21/11/2021

Wondering about Daniel's vision I notice that he looks "into it" which seems to show that he was outside of the vision which would mean that it was not like a waking dream, happening only inside his head. Jesus confirms that he reveals truth to us by his witness. Jesus repeatedly tells us that his Kingdom is not of this world and reveals it by accepting death at the hands of the Romans although it was  his own people who delivered him up to them. 

The People of God, Israel had had an expectation of God sending to them a leader, the Messiah who would lead them to glory in this world. Daniel's vision is not of an Empire of this world but of an Eternal Sovereignty. Not only does Daniel look into the vision but his conscious mind also tries to interpret it. The One looking "like a son of man" is to become the almighty ruler of our Universe. We know him as "Christ the King".

Dear Lord help me to join your Church in celebration of your Almighty power. Let these words be your truth and let there be no swerving from your truth by neither me nor Your Church.

 20/112021

The teaching about heaven with which Jesus responds to the casuistry of the Sadducees tells us that our future in heaven will be different from how we live our being here on Earth, He tells us that we will be as the Angels are. Jesus  showed himself as the first fruits of the resurrection not as a reanimated corpse but with a glorified body unchained by the laws of our physical universe. He tells us that "to God all men are alive"which asks us more than it answers. The asking, however, is compatible with the totality of his teaching for "My Kingdom is not of this world"

God is portrayed as taking an active part in the history of Israel. Antiochus' downfall is attributed to his sacking of Jerusalem and profanation of the Temple. If we try to find God as a support of our social and political systems we are faced with numerous paradoxes. God promised that he would always be with our Church and here too paradoxes abound. Today we are a remnant of disunity even within the Church with the Keys. What we are witnessing in these times can be witnessed by all of us. In the past the wickedness of the clergy within our institutional church was not instantly apparent. 

Off the cuff remarks by the popes were known only to confidants but now we are having to constantly respond to Twitter and the never ending streams of corruption within the ranks of those called by Jesus to feed us the sheep. "Don't look, don't read" is not good advice for the unsavory events that are happening today . Jesus did not call us to be ostriches but to be his sheep led by the "Good Shepherd".

Dear Lord, please accept my wish to worship you and become a faithful servant. Help me to care for those in my family who do not know you and let me find the  way to be absolved of my sins leading to truth and Life.

 19/11/2021

Jesus offers no words of comfort to those who desecrate the Temple. Doing business with the symbol of Mamon always results in some form of dishonesty and to do that money-making in the one place dedicated to God brings anger to the one who has only preached love of God and love of neighbour. Finding anger in God faces us with a problem for in God there can be no fault. Not caring for the House of God is such a grave error that Jesus, who is God and  knows everything, lets himself show to the World that he will not tolerate corruption in His Temple then and now.

Our Church has grown so huge and rich over the centuries that "den of thieves"comes readily to mind. All over our world the word of God is being preached and contemplated by us the Body of Christ on Earth . In Eternity Mary and all the saints worship the Lord as he truly is. Only there, in Heaven, can we be sure whether we have made a sacrifice, a worship, worthy of the Lord for here on Earth we cannot be sure. 

There is a contrast between the preaching and the doing. There are many who enjoy a life now that is incompatible with your calling of them to "feed my sheep"we too are called to live holy lives on Earth and we know that you will be  always with us. Are you channeling your Grace through the corrupters whom you drove out of the Temple? Is it really true that sinful clergy truly fulfill your command and that there is a Sacramental true Being of you on the altars of sinful priests?

Dear Father, my being is prostrate before your Glory; fill my heart with the fire of your Holy Spirit that I may become less confused and receive the Son, Jesus once more in Holy Communion worthly confected by a Holy Church.

 18/11/2021

Jesus weeping over Jerusalem has become a random thoughtless semi-blasphemy in my country. Similar to the now used abbreviation OMG it is only a noise that comes out of a mouth or flashes on a screen to express great surprise. I try to give more value to words and always seek to find meaning. God's Word is Jesus and all that the creation and the incarnation gives to us. "And the word was made flesh and dwells among us". Jesus the Word is totally God and so knows eternity. Jesus the man is like us impressed by the world and the works of man; so his knowledge of everything includes our futures which are not predetermined for they result from our use of our freedom. 

Our future that Jesus sees does not happen because the The Father, Son and Holy Spirit will it to but it will be as the billions and billions of choices made by us interact with each other and creation. The only predetermined act is the attonement made on our behalf by God and of course we cannot really understand that God knowingly became human so that he would die not just an ordinary death but ignominiously, tortured on a cross.

God has willed that this creation will pass away and that we are able to see his Glory. All of this is known by God who as the Almighty shares his Being of  Father, Son and Holy Spirit out of love for us and his world. We have to know him, love and serve him in time-driven now so that we will be welcomed into the eternal Now; the All in All.

Dear Lord, help me to understand to the limits of my abilities the meaning of so much that is difficult in scripture and in your Church. Let my soul be what you intend it to be and let my will recognise how to be true to your Love.

 17/11/2021

The story of the Maccabees' resistance to the attempted Helenisation of  King Antiochus continues in today's reading. We too have to resist the apparantly systematic destruction of all things Christian by our Liberal/Libertine society. We are humans created man and woman. Our sexes are part of God's creation but the vanity of science has filled our minds to such an extent that there is an assumption that because we understand how something works we can do what we want with it. Many of us are brilliant and capable of sending men to the moon; messages can be sent around the world and back in the twinkling of an eye. Great buildings are built in cities and surging rivers tamed. All is done in God's Creation for there is nothing that is done in this world that is not done without the  material which God created.

The Law of the Lord is far more important than the manipulation of matter. Jesus knows that we are part of human society which has developed out of his creation. He knows that even as we walk with him especially, towards Jerusalem, thoughts of prestige and power begin to take over our minds. So he tells the story/parable of the talents.The message seems to be that  punishment will come to us if we do not make good use of what we have in this world and total destruction will be the reward of enemies of the king. But I have never ever been comfortable with this parable and still it is so today. A quick glance at Wikipedia shows me that I am not really alone in the difficulties to be found in this parable even Milton has his own slant which seems to have in it some sort of contradiction "They also serve who only stand and wait" to the servant who made nothing of his talent.

Dear 

 16/11/2021

The resilience to brute force showed by Eleazar is somethig that I do not to have to try to emulate. Not only was it brute force that he resisted but there was also the mental pressure of his contempories who had chosen to obey although they had tried to disguise their apostasy in the way out that they suggested to him.

We have been told that when we are persecuted for Christ's sake the words to defend ourselves will be given to us; and so it was with Eleazar whose elequence inspired the remnant who revolted against the edicts of the King. There are places in the world where Christians are subjected to legal pressure and persecution. We  have to have questions about the treatment of our Church in China where something is not quite right about the Vatican's diplomatic efforts.

The man in the sycamore tree is an easily remembered image but do we always remember the social pressure that was put upon Jesus as a result of accepting an invitation to eat at the house of a sinner. All organised religion has its human social conventions but in the Israel of Jesus' day not only were there strict dietary laws but the law restricted whom you could eat with. Those dietary laws abolished by our Saviour still exist in Islam and Judaism.

The social pressure that Jesus was always under is as nothing to the torture he was to undergo on Calvary. All of us who feel socially isolated because  of our beliefs must take heart from Jesus' words when he tells us "that he comes to seek out and save what was lost". We must also pray that what we believe about our isolation is truly the Word of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and that we are also known to the Mother of God and all the saints in Eternity.

Dear Lord the Communion of the Saints is the Holy Spirit feeding us with the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. May my soul always be open to that Love and may I learn to also share it with all peoples on earth. May your Holy Mother and Saints reach out to support those who are in desperate straits.

 15/11/2021

The persecution of people because they believe what they have is the truth has been part of human society since we started to have an understanding of what it is to be human. This understanding of human nature has grown as has the number of people in the world for each of us although sharing a common nature/being are obviously different from our mothers and the millions of individuals who make up the rest of humanity. God in the Old Testament treated Israel as a Person . The community was well-loved as a favoured son and there was for his people a common justification. In his revelation God chose prophets to speak for him revealing his pleasure or dissatisfaction.

Jesus is the Incarnation, not too long after the apostacy relived in Maccabees, of the Word, the Eternal Being, walking as an individual man and speaking to his listeners one to one. Those men, women and children, sinners, mockers blasphemers and listeners too saw and heard God not as a beloved people but as a beloved person.

We all have a conscience and the ability to know right from wrong. Jesus leads us all out of blind sinfulness and reveals to each of us  the light of his truth. His Church founded on Peter has so many, dead and alive, of us in it that, using our human freedom, there appears to be many ways truth and light. But the truth is always in us guided by the Carpenter of Nazareth. We must not excuse ouselves.We must not sin. We must not allow the potential for sin to refuse the Word of God, lead us into the stupidity of any sin for sin is not only evil but also the way to Total Death where the totality of being is to weep and gnash our teeth.

Dear Lord, let me be aware of your Mercy as I live through this day. Guide me through the morass that holds me back and let the Glory of your Being, Father Son and holy Spirit lead me to everlasting life.