19/09/2023

Jesus promises that if we come together as a community with the same intention of raising our hearts and minds to be one with him in worshipping Father, Son and Holy Spirit then He is also in our midst.

When we join a congregation of worshippers our primary purpose is to seek His presence and be one with him. The first converts were all Jews and so in their prayer they reproduced their Synagogue Sabbath meetings.Their focus, however, was not the Scriptures but the Resurrection, Jesus the Messiah was with them. They had received the Holy Spirit.

As with all groups of people the disciples were prone to disagreements. This was even more true when complaints about the Gentiles who were joining Paul's "Churches" began to be made and decisions about dietary laws and circumcision could not be avoided. The Soul of the Church then and now is the Resurrection but we human beings are all aware of ourselves first and need the gentle hand of Our Father to teach and guide us to the righteousness that loves our neighbour as ourselves. Even when Jesus was preparing his closest disciples for their roles in bringing the Good News to us all, there were squabbles about hierarchical positions in Kingdom that was to come.

We are with Jesus because we have not lost touch with his hand as we navigate the Way. What happened to the son of the widow of Nain after he was brought back to life in this world by the hand and prayer of the Son of the Father? One hopes that he experienced the joy of seeing the Risen Lord as one of the 500.

St Paul's advice to Timothy on how to prepare his converts to be self-governing has to be read today by all our clergy. I too am ashamed that my life has fallen far short of  Paul's "Job Description" of a priest and a deacon which is also a description of the qualities that all Christians must have to be true followers of the God who was born as man, lived, died in torment and is the Resurrection. This Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life" who will be with us always until the end of time.

Dear Lord, Could it be possible that the recipients of such grace as received by the widow and her son ever forget you? I know that I who have been equally blessed by your sacraments can easily fall into sinful ways. My family knows very little of you and lives at ease in the world as do I. You know how much my prayer is sincere and how much lacks true humility which is the acceptance of grace and and the realisation of how little I am. May Mary whose mother's love of you has never been matched lead all the Angels and saints in gratitude for your the Mercy you continue to pour down and thus save sinners on Earth and in Purgatory.