Eureka

EUREKA By Deaghlán Fionn

Eureka

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Today there is a growing amount of confusion regarding what is the truth regarding Jesus and God. Irreverent books plays and films that set out to attack the Christian church just for the glamorisation of a story have caused a lot of this. The danger of this is that there is an element of truth in what is being said but the majority of the tale is purely fiction. At this moment in time the latest film to cause a lot of confusion is the Da Vinci code. So in response to what I see as an all out attack upon the Christian faith and as I am a Catholic I become concerned that Holy Mother Church should be attacked in such a manner. I see my silence as an acceptance of the entire dribble that at the moment is being spurted out. This is not supposed to be the greatest work of theology in the whole of Christendom. This is for reading and provoking some thought that may bring us closer to the Lord our God. The faith of our fathers long ago lead them into hideous deaths and torture because their faith was so strong. They knew the importance of their faith and understood the supreme sacrifice that was made for them by Our Lord and Saviour. Today it would appear as we live in a more materialistic world we seem to have lost the qualities that were once held families together and the moral codes that governed life, spiritually a lot of us to day are vacant and as every one knows nature has an abhorrence for a vacuum and this void that has been left by our lack of spiritual awareness has to be filled. I believe that we are all looking for something that we can fill this void with. The sad case is that this emptiness has been the reason for both the moral decline as well as the social illnesses that we see in our society today. Looking around we see an increase of murder, rape, drug abuse and crime of all sorts, the elderly are afraid to go out of their homes and the churches are all locked and made secure not only at night but during the day. We now live with a siege mentality and I believe that the greatest contributing factors in all of this are the lack of spiritual faith. Because of this lack of spiritual faith there are those that feel attacking the old the infirm the young has no consequences oh maybe they will get caught and have to spend a little time in jail but that is all. You cannot live life without a moral guide you cannot reject God and expect to live a truly fruitful life. I have seen young people who every Sunday had to go to church and they were doing well, they may not have been the greatest of academics but there were no serious problems from them. Then for some reason the rebellious years arrive and they stop going to church, they give up on God and walk away from Him and that is generally the time that everything starts to go down hill. I have also witnessed the total opposite, I have seen people who having been away from God for so long their life in turmoil and once they have gone back to their faith things have improved. In today’s world we are so used to being lied to by the state that we no longer know how to recognise the truth, look at all the II

conspiracy theories ranging from J.F.K to 911 and the war in the middle east there are in the world today many of which are very credible is it no wonder that we start to suspect cover-ups where ever we look. People are looking every were to fill the void in their lives many are turning from the paths of truth only to be deceived by the so-called new age religions that have very little to offer. Pope Pious XI said that Catholic action was needed. He believed that it was not enough just to attend Mass and receive the sacraments and then go home and forget about our Catholic faith for a week. Pope Pious XI believed that we should take the glorious message of the Gospel out with us everywhere. This would be in line with the directives given by Jesus to the apostles when He instructed them to go out and preach the word. It must be our solemn duty to teach others our faith. We are all Disciples of Christ and as His Disciples we need to do more than just leave it up to others to read the bible and work it out for themselves. The Da Vinci code is a mixture of very little fact and a lot of fiction presented in a way that leads to total confusion by the ordinary layperson. The whole story unfolds in a gripping murder mystery not unlike the novels by Arthur Colen-Doyles James Bond. But it fails to bring forward any revelations that are going to shock the Catholic Church if not the Whole of Christendom itself. A lot of media hype surrounded the film but it fails to do what it reported to do. The problem is that to those who are young or not strong within their faith it can cause confusion and questioning. This should be taken and used to strengthen and renew our faith. Opus Dei comes under fire as an organisation that seem to be charged with holding back the so called truth about the church and they in fact have assassins at work in the back ground. Not to far removed from the Supreme Soviet and the work of the K.G.B. and those that James Bond would have come into contact with. But the fact that Opus Dei is not a monastic order and has not hit men is ignored. It would be impossible for Opus Dei to be involved in such activates as that would be against the doctrines of the faith. Opus Dei cannot carry out evil even if it would result in what may be perceived as good. Opus Dei is also made up of lay people as well as priests. The idea of mortification of the flesh is a practice that is very old and is not encouraged today, when we do our daily work and we are tired we long to stop work but when we go that extra mile we have mortified our flesh. The strange thing is that so much attention is been given to this book as if it was of important liturgical significance. The questions that must be asked before looking at the work is what has made us all question our III

faith, why are we not up in arms about what is being reported in this book are we so indifferent that we just sit back and accept what ever any one has to say about Our Lord and Saviour. The Muslim community straight away came out and condemned the work as an act of blasphemy and it offended their perceptions of God. Yet we remained silent, no talk of heresy or blasphemy was heard. I suppose the greatest tragedy is in the fact that a book that is clearly a work of fiction and a book that has borrowed most of its ideas from other sources and with little regard for fact has caused such attention. Over the last few weeks I have heard such a great deal such as Jesus was Married and had children, the next hypothesis was that the sour wine that was mixed with fanciness and given to Jesus when He was upon the cross placed Jesus into a coma like state; similar to Shakespeare’s Romeo when he was planning to run away with Juliet and so Jesus did not die, In fact that He did not even live. I have heard why are there no miracles today? Why was all this so long ago and not today? This is supposed to prove the non-existence of God. The Supper

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We can see the table laid out for the Last Supper but the table is in a very formal western style not what would have occurred in the Middle East at that time. Apart from John looking girl like so do most of the others that are included in the painting even with a beard they look very girl like. Note the perspective is very odd as we can see both under the table as well as the top of the table. Is this painting proof that there is a conspiracy? Most implausible…

If we look at all these one by one we can see that they do not hold much credibility. If it were in fact the case that Jesus was married why is there no mention of this event contained within the Gospels, surely this event would be recorded within at least one if not all four gospels. There was some tradition of Rabbis being celibate and after all some of the apostles were married so why no mention of Jesus and his wife or family? Apart from the fact that it never took place. Jesus was aware of his duel personage, that of God as well as man. Jesus would have known that the possibility of having a wife and family would not exist. Remember that at all times Jesus was subject to His Fathers will even onto death on a cross. So according to the Da Vinci code Jesus was IV

married to Mary Magdalene and had a child and this was the Holy Grail the fact that the idea of the Holy Grail is a new phenomena and it was invented in the stories of knights and heroic deeds . The only evidence for this supposed Holy Grail being Mary Magdalene is that Da Vinci did not paint a chalice upon the table in his work the Last supper. There seems to be just one problem with this evidence and that is the startling fact that has been over looked, Da Vinci’s last supper is a painting and not a photo and so the painting can not be used as evidence as it is the recreation of an event by an artist that was not actually their at the time of the event apart from the fact that the painting is based upon Johns account of the last supper and it is at the end of the meal. There has also been a lot made that John looks very feminine but then so was a painting of John the Baptist that Da Vinci also painted. There is evidence that Da Vinci liked the look of pretty young men. There is also the story that Da Vinci was painting the Last supper and it was taking such a long time to complete. The question, is it ready yet was asked so many times, when finally the painting was completed there were cries of how good the chalice looked every one thought that it was so life like that it looked as if they could just pick up the chalice. Upon hearing this Da Vinci painted the Chalice out, his reason for this was the fact that Christ was to be the central image in the painting and not the chalice. The argument that the church painted Mary Magdalene as the prostitute so that she would not hold a central role with in the Church is strange. Yes it is true that Mary Magdalene has been associated with the prostitute but this is due to a miss interpretation as well as a simple mistake that was made. Mary Magdalene played a lead role within the early church. After all she was the apostle to the apostles, it was Mary Magdalene who first saw the risen Christ. It was she who was sent to tell the others. As for the reference to the Gospel according to Mary Magdalene this Gnostic text rather than inferring Jesus as a nice man actually states that Jesus was indeed Divine and there is no questioning of Jesus’ divinity. This is also the same for the Gospel according to Philip were the suggestion is made that Jesus had chosen Mary Magdalene over Peter as the head of the Church and what followed was a suppression of the truth as the Church did not wish to have women in charge but rather the control and power laid with men. These events simply do not exist and it is easy to take some obscure text that the general population has neither read nor heard of and place ones own interpretations onto even the Gospel of Thomas although not canonical as is the other books mentioned earlier ( the Gospels according to Mary Magdalene and Philip) would contradict much of Dan Browns ideas. I personally feel that Dan Brown needs to be careful as we are warned that we must not change what is written in the

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bible but even more serious is the fact that he denies the Holy Spirit by denying the Divinity of Christ. So what of the sour wine that was offered to Our Lord and Saviour described at times as vinegar but more likely to be a cheep wine that was soaked in a sponge and passed up to Him on a hyssop stick, (John 19.29) could this have been a drug that would cause Jesus to go into a coma? This would seem unlikely due to the reports that are given about the final moments on the cross. Jesus was on the cross for some six hours, hanging by his wrists with nails driven through His wrists as well as His ankles. The pressure upon his respiratory system would have been so immense, slowly suffocating and as the body willing to live pulling against the nails through the wrists either way immense pain would be surging through out the already beaten body. The Romans also placed a peg that the condemned could rest upon and remove the pressure from their respiratory system. This was of course done to prolong the suffering, what a choice to have prolonged agony or a quicker agonising death by suffocation due to your own weight. To speed up the process of death the Romans would break the legs of the condemned this would stop them from taking a rest bite upon the peg. Now if there was to be a conspiracy by the closest friends of Our Lord to beat the crucifixion by drugging Our Lord and making it appear that He had died then unquestionably it would have been better to administer the potion before a period of six hours had passed. It is true that at times the wealthy women would attend crucifixion and administer a mix of wine and a grain of frankincense to dull the pain of crucifixion, this having been offered to our lord was refused. Who would leave their friend and master a person that is loved and respected to suffer for so long when the solution to the problem is at hand especially when we consider the fact that His Mother was also at the foot of the cross? Then there is the report that a lance was plunged into Our Lords side, and from this flowed blood and water. Now as I understand it that this can only take place when the body that has suffered a traumatic event has died and a process of separation has taken place when then blood separates from the plasma. We can truly say that Our Lord has suffered and died from a broken heart. Now no matter how much of this supposed anaesthetic Jesus could have taken there is no anaesthetic that could have allowed Him to feel pain and at the same time allow the blood and plasma to separate. Jesus did die upon the cross. The Gnostics say that the world is an evil place and God could never have made the world and a lesser being than God a sort of demigod made the world. Now Jesus they would argue was not real, real in the sense of VI

you or I but only a spirit; an apparition of sorts they would say that he would leave no footprints where he walked; For if He was God the Gnostics would also say then he could feel no pain and at the same time he could not be contained within the body because the body is corruptible. So they would have Jesus as a spirit in the form of man but not man and not God, just a demigod. The Gnostics were split as they also said that Jesus was a good man and the spirit of God entered into him at the time of His baptism. This starts to become a sort of adoptionist theology. The spirit of God can not suffer death and pain on the cross and so left Jesus at the time of his being upon the cross, up to this point Jesus would have been impervious to pain. This they say (the Gnostics) would be the reason why Jesus cried out my God my God why have you forsaken me Matt 28). The fact that the line that He used was from one of the psalms (psalm 21) and it would be a prayer that every Jewish child would have almost certainly learnt at their mothers side as they are growing up, just as today a child learns to pray the Our Father or the Hail Mary and of course prayer before bed, with the now as I lie down to sleep I pray to God my soul to keep, and if I die before I awake I pray to God my soul to take from their mother. But the psalm that was quoted by Our Lord is a description of the entire events that are taking place at the end of the psalm ends with a glorious triumph. At this the prophecy had been fulfilled and those that mocked him fell into a silence for they were part of the prophetic description that was given to us by the psalmist so long ago. Now Our Lord did not leave this as his final words for this would have left us without hope in the total compassion and never ending love of God, but He left us with the final words of “it is finished.” This is one word in Greek it is the shout of victory a cry that comes from the one who has vanquished his foes, one that has gone through the battle and come to the throne in magnificent victory. Important events then took place at the moment of Jesus’ death the curtain that hid the Holy of Holies was torn in two (Mark 15.38) revealing the inner sanctum; no longer was there to be anything separating us from God. The sky suddenly turned dark as the sun disappeared; Jesus was after all the light of the world (John12.46). A centurion that was on duty confirmed, that truly this man was the Son of God (Mathew 27.54). Jesus was a man as well as God. The dualism of Jesus is a very hard thing to comprehend. To understand that one can be God and yet man stretches the mind. We are constricted by our own ideas and thoughts and emotions we think as a human and not as God we could never think on that level. Jesus always strived for perfection. He knew that the law was not some thing that though being enforced we could live by as it was being interpreted. Jesus said that he was the fulfilment of the law. The VII

laws regarding the Sabbath were excessively complicated. So Jesus looked at the law of the Sabbath from a different point of view. Simply put the Sabbath was made for us and not that we were made for the Sabbath. The idea that no one can work on the Sabbath, as it was a day of rest caused immense ponderings for the scribes. They had to work out what was work, what was travel, and what is a burden. But if we think for a moment about the Sabbath are babies born on the Sabbath? If life can be given as well as taken by God on the Sabbath, then from the preposition that that all life comes from God and yet at the same time life is being created and given as well as taken on the Sabbath then one must reason that the Sabbath must be flexible. Surely the act of creation is on going and never ending. Think of the words of the hymn Morning has broken. There are a few lines contained with in the hymn that say, “Morning has broken like the first morning. God’s recreation of the first day.” You see every day is like the renewal of that first day when God created the world and all that is with in it. And so we see clearly that the work of God never ends even upon the Sabbath. This was the reason that Jesus would heal on the Sabbath. Looking at the Gospel of John it is clear that John has made it clear from the outset that Jesus was God and that He was the reason for every thing being made. Johns Gospel starts out with the proclamation that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God (John 1) and that through him everything was made. John had to find a way of counteracting the heresies of the Gnostics at the time, and at the same time use a terminology that both Greeks and Jews could understand. John used the phrase “the word” (Logos); a word was more than what our understanding in the west is of a word. A word was a living thing; a word was something that could not be ignored nor removed once said it was something that stayed for all time. The Word of God was what caused creation to be and it was the word that was understood to be God. Even today we hear people speak and we look on in awe as the words they are saying because of the words they use, how many times have we been moved by the use of words? We say they are powerful words that were used and the words stay within us etched upon our hearts. Jesus knew the power of words and metaphors Jesus made use of parables to illustrate a point that had to be put over. This was a common among the Jewish people at the time when an essential message or point had to be made clear and got over they would repeat the same point but in a different way. Now John had witnessed the works of Jesus at first hand. He would have been a young man at the time living and working as a fisherman VIII

with his brother James who would have been in partnership with Simon who was to be called Peter meaning the rock (Luke5.10). James and Johns mother Salome was Mary’s sister who was the mother of Jesus. James and John are often referred to as the sons of Zebedee; Our Lord called them the sons of thunder (Mark 3.17). These were fishermen used to harsh conditions and hard work made harder by the taxes that had to be paid to Rome who were occupying Palestine at the time. Now seeing that John and James were cousins of Jesus they were also at times referred to as brothers of Jesus. This is not unusual for they would have been seen as a second brother this term is used for cousins in parts of the world today. Remember that Mary Immaculate after the annunciation left to her aunts home; were we see one of the most beautiful prayers contained within the bible, today we call this prayer the magnificat; (Luke 1.46) a prayer of humility a prayer of servitude, a prayer of the glorifying God in accepting the will of God and not thinking about the possible consequences that could fall upon her by accepting the will of God. Mary did not say oh that’s just great now how am I going to tell others that I am to carry the Son of God that I am with child and not married. No Mary accepted it all, as the will of God and Mary understood obedience as well as humility. When Mary finally arrived at the home of her cousin Elizabeth it was only to find that she also was with child as the Angel Gabriel had foretold, and that child was John the Baptist. Now when Elizabeth had been told that her prays had been answered and that she was to bear a son even though she was advanced in years she was full of joy, her husband Zechariah was elected to burn incense at the temple; for Zechariah was a priest and was at the temple at the time, did not believe that such an event would be possible for his wife had been barren for many years and was struck dumb until the child was born and had to rely upon signs and signals to communicate. After the birth of John the Baptist the family friends and temple officials were all gathered to hear what the baby was to be called. Zechariah took a tablet and wrote the name John would be the name that the child is to be known as. Then his voice returned as the things that had been fulfilled as told by Gabriel, he gave thanks and praise to God. John the Baptist lived in the wilderness surviving on locusts and wild honey dressed in a homespun camel hair shirt with a belt around his waist; this being the dress of a prophet (2 kings 1.8; Zech. 13.4). John the Baptist who was possibly orphaned at an early age and cared for by the community in Qumran was later to declare himself as a voice crying in the wilderness, one that was sent to make the way for the coming Messiah. (Mathew13.1) IX

The child we are told leapt in Elizabeth’s womb upon hearing the salutations of Mary. Immediately Elizabeth recognised the nature of the child that Mary was carrying and the special place that Mary had within the world, for Elizabeth greets Mary saying “Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb”, (Luke 1.41) Remember that Mary was human conceived through the Immaculate Conception, Mary was not God nor a Demigod but the Mother of Our Lord, who was God the second personage of the Trinity and Man, Mary holds a very special place in heaven as well upon earth as she was the vessel through which Jesus was born. Mary’s mother Anne was the first person to give birth through an Immaculate Conception. Why was she conceived immaculate, because she was free from the stain of original sin; the sin that we all have to share since the fall of Adam in the garden. Even Elizabeth’s unborn child leapt for joy at the coming of the Lord and the Saviour. What joy there must have been, the waiting and the anticipation of the coming of the one true Messiah. Such was the joy that was to come that heaven hosts were to sing songs of praise, kings would travel vast distances to look upon the face of a child the Saviour. As stated earlier John the evangelist wrote his Gospel to make it abundantly clear that Jesus was the Son of God and at the same time God. Born into poverty in a lowly stable into a country that was oppressed and occupied Jesus came to show how we should try and live. When we look at the significant events in Jesus’ life we see just how unlike any ordinary life his was. Firstly Our Lord is born in a stable the Sheppard’s are told by an angel not to fear for they had heard the heavenly hosts of angels and seraphim singing the joyful news saying “Glory to God in the highest and peace to all men of good will.”(Luke 2. 13) This is the start of a theme that will run through out the whole of Jesus’ life. Sheppard’s were viewed with suspicion and they were the lowest of jobs that could be had maybe only a few steps above the swine herders. Then kings or Magi came to adore the infant Jesus bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Not looking for a king in a palace but rather a king that was born poor. The three kings inquired from Herod the location of the newborn king. Herod having no idea summoned the Sanhedrin and they answered that the messiah the king would be born in Bethlehem in accordance to the scriptures, after seeing Jesus the three kings having been warned in a dream about Herod snubbed the king Herod that was sitting in his palace at the time, (Mathew 2. 12) even though he had requested details of this new king, the three kings bypassed Herod’s house and left just as X

strangely as they had arrived. Herod was furious after all he was only a puppet king and was answerable to Rome, the darkness entered his soul his heart was full of rage and hate; this was a threat to his throne. Herod issued a decree that all males under two years were to be killed (Mathew 2. 16). Joseph in the mean time was awoken in a dream by an angel that told him that he had to leave Judea immediately that the family was in grave danger (Mathew 2. 13) The Holy Family then took flight into Egypt. The next event that was to happen was at the presentation of Our Lord at the temple. (Luke 2.25-35) Simeon declares that the child is the Messiah. Simeon says, “Now let your servant depart in peace for my eyes have seen the salvation of the world, a light for all people.” Being poor Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple but as they could not afford the unblemished lamb as the offering to God to ransom their son back they would have bought the doves as this was also an acceptable offering if not some what cheaper. Every first-born male was believed to belong to God and the ransom had to be paid for this first-born. After this we learn that whilst travelling in a caravan after being in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover Joseph and Mary realise that they have lost Jesus, they return to Jerusalem and find the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple discussing points of law with the scribes in the temple. Upon hearing the distress of His parents Jesus states that he is about His Fathers business and where else would He be but in His Fathers house. (Luke 2.41-52) So from any early stage Jesus was aware of his being the Son of God this is obviously a total contradiction to what the Gnostics would surmise and would have been teaching. Through out Jesus’ ministry the theme that He had come for everyone was always an essential point and whom did Our Lord spend most of his time with? It was the poor, the down cast, those who were rejected by society. Jesus was truly a man as well as the Son of God; Jesus felt all that we feel. Jesus felt pain, cold, hunger and fatigue we see this during the accounts contained in the Gospels the time that Jesus spent forty days and nights in the wilderness was the time when He would have experienced all of these. Jesus also suffered temptation just as we do, for that was the dualism of Jesus being man as well as God, and He was challenged directly by the devil. The devil must never be ignored nor must the devil be taken lightly it must be remembered that the devil is a great theologian. The devil challenged God in the kingdom of heaven declaring himself an equal to God, so if the devil can have the rebelliousness to challenge God the Father as well as God the Son is it not also likely that the devil would XI

find it excessively easy to confuse us and trap us. Just as Gods work did not end upon the seventh day but continues always so does the work of the devil. The devil always looks for souls and he gets them very easily when we are at our lowest when times are hard and we feel alone rejected and abandoned by God. The truth is that God never abandons us. We may abandon God as the apostles abandoned Jesus that night in the garden. But the important thing to remember is that God as any loving father would be is always willing to welcome us back into the family. Jesus illustrated this in His parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15. 11). And again in the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15. 4) There was a poster that I saw and it was the story of a man dreaming of walking on the beach he noticed that he was walking with God, there was two sets of foot prints along the beach. It was clear that the beach was the mans life, upon looking closely he noticed that along the way there at times only one sets of prints. The man asked Lord through out my life when times have been bad you left me, for look there are only one set of foot prints on the beach during my hard times. Then the Lord spoke to the man saying my son I have never abandoned you when times were hard and difficult there are only my prints for my son that is when I carried you. We forget that God loves us with a love that is beyond all understanding God has never left us He gave us his only son so that we can have atonement for sin. We are never away from God apart from through our own choosing and even then God is waiting with forgiveness for us to return to Him. All sins can be forgiven apart from sins against the Holy Spirit. What a statement to make that all sins can be forgiven apart from sins against the Holy Spirit, when I was younger I found difficulty in understanding what that statement meant I in all innocence decided that it was a to stop people making fun out of the Holy Spirit. My thought process ran like this, God the Father made the world God the Son saved the world and the Holy Spirit was a messenger boy and really He felt bad because all the great jobs had been done and He had little to do and so God the Father said ok if any one makes fun of you I will not let the come into heaven. Obviously this is ludicrous and no more than a child’s logic trying to rationalise something that is beyond its comprehension. In reality with understanding and when we think about what it means for us we should rejoice. The promise of the kingdom of heaven is for us to encompass. This is not to say do as you will for your sins are forgiven. We have to live life avoiding deliberate sin. But then what is sin? I believe that a sin in its simplest form is something that causes an offence against God or our fellow brothers and sisters either in thought words deeds in what we failed to do or in what XII

we did; the reason sin is to be avoided at all costs is that it causes a void between us and God and thereby separating us from God until such a time that we wish to return to God. Now we must also remember that Our Lord did not condemn the woman who was caught in the act of adultery, that is not to say that He did approve of the act, no Our Lord said to her I do not condemn you and asked that she should go and sin no more. Before this He did ask who was amongst those that were prepared to stone this woman if they were in actual fact free from sin themselves or were they playing the part of hypocrites and looking at the splinter in her eye and ignoring the plank in their own. We should always regard our sins to be very grave and others sins to be very trivial, we should not condemn to quickly and write off a person for what they have done within their past. For if we say to someone you are worthless or useless this is to belittle what Our Lord did for us. Jesus did not die for a worthless cause He died for every one, He took all that pain and suffering to atone for all our sins not just for a selected few, no one can ever be worthless as the ransom has been paid and that ransom was the life of an innocent man publicly humiliated stripped and hung on a cross. So why not forgive a sin against the Holy Spirit? How can a sin against the Holy Spirit be forgiven, to refute the existence of God must mean that you cannot be forgiven. How can God forgive you if you refuse to believe in Him or his forgiveness? If you reject the action of God the Spirit then that becomes blasphemy and as such cannot be forgiven (Mark 3.29) But through true repentance and humility our sins are pardoned. Remember Peter he denied Jesus not once but upon three separate occasions. Jesus forgave this as Jesus saw how Peter was repentant for what he had done to Our Lord and Saviour especially when only a few hours before peter boasted how he was willing to die for Jesus and would never refute any claims to knowing Jesus. Then Our Lord showed us just to what extent the divine forgiveness can reach, for as He hung upon the cross with all the shame and burden for our sins weighing upon His innocent shoulders Our Lord asked His Fathers forgiveness for those that had done such vile and inhumane things to Him. Remember the words of John the Baptist when he saw Jesus approaching when John the Baptist declared “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29) Are we to be like Satan who rebelled against God for sin is certainly mans self centred aspiration to secure his independence in opposition to God. That is to say that we remove ourselves from trying to live according to the will of God in love and rejecting the very nature of God that is divine and can and will lead us into an ever-lasting life. Humility is a great thing to find in the world, for when we humble ourselves then we start to become, as we should be. We are taught by Christ humility in so many ways from the washing of the feet to His death on the cross. But it was XIII

also the smaller things that happened in His everyday life that show us His humility. Recall that discussion on a dusty road when some of the twelve were talking about where they should sit in the kingdom of heaven and how Jesus rebukes them for it. There are times when we all have power or a position either social or economic over another person but with that we also find that we have an important responsibility that is one of humility. We should lift up the lowly and give a share of our bread to the hungry, we should try and ensure that no one is aware of what we have done as that becomes pride, we should be mindful that our every actions are reported and seen in heaven. There are things that can and should be repeated over and over again and they have to be as they are so central to life humility being one of them. If we have humility then we can truly forgive and there is part of the key. We must not forgive and yet harbour resentment in our hearts that is not forgiveness. This causes our hearts to loose compassion and we have not truly forgiven. When Jesus was asked how many times must I forgive my brother Jesus replied seven times seven. Must imply that no matter what we must carry on and find within ourselves the power to forgive our brothers and sisters. We cannot say oh I forgave you last week now you did this again so I am very sorry but I will not pardon this transgression. What would we do if God took that line with us? Christ in humility forgave sins and took upon His self all the sins of the world. We are not asked to take all the sins of the world upon our shoulders only to forgive those that have offended us. We are not asked to accept the wrong and approve of the wrong only to release the offender from their transgression. We should not hate the person for the wrong they did but rather show compassion and understanding to that person, After all Saul was a tax collector for the Romans and Saul was Roman by birth not Roman by decree Saul would have been despised by many for he did persecute those that followed Jesus. Yet on the road to Damascus Saul was converted by the Lord. He was blinded and upon finding Peter his eyes were opened and finally Saul could see the living truth. Did the Lord not show His compassion to Saul, remember that there is more rejoicing in heaven for one sinner that is saved. No matter how bad some one has offended us there is always hope a hope that springs eternal. Even when in the garden we were at the foremost thoughts as he taught us the perfect prayer. We call this the Lords prayer and what a wonderful prayer it is. Just like the words that his mother had used at the time of the annunciation this prayer contained humility the glorification of God. Jesus says father holy is your name. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, here we see that the name of God (Yahweh) is Holy and as such should not be used out of context all reverence is due to the name of XIV

God. Then Jesus asked humbly that the will of God takes place upon the earth as in heaven, the glorious kingdom of heaven could be here right now if only we truly subjected ourselves to the will of God. God’s will is always carried out perfectly in heaven, and the will of God is always perfect and so there would be no need not to carry out His will. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those that sin against us. If we cannot forgive those minor intrusions that befall us then can we really hope and expect God to forgive us when we hold minor debts against others. Our Lord told us not to look at the splinter in your brother’s eye when we have a plank in our own eye. Give us this day our daily bread and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Asking God for what we truly need is neither wrong nor selfish. God knows what our needs are and can and will provide for them. Do not ask for more than we need, do not ask for riches and power, just ask for the simple things. Guide us lord from all that is evil do not let us stray into eternal damnation. God gave us free will and the freedom to choose from right and wrong God wants us to adore him freely. Jesus was the light in the darkness and just as a moth is draw to the light so should we be, but to a light that will not harm us, remember that there was a pillar of fire that lighted the was for the Israelites during their time in the wilderness, it was a light that led them from slavery of man and now Jesus is the light to lead us from the slavery of sin. Jesus was always infallible and so we must always look earnestly at what He says. When we look at all those whom Jesus had healed came to him in humility and asked for what they needed, they did not say Lord can I have a kingdom and riches beyond belief, no they asked for the healing of others. They asked for sight, they asked for forgiveness. The miracles that Jesus performed was not for a side show, the apostles were not standing on the street corner shouting roll up roll up! Welcome to the mystical magical Jesus show. Healings! Water to wine! All yours for only two Denary! Why not go for the raising of your dead family or friends on special offer this week only, at the ultra low price of ten Denary! That would have been ridicules. Jesus was not about gimmicks at all times there was a reverence for the glory and the power of God. Jesus understood the majesty that is due to God the Father, as a Rabbi and a teacher He knew men’s hearts and He understood that cheep parlour tricks were not going to open the hearts and eyes of people to the glorious kingdom that lay inside of everyone. Jesus was love and a love that was for all a love that is given freely. A father or a mother loves their child no matter what they may say or do as XV

they grow and develop through life. I always remember the words spoken by a mother after learning that her son had committed a repugnant crime and asked how dose she feel towards her son and would she visit him, she simply stated what can I do I am his mother. Love is given freely love is not measured nor priced and true love is unconditional. St Paul summed up very clearly what love (Corinthians1. 13) is and I think that if we replaced love with Christ then the same would still be true. What of Jesus and his time before Pilate, Pilate was the governor of Judea from AD26 -AD36 Pilate was a man who was from a privileged background born in Spain in Seville he was a candidate of Sejanus who was behind the throne of Tiberius. Pilate’s wife Claudia Procula was reportedly the granddaughter of Augusta and the and would have grown up within the imperial court, because of his influence he was able to contravene certain laws that forbade governors from travelling with their wife. There is the account that Pilate’s wife had a dream and was worried about Jesus and what was about to befall him and more so what would befall Pilate. Claudia sent by messenger a note to Pilate telling Pilate that he should have nothing to do with the man that was before him the one they called Christ. Now if we take into account that Jesus was arrested at about eleven thirty at night and Judas set off to meet and arrange his betrayal of Jesus at about eight o’clock this leaves some three hours unaccounted for and if we think for a moment about this problem we will see that the only answer must have been the fact that Caiaphas had gone to see Pilate at Herod’s palace regarding the imminent arrest of Jesus and to ensure that Pilate would hear the case in the morning. We can see that it was late when Jesus was arrested as the apostles fell a sleep and on three occasions Jesus woke them. We know that the supper that was being held was in the evening so that would have been soon after six o’clock. The trial of Jesus that was held at night was an illegal trial as no trial could be held at night apart from trials of money or debt. Pilate could find nothing wrong with Jesus and Pilate also knew that the Sanhedrin had been pushing to have a quick show trial and execution before the Sabbath Passover. Pilate was not wanting to be dictated to by the Jews after all he was the governor and they were only a nation that he despised his subjects and a troublesome lot. The contempt that Pilate had for the Jews was shown when he marched his troops into Jerusalem with the banners still bearing the crest of the emperor who the Romans saw as a god, even though before him governors being sensitive to the religious beliefs of the Jews regarding graven images would remove the crests, this of course caused furry amongst the Jews. Pilate decided to use temple money to build an aqueduct and bring water into the city of Jerusalem XVI

this was met with hostility and as protests were in force regarding this plan Pilate simply ordered the massacre of those that tried to rebel. (This may be what is being referred to in Luke 13:1) Pilate was not going to have a rebellion either Caiaphas had already been to see him earlier with his demands and Pilate soon found out that he had been outfoxed and now he was in a difficult situation; the city was filled with fanatics and it would have been very easy to have a full scale insurrection and one that would be hard to quell. These zealots had to be appeased; Pilate did try and pass Jesus over to Herod but this was to no avail; Pilate only sent Jesus to Herod as a courtesy, as a sort of bridge building exercise for the massacre that had taken place earlier and caused tension. Pilate angered the high priests on the Friday morning when he asked what was the charge that was before this man. The high priests had expected a ratification of their sentence from Pilate. They did not expect the case to be re-tried this is not what was agreed the night before between Caiaphas and Pilate. Suddenly the Priests found that they were ill prepared and this is why we have the curt response if he was not an evil doer we would not have brought him before you. Their plan for a quick endorsement of their findings looked like failing, then it came to them rather than a religious charge turn the charge to a political charge. The stated that Jesus claimed to be a king. This would have been a charge that could not have been over looked by Pilate. As they added that if he was to ignore this charge then he was no friend of Caesars. Crucifixion was what was on their minds; the lust for blood was growing stronger. The Jews had no power to crucify anyone they also had only three methods of execution available to them for the crime of blasphemy and that was, stoning, strangulation, and burning in accordance to their laws. Maybe this is why Judas found a tree and hung himself maybe as he became overwhelmed with the significance of the situation he saw that all hope would have been lost unto him especially if he (Judas) had been in the room or listening to the interview between Pilate and Jesus; at one point Pilate said to Jesus do you not fear me? Adding that he held the power of life and death over Jesus, Jesus spoke to Pilate saying that he would have no power over Him had it had not come from above. This was said to remind Pilate that he was answerable to Rome and the Sanhedrin was in fact dictating the situation, the reality was that Pilate had no true supremacy. Jesus then added the one that handed me over has the greater sin. Judas having heard these words would have felt his soul in utter despair damnation was upon him his crime was more than simple blasphemy he had betrayed the Son of God sold him for thirty pieces of silver the price of a slave and handed Him unto the hands of men. Pilate knew in his heart that this man was not as he had been told Pilate had seen all kinds of men during his career and he could tell those that were XVII

indeed guilty and those that were in fact free from any blame. Even one of the two thieves that was crucified by Jesus’ side recognised the innocence of Jesus. There is a story regarding the penitent thief that I once heard. One day while the Holy Family were travelling along the road from Egypt to Jerusalem. A gang of robbers who was going to rob and kill Them set upon them, but the young son of the leader of the robbers pleaded with his father that They might be spared and allowed to go on their way. The leader of the gang decided to heed to his sons request. Jesus always remembered how this boy not much older than He spared His life, Jesus was to meet this boy again on a Friday, on a hill called Calvary just out side Jerusalem were together they were both hung upon a cross. Just how much of that story is true I cannot honestly say, but it is a very nice story even if somewhat apocryphal. Jesus was being mocked and taunted by one of the two thieves until his colleague who said we deserve what we have received rebuked him adding but this man is innocent and does not deserve to die like this. Then he asked Jesus to remember him when He comes into His Kingdom. Jesus promised the thief that he would walk his father’s garden this day. (Luke 23. 43) Rubens depiction of the Crucifixion Note that the notice that Pilate wrote is full and not shortened as we have to I.N.R.I then we see the Roman soldier thrusting his Lance into the side of Jesus, all around the scene looks chaotic people pleading while there appears to be I suppose the Mother of God looking towards the heavens while John attempts to comfort Her as well as himself. The soldier in the back is breaking the thieves legs and so it is accomplished. The sun has refused to shine and darkness is falling all around. One soldier looks on and bears witness.

The Sanhedrin felt threatened by the truth that Jesus spoke and the fact that He had attacked not the temple but those that corrupted it with the temple market place, this would hurt their own pockets, it would have appeared to the Sanhedrin that the Jewish religion was going well as long as God did not play too much of a roll within it. The temple was big business and the Pharisee and Sanhedrin were the directors. They loved to walk around looking very pious and the fact that they were feared, there was even one sect that was called the bleeding Pharisee as they would walk around with their eyes covered by a blindfold this was to avoid them having to look upon a woman and maybe cause an offence before God, the result of all this would be that they would constantly bang into walls until their heads bled.

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The temple markets and moneychangers that Jesus had cleansed the temple from were extortionately charging the people that came to pay homage at the temple. The poor pious pilgrims would have to pay an inspection fee to ensure that the offering was without blemish and if any imperfection was found the offering was rejected so for a lot of the pilgrims the only choice would have been to pay the extortionate prices and take an offering that was already inspected and guaranteed to be free of imperfection. It is said that the markets were the property of the son of Annas and so the threat to the Sanhedrin would have been greatly felt especially as Annas was the leading member of the Sanhedrin. At one point Jesus spoke of the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin as being like the white sepulchres. The graves of the dead would have been painted white for the festival of Passover the analogy drawn here by Our Lord was that even though they looked clean and bright they were dead inside; The bright graves could not hide the true fact that they are holding dead bones, just as their own garments can not hide the fact that they too contained death and full of corruption the Glory of God was not within them that Glory that brings life to the Soul. God had charged His ministers the Levites with the role of teaching the truth they had to lead by example and instead they did the opposite they had in reality misled the people, now this was the same as it was in the time of Malachi. Malachi’s first point was God’s love. The relationship between God and Israel was one of father and son and yet their attitude towards offerings showed condescension for God they had dishonoured and belittled the majesty and glory that befits God. The same old attitudes were still apparent to Jesus as He saw how the temple was being run. Malachi thought it would be better to end the sacrifices and close the temple rather than carry on offending God. Jesus knew all of this when He had entered the temple and laid the charge before the high priests that this is a house of prayer and you have turned it into a den of thieves. Before all of this Jesus had sent his apostles out to find a certain man who would be gathering water by a well in an urn they were to tell him that the master had sent them to arrange the room for the Passover. But how would they know who this man was, there were water carriers that made a living carrying water but this was usually carried in a goatskin bag and not in an urn. This was unquestionably a woman’s roll; no man would ever be seen carrying out such a task. And consequently this sight would not have gone unnoticed. The room had been made ready in advance were the meal was to be eaten. When Peter and James went to inspect the room. I can only picture the excitement that would have been with in the house upon hearing that this great Rabbi was going to use the upper portion of the room for the XIX

Passover. Participants of the meal would have been Jesus his twelve apostles and more than likely there would also have been a group of women. The upper room would have had more than likely been fitted out with a large low table and large cushions around the table probably in a shape of a ‘U’ the meal would have been eaten whilst laying upon the left side. There were strict rules for the eating of the Passover as well as what the meal was to consist of. • There would have been four cups of wine. This was to remind them of the promises God made to them when He led them from slavery in Egypt. I will bring you out from under the bondage of the Egyptians; I will rid you of their bondage; I will redeem you with an out stretched arm; I will take you to me as a people, and I will be your God. • A bowl of salt water was placed on the table, this was as a reminder of the tears that they had shed during their time in bondage in Egypt, and the salt waters of the red sea through which Gods own hand had miraculously brought them. • A collection of bitter herbs, these would have consisted of horse Radish, chicory, endive, lettuce and hore-hound. This was to remind them one more of the bitterness that they had felt whilst being held as slaves, and of a bunch of hyssop with which the door lintels had been smeared with the blood of the lamb. • There would also be a paste called Charosheth. This was made up of apples, dates, nuts and pomegranates; this was to keep firmly in their minds the clay that they were compelled to make bricks with in Egypt; through this paste there would be cinnamon stick to remind them of the straw that was used in the making of the bricks. And then there would have been the unblemished lamb eaten with bitter herbs this was as I have already said horseradish, chicory, endive, lettuce and hore-hound. Even today in parts of the middle east it is not extraordinary to eat in this manner with cushions scattered around the table and guests just relaxing sharing a meal in friendship, and then to lean into the chest of the one nearest to you to hear what is being said. Jesus would have said prayers they would have sung psalms before He made the new and everlasting covenant. Jesus would have broken the bread giving thanks and praise for He was always mindful of where all things come from, sharing it out amongst those that were gathered saying “THIS IS MY BODY. THAT IS BROKEN FOR YOU TAKE THIS ALL OF YOU AND EAT IT DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.” Then at the end of the meal Jesus took the cup and once more He gave thanks and praise then He said “ THIS IS MY BLOOD THAT SHALL BE SHED FOR YOU AND ALL MEN, TAKE

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THIS AND DRINK FROM IT THIS IS THE CUP OF THE NEW AND EVER LASTING COVENANT, DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.” From that moment on there was a new covenant with God this was instituted by Jesus The Son of God There was a new and everlasting life for all people Jesus was prepared to pay the ultimate price for us all. At every meal time when we sit with our friends and family we should give thanks and praise to the Lord Our God, for when we gather in fellowship in the name of God then God is with us. We should treat each moment, as it could be our last, as we do not know when or how we are to be called by God to leave this world. We should be grateful for what we have for there are those who truly have nothing, and we should not complain that there is no garnish or that there is only plain trifle and not sherry trifle for there are those who are starving. There is of course the fact that in this world there are those who are poor and unemployed or on low incomes and then conversely there are those who are wealthy, but do not look with scorn upon your brother or sister be they rich or poor but hold out your hand in friendship and brotherly love, help those who need help, we all have hidden talents speak to those that are lonely or sad. We at times say what is it that God wants me to do how can I know how God wishes me to do His work then we see some one who may be feeling low and yet we ignore them. This maybe what God wanted us to do just send a few minuets with this person and speak with them. We must try and see the person and not status of the person remember that even if we despise this person and what they stand for, that they are made in the image of God and also the fact that Christ died for them as well as you and I must never be forgotten, we should not laugh or show disrespect at others misfortunes as Jesus Himself was once homeless and mocked it was Jesus who was left naked upon a cross a victim of ridicule and shame. The first covenant had been broken and as God the Father had stretched out His arm to make them his people now Jesus was going to stretch out both of His arms for all. This was the new lamb that was to be sacrificed; the blood of atonement was no longer acceptable to God for hypocritical lips tainted it. The new covenant was to be sealed with a blood that could not be corrupted. This sacrifice was to be offered and the lamb that was to be slain was perfect, this lamb was given up without blemish and ordained by God, for it was written I knew you before you were in the womb and at your birth I sanctified you. Just as Moses when he descended the mountain with the covenant had a sacrifice made as an offering to seal the covenant here Jesus offers His sacrifice. As the meal concluded Jesus foretold that one of the twelve were about to betray Him indignation among the twelve followed as one by one they asked who is it that is to betray Him all stating that it could not be me. Peter even protested saying that he would gladly lay down his life for XXI

Him. Jesus told Peter that he would deny Him three times before that night had passed. Peter argued that he would never deny Jesus; after all Peter was a no nonsense sort of a man he had given up his job as a fisherman to follow Jesus and after three years he was not about to throw it all away. No, Peter believed that he was strong in faith as well as his physical appearance and there would be nothing to make him rebuff his knowledge and love of Jesus. Jesus sent Judas out quietly saying “go quickly and do what you have to do” the other twelve would have seen Judas leave the gathering and thought that Judas being the purse keeper that he was going to buy what was needed for the Passover. Judas would I suppose meet up with the ones who he had struck the deal with Caiaphas would have hurried over to Herod’s palace to see the Roman governor who was in the town for the feast and once Caiaphas had concluded his meeting with Pilate would have hurried back to his own little assembly, and once every one was gathered Judas would have led them to the upper room as that is where they all where at the time of his leaving the meal. Upon finding that Jesus had already left Judas would have then thought about the next possible place that Jesus could be. Judas would have been standing there looking at an empty room with members of the Sanhedrin and Roman soldiers there with him feeling intimidated as well as unsafe. Then Judas recalled the garden so he then led through the dark streets the group. Judas had arranged a signal that would show which one was Jesus. Then as they entered the Garden Judas knew this was it. Now was the time for him to play his roll. He had been paid quite handsomely his purse weighing against his side with the thirty pieces of silver. Now for some of my private thoughts even though most of what I have already said is just that but this is now me strolling along with thoughts. The essential message that Christ brought to us all was love. Do not worry about the material things in this life Jesus Christ was the King of kings, Lord of lords, the Son of God as well as God incarnate and yet He had nothing. He was the friend of the poor, the meek, the lowly and the despised. From His beginning and to His end He had nothing His birth was in a borrowed stable and his tomb was also borrowed. Born into a poor yet pious family He did not set out to trample upon people but to raise them from their beaten down state. I suppose that had He wished it he could have done things differently. He could have brought an army of angles, He could have destroyed those that opposed Him and made all people tremble before Him, but were would the humility be in all of that; even up to His crucifixion He allowed it to be carried out as it was the XXII

will of His Father and it was the only way to bring us all into eternal life with God in Trinity. I have heard that the Jews are Christ killers that all the bad things that have befallen them are because they killed Our Lord and Saviour. This is of course unqualified rubbish if the Jews had killed Christ then we would not have a Cross nor a Crucifix but a stone as that would be the way that they would have put Christ to death. Was it the fault of the Romans should we blame the Italians for the death of Christ or in fact is it the Spanish that are to blame? after all Pilate was Spanish. Once again I think this is downright nonsense; if we try and blame one race or country then we miss the meaning of it all. The truth is the ones that are responsible for Christ being crucified is you and I. He died for us all, for all of our sins. I think we run into a dangerous risk of being diverted from the message of God when we start to ask questions that are not required such as is God male or female or is God black or white. I remember being told as a child in school that each time we do wrong we drive the nails further into Jesus’ hands and feet. This idea stayed with me for most of my life. Those that are cynical will say that’s that catholic guilt, but no it is not it is a way of remembering the grave price that was paid for all of us by one that was pure. The idea of a conscience free world or life is one that can never be fulfilled. If we take it that the Holy Spirit talks to us through our conscience then how are we going to go astray? We cannot have a world that is devoid of any morals. To ignore your conscience is to try and ignore the voice of God. By doing this we face the great danger of being lost. We must repeatedly examine our conscience and try and live life in good conscience. God it must always be remembered will not give us more than we can accept or handle. There will be times of despair and we must join Our Lord in the garden where He too faced the agonies of knowing what was to befall Him. There were no Angelic hosts to comfort Him for He took upon himself the emotions of us all and the fears that we all have at that darkest of hours in our lives when all seem lost to us. Jesus held unto His faith and it was his faith that brought Him through those agonising hours. At sometime in our lives we will be there with Him but we must never lose faith God knows what we can bear and what we cannot bear in mind this I believe is what Isaiah says when he talks about how God carved us in His hand and also in Jeremiah about how you were know before you were born and consecrated. Now surly one that has held and calved something in his own hands must know what weakness’ there are contained within what he has created. When Pope John Paul the second died we saw a man that had tremendous faith and compassion. This was a man that lived life in accordance to the essential teachings of Christ. There was the record of his final words and it was reported that the pope before dieing said, I have XXIII

looked for you all my life and now you have come and found me. They say this was because the young people had gathered in vast numbers outside the Vatican praying and watching with the Holy Father in his last hours. But I believe it was more than this; I believe that the Holy Father had seen the Risen Lord and His Mother Mary Immaculate; for the Pope was a great devotee of the Holy Mother of God. John Paul showed us how to live our lives by example. When an attempt was made on his life he (the Pope) visited the young man and after getting out of hospital and spoke with him and gave this young man his forgiveness. I have seen a many people die and preparing to die and one of the most amazing things that I have noticed is the fact that there seems to be an element of peace that befalls them as the final moments approach. How many times have upon hearing of the death of a friend have we said I only saw them a few days ago and they looked so well they looked a lot brighter than they had done in years. I have seen people sit up with their arms held up with a peaceful serenity upon their face like a child waiting to be picked up and held and given comfort by a parent. I know that death is not to be feared; the reality is that death simply is not a state of existence for we have eternal life. So why should we fear a passing stage, did we fear being born? If before we were born we were in heaven and then born, surely then we are simply returning to a position where we came from in the first place. I suppose it is a question of were our souls are before conception after all do we not wish to walk with the Father? For me understanding my own mortality this insight gives me no fear nor dread in fact it removes all of that and so the end of my mortal life will be one that I would not wish to happen soon but one that I can accept and have the knowledge that I go to a far better place. If I was to state a fear then it would be one of leaving this place whilst in an undignified position such as on the toilet or other such things that could cause embarrassment although it would not be I that would have to suffer any embarrassment but those that are left behind. The greatest problem for me regarding death of the body is the fact that it is so expensive to die in today’s world. It is a personal hate of mine to have to pay for things that are not needed, after all who is going to see the fancy coffin that I am placed into just before being buried six feet under the earth. And given that the governments are so keen on recycling just now as this seems to be very must in vogue why can I not just go on a compost heap some where. The need to spend over a thousand pounds on a funeral is just silly in my eyes when the truth is that I am not dead but very much alive and on the day of resurrection my body will be given back to me once more maybe I could ask the undertaker for a refund if it is really necessary to have a coffin seeing as I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life here after. Seriously now I think this is what faith in Christ is about XXIV

the life that is for ever and the sure and certain hope of the resurrection and not having a fear of death. If we truly trust in Jesus then we should be able to trust in Him right through our process of dieing. If it should come to pass that I should leave this world and go to the next then that is fine with me for I have seen the Glory of God I have seen the sun rise and the sun set and marvelled at works of art that could only be inspired by God. I have seen birth and I have seen death and I have seen the innocence and trust that is in a child’s eyes and marvelled at the purity of their soul. I have felt God in my very being and I have seen the works of God on a daily basis and if I have held in total amazement all these sights that are before us each and every day then just how much more is there for me to see once I leave this place. Now there are many denominations of Christianity and as we pass through life we can get bewildered with all of these and what one should we follow. For me I follow the Church of Rome that is not because I simply believe that it is the one true church and all the rest are false, for I believe that there are three churches that are true but there is sadly a schism between them but I live in prayerful hope that these problems one day will be dealt with and we will once more have a unified Church and One that is truly Catholic. Some churches seem to offer so much and yet they lack a spiritualistic life I think that the spiritual side of us as people is of vital importance and it is often over looked or neglected. Many people after feeling lost turn to other churches that do not offer the truth but can only offer a quick fix. If we look upon the satellite TV from America we are bombarded with so much of the quick fix religion. The evangelists that I see on the cable and satellite stations are mostly false and bearing false prophets. I have noticed how many of them seem to ask for you bank details in one guise or another. God is not a commodity that can be bought and sold as market forces dictate. I seem to remember the same thing happening in the temple and Jesus having a few things to say about it. I have never listened much to any faith that asks for money as its primary objective. If money is on the agenda then I try and stay clear. I know that the established church has riches and that we give money for causes within the church but it is about reverence and they way a request is made for money. Chequebook evangelism is not the way we should be going to find inner peace. The need for a spiritual life and understanding is one that I believe we all yearn for. I know that when I personally spent some time in a monastic house I found it very difficult at first as I had grown used to the ways of the world with the noise and the everyday hassles and tussle of living in a modern city. The brothers that were around me seemed to be at peace and at one with them selves and the whole of creation this was a strange time for me. I must admit after a time I began to learn to relax. I think that XXV

being relaxed and away from the stresses of life is what helps us to grow spiritually. If we think of our day-to-day life when do we get to unwind and relax? To sit in contemplative prayer is a luxury that many of us cannot find. We may try and quietly pray but we know that our mind is still running processing many thoughts about what we are going to do during the day, the week or even what we had done all week. You see time is a commodity that we all have and yet we take it for granted that it is endless and yet we do not know just how much of it we have and yet we tend to waste this precious gift of time concentrating on worldly possessions rather that on spiritual matters. Now that is not to say that we should all become pious and take vows of poverty but we need desperately to look sternly at our lives and see just what our priorities are and have we made time for the Lord Our God. Maybe if we did take time out at least twice a year then we would be better as people and the world would not be as confused as we have made it today. Life has been cheapened so greatly over the last few years there are experiments carried out on human embryos in some cases large sums of money are paid to women to become pregnant and then abort so the aborted foetuses can be used in cosmetics and other non essential items. Even if an item were deemed to be essential would it be ethically, morally or in good conscience wrong to take a life to carry out experiments. We know that life starts at the moment of conception so why do we sit back and allow these things to take place. We have teenage pregnancies and the easy answer seems to be go and take a pill or pop in the clinic get it aborted and then home for lunch, this is so very wrong. I sometimes wonder if the dark forces of Satan are not at work and if they are not at work in the corridors of power. But it is not just about the life of the unborn those who are the innocent of innocent its more than that life in general is made so cheep we send young boys and girls off to war to die with a stroke of a pen we drop bombs from a few miles away and talk about how cleaver it all is and then when all this is completed and we have a few million dead or dieing we prepare for the next killing spree. We need to see the value of life to understand just how precious life is and just how much we should be doing to save life rather than end it we should not play at being God for when we do we forget that we are the subjects of God and powerless before him. The day will come for all of us when we have to stand before the Lord Our God and explain our actions. How are we to do this when we have celebrated the death and suffering of others? We become just as guilty as those who carried out the killing and yet we seem blissfully unaware of this as we watch bombs drop and say it serves them right. This was not what God sent His Only Begotten Son down for. Where is the love gone that we were commanded XXVI

to show to those who despise us were our tolerance. No we have now cheapened life and forgotten that all life comes from God and that what we are doing is in fact interfering with that which God has sanctioned. Before we ethnically cleanse an area we ought to remember the dream of Peter and what it meant when Peter dreamt that he was hungry and a large blanket descended down from heaven full of food but Peter would eat from the blanket as piety forbade him. When asked why he did not eat Peter replied the food was unclean. Peter was told in what seems to be a very abrupt manner not to call unclean what God has made clean, and that he should worry more about what comes out of his mouth rather than what goes into his mouth. And so we see that it is not for you and I to decide what is clean or unclean what has worth and what has no worth. We are all children of God and this is very important to remember and oh how often we forget this little fact and look down on our brothers and sisters, but I was asked a question recently which even though some thought it most thought provoking I found to be one that can be answered easily if not almost dismissed altogether. The question was this if we are all the children of God then what made Jesus who was the Son of God so special? What can I say apart from the fact that Jesus was in fact God and was not adopted as His son but He was, THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD THE FATHER. Jesus was not like us who become God’s children and have to go through baptism and who commit sin, for Jesus was Divine and His divinity can not be questioned as it was always and not awarded to Him as a thank you for being a good man, Jesus was also free from sin and was free from the stain of original sin as well as the guilt if sin. Jesus is also seated at the right hand of the Father. But once again this seems to be an attack upon the Holy Mother Church as I said earlier for some reason there seems to be an open season upon the Christian faith and a lot of us who are supposed to be Christians just sit back and ignore it. So now after that brief interruption of an interlude let us look at the main players in our faith and see who is who. I know that really this should have been at the beginning but I have placed it here as I have only just thought about it and after all as I am just chatting with you then I am just going along with my thoughts and ideas as friends would who are engaged in conversation, and besides it also gives me a way of getting back to the subject that I started out on. Mary; Born immaculate (free of sin) the mother of Jesus and betrothed to Joseph known as Queen of Heaven, Mother of God, Holy Mary, Our Heavenly Mother amongst various other titles. Given the news of her

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conception by an Angel called Gabriel, lived in a small village from a pious family. Joseph; the stepfather of Jesus. A poor carpenter, of the house of David and reportedly much older than Mary. He took Mary and Jesus to Egypt out of danger when Herrod decided to kill all children less than two years. Jesus; the Son of the living God, The Messiah, The Son of Man, the Son of Mary and stepson of Joseph, God the Son the second part of the Trinity, He was begotten and not created, always was and always will be, Alpha and Omega, worked as a carpenter, healed the sick, forgave sins, Saviour of the world. Elizabeth; the mother of John the Baptist and although barren for many years was told by the Archangel Gabriel (there are seven archangels these are Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Sariel, Gabriel, Remiel, Remiel has been referred to as Jeremiel in 2 Esdras 4: 36) that her prayers had been granted by God and she would conceive a son and he was to be called John. A cousin of Mary and was married to Zechariah. From a pious but poor family. Judas the Iscariot; one of the twelve apostles, with Jesus at the last supper. Betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Hung his self from a tree and then fell and burst open on the rocks below, probably a zealot, believed in armed insurrection and was the keeper of the purse. Mary Magdalene; often referred to as a prostitute and the one who washed Christ’s feet with her tears, saved from stoning by Jesus, was the first to see the risen Christ. Was known as the apostle to the apostles after Jesus told her to go and tell the others what she had seen. Peter; a fisher man worked on the sea of Galilee and was with James and John when Jesus called him to follow and be a fisher of men, The First Pope and called the Rock. Peter was arrested and an Angel opened the prison gates. Peter walked passed all the guards to freedom but he met Jesus who was walking towards the prison. Peter asked Lord where are you going Jesus answered to be crucified again. Peter then returned to his cell to await his sentence. Paul; converted on the way to Damascus by a brilliant light that blinded him. Travelled all over the known world spreading the news of Jesus.

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Was Roman by birth and was shipwrecked in Malta when being taken as a prisoner. Herrod; a despot ruler at the time of Jesus’ birth. Ordered the slaying of the Holy Innocents and died of a terrible death. James; the fisherman and known as one of the sons of thunder, He was a no nonsense type of person, James was the brother of John and worked with Peter, he followed Jesus and was present at the last supper. Some writings have been attributed to him. John; wrote the Gospel according to John around seventy A.D, also has letters attributed to him. Travelled with Jesus during His ministry was a fisherman with his brother James and was in Partnership with Peter, Jesus described him as a son of thunder. Mathew; a tax collector who became one of the twelve and wrote the Gospel according to Mathew. Mathias; chosen to take the place of Judas Iscariot as the twelfth Apostle after prayer and the choosing of lots (acts 1:15) Mark; wrote the Gospel according to Mark and was it is reported in the garden at the time of Jesus’ arrest was a companion of Paul and Barnabas also of Peter. Mark also ran naked through the garden as Jesus was arrested. Luke; some suggestion that he was a doctor, Luke wrote the gospel according to Luke as well as the Acts of the Apostles. Joseph of Arramatheia; was known to Jesus and according to some reports was a secret follower of Jesus; it was Joseph who gave the tomb in which Jesus was to be buried in. It has also been suggested that Joseph may have taken Jesus when he was a young boy with him to England as he was involved in trade and would have gone to Cornwall where there were many tin mines to be found. Pilate; the Roman governor at the time of Jesus’ trial was Married and was asked by his wife to have nothing to do with Jesus. Pilate was a hard man and despised the Jews he saw them all as troublemakers and had very little respect for their traditions and laws. Pilate washed his hands of Jesus, as he found no fault with Him, but feeling that he was backed into a corner allowed the crucifixion to be carried out anyway. In some XXIX

Christian Churches Pilate is seen as a saint, it is also reported that his wife converted to Christianity. It has also been suggested that Pilate committed suicide. After the resurrection Jesus stayed upon the earth for forty days visiting His apostles often until the time came for Him to go and take His place with His Father in Heaven; His Kingdom the place that he had spoken about so many times. Jesus took his band of simple followers with him up to the Mount of Olives and there he gave them His final charge. As the sat listening in wonder to the words that Jesus was saying on that bright day the would have seen him so clearly against the blue sky his face radiant the pain that they had witnessed that terrible day when He was humiliated for all our sins now gone the anguish removed from His face. Looking around they would have seen where they had all travelled so many times together they could see the dusty winding roads that had made their feet sore as the travelled around. There was the Holy city of Jerusalem with its temple standing so proud and looking at peace, the little village of Bethany further on could be made out and in the distance they could make out the mountains of Moab and the Dead Sea. Their minds must have been filled with so many happy memories as they sat there talking and listening to the words of their beloved Master and teacher. The events just over a month ago must have seemed like a distant nightmare still in their minds and yet not wanting to have it before them, their master was there now with them they felt safe and everything felt just as it should. Jesus had promised that although he had to go He was going to send a comforter to them, the Holy Spirit (the third person in the Holy Trinity) would come upon them and they would all be comforted. This was a very hard time for them for although they knew Jesus would never abandon them to lose His physical appearance was heart breaking for them. Jesus spoke to them for the last time as He charged them to go out into the world and preach the Gospel to every nation. Here we see once again that this was not just for the chosen people but for all this was for Gentile as well as Jew, no longer was God to be seen as a God of a particular nation but a God of the whole world. Then He said to them I am with you always, even until the end of the world. Then He lifted up His hands and blessed them. He was gone. It seemed as if a cloud had come down and took Him. There must have been fear amongst them as they realised that He had now gone but there was always His promise of the Comforter that was to be sent, Yes Jesus had ascended into Heaven but Heaven was now open to all the doors of Heaven had not slammed shut and as I have said before God will never allow His people to suffer more than they can tolerate. As they stood looking into an empty blue sky two Angels asked XXX

them why are you staring at a blue sky, Jesus will return in the same manner as you have seen him go, then they too had gone. After gathering their thoughts and deciding what they had just witnessed they set off to Jerusalem. The chatter amongst them must have been something to see and hear. After all we can get very excited after just watching a film or a sporting event and we will be going over and over it so many times as we walk way, this was God The Son f God ascending into Heaven and now it was up to them to spread the news. This was not a film but the completion of three years of teachings and followings; this was a living word from God. Their hearts would have been bursting here they were simple fishermen and workers and chosen by God to carry out His message to the entire world. They arrived in Jerusalem, went to the temple, worshiped, and praised God for all that they had seen. Their sorrow had given way to joy and wonderment. It is often the case that when we experience immense sorrow that shortly after we find just after our hearts have broken and all seems lost a feeling of comfort and a smile comes on our lips with that comes a feeling of joy as our heart once again becomes light, and so just imagine how they must have felt. There are times when we feel all is lost in our personal lives but we must always remember that there is a glimmer of hope. Look at the account of the woman who asked Jesus to help, as spirits possessed her daughter. Jesus was dismissive of her, calling her a dog as well as her daughter. Now before we all start jumping up and down there is a few things we must remember about this. The woman was not a Jew and as such she was an outsider and so would have been no better than a dog in the eyes of the Jews. This would have been a normal reaction of the time to have towards this woman, it must also be remembered that Jesus always looked for perfection and was always putting people to the test even when they tried in vain to put Him to the test. Still undeterred by Jesus’ remarks she persisted saying that even the dogs have the crumbs left from the master’s table. Jesus saw the persistence in this woman and although she had been made to feel rejected she still had faith in Him that there was still some expectation of hope to be found. She was a mother asking not for herself but for her daughter who was in need, it would not matter what any one thought of her as long as her daughter was going to be made whole again this is a characteristic that we find in most if not all mothers. Jesus told her you have answered well now go your daughter is healed. The woman thanking Jesus left running with tears of joy rather than tears of sorrow and pain in her eyes. Those who witnessed this would have been amazed for up to now they would have thought that Jesus was only interested in the Jews as they were after all the chosen People and chosen by God, XXXI

Now this was new Jesus had changed the chosen people now there was hope for all and only God could decide who was to be His chosen people. This heralded unquestionably a new era now there was not going to be a chosen few but all of us was to become chosen the well of hope was overflowing and the tidal wave of love and forgiveness was about to encompass all mankind. The eleven apostles would have gone to the upper room that now was a Holy shrine to them; for in that room they sat and ate with Jesus just before he was arrested on that dreadful Thursday night. It was there were Jesus had given His command that they should renew the memory of the covenant that was made that night by eating the bread and drinking the cup of wine the spiritual body and blood of Our Lord and saviour. It was also there that Judas, who had sat and talked with them as brothers in the presence of God had left the table and made deals to betray Jesus. This room held so many memories for these eleven brothers, brothers that had been forged together in an unbreakable bond that was made by so many shared experiences. Of course one would have expected to find also the woman that aided and cared for them also to have been present in the upper room. And I would imagine without any hesitation that Mary the mother of Jesus would have also been in attendance there. There would have been so much activity going on at the time. The anticipation building each and everyday, the excited talk about all that had happened to them over the last few days would have filled every corner of the house. The men going with a new found joy praising God and singing Psalms like they had never sung before, the women trying to keep the house in order while the men ran around as if children awaiting Christmas morning and all the time their hearts bursting with the same joy as was being felt by the men. Finally they had to wait no longer for the Comforter that Jesus had told them would come arrived. As they sat in that upper room they would have been chatting when there was what must have seemed like a sudden high wind blowing through the room then tongues of fire began to descend upon their heads. There must have been some fear at this time but also a sense of stupefaction these were after all people though uncomplicated had witnessed many great things. They had witness the resurrection of the dead, the resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour, the accession into heaven of Jesus and now this. After seeing so many wonders this was all part of what they were becoming accustomed to for now they had true faith a faith that would never leave them. As this was happening they discovered that they were speaking in tongues each one of them now filled with the Holy Spirit was complete they were now whole and ready to go out into the world and spread the news. There was

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also danger out in the world they knew this for the Romans were still watching them and the high priests were also looking to ensnare them. When we become filled with the Holy Spirit we find an inner peace, all that we may have feared seems to dissipate; there is a tranquillity that takes over our very being. We become in a state of grace and once the realisation of that nearness to God enters us we know that we are whole and peace really fills our very being. I know that after getting married in a church in Inchicore a village now swallowed up by the sprawling encompassing city of Dublin I suddenly felt at peace, I realised after about a week that the peace that I felt was one of being in a state of Grace. I had made my peace with God and I was married. This must have been what St John of the cross was referring to when he spoke of the virtue of the Spirit that is produced in men’s souls has three distinguishing characters Tranquillity, gentleness and strength. Now all our actions and what we are thinking must be gentle peaceful and strong. Grace is a gift that is given to us. Grace. I recall the words of the hymn amazing grace and within that hymn are the wordsXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX I feel is not a reward as you or I would think of a reward as that would imply that for us to receive the gift of Grace a task or payment would have to be made, however in saying that one can not walk out of an abortion clinic after going through an abortion and expect to find ones self in a state of Grace. If on the other hand time was truly taken to consider just what the ramifications of going to that clinic would be then after truly considering all things and allowing the Grace of God to Fall upon that person then maybe peace and comfort would fill their mind and they would walk away. I know there is the argument that it is the woman’s choice and that its her body to this may the case to a point but the child that is within her is not her body this is an independent life and its rights must be protected. I hate talking on this subject as it is such an emotive issue and there are those that would argue that as a man I have no say on this issue but there lies the problem there were two people involved at the conception and yet for the termination the views of the father to be is ignored. To those that have had abortions I can only say that my heart goes out to them. I did wish to be a Priest but now that was not going to be. There are so many ways that one can live their life and serve God and Ordination or the religious life is not always the way in which we have to live to serve God. I do believe that the time will eventually arrive when Priests can marry and once that happens we will see real growth within the Church. That is not to say that I am opposed to the infallibility of the Pope but I believe that the time will come when the direction of the Church will change. So when people say why get married, when you can just live XXXIII

together the reason is apart from the public commitment that you make before your friends and family as well as before God it is the inner peace that descends upon your very being. This peace must have been similar to what they had felt when the Holy Spirit had descended upon those in that upper room. God now lived within them. The physical being of God in the form of man had now gone and replaced by the Spirit of God at that moment the Kingdom of Heaven was truly within them. The Holy Spirit was Gods gift to us all. This was for the whole Church a fire that would protect us and guide us safely through life; Just as the pillar of fire had guided the people as they fled out of Egypt all those years ago. Fire becomes so many things it brings us comfort and joy, it gives us warmth and it sustains life. The flame also cleanses and brings new life, this was the birthday of the Church that we have today. We seem to forget just how important this day is. We all remember Christmas and Easter and yet Pentecost seems to be forgotten and set aside, maybe if there was a holiday and cards and presents around this day then we would take more notice of this very special day. What day is more important Christmas, Easter, Ascension Day, or Pentecost? Well I suppose if you own a toy factory Christmas would be at the top of your list, and if you have a chocolate factory the Easter is going to be your big one, but from a spiritual aspect I think the important days would be as follows, Easter, the Ascension, Pentecost, then Christmas. There are times when I feel that the grace that is received via the Holy Spirit is sometimes pushed to one side if not almost ignored. We have mentioned the Trinity a few times now and I think we should quickly look at just who the Trinity is; The Holy Spirit being God in Trinity that is not to say that the Holy Spirit is a separate or independent God but that the Holy Spirit is the one true and living God just as the Father and the Son is. Now this is what truly takes wisdom and faith. There is one God, but there are three personages in the one God. There is the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Now all of these are indivisible and consequently cannot be separated nor can they disagree with each other for they are one. That is not to say that they are just one god wearing different hats for different occasions because they are separate, each one being equal to the other and at the same time being one. I suppose an analogy would be that of water, water can be liquid as water then solid as Ice and finally as a gas as steam but yet all these three states are the same, each state is still water each one is still the same. The trouble with this analogy is the fact that the form of that water has changes and at the same time only one form can exist at any one time the independent states can not coexist, this is not the case with God. God can coexist at any time in Trinity. Another way that we could try to look at the difficulty of the Trinity would be to look at the man who is a teacher as well as a father. Now the students would know XXXIV

him as a teacher, his child would know him as a father, and his wife would know him as a husband and as a man. Now where as the student only knows that part of the man that teaches but all the rest becomes alien to him and the child only sees him as a father and has little knowledge of him as a man or a teacher and the wife would only know of him as a husband as a man capable of love and to a lesser extent as a teacher, here we would see one person being in three roles. Now if some one was to know the complete man have a knowledge of all three personas that this one man has then they would know the wholeness of the man. Nevertheless, even this falls short of the answer that we are looking for, as the Trinity is not one person playing different roles but three separate and individual persons and yet being one. However, we are looking for the wholeness of God the complete God. There is contained in each of us the fruits of the Spirit and the longing to know and understand the nature of God and a love for God. As the Spirit increasingly fills us, we without realising it become more and more in love with God but this is not an unacquainted love, this is a love that becomes natural and works both ways. There is not a choice that God has to make of should God be the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. No each one lives at the same time. Therefore, when we pray we pray in Trinity and we should always be mindful of this. For years we have tried to understand the Trinity, yet we have failed, and to be honest it is only right and fitting that we should fail at this. Athanasius spoke of the Trinity at great length and although possibly one of the best attempts still falls short of the truth but is it for us to know everything? When creation took place this was not carried out by God the Father alone for this was carried out by God in Trinity. Sometimes we seen the father as the creator and the Son as the saviour and the Holy Spirit as a comforter but all three are at work at any one time as They are separate and yet indivisible. Now the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son and the Son was not created but was begotten that is not to say that God has two sons or that there is a descending order in heaven with God the Father at the apex for that would create several Gods each one divisible from the other as well as the small fact that they would no longer be co-equal. Jesus made Himself subject to the Fathers will that is not to say that Jesus is subject to the will of the Father for once again that would invalidate coexistence and indivisibility no this was a choice made by Jesus to place Himself under the will of the Father and it must also be remembered that during His time on earth in human form Jesus was just as human as you and I as well as having His Divinity it was the human side that was displayed and lived out if this was not to be the case then the point of Jesus coming would be lost.

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But still we are left with the small problem of the roll of the Holy Spirit and of course any true understanding of the Trinity. So we need to see what we know of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is Jesus as in as much as Jesus is God; remember that Jesus was the incarnation of God as man, now the Spirit is not Jesus in the sense as Jesus was man but rather as Jesus as God Glorified. The Spirit is not some kind of spectre or ghost of Jesus, remember the Holy Spirit descended from heaven at the time of Jesus’ baptism this would indicate that the Spirit was and is in fact a separate and individual being and not something that had to wait until Jesus was ascended to Heaven. Jesus promised His followers that a comforter would come to them and that He would never leave them. He did not say I will be back as a ghost or I am just popping up to see my dad then I will be back, He spoke of something quite separate to Himself and yet He also said that he would be with them always. Remember after the resurrection Jesus asked that Mary did not touch Him, as He had not yet ascended to the Father. This was because Jesus did not wish a reliance upon His physical being becoming the main focal point nor that it would only be through the physical aspect that we could come to Jesus and therefore to God. This was to be done through a spiritual level. Almost everything that was done by Jesus was done firstly at a spiritual level; the healing of the soul always took a precedent over the healing of the physical body. It was always in most cases through the faith of the person asking that the healing would take place. The Holy Spirit gives us the gifts of wisdom, council, understanding, knowledge, fear (awe, reverence), might (power), and the spirit of the Lord. The Holy Spirit is the noticeable energy of God within the world the Holy Spirit is furthermore, He is the one that strengthens us, that lives with in us all, that guides us to move from being part of the church militant to the church triumphant. ( we will look at the Church Militant as well as expectant and triumphant further on.) He enables us to live righteously with in Gods sight, He reveals Gods truth to us and gives us council when we are in distress, with in the Spirit we find that comfort and peace. The Holy Spirit stresses to us Our Lords loving and attributes. We should think of the Holy Spirit as a Person living and having a will of His own. He cannot be restricted by any imposed rules of ours and he can meet us in the sacraments or out of the Sacraments this is His choice and His will is always that of the Father. The Holy Spirit writes His gospel not on any page or book but writes it within the hearts of you and I. Carrying on the work of Jesus and assisting the church in the preaching of the Gospel of Our Lord and Saviour. The lives and actions of the Saints are the Gospel of the Spirit, the suffering of the saints become the ink, their souls become the paper, and the action of the Spirit becomes the pen.

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This was the comforter that was promised and that was sent that day to those who were gathered in that upper room. We need to look with care to understand what took place on that day in the upper room. There was a wind and tongues of fire settled upon the heads of those who were in the room this was followed by them speaking in tongues. The wind and fire (acts 2:2) are the symbols of God (exodus 19:18 and 1kings 19:11) there could be no doubt what was happening and from whom it was coming from. Then we have the gift of tongues (acts 2:4) here we see Gods plan for a universal church not one that was solely Jewish or for one nation as an exclusive right but a church that was for all. The curse of Babel that had been set down so long ago had now been removed. There was created a comradeship of love and unity this was not to be a polarised church this was the new covenant paid for by the blood of the Sacrificial Lamb that was given freely to atone for all our sins. In acts 1 we could deduce that the Risen Lord continued His work through the Holy Spirit. He was the gift of the risen Christ and was promised by Jesus (acts 2:33) the Spirit was what led Saul and Barnabas to go out and start to evangelise the Gentiles with the good news of the risen Lord (acts 13:1-4) there was no longer the difference that had existed between Jew and Gentile all barriers had been removed and not at some impulse of man but by God. Now the new church was made up of Jews and Proselytes, these were non Jews but were committed to Judaism and so lived and acted as though they were in fact Jews by birth right (acts 2:10). The Jews hated the Samaritans who were of a mixed race and a schismatic religion but unto them was given the Spirit it must be noted that this took place after the apostles laid hands upon them. This indicated that love and fellowship was on their part towards Samaritan believers (acts 8: 14). The Spirit had brought diverse groups together and more than glued them together the Spirit it forged them together as one. Now they spoke with power and authority they were filled with the Spirit and with this the Church grew, guidance being given by the Spirit and the power to reveal Christ through not only their lips but by their lives and actions. They became by the power of the Spirit uniformed in the message that they were to preach we have all seen it in a revised version and know it today as the apostle’s creed. The teaching was like this: The ancient prophecies have been fulfilled and the new age has been inaugurated by the coming of Christ. He was born of David’s family, died according to the scriptures in order to deliver us from the present evil age. He was buried and rose again on the third day as scripture foretold, and is now exalted at Gods right hand as the Son of God and Lord of the XXXVII

living and the Dead. He has given His Holy Spirit to us his followers as an assurance of His Lordship and as a foretaste of His return to be the Judge and Saviour of men on the Last day. Here we have in a few words a very brief synopsis of the faith of the Church from early on. We can see that even after two thousand years the same is being told today. How many ways of government and societies have gone within that time and yet the truth is still standing for all to here. The television show the X-files has a slogan “the truth is out there” and it is very true the truth is out there in the public domain it is clear and for all to see and hear we only have to look and listen. The disciples travelled around spreading the good news and there were many followers, the Sanhedrin once again became threatened by what was being preached and once again, they sought ways of stopping the truth from being told. The emphasis of the Risen Lord was given differently depending to whom they were talking to. for example if it was a Jewish group that was listening to the good news of Our Lord and Saviour then the deliverance Christ gives from the broken law is stressed, deliverance, justification and cleansing are the important things. If they be of pagan background that are listening or reading then the freedom from demonic powers through Christ is stressed as the people of pagan origin would have been only to aware of the demonic powers. That is of course not to say that there were two churches with two accounts or believes it was the same message only the emphasis would have varied slightly. Stephan was a very powerful preacher and travelled with the Spirit in him he was arrested and charged with blasphemy that same charge that was laid before Jesus. Stephen saw that there was to be an inevitable break between Judaism and Christianity. Stephan’s defence was that it was an interpretation of the nations history, that they (the high priests in the temple) had rejected the Messiah. That to speak of the destruction of the temple was not blasphemy as God was not restricted to any building. Stephan was found guilty of blasphemy and was sentenced to death by stoning (Lev 24: 15). Those that laid the charge against him had the duty of throwing the first stones (Deut 17: 7) upon this occasion there is a mention of a young man that held their cloaks as the stoning was taking place his name is given as Saul of Tarsus, this is the first time that Saul who was to become Paul is mentioned the memories of what Paul had done stayed always with him in his writings he shows a constant repentance for his earlier actions and he (Paul) sees himself as the least of the apostles. The effect of Stephens’s death was to lead into persecution predominantly amongst Stephens’s fellow Hellenists (these were Greek speaking Jews) this in turn left the apostles free to remain in Jerusalem.

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The gospel was being spread to Judea and Samaria it has been said that Stephens blood watered the seeds of Christianity in the Gentiles. As the disciples of Our Lord travelled and converted many people to the true faith they were not always met with kindness and gratitude. There were tines that they suffered persecutions rejection but Our Lord had not been idle during the years that He had spent with them He had shown them how to behave and how to deal with such unkind and resentful behaviour. Being full of the Holy Spirit, they could face up to all that a cruel world could offer them even up to death. Paul who was once known as Saul the hated collector of taxes and a despiser of the early Church now being full of the Spirit started to appoint elders with in the various churches to aid him in his ministry (acts 14: 23). This of course was not done through any quirks or just as something to do so people would feel included or a sense of self importance. We may make a child a milk monitor at school or a prefect but we all acknowledge that the child has no authority but in this case there was authority and more importantly this would also ensure that there would always be a successor when they had gone and so keep that so important Apostolic succession alive. Apostolic succession is vital for with it we can be certain that the line from Jesus through Peter has never been broken. We will look at this a little later on. Paul would have set standards for those that had been chosen as elders they would have to be able to control themselves and their families and they would have to prove to be stable as Christians, of course they would also have to have respect in the outside world as well as within their own community. The elders would be the same as today’s Bishops each being responsible for a church and these would have been helped by their assistants who would be Deacons. We can see that from very early on the Church was being organised into what we would recognise today as a church here we have Peter the first Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, and all carried out through the Apostolic succession. We can see the way pastoral care and guidance was given to the branches of the early Church from the various letters that were sent out to the churches. I suppose they would be the same as we have to day when we get letters from our bishops regarding certain ecumenical or ecclesiastical matters. These letters also guarded against false teachings ensuring that there was still monotheism religion although it was a Trinitarian theology and not three independent nor separate Gods and the fact that Jesus was the Son of God made man and not a man made God as well as this the letters helped the church in how it was expected to live. Paul was preaching one day in Troas (acts 20:7) it was the first day of the week now his preaching had gone on so long it was past midnight, they had all broken bread earlier and Paul was going to leave that place in the XXXIX

morning and so he was not going to stop until he had said all that needed to be said. There was a young man called Eutychus who was listening but he began to feel tired and no matter how much he tried to listen to what Paul was saying sleep overcame him. Unfortunately Eutychus he was sitting on a window when he fell asleep and fell out of the window, then Eutychus was killed from the resulting third storey fall instantly. Paul held Eutychus and told the others not to worry for he lives. Then Eutychus arose and together they entered the upper room once more and talked until dawn were upon Paul left them to make his way. We can see the inner strength that Paul had, now that the Spirit had filled him. We must also remember that Paul was under pressure as there was plots to not only trap him but to kill him also. It must be noted that this is the first day of the week, that being Sunday and here we see the breaking of bread taking place just as it does every Sunday now in the Holy Sacrament of Communion. Now we see that the Church has evolved over the last two thousand years but the core message of Jesus has never been changed and indeed it can never be changed. The word for church has changed in connotation for in those early days a church in Greek would have been ekklesia 9 (today’s ecclesia) and this would have referred to an assembly of people called out for a political purpose. Later it became the term used for the meetings of the followers of Jesus (who were known as Nazarenes by the Jewish community, and the term Christians was a slang term used by the Romans for the Followers of Jesus before being generally accepted as a name for the Nazarenes. This would have been similar to how the word Tory for the Conservative party was used as a derogatory term and is now an acceptable name for the Conservative party and its followers) and not as a political gathering and is now translated as church. In the acts Luke tells of a heated debate that was taking place in Ephesus regarding Paul and his teaching, the city clerk had to ask them to stop this debate until the next day (acts 19: 32). The effects of the Churches teachings through Paul and the others were now being felt as people heard the good news of Christ they began to reject the pagan gods to follow the one true and living God, this upset the statue makes as the pagan gods such as Diana was being put away and replaced by this new faith. Paul uses the term Church in his letters as he addresses individual communities of believers. (Rom 16: 1.) (Cor 1: 2.) (2nd Cor 1: 1.) (Thess 1: 1.) (2nd Thess 1: 1) then Paul uses the plural form when referring to the churches of God in Jesus Christ in general such as those in Judea and all the churches of the Saints (Thess 2: 14 Cor 14:33) later Paul sees the Church as the body of Christ his ideas of one church come to fruition (Col 1: 24.) (Eph 1: 22). Now we have a church with one body and Christ at the head of the body. Christ becomes the husband and the Church the wife or bride (Eph 5: 23) this XL

gives Christ the same authority over the Church as a husband has over his wife. It was not until some 40 years had passed around one hundred A.D that the term Catholic Church comes into play and it was Ignatius of Antioch that first talks about the universality of the Church. The Nicene Creed uses the term one Holy and Catholic and Apostolic Church Orthodox leaders stressed the Catholicity of the Church especially when facing challenges from various heterodox groups. We are aware of the break from the Jewish faith as today Christians no longer have to be circumcised it was after great debate were Paul argued that the covenant of flesh made with Abraham (Gen 17:11) had been superseded by the new covenant that Christ had made and so was no longer essential as part of the Christian Church, before then to become a Christian you would have to be circumcised then start on the road to being a Christian. This was all debated at the Apostolic Council where Gentile freedom from Mosaic Law was affirmed. Peter settled the debate by stating that converted Gentiles had already received the Holy Spirit apart from the law (acts 10: 1- 48). James supports Peter but adds that a minimum set of standards that Gentile Christians should observe, these being very similar to the rules for aliens residing in Israel (Lev 17-18) these were abstinence from idolatry, blood, meat that is strangled, and sexual immorality. The abstinence from blood was probably a reference to murder. The idea of the Roman Catholic Church had up to then not existed as Rome was no longer the capital of the Roman empire Constantine had in fact moved the empire from Rome to Constantinople as he saw Rome as being physically to far removed to offer effective government to a vast empire. (remember Dan Brown saying that it was the Roman Catholic Church that suppressed the truth at Nicaea) Constantine also converted to Christianity although he was the Roman Emperor that did not make Christianity the official religion for the empire ,and the Church was divided essentially into two sees the Church in the east and the Church in the west. The Coptic Church being in the east. It was 20th May 325 that the first Ecumenical council sat at Nicaea there was some 220 bishops Constantine urged all to find unity and peace . It was here that the nature of the Trinity was agreed and all agreed that the creed that is used today was correct in that the Son was of one substance of the Father as well as the Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son. Out of the 220 that were in attendance only two from Libya abstained from the vote but it seems that this was not over the creed but more to do with the sixth cannon which placed them under Alexandrian control. The Arian heresy and the following controversy that had to be addressed (these questioned the nature of the Trinity specifically relating to the second part of the Trinity the Son ) following the Council of Nicaea can be seen in three XLI

stages. The first was the death of Constantine in May 337 the second was the ascension of the sons of Constantine due to the death of Constantius the second (361) and finally from the ascension of Julian to the suppression of Arianisim under Theodosius (381) who made Christianity the official faith of the Roman Empire. Although there had in the early days been suppressions regarding matters of theology these were chiefly matters of interpretations of doctrinal matters and were used to protect the Church from being misguided and trying to have a clear understanding of the Holy Trinity. The fourth century was the time when the Greek Churches and soon after the Eastern Christians looked back on the works of the early fathers such as Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen and Chrysostom as being great teacher with a classical status and authority. It was around six hundred A.D that the first Gospel translations took place and they were in six languages these being Latin, Gothic, Syriac, Armenian, Coptic, Georgian, Ethiopic and Sogdian. By this time, the ancient scriptures had of course already been translated by the early scholars from the Hebrew into Greek (the Septuagint) in Alexandria around the third century B.C it was from this that the disciples often quoted. By about fourteen fifty when Gutenberg invented the first printing press with movable type there were only thirty three translations of the Scriptures. Today we have many translations of the Scriptures and there are many more yet to be done as the Faith in Christ spreads through out the world. The idea of translating the scriptures is not an easy one and at times people have had to endure hardships while translating the manuscripts. I think that for the Church to grow and for all of us to become aware of the Good news that is brought to us through Jesus Christ that there has to be a full translation of the bible as we have it today. Although I do agree with the Bible being written in a modern form some of the ways that have been proposed to up date the Bible and the New Testament I feel are at best misguided and at worst blasphemous. To make references to God without due reverence and have it contained within a book that is actually the word of God is not compatible. Peter did not address Jesus as mate the Heavenly Father as the big cheese or the dude upstairs, Jesus did not say hey you guys lets mosey down to Jerusalem and check out the temple, I feel like kicking some butt today. At the Last Supper Our Lord did not say one of you lot is a grass ( a street term for an informer) and they are going to really put us all on a downer nor did the Twelve reply its not me, who’s the grass? are you sure it’s not just a paranoid buzz you’re having J.C. ? This kind of translation is so impertinent yes this maybe the way the youth today talk but rather than accommodate this lack of respect we should look at why there is a perceived lack of respect from the youth. When Pope John Paul wanted to connect with the youth did we see him doing a hip hop mass or rapping XLII

the Our Father? The Holy Father simply spoke to them and gave them time to think and they came. Although it must be said that as I see it a lot of this irreverence to the Church and towards God seems to stem from American influences upon our young, maybe American needs to have a long look at its identity before telling the rest of the world how it should live. There has to be a return to basics I feel within the Church there has to be a return to there being but one Catholic and Apostolic Church and as there was so long ago and a return to fundamental principles of faith. There is a very genuine danger of us becoming so fragmented and distracted that the truth and beauty will become buried and lost. That is not to say a return to Latin rites but a firm foundation of faith has to be carefully fostered from the beginning. The new gods of television, drugs and computer games has to be removed. The attitudes of all of us have to change also it is not correct to lay all the blame at the feet of the youth, here is a little story of what I saw a long time ago. It was the 27th of February and it was very cold I awoke at about five thirty in the morning. I had a bit of food to eat and scrapped the ice off my motor cycle as I prepared to go from Bolton to Sussex to a village just out side Alfriston I can be sure of the dates as the day before I had just turned another year older. I got on my bike and I left it took several hours to get to where I was heading. The weather was very bad I had sun, rain, hail, and sleet all the way down, I was feeling cold, hungry and confused when I arrived in the village it was about five in the evening. My clothing was dirty as the spray from the motorways and roads had covered me in a film of wet oily mucky sludge, I saw a woman walking hurriedly along the road with what I took to be her daughter I rode along side her to ask if she could help me as I could not find the address that I needed, the woman in a stern manner replied she did not know and holding her daughter tight walked faster to get away from me, one would have thought that I was some kind of Viking warrior that was about to rape and plunder the village. I found a phone box and discovered that I was only a few yards from were I wished to be. A few days later whilst walking to the next village I came upon this same woman and her daughter again, but now that I was clean and looking respectable I was greeted with a smile and a good morning, it amazed me that just because before I looked dirty I was not given the time of day and now that it was obvious that I was from the monastic house by my dress I was now acceptable. These are the attitudes that have to change in peoples hearts I wonder if Our Lord would have been accepted if He arrived after travelling along a dirty and dusty road or would he be seen as a vagrant and looked down upon. There is a song Jerusalem that the B.N.P. has decided to us as their song its all about Jesus coming to England, I wonder why they have chosen this song as this is a hymn and yet it is used in a sacrilegious way after XLIII

all this group is not about love, understanding and tolerance in fact this group as I can see has no connection with what Our lord taught us and yet they have this song as their anthem, the one problem they would have if Our Lord was to come to England is that they would want Him deported as He is not a white Anglo Saxon as He was in fact a Palestinian in fact it would be far more likely that they would line the streets shouting racist comments at Him demanding that He goes home to where He came from. We as a society need to change we need a renewal we need to capture what we once had. The faith that our fathers before us had was not a faith that allowed this kind of behaviour. There were people that saw and stood up against injustices and people respected the authority of the Church these are the things that need to be changed. We, I feel have become very shallow and we say we want what is best for our children and yet at the same time we fail them by not teaching them the correct values in life. A parent wants their child in a Church school as it gives a better education and so they with reluctance drag the child to church for a month or so us the rites of Baptism and Communion along with Conformation as if its just something that is done to necessitate the child getting into the school. Once the child is in school the going to church stops and the parent spends the next five years complaining that they are expected to go and see their child in some church thing that the school is doing or that the school is collecting money for the church to have a new roof. Through these actions the parent has without realising it taught the child that it is acceptable to lie, try and deceive and if you do not like the rules or the end result just ignore it and if you shout loud enough people will listen. however apart the fact that you have taken a place from a child that may have really wanted to go to that school and would have participated fully in all activities that both the school and the church ran you have tried to deceive God and that is something that can not be done God knows our hearts better than we do. The Lord will return but we do not know when we know there will be signs before He returns but are we ready for His return are we ready for judgment, are we to be like the virgins that never trimmed their lamps and when the groom came were told that he did not know them and they were shut out?(matt 25: 1-13) . Look the last words that are contained be on your guard for you do not know the day or the hour. This is how it is with God and with us we can not leave things to the last moment and then try to make ready. Mary of Orange was dying and she was asked if she wished to know of salvation to which she replied “ I have not left this matter till this hour” Salvation can always be found as the little saying says regarding the rider how fell from his horse, between the stirrup and the ground salvation I sought and salvation I found. We no matter how XLIV

great within society we may feel ourselves to be, we have to be prepared for that day when we meet God. We can not say oh well I will be ok because my parents were very good people. We do not get credits for others good deeds only our own we can not borrow certain things grace can not be borrowed nor bought it can only be earned. To have a relationship with God we have to work at it we can not borrow it, it has to be in us the same way as you have a character you can not borrow your neighbours character. When we received our soul from God at that moment of conception we were given a soul that was pure without stain, this is what God wants back from us a soul that is unblemished.(matt 22: 11) now this is possible as Jesus gave us all the opportunity to render our souls back to their original state. Jesus also told how we are all invited into heaven but we must be clothed in purity that can only be gained through grace. Having a soul is not enough to gain entry into the kingdom or the mansion we must wear the robes of grace it is a grave responsibility and we have to do all that we can to ensure that our cloaks are in pristine condition. Here is the great secret there is a dress code for meeting God. Do not be fooled by those that say otherwise. To meet God we need to wear the garments of the mind, heart and soul, these are as follows, the garment of expectation, the garment of humble penitence, the garment of faith, and the garment of reverence with out these garments can we really approach God. How are we going to have a revival of our faith? We know that there are a falling numbers of Priests that people are abandoning their faith and looking to other sources for their needs these being materialistic and some turning to spiritualism for guidance. It is not possible to put away a lot of what we have for we have to be realistic we do live in a world full of electronics and mass communication we have become used to instant gratification by the use of electronic media and we have very rarely any quality time not just for our families but for our selves. How are we supposed to hear God in our lives today? Have we not hated going to church because a football match or a good movie was about to start on the television? We need to limit the time we spend on these electronic gods that we have produced and we need to get back from fiction to the reality of life. The lessons of Sodom and Gomorrah must not be lost upon us, rather than just two cities falling away from the One True God there seems to be whole nations that are falling away. I am saying that all is lost and we are all with out hope the world has no sign such as at the entrance of Dantae’s inferno if that was the case then Our Lord would have lost and all our souls would be doomed but through the death and resurrection of Our Lord there is always hope. The hope is for you and I to grasp and take. This is a free gift from God, the gift of ever lasting life and the absolution of all our sins. XLV

The Holy Trinity Here we see a typical image of the Holy Trinity the Holy Spirit is often depicted as a dove. This is obviously after the ascension as the wounds are clearly visible upon Christ’s hands and feet.

Faith is a wonderful thing, people attack things such as the shroud of Turin saying that it is a fake. I personally believe that it is the shroud that was used to wrap Christ after His death and that it was left behind after His resurrection, however before deciding whether it is a fake look at the shroud. It was by faith that people were cured how often was it that Jesus stated that by your faith you have been healed. The question of validity of shrines and relics is not what is important the faith that people have is what is important. There is the expression of an out ward sign of an inward grace we use this when we ring a Sanctus bell when we use incense during communion and at baptism to mention but a few, It is what is in our hearts that is a fundamental importance remember every thing that we do is seen by God even in the darkest of rooms and when we think we are hidden from every one. We would do well not to underestimate the power that is in faith and in prayer there are times that we tend to look more to science for answers and those that turn to their faith are mocked we must not always look for proof in science. Science simply has not got all the answers if it did have then we would not be were we are today a good strong believe in God has however got a lot of the answers it is only due to our own self importance that we can not see the truth that is blindingly obvious to us and it is delivered in such an uncomplicated way I spent a lot of my time looking for truth and answers and I suppose wisdom is what I sought but what I discovered was that I had a fundamental flaw in my thinking I always looked for the answers that were complex and for the and obscure when in fact the answers were very simple.

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The Shroud of Turin Note that the wrists are stained with blood, The thumbs appear to be missing but this is a Known medical fact that the impact of nails being placed through the wrists would cause this effect the thumbs are in fact pulled in towards the centre of the palms. There is a large blood stain on the side of the body and blood stains are also visible on the ankles. There is also blood around the forehead. All the injuries upon the body are in accordance with what we are told about the crucifixion in the Gospels. Interestingly enough all art has the nails through the hands and not the wrists yet it has been proved that crucifixion can only be carried out with success if nails go through the wrist and not in the hands as the hands can not support the body’s weight. The Shroud looks more like an X-ray than any type of painting that could have been produced at that time in history, in fact even today an artist would find it impossible to reproduce such an effect. Looking upon the shroud is for me an honour for when I look at this image I know that I am looking upon the face of Our Lord saviour.

I attended a healing service once at Saint Augustans Church in Manchester there were a great many people in attendance this was the first time I had ever attended such an event and I was a little bewildered by what was going on. There were people lining up to have hands laid upon them and become healed. I joined the queue not knowing what to expect finally it was my turn and as I made my way up stepping over bodies that were on the floor after they had passed out during the healing the priest asked what was wrong I told him nothing and so I had a general healing. The effect was surprising I felt light-headed and a little dizzy. I had a feeling of peace descend over me it was similar to what I described earlier just after I got married. There was another instance when I was in turmoil spiritually and I was not sure about what path I should take. I was at the time looking at ordination and I was staying within a monastic house. I felt confused and lost I desperately sought answers. I prayed on these questions that plagued my mind for some time but still I was struggling. It was late one night I was sitting in the garden wondering what I was going to do, I was praying and looking for clarity and answers maybe I even wanted a sign. while I knelt in the garden I saw what I can only describe as a vision. I saw Our Lord and Saviour, He looked physically fit and healthy, I could see the rain upon His body, His skin was dark the muscle tone on his body was good I could see how the light reflected off His wet skin. I could see His arms out stretched as He was upon the cross. As I gazed XLVII

upon this sight I believed that His eyes met mine and He looked at me, but it was more than looking at me it was a feeling of something deeper almost as if He had penetrated my very soul. The vision seemed to have lasted for a long time but I have no idea how long in reality the experience lasted. I believe that what I saw was the real crucifixion of Our Lord and what I have said is very true it did happen. Following this vision I felt full of power and strength but not of a physical nature. One day there was some one who complained of being unwell mentally I felt sorry for them not in a patronising way but a sorrow that was genuine and with compassion I thought about them being unwell and I remember asking God to send His Holy Spirit upon them and to grant for them peace of mind. I saw the person a week or so later and they told me how they had felt better. I told earlier how people who have lapsed in their faith have had bad things come about their lives seem to suddenly go no where and how people that have returned to the faith have found improvements in their lives. All these things come through faith and faith alone, look at the people that go to Lourdes and after prayer become physically well again. There are people that have visited knock, Fatima, Walsingham as well as countless other shrines dedicated to saints and Our Lady and have reported becoming healed. Jesus said that the power to heal was within us I believe that with faith we can heal. But faith is needed on both sides. Faith is about submitting your self to God and trusting God. Remember that God knows every hair upon your head and it is God that truly knows all our needs. When we look around and we see those that seem to do as they wish and have no reverence towards God and although they may do many things that are wrong and yet they have wealth and they seem to have everything handed to them without struggle do not despair. It is never the case that God has abandoned you it is not the case that God is unaware of what is going on. Do not think that these people have been rewarded for their sin for the reason that all sin is abhorrent to God and God can never reward sin. Do not look for rewards here in this world for your rewards will come later in the next. Those that live a lawless life will perish, I know at times it may seem that there are easier ways to live than to follow the path that is true and straight but we must think of the ultimate goals. The short term rewards are useless in this world we may think that they would benefit us in the here and now but at what cost. The risk of losing ones soul is never worth the cost for a so-called fast life style. If people mock you for your faith all the better for you will find that you are in good company do not forget that they also mocked Our Lord as well as His disciples and all the saints that have gone since. Being a Christian is never a easy option there is a mistaken believe that all we have to do is go to church once a week and then make an appearance for Christmas and XLVIII

Easter and that’s it, nevertheless there is so much more to it than that it is a way of life it dictates the way we interact with other people indifferent to them being Christian or not. We can not just be nice to Christians and all others we are allowed to be spiteful to, after all they too are part of Gods creation and we never know what lies in store for that individual at a latter date keep in mind that Paul a persecutor of the early Christians and how he changed after the road to Damascus Paul had a complete change around. There have been many saints that enjoyed a good life style when they were younger and yet they gave all of that up to have a life full of struggle and hardships that is not to say we all have to have a hard life and give all that we have away we simply have to look at how we live. You have heard it said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, that is how justice is supposed to be now this is not literal otherwise the whole world would be blind and toothless this is saying that we should look for justice and never for more than our loss really is. If a car drives over your bike and you go to court should you expect the court to give you a million pounds for a bike that only cost seventy pounds, no you would expect that the court would give you seventy pounds and any other money you had to pay because of having no bike and yet we find that this basic principle of justice is being eroded by greed and people look for so much more. You have also heard it said that you should turn the other cheek that again is not saying stand there and let your self be murdered or beaten half to death, it simply says that you should rise above the temptation to return insults with another person, it is by our deeds and actions that people will know the power of our faith. When we pray never forget what Our lord said about the poor woman and the wealthy man God is not about glamorous clothes and how grand we look and act God is not interested in a fashion show He is only interested in who is there, great public displays of piety do not serve the Lord better than quiet humble devotion, it is all about what is in our hearts Gods joy of us is by far better than our fellow mans praise and admiration. Always above all adversities have faith in yourself and in God. When the apostles first started things did not always go to plan they too had times when faith left them. Look at the time the tried to heal a young boy and they could not do it. The there was the time that Jesus walked on the water and they were afraid once they knew it was their Lord Peter jumped from the boat to meet Jesus, but his faith left him as he thought about what he was doing and he began to sink into the sea even though Peter lost faith Jesus still held His hand out and saved him.

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The Transfiguration of Our Lord The transfiguration of Our Lord is recorded in the Acts. Our Lord after going up a hill spoke with the prophets Moses and Elijah. During this time His clothing shone a glorious white.

Faith is what we must always hold dear and never let it go for with out faith we become lost. It is through faith that we grow. I think we must ask what is this faith. I faith just some blind instinct that we are to follow or is there something more to faith. Personally I think that faith is the knowledge and acceptance of Gods will and Gods plan and His compassion for all of us although at times it may be unseen and difficult to understand as we travel through life on our day to day business. We have to have faith that what is in our best interests will be given to us by God. We know and we believe that we have eternal life through Christ. Our faith becomes tested when some one that we know and love dies. We question why they had to die especially if they are young or if it was under difficult circumstances. We feel anger and some rejection towards God. This is of course just a normal human reaction and this is when our faith is going to be called and put to the test. We know that as long as we have faith and as long as we have lived a life that was good and followed the teachings of Christ that the promises of Christ are there for us. There are those that upon having lost a loved one turn from God and start to place there trust in mediums and spiritualists with their Tarot cards and crystal balls. This practice must be avoided as it will pace your soul in very great danger. I can not warn strongly enough of the dangers that do exist and just how real these dangers are for all concerned in this practice. There have been cases when people have been in a light hearted way playing around trying to contact the dead for advice and messages and they have released demons and malevolent spirits. Now I know you are thinking this is a bit much what harm is there in having a séance or having your fortune told. But the dangers are as I said great. You run the risk of eternal damnation as this is sinful. As you are placing other things before God. You are placing yourself under the influence of and submitting your will to something that is not God. You are also in danger of being lied to with out you knowing. Once again this falls into the work of the devil who as always is on the look out for souls. Do you not think that the devil and his minions do not sit and watch us all the time as they L

are looking for that chink in our armour that one flaw that we may have that will allow him in and then claim us for his own. Never underestimate Satan as he had no second thoughts when trying to tempt Our Lord, apart from being a great theologian he also knows us. We are warned in scripture to stay away from interpreters of dreams as well as mediums and fortune-tellers. Even if it is possible to contact the dead it is not to be undertaken for the afore mentioned reasons. I have know people to get sucked into the world of medium ship and at first they get messages that appear to be from those that have died, and the advice they receive from these mediums that claim to be in communication with the dead does at first seem to be good. Although as dependency grows on the advice from mediums the problems begin with bad advice and depression setting in not to mention the sudden apparent inability to make choices based upon their own reasoning and not having to resort to medium ship. This is one of the reasons why we are warned regarding submitting our will to some other power. It is quite acceptable to freely hand over your freedom to God and submit yourself to God but the notion of handing this to an unknown power or force is a danger that can never be over emphasised enough. Now you have heard mediums and witches protest that they are white witches or that they only work white magic and I only work through angels and surround my self with white light, and so no bad do I do, for I only work good. I word once again warn caution, how do you or indeed they know just what angels they are communing with. If we work from the assertion that all angels are subject to Gods will and that they are in fact messengers announcing Gods will on earth and that since the great rebellion in heaven when the Lucifer and his cohorts were expelled from Gods kingdom the angels that are in heaven can do no harm to us with out the consent of God, and as they are continually praising God and following His divine will; and if it is the will of God that we do not contact the dead, nor seek knowledge of the future, then how can an angel carry messages from those that have died or tell us the future when this would be a rebellion against Gods will. So we must then ask who are these angels that are carrying supposed messages and offering guidance through cards and mediums. The irresistible conclusion is that they can not be from heaven that they are only sent to deceive us. I agree that yes we can gain some comfort from having a medium telling us that so and so is ok and that they feel no pain and are in a beautiful garden but at what price. Please look to scripture and to your faith and you will find that you already know this. There are accounts of angels popping up in the Bible but there is no account of the need for a medium to summon these angels. All we have to do is ask God to send us protection or help and it will be given. In times of trouble we will be comforted by the Holy Spirit this was promised to LI

us by Jesus Christ Himself. Consider this God loves us so much that He sent His only Begotten Son to save us from eternal damnation, is it really plausible that A benevolent God would then desert us when we need Him most? Remember what I spoke about on page nine and the footprints on the beach. Now let us take a moment to think about a subject that is so important and at times it can almost appear as some kind of superciliousness but it is in fact a vital element within true Christian worship. The subject is Apostolic succession. So just what is Apostolic secession and what does it indicate and why is it important. The simple answer is that Apostolic succession is an unbroken line that can be traced all the way back to Jesus Christ. Jesus made Peter the head of the Church and when the apostles were charged by Christ to go and proclaim the good news they were also told that what ever is bound on earth by them will also be bound in heaven. So we have a lineage back to Jesus through Apostolic secession and this succession has never been broken in over two thousand years. That is to say that every priest and every bishop can trace his right of ordination all the way to Jesus ordaining Peter as first pontiff. Without Apostolic succession then the order of priesthood would become invalid and there could be no Transubstantiation the bread would remain bread, and not the body of Our Lord and Saviour. There could also be no forgiveness of sins, anointing of the dieing and the sick we would then become heretical as we would have changed the will of Christ. So we can see that Apostolic secession is as important to the Church as air is to fire. We should pray for reunification of the Church and all Christians of course it would be a lot easier to achieve reunification with certain members of the Christian community than with others. Reunification could easily happen between those churches with true bishops and priests as there is Apostolic succession already in place and so enjoy full Christian confidence. As a rule the following churches have Apostolic succession:• Roman Catholics • The Orthodox Churches in the East • The Anglican Communion ( Church of Ireland, Church of England, Episcopal Church in the U.S.A,) • Armenian Church • Syrian Church. Now there are Christian churches that are with out Apostolic succession and these are • Methodists LII

• Congregationalists • Baptists • Lutherans • Calvinists All these Churches use Holy Baptism and trust in Christ and so they are essentially Christians but defective in government. Now just to add more confusion to the mix we have Quakers who do not use Baptism even though Our Lord and Saviour instructed His disciples to do so. ( Math28- 19) and the Unitarians do not believe that Our Lord is God and so we can see that there are some small divisions within the Christian Church and some Larger ones to be over come. Then there is Christian Science, a religion that is in no sense Christian as there is no form of belief in a personal God or indeed salvation through the Suffering of Christ through the Cross. This religion was invented back in 1866 by a woman by the name of Mrs Eddy and when she died in 1910 she had already amassed a considerable fortune from it. The big attraction to Christian Science was the strong beliefs in faith healing even though this can and is carried out by the Christian church. Mrs Eddy wrote several books to set out her beliefs the main book being Science and Health, with key to the Scriptures. The ideas that are contained in these books are in fact impossible to reconcile with any sort of Christian teaching or faith not to mention our every day assumptions about day to day life. Now being a good business woman Mrs Eddy continually updated and revised her books and those that were loyal had to keep buying these books as well as this there was a charge for everything. Mrs Eddy had three main points to her belief and they are. 1) That matter is non existent, and is simply imagined by us. 2) That disease, pain and death are quite unreal and are caused by an error in the mortal mind. 3) That people are made ill and die as a result of evil magnetism that is caused by some one else’s erratic mind. Now this means that Christian scientists will allow their children suffer any pain instead of resorting to calling a qualified Doctor. (It is strange that people die because of some one else’s erratic mind, as in point three when death is not real.) This group as far as I can see can have any right to call themselves Christian as they are not Christian for unquestionably Christianity is the belief in the Son of God taking human flesh and saving us through His death and resurrection. Given that these people do not believe in death, a God that is personal or in human flesh one can only imagine just how strange their interpretations of the Bible are going to become. We must be charitable to these people and not go on the attack

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but to tenderly guide them towards the truth and at the same time remember them in our prayers. Some people claim it is not important what you believe as long as you live a good life and as long as you do no harm to any one. This is not a good reasoning tactic as to be honest it is important what you believe in as well as how you live your life. How you live your life must be based on a code of ethics and what you believe in as the two become entwined. Your soul needs food and medicine when it is weak to strengthen it and this is found in the form of faith and prayer as well as receiving the Holy Sacrament of Communion on a regular basis. Jesus said that I am the way and that no one can come to the Father except through Me. He did not say Ok I am here to redeem mankind but hey do not worry if you can not be bothered in listening to Me and following what I say just live life as nice people and My dad will see you right at the end. Now if that was the case then why would God wish to send His Only Begotten Son to die as it would not matter as there is universal salvation already. Jesus did say that no one can come to the Father except through Him. I know that you are thinking but what of Moses and Abraham and the rest they did not go through Jesus and yet they are in heaven. The difference between that time and this was on a Thursday evening when everything changed the whole of mankind transformed for all time from then on as far as its relationship with God was concerned. What is important is what was said that evening by Jesus for he said that this is the new and everlasting covenant for all men. The idea of Jew and Gentile was now gone for there was to be no Jew and Gentile we were all to partake in this new covenant and we were all to be raised up to God. That is not to say that we would become gods but the void that separated us from God was to be bridged and we could now with certainty know that we would enter heaven. We could now cloak ourselves with Christ. From that moment on there was a new deal on the table. We no longer live under the old covenant things were to become vastly different. That is not to say that we are separated from our Jewish background far from it for we still use the psalms and the readings from the prophets and I suppose that as we are the fulfilment of the Jewish expectation we can not divorce ourselves from the past as it is who we are as Bob Marley once said “if you know your history then you will know were you are coming from,” we need to be able to identify were we came from as well as what we are for with that then we can have a more comprehensive understanding of our faith. Now you have also heard it said there is no such thing as God and there is no prove that God is real. Well that is a very sad thing to say for as the psalms say the foolish say there is no God. Look around you there is the prove of God and His creation. Darwinism fails to disprove the existence of God as the formula is flawed as it requires everything to have a LIV

purpose and that every thing is evolved but yet there are forms of life that have not evolved from other forms of live or species. The eternal question then arises as to why are we here and what is our purpose here I suppose it is the meaning of life as Monty Python once asked just what is it all about Monty Python gave us a very simplistic answer even if handled in an irreverent way. We as a species do not in fact contribute much in the ecological balance of the world. We are top of the food chain we eat both vegetation as well as meat. We can only survive under a limited environment and we are it would appear to be totally obsessed with self destruction both individually as well as a collective. With out dwelling on all our short comings for they are too numerous to mention we need to look at our situation and ask why are we here. I was, when I was a child during Catechism class preparing both for my Holy Communion and conformation taught that the answer to why are we here was that God made me and why did God make me it was to love Him and serve him in this world and the next. The Glory of God is mirrored in the universe and right here on earth we see both the order as well as the glory of God. Every evening and every dawn we hear the birds as they sing their praises to God, their songs ring out bringing joy to those who here it and as they give praise for the new day and thanks for the day that is past we sit and listen thinking only how sweet or I wish they would shut up its five thirty in the morning, sadly most of us do not join in with this praise that creation offers up to the Lord. We being tainted by sin are blind to the glory that is displayed before us each and every day I believe that once our eyes are opened and we do truly see then we will stand on awe at just perfect creation is and the glory that is rightfully Gods will fill our very being every cell and every atom that makes us will be full and bursting with incomprehensible joy at the revelation that is before us the revelation that is God is not given to us completely at this time we can only know part of God we can see His Glory and Majesty we can feel His love and know of His mercy we will however have a full revelation of God once we stand before Him yes God revealed Himself through Jesus but even then there was not a total revelation as we would never be able to comprehend the awesome power that is truly God. We see the order in the heavens and we marvel at how everything is in place. We look to physics for answers as to why the moon just stays were it is and does not just smash into the earth, Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a child. I believe that it is, I do not think that we need not look for answers that are obscure and remote, for the answers are simple and not over complicated. If we say that everything has to have cause and from cause we have effect and then we go on to say matter can not be created nor destroyed only changed (by us and our preconceived view LV

point that is) then we have to ask what was the first cause to allow everything to happen. Science can rationalise many things and explain to us why things happen and with physics we can see how perfect Gods order within creation really is the planets move in sequence and not in some random pattern and even at subatomic levels there is perfect order. There is no chaos within the universe there are of are those that would have us believe in chaos theories but even if we look deeply we find an ordering of everything. I believe that the ordering of everything is God and not just a random pattern that evolved after the so called big bang and as every child knows after their first year in school mater can not be created nor destroyed (by us at any rate) as matter can only be converted or changed. So where did all this matter come from in the first instance? Science and physics can never explain God, as it was God that started all that we have and see. Even if we sit and try to imagine God and just what God means we can not for our own intellect would fail us for we have to try and imagine a God that is in Trinity and as we said earlier separate and yet one as well as this we have to imagine a God that has always been and always will be. To see God and His work open your eyes and they’re there for all to see is the work of God in all its glory. Look at the snow flake there are millions upon billions of them and yet each one is individual from the next what a great testament to the wonders of God in all of his creation that He willed this to happen and if a thing of delicate beauty such as a snow fake can be so unique and only stay for a short time then how much more are we going to enjoy individuality. God has not hidden His wonders or any part of His creation. We have misused that which God has given unto us. God created everything to benefit you and I and yet we have misused these gifts to harm ourselves as well as to work acts of evil. You have also heard about the conflicts between religion and science and yes there is some conflicts but for good reason. In pursuit of science we must not lose our ideals and our faith, for we truly run the risk of losing our souls. There is a growing trend within the scientific community to day towards embryo research as well as cloning. All these things are sinful and must not carry on. There are now cases of young vulnerable girls being paid to get pregnant and then have abortions so research can be carried out and a lot of the time it is for cosmetic purposes only not that any other purpose would justify such actions being taken. Yes the church is correct to oppose such activities. We become very proud of our wisdom and knowledge of the world around us and yet we forget that wisdom is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We must not abuse this gift and create evil with it.

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We have spoken about the Church Militant but now we have to ask what is the Church Militant. Firstly the Church Militant is not comprised of revolutionaries and trade unionists although there may be some amongst the congregation nor is it a church of leftwing student activists. The Church is seen as three groups. The church Militant, the Church Expectant and the Church Triumphant. The Church Militant is the Church here on earth comprising of those who are still living. So when we go to Church we are all part of the Church Militant. Next we have the Church Expectant and this is made up of those that have died and are not quite ready to stand in the presence of God. These souls are being made ready to stand before the magnificence of God. This place has been called purgatory and it is an intermediate state we must not look upon purgatory with the prejudices that have been associated with it and have lead to a confusion regarding this belief. If we think clearly for a moment most of us die without being ready and we are not bad enough to be condemned to hell and yet we are not in a state of grace and so can not stand before God, it is the duty of the Church Militant to pray for those members of the Church Expectant. The question of how long are these souls kept in purgatory for is one that can not be answered as for one I do not know and for two the concept of time as we understand it is not relevant to God. The general view of hell and purgatory True God has ordained order within the world and the universe but creation and judgment can happen simultaneously. There is truth in the fact that God has said very little about this state of being and maybe we could view it as conjecture but if we were to accept this as very real and follow what has been practiced for many years then it would do no harm only good. The Church Triumphant is the Church that we all aspire to become members of. The congregation of the Church Triumphant are pure and stand before God they are the saints and those that have been made pure and gone through Purgatory and finished their cleansing they stand before God and all the mysteries have be revealed to them they have been made worthy of the promises of Christ. This is of course the state that we all aspire to reach. I have heard of late the view that the church should not involve its self in political matters I have already discussed how the early Church was seen as a political tool and there fore to raise objections against the Church speaking out on matters secular seems some what strange. After all the LVII

Church must surly have a duty and a right to speak on matters secular as any matter that may be secular upon first glance could and usually does raise far reaching issues that cross from the secular to the spiritual. If the church has an obligation for the care of our souls the it must also have a duty to protect us from laws or edicts that could harm our spiritual life. If a system of government was to come into place and the laws of that government were clearly wrong as it discriminated against a section of its people or ignored a minority of its people to an extent that they suffered or were persecuted then it would be clearly wrong for the Church to sit in silence. When asking if the Church should be involved in political matter we must also bear in mind that Christ was a political prisoner and so the Church was from the very beginning political and the Church must always speak out on behalf of those that have no voice whether it be an unborn child or a worker in an oppressive regime. One of the great problems that we have is that governments do not always rule in good conscience and this being the case there has to be some system in place that ensures that ethical values are held in place. And so yes the Church should be involved in political discussion and were there are wrongs the Church should not be afraid to speak out. I remember when a church I worked in during the late eighties gave sanctuary to a man that was under threat of deportation and even though he was in fact a Roman Catholic the Anglican Church gave this man sanctuary the local priest was supported by the Roman Catholic Priest as well as other religious leaders this was a totally correct thing to do Fr John stood bravely in face of terrible criticism in the media as did the members of the congregation and Fr Phil the local Roman Catholic Priest was there every day supporting Fr John in his endeavours to save this man whose life was in real danger should he be sent back to his own country as well as working behind the scenes. This did not deflect from pastoral duties they carried on their work being a Sheppard and looking after the rest of the parish. This reminded me of the story of the Good Samaritan but in this case the priests thankfully did not simply walk by looking the other way. The right of Sanctuary that is contained with in the Church must always be upheld this is a right which must never be abused nor removed for in this world of trouble and of intolerance both politically as well as socially we need to have a place that is free from all that a place that once entering we are one family there are no judgments and no class only brothers and sisters. Within the House of God I believe no one has the right to judge each soul is known entirely to God and God alone. I think that as always we must have faith in ourselves and always trust in God we must not despair when hard times fall upon us and we must always hold onto that certain hope that one day we will be in heaven standing before the glory of God where all of the mysteries that we try to LVIII

explain will be shown to us and so I say to you all who have read this short treatise may God bless you and keep you now and always and may you always walk in the light of the one true God.

God Bless you all Gabriel Deaghlán Fionn May the mercy that is Christ remain within you always. May you never bring shame upon yourself and may the truth always shine from you. And never forget that Christ promised that He will be with you for all time.

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Gabriel Deaghlan Fionn I was born in Drogheda in the Irish Republic in 1965 and educated in England. Attended St Cuthbert’s R.C school in Bolton. I have said to so many people my maxim believe in your self and trust in God. This has stood well for me in the past.

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