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There is but one voice which we should recognise, listen and be faithful to; for His Word alone sets us free. His way and His Truth gives life to the full. We profess that we believe in the One Triune God but whose voice is it to do we hear and follow? When we will not spend time with Him in prayer? When we will not dwell on His Word and Will for us?

The one we love, honour and obey, who is this God? When we engage in gossip, or when we engage in acts of violence all because we lose our temper? When we are vicious with our words and opinions of others? When we readily support abortion and same sex marriages? When we ignore the pleas of the poor, the downtrodden, the sick? When we choose war over peace? Hatred over love?

If we have not made His Word our home how can we claim to be disciples of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. Ps 119:103-106 Amen

First reading

Daniel 3:14-20,24-25,28

God has sent his angel to rescue his servants

King Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, is it true that you do not serve my gods, and that you refuse to worship the golden statue I have erected? When you hear the sound of horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, or any other instrument, are you prepared to prostrate yourselves and worship the statue I have made? If you refuse to worship it, you must be thrown straight away into the burning fiery furnace; and where is the god who could save you from my power?’ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ‘Your question hardly requires an answer: if our God, the one we serve, is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace and from your power, O king, he will save us; and even if he does not, then you must know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the statue you have erected.’ These words infuriated King Nebuchadnezzar; his expression was very different now as he looked at Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He gave orders for the furnace to be made seven times hotter than usual, and commanded certain stalwarts from his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the burning fiery furnace.

    Then King Nebuchadnezzar sprang to his feet in amazement. He said to his advisers, ‘Did we not have these three men thrown bound into the fire?’ They replied, ‘Certainly, O king.’ ‘But,’ he went on ‘I can see four men walking about freely in the heart of the fire without coming to any harm. And the fourth looks like a son of the gods.’

    Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, ‘Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: he has sent his angel to rescue the servants who, putting their trust in him, defied the order of the king, and preferred to forfeit their bodies rather than serve or worship any god but their own.’

Gospel

John 8:31-42

If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed

To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said:

‘If you make my word your home

you will indeed be my disciples,

you will learn the truth

and the truth will make you free.’

They answered, ‘We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slaves of anyone; what do you mean, “You will be made free”?’ Jesus replied:

‘I tell you most solemnly,

everyone who commits sin is a slave.

Now the slave’s place in the house is not assured,

but the son’s place is assured.

So if the Son makes you free,

you will be free indeed.

I know that you are descended from Abraham;

but in spite of that you want to kill me

because nothing I say has penetrated into you.

What I, for my part, speak of

is what I have seen with my Father;

but you, you put into action

the lessons learnt from your father.’

They repeated, ‘Our father is Abraham.’ Jesus said to them:

‘If you were Abraham’s children,

you would do as Abraham did.

As it is, you want to kill me

when I tell you the truth

as I have learnt it from God;

that is not what Abraham did.

What you are doing is what your father does.’

‘We were not born of prostitution,’ they went on ‘we have one father: God.’ Jesus answered:

‘If God were your father, you would love me,

since I have come here from God;

yes, I have come from him;

not that I came because I chose,

no, I was sent, and by him.’

Palm Sunday is drawing near, then Good Friday and very soon it will be Easter! We need to ask ourselves how has Lenten journey been? Have we drawn ever closer to the Lord our God or has there been no change? Have we been steadfast in our Lenten observances or shrugged and have given up? Are we more patient, loving and charitable? Or are we still grumbling, complaining, angry and thinking to ourselves times are bad, charity begins at home!

It is not too late to have a change of heart, gaze upon a crucifix and see how the Lord our God has loved you since your birth. By dying on the cross for You, He has given You liberty from sins and life eternal with Him! Make the choice to turn your heart back to Him, and He will heal you from within give you His peace and love.

And together we can look forward to a wonderful Easter Celebration, fully renewed in His the light of His resurrection. Amen

First reading

Numbers 21:4-9 ·

If anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked up at the bronze serpent and lived

The Israelites left Mount Hor by the road to the Sea of Suph, to skirt the land of Edom. On the way the people lost patience. They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here; we are sick of this unsatisfying food.’

    At this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede for us with the Lord to save us from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord answered him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived.

Gospel

John 8:21-30

When you have lifted up the Son of Man then you will know that I am He

Jesus said to the Pharisees:

‘I am going away;

you will look for me

and you will die in your sin.

Where I am going, you cannot come.’

The Jews said to one another, ‘Will he kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, “Where I am going, you cannot come”?’ Jesus went on:

‘You are from below; I am from above.

You are of this world; I am not of this world.

I have told you already:

You will die in your sins.

Yes, if you do not believe that I am He,

you will die in your sins.’

So they said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus answered:

‘What I have told you from the outset.

About you I have much to say

and much to condemn;

but the one who sent me is truthful,

and what I have learnt from him

I declare to the world.’

They failed to understand that he was talking to them about the Father. So Jesus said:

‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man,

then you will know that I am He

and that I do nothing of myself:

what the Father has taught me is what I preach;

he who sent me is with me,

and has not left me to myself,

for I always do what pleases him.’

As he was saying this, many came to believe in him.

Everyday we face many distractions and challenges aimed at taking our focus off our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To thwart our pathway to our Heavenly inheritance!

What then must we do? Turn our eyes to Heaven! Just as Susanna did tearfully when she faced the prospect of an unjust death placing all her trust and confidence in the Lord our God. The two elders should have made every effort to turn their eyes heavenward instead of giving in to temptation. Likewise when we stumble upon pornographic images or things we know we should not see or hear whether on the internet, television or movies; we must turn our eyes to heaven!

For Jesus is the light of the World! When we turn our eyes to heaven we will see Him in His glory. We are reminded in today’s Gospel that anyone who follows our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will not be walking in the dark, but will have the light of life. Amen

First reading

Daniel 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62

Susannah and the elders

In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim. He had married Susanna daughter of Hilkiah, a woman of great beauty; and she was God-fearing, because her parents were worthy people and had instructed their daughter in the Law of Moses. Joakim was a very rich man, and had a garden attached to his house; the Jews would often visit him since he was held in greater respect than any other man. Two elderly men had been selected from the people that year to act as judges. Of such the Lord said, ‘Wickedness has come to Babylon through the elders and judges posing as guides to the people.’ These men were often at Joakim’s house, and all who were engaged in litigation used to come to them. At midday, when everyone had gone, Susanna used to take a walk in her husband’s garden. The two elders, who used to watch her every day as she came in to take her walk, gradually began to desire her. They threw reason aside, making no effort to turn their eyes to heaven, and forgetting its demands of virtue. So they waited for a favourable moment; and one day Susanna came as usual, accompanied only by two young maidservants. The day was hot and she wanted to bathe in the garden. There was no one about except the two elders, spying on her from their hiding place. She said to the servants, ‘Bring me some oil and balsam and shut the garden door while I bathe.’

    Hardly were the servants gone than the two elders were there after her. ‘Look,’ they said ‘the garden door is shut, no one can see us. We want to have you, so give in and let us! Refuse, and we will both give evidence that a young man was with you and that was why you sent your maids away.’ Susanna sighed. ‘I am trapped,’ she said ‘whatever I do. If I agree, that means my death; if I resist, I cannot get away from you. But I prefer to fall innocent into your power than to sin in the eyes of the Lord.’ Then she cried out as loud as she could. The two elders began shouting too, putting the blame on her, and one of them ran to open the garden door. The household, hearing the shouting in the garden, rushed out by the side entrance to see what was happening; once the elders had told their story the servants were thoroughly taken aback, since nothing of this sort had ever been said of Susanna.

    Next day a meeting was held at the house of her husband Joakim. The two elders arrived, in their vindictiveness determined to have her put to death. They addressed the company: ‘Summon Susanna daughter of Hilkiah and wife of Joakim.’ She was sent for, and came accompanied by her parents, her children and all her relations. All her own people were weeping, and so were all the others who saw her. The two elders stood up, with all the people round them, and laid their hands on the woman’s head. Tearfully she turned her eyes to heaven, her heart confident in God. The elders then spoke. ‘While we were walking by ourselves in the garden, this woman arrived with two servants. She shut the garden door and then dismissed the servants. A young man who had been hiding went over to her and they lay down together. From the end of the garden where we were, we saw this crime taking place and hurried towards them. Though we saw them together we were unable to catch the man: he was too strong for us; he opened the door and took to his heels. We did, however, catch this woman and ask her who the young man was. She refused to tell us. That is our evidence.’

    Since they were elders of the people, and judges, the assembly took their word: Susanna was condemned to death. She cried out as loud as she could, ‘Eternal God, you know all secrets and everything before it happens; you know that they have given false evidence against me. And now have I to die, innocent as I am of everything their malice has invented against me?’

    The Lord heard her cry and, as she was being led away to die, he roused the holy spirit residing in a young boy named Daniel who began to shout, ‘I am innocent of this woman’s death!’ At which all the people turned to him and asked, ‘What do you mean by these words?’ Standing in the middle of the crowd he replied, ‘Are you so stupid, sons of Israel, as to condemn a daughter of Israel unheard, and without troubling to find out the truth? Go back to the scene of the trial: these men have given false evidence against her.’

    All the people hurried back, and the elders said to Daniel, ‘Come and sit with us and tell us what you mean, since God has given you the gifts that elders have.’ Daniel said, ‘Keep the men well apart from each other for I want to question them.’ When the men had been separated, Daniel had one of them brought to him. ‘You have grown old in wickedness,’ he said ‘and now the sins of your earlier days have overtaken you, you with your unjust judgements, your condemnation of the innocent, your acquittal of guilty men, when the Lord has said, “You must not put the innocent and the just to death.” Now then, since you saw her so clearly, tell me what tree you saw them lying under?’ He replied, ‘Under a mastic tree.’ Daniel said, ‘True enough! Your lie recoils on your own head: the angel of God has already received your sentence from him and will slash you in half.’ He dismissed the man, ordered the other to be brought and said to him, ‘Spawn of Canaan, not of Judah, beauty has seduced you, lust has led your heart astray! This is how you have been behaving with the daughters of Israel and they were too frightened to resist; but here is a daughter of Judah who could not stomach your wickedness! Now then, tell me what tree you surprised them under?’ He replied, ‘Under a holm oak.’ Daniel said, ‘True enough! Your lie recoils on your own head: the angel of God is waiting, with a sword to drive home and split you, and destroy the pair of you.’

    Then the whole assembly shouted, blessing God, the saviour of those who trust in him. And they turned on the two elders whom Daniel had convicted of false evidence out of their own mouths. As prescribed in the Law of Moses, they sentenced them to the same punishment as they had intended to inflict on their neighbour. They put them to death; the life of an innocent woman was spared that day.

Gospel

John 8:12-20

‘I am the light of the world’

Jesus said to the Pharisees:

‘I am the light of the world;

anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark;

he will have the light of life.’

At this the Pharisees said to him, ‘You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.’

    Jesus replied:

‘It is true that I am testifying on my own behalf,

but my testimony is still valid,

because I know

where I came from and where I am going;

but you do not know

where I come from or where I am going.

You judge by human standards;

I judge no one,

but if I judge, my judgement will be sound,

because I am not alone:

the one who sent me is with me;

and in your Law it is written

that the testimony of two witnesses is valid.

I may be testifying on my own behalf,

but the Father who sent me is my witness too.’

They asked him, ‘Where is your Father?’ Jesus answered:

‘You do not know me,

nor do you know my Father;

if you did know me,

you would know my Father as well.’

He spoke these words in the Treasury, while teaching in the Temple. No one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.

‘Let us destroy the tree in its strength, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be quickly forgotten!’ ‘Would the Christ be from Galilee? ‘You have been led astray as well? Have any of the authorities believed in him? Any of the Pharisees? This rabble knows nothing about the Law – they are damned.’ Vicious? Vindictive? Spiteful? Mob mentality?

How about this then? “She thinks so highly of herself? let us take her down a peg or two!” “He thinks himself so holy moly, we don’t need him in our group let him be with his own kind!” “He is a layperson from which church again? How good can his talk be?” “Let us just ignore all she has to say, after all she wanted to be the leader right? Let’s see how she leads with everyone boycotting her!”

Is Jesus in our heart when we do and say things like that?

O Lord of Hosts, who pronounce a just sentence, who probe the loins and heart, have mercy on me a sinner. Help me renounce and overcome every form of hatred of heart so that I may love alone. Heal me and make me whole. Be my safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the evil one. Let me glorify and honour You all the days of my life in all that I say and do. Amen

First reading

Jeremiah 11:18-20 ·

‘Let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be quickly forgotten’

The Lord revealed it to me; I was warned. O Lord, that was when you opened my eyes to their scheming. I for my part was like a trustful lamb being led to the slaughter-house, not knowing the schemes they were plotting against me, ‘Let us destroy the tree in its strength, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be quickly forgotten!’

But you, the Lord of Hosts, who pronounce a just sentence,

who probe the loins and heart,

let me see the vengeance you will take on them,

for I have committed my cause to you.

Gospel

John 7:40-52

The Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without hearing him

Several people who had been listening to Jesus said, ‘Surely he must be the prophet’, and some said, ‘He is the Christ’, but others said, ‘Would the Christ be from Galilee? Does not scripture say that the Christ must be descended from David and come from the town of Bethlehem?’ So the people could not agree about him. Some would have liked to arrest him, but no one actually laid hands on him.

    The police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, ‘Why haven’t you brought him?’ The police replied, ‘There has never been anybody who has spoken like him.’ ‘So’ the Pharisees answered ‘you have been led astray as well? Have any of the authorities believed in him? Any of the Pharisees? This rabble knows nothing about the Law – they are damned.’ One of them, Nicodemus – the same man who had come to Jesus earlier – said to them, ‘But surely the Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without giving him a hearing and discovering what he is about?’ To this they answered, ‘Are you a Galilean too? Go into the matter, and see for yourself: prophets do not come out of Galilee.’

In the end we will all die, this is an undeniable fact. And so many do not even want to think let alone speak about death. Those who are young or younger always have the impression that it is a long way more to go for them. And so with this in mind we seek to live life to the fullest! Drinking, merry making, uninhibited sex whatever satisfies their desires. But is this really living? Does this lifestyle give you peace of mind? Do you not see that such desires are insatiable?

Yet there is only one way, truth and life to be found in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! He came so that we may life to the full! Free from all sin and debauchery!  For God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall nor perish but have eternal life.

Our pilgrim journey back to Him is a gruelling marathon where we will have to fact many challenges, twists and turns. In our steadfastness, Jesus is with us every step of the way. And so together with St Paul we will be able to declare “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” Amen 2 Tim 4:7-8

First reading

Wisdom 2:1,12-22

Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man and condemn him to a shameful death

The godless say to themselves, with their misguided reasoning:

‘Our life is short and dreary,

nor is there any relief when man’s end comes,

nor is anyone known who can give release from Hades.

Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us

and opposes our way of life,

reproaches us for our breaches of the law

and accuses us of playing false to our upbringing.

He claims to have knowledge of God,

and calls himself a son of the Lord.

Before us he stands, a reproof to our way of thinking,

the very sight of him weighs our spirits down;

his way of life is not like other men’s,

the paths he treads are unfamiliar.

In his opinion we are counterfeit;

he holds aloof from our doings as though from filth;

he proclaims the final end of the virtuous as happy

and boasts of having God for his father.

Let us see if what he says is true,

let us observe what kind of end he himself will have.

If the virtuous man is God’s son, God will take his part

and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.

Let us test him with cruelty and with torture,

and thus explore this gentleness of his

and put his endurance to the proof.

Let us condemn him to a shameful death

since he will be looked after – we have his word for it.’

This is the way they reason, but they are misled,

their malice makes them blind.

They do not know the hidden things of God,

they have no hope that holiness will be rewarded,

they can see no reward for blameless souls.

Gospel

John 7:1-2,10,25-30

They would have arrested him, but his time had not yet come

Jesus stayed in Galilee; he could not stay in Judaea, because the Jews were out to kill him.

    As the Jewish feast of Tabernacles drew near, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up as well, but quite privately, without drawing attention to himself. Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Isn’t this the man they want to kill? And here he is, speaking freely, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have made up their minds that he is the Christ? Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.’

    Then, as Jesus taught in the Temple, he cried out:

‘Yes, you know me

and you know where I came from.

Yet I have not come of myself:

no, there is one who sent me

and I really come from him,

and you do not know him,

but I know him because I have come from him

and it was he who sent me.’

They would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.

In most of our reflections on this passages we will look back to see what are the ‘golden calves’ in our lives. That in which we put priority above the Lord our God, that we ‘honour and worship’ with all our energy and time. And it can be literally anything which leads us away from prayer, His Word but most of all our familial relationship with Him.

Perhaps today we should look inwards to see how we are the ‘golden calves’ ourselves! When we put our thoughts above His thoughts, our ways above His ways. When we take shortcuts and refuse to carry our cross to follow after Him. When we take for granted what is sacred and trample over hallowed ground. Posting pictures of sacred places of worship for what? Likes on Social Media? By walking around the altar area with no reverence or thought for where we are? When we choose to wear what we like without a care, for instance what we would use to the beach or for a gym workout, we wear to Church for the Eucharistic Celebration. When we make decisions without proper prayer or discernment on matters concerning His Church and His flock. When we refuse to concern ourselves with the poor and those in need. When it is all about me, my preferences and my likes…. I am the golden calf!

Jesus Son of the living God most High, have mercy on me a sinner. Let me never lose my relationship with You. I surrender my all to You, Your Holy Will which is love and mercy itself. Amen

First reading

Exodus 32:7-14 ·

Moses pleads with the Lord his God to spare Israel

The Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Go down now, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have apostatised. They have been quick to leave the way I marked out for them; they have made themselves a calf of molten metal and have worshipped it and offered it sacrifice. “Here is your God, Israel,” they have cried “who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”’ the Lord said to Moses, ‘I can see how headstrong these people are! Leave me, now, my wrath shall blaze out against them and devour them; of you, however, I will make a great nation.’

    But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God. ‘Lord,’ he said ‘why should your wrath blaze out against this people of yours whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with arm outstretched and mighty hand? Why let the Egyptians say, “Ah, it was in treachery that he brought them out, to do them to death in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth”? Leave your burning wrath; relent and do not bring this disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, your servants to whom by your own self you swore and made this promise: I will make your offspring as many as the stars of heaven, and all this land which I promised I will give to your descendants, and it shall be their heritage for ever.’

    So the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

Gospel

John 5:31-47

You place your hopes on Moses but Moses will be your accuser

Jesus said to the Jews:

‘Were I to testify on my own behalf,

my testimony would not be valid;

but there is another witness who can speak on my behalf,

and I know that his testimony is valid.

You sent messengers to John,

and he gave his testimony to the truth:

not that I depend on human testimony;

no, it is for your salvation that I speak of this.

John was a lamp alight and shining

and for a time you were content to enjoy the light that he gave.

But my testimony is greater than John’s:

the works my Father has given me to carry out,

these same works of mine testify

that the Father has sent me.

Besides, the Father who sent me

bears witness to me himself.

You have never heard his voice,

you have never seen his shape,

and his word finds no home in you

because you do not believe in the one he has sent.

‘You study the scriptures,

believing that in them you have eternal life;

now these same scriptures testify to me,

and yet you refuse to come to me for life!

As for human approval, this means nothing to me.

Besides, I know you too well: you have no love of God in you.

I have come in the name of my Father

and you refuse to accept me;

if someone else comes in his own name

you will accept him.

How can you believe,

since you look to one another for approval

and are not concerned

with the approval that comes from the one God?

Do not imagine that I am going to accuse you before the Father:

you place your hopes on Moses,

and Moses will be your accuser.

If you really believed him

you would believe me too,

since it was I that he was writing about;

but if you refuse to believe what he wrote,

how can you believe what I say?’

Today the Lord our God is reassuring us, giving us comfort and reminding us of His  great love and mercy for us. He says this to all of us, “Does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the son of her womb?” “Yet even if these forget,

I will never forget you.”

Many are afraid to surrender to their all to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ because they think they will become His puppets, to made to do things they don’t want to do! Yet the Lord reminds us that He knows the plans he has for us, not to do us harm but to prosper us. To give us hope and a future. Jer 29:11

Jesus has come so that we might have life to the full. Jn 10:10 He does not take our free will from us! Instead He gives us every opportunity to unite our wills with His so that we can live fully in His love. So sisters and brothers come to Him as you are, there is no sin too great that He will not forgive. Let Him transform, heal and set us free, to love and serve one another and glorify Him by our lives!

Jesus source of life dwell in me now and forever. Amen

First reading

Isaiah 49:8-15

On the day of salvation I will help you

Thus says the Lord:

At the favourable time I will answer you,

on the day of salvation I will help you.

(I have formed you and have appointed you

as covenant of the people.)

I will restore the land

and assign you the estates that lie waste.

I will say to the prisoners, ‘Come out’,

to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’

On every roadway they will graze,

and each bare height shall be their pasture.

They will never hunger or thirst,

scorching wind and sun shall never plague them;

for he who pities them will lead them

and guide them to springs of water.

I will make a highway of all the mountains,

and the high roads shall be banked up.

Some are on their way from afar,

others from the north and the west,

others from the land of Sinim.

Shout for joy, you heavens; exult, you earth!

You mountains, break into happy cries!

For the Lord consoles his people

and takes pity on those who are afflicted.

For Zion was saying, ‘The Lord has abandoned me,

the Lord has forgotten me.’

Does a woman forget her baby at the breast,

or fail to cherish the son of her womb?

Yet even if these forget,

I will never forget you.

Gospel

John 5:17-30

The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear it will live

Jesus said to the Jews, ‘My Father goes on working, and so do I.’ But that only made them even more intent on killing him, because, not content with breaking the sabbath, he spoke of God as his own Father, and so made himself God’s equal.

    To this accusation Jesus replied:

‘I tell you most solemnly,

the Son can do nothing by himself;

he can do only what he sees the Father doing:

and whatever the Father does the Son does too.

For the Father loves the Son

and shows him everything he does himself,

and he will show him even greater things than these,

works that will astonish you.

Thus, as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,

so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses;

for the Father judges no one;

he has entrusted all judgement to the Son,

so that all may honour the Son

as they honour the Father.

Whoever refuses honour to the Son

refuses honour to the Father who sent him.

I tell you most solemnly,

whoever listens to my words,

and believes in the one who sent me,

has eternal life;

without being brought to judgement

he has passed from death to life.

I tell you most solemnly,

the hour will come – in fact it is here already –

when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,

and all who hear it will live.

For the Father, who is the source of life,

has made the Son the source of life;

and, because he is the Son of Man,

has appointed him supreme judge.

Do not be surprised at this,

for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves

at the sound of his voice:

those who did good will rise again to life;

and those who did evil, to condemnation.

I can do nothing by myself;

I can only judge as I am told to judge,

and my judging is just,

because my aim is to do not my own will,

but the will of him who sent me.’

Living waters flow from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ alone into our hearts, minds, our bodies into His One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. This healing, life giving grace began with our Baptism when we were anointed and sealed as children of God our Heavenly Father. We were attached to the living vine of love and life!

How then are we glorifying the Lord by our lives!? Are we bringing the peace, love and joy of the Gospel to all we meet? Especially the poor and all in need? Is our Churches teeming with life where we come together to worship and praise Him who has given us life to the full? Are we One in Holy Communion with Him and one another?

Or are we still mourning our many sins, counting the cost of carrying our cross! Complaining about the weight of our burden in reaching out and giving to those in need! Taking shortcuts by doing away with prayers and reflection of the Word! Who then are we serving if not ourselves?

Let your living waters flow through me I pray sweet Jesus, let me be a powerful instrument of Your grace for all. Amen

First reading

Ezekiel 47:1-9,12 ·

Wherever the water flows, it will bring life and health

The angel brought me to the entrance of the Temple, where a stream came out from under the Temple threshold and flowed eastwards, since the Temple faced east. The water flowed from under the right side of the Temple, south of the altar. He took me out by the north gate and led me right round outside as far as the outer east gate where the water flowed out on the right-hand side. The man went to the east holding his measuring line and measured off a thousand cubits; he then made me wade across the stream; the water reached my ankles. He measured off another thousand and made me wade across the stream again; the water reached my knees. He measured off another thousand and made me wade across again; the water reached my waist. He measured off another thousand; it was now a river which I could not cross; the stream had swollen and was now deep water, a river impossible to cross. He then said, ‘Do you see, son of man?’ He took me further, then brought me back to the bank of the river. When I got back, there were many trees on each bank of the river. He said, ‘This water flows east down to the Arabah and to the sea; and flowing into the sea it makes its waters wholesome. Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health, and life teems wherever the river flows. Along the river, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal.’

Gospel

John 5:1-3,5-16

The healing at the pool of Bethesda

There was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem there is a building, called Bethzatha in Hebrew, consisting of five porticos; and under these were crowds of sick people – blind, lame, paralysed – waiting for the water to move. One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in this condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you want to be well again?’ ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.’ Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away.

    Now that day happened to be the sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.’ He replied, ‘But the man who cured me told me, “Pick up your mat and walk.”’ They asked, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that filled the place. After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, ‘Now you are well again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.’ The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. It was because he did things like this on the sabbath that the Jews began to persecute Jesus.

If the LORD does not build the house, the work of the builders is useless; if the LORD does not protect the city, it does no good for the sentries to stand guard. Ps 127:1 So what if you are operationally ready? But are spiritually far from the Lord your God! When His Word and Will takes a backseat to Your carefully laid out plans. Whose house is it that you build? This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Is 66:1

What has happened to our faith? Our believe in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! For have quickly forgotten the signs and wonders He had worked in our lives? The inner conversion from within which has brought peace, love and joy. We can only be glad and rejoice if we turn our hearts back fully to Jesus who is making all things new. And lead others back into His presence through His Word. Amen

First reading

Isaiah 65:17-21 ·

Be glad and rejoice for ever at what I am creating

Thus says the Lord: Now I create new heavens and a new earth, and the past will not be remembered, and will come no more to men’s minds. Be glad and rejoice for ever and ever for what I am creating, because I now create Jerusalem ‘Joy’ and her people ‘Gladness.’ I shall rejoice over Jerusalem and exult in my people. No more will the sound of weeping or the sound of cries be heard in her; in her, no more will be found the infant living a few days only, or the old man not living to the end of his days. To die at the age of a hundred will be dying young; not to live to be a hundred will be the sign of a curse. They will build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

Gospel

John 4:43-54

Go home: your son will live

Jesus left Samaria for Galilee. He himself had declared that there is no respect for a prophet in his own country, but on his arrival the Galileans received him well, having seen all that he had done at Jerusalem during the festival which they too had attended.

    He went again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a court official there whose son was ill at Capernaum and, hearing that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judaea, he went and asked him to come and cure his son as he was at the point of death. Jesus said, ‘So you will not believe unless you see signs and portents!’ ‘Sir,’ answered the official ‘come down before my child dies.’ ‘Go home,’ said Jesus ‘your son will live.’ The man believed what Jesus had said and started on his way; and while he was still on the journey back his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive. He asked them when the boy had begun to recover. ‘The fever left him yesterday’ they said ‘at the seventh hour.’ The father realised that this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, ‘Your son will live’; and he and all his household believed.

    This was the second sign given by Jesus, on his return from Judaea to Galilee.

We are indeed a wounded people in need of the healing grace, mercy and love of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

For we love with our heads not our hearts! With an emotion, not with acts of mercy and love put into action! Do we think we can buy our way into heaven? Use money to pay for our sins? Including those we have omitted? In other words for what we have done and for what we have failed to do. The latter is more often than not, the many times when we were blind and deaf to the needs of others.

It is not too late to realise that we can only become new creations in Him NOT by our own efforts but through Jesus Christ our Lord who waits to transform us from within. He does not ignore our sins but removes our guilt so that can be fully reconciled to live fully in His love through His once for all act of love in which He died on the Cross for us. So let us acknowledge our prideful ways and in humble contrition turn to Him to set us free. For He loves us with an everlasting love. Amen

First reading

Hosea 5:15-6:6 ·

What I want is love, not sacrifice and holocausts

The Lord says this:

They will search for me in their misery.

‘Come, let us return to the Lord.

He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us;

he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds;

after a day or two he will bring us back to life,

on the third day he will raise us

and we shall live in his presence.

Let us set ourselves to know the Lord;

that he will come is as certain as the dawn

his judgement will rise like the light,

he will come to us as showers come,

like spring rains watering the earth.’

What am I to do with you, Ephraim?

What am I to do with you, Judah?

This love of yours is like a morning cloud,

like the dew that quickly disappears.

This is why I have torn them to pieces by the prophets,

why I slaughtered them with the words from my mouth,

since what I want is love, not sacrifice;

knowledge of God, not holocausts.

Gospel

Luke 18:9-14

The tax collector, not the Pharisee, went home justified.

Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’

Today on the Solemnity of the Annunciation of our Lord, let us reflect a little more deeply on what the annunciation is about and how it relates to us.

The annunciation to me is not simply an announcement of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ to Mary our Mother which was only the start or rather the beginning. It is the response of our Blessed Mother when she said Yes! Yes Lord I am totally yours, do with me as You will. If we reflect a little more deeply we can see the same response given by Jesus, first to be born as man then to carry His cross and die on it in total obedience to God our Heavenly Father; for love of us. Yes Father I am totally yours, do with me as You will.

What has our answer been to His call for us? Did we pretend we were not called? Did we make excuses? “Oh I rather be in the background of things rather than the forefront.” “Charity begins at home and so I have no time for Church work or community, I have my domestic Church to care for” “Why is it always a select few to do the heavy lifting? If they are not going to get everyone involved then count me out!” “We give with our hearts and of our time that is all that matters, not the weight, quantity or quality.” Really? By all these and more are we not saying, that to carry our cross to follow after our Lord is too heavy for us to bear, too inconvenient?

Change my heart Oh Lord, make me more like You. Amen

First reading

Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10 ·

The maiden is with child

The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’

    Then Isaiah said:

‘Listen now, House of David:

are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men

without trying the patience of my God, too?

The Lord himself, therefore,

will give you a sign.

It is this: the maiden is with child

and will soon give birth to a son

whom she will call Immanuel,

a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’

Second reading

Hebrews 10:4-10 ·

God’s will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.

Bulls’ blood and goats’ blood are useless for taking away sins, and this is what Christ said, on coming into the world:

You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation,

prepared a body for me.

You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin;

then I said,

just as I was commanded in the scroll of the book,

‘God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’

Notice that he says first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to obey your will. He is abolishing the first sort to replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.

Gospel

Luke 1:26-38

‘I am the handmaid of the Lord’

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

We have an all merciful and loving Lord and God who calls out to us daily, to take up our cross and to follow Him. Only so that we can live fully in His love for He knows the plans for us, not to do us harm but to prosper us. Jer 29:11

Why then are we so obstinate!? Why do we continue to allow for sin and temptation to overpower us? Who are the ‘strong men’ in our lives that we have allowed to rob us of our Heavenly inheritance? Of our peace of mind? Whose voice do we hear? If not the voice of the scatterer! The thief that comes only to steal and kill and destroy Jn 10:10a

Let us instead turn our heart to Jesus our mighty stronghold, our deliverer. For Jesus  had come to so that we may have life and have it to the full. Jn 10:10b  Amen

First reading

Jeremiah 7:23-28

Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God

These were my orders: Listen to my voice, then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Follow right to the end the way that I mark out for you, and you will prosper. But they did not listen, they did not pay attention; they followed the dictates of their own evil hearts, refused to face me, and turned their backs on me. From the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until today, day after day I have persistently sent you all my servants the prophets.

    But they have not listened to me, have not paid attention; they have grown stubborn and behaved worse than their ancestors. You may say all these words to them: they will not listen to you; you may call them: they will not answer. So tell them this, “Here is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord its God nor take correction. Sincerity is no more, it has vanished from their mouths.”

Gospel

Luke 11:14-23

Know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you

Jesus was casting out a devil and it was dumb; but when the devil had gone out the dumb man spoke, and the people were amazed. But some of them said, ‘It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he casts out devils.’ Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but, knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? – since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils. Now if it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts cast them out? Let them be your judges then. But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.

    ‘He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.’

An ordered life towards the heart of the Lord our God is what all God’s children should desire and seek. When we are obedient unto Him, His commands, His Will for us; only then can we truly declare that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.

And so we cannot allow our children to live according to their whims and fancies! We must guide them into a loving relationship with the Lord our God teaching them  His commandments and to seek His will always. For then we can rest assured that we will all be reunited in Heaven.

There is no greater way to affirm God’s love for us, to remind one another to be repentant of our sins and to guide one another into the Heavenly Kingdom of God then through belonging to a faith Community. For then we are striving to live as One Body in Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour. Amen

First reading

Deuteronomy 4:1,5-9

Keep these laws and observe them

Moses said to the people:

    ‘Now, Israel, take notice of the laws and customs that I teach you today, and observe them, that you may have life and may enter and take possession of the land that the Lord the God of your fathers is giving you.

    ‘See, as the Lord my God has commanded me, I teach you the laws and customs that you are to observe in the land you are to enter and make your own. Keep them, observe them, and they will demonstrate to the peoples your wisdom and understanding. When they come to know of all these laws they will exclaim, “No other people is as wise and prudent as this great nation.” And indeed, what great nation is there that has its gods so near as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to him? And what great nation is there that has laws and customs to match this whole Law that I put before you today?

    ‘But take care what you do and be on your guard. Do not forget the things your eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your heart all the days of your life; rather, tell them to your children and to your children’s children.’

Gospel

Matthew 5:17-19

I have not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to complete them

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved. Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven.’

All of us who have been in debt can relate in one way or another, especially a heavy debt we cannot pay off no matter what we do! The fear, anxiety, restlessness, even panic which sometimes overwhelms us. How is it then that we do not look upon our  sins as a far greater debt that we cannot pay off on our own? And yet our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ took upon Himself the debt of the world and settled it in full upon the cross in which He hung. Freeing us to live fully in the light of His resurrection! Comparing our debt against the spotless victim who died for us, how tiny a debt it is indeed that we hold against our offending brother or sister! And yet shall we not forgive?

Here is the truth revealed in today’s readings, that unless we forgive ourselves, we will not be forgiven! For a contrite soul and humble spirit before the Lord our God also means that we reflect our contrition and humility of spirit in the mercy shown towards our brethren.

O God, Heavenly Father of us Your beloved children, drive away the sins that assail us, that we may always be pleasing to You and ever safe under your protection. Through Christ our Lord. Amen

First reading

Daniel 3:25,34-43

Let our sacrifice to you today be a contrite soul and humbled spirit

Azariah stood in the heart of the fire, and he began to pray:

Oh! Do not abandon us for ever,

for the sake of your name;

do not repudiate your covenant,

do not withdraw your favour from us,

for the sake of Abraham, your friend,

of Isaac your servant,

and of Israel your holy one,

to whom you promised descendants as countless as the stars of heaven

and as the grains of sand on the seashore.

Lord, now we are the least of all the nations,

now we are despised throughout the world, today, because of our sins.

We have at this time no leader, no prophet, no prince,

no holocaust, no sacrifice, no oblation, no incense,

no place where we can offer you the first-fruits

and win your favour.

But may the contrite soul, the humbled spirit be as acceptable to you

as holocausts of rams and bullocks,

as thousands of fattened lambs:

such let our sacrifice be to you today,

and may it be your will that we follow you wholeheartedly,

since those who put their trust in you will not be disappointed.

And now we put our whole heart into following you,

into fearing you and seeking your face once more.

Do not disappoint us;

treat us gently, as you yourself are gentle

and very merciful.

Grant us deliverance worthy of your wonderful deeds,

let your name win glory, Lord.

Gospel

Matthew 18:21-35

To be forgiven, you must forgive

Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.

    ‘And so the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; but he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master’s feet. “Give me time” he said “and I will pay the whole sum.” And the servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him. “Pay what you owe me” he said. His fellow servant fell at his feet and implored him, saying, “Give me time and I will pay you.” But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for him. “You wicked servant,” he said “I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.’

Have we taken our faith for granted? Are we living our baptismal vows? Are we then docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit? Or is this period of Lent simply a ritualistic rite of passage for doing the bare minimum and holding out till Easter where we can finally breathe in a sigh of relieve?

Yes indeed we have been given a wonderful opportunity once again, this year to renew ourselves through the Lord’s word, by turning away from our sinful nature and being reborn anew in Christ Jesus our Lord. To journey on as community and strengthening our fraternal bonds with one another. And to lead others to encounter the Lord our God so that they too can be healed and set free to live fully in Him.

If we continue to be inward looking then we will remain when we are, that is as barren fig trees!

Change my heart oh God, make it ever true. Change my heart oh God, may I be like You. Amen

First reading

2 Kings 5:1-15 ·

There were many lepers in Israel, but only Naaman, the Syrian, was cured

Naaman, army commander to the king of Aram, was a man who enjoyed his master’s respect and favour, since through him the Lord had granted victory to the Aramaeans. But the man was a leper.

    Now on one of their raids, the Aramaeans had carried off from the land of Israel a little girl who had become a servant of Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, ‘If only my master would approach the prophet of Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy.’

    Naaman went and told his master. ‘This and this’ he reported ‘is what the girl from the land of Israel said.’

    ‘Go by all means,’ said the king of Aram ‘I will send a letter to the king of Israel.’

    So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten festal robes. He presented the letter to the king of Israel. It read: ‘With this letter, I am sending my servant Naaman to you for you to cure him of his leprosy.’ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his garments. ‘Am I a god to give death and life,’ he said ‘that he sends a man to me and asks me to cure him of his leprosy? Listen to this, and take note of it and see how he intends to pick a quarrel with me.’

    When Elisha heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the king, ‘Why did you tear your garments? Let him come to me, and he will find there is a prophet in Israel.’

    So Naaman came with his team and chariot and drew up at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent him a messenger to say, ‘Go and bathe seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will become clean once more.’

    But Naaman was indignant and went off, saying, ‘Here was I thinking he would be sure to come out to me, and stand there, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the spot and cure the leprous part. Surely Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, are better than any water in Israel? Could I not bathe in them and become clean?’ And he turned round and went off in a rage.

    But his servants approached him and said, ‘My father, if the prophet had asked you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? All the more reason, then, when he says to you, “Bathe, and you will become clean.”’

    So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, as Elisha had told him to do. And his flesh became clean once more like the flesh of a little child.

    Returning to Elisha with his whole escort, he went in and stood before him. ‘Now I know’ he said ‘that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.’

Gospel

Luke 4:24-30

No prophet is ever accepted in his own country

Jesus came to Nazara and spoke to the people in the synagogue: ‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.

    ‘There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’

    When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.

O St Joseph most faithful spouse of our dearest Blessed Mother Mary, foster of Jesus Christ our Lord. You spoke nothing in scriptures yet you spoke volumes by faith, love, mercy for your family and for your great love for God our Heavenly Father.

Indeed do we behold a faithful and prudent steward, whom the Lord set over his household. Cf. Luke 12:42

By your faithfulness St Joseph you declared from your heart

“I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord; through all ages my mouth will proclaim your truth. Of this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever, that your truth is firmly established as the heavens.” Ps 89:1-2

You surely prayed to God our Heavenly Father, “You are my father, my God, the rock who saves me.” Ps 89:26

You were docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and so were a great provider and protector of your holy family.

Teach me St Joseph your way humble ways and lead me closer to the heart of your son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

Be our protector as well as you protect God’s Holy Church by your powerful intercession. St Joseph pray for us……

First reading

2 Samuel 7:4-5,12-14,16 ·

The Lord will give him the throne of his ancestor David

The word of the Lord came to Nathan:

    ‘Go and tell my servant David, Thus the Lord speaks: “When your days are ended and you are laid to rest with your ancestors, I will preserve the offspring of your body after you and make his sovereignty secure. (It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will make his royal throne secure for ever.) I will be a father to him and he a son to me. Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever.”’

Second reading

Romans 4:13,16-18,22 ·

Abraham hoped, and he believed

The promise of inheriting the world was not made to Abraham and his descendants on account of any law but on account of the righteousness which consists in faith. That is why what fulfils the promise depends on faith, so that it may be a free gift and be available to all of Abraham’s descendants, not only those who belong to the Law but also those who belong to the faith of Abraham who is the father of all of us. As scripture says: I have made you the ancestor of many nations – Abraham is our father in the eyes of God, in whom he put his faith, and who brings the dead to life and calls into being what does not exist.

    Though it seemed Abraham’s hope could not be fulfilled, he hoped and he believed, and through doing so he did become the father of many nations exactly as he had been promised: Your descendants will be as many as the stars. This is the faith that was ‘considered as justifying him.’

Gospel

Matthew 1:16,18-21,24

How Jesus Christ came to be born

Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.

    This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do.

Whom have we sold off for twenty pieces of silver?

Was it the ones who made us angry that we decided to gossip about, tarnishing their reputation?

Was it the ones who hurt us such that we would not forgive them and had written them off telling anyone and everyone not to utter their name to us?

Was it the ones we lashed out in retaliation for wounding our pride by their hurtful words?

Was it the ones we laughed about in our hearts who wanted to do more for the Parish but we chose to remain silent and refused our help?

Was it those we have abandoned for more ‘important’ things in life? Community?  The poor, sick, widowed, imprisoned?

Are all above not sons and daughters of God our Heavenly Father?

Hence in the end is it not Jesus we sell off and for more!…Thirty pieces of silver! 

For whatever we do unto the least our brethren we do unto Him. Matt 25:40

Save us Saviour of the world, for by Your cross and resurrection, You have set us free! Amen

First reading

Genesis 37:3-4,12-13,17-28 ·

Let us kill him: then we shall see what becomes of his dreams

Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, for he was the son of his old age, and he had a coat with long sleeves made for him. But his brothers, seeing how his father loved him more than all his other sons, came to hate him so much that they could not say a civil word to him.

    His brothers went to pasture their father’s flock at Shechem. Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers with the flock at Shechem? Come, I am going to send you to them.’ So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

    They saw him in the distance, and before he reached them they made a plot among themselves to put him to death. ‘Here comes the man of dreams’ they said to one another. ‘Come on, let us kill him and throw him into some well; we can say that a wild beast devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams.’

    But Reuben heard, and he saved him from their violence. ‘We must not take his life’ he said. ‘Shed no blood,’ said Reuben to them ‘throw him into this well in the wilderness, but do not lay violent hands on him’ – intending to save him from them and to restore him to his father. So, when Joseph reached his brothers, they pulled off his coat, the coat with long sleeves that he was wearing, and catching hold of him they threw him into the well, an empty well with no water in it. They then sat down to eat.

    Looking up they saw a group of Ishmaelites who were coming from Gilead, their camels laden with gum, tragacanth, balsam and resin, which they were taking down into Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What do we gain by killing our brother and covering up his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let us not do any harm to him. After all, he is our brother, and our own flesh.’ His brothers agreed.

    Now some Midianite merchants were passing, and they drew Joseph up out of the well. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver pieces, and these men took Joseph to Egypt.

Gospel

Matthew 21:33-43,45-46

This is the landlord’s heir: come, let us kill him

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, ‘Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son” he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.” So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:

It was the stone rejected by the builders

that became the keystone.

This was the Lord’s doing

and it is wonderful to see?

‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’

    When they heard his parables, the chief priests and the scribes realised he was speaking about them, but though they would have liked to arrest him they were afraid of the crowds, who looked on him as a prophet.

Have we not heeded the warnings? Are we not reminded that our life is short? The version which seems to be pronounced less on Ash Wednesday, “from Ashes you came and to ashes you will return” still rings true in any age! But we would rather attune our ears to hear that we should turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel without having to dwell on just how unfaithful we are!

Does attending and praying as many stations of the cross rend our hearts? Are we changed from within? Does dropping everything to pray the Angelus three times a day bring us deeper to the awareness that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was born so that we may live free from sin? Are we transformed after every Holy Eucharist as we should be? Are we more loving, patient, kind, merciful and Holy?

Test me, O God, and know my thoughts.

See that my path is not wicked,

and lead me in the way everlasting. Ps 138: 23-24

Jesus I trust in You. Amen

First reading

Jeremiah 17:5-10

A curse on the man who puts his trust in man and turns from the Lord

The Lord says this:

‘A curse on the man who puts his trust in man,

who relies on things of flesh,

whose heart turns from the Lord.

He is like dry scrub in the wastelands:

if good comes, he has no eyes for it,

he settles in the parched places of the wilderness,

a salt land, uninhabited.

‘A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord,

with the Lord for his hope.

He is like a tree by the waterside

that thrusts its roots to the stream:

when the heat comes it feels no alarm,

its foliage stays green;

it has no worries in a year of drought,

and never ceases to bear fruit.

‘The heart is more devious than any other thing,

perverse too: who can pierce its secrets?

I, the Lord, search to the heart,

I probe the loins,

to give each man what his conduct

and his actions deserve.’

Gospel

Luke 16:19-31

Dives and Lazarus

Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.

    ‘In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.” “My son,” Abraham replied “remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone, if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours.”

    ‘The rich man replied, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.” “They have Moses and the prophets,” said Abraham “let them listen to them.” “Ah no, father Abraham,” said the rich man “but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Then Abraham said to him, “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”’

The need to be recognised, to be in the know of all that goes on in church, to be praised, to be seen and heard is an insatiable desire of many leaders. They will never of course declare such needs out loud but instead dress themselves with many coats of faux humility. While they seemingly do ‘things’ to lead some to Christ, they unconsciously lead many others away by their repulsive self centred behaviour.

Still as our leaders Jesus commands us to be obedient unto them, that is to do as the tell us and listen to what they say. But do not be guided by what they do: since they do not practise what they preach. Our master had taught us Himself by example how it is that we are to serve others, when He got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. JN 13:4-5 Then He spoke to us His disciples, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.  Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. JN 13:14-17 And in today’s Gospel our Lord reminds us once again that “The greatest among you must be your servant.” Amen

First reading

Isaiah 1:10,16-20

Cease to do evil; learn to do good

Hear the word of the Lord,

you rulers of Sodom;

listen to the command of our God,

you people of Gomorrah.

‘Wash, make yourselves clean.

Take your wrong-doing out of my sight.

Cease to do evil.

Learn to do good,

search for justice,

help the oppressed,

be just to the orphan,

plead for the widow.

‘Come now, let us talk this over,

says the Lord.

Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,

they shall be like wool.

‘If you are willing to obey,

you shall eat the good things of the earth.

But if you persist in rebellion,

the sword shall eat you instead.’

Gospel

Matthew 23:1-12

They do not practise what they preach

Addressing the people and his disciples Jesus said, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they say; but do not be guided by what they do: since they do not practise what they preach. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but will they lift a finger to move them? Not they! Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader phylacteries and longer tassels, like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues, being greeted obsequiously in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi.

    ‘You, however, must not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one master, and you are all brothers. You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor must you allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you must be your servant. Anyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be exalted.’

Healing and reconciliation always begins with us acknowledging that we have greatly sinned and are in need of our Saviour’s healing grace upon us. This may seem easy enough for some but not so for many. For sin itself may have blinded them to the truth! “Oh it is ok to just look at naked pictures I am only admiring God’s creation and so what if I lust a little so long as I don’t act on it.” “I was only sharing with my closest friend what I witnessed, it’s not gossip only a sharing!” “Well I did not actually see him take it but I would not put it past him.” “I gave her a good piece of my mind for being so clumsy, so what if it made her cry she deserved it!” How easy it is to see the faults in others but not see the many faults in ourselves. Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to open our eyes, heart and minds to see where we have gone wrong and for the courage and strength to own up and turn back to the Lord in perfect contrition who waits for us with open arms.

As mentioned healing and reconciliation begins with acknowledging our sins. For us to be fully reconciled and healed by our all merciful and loving Lord; We too must forgive those who have sinned against us! No matter how deep the hurt and pain we can and shall forgive through the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For nothing is impossible for the Lord our God. For He wills that we be compassionate as our Heavenly Father is compassionate. Amen

First reading

Daniel 9:4-10

Yours is the integrity, Lord; ours the shame

O Lord, God great and to be feared, you keep the covenant and have kindness for those who love you and keep your commandments: we have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly, we have betrayed your commandments and your ordinances and turned away from them. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. Integrity, Lord, is yours; ours the look of shame we wear today, we, the people of Judah, the citizens of Jerusalem, the whole of Israel, near and far away, in every country to which you have dispersed us because of the treason we have committed against you. To us, Lord, the look of shame belongs, to our kings, our princes, our ancestors, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God mercy and pardon belong, because we have betrayed him, and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God nor followed the laws he has given us through his servants the prophets.

Gospel

Luke 6:36-38

Grant pardon, and you will be pardoned

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.’

“You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect”

Yes indeed we must all strive for perfection but we must stop looking for perfection in others when we ourselves are far from perfect. Besides we can only be perfected through Christ who first loved us! And He loved us even while we were His enemies through sin. If Jesus could still love us then how can we not likewise love our enemies?

Here is how we can do so, as we grow in perfection through Jesus Christ our Lord…

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Phil 3:12 For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Heb 10:14 He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Cor 12:9 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:12 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.1 John 4:18

Amen

First reading

Deuteronomy 26:16-19 ·

You will be a people consecrated to the Lord

Moses said to the people: ‘The Lord your God today commands you to observe these laws and customs; you must keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.

    ‘You have today made this declaration about the Lord: that he will be your God, but only if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and listen to his voice. And the Lord has today made this declaration about you: that you will be his very own people as he promised you, but only if you keep all his commandments; then for praise and renown and honour he will set you high above all the nations he has made, and you will be a people consecrated to the Lord, as he promised.’

Gospel

Matthew 5:43-48

Pray for those who persecute you

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’

It is undeniable that upholding our Christian virtues, values and righteousness is the most challenging of anything else in our lives. By virtue of our Baptism we have a higher calling, to be Holy as our Heavenly Father is Holy.  And having been inserted into the life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; we too have to carry our cross and follow after Him.

Why then should we struggle? Why should we avoid sin? For it far easier for upright men or women to renounce their integrity to commit sin. Far easier to be angry and stay angry with those who irk or hurt us. Far easier to withhold forgiveness. The grass as they say is greener on the other side. Is it now really?

Here is the truth! Because we follow the way, the truth and the life! We renounce all sin because we choose life! And there is no life without the Lord our God present in our lives. We who walk humbly with Him know that it through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ alone that we have life to the full. In His great mercy and love He has forgiven us our many heinous sins against Him. And it is a sin therefore to withhold our mercy from all who have hurt us. For He our loving Lord did not withhold His mercy. In forgiving we ourselves are set free. That is why Jesus our Lord says that we have leave our offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother or sister first, and only then come back and present our offering.  For our greatest offering is a humble contrite spirit who loves the Lord our God first above all else with all our heart, mind, soul and strength; with that same love for Him we must love our brethren. Amen

First reading

Ezekiel 18:21-28 ·

I prefer to see the wicked man renounce his wickedness and live

Thus says the Lord:

    ‘If the wicked man renounces all the sins he has committed, respects my laws and is law-abiding and honest, he will certainly live; he will not die. All the sins he committed will be forgotten from then on; he shall live because of the integrity he has practised. What! Am I likely to take pleasure in the death of a wicked man – it is the Lord who speaks – and not prefer to see him renounce his wickedness and live?

    ‘But if the upright man renounces his integrity, commits sin, copies the wicked man and practises every kind of filth, is he to live? All the integrity he has practised shall be forgotten from then on; but this is because he himself has broken faith and committed sin, and for this he shall die. But you object, “What the Lord does is unjust.” Listen, you House of Israel: is what I do unjust? Is it not what you do that is unjust? When the upright man renounces his integrity to commit sin and dies because of this, he dies because of the evil that he himself has committed. When the sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves to live. He has chosen to renounce all his previous sins; he shall certainly live; he shall not die.’

Gospel

Matthew 5:20-26

Anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.

    ‘You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court; if a man calls his brother “Fool” he will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and if a man calls him “Renegade” he will answer for it in hell fire. So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering. Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. I tell you solemnly, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny.’

Lord teach me how to pray according to Your Will. For even before my lips can open You already know what is deep down in my heart. I therefore surrender all my needs and wants to You. Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done in all things. For I have faith that in my own great distress You are already here with me.

Grant me then Your wisdom and grace to know what or whom to pray for and how I should pray for that intention. For You hear the cries of all Your children in dire need. Let me be Your instrument of grace through prophetic intercession.

For on the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul. Amen Ps 138:3

First reading

Esther 4:17 ·

I am alone, Lord, and have no-one but you

Queen Esther took refuge with the Lord in the mortal peril which had overtaken her. She besought the Lord God of Israel in these words:

‘My Lord, our King, the only one,

come to my help, for I am alone

and have no helper but you

and am about to take my life in my hands.

‘I have been taught from my earliest years, in the bosom of my family,

that you, Lord, chose

Israel out of all the nations

and our ancestors out of all the people of old times

to be your heritage for ever;

and that you have treated them as you promised.

‘Remember, Lord; reveal yourself

in the time of our distress.

‘As for me, give me courage,

King of gods and master of all power.

Put persuasive words into my mouth

when I face the lion;

change his feeling into hatred for our enemy,

that the latter and all like him may be brought to their end.

‘As for ourselves, save us by your hand,

and come to my help, for I am alone

and have no one but you, Lord.’

Gospel

Matthew 7:7-12

Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. Is there a man among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

    ‘So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.’

Let us ask ourselves are we still looking for signs and wonders that confirms that the Lord our God is real and present in our lives? It is sad then if that were the case, for it would mean that we are not already living in His presence today. Perhaps it is because we are in dire need to repent for our sins. To turn back to God fully so as to receive His mercy and grace. Then we will once again be living in His presence.

For there is no greater visible sign of God our Heavenly Father’s mercy and love then Jesus His only begotten Son who died on the cross for us. Knowing this truth we should be running with open arms, to embrace our Saviour fully who loved us so. How can we not share this knowledge with all so that they too might be saved!

If we cannot be like the virtuous St John the Baptist to prepare the way for our Lord, can we not at least be like Jonah? Who was stubborn at first but submitted to the Lord in obedience, and brought upon a great city; the Lord our God’s mercy and love. Amen

First reading

Jonah 3:1-10 ·

The Ninevites repent, and God spares them

The word of the Lord was addressed to Jonah: ‘Up!’ he said ‘Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach to them as I told you to.’ Jonah set out and went to Nineveh in obedience to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was a city great beyond compare: it took three days to cross it. Jonah went on into the city, making a day’s journey. He preached in these words, ‘Only forty days more and Nineveh is going to be destroyed.’ And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. The news reached the king of Nineveh, who rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes. A proclamation was then promulgated throughout Nineveh, by decree of the king and his ministers, as follows: ‘Men and beasts, herds and flocks, are to taste nothing; they must not eat, they must not drink water. All are to put on sackcloth and call on God with all their might; and let everyone renounce his evil behaviour and the wicked things he has done. Who knows if God will not change his mind and relent, if he will not renounce his burning wrath, so that we do not perish?’ God saw their efforts to renounce their evil behaviour, and God relented: he did not inflict on them the disaster which he had threatened.

Gospel

Luke 11:29-32

As Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be a sign

The crowds got even bigger, and Jesus addressed them:

    ‘This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.’

We know that the Word of God is alive, active and life giving. But why is it not a great desire for most to hear His Word and dwell on it? How can there me more important things to do? Or how can we be too lazy? We should be very excited and eager to be nourished and to receive His life giving grace through His Word and Will for us.

The Word made flesh and dwelt among us. And He our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ taught us a perfect, complete prayer which  invokes powerful graces when prayed in reverence and fervour. On each line we dwell on our God our Heavenly Father’s omnipotence and His great love and mercy for us. How then can we His children do or say things that mars His Holy Name?

Most of all how can we withhold forgiveness of one another? Jesus forgave us from the Cross, can we do any less?

Your will be done Lord, now and forever. Amen

First reading

Isaiah 55:10-11 ·

The word that goes out from my mouth does not return to me empty

Thus says the Lord: ‘As the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating, so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.’

Gospel

Matthew 6:7-15

How to pray

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘In your prayers do not babble as the pagans do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So you should pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven,

may your name be held holy,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us.

And do not put us to the test,

but save us from the evil one.

‘Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.’

We would like to believe that there is no harm, no foul if we turn a blind eye to a sister and brother in need. Jesus is reminding us today that if we choose to do so then we are turning a blind eye to Him! It is sheer neglect on our part! And the consequences are clear, eternal punishment. Do we not need our Lord’s commandments? You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Matt 22:39/Lev 19:18 and “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Jn13:34-35

In today’s first reading there are at least nine ‘You Must Nots’ but if we truly love our neighbour as we claim that we do, then surely ‘We Will Not….’

Lord Jesus help us to be Holy as You Lord are Holy. Amen

First reading

Leviticus 19:1-2,11-18 ·

Only pass judgement on your neighbour according to justice

The Lord spoke to Moses; he said: ‘Speak to the whole community of the sons of Israel and say to them:

    ‘“Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.

    ‘“You must not steal nor deal deceitfully or fraudulently with your neighbour. You must not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God. I am the Lord. You must not exploit or rob your neighbour. You must not keep back the labourer’s wage until next morning. You must not curse the dumb, nor put an obstacle in the blind man’s way, but you must fear your God. I am the Lord.

    ‘“You must not be guilty of unjust verdicts. You must neither be partial to the little man nor overawed by the great; you must pass judgement on your neighbour according to justice. You must not slander your own people, and you must not jeopardise your neighbour’s life. I am the Lord. You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him, your neighbour, of his offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself. You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.”’

Gospel

Matthew 25:31-46

I was naked and you clothed me; sick, and you visited me

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.

    ‘Then the King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”

    ‘Next he will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.” Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?” Then he will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me.”

    ‘And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.’

What are you leaving behind to follow Jesus?

Impatience? A critical tongue? Movies and media with suggestive sexual impropriety? Gossiping? Excessive game play? A job that leaves you no time for anyone including family?

We do need to look for Jesus, He is already present, calling out and waiting for us to respond to His call to follow Him; He is the way, truth and life! For if we strive to turn aways from sin, worldly distractions and to do good then we shall our happiness in the Lord. Amen

First reading

Isaiah 58:9-14

You will be like a spring whose waters never run dry

The Lord says this:

If you do away with the yoke,

the clenched fist, the wicked word,

if you give your bread to the hungry,

and relief to the oppressed,

your light will rise in the darkness,

and your shadows become like noon.

The Lord will always guide you,

giving you relief in desert places.

He will give strength to your bones

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water

whose waters never run dry.

You will rebuild the ancient ruins,

build up on the old foundations.

You will be called ‘Breach-mender’,

‘Restorer of ruined houses.’

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,

and doing business on the holy day,

if you call the Sabbath ‘Delightful’,

and the day sacred to the Lord ‘Honourable’,

if you honour it by abstaining from travel,

from doing business and from gossip,

then shall you find your happiness in the Lord

and I will lead you triumphant over the heights of the land.

I will feed you on the heritage of Jacob your father.

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Gospel

Luke 5:27-32

Jesus comes not to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance

Jesus noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting by the customs house, and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And leaving everything he got up and followed him.

    In his honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples and said, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus said to them in reply, ‘It is not those who are well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance.’

We fast to empty ourselves and we soon realise that we did not need so much food and drink to begin with? We fast because we are penitent, truly sorry and contrite and seek the Lord our God’s mercy. We fast to empty ourselves of the world so that  He our Lord can fill us with His the graces He desires us to have.  We fast so that we can draw ever closer to our bridegroom, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

So then can we fast but continue to live with our habitual sins? To be unkind to neighbour? To ignore the pleas of the hungry and poor? To continue wagging our unfettered tongues? To perform acts of injustice? To lash out with impatience? To continue with unforgiveness in our hearts?

Forgive me Father God in Heaven for all that I have done and all that I have failed to do. Grant me the grace, courage and fortitude to remain steadfast and obedient unto You. Your Will be done now and always. Amen

First reading

Isaiah 58:1-9 ·

The sort of fast that pleases me

Thus says the Lord:

Shout for all you are worth,

    raise your voice like a trumpet.

Proclaim their faults to my people,

    their sins to the House of Jacob.

They seek me day after day,

    they long to know my ways,

like a nation that wants to act with integrity

    and not ignore the law of its God.

They ask me for laws that are just,

    they long for God to draw near:

‘Why should we fast if you never see it,

    why do penance if you never notice?’

Look, you do business on your fast-days,

    you oppress all your workmen;

look, you quarrel and squabble when you fast

    and strike the poor man with your fist.

Fasting like yours today

    will never make your voice heard on high.

Is that the sort of fast that pleases me,

    a truly penitential day for men?

Hanging your head like a reed,

    lying down on sackcloth and ashes?

Is that what you call fasting,

    a day acceptable to the Lord?

Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me

 – it is the Lord who speaks –

to break unjust fetters and

    undo the thongs of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

    and break every yoke,

to share your bread with the hungry,

    and shelter the homeless poor,

to clothe the man you see to be naked

    and not turn from your own kin?

Then will your light shine like the dawn

    and your wound be quickly healed over.

Your integrity will go before you

    and the glory of the Lord behind you.

Cry, and the Lord will answer;

    call, and he will say, ‘I am here.’

Gospel

Matthew 9:14-15

When the bridegroom is taken from them, then they will fast

John’s disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then they will fast.’

Today I choose life over death in sin!

Today I choose to listen to the Lord our God’s Word over the words of the world!

Today I choose obedience to God’s will for me over wilful desires!

Today I choose to take up my cross to follow Jesus over inertia, over fear!

Today I choose to utter only life giving words over ones that cause hurt, despair!

Today I choose Blessings over curses!

Today I choose to love God above all else!

Today I choose to love my neighbour as the Lord my God loves me!

Today I choose Jesus!

When I cried to the Lord, he heard my voice;

he rescued me from those who attack me.

Entrust your cares to the Lord, and he will support you. Ps 54: 17-20, 23

Amen

First reading

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 ·

I set before you today life or death, blessing or curse

Moses said to the people: ‘See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to make your own. But if your heart strays, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish; you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today: I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live, in the love of the Lord your God, obeying his voice, clinging to him; for in this your life consists, and on this depends your long stay in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob he would give them.’

Gospel

Luke 9:22-25

Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it

Jesus said to his disciples:

    ‘The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’

    Then to all he said:

    ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?’

Today as we mark ourselves with ashes we remember our frail mortality. From ashes we came from ashes we shall return. We look forward to this opportunity to respond to our Lord’s call, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” We who are weighed down by our sins, by the cares and worries of the world. We who want to be renewed by His everlasting, life giving Word. And So we embark on this Lenten journey together entrusting ourselves fully to the mercy of God our Heavenly Father who truly loves us all His children, His Son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who died to save us and the Holy Spirit who will guide us on our way.

For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Eph 6:12

You expired, O Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls and an ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us. O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, 

I trust in You. Amen.

First reading

Joel 2:12-18 ·

Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn

‘Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –

come back to me with all your heart,

fasting, weeping, mourning.’

Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn,

turn to the Lord your God again,

for he is all tenderness and compassion,

slow to anger, rich in graciousness,

and ready to relent.

Who knows if he will not turn again, will not relent,

will not leave a blessing as he passes,

oblation and libation

for the Lord your God?

Sound the trumpet in Zion!

Order a fast,

proclaim a solemn assembly,

call the people together,

summon the community,

assemble the elders,

gather the children,

even the infants at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his bedroom

and the bride her alcove.

Between vestibule and altar let the priests,

the ministers of the Lord, lament.

Let them say,

‘Spare your people, Lord!

Do not make your heritage a thing of shame,

a byword for the nations.

Why should it be said among the nations,

“Where is their God?”’

Then the Lord, jealous on behalf of his land,

took pity on his people.

Second reading

2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2

Be reconciled to God

We are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God. As his fellow workers, we beg you once again not to neglect the grace of God that you have received. For he says: At the favourable time, I have listened to you; on the day of salvation I came to your help. Well, now is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation.

Gospel

Matthew 6:1-6,16-18

Your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their notice; by doing this you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win men’s admiration. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing; your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

    ‘And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them; I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go to your private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

    ‘When you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they pull long faces to let men know they are fasting. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.’

There is no greater reward then being with Christ, our Lord Jesus in heaven. Such it the mercy and love of our Lord that He has already shared with us a foretaste of our Heavenly inheritance when He liberates from our sins through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and gives us His body, blood, soul and divinity at Holy Eucharist. In fact the moment we cry out to Him with contrite hearts, He outpours His merciful grace into our hearts and we are filled with His peace, love and joy.

Why then should we turn to anyone or anything but Him? Why do we give in and allow temptation to ruin our lives? Instead of giving in to habitual sins, can we not cultivate a habit of obedience to Him who loves us?

Lord Jesus have mercy on me a sinner, cleanse me of my many sins. I choose this day to take up my cross to follow You. Give me the courage, strength and Your saving grace to do so now and always. Amen

First reading

1 Peter 1:10-16 ·

Put your trust in the grace that is coming to you

It was this salvation that the prophets were looking and searching so hard for; their prophecies were about the grace which was to come to you. The Spirit of Christ which was in them foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would come after them, and they tried to find out at what time and in what circumstances all this was to be expected. It was revealed to them that the news they brought of all the things which have now been announced to you, by those who preached to you the Good News through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, was for you and not for themselves. Even the angels long to catch a glimpse of these things.

    Free your minds, then, of encumbrances; control them, and put your trust in nothing but the grace that will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Do not behave in the way that you liked to before you learnt the truth; make a habit of obedience: be holy in all you do, since it is the Holy One who has called you, and scripture says: Be holy, for I am holy.

Gospel

Mark 10:28-31

Whoever has left everything for the sake of the gospel will be repaid

At that time Peter began to tell Jesus, ‘What about us? We have left everything and followed you.’ Jesus said, ‘I tell you solemnly, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, father, children or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not be repaid a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land – not without persecutions – now in this present time and, in the world to come, eternal life.

    ‘Many who are first will be last, and the last first.’

What luxuries and riches can we bring with us when we die? We all know the answer to that and yet we still desperately cling to all that we have in this life. Perhaps the more important question to dwell on today is what can be greater than our Heavenly inheritance? What are we doing to safeguard it?

Again we know the answers as to how but are we actively doing so?

Are we striving to be faithful to the Gospel?

Are we living His Word and according to our Lord’s will for us in lives?

Do we keep the Lord our God’s commandments?

Are doing both Spiritual and Corporal acts of mercy?

If we have not then let use the opportunity we are given this Lent to be renewed, transfigured and to grow in faith and love of our Lord. As we promise to turn away from sin and remain faithful to His Word. Amen

First reading

1 Peter 1:3-9 ·

You did not see Christ, yet you love him

Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has given us a new birth as his sons, by raising Jesus Christ from the dead, so that we have a sure hope and the promise of an inheritance that can never be spoilt or soiled and never fade away, because it is being kept for you in the heavens. Through your faith, God’s power will guard you until the salvation which has been prepared is revealed at the end of time. This is a cause of great joy for you, even though you may for a short time have to bear being plagued by all sorts of trials; so that, when Jesus Christ is revealed, your faith will have been tested and proved like gold – only it is more precious than gold, which is corruptible even though it bears testing by fire – and then you will have praise and glory and honour. You did not see him, yet you love him; and still without seeing him, you are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described, because you believe; and you are sure of the end to which your faith looks forward, that is, the salvation of your souls.

Gospel

Mark 10:17-27

Give everything you own to the poor, and follow me

Jesus was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, ‘Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You must not kill; You must not commit adultery; You must not steal; You must not bring false witness; You must not defraud; Honour your father and mother.’ And he said to him, ‘Master, I have kept all these from my earliest days.’ Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him, and he said, ‘There is one thing you lack. Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth.

    Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!’ The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, ‘My children,’ he said to them ‘how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were more astonished than ever. ‘In that case’ they said to one another ‘who can be saved?’ Jesus gazed at them. ‘For men’ he said ‘it is impossible, but not for God: because everything is possible for God.’

The heartfelt prayer of a good man works very powerfully.

What then makes a good man?

Am I a good man?

Do I fight and struggle to turn away from all sin and temptation?

Do I recognise that I am child of God truly loved by God my Heavenly Father?

Do I recognise my sisters and brothers fellow children of God my Heavenly Father?

Both the very young and the very old?

Do I seek out whenever I can and attend to all those in need?

Do others think and know that I am indeed a good man after the heart of my Lord and Saviour?

The prayer of faith will save the sick man and the Lord will raise him up again; and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.

Do I prayer in faith?

How have my faith grown over the years?

Is growth of my faith reflected in my prayer life?

How often in a day to pray to my Lord?

To sit in His presence listening?

To hear me tell me how should I pray for my brethren?

Lord Jesus “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Let me grow deeper in my faith and love of You. Amen

First Reading James 5:13-20 ·

A good man’s heartfelt prayer has great power

If any one of you is in trouble, he should pray; if anyone is feeling happy, he should sing a psalm. If one of you is ill, he should send for the elders of the church, and they must anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord and pray over him. The prayer of faith will save the sick man and the Lord will raise him up again; and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. So confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, and this will cure you; the heartfelt prayer of a good man works very powerfully. Elijah was a human being like ourselves – he prayed hard for it not to rain, and no rain fell for three-and-a-half years; then he prayed again and the sky gave rain and the earth gave crops.

    My brothers, if one of you strays away from the truth, and another brings him back to it, he may be sure that anyone who can bring back a sinner from the wrong way that he has taken will be saving a soul from death and covering up a great number of sins.

Gospel Mark 10:13-16

It is to such as these little children that the kingdom of God belongs

People were bringing little children to Jesus, for him to touch them. The disciples turned them away, but when Jesus saw this he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. I tell you solemnly, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’ Then he put his arms round them, laid his hands on them and gave them his blessing.

The simple answer to when should a Christian swear to God? Is Never! Unless requested to do so under oath in the Court of law. For if we are disciples of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who is the Truth, the Way and the Life then how can we ever lie to begin with? Let our ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and our ‘no’ mean ‘no’.

What about those of us who are married? Do we remember our wedding vows? Do we remember saying the three ‘YES I DO’ even before we made our vow to one another?

• “Have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourself to each other in marriage?”
• “Will you honour each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?”
• “Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?”

I, (name), take you, (name), to be my (wife/husband). I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life. Where did we declare this? In Church before the Lord our God and in the presence of family and friends. Jesus said, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:4–6).

Lord Jesus let your truth reign in our hearts always. Amen

God our Heavenly Father Bless all our marriages…Amen

First reading

James 5:9-12

Do not ask for judgement, or you may receive it

Do not make complaints against one another, brothers, so as not to be brought to judgement yourselves; the Judge is already to be seen waiting at the gates. For your example, brothers, in submitting with patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord; remember it is those who had endurance that we say are the blessed ones. You have heard of the patience of Job, and understood the Lord’s purpose, realising that the Lord is kind and compassionate.

    Above all, my brothers, do not swear by heaven or by the earth, or use any oaths at all. If you mean ‘yes’, you must say ‘yes’; if you mean ‘no’, say ‘no.’ Otherwise you make yourselves liable to judgement.

Gospel

Mark 10:1-12

What God has united, man must not divide

Jesus came to the district of Judaea and the far side of the Jordan. And again crowds gathered round him, and again he taught them, as his custom was. Some Pharisees approached him and asked, ‘Is it against the law for a man to divorce his wife?’ They were testing him. He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ ‘Moses allowed us’ they said ‘to draw up a writ of dismissal and so to divorce.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘It was because you were so unteachable that he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. This is why a man must leave father and mother, and the two become one body. They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide.’ Back in the house the disciples questioned him again about this, and he said to them, ‘The man who divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.’

Today’s readings are harsh and perhaps incomprehensible to many. For if taken literally then almost all of us will be entering ‘heaven’ maimed, disfigured and handicapped in more than one way. Jesus came however to save us from our sins and the consequences of having sinned against God. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Jn 3:16-17

Does this mean however that we can take His love and mercy for granted to do as we please? Do neglect our brethren in need? Or to share false teachings that lead others astray? For indeed if we refuse to heed the Gospel then we are truly doomed.

Let us strive therefore the eradicate all sin and sinfulness in our lives by turning to Jesus our Lord in the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist so that we can live fully in His love. For through Him alone we are set free! Amen

First reading
James 5:1-6 ·

The Lord hears the cries of those you have cheated

An answer for the rich. Start crying, weep for the miseries that are coming to you. Your wealth is all rotting, your clothes are all eaten up by moths. All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be your own sentence, and eat into your body. It was a burning fire that you stored up as your treasure for the last days. Labourers mowed your fields, and you cheated them – listen to the wages that you kept back, calling out; realise that the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart’s content. It was you who condemned the innocent and killed them; they offered you no resistance.

Gospel
Mark 9:41-50

If your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off

Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.
‘But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck. And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out. And if your foot should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should cause you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where their worm does not die nor their fire go out. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is a good thing, but if salt has become insipid, how can you season it again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.’

Could we have better prepared ourselves when covid hit our shores? How many lost their lives thinking there was a tomorrow for them? Young or old it did not matter the pandemic would have its way! So then should we constantly live in fear of what tomorrow might bring?

Christians live in the hope of new life in Christ, and so death does not have the last say for us who continually strive to turn away from sin and stay faithful the Gospel. Those who fear death are those who are not living life to the full in Jesus! They fear death because they are likely living in sin! “Live now for there is no tomorrow!” they say, and so they continue to indulge in their sinful lifestyles never truly happy, never satisfied.

If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Rm 14:8 Let us therefore continue to live as children so loved by God our Heavenly Father keeping in mind that Jesus our Lord had said, “And other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” Amen
Jn 10:16

First reading
James 4:13-17 ·

You cannot know what will happen tomorrow

Here is the answer for those of you who talk like this: ‘Today or tomorrow, we are off to this or that town; we are going to spend a year there, trading, and make some money.’
You never know what will happen tomorrow: you are no more than a mist that is here for a little while and then disappears. The most you should ever say is: ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we shall still be alive to do this or that.’ But how proud and sure of yourselves you are now! Pride of this kind is always wicked. Everyone who knows what is the right thing to do and doesn’t do it commits a sin.

Gospel
Mark 9:38-40

You must not stop anyone from working miracles in my name

John said to Jesus, ‘Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said, ‘You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.’

On this day of the Feast of the Chair of St Peter, we offer up prayers for Holy Father Pope Francis. Through Him the universal church is united, he holds the teaching authority as Vicar of Christ and entrusted to care for and to feed both sheep and lambs of Christ Jesus our Lord. It our duty therefore as Catholics to pledge our allegiance to our Pope.

Lord Jesus Christ, we ask for Your Blessings upon our Spiritual leader, Pope Francis. May the Holy Spirit be upon him that he may be a brother to all Your faithful and true servant to God our Heavenly Father. Strengthen him daily as he carries out the heavy responsibilities and immense duties of the church with grace, mercy and compassion. Grant him the grace of humility as he strives to bring Your peace, justice and truth into the world. Bestow upon our Holy Father, Your gifts of faith, hope, peace, love so that he unceasingly proclaims the Gospel and Your Holy Name to one and all. Blessed Mother Mary and all the Holy Angels and Saints of God our Heavenly Father, pray for and guide him this and everyday. Amen

First reading
1 Peter 5:1-4 ·

Watch over the flock, not simply as a duty but gladly

Now I have something to tell your elders: I am an elder myself, and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, and with you I have a share in the glory that is to be revealed. Be the shepherds of the flock of God that is entrusted to you: watch over it, not simply as a duty but gladly, because God wants it; not for sordid money, but because you are eager to do it. Never be a dictator over any group that is put in your charge, but be an example that the whole flock can follow. When the chief shepherd appears, you will be given the crown of unfading glory.

Gospel
Matthew 16:13-19

You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’

There is nothing wrong in having ambition in service when we want to rise up to be in a position to do more for the Lord our God and His people. It is self seeking ambition for personal glory that causes disharmony, jealously and rifts in relationships. And indeed there are wolves in sheep clothing among us. With their displays of faux humility which serves only to cover up their many ‘I’s of self glorification. “Praise the Lord, that I did this and I did that for Him!” Is our Lord really being praised? Was it really for His glory?

St James reminds us in today’s first reading that; Peacemakers, when they work for peace, sow the seeds which will bear fruit in holiness. Holiness which allows us to live in the presence of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And through Him we act in love to bring about healing, conversion, liberation, peace, love and joy. For ‘everything is possible for anyone who has faith.’

Let us therefore remain steadfast in our faith and in our prayers. Be strong and vigilant to avoid all that is unholy and unspiritual. So that in all that we say and do, we glorify the Lord by our lives. Amen

First reading

James 3:13-18

Show wisdom and avoid ambition

If there are any wise or learned men among you, let them show it by their good lives, with humility and wisdom in their actions. But if at heart you have the bitterness of jealousy, or a self-seeking ambition, never make any claims for yourself or cover up the truth with lies – principles of this kind are not the wisdom that comes down from above: they are only earthly, animal and devilish. Wherever you find jealousy and ambition, you find disharmony, and wicked things of every kind being done; whereas the wisdom that comes down from above is essentially something pure; it also makes for peace, and is kindly and considerate; it is full of compassion and shows itself by doing good; nor is there any trace of partiality or hypocrisy in it. Peacemakers, when they work for peace, sow the seeds which will bear fruit in holiness.

GOSPEL

Mark 9:14-29

Help the little faith I have!

When Jesus, with Peter, James and John came down from the mountain and rejoined the disciples, they saw a large crowd round them and some scribes arguing with them. The moment they saw him the whole crowd were struck with amazement and ran to greet him. ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ he asked. A man answered him from the crowd, ‘Master, I have brought my son to you; there is a spirit of dumbness in him, and when it takes hold of him it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and goes rigid. And I asked your disciples to cast it out and they were unable to.’ ‘You faithless generation’ he said to them in reply. ‘How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.’ They brought the boy to him, and as soon as the spirit saw Jesus it threw the boy into convulsions, and he fell to the ground and lay writhing there, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ ‘From childhood,’ he replied ‘and it has often thrown him into the fire and into the water, in order to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.’ ‘If you can?’ retorted Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for anyone who has faith.’ Immediately the father of the boy cried out, ‘I do have faith. Help the little faith I have!’ And when Jesus saw how many people were pressing round him, he rebuked the unclean spirit. ‘Deaf and dumb spirit,’ he said ‘I command you: come out of him and never enter him again.’ Then throwing the boy into violent convulsions it came out shouting, and the boy lay there so like a corpse that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’ But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him up, and he was able to stand. When he had gone indoors his disciples asked him privately, ‘Why were we unable to cast it out?’ ‘This is the kind’ he answered ‘that can only be driven out by prayer.’

What we say can build, lift and give praise and glory to God our Heavenly Father. And if we are connected to the Word and strive to live it in our lives then we can be sure that the words that come out from our mouths will be life giving. What flows from our words will be act of love. For we listen and obey our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who speaks to our heart each and every day. We choose blessings over curses in all situations, challenging or otherwise. For we our will, is to glorify the Lord our God by our lives.

Too many are double-minded and give in to sin! They curse when they should bless and engage in gossip and harsh criticism of others. They often give in to rage and murder the spirit! Why? Because the word of God is absent in their lives! Even among these there are false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Matt 7:15-20

O Holy Spirit God, guard and guide my thoughts, words and deeds always. Let me never stray away from You. Your will be done. Amen

First reading
James 3:1-10

The tongue cannot be tamed

Only a few of you, my brothers, should be teachers, bearing in mind that those of us who teach can expect a stricter judgement.
After all, every one of us does something wrong, over and over again; the only man who could reach perfection would be someone who never said anything wrong – he would be able to control every part of himself. Once we put a bit into the horse’s mouth, to make it do what we want, we have the whole animal under our control. Or think of ships: no matter how big they are, even if a gale is driving them, the man at the helm can steer them anywhere he likes by controlling a tiny rudder. So is the tongue only a tiny part of the body, but it can proudly claim that it does great things. Think how small a flame can set fire to a huge forest; the tongue is a flame like that. Among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a whole wicked world in itself: it infects the whole body; catching fire itself from hell, it sets fire to the whole wheel of creation. Wild animals and birds, reptiles and fish can all be tamed by man, and often are; but nobody can tame the tongue – it is a pest that will not keep still, full of deadly poison. We use it to bless the Lord and Father, but we also use it to curse men who are made in God’s image: the blessing and the curse come out of the same mouth. My brothers, this must be wrong.

Gospel
Mark 9:2-13

Jesus was transfigured in their presence

Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain where they could be alone by themselves. There in their presence he was transfigured: his clothes became dazzlingly white, whiter than any earthly bleacher could make them. Elijah appeared to them with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. Then Peter spoke to Jesus: ‘Rabbi,’ he said ‘it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say; they were so frightened. And a cloud came, covering them in shadow; and there came a voice from the cloud, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’ Then suddenly, when they looked round, they saw no one with them any more but only Jesus.
As they came down from the mountain he warned them to tell no one what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They observed the warning faithfully, though among themselves they discussed what ‘rising from the dead’ could mean. And they put this question to him, ‘Why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come first?’ ‘True,’ he said ‘Elijah is to come first and to see that everything is as it should be; yet how is it that the scriptures say about the Son of Man that he is to suffer grievously and be treated with contempt? However, I tell you that Elijah has come and they have treated him as they pleased, just as the scriptures say about him.’

I am thankful and grateful that I had experienced at least for a while what it meant to be Church and in Communion with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in my Parish. What I mean is that under the guidance of a wonderful and visionary Shepherd of our Lord Jesus Christ all of us who were in ministry were formed in the faith and knew one another by name. We would offer each other greetings of peace and often a warm hug. The greetings of peace would be extended to all parishioners and visitors. And slowly as the years passed a number of us even tried to remember the names of the Parishioners who attended the Eucharistic Celebration regularly. So on any given Sunday we would know at least fifty to sixty percent of the congregation by name! There were no distinctions!

If we therefore proclaim that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour then how can we not be in Communion with one another such that we know one another by name? How can we not know one another’s families? Are we really One Body in Him? How could we ever think to lay down our lives for one another if this were the case? Can we say that we love one another as Jesus our Lord loves us?

Jesus our Eucharistic Lord, You died for our sins so that we may live fully in Your love. You give us the most precious gift of Your Body, Blood, soul and divinity in Holy Communion, so that we may be in full Communion with You and with one another through You. Let the bonds of love and familial ties grow as we seek to glorify You ever more deeply by our lives as One Body in You. Amen

First reading

James 2:1-9 ·

God chose the poor but you do not respect them

My brothers, do not try to combine faith in Jesus Christ, our glorified Lord, with the making of distinctions between classes of people. Now suppose a man comes into your synagogue, beautifully dressed and with a gold ring on, and at the same time a poor man comes in, in shabby clothes, and you take notice of the well-dressed man, and say, ‘Come this way to the best seats’; then you tell the poor man, ‘Stand over there’ or ‘You can sit on the floor by my foot-rest.’ Can’t you see that you have used two different standards in your mind, and turned yourselves into judges, and corrupt judges at that?

    Listen, my dear brothers: it was those who are poor according to the world that God chose, to be rich in faith and to be the heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him. In spite of this, you have no respect for anybody who is poor. Isn’t it always the rich who are against you? Isn’t it always their doing when you are dragged before the court? Aren’t they the ones who insult the honourable name to which you have been dedicated? Well, the right thing to do is to keep the supreme law of scripture: you must love your neighbour as yourself; but as soon as you make distinctions between classes of people, you are committing sin, and under condemnation for breaking the Law.

Gospel

Mark 8:27-33

The way you think is not God’s way, but man’s

Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say I am?’ And they told him. ‘John the Baptist,’ they said ‘others Elijah; others again, one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he asked ‘who do you say I am?’ Peter spoke up and said to him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.

    And he began to teach them that the Son of Man was destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again; and he said all this quite openly. Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him. But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, ‘Get behind me, Satan! Because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.’

It is time once again to dwell deeply on the fact that we were created in likeness and image of God our Heavenly Father. And so as His children how are we reflecting Him in all that we say and do to one another? Are we loving as He is loving? Merciful to one another as He is merciful to us? Are we patient as He is patient? Are we Holy as He is Holy?

Or is our image distorted by the ways and wiles of the world? Can we no longer see clearly the face of the Lord our God on our very own faces? Can we not recognise a fellow child of God in our neighbour? How then can we tend to the poor, sick and the downtrodden when we are blind to them?

Forgive me Lord for having sinned against You and my brethren. Open my eyes Lord and let me look upon the world through Your eyes. To see,  tend to and love my fellow brothers and sisters, children of God our Heavenly Father so loved by Him. Amen 

First reading

James 1:19-27

The Word is not only to be listened to, but obeyed

Remember this, my dear brothers: be quick to listen but slow to speak and slow to rouse your temper; God’s righteousness is never served by man’s anger; so do away with all the impurities and bad habits that are still left in you – accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you and can save your souls. But you must do what the word tells you, and not just listen to it and deceive yourselves. To listen to the word and not obey is like looking at your own features in a mirror and then, after a quick look, going off and immediately forgetting what you looked like. But the man who looks steadily at the perfect law of freedom and makes that his habit – not listening and then forgetting, but actively putting it into practice – will be happy in all that he does.

    Nobody must imagine that he is religious while he still goes on deceiving himself and not keeping control over his tongue; anyone who does this has the wrong idea of religion. Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world.

Gospel

Mark 8:22-26

The blind man was cured and could see everything distinctly

Jesus and his disciples came to Bethsaida, and some people brought to him a blind man whom they begged him to touch. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Then putting spittle on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked, ‘Can you see anything?’ The man, who was beginning to see, replied, ‘I can see people; they look like trees to me, but they are walking about.’ Then he laid his hands on the man’s eyes again and he saw clearly; he was cured, and he could see everything plainly and distinctly. And Jesus sent him home, saying, ‘Do not even go into the village.’

Make no mistake! We who are disciples of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ do not follow Him in blind faith. We take up our cross to follow Him knowing full well the trails and challenges that await us. We do so because we know that He is the way, the truth and the life. Our faith grows stronger each and every day in His love, through His Word and listening to His will for us in His presence. Our faith has length, breadth, depth and height for the Lord our God’s wisdom and His immense love for us is immeasurable. And so we strive to see the world through His eyes and with His heart.

For God is good and pure of heart; and all that is evil and tainted does not come from Him. While we entrust ourselves fully in His loving care and protection, we must put on the whole armour of God, so that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Eph 6:11-12

Victory is our inheritance, for we have been baptised and belong to the kingdom of God by receiving Christ in our life. We desire victory, as we await readily anticipating it to come on our way and then we claim it through the word of God, “You give me your shield of victory and your right hand sustains me…” (Ps. 18:35). Jesus assures us, “…Take courage, I have overcome the world.” (Jn. 16:33). Amen

First reading

James 1:12-18 ·

Temptation is not from God

Happy the man who stands firm when trials come. He has proved himself, and will win the prize of life, the crown that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

    Never, when you have been tempted, say, ‘God sent the temptation’; God cannot be tempted to do anything wrong, and he does not tempt anybody. Everyone who is tempted is attracted and seduced by his own wrong desire. Then the desire conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it too has a child, and the child is death.

    Make no mistake about this, my dear brothers: it is all that is good, everything that is perfect, which is given us from above; it comes down from the Father of all light; with him there is no such thing as alteration, no shadow of a change. By his own choice he made us his children by the message of the truth so that we should be a sort of first-fruits of all that he had created.

Gospel

Mark 8:14-21

Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod

The disciples had forgotten to take any food and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Then he gave them this warning, ‘Keep your eyes open; be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’ And they said to one another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ And Jesus knew it, and he said to them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you not yet understand? Have you no perception? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear? Or do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ They answered, ‘Twelve.’ ‘And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ And they answered, ‘Seven.’ Then he said to them, ‘Are you still without perception?’

Jesus is the ‘sign’ for the whole world of God our Father’s love and mercy for us. He is the way, the truth and the life! What more can we ask for? When He makes Himself known and present in our lives when we turn our hearts fully to Him and follow His commandments. He walks alongside us as we carry our cross to follow Him. We know Him, we hear His voice and we follow.

“But a person who has doubts is like the waves thrown up in the sea when the wind drives. That sort of person, in two minds, wavering between going different ways, must not expect that the Lord will give him anything.” James 1:6-7

Thank you Jesus for the gift of Holy Mother Church “Sancta Mater Ecclesia” that nourishes us, keeps us grounded, protects, guides and shows us the way into our Heavenly Inheritance. Amen

A reading from

the Letter of Saint James1:1-11

From James, servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Greetings to the twelve tribes of the Dispersion.

My brothers, you will always have your trials but, when they come, try to treat them as a happy privilege; you understand that your faith is only put to the test to make you patient, but patience too is to have its practical results so that you will become fully-developed, complete, with nothing missing.

If there is any one of you who needs wisdom, he must ask God, who gives to all freely and ungrudgingly; it will be given to him. But he must ask with faith, and no trace of doubt, because a person who has doubts is like the waves thrown up in the sea when the wind drives. That sort of person, in two minds, wavering between going different ways, must not expect that the Lord will give him anything.

It is right for the poor brother to be proud of his high rank, and the rich one to be thankful that he has been humbled, because riches last no longer than the flowers in the grass; the scorching sun comes up, and the grass withers, the flower falls; what looked so beautiful now disappears. It is the same with the rich man: his business goes on; he himself perishes.

The word of the Lord.

A reading from

the holy Gospel according to Mark 8:11-13

The Pharisees came up and started a discussion with Jesus; they demanded of him a sign from heaven, to test him. And with a sigh that came straight from the heart he said, “Why does this generation demand a sign? I tell you solemnly, no sign shall be given to this generation.” And leaving them again and re-embarking, he went away to the opposite shore.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Dedication of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd – Feast 

Readings at Mass

First reading

1 Kings 8:22-23,27-30 ·

Gospel

Matthew 16:13-19

The evil one wants to prevent you from being present at Holy Eucharist for He knows “If this people continues to go up to the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, the people’s heart will turn back again to their Lord” If we partake of the Holy Sacrifice then our hearts, minds and souls are One with Him in Holy Communion!

So what does the evil one and his minions who prowl through the earth seeking the ruin of souls do? They whisper in your ear….”Oh it’s raining no need to get wet in trying to get to Church, God will understand.” “Online mass is good enough and it not meant for only those who have a legitimate reason for not attending in person,  dispensation has been given for all!” “Too troublesome to register at a Parish! Too difficult to book for a slot to attend Mass!” “Too far to travel” “Too risky in these times of the pandemic.”

Yet what did Jesus say to us? “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day” Jn 6:35, 54

In His great mercy and love, He died for us to give us life. The Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith it is the supreme gift of His love for us. For the Lord gives of Himself to us, body, blood, soul and divinity. Amen

First reading

1 Kings 12:26-32,13:33-34

The prophecy of the separation of Israel

Jeroboam thought to himself, ‘As things are, the kingdom will revert to the House of David. If this people continues to go up to the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, the people’s heart will turn back again to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will put me to death.’ So the king thought this over and then made two golden calves; he said to the people, ‘You have been going up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, Israel; these brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ He set up one in Bethel and the people went in procession all the way to Dan in front of the other. He set up the temple of the high places and appointed priests from ordinary families, who were not of the sons of Levi. Jeroboam also instituted a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth of the month, like the feast that was kept in Judah, and he went up to the altar. That was how he behaved in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made; and at Bethel he put the priests of the high places he had established.

    Jeroboam did not give up his wicked ways but went on appointing priests for the high places from the common people. He consecrated as priests of the high places any who wished to be. Such conduct made the House of Jeroboam a sinful House, and caused its ruin and extinction from the face of the earth.

Gospel

Mark 8:1-10

The feeding of the four thousand

A great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat. So Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, ‘I feel sorry for all these people; they have been with me for three days now and have nothing to eat. If I send them off home hungry they will collapse on the way; some have come a great distance.’ His disciples replied, ‘Where could anyone get bread to feed these people in a deserted place like this?’ He asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ ‘Seven’ they said. Then he instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and handed them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them among the crowd. They had a few small fish as well, and over these he said a blessing and ordered them to be distributed also. They ate as much as they wanted, and they collected seven basketfuls of the scraps left over. Now there had been about four thousand people. He sent them away and immediately, getting into the boat with his disciples, went to the region of Dalmanutha.

Open my eyes Lord that I may see You more clearly, and through Your eyes may I look upon my brethren with Your tender merciful love.

Open my ears Lord to hear Your living Word and Your Will for me, for Your Word is life; by listening and understanding may I in turn hear and attend to the cries of Your flock. To lead them to new life in You.

Open my mouth Lord so that I may sing Your praises, Bless and honour You through thanksgiving and fondest gratitude; For having received Your Word fully in my heart, I share the joy of the Gospel with all.

Open my heart Lord, to love as You love; Sanctify me Lord and let me consecrate myself fully to Your most Sacred Heart. Amen

First reading

1 Kings 11:29-32,12:19

Solomon is unfaithful; the Lord moderates his wrath

One day when Jeroboam had gone out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh accosted him on the road. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak; the two of them were in the open country by themselves. Ahijah took the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve strips, saying to Jeroboam, ‘Take ten strips for yourself, for thus the Lord speaks, the God of Israel, “I am going to tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hand and give ten tribes to you. He shall keep one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.’

    And Israel has been separated from the House of David until the present day.

Gospel

Mark 7:31-37

‘He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak’

Returning from the district of Tyre, Jesus went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, right through the Decapolis region. And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue with spittle. Then looking up to heaven he sighed; and he said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ And his ears were opened, and the ligament of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly. And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted, the more widely they published it. Their admiration was unbounded. ‘He has done all things well,’ they said ‘he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.’

Are we easily swayed by the ways of the world and their beliefs? Why have many left the faith? Perhaps some were looking for a belief system inline with their very own thoughts, logic and reasoning. Others perhaps a less rigid less stifling one with hopes of prosperity, health and wealth.

The underlining truth in these and all others is that they did not have a real relationship with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For they would not have easily forgotten the great love and mercy received from Him. The miracles seen and unseen in their lives and in that of their families!

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.(Isaiah 55:8) He the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. (PS 145:8) He is Lord of all nations and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Romans 2:11-13 He will give answer when we cry out to Him as the psalmist says “In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.” Ps 18:6

Thank You Jesus for loving me, I adore and Bless You. For by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world. Amen

First reading

1 Kings 11:4-13

For the sake of my servant David, I will leave you one tribe

When Solomon grew old his wives swayed his heart to other gods; and his heart was not wholly with the Lord his God as his father David’s had been. Solomon became a follower of Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and of Milcom, the Ammonite abomination. He did what was displeasing to the Lord, and was not a wholehearted follower of the Lord, as his father David had been. Then it was that Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the god of Moab on the mountain to the east of Jerusalem, and to Milcom the god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrifice to their gods.

    The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from the Lord the God of Israel who had twice appeared to him and who had then forbidden him to follow other gods; but he did not carry out the Lord’s order. The Lord therefore said to Solomon, ‘Since you behave like this and do not keep my covenant or the laws I laid down for you, I will most surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. For your father David’s sake, however, I will not do this during your lifetime, but will tear it out of your son’s hands. Even so, I will not tear the whole kingdom from him. For the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen, I will leave your son one tribe.’

Gospel

Mark 7:24-30

The astuteness of the Syro-Phoenician woman

Jesus left Gennesaret and set out for the territory of Tyre. There he went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not pass unrecognised. A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him straightaway and came and fell at his feet. Now the woman was a pagan, by birth a Syrophoenician, and she begged him to cast the devil out of her daughter. And he said to her, ‘The children should be fed first, because it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ But she spoke up: ‘Ah yes, sir,’ she replied ‘but the house-dogs under the table can eat the children’s scraps.’ And he said to her, ‘For saying this, you may go home happy: the devil has gone out of your daughter.’ So she went off to her home and found the child lying on the bed and the devil gone.

Like me I am sure you have seen holy men and women who inspire us by their faith and obedience to the Lord our God. They are joyful of heart, gentle and merciful. Then there those who give the appearance of being Holy, they are in the centre of what is going on but on occasion their words and actions are baffling to those who look up to them and some are even scandalized by them. Their very own children may be far from God our Heavenly Father.  That being said let us examine our own lives, how are we glorifying the Lord by the way we live our lives?

For we should be living sacraments of the Lord our God leading others to the knowledge, wisdom, love, peace and joy of Him who desires an intimate relationship with all His children. We are and should always be the outward signs of His inward grace in our lives!

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Ps139:23

Purify and cleanse me from within so that I may love and serve fully in Your love. Amen

First reading

1 Kings 10:1-10 ·

Solomon prays to the Lord in the Temple

The fame of Solomon having reached the queen of Sheba, she came to test him with difficult questions. She brought immense riches to Jerusalem with her, camels laden with spices, great quantities of gold, and precious stones. On coming to Solomon, she opened her mind freely to him; and Solomon had an answer for all her questions, not one of them was too obscure for the king to expound. When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, the palace he had built, the food at his table, the accommodation for his officials, the organisation of his staff and the way they were dressed, his cup-bearers, and the holocausts he offered in the Temple of the Lord, it left her breathless, and she said to the king, ‘What I heard in my own country about you and your wisdom was true, then! Until I came and saw it with my own eyes I could not believe what they told me, but clearly they told me less than half: for wisdom and prosperity you surpass the report I heard. How happy your wives are! How happy are these servants of yours who wait on you always and hear your wisdom! Blessed be the Lord your God who has granted you his favour, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because of the Lord’s everlasting love for Israel, he has made you king to deal out law and justice.’ And she presented the king with a hundred and twenty talents of gold and great quantities of spices and precious stones; no such wealth of spices ever came again as those given to King Solomon by the queen of Sheba.

Gospel

Mark 7:14-23

It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean

Jesus called the people to him and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to this.’

    When he had gone back into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, ‘Do you not understand either? Can you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot make him unclean, because it does not go into his heart but through his stomach and passes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he pronounced all foods clean.) And he went on, ‘It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.’

We want mercy from the Lord our God but are far from merciful ourselves. We seek perfection in others but again are far from perfect ourselves! Yet we are quick criticise and judge others according to our standards let alone the standards of the world. Are we surprised then then the Lord our God does not dwell in our hearts? When are our hearts are far from Him and so far from our brethren.

He had shown us that we should act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your Him. Are we then living the Beatitudes Jesus taught us? If we seek perfection then we must know that we are perfected through Christ alone.

Lord Jesus I seek to worship You in body, mind and Spirit. Cleanse and purify me that I might be white as snow. So that I may praise and honour you in word and deed all the days of my life. Amen

First reading

1 Kings 8:22-23,27-30 ·

‘Listen to the prayer your servant makes in this place’

In the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord and, stretching out his hands towards heaven, said, ‘O Lord, God of Israel, not in heaven above nor on earth beneath is there such a God as you, true to your covenant and your kindness towards your servants when they walk wholeheartedly in your way. Yet will God really live with men on the earth? Why, the heavens and their own heavens cannot contain you. How much less this house that I have built! Listen to the prayer and entreaty of your servant, O Lord my God; listen to the cry and to the prayer your servant makes to you today. Day and night let your eyes watch over this house, over this place of which you have said, “My name shall be there.” Listen to the prayer that your servant will offer in this place.

    ‘Hear the entreaty of your servant and of Israel your people as they pray in this place. From heaven where your dwelling is, hear; and, as you hear, forgive.’

Gospel

Mark 7:1-13

You get round the commandment of God to preserve your own tradition

The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. For the Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow; and on returning from the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes. So these Pharisees and scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?’ He answered, ‘It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of scripture:

This people honours me only with lip-service,

while their hearts are far from me.

The worship they offer me is worthless,

the doctrines they teach are only human regulations.

You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.’ And he said to them, ‘How ingeniously you get round the commandment of God in order to preserve your own tradition! For Moses said: Do your duty to your father and your mother, and, Anyone who curses father or mother must be put to death. But you say, “If a man says to his father or mother: Anything I have that I might have used to help you is Corban (that is, dedicated to God), then he is forbidden from that moment to do anything for his father or mother.” In this way you make God’s word null and void for the sake of your tradition which you have handed down. And you do many other things like this.’