16/04/2024

St Stephen is always remembered as the first Christian Martyr. He was killed 2000 years ago but he still lives in the presence of God. His time on earth was completed by the violence of the Temple. The same authorities who had handed over Jesus to Pilate acted, this time, directly in their fury and the stoning was also approved by many others, most infamously by Saul.

Stephen's death must have caused great sorrow amongst those who had also been there at the time of the Crucifixion. The followers of "The Way" were still Jews in their hearts. They were still trying to live righteously by following the Law of Moses but knew that Jesus' mission had been to complete the Law not to abolish it.

We do not know what went through the minds of his friends on the day of Stephens' death. With hindsight we can attribute to that first Church the support of the Holy Spirit and the strength that actually seeing the resurrected body of Jesus had given to them. 

I cannot imagine how Peter and James, Matthew and Mark, Mary and John felt as they lost the first of their friends to an unjust death. In agony, on his cross, Jesus had still preached the way of love. "Father forgive them, they know not what they do". He had accepted the humiliation heaped on him by both Jew and Gentile.

As they watched the brutality that was the pounding to death of Stephen they heard the echo of Jesus' words from the cross and still wondered what it was that they were supposed to do in the face of this totally unique experience they had been living through ever since they had chosen to live with and learn from Jesus Son of God, the Incarnation and the Resurrection.

Dear Lord, I have to make an act of will to listen to the history recorded in the Scriptures. There were people present when you cured the sick, preached and taught us how to pray. It is their words about that we are "blessed to believe". May the prayers of the Apostles, your mother, Mary, Martha and Lazarus continue to protect us their spiritual descendants and may the fortitude of Stephen and all the Martyrs inspire us all to not flinch in the face of Godlessness. Help us to never forget that you can forgive any sin if  there is a genuine conversion in the heart of the sinner. We cannot forget that Saul becomes Paul. We all must not forget that we are not alone but known not only to you but also to your saints who are with you also waiting for that act which will be the end of time. Maranatha!

 15/04/2024

We are the first generation of humans who have all been able to be aware of the actual events that become the "History" of the future. All of us prior to this "Computer Age" relied on eye-witness accounts to know what was happening outside of our immediate location in the present and what had happened centuries ago.

Jesus assured us that we who believe in him without actually seeing/hearing him are blessed and will always be supported in this world by the Holy Spirit, the Advocate he will send to defend us in times of trial.

The story of St Stephen who was able to defend himself during this first trial before the Sanhedrin is the proof of Jesus' promise to inspire those who are persecuted for believing and preaching in his Name with the words to defend themselves.

Over the centuries since the events recalled in today's Mass Readings the tables have been turned for the Church founded on St Peter and that institution has often become the prosecutor and persecutor of those who challenged the validity of the beliefs and conduct of its Clergy.

 There have been very many injustices perpetrated by what should have become the Mystical Body of Christ in defence of it worldliness. Many holy people have been slaughtered by the defenders of a Faith that is  focused on the things of this world. In my lifetime I have become aware that many innocents have become the victims of the sexual deviancy of shepherds who are supposed to care for our souls.

Our bishops who appeared before the UK inquiry into the sexual abuse of children by Catholic Priests know much better than I do how far away from the Holy Spirit they were in the guilt that was totally visible in their sheepish looks and inarticulation. The Sanhedrin saw Stephen as an angel we saw our Bishops as the guilty men that they still are.

Dear Lord, save me from the anger which I still feel about ordained clergy who do not in themselves reveal their belief in "the one who sent Jesus" to create for all times the Sacraments by which we can access the way, the truth and the life and which only they have the authority to confect in this world. May Mary continue to pray for all sinners that we become your adopted children and that we avoid sin. Turn all belligerents away from violence and may we all soon be witnesses to the Final Act that will bring New Life to the whole of Creation.

 14/04/2024

Our mass readings for today are centred on events that happened in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. The TV News Headlines are also focused on Jerusalem but  in 2024.

St John, writing at the end of his life which had witnessed the events that began the sinful chain which is coming to fruition in Jerusalem as I write today, tells the truth which we all forget "We can be sure that we know God only by keeping his commandments".

St Peter tells the assembly in the Temple that they were the people who had crucified Jesus, the Prince of Life, and  verbatim "Now, I know brothers that neither you nor your leaders had any idea what you were really doing. This was the way God carried out what he had foretold, when he said through all his Prophets that the Christ must suffer. Now you must repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out".

Human life in the Universe that we know has to be lived in response to the revelation and commandments of God. Each one of us has the freedom of Adam to resist the creation of sin that is our personal act of not choosing God. Over the last 2000 years a vast Gordian knot  of evil as been created by each of us refusing to resist our own sins and today is yet another showdown in the land where IAMIAM revealed the Trinity and assured us of "the Way , the Truth and the Life".

All of the parties killing each other anywhere in the world today are spitting into the face of God. We all have the opportunity to resist Evil by opening ourselves to the Holy Spirit and pleading for our Saviour to return before mankind destroys what he has saved. We can all say "Yes" to God.

Dear Lord, You know I repent for all my sins; help me to sin no more. May Mary and all saints join us in praying for an end to the chain of evil that is the history of Jerusalem. May the souls of those dying today be mercifully accepted by you. Help us Lord Jesus overcome the evil folly of pride and to answer IAMIAM with a sincere YOUARE that is known by your tiny created iams. Help me to do your will. Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus; Come!

 13/04/2024

The appointment of Stephen and the other Deacons was the beginning of the Hierarchy that continues to prevail in the human institution that Jesus' foundation on Peter began. We cannot deny that that Early Church in Jerusalem was complying with the Mission that had been completed by the Resurrection. They were choosing to become God's agents on Earth but had soon started to squabble and became divided into natural linguistic and cultural parties.

I don't suppose that even the Apostles did not consider that they were anything other than Jews and they still followed the "Law" but but both Aramaic and Greek speakers  also knew that the "Resurrection" was "something greater than Moses". 

They did not, at first, develop a public liturgy but attended the daily prayers in the Temple and studied the Torah trying to find in Scripture a way to understand their experience of living with and being taught by Jesus. Many priests, who were steeped in the Old Testament, had recognised Jesus as the "Suffering Servant" of Isaiah and joined the Apostles and in some cases became an alternative focus to the Apostles.

The first Community who had in their enthusiasm been able to share all their worldly goods in their anticipation of the imminent return of Jesus was unable to maintain its commitment to material equality and this distributive of goods, social aspect of the Way, the Truth and the Life became formalised by putting it  into the hands of Stephen and his colleagues.

Jesus has in his reply to Martha told us for all time that our first duty is to kneel at his feet in prayer. The Good Samaritan tells us not to ignore our duty to care for others as we, ourselves, would wish to be cared for. If we choose to live with the first and second commandments as our foundation for living we will definitely, by God's grace, avoid sin and reveal his Glory to others.

Dear Lord you know that I cannot maintain these daily beginnings focused on Your Word. My daily tasks soon interfere with prayer and it is long since that I put myself out to care for another person. I do have too many earthly goods and I am not rich. Help me to behave as you did on Earth both in prayer and deed, May my prayers join with Mary's and all the Saints to praise you and really follow your will in my earthly freedom. May all sinners here on earth and in Purgatory receive the gift of your Mercy which is a never-ending good and help me to be sinless this day.

 12/04/2024

The words attributed to Gamliel at the meeting of the Sanhedrin were certainly not only sensible but also prophetic. The human organisation which claimed to be the "Chosen People" who had been unable accept that the miracles, the "signs for the Jews", wrought by Jesus were indeed "signs" from God. They had already concocted the story of the gardener to deny the Resurrection which was being proclaimed on a daily basis in the Temple by the Apostles.

Jesus' founded an  organisation, a Church, that was built up in the first 3 centuries after his Resurrection to become as powerful in this world as was the Sanhedrin for the Jews of his day. God showed us by the Incarnation that the deeds of his people on Earth had to be refocused on each individual's response to his Love for us.

The recorded history of the Church shows it to have very quickly become, in the west, a contender for political power. It was one of the many tribes and factions vying for the wealth and broken power of the Empire. In the East it became one with the Empire that lasted another 1500 years..

The trial of Jesus had taken place very shortly before the meeting of the Sanhedrin reported by St Luke. The Resurrection has shown that Jesus is "something greater than the Law and the prophets" but his response,  "My Kingdom is not of this world" was already forgotten then and is still forgotten by the diverse organisations who claim to be the leaders of the then newly "Chosen" People of God; Christians.

Dear Lord, you know how I am living these latter years of my life. I am still learning how to know, love and serve. I am aware that many of your "Chosen People" have become the agents of Evil in their devotion to this world and their self Glorification. Our own "Sanhedrin" have not behaved as you did and have never turned the "other cheek" so that they too have weakened to become close to moral bankruptcy. John and Mary became a family at your command and I too am trying to become part of that same "Church of Love" you also created by your death and Resurrection. Forgive me my sins and let your Love be received by all of your people on Earth.

 11/04/2024

Jesus is the unique and final revelation of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All that we need to live holy lives is now known to us who are living today and this has been so for the past 2000 years.

In the Acts this morning, the members of the Sanhedrin were beyond themselves in fury. The only recourse available for them to stop the announcement of the Way, the Truth and the Life, which was disturbing their worship in the Temple, was to threaten the Apostles with death.

Death had lost all its power for those who had seen Jesus a corpse on the cross and then witnessed the Risen Lord in his wounded body. They couldn't be silenced in their proclamation of this concluding manifestation of the reality given to us all by the ever-greater power of God.

God has always entrusted to us the freedom of will to make right choices during our lifetimes. The Old Testament is the record of IAMIAM's relationship with the "Chosen People". In the New Testament, Jesus shows us once and for all how we are to live consciously aware that it is each one of us who becomes a "chosen person" once we choose "Jesus" in the spiritual reality that is the centre of our "being", even of those who don't believe.

John, the temporal "cousin" and spiritual forerunner, in preparing the way for the Beloved Son of God warns us that Jesus is totally God and that we who believe have opened our selves to the Holy Spirit and are on the Way. We have to do this consciously and live lives that respond to the revelations of the Gospel whether or not we are a part of a Christian denomination. God loves all his creation.

Dear Lord, help me to make right choices that will mark me in this world as a believer. Let me be sincere in my words and truthful in my thoughts. Let me stay far away from sin and become unafraid of death. Let my prayers become part of the prayer of Mary and all the saints and may all of us sinners on Earth and in Purgatory receive the Mercy that you poured out on Calvary. Let me plead for your return to be soon, come Lord Jesus, come!

 

 10/04/2024

The readings for today's Mass are part of the New Testament that did not become the accepted record of Jesus' life, teaching and its effect on those who had known him during the three years of his public life, until three hundred years after the Resurrection.

There are many scholars and saints who have studied these texts. They are still being perused today and have become part of the communal worship of Christians all over the Earth. 

St Luke did not meet Jesus. He was, as we are, blessed because he "did not see and yet believed". He did, as did St Paul, learn of Jesus' life and teaching directly from the 11 surviving original Apostles. St John on the other hand has been known throughout the centuries as "the beloved disciple" and was instructed by Jesus speaking from the cross to take care of Mary, his mother, and receive care from her.

Very much more must have happened within the first Christian Community than is recorded in the Acts and St John concludes his Gospel with an open acknowledgement that all the books of the World could not contain what he himself has witnessed.

Jesus' discourses recorded in John are not verbatim reports. They are the recollections of "the beloved disciple" enhanced by "the ponderings in her heart" of Mary Theotokos. The Gospel of St John is very much a memoir which contains the development of John's Theology as much as it contains a biography of the three years of Jesus' public life.

Dear Lord, help me to know, love and serve you . Let each day of my life continue without sin. Let me face up to any hardships that I might encounter and let the prayer of my heart be always guided by the prayers of Our Lady and all your saints. Let me continue to be open and also searching for the light of your revelation so that my sins can be forgiven even though they are black blight on my soul which you created to live in the light that is the being of you Father, Son and Holy Spirit.