17/12/22

True God and true man. The Nativity is fast approaching and the Church today focuses on the man to be born of the Virgin. In the Middle East even today it is important for a man to know the line of his descent. In Korea most people have Family Books which are the written records of ancestry going back hundreds of years. Aristocrats in Britain and Europe are proud of the length of their genealogies. Most of us, however, know that we had ancestors and may know their names but live our lives completely in the present. To the Jews who were the first disciples, however, their being as the "chosen ones" depended on the lines of their familial descent. So both Luke and Matthew begin their remembrances of Jesus, the man, with the genealogy of Joseph the husband of Mary.

Thus it can be seen that in the unfolding of God's will for mankind Mary precedes Christ and that with her "let it be"she accepts on behalf of us all the way to salvation that God provides for humanity to escape the sinfulness that had been brought into the world by the disobedience of God's first created ones. Mary is as completely human as I am but she has been blessed and created without sin for she is the Mother of God  within whose womb Son will empty himself of his Evergreater substance to become the same defenceless embryo that is the beginning of all mammalian flesh. Jesus is totally of the same flesh and blood that we are.

The sin of Adam can only be countered by our God who by his incarnation can bring to us salvation without denying the "Saw that is was Good"of his creation. Father, Son and Holy Spirit have created and revealed the purpose of "being"and also created boundless grace for us to use or not in complete freedom that is difficult for me to contain but there is still hope for "nothing is impossible for God".

Dear Lord let my thoughts become integral to my deeds and knowing what I can of your will for me live in your Grace and so avoiding Sin which is the nails that are to pierce the flesh of the baby we are getting closer to welcoming into our world. May Mary whose perfection is directly created by you continue to lead all Saints in prayer for all the suffering ones both in Purgatory and here on earth.

 16/12/2022

In his support for his "chosen people" God does not forget that we are all his people. Two and a half thousand years ago Isaiah told the "us" of those times that we would all be brought to the Holy Mountain to be in the Lord's favour. We are all called to pray in the Lord's house and to be blessed by the favour revealed to the prophets of the Old Temple which Jesus has rebuilt in the most important three days of human history.

Jesus tells his listeners that although John, whom we know to be the last of the prophets to the chosen people, who had failed to live in the righteousness that would be an example to the nations, was a shining light and accepted as such, even Herod liked to listen to him, he, Jesus, is something far greater for he is Word/Son of the same substance as Father and Holy Spirit, God the Evergreater.

Everything in the life of Jesus, every word, parable, miracle has only one aim. He brings salvation. The mercy of God is available for every man, woman, indefinite/eunuch and child born on this earth because God is Son sacrificed on Calvary, dead, buried and is risen to continue to be the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Our lives are indeed wonderful for each one of us has so great a Saviour; even I have more than a hope for no matter how weak I am the Love of Father, Son  and Holy Spirit is a never-ending life line to yank me back from the pit on the edge of which I wind my perilous way through life.

Dear Lord, you know with what difficulty I have addressed myself to you this day; hear the prayer of my heart and bring your Merciful Justice into the Church which you founded to be your body on earth and not the refuge of scoundrels as it appears to have become; may Mary not be stabbed again by the sword of scandal which even though she is in the perfect happiness that is Eternity must mean that she can never forget the baby and then the corpse that Jesus is to her, the Saviour of the World.

 14/12/2022

Today's mass is dedicated to St John of the Cross whose devotion to Father, Son and Holy Spirit resulted in out of body experiences where he was granted and recognised the supreme grace. He felt the touch of God in this world.The integrity of his commitment of his body and soul to heaven was such that he knew God in a way that very few humans have done so. Of course, modern man can explain away the Truth of his experience but his writings reveal the sincerity of the  Love returned by him to God and also the pain such devotion caused for him.

Isaiah boasts for the Lord this morning. There is only one God. He is all powerful. There is nothing that exists or happens of which he is not the ultimate cause. "I make good fortune and create calamity". Does this mean that God is not only totally the Good? We have all asked this question during our lives; more than once. There is nothing superficial about this as it goes to the very depths of how we understand the  experience of life. 

The lame walk, the blind see, the lepers are cleansed; Jesus brings back full life to those suffering in this world but does not tell us why there is still so much suffering (calamity)and death. I do not know the answer to the question of Evil in this world which is not so much a "question" to those hearing the approach of rockets, the dying gasp brought on by starvation, the ocean closing over their head and the impossibility of breathing air into their lungs. Those for whom "calamity" is their reality, their now, do  not  have much chance of recollecting their experience in tranquility and turning to God.

Today's St John devoted himself to the Crucifixion and felt the unimaginable pain undergone by Son incarnate God sacrificing himself to make a way for us to avoid the abhorrence of sin that draws us in like a magnet but spits out our souls into the cesspit of Godlessness. For many of us there is long life for our bodies but such bodies that might as well be "avatars" for their souls have been suppressed by a devotion to self and sin; a deliberate misuse of the freedom we have been given to navigate the clear waters of "good fortune" and the quagmire of "calamity".

Dear Lord you know that many of us have never understood "Evil". Help us to interpret the the pain of Calvary in the Glory of the Resurrection and thus pray for all those for whom life is a helpless mess of suffering without hope, May Mary lead all the Saints and us in a prayer of gratitude for our lives and by these prayers bring alleviation to the daily suffering of the people for whom you humbly accepted incarnation and death.

 13/12/2022

Jesus makes clear that he is a Prophet in the line of Prophets inspired by God to mould His people into holiness. Holiness requires first of all awareness. We need to be aware that there is nothing that we have that is not created by God. We must know God, we must make our awareness known to others We need to obey the commands of God as revealed to Moses. Our human holiness the perfection that was Adam and Eve was broken nearly as soon as it was created. God knows Adam in the perfection of the Love that created him and it is to this perfection he gives us the opportunity to return.

The history of salvation as recorded in the Old Testament has moments of unspeakable harshness, the great wind, thunder and lightning and  moments of peace and calm, the quiet wind on Carmel. Adam broke the first covenant and sent us all into the natural world where we experience all the dangers of creation. In facing and overcoming these dangers, we have so grown in power and capability that with our technology we have come to count God as an irrelevance even to the extent of mocking him by cloning flesh and mimicking reality by A.I. The fruit of the tree of knowledge is a materially powerful fruit but it has lead us into a God-challenging pride that each one of us needs to acknowledge and redress before being called to account.

Most of mankind today is rushing around, living under the spell of Mammon and yet each one of our billions knows that he will not enjoy the fruits of his labours and obsessions after the end of his life.

The material world when tamed is wonderful but mere dross when measured by the Truth which comes from and is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We have been shown incessantly that God is the Ever-greater and the warning of Zephaniah is relevant for all of us at all times.

Dear Lord, let me be one of the lowly ones who have been given the grace that we all need to come into your presence "Lord, Lord" is not enough, for a pure heart is the sacrifice most fitting to your holiness. May Mary the only other sinless one of our humanity lead all the saints in joyful praise and may her prayers be heard that all sins are forgiven those  who seek out forgiveness won for us on Calvary.

 12/12/2022

I lost the first version of this post. This is also a first for me. Balaam a soothsayer and priest of false gods was sent by his ruler to view and curse the Israelites. Moses and the tribes of slaves and "have-nots " had been wandering through the uninhabited lands bordering both Syria and Egypt for some years. The rulers and owners of the settlements, small but still civilised kingdoms of the "nations" had been aware of them for some time and were wondering with apprehension, which  was not uncalled for in view of the subsequent events performed by God's chosen people, where they would choose to settle down. On viewing the Israelites' camp Balaam prepared himself to "prophesy"and to his own surprise uttered not a curse but a paean of praise for the tents of Moses and a forecast of a glorious future for the people camped there.

The Church can see in this random prophesy a reference to the Founder of our Faith. Humanity has always lived in the created Universe where time rules our every action. God is totally beyond all understanding no matter how hard we try, but we do know how he is not. We know that for Father, Son and Holy Spirit there is no time and that God is, as it were, an. eternal "now". God has touched humanity at many times and in many ways in human time and it is from these revelations that we can understand the purpose for our being.

Jesus the culmination of God's purpose in choosing Israel is the Incarnate Son and the Pharisees, who also do not know what they do and so merit forgiveness, have no chance of winning this discussion. I always feel sympathy for the Moabites and other nations who are displaced to make way for the "chosen ones" and for the Pharisees too, who were only doing their best. Jesus teaches that we must not put ourselves first. God is always first and then neighbour the one who is not myself. Most of us fall far short of this basic virtue. The poor Pharisees have convinced themselves that their pettifogging adherence to Law is not self-aggrandisement but is doing God's will on earth. They are totally sincere in their sinful folly. How many of us are also "not getting it"?

Dear Lord, do not remember the sins of my youth and let me now remember your love and show this in as many ways as possible, let me be one of your poor and humble whom you guide on the right path. May Mary support my pleas for her Church on Earth that she show that she is truly the Body of Christ on earth and that it is Incarnate Son who is the sinless head of whom we form the body.

 11/12/2022

We have to follow the words of God's revelation of himself for there is very little we can know about Father, Son and Holy Spirit by human intelligence. In the very first days of the Church on earth disputes broke out about what had been witnessed by Peter, the other disciples, and  people of Jerusalem and even the foreign soldiers on Calvary. The resurrection was deemed by many to be a complete confidence trick performed by the disciples and by others, even the crucifixion was not a human bodily event but an illusion.

The Acts and some of Paul's letters warn about deceitful doctrine promulgated by human thinking. As the Church grew, the dangers of false doctrine grew with it. What are these dangers? Our Father first revealed himself to the people who became the Jews under his guidance. Prophets were directly inspired and fought to keep the people holy for out of them there was to come the Saviour who would free us from slavery to sin. The words of Scripture are Truth and it is this Truth that is the oxygen, the blood the very life of our beings.

The people to whom Jesus, Paul and the Apostles first preached in Palestine were not as technically advanced as we are but they were as thoughtful and devout and educated as any one of us. The Greeks had a tradition and literature as old as the Bible. The Wisdom Literature has many parallels to Greek  Philosophy which is still read today. Millions of words, ideas true and false have been poured out about Father Son and Holy Spirit and some of them are inspiring but it is by following the life and teaching of Jesus in the Gospels that we come to live in the Holiness that leads us to the Eternal Love of Heaven where there is only Truth and instant Joy in God our Creator and Saviour.

Dear Lord, let me become free of sin and consistent in my worship that as I get closer to the end of my life I may learn how to put you first in all things. May Mary lead all the Saints in praise of you and ceaselessly petition for pardon for the Holy Souls and for your sinful children here on earth.

 10/12/2022

Jesus was surrounded by a group of disciples who were all believers in One God who reveals himself in the texts of the Old Testament. They could relate everything he said and did to what they knew from their lives as Jews following the Law and the Prophets. Sometimes they were shocked for he challenged the words of faith taught by their acknowledged leaders, the scribes and lawyers both Sadducee and Pharisee. Jesus did not ever deny the revelations contained in the scrolls of scripture, only the interpretations and deviations that were current in his day.

He himself prayed the Psalms and knew the meaning of the allegorical content of the most inspired of the prophets. We know that the history of the Jews is the history of God's Will being done on earth. The psalms are the the praise and petitions inspired by Holy Spirit to prepare the way for Son to become Father's final revelation of  his will for mankind. The way, truth, life and light to the Ever-greater in the Eternal moment of Heaven.

We too are gifted as were the first disciples for we have the promise that Father, Son and Spirit will be with us to the end of times and in the Eucharist Jesus himself man and God is always present as  edible Grace to feed us and protect us from the world the flesh and the devil. That is why we need the Church to be Holy and seen to be Holy for it is through her that Jesus is still present on Earth.

Dear Lord you know everything so my words are nothing. Please help me to be open to your Grace and help me to live the life you have intended for me. May Mary who is the Mother of our Church continue to implore grace for all the Church, that prelates and priests forget their physical wealth and their positions in the world and show to us the integrity of service that she and her Son showed to our Father in heaven.