SUNDAY Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
With more energy I make it to Westminster Cathedral.
More beautiful poetry from Isaiah 62:1-5, poet of poets:
“About Zion I will not be silent. About Jerusalem I will not grow weary, until her integrity shines out like the dawn and her salvation flames like a torch. The nations then will see your integrity, all the kings your glory.”
War and Peace is on TV, Tolstoy the mystic and spiritual leader sadly dumbed down. As I write this I am listening to choral vespers on Radio 3 in Latin, Psalms 128-132.
MONDAY
My first walk with Monty to Warwick Square. In the afternoon the House of Commons debates Donald Trump. I defend his right to come here if he wishes.
At Mass the story of Samuel continues:
“Is the pleasure of the Lord in holocausts and sacrifices or in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Yes obedience is better than sacrifice; submissiveness better than the fat of rams.”
I ask a question or make a point about Lt Cdr David Balme who spent three hours in the sinking U110 alone in the dark to recover the codes and an enigma machine and take them back to Bletchley Park, where my parents met during the war.
TUESDAY
“The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you go on mourning over Saul when I have rejected him as King of Israel?”
This reading gives us hope. Too many of us spend all our lives regretting who we are not or what we do not but all the sons of Jesse are rejected one by one. The youngest and least regarded, David, is chosen.
“There is still one left, the youngest. He is out looking after the sheep.”
WEDNESDAY
I lead off a 9:30 debate in Westminster Hall on new government regulations on Sunday schools and scout groups. Twenty colleagues turn up, many interventions, a really good motivating occasion.
Today’s reading is the famous one of David and Goliath. In the real world, Goliath, the Government, always wins.
THURSDAY – St Agnes, Martyr
Poor St Agnes: a martyr and a saint at the age of 12. I don’t even remember being 12, perhaps one vague memory of not getting into the school rugby team. Little else.
“In God I trust, I shall not fear.” (Psalm 55:2)
FRIDAY – St Vincent, St Publius
A quiet day in Lincolnshire, Monty the dominating influence but doing a surgery and trying to help people keeps me sane.
St Publius is remembered for nothing more than welcoming St Paul and his companions after their shipwreck on Malta. You see how much you can be remembered for doing so little.
SATURDAY
I read Psalm 80 in our village church which today is open:
“Give ear, o shepherd of Israel, that thou leadest Joseph like a flock, thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth.”
We have dinner with the Bishop of Lincoln. The Church Commissioners have foolishly sold off his palace for 800,000 and put him into a much smaller house. How does it ever benefit the church to sell off property?