30/09/2024

What we refer to as "Scripture" is largely the work of St Jerome whose memory is today celebrated by the "new remnant" that we Christians of the West have become in 2024. We did not know Jerome but we have to thank God for his life's work. This is why we can "celebrate" his memory.

In today's world, human beings have become so manipulated by Mammon that even personal grief at the death of those we love has been marketed successfully as "celebration of life". A moment's thought can see the nonsense of this phrase which delivers that much beloved of the counselling business "closure" to survivors but is empty of any true meaning other than "Let's party, he's gone."

Our Institutional Church has been so infiltrated by Mammon that those who have devoted their lives to preaching God's word, as codified by St Jerome, have gone along with the merchandisers and there are now very few "funerals" as such.

The Book of Job treats our lives as our acceptance of a world created by God. A world in which we can only make sense of our span by patiently accepting our fate which is beyond our control. For Job, and Hamlet,  "the Lord" is "the divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them as we will" and is to be known only by the events we encounter throughout our lives.

The revelation of God's plan for his creation makes it clear that rather than stoically accepting our fates Jesus has revealed that we must, each one of us seek God's will for himself and choose for ourselves the right path. We are each able to find the way, the truth and Eternal Life because we are each known and guided by God. We are not alone in an eternal desert but are loved for ourselves not because we are worth it, but because FatherSonHolySpirit is Love.

The total Scriptures translated by Jerome take us into the minds of men who consciously interacted with IAMIAMFATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT over thousands of years. The Bible records the true history of faith and is our infallible guide to life. The history of the Church records the acceptance of God's completion of his revelation by, at first, the named twelve and their disciples, and finally two thousand years later we who have to do battle with the same false friends as did Job.

God has revealed himself to real people over the whole of time. In the realism of today's Gospel, the real friends of Jesus are still arguing about themselves even in the presence of the Living Lord. Dear Lord help us all to change.

Dear Lord, You know that I am always full of thanks that my sins can be forgiven. There are no words to express the yearning that I have to become a forgiven one of the billions of souls standing in the light of your revealed Glory knowing that nothing can separate me from the Joy it is to be one of your creatures. You know that I am also praying for the soulless scrap of non-humanity that you have given us to enkindle within all who have ever seen him an instant smile of unconditional love. Guarding your creation is one of the worldly tasks that we can perform without forgetting our souls. May I join with Mary and all the saints, who will remain with you without change until the instant that we will all know our Eternal place with you, in the prayer, that is now their being, for Mercy that we all need together with the Holy Souls, whom you never forget, in Purgatory.

 29/092024

It seems that the "Spirit" recognised by the Israelites on Moses and also on Eldad and Medad was a tangible something. I cannot do any more than wonder what it could have been, but Moses was sure that it came from IAMIAM and was a testimony to his presence although invisible to the human eye.

James, who probably grew up with Jesus remained in Jerusalem to become the first "Overseer, boss" of the Church there and had huge authority among the Jews who had become believers in the Resurrection, warns us that the riches that we accumulate are worthless as the material they all are will certainly decay. He would undoubtedly agree with later secular philosophers that "all property is theft" and that there is no wealth that has been acquired without part of the chain that links it to its origin being unjust in some way.

IAMIAMFATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT put some of the "Spirit" that was on Moses onto the Elders.

The "millstone around the neck" is such a powerful warning that it always amazes me that corrupt clergy and supporting Bishops of our and any era could have the "brass-neck" to even think of continuing in office after committing their crimes.

Jesus' "name" is available for all the people of the world to use in  good .faith.

I wonder what it was that John witnessed that so offended him to the extent that he reported it to Jesus. Jesus' response is instant and unequivocal. 

John is bothered that what he was learning from Jesus is also being acted upon successfully, "devils were cast out," outside of the "magic circle" of the twelve. Jesus' reply that the real problem is not acting as a Christian without affiliation to His organisation but rather that any corruption of hand, foot or eye within the organisation "The Mystical Body of Christ"  should be recognised at once and cut off. 

For our Institutional Church this is as unthinkable a task as mutilating our own personal bodies would be for us.

Dear Lord, Help me to avoid the jealousy that caused John to condemn a good deed made in the "name of Jesus". Your infinity of being is not contained or limited in any way by the things of this world. You know each one of us and help us to make the right response to your grace which searches us out as the "Good Shepherd" searches for his lost sheep. You, who have engraced the body for ever by the Incarnation, know that to be righteous we have to keep body mind and soul free from sin and open to your grace which when you were on Earth not only saved us from our sins but also fed and cured our bodies. May my prayers continue to be linked with those of Theotokos, it was your truly human body that she bore, and all angels and saints that my sins and the sins of all the world be forgiven and that the Holy Souls will receive your merciful forgiveness. 

 28/09/2024

Today the preacher of Ecclesiastes reminds us of how futile life can sometimes seem to be and he advises those who are still young that their heydays will not remain for ever. Even as we grow old, however, the cycle of life that is God's creation still continues even as our sight of it diminishes.

"There is nothing new under the sun" is another of his themes. Would he still say that if he were to be returned to his homeland today?

The secular states that dominate the world we live in now are given over to the  creation and preservation of wealth. There is sometimes in the West a veneer that remains of Christianity and governments try to present themselves as guardians of a "new morality", that they are protectors of human freedom even as they fire rockets at the other humans who oppose them.

They create laws which are in effect much more petty than the Law as taught by the Priests and Pharisees which Jesus condemned. Material wealth is only disguised "dust" that has accrued because mankind is dominated by our own greed. Sorting out the waste created by our way of life is presented as the height of morality but protest against the killing of unborn children, who are treated  as the waste product of immorality, is anti-social behaviour that must be suppressed.

There is no doubt that Jesus knew what his mission was to be. Even though he discarded his Divinity,  as a sinless perfection of humanity he was never out of touch with His and our Father. We have all been diminished from that perfection to which we must aspire and sometimes have to battle our way through the morass of our own sins to be able to open our hearts and minds to the Love that is the being of FATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT.

I am still not able to know the true enormity of sin except by trying to understand how it can be that the Creator had to become true man to  be able to create a new Grace in our world of time. A human being really is something special but can easily become a monster to fall into the hands of, especially when he thinks that he is doing the work of God.

Dear Lord, help me to become sinless throughout the rest of this day. Help all of us to choose to follow in your Son's footsteps and accept what we have to do to access the Grace that has been available in our world since those years you lived on our Earth. May that grace flow into the hearts of all ministers of religion that the words they preach control their own beings. Nothing is impossible for you but for us the reverse is often true. May Mary and all the saints continue in their praise and pleas for mercy for us. But your words to Dives seem to have come true for your Resurrection seems to have been forgotten. There are still some righteous souls on earth for the sake of those and for sinners like me please return in a recognisable form to convert the whole world. We are failing again as did your beloved Jews. Help us Lord, help us.

 27/09/2024

There is indeed a "time" for everything that we have to do in this world. The writer of Ecclesiastes knew that we all live in time and react to it in the way that seemed to be a "good idea" at the moment when we or others did what we are remembering.

It is easy for me to fill my mind with personal and historical examples of the unanticipated results of decisions made in good faith at the time they were made.

The Gospel reading for this morning, however, presents us with the only decision that takes us out of time by confirming how we should live within it . It is again Jesus stopping  our lives with  "But?" There are numerous answers to Jesus question at that moment in the "peacefulish" Palestine of the first century. Jesus' "But", however, stops time for the moment then and now.

He asked the Apostles for their own reaction to his presence in their midst. He asks the whole world since then and also today is asking the same question.

It is not a "trick" question (we get more than enough of those from the Pharisees). It is the most important question that we all have to answer not with words but with our whole life that is to be our offering to the FATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT at the moment we share with Jesus who cried out from the cross; "Lama Lama Sabachthani". How does my life answer to "But, who do you say I am".

Dear Lord, You know that I am always wary of myself when I feel that I have responded to your Word in a way for me that is approved by You. Help me to feel secure in my heart and act out the rest of today aware that I can do your will for you have delivered me from evil. Jesus you are still with us as the spiritual body that welcomes all who reach out to you and so I can join Mary, Angels, SVP, and all the other Saints in praising your Glory and seeking pardon for all sinners still on earth or happily accepting punishment in Purgatory.

 26/09/2024

This morning's mass readings begin with the writer asking us to face the question asked by all human philosophers. In his age there were and had been many who asked this basic "WHY?" question and we all seek to answer it as we turn ourselves to God in our morning worship or self-assessment of our place in the world.

I have answered the question of what it means to be alive by trying to turn myself over to God. This means that "Vanity, vanity. All is vanity" reinforces the framework for living that I have constructed for myself out of Biblical revelation.

I can now sit comfortably in front of this screen and continue my train of thought by selecting letters on the keyboard. There are billions of other humans who cannot do this. 

"Vanity, vanity. All is vanity" is itself a meaningless "vanity" for those hiding from violent men. It does not feed the starving. It does not raise sinners addicted to their own way of  escape from the futility that we all recognise at the bottom of our beings unless supported by God. It does not help the abused nor the abuser. I feel secure in "the way, the truth and the life" but for the child dying from hunger, milk means much more than any words.

Jesus has not bequeathed to us words but the Truth for living never for ourselves but always for others as he did, "pro nobis" on  Calvary. It is God's will that we live our lives dedicated to his revealed will for us not in the "Vanity of vanities" that is displayed by the shallow "anxiousness" to see Jesus of the man who had ordered the decapitation of John on a whim, but in our deeds that show to the world, and to ourselves, that we truly are "desperate" to know, love and serve.

Dear Lord, you know that I am really aware that my love of life comes about from the comfort with which I am able to live my life. Words are easy and can hide the reality of thought. I am secure that you really do know the core of my being and can awaken my love for you by your Love for me. I implore your aid for all those who are dying by the violence that comes about from not following your Will on Earth and becoming blinded by the delights of our material being dwelling in a material world. Mankind is a pathetic creature if not truly dedicated to you and all of us need to know that the only "real-life" is to live according to your will on earth and so find the place reserved for us in the Eternity that is Heaven. May my prayers and those of Mary, Angels and All the Saints bring the Mercy that can forgive and guide away from sin all sinners on Earth and pardon for the Holy Souls. Amen

 25/09/2024

Today we read of the very first assignment given to the twelve chosen disciples. It is the first mission given by God not to a single individual but to a group of people. Each of the twelve is  to "shout out" that God is always near and to cure diseases. If there is no favourable reaction Jesus tells them to forget that town and blot it from their memory. They are to shake off even the dust collected in that place from their feet.

The people who inhabit the towns to be visited are all following a way of life taught to them by Moses. They have grown over centuries to become a people who have always had God close to them, who have followed the "Law" and worshipped together in Temple and Synagogue. They all know that they are special in the eyes of IAMIAM, the divine fire that filled the mind and soul of Moses and the other prophets.

Two thousand years later we are witnesses to what has developed from those simple instructions given by Jesus to his "twelve".

First we have to wonder what it was that FatherSonHolySpirit found unsatisfactory about the human beings in the created universe at that time rather than previous other times, particularly as these were the  ones that had been chosen to know God and worship him in this world.

It seems to me that human wisdom had become lost in the grandeur of its own abilities and "religion" was largely lip-service without the purity of heart that could reflect the holiness of God. However, only FatherSonHolySpirit can understand the Infinite Loving kindness that is Calvary.

The Twelve, an elven to one mixture of mostly good and mostly bad human beings has grown to become the same mixture of humanity but on a vastly greater scale.

We have been given complete freedom to choose where we want to be in the eyes of God, if not Adam's sin would have wiped us out before we got going. There is something about us that our Father knows and loves. We can choose to accept that he wants from us the righteousness that he has revealed as the way, truth and life.

Jesus and the eleven continue  to proclaim "Emmanuel" and we still have grace and opportunity to respond with love to Love. Even I can aim at the Apostolic ratio of eleven to one in my own being and never forgetting  that nothing is impossible ( Judas can be saved ) for the Mercy of God passeth all understanding. My redeemer liveth.

Dear Lord, I hope that I am getting to the point where I can confidently say that I have got closer to your will for me than I did yesterday. Jesus condemned hypocrisy and it is my greatest fear that I fall into the self-satisfaction that disguises itself as love of God. It is in my behaviour that I reveal the secrets of my heart not in the thoughts and words that come to me each day. Let me on earth at this moment join my prayers to those of Mary and all the Angels and Saints as we all proclaim the Glory and Goodness of you, Our Father in Heaven. May my sins and the sins of the whole world be smothered by the eternal sacrifice you made in our worldly time on Calvary and may we all come to know how to subdue our human ego to save our immortal souls. May our souls and the souls of all the departed rest in your peace. Amen

 24/09/2024

"Nothing is impossible to God". "Be it done unto me according to thy Word" with these words the Annunciation is completed and now the whole of humanity in the person of this Palestinian teenager begins to be aware of a new phase in God's revelation of His being; 

IAMIAMISFATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT.

The all powerful "oneness" of God is in fact a Trinity of persons. Nothing is impossible to God.

Mary is in the reality of the physical universe carrying in her womb the timeless God, who is still visiting his people, now as the same prisoner of finite time as are all his creatures. Nothing is impossible to God.

Elizabeth has conceived in her old age, past her menopause, a child. Zachariah is still speechless, but Elizabeth knows that Mary is pregnant with the Son of God. Nothing is impossible to God.

Mary tells Joseph what has happened to her. He also is inspired by God to accept the "preposterous" story of the Incarnation. Nothing is impossible to God.

"The blind see, the lame walk and the lowest of the low have the Gospel, (God's purpose) preached to them". Nothing is impossible to God.

"Thou art Peter and on this rock I will build my church". "Woman behold thy son. Son behold thy mother." Nothing is impossible to God.

Jesus is God in the resurrection of the  crucified body that still bears the wounds received for us on Calvary. Nothing is impossible to God.

According to the ability of human beings all of the above events are "foolishness". They are all supernatural in the eyes of men but they are natural for our all powerful FatherSonHolySpirit. Nothing is impossible for God.

Dear Lord help me to know, love and serve. Help me by your grace to defy sin that still pursues me. Help me truly know that your creative "Let there be Light" and Mary's assent "let it be done to me according to thy word" contain all that we can ever know about living in this world. Holy Righteousness is not a preposterous goal, pie in the sky, but is prepared for us by the wisdom of Father, the example of Son and supported by the grace brought into our hearts by Holy Spirit. There is absolutely no reason for me to blabber on. You know what is my petition for today. We learnt about love in our care for the little soulless animal that is now in need of comfort. There are many other millions of poor and needy human souls that stand before us in the priority of life in your creation. You know that I am not testing You but asking for help. I think that your being is a limitless intimacy of person to person so, Father, I can ask for all the big things, forgiveness for my sins and ever-more mercy for the Holy Souls and you will not ignore the totally innocent, preprogrammed animals that you created before us.

 23/09/2024

In the beginning there is only IAMIAM but the beginning, now and the end are all one to the Eternal Light whose nature we have revealed to us as Love for IAMIAMFATHERSONANDHOLYSPIRIT creates us to love and be loved.

We live in the light of God's revelation of himself. We do not have words that can match his Glory but we can all become the beings that it is the nature of God to create. None of us are the "Light" that should not be hidden but we can share in it as the nature of FatherSonHolySpirit is to give Love to all his creation.

Jesus lives for us. He guides us. He suffers death for us. He is resurrected for us. Even in his resurrection he retains the wounds in his flesh that are his, crucified for us, humanity. 

It is the Nature of God to respect the summit of his creation by letting us live beyond the genetic coding that prisons us within the flesh that he humbled himself to experience as "true man". It is our spiritual being that seeks out God's guidance to bring peace into our beings and there is nothing that is impossible for God to do that we cannot witness.

I know that I am still deficient, but, thank God, I am getting there and have been able to accept and retain the grace which our Father,SonHolySpirit showers down on us all. Today we remember a naturally human man who has been able to accept the Natural Evergreatness of God and become engraced to reveal in his worldly body the scars that save the world.

There is nothing "supernatural" about any "miracle" for they are  revealed to natural man by our God whose natural reality is to be Ever-Greater. I once had nothing but through the Grace of God I know now that  green shoots of a harvest that I must protect are sprouting.  I need to retain what I have been given but can only do so by co-operating with the Will of FatherSonHolySpirit.

Dear Lord, You know that I am but shallow soil that has often started to sprout many times before now. You know that I am struggling to supress an excitement of pride that thinks the thoughts that have come to me today are from you. I do know that Faith is not thoroughly expressed by thoughts or words but by the  deeds that reveal the depth or otherwise of our sincerity. Help me to live this day illuminated by the Light of Calvary and let me too share that grace with which you united your Church of Love "Woman accept your Son. Son she is your mother". May I never forget to seek pardon for all my sins and united with Mary and all Saints plead for the light of your mercy to shine on all sinners both here and in Purgatory.

 22/09/2024

The readings to be used in this morning's liturgy of the mass did not choose themselves. 

The writer of the Book of Wisdom was guided by the Holy Spirit to not only worship God but to also  think rationally about himself, his people and especially about mankind's relationship with IAMIAM.

 David or whoever first sang the Psalms was guided to sing joyful praise of the wonder of God's Glory and seek pardon for the sin of mankind. 

James had witnessed the sinless life of the perfect man and had never turned back from the road that led to his personal martyrdom. 

Mark repeats what the Apostles had prayerfully reminisced about the teachings of Jesus during their formation on the roads, at table, and in the Synagogues and Temple of the Holy Land even though those memories often reveal their incomprehension and shame.

Today we have the twelve displaying our totally human greed for the future, ambition and its inevitable dissatisfaction and jealousy. Jesus presents to them a child as the perfect example of how we are to live in the Love of FatherSonHolySpirit. I can remember being a child and know that there were lots of sins and jealousies in the child that I was then.

To become a child of Jesus we have  to be able to put away childishness. From the moment of our births we are aware that we have the mystery of "being" and that another "being" is our willing servant. To become physically comfortable all we need to do is to scream. This is the childishness that can remain with us and was put away by St Paul.

The "child" of Jesus has to know that there is a supreme being, that our mother's love is only a shadowy reflection of his love for us, and that we can seek for help but never scream, and that my "I" must always seek to do the will of God by always being at the service of others.

Many of us really old are still striving to attain that goal but "Our Father" never fails to encourage us and guide us though the Son's example by the Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord you know that I thank you for helping me to start this day in the company of the Word which comes from You and is You. My body is still screaming for the care it knew as "King Baby" but thanks be to you I have been guided away from the human tantrums that display themselves in the carnality of our world. Mammon triumphs in the pride that is  the satisfaction of sensual greed. Worldly barns are full of the treasure that decays to dust and we your people feel that we have been deserted by those who are the spiritual children of your Apostles. You know that I am a child unhappy that the reality of this world dominated by sin is not what I expect the outcome of your Eternal Sacrifice to be. I pray that these prayers are not the babblings of a babe in arms but a sincere avowal of Faith, Hope and acceptance of the Love that passeth all understanding by one making a conscious effort to become one of your obedient children. May my efforts to live in your Grace be supported by Mary and all the Saints who never cease to implore your Mercy for all who need it but know that you are also always Just. Amen

 21/09/2024

I have often been condemned both in my youth and adulthood for claiming to have faith but living as if I had none. I was being judged by others.

Today the Psalmist looks into the night and sees the almost solid mass that are the stars and in his awe and humility proclaims the Glory of God. That moment of "awesome wonder" has been shared by all who look up into an unpolluted night sky but it has also been denied by many who in their human pride can explain the physical universe and condemn as ignorance the God-inspired awe of our far distant ancestors.

St Paul knows better for he insists that we have all been born and called by God to do his work on Earth. We are also warned that on completion of our Earthly existence we will be judged not on the state of our bank balance, status in the world or number of offspring but on the way that we have responded to the call to holiness that is his sole purpose in creating us.

The night sky is an indication of the greatness of the God who created us; so are the tiny, short-lived particles that make up the atoms that are the common building blocks of all material being. The true greatness that is FatherSonHolySpirit, however is not a material substance that can be measured by us but is in fact what we call Spirit, the naturally unseen that at this moment is trying to explain me to myself, to open my heart to God, to accept the enormity of "Image and Likeness".

Our souls are greater than anything that mankind can achieve. It is no wonder that we lesser mortals ponder the things such as this that helps me record my thoughts and prayers in slices of mineral and are overcome by wonder at what is the shining  greatness of mankind.

Our God, the Evergreater, however guides us to Truth by his revelations. St Paul enumerates the ways in which FatherSonHolySpirit calls us to serve him in our life times. God's priorities for us have never included coding or chip-making, or their technical predecessors; they  together with money making are the great temptation that is "Mammon".

The Incarnation, Jesus, has the one purpose of calling us all to live virtuous lives by listening to the Word of God and avoiding sin. It is thus that we will discover the greatness of God and realise our own true greatness as we leave all the world behind and hopefully accept the freedom of the Children of God.

Dear Lord, my head is bowed, I am one being only, I listen to your word but know that I can easily fall into temptation, save me from the sin of Mammon that dominates every second of my waking life. Help me to be quiet in my heart and act only out of kindness. Let me  listen to YourHolySpirit and never choose to harm my "image and likeness" which you have created to bring eternal life to this weak vessel that is my mind and body. May my prayers and all those of all the world join in the chorus of heaven that is led by your mother, imploring that we on Earth live the lives that we have been created for and that we recognise our sins and look on Calvary as the source of merciful forgive that it is for all humanity. Amen

 20/09/2024

Each morning when I begin to read the mass readings I also question myself as to what are my intentions. Why am I doing this self-imposed task?

When we read St Paul's preaching and encouragement we are in no doubt that he is striving with the whole of his being to share what he learnt from Christ on the road to Damascus. It was not only the sight of the Glory of the Resurrection that he received; he also received a mission in which he continued until the day of his martyrdom.

In today's letter he is desperate that he is losing some of his converts. Some are denying that the Resurrection ever happened but he is sure that we all are going to experience the same event that he witnessed the "first fruits of" in the personal epiphany that changed his life for ever.

Today's martyrs had been brought up in a civilization that had managed to bring order into the lives of millions of men and women for centuries. It was an order that was able to achieve a peaceful stable society that must have impressed the first Europeans from the continent of wars who first witnessed it. 

In many ways it was a delight of peaceful calm as was the Empire of the Chinese. It was however a totally human order with an unknowable world of Spirits that had to be appeased and ancestors for whom they brought immortality in Buddhist inspired "rebirth". 

The Christian FATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT's revelation to Westerners in Palestine has no equivalent in any other place in this World.

I cannot not believe in FatherSonHolySpirit and in the Bible as the true story of God's intentions for mankind. I do not believe that to be one of the chosen people of the Lord is a result only of God's Providence, my birthright. I do believe that I can live in this world and by following the way, truth and life of Jesus become the holiness that God makes possible for all human beings.

Manmade technology means that all the world can receive the revelations that were first preached in Palestine. Even these ideas, weakly expressed but my own, can be accessed  anywhere on Earth. Could this be the reason that God has tolerated all the evil perpetrated in his name all over Europe and the Middle East?

I cannot forget that God is complete Truth and Mercy but his Justice can only be complete if each individual is proffered the opportunity to respond to his teaching.

This is today's answer to my self-imposed question.

Dear Lord, I have always felt sympathy for the unknown thousands slaughtered and driven out in the first land clearances of the Holy-Land recorded in the Old Testament. Also the aboriginal peoples encountered by European settlers in all the "new worlds" discovered outside of Europe were given short shift. You know that I am trying to be aware as much as is possible for me to find the "good" that you saw in creation. I can only be responsible for the soul that is the centre of my being, but hope my profession of faith is not a pandering to my pride but a true confession of how I try to know love and serve each day that I begin in this way. May my prayers be joined with those of Andrew Kim and the many others of all races who have accepted death rather than deny you. May your mother continue to lead all Angels and Saints and we sinners on earth and in Purgatory in praise of you and pleas for the Mercy that is needed by all the other souls that you have created.

 19/09/2024

"All generations shall call me Blessed". It is thus how Mary received God's announcement to all of us that from her generation onwards all human beings were to receive in this world the gift from our Creator that would enable us to avoid the sin that more than tarnishes the "Good" that God saw His Creation to be.

In that single historical event we learn that IAMIAM is three persons and that SON is to humble his eternal self to become a temporal human; true man; that he has become man within the only sinless being since Adam fertilized by the naturally spirit, Holy Spirit.

Of course, I am now wordlessly awestruck when considering that plain statement of how the story of Salvation began.

Today we read in the first and second readings of two sinners who had both seen the Lord. St Paul had been chosen; he had been blinded by the Resurrection and reborn as an adult to preach what he had to first learn for himself from the Apostles. He had been a notorious member of the Chief Priests' "Gestapo". How hard it must have been for Peter and the others to accept the conversion of the man whom they had witnessed participating in the murder by temple authority of their friend Stephen.

The second sinner is depicted performing a welcoming ceremony for an honoured guest that had been neglected by the host. I find the image of the woman using her hair to dry Jesus feet quite disturbing as she is of "ill repute" but whatever they were, Jesus forgave her her sins. There are many unanswered questions presented by Scripture and the identity of this woman and her subsequent history is yet another one.

The psalm that unites the Epistle and the Gospel is a song of thankful praise that should be the thanks of all mankind for the intervention that changed the choices that we in our God-given freedom can make to do justice to the free-gift of the loving mercy poured out in the human blood and agony of the cross. The whole of the Gospels of the New Testament is the history of FATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT living as Jesus to create that only thing that can lead us away from temptation and deliver us from the evil that doesn't exist until we choose to prefer our own to the will of God.

Dear Lord, have mercy on all of us who continue to sin within the time of your creation. Angels, and Mary are the only ones of your created beings who are with you now in the naturally sinless spiritual and bodily way of being, that have never sinned. The Saints have all had their sins forgiven. I can do nothing more than implore that your Grace is as unlimited as you and can be poured out over all the peoples on earth to keep us as free from new sin as are the Holy Souls in Purgatory. May my soul be united with and by the prayers of Mary and all the saints within your Mystical Body which never fails to respond favourably to cries for mercy and forgiveness 

 18/09/2024

Would that St Paul's first letter to the Corinthians  been read and acted upon by the Jews who occupied what we now call Israel 80 odd years ago. Would that the Christian Germans had acted truly to the teaching of the Lord 100 years ago. Would that I had always acted according to the treasure of faith often buried under the shield that sin fatuously builds to protect my selfishness from the unblinking gaze of God.

All moral outrage at the material greed of others has to remove the plank that is my own sinful-self before condemning others. Our Lord came not to condemn us but to reveal the way, the truth and the life, his salvation. His own people had been privileged for centuries but each new generation found new ways to break their covenant with IAMIAM. 

Jesus warned us of the pains we would suffer if we did harm to children; he even encouraged us to  turn to IAMFATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT with the trusting faith that a child has in his Father. But he also condemns in today's Gospel the childishness of his generation of Israelis who still cannot maintain consistency in their response to the Prophets.

The Apostles preached the Resurrection and made it crystal clear that the Son of God had sealed for ever God's revelation of himself to humanity by the only acceptable Sacrifice to permanently eradicate sin from our beings. Each individual in all subsequent generations has the responsibility to live the life revealed by the way and the truth, we have to strive to keep God's Love alive in our hearts. 

There is nothing evil in our world that does not come from the individual wills acting alone or in a joint-enterprise (millions of us) of the only being which has been created as the "image and likeness" of he who taught us that the only way to live righteously is to never put our self before our neighbour. We have to become the caring family founded on Calvary.

We have to know that "God's unblinking gaze" is that of the Love that "passeth all understanding" and will always carry the lost sheep back to the fold; we have to do more than just wait for the Spirit to move us but actively seek out ways to keep ourselves free from the contamination that is Mammon, the triviality of the kingdom condemned and yet the abode that is saved by the Cross of Jesus. 

Dear Lord, Come again to save us from ourselves as we are still finding new ways to kill each other and in no way living the life of Love for others as you showed us how. The Covenants were replaced by your Sacraments created out of your human death on Calvary. Let the Church of Peter pull itself out of the things of this world and unite itself with Church of Love that is the Communion of Saints founded as a New Holy Family and also present  although hidden by lace, aesthetics and wealth, in the hearts of some institutional clergy. I remember that St Paul was a Pharisee. I can only be myself in this generation and know that all the "good" about my life comes from you whom I have in my sins oftentimes ignored and defied. May I retain the Grace freely given to me and may your loving mercy be channeled through the Prayers of Mary and all the saints to all sinners on Earth and in Purgatory. Amen.

 17/09/2024

I don't know whether or not St Paul was the first to use the image of our own human bodies to explain the relationship we have with each other in any organisation, but his image has been the most widely known. He had been forced into thinking about what had been happening within the groups in various locations throughout the Middle East since he and the Apostles had "gone out to the whole world" in response to the commandment of the Resurrection.

We all know that each one of us is a different unit with personal attributes that we all share but to different degrees. St Paul knew that he had to know, love and serve God. I expect that he began each day with the  prayer of the People of God. 

"Listen, Israel IAMIAM one God and you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and strength."

He may not have used the exact words but he was, as Jesus and all the Apostles,  a Jew with a yearning to know God and do nothing but his will on Earth. He had been unceremoniously stopped in his tracks on the Road to Damascus and totally converted to become a servant of Christ Our Lord and nothing was able to separate him from the unforgettable intensity of the moment he had seen IAMFATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT and lived.

I think that in a short time he became shocked by the realisation that his one track mind was not duplicated in those to whom he had preached and so he had been forced into creating a reliable "organisation chart" so that his converts could know how to remain together as one body in the Lord.

It was Jesus who founded "the Church" on St Peter which guided by St Paul soon become the Hierarchical Institution that it has remained to this day. St Peter knew that he had been given a special task to prepare for the "Second Coming", but Jesus' enigmatical answer to his "What about this man?" question about St John reveals that he suspected that his "Church" was not the exclusive way to Salvation that later worldly Clergy have claimed it to be.

Dear Lord, I am here 2000 years after your Resurrection and still focused on your revelation of New Life, of Salvation by the forgiveness of sin and the Eternal Life which will be ours at the end of time. Help me to live with the "Last things" as taught by your servant St Robert never forgotten. May I find my way to the grace that is your response to the prayers of Mary, Angels and Saints and we sinners still on Earth. Let us share grace with the Holy Souls who in Purgatory are secure that after your justice has run its course they will be welcomed into the Joy for which we have all been created. Amen

 16/09/2024

The readings that are read at mass are to prepare us to receive the Sacrament that is the result of the final acts of the Incarnate Son. Jesus is with us in the Sacrament, the same Jesus who had been known to Mary from the moment of Incarnation announced by an Angel. The same Jesus who is  IAMFATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT without beginning and without end.

The forerunner of all Christian liturgical rites is the "meeting" in Corinth that had got out of hand. It had become an all too human social event where the disunity of individuals had become its hallmark rather than the "common prayer" that St Paul had taught to them.

There has never been anything like  "Jesus' Last Supper". It is the unique sacred dedication of the twelve Apostles to their Sacramental Mission to "do this in memory of me". This Sacramental mission was given to those at table with the Lord; they became the Christian priests, the first of many who would preach the Resurrection and repeat the Sacramental words that are eternally uttered by the mouth of God.

The Church that was known by today's martyrs Cyprian and Cornelius was in a state of disunity. Many Christians had died in persecution and many more had apostatised. All the Bishops were faced with the problem of what to do about those who had not been strong enough to follow Our Lord into untimely, painful and humiliating death, those known as "Lapsi". How could they, who had even burnt their scriptures and bowed down before idols, return to the communities which had remained steadfast?

We do not know what happened in the subsequent lives of those who two hundred years before the episcopy of today's saints had met and been forgiven by Jesus. The Church of Cyprian and Cornelius was exactly like we are, a Church of the "blessed ones who have not seen and yet believe". 

Today's readings take us to Paul's foundation at Corinth which was in disarray. Two hundred years later, many challenged the moral authority of the Pope and Bishop Cyprian. Disputes such as these have continued to mar the purity of Jesus' foundation on St Peter. In the Gospel Jesus praises the Centurion for understanding how authority could be used in this world. There has never been a generation since the first century that has not had to discern for itself how to implement God's will in this world and it is thus that we have fulfilled Jesus' hard saying "I do not come to bring peace into the World" by strife among family and friends.

For myself, I have to stand with Mary and John and pray that I too can become part of that New Holy Family which seeks to live in the Love of God and recognises the total Authority which is not of this world. This is not a "cop out" from Life but is an authoritative principal for us all to adopt to keep us free from sin.

Dear Lord, I always feel awkward as I raise my mind and heart to you for you know everything and I cannot imagine how that must be for you. I can beat my breast and confess my sins but am never sure that I am truly opening myself to what it is that you see in me. There is a seed of goodness planted in all our hearts and we must seek this out to live not according to the standards of this world but become by delighting in your grace beings that you fill with love to shine in the material darkness which far too often overpowers the puniness' that is, a human will such as mine. May my prayers unite in a "Stream of Divine Consciousness" with those of Mary, Angels, Saints and all those poor "Lapsi" who are now gratefully accepting the mercy which they refused on Earth, the ultimate pardon of Purgatory for all who sincerely repent of their sins. Amen

 15/09/2024

Today's Gospel contains another of Jesus' "buts". He first asks for a summary of how the world sees him. To do that today would be a lifetime's work, a summary of all that has ever been written about God and our relationship with IAMIAM; an Old Testament and a New together with all the other commentaries that have ever been made about IAMFATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT. 

Our God is only one BEING and I too am only one being. Jesus asks me the same question, directly to my face; he in the Palestine of the Romans and I at my desk two thousand years later. He does not want  me to condense the wisdom of the ages in my being. He trusts every human being to be able to face this direct question throughout our lives.

He knows me in the same way that I know my family. He has a wondrous Love for me and every other person that has ever lived, is living or will in the future but I have to filter through a mind that has often been cluttered and lost in the tangle that is it, my body and soul; a sometime sinful mess out of which I am being pulled by "Amazing Grace".

My body is surviving largely as the result of the wonders of man-made science which has unravelled many of the mysteries of bodily life. My mind is a human intelligence that is able to inform and seek out Truth. My soul is pure spirit that unifies the "I" of my being; it is the gift by which God shows to us all that he is FatherSonHolySpirit, the Creator, the Guide, the Saviour of us all.

We all have to respond directly to "Who do you say I am?". Parroting "Lord, Lord", the Lord's Prayer, the Creed is not enough. Our lives are all "events" in time. Our "event" has to respond to the "Jesus event" that is the "timelessness" of Eternity entering into creation as "True man and True God". 

It is the very Nature of mankind to know, love and serve, and we can turn this into temporal reality by joining in Peter's answer to his Lord and ours. "You are the Christ, Son of the Living God." 

The Nature of God is totally knowing, loving, and serving by revealing his purpose to mere children. He is, indeed, the Ever-greater but there is nothing imaginary about his creation and his Love for all. He is revealed on the Cross and is boundless, everlasting and his Grace can be accessed by our deeds, our way of life for he came to save not to condemn.

Dear Lord, help me to truly avoid error in my thoughts. Help me to remain in your grace. Help me to avoid sin in my thoughts words and deeds. Let me be the being You created me to become. You know how I feel unguilty about my words today to you. Let me continue to be conscious of my being always within your consciousness as an individual sinner who can strive to do your will for him. May my prayers join those of Mary, Angels and all the Saints in the Unity that is your Mystical Body on Earth, Heaven and Purgatory, the human unity that thrives in the Mercy that you poured over all creation and which, as in this morning's readings, you ask us all to acknowledge and prove by our actions.

 14/092024

For some time now, I have tried to put myself into the mindset of the first Christians. 

The first conversions were made not by the beauty of a liturgy or the intellectual power of a logically systemized dogma, a Theology, but by the shared charisma of the first believers. These human beings were filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit and it was into this community of joy that all converts were attracted and welcomed. 

They also expected that the promised return would happen in their own lifetimes.

Human patience can be stretched but for each of us there are limits. Moses' followers had had enough for their "slavery" to the Egyptians had kept them alive in comfort. The life of the desert although lived in freedom was intolerably harsh, their internal elastic bands broke and they defied both IAMIAM and Moses.

The Jewish early Christians had grown up listening to the readings of the scrolls and the wisdom of the Rabbis, but for the gentile converts part of the "Good News" that they heard from the all Jewish Apostles was the prefiguring of Christ to be found in the Old Testament. We continue to treat it as such.

Our FatherSonHolySpirit never runs out of Love; he is eternally patient. Jew and Gentile converts all share the New Life that is limited in our bodies but without end for our souls. The Old Testament is a training ground for us to use to prepare our souls for the one historical event that reveals the Glory that awaits each one of us.

The Resurrection unites the first believers and us for all time. We are united in the Spiritual Body of Christ who rose from the dead. We all have to choose this for ourselves as we are the new Chosen People, chosen to accept or reject the place prepared for each one of us by our resurrected and ascended Lord.

We must never forget, however, that this place is not a birthright but has been bought for us by the triumph and horror that is the "True man's" true death on the Cross. "By this sign" we will conquer not the world, for that is an empty triumph, but the weakness that draws us into sin. 

We will become an individual saved by our choice to follow the Son "sent by God not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved."

Dear Lord, you know that I still struggle to remain free from sin. You know that my mind is still filled with all sorts of images of remembered failures. You also know that there is also a continuing hope that I can remain true to you. To your teaching but most of all true to the remembrance of the suffering that FatherSonHolySpirit undertook in the person of Jesus to eliminate the Evil created by sin. May my prayers join those of Mary, the Angels and all the saints in that joyful moment  when all is completed and I will sin no more. Let us all become part of the community of souls, the Church of Love the New Holy Family that remains untainted by the world "Son behold your mother, Mother behold your son". May I, this day, remain in your merciful care as I say "Our Father.......

 13/09/2024

The way of life preached to his world by St Paul is the same way of life that has been preached to every generation of us since his times. 

The World has indeed changed since then, but the Word is still our guide and standard by which we should judge ourselves. God never changes. We, however,  who look for the Word to find our Way, Truth and Life are unique beings both in our individual self-awareness and in our shared humanity.

Each of us is created out of nothing, (what a "gobstopper" is that), to be the summit of created matter on the one hand, and image and likeness of our creator on the other. We are created with wisdom proportionate to our needs and the life of Jesus, true man and true God, as our template of the "Good" that our creator sees in all his creation.

St Paul had been abruptly been dragged into apostolic friendship with the Resurrection, the Jesus whose followers he had seen as enemies of IAMIAM. The plank had been ripped out of his eyes, blinding him in the process, to become the enlightened, dedicated to sharing enlightenment with all his world. He was now  totally dedicated to becoming the "winner" that FatherSonHolySpirit, wants us all to be.

The Eastern part of the Roman Empire was still strong at the time of St John Chrysostom's birth, and although his contemporary Julian attempted to revive Hellenistic Paganism, Christianity was the "Established Church" of the Empire. 

I cannot agree that there was nothing that was flawed about the "Church" as she was three hundred years after her foundation. There were many individuals who ran in the same personal race as did St Paul but there was now an increasingly human organisation that was characterised by a hierarchy that was more concerned about maintaining its place in this world  and had become, in fact, a ruler amongst other rulers.

Today we can understand that we are dissatisfied with our churches for good reasons, but the Body of Christ, the New Holy Family, the Church of Love "Mother behold thy son, son behold thy mother" will remain until the end of time even though "My kingdom is not of this world" has been long forgotten.

Dear Lord, let the eyes of my soul remain open throughout the rest of today and let me not be overwhelmed by my struggles with technology. Let me become one with the psalmist's sparrows and  swallows hiding from predators in the temple that with your help I can build within my own being. May the prayers of Mary and all the Saints open for us all the floodgates of your mercy to overwhelm our closeness to sin and to confirm the merit of the sufferings of the Holy Souls which is as nothing to your total awareness of all the sins of myself and my fellows in the infinity of your being exposed to all the world on Calvary. Lord forgive me for my sins. Amen

 12/09/2024

Yesterday I missed leaving a record of my thoughts and prayers because I was entangled by changing my "broadband". This work of man's genius connects my "private room" to every other computer in the whole world. I do not understand it at all but have come to think that I am useless without it. 

This is the way that mankind has come to think that we can openly challenge the word of God for we are getting ever nearer to the moment that I think is sure to come when "cloned human beings" are shown to mankind as proof that we are the Supreme-Beings and that FatherSonHolySpirit are a fiction believed in only by the weak and unintelligent.

In the first reading for today St Paul tells the Corinthians that each of us receives the "Word" in the quantity that is sufficient to our needs, but "Godself"  is "EverGreater". The intelligent among his readers know that there are no such things as gods and that eating meat that has been sacrificed to them  is a "non-event" for those who are coming to know Jesus and follow the road-map for living in this world he reveals to all who seek to live along his way to truth and life.

For others who were previously devoted to their temple or to IAMIAM to see some in their  congregation eating meat sacrificed to idols is an affront to their consciences which St Paul advises by example to avoid by abstaining from meat altogether. Our holiness must be an affront to the wicked not to the weak, the little ones who must not be scandalised.

In my world there are many who although claiming to be "believers" live lives of sexual deviancy and in full-sight of their fellows approach the altar to receive the Sacrament without any qualms. Our Sacrificial Lamb is truly meat, begotten not made. He is Son of the Father and sacrificed to him to become the one perfect sacrifice. He is the Bread of Life. Any clergyman who ignores his responsibilities to guide the "little ones" along the right path and distributes the Sacrament merely as a matter of course to all and sundry spits into to the wearied and bloodied face of our Jesus Crucified, the everlasting-sacrifice of our redemption.

Dear Lord help me to become compassionate to all sinners and not just to myself. Help to grasp the full horror that my sins are but let me not be overcome by them. I am responsible for my own sins and have enough not to need to complain about others. May Mary and all the Saints implore you to shake up all sinners as you did to Saul and on this Feast Day of her Holy Name help thy ordained servants on Earth do whatsoever you tell them to as she told the waiters at the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee. 

May my sins be forgiven and let me one day find the security that justice is being done in the pain of Purgatory. May the souls of all we sinners on Earth and in Purgatory bow before you in shame but never forgetful of your Mercy. Amen Come Lord. Jesus Come soon.

 10/09/2024

When I consciously try to live a spiritual life based on the revealed will of FatherSonHolySpirit, I am a sinner trying to come back to the natural life that is the reason that I am alive. I am here in this world to, by my own will, accept the will of God for myself and out of the infinity of possibilities given by every breath I take become the being that God has created me to be.

This is the message of all the prophets. The history of the world has been recorded for thousands of years but the lives of the vast majority of individuals who are "the Greeks", "the Persians" and "the Romans" etc. are unknown to us.

All the Xerxes, Alexanders and other more modern "inspirational Heroes" have all challenged us to ignore "God" and follow them in trying to make possession of material goods and experiences the only "good" that can ever be known by our human being.

St Paul as a "prophet" of the Resurrection tried to form a community that is always aware that its true nature is to be the Spiritual Body of Christ on Earth, unsullied by the values of materialism. That is why he  is appalled that disputes between the "Saints of Corinth" have been referred to the secular lawmakers.

Today Jesus chooses the Apostles. This is an historical event that happened 2000 years ago. But, before and since that day FatherSonHolySpirit knows everyone of us and reveals his will in the center of our beings. All that we have to do is respond to this call and he will draw us into Love that is His Being, even though the World of Mammon/Satan clings to us with tenacity of a hungry Lion it will go hungry if we do not co-operate. We have to be the c.p.u.s of our own lives for that is the nature of the life entrusted to our care.

Dear Lord, You have always been aware of my immorality but have let me continue to be alive in this world. You have treated the whole of humanity in this way and allowed us to witness that mankind can even corrupt your foundation on Peter in which you enshrined your sacraments. I can only be thankful and hope that I am sincere in my conduct as I am in these words. Let me retain a spirit of gratitude and maybe one day to find words that truly express the center of my being that should be love for you but could just as easily be the self-love that has so dominated my life. May my prayers become part of the Heavenly Chorus led by Mary, the first to know your Incarnation and now present in the natural form of human being, body, mind and soul, in the spiritual heaven of Angels and Saints which ensures that your Mercy covers both the Earth and Purgatory so that we can do your will and forgive all whose Earthly presence is used to swell their egos and deny You my God.

 09/09/2024

I am still having the same trouble using the "on screen" keyboard as I did yesterday. 

This has prompted the thought that although I am completely sincere in that I am consciously turning my heart and mind to FatherSonHolySpirit this record is here only because human technology makes it possible for me so to do. 

St Paul and the other Apostles had to walk through the Provinces of the Roman or Persian Empires to spread the Good News. Those who wrote their letters and memoirs had the assistance of a "scribe" the human forerunner of the AI assistant which tries to preempt my words as they appear on this screen.

This morning, St Paul is appalled by a situation that is all too common in my own experience of life. "Who am to judge? answers the successor of St Peter to a question posed by those with even more ill-will than those who were always trying  to trap Jesus into an ill-considered answer. 

Jesus did not prevaricate.. He taught us "Yes" is yes and "No" is no.  Neither did St Paul. St Paul was appalled by the blatancy of sinners whose self-conceit enabled them to feel able to flaunt their sins even in front of the "Church".

 "Who am I to Judge?" Francis . St Paul, "I already condemned this man". I ask myself which of these two responses to the problem of sexual sin is gong to be of more help, by bringing me or any other sinner closer to Jesus', "Go your sins are forgiven", "I did not come to condemn this world but to save it", 

Prophets, Popes and Prelates can preach the Word of God, but Jesus is the Word that will stand until the end of time. He is all God and True man; our way, truth and life. Blessed be his Holy Name!

Dear Lord you know that I should be praying to raise my mind and heart to you, not to add to the billions of words that are clogging the internet. This tool, however does help me focus my mind, so today I do not feel ashamed to ask for your help in fixing it.  More importantly, I truly pray for my both living and dead family. May our prayers join with those of the Saints and Angels who led by Mary raise a never-ending chorus of praise, thanks-giving and petition for your mercy to overcome all that leads us to sin on earth and help the Holy Souls to bear the total shame that overcomes them in their realisation of what is the true enormity of what they have done that could have been  avoided during their lifetimes.

My prayer has been answered so I can edit the above with the ease of a real keyboard under my fingers. Thanks be to God. Amen

 08/09/2024

Today I won't be able to complete this my usual record of prayer for the day. There is problem with my keyboard and to click away at the onscreen keyboard is far too slow for my patience.

 07/09/2024

I have been out of contact with my RC Parish congregation for at least 4 years. I sometimes bump into someone I know and chat but as to human fellowship in Christ there is none. I thank God that if  I am in the wrong no-one can see it more than I do. I have never claimed for myself anything more than that which the FatherSonHolySpirit reveals to the whole world and I was saddened by my break with the Church, founded to be a source of holiness, on St Peter but soon becoming a sinful institution where egos clash and personal sin is hidden by the wonder of the Liturgy and consequent authority of the clergy.

'Twas always so". Today in his first response to the "Corinthian Problem", St Paul continues to upbraid his congregation. As usual he speaks only the truth even though it might seem that he is boasting. It is impossible for anyone of us not to be aware of the huge contrast between St Paul, "a fool for Christ" and our own ways of life. 

All the hierarchy of the Church, Religious Orders, Protestant Pastors and the anonymous congregations have to face up to, as I try to do, the fact that we can become mired in the material wonders of this world, entangled by the briers of dogma and dedicated to tradition rather than becoming the vessels of personal holiness that is the purpose of Calvary. 

Jesus is "Master of the Sabbath". We are the ones that create sin and yet Son was begotten as perfect man to die on the cross to be for us, the only way to salvation. I am, as usual, alone with my computer  with a being that is open to the Holy Spirit, trying to access the grace without which my life will fail, knowing that in the eyes of this world I am also another "fool" aspiring to become one with Paul and "the foolishness" that is the Cross of Jesus.

Dear Lord, I know that I will not be completely devoted to you throughout this day but will become engrossed in many of the truly trivial events of this our world. Help me to become a support for my family let my love be accepted for what it is, a sincere affection, for all with whom I have shared my life of many failures. I know that you cannot reject the sincere prayers of  a sinner and will by your grace fill my heart with the Love that is YOU, FatherSonHolySpirit . I claim that I am always ready to do your will but this could be vain boasting so I turn once more to seek the help of Mary and all the saints ever aware of your words to her and John that form with all the saints, and sinners on earth a New Holy Family of which I hope to remain a part until the end of time.

 06/09/2024

For a change, this morning the Pharisees and Scribes are not trying to be subtle. They ask the direct question and Jesus becomes subtle in his answer.

The old cloak cannot be repaired by using a piece from the new. The implication being that his revelation has to be accepted as something that replaces the old. It does not address each failure in the fabric of the old  "hole by hole" but completely replaces it with a new garment.

Similarly the "new wine" which he is "to tread out" from the "vine of his own body" needs a completely new container otherwise it will all be lost.

So now we have some more seeds of what is to become the discord of the very early Church again sown by the very words of Our Lord himself.

On the one hand Jesus tells us that he did not come to "abolish the Law but to complete it" and today's answer to an, on this occasion,  honest question can be understood as quite the opposite. 

St Paul was completely single-minded in his pursuit of his mission received directly from the Risen Lord. He could not value any human critical opinion about God's revelation. It is easy to see why he was so hated by his fellow Jews and a convincing witness for the Gentiles.

The Early Church Fathers devoted much of their time to trawling through the Old Testament for texts which pointed to the Messiah and today's Churches all maintain the continuity of  Revelation by teaching both Testaments. 

The words of today's Gospel, however, emphasise a break with the past as do the main events of Jesus' life on Earth together with the words of the Last Supper which completely shatter the Old Testament's concept of  IAMIAM.

Dear Lord, I think of you in terms of love which  I can only know as a human being. You know that I have always been bothered by the killing that was perpetrated in Your name in the Old Testament and which has been continued during the course of centuries since Your Resurrection, which tells us that we have to continually rethink our relationship with You, FatherSonHolySpirit. You know that the Jews of today have never rejected the Scribes and Pharisees of your day who were determined to refuse the message of Jesus. The terrible camps of the German war machine have created for us a reluctance to think any thought that would prompt an outcry "Antisemitism". But you are Truth and guard us from sin by your Love which is for all that you have created for it is "good". My sin comes only from my own pride and greed which only if all humans confess to You and seek forgiveness for will begin to help us to find peace on Earth and become closer to your "true image and likeness", Jesus of Nazareth. May my Spiritual Self not be subservient to my body and the prayers of my heart join those of Mary, Angels and Saints in praise of you and in clasping your Merciful Resurrection reveal the truth of being to all who are in need of your Mercy. There are still many Sauls who need to be stopped by the open show of your power. Mass slaughter of your beloved created humans can never be a good thing by whoever does it. Help me to become sinless that I may hold your Love in my heart and complete my days with integrity of body, mind and spirit. Let me become truly the human person that I have been created to be. Amen

 05/09/2024

We are all living in a world where everything changes as soon as it happens. Every time we stop to think about this phenomenon we try to capture what we can never control. The passing moment never returns but it, "this moment", is always the sum total of all the moments that I have ever experienced it is my only "now" of this world.

I am not wise but I am also not stupid enough to become obsessed by the worldly realities of the "times" in which we live. 

The first reading at today's mass is St Paul's letter to the "Church" in Corinth that had split into factions in the usual way of any group of humans and Paul is worried that the Word of God, which had captured him in that moment when eternity had touched time on his way to Damascus, has not stayed in the hearts of his converts as it had stayed in his.

The Gospel takes us back to that moment when Jesus began to call his Apostles. The miraculous draught of fishes was hard to be dragged into their boats but the Word of God standing on the shore had an instant effect. They just did as they had been told and left everything.

I guess that there were many others watching the four men struggling to land their huge catch but Jesus chose those four to become the first of the ones he would later call "friends".

We do not need what the world calls "wisdom" or intelligence, which is in these times being artificially created, to know that everything about this world rots and passes away. The moment that Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John has never passed away for it is the only the "Word of God" that will stand until the end of time.

Dear Lord, I know that you call to us all to accept and fulfill your will for us on Earth. St Paul condemns human thought as useless in your eyes, but humanity is much greater than its "wisdom" for you became incarnate and suffered death to redeem us all. I know that You love your creation and have never repeated the flood to wipe us all out. You call to us all to accept your Word and learn that the Word of the spirit is not "supernatural" but as natural to our beings, our nature, as all the created material of the Universe. Your Spiritual/Mystical body has never left this world alone and is to be found wherever it is recognised by our souls. The "rock" that is Peter can still be our foundation in faith, but your Holy Spirit can be with us at any of the passing moments we open our hearts to You. Your Love excludes not one of us. But each of has to positively answer your call as it is our nature to become one body in communion with Mary, Angels and saints as we worship you and pray for your forgiveness to overcome all sinners here and in Purgatory. Come Lord Jesus, come soon.

 04/08/2024

As I begin each morning's reflection I am very self-conscious. I am always aware that many valid criticisms could be levelled at me. That there are many in the world who would be able to feel contempt for my attitude to life which comes from belief in God. I don't feel any need to defend my point of view for I know that I am getting closer to the human being who I have been created to be, a friend of Jesus.

I am trying to be a child of Our Father and so I am somewhat perplexed by Paul's statement in the first reading that he first fed his Corinthians on milk. Paul is upset that quarrels have broken out among his converts. How can the Resurrection of Christ ever be considered to be as easy to digest as milk is to a baby? St Paul is above all the preacher of the Resurrection. How can this reality that stopped him in his tracks ever be weak or strong? It is always the blinding light on the road to Damascus; the sign of our salvation.

Jesus has left Nazareth and is staying with Peter's family. The first preachers of our Faith read into and from the Old Testament allegories that predated what they had come to know as the teaching of Christ. The very first antagonists to Our Lord's Message chose not to believe the reality that had been witnessed outside the city walls of Jerusalem.

In our New Testament there are many moments when the details of the reality of the remembered events of the life of Jesus, cannot be denied. Our Lady's "They have no wine" is one these. The woman of Sidon, "cannot the house dogs eat scraps from the master's table?". One of these moments, which usually involve women, happens in today's Gospel at the home of Peter. The bed-stricken mother-law "Got up and began to wait on them".

This is still the reality of life for many women. Mary, sister of Lazarus, chose the better part but Monica's role is still an absolutely essential one on Earth, but why should it be for women only?

Dear Lord, it is quite clear from the memoirs of the Evangelists that the story of your Incarnation is as historically true as the destruction of Herod's Temple. Today your children are still living in the material Universe that you have created for us to use in our material lives. It also should teach us that if we confine ourselves to it we live "unspiritual lives". You are incarnate to teach us to live in the Spirit, to know that the reality of our bodies fades away but you are waiting to welcome our souls into  Spiritual eternity. We all have to search for the life of the spirit which is not disbodied intelligence but a return to the Love, FatherSonHolySpirit, that searches us out to ask for our co-operation. You always went to a quiet place to join the Father in prayer. You know that my "my quiet place" is not quiet for very long and that sin is not very far away from me. You have no need of any individual but when we know your love it is very easy, we are all human beings, for us to become self-satisfied. May I become a part with Mary and all the saints of the Spiritual Body that is You, still on Earth, but in complete communion with the will of our heavenly Father and pray for your mercy to be showered over  all sinners, living and dead. Amen

 03/09/2024

Today in the readings at mass, both St Paul and St Peter reveal their inner total commitment to Jesus. The words of St Paul are recorded for all time in black and white as his awareness that God knows our inmost thought. He tells us that he has been trusted to work for FatherSonHolySpirit and his work is to spread the Good News. There is nothing that he looks for in this world, although it would not be sinful to accept material support, he preaches out of the Love for his congregations that comes from God.

St Paul has really seen God as much as any human is capable of. The splendour of the Resurrection has been imprinted onto this human being. He has the total consciousness of God that was Adam's in the Garden but he still knows that he has a personal "sting" that is also known by God. He has an awareness in the depths of his being that he can respond here on earth by both sharing with mankind and returning love for Love to the Father. 

Our dear friend, St Peter gets it right this time.

Jesus addresses us all personally when he begins  "But who do you?" There is nothing in anybody's life on earth that can be greater than our personal response to God's revelation of himself Being to being, IAMIAM to "I am". It is not the institutional structure and hierarchy of any "Church" that brings the love of God into our hearts  The Holy Spirit blows where he will and is not a captive of any "Liturgy".

St Peter and all the 12 to be designated "friends" were first captivated by the man, Jesus, to the extent that they literally took on a new mode of living and literally "followed" steadfastly until their faithful unity was shattered by what they, except for The three Marys and John, were too broken to witness outside the city walls.

We thank God for that hopeless and empty separation from the Lord was overcome by the "Third Day" and the Marys, the Apostles and the anonymous ones saw their "Beloved" here on Earth in the Glory that is to be ours in Eternity.

It is no wonder that those first days of the "Church" were proclaimed with such fervour and success.

Dear Lord, time is still passing for me. You know that I am still the searcher after personal holiness that has always been able to slip out of my grasp. We know of St Paul's faith and also know that there must have been many other faithful Jews who adapted faith in IAMIAM to match the Glory of Your Resurrection. St Peter is always the human being that we experience in our own selves. We are all children of Adam and Eve and retain the ability to deny you even as we walk with you. Help us all to restrict our personal freedom in such a way that we can live Spiritual Lives on earth and reject all the temptations that material being brings to us. May I live this day free from sin and be joined in my prayers by all souls on Earth, Mary, and All the Saints that we sinners on Earth and in Purgatory realise that our sins have to be overcome by Christ Crucified and that we have to stop ourselves in awe to think about this to enable us to become the "forgiven ones" that is your will for us all.

 02/09/2024

Jesus' neighbours were impressed by his living personality and understanding of the scroll he read to them, but incensed by the truth that he is the Word of God. Jesus' band of friends was broken by the Crucifixion but restored on the third day.

Human friendships all have their ups and downs After the Resurrection and descent of the Holy Spirit Jesus' friends began their missions first in the Portico of Solomon and then outside of Jerusalem. 

The Temple was appalled by this but there are hints in the Gospels that the Priests had been prepared  for they did take measures, the stone and the guard, to stop the corpse of Jesus being taken out of the tomb by his disciples as part of a deception to fulfill his prediction for the "Third Day".

I am still trying to understand why it is that IAMIAM revealed to his chosen people the revolution that is the Incarnation at that particular moment in History. God knows the results of all the infinite number of possibilities that can be fulfilled by the free being that he has given to humanity but that moment of Incarnation becomes for us all the source of the unique choice we have to make to be able to join FatherSonHolySpirit in eternal life.

I do know that no-one can know the mind of God but as with many of those first converts in Jerusalem I am looking for the second coming and trying to assess "the signs of the times". Our Lord dismissed the religion preached by both Sadducees and Pharisees as empty show. I have to ask myself if we are any better than that today and think that the same negative answer can be applied to all the generations preceding mine.

I can only judge myself by trying to understand what part "FatherSonHolySpirit" plays in my life and so ultimately I can say, with St Paul, that God's Truth for mankind is guaranteed only by the "Crucified" for he is the "Resurrection" revealed to Saul, the enemy persecutor on the road to Damascus.

Dear Lord, your servant St Paul was given the grace to survive the intensity of the vision that first blinded him. May I recognise and cherish the moments when I am truly focused on you and your teaching and living according to your will for "Lord, Lord" does not impress you at all but it is only by accepting and cooperating with integrity your grace that we can become persons whose choices in this life are completely integrated with the perfection of your will. That is the reason for your creation of us. May we be guided by your Scriptures, by the inspired examples and teaching of your Saints but most of all by the love of your mother who never experienced sin for herself and as Theotokos still channels the merciful grace of God through her prayers and those of the Angels and saints to us sinners both living and dead.

 01/09/2024

As usual the readings for today bring to my mind a review of how I can live my life in the presence of the Lord. I have tried to put myself entirely in the hands of FatherSonHolySpirit aware that I only know him because I too AM. I am aware that my being although real is puny in comparison to that of other human beings who are living now or have lived before me.

The word of the Lord spoken through the Prophets of the Old Testament tells us that we have only to follow the commandments he reveals with a pure heart and we become part of the greatest "nation" on Earth., the worshippers of IAMIAM.

The Jews were unable to face the Glory of IAMIAM's promise to Moses and somehow began to feel that they were "great" because of themselves. They were then and now only human beings who owed everything to the Providence of God".

I am a nonentity in the eyes of the world but I am known to FatherSonHolySpirit. All the praise, fame, admiration that many other humans  receive and attribute to themselves as a just acknowledgement of the value that they know is theirs by right of being, is more serious than the frippery it appears to be for it is out of such pride that sin is still dominant in our world.

I am afraid of hypocrisy. There is nothing easier to spot in others. I know that I can be accused of thinking about the world as I do out of jealousy of the success of others. The Truth is that I really do believe that Jesus is the Son of God. His Resurrection is the first-fruits of the New Creation that is to be the "Second Coming". 

The Mystical Body of Christ, the Communion of Saints is the Church of the Spirit that survives in the hearts of many of us although the Institutions succumbed to Mammon many centuries ago we can be part of  the Family of Love founded by Jesus' words to Mary and John. These are the "words which will stand to the end of time" as "My kingdom is not of this World" has been long forgotten.

Dear Lord, help me to be ready for your call. Help me to truly despise my sins and lose the ambivalence towards them that you know is still there. I thank you for the length of my life which has been unexpected and I ask that my faith be increased to the point that I can really know that the immensity of grace you bring from Calvary covers the whole world even the mortal weakness that I am. May we all remain within you mystical body which has been the Church of Love ever since that Sabbath eve on Calvary and may these prayers join those of Mary, the Angels and Saints and all the innumerable and, anonymous to us but known by name by You, souls crying out for Mercy on Earth and in Purgatory.