28/02/2022

St Peter begins his letter with praise of God for the mercy he has shown us; by the Resurrection he has given to us  a new beginning, a new birth by which we all have the ability to become Children of God. Our lives will not be all plain saving; we will be faced by difficulties but as we grow older we become closer to the hope of Eternity. We must fear God for that is the beginning of the wisdom that tells us that all the things of this world are valueless in comparison with what our Father has prepared for us in Heaven.

The young man wanted to receive eternal life. He lived according to the Law. Getting rid of all his riches by giving them to the poor was a step too far for him to take. How many of us do take that step? Our Church is choked with riches. Christian religious orders with vows of poverty are full of wealth and the monks who according to their rule should stay put to raise praise without ceasing move from place to place just like the rich.

By the economic standards of the first century  I am to be counted as rich. Augustus had more power than I do; but he could not get into his car and drive down to Naples at a whim. He had live entertainment but the least of us can turn on the tele if we want to relax. The riches of the tele and internet are available to the poorest of our people. They are so available that they hold our attention away from God. How much prayer has been missed by preference for some TV show?

I cannot disinvent the TV, radio, computer etc. but I can try to avoid them replacing Father Son and Holy Spirit as my greatest joy on earth. I have no need whatsoever of a Mobile when I die.

Dear Lord I am living in this modern world and so am surrounded with diversions that lead me away from you. Help me to keep in my mind that the only Good is you; that I know you, love you and serve you and with the aid of your Mother and all the saints I am able to place all my trust in you.

 27/02/2022

In our first reading today we are told that we can know other people by their words. The potter's kiln tests the work of the potter. The fruit are proof of the soundness of the tree. Jesus too tell us pretty much the same thing; that our words reveal the state of our being. We must not be quick to evaluate each other especially when we are not aware of our own defects. The planks that show us to be the hypocrite that we are.

St Paul tells us us that we are able to overcome the power  of death. Christ has won victory over death. The words of St Paul come from what fills his heart. He has seen the resurrected Lord and Christ is who fills his heart. His teaching comes from Christ and from  the Old Testament and from what the other Apostles have taught him. He is the fully trained disciple who is like his master even unto a death by violence.

"The sting of death is sin and sin gets its power from the Law." I will have to spend some time today trying to understand what is in St Paul's heart and mind when he writes this.

Dear Lord let me be today a Christian man aware of the completenes of your presence in your Universe and in me too; a seemingly nothing but by the grace of your knowing me, I too become immeasurably greater for I can by my thoughts, words and deeds offer praise worship and service to you Father Son and Holy Spirit.

 26/02/2022

Jesus tells that we should welcome him with the openhearted trustfulness of a little child. St James tells us that we should pray always. What is prayer? I was taught as a child that it is the raisinng of the heart and the mind to God. Jesus taught his disciple to pray. When they prayed they were to turn to God as little children to their father and even to the extent of addressing him with a childish word for father, "abba" "Daddy".

Such a familiarity with the "One who Is" had never before been heard and must have shocked his listeners. But Jesus the true Son, begotten not made, shows us a new way to come to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.God is our Father and is to be loved as such and worshipped as the Creator and Saviour and Inspirer of mankind.

St Paul told us that as an adult he put away the things of childhood; the petty selfishness of all babies, the greed of toddlers, the argumentiveness of teenagers and as  a man knew that he could have a pure knowledge of God unclouded by the murkiness of his own self. This is possible for me too but I must sincerely cooperate with the abundance that is the Grace of God.

Dear Lord all over your world sins are being committed by we your stupid ones. We have been saved but in our evil stupidity want more from this world than is possible for it to give. Your eternitity is the place where we will know that You God are our only place of peace and spiritual contentment. Let me and mine  this day live our lives in acccordance to your will for us.

 25/02/2022

What is it that St James warns us about when he commands us to not take oaths? It is not something that  I come across everyday. As a child, I can remember "Honest to God" being said amongst us but in adulthood except during legal procedings an oath is not something that is part of my life. But OMG is everywhere on the internet, perhaps it is this all too familiar use of the word that is the name of our God against which we are warned. The taking of the Lord's name in vain is what will bring us to judgement.

We get married once. We have relations with one woman. We live our lives as a family and do not change partners. That is Jesus' command. We cannot avoid it. There are no excuses. We can be forgiven but that forgiveness has come at the huge price paid by Father Son and Holy Spirit on Calvary. There are no special groups who know more about Love than the one who gave up his life to save us. We must not act in sin on the basis that God will forgive. I must be reponsible for my own being in thought word and deed,

Dear Lord you know how I want to be true to you in this life. You know how often I fail to live up to your grace. Let the eternal love known by your mother and all the saints touch each of us this day and bring to an end to all conflict both trivially private and spectacularly public. Let your peace prevail.

 24/02/2022

Our familiar theme is continued in the first reading. It is strange that very few humans since the Ancient Eygptians have tried to ensure that they do "take it with them" when they die. We all know that to completely preserve the things of this life after our death is nonsense. Even gold will ultimately fade away and as for "block chains", do they really have a true existence at all as they are produced and stored by machines. "Who has seen a blockchain"; they belong with the Emperors "invisible clothes".

Jesus tells us that an act of true charity performed out of belief in the Him is more valuable than all riches. We the "little ones of the Lord" are to be treated equally with love and not with the contempt that arises out of pride. All our sins damage each of us and and most of all offend the Love that Father, Son and Holy Spirit generated to create us out of "zilch".

Our true lives are lived in our consciosness of "being" and Faith in the Way the Truth and the Life. This is the familiar theme that we must grasp onto trying to respond only to the Love of God and avoid  the hypocrisy that is the obstacle before our eyes; the weight that will bring eternal consciousness but without the Love that is our God crucified and resurrected.

Dear Lord let me follow your Love in thought word and deed this day. May the community that is Mary and all the Saints join with us on earth to pray for the salvation of all the Human race that we may use our time to know, love and serve for there is nothing better we can do.

 23/02/2022

St James tells us that it is sinful to know the right thing to do but not do it.None of us should forecast what we will do tomorrow for only pride knows what tomorrow will bring. Most of the world that I live in is about tomorrow. As a child I went to school to prepare for adulthood. I got married to have a family that continued to grow into tomorrow. Now in old age I try to prepare for tomorrow trying to fix my mind on God for whom there is no tomorrow only the eternal now that is my aim. St James wants us to be aware that what we should do is to "live quietly and go on doing what is right" and thus avoid sin in our humility.

Jesus is not going to reprimand anyone doing Good in awareness of him. If we do not attack God and join him on the Way, the Truth and the Life then we are secure in his loving guidance. We who try are "less likely to fail". How do we attain the security of perfect faith in Father Son and Holy Spirit? Alone we can do nothing but for God nothing is impossible.

Dear Lord my sins are all known to you. I am still as I was as a child. Let me come to you for the forgiveness that in your mercy you have promised to all who ask for it. Let me join you the Way the Truth and the Life and face tomorrow with grace off your Hope.

 22/02/2022

St Peter speaks as an elder to the other elders of the fledging Church and "not for sordid money". We have to accept that the geriatric Church that we have now is what God wants for us.  A bigger cynic than I would say that our Church is all for sordid money,

"Be not a dictator" wrote Peter. I wonder if today Pope Francis applies those words to himself; he certainly must remember the dictators of his homeland. "Be an example" writes Peter. Is the travelling circus that the succesors to St Peter have become ever since the invention of the jet plane the example that God wants us to have.

I have a vested intererest in the feast "St Peter's Chair in Rome" as it  was celebrated on  my birthday now it has been incorporated into St Peter's Chair in Antioch which is today. At the time of Jesus Caesarea Phillipi had a mixed population of Jews and Gentiles and it is there that this question was posed and not in Jerusalem. From the answers recorded as being received it seems that the gentiles had not attempted to answer.

Peter's answer and Jesus reply have grown into the enormous institution that is the Church today. Is this  really what Father Son and Holy Spirit wants for mankind?

Dear Lord help me to find the Holiness that is still somewhere in the Church that you founded Let me add my prayers to those of the faithfull that worship you today.