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Showing posts from June, 2016

The Holy Spirit .

Probably the most misused and misunderstood member of the Trinity is the Holy Spirit.  The Disciples were warned not to start their work after the Ascension until the Holy Spirit had come and turned their knowledge into a deep understanding of the truths behind their knowledge.  For example as a child I learned in my Catechism - Where is jesus Christ and the answer was - As God Jesus Christ is everywhere but as God made man, he is in heaven and in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.    Well I understood this a little since everyone was receiving Holy Communion so reverently but the depth of my knowledge was not there.   I had to grow in Faith so that I could look in wonder and kneel in Adoration as with Adulthood the full meaning became clear - "Behold I am with you always even till the end of the World"   My teacher in this growth of Faith was the Holy Spirit, the Guardian and Teacher of Truth.  Of course my last sentence is unfortunately a controversial one among those who

The Same Old Tired and Weary Message of Community.

Yet again we have a Parish Priest returning to his Parish full of not just Community, but Communities  within, you no doubt have guessed it, within a Community.   We have been hearing about Communities since the 1970's   Every new priest comes up with it as some new Master Plan for a Parish   And of course through these Communities we are all going to show our love for Jesus.   If only these communities with a community would have two scripture quotes in front of them.   "If you love me KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS'  or perhaps "Not everyone who cries to me Lord, Lord , shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my Father in Heaven. So in the teachings of Christ there are values that Jesus want us to follow in order to build the Kingdom of Heaven.   These values do not change and in todays world were there a real examination of what is happening to our children because the Church does not have the vision of Christ nor try to build his Kingdom there w

Mary, Our Mother

One of the wonderful things about the Father is that in his creation of family he did not leave us  without a Mother.  The Father saw all things that would happen in his creation and how despite his love many would sin against Him and before creation he already had a plan.  Mary was part of that plan. That is why she is called the Star of the Morning.  She was always in God's plan for God knew that when she was conceived without sin, she would be the one who would keep loving him and never rebel.    So in Genesis the prophecies to the serpent "I will put enmity between Thee and the woman and between her seed and yours, she will crush your head and you will lie in wait for her heel".   When her demotion started in the 1970's much of scripture was changed to help the process, so there was a reluctance to follow the meaning of putting enmity between the serpent and the woman and there was a sudden unexplainable change of gender which made the passage nonsense.   Just as

GOD OUR LOVING FATHER

"Lord teach us to pray"   Jesus answered "When you pray say this  "Our Father, who art in heaven......?   And again Jesus told his disciples "Call no man Father, you have one Father in Heaven.....?     The Father of a family is a very important figure on whom so much depends.   He is the one who is the husband, the protector of his wife, and he has the task of providing for the family with food and housing, and protecting the family from its enemies.   He is the strong one, the one that  children look up to in their lives, and instills love into the family unit. Yet Jesus is asking us to look at God as the overall Father    Because He is first in the provision of life He knew us as his creation before time began and formed us as an act of Love to know Him, love Him and serve him in this world and to be happy with him forever in the next as the Penny Catechism tells us.   I often ask myself why he thought up me, such an ungrateful and useless creature.  But the

Our Family in Heaven and in Purgatory

If indeed the Catholic Church is a family with very close ties what about our Family in Heaven and our Family in Purgatory?   Every week we profess at Mass our belief in the Communion of Saints yet never have I heard a sermon on this teaching.    In the Penny Catechism we used to talk about this communion as the Church militant on earth, the Church suffering in Purgatory, and the Church triumphant in Heaven.   In other words the ties that bind us as a family are not broken when we die but endure.   Thus with the saints in Heaven I still have that very special relationship of a close brother or sister and I can look at their lives and be inspired by how they overcame adversity and remained faithful to our brother Jesus.   And I know from what Jesus said about a greater joy in heaven over one sinner who does penance that they are still close to us and indeed cheering us on.   And I can never understand why when we ask people to pray for us on earth there is some thought that if they are

Jesus We Need our Mother

When devotion to Mary was driven out of the Church as part of the Ecumenical endeavourIt it was as though a pillar had been removed and the whole edifice fell down.   There was an old saying "Those who deny the Mother end up denying the Son" and this became a prophecy fulfilled.   Community was forced upon us but if we take Jesus seriously, and few do nowadays, what Jesus taught was family.   Community just means people coming together for a common cause but there are no binding ties between members.   In a Community we can say, yes, everyone is welcome but we cannot make someone who is not family a member of our family - at least not in the human field.     A family is the place, or should be a place, where we learn love through the love expressed to one another by a father and mother.  And in such a family the child grows in obedience because of the security in knowing the love of a father and mother.   But how can a Church become a family?   By the grace in Baptism we are

Give Unto Caesar the Things that Are Caesar's and to God the Things that Are God's

I am engaged at the moment in politics.   I am unashamedly a member of UKIP and I want an end to the Capitalism of Europe and the Federal Government that is being built there, which is no longer denied. I am an Environmentalist.   I find it appalling that the uncurbed immigration from Europe now in its thousands is actually being welcomed by some, although it puts a great strain on housing, schools, and public services.  What has happened in the Catholic Church is that since faith is now pitched more towards humanism than God many people feel guilt if they are not seen to be open to anyone arriving rather than asking questions of common sense.   They are even being called fascists in at least one Catholic Newspaper as an  invasion of Biblical Proportions caused fear and panic in Europe.     The truth is of course more to do with fear than racism, yet as hypocrites build their popularity in criticising others and raising their own self esteem the situation is getting out of control and