12/12/20

Today I have to miss, mt prayers aree stillturning to God. Amen

 11/12/2021

All of Jesus teaching  to his disciples during his time on earth has for its base the history of God's relationship, his dealings with the people he blessed with his revelation of himself. Today Elijah is recalled in the first reading and in the second Jesus confirms that Elijah was to pave the way and that John the Baptist has completed that task.

The task was to prepare the mind of Israel for the unbelievable force of God walking as a man and teaching only the truth and telling us, not discussing our opinions, what it means to be human and a joy in God's eye as had been Israel, the apple of His eye.

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are total evergreater love and show this love to all mankind in the Father's foregiveness revealed in the Resurrection and Breath of the Spirit. Most of us have felt the force of this Love at some time but forgotten it in the pleasures of a material world. Now as we are preparing to celebrate the Nativity we have to know that God is all in all and wants to share that being in Love with all mankind.

Dear Lord let all my endeavours today be made in consciousness of you and be pleasing in avoiding sin. Thy will be done. May Mary who knew you as only a mother can know her child, persevere in turning the human Church back to the Church of Love founded by her Son.

 10/12/2021

In  today's Gospel Jesus expresses a human exhasperation with those of his listeners who pick fault with anything thay might read or hear. I have that same tendancy myself but mostly I want to be able to understand the teaching of the Lord. I feel that the psalm presents us with an image of perfection that I can certainly aim for but lack the consistency to achieve.

Isaiah's inspired poetry speaks for the Lord. The Jews whom he addresses had been given every opportunity to prosper as a nation in the arms of God but had lost everything yet again due to backsliding.

Today we know that God is ignored by political leaders and the majority of people in what were once the countries of Christendom. I can cope with that. What is exhasperating for me is that the same can be said for the leaders of Jesus' Church. The phrase "functionally athiest" has been applied to the Vatican and local Bishop's conferences for whom guarding secret sins and manipulating finances are first on their agendas.

How can they forget the Kingdom of God and their duty to guide the sheep through the narrow gate rather than clog it with scandal upon scandal.?

Dear Lord our winter days continue to  darken. Let me be sure that my hope in you is never lost and let your love be recognised by those near to me so that faith in you can become the mainstay of their lives.

 09/12/2021

Isaiah brings words of comfort now and to come. Jesus leads us to question what can it possibly mean to   say that up to now the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence and the violent are taking it by storm. Jesus always assures us that his kingdom is not of this world but the only interpretation of this mysterious saying that comes to my mind is that he is talking about his own people on earth who before John the Baptist had no way of avoiding the backsliding and apostasy that is recorded throughout the Old Testament.

This interpretation is quite satisfying to me as it fits in with my conception of Jesus and his mission to save us. There are many occasions that Jesus' sayings are outside the framework in which I tackle the meaning of  my being and life in this world. Faith in the goodness of God as expressed in Isaiah is my hope for all God's people. There is ,howeve, no reason that everything I read in the Bible should keep me in comfort. Jesus told us that he came to bring strife. Sometimes this strife is internal and can in fact become prayer.

Dear Lord always  let scripture call me to truth and let Father Son and Holy Spirit be my Faith Hope and Charity.

 08/12/2021

The Lord our God is without beginning or end. He is all powerful which means he creates billions and billions without limit of possibilities for the world and the universe. He is all knowing so he is aware of all the possibilities  for each individual life human and non human. He is all loving for aware of the sinfulness bequeathed to us by His first man he knows that he himself can make atonement for Sin only by making it his. 

In an existence that is completely out of time God knows that he can become truly human to save us from our sins and so a woman as perfect as Eve before the fall is created sinless and ready to become the Mother of the Incarnation, Man and God.

St Paul seemingly effortlessly praises God and tells us that we are always known by Father Son and Holy Spirit. God, the Evergreater, chose to humble himself out of his total love and total awareness of each of us to become the man who would renew sinful manknd but did not do so by curtaiing  his gift to us of human freedom. Mary made the right choice. Thanks be to God and all praise to Mary our Mother.

Dear Lord may all of us who hear today's passages from scripture know that they are your truth revealed  to us. May the intercessions of the wonder of Mary and all the saints protect me and mine from the evil of sin.

 07/12/2021

The collect of of today's mass asks the Lord to continue to give us saints like St Ambrose to govern wisely as he did. The present state of our Church is not something that is new. St Ambrose' Church was troubled by Arianism as was much of the East. The clergy were often too human and there was little peace as the tribes of Asia were continually on the move creating havoc as they went. The collect asks for us to be "governed" but Jesus gave the command to care for us. 

As we the sheep have become more aware of ourselves as believers "being governed" is no longer an option. We need to be led with loving care by pastors who can show us the way to holiness not the way to "berettas and lace". Pastors who truly know that the sacaments are the grace of Father, Son and Holy Spirit brought to us by the Passion of Jeus the man, Son of God truly of the same substance as the Father Son and Holy Spirit.

The OT readings today are beautiful as literature and beyond compare as statements of how God loves and cares for us. Can my whole hearted response to the message and to Jesus' search for the lost sheep bring me to the joy of heaven? 

Dear Lord the institutional nature of Your Church seems have to corrupted it into a human thing when it should be You on Earth. Sends us your guidance to how to return to the wellspring, your Resurrection so that when you return you might find faith on earth.

 06/12/2021

Isaiah continues today with the theme of joyfulness at the coming of the Lord. Jesus works a miracle in very strange circumstances and before many witnesses. The doubters immediately find fault but Jesus who is the reality of God immediately answers them and offers proof of Jesus' the man's divine origin and power.

Here we have a contradiction of Jesus' later words when he offers no proof but the sign of Jonah. The people came from all around to hear him. The Scribes and Pharisees came to witness and cast scorn.

I listen to obey the teachings that I have tried to follow all my life and to bolster my faith. I follow the Church's liturgical calendar but only the readings. The signs of weakness in the state of Christ's body on Earth grow ever greater for me. I don't understand why God can tolerate the blasphemies that are perforemed each day by anointed hypocrites who serve not God but their own egos and perversions.

We need a sign from God to show us the way through the mess that is our miserable lot today.We have the sign of Jonah what more greater proof could we need that the Resurrection but so many of us are trapped in the worship or our own personalites that there is no room for God.

Dear Lord let me not grow bitter in my aloneness from the human fellowship and the wholenes of your presence in the Sacraments. I always am susceptible to my inner Scribes and Pharisees but you Lord know the unhappy truth that has been made of your comission by us the descendants of your Apostles. Help us, Lord help us.