24/06/2024

I have not added to this my "prayerlog" for the last two days. I have prayed on those days. I have read from scripture and I have raised my mind and heart to God. I have asked for forgiveness for my sins and wondered whether or not my life in this world is going to end sooner or later.

I have been happy to thank God for the "wonder of my being" and for the many other "wonders" that compose God's creation. I have filled these days of my life by being responsible for a little dog. His being is also a wonder and I respond to it with unconditional love. I just know that I love him today and I am simultaneously aware that this love for a "souless" creature must end in great sorrow.

I have often thought that I do not "really" love God. When I think about God, when I pray, I do not have the joy in my heart that I comes to me when I see my children and their children. God is far too great for me to respond to as the dog does to me.

Here is a strange thing now. As I wrote the above. I really did begin to glow at the thought of the wonder, the majesty of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I am never "as nothing" in the sight of God. He cares for me with a trust that never weakens or has two days off absorbed in the care of another being.

To prepare for a human response to the immensity of the Love that culminates after the horror of Calvary with the Resurrection is John's mission in life, as it is  for each soul that has ever lived in the reality of creation.

Dear Lord, "I thank you for the wonder of my being". Thank you for the confidence to face you with love in my heart. Help me to avoid the sin that separates me from your grace. Your Love is always ever-greater as is your being. Any of us regardless of the depth of our sins can turn to you in sincere repentance and know that your Love cannot refuse us entry into your everlasting Joy of the Resurrection.

 21/06/2024

It is not an easy task to find the support that God offers to us in the only revelations of himself that he has made during the 3,000 years or so since he had Moses lead his people to the Promised Land. Today there is nothing in the first reading that sings to my ears or confirms the  goodness of God. It is a story of palace intrigues and unholy "shenanigans" that could have come from the pen of Homer or the Scandinavian Sagas until we hear the word "Covenant". 

God himself made a promise to the descendants of Abraham that he the only True God, the source and support of the whole cosmos, the creator of the first life-forms that would develop following his infinite coding of the possibilities of time and space, into man. He who is infinitely beyond all understanding, promises to each person a share in his infinitude if we make correct use of our lives. He  three persons in one being, Father, Son and Holy Spirit knows each one of us.

The way to heaven revealed by the life of the Incarnate Son on earth is the final revelation. Death is not the end of life. Death is the gate to the new life that Jesus shows us in his Resurrection. Millions of us have received confirmation of that truth since God himself was the "first fruits". Millions have realised at the moment of death, that their wealth, power and beauty are without any value whatsoever.

I know that I have often failed to let in the light of God. The material world that mankind has constructed by its own intelligence is captivating. So captivating that it can stifle our consciences into forgetting or straightforwardly denying that "In the beginning was the Word  and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him". 

Our greatest gift from the Father is the revelation that we can be forgiven for our failings by the Love that binds Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Forgiveness is ours as soon as we ask for it. God knows how true is our penitence. Nobody can deceive Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord, it is easy for me to deceive myself but why would I want to do that? Jesus has brought your light into the world. We really do need nothing more but have to continue each moment of our lives to be aware that we need to follow in our thoughts word and deeds your will for all mankind. Help me act as I should do but ever aware that you want all of us to choose in freedom to be the human perfection revealed in Jesus and his mother Mary, 2000 years ago in your much defiled Holy Land.

 

 20/06/2024

The Old Testament is the record of Man's reactions to the revelations of himself made by God. The story of Elijah and Elisha is a spectacular vision of the Glory and Otherworldly power of God. It is nowhere near to an eye-witness account of what had happened in the days of Elijah as it was composed about 500 years after the "events" it describes.

The psalm acknowledges the power of God to whom Elijah returned in such a spectacular fashion and calls us all to worship the Wonder of IAMIAM.

The New Testament records Jesus' "formation" of his band of followers who are witnessing the events leading up to the completion and results of God's revelation. The Resurrection.

To be able to comply with IAMIAM's (Father, Son and Holy Spirit's)  love that is revealed in  creation, mankind has to know its place. During the Old Testament there were repeated backslidings from the Covenants by which God chose to show himself not as an all powerful "code writer" but as an ultimate "being" loving and trusting the apex of his creation to be able to use "human freedom" to be in our bodily life souls that know that they are known.

We have been formed to live lives of prayer in communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We reply in freedom to our Creator. 

All prayer has to acknowledge our place in God's family of humanity, to comply with his will  so as to be as is the spiritual heaven here on earth, to ask for his support for our material bodies, our love of others is to become God's measure for his love of us, we ask to be shielded from the  power of the false ways of the material world and to be saved from the ultimate "evil" which is loss of faith in God.

Dear Lord, Forgive me for "blabbering". I have to use words to enable me to see what it is that I believe. I have to make this record as I am one being praying alone. I hope that my prayers can become part of the Church that is your mystical body on earth supported by the prayers of Mary and all the saints. Let me live out this day free from serious sin and let my sins and the sins of all the world be blotted out by the mercy flooding out from your side on Calvary.

 19/06/2024

The world is filled with billions of us. Many of us are trying to pray. Some are sure of their own place in the sight of God. Many of those live out lives that they devote only to God and are guided by the virtues of poverty, chastity and obedience. 

We have the revelation of the  New Testament because God was displeased at the failure of his chosen people to live up to their side of the Covenant. I do not  judge but I cannot help but be aware that Jesus  did not preach in the streets of Rome or in the Temple of Diana at Ephesus. He did not cure the sick of China or in the tents of the Bedouin.

All the great historical events that chronicle the actions of Father, Son and Holy Spirit acting in human time are related to one place and  people on earth. Israel and the Jews are the prism from which God's Light is refracted into the World. The Incarnate Son of God is also a Jew in his humanity. 

We are told to interpret  the Signs of the Times, the events within which we can see God's providence at work in creation. The Lord our God the Creator knows the sinful history of his foundation on St Peter. God knows that his chosen ones have for centuries been badly treated by his Church and are now repaying  those massacres in kind by the slaughter in Gaza.

All that the success of mankind in understanding and controlling physical matter has done is to again repeat the failure of  Israel in its only reason for being. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your might and all your strength and your neighbour as your self".

God sent his only begotten Son that we might have life and live it to the full. For me the signs of the times is the majority of human beings who have given themselves over to Mammon without a thought for the consequences and the triumphalism of God's own people in their slaughter of their fellow humans.

Dear Lord, Only you know when "The second coming" will be the forerunner of your New Creation. Living in the world is becoming more difficult as the material world drowns out our inner-voice that guides us into doing your will. Our Church is not of this world although the Institution has refuted this over the last 1800 years. The mercy of your being poured out  in real human blood on Calvary is still the free gift of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, regardless of the state of the world or Institutional Church, to be accessed by us all so that we do your will on earth as it is done in heaven by Mary, our mother and all the saints and angels. Amen.

 18/6/2024

The psalm this morning is our plea for forgiveness. "My offences, truly I know them, my sin is always before me, against you only have I sinned, what is evil in your sight I have done". As I write these words each day, I am aware that the most important subjective element has to be sincerity. Nobody can fool God.

The story of Ahab and Jezebel portrays a fierce and vengeful God. The Jews of the Old Testament knew that God was all powerful and interpreted all worldly events, natural and manmade as resulting from their relationship with God. They anticipated that Ahab and his wife would receive immediate punishment that would match the wickedness of their crimes. 

The Old Testament not only revealed God's power and justice but also the mercy that would be his answer to our repentance. The Incarnate Word, Jesus, completes the revelation. He not only expounds the moral law but teaches us about the nature of God himself, the reason why we should aim for holiness. He is the Son of the Father and their Love is the Holy Spirit; three persons but one God. 

Three thousand years have passed since the days of Ahab. All existence is in the Providence of God, but all human beings are free to choose how to act. Ahab chose to listen to the advice of Jezebel. She chose to oppose IAMIAM. 

Every moment of history originates from human choice.That is why Our Crucified Lord prayed for his executioners to be forgiven. God really does know everything and we have to live always aware of that. I have to treat all others as I would have them treat me for if I cannot forgive my brother how can God forgive me?

Dear Lord, let my heart be always open to your grace. Let me share in the prayers of Mary and all the saints. Forgive me for all past sins and help me to live this day aware that your Holy Spirit is always the unseen presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirt within our world which we do not hate but try to keep in its proper place. Its norms must be denied whenever they oppose your will. We must oppose without hate. We can do so with the help of your grace.

17/06/2024

Today's psalm pleads "Give heed to my groaning O Lord". I understand that "my groanings" could be the unspecified dissatisfaction that I often feel when I come out of sleep but before I get on with the "jobs" that I have to do. But mine is an easy life. I am comfortable with being an octogenarian who is still the same inside as the child I was 80 years ago.

It is "not so" for many others in our world today and has never been so for all of humanity. In Jesus' day there were many young and old who were infirm or handicapped and the lucky ones were cured by Jesus' miracles. Many of us have died of famine or have  been slaughtered in wars that have resulted, all of them, from greed that has dominated persons of power. Politics is greed that is the sin of an individual which is approved and shared by others.

Any ancient king was used to having his own way in his kingdom. Ahab is no exception and his greed is approved and implemented by Jezebel. An accusation is contrived and Naboth loses both vineyard and his life. The difference between this, all too familiar plot, and Jesus is that those who plotted against Our Lord did not want to gain anything from him except his very life.

Our God does work in mysterious ways for he is the Ever-Greater, he is beyond all understanding and tells us to look at his revelations and live our lives accordingly to what he wills for us. Jezebel and Ahab were not doing the will of God. They fulfilled their own greed and added to the sin that has filled our world ever since Adam/Eve first disobeyed.

Our Church founded on Peter has never been totally convinced that Jesus really did mean his declaration before Pilate. "My KIngdom is not of this world" and has never shown itself  at all inclined to obey this morning's "Offer the wicked man no resistance". The wealth of the world has grown immeasurably in my lifetime and Mammon has taken the place of Father, Son and Holy Spirit as our reason for living.

The truth is that the "groanings" of the psalmist and  my own are much more than "morning woes" but are our unhappiness at the state of our world which is a result of the millions of sins still committed in defiance of all that has been revealed in the scriptures.   I have been guilty of many of the sins detested by God but know that they can all be forgiven by sincerely pleading for the mercy that never fails to respond to a truly penitent heart.

Dear Lord, may my prayers be heard. Help me to recognise your grace and to give thanks for all the blessings that I have received throughout my life. Help me to finish off my life in union with your will and thus become the being you have cared for since my generation. Help me to know, love and serve in this life and to know that vision of your Glory and become part of your new creation that Jesus' second coming will be for all his friends. Amen

 16/06/2024

It is very easy when we read  texts like this morning's readings to understand how easy it is to become as self-satisfied as was the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not as other men. He fulfilled the Law and was a Jew. 

He accepted his place among the chosen people but interpreted all of God's Providence as his due, his birth-right.

Ezekiel, as always, projects the power of IAMIAM in images that have become part of European cultural heritage. The lyrical psalm matches the clarity any of the products of ancient or modern literature and here IAMIAM is the "Loving Father" revealed by the Son.

St Paul, himself a Pharisee, in this mornings letter to the Judeo/Christian Church at Corinth, faces the conceptual problem investigated by Greek Philosophy and still debated today as the " mind body problem". Paul's mission, however, is to preach the total Truth that is revealed by the Unseen God, Jesus Christ. There is no reason to debate "Truth".

Paul has seen the "Resurrection" and when he preaches he is not debating. He Is teaching the Truth that has been finally revealed during his lifetime. Just as Christ did, we will live on Earth in our bodies. Our bodies will die, even if they are deep frozen, but our Souls will be welcomed or not by our Saviour. We make the choice.

Mark explains to us that Jesus spoke in parables because his listeners were not up to facing the bare bones of his message which is breathtakingly simple. We are living to fulfill the will of Father,Son and Holy Spirit. We have an immortal soul which has to direct our bodies. We are completely free and have to become converted by God's revelation in both the Old and New Testaments to fulfill the Will which has created us to choose to become Holy as he is Holy.

There are no secrets of Salvation hidden within God. Sometimes words are not needed to know, love and serve. Those are the best days, when my heart is truly open.

Dear Lord, I am not lost searching for you. You are always with your people, billions of us and I can find you in Scripture, Liturgy, and most of all in the prayer I unite with Mary and all your saints. We have all been saved by Jesus and it is from this gift of Salvation that I can grow in hope that I will be able to come to the end of life in the love that is my faith that will keep me from sin.