11/11/2021

The praise given to Wisdom is praise given to one of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is the power of our consciences to know right from wrong. It is given to all mankind as the intelligence of man. If we hold on to it we will not be deceived for it is God's support for our beings. The writer believes that it is an emanation from God and this idea is latched on to by early intellectual heretics who did find themselves misled into a morass of knowledge, Gnosis. It was not Wisdom however that did the misleading but their own pride. Recognising their own abilities and knowledge surpassed the humility that Wisdom gives us to know how small we are in relation to God. We are small in ourselves but great in the Love that God gives to us.

"The Kindom of God is with us" is Jesus' answer to the Pharisees. Jesus the eternal Word and Son was before the eyes of his questioners. We continue to ask the same question. Jesus still gives the same answer. Our Church is largely built on coping with that first disappointment; disciples longed to see him again, They had to wait for their own deaths. Many millions of us have lived lives filled with hope for the return of the Lord and now know the Eternity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Last Day will come in its own time and there will be a New Creation. Wisdom tells us to listen to God's Word in hope and know that he has prepared rooms for us and all his faithful discples in Eternal Being; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord let me listen to your Word and let me not succumb to prideful and sinful thoughts. Care for all your world and bring comfort to the sick of my family who are all known to you.

 10/11/2021

The words of Wisdom are adressed to all in authority. Kings and presidents, CEOs and executives, mothers and fathers and to me too for I have the authority to act in the human freedom that was created for me in my being. It is better to be small in this world for the Lord judges those in power more strictly. Or does he? I have the responsibility to use my free will to choose what is from God and reject the devil and all his works and all his pomps. The Sacrifice of the incarnate Son was for us all to be able to acquire the forgiveness in the mercy of the Father. The Holy Spirit is the inspiration and support burning out of the Trinity to be here for all; powerful as well as me.

The lepers outside the Samaritan village obeyed Jesus specific comand. They made their way  towards Jerusalem and became aware of their cure The one who came back to thank and honour the giver of the gift was a Samaritan. Was his gratitude greater because he was an alien? Jesus knows the answer to this for he brings the lack of gratitude on the part of the nine to our attention. The cure of the Samaritan was completed by the faith he showed in his gratitude

We all have to cooperate with the Lord. Some of us are rich and poweful in this world and some are  poor and weak. It seems the leaders of our Church have locked themselves into the trappings of wealth and power. The Catholic Church's  £200,000,000 loss in London yesterday was it as the 18 deaths when the tower at Siloam collapsed? Can it be counted as warning to forget the wealth and material things of God's mission to his Church and to concentrate on the truth? All sins are known to the Lord. What suffering he underwent to save us from them! The Institutional Church has to let out the Church of Love that is somewhere imprisoned within it and then we may all hear the words. "Your faith has saved you ".

Dear Lord you know the confusion that has beset me today and I thank you for the clarity that always comes from silencing myself and opening to you Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Let my will alwys co-operate with yours.

 09/11/2021

In the readings today we have the Temple, the Church and Jesus and, of course, ourselves. Over it all is the creation and the Will of God. God gives Ezekiel a vision of the temple and exact instructions of how to build it. St Paul sees himself as an architect building up the Church founded by Christ himself. We today are still that body. Jesus knows that ahead of him there is what is truly an ordeal even for God to have to face.

The image of Jesus clearing the Temple of businessmen is an easier one to picture and bring into understanding than what we sometimes have from Jesus. We are not told whether or not the merchants, even the pigeon sellers, returned the following day but the image of death and resurrection was beyond the comprehension of those of us who heard the words. 

Each day and everyday the mystery of Jesus, his words and body, his being are celebrated in Masses all over the world but does that mean that if he returned today he would find faith on earth. Can I be sure that the Body of Christ on earth is pleasing to our God. The Church has to keep the door to the Way, the Truth and the Light always open and unblocked by sinfulness and misguided teachings so that sinners such as I have access to the Gift of Mercy that she has the keys to.

What a magnificent building is St John's but as dust in comparison to St John's beloved and devoted being.

Dear Lord give me the toleration to meet with Charity the onslaught that I have to receive. You alone my God know what I am and I ask that you give me words that are true but  will not cause offence.

 08/11/2021

Althoigh the reading from Wisdom begins by personifying wisdom as an independent being which can be sought after to give strength to our beings and understanding, by the end of the passage it is clear that the writer is addressing the Holy Spirit. The Trinity was not known at the time this was written but God's various qualities were recognised and worshipped. God's knowledge of us all is what makes me always aware of my own sin which although known to God, I do not want to shout it from the rooftops. The pardoning of sin comes directly from God and not by some Human and crafty explanation. 

Truly Jesus is speaking to our leaders in today's Gospel. All our clergy need to be stirred up by this Gospel. There is a narrow way that leads to heaven and one thing is certain. Offering the Mercy of God to unrepentent sinners is not being Christ-like in any respect. "Go and sin no more" is a categorical command from the Son of God. 

The Sacraments instituted by the Lord need our co-operation to be effective. The Sacraments are not  a magical form of words that need to be repeated in a dead language by a man dressed in extravagant clothing; dripping with lace. They are a deserted naked broken body bleeding to death on a cross. A body full of despair with only his mother and best friend to witness and suffer with him.

Dear God you know that I do not want to be led into blasphemy by unthinking adherence to sinful clergy. Please protect me as only you can do. Please let me have touches of your grace that fills the eternity of heaven.

 07/11/2021

Jesus is in the this world and dies once for all. The second teaching this morning is very clear about that. "Once for all"is a common phrase from the New Testament which has more to it than the simple words that make up the phrase. Jesus has died, resurrected and ascended into heaven once and all of us before and since then are saved from sin by his action. Jesus the Word through whom all that we see and know around us was created is eternally begotten of the Father and in his incarnation brings Heaven into human flesh. And he dies. He dies. Once for all.

Elijah is a means of showing the mercy of God to a pre Christian world. Jesus condemns the trappings and pride of the clergy of his day. He even condemns their prayers. Large sums given to the treasury of the Temple do not impress him at all. He knows the hearts of all and recognises that the poor widow gives her all with a sincerity that is absent from the rich.

The "once for all" sacrifice continues today, Sunday, all over the world as it does timelessly in the Eternity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How much  is the Death and Resurection of the Lord obscured by "fine linen and purple"? How much more do I need to bring  me to the acceptance of the will of God and total generosity of the two widows?

Dear Lord my sin which you know I recollected this morning was not repeated. I thank you for this mercy and may I be able to avoid all sin as I continue in these the last days of my oppurtunity to bear witness and serve you in this world. Let my disatisfaction with your Church on earth not alienate me from your Mother and saints in heaven.

 06/11/2021

I don't know whether his named friends are known to scholars but one of them was certainly not of the lowly as he had a house in which the Church in Rome could meet. The names are tantilising glimpses into the past for those names belong to individuals and it is individual persons who receive the call of God. I know that Jesus founded a Church which is his physical presence on earth but it is the individual members who are saved and not the corporation. The "I" who is saved is saved by the will of God visible in Jesus and not by the Church holy or sinful as she may be. 

She was certainly holy in her foundation the names of Mary and John have not been forgotten even though they have been burned from the rood-screens of churches in this country. Holiness was the aim of the Apostles and it is this that was preached in the first centuries. Holiness is still the message that is preached by scripture and from the living pulpits but our love for God is not confined to his institution. God speaks to me and to every other individual. "I suffered and died for you. My love will never fade. Do not be confused by your failures. My salvation is still there for you even in the Church which has become forgeful of its mission in concern for itself as an institution".

The individual pharisees who laughed have become proverbial as hypocrites and cited by all who are unhappy with our Church. Today's gospel should be permanently engraved on all our hearts for it is not in its structure that the Church becomes weak but in the constancy of all of us. We are the Church.

Dear Lord may my purpose to love and worship you show itself in constant sincerity. Father Son and Holy Spirit you are my beginning my aim and my end. Let me show this by my deeds.

 05/11/2021

St Paul is not looking for his own glory. He is completely focused on his own mission. He knows himself to be a priest of the New Order. He is one with Christ. He preaches but only to those who have not yet heard the Word. This is why he covered so much ground in his life-time. I cannot say that the text he quotes reverberates within me, but it was obviuosly important to him. That is why he quotes it for although he does not wish to preach to the converted he does not leave us alone but continues to this day to reinforce the teaching we have received as parts of the Body of Christ.

Jesus during his time on earth constantly amazed and shocked his listeners and he continues to shock us who listen to his words. He is not offering the steward as an example to be followed but he is telling us that we all look after our worldliness with astuteness but we have got it the wrong way round. It is the Kingdom of God that we must serve with our whole beings. God will take care of the world. Putting our all into preserving an institution, a religous order a building even an environment is not serving the Kingdom. God loves his creation and counts the hairs on our heads and knows even the smallest of beings. It is my individual soul that he cherishes and not my idea of what it is to be man. My soul is the living entity that my freedom allows me to nuture and grow in the Love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is we as individual children that he comes to save but we need to be aware of this and avoid the "big picture" that fascinates our blinkered souls to the detriment of the Kingdom.

Dear Lord help us to care for the welfare and holiness of all your people. It is a humble heart that you have rescued from total death.