Friday of Week 29 in Ordinary Time

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Bear with one another charitably.
In complete selflessness.
And calmly, amiably.
With patience and gentleness.

Do all you can to preserve the unity of the spirit.
By the peace that binds you together.
However little our merit.
And whatever the spiritual weather.

There is one Lord.
One baptism.
One faith in the Lord.
One God we are called to in baptism.

There is one Father of all.
Over all, through all and within all.

……

Bear charitably
And in complete selflessness
In calm patience

…….

See Ephesians 4 : 1-6

Thursday of Week 29 in Ordinary Time

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Out of his infinite glory.
May he give you power.
We are part of his story.
He is the sower.

Let his spirit help your hidden self to  grow strong.
So that Christ may live in your heart.
This is for what we long.
A new life start.

Through faith and then planted in love.
You will have strength to grasp the length and breadth.
Of what is built on love.
In all its height and depth.

Until knowing the love of Christ.
You are filled with the utter fullness of God in Christ.

…..

Out of infinite
Glory may he give power
To you and all yours

……

See Ephesians 3 : 14-21

Wednesday of Week 29 in Ordinary Time

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The son of man is coming.
At an hour you do not expect.
We spend so much  time worrying.
And to so little effect.

Like the rich man laying.
Stores in his barn.
Death May catch us napping.
The silver thread of life so easily torn.

We have had the first coming .
But there is one all the time.
And for us it will soon start appearing.
Without maybe reason or rhyme.

So live for now.
Do not be low.

……

Man’s son is coming
We do not know at what hour
It it is quite soon.

….

See Luke 12 : 39-48

Tuesday of Week 29 in Ordinary Time

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See that you are dressed for action.
And have your lamps lit.
Archbishop Stephen Langton facing Kings John’s sanction.
Insisted on the church’s writ.

On this day the anniversary of his death.
We remember his courage and scholarship.
Its wisdom and breadth.
His fight against the tyranny of kingship.

And his devotion to the  Holy Spirit.
Which waters what is parched.
A man of true merit.
Even if by the king besmirched.

Born perhaps in Langton  by Wragby
In Lincolnshire before consecrated to his see.

…….

Dressed for action
Making sure your lamps are lit
And being prepared

…….

See Luke 12 : 35-38

Monday of Week 29 in Ordinary Time

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We all were among them too in the past.
Ruled  entirely by our own physical desires.
Part of life’s physical cast.
Governed too by our own ideas.

When I read newspapers.
I just feel depressed.
Overcome by contemporary vapours.
Uncomfortable , stressed.

When I read something religious.
I feel happy and positive.
So away with feeling anxious.
Feel calm rather than restive.

Keep religious reading.
And start overcoming.

….

We were in the past
In our own ideas, desires
But we can move on

……

See Ephesians 2 : 1-10

29 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Allow us to sit one at your right hand.
And the other on your left in your glory.
The two disciples did not understand.
What was to be their true story.I suddenly realised at Mass the truth.
Don’t regret not being first or second.
Help others not yourself, that’s not just the enthusiasm of youth.
Better to care and be second, something to beckon.

Anyone who wants to be great among you .
Must be your servant .
Anyone who wants to be first among you.
Must be a slave to all , a mere servant.

Be happy in one’s own condition.
And just give rendition.

….

If you want greatness
Seek the lower place at first
And you will find it

….

See Mark 10: 35-45

Saturday of Week 28 in Ordinary Time

May he enlighten the eyes of your mind.
So that you can see what hope brings to you.
This gentle spirit is kind.
We are one of many not the few.How infinitely great is the power.
He has exercised for us believers.
We reap, he is the sower.
He gives , we are the receivers.

He has put all things under his feet.
And made him the ruler of everything.
Wiping away every tear.
A joyous melody we can sing.

He fills the whole creation.
And washes any cancer we can mention.

………
He enlightens minds
You see the hope he brings you
Now and for ever……

See Ephesians 1 : 15-23

Friday of Week 28 in Ordinary Time, St Luke

Your friends , O lord make known.
The glorious splendour of your reign.
We all can , if we wish, approach his throne.
And sit at his feet for his everlasting reign.I wonder if it’s worth writing.
It can be a burden.
But maybe someone is listening.
And it allows me to unburden.

To talk of dreams.
To dream that we are all really one community.
That all is not as bad as it seems.
That there is the mysterious everlasting entity.

So I go on writing.
To make known my belief that you’re living, loving.

…….

Your friends, Lord make known
Your reign’s glorious splendour
Now and for ever

…….

See Psalm 4

Thursday of Week 28 in Ordinary Time. St Ignatius of Antioch

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Before the world was made.
He chose us in Christ.
Our fate is known and laid.
But still for redemption we thirst.

What did St Ignatius of Antioch say.
The Eucharist is the medicine of immortality.
These words at mass seemed like a sunlit ray.
Full of merciful integrity.

A daily feast .
Beyond compare.
How can we resist.
What wipes away every tear.

Holy communion.
With the world in communion.

……

Before we are made
We are all chosen in Christ
Our fate known and laid

…….

See Ephesians 1 : 1-10

Wednesday of Week 28 in Ordinary Time

When self indulgence is at work.
The results are obvious.
We enter into the murk.
Life becomes tedious.What the spirit brings is very different.
Love, joy , peace, kindness.
A true testament.
Of goodness, trustfulness and gentleness.

You cannot belong to Christ Jesus.
Unless you crucify all self indulgent passions.
This is true for all of us.
We can then enter his many mansions.

So easy to write.
But for most of us a distant light.

……

Our self indulgence
Leads to what we know happens
But we have a choice

…..

See Galatians  5: 18-25

Tuesday of Week 28 in Ordinary Time

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Lord , let your love come upon me.
The saving help of your promise.
Help me to understand and to see.
To give more and worry less.

As usual the night time waking started badly.
Worrying about what was going wrong.
Then I started praying for a dead colleague slowly.
He hadn’t been a friend , he sang a different song.

But all this really helped.
We do not entirely exist.
We are with all of humankind shaped.
We are not whole we are like a vanishing mist.

I started to calm down.
And lay my head down.

……

Lord , let your help come
The saving help of promise
For this and all time

…….

See Psalm 119

Monday of Week 28 in Ordinary Time

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High above all the nations is the Lord.
Above the heavens his glory.
The satellites flying above are the heavens signboard.
They reveal our solar system’s story.

Back to back I looked at 2 programs during an evening’s course
The dead planet Mars and the blue planet earth.
This is our most precious resource.
Let’s preserve ourself from dearth.

The elephant struggles from drought.
The seals from too much melting water.
There can be little doubt.
We must look after this planet or they are led to the slaughter.

But how it is all so inspiring .
So we must start caring.

…….

High above nations
The satellites do circle
And they reveal all

……

See Psalm 112

28 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Make us know the shortness of our life.
That we may gain wisdom of heart.
Doubt need not be rife.
We can make a new start.
A colleague has died suddenly.
In an instant he is gone.
All too untimely.
Is he still alive somewhere , is it all a con.
But whatever, death puts everything in perspective.
Why worry overmuch about the present.
Whether we just die or once again live.
This body into death will be sent.
And who are we anyway.
We just have to believe in the life and the way.
…….
The shortness of life
Must give us wisdom of heart
Or we die within
……..

See Psalm 89

Saturday of Week 27 in Ordinary Time

The promise can only be given to those.
With faith in Jesus Christ.
Can we choose , or are we chose.
Will we rise to glory or to oblivion be sacrificed.
I was sitting in the church porch.
Looking at the cemetery.
Wondering how I would carry the torch.
Into death or glory.Here my bones would rest.
What then would I care.
Freed from all worry and zest.
How would I fare.My body here.
My soul , I pray, up there.

……..

But where do we go
Do we just rest in this place
Or is there glory

..  ….

See Galatians 3 : 22-29

Friday of Week 27 in Ordinary Time

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Don’t you see that It is those who rely on faith.
Who are the sons of Abraham.
Faith comes and goes like a wraith.
But we can only wait for it like a willing lamb.

Do not be afraid.
Is mentioned apparently 365 times in the bible.
A thought for every day of the year usefully  laid.
This is reassuring truth, and is no fable.

We need not fear.
We can hope.
No need to shed a tear.
To heaven we can climb the celestial rope.

The glass can be half full in our thought.
In worrying it is half empty  we do not need to be caught.

……..

Do not be afraid
A thought for every day
If we allow it

……

See Galatians 3 : 7-14

Thursday of Week 27 in Ordinary Time

Search and you will find.
Knock and the door will be opened to you.
We can if we want open the mind.
But success passes like the morning’s dew.
The one who asks always receives.
The one who searches always finds.
But our faith falls like autumn leaves.
Doubt and the world’s care blinds.But I feel that the search is working.
I sense a door opening.
Going forward then tacking.
Slowly happening.

I stumble in the dark, reach for the door and knock .
I sense the working of purpose in the divine clock.

……

Search and you will find
Knock and the door is opened
Or so we believe

……

See Luke 11: 5-13

Wednesday of Week 27 in Ordinary Time. St John Henry Newman

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Proclaim the message.
Refute falsehood , correct error.
What does all this presage.
Are we free from all terror.

The long night passed.
If not in terror then depression.
Then we wonder if we are cursed.
How can we ease this tension.

By praying to the saint, not focusing on  ourselves.
We are not unique , alone.
We are part of , at one with all the other selves.
Ours is is not the only fear or moan.

How much better I felt, I was whole , one.
Because I was part of everyone.

…….

We are not unique
Yes we are but we are more
We’re humanity

……

See  2 Timothy 4: 1-5

Tuesday of Week 27 in Ordinary Time


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She had a sister called Mary who sat down at the Lord’s feet.
And listened to him speaking.
Do we sit close to his seat.
Or do we keep working.

Are we a Martha
Or a Mary.
All in a tither.
Or not worried, airy.

Martha , the Lord said.
You fret about so many things.
Anyway our souls are read.
Whether nobodies or kings.

Mary we know chose the better part.
And if we have any sense we will take her part.

….

Do we keep working
Or do we start listening
We know the answer

….

See Luke 10 : 38-42

Monday of Week 27 in Ordinary Time

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Who is my neighbour.
Which of these proved himself to be a neighbour.
We must carry on our spiritual Labour.
Putting faith in our saviour.

On October 7 th we ask who is my neighbour.
My neighbour is everyone.
Who cares for all in love’s labour.
Who knows we are one.

Peace can come
If we do not hate.
If we do not turn away but welcome.
It is not too late.

Yes it is not too late.
For peace it is never too late

…….

Who is my neighbour
Is it the one who passes
Or the one who stops

…….

See Luke 10 : 25-37

27 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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They are no longer two.
But one body.
Loved through and through.
Faithful, steady.

The great reward.
Of a long marriage.
In not cutting the cord.
Is the future, let’s not it disparage.

It is the gift of children.
Yes certainly.
But even more so of grandchildren.
Eventually.

Sharing them.
Loving them.

…….

They are no longer
Two but one body together
The hope of future

……

See Mark 19 : 2-15

Saturday of Week 26 in Ordinary Time

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I have been holding forth on matters I cannot understand.
On marvels beyond my knowledge.
I am as a dead hand.
I lack all self knowledge.

I know only by hearsay.
In dust and ashes I repent.
Far from the sun’s warming ray.
I can still start my ascent.

Job rose again from ashes.
From disaster he was redeemed.
I only have his faith in flashes.
But in hope I have dreamed.

But Job is not anyone.
He is everyone.

…….

Can we understand
Marvels beyond our knowledge
Yes surely we can

…….

See Job :42

Friday of Week 26 in Ordinary Time

Anyone who listens to you.
Listens to me.
Anyone who rejects you.
Rejects me.I was thinking about St Francis during the night.
I felt suddenly that only love mattered.
It was as if in the dark there was great light.

And that doubt was scattered.

I was in the present.
I could feel the air on my face.
I knew what delighting in small things meant.
You can win without trying to win the race.

We can give away everything.
And still know everything.

…….

If we just listen
Then very quickly we hear
But you must listen

……

See Luke 10 : 13-16

Thursday of Week 26 in Ordinary Time

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Pity me , pity me.
My friends.
For the hand of God has struck me.
Where are my friends.

Why do you hound me  like God.
Will you never have enough of my flesh.
Soon I will be nothing , just under the sod.
Caught in death’s impenetrable mesh.

Ah, would that these words of mine were written down.
Inscribed on some monument with iron chisel.
How often in adversity do we feel so down.
Finding little solace even in God’s epistle.

Job says , my avenger does live.
But we know eventually he will thrive.

..  ……

Job says pity me
The hand of God had struck me
Know that he will thrive

….

See Job 19 : 21-27

Wednesday of Week 26 in Ordinary Time

Who is the greatest.
In heaven’s kingdom.
How can we achieve true rest and pass the test.
We ask this all too seldom.
Unless you become like little children and change.
You will never enter the kingdom.
But this is so much beyond our range.
And we do it so seldom.
So one who makes himself little.
Is the greatest.
Our faith is too brittle.
And so we fail the test.

We do all too little.

But we have our guardian angel at our shoulder.
So however heavy we can lift every boulder.

..  ….

Who is the greatest
In the kingdom of heaven
It’s the little ones

….

See Matthew 18 : 1-5 , 10

Tuesday of Week 26 in Ordinary Time. St Therese

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May the day perish when I was born.
And the night that I was conceived.
Job is distraught, torn.
But his faith is redeemed.

St Therese delights in the little things.
That still bring  great love.
Eternity sings.
Coming and going, a fluttering dove.

I was at the small mass in the seminary.
Nothing grand but a great sense of peace.
Moving, for all that the feeling is temporary.
But no matter we try again and again without cease.

She died young .
But her song of love she has sung.

……

If you are not great
Just remember St Therese.
Remembered always

……

See Job 3