22/09/2023

I hope that I am not one of "the self-conceited with a craze for questioning everything and arguing about words". I certainly do write a lot that comes into my head. I have to trust that Our Father who knows and loves the sparrows that are two a penny knows me and can accept my repentance for all my sins.

This is what I understand about St Paul's advice to Timothy. He says that all disagreement and discord in the Churches comes about because the selfishness that each one of has is allowed to shape our beings and we allow ourselves to become enslaved by our physical bodies.

He is warning St Timothy to teach that "the Way" brings for us spiritual benefits that are much more than wealth and that his flock must be "saintly and religious, filled with faith and love, patient and gentle". This is what Jesus by his life of complete acceptance of his Father's will and confirmed as the Truth of God by his Resurrection has taught us.

Any attachment to Mammon will keep us from following the way, the truth and the life. We excuse ourselves by claiming that we are "poor in spirit" and even though we have more than enough that is necessary for daily living we are still "following Jesus in prayer and worship" and do support charities.

Rich women supported Jesus and his closest disciples. The rich young man gave up "learning about eternal life" literally preferring his great wealth. All Institutional Christian Churches Orthodox, Catholic or Reformed are organisations that are closer to this world than to the Kingdom of Heaven. They are trapped by the formation of their clergy which leads to     "jealousy  contention, abuse and wicked mistrust"  and the attachment of their flocks to the now of this life which concerns us more than being witnesses to our Ever Greater God of Love.

I am trying to keep my being focussed on understanding God's will for me but I am, undoubtedly, still part of the material reality that is life in this world. I do not place any trust in it for although it is not an illusion as some believe, it does keep on interfering with the sincerity that I hope I show to God and causes confusion in my mind that disturbs my soul.

Dear Lord, Let my prayers be heard and my soul be open to receive the Love that is your being, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Let the power of the Holy Spirit overcome the weakness of my being that I may be strengthened in Faith Hope and Charity and fear nothing in this world. May Mary who also knew many of us in addition to being Theotokos continue to pray for us who are sinners pressed on all sides by the wonders of the material world in which we live that we never forget that what we receive as free gift was won for us by the pains you her Son endured. We cannot know or even imagine anything like this for he emptied himself of God to do so. May our souls and the souls of all the faithful departed come into your Glory at the end of time Dear Lord hear my prayer and let it become my heavenly reality.

 21/09/2023

St Matthew was a tax collector. This does not mean that he had a secure, pensionable job in the Roman Civil Service. To meet the job description for such a post in the Roman Empire you had to provide the amount demanded by the Governor and then by force squeeze it and your profit out of the population little by little. You had to be the mean and merciless master of the parable of the talents.

"He got up and followed". I can visualise Jesus strolling with his friends to Peter's place where they were going to have their simple meal together. They passed by the seated publican with whom the disciples  avoided eye contact. He was feared by all and  only loved by his family. Perhaps he had heard gossip about this stranger who was coming towards him with some fishermen he knew and collected from. He heard the words. He did what he was told.

Of course, it might have been just an invitation to join the gathering to which Jesus had been invited. But in the context of the  Gospel and the Life of Jesus it was much more.It was a vocation, a call to change his way of life. Matthew, himself, accepted it as such.

When Jesus replies to the Pharisees he does not win debates, although it sometimes seems like that. His life is spent in teaching the way to heaven. By his humanity he is a Jew with all that entailed in the First Century. He knows the depths of the Law and consistently corrects the errors of the rigorous scrupulosity that had corrupted it.

St Matthew, a grasping servant of Mammon accepts his spiritual vocation. St Paul, a rigorist Pharisee had been given an insight into the meaning of "the glory of the resurrection" and today confirms to his converts that Father, Son and Holy Spirit wants only "mercy not sacrifice" and this is "selflessness, gentleness and patience" for this is "the peace that binds us together" The Love that is our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord you know how much better I feel when my thoughts and prayers arise unbidden out of my heart. You know what I am trying to say. You first and let the rest follow. May Mary who must have witnessed more of your public life than the wedding feast at Cana continue to pray with St Paul, St Matthew and all the saints that all of us on Earth accept our lives as a vocation to fulfill the will of God and with grace won for us respond accordingly. Amen

 20/19/2023

"The mystery of our Faith is very deep". "You can say that again", is my flippant first response to St. Paul. 

For me it is all about God and me. How have I lived my life? I know that I have not been as true to the teaching of Jesus as I could have been. Prior to the Incarnation it seems that God was not present to his creation except in the Jews. This is more than a "mystery" in the sense of a problem to be solved. It is the same as life itself. That the Jews were chosen means that others were not.

Today the Church celebrates the  Martyrs of Korea. We believe that because they were executed for their belief in Jesus their souls went straight to the Father. Jesus prayed that his executioners receive the mercy of his Father for they were "just following orders", they did not understand what they were doing. 

How could they have done? The mystery of our faith revealed by the Resurrection is beyond intelligence to understand. We too cannot understand. We have to live as Christ in our souls by a free act of our human will. "Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe."

The Korean executioners were living in a civilization that went back beyond the time of Christ. They had achieved for themselves a cultured stability that was no more inhumane than that of the few Christians, who were also slave-owning, that they had traded with since Europeans had first been encountered.

Today's world is bulging with those who do not know the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. This is not by ignorance but by choice. Europe has nominally been Christian for 1000 years. All the ancient Cathedrals, monasteries and churches testify to this. In the market-place of our Global village, however, we the children are still shouting to each other and do not share the joy or sorrow of our God whose martyred human heart was opened by the lance to pour his Mercy over all the world.

Dear Lord your presence with us in our world in our flesh has to dominate all our selfishness and pride. The mere thought of you is enough to demolish the wall that sin creates between my soul and its creator. It is a thought that has to fill my whole being body and soul. May Mary, the only immaculate lead the souls of Kim and the other Koreans to plead as she did at the foot of your cross for the belief that can become you in the depths of our souls. May we search out for the forgiveness that can bring us all into heaven.

 19/09/2023

Jesus promises that if we come together as a community with the same intention of raising our hearts and minds to be one with him in worshipping Father, Son and Holy Spirit then He is also in our midst.

When we join a congregation of worshippers our primary purpose is to seek His presence and be one with him. The first converts were all Jews and so in their prayer they reproduced their Synagogue Sabbath meetings.Their focus, however, was not the Scriptures but the Resurrection, Jesus the Messiah was with them. They had received the Holy Spirit.

As with all groups of people the disciples were prone to disagreements. This was even more true when complaints about the Gentiles who were joining Paul's "Churches" began to be made and decisions about dietary laws and circumcision could not be avoided. The Soul of the Church then and now is the Resurrection but we human beings are all aware of ourselves first and need the gentle hand of Our Father to teach and guide us to the righteousness that loves our neighbour as ourselves. Even when Jesus was preparing his closest disciples for their roles in bringing the Good News to us all, there were squabbles about hierarchical positions in Kingdom that was to come.

We are with Jesus because we have not lost touch with his hand as we navigate the Way. What happened to the son of the widow of Nain after he was brought back to life in this world by the hand and prayer of the Son of the Father? One hopes that he experienced the joy of seeing the Risen Lord as one of the 500.

St Paul's advice to Timothy on how to prepare his converts to be self-governing has to be read today by all our clergy. I too am ashamed that my life has fallen far short of  Paul's "Job Description" of a priest and a deacon which is also a description of the qualities that all Christians must have to be true followers of the God who was born as man, lived, died in torment and is the Resurrection. This Jesus is "the way, the truth and the life" who will be with us always until the end of time.

Dear Lord, Could it be possible that the recipients of such grace as received by the widow and her son ever forget you? I know that I who have been equally blessed by your sacraments can easily fall into sinful ways. My family knows very little of you and lives at ease in the world as do I. You know how much my prayer is sincere and how much lacks true humility which is the acceptance of grace and and the realisation of how little I am. May Mary whose mother's love of you has never been matched lead all the Angels and saints in gratitude for your the Mercy you continue to pour down and thus save sinners on Earth and in Purgatory.

 18/09/2023

Sometimes I find it  difficult to get started on my only dedicated time for prayer during my day. Today is one of those days and of course my sloth is enhanced by a computer glitch of some sort. St Paul tells us today how to come together in prayer. We are told to pray first for our political leaders for they provide us with the stability that we all need if we are not to be distracted from the reason for our creation.

 

Jesus taught us that prayer is the best thing we can do in our lives on earth. The whole of his life was a prayer to the Father that the consequences of the sin of Adam be wiped clean and each of us after baptism would become a new Adam but not add to the sin of the world. St Paul's teaching the importance of prayer for political stability must be a reflection of Jesus own words, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's" and not become the focus of our lives. 

The institution that was founded by "Thou art Peter and on this rock I will build my Church"  very soon fell into the clutches of Mammon and thus the shepherds could justify the "things of this world" which even in the second century filled their time to the detriment of prayer.

I was born into a world that was racked by war. I remember bombs falling, beams of  searchlights piercing the night sky and newspaper pictures of our "paras" landing at Arnhem. Since infancy I have not been personally troubled by man's inhumanity to man. Millions of my contemporaries, however, have never known stability for even the earth where they live is itself unstable and prone to natural disasters let alone the manmade disaster that is the organised killing of our neighbour, that we call war.

Jesus' miracles are the work of the Father in response to the perfect prayer of the perfect man. Today a man of authority, a representative of the "stability" that was Rome has sent messengers to ask Jesus for help. The news of Jesus' miracles had quickly spread and "been the topic of the day" and this pagan had also been impressed by what he had heard. He must have been inspired by the Holy Spirit for blind faith without the support of belief is "astonishing" indeed.

Jesus has taught us that to live in righteousness we are first to know the Father. We do this by following in Jesus' footsteps, being attentive to his words and thus live in holiness. If we have answered a vocation to dedicate our all to Father, Son and Holy Spirit we have to remember this at all times. 

Praising the Rule of St Benedict and its emphasis on stability doesn't cut much ice when the writer has just come back from another overseas trip. Secular Clergy have been plagued ever since Judas pilfered from the bag, by the temptations that come with an authority which they in their in their self-centered pride transform into power. Popes, prelates and priests also have to answer to God for their lives on earth. Who am I to point the finger? Who is Francis to judge?

Dear Lord, let my being be open to your saving grace. Let me learn how to pray and let the grace of Heaven be directed by Mary and all the saints towards the sinners both on Earth and in Purgatory. Turn the eyes of the powerful prelates inward that they might become examples of faithfulness and not disturb the faithfulness of their Flocks.

 17/09/2023

The first of our readings at today's mass warns about resentment and anger.They are both allied with pride and selfishness and require repentance and reciprocal forgiveness.

In the Second St Paul tells us that we are living in Christ. We are never to forget that our being after our Baptism is one with Christ, we have become Christians. We have to persevere and keep our will active to accept and return the Love that is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are able to do this because we are never abandoned by Our Father, Jesus' Abba.

Most of the times when I have ever lost my temper have been within my own family. A switch gets clicked and I rant and rave. I even know that this is what I am doing and continue until I calm down. I feel ashamed about these episodes but do not bear resentment. That does not make up for the pain I cause to those I love the most.

St Paul also tells us that even the most insignificant of us has influence on others. This is because not one of us is insignificant to Our Father in Heaven. The Billionaire, the President, Emperor or King, the Bishop dying surrounded by the luxury that he has known all his lifetime has no more value in the Justice that is God's awareness of how he has lived his life than the victim of people traffickers drowning in the English Channel. The arrogance of  "do you know who I am?" carries no weight in the sight of God.

In times of anger I sometimes feel that I am justified. If the Perfect Man was justified in showing his anger when he cleared out Mammon from Temple, cannot I be also forgiven for my temper tantrum? 

Of course I do know the answer which is quite straightforward as it come from Jesus. Let the measure of the forgiveness you beg from the Father at the end of your life be the same as the forgiveness that you have meted out to those that have angered you during it. Jesus is completely straightforward in all his teaching but that does not make it any easier for us to obey.

Dear Lord, I hope that I am  ready to receive your Mercy. I must be very close to my last breath and know that I have always been full of  "good intentions" that have not been realised. May Mary and all the Saints keep all sinners on earth and in Purgatory in mind as they praise you for the Mercy which you can show to all sinners who are truly repentant and seek your forgiveness.

 16/09/2023

May God have mercy on the souls who were recently torn from their bodies by the sort of flash flood that Jesus uses as an image in today's Gospel. The peoples living in the dry regions of the world have always been, paradoxically, subject to floods. Jesus' listeners knew exactly what he meant as they themselves lived in houses that had steadily encroached into the wadis that had been dry for decades.

St Paul knows himself to be a sinner. He is far distant from his God but Christ has used him to show that we need never despair for if we sincerely beg forgiveness for our sins the Love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit will envelop us and we will be supported in our new life of penitence as he has been since his conversion.

Both Cornelius and Cyprian, whose feast is today, as Bishops of quite large flocks were confronted by the large scale defections from the Church in the face of systematic persecution. What were they to do about those who, after the persecution wanted to return to the Church? One answer was to accept them as "penitents" but not allow them to ever become fully communicants. 

Cornelius as Bishop of Rome refused to condemn his brethren to this sort of "non-being". The schematics believed that that perfect holiness of Jesus should be seen in the Christianity that had been established by the him. I find it not hard to be swayed by that point of view. Even in the third century there were thousands of people who proclaimed "Lord Lord"but did not act as he did. 

Jesus' message was all about saving souls. He did not offer respect to the paraphernalia or self importance of the religious authorities of his day but he did respect their teaching, the Scriptures. In the third century he spoke directly to the Agatha, Agnes, Marcus, Cornelius, Cyprian and all the other martyrs who truly followed him to the death. 

The Church of the third Century was already too concerned about its place as an organisation in this world. Later in the first millennium it would it would bear very little resemblance to the Jesus who had proclaimed that the Kingdom of God is not of this world.

Dear Lord, you know what I must do to follow the path through life that will match your will for me. Let me find this path and stay true to it. It is true that only you can forgive sin. You specifically passed this authority onto Peter and the other Apostles so Cornelius and Cyprian were following in your merciful footsteps. The problems created by unworthy clergy are still with us. Let your Church on earth be purged of the wickedness that does no good for any of us sinners who sincerely seek your grace. May Mary who was already leading the saints in heavenly prayer in those days continue to do so that I and all other sinners can repent of our sins and die to receive our deserved punishment in Purgatory.We are all in your hands . Thy will be done here today as it has always been and will ever be so. Amen