28/10/2021

St Paul makes the analogy between citizenship of Rome and being part of the Body of Christ. It must be about 20 years since Jesus was known personally in human form. The Good News had spread rapidly and there were groups of believers scattered throughout the vastness of the world that was ruled from Rome. It is an amazing thing that this bizarre teaching had captured the imaginations of so many diverse people. The Jews were somewhat prepared to continue to worship one God. For them one of the great difficulties was to accept the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit which although, revealed in scripture  had to be discovered and meditated upon. The Gentiles had even more to discard before accepting the teaching of the Apostles and their disciples. They knew stories of the Gods and local temples made great demands on them. They knew of the thinking of the philosophers. Rising from the dead???

Paul's words about a  prophet in Palestine were not the Adonis story reworked. Paul had seen the Risen Lord and his testimony, inspired by the Holy Ghost, became a testimony to the true way of life ordered for us by Almighty God. We have to accept that the belief of the first Christian was supported by the Holy Spirit and that it is God's will that there should be a Church here on Earth.

Jesus in the Gospel chooses those who were to become the Apostles but not before a night of prayer. The Love of the Trinity is a complete "prayer" way beyond the imagination of man.

It is a tribute to the veracity of the Gospel narratives that the name of the traitor was not glossed out. Jesus chose Judas. Jesus chose Peter who denied him and the other Apostles too. It is only the women and John who display any fortitude during the three days of horror in Jerusalem. 

Jesus chose our Church's first leaders. We want to believe that he continues to do so. The instant communications of our modern world reveal that today there is still as much treachery to the Lord in our Bishops as there was in the original twelve.

Dear Lord help me to find guidance and support today as I still believe that you are with us. May your Mother support all mothers who find each day a struggle to cope with sickness and motherhood.

 27/10/2021

The words of St Paul provide me with what I felt yesterday. The remembered words of "prayers" inspire me to pray. To pray in my innermost being with the certain knowledge that my praying is well appoved by my saviour in the eternal Trinity. My own words, as now, may seem confused and incoherent but my soul is known, as are the hairs on my head, and accepted into heaven to join  with the Saints in everlasting prayer and holiness. This is my hope.

A striving towards holiness is always acceptable to God. Hope will not be in vain except...........Jesus warns us that the Father even in his mercy can lock the "narrow gate"against us who misuse our human freedom and there is always the possibility of seeing the joys of eternity but not receiving them. Thus we must clearly understand that our placement in humanity, in the Church or Society, is always to be questioned and meditated on for "the last will be first and the first will be last".

Dear Lord help our rich and our leaders to think carefully about where they stand in relation to You. Let me too not be overcome by my own weak words and always know that all good comes from you. 

 26/10/2021

St Paul's letter to the Romans is not of the simplest to understand. He says that we are and we are not "saved". He says that the whole of creation is waiting for its renewal that is salvation. He says that God's Creation our physical Universe was created incomplete so that it has been yearning from the beginning for the Word to fulfill its task. We are all waiting for this completion and then we will know Salvation. We are still locked into our bodies and it is only when we are complete in our human freedom that we will be saved.

Jesus too in this morning's parables counsels patience. We can care for the "mustard seed" and witness its growth; we can add yeast to flour water and salt and witness the lively dough which is the result. These processes take time. We cannot witness the actual growth of the seed or swelling of the dough. God works in our beings in the same way.The Holy Spiirt the Son and the Father is the complete Being that will take us to Salvation which is ours but not yet.

Dear Lord may I come to better understanding than the above of your Being and of your Will for me.

 25/10/2021

Jesus is challenged today by the synagogue. It is a challenge that reveals the depth of the feeling about keeping the Law that was in religious leaders of his day and can still be seen in the surving "Chosen people". Jesus had performed healing in front of all the congregation. The healing is an obvious good and power was certainly revealed in the one who performed it. But all "work" was suspended on this the seventh day. God rested and so must man.

Jesus responds by a severe condemnation of  hypocrisy. In this case it is a "hypocrisy" that flaunts its piety by public demonstrations of prayer and fasting. I am writing this as a public demonstration of my sense of relationship with God and so I too must read my own words and act in accordance with them. I must know that my sins are forgiven by this same Jesus who is  followed by some but not all of his own people. 

The Holy Spirit moves us to pray and to truly believe that we are Coheirs with Christ. St Paul continues to emphasise this staggering fact which supported the early Church and which would do the same today if we were not confounded by our own hypocrisy which blocks the opening up of our being to the power of the  Love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord help me to show your Love to all of mine who are known to you and in all things let us know that "thy will be done" is not fatalism but a true submision and recognition that only "Good" comes from you.

 24/10/2021

Today's readings emphasise our Jewish origins. Jeremiah, contrary to his proverbial reputation, is full of Joy for the people of the Lord are saved and they know it. And they know to whom their thanks must be given.  Our Jewishness continues in the Letter to the Hebrews. We can be sure that God wants us to continue the Temple Sacrifice but one that is offered by a sinless High Priest; A High Priest who is both priest and victim.  Jesus' sacrifice to the will of his Father is "once for all"; is eternally repeated with the Father and the Holy Spirit and with the People of God who form his body active here on earth; active with his Mother and Saints in heaven. Our Mass.

It is from this that the Church teaches that the Mass does not depend on the holiness of the minister. The "once for all sacrifice" is in the timeless eternity which we the followers can access here on earth through the ministry bequeathed to his Church  by our Sinless High Priest ; Jesus of Nazareth.

No wonder we are joyful for our lives are not in vain. We have God who has destroyed our sins and wiped out our guilt and who is always with us to the end of time.

Dear Lord I believe all that you have have taught us. You know the prayer of my heart. May Our Lady and all the Saints inspire our leaders to seek the holiness that is not of this world that they follow the way this mass and all masses lead us to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 23/10/2021

The Law is the rules for living as revealed to Moses and subsequent Prophets. Jesus frequently points out to his listeners the folly of following this Law in all its finicky details, without being aware of its inner meaning. Pharisees are usually castigated for this their main fault. I think that Pharisees are always with us and sometimes closer to home than I realise. 

Hypocrisy in religion goes with the territory. Those of us familiar with Moslem countries are often ready to recognise the way the behaviour of devout citizens changes as soon as they are beyond their borders.

St Paul, one of many converted Pharisees, has taken Jesus to heart and knows that now the rules for living are totally Spiritual. He knows and teaches that Jesus our God has condemned sin by his death and resurrection and that the Holy Spirit is here for us to call upon to guide us. If we follow only the natural law without any regard to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit we will achieve death. God wants us to achieve the Life which is prepared for Spiritual natures in communion with God.

Horrific sacrilegious deaths as befell the Galileans are not the result of special guilt on the part of the victims of Herod's anger. Jesus makes it clear that natural disasters are jut that and not brought about by individual guilt. The tower fell because it was poorly constructed and was not targeted at the 18 who died. Jesus tells us that we all can perish; that our bodily death can happen at any moment of our earthly lives but we can avoid total death, as in the incidents detailed, by repenting. We have to actively seek the Mercy of God.

The gardener's patience can win survival for the fig tree but only because:

 "I take pleasure, not in the death of a wicked man, says the Lord, but in the turning back of a wicked man who changes his ways to win life."

Dear Lord let me always be aware that you have charted for me a life to aim for Life with you. Let the prayers of Mary and all the Saints be heard in your Church and backstabbing hypocrisy be recognised and condemned.

 22/10/2021

St Paul's words about his natural human self are totally my own experience and I am a lot older than he was when he wrote his letter to the Romans. Jesus too speaks from his humanity to his listeners. We know so much about our world and can forecast what will be the weather but we do not interpret what it is for us to be alive and to use our "times".

We are created by God to be his people on earth and these are our "times" not to be repeated. Our creation is our now and we have to see that this is our one life that has to be used as it was intended by our Maker. St Paul gasps out his knowledge of humanity's wretchedness and pleads for a "saviour".

Dear Lord let me humbly know that the words of St Paul are also my own reality and let me too truly give thanks to God through the grace of Jesus  who speaks for Father, Son and Holy Spirit.