30/11/2023

St Paul is writing today to the Romans, the congregation of believers that was founded by St Peter. St Peter in today's Good News  is literally minding his own business. He is working with his father and his brother Andrew by the side of the lake, when a stranger greets him and his brother with "Come follow me and I will make you "fishers of men".

They stop work and follow him.

We have to know from this that Jesus had an irresistible attraction for those he had chosen. They had not heard the Good News but they had an instant gift of Faith. St Paul writes to us via  his letter to the Romans that if we want to be saved into the Kingdom of God we must believe in our hearts and confess with our lips.

Not all those who met Jesus on Earth were converted to Faith as were these first Apostles. The rich young man went "sorrowfully away" and on Good Friday hundreds bayed for his death. God knows us all individually and offers himself to the whole world. He never forces us by his power but always offers us the choice to accept his Love or not.

I know my own heart and am thus ashamed of many of my deeds. We can only seal our personal acceptance of God's choice of us by showing by our deeds that we are followers of His Will. Father, Son and Holy Spirit knows the glory of Eternal Being. God knows the Joy of perfect freedom and offers us, his created image and likeness, a share in that freedom so that we can become like him. We are all living in time to prepare for the promised joy of Eternity.

Dear Lord help me to become part of your mystical being united on Earth with your mother and all the saints in heaven praying for ourselves and for the Holy Souls, who are awaiting in hope-filled atonement, to find the grace to open our beings to the Faith that will inevitably result in  the delight of your Mercy.