What about your own alms.
Your own good work.
Is it good enough to sing our psalms.
And meanwhile our doubts lurk.

Blind Tobit was told by his wife.
Everyone knows what return you have had for your good works.
Our own doubt is rife .
Our own regret for our life lurks.

Tobit did not know there were sparrows above his head.
Their hot droppings fell into his eyes.
Sometimes we just feel bled.
Surrounded by lies.

But Tobit’s agony was coming to an end.
God and fate do not give, they only lend.

………

What about your alms
Your own good work that you do
Are you recognised

………

See Tobit 2 : 9-14

Your feasts will be turned to mourning.
And all your songs to lamentation.
We have received our warning.
And this applies to us whatever our station.

To it’s  neighbours laughed and said.
See he is not afraid anymore.
But that is only true after we are dead.
We must then settle our score.

The time before this he had to flee.
But here he is beginning to bury his dead again.
We ourselves make our plea.
But we are always going against the grain.

Do we, like Tobit, walk in the paths of truth.
Or did we leave behind all that in our youth.

………

Feasts turned to mourning
Songs to lamentation
Is that then our lot

………

See Tobit 1 : 3 , 2  :  1-8

Moses went up the mountain.
As the Lord had commanded.
With countless stars can faith be certain.
How can we assume all will indeed be mended.

I dreamt that faith was indeed a mountain.
And all our efforts a mere ant hill
But I still remained uncertain.
Was the universe in comparison not a continent not some high hill.

All this is true even infernal.
And then I saw one small man, Jesus walking.
He alone proclaimed that we are eternal.
He alone provides for our reawakening.

It does not matter that we are a mere piece of cosmic dust.
With faith our soul will not die or rust.

…….

We on our ant hill
Stand before the universe
But one man gives hope

………

See Exodus 34 : 4-6 , 8-9

Some have left no memory.
And disappeared as if they had not existed.
We may leave no trace , never leave our territory.
We appear among the unlisted.

They are now as if they had never been.
And so to their children after them.
They do not now see nor are they seen.
We ask ourselves , are we like them.

But here is a list of generous men.
Whose good works have not been forgotten.
They will be seen again.
And we too pray we will remain begotten.

But for all there is some kind of inheritance.
And even some feeling of sense.

……….

They the disappeared
They can leave no memory .
And then what of us

……. ..

See Ecclesiasticus 44: 1, 9-13

As Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting.
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Seeing was believing.
Faith has no limit.

The visitation shows we can always hope.
Elizabeth had been barren.
Now soon despair was followed by hope.
The desert is never entirely barren.

Whatever disasters happen.
We can always have hope.
We need not sadden.
Or have a good mope.

We just need to be positive
And not too negative

……..

To be positive
And not always negative
Is surely a start

……….

See Luke 1 : 39-56

There is no one who has left brothers or sisters for my sake.
Who will not be repaid a hundred times over.
We must give and not take.
I felt I was on a life change over.

When I read these words silently.
Everything seemed clear and certain.
My mind into certainty moved quietly.
As if I was lifting a curtain.

But I have not left house or land.
I have not sacrificed anything.
I am just a shifting grain of sand.
Writing on a prayer and on a wing.

Holding somehow on.
Carrying on.

……….

There is no one who
Has left it all for my sake
Who will not be paid

……..

See Mark 10 : 28-31

For whose sins you forgive.
They are forgiven.
Let us choose to live.
Whether or not striven.

For those whose sins you retain.
They are retained.
We will not leave forever, we will remain.
We will not be chained.

They heard what sounded like a powerful wind.
Which filled the entire house in which they were sitting.
Their sins like ours to rescind.

Something appeared to them like tongues of fire.
For them and us nothing any longer is dire.

…….

Whose sins you forgive
They are always forgiven
And they’re not retained

……..

See John 20 : 19-23 and Acts 2 : 1-11

The harvest is rich.
But the labourers are few.
We search endlessly for our niche.
Always looking for something new.

I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no purse, no haversack , no sandals.
Look after not yourself but themselves.
You should  only need to carry metaphorical candles.

Whatever house you go into.
May your first words be peace to this house.
They will say of us , our faith grew and grew.
Our belief they could not douse.

Stay in the same house.
Do not move from house to house.

…. ..

The harvest is rich
But the labourers are few
Are we among them

…….

See Luke 10 : 1-9

The time will come when you will be scattered.
Each going his own way and leaving me alone.
Our own faith is so easily shattered.
Leaving us failing to atone.

I have told you  this so that you may have peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble but be brave.
We can hear but we have to listen and to see.

Yes we may study , even pray but are we really brave.

We hear these reassuring words.
But do we listen.
Or are they for the birds.
Are we really Christian.

But as he said, be brave .
There’s a world to save.

……..

Have peace then in me
In the world you have trouble
But we must be brave

………

See John 16 : 29-33

 
Go therefore make disciples of all the nations.
Baptise them in the name of the father and of the son.
When I read these words I knew our true foundations.
And what despite all , we have won.

It’s amazing what a few words can do .
And these seemed to breathe confidence.
It all seemed so immediate and true.
This was something beyond all sentience.

Know that I am with you always.
Yes, to the end of time.
He is with us on and in all our ways.
On our ending and in our prime.

And he will return.
And in him we will take our turn.

……..

I’m always with you
Now and to the end of time
That is his promise

…….

See Matthew 28 : 16-20

1. 

 
Suddenly there was an earthquake.