GOD DOZES ON THE JOB

I have the Bishop's word on it.

You see above my poor mother's novena to St. Joseph. She had it because it was reliable. St Joseph delivered. Or to put it more accurately, theologically speaking, St Joseph's intercession with the Good Lord delivered.

And he was not like St Anthony who put a cash price on his intecession. I have gone into that elsewhere and will not repeat it here.

Not that my mother had any problem with holy fundraising. She sold masses, though that was not quite how it was described at the point of sale.

Anyway, back to the novena. And what is so special about this one?

Well, it comes with a holy health warning authorised by no less a person than the Bishop himself.

In my day people had a lot of faith in prayer. Prayer could move mountains. But you didn't always get what you asked for and the holy rationale for this was that the Good Lord had witheld the granting of the request because what you had asked for might not have been in your interest.

Fair enough, but what's sauce for the goose ... !

Here is the Bishop implying that God might grant a request that wasn't really in your interest.

All I can do here is plead for a bit of divine charity for God who, not being a malicious person, may occasionally doze on the job, or is that only on Sunday.