Tuesday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time

We are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure.
To make it clear that such an overwhelming power comes from God and not from us.
Everything we do is at his pleasure.
It is , always will be and always has been thus.We are in difficulties on all sides.
And never cornered.
He is the only one though there are many guides.
There is only really one way to move forward.

Even though our enthusiasm comes in rising and falling tides.

We see no answer to our problems.
But never despair.
Nothing condemns.
We only need to dare.

We have been persecuted.
But never deserted.

…….

We earthenware jars
But we do hold this treasure
And it comes from God

.. …..

See 2 Corinthians 4: 7-15

Monday of Week 16 in Ordinary Time

I will sing to the Lord , glorious his triumph.
Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.
If we have faith, we will have enough.
You just have to have more  faith, just look, see.Nekhlyudov knows the truth in the novel Resurrection.
Love is invincible.
Despite Maslova’s rejection.
Hope is made stronger in love’s crucible.The Israelites complained when they saw Pharaoh approaching.
But they were not deserted.
How often do I start despairing.
And feel neglected.

But love is invincible.
And certainly irreversible.

……..

I sing to the lord
Glorious is his triumph
He does not desert

…..

See Exodus 15 : 1-6

16 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

IMG_7250Your justice has its source in strength.
Your sovereignty over all makes you lenient over all.
Are we prepared to go any length.
To prevent our own fall.
You govern us with great lenience.
For you have only to will and your power is there.
You know and govern our every sense.
You are the arbiter of what is fair.But disposing of such strength.
You are mild in judgement.
To save us you go any length.
Although we have paid no way enough rent.

You show us how virtuous men.
Must be kindly to their fellow men.

……
Your justice has source
In strength, your sovereignty
Is lenient too
…….

See  Wisdom 12: 13, 16-19

Saturday of Week 15 in Ordinary Time. St Mary Magdela

She saw Jesus standing there though she did not recognise him.
Jesus said Mary, she knew him then and said Rabbuni.
We peer uncertainly over a spiritual rim.
We listen , we hear, but we cannot see.
If he walked down the street.
Would we know who it was.
I fear we would want to be discreet.
Would we just walk on or pause.
So Mary of Magdela went and told  the disciples.
That she had seen the Lord.
And us , would we just keep our heads buried in our bibles.
Or would we with acclamation go overboard.
Would we say repent.
Or just remain silent
……..
If we saw Jesus
First , would we recognise him
Then would we speak out
…..
See John 20 : 1-2, 11-18

Friday of Week 15 in Ordinary Time

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The Lord made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn.
And he did not let the sons of Israel leave his country.
So often our hopes are stillborn.
Blocked by some unseen spiritual sentry.

The blood shall mark the houses you live in.
I will pass over you and you will escape the destroying plague.
He passes over and spares us even if we have sin.
Even if our commitment is all too vague.

This day is to be a day of remembrance.
You must celebrate it as a feast in the Lord ‘s honour.
Nothing can approach it in resemblance.
And nothing would be the same as before.

……..

Our hearts are stubborn
Do we listen to others
We may pay a price

…….

See Exodus 11

Thursday of Week 15 in Ordinary Time

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Come to me all ye who Labour .
And are overburdened.
Words to savour.
We are never abandoned.

And  I will give you rest .
Shoulder my yoke.
And we might find more zest.
A message for all folk.

Learn from me .
For I am gentle and humble.
We can all the better see.
We need never tremble.

You will find rest for your souls
Whatever and however humble, our roles.

…. ….

Come to me all ye
Who labour, overburdened
My yoke is easy

….  …

See Matthew 11 : 28-30

Wednesday of Week 15 in Ordinary Time

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Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro.
He led his flock to the far side of the wilderness.
Well , like him there are many times we feel low.
We are abandoned , found , question our fitness.

During the long night I tried in my soul to look further.
Did I really believe in God , why was I feeling low.
Then quite simply I said the Our Father.
It was a shaft of light, I felt such great joy.

You can muse all you like, down layer by layer.
Pursue every unanswerable question in sight.
But the answer comes in the answer to prayer.
It comes with joy like a dawning light.

I went back to sleep.
Contentment deep.

…….

 

The wilderness flock

with Moses looking for it

Are we just like him

 

 

 

See Exodus 3, 1-6, 9-12

Tuesday of Week 15 in Ordinary Time

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If the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon.
They would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
We have been given so much , by now we should have won
But our faith just comes in flashes.

Like Chorazin and Bethzaida
We have been given so much .
But from acceptance we are far , so very far.
We remain out of spiritual touch.

Like Capernhaum we wanted to be exalted.
We aimed for heaven , will we be thrown done to hell.
How did we come to be so faulted.
Who can tell.

What then willl happen to us on judgement day.
Who can truly say.

……..

If the miracles
Done in many other towns
Had been here what then

…….

See Matthew 11 : 20-24

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