The Assumption

Thursday 25th March, The Assumption.

This is an extraordinary Feast which seems to challenge all human knowledge. So did the Resurrection. So does so much because we seem to set our eyes on what we know, what we see, what we feel, what we hear and limit ourselves to the finite. The finite itself is remarkable from the astronomic world to particle physics, to human anatomy, to so much let alone the imagination and the poetic and artistic creations of human kind. Some months ago I had an operation on my prostate. Utterly miraculous I felt. There was a news item that two conjoined twins had been separated and are flourishing. The Covid 19 vaccine is remarkable and I had a vaccination re shingles yesterday. I marvel.

Today I marvel at the story of Our Lady, her obedience to God's Will, her Motherhood of Jesus and the devotion she has inspired and the prayers to which she has listened. I may be dismissed as a fantasist, an ignorant religious nut or merely as an ignorant easily conned man but so what? My faith, I hope, does no harm but the opposite. Certainly it galvanises me and makes me try to live life abundantly and I need all the help I can get for that.

Today two short walks. I slept long. I had strange dreams but I seem to have recovered from my fit of dizziness. I am being gentle with myself. I walked to the Community Centre and found bread. Then this afternoon a slightly longer walk with my litter grabber and with a few meetings with some regulars. Mainly I have been reading. A friend warns that my dizziness could be from stress and anxiety so I must relax and trust. On the walk I came across a fellow parishioner. She is a nurse. We talked of the virus, of the jabs, the lockdowns and the huge variety and spectrum of peoples' reactions. She told of the Dundee University undergraduates who had had a party and many caught the virus. We agreed that there are foolish extremes, as ever, between those ignoring all to those utterly cramped and terrified and obedient to every nuanced and negative comment by an 'expert'.

With religion we have the same. Those we call fanatics who blow up and cause mayhem as they feel called by God to so do, to those who do not even bother to ponder the possibility of the spiritual. Humankind is extraordinary and suffers extremes. That is life and it is real so live it fully, do not stint and bury your talents. Yet make sure it is positive and constructive not just for you but for all including nature.