11/08/2024

These jottings are the "stream of consciousness" that is permanently present when I am not asleep.I am always open to the possibility that my response to the "Mass Readings" for each day misses the point and that what seems to be "Eternal Truth" to me is the product of minds as disturbed as I know my own to be. I do know that mine is not the only consciousness and that there are many others outside my personal  "thinking being".

Sometimes, as does Elijah in today's first reading, I find my own "furze bush" and determined to go no further, "plonk" myself down and wish that I was dead. 

The unseen presence of God touched the soul of Elijah as it does into the souls of all of us, and he awoke to continue his life as a "servant of God". We can call this a "supernatural" event but it is "natural" for God to care for his creation and to confirm the reality of his natural Love for the outcome of his "creative being" he took for him the "natural step" of "Incarnation" into the created reality of time.

God took Elijah to the Holy Mountain. I am still within my own skull but I have joined the "stream of reflection" that has been the natural response of mankind to God's natural but unseen presence.

St Paul tells us that we are creatures who are responsible for our own behaviour. We have to accept that each one of us has to treat others with respect even in the most trivial of social interactions.

In the Gospel, Jesus our begotten, naturally human God, preaches that in him we can see the, for us supernatural, Love that is the "nature" of Father, Son and Holy Spirit .

Elijah could not hide, even under a furze bush, from the call that is the natural response of God to all his creatures. Death will come naturally but not before we are all given the opportunity to answer this call by becoming the beings that, in the eyes of their creator, are good.

I know that I have all too often been ready to ignore and resist the reality of God's call. How can we resist "Christ who loving us as did gave himself up in our place as a fragrant offering to God."? We should all be ready to sing with the psalmist "Glorify the Lord with me, together let us praise his name."

Dear Lord, You know and guide me in your ways. Help me to be truthful in all my dealings with my fellow humans and let me overcome the human self-centredness that is destroying your creation. All of these words are from my need to be forgiven for the great sins of my life. Let me become more convinced of your mercy so that I can find peace in my heart even in the days remaining for me on this earth. May my prayers join those of Mary and all the saints in praise of your Glory and pleading for forgiveness for all sinners on earth and in the sanctuary that is Purgatory. Amen