23/06/2022

Jerusalem was depopulated and robbed of its wealth. All the men who could bear arms were taken to Babylon, all those of useful skills were taken. The poor, the wretched were left behind. Similar events have continued up to this day. Syria has been devasted and its people become refugees, strangers in foreign lands. At the end of Hitler's war part of the victors' spoils were the skilled scientists who were welcomed with open arms. Today the native peoples of Brazil are being deprived of the habitat in which they lived their natural lives. Russia is again ruled by a meglomaniac and for its neighbours it is as if the last 30 years have never happened.

Such is the life of this world, without meaning unless we completely follow the authority of Jesus. There is no sense in trying to achieve human power and wealth for no matter how we try we will lose them at death. Jesus warns us that doing the will of the eternal Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the only way to Heaven. Speaking in Tongues, miracles, exorcisms can be done by invoking Jesus' name but are no guarantee of the holiness that is beyond the lip service that I am desperate to avoid.

Dear Lord your message recorded by Matthew is difficult for me to grasp for we have been told that "by their fruit you will know them" and you support those speaking in your name in that the signs have been performed but somehow the "Will of the Father" is missing. Is this a warning for backsliding priests and prelates and for us all to aim for perfect sincerity which is available for the mankind you have created to be free. Mary only you of humankind have been created without sin and so have the perfect understanding of the will of God pray that all thy children can know love and obey with the sincerity that can bring us to heaven.

 22/06/2022

Jesus warns the disciples of the dangers that will face them in the world. False prophets there were to be in an endless variety. Today there are still many and many who seek them out. Wars we will hear about and wars that will inflict us directly. Betrayals will take place in families and in the Church. We must be strong and stand firm in the face of persecution. Eleazar told his false friends directly that the deception they presssed upon him was  a non-answer. He would die as he had lived, devoted body and soul to the Lord and his law.

John Fisher and Thomas More similarly refused to bend to the will of the King and of his minions. Both loved Father, Son and Holy Spirit and would lose their lives rather than depart from the Love and the Law revealed to all mankind for all ages. These three individuals are united in the belief that God is the Ever Greater. In the Old Testament passage there are many more of the Jews who broke the dietry laws than refused and these tried to convince the martyrs to accept the pagan way of life. Were there not more than one Bishop at the time of St John Fisher? What became of them? Were there not more than one Catholic Layman courtier/politician? What became of them?

The truth is that many accepted Church Lands and thus increased their wealth so that it lasts until this day. The English Hierarchy seems to have been spineless and this characteristic is still with us. How many of our Bishops trust more in Jesus than they do in accountants and lawyers?

Dear Lord let my heart be filled with your Grace; let my mind be fixed firmly on you and let my body do your will and support your creation by simple labour. Mother Mary lead the saints and martyrs in worship and petitions for grace to be given to all people to know that it is only God that we need to love, serve and obey for this is the way to the holy sinlessness that you have always enjoyed even in the horror on Calvary.

 21/06/2022

God saves Jerusalem, his  holy city. Jerusalem is personified as a girl tossing her head to reject advances. The Assyrians have been victorious and destroyed all who stood against them and broken and burned their idols without life or power. God's life and power had been revealed to the Jews for generations. The exodus was not enough to remind them that their God was God indeed but their accrual of worldly power and wealth caused them to take on the worship of their neighbours. 

Jesus tells us that we can enter into the Kingdom. He is the gate that is always open and welcoming. We are the ones to follow the path set out for us by Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are free to choose but the path to deception is the one that is full of the treasures and pleasures of this world. It is wide and like an airport walkway once we put our foot on it it drags us with it where ever it is going. Jesus' way, is narrow and not easy but it is the way that brings with it truth and and it ends in the light that is our presence in the Eternal Glory of God.

Dear Lord you make it clear that our faith in the right path can bring us to the Kingdom. There is no cheap grace. We have to follow the hard path without deviating for you are always with us even to the end of time. We are the ones who choose. May I use my freedom to know serve and obey you in all aspects of my wordly life. May Mary your mother help those of us captivated by the world and help us to change the direction of our lives as only one road leads to heaven.

 20/06/2022

As I start this day I am aware that my mind will flash all over the place and that even though I am determined to begin the day with my thoughts firmly directed to prayer, all sorts of things catch and hold my attention. The state of the chosen people is not at all good in this morning's readings. The State of Israel in this modern world is much worse for their pride in themselves has exceeded their relationship with God and the Chosen People live in their own world of pride and Mamon

We too, the Christians of Europe, have placed God out of our minds altogether. At a click of this mouse I can see that the world has been convinced that there is no need to seek out the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for mankind is unto itself the measure of all things. Individual persons decide what is sinful or not and the control that we can have over the shape and workings of our bodies has deluded us into forgetting that death comes to all of us and for that the most important thing we can do is be prepared.

We all have to be aware of the real enemy of righteousness that  is the forest of hypocrisy keeping our vision from viewing our own faults. JesusSon knows everything and loves us all and so  he never lies to us. We must not judge the sins of others before we know our own.

Our Church is, in the wealthy West, in a serious state of decline. We can all of us, even me, do something about this tragedy by becoming consecrated to knowing, loving and serving as we were taught in the simplicity of our childhoods. God loves us and we can choose the right path to return that Love.

Dear Lord you know how beautiful is your world and how pathetic are our human efforts to presume to know more than you have made clear to us. By your life on earth you have shown us how to use our freedom and in your Church left the institution that should preserve your teaching rather than be lost in struggles for self-preservation. Let us have holy priests governed by bishops who are the true successors of your Apostles and let the prayers of your mother and all the saints bear fruit all over our world.

 19/06/2022

In the feeding of the five thousand we see the meagre rations never running out until all are fed. In the Eucharist we are given the  Eternal Body and Blood of our saviour. The Grace of God's Body is the food to keep our souls safe in this world. Safe from sin. Safe from Satan. Safe from the pride of mankind which is the source of our failings and our sins.

The responsibilities of our clergy are  made clear today. They are to be the means by which our Lord's legacy for us to be absolved of sin to receive the grace that he died to procure for mankind, is passed on.

             The good the guilty share therein,

 With sure increase of grace or sin,

          The ghostly life, or ghostly death:

Death to the guilty: to the good

Immortal life. See how one food

Man's joy or woe accomplisheth.

The responsibility to teach that we must be without mortal sin to share in eucharistic joy is firmly fixed on the Church for if we do not know this how can we truly know, love and obey to achieve the place reserved for us in the Eternal Joy of adoring Father Son and Holy Spirit and being known "face to face".

Dear Lord as mass is being said in every second of this day around this world let thy Holy Spirit enter into the hearts of the priests and people that belief and love for thy own sacrament is not a vague hope but a firm conviction and reality of our human lives. May Mary who shared her body and blood with the true man Jesus continue her maternal care for us. 

 18/06/2022

Jesus makes it perfectly clear that the purpose of our existence is to live the gift of life righteously. We have to live holy lives focussed on God within his rules. We are all here to know love and worship. If we do this we can be sure that everything for our daily lives will be provided. "Give us this day our daily bread" is interpreted as referring to the Blessed Sacrament but also has a meaning for the reality of our daily lives.

The history of the backsliding of the Jews is one of savage brutality. Even the chosen people were able in an instant to start salughtering each other and their enemies too. The Prophets inspired by the Holy Spirit were able to bring them back to the ways of the Lord but until the presence of God in Jesus there was no unmoveable anchor to hold us in place in the tide of being.

The wars that have been the bane of mankind are still with us but now with the possibility of using the power of the elements of God's creation. This power could wipe out all life from earth. It seems that the majority of mankind including the Church have rooted themselves into the material world and have no time for Father, Son and Holy Spirit for we are, in deed, slaves of Mamon.

Dear Lord you know that this day I have to have medical treatment. I know that I am always entirely in your hands. Let me be subject to your will and confident in your grace. May Mary add her prayer to mine that the suffering peoples of this world come to their senses and know their earthly lives are the only chance our individual souls have of preparing for Eternity.

 16/06/2022

Each day has to be a renewal of my service to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The readings are always my sources and the questions they raise have to be part of my daily meditation. The Rule of St Benedict has been followed for centuries and by following it men and women have devoted all their living to praising and serving God. 

In this age there are, in the west very few of them that are left and they have been discredited by the sinful behaviour of their monks and abbots. The holiness of serving you is no longer a priority even among the  orders that all have few monks but huge wordly wealth in land and buildings. They profess poverty but can always excuse their presence in the airports about the world.

They have become like the reservations created for the "Indians" of America scattered about Christendom but with a falling population which has lost the spirit of their forfathers. I'll leave that sentnce/image as it  is a warning for me that as I pray I must be sincerely looking to "Our Father" and not to the clever little ego that I am.

The world as it is now cannot be avoided for it is the human reality developed by manknd out of the instant of creation by God. My soul, the spiritual substance of who I am has to live in this world and direct my being to be in the presence of God and to humbly enter the secret room where I am but a tiny sinner.  Tiny but worth more than my understanding for I am filled with Grace won for me and all humanity by Jesus in Palestine so long ago. Come, Lord Jesus come.

Dear Lord let my deeds today bear witness to your love for all mankind. You know how each day I grope for sincerity in my prayer. You are our eternity and it is holines to strive after a place with you..Let no one go hungry today and by forgiving our sins let us know that we too have to forgive. Let me avoid the road to temptation and in all things protect us from the evil one. May Mary and all the saints in heaven who are in Eternity not in secret, but face to face, add their prayers to mine for the sick known to me and for all suffering humanity. God's will be done.