20/09/2021

The return of Israel from the Babylonian captivity is repeated in our present age. The working of God's providence in favour of this particular nation continues to this day. God is true to his original covenants and the descendants of Abraham are indeed a great nation. But where is the Temple of the Lord that was Cyrus' reason for letting Jews return to their Holy land?

Jesus tells us not to hide our light once we have lit it. Is our light something to be hidden for if it is it will be revealed. What is it that we have that will be increased by God's gift? What is it that we have to do for even our little to remain with us. This unexplained parable leaves me gasping for I do not understand it. I am sure that Jesus is not talking about physical possessions. If I think of the "having" as being about spiritual gifts I am still not better off in my understanding. If "listen" had been the verb rather "hear" I could have understood that as a warning about false doctrine. 

The Korean martyrs must have been filled with the Holy Spirit to defy the strictires of their Confucian/Buddhist culture where even today all ranks of society are aware of their places and to disobey an elder is the greatest sin imaginable. God is surely the "Evergreater".

Dear Lord open my understanding to receive your Word so that following the example of your martyrs I may never deny the Truth of the Father, Son and holy Spirit.

 19/09/2021

Everyday I know the Love that is God for I continue with my life even though I am a sinful man. My own love is but a poor reflection of God's Love because I am a sinful man. St James warns us that we are to avoid the basic sin that is putting our self before everything. Wisdom offers an insight into evil's reaction to the presence of the good man. He has to be tested to breaking point and this is what happened to Jesus.

We have to believe that Jesus did know the disturbances through which his Church, founded out of his Love, would have to go. Not only in these later days, but even as he walked in front of  the weak humanity he had chosen to trust and to build up. The chosen disciples were so close that they could touch the physical presence of the Kingdom of God on earth and yet they started to argue about rank within the nascent Church.

So much strife in the Church results from self-centered ambition; child abuse is a result of self-centered bodily desires; "cover ups" are self-centered efforts to avoid the shame that should rightfully be accepted.

Dear Lord, enable me to overcome the strife that is inside myself so that putting You and all others before myself I may come to that peace that is yours, beyond understanding; the Father. Son and Holy Spirit.

 18/09/2021

I have been away from my computer for the last few days and am now pleased to be back. The world is such a complicated place and the works of man have got to be admired as with great struggles huge and beautiful edifices are erected and in the cities numerous people scurry purposefully about their business.

All of these are known to God in the same way that I am. Some of them are also turned inwardly to God and are the rich soil of the harvest. That inward longing for holiness is not apparent to mankind but is known only to the sower who will reap the rich harvest.

I know also that I failed to receive the grace of penance as I inexplicably could not accept the priest and did not have the humility to listen. 

The following is from the Vatican Website’s Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The Sacraments of Salvation

1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify.⁴⁸ They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. the Father always hears the prayer of his Son's Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.

1128 This is the meaning of the Church's affirmation⁴⁹ that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: "by the very fact of the action's being performed"), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that "the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God."⁵⁰ From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.

1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation.⁵¹ "Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature⁵² by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Saviour

My Commentary

In   # 1127 there is a powerful explication that all the graces are given by Jesus himself working through the priest; that the Holy Spirit touches us all and ensures that grace is poured into our hearts. I have never found it necessary to either question or really think about this. But now I have noticed the qualifying phrase with which it starts “Celebrated worthily in faith” which is given as a condition for Jesus to be present with us in the celebration. The phrase can only mean that the Minister must be worthy and fully believing.

#1128 shows that authors of these canons are not stupid. They are fully aware of the questions raised by “Celebrated worthily in faith”. But avoid the “going through the motions” implications of “ex opere operato” by turning the “work” from not that of the ordained minister but into the saving grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Which is of course independent of the spiritual condition of the minister. Of course it is! Then why does the efficacy of the reception of the Sacrament depend on the spiritual condition of the recipient? For this canon closes with another condition “Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.”

The message here is we priests do not need to be holy to confect the Sacraments but to receive them you must be! Sin is all right for us but not for you. Is that the message of the pulpit? Is it for this that the Incarnation Crucifixion and Resurrection had to be undergone in all its painful humility and humiliation?

I have always believed #1129’s “the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation.” What am I to do if I cannot find them in the Church founded by Jesus. Would that our Overseers do their duty and remove from office those priests who openly flaunt their persons and those who do not follow the rules for the distribution of Sacraments. In the past the Church was almost broken by the sinful vanity of its prelates and the ignorance of its clergy. We the laity were here to do what we were told but it is to us and for us that the Love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was incarnated, lived, suffered, died and resurrected so that the Church might have a source of Grace to share with all mankind.

Dear Lord let me learn to be holy and let all my sins receive the forgiveness so dearly won for us .

 13/09/2021

Of course the liturgy as we know it today was not present for the first Christians. Those in Jerusalem continued to meet in the Temple until they were banned and met privately for the "breaking of bread."It is for this meeting, the forerunner of the mass, that St Paul offers his advice, the preparation for the Eucharist has to be prayerful and peaceful and above all we should know that we are there because our Father wants all of us to be saved. That is what all creation and life is about. God wants us to come joyfully to Him. The self-sacrifice of the Son the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit are to be known and acknowledged by the unity of our prayer.

There is no hint of "Liberation Theology" in St Paul. "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" is what guides St Paul. Slavery is a condition of life for many in the Roman Empire and also in Israel itself. St Paul teaches that we must treat slaves as our brothers with forbearance and kindness. 

The Faith shown by the Centurion is explained as a product of the political authority with which he lived his life. Jesus knows this but does not chide him or it. To accept Authority is not wrong in itself if it produces good. What is disastrous for us is that the moral authority of our Church has been destroyed in this Age by the sinfulness of many who do know better but who prefer their selfish desires to the Loving Authority of our Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord let me be able to achieve my plan of receiving your pardon in the Sacrament of Penance and let my confession and sorrowful regrets be sincere without any little holding back trying to hide somewhere in the depths of my being.

 12/09/2021

Our Lord makes no bones about it . We have to renounce all our selfishness. We have to root out all signs of egoism. We have to abandon our selves to "the Way, the Truth the Life" that is Christ. He tells the disciples about "His Way"; he will be completely forsaken and that they too have to be ready to follow this "Way" to be true followers of him. Peter is not up to accepting this  and remonstrates "Oh come on Lord you don't really mean; it nothing like this is going to happen to you". Jesus' rebuke is total and uncompromising. "It is the Lord who speaks" and we have to accept it as the word that is  direct and unchangeable. 

Some of Jesus' teachings are foreshadowed in the OT and in the Isiah we see "Turn the other cheek". Isiah's contemporaries show very little evidence of accepting this as having the force of Moses'  revelation; just as we do not show much acceptance of the Lord's command. 

St James' letters were written 30 years or so after the resurrection and they must have grown out of the prayer and experience of those first Christians in  Jerusalem . What he writes is the barebones of Christian dogma in its original Jewish setting. The "faith" he preaches is the "faith" taught by "Brother Isa" and as such it must become visible in our behaviour. Belief is not just  something existing between God and me and only happening in my brain. I must do good by avoiding sin but also be of positive benefit to those around me. "Maranatha" was the word in the Temple and we can ask those on whose lips it was first spoken to intercede for us in heaven.

Dear Lord as I start this day I, as usual, become aware that what I think and write must be visible in my behaviour. You know that now I am quite pleased with myself for the reflections above. Let me accept the chidings and scruples of my conscience as being inspired by you. I make this prayer through Father Son and Holy Ghost.

 09/09/2021

St Paul teaches today what we should strive for everyday. Jesus in the Gospel instructs us that total unselfishness should be the aim of every Christian. The right choices from both readings cannot be ignored. "I believe" is not enough. In our world we have the opportunity for  right action. "Put on Love" "turn the other cheek".

Loving my children and my family is not enough. Sinners do that. I must love my enemies . I have often thought that I do not have any enemies. I cannot think of anyone whom I totally dislike to the point of hatred. And then I remember the rages I have all too often succumbed to without any control and am faced with the self accusation that such behaviour warrants

Our forgiveness of others is what is going be the standard Jesus judges us by; that is scary; God is indeed merciful and compassionate even to death on the Cross. He also needs our cooperation. How can mercy be bestowed on those who deny the Lord and his teaching.? The vastness of the Love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is beyond comprehension; there is an infinity of mercy  more than enough to forgive all sinners to keep Hell empty.

  Dear Lord help me to be Christian in all my thoughts words and deeds and let your mother and all your saints continue to plead on my behalf.

 11/09/2021

Today Jesus warns us that the mere acknowledgement of the Power of God by itself is meaningless. We have had the Glory of God revealed to us and can in the beauty of creation get a faint idea (through a glass darkly) of the Beauty of God himself. God does want us to know him. 

But that is not enough. We are empowered by the Grace of the Father, the works of the Son and the coming of the Holy Spirit to live lives that are themselves a witness and revelation of the  Love with which the Father created, the incarnate Son redeemed and the Holy Spirit inspired  the world. 

But that is not enough. Faith Hope and Love have to be built solidly on unmoveable foundations for them to be able to bear witness. Our foundation is the teachings of Christ and his sinless life. I can and must accept that for the visible Church is getting very close to "it collapsed and what a ruin that house became".

Dear Lord let my striving after you bear the best fruit it is capable of; let me become the person you created me to be and let your Holy Spirit enter into those whom I know here on earth that even without knowing you their fruit becomes  acceptable to you.