07/09/2021

The Epistles of St Paul are never superficial. His faith is evidently present with him whenever he bigins to write or dictate, It is "news" as it is so un-Jewish. Even circumcision can become an image of what he has learnt from and about Christ. I still wonder how his letters were received by the people who heard them for the first time; they were obviously counted of great worth and would be studied assiduously always bearing in mind his warning against being trapped by philosophy,.

We have to take Jesus as our only role model in life. Trinitarian prayer to the Father is the most important for him and in the world he continued to pray in his humanity. How could I pray for an hour continuously; even in the Holy Saturday liturgy I always at some point turn off into a reverie  a long way away from the  prayer that I should be committed to. Jesus prayed all night and and then appointed the twelve from whom all that is good in our earthly life has been generated.

I know what it is that St Paul warns against; I must follow Jesus in being aware at all times that my duty is to the Father and that the Apostles form the nucleus of our earthly Church. One sentence in words but a whole way of committed life and so easy to forget.

Dear Lord, let me be receptive to the graces that you shower upon the world and let the love and prayers of your Mother and all the Saints bring our Church and its leaders back to the simplicity of your true religion. burst the bubble of self-esteem and selfishness and let your priests  see that without their personal holiness many of their sheep will stray from the fold and that you will be asking them why this happened. I make my prayer to the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

 06/09/2021

What is amazing in the teaching of St Paul is that what he is saying is still essential knowledge for us who are living so long after him. The Church as the Body of Christ is still part of our learning and it is one of our building blocks held together by the mortar that is Love. Many of the people who heard this teaching were unfamiliar with the OT and had only a superstitious awareness of afterlife. The Philosophers had thought out a discreditation of  the Olympic Pantheon;  mystery cults from the East were beginning to attract those who had time to think about such things, Even in Rome it was said that the "Orontes was flowing into the Tiber"

St Paul teaches that the resurrected Christ has an existence that is outside the created universe and that this life which is never ending is shared by all of us who recognise and bear witness to him. How do we bear witness? By living our mortal lives in obedience to the Law revealed by God first to those whom he favoured in the Middle East and now to the whole of mankind. He also teaches that the dead too share in the eternal living of Jesus and can intercede for us in the presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

This new heavenly existence is there for us to attain through the Incarnation, Life Death and Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus here on earth 2000 years ago. The Son of God walked this earth 2000 years ago and was rejected to the point of being tortured on a Cross and I am still contributing to that torture by failing to live without sin. God forgive me.

Dear Lord you know in person each one of us mortal souls; send your love into to the billions of beating hearts that we may truly believe the revelations of your Son and his Apostles and find peace in the New Creation you have prepared for us.

 05/09/2021

Today our Lord is walking from Lebanon into what is now partly in Jordan, the Decapolis; the ten cities of which most is heard of Capernaum. It makes me think that as most of the population must have been,  Jesus was bilingual and spoke both  Ahramaic and Greek. Jesus as true man would not have allowed his divinity to intrude into his life on Earth. His miracles came from God. In Jesus God has emptied himself and taken on our flesh with all its weaknesses except sin

St James' social teaching is now part of normal living even for those who never think about God except to despise him. It is supposed to be a norm but for many "Celebrity" always takes first place. 

Jesus would also have known Hebrew the language of Scriptures but not used it for everyday transactions. I was familiar with the use of Latin in Church until I was 22 years of age but recently attending a performance on behalf of the Latin Mass Society I couldn't say I was impressed or happy to be at the Mass of my youth. For the most part I didn't recognise it at all. The LMS has got it wrong and the promotion of "The Mass of the Ages" is just modern marketing to the middle well-educated classes lacking the sincerity of a true mission. St James's warning to avoid social judgements is still to be taken seriously.  Many supporters are disaffected with the Church we see today but the Church of the Latin Mass still has the same problems as that of the Novus Ordo and these only our Father Son and Holy Spirit can solve.

Dear Lord you know this sinner who is turning to you strengthen my resolve and let me with the aid of your Church, the Mystical Body cover myself with the Love that Is Father Son and Holy Spirit.

 04/09/20/21

In the collect this morning we pray that the Church may follow the example of Christ as seen in the life of Sr Cuthbert and seek out the lost sheep and bring them safely to the fold. We too need  to be found and even though we are in name Church and are dispersed the fold itself needs to be secured. We need the  prayers of St Cuthbert to gather the rocks of Northumberland and plug up the gaps that  have appeared and are  appearing exponentially in the structure founded on the rock, Peter.

Jesus saw us as dejected and harassed like sheep without a shepherd. That is how we are. Moses argued with God and persuaded him to save the mixed batch of humanity called Israel. Can I argue with God? I only know that what I see in the Church today is not  God's revelation of himself to his mother and all the saints . The Church was to be the place of safety where all the peoples of humanity could be secure in faithful adherence to the teaching of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We really do need shepherds who, immersed in the Love of God, can in holiness lead us faithfully to the Way, the Truth and the Life. We do need sincere labourers in our vineyard and must pray that God sends them to us.

Dear Lord I  pray that my thoughts and frustrations do not blind me to the good that can still be found in your Church. let my heart be open to you Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 03/09/2021

Where do our thoughts come from? Some are remembrances of times past which grow into full blown fantasies. Others are the reaction to our perceptions. Others belong completely to ourselves  as we try to work out problems by using what we see as our power of reasoning, Some are in answer to the direct prompting of another. Our consciousness of living is a complete mishmash of thoughts appearing in our minds from we know not where.

"You are the Christ the Son of the Living God" Peter's answer is a response to Jesus demanding full thought from each of us. Full concentration closes out memory, imagination and fantasy. face to face with the Lord each one of is alone in the focused vision of the all-powerful. And it is this God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit who also provides the answer to his own searching of our being."You are the Christ the Son of the Living God"

St Paul is at his most pastoral; he too knows the living presence of the of the Son of God and declared that the Church must be filled with a mother's love handing over to her children everything even her very self.

St Gregory has some great thoughts  associated  with his feast today. Let his present intersessions become as fruitful as were his missionaries.

Dear Lord, I know that you are always directing my thoughts to right behavior ; let not my sinfulness choose to disobey. Mary mother of the Church intercede with your son to let our clergy not neglect to follow the path to which they have been chosen and ordained.

 02/09/2021

St Peter is chosen together with his work mates. It is God that chooses his followers and not vice versa. My backsliding is thus a direct refusal of God's grace; his calling of me. St Paul is well aware of how the attractions of sin can lure us away from the path revealed to us. He prays that our faith can be bolstered by knowledge and spiritual understanding. This is what we have to acquire. He also calls us to "perfect" wisdom. The ambiguity is mine; St Paul uses "perfect" as an adjective to describe wisdom. Perfect wisdom seems to be a tough target but we are strengthened by the absolute power of God.

St Peter is an encouragement to all Christians. He is not from the high and mighty nor is he from the absolute destitute. He does not waver in his first response but together with future Apostles leaves the boats and literally follows Jesus. This commitment has inspired many saints and unknown followers of the Lord. Peter's backsliding at the time of the crucifixion is almost as bad as Judas' but his remorse is accepted and as the forgiven one he is called to lead the first missions. His name is now "Rock"the place for the foundation of our Church too be laid.

Dear Lord let me  not stop from following you and trying to learn more about how it is you want me to live out my life. Let the prayers of your Mother and other saints bring me the grace which is the total being of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 01/09/2021

The letter from St Paul reveals that it was not only he who brought the  Good News to the towns of Asia Minor. What he still recommends has never changed. We need to keep our minds firmly fixed on our Father in heaven and on the graces that he has stored up for us to share in. We have this duty to live in the world  without harming our souls by being submerged in what is needed to stay alive. 

Every day that I try to do this seems like a failure as at least four hours is spent mindlessly in front of a T.V. I don't know how to subdue this as I do not have the will power to resist. I do try to keep the message of Jesus in my mind; that is why I try to start the day with the scriptural readings from the mass of the day but I still waste many hours.

This morning, Peter's mother-in-law must be in the minds of our clergy. They have taken vows to remain unmarried. Chastity is a requirement for all of us. We all know how difficult that is as sex is probably the greatest bodily pleasure that we can experience. We can pray for the help of the Holy Spirit in this regard and empathise with the guilt that human weakness brings to our Clergy.

We cannot, however,  understand or support how the successors of St Peter have put their biggest efforts into avoiding scandal and failed to be Christian by not confessing their sins. 

Dear Lord help me to look into my soul and scour out the remaining residue of selfish lust that is there.