25/02/2024

The three readings for this morning's mass are all chosen for us to reflect not only on them in themselves but also for us to consider how we are to understand scripture as the record of God's dealings with the world.

Is IAMIAM asking Abraham to kill his son and burn him on an altar because total obedience is the only way to "know " the Glory of God? If true and this is our God what hope do we have in finding meaning in our lives?

St Paul who is a Jew faithful to the Law and the total message of the Old Testament has been immersed in the "Glory of the Lord" on the road to Damascus and now knows that the Jesus whose followers he has been persecuting is in fact the Son of IamIam and that the perfect everlasting sacrifice has been made for the benefit of all.

Peter, James and John have the Glory that is the being of Father, Son and Holy Spirit revealed to them. They want to be held in that wonder for ever, they don't want to move from that place but they have to ask themselves what meaning could be hidden in the words "rising from the dead".

We have to believe in the Bible for everything we "know" about God starts in that record of revelation. In the Old Testament God seems to approve of trickery. Jacob got the blessing and kept it by deception. God tests us to the limit as he did  Abraham for in this world we have freedom; he has not strait-jacketed us into virtue, we must choose for ourselves.

The story of Abraham is harsh and cruel but God chose to reveal to his chosen people that the  sometime human sacrifices made by the civilisations surrounding them could never be lawful. The Transfiguration of Jesus is a glimpse of the reality of Heaven. St Paul a true son of Abraham answers for all time the question of Peter, James and John. The meaning of "rising from the dead" is that "He not only died for us, he rose from the dead and there at God's right hand he stands and pleads for us".  

Dear Lord, help me not to be overcome by the vastness and beauty of the world that mankind has built from your creation. Help me to see the one path in the tangle of possibilities afforded by each second of life that keeps me following your will. May the prayers of Mary and all the Saints continue to bring the hope of your mercy that can sustain us all in life even though the possibilities for sin are immense. May my sins and the sins of the whole world find forgiveness if not in this world then in purgatory. Save us all from eternal damnation. Amen.

 24/02/2024

That the rain falls on the wicked and on the just tells us that God does not reveal himself in the natural events of his creation. We may interpret natural disasters as signs of God's displeasure but the physical creation follows the rules of nature/science with which they are embedded at their beginning out of nothing.

The Jews of the Old Testament, however, were advantaged over all others by the revelation to them of the moral code by which God's Image and likeness is to live in this physical world. They didn't succeed although many tried and are still trying.

We have to realise that God could just turn his back on us. For us not to exist would do no harm to God. There is something about us that Father, Son and Holy Spirit love with  Infinite Love beyond our understanding and the overwhelmingly wonderful solution to our lack of integrity is for God to become a natural man born as we all are from conception, begotten not made, and take onto himself the guilt of sin in the perfect humanity of Jesus.

Father Son and Holy Spirit have nothing but Love for all of us. Even at the most wicked moment of my life, God was there to pull me out of my own Hell created by my sins. All the wicked failures of mankind by Nation or Religion can be forgiven for God is the EverGreater and the mercy created by his suffering on Calvary is ours for the asking.

We are never "asking for Mercy" when we engage in mutual slaughter, exterminating our fellow men in gas chambers or when anyone of us despises or envies any other one of us. Sin begins in Adam and Eve and grows as does the population of the world. 

We all have to concentrate on our own lives for it is only in that body, mind and soul, my "I" that I can be assured of doing the will of God. If all the individuals of the world were to do that nobody would be dying as they are at this moment from the violence of others.

Dear Lord, You have upheld my being for more than 80 years even though you know how easily I can sin, send the same mercy I receive into the minds and souls of all who are fighting in the place where Joseph sought refuge with you and Mary from the hateful power of Herod and let hatred be purged and no more weapons fired. Bring peace to my soul and to all the World. Amen

 23/02/2024

Many of us try to see the "Will of God" or indeed "Acts of God" in present or past events in our lives or in history. Some Christians believe that God's dealings with mankind throughout the Old and New Testaments show that all events in our lives are beyond our control and thus all of us are predetermined to be saved or damned.

In this passage from the Old Testament God makes sure that Ezekiel teaches that we all should know that we have the freedom to change the course of our lives by either opting for or against the Love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God is not in Time. In His Eternity He is more aware of everything Past Present and Future and of all the unrealised possibilities as I am now aware of this keyboard. (I think that I should never refer to God in a past-tense as everything "is" in his timeless presence.) He knows but does not predetermine that the Chosen People showed ( in human time) themselves unworthy of the trust he places in them.

The Love that Father, Son and Holy Spirit have for this Creation ensures that we are all capable of "Being Holy, for I am Holy" and God empties himself of his infinite power/being and is born as we are to be the only offering able to offset the sinfulness that began with Adam and Eve.

It is my sins and the sins accumulated by mankind that need to be recognised by their perpetrators before they can be forgiven. Jesus warns his disciples to beware of the scribes and Pharisees and we too can only look back with disbelieving horror at the behaviour of our priests and prelates who have rarely been examples of Apostolic virtue. 

I cannot bear to think how that culpability is continued in the Church entrusted by the Saviour to lead us and to join with him in Heaven as together the Sacraments, Gods presence in time, are prepared to strengthen our souls who face a daily and deathly struggle against, the devil, the world and the flesh for possession of our souls.

Dear Lord help me to grow in prayerfulness and let me withstand all temptations. Let Mary and the saints share with all the world the grace within which they are in heaven. Help me to understand your Word for I know you do not wish to deceive anyone but have created us all to use our freedom to recognise and return your love. Help me and my family to learn how to know, love and serve and let me feel no anger towards anyone

 20/02/2024

"Who do you say I am?" 

The men who witnessed this conversation between Peter and Jesus were not part of the educated elite of first century Palestine. They were men who were able to provide the necessities of life for themselves and their families only by their own labour. They were fishermen and labourers, workmen known only to God.

By the time this letter was circulated throughout the Roman Provinces we now know as Turkey Peter had witnessed the living Mission of Jesus. He had come to understand the comprehensive reality of his own reply. He had seen Christ in his Glory on Mount Tabor. He had been present at the many rebuttals of Temple Intelligentsia, witnessed numerous miracles and deserted "The Son of the Living God" at the time of pain and sorrow. He had also become a leader of the followers of the way first trodden by Jesus.

Many generations have passed since Peter atoned in bitter grief for his desertion of Jesus. The groups of believers lead by witnesses to the teaching of the Living Word have grown into many massive organisations in this world. People in their millions have been born and live on as unembodied souls. The World is full of the accumulated wealth of ages in Temples dedicated to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And the poor still starve on earth.

The Institution which was founded on St Peter still claims the Power of the Keys but has never learned the lesson dramatized by Jesus' critical treatment of the "Priests and Scribes" and his words to Pilate. God's Realm is Spiritual and the only thing that remains for all of us as we die is God's knowledge of how we have responded to his unimaginable trust, belief in us by letting us have complete freedom in how we use his gift of life. 

"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that we might have life." At the end of this life, we will all ask of our Father "Who do you say I am?" It is our earthly deeds which will be the basis for his reply. 

Dear Lord, you know how  easy it is for me to get entangled in my own thoughts. Help me to come to terms with all the strands of knowledge that trap me into the self-centeredness that I must avoid in my desire to know, love and serve only You. I would dearly love to be happy in the timeless next life  as I am certainly  sure that I and this world are passing away. May Mary who was also present with the Apostles to receive the Holy Ghost as she had been at the foot of the cross to receive her maternal for all mankind mission, continue by her prayers to bring earthly sinners into your fold and may all the Holy Souls soon receive your bountiful Mercy. Amen

 21/02/2024

Jesus did not begin his public mission until he reached the age of 30. He was no longer in the first flush of youth but was of an age that his presence could command respect. He was no longer the infant prodigy that had captivated the attention of the priests and scribes when he stayed behind at the Temple. As a mature man he addressed his contemporaries; his generation.

 Of course, all generations, infants, children, adults and aged are alive at the same time but as individuals we know that there are many of us about the same age with whom we share the same life experiences and worldly knowledge. This is our generation.

St Peter Damien was born into a generation which was the culmination of the first thousand years of Christianity. There had been for centuries a Church in both east and west that was for the most part in direct disobedience to "My Kingdom is not of this world". The Papacy had become the preserve of powerful families and the Church of Byzantium was another arm of the political power of that Empire.

The worldliness of the institution had become a detriment to the Body of Christ and many of the hierarchs acted as worldly princes and indulged in the corruptions that came with the Mammon they relentlessly pursued. 

Peter Damian, as a member of the religious order, founded by St Benedict to be a nodal point for prayer on our planet, he began his mission to revive the Church by at first avoiding  the community and as a hermit devoted his whole being to Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He never left the Institution but worked from within to combat the cancer of corruption that has continued to grow destroying the Holiness that is God's appointed target for us all.

Many, since his day, have attempted the same task but some, "the naive?" of my generation have learnt to our horror that since that day of "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church" there has never been an Institutional Church without the internal decay disguised by the whited sepulchre which Our Lord warned us about.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit is only Truth and Love so we know that there is a true Church founded on Peter. I am a member of that Body of Christ that is all of us who are  open to the will of God supported by the prayers of Mary and all the saints in Heaven. We are the same "corrupt generation" as the first disciples, always addressed by Jesus and which although never succeeding  still hopes with the help of God's grace to be the "Faith found on earth" at the Second Coming.. Mankind is always changing the  World but  the Word of God stands unchanging and  incorruptible to the end of Time.

Dear Lord, hear the prayer that begins in my soul, passes through my mind and comes out of my fingertips onto the screen and  so articulates the longing for the Love and Mercy you have announced to the world. I will not "babble" but ask forgiveness for the self-satisfaction which always mars my being. May Mary and all the saints turn the minds of all the clergy to focus only on you and the souls for whom they have the responsibility of care. Let this generation become like the Ninevites and repent for all the wickedness it has knowingly brought into you Creation and may the Holy Souls find the forgiveness they long for and the peace of Heaven. Amen

 20/02/2024

The Lord never loses touch with us his people on Earth. 

Today Isaiah passes down to us the "Word" that tells us that God is constantly revealing himself. He reveals himself through the wonder of his creation. 

On Earth there is an on-going exchange of water between land, oceans and atmosphere that supports all living creatures. Rain is a grace without which we cannot sustain ourselves. If we interrupt that cycle by avaricious exploitation of the material of this world there are negative consequences that are set in motion, not by the Word or Will of God but by our greed.

We cannot have true life until we realise that God always "IS", "IAMIAM". He is aware of all us beings and we have to reciprocate if we are to enter the never ending Kingdom that is not of this World. While we are here, we have to know, love and serve.

The "Word of God" is the Holy Spirit which when we are cooperating fills our hearts with joy and guards us against sin. Jesus is the incarnate "Word", the Son of the Father. He shows us how to use our freedom to conform to the will of Father Son and Holy Spirit, three persons, One God. What he is and does in this world is what we should also do and thus become like him.

Jesus tells us that "babbling prayer" is ineffective noise offered by pagans to idols. Prayer begins by a sincere recognition that "God" is, the unseen but supreme being that exists and loves us as does a "Father" .We can call his unique mode of being "Heaven". 

The main characteristic of Heaven is that it is nothing but God's Will and it is possible, with his help, for us to become the same living Will of God  here on Earth. Jesus shows us how to do this.

We are to ask God to feed our bodies. We are to confess and repent for our sins with the knowledge that God will forgive and accept us by the measure that we forgive and accept our "neighbour". We are weak and implore protection from making the choice that results in an increase in the evil of the world.

This "Lords Prayer" is not  babbled words but has to be our template for living the holy daily life that is the only reason for us to be alive.

Dear Lord, you know that I can become exhausted in mind and body. My soul is not free from these constraints of mortality which you too experienced. Help me to resist sin and the temptation to "babble on". Help me to do only your will and help me to join with Mary and all the saints in the Mystical Body that is you on earth and in heaven. Help me Lord, Jesus, help me. Amen.

 19/02/2024

Each one of us who reads or hears the readings for today has to know that although recorded long ago the words still teach us the rules by which the whole of humanity has to live on Earth to complete God's will.

God also revealed to Moses that the purpose of our living is to achieve, with the help of Father, Son and Holy Spirit the holiness that is the integrity of our created being; created to be his image and likeness; a whole human being of body, mind and soul; each one of us a unique child of the Father, created with Love to love and be loved.

There are souls known only to God who have achieved that perfection of Holiness but there are only 2 that we can know for certain are bodily present with Father, Son and Holy Spirit ready for the New Creation that will bring about the end of time. 

The only begotten Son and Mary created to be the source of the sinless "flesh" that is our Incarnate God, Jesus, are ready with God, his Angels and his saints to welcome our souls "Come you blessed of my Father" into the Heaven that is not the complete New Creation that  the Second Coming will be.

Every moment of our lives is the "favourable time" but Lent helps us to concentrate on the "Last Things"  and with God's help prepare by renewing our Baptismal Promises to be ready to  join in the proclamation of the Resurrection that is the Glory of God here on Earth.

Dear Lord, "Thank you" is a poor "word" to speak the joy that being in the love that is a family brings to us on Earth. Children are pure delight. My own childhood, however, was marred by sinfulness and knowledge of this brought misery to my parents. I have to rely on your infinite knowledge to know that my words are as nothing and it is my depths of soul that reveal the extent of my cry to thee. Help me Lord to close my life with a true regret for all my sins and with the help of your Grace turn my loved ones away from the "primrose path" that captivates so many on this Earth. May Mary who witnessed as did no other the ultimate agony of her child the "Lamb of God" lead all of your "Mystical Body" in prayer for all sinners and their supplications. May your Mercy be received by all hearts that are open to you "Our Father". and may this Mercy overflow from Purgatory onto our Earth where our sins are so much in evidence and can only be forgiven by your infinite Love.