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