26/11/2023

Today's feast, Christ the King, begins the last week of our liturgical year. During his lifetime and even at his trial before Pilate, Jesus asserted that his Kingdom was not of this world. The Kingship that is celebrated today is  that of Father, Son and Holy Spirit's supreme power over the Universe. 

As we read those words we know  that God is truly beyond our comprehension and that it is only through the revelations of the Old Testament that the Apostles could begin to understand the teaching of Jesus.

Jesus told his disciples that he would go to Jerusalem where he would suffer and rise from the dead. His disciples were shocked and asked themselves what could be the meaning of "rising from the dead". We too have to ask ourselves what can be the meaning of "Kingdom of Heaven"?

Although the Church did not affirm the divine authority of the books of the Bible, Old and New Testaments, until the fourth century the orthodox belief that forms the rock on which the Church is founded came together within 30 years of the Resurrection. The Apostles were convinced that Jesus would return from "His Father's House" in their lifetimes.

More people are today living far better material lives than at anytime in the past. The beauty, comfort and hedonistic pleasure of living as "material beings" is suffocating our souls' awareness of the breath of the Holy Spirit. 

We can easily subdue the "still calm voice" that calls to us all. We cannot, however, subdue the ultimate power of Christ the King. In world-time he is our Good Shepherd but he is also the Just Judge who will decide our place  in His Eternity.

Dear Lord help me to continue to live this day in the peace that comes from avoiding sin. Let me know you to the ultimate that is possible for me. Let me begin to return your love and let all we sinners be halted by the prayers of Mary and all the saints. Let us and the Holy Souls wash away the sins of the body/mind and be prepared for your Kingdom by the Grace, Mercy and Love that is you "ALLINALL".

 25/11/2023

In today's first reading the war between those who refused to become "Hellenised" and the Jews faithful to God's revelation to them, is going in favour of the Jews. King Antiochus has been overcome by depression at the news that has reached him. The Temple has been freed from the "Abomination of Desolation" and is again protected by high walls.

Many had been killed during the war but going through the minds of the victors there must have been the joy of that is "I will rejoice in your saving help, O Lord". They were as happy as were the German people when Hitler triumphed in Paris in 1940. Five years later Hitler too succumbed to depression.

During the last centuries of the Old Testament the Rabbi's had not only existed in a cocoon of "Bible Studies" but had also been part of the human trend to think about what it means to be alive and to worship God. God's revelation to Moses had ensured that for them there were no personalities to be appeased; no Joves or Astartes. 

IAMIAM is the Creator and had revealed how each personal human being is somehow like him but is also totally inferior. Humans are to worship the Lord and prove that they do so by their deeds during their lifetimes. There is no clear teaching about how we are "image and likeness" within the books of Moses but by the time of the Incarnation there had grown two parties among the Priests and Rabbis. Pharisees believed in resurrection/eternal life after death i.e. our life itself is part of our likeness to our Creator, the Sadducees didn't.

Jesus brings the Merciful Love, that is the being of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and forgiveness of sins to the whole world and has risen to prove by his Resurrection that God's Love is eternal and that we can share in it by our own choice for we also have a share of God's freedom.

Dear Lord tomorrow we will close this liturgical year. Our Church really does follow and repeat your teaching. On earth you did condemn the Pharisees who knew the right way to pray and live on earth but of themselves many lived in hypocrisy. Help me to be part of the Church as founded in your mother and St John. John took Mary into his household. May I be joined in prayer with all who know and return your Love as did the solitary figures at the foot of your Cross and renew in the Institution the remembrance of the warning you gave in "My Kingdom is not of this world".

 24/11/2023

The deaths of Andrew and his companions in what is now Vietnam could have been avoided if they had apostatized. The friends of the Maccabees who tried to convince them that living would give them the chance to fight against their enemies had already accepted the Greek way of life and were deeply shamed by the stalwartness of the brothers.

The psalm is that composed by King David in celebration of the donations made by himself and the whole of the People of God and of the decision itself to build a palace for God, the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. His further comments make it clear that he knows that God has no need of their efforts for everything that they have donated has its origin in God.

Jesus drives the merchants and  bankers out of the Temple. He knows far, far better than King David that God has no need of anything. The Jews of the Old Testament had been guided by God to make sacred a place on earth and to worship there by sacrifice. They themselves had corrupted the Temple into a place of business. Jesus always condemns hypocrisy at any time and any place. He also supports the integrity of faith that truly follows his example. 

That Father, Son and Holy Spirit knows us is all that can matter to the souls he has created. All the thousands of nameless martyrs live on in the Eternal presence of God and we too can share the reward of their faith if we choose to accept the Grace created for us by Our Saviour and added to by their personal integrity, our share in the Holiness that is  God.

Dear Lord help me to become steadfast in my wish to follow your teaching and example. You know that I am weak and inconsistent in my behaviour. Help me to become steadfastly committed to doing your will and to put all of my trust in you. May Mary lead all the Martyrs and Saints in the unceasing prayer that it is to be in your presence that the Grace of Mercy drowns out Guilt of sin from all us sinners living on earth and in purgatory. Amen

 23/11/2023

God has created us to be part of the worshipping community which was at first confined to the descendants of Abraham. The pagan myths of east and west were man's attempt to find a reason for what each human then and now knew as the mystery of being. Rudyard Kipling's Kim would lose himself in a trance by pondering the name Kim (who) asking himself over and over again "Who is Kim?" This is still possible for anyone today.

All the peoples of the world searched for meaning in their existence. Each individual sought for understanding of himself an "I" in the midst of the natural wonder of the world and the teaming universe of the night sky. The search for worldly comfort and riches is revealed as futility to each one of us as he dies.

God chose to reveal himself as IAMIAM only to the Jews and gave to them the strict limits of how to live and use the goods of this world. Jesus is the ultimate revelation of IAMIAM. He is the Resurrection that is still with us which was first made to the Chosen People.

The message that "Death is not the end " was preached by Jesus to the Jews and non-Jews of Palestine and proven by the Resurrection, the apex of Revelation that has been spread throughout our world during the last 2000 years.

At the time of Abraham, God did not guide the pagans.  They were not offered the opportunity to accept or refuse. I know that all my sins are the result of own will. I have never been forced to refuse the Love of  Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Most of the Jews then and now, undoubtedly did refuse Jesus by their own choice. 

I am always responsible for my own sins, but Jesus offers unconditional mercy to those  pagans who hammered the nails through the hands and feet of the Saviour of the  World. "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". I pray that God neither condemns those unwilfully ignorant of his purposes or those whose mission it has been to go out to all nations and spread the good news.

Dear Lord your gift of individual freedom to all created souls is what makes us to be in your image and likeness. It is also makes us responsible. May I continue to be aware throughout this day that I am in your care and that you will defend me should I be assailed by the insidious attacks of Satan. May our Spiritual and your bodily mother continue to lead the Good Souls of Heaven in their prayer that the Holy Souls atoning in Purgatory and the Struggling Souls on earth my be forgiven and turn to you with the Joy that comes with your Mercy.

 22/23/2023

I don't think that "Maccabees" is accepted by the Rabbis as part of Scripture. Our Church chooses this passage for the obvious message that we must not accept the laws of Kings that breach the Law that comes from God. 

The last time the problems that arise out of conflict between  Church and State came up in the mass readings of the day, the Gospel was Matthew's version of the Parable of the Talents. Luke's version adds the reported treachery of the King's enemies to the basic plot of the drama but the essential story is still the same, although we are all equally allotted at birth.

We are created souls to live in the world. We are born into created time and space which is God's Providence. A rich/poor father and mother are obviously not the child's doing nor are they "fate". We are created as free beings and have to learn with the help of God's grace that this life has to be lived as beings in God's image and likeness, free but holy. 

When thinking about Matthew's version of this parable I came to the conclusion that our traditional interpretation is not right as the King goes away and leaves his stewards to their own devices. The hard and exacting King offers no guidance or care along with the talents. 

Our God is crystal clear about what he wills for us to be. He does not need us to build skyscrapers and spaceships. He has no need of Art. He hates sin. We have to be in our hearts as innocent as the babies who are being slaughtered in Gaza and aborted throughout the world.

Jesus the Son who is also Father, Son and Holy Spirit showed us how to live and organize our world. He is still present with us as the head of his spiritual Church on earth; the Mystical Body of Christ on earth; not Basilicas, Cathedrals,or Monasteries; not the lovely but empty parish churches that grace the European landscape but the still quiet voice of the Holy Spirit that we can with only a little effort hear and answer in our hearts.

Our "hard master" has not gone away deserting his people but is "hard" only against sin, the misuse of our freedom/talents. Our Loving Eternal Father pours out his loving mercy through the human blood of his Son crucified for us but now the free gift of the Resurrection which is to be shared equally by all of us to reject the world, the flesh and the devil.

Dear Lord you know what a mess of good intentions, thoughts and words I am. Let me find your grace and hold onto your hand that I may be guided on the right path through the snares of the world to the place you have prepared for me. May Mary who has never known the power of sin but witnessed the horror of its effects on Calvary, lead all our brothers and sisters who know you now face to face to pray for even more grace to flood the souls of sinners here and in Purgatory. Everything is possible for you but we can do nothing without your grace.

 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.