07/05/2022

St Peter is shining in his faith today in both the main readings. God's chosen ones Peter and Paul are not without faults. Paul as Saul approved of the martyrdom of Stephen and Peter!  The first missionary journeys in Palestine bear much fruit both among the Jews and Gentiles and miracles take place; miracles that attest to the power  of God. 

Although it was in their lifetimes that Jesus had been crucifed to rise again on the third day by the insistence of their High Priests and Jerusalem mob, the Jews of Palestine were able, by searching the Scriptures to recognise Jesus as the one foretold, the Messiah. What about the pagans? Their religious sensibilities were not backed by a worked out theology of revelation and the foundaton of both Paul's and Peter's teaching was lacking to them.

"My flesh is bread, my blood is drink" was a complete turn off  for many during Jesus' lifetime. They are still with us. Jewish dietary laws demand that all blood is drained from meat before it is consumed so Jesus' words recorded by John are "intolerable" to many of the disciples.

Jesus to this day tells us that his message is directly from Father, Son and Holy Spirit and that it is our spiritual welfare that is important about our lives. We have to take in all that Christ has revealed by word and deed and even though we can be realistic about the Institutional Church when we ask ourselves "Where should I go?" our answer has got to be St Peter's magnificent reply face to face with the Lord. "Where should we go you have the message of eternal life and we believe that you are the Holy One of God"

Dear Lord I know that my thoughts can help me to keep Faith. Teach me to worry less and hope more for it is faith not thought that brings us all to the everlasting life of your Eternity. The Saints in Heaven together with our Mother Mary live for ever in this moment. May my prayer be heard and the consolation of the Holy Spirit support all those suffering in this world.

 06/05/2022

Our Lord has taught us that we should live our lives always looking above the natural world. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit can act in this world but it is to their eternal life that we guide our human created existence. Our souls live in this world but are created to belong to the same Eternal Spiritual life that is known by God.

St Paul is on his way to combat the influence of the Resurrected One in Damascus when he is hit by a direct spiritual revelation. He is in the body but sees the light of the Eternity, and hears the voice  of the Lord. Physically blinded but reborn in the Spirit he begins his work with baptism and thus starts his missionary journeys around the Roman world. 

Not only Jews but also anyone  who has heard the words "This is my body" has got to ask himself "How can this man give us his flesh to eat"? St John records Jesus teaching without any attempt to weaken the words of the Lord. Mankind of all times has seen the bread and wine of the Eucharist and asked the same question.

Bread and wine become Jesus' flesh and blood reality. We have to believe this and treat our Eucharist with total respect for  this unseen but total spiritual being. God is with us and we have this great opportunity to join Him and all His Saints in eternity. There is nothing greater in our world than this. 

Oh that our prelates and clergy would know, believe and teach this to the millions of souls given over to their care!

Dear Lord let my thoughts and words be not empty noise. Guide my soul to the state that will make me welcome in Heaven No-one can win a place with you for it is only through the life death and resurrection of the Son of God recognised and preached by Paul that our souls can reach what they were created for. May Mary lead all the saints in prayer for the cure of the sick and the wellbeing of all the innocent  faithful.

 05/05/2022

The Jewish early Church had soon found in the Scriptures the foretelling of Christ, even of his sufferings. The Ethiopian listened, understood and accepted, then requested Baptism. He accepted the grace to believe. There are Jewish Ethiopians to this day and, of course, Christians too, He accepted the Faith that had come to him from God but he was still Jewish and continued to read the Old Testament. I am wondering what happened to him after Philip left him. He went on his way rejoicing but for how long?

All of the early believers had to have contact with each other and with the Apostles for there was no Gospels for them to read alone. There are very ancient texts that are from the Apostles especialy from St Paul which explain the Faith and warn of the dangers of false teaching. 

John's record of Jesus' teaching which is now available in his Gospel shows that our Faith was already a thinking Faith. Jesus tells us that we must be like little children in our belief but we must think about the  immensity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit that is contained in the words we use. The Father teaches us in Jesus' words that the bread from heaven is the flesh of of the incarnate Son. He proclaims that "Everybody who believes has eternal life" . He does not tell us how this can be possible but that it is what we have to know as truth to be able to come to the Eternity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord, help me face today as it comes. Let me not be blinded by the beauty or hardships of this world but see in everything that is good as a product of your grace. Let the horrors being faced in so many places come to an end and may the perpertrators and their victims be filled with  Holy Spirit and regret and forgive following your words. Let those in my family and in the world who are sick be strengthened by the prayers and care of our Mother Mary but let everything be according to your will.

 04/05/2022

The English Martyrs refused to put the commands of  Caesar above the commands of God. They maintained their Faith as a minority with very little support throughout this country. There were in fact not many of them. Most English Bishops and priests regardless of the responsibilities to feed the sheep of the Lord, followed the trend and kept their land, lives and livelihoods. 

The ones who truly believed in the Lord suffered unimaginable pain from torture and execution and the Church continued under constant oppression until the lifting of the Penal Laws.When I read of the latest scandal in our Church, I cannot help but think "Did my martyred forebearers suffer and die for this?" 

At the time of the enquiry into child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in England I saw our leaders squirm under cross-examination. Jesus told us that the words to answer the Sanhedrin would be given to us as they were given to St Stephen and to St John Fisher. Why did our Cardinal and Bishops perform so poorly? Would Jesus, "suffer little children to come unto me" want to support those who  had connived for years in a despicable immorality. 

For our priests and prelates their Institutiion has become more important than their Faith and we are left as sheep without a shepherd and are forced to pray alone. Alone but Known for Father, Son and Holy Spirit are always with us to guard and guide us against sinful corruption.

Dear Lord send your Spirit into the Church founded to support your people in their quest for your promised Eternal Life and encourage the holy men to force out the dross for whom dressing up is about the limit of their Christianity. How much pain must we cause for Mary and your saints in heaven?  Let Mary and your saints continue to support me a sinner and the innocents who are in need of the pure Sacramental grace that flowed with your blood on Calvary.

 03/05/2022

Today's readings tell us without any quibble that we need to believe what we read in the Scriptures. We are not told that we need to understand. Jesus is the Eternal Word, the Son conceived in the flesh of Mary by the power the Father in the Holy Spirit. God is three persons in which each person is one God. We are told that by the Gospels particularly at the Annunciation. We do not  need to undestand but we have to believe the revelation of God himself. God the eternal creator tells us what it is and we have to believe without quibble or modification of the Word.

St Paul tells that any other beliefs are a waste of time. Nothing that we learn about our world requires belief for we can understand our physical universe by research and observation. Even sub-atomic particles can be known and manipulated. Our mistake is to think that this scientific knowledge is superior to belief. Science and technology are great achievments by mankind but they must not  be put before God.

The mystery of the Trinity has to be contemplated by faith. Our Lord tells Thomas that he who sees Jesus sees the Father. Philip chimes in with a request to see the Father. Jesus is  annoyed in his love, for Philip has been with him for years and not understood. Jesus is God. All of his deeds and words; his teaching example-setting; are the works of God for that is what he is.

I have to be on the way, in the truth  into the life that God has shown to me and recorded in the scriptures. Eternal life in the Glory of God is what the Father wants for us we only have to accept this Grace and it will be ours.

Dear Lord you know what I am facing in my life. You who promise to grant whatever I request bring healing to the suffering ones and let my belief in you not be lip service but a genuine condition of the heart. May Philip and Thomas add their prayers to those of Mary and all the saints that the suffering in Purgatory may bring atonment for sins committed and that we on earth bear witness to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 02/05/2022

Stephen is chosen to be the first to die for the new faith. What does it mean to die for the faith? I try to imagine the situation he found himself in. He was preaching in the Temple. He was a Jew albeit a native speaker of Greek rather than Aramaic. He had followed Jesus' deeds for the previous three years. He had been among those who had seen the risen Lord. He had been chosen to be a helper of the Apostles. He had learned to pray in the way that Jesus has taught. He believed in the one sent by God. This was the faith he knew.

There were many more who in the first months after the Resurrection joined with the Apostles in the Temple and then joined together for the meal at which they honoured the memory of Our Lord and God. They underwent no long formation. As Jews they knew the Scriptures as Jews they expected the return of the Lord. Stephen could not be defeated by the words of the Sanhedrin so he was taken out and stoned to death.

Jesus tells the crowds who have chased after him that they have come in search of more free food. What were the signs that they had not seen? We think of his miracles as signs of his Divinity. He is Father Son and Holy Spirit. What were the other signs that the crowds had missed? Have I missed them too?

Dear Lord I am still searching for a way to be what you have willed for me to become. I hope that as I try to undrestand your words and deeds I am pleasing to you and not just swelling my own ego. May  your mother and all the saints in heaven help me and mine by their prayers and in the light of their virtues let me see how lowly and undeserving I am.

 01/05/2022

The first reading has been used already this Easter. Peter stands up to the Sanhedrin in contrast to his shameful behaviour at Jesus' trial and crucifixion. St John's vision of the Glory of Heaven is of the eternal reduced to words and words that do not give us a clear picture of what had been revealed to him. It is the continuation of the visions of Ezechial and Daniel and I don't think that these revelations continue into our Christian era but they have inspired many to try and decipher them in order to find a secret knowledge of God.

God speaks to us directly by the lakeside in Galilee. He is definitely a body, the human body that had walked with the disciples for three years prior to being broken and dead on the cross. John is quite clear that Jesus shows himself in his resurrected form; he is there but only when he chooses do the fishermen have sight of him. He is with them for a third time by John's reckoning and is accompanied by a miracle and then continues with more of  the words that will be used to establish the primacy of Peter amongst the Apostles.

His questioning is about Love and not about power. Peter is entrusted with the task of feeding God's sheep. This is always taken as figurative language and the "feeding" is with the Sacraments. We read yesterday that the Apostles were so engossed with preaching the word that assistants were needed to help the poor and needy. Jesus by the shore fed the Apostles with fish before he, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, spoke to them. 

Dear Lord help me to truly understand and to put into practice your teachings to your disciples. Help me  to understnd the visions witnessed by John and others gifted with a mystical vision and may the care of my earthly needs not blind me to the things of the spirit. I continue to  hope that Our Lady and all the Saints can support all of us on earth  in need of healing and support.