07/10/2021

The events of Our Lady's life are recalled in today's celebration of the Rosary. This great prayer follows the way of the Lord as witnessed by Mary. She is our example of perfected humanity; born without stain of sin; she is the womb in which Jesus was procreated from before time; chosen by God to not know mortality; she is the first Christian to enter heaven body and soul; the Church although founded on St Peter has its source in her obedient love. Her "let it be" signals in time the great changes brought into the world by Jesus the true Son of God in the humanity taken from Mary.

The Rosary is the second great prayer of the Church and does not require ordination to take it into Heaven. It is forever the ultimate in meditation and can be pondered on by all in any place on earth. 

Yesterday's reading showed us the way to pray and in today's there is the confirmation that as long as we keep faith with our God our prayers are welcomed by the Father. The Rosary follows the worldly footsteps of Jesus as witnessed by his mother and for those shaken by the crumbling of the Church Militant it is the unbreakable link to "Our Father who art in heaven".

Dear Lord let me renew my Faith, Hope and Charity by a return to  the Rosary remembering "Can you not spend one hour with me?"

 06/10/2021

Jonah's dialogue with God is recorded by human hands and arises from human memory; but,the conversation is divinely inspired and is recorded here and now in the scriptures to be read at the formal prayer of the Church. We who read and listen may find the haggling with God not in keeping with the ideas we have of God developed from the teachings of the Incarnate Son of God who is the culmination of the Old Testament prophets. 

Jesus never bickers with the Father. How can he? He is the Son of God and knows totally the Will which he shares in Love with the Spirit. Jesus is also truly human and so can experience the temptations we are faced with on a daily basis. His human anger cleared the temple of the money grubbers that polluted the Court of the Gentiles. Even after the Resurrection it is recorded that he ate and drank.

"I thirst" and a cry of utter despair immediately precedes his death. Is this God or Man who cries out so desperately?

Dear Lord help us to understand what it is that our prayer should be. It must not be a gabbling of words but the sincerity of believe shown in Our Lord's teaching and summed up in the words of the "Our Father". This "today" let me be true to my baptismal promises and reject all that is not You. 

 05/10/2021

Jonah continues with his mission doing the work as God directed him. The Ninehvites from high to low accept the Word as preached by Jonah and the city is saved from destruction. Martha sees Mary's devotion to the Lord as a shirking of her household work.

That Mary has chosen the better part is seen by most commentators as Jesus' commendation of life lived out in prayer. Permanent prayer is a state of mind that can keep a  part of our being trying to touch the Eternal Freedom that is God. For centuries it has been accepted that those who are chosen to follow Mary's path need to be kept away from the World. The sinful attractions of the world are not the only source of distraction, however, for the legitimate task of keeping body and soul together can overwhelm us by its necessity.

"Give us this day our daily bread" is not only a petition for the Eucharist. As with all of Jesus' words it means what it says. Martha is not condemned but rather she and we are advised that prayer is the better part. Raising our minds and hearts to God is something we all need to do. It is the reason for all Being. 

Dear Lord help those who have accepted your call to a life of  service and prayer to maintain the fervour of their ordinations. Help me to be guided by the Love that is within me. Let me seek your Mercy that I too may be saved as were people of Ninevah.

 04/10/2021

The Jonah narrative with dialogue gives me an insight into the mindset of the writers who recorded this interaction between God and man. Each sailor had a God to whom he made entreaty. There was no unity of belief. The sleeping Jonah was awakened to profess his belief and to petition for saving help. The sailors were said to be in utter fear as they realised that Jonah must be guilty of a huge sin, a defiance of the Lord. Jonah offers himself as the sacrifice that will appease the anger that has produced the storm. 

Natural events were considered to be the result of the anger of a god and the key to obtaining divine help was to find the right god to appeal to.

"The only sign you will receive is the sign of Jonah" 

"Who is my neighbour?"

Our Lord accepts the challenge of the smartypants lawyer and the parable of the " Good Samaritan" is heard for the first time. I am sure that there are people in the world who have never heard this parable, But where I am now it is the original source of a social policy that aims to care for the weak and poor of our country. The care for other people that is the boast of our leaders is extended to the poor of all nations and every day we see appeals to help victims of war and natural disasters.

We need not be ashamed of this secular  implementation of Christian values. But what about our neglect of God most obviously seen in the treatment of the unborn? The procreation of a human being is treated as an individual natural disaster and the unborn are destroyed before they complete the first stage of life that has been given to them by God.

How can we face up to our responsibility for this sin. Biden is wrong in his interpretation of his own role in politics; he  puts himself outside the Body of Christ by his words and public deeds; so why does he bother going to mass let alone to communion?

Dear Lord help me to overcome my sins and let me always act in accordance with your teaching. "Where shall I go? You Lord have the words of eternal life.

 03/10/2021

Darwin's Theory of Evolution certainly put paid to the Garden of Eden. The discussion continues to this day. But did it really tell us that God did not create mankind? The explanation of a mechanism does not deny the reality of its maker. All scientific knowledge is about ways and means; but does it answer the questions it raises about God?

Science tells us that humans are one species. The Bible tells us that we are all made in the "image" and "likeness" of God. Jesus tells us that we can choose to follow him in doing the will of the Father. Be we ever so clever, we are miniscule in the presence of God. We do not come before the Lord to show the greatness of our being. God knows all and is our Father. Humanity has a lot to show in the use of the World's resources but it is less than our offsprings' creations in a sand pit when compared to the ocean. Atomic weapons are an unbelievable use of the power that holds atoms together but nothing to our ever expanding universe.

We have to know that we are as children in the shadow of God, and that our Triune God is ever present in the persons Father Son and Holy Spirit. Today the Mass will be celebrated in the presence of millions of individuals  and those millions who are united in their DNA arising from the Love generated by the Trinity will become united in their communions with the Body of Christ; our Church here on earth united with the Mother of God and all the saints who are bathed in the Glory that we cannot imagine.

Dear Lord I know you care for all without favourites let me commend all the illness in my family to you. Thy will be done. Let all my prayers be directed by the inspiration of You Father Son and Holy Spirit.

 02/10/2021

We are always in the hands of God who knows everything that we think and do. We can receive rewards or punishments according to our deserts. Baruch teaches that there is nothing random about Old Testament disasters; they happen in response to the misdeeds of the chosen people.

Jesus teaches that we have to become as innocent as children to receive the Grace of the Kingdom of Heaven. The disciples receive clear teaching directly from God. The Kingdom of Heaven is God and there the human idea of ranking is not valid. 

We can be sure that if all that we do on earth is in response to the will of God taught by Jesus then we too can be protected by Angels who are blessed to be always with God. They are timelessly aware of and worshiping the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Their eternity touches our time. when we become innocent enough to know of them.

Dear Lord you know how far I have strayed from the Grace of my Baptism let the support of my Guardian Angel defend me from the temptations with which the fallen angel always surrounds me. Your Mother and all the saints continuously keep me before you; let the Angels too come to my aid.

 01/10/2021

Today we receive warnings from the Scriptures both old and new. We remember "litle" St Therese whose short life was full of bodily suffereing but whose soul sang as she walked her "little" way to heaven. 

There was nothing "little" about this Carmelite who fought her way into the convent. She stormed the Vatican. What must the Pope have felt about her breach of protocol? Such a short life but with a devotion that is infinitly greater than that of my 80 some years.

Her "Little way" has inspired many of us but with what distate must she and all the other monastic saints view the shenanigans of the monastries of this day and age. The reforms of her namesake have crumbled when faced by the realities of living with "vows" in the 20th Century. How many of her spiritual descendants could look their "Little" sister in the eye given the state of the order of which she is an adornment.

We have always been warned that we all can crumble and miss the only goal of our lives. Today Jesus is no less harsh than Baruch."Little" St Therese has the soubriquet "of the Child Jesus" but her life was devoted to the Crucified Son of God manifest in Holy Spirit which filled her soul with Love.

Dear God let those words keep me true to the Way the Truth and the Life. Give the strength to know that St Therese in heaven and all the other Saints led by your mother continue to intercede for your weakened Church here on Earth and that it will not fall no matter how shaken by our sinful lives.