Where do I find God’s oneness?
Is it in this spring garden’s noise sparing?
In its utter quietness.
The blossom’s smallest leaves appearing.
The fascia’s brilliant yellow majestically spread.
Before me in great glory’s beauty.
Or a quiet prayer coursing unbidden through my head,
It’s strength the call of a power almighty.
The garden’s beauty so transient.
The prayer so fleeting too and humble.
The one so visual, the other sentient.
But both point to a truth incontrovertible a presence unfathanable:
That in this gardens loneliness.
My heart reaches out to a calling seeking ultimate oneness.

May the venerable exercises of holy devotion
Shape the hearts of your faithful O Lord
To put the paschal mystery into motion
And move the praises of your devotion towards the holy ford
Through which we wade towards our Lord Jesus Christ your son
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit
One God forever and ever in unity with your holy Son.
One God forever and ever, one being, one essence with your Holy Spirit.
Let all the people rejoice in this,
Your endless call too rarely answered.
Yet somehow is our inner self always seeking this,
Our pain too constant thus lanced.
Can we in just one moment of concentrated prayer,
Seek solace from our daily life of worry through this and by your holy seer.

Based on the collect for the day

O God who renews the face of the World through mysteries beyond all telling
Grant we pray
That your Church May be formed by virtue and not through selling
Its teaching that our priests lay
That your people may be guided by your eternal design
And not be deprived of your help in this present age
Through Jesus Christ his son given by his sign
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit his sage
One God for ever and ever you are mine
May my love for you sublime
Never falter in this my mind for ever as a telling sign
But be forever mine and not mere empty mime
But proven in my inner feeling
And true till my death that ultimate ceiling

Sunday 8 March 2020 — The Transfiguration

Our priest tells us that is how we shall see Christ when we get to Heaven. In the next sentence he tells us we’re all going to spend a long time in Purgatory.

So there we are.

Monday 9 March 2020

I go to the 10:30 Mass. We have no kiss of peace.

The psalm is number 78:

“Do not hold the guilt of our fathers against us.
Let your compassion hasten to meet us.”

Tuesday 10 March 2020

Apparently they have found such a huge explosion in the universe it is half the size of the Milky Way, half our galaxy, a space that could contain millions of stars, civilisations without count. Once again I think how could a wandering faith preacher, walking the dusty roads of Palestine, create such things. I think back on the concept that every needle must have a point. He can be that point.

Psalm 9: “I will recount all your wonders, I will rejoice in you and be glad.”

That is all we can do. One will never find answers in physical concepts but only in feelings. God isn’t perhaps something — that explosion the size of the Milky Way — He is nowhere and everywhere. He is love that is nowhere but can be everywhere.

Wednesday 11 March 2020

Psalm 30:

“Save me in your love, O Lord.”

Thursday 12 March 2020

We are driving up to Lincolnshire and as we pass by I pop in for a moment for the 6:00 pm Mass at the Oratory.

An image which abides: the church darkened and atmospheric in twilight. At the far end, the priest facing away, intoning the Agnus Dei in Latin. The congregation quiet, beautiful and inspiring.

Friday 13 March 2020

I open the Book of Common Prayer at random in our village church and come across Psalm 40:

“I waited patiently for the Lord,
and He inclined unto me,
and heard my calling.”

As I sat there quietly in the silence looking at the dappling light I thought maybe these words are for me of not enough faith. One just has to wait patiently and belief will come and it did in that moment.

Saturday 14 March 2020

Again I open the Book of Common Prayer at random. This time I find Psalm 74:

“O God wherefore art thou absent from us so long…”

It was a kind of bookend to yesterday’s psalm.

Sunday 1 March 2020 — First Sunday in Lent

I am giving up nothing for Lent save being angry with things like Monty our dog. I have already failed several times.

Collect: Grant, Almighty God, through the yearly observances of holy Lent, that we may grow in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ.

Monday 2 March 2020

I take Sophia to Mass. We sit at the back and she watches Peppa Pig on the iPhone.

Collect: “Instruct our minds by heavenly teaching, that we may benefit from the works of Lent.”

Tuesday 3 March 2020

Entrance Antiphon: “O Lord, you have been our refuge from generation to generation.”

Wednesday 4 March 2020

I am walking to the Gare du Nord and I pass the Corpus Christi chapel in the Avenue Friedland. I am tired and late but surely I can spare two minutues for God. The Mass is halfway through and I go up to the altar to receive communion. Just six of us. A quiet moment in the bustle.

Then amazingly I find the 43 bus to take me straight there.

Thursday 5 March 2020

The Forty Hours is just finishing in the Cathedral today. Sophia and me don’t last long. She wants to be on her way to soft play at the Army Museum.

“To my words give ear, O Lord. Give heed to my sights.” (Antioch)

Friday 6 March 2020

I am in the village church and open the Book of Common Prayer randomly and alight on Psalm 66:

“O be joyful in God, all ye lands
Sing praises unto the honour of His name,
Make His praise to be glorious.”

The sun is out, the wind is calm. Time for a three-hour walk across the Wolds.

Saturday 7 March 2020

I read today’s psalm in the Book of Common Prayer:

“Blessed are those that are undefiled in the way and walk in the law of the Lord.”