04/02/2023

St Paul advises that we never lose sight of God. We must always acknowledge his "name". We must never forget that it is the reality of Father, Son and Holy Spirit that is the source and mainstay of our lives and of the world around us.. We must not sin for it is by staying holy that we can avoid the "Lord, Lord" of empty words and do the will of our Father who is in Heaven.

Jesus knows that the Apostles were exhausted by their first missionary journey and sought to give them the opportunity to rest. There was to be no opportunity, however, and the crowds guessed their destination and got there before them. In our times, the overwhelming response of the people to the presence of Jesus in the early days of his mission is  matched only by the enthusiasm of the religious revivals of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Today the many church buildings that filled the villages, towns and cities in England are empty or put to other uses. The collapse of once thriving church communities is one of the great "signs of our times". Do we have to accept this as the Will of "Our Father who art in heaven"? It is easy to pose the question  but as for an answer, it has to come to each of us in our hearts that are open to the Resurrection Truth revealed by word and deed in Palestine so long ago. 

Dear Lord, I know that there is nothing that is not known to you. Please let me make my being a witness to your Love and let my good intentions become good deeds, May your mother Mary and the communion of Saints which has you as its being, bring to the minds of all on earth that you have a purpose for each one of us and provide the grace for us to perfect that will and become the person you want us to become.

 03/02/2023

The words of St. Paul have been read millions of times but they never change. Christ is God so he never changes. The teaching of the Apostles reveal the way of living that the Father has created us to follow. The basis is Love. The Golden Rule encapsulates all of the commandments except the first which  reveals the Evergreater that loves us into being. That Love has to be reciprocated during our time on Earth.  "Do not do to another what you would not want done to yourself" is the only way to return God's love to him. "Human Rights" were given to Moses long, long ago, they are not some human thinking and did not promote the "right to sin".

The first century Roman Empire was a place where the rich got richer by growth of military conquest. Many lived in a state of physical comfort similar to what we live today where slaves did the work  that technology does for us now.

Medical progress has made it possible to overcome the material downside of breaking the "Golden Rule". The Joy of Sex can be easily satisfied without fear of immediate consequences. Today, even sexual perversities are considered to be essential to humanity  and promoted by "Human Rights" agitation. But 2000 years ago, John the Baptist fearlessly faced the political powers of his day and preached that Herod's relationship with Herodias broke God's law.

Jesus is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. He is our example and our goal. His human person is still with us in the spiritual body given to us by the Sacrament. The three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in their timeless certitude of being know love and care for us today, yesterday and tomorrow but we in the confines of human time have to use our freedom of spirit to atone for the sins of yesterday, and avoid those of today and tomorrow.

Dear Lord let me welcome your infinite Mercy into my heart and let my soul become what it should be. I know my sins and you know them with the pain they caused by their ingratitude. Let me strive for holiness aware that all is possible for you and that the prayers of your Mother and all the saints are ceaselessly raised to implore your Mercy on all the Earth and Purgatory.

 02/02/2023

All the events of Jesus' life on  Earth confirm that  the Father, Son and Holy Spirit first chose to make the revelation of God to the people of Israel. The Jews are still the chosen people although today they show less belief in their covenant than do we Christians in ours. This Feast of the Presentation is a remembrance that continues to emphasise that Jesus true God is also true man. Joseph and Mary follow the Law exactly and dedicate him to God as the circumcised first born of their family. 

Our Faith emphasises that our bodies have to be controlled by our souls and that there is no need to undergo the pettifogging scrupulosity to avoid "defilement of our body" practised by the Pharisees. Our defilement of soul, sin always begins with our choice of disobedience to God's will. One can understand why the messy business of birth could have been seen as a source of ritual impurity in a society that wore phylacteries and had rules about hand washing. 

The ceremony of "Churching" of mothers forty days after birth seems to have been  forgotten by our Western Church and there is no "defilement" in the monthly "period" dreaded by so many women. Our bodies are unmarked by original sin but, under the influence of pre-Christian philosophers the Spirit has been considered to be by nature, a higher order than the physical body. Lots of heresies and arguments were faced in the Church because of this opinion The Incarnation cancels that argument.

We still know that our souls live on after our bodies die. We also know that the Incarnation of God took place in Bethlehem. The ever begotten Son had grown in the womb of the Virgin Mary and thus dignified the whole of human nature body and soul. The corpse of Jesus was not revived but reborn/resurrected into the new way of life/being that God has prepared for us all at the end of time, of course, our freedom can still refuse the free gift of God, but totally mindless to do so. 

Dear Lord may I be always open to receive your word and believe it with sincerity. I am always the same "I"and can easily fall into prideful self-love. May Mary's example of selflessness always be present in my thoughts and let my being totally surrender to your Will, for you are the Mercy that has saved  sinners here on Earth and will pardon the Holy Souls who are atoning in Purgatory.

 01/02/2023

I feel closer to St Paul than I do to the Bishops here in England. 

Reading this morning's Gospel  I was struck with Jesus', although he was amazed by the lack of Faith, acceptance of his situation vis a vis his neighbours and family. He accepts that their familiarity with him as a child who had been seen on the streets and fields of Nazareth, growing up as children do, coloured their thoughts about him. They must have known about the only event of his childhood recorded in Scripture and he could have been known as "that clever boy of Joseph whom the Scribes listened to" but on them this "Nazrani"  had nothing, as a grown man, like the impact he had had on the beaches of the Sea of Galilee.

"Judge not lest you be judged" is a dire warning and so is Paul's "take care that no root of bitterness take hold and begin to grow". Whole Christian communities have been destroyed over the centuries by this bitterness that arises when we listen to ourselves and invest our whole being in ourselves and not in the only Christ who brought Father, Son and Holy Spirit to his people living on earth.

There have been many decades in History when the institution that Jesus founded to confirm the holiness that is the will of his Father, the reason for his suffering and the Glory of the Resurrection did not act according to the Gospel. Is knowing that whole dynasties of Popes and Bishops and Clergy have been corrupted by the Devil World and Flesh which we condemn with the confirmation of Baptismal Promises by our way of Life, not making a judgement in favour of Truth.

Is it not sinful to passively accept the de facto holiness of the "Church" when we can see the hypocritical waywardness of those who have been given both the seal of the Priesthood and the Keys by the Good Shepherd. 

Of course, I feel closer to St Paul than to the Bishops for he is closer to Jesus, my Lord and my Saviour God.

Dear Lord, you know that much of your Church is not doing your will on Earth. I also know this, but also know that repentance for my sinfulness is the only goal that I am capable of reaching and that only with the Grace that you have poured out for us all. I think that Mary was not happy with the reception you received "at home" but know that there was no bitterness in her. May her prayers and those of all the saints continue to support us here on Earth and let the "Holy Souls in Purgatory Time" have their sins washed away so that their Souls can be filled with your merciful  Love.

 31/01/2023

We have to keep fighting against sin which sticks like velcro and ruins our souls also just like velcro ruins knitwear. We have to keep fighting against sin to the point of death by making Jesus our goal and our example. We have to tell future generations about the Lord and prepare them by making known the Love that is Father Son and Holy Spirit. I know that I have not done this during my lifetime and as I get closer to the end I become more aware of how easy it is to make excuses for my sins.

I have witnessed and been part of the collapse of  Christianity as the leader and setter of moral values in Europe. St Paul has stressed more than once the theme of competition. We have to run the race. We have to keep on fighting. We have to train. His congregations have to be teams composed of individuals all with different gifts and abilities who support each other in the quest for holiness which is the "power"that disabled woman felt when she touched the hem of Jesus' garment.

Our Church is the living body of which Jesus is the head. Jesus, the Son of God, the same substance as the Father, the Word who is there at the start of time to be together with the Father, the Holy Spirit one God. The Trinity of Persons is the Evergreater substance that is the Love first revealed in Eden and prepared in Gethsemane to be nailed on a cross to show for ever the power that is Eternal Love. 

This is what I believe and I pray that the institution can forget patrimony, disregard tradition and become truly the Church founded by Jesus, preached by the Apostles and loved to the point of death by the Holy Ones of God. Each of us past, present and future has been given the freedom along with the obligation to do this.

Dear Lord, let me not lose sight of these words with which I begin my day. I will, with your help let all whom I love know this Faith which I ask to be able to maintain with sincerity of purpose and integrity of being. May the prayerful support of Mary be with our leaders to turn them from the things of this world that they may be true to their vocations and seek holiness for themselves and their flock on earth and forgiveness for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

 30/01/2023

The scribes and Pharisees knew of the nearness of God from their sacred scriptures. Paul lists the "saints" of whom he was aware but whose great deeds of Faith were nothing in comparison with Jesus who fulfills all that God has promised. I like Paul's style of clumping the deeds done by these faithful Jews all together giving an impression that  wonders were an everyday occurrence in  Palestine. This was true of the 33 years of  Jesus pre-resurrection life, however, and thus true Holiness again was given to the Holy land. Paul was, of course, a Resurrection Christian whose knowledge of the Jesus' mission on Earth had been learned from the eyewitnesses in the same way that ours has. 

Jesus preached not only to Jews but also to the mixed communities of the Decapolis and to the people of Lebanon around Tyre and Sidon. I cannot imagine how a herd of five-thousand head of pigs could ever have been controlled and was even needed as the population was not solely pagan. The numbers used in the New Testament to describe crowds are not to be relied on as literal truth but are of the nature of estimates, embellished for literary effect. Even the Evangelists not withstanding their guidance by the Holy Spirit are only humans recollecting their experiences of previous years.

The people who followed the man who had been restored to humanity to see Jesus were both afraid of and amazed by the wandering Rabbi who had restored this man, whom they knew as a violently dangerous maniac, to rationality. I wonder, did the cured one continue to spread the news of Jesus' power and authority? Was he present at the Crucifixion? 

On a different level I ask myself how I would  have felt if it had been my herd that had been driven over a cliff.

Dear Lord the psalm for today's reading was undoubtedly known and possibly sung by you during a Sabbath worship in a Synagogue. In it there is again another warning against pride. Truly self-love is the source of most that troubles our world at all times. Let me become true to your teaching and let the selflessness with which Mary responded to Gabriel's message and thus revealing Father, Son and Holy Spirit be the example that I must follow and the support that I need.

29/02/2023

If we all were to try to practise what is preached in all of the readings for today's Masses we would be living together on this earth in the peace and tranquility God wants for us. The Israelites didn't quite make it. At least, the ones we read about in the Old Testament didn't make it as the "Chosen People" although individuals and possibly some groups e.g.the Essenes did maintain an obedience to the spirit of the Law.

Love is never putting yourself first. The first family in Genesis are recorded as having produced the first killing, the first murder and since that time our race has maintained an unholy history of growth in wealth, in power, in knowledge. God knows this and could stop it but the freedom given to us  means that we have to choose for ourselves to become the creatures that God wants to be. All of creation is as it was created  , "and it is good" except for us who are continuing to destroy God's work both in ourselves and in our world.

One of Paul's first churches in Europe was soon at strife amongst themselves. The Corinthians dwelt in an anciently civilised community which meant that they had a rigidly hierarchical society and although converted to the Resurrection Faith by the charisma of Paul could not adapt to the love for each other that had been shown by our crucified Lord.

Preaching on a hillock in Galilee in the person of Incarnate Son,  Father, Son and Holy Spirit told us how we can bring ourselves to the holiness that would make us fulfill his will. The first of our kind failed even though the Hindu and Buddhist ancient texts show that they tried and are still trying. God even chose a group to especially favour, Jesus was preaching to their descendants, but they went so far in disobedience as to agitate the civil powers in Palestine to kill the Son of God.

Our own world today is nothing but strife. All organisations create their own versions of dissension rivalry and hate. It is only by each individual in the world trying to be in this life the human that we could all be if we treated the Word with the honour, devotion and obedience that his Evergreater being revealed in Galilee of the Nations.

Dear Lord, "I thank you for the wonder of my being" and pray that I can use your grace to increase my integrity and Faith. I am afraid that my being is too weak to escape from self-fixation and truly return the "Love lavished on all the World". May the prayers of Mary help us all to live in the words spoken on the Mount and may she and all the saints who even not present as she was at the "Sermon" implore the Holy Spirit to fill all our souls with the Love that comes from doing the will of God.