I have found a way round my keyboard problems of yesterday. There were many excuses made when Jesus called us to follow him in the 1st century. "My keyboard has died was not one of them" then but it did pass through my mind that my excuse was on a par with those written in the Gospels; my excuse came out of putting the things of this world before those of God as it was compounded by a family visit.

St John  the Baptist was a human relative of the humanity that God had chosen for the Incarnation of the Word. There are only pious legends of Jesus' childhood but perhaps Jesus did know John when they were both growing up. Jesus did acknowledge John as a his precursor even to the extent of receiving baptism as a symbolic gesture from him and John was the first to declare his recognition of the hidden nature of Jesus just as we can find the Trinity at the scene of the Baptism in the Jordan. 

In my life I have been well protected from the violence that is accepted by many as a way of life. A click of the mouse can reveal small and large scale killings happening everywhere in the world. The drama of Jesus' betrayal torture and death is well recorded and we are moved by the words of the Evangelists but this killing of John  is quick and casual revealing the power of the temporal rulers of Jesus' day.

Thoughtlessly ignoring the needs of my own soul is a violence against myself. There should be nothing that comes between me and my maker and I have no excuses for ever ignoring the Grace of Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Father in Heaven, Jesus' dad, you know how small I am and helpless too, drive away selfishness and hypocrisy from my being so that what I think and do can be serviceable to you and not just a pathetic ego hiding from Life. May Mary our Mother in Heaven continue in that unity which is the Communion of Saints to support all of us here om Earth and in the Community of Penance that is Purgatory. 

 

 27/08/2022

This morning's Gospel is not an easy one especially coupled with the continuation of St Paul's letter to the Corinthians. St Paul tells us that the chosen ones of God are not the intellectuals and the leaders of his day but the simple people and slaves who do all the manual work that supports the marble palaces, temples and theatres of the Greek world.

Jesus' parable praises the active trading done by the first two servants and utterly condemns the third who still had the one but had not increased its value. He is condemned to what seems like Hell, a place with no joy but only pain and suffering. This does not seem like the Jesus of the beatitudes. The gifts that the man gave were in proportion to the abilities of the servants. 

To make sense of this parable it could be possible to view the gifts in reverse order. St Paul tells the Corinthians that God has chosen the unwise and untalented to build up the Church. These are  those who receive 5 and 2 talents. It is the rich and successful who are satisfied by their place in this life who receive only one gift from God and put it to oneside as they go through life satisfied that at the end they will be able to draw out the Faith that they have done nothing to increase.

If I do  nothing to grow in the grace distributed to all of us by Father, Son and Holy Spirit and for this failure blame God ,"I sin because you the All-Powerful made me this way" there is no reason for me to think that by fishing out a remembered belief from the back of mind I will be able to become acceptable and fit for eternity.

Dear Lord help me to grow throughout this day and let my will align itself to yours. This morning's parable has exercised my mind and even though my understanding is probably wrong you know that I have tried my best to find a positive interpretation as giving more to those who already have seems to be an injustice. May Mary and all the saints continue to keep us in their prayers to support the sick and needy and to cheer me up as I have started today quite bemused by the Gospel,. May St Monica's prayers still be heard for all parents who want their children to follow the road of righteousness.

 26/08/2022

St Paul's letter to the Corinithians continues to confrim that I should not be worried by my lack of understanding of the wisdom of the philosophers. I am unable to retain in my mind the theses of Theology and try to explain this lack of understanding and retention by telling myself that God's great love can be undestood to the fullness of my abilities and I cannot pass beyond that point. A half-pint glass cannot hold a full pint. I must still stive to eke out and replenish my  knowledge for it  is like the oil carried by the bridesmaids; it needs to last until the coming of the the Lord.

I still like reading Theology and have previously remarked that in this I am like King Herod who liked to listen to the Baptist interpretting the Scripture but was perplexed by  him, Paul stakes his all on the inspiration, the Faith that comes from God. Illogical foolishness is what he rightly proclaims the surface of his preaching  to be. But now he tells us that "this foolish" Wisdom comes from the grace of faith for what seems foolish and illogical to us in fact is the evergreater Wisdom of God.

The Cross is the saviour of our souls. Defeat death and despair are held up on the wood of the cross. Everything comes clear in the light of the Resurrection. We still have to do justice to our "image and likeness" by striving to "Know"God. We can "Love and Serve" but by concentrating on the Cross we can know that all that is Good comes directly from the one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Dear Lord. you know how each morning I turn all of my being to you and in your Scriptues I find Faith Hope and Love. Let these virtues even at the end of my life grow so that the lamp that is my soul remain full of the Light of Your Love and so enter into full communion with You, Your Mother and all the Saints. Your people on Earth are still scandalised by the way of the Vatican. May Our Lady and all the Saints' prayers turn the eyes of the  princes of the Church to the poverty humility and obedience displayed by your Son on earth and act accordingly.

 25/08/2022

St Paul's letter to the Corinthian was written les than 40 years after Jesus, God and Man  had walked the earth. The people who had joined to be one mind in their worship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit were Pagans as well as Jew. The Jews would have had some knowledge of God's dealing with mankind  from Scriptures which they read when keeping the Sabbath. How did the Greeks and other races become believers? 

This unbeautiful but eloquent tentmaker had come to them with stories of a visitation to our world by the only one God. He had condemned Zeus Athena Aphrodite and all the Olympian  Pantheon as non-existent and hence powerless; the Son of this God was not a hero or superhuman; he was from an unknown family of peasant artisans in that strange province from which all the Jews that they knew had come. The carpenter had done wonders but made no attempt to take over the State. He taught that the Love of his Father in Heaven was the only source of being. That poor and destitute were the objects of his special care and that to the violent there was to be no resistance. He was a king but his kingdom was not of this world.

Nothing in the basic story of  Jesus was attractive in any way to the epicures and sophisticated intellectuals of the Greek world. He even died as a common criminal naked and humiliated before the mob of his countrymen who had rejected him. He rose from the dead. Those five words are  the core of the Good News brought by all the Apostles on their missionary journeys. Those words uttered  and expounded by all the Apostles, known and unknown, must have been accompanied by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on them and their listeners for the Word is spread in our hearts by God and it is through God's grace that we can come to be ready for his coming. Maranatha!

Dear Lord may the beginning of this day stay in my mind and let my soul rest in your grace. Let me be ready for anything you might need from me and let the support of your Holy Mother and all the saints be with the poor and suffering who are greatly in need of your Love.

 24/08/2022

The God-given Bartholemew found by Philip but already known by Jesus, is counted among the Apostles by John. "What good can come out of Nazareth?" is attributed to  him. The remark arises out of typical human rivalry between nearby towns and villages; Nathanael/Bartholomew was from Cana. Jesus promises him a vision of God's eternity with everything in this world known by God; this awareness is personified by "angels" the touches of God received by human souls; the spiritual beings that were the first of God's creation. Gabriel it was that revealed God's purpose to Mary and together with all the heavenly host sang of the Nativity to the shepherds of Bethlehem.

None of us know of the guardianship we have received from our own angel. We do not even know the  name of this spiritual being except that it has been created by God and is thus like Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the same way that is all creation but without matter.

The Apostles are the foundation stones of our Church. They witnessed the risen Lord. They had lived walked and talked with Jesus. They had been awe-inspired to the extent of leaving home and families behind in order to be with this man. They had had huge expectations and had received the great "failure" of Calvary with despair. The Resurrection was more than they had ever anticipated. They then realised that  it was to spread this "Good News that that they had been chosen.

Today the descendants of the Apostles are cluttered with management problems;each day they are faced with the problems of living in a world where the false values of the fallen angels have swamped out that Faith that drove their originals to spread the Good News Each fallen priest and Bishop adds to the pain and disbelieve of those God has put into their care.

Dear Lord awaken your church leaders to their true purpose which is to assure their people that what God wants of the living is Faith, Hope and Love. What need have you, the Evergreater, of vast Bascilicas and human art.? I pray again that with your help I might keep my sight fixed firmly on the Heavenly Jerusalem where all souls are in the glory of your presence. May Mary continue in her support of all who are sick and troubled in this life especially caring for the poor souls who are hving to flee their homes because of the wickedness of Sinful Humanity.

 23/08/2022

Most of us do not like criticism of any sort and if one does state a negative opinion in public there is usually a chorus against the "Judgemental"one. The truth is that we have to be "judgemental" every second of our lives if we are to always be ready to put the will of God before our own. St Paul warns the Thessalonians to beware false announcements of the Second Coming or the End of the World. 

A Eucharistic Minister who attends and takes part in a Protestant Communion service is not doing right and needs to be told so . A priest who is known to be abusing has to be exposed. Episcopal cover ups cannot be tolerated and have to be exposed. The Financaial Shenanigans at the very top of the Human Institution the Church founded by Christ has become cannot be tolerated, and present for us the poor people of the Lord a huge obstacle to our belief and understanding of our place on earth.

Jesus' attack on the Pharisees this morning was not greeted with a chorus of "don't be judgemental, they are only human". The people of his day were all aware of the sinfulness of their leaders but were not active to think about it. We have only one father and our Father is aware of all and it behoves us to look for the true way to his Holiness.This can only be done by using our consciences to judge between truth and lies, good and evil. The enemy of Father, Son and Holy Spirit inspires so many of our people with a false sense of freedom that they sincerely believe that humanity can do what it wants with our God given lives.

Dear Lord, at your birth the first human love that you knew was that of your mother may that human love be mingled with the Divine, Father Son and Holy Spirit,  Love you have for the Church and prune out the dead dying and corrupting branches that choke our desire to love and sincerely worship you. May all the saints and their heavenly Queen continue to plead for the suffering ones here on earth.

 22/08/2022

Paul and Timothy are full of delight and praise for the Thessalonians who have responded and remained faithful to the Good News received via Paul from Jesus. These early Christians are usually faithful to the eye-opening that thay have received by the Grace that comes from God. There is some backsliding and bickering of course, they, as we, are only human, but the Faith that is ours today grew not by force of arms or state dictat but by the love that inspired the preachers and priests of those days long ago in the past. 

Our faith in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit  and our place in Creation brought to us directly by the the Resurrecton is still exactly the same as it was when Paul/Saul approved of the execution of Stephen and accepted the commission to harry the converts in Damascus. Saul's conversion to Paul was the the direct call of the Resurrected Son and his Sanhedrin-approved mission was radically overturned into preaching the life death and Resurrection.

There is a great contrast between Paul's joy and Jesus assesment of the "Church" leaders of his day. I felt so disappointed on first reading the Gospel for Jesus words more than reflected my own concerns about the condition of His Church today. ( I felt a rant coming on) but yesterday I was drawn to a TikTok posting by an African priest whose joy in the Gospel of the Lord shone out of screen and I remembered  being in my parish Church some time about 1950 when a Missionary priest forecast in his sermon that those to whom he was now preaching in Africa would one day bring the Faith back to us. Amen!

Dear Lord I have still to live through this day dedicated to Mary our Queen and Mother. Let me be close to you and far away from the sins that fill my consciousness and life. Just because the Western Church has lost its way in the concerns and stupidities the secular "isms" and direct challenges aimed at you put before our eyes each day does not mean that you are not still present with us even to the end of time. Of course, all this is known to you please accept my feeble response. May Mary whose feastday as Queen and Mother is celebrated today, place before you all our troubles in this life that we may become more secure in our knowledge that your grace never leaves us even if we ignore it.