Category Archives: General

Friday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time

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Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears.
Then looking up to heaven he sighed and said ,be opened.
We live and we shed our tears.
Grief reopened.

Bereavement is not a closed wall.
It is a shut door with a window.
Some fitful light shines through and into the hall.
But eventually that door will open , we feel less low.

Thus time passes.
And heals.
Sadness retreats into the mind’s recesses.
Pain seals.

We may start to lose our hearing.
But we all the more will start seeing.

…….

Bereavement  is now
Like a door with a window
And some fitful light

…….

See Mark 7 : 31-37

Thursday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time

It is not fair to take the children’s food.
And throw it to the house dogs.
I watched the Holy Rood.
Something stirred my mental cogs.As the reading finished I looked up at the crucifix.
I felt a great feeling of peace.
That he could get me out of any fix.
As long as we pray without cease.

Are yes she replied but the house dogs under the table.
Can eat the children’s scraps.
This is truth not just another fable.,
But to succeed, we still must complete many more laps.

He said to her, for saying this you mau go home happy.
With him we may never need to be unhappy.

…….

It’s not fair to take
The children’s food from under
Table to serve dogs

……

See Mark 7 : 24-30

Wednesday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time

The Queen of Sheba came to test Solomon with difficult questions.
She brought immense riches with her ,camels laden with precious stones.
Perhaps we too ask too many questions, make too few suggestions.
As we think on the matter of celestial thrones.
On coming she opened her mind freely.
And Solomon had an answer to all her questions.
We may seek to act ideally.
And so do all from many nations.What, she said, I heard about you in my own country.
About your wisdom are true.
For truth are we hungry.
Do we seek it through and through.

We travel far .
Seeking truth from afar.
……..
We travel from afar
Seeking some holy riches
But do we find them
…….
See 1 Kings 10: 1-10

Tuesday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time

Is there such a God in your kindness.
To your servants when they walk in your way.
The question Solomon asked as witness.
Applies to all of us seeking his way .
Do we walk in his way .
Do we think of him on what path to take.
Do we walk towards his son’s sun ray.
And do everything for his sake.
Do we , like me forget him.
For much of the day.
Doing everything according to our own whim.
Forgetting to pray.
Do we walk in his way.
Only he can say.
……..
We walk in his way
Or that is what we should do
But do we do it
…….
See 1 Kings  8

Monday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time

The Lord has chosen to dwell in the thick cloud.
But I have built you a dwelling.
We cry out aloud.
What is my calling.We mourn anyone dying.
But really we have just given them to the angels.
We are declining , they are thriving.
Or they’re even perhaps archangels.

We carry on.
They have arrived.
Into a new dawn.
We will die, they have merely moved.

So do not despair.
For they are released from all worry and fear.

……..

Where does the Lord dwell
Is he hidden in thick cloud
Or is he here now

…….

See 1 Kings 8

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

 

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Is life on earth nothing more than pressed service.
His time no better than hired drudgery.
We never seem to scratch below life’s brittle surface.
Seeking but being denied sight of celestial imagery.

The Priest at mass mentioned bereavement.
He said often the best thing is silence and prayer.
We pray for some kind of discernment.
Exploring solace layer by gentle layer.

Months of delusion , Job said,  I have assigned to me.
Nothing for my own but nights of grief.
From doubt and despair will ever we be free.
Oh God, we ask ourselves when will we find relief.

Like Job during the long night we wander in wilderness.
Praying yet often meeting  a great silence.

…….

We are just like Job
We wonder if we’re alone
And pray that we’re not

……..

See Job 7 : 1-4, 6-7

Saturday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time

Give your servant a heart to discern between good and evil.
For who could govern this people of yours which is so great.
Are we prepared to deal with any upheaval.
Do we prepare patiently for the long wait.
Since you have asked for discerning judgement.
Here and now I do what you ask.
And we one day will face a last judgement.
So we need to keep to our task
I give you a heart wise and shrewd.
As none before you has had.
By God all was viewed.
The happy and sad.
Thus Solomon acted wisely.
Do we have the courage to ask sagely.
…….
Discern good and evil
That is the choice given us
But do we do so
……..
See 1 Kings 3 : 4- 13

The Presentation of the Lord

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Now, Master, let your servant go in peace.
Because mine eyes have seen the salvation.
We search, sometimes discouraged without cease.
Seeking our final resting  station.

We went  up to be blessed.
Receiving the holy oil.
Perhaps seeking some mind’s rest.
From our turmoil.

My soul was sad .
The priest’s words were soothing.
Perhaps all was not after all so bad.
Eventually things would  start improving.

We lit our candlemass light.
And searched for a greater light.

……

Let us go in peace
Our eyes have seen salvation
And too a new light

…….

See Luke 2: 22-40

Thursday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time

He instructed them to take for the journey.
No bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses.
Even though the road ahead was stormy.
And no doubt regaled with curses.
If you enter a house anywhere.
Stay there till you leave the district.
We, all of us need a seer.
And all of us however weak are still fit.
And if any place does not welcome you.
As you walk away , shake the dust from your feet.
There is always somewhere new.
Someone else to greet.keep walking.

And hoping.

 

 

…….

Take for your journey
No bread and no haversack
You just need yourself

…….

See Mark 6: 7-13

Wednesday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time

A prophet is only despised .
In his own country.
And we rarely feel prized if not actually despised.
Even if we proceed humbly.Despised among his own relations.
And in his own house.
Let alone among all the nations.
And we ask what and where is his house.

He could do no miracle there.
Though he cured a few sick people by laying hands on them.
But have we the courage to dare.
Even if others condemn.

……..

A prophet despised
For he’s in his own country
And then so are we

……

See Mark 6 : 1-6

Tuesday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time

She came up behind him through the crowd.
And touched his cloak.
We are so nervous too , we don’t want to shout out loud.
We seem to peer through heavy mystical  smoke.
If I can touch even his clothes.
I shall be healed .
We ask , is he God, who knows.
Nothing really is known or sealed.The source of the bleeding dried up instantly.
And se felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint.
But we only see the truth distantly.
For we will never be a saint.

Jesus felt instantly that power had gone out of him.
And he knows instantly when we were seek to touch him.

……..

She came up to him
And she tried to touch his cloak
That’s all we can do

See Mark 5 : 21-43

Monday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time

Go home to your people.
Tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you.
If we ponder this we can spread our wings like an eagle.
We can live a life anew.I felt empowered by this verse.
To speak up for what I believed.
Things would get better and certainly not worse.
In this I surely was not deceived.

He has done so much .
Which chained, we never appreciate.
We feel always his touch.
Yet worn down by this great material weight.

But do we have the courage.
To go out and try to encourage.

……..

Go home to people
Tell them what the Lord in his
Mercy’s done for you

……

See Mark 5 : 1-20

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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His teaching made a deep impression.
Because unlike them he spoke with authority.
We always need to ask the difficult question.
Is our soul really our priority.

St Thomas Aquinas realised that as he neared the final shore.
That all his writings seemed like straw.
And he wrote no more .
Thus a great truth he finally saw.

It is not cleaver writings that count.
Nor profound theology or poetry.
It is faith that is truth’s ever flowing fount.
And that in all its infinity solely.

It is just thought that leads to calmness.
That overcomes all aloneness.

…….

Thus all his writings
Just seemed like so much mere straw
And thus too all ours

………

See Mark 1: 21-28

Saturday of Week 3 in Ordinary Time

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David pleaded for the child.
He spent the night on the bare ground covered with sacking.
In this life we feel exiled.
At the end so much seems lacking.

When all seemed forlorn.
I looked at the churches crucifix.
And then new hope was born.
There was no despair if no quick fix.

So I left the church’s door
Feeling a little better.
No longer sad to the core
No longer without any answer

Ready to start anew.
With a new view.

…..

When all seemed forlorn
I looked at the crucifix
And I felt better

…….

See 2 Samuel 12

Friday of Week 3 in Ordinary Time

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Using many parables.
He spoke the word so far as they were capable of understanding.
Yet they asked for miracles.
And like them we’re waiting for the King.

I was praying for life last week.
And didn’t get an answer.
All I could do was in vain to seek.
The worst had come, what was to be was to occur.

And then tonight I prayed again.
And I seemed to see a great light.
There was new life, prayer was not in vain.
It had not been in vain the fight.

And so out of seeming disaster.
We can have faith in the thereafter.

……..

A fruitless prayer
But that was only last week
Now I had answers

………

See Mark 4 : 26-34

Thursday of Week 3 in Ordinary Time

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I was nearly at Damascus.
When a bright light shone about me.
Perhaps this message is for us.
So that we might the better see.

Sad,  I entered the church and read this message.
If you are suffering ask for strength.
Words that are difficult but sage.
Helping us in hope , to go to any length.

And this too, if you are happy give thanks.
And ask that you remain so.
We are up and down held in endless ranks.
High or low.

But I left that church a little fortified.
That hope for the future has not died.

…..,.

A Damascus light
Anytime May shine on us
We just have to hope

…….

See Acts 22: 3-16

Tuesday of Week 3 in Ordinary Time

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Your mother and your sisters are outside.
He replied who are my bothers and sisters.
Perhaps we should start with the view that all are onside.
That there are as many good people as beautiful vistas.

Anyone who does the will of God.
That person is my brother and sister.
We should all surely be awed.
As we look on our own vista.

I was watching a program about older people in love .
They seemed to be so happy in each others company.
Maybe too we can  fly like  a dove.
We can all be somebody .

Love achieves so much
We know so little and not really much.

……

Who are my brothers
Are they not everybody
Part of one body

……..

See Mark 3 : 31-35

Monday of Week 3 in Ordinary Time

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If a kingdom is divided against itself.
It cannot stand.
Perhaps we should think less of self
More of the common good at hand.

All men’s’ sins will be forgiven.
And all their blasphemies.
So perhaps there is hope we will be striven.
Despite all our infamies.

But we need to stand together.
However much we disagree.
Our differences are merely a floating feather.
Cast upon a turbulent sea.

One day we will see all this.
But only when at death we receive the Lord’s kiss.

…….

Kingdoms divided
Will certainly fall apart
So we must take care

…….

See Mark 3 : 22-30

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

God is close at hand.
Repent and believe the Good News.
But where do we stand.
What truly are our views.As I walked into Vespers this evening.
The alto cantor was singing the Our Father.
Suddenly my mind was resting.
I did not need to go any further.

The words were so soothing.
So manifestly true and inspiring.
And so in that moment arriving.
There was for a short time no need for more doubting.

There was no need for zest.
I was at rest.

…….

Singing Our Father
Just listening was enough
And just accepting

……..

See Mark 1: 14-20

Saturday in week 2 in Ordinary Time

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Jesus went home and such a crowd collected.
That they could not even have a meal.
On hearing this I recollected.
What was false and real.

His relatives set out to take charge of him.
Convinced he was out of his mind.
Against the tide we swim.
Do we truly see or are we blind.

When I heard of him calling his disciples by the lake.
I felt that we were being called too.
That we should do something for his sake.
And that is a pledge we would not rue.

But perhaps others think we are out of our mind.
Who knows , is it us or them who are blind.

…….

We think we are called
Or are we out of our mind
We just do not know

…….

See Mark 3: 20-21

Friday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time

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So they came to him snd he appointed twelve.
They were to be his companions and to be sent out to preach.
Like them we wander and we for truth delve.
Maybe just to ponder and not necessarily to teach.

Ita Missa Est.
Translated As Go The Mass is Ended.
But actually Go It Is Sent meaning us, est.
Perhaps he is sent or are we sended.

So at the end of Mass do we forget.
Or do we think of it for the rest of the day.
Remain calm or break out in a sweat.
Or perhaps better occasionally pray.

We walk out pondering.
Remembering, hoping.

…….

Ita Missa Est
And Go the Mass is Ended
Or just it is sent

…….

See Mark 3 : 13-19

Thursday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time

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In God I trust.
I shall not fear .
We will not just end up as dust.
We are not just here.

In the 1994 film Miracle on 34th Street, a one dollar note is produced.
It bears the words, In God  We Trust.
Some beliefs whether in Santa Claus or God cannot be induced.
We just have to take them on trust.

Of David , Saul was jealous
Jonathan persuaded him to forgive.
And we too must be loving not just zealous.
If so we will not die , we will live.

But in God we must trust.
That maybe is a must.

……..

In God do we trust
And with that we shall not fear
But of course we do

……..

See Psalm 55 and 1 Samuel 18

Wednesday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time

Stretch out your hand.
He stretched it out and it was better.
We seek out a spiritual land.
Where we will no longer merely be a debtor.
When we are beset with possible tragedy.
Everything else falls into perspective.
We just need to count our blessings thankfully.
And be reflective.It helps to pray.
Stand before Mary.
Petitions to lay.
Burdens she will help carry.

Time may heal.
And it may turn, the wheel.

…….

Just stretch out your hand
If we do so it’s better
Or that’s what we hope

…….

See Mark 3 : 1-6

Tuesday of Week 2 in Ordinary Time

Why are they doing something on the Sabbath day.
That is forbidden.
Ah, but what  is the way.
To what we ask , are we really bidden.
So there was something  I really wanted to do.
That I could not.
It was frustrating that this I knew.
How could I untie the mind’s knot.
I remembered the words of Galadriel when she resisted.
I have passed the test, I will diminish go into the West.
And thus in my resolve I felt assisted.
And to fate I could leave the rest.
We think , submitting to our will.
We can do good but it may be better to remain still.
…….
I have passed the test
And I will diminish now
It’s for the better
…….
See Mark 2: 23-28