08/12/2022

It seems to me that I can only truly be sincere in my thoughts and very being when I am in a state of sin. I hate it when my deeds deny the truth that I claim to believe. 

The first reading explains the origins of Sin and the task that our Creator sets for us. Being alive is a great thing and there is so much in this world for us  to delight in.We are free beings able to act as we will but we are not ultimate beings who will last for ever. The very first rule given to Adam was broken and he became aware of his nakedness in the sight of God. He tried to hide and we still cannot hide anything from the sight of God.

The knowledge of the purpose for our being which, forgotten by our ancestors, has been revealed over the millennia and is to be found in the Scriptures. We are always to be aware that we are the beloved of Our Father who has known us all for all Eternity and to erase the Sin of his first man he has himself as Son emptied himself of his Being and become a complete human, Jesus.

Mary is the only human since Adam and Eve to have been conceived in the human way but with a body and soul completely untouched by Sin. Jesus is thus God, the perfection of being and man in the  perfect created humanity of his sinlessness. 

Dear Lord you know the weakness of my being and the atonement in my heart. Yet again, let me appeal to your boundless mercy. May Mary, Full of Grace, who sees only the wounds of sin inflicted on the body of her Son continue the task that she accepted to pray for your people here on earth and those Holy Souls who are awaiting your final judgement. 

 07/12/2022

The psalms are the prayer book used by Jesus, Mary and Joseph. All the disciples and Apostles knew them as well as we know the words of the Mass. The God that is praised in this morning's Psalm is full of Love and compassion. He tempers his Justice with Mercy. He does treat us according to our sins. He does not give us the treatment that our sins deserve. He is our Dad, stern but full of love for his children who need to be chastised and taught to accept his gentle ways by submitting to his yoke to learn that his burden is not heavy or beyond our capabilities.

He is the burning bush, the wrestler by the ford, the three under the oak at Mamre. He is the nameless One worshipped and revealed in the Old Testament. Inspired by God Isaiah tries to remind his people, Israel, that God is greater than all we can see or experience for he is the creator of all. He is the Evergreater one whose Word was eternally present with him but not revealed until Holy Spirit begot Jesus in the womb of the Virgin Mary.

We have to follow Mary and ponder this in our hearts for there is nothing more momentous in History than the incarnation, birth life death and resurrection of Jesus for he is the only way to the Eternity he knows from before the beginning. Every other thing that we know will pass away but the Word will stand.

Dear Lord, help me to live by the Faith that is revealed in your Scriptures Let me live always in Hope. Let the Love that you are control all my actions and let me come to you after the penance I deserve. May Mary and all the Saints continue to support your Church on earth to avoid the sins that beset her.

06/12/2022

Jesus makes it quite clear that Father, Son and Holy Spirit for whom everything in our cosmos is known, past, present and future, has created us to fulfill his purpose, he has created none of us to be lost. Jesus tells the exact opposite of those who believe and teach otherwise. We have all been allotted an eternal future through him and with him which we call heaven. 

The Father joined us in the Begotten Son living through human time, being the witness of Holy Spirit and he founded our Church to ensure that his Mercy is visible and available to all men even to those who refuse the Love which we as his image and likeness, experience in our beings.  We are endowed with a freedom that enables us to live as human beings and this makes us "little gods" who can manipulate all that surrounds us even to the extent of making artificial copies of our flesh, our bodies.

This is our unique power but it is also our downfall. Our pride has lead us to deny our God even though he has revealed himself through his people, Israel and His Son. Even in his Church, we are shouting into his face incredible acts of defiance and ignoring his loving care. We all know that there are many of us who do not live Christian lives as shown by Jesus Mary and all the saints and that we will all have to face a Judgement. We have all been created to be with God but some of us refuse his Love. What will become of those?

Dear Lord, I know that it is your loving purpose to save all mankind and Calvary has generated all the grace that is needed to redeem billions of universes. Today let me be filled by Holy Spirit to do what is right and reject all that is evil. May Mary and all the saints help us to live unafraid in the confidence that her Son will seek us out no matter where we stray to carry us to the peace that is beyond all imaginings, let alone, understanding.

 05/12/2022

Yesterday I was reading "Eschatology" by Pope Benedict. It was published in English in 1988.I have read it many times and am still bemused and in awe of the learning required to follow the history of the Church and her dogmas. Pope Benedict is still living and still has the ability to acquire knowledge and explain how the Church has come to believe what she teaches. 

As I read it, I could not help but think that all that knowledge and devotion has done nothing to preserve the institution that he is writing about. The Church was already in decline in 1988 and today 34 years later is in a worse state than she was then.

I have a great disappointment in and doubt for the Church. During the period the Pope was writing and praying with deep learning and sincerity, there were many of his priests denying their calling by their sinfulness and his fellow Bishops denied The Truth of God by pushing the abuse under the carpet.

We the people of God are being attacked by the Devil who has succeeded in tempting many to scoff in the face of God telling him that they know better than he the purpose of creation and that sexual satisfaction is the only good in life and should be acquired by any means even to the extent of surgically changing their natural bodies.

Dear Father in Heaven, help me to withstand the despair that is fueled by my awareness of the stupidities which surround life. Let your Holy Spirit stir up your Church to oppose the false teaching that is spread by all media even to the little children. We cannot help ourselves even though the Incarnate Son has won for us all the grace we need to live according to your will. May Mary who pondered in her heart the Glory of your being support us that we too see in our lifetimes "the strange things" that filled this morning's Gospel with awe.

 04/12/2022

Some of us have hatred for Jews. Some Jews have hatred for non-Jews. Each one of us is responsible for himself. God knows that we are different families, tribes and nations but he has made a covenant with only one people by birthright, the Jews. Anyone who reads/hears the readings for today must acknowledge that every thought, prayer, devotion taught to the whole world by Jesus has its roots in the "Sons of Abraham".

The covenants made by God still stand with his first chosen people and yet again their actions in their homeland reveal that they are a stiff-necked nation and always ready to challenge the Father by denying the teaching of the Son and withstanding the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus reveals the true being of God and completes the revelation originally made only to the people of his mother. All of the first teachers appointed by God to be the foundation of his presence in our world, the Church had three years in which to adapt to the God News of the preacher from Nazareth for they were Jews who had grownup focussed on the Temple and taught the history of their people in the Synagogue For three years they had marveled at Jesus' words and miracles. They brought great shame on themselves by their dispersal at Golgotha but the Resurrection completely blew their minds. What else could it do?

Jews recorded "Love one another as I have loved you" and all the other teachings of Jesus. Father, Son and Holy Spirit lavish Love on Jews and Gentiles and that is how we have to live our lives in the Love that wishes only good for our neighbour. This can only be done by ourselves. Each individual has to live in the righteousness that comes from, and is supported by Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is one community on Earth that should truly be the "Body of Christ on Earth".

Dear Lord, help the leaders of your Church to stay as focused as were the Apostles and your Mother, on the truth of your teaching and example. Let them by their lives become an example, even as second Christs, so that not one of our souls may be lost. May Mary be our example to inspire Faith , Hope and Charity that this Christmas can become a renewal for all the faithful.

 03/20/22

St Paul indirectly tells us that he is the slave of God. He is the slave of "no-man" but is devoted to preaching the Gospel as he would be sinful not to do so. He does not want material reward to do this although he could ask for it. His preaching itself is all the reward he needs for he knows that by doing so he is in the place created for him by Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I wonder how priests who read this Epistle this morning can apply it to themselves and not feel decidedly nervous about the way they live out their lives in their parish houses. I too know that I am not living as did the poor who are blessed by Jesus. The Bishops of the Church live in "palaces" while Jesus had no place to rest in the creation of his Father.

We all can avoid applying scripture to ourselves even though we approach it with the best of intentions. I am sure that, this morning, St Paul's caveat "and not insist on the rights the Gospel has given me" is prominent in the minds of the clergy. What about Jesus' "signs" at the end of Mark's Gospel? I cannot see or perform any of the "signs" and do not feel bad about it. Do our clergy feel the same about the comfortable lives they now lead? Or, are we both guilty of the "pick and chose" attitude to our Faith that seems to be the most common characteristic of our age?

Dear Lord. Your first disciples were surely aware of the "signs, but during your lifetime the only one of those listed by Mark that was witnessed by them was the curing of the sick. What are the signs that I am truly devoted to you? My answer is right conduct and a selfish being subordinated by love. May Mary's prayers gain for me the grace to avoid sin and know that your ways cannot be fully understood but You never seek to deceive as You only have love for all Your creation.

 02/12/2022

I broke my rhythm for the last two days by missing the recording of my prayer and thoughts raised by the mass readings. I am caring for a dog and my first task is to take him for a walk. As I walked, I still tried to raise my mind and heart to thoughts of God and repeated the "Our Father". My care for the dog has not separated me from God but I am reminded of a remark by "Father Brown" who said that love of a dog was not sinful but it could become so if it was treated as if the spelling of "d""o""g" was reversed.

We all have to live our lives in this world and we can do this bathed in the Love that is God. We are known body and soul; each and every cell that make up our bodies is known to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each one of us is free in our being and we have been saved from the sin that came into the world by the misuse of that freedom. Jesus on Calvary has poured out himself as a libation of Love

I am always amazed at the deep love that pours out from my heart for this little dog. I really do love him. How much greater than this must be the Love that is the Holy Spirit in Father and Son that can be ours for the asking. I know that the little dog has no soul or freedom, but he is a sinless creature and always remains an exact replica of the creature that is in the will of our Father. Would, I could be so!

Dear Lord you know that I am still trying to perfect my love of you but I am still not as I should be. Let my love not be sentimental claptrap but a true desire to follow your teachings, worship of your being which is so much greater than I can ever imagine, and acceptance of your will for me. May Mary and all the saints continue to support the active on earth and the penitent in Purgatory so that we too may join in the heavenly chorus of praise that is Eternity.