“A leopard doesn’t change its spots.” A phrase often used about someone we disapprove of meaning that they will always be as they are and there’s nothing to be done. The danger here is that we imprison the person right where they are and this becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

We see political leaders lying, cheating and acting inhumanely in defense of power, wealth and privilege.

We see closer to home family, friends and people at work (if we are going to work in this Pandemic) who, from a faith perspective, need to change – who need God in their life.  

Yet there are ample examples from the present day and throughout history of those who come to a more enlightened way of life and to a personal faith in God later on or even at the end of their lives when those around them were convinced all was lost.

God has a vision for each and every person. Of what they can be and achieve for their personal betterment and the betterment of society and the world. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,” we read in Jeremiah 1.5.

In the Gospel reading for Mass this Sunday, Jesus relates the parable of the workers in the Vineyard. Those who were hired last received the same payment as those who had worked all day in the heat of the sun. The owner went out and discovered these latecomers standing idle. He saw their need and what they could do. He believed in them and knew from the strart he would be generous in spite of the protestations of the staple work force.

Do we believe in the potential of those around us and those in authority?

God walks alongside everyone even those who don’t recognise this. God is gracious and has given humankind the greatest gift of all – free will. It is when someone notices God alongside them and opens their heart to receive the great love and mercy on offer, that transformation is possible, even at the last hour.

What can we take from this? For those already in the Vineyard, we can see the potential in everyone. Work and pray for even the most unlikely to come into the Vineyard. Rejoice when they come for the gifts and the special place God gives even latecomers. Be ready for more labour no matter how late the hour. Pope Frances is 83. Just look at all he is doing.

God is always going out looking for those not yet in the Vineyard and sees the potential of all.

In the Gospel for last Sunday’s Mass, Jesus speaks about forgiveness, its importance and what real forgiveness means – no limits. (Matthew 18: 21 – 35)

For many this is the most difficult Christian teaching. We are upset and hurt on a daily basis and each hurt can leave its mark. Worse still many struggle under heavy loads – even from childhood.

Can we really forgive those who have inflicted especially grave injuries upon us?

Yet Jesus says if we can’t forgive, we cannot expect God to forgive us. In the “Our Father” prayer we read “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…”

If we harbour resentment perhaps hatred, we damage ourselves and cannot be all that we could be.

Forgiveness is an essential part of love. Love comes from God who is love – and Mercy. As Pope Frances has said, “The name of God is Mercy.”

But a healing and support network is needed – the Church. A loving Community is essential to heal our brokenness caused by a love deficit. Also to help us to grow in love which is essential for our wholeness. Wholeness can be seen as being who we are in God’s loving vision for us.

What is Love?

Jesus Christ is love incarnate.

The cross is the greatest symbol of love for all time.

Metanoia is needed for this new way of living– a complete change of heart which culminates in Baptism. Baptism is to be immersed in the family of the loving God. Daughters and sons of God who is love. Brothers and sisters of Christ who embodies love and temples of the Holy Spirit who empowers us to love.

Family, forgiveness and empowerment lead to wholeness and shields us from the antitheses of love.

Today, the 16^th August, the Catholic Church celebrates the great ‘feast’ of the Assumption. This is the belief held universally in the Church that Mary the mother of Jesus was taken up – assumed – into heaven without physically dying.

The gospel reading for today is Luke 1:29 – 56 which gives an account of Mary, a teenager and pregnant with Jesus by the Holy Spirit, visiting her cousin Elizabeth Elizabeth who was much older and also pregnant. She was expecting John the Baptist who was later the herald for Jesus and who baptised Jesus in the river Jordan. This event would change the world forever. In the moment of his baptism the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove and the voice of God was heard audibly declaring Jesus is the beloved Son.

There are many things about this meeting between Mary and her cousin which are remarkable but what stands out is the verse, “Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”

The historian Luke who would have heard of this account much later, records a definite and significant spiritual experience for both Elizabeth and her unborn baby John.

Every mother to be knows when her baby begins to move. Usually around 18 – 20 weeks or as early as 16 weeks for a subsequent pregnancy, or perhaps even 13 weeks. The movements of the baby can be felt when a hand is placed on the mother’s tummy around 24 weeks.

We know that around 25 / 26 weeks babies react to external noise. The baby can be affected by alcohol and drug abuse, smoking and many other things besides.

What is remarkable about this story is that John sensed spiritually the presence of Jesus we are told.

Christians and many others, believe that we are body mind and spirit. The different aspects of a person interact for good or ill. We are created in the image and likeness of our Creator Father God. St Augustine said;  

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

We are spiritual beings.

In the UK 8,745,508 abortions were carried out from 1967 to 2014.

In 2018 there were 205,295

Do we see anyone on one knee in public for any of these lost lives?

Babies Lives Matter

If you have been affected by abortion, help is out there.

www.archtrust.org.uk

I came across this story which I must share. My wife and I lost a baby at birth at just over twenty two weeks. At that time in 1990 the doctors said the baby wouldn’t survive for very long on a ventilator. I baptised him and we named him in the delivery ward and later had a funeral for him. You don’t get over it. Just learn to live with it. It is a great consolation to know he is with God where we shall meet him one day.

A mother has criticised doctors who refused to give her care and said she should let her twin daughters die when she went into labour at 22 weeks.

Kayla Ibarra and her twin daughters, Luna and Ema, are now thriving at home with their older brother Noah and father Dardo.

One year on, revealing their story on her blog, the mother-of-three said the twins are “‘typical one-year-olds’ and no one would even know they were born 18 weeks premature.”

Kayla and Dardo were already parents to 18-month old Noah when they decided they would like to have another child. Both were delighted months later to find out they were expecting twin girls.

Kayla said the pregnancy felt “normal” until she noticed a small spot of blood when she went to the toilet. She called her midwife who recommended she went into hospital to make sure she didn’t have a bladder infection.

The pregnant mother rushed to hospital but had to wait four hours before seeing anyone because the nurses had “forgot” she was there.

When Kayla did eventually see a nurse, she was rushed into a backroom for a urine test and then called downstairs for an ultrasound.  

When the urine test came back clean, the mother burst into tears because she “knew this was labour.”

She continued: “I started bawling my eyes out as I was finally wheeled to the ultrasound room.

“While getting the exam done, I kept telling the tech I was having contractions. She kept telling me to relax and all would be fine. I stood up and BAM, my water broke.”

Through tears a concerned Kayla asked, “what’s going to happen to my daughters?”.

As she was pushed in a wheelchair to an upstairs room of the hospital, a nurse responded, “the babies will be born today and they will die.” 

By the time Kayla was taken back upstairs, her whole family was there waiting for her. They asked the nurse, “what do we do, what can we do?”.

However the nurse again said that “there is nothing that can be done, the twins will be born today and they will die.”

Realising they wouldn’t get the care or help Kayla and her family wanted for her twins, the family began to search for alternative hospitals with a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) who would give her unborn twins a chance at life.

The family found a hospital in Ontario that was willing to help premature babies from 24 weeks, but her doctor refused to transfer Kayla to the new hospital and even refused to administer medication for her pain.

Furthermore, the doctor refused to allow Kayla to see her twins or hear their heartbeats dismissing the plea as a “waste of time,” instead saying “this [the labour] is going to be quick, let’s get it over with.’”

However, Kayla’s contractions stopped and her doctor agreed to let her rest.

Despite the fact her labour had stopped, a new doctor who had been assigned to Kayla urged her to deliver the twins the following morning through an induced labour.

However, knowing they wouldn’t intervene to save her twin girls, Kayla said: “I told him I refused to start labour again and as long as the twins are in me they are breathing and safe. He also denied me medication that would help the twins lung and brain develop.

Four days later, a shattered Kayla went into labour again at 22 weeks and two days – which was four days too early for the nearby hospital to intervene.

“I felt so defeated. I lost,” Kayla said.

Fortunately, a new doctor had been assigned to Kayla just as midwives were setting up the delivery room.

The doctor thought it was worth calling the hospital in Ontario who agreed to take the premature babies on.

Recalling the moment, Kayla said: “I felt hope. Finally, someone was going to just call and see. Within 15 minutes, he was back in my room coat on and said, ‘two hospitals agreed to take you… Soon, we were racing down the highway.”

Within hours, Kayla had given birth to Luna and Ema.

The twins barely weighed 1lb when they were born and spent a total of 115 days in the NICU, but they recovered remarkably well and were able to go home before their original due date.

Kayla said her twins have changed her life forever and she now wants the world to know premature babies can survive and can thrive.

“We went from a 0% chance of survival to celebrating over one year of life,” she added.

The survival rate for extremely premature babies in the UK has doubled over the past decade, prompting new guidance allowing doctors to try to save babies born as early as 22 weeks into a pregnancy – the age of Kayla’s now healthy and thriving twins.

The previous clinical guidance, drafted in 2008, included a presumption against attempting to provide life-saving treatment to a baby born before 23 weeks, on the basis it would not be in the child’s best interests.

In 2008 only two out of ten babies born alive at 23 weeks went on to survive. Today it is four out of ten, according to a new analysis from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine.

Furthermore, the majority of premature babies grow up to be healthy adults without any major health problems, a study revealed last year.

In a Facebook post post, Kayla recalled what a doctor said to her on day 65 of the girls’ NICU stay:

“The girls really have changed the way we view micropreemies here and in particular 22 weekers. It’s because of them that we have put certain protocols in place when dealing with micros and we have learned so much do’s and don’t’s from the girls. They have taught us so much and because of them, other 22 weekers will have the chance in our hospital. You did that, the girls did that.”

Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said:

“Stories of premature babies fighting and thriving, like Luna and Ema, along with recent new guidance and advances in medicine, showcase why this issue is one that Parliament should urgently revisit. It has been over a decade since time limits were last debated fully in Parliament in 2008. 

“Independent polling from ComRes shows that 70% of women in the UK want to see the time limit for abortion reduced to 20 weeks or below. Our current abortion time limit is way out of line with the rest of Europe where the most common abortion time limit is 12 weeks.

“We support any change in law that would help lower abortion numbers and save the lives of babies in the womb.”

The Sunday Gospel in Catholic Churches this week is the parable of the wheat and the darnel about a man who sowed wheat in his field but an enemy came and sowed darnel among the wheat. The man’s workers noticed and wanted to uproot the weed but the owner tells them to wait until harvest time then separate the darnel and burn it. (Matthew 13. 24 – 43)

Jesus explains that the owner represents the Son of Man, the field is the world and the good seed represents those in God’s Kingdom. The darnel is the subjects of the evil one. The harvest is the end of the world and the reapers the angels.

This parable helps me to answer the question which came to me while pondering the news this week, ‘where is God in the suffering, discord and disunity in the world. God created a beautiful world and we are making a mess of things. Why does God allow it?

There are those including national leaders who are part of the problem. Those who wield power and see themselves as all powerful. Those who are arrogant and indifferent to suffering, those who lie and manipulate.

But then there are those who are part of the solution. People of good will who will eventually win through, changing things for the better as they go.

In the end the darnel is burned as useless. The wheat is harvested.

God provides the opportunity to be co creators and to build a world of justice and peace which looks to heaven, our ultimate goal.

Martin Luther King said in his farewell speech in 1968 the day before his assassination, “He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

I pay tribute to John Lewis, the American civil rights activist who died aged 80 yesterday and who marched with Martin Luther King and lived to see the first black American President, Barack Obama.

The darnel can also be understood as our faults and failings which we need to correct, areas where we come up short. This is a life journey and the ‘name of God is mercy.’ (Pope Francis)

In the words of David Bowie, ‘ageing is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.’  

I have just learnt that 26 residents in a care home I visited regularly have died in this Pandemic.  A man who I had got to know who worked in the laundry was in tears. Again we have to ask the question why were so many elderly people discharged into care homes from hospital without being tested for Covid 19? This is an important question for bereaved relatives who have lost loved ones and who could not be by their bedside when it most mattered.

Yes, relatives would like to make sense of this. When mistakes have been made which have caused the premature death of mum or dad an apology at least is due.

Yes, we’ve heard that it wasn’t understood how those discharged could be asymptomatic. But we know that as with colds and flu people can be infectious before symptoms emerge. Surely this is in the realms of common sense? And why did carers in homes struggle to get PPE?

On the 25^th March Unison said, “Social care staff looking after the elderly and vulnerable are ‘frightened and frustrated’ at not getting access to protective equipment.”

And why were care home deaths not included in the daily figures for deaths before the media flagged it up?

Go to this link to understand better the humanity of people in care homes. In no way is this meant as criticism of care workers but… see for yourself.

https://www.carepathways.com/anoldladyspoem.cfm

Covid 19 has brought into sharp relief so much that needs changing. Care homes yes but much else.

There are so many questions. Why is the government only now after so much vacillation recommending people wear face masks in shops. We don’t need anyone to tell us that coughs and sneezes spread diseases. Surely it should be mandatory as in Scotland? As I write there is fresh news about the likelihood of wearing of face masks being required in England.

We are now into dangerous territory as lock down is eased and schools are going back again without properly consulting teaching unions who regard a full return in September as “pure fantasy.”

 If travellers from named countries where Covid 19 figures are low can now come to the UK as from 10^th July without self isolating what might this mean?  Will no one alighting from a plane have Covid 19 or be asymptomatic? The airlines have been lobbying hard for this concerned for their businesses. Understandable, but is this a calculated gamble for economic reasons?

Could this be an opportunity to take a look at carbon emissions caused by airlines. The Guardian reported that carbon dioxide emitted by commercial flights rose by 32% between 2013 – 18

Will  missed opportunities include;

An overhaul of care for the elderly

Continuing care for the homeless – 5,400 face a return to the streets by the end of July

Infrastructure expenditure for social housing- not part of the Government’s planned expenditure.

Better rights for those in private rented accommodation.

Much good might come from this dreadful Pandemic if lessons are learned.

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POSTSCRIPT for previous post

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State for the Holy See summoned US ambassador, Callista Gimgrich, and Israel’s ambassador, Oren David, for separate discussions on the planned annexation of parts of the West Bank. The Holy See expressed concern about this and, “reiterates that the State of Israel and the State of Palestine have a right to exist and to live in peace and security, within internationally recognised borders.” 

It is a privilege to visit the Holy Land which is considered very special by Christians, Muslims and Jews alike. Given the number of adherents to these monotheistic religions throughout the world the Israeli government has an awesome responsibility when it comes to shrines and places of worship and the historical importance of these places also cannot be over estimated. The quid quo pro of course is that thousands of pilgrims flock there every year – except of course during this pandemic. Foreign currency brought by pilgrims is vitally important for Jews, Palestinians and indignant Christians as I discovered on my visit this year.

For an English citizen, checkpoints, having your coach boarded and checked out and armed security personel in the streets is unfamiliar. The wall which Pope Frances prayed at on 25^th May 2014 during his visit is stark.

Christians read and pray the Jewish Scriptures contained in the Old Testament, the largest part of the Bible, everyday. The Judeo Christian legacy for Western morality and law is inescapable.

The ‘Great Commandment’ affirmed by Jesus in Mark 12. 28 – 31 and found in the Torah, (OT Deuteronomy 6.4 – 5 and Leviticus 19.18) is a central tenet of belief for Christians and Jews.  

There is also the Golden Rule ‘Do to no one what you would not wish done to you,’ which is common to main world Faiths.

Edward Kessler, the Jewish founder director of the Woolf Institute and a leading thinker and writer on interfaith relations, says the following in an article published in the Tablet, (20^th June)

“We are at a watershed moment in modern history of Israel. The proposal to annexe land in the West Bank would not only deepen division and threaten Israel’s security: it would undermine the moral basis upon which the state claims to sit.” Further he talks of this “trampling over the fundamental rights of Palestinians, with jaw dropping disdain for the values of equality, freedom and self-determination to which they (Netanyahu and Trump) give lip service.

So how does annexation of the West Bank square with loving your neighbour and treating others as you would like to be treated?

Boris Johnson should be congratulated for his stand on annexation. “I profoundly hope that annexation does not go ahead, if it does, the UK will not recognise any changes to the 1967 lines, except those agreed between both parties.” Johnson says this and describes the plan which was to be discussed last Wednesday as illegal in the Israeli newspaper ‘Yedioth Ahronoth’

This was reported by the BBC on 1^st July. The report also includes there are some 430,000 Jews living in more than 130 settlements built since Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 war and that these settlements are widely considered illegal under international law.  

It is incomprehensible how the House of Lords, comprised of intelligent, educated, thinking people, there to serve the public, acted against logic and reason; against democracy and ultimately against the will of God when they voted to impose radical new abortion regulations in Northern Ireland against the express wishes of its government.

In the debate in the Lords last Monday 15^th June, pro abortion members spoke in support of the human rights of the mother.

Is a baby in the womb any less human than its mother? No doctor or in fact anyone with an ounce of common sense would say so. Is the baby part of the mother’s body? Biologically no. Of course not.

Is the baby in the womb a living human being? A human being capable of feeling pain and even picking up the emotions of the mother and external sounds surrounding the mother. Of Course.

So if the baby in the mother’s womb is human, alive and separate from the mother why is it that the unborn child is afforded no human rights under the law? How can it be that human rights are attributed only to women and not to the weakest and most vulnerable and voiceless –  unborn babies? An unborn baby under threat, if it had a voice would shout – let me live!

Here we have a deathly paradox. On the one hand the immutable universal law of nature, ‘natural law’ according to which life begins at conception. The universal law of nature is that the mother cares for and shields the life in her womb. Will nurture that life to full term and then if at all possible suckle that life providing the baby with the love and all that is needed for the baby to grow into a happy and healthy child.

On the other hand human laws to the contrary

Any mother who exercises her man made human right to take the life of the baby in her womb does violence not only to the baby but to herself body mind and spirit. She negates the maternal instincts given to her by nature.

When the immutable natural law is contradicted by human laws which have no validity there is a contradiction or clash which leads to disaster.

Dorothy Sayers in her seminal book “Mind of the Maker” puts it like this. “The universal moral law (or natural law of humanity) is discoverable, like any other law of nature, by experience. It cannot be promulgated, it can only be ascertained, because it is a question not of opinion but of fact. When it has been ascertained, a moral code can be drawn up to direct human behaviour and prevent people, as far as possible, from doing violence to their own nature.”

The more closely the moral code agrees with the natural law, the more it makes for freedom in human behaviour: the more widely it departs from natural law, the more it tends to enslave and to produce the catastrophes called ‘judgements of God’.”

Those who stand by and watch injustice, condone it and at their peril.

“They came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.” Martin Niemoller

If a baby in the womb, the most vulnerable in our society, can be killed no life is safe. Already disability is a factor when abortion is considered and soon sexual preference. Will this change how society views disabled people? What about the old and infirm – euthanasia? If human life is expendable at any stage it is soon expendable at every stage.

The world is facing a covid 19 pandemic. The lives lost come nowhere near the lives lost in the pandemic of abortion. Last year in England and Wales alone there were 209,519 abortions, higher than at any time since the 1967 abortion act.

For those affected by abortion help is out there. Contact SPUC or LIFE to find out about speaking with someone who can help.

Remember always, there is no sin greater than God’s love.

“The name of God is Mercy.” Pope Francis

This is what the Scout movement has done for me.

• Making friends, some lifelong.
• Sense of belonging
• Sense of achievement
• Greater self worth and personal pride
• A love of the outdoors and camping
• Holidays I would not have had
• Skills I would never have acquired
• Abilities – E.G. swimming
• Leadership
• Teamwork
• Self reliance
• Endurance
• Enhanced values and code of social behaviour

I am proud to have encouraged my children to be part of the scouting movement and glad that my children have done likewise with my grandchildren.

The positive impact on my life as a working class boy and later father cannot be measured. See the above list which could be expanded and elaborated to fill a book.

To target the Statue of Baden Powell in spite of his enduring legacy to millions including black and ethnic children and young people worldwide is self defeating and foolish for any otherwise laudable cause.  

‘I Can’t breath’ has become the rallying cry for all those demonstrating over the illegal and immoral killing of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin on 25^th May with the involvement of  three other police officers all of whom have since been sacked and Chauvin charged for unlawful killing with the other officers now also facing charges.

This terrible event is seen to point to institutional racism among the police in America. The story of peaceful demonstrations hijacked by rioters and looters has been the number one news item this week.

This should be of great concern to us all. This outcry has been a long time in coming and clearly shows that a great deal still needs to be done to build a just and fair society in America and elsewhere for all citizens.

Prudence in avoiding the spread of C19 with its potential for loss of life has been overtaken by the feelings of demonstrators especially in America, Australia and the UK. 

 But black lives matter everywhere.    

I was reminded recently of the persecution of black Christians in Nigeria by Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen, Islamic Jihadists, where 620 Christians have been murdered in the first four months of this year and 6000 in the last five years. Since 2009 Boko Haram has displaced 2.3 million people. Yes black people in America and other Western countries matter but do black Christians in Africa and elsewhere matter less?

For good reason the protests in America have captured the headlines but has news coverage in the West been commensurate with the level of persecution suffered by black people of Faith? It is reported that Catholic bishops in Nigeria have condemned the federal government for failing to protect its citizens 47 % of whom are Christians and who are not included in state structures and levels of administration including the police and the armed forces.

A report Commissioned by Jeremy Hunt last year (then foreign Secretary) and carried out by the Right reverend Philip Mounstephen, Bishop of Truro, was featured by the BBC. It was stated that 1 in 3 suffer religious persecution and that persecution of Christians had reached genocidal proportions. Nigeria is but one example. An internet search will reveal how widespread and terrible this persecution is.

The Golden Rule observed by the main world Faiths is relevant here, “treat others as you would like others to treat you.”

Yes, black people matter – everywhere.

Why? because God loves everyone. God is Love.