Snow (1984)

The snow on the ground is six feet deep.

I’m watching the snow flakes fall, though I

Should be fast asleep.

It’s just so exciting thinking of tomorrow’s fun.

The snowman I’ll build, and the long sledge run.

Snowball fights, with my best friend.

Oh I wish this night would come to an end.

The forecast is snow for at least a week.

With all this excitement how could I sleep?

The Lepers (1988)

 

I have often thought of the lepers ten

You know the ones jesus made clean and healthy again

Disgusting wretches, save but just one

Couldn’t they have said “Thank You?”

After all he had done?

But wait just a minute,

Oh the disgrace.

It’s hit me dear Jesus like a slap in the face.

 

I belong to that group of nine.

You cleanse me from the Leprosy of sin,

time after time.

Forgive me Jesus Lord

Of the present, the future and the past

I returned to say,

“Thank You” at last.

Daddy’s Welcome speech at Celtic Reunion

Dear Friends, Old Pals

This is a dream come true

How splendid, what a pleasure

To spend the evening with you

There is so much to talk about

I know we will recall

Every magical moment of our

Careers in football

I’m sure you’ll enjoy your meal

If in patches, between corners,

Penalties and our triumphant matches.

So let’s make this a night to bring

A sparkle to our eyes

As we remember the days

Back in “Paradise”

The Wonder of God’s beauty revealed through the eyes of innocence. Short poems by a dear deceased friend of mine, Pauline McKenna (nee McAlinden) daughter of the late Jimmy McAlinden of Belfast Celtic and Northern Ireland fame and an F.A. Cup Medal winner with Portsmouth.

Praising Jesus

I want to praise you Jesus

don’t let me feel shy

we both know I’m not worthy

but do you want me to try?

 

My love for you is selfish

At least this much I know

Only with your help Dear Jesus

I know my love will grow.

 

It’s a task I have come to relish

And although I am full of pride

I can overcome it with you

Close by my side.

Freedom (1981)

I searched for Jesus everywhere

Then realised “He” was always there

Patient and loving and willing to share,

His Holy Spirit with all who would care,

To trust in Jesus Crucified,

Who forgave our sins even as he died

A horrendous death on Calvary

our triumphant saviour set us free.

Invite Jesus into your life

Put an end to worry and strife

Live with inner tranquillity

Which Jesus purchased for you and me!

The Potato (1977)

I never thought of myself as a SPUD                              

Even while living in all that MUD

After all King Edward was my name

I thought I had every right to Fame

One day I was picked and thrown in a sack

Then a strong man carried me off on his back

I was chopped, peeled and generally pulled asunder

I’m famous now,

I’m “Golden Wonder!”

         SATANS    INFLUENCE    IN    TODAYS    WORLD?

 

 How dangerous is satan and his evil spirit, to the welfare of the catholic faith, in today’s world.  Most information we have comes from the bible.  We are told he was present many times in the garden of Eden, and later on in the book of Job.  In the New Testament,  his encounters with Christ is well documented.  The temptations of Christ in the desert and in the garden of Gethsemane.  There are many other occasions when Jesus came in contact with satans demonic spirit that are recorded in the bible.  The function of this spirit is to cause confusion, disharmony, to separate, pull asunder, all that Christ had established here on earth.  To assist us to get a better picture of satan, Iwould strongly advise everyone to read ST Pauls letter to the (THESSALONIANS CHAPTER TWO) it will take four minutes to read.  So scripture in its self proves the existence of satan.  In any war, it ts common practice among armies that to defeat your enemies, you must learn, all you can about, who and what you are up against.  What confuses me most is the lack of knowledge on this subject that is not given to the laity.  It is quite evident the spirit of disharmony is spreading rapidly worldwide.  Division within the church, breakdown of marriages, weak morality, abortion, poverty, wars, etc, etc.  Yet more serious, is the turning away from God, to follow the ways and pleasures of this world.  I personally support the authority of the church, but question the attitude with those who pursue the modernistic approach, especially the view , there is nothing divine in sacred tradition.  We can see the effect this has, by the fast decline of the faith.  There are many Catholics who have little or no faith, but keep up the external practice of their faith, perhaps out of loyalty of some childhood fantasy, or just a habit forming ritual.  We must never forget, Christ gave His life for us that we might live in harmony, with God, and with each other.  Only through a united church, clergy and laity, will we ever attain true peace.  To change our life style will not be easy.  Parents must attend Sunday mass with their families, and families should spend ten minutes in family prayer each night.  That would do for a start.  Just think, three quarters of an hour at mass on Sundays and ten minutes nightly lakes a total of two hours to complete.  The time it takes to watch a football match.  As regards to the clergy, they need to examine, the methods and contents of their sermons.  By celebrants on their approach to the sanctity of holy mass, from beginning to end leaves something to be desired.  To convince the people, that their true desire is out of love for God.  By what they say and how they say it, what they do and how they do it.  In time, hopefully this will incite the laity, to participate as one, praising God.  Holy Mass must not become a spiritual ritual, done out of habit.  Our failure to return to the church, holy mass ,the sacraments, especially(confession)to the praise, glory, worship of God, we will have no future.  So many believe they are unworthy or unable to please God, so they don’t try.  No one is worthy of perfect praise.  But out of His great love for us, God contents Himself with our imperfect worship.  With this thought in mind, we must never give up on prayer.  Neither must we give up on our church and its teachings.  It is the only organisitation that keeps us fully in touch with God, and it is , the channel in which Gods graces are passed on to us.  This is the only sure way of defeating the forces of evil that grips today’s modern world.

GOD       BLESS

         

IS    THE    KINGDOM    OF    HEAVEN    WORTH    THE     HASSLE

In my previous blog, i spoke of the enormity of sin and the consequences of it.  At the outset (original sin) it angered God so much, He banished Lucifer and his followers into the pit of darkness, from where there is no reprieve.  What of the human race? Not having the clarity as that of the fallen angels, God was lenient with them.  After being stripped of all the gifts given to them by God they were expelled from paradise.  By this action they inherited, all the evils, sicknesses, pains, and sadness’s of this world.  This eventually led to bodily death.  The effects of which remain with us to this very day.  Why was God so angry it forced Him to these harsh actions?  If i could hazard a guess, i would say that both angels and humans, spurned the love of God for their own selfish reasons, believing they could exclude God and go it alone.  How wrong they were.  All the precious gifts we had, eternal love, eternal life, eternal joys, and so much more.  It would blow your mind just trying to digest the sheer delights of Gods Kingdom.  Nowhere on earth comes anywhere near it.  All this was tossed away because of our selfish greed for power.  Bad as this modern world may be, through the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Chris.  His Passion, earned for us, complete salvation.  We have Gods word He will restore all that was lost.  All we have to do is listen to Him and follow the way He has shown us.  The way that ieads to paradise.  We find that way in the bible, in holy mass, in the sermons, guidance from our Holy Mother and  the rosaries, the wonderful gifts of the sacraments.  That’s how we regain Gods favour and His gift of eternal life.  In scripture, Christ stated, to attain heaven was likened to discovering a great treasure or a pearl so precious that we would sacrifice everything just to obtain it, this great eternal joy awaits everyone.  All we have to do is to love Him and live the way he taught us.  We save up money for a bigger house, new car, holidays in the sun and all the latest gadgets, that in tine will disappear.  Heaven will not disappear, it exists forever.  I do not say we should discard all earthly goods.  Yet we must invest heavily in our heavenly future, for your own sakes, for your families and relations and friends.  Strive to bring to mind the wonders of heaven we knew as children.  Due to the progress of modern society, our minds are so cluttered up our dreams have been put on the back burner.  We must make an effort to ignite this into a bright flame.  Every effort will be richly rewarded, rewards no one can take away.  As Christ said, all who live and believe in Me will never die.  Much of heaven is beyond our scope, just believe it.  Our God has said so and we all believe in GOD, don’t we?    

GOD    BLESS    YOU 

                                A      CALL      TO      ARMS

Since the beginning of time until the end of time, a furious spiritual battle has been raging between the forces of good under God, and the forces of evil under satan.  At the centre of this great struggle is the spiritual destiny of every created soul.  The modern world has forgotten the seriousness of this struggle. At least sixty per cent of Christians have forgotten the enormous dangers of losing this struggle.  At least eighty per cent of catholics completely ignore it.  In the meantime the forces of evil are making massive inroads into the Christian communities, especially the catholic faith and its church, satan’s arch enemy.  The clergy and the laity have come under attack over the last one hundred years, e.g the many scandals, the rapid decline of the priesthood.  In today’s world large numbers of laity are deserting the church and its teachings.  These are dark and threatening times for all civilisations.  However we must not despair, we must trust in God still.  These trials are nothing new to us.  Since Christ established His church on earth over two thousand years ago, many attempts, led by satan, to destroy the church, e g. Caesar, Napoleon, Cromwell, Hitler, Stalin, just to mention a few.  Christ’s church is still standing while all their empires have disappeared and we have Gods word it will stand until the end of time.  Our Blessed Mother, during Her appearances at Lourdes and Fatima, has requested that everyone must stand up for our God.  We must enter the fight against evil.  The chosen people of God(the Israelites) in their long journey to the promised land, encountered many enemies and fought numerous battles before reaching their destination.  As they engaged every enemy force they marched behind the ark of the covenant, then with Gods support they were victorious in every battle.  We too must march behind the new and glorious ark of the covenant, Our Blessed Mother, and in doing so we will scatter the evils that engulf us.  Never forget that final victory belongs to God alone. Until that day arrives, we must renew our efforts and openly profess our loyalty, to God, His Holy Mother, and the Church.  If there is any doubt of how loathsome sin is to God, then look at the crucifix.  That’s the price God demanded for the reconciliation between Himself and mankind.  If the need was not so immense, would such a sacrifice been called for?.  Does not that sacrifice throw a fearful light upon the need of it?.  And if that need is denied, does it make the sacrifice unintelligible?  We are not asked to enter the battle unarmed.  Our Blessed Mother has supplied us with assult weapons, each holds a clip of sixty rounds.  How many clips we need depends on how each individual commits themselves to the battle.  Our weapons and clips are our rosary beads.  In any great battle, the foot soldiers make up the largest part of any army, but they need supported by heavy artillery.  We can receive the greatest help in the world by our attendance at Holy Mass as often as possible.  In addition we have our guardian angels, the sacraments, the saints and the support of Holy Mother Church.  If we all join up it makes us a formidable army, pitted against the forces of evil.  By doing so we will dispel many of the evils that threaten us and our children.  Do not doubt any of this.  True self esteem comes from understanding your value to God.  It is important we begin to change our ways and habits.  Unless we fight back our situation will become more hopeless

N.B.  To those who read this blog and who live in Holy Cross Parish or nearby, at eight P. M. every Tuesday at Our Lady’s grotto, Berwick Road and every sat at twelve noon.  Rosaries offered up for the clergy worldwide, and the salvation of all souls .

EVERY ONE IS WELCOME

GOD BLESS                                            

     

                                                     ETERNAL     LIFE                              

Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, promised us eternal life, if we stay faithful to His teachings.  Here is a question, how many of us ever give much thought to what that really means? There is no easy answer.  However i will attempt to voice my own views on this topic, and pray that they may steer some souls back to God. 

Let us start with the grey haired brigade, of which i am proud to be a member of.  The old, the wrinkled and tired members of our faith, without whose courage and staying power there would be no faith in the world today.  Now compare the age of an eighty years old soul with that of the soul of a newly born baby who has just been baptised.  We can’t, there is none.  All souls are ageless and eternal.  It is only the body in which the soul is encased, that ages due to it being temporary.   During its stay in the body the soul does not age, what it does is, increase its knowledge of God, of life, wisdom add love.  The spiritual growth of a soul depends on the will of the person in whose body it resides.  The soul will live on after its earthly body dies, for the soul is life. 

Eternal life in its entirety means a complete union with God in paradise.  Eternal death is the complete separation from God to the realm of Satan in hell.  That is why we should never forget when all earthly creation has ended; every soul will receive its new body, irrespective of where their destination lies. The Lord God Himself has assured us of this.  Through some of the teachings of the church fathers, we have come to understand, in all probability; the moment we leave this body we gain all Gods knowledge of creation.  If so, it would give us a clearer understanding of purgatory.  For reasons, known only to God, we are not ready for union with God? we are sent there to be purged of any remaining defects.  Unfortunately with our new found knowledge of God causes great distress, until we are fully united in God.  I believe this is the real agony of purgatory.  We who remain on earth must constantly pray for the speedy release of the holy souls.  About hell no comment is needed.  I hope and pray that people will understand the Importance of staying close to God, by means of his established church here on earth.  We must take advantage of all the graces, Christ earned for us on Calvary.  A greater effort is needed if we are to change our way of life

We need to focus on our spiritual life and less on the things of this life if we are to avoid the gates of hell.  There are no ifs, ands, or buts, this is a must.  Seventy per cent of Catholics living in the western world have been lured away from the church, being brainwashed into believing the world has the answer to all our problems.  Its offer of happiness, peace, joy, prosperity, and a distorted sense of love, is utter rubbish.  Take a moment; ponder on the state of today’s world.  You will realise the emptiness of these promises.  Sadly, separation from God and His church has little or no consequence to very many Catholics today.  The demise of the faith among the laity is due to their lack of knowledge of it.  Failure to know about God and His Blessed Mother, and failure to involve them in our daily lives has led to this disaster.  But we must never lose hope in God.  No one, absolutely no one, is ever beyond the saving grace of God.  We have only to seek that grace and it will be granted.  That is the choice every one of us has to make.  God does not force anyone to love Him.  He offers us the choice of eternal life or eternal death.  God’s desire is for every soul to pick life and He encourages us to do so every day of our lives.  However God will respect any decision we make and on that decision we will be judged accordingly.   We must be more attentive to Gods words preached by the priests at every mass. It is through the ear the word of God reaches the soul.  Eternal life is forever, be it in paradise or hell, a truth we can’t escape from                     

 GOD   BLESS 

 

Any comments please refer to my e-mail address

mageehugh80@hotmail.co.uk

                                                  MINDSET                                   

   Such a small word made up of only seven letters yet it is of great significance in the depth of its meaning.  Dating back to before the fall of mankind.  Mindset, or otherwise, to set your mind on anyone or anything.  In time this usually happens without our being aware of it.  When humanity resided in paradise, we were fully focused on God and his holy will.  We know via biblical history Adam was approached by the leader of a higher ranked creative beings called angels, better known today as Satan.  He was of the highest rank in the angelic creation.  Though he had everything, he encouraged one third of the angels to rebel against God.  His intentions, to remove God, and take His place.  Due to the many angels who remained loyal to God, Satan and his followers were defeated and banished from heaven for all eternity.  Because of his defeat, his hatred for God and all that belongs to God, especially the human race, exists to this very day.  Unfortunately he was able to persuade Adam and the rest of humanity to change their minds and rebel against God which led to our banishment from heaven.  We must never forget and always be thankful to the love, mercy, and understanding of our God our banishment was not permanent.  Yet God kept a relationship with Adam and his descendants, encouraging them to keep focused on Him and the place they had come from.  This mindset was carried on down through the ages, via, Abraham, Moses, Joseph etc.  God promised a savour would come, repay mans debt and reconcile man with God.  A saviour who would reopen the gates of heaven to all souls who would to listen His word, and obey His will.  With the coming of Christ, this promise was fulfilled.  From its apostolic origin, the catholic church has remained faithful to Christ’s teaching, encouraging all to keep focused on God and our spiritual destiny.  Tragically in the last one hundred years the church has become weaker and so has our faith.  In today’s world, Satan appears to be winning battle after battle, for control of our hearts and minds.  All that Christ and His church have taught us seems to have been discarded in favour of the things of this world.  Our mindset is absorbed by, money power, TVs, internet etc.  Morally we have turned this world into a toxic wasteland.  Know this, Satan cannot make us bad, but he can make us busy, so busy we have no time for God.  A great spiritual battle still rages around us between God and Satan for the hearts and minds of all souls.  I believe we have come to a most critical time in our existence.  With most of the worlds communication aids at his back and call, he has reached into every home in western society and has control of their mindsets.  Prayer is the safe guard to all who remain faithful to God and will be safe under His protection.  This evil will only be defeated by the intervention of God Himself.  This i believe is inevitable.  What is most frightening, at what cost to the human race will this action bring.  We must listen to our Blessed Mothers appeal to the church worldwide, repent, change your mind set and pray more often, especially family prayer.  Ask yourselves this question, what is it worth to me to keep my children out of hell?  In these daunting times we must involve God more in our daily lives and learn to trust more in His love and His mercy and pray for the graces to see us through.  All else must be a poor second.

MAY THE BLESSiNGS OF GOD AND HIS HOLY MOTHER ENIER INTO ALL YOUR HEARTS AND REMAIN THERE FOREVER          AMEN

GOD  BLESS