Category Archives: General

Easter Monday

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Filled with awe snd great joy.

The women came quickly  away from the tomb .
Jesus asks us not to cloy.
But to be not afraid as he dispels the gloom.
I love the Mass on these Easter days.
The Cathedral bedecked with flowers.
The Resurrection stories blaze.
These are  truly happy hours.
Do not think it is over .
It has  only just begun.
Now Holy Week is over .
New life truly begun.
The proof is clear .
It is all there.
….
We look at the tomb
Has the body been taken
No he is risen
…..
See Matthew 28 : 8-15

Easter Sunday

 

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I have risen and I am with you still.

Too wonderful for me this knowledge , Alleluia.
We have climbed the hill.
At an end our Dolorosa.
Whatever our difficulties now .
This glorious amazing news pierces with darts.
We can return to life’s weary  plough.
With happiness in our hearts.
As I heard that John saw and believed.
My mind cleared.
And I too believed.
All doubt cleared.
He is truly risen today .
This is the greatest day.
…….
Where depression
How can it survive this day
With this great good
…….
See todays Entrance Antiphon

Holy Saturday

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Like the deer that yearns for running streams

So my soul is thirsting for you, my God.
The long vigil keeps me from my dreams.
But here is grateful , tiring ,  praising laud.
The twilight light serene.
The bonfire in the church porch lit.
The  sung Exultet sets the scene .
And now we hear holy writ.
With candle held in the dark .
The readings tell salvation’s story.
Of how one people made their mark.
And led  us all to the great glory.
And thenwith the Gloria , candles put out.
The lights and song blaze out.
…….
We stand with candles
And hear the old psalms
This is our story.
….
See Psalm 41

Good Friday

 

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I am like a dead man , forgotten in mens’ hearts.
Like a thing thrown away.
Pierced by fierce darts.
My troubles I cannot lay .

But he suffered so much more .
He who had done nothing wrong.
It grieves me to my core.
Forcing me to raise his name in song.

So when we are ignored ,  bored.
Unemployed , undervalued.
We remember his poor hands bound by cord.
Crucified , unloved , tortured.

And all this done for the rest of us.
And he didn’t even make any fuss.

……

We look at the cross
Something moves within us all
Yet unaffected

….

See Psalm 30

Maundy Thursday

 

 

 

 

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He then poured water into a basin.

And began to wash the disciples‘ feet.
To whom then do we hasten.
Whom do we really want to meet.
Maundy , mandate, command.
What are we commanded to do .
First serve others at his demand .
Second take communion and be true.
Third to follow him up to the garden.
Up to the altar of repose.
And seek pardon.
And know he arose.
On this sorrowful night.
We will keep up the fight.
……
Whose feet do we wash
And ask why do we do it
Is it just to serve
…..
See John 13 : 1-15

Wednesday of Holy Week

 

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The Lord has given me a disciple’s tongue.

So I may know how to reply to the wearied.

Scripture cannot be left unsung.
The truth cannot be buried.
Each morning he wakes me to hear.
To listen like a disciple.
He wipes away my fear.
Opening up the bible.
For my part I made no resistance.
Neither did I turn away.
It is part of my existence.
Keeping those doubts at bay.
I offered my back to those who struck me.
Even those who hate me.
……
It is in scripture
We find inspiration
To maintain our hope
…….
See Isaiah 50 : 4-9

Tuesday of Holy Week

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Judas had taken the piece of bread, he went out .
Night had fallen.
Now starts our period of fear and doubt.
We will know soon if too we are fallen.

Into the night we pass.
All creation falls silent and waits.
We walk through history’s narrow pass.
Pausing at salvation’s gates.

Are we to be redeemed.
Will he be our sacrifice.
Nothing was as it seemed.
Will he pay the ultimate price.

Of course we know the answer.
He is the answer.

…….

Now night has fallen
But we know the dawn will come
And we are grateful

………

See John 13 : 21-33, 36-38

Monday of Holy Week

You have the poor with you always.
You will not always have me.
On the path to truth there are many ways.
A thousand different ways to see.

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I was dreaming all this God business is a myth.
A great boulder seemed to block this thought.
As if Jesus had laid in my path  a monolith.
His  teaching net the idea had caught.

Maybe a trick of the dreaming brain.
But it all seemed real to my sight.
But for it I had been on a clear plain.
And I saw things in a new light.

When we are spoken to .
Do we listen too.

……

A dream in the night
And therein is a message
But do I listen

……

See John 12 : 1-11

Palm Sunday

 

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They carried palm branches.

And cried out Hosanna in the highest.
On fear they put  only patches.
Yet here they confronted the finest.
But our support is so fickle.
We praise one day then condemn.
Our hosannas reduced to a mere trickle.
One day they are heroes then we condemn them.
Now we follow Jesus step by step.
On this Dolorosa way.
We also make our own misstep .
Fearful to have our say .
We are no different from that crowd.
The voice of our cowardice just as loud.
…..
One day we lay palms
The very next day we flee
We are no different
…….
See Luke 19 : 28-40

Saturday of the 5th Week of Lent

 

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It is better for one man to die.

Than for the whole nation to be destroyed.
And so we are prone to lie.
As we find our own beliefs foiled
Help free me .
From someone challenging my belief.
Keep me free.
As I let them find their own relief.
Calm my anger.
As St Jerome learnt to do.
I have a saviour.
He is there for the many and the few.
Neither the end nor the means were justified.
By his death he became our true guide.
…….
If it takes one man
To die for all of mankind
That still is enough
……
See John 11: 45-56

Friday of the 5th Week of Lent

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I said you are Gods.
To whom the law of the word is addressed.
So in a way we are all Gods.
But only at his behest .

I dreamt that at last my faith was clear.
And then I saw myself in a mirror .
All signs of age gone , the skin clear .
Anger , depression , fat cut with a scissor.

I was looking at myself fifty years ago.
As my son is now and then the image was gone.
But I was happy, not for a second low.
This is the future, we are not alone.

The Dorian Gray mirror was future reality .
Not the present actuality .

……..

We ask what is truth
Is it the mirror image
Or what we see now

……..

See John 10: 31-42

Thursday of the 5th week of Lent

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Consider the Lord and his strength.
Constantly seek his face.
We need to go to any length.
To seek divine grace.

We want to be loved and highly regarded.
We think all we do should be approved of.
This makes us restless and troubled.
If we sought God only and his love.

We would always be content.
And would find all things in him.
A truly engaging thought for lent.
We just ask for our faith not to dim.

Give me the grace not to think of myself.
But of God in himself.

………

Am I approved of
Let me not care about this
And just think of God

………

See Psalm 104 and More Saintly Solutions by Fr Joseph Esper

Wednesday of the 5th week of Lent

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You will learn the truth.
And the truth will set you free.
I have asked this question since my youth.
I still ask what is the key.

Everyone who commits sin is a slave.
Now the slaves place is not assured.
I am  blind to truth as in a dark cave.
To this life so easily lured.

But the son’s place is assured.
So the son makes you free.
So my malaise can be cured.
I was blind but one day I will see.

Nothing he said has penetrated into us.
But perhaps it always was thus.

……

We look for the truth
We know it will set us free
We ask where is it

…….

See John 8 : 31-42

Tuesday of the 5th week of Lent

 

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When you have lifted up the son of man.

Then you will know who I am.
But can we can.
Do I even know who I really am.
But is it necessary to know where the guide comes from.
Is it not enough to know where he is leading us to.
This may only be comfort’s crumb.
And it may only satisfy a few.
But better not to obsess.
About what you cannot prove.
We may have to do with less.
To free us from doubt’s groove.
I know his message is right for me.
Further than that I cannot see.
…..
He asks who am I
We will not have the answer
In this short lifetime
……
See John 8: 21-30

Monday of the 5th week of Lent

 

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I am the light of the world.

Anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark.
I sleep, I dream badly lying curled.
In the morning I rise with the lark.
To stop suffering you have to lose control.
And pass it to fate or God or karma.
It is not our body that counts but our soul.
Otherwise all is ceaseless drama.
But with Christ someone is listening.
Ready to share any burden.
So I put my faith in night praying.
Hoping to  slowly unburden.
It is not just in surrendering the ego.
That we take heart to get up and go .
…….
Our preferences
They are all so absorbing
Can we renounce them
…….
See John 8 : 12-20

5th Sunday of Lent

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I have accepted the loss of everything.
I look on everything as so much rubbish.
In God alone we can take wing.
This is all we need to publish.

Irritation is rooted in desire to be in control.
When we surrender that control totally to God.
And renounce our own preferences to our soul.
And put faith in a spiritual God.

The need and motivation.
For irritation disappears.
This is is our salvation.
And the end of all tears.

We can then remain even tempered .
In the face of setbacks and carry on unhindered.

…..

A simple idea
Is to put God in control
It’s so difficult

……

See  Philippians 3 : 8-14 and
More Saintly Solutions by Fr Joseph Esper

Saturday of the 4th week of Lent

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The waves of death rose about me.
The pains of the netherworld surrounded me.
I seem submerged in a Black Sea.
In my dreams, resurrection, I could not foresee.

When hope dies.
And worries or grief arise.
In our own view of God, our salvation lies.
We may not be content, but we may be wise.

We wake before dawn’s first light.
With no answer to sleep’s plea
But  I try to keep this prayer in sight .
Enlighten ,guide, strengthen and console me.

I promise to be submissive in all you ask of me.
And to accept all that you permit to happen to me.

….

When sleep does not come
Rest your tired head in prayer
And then rest may come

……

See The Entrance Antiphon of today
Psalm 17

Friday of 4 th Week in Lent

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You do not know him but.
I know him because from him I have come.
Of our own choice we are stuck in a unholy rut.
Not happy but  spiritually glum.

We may never know for sure.
If he is the one.
But he is the lure.
To the one who is one.

We know he walked.
He taught.
And he talked.
But certainty of divinity cannot be caught.

But the only way to approach the one.
Is to try to get to know this one.

……

In my mind’s far depths
I seek the truth that matters
And it alludes me

……

See John 7 : 1-2, 10 : 24-30

Thursday of 4th week in Lent

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They have made themselves a calf of molten metal.

And have worshiped it and offered sacrifice.
Our hearts will not settle.
For us nothing will suffice.
What is our molten calf.
What do we really worship.
To whom do we raise the staff.
Is it our own self worship.
We will be forgiven.
For all our faults.
And striven.
Despite being out of sorts.
But who will give us our gnosis
Who will be our Moses.
……..
God said to Moses.
Where to have my people strayed
But they’re forgiven
…….
See Exodus 32: 7-14

Wednesday of 4 th week in Lent

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On every roadway they shall graze.
And each bare height shall be their pasture.
We wander through life’s maze.
Barely understanding our future.

They will never hunger or thirst.
Scorching wind and sun shall never plague them.
Never shall we be cursed .
Nor ever will our hope be numb.

Does a woman forget her baby at the breast.
Or fail to cherish the son of her womb.
We never shall lose our zest .
Or pass forever into the gloom.

Yet even if these forget.
He never will you forget.

……..

The Lord is saying
At all times I will answer
I will not forget

…….

See Isaiah 49: 8-15

Tuesday of 4th week in Lent

 

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A stream came out from the Temple threshold.

And flowed eastwards.
Everything is put on hold.
To the east  then our sight turns towards.
From the temple flowed from sacrifice .
Both blood and water.
Now there is a new bloodless sacrifice .
An innocent lamb put to the slaughter.
The stream of love, I see.
Gets wider and wider
Until it meets the sea.
Its plaintiff song louder and louder.
Wherever the water flows all creatures will live.
And we ourselves will thrive .
……..
A new sacrifice
Is with all of us always
Of love not of blood
…….
See Ezekiel  47 : 1-9 , 12

Monday of 4 th week in Lent

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Go home, your son will live.

The man believed what Jesus had said.
We have we to know not just to take but give.
To know how to be led.
It’s strange how our prayers are answered.
Not always in the way we want.
Sometimes the answer is unclear , stammered.
Even in a death crisis it almost seems a taunt.
The court official asked Jesus to come with him.
But he had faith when that didn’t happen.
Do we have faith even if our position is grim.
Or do we expect always  our hearts to  gladden.
After prayer we often turn on our heel.
Not ready in gratitude to kneel.
…..
Often in prayer
We do not receive answers
But just be patient
…….
See John 4 : 43-54

4th Sunday in Lent

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Your brother here was dead.

And has come to life, he was lost and is found.
Rejection has fled.
Love is crowned.
When you hear this Gospel reading.
A tear comes to the eye.
It is reconciliation spreading
Fatherhood’s loving cry.
But what of us who do the work to the full.
Who are left behind .
Are we resentful .
Perhaps we shouldn’t mind.
Our father is with us always.
Ready for all our faults to give us praise.
…….
Are we the lost one
Going to another land
We are welcome home
…. …
See  Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Saturday of 3rd week in Lent

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Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.

But the man who humbles himself will be exalted.
We know we are truly rumbled.
We so often find ourselves faulted.
We hate criticism.
But we must not let it get us down.
We rejoice in our own rightism.
Even if we are quick to put others down.
He beat his breast and said.
God be merciful to me a sinner.
Shall we just take it as read .
We’re no better than any other trier.
Actually criticism is a good thing .
It is God’s  and humility’s ring .
…….
I am not grasping
Unlike the other man  there
But he is better .
……..
See Luke 18: 9-14

Fridy of 3rd week in Lent . The Annunciation of the Lord . 25 March 2022

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Your justice I have proclaimed in the great assembly

.

My lips I have not sealed.
Our hearts can never be empty.
Because all is revealed.
I just opened todays readings at random.
And came up with the line from the psalm.
We need to read no memorandum.
A psalm a day keeps us calm.
You do not ask for Holocaust or victim.
Instead here am I .
Another line by chance , thinking of him.
We just need to ask why.
But  today we recall Mary’s answer , yes.
We too only have to say yes .
…….
So when we are called
Will our answer then be yes
Or will we temper
……
See Psalm 39