12 November 2014

I thought that I was running out of steam; that my wish to bear witness to the Truth was fading under the inescapable tide of information overpowering my ability to cope with or process it.

"Cope" above takes me to Abbot. Where oh where is Abbot Soper. The Benedictines seem to have done a better job than the Mafia in hiding him. He skipped bail in 2011 (I think) and nothing has been heard since. The latest mention of him that I can find on the internet is in 2012. How can that Order, knowing this, continue to administer the Sacraments and study the Word of God without cringing in fear of what is surely to come either in this world or the next. They are mutually responsible for the actions of each other; they are brothers. Even the Dominicans did not attempt to avoid the scandal provided by Father Timothy Gardner and they have the other Timothy "skipty malloo" Ratcliffe scampering round the world promising heaven to all who smile as sweetly as he does and ignore the reality of the Gospel and St Paul.

This morning, I heard the news about the "Masters of the Universe" receiving no punishment and retaining their gains for the Libor/ Forex scandal. My local drug addicts who loose themselves in mindless violence because of the truly hopeless nature of the life choices facing them, are all first "asboed" then imprisoned and always pilloried in the press. The rich boys antics are seen as normal in the world of stewardship that Our Lord warned us about in one of last week's Gospel readings.

I read recently that we should consider that there were really 2 Vatican IIs. The real one which happened and the other "virtual" one that we read about in the media. The media was mainly read in those days ( although I do remember the TW3 team dressed as Cardinals singing Arivederci Roma at the close of the council). I continued this thought and came to the conclusion that it applies to everything we say and do. There is the real Jesus and the Jesus in the Gospels. There are the real Gospels and everything else that has been written about  them. How much of Biblical Scholarship is spent seeking to correct or support what has been done with the Gospels over the 2000 years.?

Is there also a real church in addition to  the church of the building and the church of  the Hierarchy and the Orders? And, of course, this is too much for me as my typing fingers are flying ahead of any thoughts that may be worth having. I think that I have to say that in my world there is only one reality; that is the reality of the Blessed Sacrament. There we do, maybe only for a moment, but we do truly find The Lord who promised to be with us to the end of time.

Men everywhere thirst for justice and peace. Peace without justice is bound to fail. Everywhere we can see that this is not  a platitude but is a simple statement of fact. Our Church  knows this; all human beings know this too. Our family without justice cannot be at peace. In our family, justice is that we know the others have the right to everything that we want for ourselves; in the family there is no place for me to indulge my own wants and desires to the detriment of anyone else. How then can I break one family to claim that my new one is the place where my life bears witness to the justice that in human behaviour brings peace. I have done wrong; I am at fault so why do I need my Church to condone that which is false and unjust? The mercy of God is unending as is his forgiveness; but I must surrender myself to his will and plead for the mercy and forgiveness which will be truly mine as a result of repentance. I want to live in a new family as if there were no old one and I want to be considered by the Church to be in a state of grace. How many lies are piled onto each other?

Our church leaders spend much time working to achieve justice in the world. Our English Hierarchy spent most of the early part of the 20th  century squabbling with each other and the lay leaders of our  Faith about how to achieve a just settlement to the vexed question of Catholic Schools. Was there ever a just settlement to that question and can there ever be when the children of the "Lay Leaders continue to be educated at the schools which educated their fathers and which co-exist with their non-catholic counterparts as a source of injustice in this England? As long as there is a Religious Order ready to educate the children of the "worthy" who cares that the children of the poor, whose pence built the parochial schools, now receive their Catholic education in something called a "Faith School"? All of which is not really important. Let us pray that our Bishops and even our priests never lose sight that they are working and living to lead souls to heaven; that is the mission that was entrusted to Peter by Our Lord and please remember that dinner engagements/receptions and even cocktails even with the most delightful of company are not really of the stuff of eternity.