What kind of a man can command an anticipated audience of 500,000 in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, on a wet and windy Sunday afternoon? What gems of wisdom can he produce in order to garner the grain, remove the dross, comfort the broken and shore up the edifice of an ailing church?
With expectations running high a lot is expected of this man. He has been portrayed as ‘Mr Good Guy’ over against the faceless others. He is expected to reach both the devoted and the disillusioned. A task which the Irish clergy have failed. Even our local Archbishop is pinning his hopes on the pope saying something to Irish society as to where it should be going. Who is equal to this task? It looks like he is being set up for a fall!
The World Meeting of Families which has taken place in Dublin this week and is the reason for the pope’s visit, produced some clarity. According to Marie Collins, herself a survivor of clerical abuse, the church’s reluctance to look into the matter is caused by fear of what it may find. There is the possibility of the ‘domino effect’ where there is a trail of abuse, some of which is allegedly documented in the Vatican and which, if followed, may open an even bigger can of worms.
The alternative is the continuing drip feed of abuse scandals not dissimilar to the drip feeding of the Trump scandals in the secular world. The only remedy is the unpalatable one of the person in charge of the facts making all material details and documents available for inspection by the appropriate secular authorities. Of course this is unlikely to happen as it involves pride and loss of esteem even perhaps to the loss of vocation or presidency!
The usual tactic of ignoring it and hope that it will go away, is no answer. A priest cannot forgive his own sins. He must go to confessional. But he cannot confess what he has not grieved over, and he cannot grieve over what he does not see, and he cannot repent over what he has not confessed. It needs the operation of God’s grace to open his eyes to see the destroyed lives his addiction has created.
When by God’s grace your eyes see and your heart is made willing to confess you know something of that glorious forgiving, rescuing and transforming grace that has become yours. But it is not natural. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the Serpent.
Both of them hid and neither stepped forward and confessed instead they passed the buck.
We have inherited from our first parents a sturdy form of self-righteousness. It comes naturally to us to think we are more righteous than we are. We all need the eye salve of the church in Laodicea (Revelation Chapter 3 verse 18) so we can stand unafraid before the revealing mirror of the Bible and see what we are really like. Then by faith in the cleansing power of the death of Christ we know that the blood of Christ covers all that has been exposed to Him. The greater fear for the pope, you and me is the delusions of self-righteousness that replace Christ’s righteousness in us (Romans Chapter 4 verses 1 to 6).

The somewhat detached response of the Vatican to the hole that the church finds itself in Pennsylvania shows that the adage to stop digging is being ignored. Perhaps they are leaving it to the Pope to sort out when he comes to Ireland to the World Meeting of Families next week.
This week the Pennsylvania grand jury found that over 1,000 children in six dioceses there had been molested by 300 Catholic priests over the past 70 years while senior church officials took steps to cover it up. The grand jury said it believed the “real number” of abused children might be “in the thousands”.
In farming when we have losses among livestock we sometimes console ourselves with the fact that the same thing is occurring in other farmyards. It’s a truism to be expected. It stands to reason that the same thing is going on elsewhere. It is hard to believe that similar reasoning did not take place in the Vatican and a global enquiry set in motion to root out the scourge of abuse.
There has been plenty of evidence of cover-up of abuse by the hierarchy but few heads have rolled to date although that may change. Seldom has there been any public expression of sympathy for the victims. Admittedly there is the fear of being sued but churches should lead the way in offering compensation and rehabilitation where necessary.
There exists the parallel legal system of Canon Law. It may be that its requirements have been met and errand priests disciplined. However, one of the basic tenets of any justice system is that it must be open. How else can people be confident that justice has been done or mercy, where appropriate, been granted? This lies in the jurisdiction of the Vatican. Perhaps the Pope can use one of the keys of St Peter to open it otherwise its back to platitudes and handwringing?

There is a sense that all churches are tainted when one in disarray. We are all sinners and need the Saviour. Catholics look to the Mass for cleansing. This is dispensed by someone in apostolic succession. The reformed view of apostolic succession would be the passing on of the gospel of grace from the first apostles, to their converts in a steady stream down through the avenue of time to the present day in answer to Jesus’s prayer recorded in St John 17 verse 20.
But the heart of the Mass is where the ministerial Priesthood who alone can “make present” (in what the Council of Trent calls an “unbloody manner”) the bread to represent the body of Christ (St Matthew Chapter 26 verse 26 – 28).

The reformed view would be that the one who officiates directs the worshippers to the once crucified now risen Christ and invites the believers present to eat and drink in memory of Jesus their sin-bearer and Sovereign Lord until he comes again.
There is a blessed simplicity in the Lord’s Table which easily gets lost in protocols. We need to remind ourselves of Isaiah “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols (chapter 42 verse 8).

In one of these simple quiz questions the Question Master asked the competitors to work out what the initials RDS stood for and to phone in the answer to him. He had, of course, been talking about the famous Horse Show which takes place in the Royal Dublin Society’s property in Dublin, annually, on this week.

The building of a course with jumps and the penalty of 4 faults if you knocked one down was a summer feature in our garden and challenged our children and their friends to emulate show jumping horses. I am not sure if we had water hazards but there were plenty of hurdles made of wooden bars to test the young legs!
Every August Reg and Rosalie Lowe (both sadly are no longer with us) made the trek from their house in Wapping Street, cross the Liffey to Ballsbridge to take their place in the RDS Arena. It was a fixture on their calendar! Reg had lived during that time when the horse was indispensable for work in Dublin Docklands and his love for the animal never left him.
The spectacle provided this week by the Stewards in the RDS was one of sheer brilliance. The flags of the 10 competing Nations (4 horses each nation) mingled with the floral decorations and bunting. The weather was perfect and the grass, which had been badly burnt by the heatwave, was now thick and green – ideal for jumping. The course was designed on a Celtic/Historic theme with one jump featuring phone kiosks of yesteryear!

They arrived as complete underdogs to take on many of the best nations in the world, but Team Mexico turned the sport on its head on Friday winning the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ of Ireland. This is the premier event which competes for the Aga Khan Trophy and prize money of €250K. It was Mexico’s first time in the competition and the joy with which they received the victory was heart-warming – that is to probably everyone except Trump who seems to have difficulties in loving his neighbour!
Horses get a bad press in the Bible. We read of them in connection with war. The ass and the ox were kept for more peaceful labours. The latter finding its way onto the badge of a Scottish Bible College with the caption around the picture of an ox, which the students were encouraged to copy – ‘either for labour or sacrifice’. This reminder that we are not our own, we were bought with a price, does not sit well with modern people.
In the same passage St Paul likens the believer’s body to the Temple (because it has the Holy spirit living within) and makes the case to flee from sexual sins which, unlike other sins, pollute it in a debilitating way because they take place inside your body (1 Corinthians Chapter 6 verses 16 -20). Taking the image from the slave-market St Paul reminds us that the price that was paid for each believer was the blood of Christ.
So glorify God with your body.

The recent announcement of the resignation of the American Cardinal Theodore McCarrick from the College of Cardinals (the first Cardinal to do so since 1927) following allegations of sexual abuse has highlighted the all-embracing nature of the problem.
Co-incidentally RTE broadcast the 2015 film “Spotlight”. This was largely based on the investigative work of the Boston Globe newspaper which published its results in January 2002. Initial work showed that victims were young and from poor backgrounds. Many came from broken homes and in some cases there was no
adult figure for the youth to turn to. In fact, the Priest may have been the first meaningful relationship the youngster had experienced. There was also a certain glamour in running errands for a Priest. It gave some purpose and meaning to an otherwise miserable life.
The Priests, there were around 260 of them out of a diocese of 1,500, were sent to different parishes or to rehabilitation. Their plight was the unenviable one of living a lie. One when interviewed maintained “I never took pleasure in it” which in his view made it OK.
It was the cover up by the hierarchy that compounded the crimes which the journalists decided to expose. There existed within the dioceses a type of court which dispensed its own justice. This had the effect of taking abuse cases involving Priests out of the civil courts and making the legal papers inaccessible. The absence of documents seemed an insuperable hurdle until a journalist learned that there were publicly available documents that confirmed Cardinal Law was made aware of the problem and ignored it. These documents were consulted and the matter brought out into the open with its publication. The Boston Globe’s offices were inundated by phone calls from victims of clerical sexual abuse who never thought they would see the day when their stories would be believed.
Cardinal Law resigned in December 2002 and was eventually promoted to the prestigious Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. In the press today Marie Collins, the Irish survivor of abuse who was on the Pope’s enquiry panel, tweeted, it would have meant so much more if Cardinal McCarrick had been removed rather than allowed to resign.
We live in a broken world with those in power fulfilling the axiom ‘power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. Those with no power have different temptations (St Matthew Chapter 5 verse 28). None are sinless not even one (Psalm 14 verses 2/3). The temptation to see yourself as an exception must be resisted otherwise the remedy will seem irrelevant to you. Do you hear the word “All we like sheep have gone astray, each turning to his own way” (Isaiah 53 verse 6). We are born wanderers! We want our own way. We don’t want the Shepherd!
“The Lord has laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all” The remedy is not to try to be better. It’s not the system. It’s faith in a sin-bearing Saviour. Trust Him not self.

After an extended period of no rain we went to bed last night to the sound of water filling the near empty rain barrel. We have come through an official drought (no rain for 40 days) which was declared by the Meteorological Office some time ago.
The hosepipe ban and a real endeavour to conserve water brought it home to most of us just how dependant we are on rain.
For the farmer whose land had changed from green to light brown with zero grass growth and cattle, instead of grazing were now simply going for a walk, there was no need emphasise the need for rain.
The Psalmist knew all about this when he desired “rain that falls on a mown field, like showers watering the earth (Chapter 72 verse 6). Over the last few weeks all our grassland has taken on the appearance of a ‘mown field’ with livestock having to be fed with feed normally reserved for use in winter.
Before the land recovers and growth resumes the rain must penetrate the earth’s crust. This has been baked hard and will take many nights’ rain to get to the grass roots.

The Bible shows a close relationship between the land being productive and the peoples’ allegiance. One place where it is evident is in Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Temple; “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them the right way to live, and send rain on the land you gave your people for an inheritance” (1 Kings Chapter 8 verses 35/6).

The Bible uses rain to illustrate Gods indiscriminate love. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (St Matthew Chapter 5 verses 43 – 48).

The Bible likens the dynamic growth properties in nature to the converting power of God’s word: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah Chapter 55 verses 10 – 11).

We have heard a lot about Artificial Intelligence this week as practical uses of appear on the market. The popular idea that a robot will do the housework etc. however, may be some way off!
It is interesting how these robots have been personalised by their designer giving them names. We are invited to learn some new computer program by listening to Cortana. The idea being that we will engage better with a humanised robot than one with a heartless metallic voice.
It’s when they start to beat you at your favourite game that it becomes a little hard to take! Fortunately, their inventor has thought of this and given you a scale of difficulty so you can set it a bit lower to ensure a win!
Then there is the smart home created by Amazon or Google. It may be operated by voice control when you are in the house or remotely by cell phone when you are away. The problems that it solves today are simple like switching on the heating but tomorrow who knows …perhaps it will do the housework!
Outside the home there is the driverless car. It is reckoned to be safer that having a human in control. But if no-one is behind the wheel who pays in the event of an accident? The manufacturer? The owner?
What about Skype’s simultaneous speech translation? Of course someone has to program the thing but given the tools one day perhaps the robot may do a real-time voice translation by itself. Babel reversed and the foreign missionary’s dream, of mastering the language, fulfilled!
Clothing outlets complain that customers try on the garments in their shop then go home and buy the same garment cheaper on-line. Soon they will not need to go to the shop if the Japanese firm Zozo has anything to do with it. The firm has created a body scanning suit called the Zozosuit. By photographing themselves wearing the skin-tight polka-dot Zozosuit, users can upload their body measurements to ensure a perfect fit for the clothes they order.
Amazon.com, which has been making an aggressive push into online apparel, last year bought Body Labs, a 3-D body-scanning start-up that lets people create a digital avatar of themselves to try on virtual clothes. One future problem could be with shops becoming redundant and the workplace inhabited by robots there may be no demand for clothes as there would be nowhere to wear them!
On the less frivolous side artificial intelligence is being used to create autonomous weapons. Future wars could be fought by robots, programmed to think for themselves and set loose on the enemy. The resultant chaos would make science fiction films a reality.
Jesus takes us back to basics. He tells us through St John that the world is in the control of the evil one (1 John chapter 5 verse 19) and that in it we will have trouble but everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (verses 4/5).

The heat-wave is official – more than 5 days with temperatures over 25 degrees.
Indeed, the mercury soared into the 30ies with 32 degrees being recorded in a few places. And it’s to continue, perhaps dropping a little, for the foreseeable future.

The emerald isle has become the baked brown island! The grass, normally so green, has taken on that burned look associated with hotter climes. There has been little or no growth this week and the cattle and sheep are under stress. In many farms dairy and drystock herds are being fed bales of silage which was cut last month and was intended to be winter feed.
There are difficulties in maintaining water supplies with animals increasing their intake in the heat. Hose-pipe bans are being imposed in cities and may be extended across the country. Irish Water is quite vulnerable in drought conditions as 40% of its supply is unaccounted for. This wastage occurs from old pipework with multiple leaks.
On the other hand, ice-cream suppliers have never been so busy. The school holidays have added to the demand with the produce incredibly being shipped in from England! Perhaps it is a testimony to the normally miserable Irish summers that our remaining ice-cream factory closed down years ago!
Next week, Met Éireann said it would remain warm or very warm with no sign of rain. They have been comparing it to 1976 when the warm and sunny weather continued from Easter until the end of August, with temperatures peaking at the end of June. It makes us appreciate our temperate climate even if it gets a bit too wet at times!
Droughts were relatively common in the Bible. When the prophet Elijah was called by God to rid the land of idols (Baal worship had been introduced by King Ahab) Elijah announced a drought which would last as long as he decreed. This process of teaching the people the lesson that God was supreme and Baal was no god at all reached its climax on Mt Carmel with fire coming from the Lord and consuming the sacrifice on Elijah’s altar which had been steeped in 12 jars of precious water (1 Kings Chapters 17/18 verses 1/40).
This drenching of the altar made fire impossible unless it was supernatural. It may not only have indicated God’s intervention but have served as an oblation i.e. the offering of something sacrificially as was water used in the Festival of Tabernacles.

On the last day of the Festival the Priest made 7 journeys from David’s well to the courtyard of the Temple each time pouring the water on the thirsty ground. Jesus indicated its completion by inviting the people to come to himself and drink (St John Chapter 7 verse 37/8). Believing in Jesus quenches the spiritually thirsty today and promises the life giving stream of the Spirit to come from the believer’s heart to others

The battle over the introduction of abortion is over. The Christians largely found themselves on the losing side. The temptation is to pack up and go away, like the disciples after the crucifixion. “We had hoped that he (Jesus) was the one who was going to redeem Israel” was said on the walk to Emmaus and sums up their feelings of disillusionment (St Luke Chapter 24 verse 21). It seemed to be downhill from here on.
For the victors there is a push on to have the legislation enacted before the summer recess in July. The two challenges before the courts will be heard next Tuesday and the likelihood is they will be dismissed.
Then there is the work of the Irish Centre for Bio-ethical Reform which has continued to remind the public at large and those intent on abortion in particular of the person in the womb. Their posters showing the 10-week healthy baby before and after the abortion clearly illustrate what abortion is about. There is in one picture a living human being and in the other pieces of chopped up flesh – the remains of the baby.
Now the Minister for Health (the name is a bit of a misnomer) having ignored the child in the womb during the campaign now wishes to have the “offensive imagery” banned. In particular, it should be excluded in places where women, planning an abortion, may see it! The minister proposes exclusion zones around maternity hospitals and abortion clinics presumably because the shock of seeing abortion pictures may persuade women to refrain from going through with the killing.
It must be hard for the Minister to be brought face to face with the results of his actions in this way.
The U.S. Supreme Court Justices recently unanimously invalidated abortion clinic buffer zones. The Court rejected the arguments which mischaracterise ‘Centre for Bio-ethical Reform’ campaigners as “protesters” to make their conduct appear extreme and inappropriate. Their work is educational in nature placing previously concealed information before the public.
Of course the image is very powerful. The visual goes straight to the imagination and recognises that I was once like the 10-week old baby. It goes further and sees the violence inflicted to bring about its death. It remains in the mind’s eye and because human life is an intensely personal thing cannot be readily erased. It should evoke shock/horror feelings. It should determine that it must not happen. Not in my country. Not among my people.
The Disciples thought it unthinkable. Isaiah must have been writing about someone else! “there were many who were appalled at him his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness” (Chapter 52 verse 14) not Jesus, not you Lord. The graphic image painted by Isaiah becomes all too real for the disciples and for us. “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and to cause him to suffer” (Chapter 53 verse 10). Jesus was our substitute, his purity for our sinfulness that there might be a basis for God to forgive his repentant children including campaigners and abortionists.

The school exams are over and the universities are coming the end of the semester.
The recent heatwave has whetted appetites for more of the same leading to packed flights travelling south.
However, it is not just the sunshine that we have in common with Bermuda, the Caymans and the Virgin Islands. We are in there with well-known tax-havens of the world. In fact, some have said this week that ‘little old Ireland’ leads the pack!
Of course we have tried to earn some ‘brownie points’ by not cashing Apples cheque for something in the region of $13 billion which now lies in an escrow account costing $800,000 a year to look after it! How it will be eventually carved up is not clear. One thing is certain and that is Apple will contest the outcome and a decision will be hard to come by.
Our official corporate tax rate of 12.5% suits the multinational companies because it is lower than other countries and has been stable. The actual rate charged, when various exemptions and discounts are applied, is often much lower. For instance, in 2015 the effective rate was 9.8% with some of the larger corporations paying less than 5%.
Our method of accounting the national finances cannot cope with the situation where the top 100 companies pay 70% of the tax bill and the remaining 44,000 companies the remainder! Fluctuations in income such as we had in 2015 produced an increase of nearly 26%, a figure that was derided as “Leprechaun economics” by Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman. Of course there could be losses of a similar size destabilizing the country!
What are we to make of all this shuffling around of the “Gulliver” size profits created from highly successful global trading? Well for a start if they can be kept intact by paying minuscule amounts of tax they pour wealth into the pockets of the Companies decision makers and shareholders. Some might trickle down, usually in the form of incentive bonuses to the employees.
The countries where the profits on sales are made get no tax to assist them in providing schools, hospitals, etc. Whilst the citizens of these countries may be able to talk to each other by mobile phone progress in developing the surrounding infrastructure is not helped by the tax portion of the value of the phone being hived off to a tax-haven – probably Ireland where we settle for a much reduced amount!
So didn’t Jesus say the poor would always be around – so much for equality!
What Jesus said would have been understood by those who knew the full quotation – “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be…For the poor you will always have with you in the land. Therefore, I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’” (Deuteronomy chapter 15 verses 7-11)
In the light of these words we stand condemned nationally and individually. We need to check out what/who we are trusting in (1 Timothy chapter 6 verses 17/19).

In a week where we had multiple murders the Rugby Test match in Australia came as a welcome relief. It would have been better if Ireland won but with all the wins in recent years perhaps we needed to realise we are not infallible!
For the pundits the scoreline was 18 – 9 with both sides having tries disallowed thanks to camera technology. What seemed an advance for the game has now reached new heights with the TMO (the match official) in one query referring to the pictures on camera number 7.
The all seeing eyes of the camera record incidents both on and off the ball on one occasion – it reminded me of Hebrews Chapter 4 verse 13 – “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account”.
All other games drive the ball/slither forward striving to reach the opponents goal. What makes rugby unique is the rule that the ball must be passed back to the players behind you while you make every effort to progress forward. Natural instincts to pass forward must be curbed and progress forward must be made through a wall of opposing players all equally determined to secure the ball and take it over the try line at your end of the pitch.
And crossing the line proved to be enormously difficult in today’s match. Australia had the edge over Ireland as they achieved it twice. It should be added that we did also cross the line twice but both attempts were disallowed.
Crossing the line is an expression now commonly used to indicate the moving through a boundary. Politicians talk about something being a red line issue by which they mean that crossing it will bring severe consequences. In Christian circles the expression is sometimes used to denote a move into Christ. Once Christ was a distant historical figure but now a decision has been made to look into the matter.
A line has been crossed, the will is now inclined towards Christ. We are no longer spectators but have become participators. We have taken up Philip’s invitation to Nathanael when Jesus was recruiting his team of disciples; “Come and see”. When he looked into it his scepticism “can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” changed and he became a follower of Christ (St John Chapter 1 verse 46).
The crossing of the line is best seen in marriage. The initial attraction is followed by many hours together leading to a falling into love. As knowledge of each other increases so the desire to be together grows stronger. The culmination comes in “will you take this man/woman” when you confirm your belief with active participation – “I will”. To never reach that point makes you spectators of your own beliefs. In fact, you are probably not in love at all: you are simply playing irresponsibly with a profound relationship.
The day of grace is still on – Jesus is still calling his followers from every type of background. He has revealed himself to us in scripture, he is not put off by our lack of understanding or our sins – he knows us and loves us. Will we respond to his “follow me” with “I will”?