03/08/2024

I am always aware as I begin these "jottings" that they are not planned in anyway as to follow an overall pattern. They are literally my "thought for the day" prompted by the mass readings as published on the web by "Universalis". That is why they are always the same and yet have different words.

The prophets in the Old Testament always preached the same warnings. "Never forget that the Lord, IAMIAM, is Holy and you are to follow him into human holiness by keeping his commandments". Living on earth we, each individual one of us, has to be aware that our lives are being lived in the heart of Almighty God and that every moment we live, we have to live never forgetful of obedience to his commandments, praise of his glory and an overwhelming gratitude, words cannot express the depths of this emotion, to the  Saviour, we know as Father,Son and Holy Spirit, who has reveled himself to mere children.

I am also always aware that I have to bequeath to my family and offer to my neighbours, to the world, a picture of a human being who is not focussed only on the things of this world but is steering his life towards the Eternal Joy that can be ours if we know, love and serve Father, Son and Holy Spirit during our lifetimes.

Dear Lord, I know that I am guided in these words by a sense of devotion to you. That I have to stifle the self that dominates and no matter how squashed is always there watching and niggling away at my confidence in my own integrity. Is this the sense of scrupulosity that caused your chosen people to become a faith that lost itself in "minute pious observances" to the extent it blanketed out  the Love which you had for them? Jesus is the complete guide for humanity flourishing in adversity and is the spiritual Church, the body of Christ, of which we are all called to be a part, the presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit with us until the end of time. We are never alone in our struggles as Mary our mother and all the Saints from the perfection of heaven continue in the love that they practised on earth to make endless pleas for the Mercy that brings pardon to us on earth and to the Holy Souls who can be happy in knowing that they are not lost and that their punishment is just.Amen

 02/08/2024

I have experienced jealousy at what has been achieved by my relatives and former school mates as adults. Envy is a very unpleasant sin and can consume the soul of the one who is tainted by it. 

We know very little of Jesus' childhood beyond that he was "subject to his mother and father". His neighbours must have forgotten the time when he was lost and then found in the Temple chatting with Scribes and Pharisees in that they were shocked by his knowledge and eloquence when he spoke in the Synagogue.

During the three years that Jesus prepared the Jews for the final revelation he had many arguments with those who really listened to his words and understood their meanings. Jesus was indeed guilty of the "blasphemies" attributed to him by the both Sadducees and Pharisees.

Jesus taught for three years. He gave signs to the Jews for three years. He completed his mission on Calvary and on the third day the Glory of a new eternal creation burst forth in Jerusalem and all our sins can be resisted and forgiven.

Jesus, the Son, of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is our eternal and infallible Way, Truth and Life. We have to devote ourselves to doing his will and resist the temptation to live only in our worldly bodies, with minds filled by the Media. We have to resist the temptation to think that by doing harm to no-one we are obeying the second commandment. Love has always got to be a positive outgoing state of being.

Jesus is the totality of Divine and Human love but during his life-time he alienated his own family and near neighbours. He never forgot the first Commandment and he teaches us to do the same. Let us all learn to love God and thus grow in his image and likeness.

Dear Lord, I suppose that Mary was hurt by the way your relatives were ashamed of you. She knew you from the moment of conception and loved you as she cared for your infant humanity. You accepted that love as do all babies who are not harmed by their parents and were happy in her arms. You, who are Lord of All in the Trinity, weakly accepted the ministrations of your mother who although conceived and born sinless herself is still a creature as are we all. At the moment of your death agony you turned to her and John and created in your dying words to humanity a New Holy Family that is the Church of the Spirit that keeps you in its heart. Help me to be true to all that you and the Institutional Church teach so that I can continue on the way, the truth and the life that you have pointed out to me. May my prayers be heard and may this day be without sin. Amen

 01/08/2024

The image that Jeremiah uses in today's first reading could be interpreted as a metaphor for a doctrine of reincarnation as it is the same clay that is reused by the potter to perfect his new vessel.

The revealed religion practised by Jews before the coming of Christ does not have a lot to say about the after-life. The priestly opinion was that this world was the place where we followed the Law. At death we enter a place/state of half-life, Sheol, where there are delights and suffering.The Pharisees increasingly preached a general resurrection and judgement at the end of time.

With the incarnation, God, IAMIAMFATHERSONANDHOLY SPIRIT, reveals that his infinite being knows/loves each particle of created matter and that the sin created by his finite image and likeness can be forgiven, but only by the Son emptying himself and becoming truly a human being and by human suffering create the forgiving grace that is not created out of nothing but out of the humiliating pain of the public death on Calvary.

Even from the earliest times of the Church men have tried to reconcile the gentle peaceful message of Jesus with the more "hard sayings" and with the reality of the  horror of his passion and death.

Human intelligence is great enough to create machines to mimic human thinking and to understand the origin of life. We all, however must never forget that "Evergreater" creates out of nothing. We humans are always within Creation. We are known by God. We cannot escape the dragnet of death which for us is the end of worldliness. 

We are not going to be reworked by a potter but we will be judged by our deeds in this our only life and the same sweet, kindly Jesus "come to me for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls" is not a "soft touch" but the crystal clear Justice of God although tempered by the mercy which we can all invoke. We only have one choice yes or no for God.

We can all also hope that "Hell is empty" but God cannot lie; "there will be weeping and grinding of teeth" is a strict warning from our merciful Saviour. It tells us that we are responsible for our own choices and that we are free to choose a way of life that will end either in joy, the infinite moment of knowing God, or in its alternative disaster from which there is no return.

Dear Lord, help me to do your will and condemn the sin that has dirtied my soul. Let me be overcome by the Love/ Grace/ Hope/ and Sorrow that is the mixture of feelings the Holy Spirit inspires within me. Out of this mix I can find Faith Hope and Charity to address you directly in prayer knowing that my words are encouraged by the unity of my prayer with that of the faithful on earth, your saints in heaven and Mary the mother of us all including the Holy Souls who are in the atoning safety of Purgatory.

 31/07/2024

In the first reading Jeremiah is "fed-up". He has felt the inspiration to preach God's Word, but he is reproached by those you hear him. He knows that it is God's truth and not some human thinking that he preaches and yet even "loan-sharks" do not receive the hatred that faces him.

He has never done anything contrary to the will of God. In fact, he has loved to hear God's voice in the Scriptures and in his heart but God lets his enemies have the upper-hand to the extent that he questions the value of being born.

Part of God's reaction to Jeremiah's woes is to reassure him that he has been preaching the Word. He must not change the message of God to suit the world of his generation.

In my life time I have witnessed far too much backsliding by those who should be leading us on the way, truth and life by demonstrating that they too believe and are guided by  the words that they preach.

Jeremiah did not limit his complaints to human words only. He faced up to the worldliness that was corrupting the chosen people and tarnishing their devotion to the crystal clear message that he knew came from  God. He knew that both people and temple, sheep and shepherds would, in time, incur their well-deserved punishment but it was himself who was duly punished by the hypocrites who hid their corruption under priestly garments and ostentatious display of "holiness" for his temerity in attacking the reality of their Godlessness.

Jesus always challenges us. He is the perfection that Father, Son and Holy Spirit offer us as the example to which we should aspire. Sometimes his words themselves become the "hard sayings" collected by Bible-Scholars. The image of the "treasure" being found, but not revealed to the owner of the field, does not add to my concept of fair practice in business and if the treasure is himself, the Resurrection, the Word, the Kingdom of Heaven this becomes the hardest of all "hard sayings".

There is nothing in scripture, however, that we should avoid or ignore.

 Dear Lord, help me to find the truth in all your "sayings" and deeds recorded in the Bible. Let me access the meanings which may be hidden among the words. Let my mind be open to receive the completed will of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Help those who are always preaching their own version of the morality which should rule our life on Earth lose their self -love with which they re-hammer the nails into your hands and feet. 

May my prayers join with those of all the faithful to counteract the influence of the World within your Church which has sullied you foundation  since Apostolic times. They are much interested in the "signs of the times" but your cross is the sign for all times and the teaching, life and death of Jesus is our never changing road-map to your Eternal Glory. Let my prayers open my heart to receive your grace and pardon here on earth as do the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Amen

 30/07/2024

The background music to my sinful life over the last twenty years has been a realisation that our Church has never been true to the Mission given to the Apostles. That "sweeping statement" has become my response to the reality which I face each morning when I wake up. 

Jesus preached to the chosen people who for centuries had been "the apple of God's eye" but had always treated God's bounty as their due not as the gift that our consciousness of reality is to us all.

Today I cannot see that our Church has ever been any different from the "Law" that Jesus came to fulfill. I think that, as a Catholic, I have been for all my life one of the "Anonymous Jews" who demanded the execution of Our Lord. 

St Paul is aware that Jesus changes everything as he, the Son, is the total revelation of the Father, Himself and Holy Spirit. Moses and all the  prophets did not fulfill God's will for his people by condoning their backsliding to become no different from their neighbours.

Our ancestors born into the Church in any of the generations since Apostolic times have always been guided by a human organisation that focussed its attention on its place in the world of Mammon, power and possessions. Any individuals who sought the truth of the Holy Spirit and did not follow the misguidance of Popes and Bishops were ruthlessly condemned and even killed.

In the first centuries there were many of us who tried to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, who recognised that "Church" was much more than the exoskeleton that was the Hierarchy of Clerical Orders.

 "I have sought you with all my heart, let me not stray from your commands."

But  God never forgets. Jesus has never left us alone. "Do as the Pharisees say, not as they do". He grew up until he was thirty in the perfect example of the Holy Family. He was unknown until he began to open himself to the eyes of his generation and in the process became unrecognisable to his family members.

His last words from the cross were to John and Mary and in these words I can find the hope that means that God is not letting us go our own way on the sweet road to perdition that is the "dust" of bodily life.

Our souls are the breath of the Holy Spirit, the sweet source of God's grace and we can have faith, hope and love still in our lives even though we Christians too have repeated the sins of the ancient Jews. 

God does not love us because we are wonderful but we are wonderful because God loves us.

Dear Lord, I always have to ask for grace to call me back to reality. I give myself over to you knowing that I have been filled with sin for most of my life. I know that your Church has had many holy priests but they retained their holiness in spite of the failing organisation. Our generation is guided by the desires of the flesh and the cupidity of mammon please show all the world that you are God, the Supreme Being who out of Love for sinful man chose to be in human flesh, only you  could pay  the price for the Mercy you shower down on us. 

 29/07/2024

The Jewish scriptures that have been preserved by the Church should have been accepted by the people of the Old Testament. They are, first of all, God's revelation of his being; IAMIAM and then of his guidance on how to follow His Will during our lifetimes.

Jeremiah really did not make a lot of friends by comparing his neighbors to worn out and discarded underwear. He, as do we all, could only have his own image of God. He interprets his inspiration in human terms and attributes to the eternally unchanging almighty power which has created the Universe and each individual "I" as part of it, the same emotions that confuse our own humanity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit is unfazed by ignorance but deliberate disobedience has had to be countered by the mystery of Incarnation.

The Christian writings together with the Old Testament that has been preserved by the Church should have been accepted in their totality as the legacy of Jesus and his Apostles, the objective source of how to live as the adopted sons of God in this world.

The history of Christendom both East and West is a revelation of how we have failed to live up to God's complete revelation of himself. We by our sins are as guilty of mocking God as are those who mocked his Last Supper before the whole world in Paris recently.

The failure by Jews and Christians continues to be witnessed by the remnant which is still slaughtering, continuing its own Holocaust, in Gaza and by the eastern and western Church which has never been true to neither Jesus' "my Kingdom is not of this world" nor to Martha's words of complete Faith "Yes, Lord, I do believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who has to come into the world."

Dear Lord, let me become true to you. Each one of us has to be completely open to You, Father Son and Holy Spirit and accept that it is only by our individual righteousness that we can do your will on earth; "I am the Resurrection and the life, if anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." Help me to be open to the grace that the prayers of all your friends in heaven bring to me and let your mother's pleas for all sinners here and in Purgatory be fulfilled by my sincere penitence and acceptance of your merciful justice. Amen.

 28/07/2024

Our Father  in heaven is "three in one". He is the source of all being. Without him there would be nothing. God has no beginning or end. He reveals himself and we respond. We are because God created us and knows us and every other atom of matter that he has ever created.

Creation is measured by time, but there is no way to measure God or his Eternity, which is without beginning or end. "There is one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and in all and within all".

Our relationship with God has us curtail our freedom and measure our selves against the rules of conduct that are also part of his creation. We are conscious of our being, we know that we are alive and know that our bodies obey the same instincts as do all animals and have a life-time limited by biological constraints.

One nation, known by its unique DNA, was favoured by God. The Old Testament is a record of that nation's failure to overcome its self-love. Their beauty, intelligence and unique position in the eyes of God became too much for them and Human Pride always forgets God.

We cannot understand our God for he is eternal and our understanding of events is trapped in time and we see cause and effect in everything that we know. I have always tried to understand what it is about mankind that is so valuable that in the Old Testament God loves the Jews, chastises, loves  again and finally reveals the entirety of his Love by bringing total forgiveness in the way that he did on Calvary.

The first reading and the Gospel has the same miracle. Eternity is seen in our time and space and there is a change in the laws of Physics. Neither of  the miracles seems to have any lasting effect. Jews went on to instigate the death of the author of the miracle, the incarnate Son of God and we Christians are today mostly led by the same materialism that is the "Gospel" of Mammon and is the dominant force in our world today.

Dear Lord, I have been taught that by knowing, loving and serving I can become the being that you created me to be. I live in time and know how I change from minute to minute. You never change and  Father,Son,Holy Spirit of one substance you will only good for your creation and for me. Help my being control itself so that I am never swayed to deny you again by sin. You promised that you would return. It's bit pointless my repeating, thy will be done, as of course it will but I do hope that the continuing denial of you that is the World today can be brought to an end so that we can all come to the joy that will be New Creation when you are all in all. Amen