Most of us have at one time or another imagined what it would be like to be buried alive. The feelings of claustrophobia this engenders make it all the harder to understand how the 33 Chilean miners trapped underground since 5th August can cope. Miners on the surface say it will take 3 to 4 months to drill an escape shaft through the 2,300feet of rock that lies between them and freedom. When the men were discovered alive some 17 days after the rock-fall, a 4 inch bore hole was drilled to their chamber permitting communication, food and medicines to be passed daily. A video link has also been established so relatives can see that their husband/parents are well. Leadership of the group is shared by the 3 oldest men. Mario Gómez (62) has been in mining accidents abroad when some of the fingers were sliced off his left hand. A year after that accident, Mr. Gómez returned to Brazil, stowing away on a ship and hiding in the cargo hold for 11 days. In those moments of quiet desperation, he found solace in a small Bible, though he had never been very religious before his ordeal. Gómez has now become their spiritual leader. Rather like Moses he has organised the group into threes and has 2 other leaders working along side him. The men will be required to remove over 3,000 tons of rock which will fall into the chamber as boring of the escape shaft continues. There is a similar incident recorded in the Bible when the ship St Paul was sailing on was hit by a severe storm and the 276 on board were likely to drown. Read St Luke’s account of it in Acts 27 verses 20/25. “When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved. After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.” And so it worked out! St Paul’s faith was not in himself, nor in the sailors’ abilities but in the word of assurance spoken to him by an angel. God had kept his promise that St Paul would get to Rome to bring the Gospel to Caesar’s court – the very heart of the empire. Let’s pray for the 33 miners that they may be saved both physically and spiritually by our gracious God.

The President of the country, the Archbishop of Dublin and Journalist John Waters all attend the Communion and Liberation gathering in Italy this week. The President commended the Archbishop for doing a good job. The Journalist commended the gathering for providing liberty to speak and the Archbishop exercised that liberty in a penetrating way not always possible when speaking on his home turf! Using the opportunity of the late Cardinal Newman’s Irish associations he delivered a trenchant expose of the ills of his church and lamented over the fact that after 15 years of catechesis, young people remain theologically illiterate. But it was his use of the term “Civil Religion” that was so helpful in revealing to a large extent how things are. Referring to the Irish situation he said, “The Church provides a unique space in which people, even though secularised, can share the events of their lives and find a ritual to express the more profound human experiences of joy, sorrow or fear. However, if the Church becomes just a place where lay persons gather to celebrate human experiences without a deep reference to God, then this civil religion ends up by being empty and does not respond to the search for God who is missing in the lives of many.” The flip side of this is the bane of the “nominal” Protestant. This is the secular person who pays for his religious events as they take place and, like the Baron’s will, bequeathed “100 guineas for the repose of this eternal soul”! What does the Bible have to say about all this? It is hard to find in the pages of Scripture anything to address this muddle. The Bible speaks of those who heard the message of the Gospel and were saved. It speaks of those who were not and others who followed but went back into the world. In all of this language there is clarity of where people stood before God. With the advent of infant baptism the lines have been blurred. Multitudes have been swept into the churches in a numerical competition makes the recent Bankers scramble for clients seem elementary! The result was foreseen by Jesus when he wondered, on his return, if he would find faith on earth. (Luke chapter 18 verse 8). It is faith that precedes baptism (Colossians chapter 2 verse 12) that safeguards the ordinance from misuse. The result might be a much smaller church numerically but it is the way of the Bible. (1Corinthians 1 verses 26/30). Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Nominal or civil religion has no place in God’s kingdom. Put your faith in Jesus.

So the prison system doesn’t work! At least not for sex offenders. It simply removes them from circulation for a time then returns them as marked men under surveillance by the authorities. The early release, for good conduct i.e. not breaking the prison rules, of Larry Murphy created media frenzy as reporters tried to trace his movements. Needless to say this had a knock-on effect in society which was enhanced by graphic details of his original conviction and the innuendo that he may have been accountable for other women who disappeared without trace. The fact of his refusing all forms of remedial treatment over the last 10 years does not augur well for the future neither does his absence of remorse. In a country awash with pornography and sexually explicit clothing we can look forward to many more Larry Murphy’s in the future. What has the Bible to say on these things? It advocates the Gospel of grace as the only remedy for sinners. Therapy and self improvement courses may keep people occupied but only the word of God can change people’s hearts. The Bible does not have a scale to grade sins but it has a remedy which wipes the slate clean from all sin. The remedy is there for all who turn away from their futile ways so that the word of God may be planted in their lives. Listen to St Peter as he writes commending the work of Jesus to believers reminding them of what they once were. “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were ransomed from the futile ways handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.” (1Peter chapter 1 verses 14 to 25.) That’s the only remedy for Larry Murphy, for you and for me that will last for time and eternity.

A couple of uncut diamonds or two “dirty looking stones” as the supermodel described them displaying a naivety which must have surprised the international war crimes tribunal sitting in The Hague. Even more surprising was the fact that two men coming to her hotel bedroom door after dark with a package was nothing unusual. The fact that she often received anonymous gifts from unknown fans did not arouse her curiosity and it was not until breakfast that she opened the pouch. They were identified as diamonds and had possibly come from Charles Taylor the Liberian President who was present at the dinner party the night before. She obviously preferred the cut variety of diamond as she passed them over to the director of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund telling the tribunal they had only been six hours in her possession. The director retained the diamonds to protect the supermodel from the law, as possession of uncut diamonds without a licence is illegal in South Africa, and only handed them over to the police this week having kept them for 13 years. All this would amount to very little were it not for the suspicion that these were diamonds, mined by inhumane practices by corrupt governments to buy weapons. These weapons were used in conflicts such as the war against Liberia’s neighbours creating a civil war which caused dreadful carnage in Serra Leone. The release of the Leonardo DiCaprio film Blood Diamond in 2006 highlighted the butchery, the title of the film permanently staining the reputation of diamond mining. Taylor, 62, is accused of receiving illegally mined diamonds in return for arming rebels who murdered, raped and maimed civilians in neighbouring Sierra Leone. The Bible does not mention blood diamonds but there is a well-known incident of blood money. This was the name the Chief Priests gave to the 30 pieces of silver which they paid to Judas to get him to betray Jesus into their hands. When Judas had done the act of betrayal he changed his mind and returned the money. The Priests could not put it back into the Treasury as it was “blood money”. They recognised the truth of Judas’s confession, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (St Matthew 27 verse 4) and used it to buy a field as foretold by the prophet Jeremiah. Judas killed himself out of remorse for what he had done. There was no evidence of a change of heart, no repentance but a worldly sorrow for what he had done. St Paul writes, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. (2Corinthians ch.7 verse 10) Even repentance may not save Taylor from the verdict of this court but it could make all the difference at the bar of heaven.

There is an old tale of a leaking horse trough which had served the community well and refreshed many horses in its day. The leak had become worse and the villagers got together to decide what to do about it. After some discussion it was decided not to repair the tank but to shoot the horse! This story came to mind when I heard of the sacking of Tony Haywood the Chief Executive Officer of British Petroleum. He had been in the job for a couple of years having been dealt a bad hand by his predecessor whose dramatic career had been going for the big oil fields which were in dangerous drilling locations. Safety had been sacrificed for speed and the net result was that Tony found himself with a burned out oil rig and a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on the 20th April, which has only now been plugged. True, Public Relation skills were not Tony’s strong point but no one had tried to seal a gushing well one mile down on the sea bed before. His predictions were at best “guestimates” and the media made sport of him. Of course BP has resources and the US Government has made sure they use them! In addition to two other rigs drilling down into the oil well to seal it with cement, BP has employed up to 4,000 ships in clean-up activities on the surface and countless people picking up tar-balls on the beaches. Now that the end is in sight BP have replaced Tony with an American CEO who may be better at repairing relationships than wells! What comment can the Bible make on this man made disaster? Perhaps the greatest ever man made disaster was the crucifixion of Christ. The Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity visits the world he had created and the world rejects, rubbishes and repudiates His ministry. This was the same world which in the beginning was declared to be very good. The pollution of sin which came into the world, rather like escaping crude oil, contaminated everything it touched. The clean-up, Jesus said, starts with repentance. This is not being sorry because we have been careless. Nor is it sorry because we have been caught. But the recognition that the pollution starts with me, is my responsibility – I need to stop the flow. It is not a pretty sight to be shown ourselves from God’s perspective and so rather than repair the horse-trough, rather than turn from our sins and trust Jesus – we shoot the horse; fire the CEO, crucify the Christ! But even this disaster God turned around and the risen Christ sent the Holy Spirit to His disciples changing them from cowering creatures hiding in an upper room to fearless witnesses who have brought the message of the cross to the whole world. Listen to Saint Peter’s preaching less than a couple of months after the crucifixion:- “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Acts chapter 2 verses 36/39. Repent and be baptized – the invitation remains valid – accept it today.

This is the 25th Anniversary of the moving statue of the Blessed Virgin at Ballinspittle. That was a year when we had many moving statues but few, if any, interpretations. Sightings and messages from the Blessed Virgin are not uncommon – indeed they are to be expected by Marian devotees at the various Marian shrines. One of these places, our own Knock got a bit of publicity recently when Dublin faith healer, Joe Coleman claimed that Mary would appear at Knock and named the day and the hour. After several of these predictions, all of which attract crowds, RTE did a programme this week entitled “Apparitions”. This explored, in a somewhat sceptical way, the events at Knock with contributions from journalists, medical people, priests and devotees. Apparently Mary appears in the sun which makes her hard to see and she is also hard to hear. However Joe both sees and hears her and many of his followers confirm that the sun “danced” in the sky. There is a hunger for the supernatural and Joe is meeting this need to the best of his ability. Folk Catholicism provides a fertile ground for the paranormal to flourish. Knock shrine itself was founded on such activities. What has the Bible to say about all this? It’s hard to find in it any supernatural appearance which did not say something sensible. The prophets prophesied and their prophesies were fulfilled mainly with the coming of Christ. Those surrounding his birth involve Mary, a virgin from the remnant of the peasant stock of Israel and were very explicit and clearly understood. Indeed they had been predicted in the past and were eagerly expected. References to Mary in Scripture are rather sparse but this is more than made up for by the body of theology built around her over the centuries. This in turn has created something of a parallel universe to that of the life and work of Christ. Out of it has come a climate for “folk driven” experiences and this partly explains the popularity of Joe’s channelling of Mary. People without the Bible want an authoritative word and one way or another they get it. The existing authorities are caught in a bind. If they say Mary has not spoken the people will react against them. If they say Mary has spoken, Joe would be perfectly entitled to ask why they do not support him. As Jesus would say it’s all a matter of where the authority comes from. (See Saint Matthew Chapter 21 verses 24 to 27.) I think it best to follow the One who has the authority. “Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Saint Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 to 20.

So the figures don’t add up! The ace Banker and “brains” of the Irish financial world ran out of options this week. Just when we thought he would never be caught he declared himself bankrupt. His liabilities exceeded his assets by a cool €96.7 million. Such was his confidence in his abilities during the “good times” that he not only loaned generously the banks money but took a stake in many of these investments himself. How did he do it? One financial source quaintly put it that he had a “piggy bank” within the bank with which he indulged himself. In fact it seems that he had become a “deal junkie” drawing down funding from four other financial institutions in addition to his activities in Anglo-Irish. As one developer put it, you could put a proposition to him in the morning and get an acceptance by the afternoon! Sadly competition drew our other banks into the lending spree as they tried to retain their clients and in an environment of lax supervision and a government which was enjoying the ride, the bubble burst. Now in damage limitation mode Seanie has been able to tap into his very considerable pension and reinvest in joint names of himself and his wife. Indeed his six homes have also joint ownership so he had better be good to Triona as his half share (in both pension and houses) has now gone to his creditors. The Bible puts it simply, But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1Timothy ch.6 verses 6/10. Sadly there may not be much faith around to wander away from. St Paul sums up the scene in his day by concluding, “There is no fear of God before their eyes”. Romans Ch.3 verse 18. This fear is healthy as it recognises the fact of judgement to come. St Paul goes on to write that we are all debtors and cannot meet the demands of God’s bankruptcy court. The good news of the Gospel is not that I can pay my way but that God has provided a perfect surety in Jesus Christ. This is the news we need to hear whether it is Seanie or you or me! Listen to it again! “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this….so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” Put your faith in Jesus.

After many months of drought (we had lambs this year that never got wet) the rain came yesterday right on cue for the Oxygen Music Festival. There must be something about the name O₂ which attracts the rain! Its not just rain but real Irish rain – the wetting, fine droplet variety that penetrates the best of raingear in a matter of minutes.

The sound blasters got going yesterday at Punchestown some 3 miles away and as I write the drums are still pounding away impervious to the weather. Of course the only dry people there are the performers but even they must find their guitars slippery in the humid conditions.

An addition to the cacophony this year has been the invasive South African horn – the vuvuzela! The one note horn makes up for its lack of versatility by being easy to play!

Designer wellies are all the rage. About the only one not wearing them was the hip hop superstar Jay Z. The Brooklyn man did not disappoint with a performance that featured hits Run This Town, 99 Problems and Encore.

The tent town created on the racecourse gave some brightness to the scene. The tents could be embellished by spray painting artists from the Art College who, for a reasonable fee, could add their designs to the waterproofing of the fabric!

It brings to mind the great Festival of Tabernacles observed by Israel to commemorate their 40 year journey through the wilderness from Egypt to the Promised Land. The building of Tabernacles or Booths reminded the Jewish people of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. It was also a thanksgiving for the harvest with numerous sacrifices being offered over the 7 days of the celebration.

On the 7^th day the ritual of pouring a pitcher of water seven times onto the ground took place. This libation was prophet and messianic in its hope. It looked towards the outpouring of the Holy Spirit not only upon Israel but also on believers under the reign of Messiah, Jesus. Jesus now directs the ritual to Himself as its fulfillment.

The Bible records, on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”. (St John Ch 7 V 37/38).

No longer do we build Booths (unless we are at a wet Oxygen Festival) as the prophecy has been fulfilled in Jesus who now offers us this living water.

Come in faith to the living Jesus today.

The men of Issachar were commended because they understood the times and knew what Israel ought to do” 1 Chronicles ch.12 v 32. We could do with some of these men today to show us what Ireland ought to do!

An attempt was made this week by a letter writer to a National newspaper. His letter quoted Archbishop Fulton J Sheen who wrote the following some 50 years ago.

“It is a characteristic of any decaying civilisation that the great masses of the people are unaware of the tragedy. Humanity in a crisis is generally insensitive to the gravity of the times in which it lives. Men do not want to believe their own times are wicked, partly because they have no standard outside of themselves by which to measure their times.

If there is no fixed concept of justice, how shall men know it is violated? Only those who live by faith really know what is happening in the world; the great masses without faith are unconscious of the destructive processes going on, because they have lost the vision of the heights from which they have fallen.”

Predictably, the next day, a letter was printed aimed at silencing churchmen on the basis that the abuse, which was concealed within their ranks, had removed their right to make critical comment. The Archbishop’s comments were said to be more appropriately applied to the church. The “Liberal agenda”, it was claimed, had rescued Ireland from such people and to prove it the law is being changed along liberal lines.

We are back into Biblical territory; the Word versus the World. The problem is that few understand the Word. As the Archbishop said; “only those who live by faith know what is happening”. His final sentence goes on to quote from The Revelation to John ch.2 v 4/5 writing to the church at Ephesus; “But I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first”.

What were these works? They heard the Gospel, were converted to Jesus and destroyed their idols. It’s all in Acts ch.19. If the men of Issachar were here today they might well be saying, repent, turn to Jesus and burn the liberal agenda!

It is only as people come to faith in Christ that they can see the idols that they had been blindly following. May the Spirit of the living God open eyes in Ireland in these times.

I think it was Winston Churchill who said “Democracy is the worst form of government with the exception of all the others”! It is founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, who vote for them on the basis of their stated views.

We have been able to avoid the grosser sins of widespread vote rigging, or the more brutal treatment of the military regime in Myanmar where Aug San Su Kyi has to be kept under house arrest to prevent her party getting into government. However the power vested in our representatives, once elected, can be engineered to ensure their continuing in office, irrespective of the people’s wishes.

Shades of this were seen in the Banking Reports where, over a lengthy period, government appointed watch-dogs forgot to bark. The environment in which they were kept was not conducive to the sound of barking!

The leader of the “Greens” barked at the Catholic Church to be quiet about the Civil Partnership Bill and advocated they stick to “spiritual matters”. Perhaps he forgot that most people get married in church taking their vows before God. In fact the Bill he is promoting is designed to get gays to the altar although that’s the last place most of them would have in mind.

His colleague in Cabinet, Dermot Ahern, on the same subject is reported to have said “he would not allow his religious beliefs to cloud his judgement”. Clearly he is not influenced by the Bible which prohibits the practice he is legislating for.

It may seem strange to some to find that democracy is not in the Bible! Stranger still for our government to find it written, “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God”. (Romans ch.13V1). This does not mean that they are to act like God but that their authority comes from God. This in turn makes them accountable to God and for this good reason we are called to pray for them.

The problem today is unbelief. Rulers do not behave as those who have to give an account to God. Therefore there is no fear of judgement from a heavenly court but only an earthly one – and they think they can handle that! The Psalmist put it so well,

“If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared”.

And that healthy fear of the Lord is indeed the beginning of wisdom for all who believe both leaders and those they lead.