Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. His ultimate desire is to be King of our Hearts. He is not a dictator king but, dare I say a benign king.   He cares about each and every one of us and wishes for nothing but our complete good here on earth and there after in heaven. He wants to be king of our hearts.  Is Christ present in your life?  As Paul says;- "I am patient and kind.  Never jealous, arrogant or boastful.  Always ready to forgive, rejoicing in the wellbeing of others. I do not take offence and am not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins but rejoices in the truth.  Love does not come to an end."  How did you do? 

The end of the church year is fast approaching this Sunday and another Sunday left.  A good time to take stock and review our lives.  The one great virtue that we as Christians have is HOPE.  Here we need to be aware of two pitfalls, DESPAIR, whatever I do will make no difference anyway, or I am useless and don't even trust God. The opposite extreme, PRESUMPTION is equally as bad/wrong.  No need for me to do anything, God will take me to heaven anyway, regardless!  Don't presume.  Jesus says that"The kingdom of God is very near to us."  When we are kind, generous, cooperative, compassionate, humble, honest and forgiving.  By being this way, we will truly make the Kingdom of God present in our world.People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy.  Hence my continual emphasis on reading the scriptures and modelling ourselves on Jesus Christ.

The end of the church year is fast approaching this Sunday and another Sunday left.  A good time to take stock and review our lives.  The one great virtue that we as Christians have is HOPE..  Here we need to be aware of two pitfalls, DESPAIR, whatever I do will make no difference anyway, or I am useless and don't even trust God. The opposite extreme, PRESUMPTION is equally as bad/wrong.  No need for me to do anything, God will take me to heaven anyway, regardless!  Don't presume.  Jesus says that"The kingdom of God is very near to us."  When we are kind, generous, cooperative, compassionate, humble, honest and forgiving.  By being this way, we will truly make the Kingdom of God present in our world. People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy.  Hence my continual emphasis on reading the scriptures and modelling ourselves on Jesus Christ.

We have four gospels. All telling the same story but with a slight variation here and there, and that is as it should be.  We all probably have slightly different views of Christ but they must be true to the gospels.  As Paul says we preach what we know. However, Matthew, Mark and Luke talk very much about all things leading to the end of time, death, judgement, heaven and hell. John by contrast has a very different view.   He talks about it all happening in the here and now.   "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day. "We have eternal life here and now.  We are truly blessed as children of the father, here and now.  The Holy Spirit lives in us here and now..... thus we are able to do some good.  Without him nothing would be possible.  As sons and daughters, we are a living family and should behave as such in the here and now. For John it's all happening in the here and now through the power of the Holy Spirit in us.  Enjoy it and practice it.

“How many of you read a passage of the Gospe! every day?  Keep a small Gospel always at hand.  Open it to a random page, read what Jesus says, and experience that Jesus is there!  At any time in the day I take the Gospel out of my pocket and read a little something, a short passage. Read the Gospel.  We’ve said this before, remember?  Read a passage of the Gospel every day.  Carry a copy of the Gospel with you, in your pocket, in your handbag – have one at hand, anywhere.  And there, reading a passage, we will find Jesus” Whizz kids may wish to use their phones.

Just wondering if anyone did any practice on the prayer of last week Y_H_W_H.  Did you find it helpful? YAHWEH or put another way, the vowels are silent.  I hope so.  Helped you to relax, clear your mind, feel good about yourself.  That is all good but there is so much more. We are not doing yoga/feel good, important as that may be, we are supposed to be praying, putting ourselves in the presence of God.   So we need to get into the mind of God which we find in the scriptures.  Proper breathing should help us to focus. And we have the answer in today's readings. Does my prayer make me humble,  "The humble person's prayer pierces the clouds."   God hears the voice of the poor, God is not a respecter of personage. My prayer must lead me to hear the voice of the poor, otherwise it is not real.   Everyone of us baptized is called to be holy, caring for the physical and spiritual needs of people, and sharing  that holiness with other people, a spreader of the fire of the Holy Spirit that sets the world ablaze.

In today's gospel Jesus tells us that even the unjust judge gives in to the woman.  If he can do it how much more will God help us if we only trust Him.  "Pray continually." If you are praying well, continue doing so.  However, how do we pray continually?  A tall order.  But Jesus says it and we must try to understand.  In the Hebrew language vowels are not pronounced.  So if we take the name of YAHWEH and leave out the vowels what do we get......Y-H W-H.  Now pronounce that yh wh.  It is synonymous with our breathing,  yh wh, yh wh, yh wh.  So in our breathing we are continually saying the name of God. For those who do good yoga that is what you are trying to do....get in touch and keep in touch with your breathing.  Just repeating the name of God.  When you popped out of the womb and the midwife slapped you on the rear end......you gasped and said God.  And as you give your last breath, probably with one great gasp and a gurgle you will say yh wh.  So we come into the world and leave the world with the name of God on our lips. Wow????  So in between the womb and the tomb we need to be continually in touch with the name of God on our lips. This is why finding quiet time throughout the day to get in touch with our breathing, with yh wh can be very calming and contemplative.  And the result is that in between time we have a heightened awareness of yh wh.  Praying continually.

“Thanks” such a lovely word and we all love to hear it.  Pope Francis said three very important words are: please, thanks and sorry.  Today we don't see much thanks in the Gospel.  Ten were cured, one said thanks.  In the life of a Christian we should not be disappointed not to be Thanked.  Jesus is not thanked by nine.  Jesus says;- "to give without counting the cost."  And it is not always easy. Give, give, give??  When last did you thank your mum, your dad, your teacher, your priest, your boss, your employee, Your God?  Eucharist means THANKSGIVING. So, we come to mass every week to give God thanks, on our own behalf and on behalf of the world.  You may not feel great about it but you know it is the right thing to do.

If you told someone 100 years ago that one day a man would walk on the moon, they would probably laugh at you.  Could you blame them? If you approach something in life saying it must be done, the chances are it will be done.  How many great things have been done because of man's/woman's belief in themselves.  I hope you have achieved quite a few things in life yourself, because of your self-belief, did you not surprise yourself. Congratulations.  Continue to believe in yourself and you will still do great things. Don't settle for the pile as they say. Now if you are confident that you approach no task alone, how much more will you do?   You always have an all-powerful God at your elbow. He even tells us: - "If your faith were the size of a mustard seed, you will do great things. Often, I think when people say they have no faith they are saying one of two things: -Really, I do not believe in myself, suffering from lack of confidence.  And so, I cannot move forward. 2.  Often people say they doubt, their faith is weak.  If you are reading this, your faith is not weak, rather you are looking for certainty.

Our first reading today is from the prophet Amos and is all about the poor.  It is the favourite reading of all who care about the poor, Martin Luther King, Helder Camerar, Oscar Romero just to name a few.  They were always on the side of the poor.  I feel embarrassed myself because of often being aligned with the rich.  We all have to find a way to deal with it. As British Rail say, "Mind the Gap."  Surely that is the issue.  When a few people own more wealth than the whole world put together.  Problem is we live in different worlds.  We do not understand each other.  The rich man is not necessarily a bad man, but he just does not seem to notice.  It's mine, I'm entitled to it, I've worked for it, I earned it.  And God says it is all gift.   We haven't a clue how other people live. And maybe the poor are not any better.  They also aspire to be rich, famous, celebrities to be at the top and may often despise people at the bottom. But God sees things very differently and has a different arrangement. The scraps are given to the poor whether it be scraps of food, leftover clothing, or the change in the bottom of my pocket/purse. Pray for enlightenment. 

The Gospel today is all about stewardship. Am I a good steward with my Time, Talent and Treasure in this parish of St James. If everybody did one job, an hour a month, this parish would be buzzing. Can you afford an hour?  Or can you refuse an hour? So:-What are your dreams and desires for your parish?What wonderful initiatives are already taking place?What tangible steps will you take to make your dream a reality?Will you give it that hour a month, or better even a week?

"Christians are usually sincere and well-intentioned people until you get to any real issues of ego, control power, money, pleasure, and security. Then they tend to be pretty much like everybody else. We often give a bogus version of the Gospel, some fast-food religion, without any deep transformation of the self; and the result has been the spiritual disaster of "Christian" countries that tend to be as consumer-oriented, proud, warlike, racist, class conscious, and addictive as everybody else-and often more so, I'm afraid.”  Richard Rohr

The Comboni Missionaries state that they dedicate themselves to the missionary apostolate to the populations that are not yet or not sufficiently evangelized, especially in Africa. They are present in Europe (Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Spain), Africa (Benin, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Zambia), in the Americas (Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru), and Asia (Philippines, Macao, Taiwan). The Mother House is in Via Luigi Lilio in Rome. At the end of 2008, the congregation had 328 houses with 1,803 religious, 1,296 of whom were priests. Today Fr Mario is here to do an appeal on their behalf. Your generosity is appreciated.

The key word of today's readings is humility.  If I live in a castle or people put me on a pedestal there is always a great fear I will be toppled.  Often as a priest people want to put me on a pedestal.  I've always resisted. For some of us life is a drama.  And like Shakespeare says, "Do I have to play all the parts."  And yes, some of us feel we do.  I am the writer, the director and the lead actor.  And it is everybody's else's job to make me look good. Let's get it right, God is the writer, (not the controller).  So, relax and don't take yourself too seriously.  Nobody else does.  When we live our lives in relationship with God, we realise our lives are not about us.  And that is a very liberating experience.  We get rid of the monkey on our back.  That Super Inflated EGO of mine which makes life impossible. And like today's gospel, as in a drama, the least likely character is the hero. 

Is there anybody who can open the “narrow gate”? If you were making a sign for this gate, could you call it “love”? According to Pope Francis, that is the only thing that opens the gate? Jesus makes it clear that it is not a matter of numbers, that there is no “limited number” in Paradise! Rather, it is a case of taking the right way from now, and this right way is for everyone, but it is narrow. …. He tells us things as they truly are: the doorway is narrow. In what sense? In the sense that, in order to save oneself, one has to love God and neighbour, and this is uncomfortable! It is a “narrow doorway” because it is demanding. Love is always demanding. It requires commitment, indeed, “effort,” that is, a determined and persevering willingness to live according to the Gospel. Saint Paul calls it “the good fight of the faith” (1 Tim 6:12). It takes a daily, all-day effort to love God and neighbour.

Today we celebrate Mary been taken up into heaven.  For all of us our mother has a special place.  And obviously all of us would like our friends to like our mothers. Hence the respect and love we have for the mother of Jesus. I often wonder did Mary have a midwife for the birth of Jesus.   I say that because I believe in very many ways, I am a midwife.  Apart from the fact that I delivered a baby on the side of the road at two o clock in the morning. You see God is within all of us but sadly many of us are still looking for him outside of ourselves.  God is within and I believe all preaching is an attempt to help us all to give birth to that God within.  God is there, "I live now, not I but Christ lives in me."  Waiting to be born in me so that I really become aware of the Gospel as the Good News.  Many people spend a life searching for God not knowing where to find him.  He is in our hearts and very apparent when we love, forgive, share, rejoice and so much more.  And he is in our midst when we welcome, help, support, forgive and so much more foreach other. My friend Jimmy spent so much time searching for God, worried so much about it and when he died.... God found him.   "Don't worry you are worth more than many sparrows, every hair of you head is counted."

Knowledge is power. In today's second reading we see Abraham growing in stature/faith. God asked him to go to a foreign land and he set out to a strange country. God told him he would be a father despite Sarah's age. God told him he would be the Father of many nations. Abraham trusted in God and God was being faithful. All seemed to be going well. And then God asked him to kill his only son. Abraham must have been shattered and in obedience proceeded. Perhaps not in obedience but he trusted in God. God had been so good to him, all along He/God would not let him down now. That is the faith we must all grow in. We need a certain knowledge and appreciation to grow in faith. That's why when people say they do not believe in God. I believe they are not rejecting God, but rejecting their childhood notion of God. And rightly so, because the God they believed in as a child is not going to be much good to them as an adult. Sadly, they have never grown in their understanding of the God of Jesus Christ.

Hope many of you had a chance for a break of some sort or other, whether in sunny Peckham del Sol, or away from Peckham with family or friends. I just had a very nice break in Ireland while still celebrating my Jubilee.  All the family are well. Thank God. Today's readings bring us back to reality with a bump. Look into your own heart and what do you find there? Like the first reading, are you looking for a lot of vanities/wealth, things that pass? What do I really want out of life? Whatever it is, share it.  Support others.  Build relationships.  Do not be greedy. Remembering; “It is in giving that we receive."

Today we welcome Fr Brian Oswald MHM to promote the RED BOX. Many families have one, but many more I am sure will be very happy to help. I have no doubt you will give him a fantastic St James’ welcome.
Together we are helping missionaries share the love of Jesus overseas For almost 200 years, we have been supporting world mission, providing missionaries with the spiritual and material support they need to enable local people to build and sustain their own faith communities. Today we continue to empower the Catholic Church globally, showing the love of Christ to everyone, and especially to those in need. We achieve this with our partners, the Mill Hill Missionaries, and your generous Red Box donations.

Jesus, in protecting Mary in today's reading, is protecting all women. In many parts of the world today women are forbidden to go to school.  "Girls do not need education, they are for bearing children and manual work!" The reason for manual work is not a reason for a woman to give up her heart’s desire. Martha understood the place of women in their society. They were to clean the house and cook like Martha was doing, and there was no need for them to have education. Their husbands would see after them???? No wasting time like Mary was doing. Martha demands that Mary be made to ‘play the woman,’ and as ever Jesus will not go along with the stereotype: “Mary has chosen the better portion and she shall not be deprived of it.” How much women have suffered over the world, over the centuries, because of the perception of their "proper role!"  Dare I say as defined by men?????????? Like Sarah in the first reading, they are for cleaning the house and cooking food.