Let the wilderness  and dry lands exult.
Let the wasteland rejoice and bloom.
Belief can be profound and no mere cult.
Releasing us from self absorbed gloom.

I was dreaming  on the theme of I’d rather be.
For instance have a hard job than be retired.
If you look on the bright side doubts flee.
Somehow you feel  just a little buoyed.

Or I’d rather be criticised than ignored.
I’d rather be tired from duties than lazy.
So much contentment can be stored.
But what we want is often so hazy.

It’s better to say I’d rather be here
Than always thinking of there.

…..

Be content with this
Became it is all you have
And it is the now

….

See  Isaiah 35:1-10

Everyone who listens to these words of mine.
Will be like a man who built  his house on rock.
He needs to look for no further sign.
He only needs to knock.

So Matthew was a tax collector.
Despised by so many .
An image of the occupier cast by projector.
In the midst of need a man of plenty.

He had built his house on sand.
Rain came down and it fell.
The Lord took him by the hand.
And all was well.

Like Matthew we await a call.
And we are then in his gentle thrall.

…….

He called St Matthew
And we now await his call
I thought I heard it

…….

See Mathew 7:21, 24-27

Follow me.
And I will make you fishers of men.
Let me see.
Again.

I doubt too much .
I see too little.
I try to stay in touch.
But my faith is so brittle.

At once leaving their boat and their father.
They followed him.
I need to see further.
If ever I am to find him.

How many of us just leave our boat.
We’re too afraid we won’t float.

……

He has called us
And then we just carry on
As we were doing

…..

See Matthew 4: 18-22

Bless you for hiding these things from the learned.
And revealing them to mere children.
Regret can be turned.
We can be more trusting like children.

I was regretting lost opportunities in my career.
Suddenly I snapped out of it, I hadn’t done so bad.
All we have to reject is fear.
There is no need to be sad.

Nobody knows who is the son.
Except the Father.
It’s like looking into the sun.
Truth retreats further and further.

Regrets come and then they go.
So we veer to high  from low.

…….

Nobody knows him
Except the Son who is gone
So we await him

……..

See Luke 10:21-24

Watch yourselves or your hearts will be coarsened.
With the cares of life.
The day will come and you will be trapped.
As with a knife.

Stay awake.
Praying at all times for the strength to survive.
All that is going to happen for his sake.
And you will yet thrive.

I was pondering this prophecy.
Realising cares need to be held in perspective.
Looking to the end constantly.
Soon all will be held in retrospective.

But then we worry about some future day.
But all that matters is this day.

…..

The day is coming
And it will be here quite soon
So think on today

….

See Luke 21: 34-36

Heaven and earth will pass away.
But my words will never pass away.
In his hands we are just soft clay.
Where will we end up on our hurtling sleigh.

On this crisp and clear November night.
I can see thousands of stars  arrayed.
Here in the country nothing pollutes light.
And all this transcendent wonder was made.

What now of worries and criticism.
How they are dwarfed by this splendour.
How insignificant our earth bound vision.
The stars a humming celestial choir.

But even all this will pass away .
And what of the word , will that pass away.

…….

We worry so much
Then we look at all the stars
Concerns put to shame

…..

See Luke 21: 29-33

Stand erect, hold your heads high.
Because the day of your liberation is at hand.
There is no need to cry.
We are destined for a better land.

We can derive comfort from our work.
Giving us a sense of purpose.
It may be something small , not a life work.
From depression a kind of Habeas Corpus.

I was reading about the Bill Nighy film ‘Living’.
About how even at the end we can find fulfilment .
Even in a small project beginning.
After a humdrum life , achievement.

We wonder what we are achieving.
It is in small ways , giving.

….

What do we achieve
Perhaps it’s very little
But it is something

…..

See Luke 21: 20-28

You are not to prepare your defence.
I myself will give you eloquence.
At whatever expense.
And regardless of any consequence.

I wonder if we make if ourselves a fool.
By writing this sort of stuff.
Being to ourselves cruel.
Or a thing of just puff.

He tells us none of our opponents.
Will be able to resist or contradict us.
I wonder, they too have their moments.
So we will continue to discuss.

I’m sure it’s worth bearing witness.
Even if people sometimes think us witless.

……

You spread the Gospel
Are you holier than thou
Or do you do good

…..

See Luke 21: 12-19

So the angel set his sickle to work on the earth.
And harvested the vintage and put it in a winepress.
We hope we are all of the greatest worth.
We can’t be sure, we can only guess.

What does the Book of Apocalypse foretell.
Is it the world’s end.
Or is it apocryphal, who can tell.
Will it be a time to ascend.

More likely our sun will end a a red dwarf.
A billion years will pass.
Who knows into what we will morph.
We look through a distant dark glass.

But it’s no bad thing to be aware .
And  calmly to prepare.

……

The Apocalypse
Is it just apocryphal
Or is it the end

…..

See The Book of Apocalypse 15: 1-4

I heard a sound coming of the sky.
Like the roar of the ocean, or the roar of thunder.
Truth though is more of the sound of a sigh.
But as we understand more, so the more we wonder.

Mary was such a delicate flower.
Yet of seismic change .
Her very weakness a thing of enormous power.
Beyond anything in our range.

A poverty stricken widow put in two small coins.
This poor widow has put in more than any of them.
Bringing together all the joins.
Although she only earnt a crumb.

So we are not judged by how great we are.
But by what  we give and are.

……

We may be feeble
Very young or very old
But we’re worth so much

……

See   Apocalypse 14: 1-5  and  Luke 21: 1-4

Grant the constant happiness of being devoted.
To you , because it is full and lasting happiness.
We search for a light unclouded.
And for a greater tenderness.

I was trying to get to sleep, stop worrying.
And pray for the souls in purgatory waiting.
I started with my mother and father remembering.
And went through all the others, names recalling.

It’s amazing how much better I felt.
Thinking about others and not myself.
The heart started to melt.
As it contemplated another self.

I don’t know if it helped  a suffering soul.
But it certainly stopped me feeling low.

……

Praying for others
May or may not help others
But it does help us

…..

See The Collect of today

Take that scroll out of the hand of the angel.
Standing on sea and land.
Always there, our guardian angel.
But nothing can be planned.

At mass we were told about purgatory.
That people only escape from it with our prayers.
Is this  to be our story.
Before we can be taken upstairs.

But I wonder if this is right.
Would a merciful God make us wait.
I think I believe that when we die, we see the light.
We are never too early or too late.

But really who knows.
Maybe we’re just laid out in rows.

……

What’s purgatory
So are we all going there
Or can we skip it

……

See Apocalypse 10: 8-11

Since she keeps pestering me.
I must give this widow her just rights.
Do we also hear peoples plea.
During all those long nights.

Are we like the unjust judge.
With neither fear of God or respect for man.
Always having to respond to a pestering nudge.
Only looking after our own clan.

Will not God give justice to his chosen.
Who cry to him day and night.
Even when he delays to help them there and then.
For they are ever in his sight.

We may not to others listen .
But to us does he hasten.

……

Are we listening
Or respond to pestering
And is God the same

……

See Luke 18:1-8