If you trust in the Lord and do good.
Then you will live in the land and be secure.
We just need to take our spiritual food.
And resist the world’s lure.

If you find delight in the Lord.
He will grant your heart’s desire.
We will always remain on board.
Our faith on fire.

He protects the lives of the upright.
Their heritage will last for ever.
As long as they keep truth in sight.
Can we keep faith for ever.

You shall have a home for ever.
You will live for ever

……

Just trust in the Lord
You will live secure always
Try to keep the faith

…..

See Psalm 37

God has chosen them to give the eternal life.
That was promised .
Surely their sacrifice will suffice.
Given that their old age was missed.

I was looking at a village war memorial.
Seven names in this tiny settlement.
Who knows them now  or will tell their tale.
But are they not worthy of testament.

They would all any way be dead now.
But Reuben, Isaac, Fred and friends died so young.
I suppose with no children or grandchildren to follow.
They never made an ascent past a youthful rung.

But their name is inscribed.
And remembered.

……

God has chosen them
To give them eternal life
As also to us

…..

See Titus 1 : 1-9

Jar of meal shall not be spent.
Jug of oil shall not be emptied.
Just as Elijah had foretold the jar of meal was not spent.
The jug of oil was not emptied.

I was listening to Faure’s Sanctus in his Requiem.
In the other room Celebrity Come Dancing was on.
I know I greatly prefer the first item.
But all too soon this music was drifting away, gone.

I felt even more greatly drawn to all things spiritual.
Calming , not demanding.
Other worldly not material.
Joyous, soothing, inspiring

When all that is spiritual  is attempted.
The jug of hope is never emptied.

….   ..

When is our meal spent
Is our jug of oil emptied
Yes, if we lose hope

…….

See 1 Kings 17 : 10-16

Making a whip out of some cord.
He drove them all out of the Temple.
And how often in the market do we forget the Lord.
Do we always make him welcome.

He said, take all this out of here.
And stop turning my father’s house into a market .
In our own church is concentration all too rare.
Thinking about what to buy next  in the supermarket.

We were at mass in the Holy Souls chapel.
Here everyone will surely eventually end up in heaven.
It’s just a question of seeing it as a temple.
Good , lazy  , indifferent, an ante room to heaven.

There are countless holy souls.
And as many worthwhile roles.

…….

Worship in temple
Is sometimes very easy
More often it’s hard

…..

See John 2 : 13-22

There was a rich man and he had a steward denounced.
For being wasteful with his property.
Our fate is long ago announced.
But we are not necessarily called to spiritual poverty.

Draw up for me an account of your stewardship.
Because you are not to be my steward any longer.
We cannot rely on any friendship.
We may get weaker or stronger.

I know what I shall do when I am dismissed.
There will be someone to welcome me.
No opportunity missed.
Maybe not now but redemption, we shall see.

The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness.
He will us too, but we must acknowledge our unfitness.

……..

Are we too denounced
For being wasteful in our gifts
But we’re forgiven

……..

See Luke 16  1-8

I have come to consider all these advantages.
And successes.
As disadvantages.
And reverses.

I was at a requiem mass
We remembered old school friends.
They pass like late summer’s grass.
And now it’s too late to make any amends.

We thought of the autumn leaves.
Once green young and growing.
Death is inevitable , it never deceives.
Now yellow, beautiful and dying.

They have fallen gently.
And we remember reverently.

……..

They have now passed on
New dawn, they will never age
Now no more regrets

………

See Philippians 3 : 3-8

There is one thing I ask.
To live in the house of the Lord.
So what is our task.
And what will I be asked by the Lord.

At death we will be judged by our love.
Not by who we were or what we achieved.
That’s all that really matters above.
So why waste time on being aggrieved.

We will have run our race.
We pray we will not have exhausted ourselves for nothing.
Our eyes closing here we shall look the Lord in the face.
And his glance will be all discerning and loving.

By our love for him we will be judged.
But also for our love for all will we be judged.

……

At our own passing
We will be judged by our love
For him and for all

…..

See Psalm 26 and Philippians 2 : 12-18

Come along to the banquet, everything is ready.
But all alike started to make excuses.
And own will is unsteady.
We get up to all sorts of ruses.

One said, I have bought a piece of land.
And must go and see it.
Our material wants are well planned.
Our egoism well honed and  lit.

Another said, I have bought five pair of oxen.
And I’m on my way to try them out.
God can wait, we want some fun.
And then surprised, we arrive at burnout.

They all said, please accept my apologies.
And we of course give our own apologies.

…….

He gave a banquet
They all gave apologies
And we do the same

…….

See Luke 14 : 15-24

I love you Lord.
My strength.
We can do nothing if we lose touch with this spiritual cord.
To search for his love we must go to any length.

I was in a Quaker friends meeting.
Immersed in the silence.
We use too many words in our churching.
We should let the silent Holy Spirit be the essence.

On our own we can do nothing.
Self help is not an option.
Otherwise we find everything too demanding.
We act then just in permanent reaction.

We just need to repeat.
The Lord my strength  and we shall sit at his seat.

….

I love you my Lord
Because you are my only strength
But do we believe

……

See Psalm 17

O let your ears be attentive.
To the voice of my pleading.
May my soul be retentive.
To your summoning.

I was in the silent church listening.
I felt the atmosphere grow heavy.
Was this my imagination surging.
Or perhaps a soul’s fitful eddy.

But in that place there was something joyous.
Sublime and welcoming.
I was curious.
And left wondering.

Out of the depths do souls  call .
Seeking us even in our busy maul.

……..

Ears are attentive
But they’re mainly to this world
Is there another

…..

See Psalm 129 . Out of the depths I cry to you O Lord

Son of David , Jesus have pity on me.
And many of them scolded him and told him to keep quiet.
But he only shouted all the louder , have pity on me.
And in generations past some refused to keep quiet.

The church of St Ignatius at Chideock is lonely .
It celebrates seven brave martyrs.
Put to death with barbarity , slowly.
Some laymen , some in holy orders.

In this quiet atmosphere.
Not a mile from the busy seaside you  will probably be alone.
But there is nothing to fear .
Or now after all these years to atone.

We celebrate now that we get along.
All entitled to our own praise song.

……..

Have pity on me
He shouted all the louder
And we do the same

……..

See Mark 10 : 46-52

To some his gift to them was that they should become apostles.
To some prophets.
To some evangelists writing  gospels.
To some  teachers laying spiritual  deposits.

All I can do is to attempt to  write.
Maybe inadequately.
And maybe to recite.
Somewhat nervously.

But we cannot be apostles.
Or prophets.
Or write gospels.
We can only lay puny deposits.

But we all have a role.
Just as we all have a soul

……

We’re not apostles
And we’re not evangelists
But we have a role

……

See Ephesians 4 : 7-13

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

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

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

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

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