14/03/2022

I am always bothered by Jesus' definite command not to judge. It seems to me that if I am to be responsible for my own life, my own soul, then my life has to be spent in avoiding sin and I can only avoid sin by using the freedom given to me at my creation by Almighty God. That seems to me to be a judgement. 

I also contrast this categorical "Do not judge" with the equally categorical "When you take your gifts to altar" which tells us we have to be reconciled with our brother before we begin to pray and "If your brother sins" tell him face to face that he is in error. It seems to me that both these teachings require "judgement" on my part.

As I write this I am realising that the "Do not be judgemental" of the liberal Catholics that I know, is not what Jesus commands when telling us not "to judge". We have to avoid the condemnation of the person but also know that the person has a soul for which he is responsible and I too have a responsiblity to keep my brother from sin. I am not Cain.

Sin is completely condemned by Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sin is completely deliminated by the Ten Commandments. If I choose to break a commandment, I sin and so does my brother if he does likewise. I know that this is sin equally for me and my brother not by judgement but by obedience of will.

Dear Lord you know what it is that I and mine need this day from your graces let me approach you with faith , hope and love and avoid falling into sin. May Mary in Heaven and all the saints continue to praise your glory and seek your help for us  the lone ones who are perplexed by this World saved by Calvary and yet still dominated by sin and evil.

 13/03/2022

The readings today ask us to completely review our existence and our relationship with God. Abram is told that he will become a great nation and God has given him ownership of a tract of land which is still in dispute today. God reveals himself in human terms in the time before the Incarnation and consecrates his people by revealing the sacrifice they are to make. They are to return his created animals by the sacrifice of the Temple.

St Paul has spread the message of the Resurrection and has found joy in so doing. He is confident enough in his mission to be able to offer himself as an example of how to live our lives  directed at God. Our bodies and our riches do not make us human. The enemies of God delight in the pleasures of the flesh. The way of life he condemns is set before us in these days as the perfection of being. Even the clergy of our Church proclaim that God is wrong when he teaches us to respect our bodies as the continuation of his creation and not as a source of pleasure.

Peter and John and James are taken by Jesus to the place where he reveals to them the Glory of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The gift of prayer can be a vision of God when God is truly present to us. Visions of God in this world are not the Glory of eternity for that would take the beloved out of this world in the way that Mary was taken into heaven. It is hard to believe that after  this experience Peter's human weakness could cause him to deny Christ in the way that he did in Jerusalem. God knows our weakness and is always ready to forgive even the greatest of sins.

Dear Lord forgive us our trepasses and let my penitence be genuine and not a posture of a few minutes. Let me know your Love every second of the day and let me not be overcome by the struggles of this life. I am here to know love and serve. May Mary and all the other human souls in heaven add their prayers to mine that worries and joys of this world not blind me to my place in your creation. Let your aid come to those who are in great need.

 12/03/2022

Moses is quite clear that the love we have from the Father, Son and Holy Spirit has to be reciprocated. We receive God's care in as much as we acknowledge his graces and obey his rules. The Law of the Lord is steadfast. Moses brought the tablets of the Law from Mount Sion and what was written is written for all times.

Anybody who thinks that the growth and achievements of humanity require new rules is challenging God. Such a one facing God says that you were wrong when you expected us to follow your Law. He says "I know more than you about what it is to be human". The Incarnate Son says, "Thy will be done".

Jesus tells us also that when we are faced by our enemies we must not hate but pray for them. We must pray for the grace to be able to love them as we love our own families. Returning good for good is normal for a human. Sincerely loving the pilot scattering death from the skies is much harder, but that is the level of holiness that must be our goal.

Dear Lord you know what it is I really need. Send your grace to those in need who are known to you that by reflecting on their present situation they may be able to realise that you are all in all and that today's evil and today's worldly good will pass away but Love that is Father Son and Holy Spirit is without beginning or end.

 11/03/2022

Before reading this morning, past sins had come into my mind and with them a total annoyance at my own behaviour. I was completly horrified and seized up with embarrassment. The readings tell me that I can be forgiven and come back to life in Christ. The problem is that I am more ashamed of my sins for my own sake. I cannot truly say that I am as strongly aware of them as offences against God.

The De Profundis takes me back to past funerals. I cannot understand  the modern "Celebration of Life" that happens now. The funeral is for the present living; the dead are dead to this world and have already met their reward.

Jesus tells us  that it is we the living who need to strive for the perfection he has brought to this world and our lives in it. It is not just the commandments that we must follow but all their implicatons. Swearing and anger at one another is sinful and must be recognised as such before going to the altar. "Going to the altar"  is for us the receiving of the "Body and Blood of Christ"; the Father Son and Holy Spirit;  the only acceptable gift we can bring is a soul free from sin with a mind and heart totally aware of the presence of God our Saviour.

Dear Lord you know the totality of my sinful life and that I really try to see sin as an offence against you but am overpowered by my human fraility that is more ashamed for itself .The saints in heaven have all been through this humanity and can add their pleas to mine as I cry to you "out of the depths".

 10/03/2022

I have no memory of ever before reading from the Book of Esther. Her circumstances are obviously one of great peril. She faces a great danger and in that danger she appeals for the help that God has promised will always be there for the descendants of Israel. The psalm is a cry of of thanks and praise. Jesus tells us what we have to do to follow the way that he teaches.

The reading of all three pasages has taken me less than 5 minutes, including a visit to Wikipaedia to learn the basics of Esther. "Was she facing a real lion" as did Daniel? The complications of her story means that I will have to go back to it.

There has been so much written and pondered about man and Father, Son and Holy Spirit that what we each bring to the Lord is a repetition of old thoughts. Our Father in Heaven knows each of us and cares for us as an only child. Millions have gone and maybe millions will come but each soul is the creation of the Father of All and is known personally to him.

The way of God is to treat each of us as his only child and the way for us is to wish for others the goods that we want for ourselves. We have to reciprocate God's love and know that the pains and horrors of this life have already been suffered exactly as we suffer them by the man Jesus who is Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord you can stop the suffering of humanity; only you can do it; yes you have already been to Calvary and still see the sins that your incarnation saved us from.We are weak and still immature; rescue us from this world of sin and bring us to a life that will ensure we will come to know the joy of Eternity known by your Mother and all the saints.

 09/03/2022

God is timeless. With his creation of the world out of nothing time began and will run until it is completed. Only God knows when this will be. God is unaffected by time and it is with longing to experience this eternity that we live lives turned to God who has revealed himself to us as recorded in scripture.

God is unaffected by time but in his omniscience he is totally aware of everything that has been is now and will ever be. The Old Testament and the New are united today by Jesus or rather the totality of humanity are united by the Son in his teaching about the last day.

All of us who have ever lived will be there and because we are before God we will be known as individual persons and each of us as free persons will know God and we will be judged. I will have to answer for my life and be completely dependant on the perfect  Justice and Mercy that is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord today and every day I am dependant on you my Father in heaven. You know the mess that has been my life. Your life on earth was  your chosen self sacrifice to open to our world your overfowing grace of Love and Mercy. Let these prayers of mine be not the babbling of a pagan but the sincere outpourings of a soul that is contrite and ready for anything that might be your wish for me.

 08/03/2022

God is close to us when we are empty of self; when we are not bursting with happiness and self-satisfaction.Thus the psalm tells us that God is aware of lowliness, of poverty. Poverty of spirit is the humility that precedes righteousness.

The just man doe not show off his piety but approaches the Father, Son and Holy Spirit by addressing God with the spirit of childhood; even with the language of a child. Jesus tells us to speak to God as "Dad" and to believe that he knows all of our needs. This does not mean that our prayers are unnecessary; we must return the "Word" that comes from the Father.

The "Word" was with God in the beginning, was revealed by God through Moses and the prophets and walked the earth in complete fullness of God and man; was crucifed and rose above all suffering to show us the way to live our lives.

The Body of Christ on earth working to lead souls to eternity does not need the outward piety of the Pharisees and Priests but the humility of the once proud sinner who can know that he is indeed as nothing before God but amazingly enough is loved and able to receive the forgiveness of the grace won for us with so much suffering.

Dear Lord you know everything; I try to worship in  a way that is pleasing not because you need it but because my freedom belongs entirely to you and it is good to sometimes glimpse the true path you have won for us all. May Mary and all the saints understand the feebleness of my humanity and add their prayers for me and mine as I continue throughout this day.