22/03/2023

In the Gospel Jesus tells his listeners what is for them a harsh truth. In their minds he is attacking God by claiming equality with the Lord who is one in being, indivisible and unapproachable except through the Veil and into the Holy of Holies. They want to kill him for he is an affront to God. They feel that it is their duty to protect God. 

Jesus has already told the religious authorities that doing God's will, righteousness, can only come from the heart. They know that he does not hold the priests and pharisees in any awe.The minute detail of the Rabbis' interpretation of the Law is an intolerable burden that can only lead to the hypocrisy for which "pharisee-ism/clericalism" has become a byword. 

But Jesus does not condemn any of us. It is to bring a new form of life into creation that he, Father, Son and Holy Spirit  has walked the highways and byways of Palestine and is now disputing in the Temple. 

In the first reading Isaiah's hope is for a restoration of the material world. He is inspired with God-filled hope for the good life dreamed for in the image of a land "flowing with milk and honey" and also praised in the Psalms. His "Messiah" is the same one that  the first disciples mistakenly thought they had found when first Jesus called them to follow him.

The words John puts into the mouth of Jesus have been written much later than the events. John was with the public mission of Jesus from the first day and had been entrusted by Jesus with the care of his mother. He and his brother, as did all the disciples, missed the literal truth of "My Kingdom is not of this world" but now at the end of his own life and inspired by the Holy Spirit, he is able to order his mixed bag of memories into the coherent discourse that is his Gospel.

Dear Lord,  help me to live knowing that your grace will always save me if my intentions are pure and unselfish. I need great help to follow you to the Cross for our new life flows from your wounds on Calvary. May Mary and all the Saints who are living the promised new life of Heaven continue in their prayers that we on earth and in Purgatory can be forgiven for our past sins and be protected from them for today.

 21/03/2023

Ezekiel's vision of the Temple is so exact that models of it can be made. John's Gospel is so accurate an account of God's purpose in the Incarnation that the writer is "The Theologian". 

All the Scriptures are inspired by God. St Paul's teaching that is recorded in his letters comes from God. St Paul did not have the benefit of knowing the pre-resurrection Jesus but once he had overcome the Apostles' initial mistrust questioned all who had known Jesus and was able with his  scholar's intellect inspired by the Holy Spirit to preach the Word that is confirmed by the Jesus of the Gospels.

The first Christians knew only the Psalms and the other texts that proclaim the Glory of God and the holiness of His people Israel. The first generation were inspired by their recollections of what they had seen and heard. "Chinese Whispers" is not only a game but also the reality of our human memory. Each eye-witness of an event can retain a memory of that event that differs from person to person. The first witnesses also expected that the beloved Lord would return as he promised and were not encouraged by that expectation to record their experience which still filled their hearts.

The first Church was centred around the Jewish Liturgical Blessing that became a remembrance of the Last Supper. It is noteworthy that none of the disputes in the Acts about how to get around the problem (for Jews) of sharing a meal with the ritually unclean "Pagans" mentioned the Temple sacrifice. It was not until the fourth century, by which time hundreds of texts claiming divine inspiration were in circulation, that the Church found it necessary to confirm the authenticity of the books that are today our New Testament.

It is known that John's writings were composed late in his life. They were truly recollections in tranquility of the moments of his own experience that he knew had been touched the Evergreater, Father Son and Holy Spirit. He had also cared for Mary the only human, other than her son, born without sin. They must have talked together. What they said has not been recorded.

Dear Lord, let us today accept your grace as did the first Christian. Let us all accept the New Testament for what it is, the Truth of God which is Father, Son and Holy Spirit for us to know, love and obey for what we are has been justified on earth two thousand years ago. May Mary continue to lead all the Angels, Apostles and Saints in Heaven in the praise and glory that we the forgiven and penitent on earth and in Purgatory hope to join when decided by you.

 20/03/2023

Joseph, the man Jesus called father on earth, is very much the forgotten man in the history of salvation. All that we know about him is the essential role that he played as "father" in the first years of the incarnate Son. We do not even know when he died nor do we know the members of his family. That he had one is known only by default. "Your mother and brethren are without" is answered by Jesus with an exhortation to his disciples that stresses that we have to ignore everything in our lives that is not "with him".

This is another example of Jesus' hard sayings that apparently contradict "my yolk is easy and my burden is light". It also raises questions about " honour thy father and thy mother". The New Testament is not a "Western" where the "goody" is at first beaten by the "baddy" but finally rides off into the sunset. The New Testament is where we find the authentic history of God on earth. Jesus' body is the result of the Holy Spirit's action in Mary. This is the reality that Jesus lays before us.

Joseph was the first of us to come face to face with this reality. He must have, at first, been dumbstruck and filled with rage. "The Lord is with thee" is also the inspiration for the man Joseph who had the greatest responsibility ever given to any one of us. Responsibility and joy for the child who ran to him and called him "dad" was God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit the Evergreater creator of our spiritual and material Universe.

Dear Lord my heart is open to you to receive the grace I need to sustain my life on earth and my commitment to living in your footsteps. May I bring no harm to anyone this day and let me keep on learning that it is possible for me to do your will on earth. May Mary, Theotokos, whose domestic life was supported by St Joseph join her heavenly prayers with his and all the saints and with those of the Church on earth and in Purgatory. 

 19/03/2023

In John's Gospel this is the only Passover celebrated in Jerusalem . It is the time of God's culminating Sacrifice. Jesus, the Son, accepts the will of the Father, is crucified and raised to a new form of never-ending life, to open the way for the Holy Spirit to fill the hearts of the faithful. Our new covenant has one Sacrifice which is endlessly repeated in the Being of the Trinity and remembered in this world by the  bloodless, spiritual sacrifice offered to bring  the real presence of God into our hearts and into our church buildings.

Samuel whose whole life was dedicated to God is guided to David by the Lord. The youngest of the sons was trusted to guard the sheep. The experience of guiding and guarding the sheep was the recollection  in his later years that inspired the much loved psalm" The Lord is my Shepherd". All our lives can become much more fruitful and meaningful if we can gain and retain the spiritual calm and peace that comes with the absolute trust in God that is the essence of this ancient prayer.

St Paul teaches that we should live in the absolute light of faith. Sin keeps itself hidden. St Paul would have to rethink his images in my world where sin shouts from the roof tops, stares at Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the face, and in challenging our God denies his very existence. 

Dear Lord let your grace keep me from  sin that I have fought against all my life. I hope that I can become truly penitent and in always trying to do your will, show in.my life the Love that you lavish on the whole world. May Mary lead all the saints in the struggle we have on earth against the selfish gullibility that makes us easy prey for Satan and all his works.

 18/03/2023

God's revelation of himself always tells that what he wants is "love" not sacrifices. Time as we know it began with the creation of our material universe. The first humans with body and soul as we are were told to be free but within one Law only. Their wrong choice resulted in the world that I am in at this moment.

Hosea tells us in a striking image that our love for God must not be like the morning dew that disappears back into the air as soon as it is touched by the rays of the sun. The first Christians, all devout Jews, were reminded of Hosea's "on the third day" when trying to grasp the "Resurrection" and retain it in their understanding.

Jesus completes Gods revelation. What we have known about the will of Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the last two millennia is complete there will be nothing new that God will reveal to any future generations until the Last Day, the end of time. 

God's revelation is to all mankind. This means to every individual human soul. Righteousness, living within God's law, is the totality of what we are all allowed in our freedom. Our church, founded on Peter, is incapable of completing Jesus' mission when it acts like those among the Apostles who first of all missed the whole purpose of the teaching of their Rabbi. They argued about rank in the Kingdom of Heaven.

The historic reality of our Church is that more often than not its hierarchical structure has meant more to its clergy than its role given by Jesus. How can any Cleric read this morning's Gospel without squirming in the depths of their beings? Holiness does not come from office within the Church, it comes from God's love for the those who sincerely in the depths of their beings, turn  to him for forgiveness.

Dear Lord, you know everything about me. Let me know you so that your grace can work in me and keep me free from the sin that seems to be present in  all humanity, even in your Church. Let Mary your mother who was created sinless and so can know what a horror sin is to you, continue to be the sinless heart of your Church and by her intercession bring back selflessness to the office holders of the damaged human institution your Church has, yet again, become.

 17/03/2023

Those of us who have been born after the three years of Jesus' mission on earth have received a special blessing. "Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe". The Apostles who had seen the miracles and who had absorbed Jesus' teaching; had had to overcome the grotesque mystery of the Crucifixion and then faced by the Glory of the Resurrection were given the task of remembering all that they had witnessed and proclaiming the Great News.

The vast majority of Christians who have ever lived and died fall into this category of "blessedness". The Gospels are not a "real time" journalistic account by an embedded "special corespondent" but rather a memoir written some time after the events that they record. Scholastic criticism of authorship and recorded texts is, no matter how interesting and erudite, of more importance to the scholars than it is to believing Christians.

It is probable that someone other than St Peter produced the final version of today's first reading.( There is nothing novel about today's ghost-written" memoirs" of princes and politicians.) St Peter who got himself into all sorts of messes by wanting Jesus to be something that he, Peter, could understand was finally appointed by Jesus to lead the Church into the continuation of Father, Son and Holy Spirit on earth that he himself is in the Blessed Sacrament.

The Holy Spirit is always in the Gospels. They are always true even when at their weirdest. Peter and the others dropped everything, their families, their possessions, their livelihoods to follow Jesus who was not then the Risen Lord. They were truly blessed for they too did not see anything more than a working carpenter and yet as working fishermen themselves, by the grace of God, believed and walked after him.

Dear Lord help me to take your life on earth into my heart that I might try continue to be "in your image and likeness" a soul who wants no more than to accept, return and reflect the Love that is your being. None of the disciples knew you more than did your mother from whom you took your first nourishment and received loving maternal care. May she and all the saints in your Eternal Glory not forget the struggling souls on earth and the penitents accepting their punishments in Purgatory.

 16/03/2023

Jesus refutes those who tried to understand the miracle they had just witnessed by attributing it to Satan's power. Evil is completely evil and stands firm as one force challenging Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Only a "stronger man" can defeat the "strong man guarding his palace". Jesus rather abruptly changes his topic from "Satan" to himself and his listeners. We can be sure of our place in the Kingdom only if we are with Jesus. There is with Jesus only "yes" or "no".

The first "yes" from me came at Baptism and I have repeated those vows many times since then. I have repeated and listened to the Creed devotedly. I know that God's Mercy is never absent from our world. Jesus is the last of the prophets. God himself has walked among us as he did with Adam. With an unimaginable suffering on the Cross he has taken into himself all the sins that there can ever be so that we can be able to live as the "Man" we were created to be.

Although our material world has changed so much, each living soul is faced with the same "yes or no" as  was the crowd listening to Jesus. The psalmist prays that we listen. God speaks directly through Jeremiah "Listen to my voice". The Resurrection assures us that God is with us. I can complain to God that I do not want to add to the sins he has forgiven but always do. Only if my heart is sincerely open to the forgiveness won on Calvary can I even begin to live my life knowing, loving and serving.

Dear Lord, forgive my sinful weakness of being. Can I ever come to have  the complete revulsion at Sin as you have? Let me hand over to you all the lies, deceits and selfishness that characterise my life. There is nothing greater than You. Save me again and let all sinners come penitent to kneel at the foot of your cross. May the the prayers of all supplicants on earth and in heaven bring us to an awareness of our faults and to hope for your ever greater Mercy. You are God. Have mercy on me.