21/01/2024

If we try to atone for sinful behaviour God is always ready to help us. The Ninevites listened and accepted the warning given through Jonah. Our God sustains all that we are and know. Not only does he know us as the "Evergreater" creator but also he has accepted and shared our lives as a human son. Jesus lives and dies on Earth just as we do but sinlessly although subject to the same temptations as we are.

St Paul lives to preach and teach by word and example. Today he warns that life is short. For all of us rich and poor, ignorant or learned the most insistent of bodily urges comes from sex. We have to curb the pleasure principal of our bodies. We should try to be detached from the sorrows and equally the joys of everyday life. The urge to own things should be curbed. St Paul teaches that "retail therapy"is not a harmless pastime. Those of us who have good jobs or inherited leadership roles in our world should not become so engrossed in the things that belong to this world that they become oblivious to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We have all been chosen by God to live holy lives. Some have had a special calling to be guardians of the truth preached and shown by Jesus to be the "way". We are the Body of Christ on Earth, the Church. The Church as an Institution in the World has always had to avoid becoming engrossed in the World. We have not always succeeded but God is merciful and listens equally to the pleadings of sinners and the just alike, Nineveh and Jonah.

Dear Lord, I pray that you let me heed the warnings of Jonah, and St Paul and remember that the Spirit of Truth is the private possession of no man or institution. May the Holy Spirit open up the hearts and minds of all sinners so that the "sheep" can have confidence in their "pastors" and their "pastors" complete their holy missions without losing any of the souls that you have entrusted to them. May the prayers of Mary and all the saints continue to bring your Mercy to us sinners on earth and to the Holy Souls in Purgatory.