If they do not hear the prophets and Moses.
Neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.
We always seem satisfied with less.
Our faith too often is like lead.

But today in the Cathedral.
My heart leapt at the raising of the host.
Where this comes from who can tell.
But with this we never be lost.

And then at the end with the Salve Regina.
My heart warmed.
Here was my one and only true Regina.
Belief , gratitude swarmed.

And thus we are encouraged.
And enlightened.

……

The host is rising
The heart leaps with faithfulness
And this is belief

….

See Luke 16: 19-31

They were all marvelling.
At everything he was doing.
We too are wondering.
What really was happening.

It was this, the son of man.
Was about to be delivered into the hands of men.
We are not distant spectators who remember that man.
We are those men.

It is we who have delivered him.
We who have denounced him.
We who have tortured him.
We who have crucified him.

Yet he died for us.
And has redeemed us.

…….

Thus the son of man
Was delivered to mens’ hands
And we are those men

…….

See Luke 9 : 43-45

It happened as Jesus was praying.
The disciples were with him.
Are we praying.
Are we with him.

St Cosmas and Damian.
So renowned.
Yet virtually nothing known to our scan.
Famed but not framed.

Everything is known about us.
Everything spelt out on social media.
But everyone will forget us.
Drowned out by vast quantities of media.

All we know of these saints is their sacrifice.
And this quite rightly must suffice.

….

We know so little
About Saints Cosmas Damian
But that must suffice

……

See Mark 10 : 45

He has cast down the mighty from their throne.
And had exalted those who are lowly.
We must atone.
Perhaps move more purposely, humbly.

I am at the Rashtrapati  Bhavan
India’s Presidential Palace.
At 300 acres, beyond our scan.
Showing to the world, power’s face.

But once it was the Viceregal Lodge.
How all power and empires fade.
Fate, time, no one can dodge.
Our fate found wanting is weighed.

All the glory of this world comes and goes.
We all have to meet our highs and lows.

.. …

The mighty cast down
The lowly are exalted
And what about us

.. ..

See Luke 1 : 46- 53

My mother and my brothers
Are those who hear the word of God and do it.
And Jesus meant too his sisters.
And whether we do it.

We hear.
Do we listen to it.
We fear.
Do we find joy in it.

We hear.
Do we act on it.
We fear.
Do we find joy in it.

The word is given to us.
That we may act thus.

…..

Who is my brother
It’s he who hears the the Lord’s word
And then acts on it

……

See Luke 8 : 19-21

To the one who has more will be given.
And from the one who had not, even what he thinks he had will be taken away.
It is not enough to have striven.
We may still lose the way.

Standing in the tomb of Imam Zanin.
I wonder now what great power and wealth brings.
Is it enough to win.
Where now the gorgeous clothes , the costly rings.

We come, search and wonder.
And then we are utterly gone.
In another world to wander.
Lying we hope luxuriant on a celestial lawn.

We may or may not have a grand tomb.
But everyone in reality has the same tomb.

…….

A tomb is splendid
Another one just decays
Bodies just decay

…….

See Luke 8: 16-18

One who is faithful in a very little.
Is also faithful in much.
And one who is dishonest in a very little.
Is also dishonest in much.

Standing in the Sunder Burj.
I feel a sense of quiet welcoming.
A spiritual surge.
Joyous calming.

There is God existing.
The same for all of us.
Wanting to help , understanding.
In every continent and religion for all of us.

We are all of us,  all peoples, one.
Humanity is one at one with the one.

……

We are all of us
All peoples everywhere
At one with the one

……

See Luke 16 : 1-13

O God upon us.
Of all things creator and ruler.
From fear free us.
For you are our saviour.

That we may feel.
Your mercy working.
Be our rock and our seal.
Always our pleas answering.

Grant that we may serve you.
With all our heart.
We love you.
Within our soul , the beating heart.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Not someone of the past but here now our Christ.

… …

Upon us O God
Creator and our ruler
Our past and future

…..

See Collect of the day

Until I come devote yourself to the reading of scripture.
To exhortation , to teaching.
We seek the bigger more complex picture.
Always trying to understand, searching.

So we read every day.
To try and to be inspired
And this amazing book does so every day.
Our hope, our spirit is fired.

Do not neglect the gift you have.
Which was given to by prophesy.
This unique gift is our soul’s salve.
Launching us into spiritual immensity.

Practise these things .
Immerse yourself in these things.

….

Learn to read scripture
Understand exhortation
And also teaching

….

See 1 Timothy 4

Great Indeed.
We confess, is the mystery of his godliness.
In word and deed.
This thought, we can only bless.

This extraordinary mystery.
This unfathomable question.
Bestriding history.
Impossible of any expression.

What power
Or intent.
When will be the return’s hour
But he was and will be sent.

To redeem us.
To save us.

……

He is great indeed
Godliness mystery
We cannot fathom

….  ..

See 1 Timothy 3

I will walk.
With blameless heart.
It is not enough just to talk.
Praying is the start.

I sing of mercy.
And justice.
Overcoming all controversy.
Rebutting injustice.

I was at a service in the Abbey.
All this history passing by.
A distant stained glass sun ray.
The tourists walking by.

The host was raised.
A small moment of calm seized.

……

We sing of mercy
And with blameless heart we try
To say our p

…..

See Psalm 111

At that time standing by the cross.
Were his mother and his mother’s sister.
Now we in our dark dreams stand by the cross.
Thinking this man was my brother.

She is our mother.
Our sister
Our mother’s mother.
Our sister’s sister.

Her sorrow.
Her agony
Is our sorrow.
And our agony.

But she was yet to see her son live.
And one day we will know this for certain, he will for eternity live.

….

Standing by the cross
Was his sad mother weeping
We also are there

……

See John 19 : 25-27

Make a fiery serpent.
And put it on a pole.
Can we now repent.
To save our soul.

This hideous instrument of torture.
This blood stained cross.
Is now the intersection between past and future.
The beacon of hope, the end of loss.

On this piece of splintered wood.
The whole of history turns.
The repository of every questioning would or should.
The fire that eternally burns.

Did St Helena in 326 really find it.
But it really doesn’t matter if the splinter in the church is it.

……

Is it truly here
Is this splinter from the cross
A matter of faith

…….

See Numbers 21 : 4b-9

No good tree bears bad fruit
Or again does a bad tree bear good fruit.
Let our voice not be mute.
So that faith can take root.

The good person out of his heart’s treasure produces good.
And the bad person out of his evil treasure produces evil.
This is our spiritual food.
This is what we know and feel.

Perelandra is by CS Lewis written.
Here evil invades planet Venus’ paradise.
And the fruit of our own  downfall must not be there eaten.
Self Will and knowledge, we hope, will not suffice.

Does good win in the end.
We must read and like life persevere to the end.

……

If good trees produce
Good fruit and bad trees then
bad
Where does that leave us

.. ..

See Luke 6 : 43-49

Why do you see the speck that is in your brothers’s eye.
But do not notice the log that is your own eye.
How can you say , brother let me take the speck that is in your eye.
When you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye.

We are so judgmental.
So lacking in self awareness.
And all this is fatal.
To some sort of spiritual fitness.

The universe circles around us.
Instead of the next World.
Forgetting Jesus.
Locked into this World.

The beam remains in our eye.
The speck in the other’s eye.

……

The speck in his eye
Is noticed and our own beam
Remains unnoticed

……

See Luke 6 : 39-42

Blessed are those who weep now.
For you shall laugh.
I love this idea of hope in the future given now.
That whatever happens the Lord is there on our behalf.

Laughter is important.
We should enjoy this life.
So follow the hopeful spiritual scent.
Salvation is always there, rife.

Troubles come and go.
And usually they seem to come.
But of course they all eventually go.
They in retrospect are just another small bread crumb.

In heaven there is only laughter.
So there is no eternal disaster.

…….

Blessed those who weep
For they shall come soon to laugh
Or that’s what we hope

…..

See Luke 6 : 20-26

I trust in your merciful love.
Let my heart rejoice in your salvation.
For you are pure love.
Removing all temptation.

I will sing to the Lord.
Who has been bountiful with me.
He is the one true Lord.
Eternally, we pray, looking after you and me.

I was in the Museum of Man.
Apparently we all just a part of spontaneous evolution.
Man has no soul, he is just the latest man.
So a bad moral choice is not a temptation

I don’t know , I need to know more.
I just feel in my heart there is more.

…….

I trust in your love
Rejoicing in salvation
I am not an ape

… ….

See psalm 13

What human being can discern the counsel of God.
Or can discern what the Lord wills.
Indeed who or why or where is God.
Who knows apart from love what he wills.

For the reasoning of mortals is worthless.
And our designs are likely to fail.
But why ask, why be anxious.
The body yes, but the soul cannot fail.

For a perishable body weighs down the soul.
And this earthly tent burdens a mind full of thoughts.
There later is joy, here is merely full of toil.
There later , the reward of the cross, here just naughts.

Here there is endless thinking.
There finally understanding.

……

What is God’s counsel
Who can discern what he wills
Yet we will find out

……

See Wisdom 9 : 13-18

You who were once alienated.
He has now reconciled.
No longer divided.
Nor resented.

He did this by his death.
In order to present you blameless.
To give you eternal breath.
Your soul perfect endless.

If you continue stable and steadfast.
Not shifting in the hope of the gospel.
You will last.
And all your fears dispel.

No longer fearful.
But hopeful.

…..

You once alienated
Now reconciled and hopeful
Now and for ever

……

See Colossians 1 : 21-23