14/05/2022

Jesus chose us. Matthias was chosen by lot. I am not born of my own choice. Not one of the billions of people in the world chose our own parents. We are totally in God's hands but we are also free beings. God gives us freedom in his Love. We remain  within God's mode of being by now choosing to keep his commandments

We become friends of Father, Son and Holy Spirit by keeping the commandments. Jesus is quite plain speaking. The Love in which we can choose to live is there for us to choose it is not  a condition of being as is Oxygen. We are chosen to make the human choice to serve God. We are chosen to try to know God and avoid false teaching which is human thinking. Everything that we do has to be guided by God's revelation.

As was Matthias, Priests are also chosen by lot. There is nothing in the being of a priest that he has chosen for himself. All is from God and priests too such as Peter and Matthias become "Friends of God" by keeping the commandments. Our World, our Flesh are such a rich playgroud for the enemy of Love that many justifications are made for sin even to claiming that souls have been created in order to sin. The Truth stated by Jesus denies this ; "This is my commandment to you Love one another as I have loved you. A man can have no  greater love than lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you to."

Dear Lord you know how I have missed the target of your Love, I pray that I may be able to live out my life in consciouness of your Love and just as you did put the needs of others before my own. May your Church on earth never forget that everything must be done to further your Glory and may Mary and all the saints of heaven fight unceasingly against the evils that we know and also the insidious corruptions that grow unbehest in our human souls.

 13/05/2022

The collect prays that we may do more to further the reign of Christ. Isaiah rejoices in "integrity" and the Gospel records praise of Mary because she is the one whose flesh has become the dwellling place of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Where do we find a garment of Salvation today. The Church does not follow her own teaching. Bishops give more time to protecting their ever-diminishing political influence than to caring for their flocks. Our local Bishop, having presided previously over a Seminary of doubtful reputation, now in our diocese continues with the nonsense of promoting Mercy to the non-contrite who receive the sacramnt and then flaunt their "pride" in sin.

The Church has taught for centuries that worthy reception of the Body and Blood of Christ depends on the recipient being free from mortal sin. I know that many cohabiting couples take commuion but maintain their sinful unions. Politicians who support abortions, same-sex marriages and the stupidity of gender adjustment are not refused access to the Sacrament.

Surely today's readings will have some effect on our clergy. "Integrity" is the most unlikely virtue to be applied to the institution that seems to have no confidence in Father Son and Holy Spirit even though we have Jesus' promise to be with us until the end of time.

Dear Lord, forgive me if my knowledge of the failings of the Church you built on St Peter dominates my prayers and thinking. I look to be part of the Church of Love which cannot do wrong for it consciously looks to St John and the Marys who did not desert you on Calvary. May your mother in Heaven lead all the saints in prayer to cleanse the institutional Church of all its failures and failings.

 12/05/2022

Today's readings make it quite clear that St Paul was quite clear in his understanding that what he preached was a continuation of God's promises to the Israelites. He had been trained as a Pharisee and knew the Scriptures of the Old Testament probably by heart. St Paul would have taken at least two weeks to travel from Perge to Psidia but when he arrived he was welcomed by the Synagogue. News of him must have preceded him. The whole of the Middlle East must have been full of the Good News brought by the Apostles. Did the leader of the Synagogue in Antioch know that St Paul had joined the new sect and would preach Jesus, the Resurrection?

St John's recollection of Jesus at the last Supper underlines the need for pastors to show humility before their flocks for they are the servants of God's people and not their masters. They are also the servants of God and have to show to their sheep the same love and service as shown by Jesus. In Jesus we have Father Son and Holy Spirit as well as Humanity. Jesus knowing the events to come after the end of this meal is a manifestation of his Eternity, God's time without any change or movement. As man he accepted the time of creation but as God he "knew" in the divine mode impossible for us to understand.

Dear Lord for whom there is no past, present or future, send your Hoy Spirit in to our time-bound world and by your grace free us from the pains and trivialities of this life encouraging us to look only to you the loving Father. Let those who share your eternitiy continue to support humanity in its sickness and bring all our souls to the health that can truly love God.

 10/05/2022

The reading from the Acts is a summing up of how the Infant Church was growing; not only in numbers but also in teaching. The first nucleus had been dispersed by the attacks of the Temple.They had escaped to cities that were not predominately Jewish and had aroused the interest of Greeks, Egyptians and Phoenicians.  The universality of Christ's message  had became apparent and the Risen Lord was proclaimed also to the pagans. Antioch in Syria was to become a great Church and the first seat of St Peter before he went to Rome.

These events of the first century were to become the great shift in the history of mankind. The obscure wandering preacher from despised Galilee was indeed one with God. The story of his resurrection, spread by mouth through the lowly people of the Roman world and beyond, shook mankind to its very roots.

It was Jews who challenged Jesus in the Temple and Pilate who at Jesus' trial retorted on behalf of all Gentiles, "Am I a Jew?". In less than fifty years that huge divide had ceased to have any doctrinal significance as we all became "Christians". The teaching of the Evangelits and St Paul, the teaching that inspired both Jews and Pagans has been the same for 2000 years but the Modern World is proving to be greater than earlier times, at promulgating sin and challenging Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord let your will be done in our world. Let the Holy Spirit inspire resistance to all false guidance as to how to live our lives and let the words of Jesus regain the force that they had in the first days of the Church. Your Mother and so many Saints know the truth; let the example of their lives support us as  we face the hostility of Satan the pain of disease and the perceived lack of holiness in your Church.

 09/05/2022

Although we tend to think of Palestine in the first century as the "Promised Land" a land only inahabited by Jews, there were Greeks, Egyptians and other non-jewish people living there. Galilee was despised by Jerusalem as being "of the nations", a place of mixed blood.

The sea ports which were visited by Peter were places where the sea had "washed up" numerous pagans and it is for the salvation of these that Peter is inspired to break with those most unifying of Jewish religious  practises, the dietary laws. It is simply amazing that Peter was strong enough to argue and convince the converts in Jerusalem, many of whom belonged to Priestly Caste, that the all food was from God and without taint of "uncleaness". This was not the complete end of the problem as many Jews continued to follow the "Law" given to their ancestor but they did not insist that Gentile converts do the same.

Those first believers were very close to the time of Jesus. They believed in the Resurrection and wanted to be with those who had known the Lord before Calvary; and sought to practise the way that would lead to eternal life. That seems to be a very long time ago and although Jesus is still the gate, the sheepfold is full of thieves and brigands who provide faulty leadership which is a danger to souls, both their own and those of the people of God.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, dear Lord, inspire us to remain true to your words and have the discernment to refuse the "thieves and brigands" who now fill your depleted sheepfold. You are still the Gate and are open for anyone who sincerly wishes to live a Christian life. May the prayers of Mary and all the saints support our priests and guard them from the attractions of Devil, World and Flesh. Our souls too are in need of Faith Hope and Love; may the gates to our souls always be open to the Holy Spirit.

 08/05/2022

These early days of our Church can fill us with hope for these messengers from God, Paul and Barnabas, were the source of dissension wherever they went in central Anatolia. Dissension in the synagogs but joy to the pagans who listened to the revelations of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the first time in their long history.

One can understand the Jews who were descendants of Abraham, chosen by God to be the source of His favourite nation in their anger against these "polluters"of the Scriptures which had been the way of life of their ancestors since the days of Noah. The joy ascribed to the pagans is another matter and shows that God can be present in our world and influence our daily lives. It can only be through the will of God that the pagans, hearing the totally unprepared for message that God has forgiven all our sins and prepared for us an eterntity in his presence, instantly believed and started to spread the word.

It has got to be through the grace of God that any of us believe and follow the teaching of the evangelists and St Paul. Conversion can happen instantly as it did for St Paul but are their any words that will bring the self-satisfied to the Lord's table. EWTVN presents devout sermons and liturgies but without the fire of the Holy Spirit. Individuals such as myself, who keep plugging the same message, often fall into the trap of selfish egoism. Our prelates and clergy have lost, maybe "given up" is better, whatever moral authority they ever had. Our churches lack the sense of sacred and have become "spaces" that can be used for any purpose the "community" feels fit.

Dear Lord you manifested yourself long ago in the missionary journeys of your Apostles. You guided the written memories of your evangelists; inspired defenders of our Faith aganst heretics; please come today and revive your Church among the pagans, who cover the whole world of these modern tims. Let the fire of your Grace find willing souls to reveal by their words and deeds that you are indeed the source of eternal life. Mary, knower of God as no other, continue to lead Saints in their prayers for the sick on earth and the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

 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.