Comments on the Sunday Mass Readings for the Clogher Diocese 12.09.

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Parables on appropriate responses to losses found anew - Luke (15: 1-32)
I have been asked of late to explain what my private Lotuscross routine is about by a Facebook
Friend while some Jehovah's Witness folks - who come a calling on occasion - queried me on the
role of the Bible in my life so I thought I'd better try to put some shape on what I'm about. Not
being one to reinvent the wheel I realised the obvious thing to do was to share my principle
devotion both to the Bible and the Cross as a Roman Catholic, which is centred on attendance at
Holy Mass at least once a week. I say 'Holy', to distinguish the Sacrament of the Mass from the
various 'Mass', actions and happenings associated with the modern social protest movement and
even dance events. So what I propose to do is get into the habit of posting the leaflets of Holy
Mass's I attend with some comments by myself– kind of post Homily, homilies. The 'Homily' being
the Priests sermon or comment on the Gospel and other readings.
Catholic Mass's follow a set format the world over and involve: a reading from the Old Testament; a
reading from Psalms ( an Old Testament book of prose with set responses); a reading from one of
the four Gospels; followed by a reading from either the Acts of the Apostles or from Letters. The
Roman Catholic Bible is comprised of 77 books from Genesis through to the Book of the
Apocalypse, including: the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; Luke's account of the
Apostle's Mission after the death of Jesus known as 'The Acts of the Apostles'; and 'Letters',
containing the various historically verifiable letters which Saints Paul, Peter, James, Jude and John
wrote. These letters are key to Faith formation because they are mainly the personal witnessing of
the men involved, poured over by scholars for two millennia. Whereas the Gospels are accounts of
Jesus life, St.Paul's letters are in fact his own, with exceptions, and no-one disputes this. The
originals were generally written directly by the hand of the men concerned or a personal secretary
or community member. I say that at the risk of digressing because people seem to have lost sight of
the historical veracity of the Bible in general and of Letters especially. St. Peter, (the man who ran
away from the Cross of Christ yet who clung to his own 33 years later in Rome when crucified
under Nero A.D. 66, while – meanwhile in another part of town – St.Paul, the one time bounty
hunter of Christians, was having his head chopped off) actually wrote St. Peter 1 to the Christian
communities in Asia Minor – present day Turkey. If one cares to refute that then one might as well
refute the study of history itself. So a person testing Faith will logically ask of St. Peter's life 'Now
why go to all that bother in the defence of a myth'? Faith arises from and is confirmed by such
formative observations and questions. Because we are all human and know what cowardice is about
we wonder inwardly, without the aid of a microscope, scratch our heads, without having to send a
courtesy email to Professor Richard Dawkins, by way of confirmation, and say surely this man who
knew the historical Jesus must have been completely certain of his Divinity. And equally of St. Paul
one would likely ask 'What happened to this lunatic zealot psychopath on the road to Damascus that
turned him into the worlds most pre-eminent love guru and to go share thirty three years of hard
struggle and finally death with the very man he was out to kill'? Now you don't need a degree in
Thermo Dynamics to consider that question. It just jumps up a hits you right on the chin and says
'Well bozo'?
Of the Book of the Apocalypse I'd just like to add it's the last book of the Bible and is a revelation
style account of the mystery of coming of the Kingdom given by St. John, a book which many folks
get overly excited about treating it as though it were the plot for a Holywood movie or a Stephen
King novel rather than a Seers attempt at speaking to the mystery of the Kingdom unfolding.
Imagine trying to direct a river through a pipe; now while that river might be calm the torrent
gushing forth from the mouth of the pipe will be anything but calm. That's just a question of
capacity is it not? The Book of the Apocalypse needs to be read with nice cup of camomile tea and
perhaps some soothing music not high on – whatever - with ACDC's 'Highway to Hell', blasting in
the background. In any event I definitely digress at this point so I'll just try get back on track in the
next paragraph.
In advancing my own practice of devotional yoga, which involves integrating Christian prayer
recited in Lotus as a way of worshipping the Cross, I want to make it clear that nothing can replace
Mass attendance as the principle means of worshipping the Cross of Christ; as the Mass is the
practical outcome of the Cross which Jesus shares with his followers both transcendentally and
practically - forever - through the Eucharist. So before I start explaining my own curious routine
and printing the devotional prayers and Bible meditations I want to get into the habit of uploading
the Mass leaflets, of the Masses which I attend. I try to get Mass at least once a week in one of my
local Parishes and in addition in Monaghan Cathedral on Sundays. The danger of my own system of
worship is that one withdraws from the Mass, which of course is a mistake. I only intend Lotuscross
as a supplement to Mass attendance for those so inclined. Prayer connects the mind to God but the
Eucharist connects the soul to Heaven in a way that simply defies explanation. So I'll start
explaining Lotuscross in October once I've got into a pattern on these Mass leaflet commentaries.

Sunday Mass, Monaghan Cathedral 12.09.10

So this is my first upload, it’s late and consequently I’ve not a lot to say except to thank Fr. Chester
for his considered homily (Luke 15:1-32) , which focused on God’s quest to ‘Search us out’, so that
we may be truly found both to him and to ourselves. And that can be a very tender and considerate
project if we allow it to be so; but deliberately getting lost can of course compound the process, as
the Prodigal Son found to his misfortune. But there are other ways of presenting that and so we
have the parable of the lost sheep and of the woman who lost a coin – a drachma. Fr. Chester liked
the feminine analogy best; God as a woman’s hands, gentle and consoling restoring the lost coin to
its rightful place. For myself something curious generally speaks to me and in this instance it was
the question ‘Would a woman who lost a coin celebrate it to that extent or indeed and man who lost
a sheep’? Perhaps those of us slightly on the depressive, apathetic side – or suffering from
melancholy or lassitude, as they used say – would not be bothered and if we did manage to go
searching would just sit down and let out a sigh of relief that the hassle was over begrudging the
sheep or the coin – or whatever - its errant ways. I’m always cursing the stuff I can’t find instead of
rejoicing in finding it. So is that about me comparing poorly with God? God is happy for the
positive outcome in a truly celebratory sense whereas I tend to think of all the previous trials and all
the ones to come and think 'Jesus wept', when I ought be thinking 'Jesus rejoiced'. Jesus enjoyed the
meal the Tax Collector had put on for him and didn’t over analyse showing proper gratitude for the
mans generosity as well as his repentance. I guess I’ll have to watch out for my poor spiritedness in
future, try to live the day and not the past or fret the future. Yep I think that’s what I’ll take from
that one.

Fr. Chester also found St. Paul’s letter (Timothy 1:12-17) worthy of comment and indeed a re-read
it, which is most unusual. In this letter St.Paul acknowledges that he is a testimony to God’s
greatness not to his own merit, although plainly St.Paul was a man of considerable merit. I think
this very self effacing of St.Paul because there is that tension with St.Peter who of course worked
his way though the project earning grace step by step whereas St.Paul just got the celestial freebie.
Curiously Saints Peter and Paul reflect the story of the Prodigal Son: the good son and the errant
one. But God’s rejoicing for St.Paul is so great that St.Peter seems to get a rough deal by
comparison. But should we deny God his joy for the sinner or those whose faith is in error when
they see that error and correct it? ‘No’, for we all want the same thing ‘ The coming of the
Kingdom’. So rather than weep for our lost sense of significance we should rejoice with God for the
increase to his Kingdom and the Salvation of one who had fallen prey to error and misguided
notions. St.Peter made space for St.Paul, deferred to his judgements on many an occasion, and
indeed may have died on the same day as St.Paul under the Emperor Nero in A.D. 66 in Rome.
St.Peter crucified upsidedown (on his own request) and St.Paul beheaded. I should try to emulate
St.Peter more I think and stop weeping for my ego’s losses, for what is lost in the end except
vanity? - and that's a wooly jumper worth losing.
The first reading as you might see from the leaflet was Exodus (32:7-11 13-14) and it is a warning
against ‘Apostasy’, or denying the Faith; in this instance to worldly things. But there is more the
sense that too long spent in the company of those who do not share your Faith can diminish it to the
point that it is eclipsed by the things of the world. It’s easy to keep the Faith alive: just go to Mass;
pray as you can; and avoid error. If in addition you can practice good and be good then all the better.
Of course going to Mass is keeping in the company of the Faithful so it ensures we maintain a
righteous social orientation – if that’s not too strong a way of putting it.