Category Archives: General

Monday of Week 15 in Ordinary Time

Anyone who does not take his cross.
And follow in my footsteps.
Is not worthy of my cross.
And is not making the right steps .I went today to an orthodox service.
For the murdered Russian royal family.
In its moving beauty, something not to miss.
Everything proceeds calmly , slowly.

Were they actually saints.
But they did not deserve what they got.
Their murder saw the end of all restraints.
All civility, freedom and law left to rot.

A hundred years later .
It is only right to remember.

………

You take up the cross
And you follow his footsteps
There’s no other way

…….

See Matt 10

15 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Some seed fell into rich soil.
And produced its crop.
Sometimes our spiritual journey is not all toil.
We occasionally find when we spiritually shop.

I was listening to the parable of the sower.
Suddenly all fell into shape.
God was not somewhere faraway,  higher.
He is all around us and from him there is no escape.

So this day the seed fell into rich soil.
The words of the reading produced their crop.
For this one moment it was all over with spiritual toil.
And I had found what I needed from this particular shop.

But now for how long .
Would I be able to sing this joyous song.

…….

Seed falls into soil
Some on the path and on rocks
But some on rich soil

…….

See Psalm 64

Saturday of Week 14 in Ordinary Time

For everything that is now covered will be uncovered.
And everything now hidden will be made clear.
Is one’s old life contemptible and needing to be severed.
How else to be released from all fear.
I am reading Tolstoy’s novel Resurrection.
And of Nekhlyodov’s spiritual awakening.
How can he escape  society’s selfish convention.
Only in confronting his past with chastening.In this novel everything moves and inspires.
Even the very first page will people welcome  nature.
No they will insist on following their ego’s desires.
And torturing each other as just another creature.

But whatever we do the Master intervenes.
He opens our conscience by unexpected means.

.. …..

Everything covered
Will be uncovered in time
By our own conscience

…….

See Matthew 10 : 24-33

Friday of Week 14 in Ordinary Time

What you are to say.
Will be given to you when the time comes.
We just have to pray.
And the truth comes in turns.Because it will not be you who are speaking.
The spirit of the Father will be speaking in you.
We will be rewarded by our seeking.
We will say our faith grew and grew.

The man who stands firm to the end.
Will be saved.
We know we have not just the master but a friend.
But also the long road ahead is unpacked.

But then the doubts surface in the mind.
Does God exist or care ,O please,  faith be kind.

……..

What you are to say
Yes will be given to you
Yes when the time comes

…….

See Matthew 10 : 16-23

Thursday of Week 14 in Ordinary Time

Proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.
Cure the sick, raise the dead , cleanse the lepers.
Take a stand.
Follow our shepherds.The priest at our mass was Italian.
He said the Latin mass so beautifully.
The centuries rolled back like a stately galleon.
Transported into the early centuries totally.

But when he said the homily.
I could not really understand.
This was the anomaly.
Beauty but less understanding from another land.

But beauty is the more spiritual.
Understanding fallible.

…….

Cleanse the lepers
Cure the sick and raise the dead
Proclaim the Kingdom

……..

See Matthew 10 7-15

Wednesday of Week 14 in Ordinary Time

As you go.
Proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.
We parents reap what we sow.
Whatever our station or our land.I was reading about the parents of St Therese of the Child Jesus.
What struck me was the simplicity of their lives.
But their witness brings joy to all of us.
Even reading of them revives.

Devoted spouses, of nine children.
He a simple watchmaker , full of missionary spirit.
Did they worry about wealth or ambition.
Their overriding care were things of the spirit.

I finished today’s reading .
Here was a new spiritual seeding.

……..

As you go proclaim
That the kingdom of heaven
Is now near at hand

……..

See Matthew 10 : 1-7

Tuesday of Week 14 in Ordinary Time

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If you cry out for discernment.
If you look for it as if it were silver.
You will start your ascent.
And be carried on an ever flowing spiritual river.

You will then understand what the fear of the Lord is.
And discover the knowledge of God.
That we will be his.
And be for ever awed.

For the Lord himself is the giver of wisdom.
From his mouth issue knowledge and discernment.
We can just wait for his voice and be calm.
And avoid any spiritual descent.

He keeps his help for honest men.
He is the shield of the ways of honourable men.

……..

Cry for discernment
Look for it as true silver
Understand the Lord

……..

See Proverbs 2 : 1-9

Monday of Week 14 in Ordinary Time

It is he who will free you from the snare of the fowler.
And under his wings you will find refuge.
We know that often we err.
But we will avoid the deluge.I was listening to a debate on swifts.
And on the need for more swift bricks.
These tiny birds give us such gifts.
This was something different from the usual politics.

These birds have declined in such large numbers.
We need to provide them with more of a  home.
And  to wake from our unknowing slumbers.
And give these fastest of birds somewhere to roam.

We can protect all our creatures.
For the sake of all our futures.

………

Yes he will free us
From the snare of the fowler
If we allow him.

.. ….

See Psalm 90

14 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion.
Shout with gladness, daughter of Jerusalem.
Sometimes, if rarely, we can roar like a lion.
We all can find the hidden spiritual gem.

Your interests are not in the unspiritual.
But in the spiritual.
But what makes us shout with joy, is it ritual.
The new or the habitual .
I bless you from hiding these things from the learned.

And revealing them to mere children.
If we read scripture , we are never spurned.
Although we do not know when.
But as with these three from todays mass reading .
We just hope and keep seeking.

…….

Rejoice heart and soul
Shout with gladness my daughter
Seeking from scripture

…….

See Zechariah 9 : 9-10,  Romans 8 : 9, 11-13 and Matthew 11: 25-30

Saturday of Week 13 in Ordinary Time

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No one puts a piece of unshrunken cloth.
On to an old cloak .
Not from fear of how it looks or moth.
But because the patch pulls away from the cloak.

I was looking at the pigeon in the tree.
Almost invisible in the dense summer foliage.
So immobile it was nearly impossible to see.
Using the branch as a firm ledge.

These birds have no fears.
Past and future do not exist.
Only the present can bring tears.
There is nothing to resist.

They have no fear of the patch pulling .
They only have nature’s clothing.

……..

Some unshrunken cloth
Does not make a good patch
For it pulls away

……..

See Matthew 9 : 14-17

Friday of Week 13 in Ordinary Time

It is not the healthy that need the doctor.
But the sick.
We ask , do we have a celestial doctor.
For us whether as the dead or the quick.
I was standing by the Lincolnshire chalk stream.
Full of life yet so narrow and stream shallowed.
So much beauty in so little it would seem.
Here is nature truly hallowed.
The glancing  flickering sunlight .
The deep and lighter shadows.
Here all seems ordained, calm and right.
And far away  the yellowing , harvest to come, meadows.
Here is the best doctor to cure any illness.
It is in endless cycle of nature in its stillness.
……..
It’s not the healthy
That needs the doctor for now
But it is the sick
…….
See Matthew 9 : 9-13

Wednesday of Week 22 in Ordinary Time

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He left the house and went to a lonely place.
The crowds wanted to prevent him leaving.
Sometimes we too cannot keep up with the pace.
And we too have problems with believing.

If Jesus had to flee to a lonely place.
I think we can be forgiven for doing so too.
To escape from life’s endless chase.
We can begin life anew.

Sometimes it is best to be alone.
In thoughts and prayers.
A chance to rejoice or maybe atone.
A place of joy and occasionally tears.

So Jesus continued his preaching.
And we continue our searching.

…….

He then left the house
And went to a lonely place
To  now pray alone

…. ….

See Luke 4 : 38-44

Friday of Week 13 in Ordinary Time

Which of these is it easier to say.
Your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up and walk.
Sometimes truth is as elusive as the twilight sun’s ray.
There are many directions in which we may rightly walk.
I was looking at the telegraph poles.
Marching quietly across the countryside.
They seemed determined to find their goals.
They did not deviate, as we do, from side to side.
Here was peace visited
Stillness ordered.
A moment in time , directed
Veering neither to port or starboard.
Unlike them we do not know where we are going.
Just that we must keep going.
……..
Say get up and walk
Or your sins are forgiven
Which is easier
…….
See Matthew 9 : 1-8

Wednesday of Week 13 in Ordinary Time

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Hagar sat down about a bow shot away.
Saying to herself I cannot see the child die.
We cannot know our fate , it is often so far away.
Yet we feel abandoned , we sigh.

But God heard the boy wailing.
Pick up the boy, I will make him into a great nation.
So do not be afraid, we may not be ailing.
We are part of a sure foundation

Hagar’s son grew up and made his home in the wilderness.
And he became a bowman.
Sometimes we feel a kind of restlessness.
We wonder what is our omen.

But as with Hagar’s son
We will continue to feel the warmth of the sun.

……

God heard the boy’s wails
He tells us be not afraid
We have to listen

…….

See Genesis 21 : 5, 8-20

Tuesday of Week 13 in Ordinary Time

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Without warning a storm broke over the lake.
So violent that the waves were breaking over the boat.
The disciples felt foresake.
They feared they would not float.

But Jesus was asleep .
So they woke him saying, save us Lord.
Sometimes we feel so forsaken, we weep.
We seem to have list life and hope’s cord.

He said, why are you so frightened.
You men of little faith.
But we too are frightened.
We too have little faith.

But he is not asleep.
He is ours to keep.

…….

Men of little faith
But we too are so frightened
We need to have faith

…….

See Matthew 8: 23-27

Monday of Week 13 in Ordinary Time

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Unless I can see the holes that the nails made in his hands.
I refuse to believe.
But Thomas did take his faith to distant lands.
He doubted, but confronted by truth, he was ready to believe.

The Christians of Kerala have said for for centuries.
I am a St Thomas Christian.
No doubt through many joys and miseries.
Are they right to proclaim their vision.

They certainly have paid for their
their fortitude.
Their faith has often been persecuted.
We should salute their belief in the holy rood.
Their perseverance is vindicated.

Did St Thomas  actually travel this far.
Does it matter , we will always doubt history from so afar.

……..

Unless I see the holes
That nails have made in his hands
I will not believe

…….

See John 20 : 24-29

13 th Sunday in Ordinary. Time

If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water.
To these little ones he will not lose his reward.
View all as a son or daughter.
Or think of them all as a ward.Just a little kindness.
A small act of mercy.
Can cure our moral blindness
Or perhaps we need only a little curtesy.

And what a pleasure to receive one.
We should treasure it if it comes our way.
A new dawn however small is won.
Now with hope we can start a new day.

So give a cup.
And look up.

…….
A cup of water
That’s is given is a great thing
It takes so little
……..
See Matthew 10 : 37-42

Saturday of Week 12 in Ordinary Rime

Abram looked up .
And there he saw three men standing before him.
Was he ready to drink of this cup.
To sing his ordained hymn.
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Was this a metaphor for the Trinity.
Perhaps it’s the first manifestation.
An early look into infinity.
Just as Abram was the first of his nation.

I am at Douai Abbey In Berkshire.
At a mass for St Oliver Plunket.
Here all is peaceful shire.
But we recall how the saint sounded truth’s trumpet.

We will never have his courage.
We are so easily discouraged.

…….

Abram saw three men
Was this Trinity’s first sight
He accepted all

………

See Genesis 18 : 1-15

Friday of Week 12 in Ordinary Time

Is a child to be born to a man one hundred years old.
And will Sarah have a child at the age of ninety.
The tales we are told.
Do they really come to us divinely.
Should we believe these fairy tales.
If there is a God , would he act in such a way.
Are these mere instructive fables.
Legends not meant to stay.
But Abram himself laughed when told of his fate.
So he saw the funny side.
And the truth is , it is never too late.

To everyone did he ,his amazement ,confide.

So here is a gem of truthfulness
Perseverance and hopefulness

…..,,

Abram at one hundred
Told he was to have a child
Still had faith in God
……..

See Genesis 17

Sts Peter and Paul

Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood there.
And the cell was filled with light.
Occasionally everything becomes clear.
We seemed to have clearer sight.I was reading about a man dying of bone cancer.

His suffering and courage so moving.
His love for his child daughter so tender.
All our little problems are nothing.
The angel woke Peter, get up, hurry.
And the chains fell from his hands.
If we discard our worry chains we need not tarry.
We can set off for more spiritual lands.
Look to others and their suffering.
It may result in less worrying.
……..
His cell filled with light
For the Lord’s angel stood there
And we are there too
…….
See Acts 12 : 1-11

Wednesday of Week 12 in Ordinary Time

Have no fear Abram.
I am your shield
We are like a lamb.
Safely  enclosed  in our field.We will not wander.
Nor will we complain.
But we will not cease to wonder .
In sunshine or rain.

Will we go as we are told.
As Abram did so long ago.
Will we allow the eternal plan to unfold.
In times high and low.

Or will we question.
And remain in tension

……….

Abram had no fear
Do we have his intense faith
Or do we question

………

See Genesis 15, 1-12, 17-18

Monday of the 12 th Week in Ordinary Time

Abram was seventy five years old.
When he left Haran.
Or so we are told.
To a land of fruitfulness from a land that was barren.I am struck by how old he was.
Yet ready to obey a call to adventure.
He did not question or pause.
The command was the lure.

So Abram went.
As the Lord told him.
He did not go on his own accord, he was sent.
This was no self centred whim.

If we announced we were up sticks and going.
Would people believe our calling or think us raving

……..

At seventy five
Abram left his own homeland
For the true unknown

……..

See Genesis 12 : 1-9

Tuesday of Week 12 in Ordinary Time

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So always treat others.
As you would like them to treat you.
Viewing all as brothers.
This is the true breakthrough.

Enter by the narrow gate.
Since the road that leads to perdition is wide.
About this there can be no debate.
We know who is our guide.

It is a narrow gate.
And a hard road that leads to life.
There can be no more hate.
And an end to all strife.

Only a few find it.
But it is certainly it.

……….

It’s a narrow gate
Only a few will find it
But we must enter

……..

See Matthew 7: 6, 12-14

12 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I hear so many disparaging me .
Terror from every side.
But I go on making my plea.
Looking out for my guide.
Life is so very brief.
We might aswell  enjoy it.
View everything as a relief.
See all not as darkened but lit.
Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny.
And yet not one falls to the ground without your father knowing.
Even with little we have plenty.
Someone is looking out for us somewhere.
And always anywhere.
…….
As life is so brief
We might aswell enjoy it
Because we are known
…….
See Jeremiah 20 : 10 -13 and John 15, 26,27

Saturday of Week 11 in Ordinary Time

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I was thinking, I have toiled in vain.
I have exhausted myself for nothing.
Faith seems to diminish rather than gain.
Am I good for nothing.

And then as in my dream I thought of religion rather than being low.
I began to look up.
I seemed to see a small triangle of light as in an attic window.
This was like a nourishing spiritual  cup.

Again in my dream I was running away at work.
I came across an old room and mass being said.
Again peace seemed to seep from the very brickwork.
Hope was alive and no longer dead.

Elizabeth despaired of having a child .
But a future blessing can never just be for ever filed.

……..

Do we toil in vain
Exhaust ourselves for nothing
There is always hope

……..

See Isaiah 49 : 1-6