01/05/2024

I always try to begin my day by reading the texts that have been chosen to be read at mass. I have to do this as if I don't, my mind is captured by the kaleidoscope of images that appear on the screen. My mind picks up on a headline and can, soon be galloping all over the world.

We in the 21st century are faced with more demands on our human intelligence than in any other era. We have been taught that the Garden of Eden is not a historical record of God's creation of mankind in the Universe of matter. Disbelieve in the first books of revelation then undermines belief in God and it is thus "proven" to us that there is nothing lasting about our consciousness of our world and our place in it. We are only physical atoms that dissolve into "dust" when our bodies can no longer function.

Science understands the Laws of Matter but it does not teach us anything about existence/ being itself. It answers the questions asked about what our bodies are made of,  but ignores the who and why I know that "I am". These questions are only answerable by someone who has lived, died and returned from Eternity

The Feast of St Joseph the worker was instituted in response to inroads into the Institutional Catholicism of the 19th Century made by atheistic socialism.

The great feasts of the Roman Calendar had all been celebrated to proclaim the Resurrection and those who had based their lives on living devoted only to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The souls whose earthly lives had borne witness to the truth of the Gospel. 

Although done with the best of intentions the establishment of this "political" Feast of the "Worker" detracts from the place St Joseph has in God's Revelation as the Guardian of the Holy Family. He is a saint not because he was a manual worker but because he answered the call by God to accept that Mary's child was indeed the only begotten Son of God. His "yes" to God was truly a "Giant step for mankind".

Dear Lord, you must still know St Joseph with great human affection. Today I am trying to respond in my heart to the truth that is recorded in the Scriptures. May Mary who knows the sincere care with which her husband did not refuse his secondary role in your Holy Family lead him and all the saints in the heavenly chorus that gives praise to you and brings your mercy to all sinners on earth and in Purgatory.