The brothers of Joseph have no alternative but to go to Egypt to buy corn for their whole world is suffering from famine When they get there  they do not recognise their brother, but Joseph knows them; they do recognise, however,  that their predicament is the result of their crime against their brother. We do not usually see punishment for our sins in our present life. 

We live in a now that is touching heaven where we hope to know God and thus continue a life without end. For Joseph and his brothers their world is the only reality and righteousness and sin have their rewards here and now. Jesus' friends are chosen by the Lord to spread the Good News that our lives do not end with our deaths in this world. 

He commissions them with his own powers over evil and sickness and here we find the nucleus of our Church and our priesthood. Jesus is very careful to ensure that the Good News should be preached exclusively to God's chosen people; it is only after the completion of his mission  on earth that the Good News will be preached to all men. 

Dear Lord, we have been chosen by you to live a righteous life on this earth to prepare us to see your Glory. May your mother's pleas on our behalf together with those of your saints serve to strengthen us who are still striving in this world.

 

Wrestling with the Lord our God does not bear thinking about. A bout with Jesus would be possible for he is true man as well as true god. But physical wrestling with God is out of the question  We have to accept this as an allegory and thus the not eating of the sciatic nerve is justified. The avoidance of pork products does not have any justification ; it is accepted as a God's will so nothing more needed be said about it. Jacob who is Israel continues to wander through  the territory that bears his new name and is blessed by the Lord. What did he really do at Peniel? He saw God face to face and lived. No one sees God except those to whom He wishes to reveal himself . Speculation about this is non productive for me. I cannot understand it at all. 

Jesus wrestles with the devil possessing the dumb man. Well, he doesn't wrestle he just casts it out for that is His strength. Pharisees condemn this as being done by the power of Satan. Elsewhere Jesus retorts that a "house divided against itself is bound to fall". The people , i.e. we, are without a shepherd  so we must ask God to send us  shepherds to show us the way. The Church on earth touches the Church in heaven. It is in our Church on earth that we can find the shepherds and the guidance to join the Church in heaven. 

Dear Lord, let me not be blinded by the evil that I see and let all your clergy truly seek the holiness that you have made available to us all.

 Jacob's ladder is another image that is familiar to us from the Old Testament. It seems that the early revelations from  God were concerned only with life on this earth. The ladder is used by angels to ascend and descend to heaven; there is no mention of men among the traffic between our earth and God's heaven. Jesus brings us the Good News that his Way leads to eternal life. Jesus even refers back to the the prophets to assure us that the eternity "my kingdom is not of this world" he preaches is without beginning or end and so God is God of the Living. Abraham and the other prophets are living in that other creation in which we pledge our belief when we repeat our Creed.

Jesus restores health to the woman who touches his cloak. The man Jesus is completely God and completely Man. He is all knowing and so the touch and the faith which inspires it are completely known to Our Lord. "Your faith has made you whole". It is our faith that brings Jesus to our bodies n the Eucharist. The bread and wine of the mass  are not a garment as was the cloak of Jesus but are Body and Blood the Living Lord.

Dear Lord, let not the faith of your Church weaken under worldly pressure but let her and her priests remain steadfast and true to what has been passed on from you during the last 2000 years.  

 St Paul's "sting" is with him always. He has met the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. He has been taken into the seventh heaven of mystical experience. He has been saved by God from multiple dangers; even from shipwreck. He knows that his work is bearing fruit and that his Churches respond to his chiding at their backsliding. He knows that the Holy Spirit has brought him to an understanding of the Body of Christ that is the Church. One thing is sure of Paul is that he did great things for us all through his dedication to God; he never claims these fruits of his life for himself but it is always God's work that he acknowledges. But he still has a "sting"

Jesus the Son of the Trinity's  teaching amazes his neighbours and relations. He had not spent years in the school of a learned Rabi as had St Paul. Jesus is a bolt from the blue. His teaching is so complete that his hearers are totally baffled. So baffled that they dismiss it for how can such scholarly erudition be from the mouth of a woodworker who was at their beck and call whenever some building work was needed. Even the curing of the sick was from the laying on of hands and not seen as a miracle of God. St Paul had his "sting" and Jesus will undergo the attack of Satan face to face and will withstand it . Although St Paul wishes to rid himself of his sting he can welcome it as it in his weakness that he can know the power of God working within him.

Dear Lord, you know all my sinfulness; you know that I have cooperated with temptation to disobey your will for my being. Let me accept your grace in all its fulness to eliminate sin from my life. At this moment I know that it is possible; let that possibility become a certainty as this day unfolds.

 The drama of this scene with the Living Lord has captivated the imagination of believers since the early days of the Church. It is part of God's revelation of how his Resurrected body is the same as his Crucified corpse which was not in the Empty tomb. One celebrated image of this event presents St Thomas placing his hand in the wound of the Pierced One and the flesh depicted is in no way spiritualised; the body is indeed a real body. And this is the truth; the Risen Lord is complete as man and as God.

St Paul insists that the Church he is passing on to his followers is aligned to the the Lord. He is the "cornerstone" and we too are to be a holy place where Christ can be found. We can lead our lives in God's holy way and thus offer proof of "Happy are they who have not seen and yet believe". The Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son brings us God for us to welcome and adore. We do this with the help of Our Lady and all the saints some of whom, as did St Thomas, knew Jesus before and after his Resurrection; thus knowing at first hand that the Resurrected one  was indeed a real body.

Dear Lord, let my thoughts today be on you and your care for us. We see and hear signs and sounds of corruption but your words assure us that "your holy one will not know decay" but live for ever in the Love promised to us.

 Friday 02/07/21

The Old Testament provides us an illustration of God's care for his people the descendants of Abraham. Only the prophets were aware of that care at the times it was given. Our record is thus very basic and the length of days attributed to Sarah and Abraham, for example, stretched to emphasis the results of God's care. 

God is caring for us in exactly the same way as he did for our forbearers and now we know that this happening in the here and now. God's providence is not an exoskeleton limiting our movements we live freely in the times provided by God. We have always been presented with questions that we need to answer. In primitive times there was the question of with whom it was lawful to eat to maintain our special relationship with the Lord and it is questions such as this that so vexed the early Church.

Today we have an over-ripened Church that has  rules and is more of an exoskeleton than an open heart bringing God's  Love and thankful awareness of his Providence.

Dear Lord let me not forget that our Church and its rules originate in the deeds and promises of Jesus let me continue to seek the guidance of your Holy Spirit in all that I do secure in the knowledge that the prayers of your Mother and all the saints will always be with me.

 Today begins with another horrific story from the Old Testament. Can it be true that God tested Abraham in such an appalling manner. Why would God need such a proof of fidelity? God knows all even to thee depths of our feelings and beliefs. There is nothing more pathetic than the boy Isaac's question. "Daddy where is the lamb". God knows all  and, of course this episode reminds us instantly of God's own sacrifice of  himself through his Son. But we cannot ignore the question of how could God ask anyone to kill his child in praise of Him. One way round it is to ignore the narrative and take it aa a symbolic condemnation of human sacrifice in general and particularly the Canaanite practice of infant sacrifice to baal . 

 Did the believers Jesus preached to believe the symbolic message or did they believe the literal truth of the text of scripture. That the Jews of Jesus day were believers is illustrated by the general reaction to the miracle they witnessed. The learned see Jesus' action as a breaking of the law against blasphemy . "Who is this man to forgive sins?"; the people are in awe and praise God that he has empowered such a man as Jesus. 

In the scriptures God makes it clear that he wants only good for his creation but also that he is so beyond us in his being that we can only understand him by truly being in awe before him. 

Dear Lord, you know that I want to live according to your choices for me. May my part in your Church become clear for me You know the difficulties for us on earth. May Our Lady and your saints in heaven  support us with the abundance that is your grace