FATHER MICHAEL’S DIARY
26 APRIL 2024
LIVING IN THE REAL WORLD
We all live in a world of our own. In many ways that’s inevitable. We all form individual impressions of what is going on around us, both near at hand and on the world stage. One of the reasons why deafness is so often a precursor of paranoia and dementia is that if we cannot hear what people around us are saying we may well either become confused or else imagine what they are saying and think it must be about us (which it very well may not). But even if we have all our faculties we still run the risk that we construct a world for ourselves which is different, maybe dangerously different, from reality.
Are there really millions of people idling their lives away on sickness and invalidity benefits as part of a “sicknote culture”? Are immigrants risking their lives to get to this country to take advantage of our National Health Service? Are there parts of Londonwhich are “no go” areas for Jews or for the police? Is Donald Trump being persecuted by bogus criminal charges because he alone is standing up for the rights of ordinary Americans? Do you believe Americais ruled by a secret cabal of devil-worshipping paedophiles? As they say: believe that and you’ll believe anything.
Only a lot of people do. There are people who are opposed to vaccination on the grounds that it is a plot to fill our bodies with substances that will enable the Government to control us – or cause autism. Your reality is your reality and my reality is mine – so how do we get at the truth? How can we make sure that what we believe about the world out there bears some resemblance to reality? We need to keep our feet firmly on the ground and check and cross the check the information we receive. We need to ensure that the news channels we watch on TV and newspapers we read are conveying the news in an objective and unbiased way. That may not always be easy but it our duty to try.
An important factor on our growth as Christians is that we are aware of the truth about both of ourselves and the world of which are part. We need to see both as they are and to accept them. And having accepted ourselves we should also remind ourselves that God in Jesus Christ loves us, loves us just as we are enough to endure his Passion, his torture and death, for love of us.
READINGS AND PRAYERS
28 APRIL – FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTERTIDE – John 15.1-8 – I am the true vine – that the Church may be a community of the Resurrection
29 APRIL – Catherine of Siena, Teacher of the faith, 1380 – Proverbs 8.1,6-11 –wisdom is better than jewels – for the gift of wisdom
30 APRIL – Tuesday – Acts 14.19-end – Gentiles join the Church – the evangelistic work of the Church
1 MAY – PHILIP AND JAMES, APOSTLES – John 14.1-14 – I am the way the truth and the life – Christopher our Bishop and Rosemarie, Bishop of Croydon
2 MAY – Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Teacher of the Faith, 273 – Eccesliasticus 3.20-28 – fight to the death for truth – that the Holy Spirit may guide those voting today
3 MAY – Friday – John 15.12-17 – love one another –our community here at St John’s
4 MAY – English Saints and Martyrs of the Reformation Era – for the Mayor of London