SUNDAY 16th October – Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the evening we are back at dinner with Patriarch Kirill.

I always think on today’s Gospel:
“I must give this widow her just rights or she will persist in coming and worry me to death”
Luke 18:1-8.

MONDAY 17th October – St Ignatius of Antioch

I often think on this parable too:
“‘I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’’
Luke 12:13-21.

I got my royalties cheque this week for ‘Monastery of the Mind’. A grand total of £303.74, 637 copies for 3 years of sales. £100 a year would be a modest amount to live on. I was talking to Nadine Dorries today, she has done rather better with her novels. I wish I had the imagination to write them!

TUESDAY 18th October – St Luke

I asked Boris Johnson in FCO Questions to welcome Patriarch Kirill – and the fortitude of the Russian Church under Soviet oppression. I didn’t get a very forthcoming reply. We have our last session of the Higher Education Bill.

In today’s Gospel, Luke 10:
“The harvest is rich but the labourers are few”.

Kirill told me that his services are bursting.

WEDNESDAY 19th October

I have my little prayer meeting with Peter at the Brompton Oratory. We discuss the need for prayer.

“When a man has had a great deal given him, a great deal will be demanded of him”
Luke 12:48-49

What does this mean for us?

THURSDAY 20th October

We take Mary out for her birthday. A nice day.

I was looking at a TV programme. Apparently they now think that at the centre of every galaxy is a black hole and it affects the way the whole of the galaxy behaves. Its relation in size to the galaxy is the same as a grape to the Earth. I have always wondered how something as small as Jesus could affect the whole universe but we now know something the size of a grape can affect something the size of a planet. In that sense, we are all interconnected. The whole universe if finely balanced. We all come from the same source and return to it.

I hear today that Lincolnshire County Council has voted down devolution to a Mayor. Victory!

FRIDAY 21st October

I meet with the Head of the Hospital Trust. I will help with the campaign to get a medical school in Lincoln; something positive to do.

Ephesians 4:1-6
“I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation”.

SATURDAY 22nd October – St John Paul II

We go to the installation of the new Dean of Lincoln Cathedral. The first woman. The service is dignified, beautiful even; the legality’s interesting but I would have liked a bit more spiritual power.

Ephesians 4:8-9
“When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people”.