29/112022

Isaiah is a prophet who is in touch with God.  God chose him to deliver comfort and warnings to the Chosen People who are always in danger of breaking the covenant that God made with their ancestors. The loveliness of being in the direct presence of God is presented by Isaiah in this fabulous vision of the Holy Mountain that Sion will become in the Last Days. Carnivores eating grass in the company of their prey resembles nothing in human history or fable that had gone before him.

The ecstasy of Jesus' prayer is not a prophet's vision of God. It is the Word of the Father giving us a tiny glimpse of the Love that is Father Son and Holy Spirit in their being and not in visible acts in creation. This revelation is still with us in the Eucharist. It sems to me that this sense of what the Eucharist is has been long forgotten in the Institution. The Church, of course is still here but is obscured by clergy and prelates and by we the people who are also slaves of the World, the flesh and the Devil that we have to renounce again and again if we are to have souls that are ready to be given the vision of God as he really is.

The only alternative to the Holy Mountain is the Firey Pit.

Dear Lord, let today be for me an attempt to follow your will in my deeds and in my understanding. Let me know and share with others the Love that is the entirety of your Being. May Mary and all the Saints  continue in prayer for us and for the Holy Souls that we may all come to be with you in the chorus of praise and wonder that is the eternal moment when we are truly living.

 28/11/2022

Isaiah paints a picture that emphasises the beauty, health and wealth that will be in Israel when the Lord returns. The image of God as a tent must have meant much to those living on the edge of desert If it is heaven, it is a very physical place just like earth but more comfortable. It is nothing like the Kingdom of God that Jesus will preach at the End Times of the Old Testament.

The Psalm sings of the joy felt by those who felt God's call to worship in Jerusalem. In God's House they will feel the peace that comes from Holiness, a peace of mind that is ours for the asking for Jesus has fulfilled all that is foreshadowed in writings of the Old Testament with which the Creator, Word and Inspiration that is revealed to be Father, Son and Holy Spirit, guided the chosen people to holiness.

Jesus is the last direct intervention by God on Earth. He is like the message bearers who were ignored by the tenants of the vineyard but is the fulfillment of all the prophecies and revelation made by God to Jerusalem. He is the son in the parable, the future owner who is stoned by the tenants and speaks with a recognisable authority. The recognition of Jesus' authority by the Centurion could be mere flannel to gain a favour but is much more likely to be the Holy Spirit speaking through him as did the same Spirit inspire another Roman officer at the foot of Cross.

Dear Lord, you know how I struggle with efforts to understand and come close to you in prayer. Let my deeds this day be without sin in them and let my soul become pure in its sincere wish to receive your loving grace. May Mary continue to plead for the Holy Souls waiting for pardon and may we the struggling souls on earth be open for the Mercy they desire for us of thee.

 27/11/2022

Today we begin the Little Lent of the Orthodox that we call Advent. Of all the interventions by God in the  history of the World this is the time of preparation for the most visibly important, for the Word will be born a defenceless infant. His birthplace is not even a human dwelling but a shelter for the animals that too are his creatures, but destined for slaughter as he also is. The babe in the manger is the Author of Life, the Victor over sin, the Sacrifice on the Cross. He is the evergreater, Father, Son and Holy Spirit without whom our lives would be aimless wanderings enclosed in ourselves without the Love that enables us to know, love and serve.

God is with us and we can prepare our unworthiness to welcome him at the Nativity by a sincere effort to cleanse ourselves of the sins that we know to be in our lives. St Paul knows that his first converts live in the same world full of temptations as we do and insists that we avoid all of them. We all know that we should choose righteousness over wrongdoing in a loving response to God's command, "be holy for I am Holy", but some of us are still in need of the spur that is the fear of death.

St Paul and all the first-generation Christians were expecting Jesus to return in their lifetimes and so he emphasises that "The end is nigh". Although it is literally true for all of us to say that we are nearer to the end than when we were first converted for that is the nature of human time. Jesus too warns of the danger of not being ready. Even as I type this, I have no idea whether I will live to the sentence's full-stop.

We have to live in hope. This can be easy if we place all our trust in the Love that is the Holy Spirit but a total mess if we make ourselves the centres of our lives.

Dear Lord, you who know everything, know the needs of the whole world and by your incarnation, life, death and Resurrection have prepared the way for us to live in holiness here on earth. Help all of us to avoid the attractions of the world and be open to the Holy Spirit who brings love for all to share. May Mary in whose arms you are the very welcomed baby and the horror of your lifeless corpse, continue to lead the Saints in their supplications to send the grace of mercy to your Holy Souls and we the sinful on this earth.

 26/11/2022

On reading today's reading from the Apocalypse, one thing that is clear for me is that heaven, Eternal Life with the Lord, is not going to be anything like my life today. Get up, stagger about, come downstairs make tea and start the computer to read the mass readings for today. A very ordinary, humdrum life at a dismal time of the year. However, in all honesty I can say that I am happy to be human and to know that I and millions like me are known in our insignificance to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who knows us all down to every hair on our heads.

St John who is known to be Jesus' favourite disciple is also known as the Theologian for his writings help us to know God not only by his deeds in Palestine, but also to gain insight into the awesomeness of his  being. Jesus is the Word that is with God, the Creator. (John is the guardian of Mary whose body became the source of his humanity). The Spirit is the Unity in Love that keeps us living in hope . Our Church although founded on Peter has to be also seen as beginning in the silent love of Mary, she pondered these things in her heart, as she stood with the other Marys and John at the foot of the Cross.

This has got to be my hope for I cannot see how the "thou art Peter" can get back to the purity of its foundation. At least in the west, it is bogged down by solving two-fold problems that cannot be avoided by any one of us. The wealth of centuries has created within the church of Peter a mindset where dealing with the economic World takes precedence over the "cure of souls" that is its foundation "feed my sheep". Only Faith as lived by St Francis will save our Church now in the hands of Pope Francis. The other problem shared by the Church with all peoples is an acceptance of the fudged by society, morality involved in sexual sin. Many of our priests deal with the very few confessions they hear by condoning rather than condemning sin that the penitent knows in his heart to be an affront to God.

Dear Lord let me still live on in your grace in the hope that even without the Institution there is Church in the Holy Spirit that begot Jesus and in the sinless love that is The Mother who is the only bodily human being with you other than her son Jesus. Let my soul be part of that Church in the faithful hope I will one day be able to glimpse your Glory and so become part of eternity. May Mary continue in her prayers and let the grace she implores drive out the sinfulness that so harms your Church and your world.

 25/11/2022

John's vision continues today as the first reading. Where can we see ourselves in that awesome picture he has seen? Why is Satan still a huge problem in the End Times? Why is evil not totally obliterated but only put away for a "thousand years"? There is much in this Apocalyptic vision that raises more questions than it answers for I have always been troubled by why my disobedience, my sin, has happened after the suffering undergone for us on Calvary.

Jesus makes it clear that there will be an end to this creation. In the chapter that today's reading is from he describes the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple pretty accurately but the signs he gives for the end of time were there in his day and have been with us ever since. Luke's chapter 21 has to be read in its entirety to grasp any meaning from this parable of the fig-tree. 

The Psalm, however, sings to our hearts a longing for the God that we have been taught to call our Father. He who finds joy, "He saw that it was good" in all his creation and has revealed himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Evil is the incomprehensible "dragon" that has to be resisted with the grace given to us by God and the signs of the "end times" are with us now for we all know that we will die and live in the hope that we can face the loving Judgement that is the reason for the creation of our being. In the Word there is no Evil and that is the Eternal Truth.

Dear Lord, forgive my weakness in understanding your revelations and let my faith grow in humility and love. All my sins are known to you and are an offence to your Love. Open my being to your evergreatness that I might by your touch become purged of all nearness to sin and look to live only in your grace. May Mary the only sinless created being lead all the saints in beseeching your Mercy for the Holy Souls and for all of us still growing here on earth. "My word will stand".

 24/11/2022

The history of God's revelation of himself is re-enacted in the lives of everyone. We are born, become aware of ourselves and treated with love by the first "other" that we encounter. We grow in mind and body during our childhood and become aware of the world and especially of the part of it in which we live. In our infancy all our physical needs are taken care of by others as we are trained to interact with these others. At least that is my experience, but it is not true for all people.

God's raising of his own "image and likeness" has also not been true for all people. The Old Testament is written testimony of God's Israel, chosen to be the closest to himself. So it is to the Jews that God first revealed himself and raised that people to be the DNA, the human body in his Universe where his co-equal Word would become as we are, man. This history of God's will for the world, his plan, his providence is not some man-made thing, but it is revealed for our littleness to understand the depths of the Being that is God. The prophets did not make things up but were inspired by God's Spirit, his invisible presence, to praise, condemn and inspire the worship of the Evergreater.

John's Apocalypse is a vision of Eternal Being surrounded by the praise and worship of all that has been created. It is beyond all human imagination for it is an image of God's Glory. Thus, it is a vision and not the production of human thought. It is the last "seeing" of God's revelations to his chosen people for the incarnate Word, Jesus, by being in our world has created a new beginning and complete revelation of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. which is a new witness to the Love generated by the being of the Trinity and shared with humanity for all times.

Dear Lord my words are the only ones which help me in my duty to pray constantly. They are insignificant scraps but squeezed out by Faith, Hope and Charity and are at the moment as sincere as I can be. May Mary and all the saints pray that your Mercy will envelop the whole world so that we can all come to the  eternity of your Love for which you created each and every one of us.

 23/11/2022

It is my hope that, although I have lost confidence in the Institutional Church, I am still active in the Mystical Body of Christ. There is nothing in the teaching of the Gospel or the recorded decisions of the Church which I do not accept as the revealed Truth of God on Earth and in Heaven. For this reason I try to remind myself as I begin each day that I have to live my life in the loving presence of God and avoid all sin. Thus, I follow the scriptural readings assigned by the Church, which was definitely founded by Christ, and try to grasp their significance.

Sometimes when reading some dry as dust Theology I understand how what I am reading applies to my experience and I laugh out loud at the pleasure of understanding. That joy of mine is perfectly expressed in the "Hymn of Moses" in today's passage from John's Apocalypse. In recognition of God, there is a joy that leaps out of my heart that is spontaneous, totally uncontrived.

Jesus' promise to his disciples has brought to mind the confidence I have lost in the Institution that the faith of our fathers has become today. Of course, our leaders appear useless when questioned about "cover-ups". Could the Holy Spirit have inspired justifications for the sins that were now made known to the whole world. I have had to confess my sins in an inner turmoil and utter shame but the grace of God pulled me through. Why couldn't they have trusted in God and done the right thing when abuse was made known to them? Better still would have been a true commitment to their God and thus avoided the sin in the first place.

Here is some advice to all pastors and their superiors. If in the confessional, you hear sins which also break Caesar's law, refuse to absolve in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit until the sinner/leper has shown/reported himself to the police/priests. Make this position clear by written notice. 

Do not support the sinfulness of sexual deviancy or of co-habitation without marriage, by distributing the Sacrament without explaining that there is no benefit in Communion if the recipient is in a state of mortal sin.  Make this clear by written notice. Do not scandalise the little ones who have been so disturbed by the lack of faith displayed by clergy that we too have lost faith in the self-regulator, without reference to God's Law, that the Institution has become today. We cannot believe in the holiness of Sacraments confected by the unholy.

Dear Lord, I do not want to blame others for my sins. I do want to know, love and serve in the hope of heaven. You, the Evergreater are the only one who can make a true judgement of my being and on the Last Day I hope to find your mercy and a peace of mind that will be complete in your glory. May Mary and all the saints plead for the grace of your mercy to overflow into all the suffering souls in Purgatory and on Earth and also crack the carapaces of the self-satisfied so that they may understand how much greater is the Eternity of God than the time they spend in arrogant self-glory.