Tuesday of Week 34 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

Teacher , when will these things be.
And what will be the sign when these things are about to take place.
We pray every day that we might the better see.
As we run our own race.

It was at the end of evening prayer.
We were singing the Salve Regina.
I looked up to her statue in prayer.
A great wave of love shook me for our Regina.

Thus these moments come.
Great love and belief in an instant of prayer.
Why do they come.
Because they are there in prayer.

I left the Cathedral.
But for the rest of the day I pondered that moment in the Cathedral.

…….

What are then the signs
They just come in our prayer
In just an instant

……

See Luke 21: 5-11

Monday of Week 34 in Ordinary Time . The martyrs of Vietnam

In every manner of wisdom and understanding.
The King found them ten times better than all the enchanters.
Daniel and his companions fighting.
Their belief endures.

Do we have this courage.
Or do we just conform.
Do we just manage.
And not our ways reform.

Most of us just rub along.
We take the easy way.
We sing whatever is the easiest song.
And do not depart the well trodden way.

But sometimes we need to act bravely.
And maybe not entirely safely or sagely.

….

Are we like Daniel.
Do we act with our beliefs
Or we just conform

..   ..

See Daniel 1

Christ the King

 

 

 

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness.
And transferred us to the kingdom of his son.
In whom we have redemption from all darkness.
But only by the mercy of his son.

We are afflicted by anger , laziness.
Pride ,resentment and ambition .
Only Jesus saves us by his kindness.
Only he frees us from temptation.

Empires rise and fall.
But Christ the King remains.
Saving us from humankind’s fall.
He always was and is and reigns.

Everything else is transient.
He, we hope, is permanent.

…….

Christ the King is here
He always was and will be
Or that’s what we hope

…….

See Colossians 12 : 1-20

Saturday of Week 33 in Ordinary Time . St Cecilia

 

 

 

 

Those who attain resurrection
Neither marry or are given in marriage.
Are we prepared for the ultimate election.
As towards death we take our last carriage.

St Cecilia made her choice.
Are we prepared to do so also.
As she found her voice.
Even if we feel disregarded , low.

And will we meet our loved ones.
As we look around us in heaven.
Parents spouses , daughters and sons.
We will know they are there with us in heaven.

So when we get there it will be worth waiting.
And meanwhile adoring.

…..

We find resurrection
But then who shall we meet there.
That we do not know

……

See Luke 20 : 27-40

Friday of Week 33 in Ordinary Time

My house shall be a house of prayer.
But you have made it a den of robbers.
We can be led astray layer by layer.
Made cynical by the passing years.

I dreamt that the devil might be here.
I could imagine in his hideousness.
But does he exist , is he really here.
Is this fantasy or reasonableness.

I woke and he, it,  an illusion was gone.

Perhaps just a disturbing dream.
Banished by the light of the morn.
Now again I felt part of a spiritual team.

Is the devil here.
No, there is nothing to fear.

…..,

My house of prayer
Shall not be a den of thieves.
Nor shall ours be one

….

See Luke 19: 45-48

Thursday of Week 33 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

They will not leave one stone on another.
Because they did not know the time of
the visitation.
Do we have faith in the father.
A sure foundation.

The days will come upon you.
When your enemies will set up a barricade around you.
And surround you.
And on every side hem you.

Our own body’s temple will be destroyed.
And we do not know when.
Our fears cannot be allayed.
We just have to accept and say amen.

But it will be rebuilt.
We need fear no guilt.

……

Our body will die
Just like the destroyed temple
It will be rebuilt

…..

See Luke 19 : 41-44

Wednesday of Week 33 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

When I awake.
I shall, O lord, be filled with the vision of your presence.
At death’s door we stare into a dark fathomless lake.
We search in vain for future life’s essence.

But we awake, I believe, after death.
We know and are part of God in an eternal instant.
There is life , rich and strong but no breath.
There is no past or future only the present.

We are gripped by an eternal gasp of wonder.
A kind of deep amazed ah.
Our love for God is profound , tender.
We can see all near and far.

Our loved ones we know are with God.
As we now and for always are with God.

….

We wake after death
We stop in time with wonder
We are now with God

……

See Psalm 17

Dedication of the Basilicas of SS Peter and Paul

Zacchaeus ran on ahead.
And climbed up a sycamore tree.
His past may have been like lead.
But he wanted to hear and to see.

Jesus was about to pass that way.
He looked up and said hurry and come down.
One day he will pass too our way.
And he will say to us come down.

He came down.
And received him joyfully.
Will we answer and come down
Will we receive him joyfully.

We must be ready .
Our faith steady.

….

He ran on ahead
And climbed a sycamore tree
Will we do the same

….

See Luke 19: 1-10

Monday of Week 33 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

Recover your sight.
Your faith has made you well.
We only intermittently see the light.
We draw though from salvation’s deep well .

We are like the man who was blind.
Calling on God for spiritual sight .
We pray that God is forgiving and kind.
Again and again behind our mind’s clouds we do not see light.

But the sun is always there.
Only hidden.
If only our spiritual eye was clear.
We would know we are bidden.

He is passing.
Are we looking.

……

Recover your sight
For your faith has made you well
Can we say the same

……

See Luke 18: 35-43

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

The days will come when there will not be left.
One stone upon another that will not be thrown down.
One day for sure we will be bereft.
No longer any ups but perhaps a long down.

So do not wait.
For a bad day to pray .
You might be too late.
To ever see again the sun’s ray.

But yes he will answer.
The merciful.
And free us from life’s tether.
When maybe we were not even prayerful.

So we keep praying.
And hoping and wondering.

……

Not one stone was left
Of this glorious temple
Will it rise again

….

See Luke 21 : 5-19

Saturday of Week 32 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

O sing to him , sing his praise.
Tell all his wonderful works.
Yes he is worthy of praise.
And we still hope for more of his works.

He remembered his holy word.
Spoken to Abraham his servant.
And we too hear his word.
We too are his servant.

He brought out his people with joy.
His chosen ones with shouts of rejoicing.
We too can feel this joy.
We too can join on the rejoicing.

Glory in his holy name .
Let us too rejoice in his name.

…..

Let us sing  to him
Tell of his wonderful works
That’s all we can do

……

See Psalm 105

Friday of Week 32 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

As they live amongst his works.
They keep searching.
For all our idiosyncratic quirks.
We keep hoping.

His works are there to see.
But we continue to doubt.
We hear , we listen , we ponder but we fail to see.
We cannot put these doubts to rout.

Why can we just not accept.
Be happy to believe.
And not to reject.
And gratefully receive.

He is here .
Have no more fear.

…..

We live with his works
But still we just keep searching
And just must believe

….

See Wisdom 13 : 1-9

Thursday of Week 32 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

 

The kingdom of God is not coming.
In ways that can be observed.
Our knowledge is fleeting.
And faith is reserved.

Nor will they say , look.
Here it is.
Is it in the holy book.
Is it here , is it this.

For behold the kingdom of God.
Is in the midst of you,
Perhaps here, there, every where is God.
Present if we really look for me and for  you.

Is heaven something distant.
No, here in this Eucharist , it is extant.

…….

Where is God’s kingdom.
Is it in heaven
No, perhaps it’s here

……

See Luke 17 : 20-25

Wednesday of Week 32 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

Severe judgment falls.
On those in high places.
Do not fail to hear the calls.
Hold dear all faces.

For the lowliest may be pardoned in mercy.
But they that are mighty will be mightily tested.
Tied up in controversy.
Always worrying , never rested.

The Lord of all will not stand in awe to anyone.
Or show deference to greatness.
He the Lord is the only one.
And the fount of righteousness,

He himself made both small and great.
And he takes thought for all alike , small and great.

….

He made small and great
He takes thought for all alike
And also for us

. ….

See Wisdom 6 : 1-11

Tuesday of Week 32 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

 

In the eyes of the foolish they seem to have died.
And their departure was thought to be an evil thing.
And their going from us to be their destruction as they died.
But they are at peace with everything.

For though in the sight of men they were punished.
Their hope is full of immortality.
Having been disciplined a little as they passed.
They will receive great good in eternity.

Because God tested them.
And found them worthy of himself.
Like gold in the furnace he tried them.
And like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them to himself.

They will shine forth.
They will come forth.

…..

They seemed to have died
Their departure was thought thought evil
But they are at peace

……

See Wisdom 2

Monday of Week 32 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

 

Love righteousness.
You rulers of the earth.
Think of the Lord with uprightness.
People of the earth.

Ever wanting, obsessed with our ego.
But what are we , mere fleeting brain currents.
Here this minute, part of nature’s incessant flow.
Fate laughing at our puny attempts.

Are we really an individual.
Or a mere drop on a flowing tide.
Do we leave any thing residual.
Or merely caught in mortality’s ride.

No, we continue to spiritually hope.
And that’s why we do more than just cope.

…..

What is the ego
It’s really not important
It’s our soul that counts

….

See Wisdom 1: 1-7

The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica

 

 

 

The waters of a river.
Give joy to God’s city.
We take heart downriver
In our own city.

The holy place.
The abode of the most high.
Held in God’s embrace.
In an eternal sweet tie.

God is a refuge and strength.
An ever present help in distress.
Ready for us to go any length.
Always for more and not for less.

So we shall not fear.
Or shed a tear.

…….

The river’s waters
Will give joy to God’s city
And also to us

……

See Psalm 46

.

Saturday of Week 31 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

One who is faithful in a very little .
Is also faithful in much.
And one who is dishonest in a very little.
Is also dishonest in much.

But we ask ourselves are we faithful.
Do we doubt our way .
Are we full of cares , too careful.
Determined to have our say.

We are given all this spiritual wealth.
True riches beyond compare.
But what is more important our physical or spiritual health.
In the spiritual world how do we fare.

What master to we serve.
And how do we attempt to serve.

…….

Faithful in little
Is to be faithful in much
That’s all we can do

….

See Luke 16 : 9-15

Friday of Week 31 in Ordinary Time

The master.
Commended the dishonest steward for his shrewdness.
I think we can have faith in our father.
Nothing we do is really fruitless.
The sons of the world are more shrewd in dealing.
With their own generation than the sons of light.
Yet here is a lord of understanding.
About own dimmed spiritual insight.

The steward is dishonest.
But is he such a bad man.
Really are we always entirely honest.
Are we such a good woman or man.

We sing our own tuneless song.

We falter yet we rub along.

…….

He was dishonest
But the steward was still spared
Surely we will be

…..

See Luke 16: 1-8

Thursday of Week 31 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

None of us lives to himself.
If we live we live for the Lord.
And none of us dies to himself.
If we die for the Lord.

Whether we live.
Or whether we die.
We are the Lord’s as we die.
But are truly that while we live.

People stress about Christ’s divinity.
But we know he is certainly a true signpost.
Thus we can pass the long night in serenity.
We have an anchor, we are not lost.

Doubts rise they fall.
But we continue to pray and to call.

……

We live for the Lord
Because we die in the Lord
That’s all we can do

…….

Do we then exist
Not a separate entity
But humanity’s

……

See Romans 14: 7-12

Wednesday of Week 31 in Ordinary Time

 

 

 

If anyone does not hate his own father.
And wife and children.
And his mother.
And brothers and sisters and children.

And even his own life.
He cannot be my disciple.
Who ever does not bear his own cross in this life.
Cannot be my disciple.

We just have to put Christ first.
Not wealth or reputation.
It’s for him that we must thirst.
And resist life’s endless temptation.

He must come first.
Because he will be there at the last.

……

We must put Christ first
He must come before this life
He’s our future life

……

See Luke 14 : 25 -33

Tuesday of Week 31 in Ordinary Time

 

 

We though many, are one body in Christ.
And individually members one of another.
We can find true freedom in Christ.
And we can seek to work with each other.

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given us.
Let us use them .
There is no me , only us.
We are not just an ego , we are them.

If in prophecy, according to our faith.
If service in our serving.
One who contributes in his generosity in faith.
If one who exhorts in his teaching.

There is so much in Paul’s Romans to understand.
And frankly to recommend.

……

Our different gifts.
All must be used to the full
That’s all we can do

….

See Romans 12: 5-16

All Souls

 

 

 

Our ownership is in heaven.
And from it we await a saviour.
O , how we long for our true home in heaven.
Where finally in God we will find our own saviour.

Our saviour will transfer our lowly body.
By the power that enables him.
To be like his glorious body.
Subjecting all things to him.

This body is nothing.
A mere shell of our glorious soul.
The soul is everything.
The body though will soon free the soul.

This is our delight.
This our freedom’s fight.

……

Heaven our owner
We cannot be body’s slave
We must seek freedom

……

See Philippians 3 : 20-21

All Saints

 

 

 

And I heard the number of the sealed.
One hundred and forty four thousand.
Our fate will be revealed.
We are saved in our countless thousand.

We are all a saint.
We will not be acknowledged.
Even if sometimes  faith is faint.
We are noted and counted.

Why because we have tried.
Struggled , prayed.
Sometimes failed.
Doubts raised and then laid.

The well known saints are in heaven.
But we too will end up, we pray, in some sort of heaven.

……

We will all be saints
Because we have tried and failed
Just never lose heart

…….

See Revelation 7

Saturday of Week 30 in Ordinary Time

Has God rejected his people.
By no means.
God has not rejected his people.
Whom he foreknew, not by any means.

Did they stumble.
In order that they might fall.
By no means , through their trespass and grumble.
Salvation has come to the gentiles after their fall.

Their trespass means riches for the world.
Their failure means riches for the gentiles.
How much more will their full inclusion mean for the world.
And for the gentiles.

The deliverer will come from Sion
This is the triumph of Sion.

……

Trespass means riches.
Failure means hope for gentiles

Sion delivers

….

See Romans 11