01/11/2024

On this year's feast of All Saints I have no problem in accepting the writings that have been collected and saved by the "Bishops" who unexpectedly had had to continue the mission of the Apostles.

I don't think that there are any records of how those who had expected to see the return of Jesus reacted to the realisation that they and their descendants were having to continue to live in the unchanged world that they had known since birth.. The Old Testament was already an accepted text when Jesus read from the scrolls and made his own "translation" in the synagogue of Nazareth, but the New Testament was still in the process of compilation.

The beatitudes which Jesus confers on the crowd in today's Gospel are the complement to the Ten Commandments revealed through Moses. We must obey the Law to enable us become the "Saints" who have attained the human holiness that is the target for us all set by IAMFATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT.

Each of us can become in this world someone who is "Abused, persecuted, calumniated and able to not only accept these hardships but also to be joyful in them" for  this is proof that we are following the only way, the Jesus Son of God way, to  Heaven.

We must, however, never forget that this is only possible when we believe/know  in the depths of our being that Jesus is the Son of God and it is only through his insulted and spat upon, naked and derided, scourged and pierced human body that his human blood becomes the grace that never ceases to flow over all the world.

Even though there are many who do not accept John's vision as a divine revelation (it is considered to be an example of a literary genre classified as "Jewish Apocalyptic") it is an extremely powerful attempt to express the total otherness of the Spiritual Reality that is also created by God.

There is, however, nothing that is unreal about the loving grace which flows out of the empirical reality of the Incarnation undergoing death for us on the cross, the only sign of Eternity by which we can live up to the will of he to whom with Jesus and all the Saints we pray "Our Father".

Dear Lord, Help me to be what you want for me to be in this world. You know us in complete intimacy but we have to find for ourselves what is the image and likeness that we have to become to do your will for us on earth. You bless each of us each day and when we accept your blessing we become  holy in your sight but always vulnerable to Devil, World and Flesh. Help me to treat my body with the respect due to a gift from You, let the World with all its deceits be for me the irrelevance that it is between me and You, and let the Breastplate of St Michael be my sure defence against the snares of the devil who is sure to fail in his assaults on my soul when I call out for your help. May my prayers become mingled with the stream of praise led by Mary and followed by all the saints that never ceases to be raised in the  Eternity of the Blessed who see your face. Amen.