15/01/2022

Was Saul chosen to be king because he looked like one? His appearance is important enough for it to be recorded. Jesus' looks are never commented on although all the subsequent potrayals show him as a strikingly good looking young man.

Does it matter? Well, human beauty has to be a pale reflection of the glory of God. Our first impressions of a person are always of his/her face and body. The women of the middle-east both Jew and Gentile rarely appeared unveiled.

Our modern attitude to this veiling of women is that it is a form of subjugation forced upon females by the males of society. Those who accept the practice see it as a reservation of a woman's beauty for the eyes of her family only, as all men are easily tempted into sexual desire.

Sexual desire is the great tempter. This is still known and made use of by the entertainment industry and by advertisers in all cultures. Many of our clergy have been destroyed by desire which has been slaked by abuse of the innocent and covered up by their power as priests. Sexual desire can be mutual but even in marriage the desire is in the person of the  one feeling it for we are all an entire single person created by God.

Jesus is here to fill us with the Holy Spirit for it is the will of the Father that sinners have to be saved from the great temptions of wealth power and desire.

Dear Lord save us from the occasion of sin and let us not be captivated by the hedonistic values of our sinful world So many of our leaders and priests gifted by you have lost their calling to the power of lust. May Our Lady and the saints plead that we may be protected from human desire so that we may know ourselves and ultimately look at you without shame.

 14/01/2022

We read in the OT today of how the people of Israel were yet again dissatisfied with the way of the Lord . God's revelations to his prophets were not enough for them and they demanded to become a kingdom of this world. Even when the negative results of such a political system were pointed out to them thay still insisted they follow the way of the world. God listened to them.

The peoples surrounding Israel all organised their societies in some form of monarchy according to which everything in their territories belonged to the King who guarded his lands or expanded them by war. And it is to this form of absolute monarchy that the people demanded they must be subject.

It was hard for the Jews for the Law of Moses did not make known any life except the here and now to be lived by following the Law; after death only the shadowy sort of half life offered by Sheol awaited them.

Jesus' teaching and most of all his Resurrection have made it clear that our real lives are what we will know after our deaths. The Scribes complain that Jesus forgives sin. This time Jesus responds with more than the "Sign of  Jonah" and proves his authority by having the paralytic stand, pick up his bed and walk away.

Dear Lord you who know the billions of souls you have created to fill our world and be with you in your kingdom, also know me and my family. May we all this day live in the way your grace teaches us to. Father Son and Holy Spirit we worship three in one and ask for the help of all who have after this life have joined you in the eternal reality we call heaven.

 13/01/2022

The psalm today  gives yoice to the despair that is ours if we abandon God. God never abandons us but even when the Ark is lost and many slaughtered God is still with his people Israel.

Since those days our world has increased in numbers and in the capabilities of mankind. Through all the changes to our environment and growth of  our cultures God stays the same. Samuel had to face up to the despair felt after the defeat and loss of the Ark. The joy felt by the disciples was turned to despair at the Death on the Cross. Today and on all days human beings are facing disasters and the emptiness of loss.

God is with us always and he never stops his loving care even when we sink beneath the waves with only panic in us as our bodies scream for oxygen, God is still with us and survival or not are in his hands.

Jesus tells the cured man to follow the instructions of the Law and present himself in Jerusalem for his cure to be ratified by the Temple. The Temple is soon to instigate the death of Jesus but he still follows its rules as it is the truth revealed to Moses.

Our Church has for some centuries now been more about wealth, authority and power in this world than the Truth revealed and taught by the Son in unison with the Father and the Holy Spirit. I have to recognise Her Authority but avoid supporting a structure whose self-centeredness  has been revealed by Her Bishops covering up the crimes against children perpretrated by too many of the clergy.

Dear Lord even today you are with me and the billions of your children alive in your creation. I can make the effort to turn to you for your grace has opened my heart. Let the same grace with support of Our Lady and all the saints defeat the ill will of men, showing us the Way the Truth and the Light.

 12/01/2022

The reality of our world is conveyed to us by God our creator. What has been seen and done in the past is recorded for us in the writings of the ancient world which have grown on each other until they are the mass of preserved knowledge that can only be completely accessed by machines. 

Only the scriptures retain the truth as revealed by God. Samuel did not at first recognise the Lord's calling of him but guided by his master he was able to open himself to the word entrusted to him."Here I am Lord I come to do your will " is the response that will keep us all safe and in touch with Truth and Reality. Everything that is only of this world will fade and be destroyed in the fullness of human time.

Jesus' visit to Capernaum can be seen as an assembly of those who would become the nucleus of our Church. Jesus our High Priest disturbs no-one but quietly leaves the house to pray to the Father. this is not his total wish for the Church. When he returns it is to tell his newly found disciples that their mission is to preach the Kingdom of God and together they go throughout Galilee preaching and casting out devils; saving souls from their false beliefs and immorality.

Dear Lord, may I be pleasing to you this day in my thoughts, words and deeds. May all created humanity know that it is only by turning to you that holiness and peace can be found. Only you are real without support, our reality depends on your will and our response to it. May your Kingdom come  soon to enlighten in Love all our world.

 11/01/2022

The readings today confirm that God has concern for the lowly. His love is shown in the story of Hannah and the birth of Samuel. Why did God choose to favour Hannah and not some other barren woman? I suppose that the answer to that is that he did but we only know of her for the son was Samuel a prophet of the Lord.

God cares for all the men and women living in our world and with equal love for all; we feel that some of us have better lives in terms of riches, health and human respect and this is true. We must always know that not everyone can be a King or a President; an alogarithim creator or an influencer. All our talents as humans come from God. From those given most, most will be required. 

Wherever we start our awareness from, we are all living towards our deaths and it is then that we will see that the purposes of our lives are all one. God favours Hannah for she shows that she knows he is Love and will answer her prayers. Prayers are always answered even in unanticipated ways. It is hard to understand but the unanticipated answer is always better than our request for that is God's answer

Jesus' charisma gives him authority and even the unclean spirits obey him. On that day in the synagoue at Capernaum not all the witnesses to  this miracle of presence and deed continued to follow Jesus but were even among those who condemned him three years later.

 10/01/2022

We know that the Scriptures are the revelation by God of his nature and his will for the peoples of the world. But God wants his creation to be free to find him in both the creation and in the Word.  God has placed us in our own freedom to willingingly, to joyfully choose to follow him not as a single unit, mankind,  but as an individual, as a person responding to his knowledge and love of each of us; Father knows every hair of our heads even the cells of the virus causing mankind so much trouble at this moment.

The disciples were called as individuals and lived as we do with others but essentially an "I"  responding to our place in time and space in order to fulfill God's Love for us. So the Evangelists have different recollections of the first call to mission.  The synoptics resemble each other and John as usual considers the event more in the spirit of its place in God's plan rather than as a narrative of historical events.

Hannah is crying because she is without child and is being bullied by those who should support her Her husband misses the point and tries to comfort her by presenting himself as the total necessity for her life. Hannah knows that there is a "Greater than him" to call upon for true comfort. The Apostles are called by the "Ever Greater" to proclaim the Kingdom of God to the whole world in the time that God has allotted to each of us.

 Father, Son and Holy Spirit knows each of us; we have to accept and return that love as each "I" of creation.

Dear Lord I can only know you as a person created by you but you have created even your mother and all the saints of heaven to support us in the ever growing mess that we men are making of your Church and your world. May Mary the Immaculate Conception continue to save us from the total destructon that awaits a universe that abandons and defies you.

 09/01/2022

When I finished reading the scriptures for today's mass I had to ask yet again do I really believe?The image of the dove/Spirit and the thunderous voice of the Father surrounding the Son who has accepted the baptism which he cerrtainly did not require is certainly the Trinity.This is a revelation of the World that is "above the clouds"; it is the being, the existence of God in his unfathomable esssence. the Ever Greater; the Creator, the Saviour and the Support of all mankind.

Issiah brings us the image much loved by Jesus of the shepherd loving and guarding his flock. St Paul is yet again direct without qualms. We have to lead lives devoted to God, worshipping his Glory without attachment to this world and all its riches.

How many of us have strived to do this and in our consciences know that we have failed? I know that I do believe and still strive even though the exemplars of a life devoted to God have much to be desired I know that God has given me the freedom to reject false prophets and to seek the Holy Spirit, the dove which is God and was there at my baptism and in all the subsequent sacraments flowing out from Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord let me be open to your grace and loving kindness. Let all of mine be protected by you and let us learn and profess that you are the Way, the Truth and the Light.