14/08/2022

Today celebrates the Assumption of Mary Mother of God, the God Carrier,Theotokos. No matter how many titles I pile on the Ever Virgin I can never come closer to undestanding the unassessabe significance of her still-continuing  life. Faith tells me that her place in creation is second to none for it is from the Incarnation that took place by natural process in her womb that salvation was brought back into the world  where it had been expelled from, by the sin of our first parents.

The ecstatic vision of the Book of the Apocalypse is the Glory of God as revealed to the writer, a Jew in the tradition of of all the prophets who must know as he writes of his experience that the words he uses do not come close to the  mystical touch of the eternity of our God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. Mary's own experience of the immensity of the closeness of God is the Magnificat. Nothing known  by man approaches the beauty of this recognition of the Glory of our Creator Eternal Being felt by this human being who is touched . Mary has been chosen from all eternity to be the Mother and the humility of our God is already growing within her. 

Yes indeed is she blessed among women and blessed are we by the fruit of her womb.

Dear Lord may my deeds approach the meaning of words both read and written. Let me be cleansed of sin and ready for whatever your will has prepared for me. Mary whose glorious being is present in her glorified body with Jesus Son and all saints continue in prayer for us who are still trapped in time but longing to do the will of God and so come to be in the presence of our creator in the eternal now.

 13/08/2022

 Over the years I have tried to pay attention to readings at Mass. I remember Ezekiel for the measuring of the Temple and the bones that will be revivied.I cannot recall having noticed today's passage before. Here is God's promise to treat everyone as an individual. My personal feeling has been that I am also personally responsible for my own children and I have felt guilt that none of them can respect the church founded by Jesus. It is true that I am not a good example of Christian virtues but I am not totally responsible. I pray for  the mercy that I have received to be shared also by them and all ill-taught children. "They **** us up our parents do".

This record of prayer has the title "Alone but Known" reflecting my estrangement from the "institution " that was founded by the Lord as the Church which was to be his body on earth. In this morning's reading I can see that God makes it clear that I am responsible for myself and my children likewise. God knows that I would like for my family to know the greatness of God and accept the living Word born of the Father before the world was made. This is my prayer.

The Gospel must provoke unhappy reflections in all of us especially in those who knew of deviant clergy but did not report to the civil authorities when it became obvious that Church Elders only tried to do the impossible and protect reputation, the public image not the Soul, of the Church. Jesus was speaking of real children who could have grown up to be the infant church. There is also the image all of us who indivdually have to acquire the simple faith of a child in the God the Evergreater even to the extent of calling him "Dad".

Dear Lord it is hard to continue in your love where it is totally refused. Let me be open to your superabundant grace and turning the other cheek accept your chatisement of my weak self and self control. May the Saints in heaven lead by Our Lady pray for me that I might treat all in the way I would like to be treated.

 12/08/2022

Again the word of God is recorded by his prophet in fantastic imagery. Ezekiel captures the minds of listeners by elaborate images that he embellishes and interweaves but never loses sight of his initial purpose. The people of Israel were as an abandonned baby and, as was usual at that time,  a female when chosen by God as a spouse. She had nothing and faced certain death but was brought up to be beatiful without compare and was even more favoured by the contract, the promise God made to her even binding himself.

Jesus always opens our eyes to the reality of our lives and our relatonshhips first to God and then among our neighbours. How can we face and understand the gender/sex of  our beings. Man and woman. There is no mention of any other variety of human except for the eunuch. Jesus came to fulfill the Law of Moses not to break it and here tells us that in God the breaking of vows and "marrying" another is fornication. 

The eunuch is a man who is either without sex organs  by birth or by mutilation. Celibacy can be a deliberate choice in order to devote oneself to prayerful devotion to God. Father Son and Holy Spirit have never recognised the state chosen by many to indulge in sexual activity with their own kind. This is the corrupter of the innocents, the bain of mankind and the ruination of many priests.

Dear Lord let your  Holy Spirit fill the hearts of your people, especially your clergy, that we may become able to resist the power of the devil's media and confirm in our very beings your truth, confirming that we were created man and woman and let any other teaching be refuted in public by the Church. Mary whose virginity even though the Mother of God remains as the perfect woman just as Jesus the man is the perfection of man, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our deaths. 

 11/08/2022

Ezekiel must have lead a life that was so devoted to doing the will of God that he is almost an extension of God. Of course, that is an impossibel exageration but he was chosen by God to prepare the rebellious chosen people for a return to their birthright and a renewal of the Temple where God received the sincere worship and recognition of his being that is the only way to true life.

Jesus is not an extension but truly God and a human body. The mystery that is the Trinity is there as the body that is truly man. God cannot lie and thus we too must strive for the perfection that it is possible for us to have. The chosen people rebelled and rebelled again and still do. What are they thinking of in again occupying their promised land and acting as conquerors denying lawful possession to other owners?

The Father Son and Holy Spirit show us in the teaching of Jesus that it is completely false to think and act as if might were right We must treat our brothers in a way that would be still the best for us to receive. The king in the parable not only forgave the servant but reversed the punishment into reward. The sincere grief that was witnessed by the king was enough to open his heart and reveal the mercy that was concealed. 

I always wish to immediately condemn the evil of the steward but Jesus teaches us that the standards we apply to others are those that we will have applied to us. God is merciful to me a sinner, how can I condemn or throw the first stone.?

Dear Lord let me live through this day knowing and believing what I have read and have accepted sincerely. Clare believing in holy poverty gave up her riches. In heaven with her mother united by the  Celestial Vision, Father, Son and Holy Spirit she  can join her prayers with Mary to intercede for sick suffering and sinful people united by Son here on earth.

 10/08/2022

Today the readings from the New Testament remind us that open handed giving is  required and approved by God.  In another reading we are taught that  the value of  giving does not depend on the amount but on its relationship to the wealth of the giver. Great charitable foundatons have recently been created out of the wealth of young gifted and hardworking computer scientists but the nature of their skill means that they still continue to accrue billions. The rich young man of the gospels was told to give all his wealth to the poor and went away sadly for he was a man of great wealth. It was much harder for him to acquire his wealth than it is for anyone today.

The seed sown by the Apostles has grown into the Church we know. The true wealth of the Church is only in the preaching of the Gospels. The good news has to be spread thoughout the whole world. All the wealth of the world will not last. How much wealth is tied up in the land and property owned by our Church? Its a commonplace to complain of this but what can be done? I know that Jesus' body on earth does not require the magnificence of Rome. The Temple has been destroyed and the return of the remnant is characterised by the arrogant Atheism of its replacement nation. 

There is nothing we can do about the growth of wealth in this world; it is as inevitable as the passing of time. What we have to do is avoid a preoccupation with money and seriouly consider whether or not our Church should divest herself of all wealth and become as her founder so that we can follow relying only on the providence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord I try to concentrate on the meaning of your words but my inner self keeps drawing me to look at my own. As I pray I need only to await your gift to me and then my words are not my own. Holy Mary Mother of God intercede for me that my angel may overcome the powers that assail me and my service become not of the lips but of the heart.

 09/08/2022

Edith Stein was a woman of great intellect and academic prowess who repeated in her life the story of the chosen people and of Jesus.

The first believers to follow the teaching of Jesus and write their memoirs that have become our New Testament were all Jews and worshippers of God.  Many were persecuted by their co-religionists and many also lived to see not the Second Coming, but the complete obliteration of the centre of their worship. The Temple is no more but its teaching is our Old Testament.

I have read the life of this great saint but can only recall from my memory that her studying and teaching of philosophy drew her to the teaching of her fellow Jew and that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit called her to become a life devoted to worship. In her death the result of a denunciaton she also followed Jesus and was one of the victims of Nazi challenges to God.

There was a time in my lifetime a period when Bishops ( the Dutch Bishops in this case) did the right  thing and denounced evil politics and war. My own Bishops are characterised by avoidance of conflict with the state and with the politics that not only deny God but advise their fellow citizens to do the same.

Jesus in his Incarnation brought Good News. Our sins can be forgiven and our consciousnes of  Beauty Truth and Good can live on if we in our total being Know, Love and Obey.

Dear Lord newly inspire your Church to follow the example of your Saints and find joy in their choice to follow you. Let them avoid the perfidious influence of Satan working through the ever challenging denials of your teaching by the those who wield the power of politics and media influence. May your mother and ours help me to control my mind and know that there is nothing that is false in a life lived knowingly in the sight of her Son, the Resurrection and joy of all humanity.

 08/08/2022

Coins do not have a prominent place in the New Testament. Jesus' attack on the money changers in the Temple obviously comes to mind. This miraculous finding of the coin in the fish is repeated as true history. It is not the easiest of miracles in which to put our faith.The contracted tax collecters did not approach Jesus directly but reminded Peter about it. The validity of the Church's quest for financing in this world has been seen as revealed in this episode.;as was "render unto Caesar" in refence to the support paid directly to the Temple.

The visions of Ezekiel are received during the exile and truly "by the waters of Babylon". The question which I ask is as usual, in the case of attempted descriptions of God, were these images a reality outside of the being of the gifted one or were they an attempt to recreate the overpowering knowledge of Father Son and Holy Spirit that by the will of God they had been chosen to receive?

I ask because I and the rest of mankind have become familiar with the products of computer aided special effects passed before our eyes by tvs and cinemas. These alternative realities take place before our eyes but have no value for although we are captivated by them second by second they are still unreal, mere shadows on a screen. Shadows which darken the truth of reality even more than do our own eyes naturally; as St Paul well knew, "we see as through a glass darkly."

We are all known by God in our complete reality. The Evergreater chooses those to whom he reveals himself and is still totally Glorious beyond their ability to describe or our ability to follow.

Dear Lord in the  Life, Death, Resurrection you have given  us all an image that is seeable for the Word is also true Man. Let me be true to this Good News and find it anew each day. May Our Lady continue to support us as she is the only human who knows you as do all mothers know and weep over their children.