22/12/2021

All mothers will relate to the emotions of both Hannah and Mary the one desperate to conceive and the other filled with the joy that is expressed in the Magnificat.

The lives that God has given to us have to be lived in the pleading of Hannah and the Joy of Mary. 

Today Hannah would be able to seek medical help and because of the advancement of human knowledge and skills, thus achieve the conception for which  she longed . The young unmarried Mary would be beset by the unthinkable choice. 

This Christmas festival is marred by medical problems but our modern man of science who can willingly kill the unborn seems to be unable to control the tiniest of virus.

Our treatment of conception has departed from the natural as given by God to a controlled by human vanity and greed process that does not consider God as part of it. Man and woman he created both; he did not say take your pick.Our births are part of God's love for his creation and the natural process should not be interfered with by our desires for we have to be true to God the Creator, the Saviour and the Support of us all.

At Christmas which celebrates God's birth in the flesh, begotten not made, let us plead with Hannah that her Lord and mine inspire his human creation to turn from prideful exclusive concentration on this world and our own bodies to the unimaginable humility of God mirrored in the total acceptance by Mary to be Theotokos. Let our sins be forgiven and souls become free to proclaim the Magnificat with Mary and all the saints in heaven

 21/12/2021

This morning the Gospel passage is a repeat of St Luke's story of the the Visitation. Both women have been blessed with the conception of a child. Elizabeth's is received as a great gift from God for she had been considered to be barren. Mary knows that the Father of her child is God.

We have to ask ourselves what this really means as we come up to the celebration of the Nativity. We don't need a lot of words to do this. There have been countless millions of words expounded already. What we do need is to be able to see that the Mary's child is truly God in all his complete Glory. And all we can do is worship the Baby Jesus in awe and wonder.

Dear Lord you know how difficult it is for mere men to live in the knowledge of you without weakening in hope. Strengthen my resolve and let me follow Mary with a "be done unto me according to thy word" of my own.

 20/12/2021

We have to know that it is scripture that is God's Word. We have to know that the Word of God is not some product of man's imagination no matter how cleverly thought out and intelligently displayed.God's ways are not man's so the repeated story of the incarnation of God in the womb of Mary is just what it says it is.

God is with us from that moment long ago in Nazareth. With us in the Eucharist the gift given us by the Passion Death and Resurrection and in the Church he left us through Peter and the other Apostles. 

We are human and of course we have to use all our talents to worship and serve God but we also have never to forget that power of our thoughts is nothing compared to God. Theologians have taken themselves into all sorts of weird and wonderful places that exist only in their intellects and although greatly interesting their ideas cannot be against Scripture.

Our daily readings are God's word and cannnot be bettered.

Dear Lord protect thy Church from the schism that arises first in ideas and then in prideful hierarchs and sinful clergy. Protect us by your Incarnation, Nativity, Passion. Death and Resurrection and let my prayers join with the prayers of all mankind in heaven and on earth.

 19/12/2021

We are getting closer to the Nativity and the readings emphasize this. The Micah knows that the presence of God will not be alive to the Israelites until the woman gives birth to the Son who will be Peace for the whole world and not just to the least of all of the sons Jacob.

The Letter to the Hebrews is an explanation of the meaning of the previous few years. The years of Jesus'active ministry, walking the highways and byways of Palestine, which culminated in the Passion Cross and Resurrection. This one willing sacrifice of the Son to the Father completes God's wishes for mankind. No more bulls, fat rams, goats or even pigeons. Jesus' death has ended all of that tradition and his resurrection has brought a new-life to share with all humanity not just with "Hebrews" to whom this letter is addressed.

The unborn Jesus is blessed and praised by Elizabeth who is sure that her son too has his part in God's redemption of humanity. We are getting closer to Christmas and the Church's preparations help us to concentrate. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are visible in Immaculate Mary who is truly Theotokos. 

Dear Lord may your peace fill all the hearts of your people on earth with that peace that comes from knowing and worshiping you Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The peace of heaven is what you have destined for all human beings may we all live lives that do not resist this your will for us.

 18/12/2021

The Lord is with us. What is there for us to lack. The story of Jesus birth has never been glossed over except by sinful mockers. In Nazareth Jesus was always known as the woodworker's son. Both Mary and Joseph knew the truth for both had said "Yes" to God. 

God takes on the humanity of the "The House of David", a royal line, and the humility of a manual worker for God makes no distinction as regards to class; we are all his well beloved and we all have equally been saved by his Incarnation leading to his Passion and Resurrection.

Today we are living through the darkness of  a Northern winter but waiting joyfully to celebrate our Saviour's birth. How can it be that his own people who have been returned after centuries to their homeland not only reject the Son but most of them deny the Father from whom they have been given so much of the proof their ancestors demanded from Jesus the man in Palestine so long ago.

Dear Lord let this day and all my remaining days proceed in a way pleasing to you. Please accept my worship of Father Son and Holy Spirit and accept the prayers of Mary, Joseph and all the saints in heaven and on earth.

 17/12/2021

Jesus humanity is proven by the geneology given here by Matthew. Joseph is the husband of Mary, not the father of Jesus. The 52 generations that can be quoted are mostly of the "known only to God" variety as are most of us in the world now. After another generation today's famous, the celebrities beloved of the Social Media, will also become the " known only by name"of most of the names listed by Matthew.

There is a famous anecdote whereby the purchaser of a jewelery item is asked whether or not he wants one with the little man on it.

The sadnss of that story is that it is becoming more and more the reality of the world that I live in. In an attempt to not offend potentential non-Christian customers, marketing is increasingly trying to avoid the word Christmas and wishes us "Happy Holidays" completely missing the origin of "holiday"in "holy". It is a sad truth that our faith has been crumbling for at least two generations and it is the previous and my generation that have largely contributed to this loss of faith.

I feel guilt to have been part of the decline and can only rely on God's mercy when I will be asked what I did other than to  moan about it.

Dear Lord the human freedom of my being only exists to make right choices. Let the prayers of humanity be heard and this day be without sin for me and the whole world.

 16/12/2021

The rich imagery of Isaiah leaves us in no doubt that the Israelites had been a wandering tribe living in tents. The favoured ones are to grow rich in the cities abandoned by their enemies. Truly the ways of God are not man's ways. God chose the Jews and there is no answer to the "why". In the Middle East there were many other tribes and nations. All were human and growing in skills and knowledge but without the open guidance of God. 

There is no answer to "Why the Jews?" And the question grows even more answerless when we look further to the East where India was beginning to team with human growth andso to China, Japan, South East Asia and across the Pacific to Peru and Mexico. Africa too was peopled with human descenants of Adam. God's human creation

God chose the Jews to be his people because God is. With hindsight we can see that from outside of human time Father, Son and Holy Spirit knew that the Son would be incarnated in Jewish flesh, born of an immacultely conceived woman and cared for by that woman and her husband throughout his infancy.

What about the millions of souls who are living or have finished their worldly lives without hearing the truth that comes from God? What about those who should know better have heard and not listened?

Dear Lord you know that we all are your creation and completely in your hands to do with as you wish; let my thoughts become prayer to you beseeching your Mercy for all humanity and especially for my friends and family.