24/05/2022

The people who had listened and condemned Paul and Silas were shocked into belief by the shaking of the earth; the breaking of the captives chains; by the collapse of the retaining walls; but most of all by the refusal to escape. The whole family was joyous at its conversion into belief in God. I was born into a believing family; into a believing Church; into a beliving nation where "Abide with me" was sung at the final event of our Football season.

Some 80 years later I am alone in believe in my immediate family. Thanks be to God, one sibling has stayed true to the Faith but not one of my nearest and dearest has the faith that brought joy to the gaoler's family and has been my mainstay in life. The Church that I entered some 10 days after birth has been weakened by quarrels, changes in liturgy, but most of all by the personal sins of its adherents and pastors. The nation's Christianity is no longer here, not even with the lip-service it has had for most of my life.

Jesus "proofs" of the Advocate seem to have passed us by for the World has taken on the role of arbiter of sin that Jesus promises the "Holy Spirit" will be. The "world" tells us how to behave and we present a futile facade of protest. 

 23/05/2022

Paul and his companions are now preaching for the first time in Europe. The  Sabbath on which he goes to the meeting is still a Saturday and the people he preaches to are all mainly Jews. The language they use is likely to be Greek which was the lingua franca of the Roman Empire. An interesting fact is that there seems to be only women at this Sabbath meeting. Where were the 10 men needed today for Jewish communal prayer?

John continues with specific insights into the nature of God and our duty towards him. The Holy Spirit comes from the Father. Father and Son are one. The Holy Spirit proceeds from Father and Son. Hence the "Filioque" a word out of which our, clergy Eastern and Western were able to "justify" the breaking of the Christ's body on earth. Millions of words have proceeded out of this rupture and deaths too as Crusading Westerners treated the Eastern Orthodox believers as heretics deserving of death. What paltry excuses we can always come up with when we want to deny that we are sinning!

Jesus tells us that the evil still in our world happens because we do not know our God. His words are not just about first century Palestine but are true for all times then and now. Jesus is still the Resurrected One whose being is  present in our world and in the Eternal Trinity of Heaven which is the place prepared for us until the end of time.

Dear Lord I hear your prayer that we all be one and know that your life, death and resurrection have prepared the way for us. Let your Church on Earth be ever mindful for your teaching. May all the Saints led by Our Lady in the Glory of heaven never cease to implore mercy for me and all the  peoples of Earth.

 22/05/2022

Today's readings condense all that we know about our God and our duty towards him. We have grown out of the Old Testament and still cling to it. We know God as three in one. Father Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus has cleared the Old Testament of the duties focussed on one people and opened up the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem for us all. John's Apocalypse is the last Jewish vision of God's Glory.

Before the Apocalypse was written, the first Church, the witnesses of the resurrection in Jerusalem, were becoming overwhelmed by the success of their missions and were faced with the difficulties presented by the teachings received from God and heard by the Apostles. These were the proclamations made in the Portico of Solomon and repeated by Paul in Syria and Cilicia. What a row there must have been between the learned Jews and those filled with the Holy Spirit who understood that the Resurrectiion had changed everything. They were filled with passion for they expected the Lord to be with them  again in a little while.

We are still saying "maranatha". We are still praying for the return of the Lord. We are still waiting with open hearts. Our souls are still yearning for the "return". This "return we expect to be outside of ourselves; We expect to be witnesses of a great cosmic event. We pray that God may intervene and purify the Church and the World which he has warned us against. 

Jews who believed in Jesus had to reset their whole way of life and worship. We have to know that the awaited imminent return happens to each of us in every nano-second of our beings and that peace perfect peace and holiness are here for me to grasp for we are touched by Eternity in that God knows each little one of us.

Dear Lord there is so much thought (perhaps known) and written about you. But there is no greater knowledge or worship than to say that you choose us and in your choice of me I can live according to your wishes. The prayers of your people are heard and join with the Saints and your mother Mary that on earth thy will be done as it is in Heaven . Forgive me my sins.

 20/05/2022

When Jesus calls us he wants from us an instant answer. It is no good saying,  "Let me fill my pension pot first then I will come to you" or "Let me take care of my family". Jesus' call is for this moment and it seems that it must be now. The trouble I face is that my mind is telling me that what the Gospel tells us cannot be Jesus' complete intention. Do we all really  have to sell everything to give to the poor?

The Holy Spirit is the Strength of the Apostles, our first Christian priests, and Peter thus inspired announces that it is through Jesus that the miracle in the portico has happened. He actually says "through the name of Jesus". As usual I have to come to a stop to think what exactly this can  mean. It is certainly not a word of magic as in "open sesame". Saying "Jesus" will not achieve anything. Nor will any lip-service to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. "Jesus" this word is the "Holy Name" for it belongs to the begining and is with God and is incarnate before time began.

On Earth, Jesus  man fudged nothing in his preaching. Jesus Son brought perfect obedience to "Our Father who art in heaven" . This perfect obedience and Love is the Holy Spirit; the "Name" through which the Church, although corrupted, can bring Faith Hope and Charity to all mankind.

Dear Lord you know that I don't need clear thinking or any human wisdom but Faith alone. Let my soul be sincere in its efforts to follow the way truth and life that leads to you. May your mother and saints continue to support your priests as they did St Bernardine and let me and mine come to know your peace.

 19/05/2022

It is always difficult for Goyim, Gentiles, Non-Jews to be unaffected by the concept of Chosen-People as revealed in the Old Testament. The Horror perpetrated on Egypt  at the time of Exodus cannot be welcomed or really understood by us whose knowledge of God is based on the Sermon on the Mount and the life and deeds of the Son as revealed in the New Testament.

It is true that God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, is revealed in the Old Testament and it was Son who pointed this out to his disciples during his time on earth. Peter says that the Father has approved the welcoming of Pagans into his Body on Earth, the fledgling Church and offers as proof  an undisputed fact that the Holy Spirit has been given to them just as it had to those who had walked with and seen the risen Lord.

What was the mark of the Holy Spirit that could be discerned so directly that the the listeners to Peter remained silent without dispute? 

Dear Lord may my heart and mind remain open to the Holy Spirit and let my Soul recognise your presnce in the way that Peter and his congregation did. You have blessed the Faith of those who have "not seen", let this Faith be my Hope in the Love which you lavish on your creation and the way to eternal life for all peoples on Earth.

 18/05/2022

It seems that the majority of the first believers knew the Resurrection but considered themselves to be Jews still bound by the Law of Moses. In Antioch there had grown a Church that was filled with Gentiles who had come to believe in Jesus who was not exclusive but Father, Son and Holy Spirit for all men. The dietary laws had already been abrogated by St. Peter's vision but the disputes continued. Men are always human and it is hard for us to accept even small changes that are required of us. There must have been turmoil in the Portico of Solomon and wherever else the believers met.

Today is no different in our Church where quarrels about Liturgy about Vatican 2 divide the Body of Christ. The vine is still growing but the sects are divided against each other and also internally and we all have to face the great challenge that is about the very nature of mankind. God created man and woman to be able to worship and fill his creation. 

Today people are telling us that we are able to choose what sex we should be. As teenagers we become sexually active and look for sexually satisfaction wherever we can get it. Sex is such a great driver that anything that brings satisfaction is welcomed by our bodies. This drive for satisfaction is a source of sin and totally difficult to resist. But it is not the source of life. God knows our weaknesses and can forgive us our failings but to teach children that they can choose to be boy or girl is not only nonsense but wicked beyond compare.

Contraception, abortion, same-sex relatopnships are direct challenges to the God who created us man and woman to know him love him and serve him  in this world. God's truth is simple and direct for our souls need not be confused; the love of God can keep us in the simplicity of his grace to enable to us end our lives into the Eternal Now that is God in his Heaven

Dear Lord hear all thy people as we face the bewilderment of life in this world. We cry out for your help in facing the onslaught of sin that attacks us every moment of our day. Purge thy people and especially the Church founded on St Peter which you know is full of avarice and filth. Let my soul become pure and full of your love. May Mary and all the saintly souls in heaven join in the great chorus of praise that is my hope for the end of my life and care for the sick and wounded humanity which can only survive in God's will.

 17/05/2022

It is possible to book a "pilgrimage" that follows these missionary journeys of St Paul. The ruins that can be seen are the remains of what were thriving communities in the first century. Paul and his companions were there at the peak of the Roman Peace and were able to travel on foot unmolested from city to city.

Paul was stoned for what he preached; Jesus the resurrected Son. 

Jesus teaches that what he brings to the world from Father, Son and Holy Spirit is Peace and he deliberately contrasts it with the wordly peace in which he spent his time on earth. The cities of Antatolia have thrived, disappeard and regrown over the centuries. Today Rome's power is no more but the Word that is the Love of our God for each and everyone of us "little ones" is still, as then, God's greatest gift to his creation. We have to seek it for it has been won for us by unimaginable suffering.

Dear Lord help me to pray by opening my soul to you that I might know the peace that comes from your love for mankind. I, a sinner, ask that the prayers of Mary, apostles, martyrs and all the saints be joined with mine seeking comfort for my family and for all the suffering ones in this unpeaceful world.