14/11/2022

The scriptures that are read today and every day during all the masses that are being said throughout the world are all composed of words that have been written by men who were aware of God and had accepted that they had been chosen by Father through the Holy Ghost to record for all human time the relationship God choses for us to have with Jesus, Word and Son. Those of them who remained faithful to the Word they had witnessed by their words are now still living within the Glory that is totally beyond the limits of what was their human comprehension and imagination here on Earth.

St John's vision is like nothing other than those experienced by the Old Testament prophets. A painting of this image, even a cinematographic reconstruction could tell us no more than the recorded words for the images have been inspired by God but also interpreted by the visionary who has been striving to see God. I always have a difficulty with the size of the vision and any attempt by me to interpret it and reconstruct it in own imagination which is powered by words takes me nowhere.

Jesus brings with him into Jerico the Glory that inspires John's Revelation. Those in the accompanying crowd are trying to catch his words; he is already the celebrity of the moment and the raucous cries for help are a distraction to them. That blind man, desperate in his need, could not be silenced and in Jesus' response the power of his glory was revealed and recognised for what it was, by the crowd.

Lord you know that for some moments each day my being is directed towards you in complete sincerity as were the cries of the blind man but those moments never last long enough and are always guided by words. I pray for that moment when I can accept your grace and am annihilated in the Wordless love that is your Eternity. May Mary and the saints who know that time-less moment continue in their prayers for us all, the Holy Souls and those here on earth especially for those like me who are curtailed by illness and sin. 

 13/11/2022

As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the prayer of the Church increasingly focusses on the "End-Times as spoken of by Father, Son and Holy Spirit in Scriptural revelation. The prophet Malachi delivers a warning. Even though we may be dissatisfied with our place in life when we compare it to that enjoyed by others, God wants us to remember that his creation, our world, is as limited in its being as is each individual one of us. My "Kingdom is not of this world" is Jesus' answer to Pilate that is addressed to all men at all times 

St Paul gives himself as a model of how to live our lives based on the perfection of Jesus, following St Paul's own example in word and deed. Paying for his own food seems to curtail his hosts opportunity for open-handed giving and is in contradiction to the spirit of "the Lord loves a cheerful giver". There is also another warning. Am I one of the ones who does nothing but interferes with the work of everyone? It's easy to ignore my own "plank" and point to corrupt clergy, who are certainly among us as our modern Pharisees, but am I in the position to "cast the first stone"?

The Pyramids and other still standing buildings of ancient times can fill us with wonder at the accomplishments achieved without the benefits of modern technology, by our forefathers.  The Temple that was still being completed was equally admired in its own times and gives rise to another warning. Millions of words have been written about this prediction and its significance in the Light of the Resurrection. Each generation since those times has been able to relate to the physical destruction caused by wars and natural disasters but for some of us there is also an admission of a great shame that cannot be avoided.

Modern technology means that each living soul on Earth can be aware of what was once known only to Sanhedrin and other legal authorities. Jesus promised that if we faced human legal and political problems as a result of faith in his name and were brought before authorities to answer for it then he would be for us the words of Truth in defence which we would not have to choose for ourselves.

Having watched the shameful performances of English Bishops brought before the recent Independant Enquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, I am sure that they were not being persecuted for belief in Christ and that thus they were not given an eloquence and a wisdom that their opponents could not resist or contradict. 

An investigator commenting on the general of attitude of Church Leaders to the manifest evil (Jesus' millstone would be a less severe punishment for it) remarked that "they just don't get it". I am afraid that the same words could be applied about the Faith in these times, to many of us who fail to bear witness, respond and do the will of our Father.

Dear Lord let me live out this day in nearness to you. I am your creature but have the freedom given by you to cooperate in your loving purpose. Please let my will be one with yours. May Mary whom you have shared with us as Mother lead all your saints in prayer for the Holy Souls and for each one of us here on Earth, especially those who are known to you as mine.

 12/11/2022

St Paul tells us that we all have a part, a role to play in the Church that is the inter-action of Father, Son and Holy Spirit with mankind. Not one of us is created to be only a bystander, part of a congregation. We each have to open ourselves to the grace that is an ever greater flow of virtues that we have to not only recognise but also put to use. 

The Holy Trinity that is God is an Eternity of the Love that is also being lavished on mankind. We are created because God wants us to be in the Love which he knows is the Truth and Good of himself. He has no need of worship and adoration. We worship and adore because there is nothing else we can do when we are open to the Glory that is God.

Jesus' the perfect man knows himself to be God from God, begotten not made, one with the Father but empties himself of his limitless divinity to ensure that by this unimaginable act of humility he can suffer in his human flesh all the shapeless horror that is Sin, and thus make for us the possibility of Eternal Life in the Love of Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Jesus not only knows this of himself but also in today's Gospel tells us so directly.

Dear Lord, you know the mess that my life can become when I get lost in the worldly things that surround me; you also know that I cannot keep you in my mind all the time; let me respond to your love without forcing myself; let my love for you become as instinctive as a baby's love for its mother, as, indeed, you responded to Mary. May Mary and all the Saints who have known the sins of this life, continue in their timeless worship and plead that all who are part of your Church on Earth listen to the inspired teaching of St Paul and serve in holy Love and gratitude.

 11/11/2022

St John's second letter continues to stress that Love is the greatest of the virtues. It is the spirit of love that becomes the Ten Commandments and the whole of Christ's revelation. The Church prefers to think that the "lady " to whom the letter is addressed is a metaphor for the Church as whole and not to some specific person. The letter is concerned that "deceivers" may be making some headway into the teaching he has left with them. During Apostolic times even though the spreading of the Good News had come about through the preaching of those who had seen the risen Lord there were also many who manipulated the truth, following their own agendas.

I always wonder when there is condemnation of opinions in scripture whether those who were condemned were indeed the tools of Satan/Anti-Christ or were they misguided human's acting out of pride or jealousy. It is certain that Jesus came to bring us the final revelation of God's Truth. He is the unchanging message of Love first for Father, Son and Holy Spirit and simultaneously for all others, our neighbours, brothers and sisters in Christ.

In the Gospel Jesus speaks a warning. We must be constantly ready for the End-Times which could happen with the suddenness of the Flood or the destruction of Sodom. We must not become engrossed in the world which is our place in human time. We must prepare ourselves each day by prayer and reflection for either our deaths or the Second Coming, the End and New Beginning. Keeping to the Truth taught by Christ is the only way to avoid the vultures that are always hovering around, just as they did above Calvary.

Dear Lord, let me be guided constantly by your truth, Jesus is the only way to your eternity and we are all gifted by the grace to accept or reject his life death and resurrection. Let the leaders of the Church be not only true to Truth but also by the example of their lives lead thy sheep to the perfect pastures of Paradise. May all the Holy Souls know that their punishment will come to an end and that their Mother Mary, All the Saints and the struggling Church on Earth keep them in their love and in their prayers.

 10/11/2022

St Paul is an example of how Christianity dealt with what we know to be the great injustice that was slavery. He cared for Onesimus as his brother in Christ. St Paul is sure that Jesus lives on in anyone who can accept him as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and in his Church which is the Resurrection living onto the end of created time. We are all one Jew Gentile, Roman Greek, slave freeman. There is one Baptism and one Faith. The teaching of St Paul is God's revelation for all human time. Jesus is still saving us from the jaws of Hell, which we, another "stiff-necked race", are perversely knocking on loudly for admission.

The Gospel is our Lord at his enigmatical best. After the Resurrection the early Church accepted "but first he must suffer grievously and be rejected by this generation" as the foreknowledge always available to the Word. They had known Christ on earth. They had witnessed the grievous suffering of the Crucifixion. They had been awestricken by the Resurrection. They had been enlightened by the Apostles and come to a Faith that had the expectation of the imminent return as one of its key-elements.

"I come not to bring peace". This hard saying of Jesus, beloved of Islamic proselytizers can easily hurt us in our desire to be "gentle and lowly of heart". There is no place on Earth and in human time that being a Christian has guaranteed a peaceful life. The Church has been beset by severe differences of opinion ever since its foundation and it is not once but many times that its leaders have sought to benefit personally from their role rather than lead the faithful in worship.

 ‘The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, “Look there!” or “Look here!” Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation.'

Dear Lord, your Word is truth. I am only myself and you are Evergreater. Are we still living to share your suffering which should have ended with the Resurrection? Your revelation is completed by Jesus so we have enough grace to live the holiness you expect of us. Let the inglorious institution that the Church has become recognise its failing and return to the prayer that is its true function as founded on St Peter. May Mary and al the Saints pray with all fervour for the Holy Souls and for us sinners still on Earth.

 09/11/2021

Jesus said that his yoke, which he laid on us, was easy and his burden light. I am not contradicting the words of our saviour but in my life it seems that St Paul is asking the impossible for maintaining the sinlessness to be a fitting place for God to be, for more than a second seems to be impossible. This is mere rhetoric but it is part of my reflections on today's mass readings.

St John tells us most realistically that the words of the saviour at the cleansing of all the shopkeepers out of the temple were not understood at the time they were spoken. Many of the words of Jesus' ministry must have caused real difficulties for those who heard them. What did the fishermen think on hearing "Drop everything that you are doing now or have planned for tomorrow and follow me." This was a command like no other heard before or since. The carpenter from Nazareth just stood there and told them what to do, and they did do as he commanded.

The words "This is my Body" must have been totally bewildering and disgusting to the Jews to whom they were addressed but the Resurrection makes it clear that Jesus is something greater than a human being. Jesus who is perfectly human from the time of his incarnation is also the Evergreater that is Father, Son and Holy Spirit and so he never tests us to breaking point. If I think that his yoke is not easy and his burden heavy it is because I am not truly availing myself of the grace that he has made freely available to those who ask. He is right! Asking is easy and no problem at all when faced with the abundance of Love that has created the World and maintains our life upon it.

Dear Lord each day I pray that I can be kept on the path through life that leads to you. Confirm me in my sincerity, enlighten my understanding and curb the flippancy that sometimes breaks out from the seriousness with which I bow down before you. May Mary pray that I may stop my racing mind and concentrate with faith on all the mysteries that she "pondered in her heart" and together with all the saints seek succour for the Holy Souls and for us too, living now on this earth.

 08/11/2022

St Paul makes it very clear that God has not just, as it were, "turned on" salvation by Jesus' life, death and Resurrection. We who have accepted the preaching of the Apostles are still the free-willed image and likeness of the first creation and we have to put into practice what we have been taught by the Love that is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

The way of life experienced by Jesus and the first Christians was then the same as that which we know today. Everything we do as a human being is still the same as was done in the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem and of the whole Empire of Rome. There is still for all mankind "a time to reap and a time to sow." The only difference between then and now is brought about by technological innovation and the increase in wealth

One of the great sins of those times was the killing of unwanted children by the practice of exposure. We all know the various technological ways in which we bring this about today. Not only do we kill babies but disguise the fact of the murder that it is by euphemisms that turn it into a "medical procedure".

The family relationship of all humans has to be within the teaching of the Commandments. The "golden rule" is our surety against the egotism that treats the other as a rival and does not open itself to the Love that has been lavished on us by our Father. St Paul is much derided for his moral stance and yet all that he says is a part of God's revelation and it is not just for our benefit but is also, as Jesus tells us, our duty.

Dear Lord let my egotistical self-seeking be curbed by the grace and Love that is your being poured out throughout creation. There is nothing that has tempted me unknown but resisted by Jesus. Grant me the grace not only to trust in you but also to know that Mary and all the saints in heaven are united in prayer for all of us, living and awaiting Mercy that is ever greater as the being of Father Son and Holy Spirit.