In many communities, workplaces and homes, if one asks 'what is the Golden Rule of Life' a typical answer might be 'do not do unto others, what you would not like to be done to yourself'. At first sight a sensible rule to control society - it is however intensely selfish, as it is based around what you would find acceptable to yourself.

Jesus' answer, so well known, is strikingly different. "Love God First, then your Neighbour As Yourself".

The key is 'Love'. This is the selfless love that you might see in a parent for their child, a child caring for their aged parent, a nurse for a sick patient, a Priest hearing the confession of a contrite sinner. We are not asked to honour or to obey God - but to Love. And we are asked to Love each other with that same Love.

If we did that, then we would have no fear of breaking any commandment - there would be no notion in our hearts to do so.

Given that today is the Feast of Bartholomew, it might seem surprising that the reading given, mentions Nathanael instead. Bartholemew is listed as one of the twelve apostles in all three of the synoptic gospels, and not at all in John's Gospel - where however Nathanael is mentioned. The prefix 'Bart' typically means 'son of' so Bartholomew might be the equivalent to our use of surnames, i.e. his father was named Tholomew or Tolmei.

Nathanael means 'Gift of God' or perhaps 'Giver of God' and when Jesus says that he had seen him 'under the fig tree' this would be a common Judaic reference to Nathanael studying the Torah.

The reporting of Nathanael saying 'You are the Son of God, the king of Israel' early in John's Gospel, places Nathanael as the first person to publicly state who Jesus was. (Note some caution is needed, as the order of events in biblical writings does not necessarily relate to their chronological order).

According to church tradition, Nathanael Bartholomew took a copy of Matthew's Gospel with him to North India, bringing the good news there, and he was martyred in Albania.

The brief extract from Judges today is no more than a taunt by a victorious king over his defeated enemies. But it is somewhat satirical - how could a low bushy thorn possibly place the tall cedars of lebanon in its shade? So it proves to be, as the cycle of fidelity to rebellion to punishment to conversion to rescue  continues through this weeks readings from Judges.

The rather better known story from Mark's Gospel, about the camel and the eye of the needle, has often been justified by the presence of narrow gateways through the old walls of Jerusalem: all you have to do is remove the burden of the camel's goods to get her in the city. The absurdity of the idea of squeezing a camel through the space fit for a thread, is what is needed - that is how hard it really is for a person obsessed by their possessions to get into heaven.

Both stories use hyperbole - deliberate use of exaggeration to make a key point stick in our memory. The more bizarre the image, the better it works for that purpose.

The memorial of Our Lady, Mother and Queen is not particularly old in the churches calendar. Todays memorial concludes the feast begun seven days ago of the assumption and both of these were added to the calendar following the declaration of the doctrine by pope Pius XII in November 1950 - there will be parishioners with us still who remember it.

But the belief in the assumption, body and soul, of Mary, and of her queenship of heaven, were held by the church for generations before, and was built on firm foundations. First of all - most catholics, from both Roman and Eastern traditions, already believed in it. The whole church had been asked the question in 1946, and over 98% of the responses were in favour. The faith of our catholic church is not founded only on the scriptures, we also depend upon the tradition of divine revelation. This was informed by the witness of the people - who had already dedicated many churches to the assumption. The assumption was already witnessed to in the churches liturgies. And the  church fathers including Thomas Aquinas and John of Damascus (8th Century) talk of her Assumption in their writings.

Todays memorial is of Mary as Mother and Queen.

As mother, she interceded for those who were running out of wine at the wedding feast of Cana. This model of her interceding for us, continues in our prayers today. Mary models trust in Jesus, as without his apparent consent, she tells the servants to begin to act in anticipation of the miracle. Jesus does as his mother asks - and performs the miracle that brings blessings on the day.

When we talk of Mary as queen, we express the universal character of her spiritual motherhood of the church. She is our kings' mother, so therefore she is our queen mother. It is entirely natural therefore that she is queen of all heaven, as figured in our eastern window which shows this.

Jean Eudes was born 1^st November 1601 in the village of Ri; his father was a surgeon. At the age of 14 he made a private vow to remain chaste; he studied with the Jesuits but decided to join the Oratorians in 1623 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1625. By 1633 he was preaching missions throughout Burgundy and Brittany, and being referred to as ‘the prodigy of the age’. He founded seminaries and dedicated them to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. In 1643 he severed his connexion to the Oratorians and established a new order, known as the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (popularly known as the Eudists), with the apostolate of the education of priests and the offering of parish missions. He also founded the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, whose apostolate was caring for young girls escaping prostitution. He spread the devotion to the Sacred Heart and composed the Office and the Mass for its observance. His health began to decline in 1671; he died in Caen 16^th August 1680. He was canonised by Pope Pius XI in 1925.

Today’s first reading takes us by a long leap to the close of the book Joshua and the death of Joshua [24.29, read tomorrow]. On his deathbed, speaking in the name of the lord, Joshua recites the history of God’s chosen people from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to the exodus from Egypt, and from the years of wandering in the wilderness to the crossing of the Jordan into a land whose inhabitants God had put into their power. I gave you a land where you never toiled, you live in towns you never built; you eat now from vineyards and olive groves you never planted.

In fact, the conquest of the land wasn’t quite so straightforward; the following canonical book, Judges, begins with the question ‘Which of us shall march up first against the Canaanites to attack them?’ [Judges 1.1] In other words, the conquest of the promised land of Canaan was far from complete at Joshua’s death. Moses had commanded that the Canaanites be conquered, and yet, he added ‘You must lay them under the ban. You must make no covenant with them nor show them any pity.’ [Deuteronomy 7.2] Indeed, there continued to be a considerable population of ‘Canaanites’ (in the Bible this term is a catch-all term for a great variety of indigenous peoples in the land Israel came to inhabit) alongside the Israelites.
[cf Matthew 15.22-28] Learning to live alongside those of differing faith, without being assimilated to them, is a major theme throughout the Old Testament.

Yesterday’s first reading, the conclusion of the book Deuteronomy and of the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), narrated the death of Moses, than whom ‘never has there been such a prophet in Israel’. Nonetheless, Moses was not to lead the people of Israel into the promised land. That role was to be Joshua’s, and the book named for him describes the conquest of the land and the partition of the territory among the twelve tribes. Just as Moses’ leadership was cemented by the dramatic exodus of Israel, passing through the Red Sea dry-shod
[Exodus 14.15—15.19] so Joshua was shown to be the leader God had chosen for his people by bringing them with unmoistened feet through the Jordan River.

Christian piety has long fastened on these two water crossings as exemplars of Christian life. On the mount of Transfiguration Moses and Elijah appeared alongside Our Lord to attest that his imminent passion, death and resurrection were to be his Exodus [Luke 9.30-31]—an Exodus which must be accomplished in every disciple’s own life experience. [9.22-26] A popular hymn names Jesus the ‘Death of death and Hell’s destruction’ whom we can be assured will lead us through the Jordan to a safe landing ‘on Canaan’s side’.

Stephen, born in Esztergom about 975, was baptised at the age of 10, when his father, the Duke of Hungary, converted to Christianity. He married Gisela, sister of the Holy Roman Emperor St Henry, and succeeded his father in 997. He was crowned the first King of Hungary in 1001 with a crown sent by Pope Sylvester II. He was said to have ruled both forcefully and with great wisdom; he did much to encourage the evangelisation of his people. He established at least one archbishopric, six bishoprics and three Benedictine monasteries, thus encouraging the Church in Hungary to grow independently of the archbishops of the Holy Roman Empire. He protected the independence of his kingdom by repelling the invading forces of the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II in 1030. Hungary enjoyed a period of lasting peace during his reign, and it became a preferred route both for pilgrims and merchants travelling between Western Europe and Constantinople and the Holy Land.

Stephen survived all his children, dying on 15^th August 1038. His death was followed by decades of civil strife in Hungary. Pope Gregory VII canonised both him and his son Emeric. His wife was beatified in 1975.

Thomas Merton, the well-known Trappist, once remarked that ‘Everything that Mary had she got from her Son.’ We might add that everything that Mary’s Son bestowed on her He wills to bestow on us as well.

And so on this feast day we hear St Paul’s account of the destruction of death by the resurrection of Christ, a resurrection harvest of which He is the first-fruits, and those who follow Him are to be the harvest’s maturity. Mary is the paradigmatic disciple; we who, however imperfectly and falteringly, listen to her son and endeavour to follow him
[Luke 8.21] are meant to receive from him the same honour he has given her.

The feast of the Assumption is a kind of Easter festival. Mary triumphs over the wiles of Satan, triumphs over the death that is the birthright of every child of Adam. She shows us thereby what Christ has planned and prepared for us, his brothers and sisters. And blessed are all they who believe that the promise of the Lord will be fulfilled.