Teardrops stain my cheeks
Now
my love you’ve gone
Gone
to join the angel’s throng
As
sad and lonely I live on
I
am comforted to know
In
my sadness and despair
I’m
alone but you are with me
As
I feel you everywhere
With
my faith for strength
I
wipe my teary eyes
Safe
in the knowledge
That
no one really dies
We
will be together again
If
my beloved you will wait
Beyond
the golden portal
Just
through heaven’s gate
If I am the first to go
I
will wait for you in the place
Where
the crowns of Angels glow
If
I go first because I lost the fight
I
will be waiting with the Father
Where
the tunnel opens into light
If
I am the first one there
I
will await you in lush meadows
Where
heady perfume fills the air
If
I go first and leave you lonely
We
will meet again in paradise
In
our loved one’s company
If
I am the first to go, allay your fears
I
will be waiting in the place
Where
there are no more tears
If
I go before you and we must part
I
will wait for you in heaven
Where
sweet music soothes the heart
If
I am first to go, we will meet again
In
a far better place than this
Where
God has banished pain
If
I go first through the eternal door
You
will find me with the angels
Where
suffering is no more
If
I am first to go by days or years
You
will find me waiting there
Far
beyond this vale of tears
One of the twelve
Philip the Apostle
From the village of Bethsaida
On the Sea of Galilee.
Witness of the ascension
Who spread the Gospels
Far and wide
He was martyred
By beheading
In the city of Hierapolis
Feast Day 3rd May
It was not the apple on the tree
That caused the trouble you see
In the garden what God found
Was the pair on the ground
One of the twelve
James the lesser
Son of Alphaeus
A tax collector
Witness of the ascension
Who then spread the Gospels
Far and wide
James’s son of Alphaeus
Was beaten, stoned
And clubbed to death
Feast Day 1st May
The Fourteen Holy Helpers are a group of saints venerated together in Roman Catholicism because their intercession was believed to be particularly effective against various diseases.
This
group of “helpers in need” originated in 14th century Rhineland, due largely as
a result of the epidemic that grew to become the Black Death, but their veneration
spread almost as quickly as the plague
Saint
George was a Greek who became an officer in the Roman army.
His
father was the Greek Gerondios from Cappadocia, Asia Minor, while his mother
was from the city Lydda, which was a Greek city in Palestine dating from the
times of the conquest of Alexander the Great.
It
was ironic that George became an officer in the Roman army in the Guard of Diocletian
who was ultimately the emperor who put him to death for his beliefs.
He
has a great many Patronages around the world, as well as a wide range of
professions, organizations and disease sufferers and domestic animals.
St
Georges Day is celebrated on April 23rd.
When you look out
Across
the cityscape
The
first impression is one of planning
With
order and method
A
systematic landscape
Above
a thriving community
Running
as a well-oiled machine
Every
element doing its part
A
symbiotic relationship
Every
person a cog in the machine
A
perpetual entity
Evolving
and changing
Redesigning
itself
Outside
the conurbation
As
if in stark contrast
The
countryside and nature
Appear
chaotic and haphazard
Without
order or method
Simple
and ordinary
Lacking
the sophistication of civilization
But
in reality, the urbanites live in chaos
Dysfunctional
and self-destructive
While
in nature there is structure and order
And
the closer you observe it
The
more of its complexities
And
intricate structures are revealed
Everything
precision engineered
With
order and purpose
Every
organism contains nature’s code
The
building blocks of our world
And
of our universe
True
sophistication exists at every level
Complex
and extraordinary
So
let man builds his cities
While
God builds everything else
