07/08/2023

The relationship between the Israelites wandering in the desert and God resembles my own sinful life time. Sometimes as I was growing up I was safe and sure in the Catholic Faith that I was learning to love and sometimes my own sinfulness ruled all my thoughts and deeds and at those times I had no self control and as did the Israelites I blamed God for letting me sin.

England was a truly Christian country at that time. Each Sunday all the desolate and empty churches and chapels that now clutter our villages, towns and cities calling out our lack of Faith to the heavens,were filled with enthusiastic worshipers.. 

My neighbours were all Protestant Methodists. Every now and then I had to defend theological accusations that originated in Sunday Schools. Yes, children talked about God and religion in those days.Catholics are sinful because they worship statues was heard not once but many times, as were other blasphemies against Our Lady. Our Corpus Christi procession was met with scorn and jibes by groups of children and teenagers with their parents standing and smirking not too far away. But many of those boys had a real belief in the nearness of God. I remember one boy putting up his arm as if to touch somebody saying "I've got my hand on Jesus' shoulder". He wasn't mocking, he meant it. May God let him rest in peace.

I never lacked belief in God, however, and during the next 35 years made some effort to atone for sins but never showed the constancy that is the true sign of belief. Jesus had no need but he too  did spend 30 years in obscurity, Israelites wandered for 40 years and then spent hundreds of years trying to live faultlessly in sight of  their benefactor. 

In the closing shots of  yesterday's "filmed" drama the camera panned across the lake to another man of similar age to John sitting in a boat to address a great crowd of men, women and children. In what is to be a foretaste of the reason behind his presence in our lives today Jesus feeds a multitude using the goods  his creation to support our bodies while our souls look on in wonder and begin to worship.

Dear Lord help me to see clearly what it is that you reveal in the Scriptures. Let me avoid the attempt to be "clever" and childishly show-off. Let my "childishness" be an open heart that can recognise your Love and welcome it with humility and joy. Our Lady recognised your grace and always remains "poor in Spirit"only coming forward with any pride at the wedding feast at Cannae and this because of her trust in you.. May she together with the souls and angels of heaven plead with Our Father to send the Grace that will forgive us our sins and help us to become Christ-like in forgiveness of others.

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 06/08/2023

The power wielded by the priests of the pagans derived from the control that they had over the "oracles" that only they could interpret and from their role as intermediaries between their "gods" and the state. They were also the supposed to be the recipients of secret knowledge which gave to them sacred power in the eyes of the people.

 The people themselves attributed their lives to the care of their personal household gods and the "inhabitants' of sacred locations near to  where they lived.. All over the world the really powerful rulers became "Sons of Heaven" or actual "gods" who demanded worship as their due. 

Most of  those who were to be convinced by Jesus, those who became the nucleus of Christianity were familiar with the Old Testament which contained attempts by the prophets to describe the glorious immateriality of the Evergreater IAMIAM in human language. All of the attempts by Ezekiel, Daniel, Ezra and also by John in the Apocalypse fail because God is not to be known by our senses but  reveals himself to us by our worship and devotion to him. Moses'  the "burning bush"on Mt Sinai , together with the "still quiet breeze" also on Mt Sinai have the holy simplicity that impresses me more than the vastness of the other visions.

What is it that happened on Mount Tabor when Peter, James and John trudged up the dusty slopes with Jesus? We know that there was a transfiguration of their Rabbi that produced a vision of brilliant light and engulphed them in an unknowing wonder which they tried to interpret but were in truth unable to do so. This is one of the few occasions that Jesus asks individuals to remain silent about their unique experiences of him.

Our Lord, Son with Father and Holy Spirit, one God did not empty himself of his unlimited Being to take on humanity in the womb of  Mary Theotokos to remain unknown on earth. His objective was to make the holiness and forgiveness of God known openly to the whole world not in arcane secrets known only to initiates. 

For thirty years he lived as one man among thousands, his mystery being known only to Mary and to Joseph and remained as man for another three years until the Resurrection when he has been proclaimed to be God to all the world.

Of the three who had been shown the hidden Glory of the Lord on Mount Tabor only one remained to the bitter end on Golgotha. 

Dear Lord , let me be filled with the loving Faith of John and the three Marys. Let the fire of the Holy Spirit enlighten my soul, let me return  unconditionally  the love of Son and let me search for the immensity of  Father letting the Glory of the Trinity guard me and all of creation from the ignorance and stupidity that lets us  be overcome by the transient happiness and pleasures of this world to the detriment of our everlasting souls.

 05/08/2023

The way of life ordered for the Israelites in today's First Reading tells us that God has to be the centre of our lives even to the extent described for the Jubilee. We are not to seek profit in business dealings with our fellow man. The value of our neighbour's worldly goods is to be determined by an objective standard that is determined by God's words to Moses. The Jubilee Year is to be the Sabbath of Years.

 I am not an Old Testament Scholar but I cannot remember the "Jubilee Year" as playing a huge part in the History of Israel, its ups and downs as recorded in the Old Testament.

The beheading of St John the Baptist, however, is grippingly dramatic and contains all the elements that enthral us even today in books, plays and films. It is the Drama that in various guises is being played out to captivated audiences of millions this moment as I read and write. 

It has the man powerful in position, but still a slave to his passions. There is a beautiful voluptuous girl and her conniving mother now the spouse of the King. The fearless integrity of one man among his subjects condemns the immorality of the life lead by his ruler and his spouse. This worries the wife/mother who knowing the weakness of her husband's will; "he was fascinated by the words of the Baptist, even though he didn't understand them" plots to use the sexual attractiveness of her daughter to ruin John . She succeeds; but in the final scene the camera pans across the nearby lake and in soft focus lingers on another solitary figure sitting on the gunwale of a boat addressing a crowd of listeners.

Back to reality of the Gospel. The deciding factor in the all powerful ruler's decision, however, was not a consuming lust for the girl but his concern for the maintaining of his reputation as the man of power who could be trusted to act on his word especially that sworn in public. That situation  of the proud man of power who could not bear to show to his people the reality of his human weakness is also killing thousands in bloody conflicts all over the world today.

Dear Lord you have told me your love for your Church can still be seen in the hearts of those who have been devoted to the care of the weak and poor throughout the world. How can I atone not only for my personally sinful life but also for the neglect of the least of the poor ones, the love of whom you have promised is the true love of you. May the prayers of Mary and all the Saints help me to  forgo comparisons of merit and devote my life to nothing but you and your word . Let the institution learn as I am doing that God, the Mystical Body of Christ  is not a hierarchical organisation but is the Love that knows us as individuals who all care for each other.

 04/08/2023

I do not know how that the Jesus we know from the Gospels could be despised by anyone. We can be certain that his mother only ever felt love for the fragility of the fruit of her womb that the immeasurable  humility of  Father, Son and Holy Spirit had taken on to provide for us the merciful power of Divine Love that we can choose to use to strengthen our freedom to do only good as we live on this earth. 

Mary, Theotokos, gave birth and then tended for the human needs of the infant. The Ever Greater, Lord of all creation, was the child that she fed washed, changed, cuddled and taught to pray. Many of us have felt superior to this human life-cycle that the True Man and True God chose to endure even to death. God did this for us to be able to be redeemed from our sins. It is a fact of human history.

God in his wisdom has chosen to have special care for the people he chose to "speak to". They were guided in the specific way of life that would enable  them to find the joy that is sung in today's psalm that was also sung by Jesus when he attended Synagogue in Nazareth. "Who does he think he is?"What can he tell us about IAMIAM? murmured the congregation for they were faithful to the rules governing their lives as the Chosen People.

The rules for worship revealed in today's first reading did not originate from anything other than God's intention to guide his people into the way of life that would avoid the abomination of sin and strengthen their human bonds. He always IS and is in need of nothing. Jesus becomes part of creation; he partakes in humanity's lifecycle, which in his case is cut short, to enable the final revelation to be made. Even Nazarenes could not deny the Resurrection. Where was Thomas from?

Dear Lord may my prayer be acceptable and my belief and trust in your humanity bring about a total sincerity of heart which will not be lost today. May all the saints who are bodiless with you in heaven pray that Jesus who is You and with You in the Resurrection together with the  Assumption of Mary pray that your Church here on earth be converted to the holiness that is needed by all  sinners on earth and in purgatory if we are to join You in the Glory that is Eternal.

 03/08/2023

God is well aware of the bemusement that is likely to fill the minds of anyone who reads today's details of how Moses cared for the presence of God, the Tablets and the Ark. 

The stationary tabernacles of our churches are similarly there to be treated with a devotion equal to that of Moses and the Israelites for the Ark and it coverings.

The Real Presence of God in our churches is also attended with flowers and lights but these are all provided by the worshippers. We are not accompanied by the Cloud or the Pillar of Fire.

God is not confined by anything. His being is beyond the physical limits of the Universe, his creation, he is not only in the Cloud, Pillar or Ark but fills the world with his Goodness. Our limited intelligences can in this world think  the "Idea of God"but it is only in receiving "Holy Communion" with the correct intentions we can be one with all believers who are fed by "The Real Presence of God" Jesus,  as were the Apostles in the Upper Room and momentarily be "with him".

I think that Jesus tells us in today's Gospel that we are the free and responsible owners of our lives and that in the depths of our souls are able to find trace memories of, and with our living human minds and bodies know, love and serve the Being that is the ever greater God.

 The Kingdom of Heaven is not of this World nor is it an idea created in my mind, it is You Spiritual Being, Father, Son and Holy Spirit that we share with all mankind living and dead. It is the Living God, the Shekinah, the Glory of the Almighty.

Dear Lord, I still hope that I am one soul known intimately by you and that my being is truly striving to follow the Commandments revealed to Moses and completed by Jesus. May Mary and all the Saints who are in your Glory join their praise to ours and seek forgiveness for all sinners both on Earth and in Purgatory.

 02/08/2023

What is this "Kingdom of God" that Jesus always presents to us in parables, metaphors and similies.? Today we have the metal detectorist of his era who when looking around in the vicinity of one of the ancient ruins/burial places, of which there were plenty in Palestine, even at the time of Our Lord, comes across a buried hoard. He doesn't reveal his find to the owner of the field. It must be his! So he raises capital from his present possessions and buys the field without revealing its hidden value.

The acquisition of hidden value is still one of the main activities of the Trading Companies of today. Jesus neither condones nor condemns the basic dishonesty of this practice, acquiring goods at less than their true value, but tells us that we should  emulate the persistence  of the wheelers and dealers seen on Wall Street, the City of London and other bourses and exchanges throughout the world in their search for wealth. Our persistence, however,  should be directed to  the " Kingdom of God" an unshakeable adherence to the revelations of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Why does Jesus make no condemnation of the literal "gold-digger"? Jesus' other parables using wealth as their theme also reflect the complexity of the way worldly wealth continues to grow and provides us with many of our moral conundrums. The present day Vatican is  paralysed by the "Patrimony of St Peter."The Church knows that the worldly riches that have been acquired over centuries, two Millenia, should not  be wasted but caring for them takes the time that should be devoted to "The Kingdom of God". 

Prayer is the primary purpose of each soul here on Earth. The Word, the Incarnate Son of the Father became the ultimate prayer on the Cross of Calvary. His mystical body, the Church could offer herself to become a sacrifice pleasing to God in the only way possible when stuck in the "Eye of the Needle". Divest.Divest.Divest. Give everything away and return to prayer.

Dear Lord, I know that I am responsible for myself. Let me never lose sight of the Angel who has brought to me the Holy Spirit and let the sincerity of these moments remain with me until I face death. May Mary and all the Saints support my words and the prayers of the heart that are a truthful raising of my being to God. Lord have mercy on me.

 01/08/2023

Over the years that I have tried to live in accordance with the teachings of the Church I have never paid much attention to Moses and the wandering people of God. So today, in trying to understand how Joshua could stay in the Tent of Meeting, I have come to realise for the first time that the "wandering" in the desert was not a daily event. They did not wake up each morning, strike camp and move to another location then pitch their tents again. 

Very much like modern day Bedouin they would exhaust the pasture and other resources of a location and then move on. Over time they would come to know fertile places in the desert where they would scatter seed, leaving it to grow  in God's Providence. They would then return to this locality to either harvest this seed or leave it as fodder for their flocks. The people I have met who have grown up in this environment are usually tough as nails and afraid of nothing and nobody. "Self-contained" or "Stiff-necked" is not an inappropriate adjective to use of them but they are never rude.

The crowds who listen to Jesus and at times smother him by their demands and presence are a settled people. Their forefathers were the Israelites of the desert. The tent of meeting had evolved into the Temple and local schools, the synagogues. Jesus was able to teach in these urban locations but his parables are often created to appeal to the folk memory of his listeners.

Jesus has completed his mission as sower of the seed. In addition to sowing us into this world he has also ensured our growth with his blood. He has left us to grow in the fertility of God's Providence with the support of his grace but we do this in freedom and not straitjacketed by predestination as St Augustine avers. The seeds of the parable will, indeed, be unable to change their DNA but the souls that they represent, we on earth, can turn to and away from the Sower, as they will.

Fear of Hell often consumed the being of the child that I was. It has taken a lifetime of sin, repent and sin again to realise that there is nothing to fear about death for it is merely a transition to a bodiless spiritual condition where God is everything. May Mary help me to be welcomed into what she and all the saints know. May my atonement be full and my prayers sincere thus emptying myself of all pride and selfishness.