21/11/2023

Today's Liturgical Feast celebrates the day Mary was dedicated to God in his Temple in Jerusalem. There is no record of this event in Holy Scripture but it is mentioned in noncanonical writing and tradition that has survived.

Mary is a created human being as are we all. We can say though, that she was there at the beginning with the Word, the first to be redeemed by the Cross for she was chosen to become the source of the humanity that was Jesus on Earth, in life, death and Resurrection. 

Eleazar was in his lifetime a teacher of the Law and became in his death one of the "Scribes and Pharisees" whose deeds become the teaching that we should follow rather than the hypocrisy condemned by Jesus. To join in the prevailing Hellenic culture was to deny God and to live life in praise of the pleasures of man. 

The words whispered to him by his contempories on the way to his execution are words of the ungodly which today are the great noise that is easier to choose and thus block our ears to avoid listening to the "still quiet voice" of our Saviour.

None of us can understand Father, Son and Holy Spirit for he is Evergreater. We see him in the action of individuals who are open to and obey his unseen presence. Our Father, however, knows each one of us and no matter how deeply we hide ourselves within  the "thousands that are ranged against me"  he can still find us, "for the Son of Man came to seek what was lost". 

Dear Lord, help me to live my life gladly in your presence. Let me sincerely know that my sins can be forgiven and that the moments when I feel that I am living in your will for me are the reality of my being. May Our Lady, your sinless Mother, Theotokos, help us to crush the serpents of evil that still threaten the holiness of her new-born children here on Earth and build up the hope that is the end of punishment for the Holy Souls.  

 20/11/2023

The Jews' relationship with IAMIAM was never constant. They recognised their "Hard Master" but oftentimes succumbed to the delights of pagan-living even to the extent of reverting to the idol-making that had so horrified Moses at the foot of Mt Sinai.

 In the first reading the scene is set for the drama of the Maccabees. Alexander the Great's Empire was short-lived but left a mark on the whole of the Middle-East. Historian's have called the process whereby many different cultures adopted Greek ways of living as Hellenization and Israel was not immune to this process.

I am always aware when reading the Old Testament that there were millions of other humans who were living at any of the " those days" in question but not receiving the grace of divine guidance through the prophets. Jesus too was aware of this for when condemning the Galilean cities he specifically compares them to Tyre and Sidon who would have welcomed him with open arms.

It is quite clear from the Incarnation that Father, Son and Holy Spirit knows how he wants us to live in the times we grow into from the moment of our birth. Jesus is begotten not made. He empties himself of the Kingdom, Power and Glory and chooses to become a living part of the Providence of God that we all are when living on this earth.

We know Jesus, the Resurrection, but to the Jews of his time on Earth he offered signs, his miracles. We attribute them to his divine powers but to the former blind man he says. "Go your faith has brought you recovery". The miracle happened because of perfect human faith ( the blind man's) and Jesus' perfect human (begotten not made) prayer to Our Father.

Dear Lord, I know that I am known to you and that I can ask for forgiveness and mercy. Help me to bring all others into your care and let the only other perfect human being who has not tasted the reward of sin but is with you in Eternity lead all the sinless and forgiven in prayer for the sinners here on earth with me and the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

 19/11/2023

I cannot say that I felt glad when I saw the parable that is today's Gospel Reading. Parables such as the Good Samaritan, the Sowing of the Seed, The Foolish Virgins present and reinforce all that I have learnt about Jesus from his Life, Death and Resurrection.

I have always thought that God creates our souls equally able to live in the Providence that is our time on Earth. Kings are Kings and beggars are beggars but God Incarnate died and rose from death to bring God's grace equally to all human beings who humbly accept that they are sinners without pride in their own person. In another parable,"Thank God that I am not as other men" is the condemned "gratitude" of hypocrisy.

I cannot see the Hard Master as Our Father who throughout our lives stays close and brings himself to us in Sacraments and the unseen grace of the Holy Spirit. This is harder than any of the other hard sayings of Jesus who brings us to the Kingdom by his own acceptance,"pro nobis", of torment and death.

The "hardness" in this parable is not the punishment for failure but that there was no guidance from the "Master". Our God has revealed himself over centuries and so we know what we are to do with selves/souls in this world. We have to worship God and treat our neighbours as ourselves even as did the Son of the Father. We have to carry our own crosses in the footsteps of Our Lord and can ultimately be sure of a welcome by the Master, Father, Son and Holy Spirit who is the source of Joyful Love for all his "children" to share equally.

Dear Lord, You never have gone away and left us to our own devices. We have been shepherded by your prophets and your Son has guaranteed salvation for all who seek it with sincerity. There are only two Human beings who have received a soul greater than the rest of us, Jesus and Mary. The Church you founded was built around Jesus and Mary and they are still the heart of the spiritual community of believers that is still also there, but hidden, within the Institution.

 18/11/2023

The writer of Wisdom becomes lyrical as he recalls with joyful praise the deeds that God has done for the people of Israel who are pictured as lambs skipping with the delight that being alive brings to all creatures. He treats Exodus as a "new creation" but that won't happen until the End of Time when Jesus returns in Glory to Earth not as an infant but as the "powerful warrior" he is in the Resurrection; Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Kingdom, Power and Glory.

Jesus short parable of persistence winning against cruel adversity is told to emphasise how we can display great courage and perseverance when dealing with the problems of our earthly lives. 

Job is the Biblical example. The History of Man on Earth is made-up stories of real men and women, our ancestors, trekking hundreds of miles through hostile terrain to take possession of what they considered to be no man's property. The indigenous were not powerful enough to be considered as having property rights.

The Incarnate Word introduces this parable on an optimistic note; "Pray continually and do not lose Heart". Today the building of "St Peter's" is commemorated in the prayer of the Institutional Church. We cannot be seen by "The Son of Man" if we have no greater signs of "Faith on Earth" than the "built environment" which will in time crumble away. Our Faith has to be in the centre of our beings as we welcome God and pray "Our Father".

Dear Lord, let me not ignore your warnings and neglect to share my belief in your Love with my family and friends. Let my personal behaviour throughout this day be "Faith on Earth" The first Church on Earth was you and your Mother hidden away in Bethlehem and in Gaza. there were no buildings to "house" your Love. May Mary's prayers be united with all the saints and sinners created by you to look into our souls with the sharp sword of grace and use it cut away all the dross so that we can look back at you without shame. Let me become a "good and faithful servant".

 17/11/2023

I only have to drive about a mile from my house and I can see the towers of Lincoln Cathedral. The Norman conquerors of England soon left their mark on the new realm that they had taken by force of arms. Force of arms that had been approved by the Pope. The successors to St Peter had soon forgotten that Jesus had  emphasised that the material of this world and its political systems was not to be trusted for it would all pass away.

Part of Jesus' revelation to the first disciples had been "My Kingdom is not of this world". Many prelates over the centuries have challenged the immorality of earthly rulers but I have heard of none who challenged themselves to divest themselves of their place in the Kingdoms of this world that the Institution based in Rome had created for them out of the first community of witnesses to the Resurrection.

Ezekiel is appointed to ensure that Israel stays true to the Word of God. He will fail in his duty if he allows sin to prevail within his community. By all accounts, St Hugh who built my nearby Cathedral was a man of prayer but he was born into the "Feudal System". Today's owners of the magnificent building that is a landmark for miles around have even allowed it to be used as a filmset for blasphemy. 

All of us exist in this world at different times in God's Providence. God speaks to us as individual beings and has made it clear that we are not to be overcome by the wonders that we experience. 

St Hugh and his congregations were men/women of the Feudal Age. Their world was different than ours. Ezekiel lived and worshipped in the Post-Exilic Age of Israel. His world was very different than ours. Jesus lived in the first years of the Roman Empire.

The Kingdom he reveals to us all is the everlasting real world of our never changing Father, Son and Holy Spirit that was the same for Ezekiel, Hugh and now for me. God be praised.

Dear Lord, help me to atone for my sinful life. Look not to my words but to my heart and help me to purge the sins that I have welcomed in the past. May Mary, St Hugh and all the Saints by their prayers support all of us who are trying to do your Will by avoiding the sins of World, Flesh and Devil. Amen.

 16/11/2023

The personification of Wisdom continues in the first reading today. The writer cannot find enough adjectives to express his feelings about "her". I don't think that Jesus ever revealed our God to be anymore that Father Son and Holy Spirit as God is always greater than any possible thought. 

He does speak of Angels as created beings but of "emanations of God" he says nothing. Wisdom does not exist other than as a characteristic of our created souls using our freedom to seek out God's will for us and displaying our choice by our deeds.

The parables of Jesus are all taken from the daily lives of his listeners. We can all listen to the familiar stories and recognise the message that still challenges us. We all respond with our own hearts and minds for God knows us as the unique "being" that we all are. When I read the Bible it is as the "I" of my "being" responding to the ever-greater "I" that is letting me become aware of His will for mankind. 

The very first Heresies with which the Church Fathers found themselves very quickly confronted  have their foundations in the philosophy and religions that were flourishing all over the Middle-East at the time of Christ. It was to protect themselves from accusations of secretly removing the dead body of Our Lord from the tomb that the massive stone was placed in front to prevent that possibility. Many people in our world today believe that this is what happened on the Sabbath after Good Friday.

"The "Kingdom of God" is among you". Jesus was himself present when he spoke those words. "When two or three are gathered in my name there I am" is his promise to us. "This is my body" is the continuation of his Bodily presence for all time.

The reason that I pray is to be open to the Grace of the Kingdom that pours out over all creation from the five wounds opened in Love for us on Calvary.

Dear Lord, let me never separate myself from thee again. My whole being reaches out for your Grace let my prayers be united with those of Mary, All the saints and the Holy Souls in Purgatory  as we pray together for all sinners to listen to your call for us to know that forgiveness is at the heart of your Kingdom and can only be had by sincere asking for it.

 15/11/2023

Today the writer of Wisdom directs his words at the rich and powerful, those who have power in the kingdoms of this world. Today there are many more of them than he knew of in Alexandria in the last century before Jesus walked the Earth.

For him the rich and powerful were the Kings and Generals( Pompey, Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony were contempories) who controlled armies and had the power to take what they wanted from the weak and the poor. He tells them that they too have to live lives that are guided by the the revelations that God has made to the Chosen People. 

He warns them that their wealth, power and pride are as nothing in the eyes of God the Lord of All and God will judge them exactly as he will judge the weak and the poor. We are all responsible for our own actions, our deeds. Perceived subordinacy is the unacceptable excuse of Auschwitz.

In our times there is a much greater variety of "Rulers of this World". We who live in political units that claim to be "Democracies" have to pray that we will not be held responsible for the wickedness imposed on us by the agendas, guided by the Will of Satan, of our Political Classes.

 The functionaries of Mammon manipulate our need for "daily bread" and preach hedonism as the correct way to live out our lives until our "passing". I know in my heart that I have failed to stand up to the Devil, the World and the Flesh the triune enemies of the Holiness of our Triune Creator, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and of us his created image and likeness, but still have Hope, for our God is Merciful and Compassionate.

Dear Lord, you know that your Creation is now as far from your Will as it has ever been. You know that in these moments I try to be whom you created me to be. I am totally in your hands and can only pray for your mercy. May the prayers of Mary and all the Saints bring Holy Wisdom into the minds of all sinners on Earth that we might change our ways, and Mercy to the Holy Souls who now know the stupidity of misusing their chance to be God's Children in the Glory of creation and are silenced by the greatness of God's loving Mercy.