If any were so rash as to challenge him for reasons.
One in a thousand would be more than they could answer.
Are we men and women for all seasons.
Are we the dancer.

I was dreaming that everything was coming to an end.
I could increasingly feel nothing .
Nothing would this mend.
I was good for nothing.

But if this was death it was not worrying.
Indeed strangely reassuring.
An end to all hurrying.
At last a safe mooring.

Death may not be so bad.
Perhaps we should not be so sad.

…..

As we approach death
Then we may be reassured.
We do not know yet

……

See Job 9

May the day perish when I was born.
And the night that told of a boy conceived.
Like Job we often look back forlorn.
But we need  to have faith not stand aggrieved.

Everyone warms to my wife’s kindly smile.
Whereas I just go on my guestioning way.
She utterly lacking in any selfish guile.
Of me , well, I dread what they will say.

Clouds of angels will take her to heaven.
I shall plod my weary way into purgatory.
And they will be lucky in heaven.
From afar I will look at her glory .

But all is not lost, we all progress.
After a very long time to ultimate success.

……

You may have Job’s fate
But with faith you will progress
To glory at last

…….

See Job 3

Between us and you a great gulf has been fixed.
To stop anyone crossing from your side to ours.
By our past we stand transfixed.
We are as from from heaven as the stars.

This parable of the starving Lazarus is disturbing .

The only character in a parable named.
We are nameless in our banqueting.
And we know we are shamed.

How often we ignored him at our gate.
We never were actually unkind.
What then when we die will be our fate.
Are we to hell consigned.

Every year I read this parable.
Little do we change, but it is unbearable.

……

Lazarus’ fate
Was to rise up to heaven
And what will be ours

….

See Luke 16: 19-31

Grant we your pilgrim people rejoicing in her care.
May become a holy house fit for his dwelling.
This is our prayer.
There is no fate more compelling.

Trying to sleep at Walsingham.
For the first in a long time I felt such joy.
What is it about this place that breaks the spiritual dam.
And leads to the simple faith of girl and boy.

And then when feeling low and passed by.
The gift at confession of the litany of humility.
Is it mere coincidence that belief is not dry.
Or something else that gives such tranquility.

In such a place boundaries seem finer.
The barrier between heaven and earth narrower.

…….

Is heaven closer
In a place like Walsingham
I believe it is

……

See The Collect of the Day

A generation comes , a generation goes.
But the earth stands firm for ever.
We have our highs and then our lows.
But eternal spiritual truths last forever.

Looking at the engagement photo of my grandparents .
They sit there so young and beautiful in 1912.
So appealing in their loving appearance.
But into their true life, how now can I delve.

They are dead these fifty years.
And my great grandfather, who prays for this priest.
Their lives now forgotten with their hopes and fears.
Their span not a freehold, only  leased.

But these good people lived.
And they will have survived.

……

Our lives come and go
The earth goes on forever
We are forgotten

……

See Ecclesiastes 1: 2-11

He said to him , Follow me.
And he got up and followed him.
We have no place to flee.
Is it meant for us,  this hymn.

In Caravaggio’s painting.
We just see Christ’s hand and fingers.
To whom is it pointing.
Is it in our direction that it lingers.

Am I the old man looking away.
Which character do we represent.
What would do , we cannot say.
For whom is this call meant.

And he got up and followed.
Meanwhile, they will say of us,  we just wallowed.

……

To whom does it point
There are a few in the room
Is it meant for us

……

See Matthew 9: 9-13

The hard working man is thoughtful, and all is gain.
Too much haste and all that comes of it is want.
Nothing honestly tried is in vain.
Nor need anything us daunt.

As usual I was using the night to worry.
Than I concentrated on the concept of loving people.
The whole thought kept me steady.
As if I looking at a beautiful restored steeple.

Perhaps start with a grandchild.
Or spouse or son or daughter.
And let the thought be filed.
For resentment it’s a kind of blotter.

Love can be everywhere.
We just have to stare.

……

Love does conquer all
We have to ponder on it
And something happens

…..

See Proverbs 21

Lord who shall dwell on your holy mountain.
He who walks without fault.
There she shall walk, for on her was no stain.
Coming into her life’s work  only by default.

Yet she was the one who was  the faithful.
Her only thought that of service.
We who remember her are so grateful.
Truly she never did anyone any disservice.

Her guiding star , her Christianity.
Duty, everything stemmed from that.
Here was no vanity , only humanity.
To all that was required of her , she gave her fiat.

She kept her pledge, come what may.
Who can that gainsay.

….

Queen Elizabeth
Her guiding star was duty
To the very end

…..

See Psalm 14

The thing that you sow.
Is not what is going to come.
We may now be ever so low.
But now sound the drum.

The thing that is sown is perishable.
What is raised is imperishable.
It is truly spiritual.
No mere ritual,  but lyrical.

The thing that is sown is contemptible.
But what is raised is glorious.
All this is truly credible.
And ultimately victorious.

The soul has its own embodiment.
And so does the spirit have its own embodiment.

…..

The thing that you sow
Is not then the thing to come
It is glorious

…..

See 1 Corinthians 15 : 35-37, 42-49

Your brother here was dead .
He was lost and is found.
Our past is lost, we can barely look ahead.
The truth is hidden and too profound.

At Walsingham, reading the Litany of Humility.
Attributed to Cardinal Merry del Val.
It leads to a strange sense of tranquility.
In any setback, it’s good for morale.

From the desire to be esteemed deliver me Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled deliver me Jesus.
From desire of being preferred to others deliver me Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted deliver me Jesus.

From the fear of being calumniated deliver me Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, deliver me Jesus.

….

From esteem’d desire
Please deliver us Jesus
From extolled desire

……

See Luke 15 : 1-32

All the runners at the stadium are trying to win.
But only one of them gets the prize.
And how can we free ourselves from sin.
Even with our our lows and highs.

All the fighters in the stadium go into strict training.
They do this to win a wreath that will wither away.
our wreath will never start withering.
We can only hope that’s true, we just have to pray.

I treat my body hard and make it obey me.
I should not want to be disqualified.
This is my only plea.
I only have one guide.

I am the slave of no one.
Just everyone.

…….

I am no one’s slave
But I’m slave to everyone
That must be the way

…….

See 1 Corinthians 9

I trust in your merciful love.

Happy are you when people abuse you.
Denounce your name as criminal.
All this is nothing new.
And it is pivotal.

As I listened to these words.
My mood brightened.
We may not be able to fly like birds.
But there  is no need to be frightened.

Things may go wrong all the time.
Our life of career has not turned out as we hoped.
We are no longer in our prime.
But to this life we are not for ever roped.
Things will get better next time.

So our difficulties will be rewarded.
And they will be recorded.

…….

We may be abused
We may be called criminal
But it’s to the best

……..

See Luke 6 : 20-26