Saturday after Ash Wednesday

If you do away with the clenched fist, the wicked word
Your light will arise in the darkness.
Fast from hurting words and say a kind word.
This is the first exhortation of Francis in this wilderness.
But how easy it is to criticise.
Rather than than advise
Or commend as we politicise.
Or encourage to the skies.
How often do we turn away.
Or ignore.
Embarrassed to mean what we say.
And make for the door.
We don’t need to be nasty
We can just be eager to get away , hasty.
……
Saying a kind word
We may not want to do it
But it is worthwhile
… ….
See Isaiah 58 : 9-14

Friday after Ash Wednesday

Fasting like yours today.
Will never make your voice heard on high.
But we can at least pray.
And look ourselves in the eye.
I like Pope Francis’ exhortations.
They somehow seem possible to do.
And they are true foundations.
A sort of inspiring glue.
Less sadness.
Less pessimism.
Less selfishness.
Certainly that’s not sophism.
Perhaps more compassion.
And less fashion.
……
What to do in Lent
Give up something physical
Or doing some good
……
See Isaiah 58 : 1-9

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

If anyone wants to be a follower of mine.
Take up his cross .
Lord , take me over the line.
And be a little happier and less cross.
I am reminded of Pope Francis’ prayer.
Fast from hurting words and say kind words.
Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude’s prayer.
Fast from anger and be filled with patient words.
Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.
Fast from worries and have trust in God.
Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity in hope
Fast from pressures and be prayerful to God.
Fast from bitterness and fill your heart with joy.
Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others in joy.…….

Fast then from grudges
And be reconciled always
Fast from many words.

….

And pray be silent
So that you can then listen
Now and for ever

…….

See Luke 9  : 22-25

Ash Wednesday

Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn.
Turn to the Lord your God again.
We needn’t look careworn.
As we celebrate his everlasting reign.
Who knows if he will not turn again, will not relent.
Will not leave a blessing as he passes.
Leaving us to lament.
However many are our masses.
Proclaim a solemn assembly.
Call the people together.
But will we be granted entry.
And will we be altogether.
Sound the trumpet .
We will be well met .
……
Our hearts are broken
But our garments remain whole
And we will still fast
…….
See Joel 2 : 12-18

Tuesday of Week 7 in Ordinary Time

If anyone wants to be first.
He must make himself last of all and servant of all.
Is this what for we thirst.
Or do we resist the call .
Be sincere of heart and be steadfast.
And do not be alarmed when disaster comes.
What is our answer, we have been asked.
The question is not shouted out but comes in hums.
Whatever happens to you, accept it.
And in the uncertainties of your humble self be patient.
Start by following holy writ.
But of course in the end, we are impatient.
We may be tested in the furnace of humiliation.
But we are all equally just part of creation.
……..
Are we patient
And are we also humble
Of course we are not
…….
See Mark9 : 30-37 and Ecclesiasticus 2 : 1-11

Monday of Week 7 in Ordinary Time

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The sand of the sea and the raindrops.
And the days of eternity , who can assess them.
And  often there are  falling teardrops.
But here is a true everlasting  gem.

The height of the sky and the breadth of the earth.
Who can probe them.
But with all this comes new birth.
We can only sound the welcome drum.

Before all other things wisdom was created.
Shrewd understanding is everlasting.
Ultimately all things are weighted.
Before we even begin fasting.

For whom has the root of wisdom ever been uncovered.
If from God we are severed.

…….

Who can probe the sea
Or measure he breath of earth
All things are weighted

…….

See Ecclesiasticus 1 : 1-10

7 th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Lord knows wise men’s thoughts.
He knows how useless they are.
But we can untie all their knots.
Leaving we hope less of a scar.
So this week when I think of something negative.
I remember Nam myoho  renge kyo.
And somehow I feel less restive.
I can the more easily go with the flow.
We must learn to be a fool.
Before we can be considered wise.
It’s not easy to follow this difficult school.
But this is where we meet fewer lows, more highs.
Meanwhile put these revolving thoughts to rest.
And then we might be less stressed.
…….
What then of our thoughts
Are they really useless
That is up to us
……
See 1 Corinthians 3 : 16-23

Saturday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time

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Only faith can guarantee the blessings we hope for.
Or prove the realities that remain unseen.
Only we can open this unlocked door.
Only we can work out what this does mean.
It is by faith that we understand how the world was created.
So that no cause  can account for the things we see.
All this of course is hotly debated.
But it will set us free.
Everything else can be proven by reason.
Only God can be understood by faith.
For he is beyond all known season.
But reason is not the enemy of faith.
We sense God by feeling.
And thereby see him revealing.
…….
Faith brings great blessings
But it also follows doubt
So we must just hope
…….
See Hebrews 11 : 1-7

Friday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time

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Anyone who wants to save his life.

Will lose it .
We cannot avoid strife.
We are always in grit.
But anyone who loses his life for my sake.
And for the sake of the Gospel will save it.
Much is at stake .
But all is in holy writ.
What gain is it then for a man to gain the whole world.
And ruin his life.
Salvation away hurled.
And hope of afterlife.
What can a man offer in exchange for his life.
To truly understand this might take our entire life.
…….
Anyone who wants
To save his life will lose it
Think on the next life
……..
See  Mark 8 : 34-9: 1

Thursday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time

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But you he asked.
Who do you say I am.
So often this truth is masked.
We do not have the trust of a lamb.

Is he just a teacher.
A rabbi we might just meet.
A wandering preacher
An inspiring prophet.

What did Peter answer.
You are the Christ.
And what is our own answer.
To what are we really in truth enticed.

We ponder , we question , we hesitate.
And one day we might find it’s all too late.

……

What did Peter say
He answered , You are the Christ
And what do we say

…….

See Mark 8: 27-33

Wednesday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time

The dove finding nowhere to perch.
Returned to him in the ark.
Noah was a hero , we remain in our church.
Quite often in the metaphorical dark.
We are surrounded by the flood waters.
Of silent indifference.
Even from sons and daughters.
But we take heart in endurance.
Noah lifted  back the hatch of the ark.
The surface of the ground was dry.
Perhaps for us the future is not too stark.
Disbelief and disinterest have met their high.
And so unsighted we look for the shore .
Whether we will find it, we are not sure.
……
The floods around us
Of indifference rising
Will one day soon fall
……
See Genesis 8 : 6-13, 20-22

Tuesday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time

I have made you a light for the nations.
So that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth.
These are our true foundations.
For new everlasting birth.I am at the  Paul Cezanne exhibition.
Every brush stroke joy’s creation
This can also be a spiritual rendition.
And a noble oblation.

A friend chants the Buddhist Nam myoho renge kyo .
This also is a different path .
A way to know and grow
And a knowing cause and effect footpath.

And at mass today I immersed myself in the Credo.
Others may justly use nam myoho renge kyo

…..

Find solace in art
Or just in Buddhist chanting
Or in our father

……

See Acts 13 : 46- 49

Monday of Week 6 in Ordinary Time

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Why does this generation demand a sign.
I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.
We ask ourselves , how should we worship at this shrine.
As we search for the cause of creation.
I search restlessly for the truth with reason.
But today alone in church I felt this heavy presence.
As if I was not alone , leaving behind unreason.
Here was true reason and real spiritual essence.
And all I was doing was staring at a window.
There was no new vision or insight.
The feeling came , neither fast nor slow.
It was just an instinct of having new sight.
If we let the mind wander free .
From doubt we may be free.
…….
We live restlessly
Doubts come and go ceaselessly
We should just relax
…..
See Mark 8 : 11-13

6 th Sunday of Ordinary Time

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Till heaven and earth disappear not one dot.
Will disappear from the law until its purpose is achieved.
But we will be reduced to naught.
Unless perhaps we have believed.

Whether we are mere electrical currents in the brain.
Or the home of an immortal soul.
This body is just shifting sands of  grain.
What we call me is neither the part nor the whole.

But we are obsessed.
With our transient being.
Not realising how we are blessed.
Not truly hearing or seeing.

This life is drawing to an end.
And then we will or will not transcend.

…….

Who we ask are we
Immortal soul or just brain
But we do not know

……..

See Matthew  5 : 17-37

Saturday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time

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For dust you are.
And to dust you will return.
We follow our star.
And we wait our turn.
I was thinking about some disappointment.
But I may not be here for very much longer.
It might only be a temporary development.
So best be stronger.
And why worry about oneself.
You’re happier thinking of others.
Themselves and Yourself.
Freeing us from our mind’s cloying tethers.
We walk through the cemetery.
And realise all this is just temporary.
……
If we are just dust
Then that is where we come from
And we return to
……
See Genesis 3: 9-24

Friday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time

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They brought to him a deaf man.
Who had an impediment in his speech.
He is the helmsman.
To whom we beseech.

We take our senses so much for granted.
Until they are taken away .
We do not appreciate what it is to be stranded.
And to be for a lifetime at bay.

But gradually our senses fade.
There is no going back.
Our price for life dearly paid.
Pulled slowly by life’s relentless rack.

Ephphatha, he said to the ears ,be opened.
Let our faith in new life be heard , reawakened.

……

We also are deaf
To so much testimony
We need to listen

…….

See Mark 7 : 31-37

Thursday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time

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Man leaves father and mother,  joins himself to his wife.
And they become one body.
And to each other defer for life.
And become a greater somebody.
My eyes mist over
When I see this.
My life is in clover
There is nothing I miss.
My love for my wife.
Is so great.
She is my life.
Even if she’s always late.
We are one .
Nothing can be undone.
……
Husband and wife joined
Nothing can them ever part
If they are in love
……
See Genesis 2 : 18-25

Tuesday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time

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God said , let the waters term with loving creatures.
And let birds fly above the earth within heaven.
We know his words are our teachers.
By them we try to be driven.
I was trying in my dreams to think of others not myself.
How difficult it is to be objective, detached.
To rise above the self.
To understand to what we are truly attached.
I try mindfreeness without frills.
Rather than mindfulness.
Just letting the mind roam as it wills.
Making no effort to direct it and no second guess.
All night I watch the thoughts passing by.
And try to go to sleep with a sigh.
……
God saw it was good
This was his own creation
Out of his great love
……
See Genesis 1 : 20- 2 :4

Monday of Week 5 in Ordinary Time

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They laid down the sick in open spaces.
Begging him to let them touch even the hem of his cloak.
We would not be fit even to tie his shoe laces.
We poor aspiring folk.

God said , let the waters come together in a single mass.
And let dry land appear.
This then is the ultimate reality in every mass.
This our every hope and fear.

Genesis may be highly literary.
But its aim is to proclaim God as the mover.
This is something entirely hopeful and not scary.
The ultimate improver and remover.

So in this poem we read of God’s mission.
We are here for life without remission.

…….

What is genesis
Is it just legend or truth

It’s faith’s question

……

See Genesis 1 : 1-19 and Mark 6 : 53-56

5 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Cry and the Lord will answer.
And he will say I am here.
Sometimes we feel in the grip of a creeping cancer.
We are stuck, we cannot change gear.

Our mind dwells on disappointments.
What we ask , went wrong.
But it not us, just events.
It may have been a false tune , but it was our song.

So we didn’t get what we wanted.
Now we just have to move on.
Nothing daunted.
To a new hazy dawn.

And cry to the Lord if all else fail.
It always helps , without fail.

…..

We disappointed
Can just go on complaining
Or cry to the Lord

……

See Isaiah 58 : 7-10

Saturday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time

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You must come away to some lonely place.
And rest for a while.
Life is at too much of a pace.
Running every mile.

There were so many coming and going.
That the Apostles had no time even to eat.
We are constantly  thinking, sowing and reaping.
But life needs to be tied to a spiritual cleat.

So they went off in a boat.
To a lonely place.
Behind a prayerful moat.
At a slow pace.

They could be by themselves.
We occasionally need to be by ourselves.

…..

On and on we think
Never pausing or stopping
But perhaps we should

…..

See  Mark 6 : 39-34

Friday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time

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Continue to love each other like brothers.

And welcome each other like strangers.
And sisters.
Against all dangers.
Remember always to welcome strangers.
For by doing this some people have entertained angels.
We cannot know who are these his or hers.
Or coming from whatever deep wells.
If a Big Issue salesman approaches me in the street.
I wonder could this be an angel in disguise.
We never know who actually we greet.
To be judgemental would be unwise.
So when you meet have a care.
And for the unlikely be aware.
……
When we meet someone
They may well be a stranger
Or yes an angel
……
See Hebrews 13 : 1-8

The Presentation of the Lord

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Now Master you can let your servant go in peace.
Because my eyes have seen the salvation.
Before my decease.
And for our redemption.

Which you have prepared for all nations to see.
A light to enlighten the pagans.
And to which we bend our knee.
In all of our lands.

Today I have put away the crib.
For another year .
But the child remains.
To take away every tear.

Christmas finally comes to an end.
But let us still attend.

……

We can go in peace
Because we have seen the light
For all nations

….

See Luke 2 : 22-40

Wednesday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time

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A prophet is only despised in his own country.
Among his own relations and in his own house.
We seek and are denied our entry.
We feel no bigger than a mouse.

This is the carpenter surely.
The son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset.

But this is our view surely.
We can’t stop questioning every facet.
He is too familiar.
He has walked the countryside.
Perhaps we find the fact that God was here peculiar.
But can we at least not accept him as a guide.
And then in my dream I saw the door opening.
And faith started reviving.
…….
Yes he was despised
By his own country’s people
And are we the same
…….
See Mark 6  : 1-6

Tuesday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time

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Do not be afraid.
Only have faith.
That’s all that can be said.
Although our faith is like a wraith.

Why all this commotion and crying.
The child is not dead but asleep.
We’re quite good at sighing.
And being like lost sheep.

But do we reach out to touch his hem.
Or are we too unbelieving or shy.
So we don’t seize this offered gem.
And we  don’t keep him in our mind’s eye.

The child really was alive,  just sleeping.
And here if only we knew it, is an end to all weeping.
……
The child was sleeping
Yet all thought  that she was dead
That’s until he came
…..
See  Mark 5: 21-43