15/04/2023

Today's readings at mass complete a week during which the Church invites us to meditate on the events which are her beginnings. In the Acts we see the first days when the Apostles begin to realise that they have been part of something more than the revelations they know from the Scrolls of Scripture.

We have to feel human sympathy for the Scribes and Pharisees. These are men just as we are. They have been born into the Chosen People in the Promised Land and have tried to serve the Temple of the Lord. They know that they are doing God's Will as revealed to Moses. 

They have been unable to answer the questions posed by the proclamation of the Resurrection of that "nuisance from Galilee" other than by denying that it ever happened. The uneducated "workmen" continue to cause outbreaks of "enthusiasm" in the Temple and many worshippers are accepting their teachings.

Today we hear them facing  the hard facts of their situation. An undeniable miracle has been performed as it were on "Live Television"; all Jerusalem knows about it. The "name" of Jesus was invoked and the "celebrity" cripple was completely cured. They knew that such an event had to be sanctioned by God as did all the witnesses but the certainty they had in Scriptures and in their own office had to have them avoiding the issue and as second Pilates they washed their hands by avoiding the challenge that each one of them faced.

Their fudged answer did not achieve very much but their descendants maintain it to this day. This too has got to be God's Will.

Dear Lord those of us who can know our own sinfulness have received a great grace. The Chief Priests then and the Institutional officer-holders of your Church today have a great problem in that the trappings of worship block out the Holy Spirit. This is undoubtedly the work of Satan. May Mary and all the Saints of Heaven continue to pray for all sinners to accept their guilt and to pray for a share in the mercy for all won on Calvary.

 14/04/2023

Today we read how Peter and John were detained by the Temple authorities. They were surrounded by the elders, Sadducees and Pharisees and Peter, who is now a new man, spoke sincerely without fear. I always am flummoxed by the use of the word "name" in these Biblical contexts. I bless myself "in the "name"of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and Jesus denied that he cast out devils in the "name" of  Beelzebub.

Peter is filled the Holy Spirit and tells his interrogators that "Jesus" is the only "name" by which we can be saved. Peter, himself Jesus' literal foundation stone for his Church tells us that the "name" of Jesus is the keystone  that was rejected. Peter is not his own authority for this. He is not speaking in his own person, his own name, but is inspired by God.

It seems then that  that "name" is "person" or "being". Peter speaks in Jesus'"name" so it is the living "Christ" that is being interrogated again by the High Priests. It is the living Christ who is ready to bring us all to be with him in new life and new creation. 

No one has a monopoly on the "name" of Jesus. "No-one can come to the Father except through me" does not confine our God to the institution he founded. The first three centuries of the Church were lived out in the Glory of the Resurrection, coming to an understanding of Jesus' mission  and establishing what it was that they had received from the Apostles, but most of all the  conviction that Jesus would soon return bringing about the Final Judgement and the End Days. 

In a remarkably short time, however, it seems that her main function came to be maintaining the human institution and its status quo symbolised by the power of the"Keys" and not by the total love for Father, Son and Holy Spirit and selfless love of our neighbour that is the way, truth and life  of Jesus'  "Name".

Dear Lord you know me. Help me to see myself as you see me. Let me see the hidden recesses of my being where Satan tricks me into trying to hide from you as did our first parents in the Garden. May Mary and all the Church Triumphant pray for the sinners of the Church on earth and in Purgatory that we might accept the Mercy that is showered down on us.

 13/04/2023

"The Acts" are a record of the wonderful events in Jerusalem more than 2000 years ago and are completely historical. They really did happen and the actual sites are still there and can be excavated. They are still very much a Jewish affair as the Temple was the focus for the worship recorded in the "Acts". Peter speaks with authority. 

They are all Jews. They are all worshipers of the same God as their forefathers but Peter is no longer the spineless wreck he was on the night of the trial. He tells them to their faces that they are responsible for the tragedy of Calvary. They are all guilty.

Then he comes to the difficult bit. They did agree to the killing of the Lord but only because they did not understand what they were doing. It was God's will that Jesus should be the perfect sacrifice in his favourite place on earth.

For us too who have grown out of roots planted in the Old Testament and have had centuries of Christianity to grow nearer to Father, Son and Holy Spirit it is still difficult to believe that some men, the same as we are, actually hammered iron nails through the defenceless hands of another human being because it was God's will to become the perfect sacrifice to atone for my sins.

We are all in need of merciful forgiveness and the ultimate horror of the Crucifixion tells us why we have to have a hatred for sin for it is also a fact of  history that my sins did crucify the Saviour of the World.

Dear Lord you know my being. You know that I am willing to be open to your love and more than willing to accept with gratitude your revelations and the teaching of the Church. My weaknesses are still with me; may Mary your mother continue to pray for all sinners on earth and in Purgatory that the Mercy that is capable of overpowering all evil and won in such torment on Calvary be welcomed into our hearts.

 12/04/2023

If the New Testament was a film the "Acts" would be "St Luke 2".  In the first reading, the Church of the Apostles is still centred on the Temple for we are all still Jews. The God we know is still the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and His Temple is where we worship. It is also where we follow Jesus' example to proclaim the message of his Father and inspired by the Holy Spirit we proclaim the Resurrection. In today's first reading it is also where God upholds our mission and cures, in plain sight of all, the former fixture at the "Beautiful Gate" who runs and jumps up the steps into the Temple.

In the Gospel reading St Luke shows us a "flashback" to the first days after the Crucifixion. The two disciples are undoubtedly part of the group who had been to Bethany to see the resuscitated Lazarus and joined the throng on Palm Sunday. They had suffered the unimaginable gall that the Crucifixion had been for all the Apostles and disciples. They had also heard of what had happened  on the first day of that week but had not been sufficiently moved to stay with those who remained in Jerusalem. The hope that Jesus had enkindled had been brutally extinguished. There was no hope for Israel.

As they trudged back to Emmaus the stranger appeared and after listening to them began by scolding . "You foolish men". Their hearts began to burn at the recognition of the Truth the stranger expounded from the Prophets but they still did not recognise their Rabbi. They must have been with him for some time when they invited him to stay. He broke the loaf and they saw Jesus. They immediately rushed back to Jerusalem.

The "Breaking of the Bread" is accepted as a reference to the Last Supper but this need not necessarily be true for we do not know when they could have been told about the events of that meal and their significance. It could be a simple time-marker of the moment when they saw that he who had been a stranger was in fact Jesus. Thus, we are all taught that Jesus is always with us and we will see him if our hearts are ready for our eyes to be opened. Maranatha!

Dear Lord I am always ready to think about these familiar passages from scripture. I know that I have failed to live up to them during the "acts" of my own life and you already know that I will soon see evidence of how we have abandoned you who pours out love and suffered so much pain to inaugurate a new covenant for your people. May Mary and all your Saints plead for thy Church and have her strip herself of all the trappings of worldly wealth so that you can be with us and we can be with you in the bread that she breaks.

 11/04/2023

The risen Lord is never instantly recognised by those to whom he shows himself . The story that the stone to close off the tomb was intended to prevent was instantly used to deny the proclamation of the Resurrection. Jews and Moslems to this day repeat that the Resurrection was a deception planned by Jesus and executed by his followers. 

Jesus was mocked at his trial and is still mocked today by those who choose to believe that the disciples, that scattered bunch of vagabonds, who were not only unable to defend their Rabbi but also made no protest at his trial or place of execution, was capable of the organisation required to pull off such a coup.

The Resurrection is as much an Historical fact as is the death of King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. To deny it is to deny the evidence of all historical records; evidence that hits straight in the eye as did the arrow at Hastings.

All humans are created to know, love and obey. We are also unprogrammed intelligences. We have free minds that can become so impressed by our own capabilities that we deny that there is anything greater than we are but, we all die which is a human habit from which, no matter how much we impress ourselves, none of us can break free. Jesus' Resurrection is not resuscitation, it is not a rebirth on the Wheel of Life, it is the first fruits of the Last Days which will be the renewal when only "my word will stand". Maranatha!

Dear Lord let me this day be ready to lose the happiness that it is for me to be alive. I am an undeserving sinner who is truly humbled by your gifts and does not know how to express gratitude. I am your creature. Do with me what thou will. May Mary our Mother continue to protect all her family for although I am undeservedly blessed, there are millions still who need help to open their hearts and minds to our Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

 10/04/2023

What a difference we see in the Peter some seven weeks after the shamefaced, despairing weakling who could not respond when challenged about his discipleship, we saw on the morning of Good Friday. 

Jesus is so far above us that words really do fail when trying to grasp a concept of his being. He did teach, he did cure the sick, he did feed the hungry, he did face up to Satan, he did raise Lazarus from the dead. He is God and simultaneously a Man as human as we are. He is way above my understanding. I can only, in awe, say "Yes" to him or totally reject him. 

Peter is only a man and as such we can relate to his weakness and take heart from his recovery. For three years Peter had followed his Rabbi throughout Palestine. He had prayed by his side both privately and publicly, in synagogues  and in the Temple. He had rejected him at the time of the trial and avoided the cruel spectacle of the death on the cross. We can see in Peter all the evidence we need, as sinful men, to live in hope of Heaven.

He is as weak as I am but having been chosen he really does become the rock on which the Church can be built. He is filled with the Holy Spirit and this morning, in a loud voice, he proclaims the Resurrection in the very faces of those who had chosen Death.

Dear Lord you are indeed the Evergreater God. Father Son and Holy Spirit you fill us with your Grace. We can join with Peter in his witness to your Love and with Mary as our Mother we can as her children plead for the forgiveness and Mercy that we can only receive but never earn. You are the Lord. Maranatha.

 08/04/2023

We all have a part to play in God's creation. We are all in the world. We are all tiny specks of immortality in the vastness of the Universe. We can only be the one created by God to be ourselves, the very, very small "I am" to honour and worship the vastness of the "I  AM" revealed to Moses on Mt. Sinai.

Today is remembrance of total emptiness felt two thousand years ago by the disciples in Jerusalem. Some of us who had bayed for the Crucifixion of Our Lord didn't really know, what the fuss had been about. They were the permanent inhabitants of the Holy City, twofold superior by both race and place of birth. They had joined the welcoming throng on the previous Sunday caught up in the excitement of being in a crowd. They were the mindless core of the mob that, demanding the death penalty, that crowd had become by Friday.

Some of us are unable to look each other in the eye. We had all witnessed the shame of each other's guilt. We could comfort ourselves by concentrating on the treachery of the "the thief" our treasurer and the barbarity unleashed by the Pharisees and High Priests of our Temple. The human race has always blamed others for its own sins. It really did all start with the Adam of this evening's first reading.

The only guiltless being there in Jerusalem and in the whole world that "Empty Day", was the one who was suffering the most pain for she had the most love not only for her dead Son but for the Priests and executioners and for for the "lost sheep" who are all still her children.

Later in this Empty time of loneliness and compassion the Church will in the most Sacred Liturgy lead us from the Empty Tomb through the history of God's Care and Providence to the Proclamation of the Resurrection. Would that this Resurrection Faith remain strong in me, in all the Faithfull, and especially in the clergy.

Dear Lord help me to be at peace and find you in my heart to always be my defence against the Devil,  my protection against the flesh of my being and my avoidance of the corruptions of this world. May Mary for whom the prophecy of Simeon is a reality of her being continue to care for her children given to her at the foot of the cross and may she and all the Saints join in this evenings' "Exsultet" resounding throughout the world.