A Moslem friend once remarked how difficult if not impossible  it would be to follow Jesus in the light of "offer the other cheek". He was right. This saying goes against our intimate knowledge of ourselves in interaction with other people.  Slap!!!! Flush and retaliation is what we know and horrified instant regret; frantic apologies if we have assaulted a loved one and guilt for not being as Christ want sus to be. St Paul was aware of this too; aware that human beings are prone to all sorts of Evil. He is not bragging but merely categorizes the "slaps" that we must all endure in trying to live a life that will be pleasing to God. We must actively pursue the virtues purity and all that is holy. Our human nature must be tamed and remodelled in imitation of Christ's humanity so that we take on Christ and reveal him by our actions. All this be done in humility without the affectations condemned in the Pharisees. God is with us we were created to know the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for it is from and in the Trinity that our only eternal salvation comes.

Dear Lord help me to face the inconveniences and annoyances of my everyday life in a way that is as you directed. Forgive me for the offences I have committed in the first 3 hours of this day.

 The Lord speaks in the Old Testament through the mouths of His prophets. What they say is not only a condemnation of wicked backsliding but also teaching and explanation as in today's first reading. This image has been in men's minds for more than 2000 years. Today the  parable of the the cedar tree is  displayed on the flag of Lebanon. 

St Paul urges us to remember that it is better to live  the life that comes from God than to be concerned only with our life in this world. Still living,  we  put our spiritual life first and when exiled from the body we can be received into the realm of the Lord; into the tree planted by God. What we do in our living bodies will determine how we are received in death. 

Jesus' parable of the mustard seed is still with us and we have difficulty with this bodily image. The image of the  "mustard tree" does not appear on the flags of any of the world's nations but inspires  all the Christians of the world. The Church of Christ needs to be not grand and glorious, ready for felling, as the cedars of Lebanon but tiny, insignificant yet full of the Living Lord  tending with great love all his people of this physical universe.

Dear Lord my prayer is to keep this bodily life of mine free form sin and let my goal be to live Your Life here on earth  Let me be without attachment to the world but let my prayers bring your Love to the hearts of all peoples.

 All mothers ( fathers too) are amazed by the beings that they have given birth to; they cherish  memories  in their hearts and so the memory of the  emotion when the baby first smiled is forgotten or rathe smothered by many subsequent equally momentous memories. Now we have millions of images daily generated and saved by machines such as the one that I am now using.

 Two thousand years  the memory had to be in the heart. Mary knew that the child with her had been begotten by God At his birth there had been many signs and portents.

 St Paul knew that this is a new creation and that although some of the early Christians had known Jesus in the flesh, Jesus is now present to us in the Spirit and it is this Holy Spirit that speaks in hearts to lead us to God We can become the Goodness of God for Jesus has in obedience to the Will of the Father and by his own Will become a sacrifice to conquer sin. His sacrifice,  death and resurrection, is eternally present for the Holy Spirit to spread through out History at all times so that early Christians newly converted and we the hesitant followers of Christ in modern times can confidently say "Our Father who art in heaven " and know  the support we need will be always with us. Our Church may give few signs of holiness but we can be sure that it is the conduit through which the Holy Spirit enters into our world. Jesus is present with us  throughout the whole of Time.

Dear Lord I pray that your Church may act truthfully as your foundation for humanity's spiritual awareness and growth and that you can ensure that I can grow  in your love with sincerity of heart that focuses not on itself but on you and your creation. Help me Lord

In today's feast the Church connects a brief outline of God's revelation. He cares for his people Israel. It seems that he does particularly favour one People and in favouring them keeps himself away from the others. This is difficult for us to grasp for God as we know him has no favourites and  opens his heart to all the world so that all can be saved .The Passion of the Son releases a superabundance of merciful love. St Paul is well aware of this and teaches that it is within God, who has no beginning or ending, that the redeeming Act of His Incarnation is a Sacrifice of atonement for all sin. In God there is no sin but we live our freedom in time and it is in time that we sin. The Holy Spirit the eternal Love that flows  from the eternal Father and Son is incarnated in the humanity of  Jesus and made by loving kindness, into the Heart of Jesus and freely available  to us weak sinners living here in time. 

This is what the Church has been instructed to proclaim over the centuries and created to perform. The Liturgy is the visible sign of God's presence. The Mass is the presence of God at the Sacrifice on Calvary and we are the Church of Love remaining  at the foot of the cross after His Apostles had all deserted him. 

I don't want to read into this image the obvious analogy  that applies to the crumbling edifice that is God's Church today.

Dear Lord, each day my thoughts repeat themselves as I try to live according to your Grace. The Sacred Heart pours out Infinite Mercy let me not forget to open my heart to respond to this .

 Each day I try to reflect on the revelation of God as preached to the early church. I have the word "reflection" as a replacement for "contemplation" or "meditation" which seem to be too self-consciously pious. Today St Paul uses a different meaning of reflect. We need to mirror the Glory of the Lord. Although the Holy Spirit is present in each individual that presence shines forth and is reflected by each of us to each other. Our Church is not a people by birth but  the people of God by the reflections of Glory that we should be for each other. 

How can this be? Jesus tells us that we need to have the practise of the Law, (not its words increased by human scruples as Scribes or Pharisees,) in the innermost part of our being so that we practise Love without being aware that it is this  that we do. Anger is murder, lust is adultery. Anything we do against one another is sin which keeps us from the true worship that God requires of us. We must not have mortal sin in us if we want to be fed by the Eucharist that is God's shining presence in our world.

Dear Lord you know that I am trying to live these latter days of my life in the way I  should have lived all my days let me be truly penitent and may our mother whose instant "Yes" was your incarnation come to the aid of that failing patient, your Church. 

 St Paul's letters are a treat to read; his message is always consistently clear and flawlessly presented. I have written the first sentence after reading today's Epistle but I can't instantly recall what it was. I am writing this again with the intention of praying and and preparing for today. This is the message the words of which I cannot recall clearly, but its seems that I am a proof that what is written in the heart comes from the Spirit and  cannot die. Moses shone with the reflection of God's Glory that comes from the Law; but this fades. Jesus promises us that the Law is fulfilled by following him. By keeping all the commandments each individual living on earth can come to salvation and shine with the Glory of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.; the Glory that was promised to a people but is now welcoming each individual of humanity.

Dear Lord may all the people of the world come to know and worship the Love that is the Father's, Son's and Holy Spirit's and may I not in reaching temporal goals, lose sight of  my final end.

 We need always to  be aware that it is God's revelation of himself that we read in the Scriptures. The missionary work of Paul and his companions has the guarantee that it is the Word that is being preached. Christ is the manifestation of God; more than that he is the Word together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. We too can see the Spirit in our hearts as did Paul and we must recognise it and put it first in all our works. Jesus wants our works to be seen as an  example and a light to all the world. We are the salt that can bring out the true taste of God's creation but not by hiding our true Christian selves. 

This brings me to the "no". Paul reminds the early church that there is no "yes and no" about Jesus' message. Jesus is "yes" to the Father and we must be the "YES" without quibbles to him. We the "Church Today" must not collapse into a confusion of messages promoted by the growth of "human knowledge " but must be a clear "Yes" to the promises of our Triune God.

Dear Lord help me to see clearly your Will for me and with the support of the heavenly Church Triumphant let your Will be seen in my works this day.