat a renewed Israel as if she were a bride. Tenderness, love and faithfulness are the words  that should epitomise our relationships with our spouses and here confirm the integrity and justice that is God's participation in the Covenant.

In the Psalm Israel is a young girl who sings with joy for she is to be taken to the King to bear children. It is a beautiful song but in 2023 we have to step back in time and place to understand the situation. It is imagery that would have touched the hearts of the worshippers as they sang it in synagogue and temple. Our Human Society has grown much beyond the tribal stage prevalent at the time of Hosea.

Jesus too uses bridal imagery in today's Gospel. Wisdom and foolishness are to be found in all of us. We are wise when we listen to the word of the Lord. "Listen" is what we all have to do. The really "wise" amongst us, however, can find themselves listening to the wisdom of their own intelligence and fall into a dream world of ideas that began by focusing on God but lost him in the pride of their own intelligence.

The bodies of today's Saint of the Holocaust and her sister were obliterated by the arrogance of mankind which had come about through not only carelessly "sleeping" and thus forgetting our purpose but also by defying the "bridegroom"who is still to come. 

Her intellectual "wisdom"was a thing to be marvelled at but she chose the path of Carmel searching for the still calm voice of Elijah and was killed by the monstrosity of human hatred which had taken a much more than "foolish" step and  welcomed not the Bridegroom but the Prince of Darkness into this world. 

In the lands that I know our souls still sleep on and, what is worse, many of the guardians of the oil to feed our lamps are also far from awake. The Grace of Father Son and Holy Spirit, however, never ceases to flow and the whole of humanity is still invited to join the wedding feast where all the martyrs especially those of the "chosen people", the ones who first received the Word, descendants of Mary's forefathers are all honoured guests.

Dear Lord I hope that my sentimentality is not offensive to you. I am touched by the stories of Edith and Maximilian. I know that I can never truly know you as they did, but that I can love and serve for these are how I can in freedom do your will. May Mary, Edith and all our forefathers in faith whose being touches You continue to channel to us the oil of grace that joins all our souls in the Spirit, The mystical body that is the Being but not necessarily the worldly structure of  your Church.

 08//08/2023

The Israelites of the desert wanderings were not only Jews. They became a unified people in the course of their Exodus. They were unified by the predominance of Hebrew, in which language Moses preached the Covenant that God had made known to him in his mystical trance on Mount Sinai. 

Aaron and Miriam were siblings of Moses who had been brought up by their mother and father, they were his family. Amongst the people who had fled with Moses there must have been several African families and it is from one of these that Moses married the "Cushite" woman. The Bible doesn't tell us the reason for the displeasure of Aaron and Miriam. 

God, IAMIAM, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Jesus is totally aware of everything, time place, a tuppenny sparrow, all human beings. He speaks through the Prophets and through his providence. His providence we can interpret through historical events of the past. 

We all live in His providence in a personal "now". God has made known his being to the prophets but they have all been human so the "anger, jealousy" of God in the Old Testament is very much a human interpretation of the total Being that is totally omniscient. This is why we are saved only by Jesus for it is only he who knows the Father. God from God, begotten not made. One with the Father through whom all things were made".

Our forefathers had not learned to accept and return the Love that God pours out into his creation. So the Word that is God takes on the flesh that is the human being of his own creation and foregoes his Divinity to bring us all into perfection that is his image and likeness. 

I know too well the wish to conform to the Will of God and the failure that is sin. There is no sin in failing to walk on the Lake. I wonder if the miracles of Jesus come about because they are the prayer of the perfect human to the Father that never fails or because of his Jesus' own divinity.

Dear Lord, I pray that I may be always open to the grace of mercy and that my remembered sins can be forgiven. I thank you for your protection against greater sins. May the loving worship of the Perfect Human Beings, your mother and Son and your Saints in heaven be heard that the hearts of sinners here on earth and in purgatory be open to the forgiveness that is your gift to us.

 07/08/2023

The relationship between the Israelites wandering in the desert and God resembles my own sinful life time. Sometimes as I was growing up I was safe and sure in the Catholic Faith that I was learning to love and sometimes my own sinfulness ruled all my thoughts and deeds and at those times I had no self control and as did the Israelites I blamed God for letting me sin.

England was a truly Christian country at that time. Each Sunday all the desolate and empty churches and chapels that now clutter our villages, towns and cities calling out our lack of Faith to the heavens,were filled with enthusiastic worshipers.. 

My neighbours were all Protestant Methodists. Every now and then I had to defend theological accusations that originated in Sunday Schools. Yes, children talked about God and religion in those days.Catholics are sinful because they worship statues was heard not once but many times, as were other blasphemies against Our Lady. Our Corpus Christi procession was met with scorn and jibes by groups of children and teenagers with their parents standing and smirking not too far away. But many of those boys had a real belief in the nearness of God. I remember one boy putting up his arm as if to touch somebody saying "I've got my hand on Jesus' shoulder". He wasn't mocking, he meant it. May God let him rest in peace.

I never lacked belief in God, however, and during the next 35 years made some effort to atone for sins but never showed the constancy that is the true sign of belief. Jesus had no need but he too  did spend 30 years in obscurity, Israelites wandered for 40 years and then spent hundreds of years trying to live faultlessly in sight of  their benefactor. 

In the closing shots of  yesterday's "filmed" drama the camera panned across the lake to another man of similar age to John sitting in a boat to address a great crowd of men, women and children. In what is to be a foretaste of the reason behind his presence in our lives today Jesus feeds a multitude using the goods  his creation to support our bodies while our souls look on in wonder and begin to worship.

Dear Lord help me to see clearly what it is that you reveal in the Scriptures. Let me avoid the attempt to be "clever" and childishly show-off. Let my "childishness" be an open heart that can recognise your Love and welcome it with humility and joy. Our Lady recognised your grace and always remains "poor in Spirit"only coming forward with any pride at the wedding feast at Cannae and this because of her trust in you.. May she together with the souls and angels of heaven plead with Our Father to send the Grace that will forgive us our sins and help us to become Christ-like in forgiveness of others.

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 06/08/2023

The power wielded by the priests of the pagans derived from the control that they had over the "oracles" that only they could interpret and from their role as intermediaries between their "gods" and the state. They were also the supposed to be the recipients of secret knowledge which gave to them sacred power in the eyes of the people.

 The people themselves attributed their lives to the care of their personal household gods and the "inhabitants' of sacred locations near to  where they lived.. All over the world the really powerful rulers became "Sons of Heaven" or actual "gods" who demanded worship as their due. 

Most of  those who were to be convinced by Jesus, those who became the nucleus of Christianity were familiar with the Old Testament which contained attempts by the prophets to describe the glorious immateriality of the Evergreater IAMIAM in human language. All of the attempts by Ezekiel, Daniel, Ezra and also by John in the Apocalypse fail because God is not to be known by our senses but  reveals himself to us by our worship and devotion to him. Moses'  the "burning bush"on Mt Sinai , together with the "still quiet breeze" also on Mt Sinai have the holy simplicity that impresses me more than the vastness of the other visions.

What is it that happened on Mount Tabor when Peter, James and John trudged up the dusty slopes with Jesus? We know that there was a transfiguration of their Rabbi that produced a vision of brilliant light and engulphed them in an unknowing wonder which they tried to interpret but were in truth unable to do so. This is one of the few occasions that Jesus asks individuals to remain silent about their unique experiences of him.

Our Lord, Son with Father and Holy Spirit, one God did not empty himself of his unlimited Being to take on humanity in the womb of  Mary Theotokos to remain unknown on earth. His objective was to make the holiness and forgiveness of God known openly to the whole world not in arcane secrets known only to initiates. 

For thirty years he lived as one man among thousands, his mystery being known only to Mary and to Joseph and remained as man for another three years until the Resurrection when he has been proclaimed to be God to all the world.

Of the three who had been shown the hidden Glory of the Lord on Mount Tabor only one remained to the bitter end on Golgotha. 

Dear Lord , let me be filled with the loving Faith of John and the three Marys. Let the fire of the Holy Spirit enlighten my soul, let me return  unconditionally  the love of Son and let me search for the immensity of  Father letting the Glory of the Trinity guard me and all of creation from the ignorance and stupidity that lets us  be overcome by the transient happiness and pleasures of this world to the detriment of our everlasting souls.

 05/08/2023

The way of life ordered for the Israelites in today's First Reading tells us that God has to be the centre of our lives even to the extent described for the Jubilee. We are not to seek profit in business dealings with our fellow man. The value of our neighbour's worldly goods is to be determined by an objective standard that is determined by God's words to Moses. The Jubilee Year is to be the Sabbath of Years.

 I am not an Old Testament Scholar but I cannot remember the "Jubilee Year" as playing a huge part in the History of Israel, its ups and downs as recorded in the Old Testament.

The beheading of St John the Baptist, however, is grippingly dramatic and contains all the elements that enthral us even today in books, plays and films. It is the Drama that in various guises is being played out to captivated audiences of millions this moment as I read and write. 

It has the man powerful in position, but still a slave to his passions. There is a beautiful voluptuous girl and her conniving mother now the spouse of the King. The fearless integrity of one man among his subjects condemns the immorality of the life lead by his ruler and his spouse. This worries the wife/mother who knowing the weakness of her husband's will; "he was fascinated by the words of the Baptist, even though he didn't understand them" plots to use the sexual attractiveness of her daughter to ruin John . She succeeds; but in the final scene the camera pans across the nearby lake and in soft focus lingers on another solitary figure sitting on the gunwale of a boat addressing a crowd of listeners.

Back to reality of the Gospel. The deciding factor in the all powerful ruler's decision, however, was not a consuming lust for the girl but his concern for the maintaining of his reputation as the man of power who could be trusted to act on his word especially that sworn in public. That situation  of the proud man of power who could not bear to show to his people the reality of his human weakness is also killing thousands in bloody conflicts all over the world today.

Dear Lord you have told me your love for your Church can still be seen in the hearts of those who have been devoted to the care of the weak and poor throughout the world. How can I atone not only for my personally sinful life but also for the neglect of the least of the poor ones, the love of whom you have promised is the true love of you. May the prayers of Mary and all the Saints help me to  forgo comparisons of merit and devote my life to nothing but you and your word . Let the institution learn as I am doing that God, the Mystical Body of Christ  is not a hierarchical organisation but is the Love that knows us as individuals who all care for each other.

 04/08/2023

I do not know how that the Jesus we know from the Gospels could be despised by anyone. We can be certain that his mother only ever felt love for the fragility of the fruit of her womb that the immeasurable  humility of  Father, Son and Holy Spirit had taken on to provide for us the merciful power of Divine Love that we can choose to use to strengthen our freedom to do only good as we live on this earth. 

Mary, Theotokos, gave birth and then tended for the human needs of the infant. The Ever Greater, Lord of all creation, was the child that she fed washed, changed, cuddled and taught to pray. Many of us have felt superior to this human life-cycle that the True Man and True God chose to endure even to death. God did this for us to be able to be redeemed from our sins. It is a fact of human history.

God in his wisdom has chosen to have special care for the people he chose to "speak to". They were guided in the specific way of life that would enable  them to find the joy that is sung in today's psalm that was also sung by Jesus when he attended Synagogue in Nazareth. "Who does he think he is?"What can he tell us about IAMIAM? murmured the congregation for they were faithful to the rules governing their lives as the Chosen People.

The rules for worship revealed in today's first reading did not originate from anything other than God's intention to guide his people into the way of life that would avoid the abomination of sin and strengthen their human bonds. He always IS and is in need of nothing. Jesus becomes part of creation; he partakes in humanity's lifecycle, which in his case is cut short, to enable the final revelation to be made. Even Nazarenes could not deny the Resurrection. Where was Thomas from?

Dear Lord may my prayer be acceptable and my belief and trust in your humanity bring about a total sincerity of heart which will not be lost today. May all the saints who are bodiless with you in heaven pray that Jesus who is You and with You in the Resurrection together with the  Assumption of Mary pray that your Church here on earth be converted to the holiness that is needed by all  sinners on earth and in purgatory if we are to join You in the Glory that is Eternal.

 03/08/2023

God is well aware of the bemusement that is likely to fill the minds of anyone who reads today's details of how Moses cared for the presence of God, the Tablets and the Ark. 

The stationary tabernacles of our churches are similarly there to be treated with a devotion equal to that of Moses and the Israelites for the Ark and it coverings.

The Real Presence of God in our churches is also attended with flowers and lights but these are all provided by the worshippers. We are not accompanied by the Cloud or the Pillar of Fire.

God is not confined by anything. His being is beyond the physical limits of the Universe, his creation, he is not only in the Cloud, Pillar or Ark but fills the world with his Goodness. Our limited intelligences can in this world think  the "Idea of God"but it is only in receiving "Holy Communion" with the correct intentions we can be one with all believers who are fed by "The Real Presence of God" Jesus,  as were the Apostles in the Upper Room and momentarily be "with him".

I think that Jesus tells us in today's Gospel that we are the free and responsible owners of our lives and that in the depths of our souls are able to find trace memories of, and with our living human minds and bodies know, love and serve the Being that is the ever greater God.

 The Kingdom of Heaven is not of this World nor is it an idea created in my mind, it is You Spiritual Being, Father, Son and Holy Spirit that we share with all mankind living and dead. It is the Living God, the Shekinah, the Glory of the Almighty.

Dear Lord, I still hope that I am one soul known intimately by you and that my being is truly striving to follow the Commandments revealed to Moses and completed by Jesus. May Mary and all the Saints who are in your Glory join their praise to ours and seek forgiveness for all sinners both on Earth and in Purgatory.

 02/08/2023

What is this "Kingdom of God" that Jesus always presents to us in parables, metaphors and similies.? Today we have the metal detectorist of his era who when looking around in the vicinity of one of the ancient ruins/burial places, of which there were plenty in Palestine, even at the time of Our Lord, comes across a buried hoard. He doesn't reveal his find to the owner of the field. It must be his! So he raises capital from his present possessions and buys the field without revealing its hidden value.

The acquisition of hidden value is still one of the main activities of the Trading Companies of today. Jesus neither condones nor condemns the basic dishonesty of this practice, acquiring goods at less than their true value, but tells us that we should  emulate the persistence  of the wheelers and dealers seen on Wall Street, the City of London and other bourses and exchanges throughout the world in their search for wealth. Our persistence, however,  should be directed to  the " Kingdom of God" an unshakeable adherence to the revelations of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Why does Jesus make no condemnation of the literal "gold-digger"? Jesus' other parables using wealth as their theme also reflect the complexity of the way worldly wealth continues to grow and provides us with many of our moral conundrums. The present day Vatican is  paralysed by the "Patrimony of St Peter."The Church knows that the worldly riches that have been acquired over centuries, two Millenia, should not  be wasted but caring for them takes the time that should be devoted to "The Kingdom of God". 

Prayer is the primary purpose of each soul here on Earth. The Word, the Incarnate Son of the Father became the ultimate prayer on the Cross of Calvary. His mystical body, the Church could offer herself to become a sacrifice pleasing to God in the only way possible when stuck in the "Eye of the Needle". Divest.Divest.Divest. Give everything away and return to prayer.

Dear Lord, I know that I am responsible for myself. Let me never lose sight of the Angel who has brought to me the Holy Spirit and let the sincerity of these moments remain with me until I face death. May Mary and all the Saints support my words and the prayers of the heart that are a truthful raising of my being to God. Lord have mercy on me.

 01/08/2023

Over the years that I have tried to live in accordance with the teachings of the Church I have never paid much attention to Moses and the wandering people of God. So today, in trying to understand how Joshua could stay in the Tent of Meeting, I have come to realise for the first time that the "wandering" in the desert was not a daily event. They did not wake up each morning, strike camp and move to another location then pitch their tents again. 

Very much like modern day Bedouin they would exhaust the pasture and other resources of a location and then move on. Over time they would come to know fertile places in the desert where they would scatter seed, leaving it to grow  in God's Providence. They would then return to this locality to either harvest this seed or leave it as fodder for their flocks. The people I have met who have grown up in this environment are usually tough as nails and afraid of nothing and nobody. "Self-contained" or "Stiff-necked" is not an inappropriate adjective to use of them but they are never rude.

The crowds who listen to Jesus and at times smother him by their demands and presence are a settled people. Their forefathers were the Israelites of the desert. The tent of meeting had evolved into the Temple and local schools, the synagogues. Jesus was able to teach in these urban locations but his parables are often created to appeal to the folk memory of his listeners.

Jesus has completed his mission as sower of the seed. In addition to sowing us into this world he has also ensured our growth with his blood. He has left us to grow in the fertility of God's Providence with the support of his grace but we do this in freedom and not straitjacketed by predestination as St Augustine avers. The seeds of the parable will, indeed, be unable to change their DNA but the souls that they represent, we on earth, can turn to and away from the Sower, as they will.

Fear of Hell often consumed the being of the child that I was. It has taken a lifetime of sin, repent and sin again to realise that there is nothing to fear about death for it is merely a transition to a bodiless spiritual condition where God is everything. May Mary help me to be welcomed into what she and all the saints know. May my atonement be full and my prayers sincere thus emptying myself of all pride and selfishness.