Category Archives: General

The Assumption of Our Lady


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The last of the enemies to be destroyed is death.
For everything is to be put under his feet.
Our last on this earth may not be our last breath.
We may breathe again after we approach his seat.

Awake at night , of course I started worrying.
And then suddenly I thought of Blessed Richard Leigh.
Immediately I saw wonderful lights appearing.
And a joyful  sense of peace set me free.

Are the dead really living.
How strange that he seemed so present.
Over four hundred years of death defying.
Maybe I should truly believe his ascent.

But how wonderful was that vision.
With the distant past true union.

……

Death can be destroyed
It’s the last of enemies
But God has the key

…….

See 1 Corinthians 15 : 20-26

St Maximilian Kolbe

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Whatever you bind on earth.
Shall be considered bound in heaven.
At our death we find our true worth.
Death is the true leaven.

We should think of Maximilian Kolbe not because of his death .
But of what  he had become.
His choice already made with every breath.
He had to save life even if death would thereby come.

When the final trial comes at last.
The choice, if we have prayed,  will be clear.
He had lived his true self as he breathed his last.
He was just a true man , no sear.

We are what we have become.
Which only may be clear to some.

….

What you bind on earth
Will now be bound in heaven
That is surely clear

.. ….

See Matthew 18: 15-20

Tuesday of Week 19 in Ordinary Time

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Your will is my delight.
Your statutes are my councillors.
I seek your translucent light.
And your holy mentors.

Do not be a rebel.
Like that rebellious set.
Can we our own dissatisfaction quell.
Are all our desires truly met.

What is it about the seaside.
That soothes the restless.
The everlasting waves an incoming guide.
The antidote to ever moving stress.

If you walk quietly amongst the dunes.
You can read the calming runes.

…….

Your will my delight
Your statutes my councillors
But do I seek light

……

See Ezekiel 2 : 8-3 : 4

Monday of Week 19 in Ordinary Time

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So as not to offend.
Go to the lake and cast a hook.
We do not need always to break , we can mend.
We only have to really see aswell as look.

I woke up in the night depressed.
Negative thoughts racing.
Everything just messed.
Hope abandoning.

Then I said ,  remember no one who sought thy intercession.
Had their prayer unanswered.
Praying to Mary relieved the tension.
Nothing ventured , nothing tended.

When depressed cast a hook, pray.
And the Rosary say.

……..

He said cast a hook
And then they found the shekel
Can we do the same

…….

See Matthew 17: 22-27

19 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Be friends with one another.
And kind, forgiving each other.
We are not separated from each other.
We have no distinct entity apart from each other.Like the Buddha we should worry less about God.
More about our impermanence.
An ever changing lengthening, shortening, connected rod.
An imprecise passing essence.

Where is suffering,
Save in our own ego.
Resenting not loving.
Diverted into our own high and low.

Rejecting our emptiness.
Not accepting our nothingness.

……..

Friends one another
And forgiving each other
That’s the better way

…….

See Ephesians 4

Saturday of Week 18 in Ordinary Time . Edith Stein, St Benedicta of the Cross.

I am going to lead her out of the wilderness.
And speak to her heart.
Can we be content with less.
Resolved to make a new start.
I am thinking of Edith Stein , St Benedicta of the cross.
Cruelly persecuted and killed by evil.
Her martyrdom , her example , triumphant in loss.
Her beautiful  soul now is resting, still.
And here am I looking now at the harvest.
All sunlit , calm , radiant.
But we must not just enjoy our rest.
We must remember others’ sacrifice,  not just be content.
When I think of Edith Stein.
I just hope now she’s in heaven and fine.
…….
Led from wilderness
We speak to our lonely heart
If we speak to God
…….
See Hosea 2

Friday of Week 18 in Ordinary Time

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The foolish ones brought no oil.
Whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil aswell as their lamps.
We make mistakes despite our toil.
And we receive precious little thanks.

Those who were  ready.
Went to the wedding hall.
Are we alert and steady.
Can we walk tall.

We can work hard all our lives.
And then make one foolish mistake.
And then nothing worthwhile survives.
We seem submerged in a deep dark lake.

But out of despair.
Can come lessons and repair.

…….

Have we brought some oil
Or did perhaps not buy some
Thus will hang our fate

…….

See Matthew 25: 1-13

Thursday of Week 18 in Ordinary Time

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But you, he said.
Who do you say I am.
Are all our doubts really laid.
Can I honestly say I know him as I know what I am.

This is the abiding question.
Nothing else really matters.
Is his Godliness just a suggestion.
Our all our doubts and fears in grateful tatters.

Peter spoke up, you are the Christ.
The son of the living God.
In our hearts do we really believe he is the Christ.
The only son of a living God.

This in our lives is the most vital question.
Is it fact or mere speculation.

…….

He asks who am I
Who do you say that I am
And we answer what

.. …..

See Matthew 16 : 13-23

Wednesday of Week 18 in Ordinary Time

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They have found pardon in the wilderness.
Those who have survived the sword.
We are given so much , we should ask for less.
Always seeking truth through a spiritual sword.

I have loved you with an everlasting love.
So I am constant in my affection for you.
Seeking peace like the dove.
Not just for me but you.

I build you once more.
You shall be rebuilt.
Seeking and learning from holy lore.
Working through doubt’s cloying silt.

You will go out dancing.
For the planters have done their planting.

……..

Pardon, wilderness
If we have survived the sword
Everlasting love

…….

See Jeremiah 31 : 1-7

The Transfiguration of the Lord

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There in their presence he was transfigured.
His clothes became dazzlingly bright.
At last he was fully measured.
We see him in his true light.

When they looked round.
They saw no one but Jesus.
When we think or look around us,
Normally we think of anything but Jesus.

Jesus became for a moment as he is.
And as one day we may see him in reality.
He cannot be described as, he just is.
We can never in this life understand his true reality.

Perhaps we should spend less time looking around us.
And more time looking at a man standing before us, Jesus.

……

He was transfigured
His clothes were dazzlingly bright
But can we see them

….

See Mark 9: 2-10

Monday of Week 18 in Ordinary Tome

Keep me from the way of error.
And teach me your law.
Let me be spared any night time terror.
Fill me with love for you to the core.Do not take the word of truth.
From my mouth.
Let me enter your holy booth.
As I head East, West , North and South.

Let my heart be blameless.
Lest I be ashamed.
Let me be happy with more not less.
And my passions tamed.

Though some may lie in wait for me.
You  have taught me.

…….

Keep me from error
And then teach me all your law
Lest I then forget

…….

See Psalm 118

18 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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I am the bread of life.
Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.
Even though doubt is rife.
All the other promises seem empty.

He who believes in me will never thirst.
We will win though.
Because we know he comes first.
In every high and every low.

Do not work for food that cannot last.
But work for food that endures for eternal life.
May we at last join the holy cast.
For a new life.

It is my father who gives you the bread.
From heaven, the true bread.

……..
He’s the bread of life.
With it we’re never hungry
But we must believe

…….

See John 6: 24-25

Saturday of Week 17 in Ordinary Time

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Rescue me from sinking in the mud.
Save me from my foes.
Save me from the coming flood.
Dress me in spiritual clothes.

Save me from the waters of the deep.
Lest the waves overwhelm me.
I know I sow what I reap.
But be merciful to me.

As for me in my poverty and pain.
Let your help O God lift me up.
Save me from pointless strain.
In my weakness give me a hand to help me up.

Do not let the deep engulf me.
Nor death close its mouth on me.

…….

From sinking in mud
Save me from the coming flood
From the deep’s waters

……

See Psalm 9

Friday of Week 17 In Ordinary Time

More numerous than the hairs on my head.
Are those who hate me without cause.
My fate is read.
They pursue me without pause.Those who attack me with lies.
Are too much for my strength.
They do not hear my sighs.
They will go in their vengeance to any length.It is for you that I suffer taunts.
That shame covers my face.
And envy me haunts.
I have come to the final race.

In your great mercy answer me O God.
With your help that never fails O God.

……..

Answer me O God
With your help that never fails
I turn to you God

……

See Psalm 68

Thursday of Week 17 in Ordinary Time

So I went down to the potters house.
And there he was working at the wheel.
I proceeded, quiet as a mouse.
Hoping the deal with God to seal.Whenever the wheel he was working on came out wrong.
He would start afresh.
So I continue with my spiritual song.
Hoping to escape life’s enveloping mesh.

Our hands work away.
Things come out right or wrong.
Our troubles we store away.
And continue with our own tuneless song.

Our life turns endlessly.
For the good  and messily.

…….

We work at our wheel
Sometimes things come out alright.
And other times not

……..

See Jeremiah 18: 1-6

Wednesday of Week 17 in Ordinary Time

They will not overcome you.
Because I am with you.
Only you can defeat you
And if you think he is not there for you.Woe is me my mother.
Because you have born me.
I can never cut that tether.
I have not paid my full fee

One can be a man of strife.
And of dissension.
But there is new life.
And ascension.

We can but hope.
And seize this spiritual rope.

…….

They will not overcome you
Because I am with you
Or that’s what we hope

…..

See Jeremiah 15: 10, 16-21

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Tuesday of Week 17 in Ordinary Time

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Tears flood my eyes night and day.
Unceasingly , a crushing blow falls.
What more can I say.
Only that the voice still calls.

I go into the city.
I see people sick with hunger.
I call upon all my pity.
Can I show compassion for longer.

If you pass poverty by.
Should you just walk on the other side.
Shouldn’t you take action, not just sigh.
We are here to help, not just here for the ride.

Are we rejected altogether.
Or can we act all together.

…….

If tears flood our eyes
Passing on the other side
But is that enough

…….

See Jeremiah 14 : 17-22

Monday of Week 17 in Ordinary Time

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If you had been here.
My  brother would not have died.
He releases us from fear.
And our hope being derided.

But I know that, even now.
What you ask of God, he will grant you.
We hope we are rewarded, when we sow.
Even if, in faith , we are the few.

I am the resurrection.
And the life.
Only he cuts us from tension.
The goodly knife.

Even though we will die.
If we believe we will not die.

…….

Is he here now
Will he save us from our death
We must have faith

……

See John 11 : 19-27

17 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Pick up the pieces left over.
So that nothing gets wasted.
Do we just accept things, are we a mover.
If not now, one day, we will be tested.
So they picked them up.
And filled twelve hampers with scraps.
They like us all can sup.
Leaving no gaps.The people seeing this sign.
Said , this really is the prophet.
Can we also tread this line.
Will our fears and hopes always be met.

We worry about whether there will be enough.
But there usually is, if not, just say tough.

…….

The leftover pieces
Enough for everybody
And is it for us

…….

See John 6 1-15

Saturday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time

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If you do not exploit the stranger.
The orphan, the widow.
In the land I gave  to your father.
I will stay with you , you I will follow.

Passing in my air conditioned car.
I saw the woman and toddler living on the Delhi street.
I looked upon her from afar.
Just as the rich man and Lazarus would not meet.

In face  of this poverty.
All my efforts seemed futile.
What is our life truly worth next to this misery.
Why in helping, can we not go the extra mile.

When I die will I be confronted.
Or will I be comforted.

…..

Pass the stranger by
Then left behind by the car
Punished from afar

……..

See Jeremiah 7 : 1-11

Friday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time

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The one who received it on patches of rock.
Is the one who hears the word and welcomes it.
But he has no root in him because of the rock.
He does not last , let some trial come and he falls away from it.

The one who received the word .
In thorns is the man who heard the word, but the love of riches.
Chokes the word.
And he produces nothing by way of riches.

And the man who received the word in rich soil.
Is the man who hears the word and understands it.
He is the one who yields the harvest from this soil.
A hundredfold from it.

And where does our seed fall.
Will we rise or will we fall.

……..

Received on the rock
Or does our seed land in thorns
Or on some rich soil

…….

See Matthew 13 : 18-23

Thursday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time

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We are in difficulties on all sides.
But never cornered.
Buffeted by ingoing  and outgoing tides.
But in his loving grasp, never betrayed.

We see no answer to our problems.
But never despair.
We know our guiding emblems.
We need not fear.

We have been persecuted.
But never deserted.
Not often feted.
But never , we hope, feared.

We carry within us the body of Jesus.
So that in our body may be seen the life of Jesus.

……..

In difficulties
But we are never cornered
Held in loving grasp

……..

See 2 Corinthians 4 : 7-15

Wednesday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time

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Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.
I have appointed you as prophet to the nations.
Before you came to birth I consecrated you.
Known if not  revered by all nations.

I do not know how to speak, I am a child.
Go now to those to whom I send you.
But the Lord said , do not say I am a child.
And say whatever I command you.

Do not be afraid of them.
For I am with you to protect you.
It is the Lord who speaks to them.
Look today , I am setting over the nations, you.

You will build and plant.
Everything to you I grant.

………

Before I formed you
I did know  you in the womb
You are a prophet

……..

See Jeremiah 1 : 1 , 4- 10

Tuesday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time

Through the law.
I can now live with God.
I am dead to the law.
I am crucified with God.I live not my own life.
But the life of Christ
Who is my life.
I live with Christ.

The life I now live in this body.
I live in faith.
Faith in the son of god and his body.
Real and no mere spiritual wraith.

He loved me.
And sacrificed himself for me.

……..

It is through the law
That I can now live with God
Crucified with God

…….

See Galatians 2 : 19-20