2nd Sunday after Pentecost (Corpus Christi octave) 10.6.07
Today we continue our celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The Gospel presents us with an image of the banquet. Those first invited refuse to come, while those invited later take their place.
This is a reference to Jews and Gentiles, but has application in every age.
Everyone is invited to the banquet which is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, but not everyone comes.
In the news this week there has been a lot about the Church’s right to exclude certain people from receving Holy Communion.
This parable (in another version, Matthew 22) goes on to say that one of the guests was found without the proper wedding garment, and then thrown out.
The ‘wedding garment’ in our time means that yes, everyone is welcome to the feast, but before we can partake each person must be willing to conform to what Our Lord is asking of us.
We cannot simply walk in off the street and take Communion, as though it were a natural right.
Holy Communion is a privilege, not a right. No one can presume to claim a privilege.
We receive Our Lord by His permission, which permission is in the province of the Church to give or refuse.
The Church makes clear that those who are separated from Jesus Christ by being in a state of mortal sin are not free to receive Holy Communion.
This is not a new teaching but goes back to St Paul (cf 1 Co 11).
These people are ‘excluded’ but not necessarily forever. The point of the exclusion is to excite them to repentance and re-inclusion into union with Christ and His Body, the Church.
So, yes, everyone is welcome, but everyone is also under the obligation to accept the invitation on Our Lord’s terms and not their own.
Holy Communion is not a free meal just given out to anyone who happens to get on the line.
It is meant only for those who have at least some appreciation for what they are receiving.
Communion is the celebration and increase of Union.
Union is what must be achieved first. This comes through repentance of grave sin, and then a humble acceptance of Church authority.
One of the politicians involved in the recent issue is quoted as saying: ‘I’d like to see the Church try to stop me from receiving Communion’.
This is a very belligerent and ignorant approach. Of course it is easy to receive Communion physically, just a matter of going to another parish. He can receive physically, but is it pleasing to the Lord?
Will Holy Communion do him any good? No, it will make matters worse, because it will be sacrilegious.
The spiritual state of things must be considered foremost.
So for us, we might be tempted to receive Holy Communion regardless of the state of our souls. Nearly everyone in the church does receive these days.
But if in doubt it is better not to come, or to seek a blessing rather than the sacrament itself.
Think of it as a process of reconciliation. If I am not ready just now, I can work on whatever has to be changed so that I will be ready as soon as possible.
Everyone is welcome. Some have to do certain things before they can receive Communion. They are being excluded for a time, so that their ultimate inclusion will be everything it should be.
As we give thanks for the existence of this great privilege, and humble ourselves before the greatness of the One who offers Himself in this way, let us all accept the invitation and the terms on which it is made.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Sermon for Trinity Sunday 3.6.07
Trinity Sunday 3.6.07
People asking about the Latin Mass are often puzzled by the fact that we pray in Latin. Why would you want to pray in a language you don’t understand, they ask.
Well, one solution to that is to learn the language as some of this congregation is doing!
But a more complete answer is that when it comes to prayer we do not have to understand every word that is spoken, nor even hear every word.
When Moses went up Mount Sinai to speak with God, the Israelites below did not hear what was said, nor would they have expected to.
They had a sense of God’s majesty and did not expect to be privy to His every word or thought.
They grasped that God was Mystery. They knew that they did not know everything.
Prayer is more than cognitive. It is an engagement of the whole person - body, mind, soul, spirit. So we can be praying even when we do not know or understand the words that may be involved.
Thus in the Latin Mass (indeed any Mass) there is a lot going on beside the words being spoken. We are entering the presence of God Himself in all His majesty and glory, and exchanging with Him a whole range of thoughts, sentiments, feelings, desires, and generally being transformed by being so close to Him.
Part of what goes on is the use of words, some of which we understand and some not; some of which we hear and some not.
The priest is not wired for sound in the Latin Mass – silence has a place, even silent words.
Coming to Mass should be understood as an overall experience: it is like entering a world bigger than we are, and just taking in as much as we can. Like entering an art gallery, or looking at the stars in the sky, or eating at a banquet.
We cannot hold all the treasures of God, so we come back another time for more.
We have all eternity to work out what we did not understand here. And guess what: we will never exhaust the mysteries of God even then, because infinity means just that – no limit.
It is appropriate today especially to consider the infinity of God, and to appreciate how lucky we are to be allowed into His presence.
The Israelites at Sinai were told that if they came too close to the mountain they would die. Imagine if we were told that: if you come too far into this church you will die! The majesty of God is so great you will be incinerated.
Well, we are not threatened with that. In fact, we are encouraged to come in, and even sit at the front. Come to Me all you who labour… etc.
Approach by all means. But come with reverence, with a sense that you are on holy ground, that the One you are approaching is greater than anything or anyone by a long way.
If you would feel awe meeting the Queen or even the Prime Minister, what must we feel in meeting God?
Once we do approach, we are swept up in that communion/communication which is so beneficial for us.
As we contemplate God as Trinity, we understand that there is between the Three Persons an infinite love.
And we are included in that love, like logs in a raging river. Tossed about, but this is a joyful experience not a frightening one.
To be loved like that, in a way far greater than human love, is our desire, even if we don’t know it.
God knows what we want. He created us to need and want this love, and He has ever since been telling us where to come to receive it.
We may not understand everything that is said in this place, but we allow ourselves to be lifted into the experience. Enjoy the flight.
People asking about the Latin Mass are often puzzled by the fact that we pray in Latin. Why would you want to pray in a language you don’t understand, they ask.
Well, one solution to that is to learn the language as some of this congregation is doing!
But a more complete answer is that when it comes to prayer we do not have to understand every word that is spoken, nor even hear every word.
When Moses went up Mount Sinai to speak with God, the Israelites below did not hear what was said, nor would they have expected to.
They had a sense of God’s majesty and did not expect to be privy to His every word or thought.
They grasped that God was Mystery. They knew that they did not know everything.
Prayer is more than cognitive. It is an engagement of the whole person - body, mind, soul, spirit. So we can be praying even when we do not know or understand the words that may be involved.
Thus in the Latin Mass (indeed any Mass) there is a lot going on beside the words being spoken. We are entering the presence of God Himself in all His majesty and glory, and exchanging with Him a whole range of thoughts, sentiments, feelings, desires, and generally being transformed by being so close to Him.
Part of what goes on is the use of words, some of which we understand and some not; some of which we hear and some not.
The priest is not wired for sound in the Latin Mass – silence has a place, even silent words.
Coming to Mass should be understood as an overall experience: it is like entering a world bigger than we are, and just taking in as much as we can. Like entering an art gallery, or looking at the stars in the sky, or eating at a banquet.
We cannot hold all the treasures of God, so we come back another time for more.
We have all eternity to work out what we did not understand here. And guess what: we will never exhaust the mysteries of God even then, because infinity means just that – no limit.
It is appropriate today especially to consider the infinity of God, and to appreciate how lucky we are to be allowed into His presence.
The Israelites at Sinai were told that if they came too close to the mountain they would die. Imagine if we were told that: if you come too far into this church you will die! The majesty of God is so great you will be incinerated.
Well, we are not threatened with that. In fact, we are encouraged to come in, and even sit at the front. Come to Me all you who labour… etc.
Approach by all means. But come with reverence, with a sense that you are on holy ground, that the One you are approaching is greater than anything or anyone by a long way.
If you would feel awe meeting the Queen or even the Prime Minister, what must we feel in meeting God?
Once we do approach, we are swept up in that communion/communication which is so beneficial for us.
As we contemplate God as Trinity, we understand that there is between the Three Persons an infinite love.
And we are included in that love, like logs in a raging river. Tossed about, but this is a joyful experience not a frightening one.
To be loved like that, in a way far greater than human love, is our desire, even if we don’t know it.
God knows what we want. He created us to need and want this love, and He has ever since been telling us where to come to receive it.
We may not understand everything that is said in this place, but we allow ourselves to be lifted into the experience. Enjoy the flight.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Sermon for Pentecost Sunday 27.5.07
Pentecost Sunday 27.5.07
They each heard the apostles speaking in their own language! - one of the miracles associated with Pentecost.
It was truly an example of how far God will go to reach the human race. He adapts His communication so that each one has a chance to know Him and to respond.
This miracle of languages was also a foreshadowing of the Church’s role in occupying every nation and reaching all the peoples of the world.
If we pour water into different shaped containers the water will flow into whatever shape is there. The Holy Spirit will likewise adapt His coming to the one receiving Him.
He will make allowances for the particular needs and dispositions of that person – taking into account the degree of willingness the person has to receive Him, and the plans God has for the person.
The Holy Spirit will know all these things and will ‘flow’ accordingly.
If we are more willing to receive Him we will receive more. If He calls us to higher things or more difficult things, we will receive more help accordingly.
Today, especially, is a time for us to ask Him to come. We ask Him to come to each of us, individually, and to the whole Church.
We do not know what exactly God is going to ask of each of us as individuals.
Take the apostles as an example. They were just ordinary men, several of them fishermen.
They would have had no idea they would end up world famous for centuries to come! How could a Galilean fisherman become so important?
Yet it happened, simply because they allowed God to use them according to His plans.
In the Church we are encouraged to be humble. Unlike say the political world, or the business world where we are encouraged to sell ourselves. If I apply for a job, for instance, I should go into the interview with reasons why I am the best person, and not those other applicants.
In the Church, however, we are not supposed to put ourselves forward for high office. A priest, for instance, should not be saying: Vote for me to be bishop, or Pope!
We are supposed to be aware of our limitations and lack of talent.
If we should not put ourselves forward, however, we should let God put us forward if He so desires.
So the apostles did well to respond to Our Lord’s call to follow Him.
Various saints did not want to be made bishop or pope, or head of the order, but humbly obeyed when it was clear this was God’s will.
They let God put them forward. They were willing to let Him decide the course of their lives, and trusted that He would provide the necessary graces.
This is Pentecost in practice, in everyday life.
We are aware of our own weakness, our own limitations. But we do not apply those limitations to God.
If He wants us for some purpose, to do some work for Him, then let it be done. (Remember someone else who said that?)
And then, apart from the jobs we have to do, there is just the matter of how good we can become.
Pope or postman, bishop or bartender, we all have an obligation to be as good as we can be – in terms of faith, hope, charity, and the various gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Here also we don’t know. Just how good can I be? I may think I have reached about as holy as I’m ever going to get, but how do I know that? Chances are, if I say that, that I am thinking only from a worldly wisdom. I do not know what miracles of grace God might work in me. I should leave room for those miracles and never cease expecting or striving to improve as I cooperate with His grace.
Pulling out a vice here, building up a virtue there. Pulling up weeds; planting flowers.
Come Holy Spirit, and make Pentecost happen in each of us, in the Church, and in our time.
They each heard the apostles speaking in their own language! - one of the miracles associated with Pentecost.
It was truly an example of how far God will go to reach the human race. He adapts His communication so that each one has a chance to know Him and to respond.
This miracle of languages was also a foreshadowing of the Church’s role in occupying every nation and reaching all the peoples of the world.
If we pour water into different shaped containers the water will flow into whatever shape is there. The Holy Spirit will likewise adapt His coming to the one receiving Him.
He will make allowances for the particular needs and dispositions of that person – taking into account the degree of willingness the person has to receive Him, and the plans God has for the person.
The Holy Spirit will know all these things and will ‘flow’ accordingly.
If we are more willing to receive Him we will receive more. If He calls us to higher things or more difficult things, we will receive more help accordingly.
Today, especially, is a time for us to ask Him to come. We ask Him to come to each of us, individually, and to the whole Church.
We do not know what exactly God is going to ask of each of us as individuals.
Take the apostles as an example. They were just ordinary men, several of them fishermen.
They would have had no idea they would end up world famous for centuries to come! How could a Galilean fisherman become so important?
Yet it happened, simply because they allowed God to use them according to His plans.
In the Church we are encouraged to be humble. Unlike say the political world, or the business world where we are encouraged to sell ourselves. If I apply for a job, for instance, I should go into the interview with reasons why I am the best person, and not those other applicants.
In the Church, however, we are not supposed to put ourselves forward for high office. A priest, for instance, should not be saying: Vote for me to be bishop, or Pope!
We are supposed to be aware of our limitations and lack of talent.
If we should not put ourselves forward, however, we should let God put us forward if He so desires.
So the apostles did well to respond to Our Lord’s call to follow Him.
Various saints did not want to be made bishop or pope, or head of the order, but humbly obeyed when it was clear this was God’s will.
They let God put them forward. They were willing to let Him decide the course of their lives, and trusted that He would provide the necessary graces.
This is Pentecost in practice, in everyday life.
We are aware of our own weakness, our own limitations. But we do not apply those limitations to God.
If He wants us for some purpose, to do some work for Him, then let it be done. (Remember someone else who said that?)
And then, apart from the jobs we have to do, there is just the matter of how good we can become.
Pope or postman, bishop or bartender, we all have an obligation to be as good as we can be – in terms of faith, hope, charity, and the various gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Here also we don’t know. Just how good can I be? I may think I have reached about as holy as I’m ever going to get, but how do I know that? Chances are, if I say that, that I am thinking only from a worldly wisdom. I do not know what miracles of grace God might work in me. I should leave room for those miracles and never cease expecting or striving to improve as I cooperate with His grace.
Pulling out a vice here, building up a virtue there. Pulling up weeds; planting flowers.
Come Holy Spirit, and make Pentecost happen in each of us, in the Church, and in our time.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Prayer for faithful departed
Please pray for Stephen Greenslade, of Mt Barker, who died tonight (Saturday 26th May). Stephen and his wife Frances, were regular members of our community. May he rest in peace, and his family be consoled.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Sermon for Ascension Thursday 17.5.07
Ascension 17.5.07
Our Lord leaves us, blazing a trail to heaven. His intention is to come back and to take us by the same path to Heaven.
This feast opens up a strong light on our mundane lives.
We go about trying to find enough money to pay the bills, going to the doctor, taking children to soccer training, going to bed, getting up again… so it goes on.
We barely make ends meet, only just keep our heads above water.
Into all this we have this glorious light shining. It is almost more than we know what to do with.
Heaven is so far out of our daily thoughts that we find it hard to fit in when it does intrude.
Heaven is in a way more happiness than we want. Most times we are happy with just a slight improvement.
If we move from a small house to a bigger one, we are happy. If we get a slight pay rise at work we are happy. If our football team wins, hooray.
It does not take much because we do not expect much. We have become accustomed to being beaten about by life and we welcome any relief, or any scrap of good news that comes our way.
We come to mistake the difficulty of this life for the full product. We think it is meant to be difficult, and will always be like this.
If Jesus offered us, not eternal life, but say another 50 years of reasonable health, we would be delighted with that.
But no, we have to settle for eternal life, in heaven. It strains our imagination beyond breaking point. We cannot take it in.
No matter, we will discover the fulness of joy as we encounter it.
The fact is we are more blessed than we are capable of realizing, happier than we would ever presume to expect.
The present life, with all its pains, difficulties, sorrows, will pass away and only eternal glory remains.
This feast reminds us of how richly blessed we are.
It should cheer us up considerably and also help us to live in a more realistic way.
The temptation we all face is to try to accumulate as many pleasures in this life, like beggars looking for scraps.
This is not the way for those who are honoured to be disciples of Jesus Christ.
We are called to much higher things and we will not debase ourselves or insult Him by grasping only for earthly pleasures.
We will calmly endure certain privations here, knowing that a rich reward awaits us if we stay faithful to Him.
And such earthly consolations as do come our way we will not overvalue, but see them just as foretastes of much greater happiness to come.
Where He has gone we hope to follow. In the meantime we focus on Heaven. We look to it expectantly, for His return.
We make all our earthly decisions with Heaven in mind. We do not have to think about it every moment, just be habitually aware of its presence.
Never again must we complain about this life and how hard it is. What do we expect in a war zone? The war, however, is coming to an end. And we are on the winning side.
Our Lord leaves us, blazing a trail to heaven. His intention is to come back and to take us by the same path to Heaven.
This feast opens up a strong light on our mundane lives.
We go about trying to find enough money to pay the bills, going to the doctor, taking children to soccer training, going to bed, getting up again… so it goes on.
We barely make ends meet, only just keep our heads above water.
Into all this we have this glorious light shining. It is almost more than we know what to do with.
Heaven is so far out of our daily thoughts that we find it hard to fit in when it does intrude.
Heaven is in a way more happiness than we want. Most times we are happy with just a slight improvement.
If we move from a small house to a bigger one, we are happy. If we get a slight pay rise at work we are happy. If our football team wins, hooray.
It does not take much because we do not expect much. We have become accustomed to being beaten about by life and we welcome any relief, or any scrap of good news that comes our way.
We come to mistake the difficulty of this life for the full product. We think it is meant to be difficult, and will always be like this.
If Jesus offered us, not eternal life, but say another 50 years of reasonable health, we would be delighted with that.
But no, we have to settle for eternal life, in heaven. It strains our imagination beyond breaking point. We cannot take it in.
No matter, we will discover the fulness of joy as we encounter it.
The fact is we are more blessed than we are capable of realizing, happier than we would ever presume to expect.
The present life, with all its pains, difficulties, sorrows, will pass away and only eternal glory remains.
This feast reminds us of how richly blessed we are.
It should cheer us up considerably and also help us to live in a more realistic way.
The temptation we all face is to try to accumulate as many pleasures in this life, like beggars looking for scraps.
This is not the way for those who are honoured to be disciples of Jesus Christ.
We are called to much higher things and we will not debase ourselves or insult Him by grasping only for earthly pleasures.
We will calmly endure certain privations here, knowing that a rich reward awaits us if we stay faithful to Him.
And such earthly consolations as do come our way we will not overvalue, but see them just as foretastes of much greater happiness to come.
Where He has gone we hope to follow. In the meantime we focus on Heaven. We look to it expectantly, for His return.
We make all our earthly decisions with Heaven in mind. We do not have to think about it every moment, just be habitually aware of its presence.
Never again must we complain about this life and how hard it is. What do we expect in a war zone? The war, however, is coming to an end. And we are on the winning side.
Sermon for Sunday after Ascension 20.5.07
Sunday after Ascension 20.5.07 Prayer
The apostles spent a whole nine days praying between the time of the Ascension and Pentecost.
They were waiting for something to happen. They did not quite know what it would be but they prayed for it to happen anyway.
By this time they trusted Our Lord and His instructions.
We know what they were praying for and what happened – the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Yet, knowing this, we are not much wiser than they in terms of what happens next.
We also, as the whole Church, are constantly in a state of expectation and waiting for further activity from Heaven.
Waiting for instructions, waiting for grace, waiting for the right time.
When we look at the Scriptures we see a lot of examples of waiting (accompanied by praying). Times of fasting, long vigils of prayer (cf David for the life of his son; the Jews in Esther’s story; Hannah seeking a son)
Our Lord Himself waited 30 years to begin His public life. He began that public life by another 40 days in the desert.
Now we see the apostles waiting nine days for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
In all this we might ask: why doesn’t God speed things up. It took nearly two thousand years from the time of Abraham to the time of Our Lord. All that time the Israelites were waiting for a Messiah.
It has taken another 2000 years, and still counting, for Our Lord to come again.
Why does everything have to take so long?
One part of the answer must surely be that He is waiting for us to realize something.
To realize that we are meant to be a part of His plans, and not just leaving everything to Him.
He will act when we act. When we show that we have the maturity to trust in Him, to obey Him, to respond to Him – then the time is right.
The apostles had to wait for Pentecost because any earlier they would not have been ready.
It was not just when God was ready (which might have been sooner) but when the Church was ready to receive Him.
(The same no doubt could be suggested for the Incarnation and the Second Coming).
The apostles were praying, not so much to hurry God along, but to bring themselves to the boil, so God could take the next step.
And the same applies to us. We pray for all sorts of things to happen, and we sometimes wonder why they don’t happen. Where is God? Is He asleep? No, He is waiting for us to grow in maturity, to ripen in faith.
So we continue the prayer. Long, faithful, persistent prayer. Acknowledging God’s greatness, calling to mind His many favours of the past, and confidently expecting future blessings.
All the while, promising Him that we will be responsive to whatever He asks of us.
This is the tricky part. There are no limits to His power and goodness, but all sorts of limits and unpredictables about us.
Prayer is stating the obvious until it is obvious to us!
But even when it is obvious to us we still have to keep praying. We pray to get what we need, and then we pray in thanksgiving.
They still pray in heaven, and not only for us, but just for the sake of praying. Prayer is ultimately a state of union with God.
We cannot rest from prayer until we attain what we need. We cannot rest afterwards either.
The whole Church, in heaven and on earth, prays - in praise of God and for the fulfilment of His plans. Come Holy Ghost!
The apostles spent a whole nine days praying between the time of the Ascension and Pentecost.
They were waiting for something to happen. They did not quite know what it would be but they prayed for it to happen anyway.
By this time they trusted Our Lord and His instructions.
We know what they were praying for and what happened – the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Yet, knowing this, we are not much wiser than they in terms of what happens next.
We also, as the whole Church, are constantly in a state of expectation and waiting for further activity from Heaven.
Waiting for instructions, waiting for grace, waiting for the right time.
When we look at the Scriptures we see a lot of examples of waiting (accompanied by praying). Times of fasting, long vigils of prayer (cf David for the life of his son; the Jews in Esther’s story; Hannah seeking a son)
Our Lord Himself waited 30 years to begin His public life. He began that public life by another 40 days in the desert.
Now we see the apostles waiting nine days for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
In all this we might ask: why doesn’t God speed things up. It took nearly two thousand years from the time of Abraham to the time of Our Lord. All that time the Israelites were waiting for a Messiah.
It has taken another 2000 years, and still counting, for Our Lord to come again.
Why does everything have to take so long?
One part of the answer must surely be that He is waiting for us to realize something.
To realize that we are meant to be a part of His plans, and not just leaving everything to Him.
He will act when we act. When we show that we have the maturity to trust in Him, to obey Him, to respond to Him – then the time is right.
The apostles had to wait for Pentecost because any earlier they would not have been ready.
It was not just when God was ready (which might have been sooner) but when the Church was ready to receive Him.
(The same no doubt could be suggested for the Incarnation and the Second Coming).
The apostles were praying, not so much to hurry God along, but to bring themselves to the boil, so God could take the next step.
And the same applies to us. We pray for all sorts of things to happen, and we sometimes wonder why they don’t happen. Where is God? Is He asleep? No, He is waiting for us to grow in maturity, to ripen in faith.
So we continue the prayer. Long, faithful, persistent prayer. Acknowledging God’s greatness, calling to mind His many favours of the past, and confidently expecting future blessings.
All the while, promising Him that we will be responsive to whatever He asks of us.
This is the tricky part. There are no limits to His power and goodness, but all sorts of limits and unpredictables about us.
Prayer is stating the obvious until it is obvious to us!
But even when it is obvious to us we still have to keep praying. We pray to get what we need, and then we pray in thanksgiving.
They still pray in heaven, and not only for us, but just for the sake of praying. Prayer is ultimately a state of union with God.
We cannot rest from prayer until we attain what we need. We cannot rest afterwards either.
The whole Church, in heaven and on earth, prays - in praise of God and for the fulfilment of His plans. Come Holy Ghost!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Sermon for 5th Sunday after Easter 13.5.07
5th Sunday after Easter 13.5.07 Fatima
On the thirteenth of May 1917, after Sunday morning Mass, three children (Lucy, Francisco, and Jacinta) chose to lead their sheep to a property called Cova da Iria. After eating their meal at noon and praying the Rosary, the children began to play. Suddenly they saw a kind of lightning, making them believe that a storm was approaching, and they began to descend the hill to make for home.
When about halfway down the slope there was another flash of light, and a Lady appeared above a holm-oak tree. Lucy says that the Lady was "all dressed in white, more brilliant than the sun, radiating a light clearer and more intense than a crystal glass filled with clear water pierced by the most burning rays of the sun." The children stopped and found themselves in the light that emanated from Her. Lucy describes the apparition in this way:
Then Our Lady said to us: ‘Do not be afraid. I will do you no harm.’ ‘Where is Your Grace from?’ I asked Her. ‘I am of Heaven.’ ‘What does Your Grace want of me?’ ‘I have come to ask you to come here for six months in succession, on the 13th day, at this same hour. Later on, I will tell you who I am and what I want. Afterwards, I will return here yet a seventh time.’
…Are you willing to offer yourselves to God to bear all the sufferings He wants to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and for the conversion of sinners?’ ‘Yes, we are willing.’ ‘You are then going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your
comfort.’
So began a great story, which still affects us, and is today 90 years old.
Fatima was a special message for a new century, in which new technology combined with ancient evil would make possible a scale of destruction never before seen.
Fatima was a special message for a new century, in which new technology combined with ancient evil would make possible a scale of destruction never before seen.
It was an age of blocs. Which bloc would you belong to? Not so much east or west, as Heaven or Hell.
Our Lady was warning that, as bad as things were in 1917, they would get a lot worse if men did not repent. If the requests of Our Lady of Fatima for the Consecration of Russia and the First Saturday devotion are not honored, the Church will be persecuted, there will be other major wars, the Holy Father will have much to suffer and various nations will be annihilated. Many nations will be enslaved by Russian militant atheists. Most important, many souls will be lost.
Well, things have got a lot worse, but Fatima was also a message of hope – springing from the fact that God is greater than the devil; good is greater than evil.
There is a remedy provided for all this evil. It is the remedy of mercy. Mercy can be obtained from heaven. Sins can be forgiven; the hearts of sinners can convert; bad people can become good.
If the requests of Our Lady of Fatima are carried out "My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will Consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to mankind."
If we repent, if we make sacrifices, if we pray – then there will be peace and a time of great progress for the Church.
So we find ourselves between warnings of destruction and promises of deliverance. It is in our power to make things better by doing what Our Lady asked us.
We can be so discouraged by things going wrong that we lose heart in our prayer and no longer dare to ask for these good things.
Not everyone has ignored the message of Fatima. There are always a faithful number praying away and making reparation, and we are among that number.
Who knows what disasters we have helped to avert by the prayer and the sacrifices we have already made. We might have had World War 3, 4 and 5 by now, but for the faithful response of at least some percentage of the world to Mary’s warnings.
So much comes down to just how many people are doing these things. The more join in the better it gets. The urgency is just to get YOU to join in.
Sin is still with us, bigger than ever, but so is Mercy and the grace of conversion. It needs every hand on deck, every shoulder to the wheel to bring off this great change – the conversion of the whole world, the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
Not everyone has ignored the message of Fatima. There are always a faithful number praying away and making reparation, and we are among that number.
Who knows what disasters we have helped to avert by the prayer and the sacrifices we have already made. We might have had World War 3, 4 and 5 by now, but for the faithful response of at least some percentage of the world to Mary’s warnings.
So much comes down to just how many people are doing these things. The more join in the better it gets. The urgency is just to get YOU to join in.
Sin is still with us, bigger than ever, but so is Mercy and the grace of conversion. It needs every hand on deck, every shoulder to the wheel to bring off this great change – the conversion of the whole world, the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Sermon for 4th Sunday after Easter 6.5.07
4th Sunday after Easter 6.5.07
Is there life on the new planet they have discovered 20 light years from earth? I hope not, for their sake!
Life is too much trouble, is it not? At least that is what we tend to say, taking a look around us on this very troubled planet.
But it is not meant to be so. The epistle today (James) reminds us that only what is good comes from the hand of God – only good, and every good.
Somehow we manage to make much heavier weather of life than God meant it to be.
It is all because we have rebelled, goaded on by the father of lies, and in the darkness which sin brings upon us, we declare there can be no God, no purpose to life.
The denial of God in theory follows from the the denial of God in practice.
In this Easter season we are reminded of the reasons for our joy. Life is a precious gift, and we should be glad to be alive.
If we had just taken God at His word we would have saved ourselves a lot of trouble, but it is still not too late to reclaim this basic simplicity of taking life as a gift from the hands of a loving Father, and using this gift as He means it to be used.
So we repent of our sins, we get our lives back in order; we get rid of all the false attachments and rebellious attitudes. We clean up our act.
We apologise for making the earth such an unpleasant place to live, and we re-instate Jesus Christ as King, promising to do things His way from now on.
It is only our sin that makes this seem difficult or unlikely. If we would turn from our sin we discover a new clarity, a breathtaking simplicity – God is right after all. It has always been so.
His creation is good, and would run perfectly if only we obeyed Him!
So we set about recovering what we have lost. We will struggle to cast off our sins, but we will keep that central and all-important focus, that God is good and only what is good comes from His hands.
If He lets us suffer, that also is part of His goodness because He is forcing us to turn back to Him.
We turn back to Him in prayer. God is a God of infinite power and love, and is just waiting for our prayer to exert that love on all the parts of His creation.
We might ask, why doesn’t He just do that anyway? Because part of the gift of life was that we would be stewards of His creation. He is waiting for us to reclaim this role. If we turn to Him He will act; if not, He will not, at least not as directly.
A large part of the process is just to relax and fully enter His presence. We tend to pray only on the surface, not getting into the prayer, because too much distracted, or resenting the need to pray, or lacking in faith etc.
If we can cultivate the habit, keep the vision of His goodness, and just let the power flow. This would happen if we stayed at it long enough. That father of lies will be trying to discourage us, but we are too smart for that.
So, life is good. If we heed this message from St James we will see that it gets better still.
(I hope those people on the other planet have done better than us).
Is there life on the new planet they have discovered 20 light years from earth? I hope not, for their sake!
Life is too much trouble, is it not? At least that is what we tend to say, taking a look around us on this very troubled planet.
But it is not meant to be so. The epistle today (James) reminds us that only what is good comes from the hand of God – only good, and every good.
Somehow we manage to make much heavier weather of life than God meant it to be.
It is all because we have rebelled, goaded on by the father of lies, and in the darkness which sin brings upon us, we declare there can be no God, no purpose to life.
The denial of God in theory follows from the the denial of God in practice.
In this Easter season we are reminded of the reasons for our joy. Life is a precious gift, and we should be glad to be alive.
If we had just taken God at His word we would have saved ourselves a lot of trouble, but it is still not too late to reclaim this basic simplicity of taking life as a gift from the hands of a loving Father, and using this gift as He means it to be used.
So we repent of our sins, we get our lives back in order; we get rid of all the false attachments and rebellious attitudes. We clean up our act.
We apologise for making the earth such an unpleasant place to live, and we re-instate Jesus Christ as King, promising to do things His way from now on.
It is only our sin that makes this seem difficult or unlikely. If we would turn from our sin we discover a new clarity, a breathtaking simplicity – God is right after all. It has always been so.
His creation is good, and would run perfectly if only we obeyed Him!
So we set about recovering what we have lost. We will struggle to cast off our sins, but we will keep that central and all-important focus, that God is good and only what is good comes from His hands.
If He lets us suffer, that also is part of His goodness because He is forcing us to turn back to Him.
We turn back to Him in prayer. God is a God of infinite power and love, and is just waiting for our prayer to exert that love on all the parts of His creation.
We might ask, why doesn’t He just do that anyway? Because part of the gift of life was that we would be stewards of His creation. He is waiting for us to reclaim this role. If we turn to Him He will act; if not, He will not, at least not as directly.
A large part of the process is just to relax and fully enter His presence. We tend to pray only on the surface, not getting into the prayer, because too much distracted, or resenting the need to pray, or lacking in faith etc.
If we can cultivate the habit, keep the vision of His goodness, and just let the power flow. This would happen if we stayed at it long enough. That father of lies will be trying to discourage us, but we are too smart for that.
So, life is good. If we heed this message from St James we will see that it gets better still.
(I hope those people on the other planet have done better than us).
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sermon for 3rd Sunday after Easter 29.4.07
3rd Sunday after Easter 29.4.07 Reform of society
St Peter offers a radical plan to take over the world. No, not with the usual guns and bombs, but with humility, simplicity, forbearance.
If you are a slave and your master treats you terribly, then serve him with a smile.
If you are a wife and your husband is awful, then win him over by the purity of your life and the mildness of your disposition;
And so on for every Christian in any sort of difficult position. Don’t just complain and take revenge as most people would, but transform the situation in a Christ-like way.
Do what Christ did when they were crucifying Him. Accept the insults and the injustices, by way of offering a perfect sacrifice, and then let that perfect offering bear fruit in changing those who are crucifying you.
(Obviously there must be limits to how much injustice one can let go, but as a general attitude be willing to forgive and forebear).
This is a very cunning plan to win the world over. Unfortunately it has never been put into operation on a wide scale. A few people have done what St Peter said: they are now called Saints.
The majority of Christians continue to operate on worldly wisdom, which is Don’t get mad, get even. So the world lurches on, unredeemed, and conflict and hardness of heart hold sway in most places, including most homes.
How can we break open the hardness of heart of the world? Only by repeating the sacrifice of Christ, by being pure of heart, by loving those who hate us, by turning enemies into friends.
But, you will say, I have tried that and it does not work. Sure you tried it, but for how long? Many will give up very quickly on this path because it takes supernatural perseverance.
To make ourselves into a sacrifice seems to go so much against the grain, yet it is the tried and true way of making a difference.
Just as in a military battle someone who sacrifices himself can open a way for his comrades, so in the spiritual world, we need people who are willing to make sacrifices – if not to die, then to die to self. To be living witnesses of Christ’s love, inspiring all around.
It may not always bring about conversion but it will sometimes, and it is a lot more successful than the worldly method, which just makes things worse.
(Witnessing to the faith is not just preaching; most of it is quiet endurance, no words at all)
This approach is alluded to in the Gospel where the Church’s time on earth is compared with a woman in labour. Painful but fruitful. A lot of pain leads soon to a lot of joy.
So the Church, in pain, brings forth converts. People who have been living in darkness suddenly see the light and are transformed.
St Peter’s battle plan is a brilliant one, but too many have broken ranks and not enabled the plan to take full effect.
We must re-form ranks and let this plan work in us and on those people around us who need converting.
We may not see the change in our lifetime. We may not see the good we do. It is a battle fought over a whole universe and the whole span of human history.
But change will follow. The seed that dies does not see the harvest, but there is one all the same. So for us, to pay now and enjoy later (to reverse the popular advertising line).
This brief time of sorrow will give way to eternal joy.
St Peter offers a radical plan to take over the world. No, not with the usual guns and bombs, but with humility, simplicity, forbearance.
If you are a slave and your master treats you terribly, then serve him with a smile.
If you are a wife and your husband is awful, then win him over by the purity of your life and the mildness of your disposition;
And so on for every Christian in any sort of difficult position. Don’t just complain and take revenge as most people would, but transform the situation in a Christ-like way.
Do what Christ did when they were crucifying Him. Accept the insults and the injustices, by way of offering a perfect sacrifice, and then let that perfect offering bear fruit in changing those who are crucifying you.
(Obviously there must be limits to how much injustice one can let go, but as a general attitude be willing to forgive and forebear).
This is a very cunning plan to win the world over. Unfortunately it has never been put into operation on a wide scale. A few people have done what St Peter said: they are now called Saints.
The majority of Christians continue to operate on worldly wisdom, which is Don’t get mad, get even. So the world lurches on, unredeemed, and conflict and hardness of heart hold sway in most places, including most homes.
How can we break open the hardness of heart of the world? Only by repeating the sacrifice of Christ, by being pure of heart, by loving those who hate us, by turning enemies into friends.
But, you will say, I have tried that and it does not work. Sure you tried it, but for how long? Many will give up very quickly on this path because it takes supernatural perseverance.
To make ourselves into a sacrifice seems to go so much against the grain, yet it is the tried and true way of making a difference.
Just as in a military battle someone who sacrifices himself can open a way for his comrades, so in the spiritual world, we need people who are willing to make sacrifices – if not to die, then to die to self. To be living witnesses of Christ’s love, inspiring all around.
It may not always bring about conversion but it will sometimes, and it is a lot more successful than the worldly method, which just makes things worse.
(Witnessing to the faith is not just preaching; most of it is quiet endurance, no words at all)
This approach is alluded to in the Gospel where the Church’s time on earth is compared with a woman in labour. Painful but fruitful. A lot of pain leads soon to a lot of joy.
So the Church, in pain, brings forth converts. People who have been living in darkness suddenly see the light and are transformed.
St Peter’s battle plan is a brilliant one, but too many have broken ranks and not enabled the plan to take full effect.
We must re-form ranks and let this plan work in us and on those people around us who need converting.
We may not see the change in our lifetime. We may not see the good we do. It is a battle fought over a whole universe and the whole span of human history.
But change will follow. The seed that dies does not see the harvest, but there is one all the same. So for us, to pay now and enjoy later (to reverse the popular advertising line).
This brief time of sorrow will give way to eternal joy.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Sermon for 2nd Sunday after Easter 22.4.07
2nd Sunday after Easter 22.4.07 Church and world
Last week we were reminded of Our Lord’s intention to build up His apostles and disciples into a fighting unit, fully convinced of their faith and able to make inroads into the unbelief of the surrounding world.
Ever since, the Church has been attempting to do this, to make converts of as many people as possible and to convince the world that Christ is risen, and thus Saviour of all who unite themselves with Him.
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, reminding us in a different image that Our Lord gathers us into one body, one flock – for our protection, for one thing, but also to go out again to bring others into the flock.
We are a flock being protected, but not in the sense of being huddled together in fear. We are more like a fortress where we both gather strength and prepare to make further sorties into the surrounding world.
We are not a passive flock but very active (or at least supposed to be).
We are the Church which goes into the world, not the World which comes to church!
We are not just people who ‘go to church’, but rather people who ‘go to world’, from the Church in which we are firmly embedded.
Our identity as Catholics, members of the Church, is our most fundamental identity.
We may be other things, like president of the indoor bowls club, or longest serving bar attendant – but to be a Catholic Christian is far more than any other description that could be placed on us.
It is even more important than our family identity, certainly more important than our racial identity, or academic achievement or good looks or whatever other way we distinguish one person from another.
So, with this identity firmly established we go to the world. We may feel afraid of the world, feeling heavily outnumbered, perhaps.
Or we may feel the world is beyond repair, people being so set in their ways that nothing we could say or do would change them.
No. Fear and doubt are two qualities that have no place in the flock/fortress of Christ.
We have those qualities removed by constant exposure to His grace, and we are recharged to go out into the world and make converts.
If we take enough of His reality into our hearts and minds we cannot fail to make an impact when we go back outside.
We believe Christ is risen, and we believe everything else that He wants us to believe about Him – such as His teachings.
One of the objections to the teachings of Our Lord is that they are unrealistic, set too high for ordinary consumption.
So we have to water them down if we are going to have any hope of reaching people, especially children and young people.
Not a bit of it. It is the world that is unrealistic, setting its sights too low, living like animals when they could be living like angels; putting the things of the flesh over the things of the spirit.
And this can be our problem too. We might be bringing worldly thinking into the church instead of Church thinking into the world.
How can we train ourselves to be more Church-centred, more Christ-like? No short cut. Just lots of prayer and good reading and self-discipline and sacraments.
So what’s it like being a Christian? Don’t know, haven’t started yet.
Well, we have started, but we are like frightened sheep too much of the time, and we need an injection of courage and charitable aggression to get us on the attack.
We can convert the wolves that would devour us, or at least pluck a few sheep from the wolves.
Good Shepherd, gather us and send us forth in Your grace!
Last week we were reminded of Our Lord’s intention to build up His apostles and disciples into a fighting unit, fully convinced of their faith and able to make inroads into the unbelief of the surrounding world.
Ever since, the Church has been attempting to do this, to make converts of as many people as possible and to convince the world that Christ is risen, and thus Saviour of all who unite themselves with Him.
Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, reminding us in a different image that Our Lord gathers us into one body, one flock – for our protection, for one thing, but also to go out again to bring others into the flock.
We are a flock being protected, but not in the sense of being huddled together in fear. We are more like a fortress where we both gather strength and prepare to make further sorties into the surrounding world.
We are not a passive flock but very active (or at least supposed to be).
We are the Church which goes into the world, not the World which comes to church!
We are not just people who ‘go to church’, but rather people who ‘go to world’, from the Church in which we are firmly embedded.
Our identity as Catholics, members of the Church, is our most fundamental identity.
We may be other things, like president of the indoor bowls club, or longest serving bar attendant – but to be a Catholic Christian is far more than any other description that could be placed on us.
It is even more important than our family identity, certainly more important than our racial identity, or academic achievement or good looks or whatever other way we distinguish one person from another.
So, with this identity firmly established we go to the world. We may feel afraid of the world, feeling heavily outnumbered, perhaps.
Or we may feel the world is beyond repair, people being so set in their ways that nothing we could say or do would change them.
No. Fear and doubt are two qualities that have no place in the flock/fortress of Christ.
We have those qualities removed by constant exposure to His grace, and we are recharged to go out into the world and make converts.
If we take enough of His reality into our hearts and minds we cannot fail to make an impact when we go back outside.
We believe Christ is risen, and we believe everything else that He wants us to believe about Him – such as His teachings.
One of the objections to the teachings of Our Lord is that they are unrealistic, set too high for ordinary consumption.
So we have to water them down if we are going to have any hope of reaching people, especially children and young people.
Not a bit of it. It is the world that is unrealistic, setting its sights too low, living like animals when they could be living like angels; putting the things of the flesh over the things of the spirit.
And this can be our problem too. We might be bringing worldly thinking into the church instead of Church thinking into the world.
How can we train ourselves to be more Church-centred, more Christ-like? No short cut. Just lots of prayer and good reading and self-discipline and sacraments.
So what’s it like being a Christian? Don’t know, haven’t started yet.
Well, we have started, but we are like frightened sheep too much of the time, and we need an injection of courage and charitable aggression to get us on the attack.
We can convert the wolves that would devour us, or at least pluck a few sheep from the wolves.
Good Shepherd, gather us and send us forth in Your grace!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Sermon for Low Sunday 15.4.07
Low Sunday 15.4.07 Faith
Faith comes to different people differently.
I wonder why Our Lord did not appear to the unbelievers like Caiphas and Pilate etc. Would that not have converted them?
He appeared only to His own disciples, to confirm rather than convert them.
There are two types of conversion required. The proud need humbling and the timid need reassuring.
The latter is much easier to achieve. Our Lord worked on this group, His timid disciples, and put new heart into them
As for the proud and the rebellious, they would need a lot more work. Some of them would be beyond any reaching, having sold out to the devil long ago.
Others no doubt were converted, eg, as at Pentecost, those who were cut to the heart at Peter’s words.
But the initial appearances were not for the rude gaze of the public but reserved to those who had established some sort of right to the see the Lord – those who at least had some love for Him.
They were reassured and given the gift of strong faith, although they still needed Pentecost to make really sure.
Our Lord’s plan was to build up strong disciples who in turn would convince others, even some of the proud and rebellious.
He was not ignoring the proud, just approaching them indirectly. They would have their chance to repent, but for now it was vital to get the Church up and running.
So it has been ever since. We are the Church, we are the collection of timid and doubting apostles who need reassuring. The way we operate sometimes we could not convince a flea of the truth of Christ’s resurrection!
So He comes to us; He convinces us of His reality. Touch and see, it is really I.
And we are convinced, partially at least, and so the Church becomes at least a little bit stronger and we have more chance of converting some of the hard cases.
The battle is fought at two levels.
The Church itself has to believe. That is one major battle.
And then the Church has to convert the world. That is another major battle.
Both are hard to win. If we could win the first the second would go a lot better.
As it has been so far for 2000 years the Church has limped into the battle with only moderate faith and has had only moderate success in converting the world.
The more we believe these things to be true the more powerfully we will proclaim and live the word.
And the converts will come rolling in, as they have at various times in Church history – eg St Francis Xavier.
So our task today, and in this Mass is to let ourselves be convinced by the Lord’s appearances to us.
He does not directly appear but comes to us through the infallible word of scripture and through His real presence in the Sacraments.
It is not through the physical senses that we are convinced but through the soul and its faculties.
Why does He not appear physically to us? It would help us no end.
Blessed are those who have not seen… Their love is greater for having had to do it the harder way.
What He denies us in sense experience He supplies other ways.
He can move in our souls to give us the certainty of faith, to form us into apostles who will go through fire and water for love of Him and to convince others.
No more doubt. We can’t afford it, either for ourselves or for the harvest of souls that is waiting the word of life from us.
Faith comes to different people differently.
I wonder why Our Lord did not appear to the unbelievers like Caiphas and Pilate etc. Would that not have converted them?
He appeared only to His own disciples, to confirm rather than convert them.
There are two types of conversion required. The proud need humbling and the timid need reassuring.
The latter is much easier to achieve. Our Lord worked on this group, His timid disciples, and put new heart into them
As for the proud and the rebellious, they would need a lot more work. Some of them would be beyond any reaching, having sold out to the devil long ago.
Others no doubt were converted, eg, as at Pentecost, those who were cut to the heart at Peter’s words.
But the initial appearances were not for the rude gaze of the public but reserved to those who had established some sort of right to the see the Lord – those who at least had some love for Him.
They were reassured and given the gift of strong faith, although they still needed Pentecost to make really sure.
Our Lord’s plan was to build up strong disciples who in turn would convince others, even some of the proud and rebellious.
He was not ignoring the proud, just approaching them indirectly. They would have their chance to repent, but for now it was vital to get the Church up and running.
So it has been ever since. We are the Church, we are the collection of timid and doubting apostles who need reassuring. The way we operate sometimes we could not convince a flea of the truth of Christ’s resurrection!
So He comes to us; He convinces us of His reality. Touch and see, it is really I.
And we are convinced, partially at least, and so the Church becomes at least a little bit stronger and we have more chance of converting some of the hard cases.
The battle is fought at two levels.
The Church itself has to believe. That is one major battle.
And then the Church has to convert the world. That is another major battle.
Both are hard to win. If we could win the first the second would go a lot better.
As it has been so far for 2000 years the Church has limped into the battle with only moderate faith and has had only moderate success in converting the world.
The more we believe these things to be true the more powerfully we will proclaim and live the word.
And the converts will come rolling in, as they have at various times in Church history – eg St Francis Xavier.
So our task today, and in this Mass is to let ourselves be convinced by the Lord’s appearances to us.
He does not directly appear but comes to us through the infallible word of scripture and through His real presence in the Sacraments.
It is not through the physical senses that we are convinced but through the soul and its faculties.
Why does He not appear physically to us? It would help us no end.
Blessed are those who have not seen… Their love is greater for having had to do it the harder way.
What He denies us in sense experience He supplies other ways.
He can move in our souls to give us the certainty of faith, to form us into apostles who will go through fire and water for love of Him and to convince others.
No more doubt. We can’t afford it, either for ourselves or for the harvest of souls that is waiting the word of life from us.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Sermon for Easter Sunday 8.4.07
Easter Sunday 8.4.07
Our Lord rose in the body. It was necessary that He do that because otherwise the victory would not be complete.
The devil would have no part of Our Saviour, and to leave him the body would have been like giving him a trophy.
It was impossible for the Holy One of God to suffer corruption.
The devil must have been left wondering that all his plans has come so unstuck.
Just a few hours earlier Jesus had looked a wreck. He was dead; His body was mutilated by all the punishment; His followers had scattered.
Then suddenly Jesus is back alive, His body is glorious (even better than before) and His followers have regrouped with new heart.
It is a lesson for us that things might look dark but God can shed light very quickly and nothing is impossible to Him.
The devil is decisively defeated here. Death has lost its sting. The gates of heaven have been thrown open and ordinary people can enter there.
But the devil has one card still to play. Deception.
He can rob us of the joyful assurance of our final victory, and he does this by planting fear and doubt in our hearts.
Despite the triumphant rising of Jesus the world is still shrouded in darkness. We simply do not believe in this event as fully as we should.
We do not give it its full weight and value.
Why do we doubt it? Some doubt that it happened.
Others (probably our position) believe in it as an historical event, but doubt that it has direct relevance for us.
It’s all very well for Jesus to be rising from the dead, but I am still going to be afraid as I face my death.
I don’t feel fully confident that I will be committing my life into His hands; that the same power by which He rose will also raise me.
Curious breakdown of faith just when we need it.
The devil has got at us and tricked us into thinking only by the standards of the flesh.
We believe only what we know or have experienced. Beyond that we are unsure.
But we should not limit belief to what we have seen or been through.
God is not limited to our experience. He can do a lot more things than that.
We are dealing with a powerful Creator who has brought life out of nowhere.
We have to pitch our thoughts towards Him and His unlimited power, rather than the very limited world of the flesh.
So we should not doubt or fear. The only fear of death should be whether we are ready to meet the Lord in judgment, but never for a second doubt His power to raise us again.
This feast is very much inviting us to look higher than usual. To look beyond the limits of the flesh and the usual way that things happen.
The raising of Christ is in one way a miracle, because it is such a spectacular event.
In another way it is ‘natural’ because it is how thing had to be. Death could not hold Him. It would have unnatural if He had stayed in the tomb!
This event sets a whole new tone, and a new precedent.
From now on anyone who is identified with Christ will rise in Him. The faith is in Him rather than ourselves. I certainly could not raise myself from the dead; but He can do it easily.
This is a great feast we celebrate. We have trouble letting its full import sink in. We are accustomed to playing down good news and being cautious, but this is one story we can and should believe.
Don’t let the devil rob you of your place in heaven, or your peace of mind now.
Our Lord rose in the body. It was necessary that He do that because otherwise the victory would not be complete.
The devil would have no part of Our Saviour, and to leave him the body would have been like giving him a trophy.
It was impossible for the Holy One of God to suffer corruption.
The devil must have been left wondering that all his plans has come so unstuck.
Just a few hours earlier Jesus had looked a wreck. He was dead; His body was mutilated by all the punishment; His followers had scattered.
Then suddenly Jesus is back alive, His body is glorious (even better than before) and His followers have regrouped with new heart.
It is a lesson for us that things might look dark but God can shed light very quickly and nothing is impossible to Him.
The devil is decisively defeated here. Death has lost its sting. The gates of heaven have been thrown open and ordinary people can enter there.
But the devil has one card still to play. Deception.
He can rob us of the joyful assurance of our final victory, and he does this by planting fear and doubt in our hearts.
Despite the triumphant rising of Jesus the world is still shrouded in darkness. We simply do not believe in this event as fully as we should.
We do not give it its full weight and value.
Why do we doubt it? Some doubt that it happened.
Others (probably our position) believe in it as an historical event, but doubt that it has direct relevance for us.
It’s all very well for Jesus to be rising from the dead, but I am still going to be afraid as I face my death.
I don’t feel fully confident that I will be committing my life into His hands; that the same power by which He rose will also raise me.
Curious breakdown of faith just when we need it.
The devil has got at us and tricked us into thinking only by the standards of the flesh.
We believe only what we know or have experienced. Beyond that we are unsure.
But we should not limit belief to what we have seen or been through.
God is not limited to our experience. He can do a lot more things than that.
We are dealing with a powerful Creator who has brought life out of nowhere.
We have to pitch our thoughts towards Him and His unlimited power, rather than the very limited world of the flesh.
So we should not doubt or fear. The only fear of death should be whether we are ready to meet the Lord in judgment, but never for a second doubt His power to raise us again.
This feast is very much inviting us to look higher than usual. To look beyond the limits of the flesh and the usual way that things happen.
The raising of Christ is in one way a miracle, because it is such a spectacular event.
In another way it is ‘natural’ because it is how thing had to be. Death could not hold Him. It would have unnatural if He had stayed in the tomb!
This event sets a whole new tone, and a new precedent.
From now on anyone who is identified with Christ will rise in Him. The faith is in Him rather than ourselves. I certainly could not raise myself from the dead; but He can do it easily.
This is a great feast we celebrate. We have trouble letting its full import sink in. We are accustomed to playing down good news and being cautious, but this is one story we can and should believe.
Don’t let the devil rob you of your place in heaven, or your peace of mind now.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Sermon for Passion Sunday 25.3.07
Passion Sunday 25.3.07
The epistle speaks of the superior nature of Christ’s sacrifice as against bulls and goats etc. His blood is far more effective in cleansing from sin. So the new covenant is superior to the old.
We offer this blood every time we celebrate the Mass.
We are very fortunate to have such an effective ‘bargaining tool’.
We can come before our Heavenly Father and say, Father I have sinned, but I can give You something which is going to be pleasing to You. It is the fragrant offering of Your Son.
He is highly likely to forgive us when we have such a powerful sacrifice advocating for us.
Yet, just offering a sacrifice may not be enough. We know from the Old Testament that God often rejected the burnt offerings of the Israelites – because they were not sincere, just going through the motions.
They saw the sacrifices as a way of buying their way out of trouble, but they had no intention of changing their lives.
As we offer the sacrifice in Mass we must get two things right.
1) The sacrifice will ‘work’ for us only when we align ourselves with the qualities of the Victim.
We cannot offer a humble, loving Christ if we are ourselves proud and resentful.
We must change ourselves to be the same as that which we offer!
The Victim is meant to represent us. He cannot do that if we are not interested in being represented in that way.
2) Also that we must be consonant with His manner of offering. His blood is poured out on the ground. We do not have to do that at Mass, but we should at least be prepared to invest ourselves in the process. His blood is spilled for us. We must be willing to put all of ourselves on the altar with Him. How can we offer the Mass half-heartedly, casually, as though there were nothing at stake?
We have to get down on our knees and weep and wail a little bit, at least figuratively.
Be really sorry for our sins, really grateful for mercy, really determined to eradicate faults.
Perhaps we would like to be forgiven but not to change anything about ourselves. Ah, that is the temptation is it not?
To offer the sacrifice in a perfunctory way: not really having our hearts in it.
In the Gospel today we see a typical passage indicating how much Our Lord had to struggle to get through to people. How they opposed Him at every point and resisted the obvious graces He was offering.
His blood is shed in vain for those who will not accept Him.
He wants to save them, but they put themselves out of reach
***********
As I reflect on 25 years of priesthood, I think of the eucharistic sacrifice, this central plank of priesthood and the life of the Church.
I must have offered Mass at least 10000 times, and in my life received Holy Communion many times more again!
Yet, what good has it done me? I know that in none of those times have I been as fully receptive of Our Lord as say one of the great saints, such as St Therese of Lisieux.
There is always progress to be made. That I, and each one of us, can enter the sacrifice more fully, with more Christlike qualities, and with more intensity of offering.
It is so easy simply to ‘do’ Mass, and to be the same when we finish as when we started.
This must not be. We are to be transformed by this close encounter with the Lord Himself and be made into pure bread ourselves, free from sin, fully given over to the Lord as victims with Him.
The power of Christ, Priest and Victim, can make us so.
The epistle speaks of the superior nature of Christ’s sacrifice as against bulls and goats etc. His blood is far more effective in cleansing from sin. So the new covenant is superior to the old.
We offer this blood every time we celebrate the Mass.
We are very fortunate to have such an effective ‘bargaining tool’.
We can come before our Heavenly Father and say, Father I have sinned, but I can give You something which is going to be pleasing to You. It is the fragrant offering of Your Son.
He is highly likely to forgive us when we have such a powerful sacrifice advocating for us.
Yet, just offering a sacrifice may not be enough. We know from the Old Testament that God often rejected the burnt offerings of the Israelites – because they were not sincere, just going through the motions.
They saw the sacrifices as a way of buying their way out of trouble, but they had no intention of changing their lives.
As we offer the sacrifice in Mass we must get two things right.
1) The sacrifice will ‘work’ for us only when we align ourselves with the qualities of the Victim.
We cannot offer a humble, loving Christ if we are ourselves proud and resentful.
We must change ourselves to be the same as that which we offer!
The Victim is meant to represent us. He cannot do that if we are not interested in being represented in that way.
2) Also that we must be consonant with His manner of offering. His blood is poured out on the ground. We do not have to do that at Mass, but we should at least be prepared to invest ourselves in the process. His blood is spilled for us. We must be willing to put all of ourselves on the altar with Him. How can we offer the Mass half-heartedly, casually, as though there were nothing at stake?
We have to get down on our knees and weep and wail a little bit, at least figuratively.
Be really sorry for our sins, really grateful for mercy, really determined to eradicate faults.
Perhaps we would like to be forgiven but not to change anything about ourselves. Ah, that is the temptation is it not?
To offer the sacrifice in a perfunctory way: not really having our hearts in it.
In the Gospel today we see a typical passage indicating how much Our Lord had to struggle to get through to people. How they opposed Him at every point and resisted the obvious graces He was offering.
His blood is shed in vain for those who will not accept Him.
He wants to save them, but they put themselves out of reach
***********
As I reflect on 25 years of priesthood, I think of the eucharistic sacrifice, this central plank of priesthood and the life of the Church.
I must have offered Mass at least 10000 times, and in my life received Holy Communion many times more again!
Yet, what good has it done me? I know that in none of those times have I been as fully receptive of Our Lord as say one of the great saints, such as St Therese of Lisieux.
There is always progress to be made. That I, and each one of us, can enter the sacrifice more fully, with more Christlike qualities, and with more intensity of offering.
It is so easy simply to ‘do’ Mass, and to be the same when we finish as when we started.
This must not be. We are to be transformed by this close encounter with the Lord Himself and be made into pure bread ourselves, free from sin, fully given over to the Lord as victims with Him.
The power of Christ, Priest and Victim, can make us so.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Sermon for 4th Sunday of Lent 18.3.07
4th Sunday of Lent 18.3.07 Prosperity
Some Christians hold to what is called the Prosperity Gospel. They believe that if you have sufficient faith in God then He will bless you with material and physical blessings.
You will have good health, a long life, and a large bank balance. And then you go to heaven as well.
Sounds too good to be true? It needs a little correcting here and there.
We don’t say that to be healthy and wealthy is a bad thing. It is not compulsory to be poor and sick if you are a Catholic.
It’s just that earthly happiness is not guaranteed to the disciple of Christ.
We may achieve it some of the time. It comes and goes. If we have it, fine. If we don’t have it, also fine. St Paul said he could cope with full stomach or empty, rich or poor.
Happiness, to a Catholic, is a state of union with God. If we are in union with Him we are happy; if not, unhappy.
It does not matter if we have ten houses and twenty cars – if we are apart from God we are miserable, or at least we should be.
Some, it is true, have so far forgotten the importance of the spiritual life that they would look exclusively to the material world for their satisfaction, but these people are lost.
Many people, Catholic or otherwise, would judge God by their own standard of comfort.
If there is money in the bank and food in the fridge, then God is good.
If there are bills piling up and sickness, then God is not so good - maybe He doesn’t even exist.
With this approach faith goes up or down like the stock market. There is no real logic in this position.
Either God exists or He does not. If He is good when He blesses us with food then He must still be good when He withholds food.
The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.(Job)
Why does God not guarantee earthly happiness?
1) Because this earthly phase of our lives is preparation for something better.
The miracle in today’s Gospel, the multiplication of the loaves, is a sign of this. The people were ready to crown Our Lord King because He could give them free food.
But He was about to teach them that they should look for food that lasts, heavenly food.
Happiness does not consist in having lots to eat. You can eat ten dinners a day and still be empty inside, hungry for something more. What is it? It is union with God. Only He can fill the void.
2) Because to get to where we are going we have to travel light, and not become attached to our surroundings or possessions.
The more attached we are to the things we have now the less we are seeking what we could have.
We have to be like pilgrims, ready to move, anxious to press on to our final home.
It is because of this tension that we have Cross as well as Resurrection in this life.
God sometimes appears as God of the Resurrection, blessing and healing and multiplying,
and sometimes as God of the Cross, taking away from us, asking for discipline and sacrifice.
Whichever side is uppermost – joy or sorrow – it is still the same God, no less real.
We have to be patient with Him while He leads us to where we need to be. Otherwise we will never have more than a superficial understanding of Him and never be able to love Him properly, let alone cope with life.
We are very fortunate people, but we cannot guarantee happiness on every point at every time. Not yet, but later, Yes.
Some Christians hold to what is called the Prosperity Gospel. They believe that if you have sufficient faith in God then He will bless you with material and physical blessings.
You will have good health, a long life, and a large bank balance. And then you go to heaven as well.
Sounds too good to be true? It needs a little correcting here and there.
We don’t say that to be healthy and wealthy is a bad thing. It is not compulsory to be poor and sick if you are a Catholic.
It’s just that earthly happiness is not guaranteed to the disciple of Christ.
We may achieve it some of the time. It comes and goes. If we have it, fine. If we don’t have it, also fine. St Paul said he could cope with full stomach or empty, rich or poor.
Happiness, to a Catholic, is a state of union with God. If we are in union with Him we are happy; if not, unhappy.
It does not matter if we have ten houses and twenty cars – if we are apart from God we are miserable, or at least we should be.
Some, it is true, have so far forgotten the importance of the spiritual life that they would look exclusively to the material world for their satisfaction, but these people are lost.
Many people, Catholic or otherwise, would judge God by their own standard of comfort.
If there is money in the bank and food in the fridge, then God is good.
If there are bills piling up and sickness, then God is not so good - maybe He doesn’t even exist.
With this approach faith goes up or down like the stock market. There is no real logic in this position.
Either God exists or He does not. If He is good when He blesses us with food then He must still be good when He withholds food.
The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.(Job)
Why does God not guarantee earthly happiness?
1) Because this earthly phase of our lives is preparation for something better.
The miracle in today’s Gospel, the multiplication of the loaves, is a sign of this. The people were ready to crown Our Lord King because He could give them free food.
But He was about to teach them that they should look for food that lasts, heavenly food.
Happiness does not consist in having lots to eat. You can eat ten dinners a day and still be empty inside, hungry for something more. What is it? It is union with God. Only He can fill the void.
2) Because to get to where we are going we have to travel light, and not become attached to our surroundings or possessions.
The more attached we are to the things we have now the less we are seeking what we could have.
We have to be like pilgrims, ready to move, anxious to press on to our final home.
It is because of this tension that we have Cross as well as Resurrection in this life.
God sometimes appears as God of the Resurrection, blessing and healing and multiplying,
and sometimes as God of the Cross, taking away from us, asking for discipline and sacrifice.
Whichever side is uppermost – joy or sorrow – it is still the same God, no less real.
We have to be patient with Him while He leads us to where we need to be. Otherwise we will never have more than a superficial understanding of Him and never be able to love Him properly, let alone cope with life.
We are very fortunate people, but we cannot guarantee happiness on every point at every time. Not yet, but later, Yes.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Sermon for Third Sunday of Lent 11.3.07
3rd Sunday of Lent 11.3.07 Purity
Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Just to think of our bodies as houses of any sort would be some progress.
Because we do to our bodies what we would not do to our houses.
Sexual impurity is like bringing in the rubbish bin and tipping it over the lounge room floor, and no one would do that, but nearly everyone it seems suffers from impurity.
Not just in this generation but ever since Adam and Eve discovered their nakedness. Original Sin put us into disorder so that our passions and desires are not in the right place.
And the disorder concerning the human body itself is one of the worst affected areas resulting from the original sin.
St Paul addresses his generation and says that any sort of impurity should not even be mentioned among the saints.
What about now when indecency of every kind is spoken of, displayed and even paraded down the main street? Plus we have television, films, and internet to magnify the occasions of sin.
It is hard for us to keep our eyes averted from so much obvious indecency, but we must do so.
Purity, like all the virtues, comes from God and is planted inside us when we receive the Holy Spirit.
We are made pure by our baptism and this is confirmed in Confirmation.
We have the gift; we just need to develop it.
We need in our society, not just the commandment, which is not enough by itself. We have to re-educate, rebuild what has been lost.
People just forget who the real God is. Impurity in all its forms is really idolatry, the worship of a false god – be it the god of pleasure, of attempted independence, of the human body itself.
They say: what is wrong with taking pleasure in the human body? Nothing, if it is in union with God’s will, and everything if against God’s will.
Remember we are HIS temple, not our own. We would not bring false gods into this church; nor can we use our bodily temples to worship false gods.
They say: yes, but there are worse sins than impurity. What about justice? Fine, we will attend to justice too, but we must also be pure. We cannot justify one kind of mortal sin by saying we don’t commit another kind.
They say: But it’s only my body; it’s not really me that’s doing these things. I am still a good person.
Our bodies R us. We understand this when it comes to violence. If I am bashed in the street, I don’t say, Oh that was just my body, it wasn’t really me.
But if I commit adultery, I say, Oh that’s just my body doing that, it wasn’t really me.
In other words I am still a good person even if I let my body do impure things. No, it cannot be.
I am what I do, and what my body does, I do, and therefore I am impure. And the temple needs a steam clean.
And when we get that clean we will feel a lot better.
We need to get our houses (temples) in order so that we can desire things the right way round and experience what it is God is trying to give us.
So far we haven’t been waiting around long enough for Him to have a chance to reach us.
May the Lord help all who struggle in this area and enable us to take control of our own bodies – a vital step on the way to holiness.
‘Use your body for the glory of God’ (1 Co 6,20)
Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Just to think of our bodies as houses of any sort would be some progress.
Because we do to our bodies what we would not do to our houses.
Sexual impurity is like bringing in the rubbish bin and tipping it over the lounge room floor, and no one would do that, but nearly everyone it seems suffers from impurity.
Not just in this generation but ever since Adam and Eve discovered their nakedness. Original Sin put us into disorder so that our passions and desires are not in the right place.
And the disorder concerning the human body itself is one of the worst affected areas resulting from the original sin.
St Paul addresses his generation and says that any sort of impurity should not even be mentioned among the saints.
What about now when indecency of every kind is spoken of, displayed and even paraded down the main street? Plus we have television, films, and internet to magnify the occasions of sin.
It is hard for us to keep our eyes averted from so much obvious indecency, but we must do so.
Purity, like all the virtues, comes from God and is planted inside us when we receive the Holy Spirit.
We are made pure by our baptism and this is confirmed in Confirmation.
We have the gift; we just need to develop it.
We need in our society, not just the commandment, which is not enough by itself. We have to re-educate, rebuild what has been lost.
People just forget who the real God is. Impurity in all its forms is really idolatry, the worship of a false god – be it the god of pleasure, of attempted independence, of the human body itself.
They say: what is wrong with taking pleasure in the human body? Nothing, if it is in union with God’s will, and everything if against God’s will.
Remember we are HIS temple, not our own. We would not bring false gods into this church; nor can we use our bodily temples to worship false gods.
They say: yes, but there are worse sins than impurity. What about justice? Fine, we will attend to justice too, but we must also be pure. We cannot justify one kind of mortal sin by saying we don’t commit another kind.
They say: But it’s only my body; it’s not really me that’s doing these things. I am still a good person.
Our bodies R us. We understand this when it comes to violence. If I am bashed in the street, I don’t say, Oh that was just my body, it wasn’t really me.
But if I commit adultery, I say, Oh that’s just my body doing that, it wasn’t really me.
In other words I am still a good person even if I let my body do impure things. No, it cannot be.
I am what I do, and what my body does, I do, and therefore I am impure. And the temple needs a steam clean.
And when we get that clean we will feel a lot better.
We need to get our houses (temples) in order so that we can desire things the right way round and experience what it is God is trying to give us.
So far we haven’t been waiting around long enough for Him to have a chance to reach us.
May the Lord help all who struggle in this area and enable us to take control of our own bodies – a vital step on the way to holiness.
‘Use your body for the glory of God’ (1 Co 6,20)
Monday, March 05, 2007
Sermon for 2nd Sunday of Lent 4.3.07
2nd Sunday of Lent 4.3.07 Transfiguration
The Transfiguration is Our Lord’s way of assuring us of His glory in the midst of His degradation.
While He (or we) go through suffering there is always that backdrop or foundation of glory to sustain us in hope and joy.
The question is: will we hold on or give up when things get difficult?
If our first introduction to Our Lord was seeing Him on the Cross, we might not be inclined to join whatever religion He was starting. Yet how wrong we would be, and how deceptive appearances can be. We have to look deeper to find the glory that is there.
As did St Lawrence who could joke with his executioners in the midst of excruciating pain (and many other martyrs have shown composure and joy in similar moments).
So when we see Our Lord on the cross we are always aware of His resurrection, and that the Cross is temporary.
This is how we are meant to see our own crosses in this life.
We have trouble coming to terms with suffering. We hate it and find it very hard to say anything good about it.
Yet our religion teaches us that suffering is good for us, and we should not only endure it but actually embrace it.
Take up your cross each day and follow Me, says the Lord. And He means take up with both hands and full will, not just a sort of half-hearted reluctance.
Our mistake is that we don’t focus enough on the glory side of suffering. We focus on how much it hurts.
If we were to be thrown to the lions tomorrow we would be thinking about lions’ teeth and blood and pain etc.
When St Felicity was thrown to wild beasts she was in such a state of ecstasy that she did not even know it was happening. She came to consciousness and said, when are they going to start proceedings, only to be told that she had already been mauled by one of the beasts. She was focused on glory and this greatly diminished the suffering.
The Scriptures exhort us everywhere to look to future glory as the anchor for what we go through now.
And they tell us that what we go through now is trivial by comparison with future glory.
Also that what we suffer now can be good for us by purifying us of earthly attachments, atoning for sin, and helping others to be saved.
We will be more certain of future glory which will seem not like some far off thing but the main focus of our whole lives. We long for heaven like the deer yearns for running streams. This life is like crawling through the desert. Heaven is the water we seek.
Not only that, we will see the good that suffering united with Christ can achieve. It is a pure form of suffering, softened by divine consolation, and useful for others.
If you were asked to suffer some intense pain for a period of time and promised that your pain would bring world peace and an end to all cancer, would you not consider the suffering worthwhile?
You might doubt your strength to do it, but you would will to do it, and then God could provide the rest.
A lot of our trouble is not with suffering in principle – we are capable of making sacrifices – just that we don’t see the good that it does.
The transfiguration is a reminder of the spiritual world around us and an encouragement to trust that any suffering, cheerfully offered in union with the cross, is going to do some good somewhere. And the more suffering and the more cheerful the more good it does. (cf great saints, saving many souls, many miracles).
The Transfiguration is Our Lord’s way of assuring us of His glory in the midst of His degradation.
While He (or we) go through suffering there is always that backdrop or foundation of glory to sustain us in hope and joy.
The question is: will we hold on or give up when things get difficult?
If our first introduction to Our Lord was seeing Him on the Cross, we might not be inclined to join whatever religion He was starting. Yet how wrong we would be, and how deceptive appearances can be. We have to look deeper to find the glory that is there.
As did St Lawrence who could joke with his executioners in the midst of excruciating pain (and many other martyrs have shown composure and joy in similar moments).
So when we see Our Lord on the cross we are always aware of His resurrection, and that the Cross is temporary.
This is how we are meant to see our own crosses in this life.
We have trouble coming to terms with suffering. We hate it and find it very hard to say anything good about it.
Yet our religion teaches us that suffering is good for us, and we should not only endure it but actually embrace it.
Take up your cross each day and follow Me, says the Lord. And He means take up with both hands and full will, not just a sort of half-hearted reluctance.
Our mistake is that we don’t focus enough on the glory side of suffering. We focus on how much it hurts.
If we were to be thrown to the lions tomorrow we would be thinking about lions’ teeth and blood and pain etc.
When St Felicity was thrown to wild beasts she was in such a state of ecstasy that she did not even know it was happening. She came to consciousness and said, when are they going to start proceedings, only to be told that she had already been mauled by one of the beasts. She was focused on glory and this greatly diminished the suffering.
The Scriptures exhort us everywhere to look to future glory as the anchor for what we go through now.
And they tell us that what we go through now is trivial by comparison with future glory.
Also that what we suffer now can be good for us by purifying us of earthly attachments, atoning for sin, and helping others to be saved.
We will be more certain of future glory which will seem not like some far off thing but the main focus of our whole lives. We long for heaven like the deer yearns for running streams. This life is like crawling through the desert. Heaven is the water we seek.
Not only that, we will see the good that suffering united with Christ can achieve. It is a pure form of suffering, softened by divine consolation, and useful for others.
If you were asked to suffer some intense pain for a period of time and promised that your pain would bring world peace and an end to all cancer, would you not consider the suffering worthwhile?
You might doubt your strength to do it, but you would will to do it, and then God could provide the rest.
A lot of our trouble is not with suffering in principle – we are capable of making sacrifices – just that we don’t see the good that it does.
The transfiguration is a reminder of the spiritual world around us and an encouragement to trust that any suffering, cheerfully offered in union with the cross, is going to do some good somewhere. And the more suffering and the more cheerful the more good it does. (cf great saints, saving many souls, many miracles).
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Sermon for First Sunday of Lent 25.2.07
1st Sunday of Lent 25.2.07 Jesus, God and Man
I read a recent commentary on Our Lord’s time in the desert, which said that Jesus went into the desert to find out who He was!
This is typical of a lot of modern scriptural commentary which tends to downplay the divinity of Christ, portraying Him to be not only human but a rather dithering human at that.
In this school of thought, Jesus was not quite sure of anything much, just groping along, and eventually being crucified.
The Church has always been far more confident in the identity of our Saviour. He was God and He knew it, from the moment of His conception.
In fact, Jesus had the beatific vision throughout His earthly life – so much for not knowing who He was!
But yes, He was human. One person, two natures – divine and human.
And we should not play down His humanity. He did experience temptation, but did not yield.
Even in the matter of temptation, however, there is a difference. We must remember that Our Lord was without original sin. Therefore He was operating without the disturbance of passion which we experience.
He could be tempted, but it was more like the tempation faced by the angels – or by Adam and Eve. Was He for or against God?
He was not going to be tempted at the level we experience it – like whether to steal or lie or commit impurities. Jesus was far beyond that. As if He could have impure thoughts about a woman – being God Himself!
The devil would have more sense than to try.
But to tempt Him at this higher level – that the devil did attempt. In the desert, as recorded today, and even more acutely in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Still without success, but it was the best the devil could do.
Jesus went into the desert, not to find out who He was, but to begin the process of restoring humanity to the state it should never have lost.
When Adam and Eve sinned we were plunged into darkness.
Now the time had come when God would begin to bring us back into the light.
Jesus started His public life in the desert as a symbol of where the human race stood. Very barren, very empty, desolate, wild. No fruit.
He would change all this, and this was the first step.
As the new Adam He leads humanity out of the desert and into the fertile garden of union with God.
He shows us the way, and He paves the way by doing what we must do: listen to the word of God and obey it; do not put the Lord to the test; and have only one God.
This is the formula for life. Jesus lived it as well as taught it.
He became like us so we could become like Him.
To say that Jesus is human does not mean we have to bring Him down to our level, and make Him as weak and confused as we are.
Rather, He is human as human should be, and He will raise us up to His level. This is what salvation means,
and this is what is happening to us.
He not only knew who He was, He remembered, and when put to the test was easily able to dismiss temptation.
We are sorely tried in this life, but if we remember we are children of God, destined for heaven, we will act with appropriate dignity and choose life over death.
I read a recent commentary on Our Lord’s time in the desert, which said that Jesus went into the desert to find out who He was!
This is typical of a lot of modern scriptural commentary which tends to downplay the divinity of Christ, portraying Him to be not only human but a rather dithering human at that.
In this school of thought, Jesus was not quite sure of anything much, just groping along, and eventually being crucified.
The Church has always been far more confident in the identity of our Saviour. He was God and He knew it, from the moment of His conception.
In fact, Jesus had the beatific vision throughout His earthly life – so much for not knowing who He was!
But yes, He was human. One person, two natures – divine and human.
And we should not play down His humanity. He did experience temptation, but did not yield.
Even in the matter of temptation, however, there is a difference. We must remember that Our Lord was without original sin. Therefore He was operating without the disturbance of passion which we experience.
He could be tempted, but it was more like the tempation faced by the angels – or by Adam and Eve. Was He for or against God?
He was not going to be tempted at the level we experience it – like whether to steal or lie or commit impurities. Jesus was far beyond that. As if He could have impure thoughts about a woman – being God Himself!
The devil would have more sense than to try.
But to tempt Him at this higher level – that the devil did attempt. In the desert, as recorded today, and even more acutely in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Still without success, but it was the best the devil could do.
Jesus went into the desert, not to find out who He was, but to begin the process of restoring humanity to the state it should never have lost.
When Adam and Eve sinned we were plunged into darkness.
Now the time had come when God would begin to bring us back into the light.
Jesus started His public life in the desert as a symbol of where the human race stood. Very barren, very empty, desolate, wild. No fruit.
He would change all this, and this was the first step.
As the new Adam He leads humanity out of the desert and into the fertile garden of union with God.
He shows us the way, and He paves the way by doing what we must do: listen to the word of God and obey it; do not put the Lord to the test; and have only one God.
This is the formula for life. Jesus lived it as well as taught it.
He became like us so we could become like Him.
To say that Jesus is human does not mean we have to bring Him down to our level, and make Him as weak and confused as we are.
Rather, He is human as human should be, and He will raise us up to His level. This is what salvation means,
and this is what is happening to us.
He not only knew who He was, He remembered, and when put to the test was easily able to dismiss temptation.
We are sorely tried in this life, but if we remember we are children of God, destined for heaven, we will act with appropriate dignity and choose life over death.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Sermon for Quinquagesima Sunday 18.2.07
Quinquagesima Sunday 18.2.07 From the heart
Certain contradictions can occur in the course of our spiritual lives. A Catholic coming or going from Mass might get into an altercation in the car park even with other Catholics going to the same Mass!
It is funny in one way but also serious, as it just reminds us how hard it is to internalise our religious beliefs. We can do the externals fine but to get those same realities into our hearts and minds is another matter.
Love is the necessary quality, as explained in today’s epistle, 1 Corinthians 13.
St Paul says that even if he let his body be burnt in martyrdom it would count for nothing if he has not love.
There has to be that commitment from the heart, to make the external actions fully authentic.
Churchgoers in general, and Latin Mass Catholics in particular, are often accused of being pharisaical. They say we only care about the externals – the incense, the singing, the genuflections etc – and having got those things right we don’t care about charity or anything else for the rest of the week.
We would admit to lacking in love certainly, but would protest we are not entirely wrapped up in externals.
The externals are meant to help us with the internal things, not replace them
Our genuflections, bows, signs of the cross, devout posture, keeping silence in church – all these should help us to reach the reality they signify, a genuine reverence and love for God, extending to love of neighbour.
The more exactly we observe God’s will the better. So we do both. We do the ritual things and we love one another.
With regard to Lent the same issue can arise. I can give up sugar in my tea, or chocolate biscuits, or whatever else.
This kind of sacrifice is meant to help me to become a holier person not to replace the need for holiness.
It is no use if I give up sugar but keep the poison of uncharity in my heart. But giving up something I like should help me to find charity. I give up one short term delight for a much greater one (eternal life).
Penance will help me to grow in self-control and to remind me what I am really seeking in life. I am not here just for my own comfort and entertainment. I am here to do God’s will and I am not here for long. The Lenten penance reminds us of our true purpose and the shortness of our stay on earth. We hunger for the lasting delights of heaven.
What I want is mercy not sacrifice, Our Lord said. He meant He did not want fake sacifice replacing mercy. Really He wants both. The sacrifice (if properly understood) will help us achieve mercy – mercy towards others and mercy for own sins.
May the Lord help us, this Lent, to come closer to the full internal acceptance of all that we profess externally.
Certain contradictions can occur in the course of our spiritual lives. A Catholic coming or going from Mass might get into an altercation in the car park even with other Catholics going to the same Mass!
It is funny in one way but also serious, as it just reminds us how hard it is to internalise our religious beliefs. We can do the externals fine but to get those same realities into our hearts and minds is another matter.
Love is the necessary quality, as explained in today’s epistle, 1 Corinthians 13.
St Paul says that even if he let his body be burnt in martyrdom it would count for nothing if he has not love.
There has to be that commitment from the heart, to make the external actions fully authentic.
Churchgoers in general, and Latin Mass Catholics in particular, are often accused of being pharisaical. They say we only care about the externals – the incense, the singing, the genuflections etc – and having got those things right we don’t care about charity or anything else for the rest of the week.
We would admit to lacking in love certainly, but would protest we are not entirely wrapped up in externals.
The externals are meant to help us with the internal things, not replace them
Our genuflections, bows, signs of the cross, devout posture, keeping silence in church – all these should help us to reach the reality they signify, a genuine reverence and love for God, extending to love of neighbour.
The more exactly we observe God’s will the better. So we do both. We do the ritual things and we love one another.
With regard to Lent the same issue can arise. I can give up sugar in my tea, or chocolate biscuits, or whatever else.
This kind of sacrifice is meant to help me to become a holier person not to replace the need for holiness.
It is no use if I give up sugar but keep the poison of uncharity in my heart. But giving up something I like should help me to find charity. I give up one short term delight for a much greater one (eternal life).
Penance will help me to grow in self-control and to remind me what I am really seeking in life. I am not here just for my own comfort and entertainment. I am here to do God’s will and I am not here for long. The Lenten penance reminds us of our true purpose and the shortness of our stay on earth. We hunger for the lasting delights of heaven.
What I want is mercy not sacrifice, Our Lord said. He meant He did not want fake sacifice replacing mercy. Really He wants both. The sacrifice (if properly understood) will help us achieve mercy – mercy towards others and mercy for own sins.
May the Lord help us, this Lent, to come closer to the full internal acceptance of all that we profess externally.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Sermon for Sexagesima Sunday 11.2.07
Sexagesima Sunday 11.2.07 Our inheritance
Esau, son of Isaac, is one of those people who has gone down in history for one big mistake he made. He was so hungry one day that he agreed to give his privileged position to Jacob, his younger brother, in return for an immediate meal of soup. He thus made himself a lesson for future generations in not trading a long term goal for a short term gain. (Genesis 25,29-34 and Hebrews 12,16)
We are tempted to do the same thing as we travel through this life. Our ‘birthright’ is that we are children of God and we have an inheritance waiting for us – a place in the kingdom of heaven.
We can be robbed of our inheritance by the various forces acting on us – all originating with the devil, the great Deceiver.
When we look at the world we see that there are many people who are not living as children of God, in various ways stunted in their spiritual growth, held captive to one or more besetting sins. People suffer from all kinds of addictions, false beliefs, chasing after false gods, looking in the wrong places for happiness.
Thus we see before our eyes today’s parable (Sower) lived out. This parable gives three different ways of selling our birthright and ending up with nothing.
Some people don’t listen to the word of God, or they don’t have it told to them. These people live as though there were no God, seeking all their happiness in this life. They are not aware that they are destined for eternal glory.
Others have some exposure to the word of God and may even be His disciples for a time, but they give this away either because they cannot cope with the sacrifice required or they seek other short-term delights.
Only some persevere to the end (and we must be among this number) and yield a harvest many times over.
Only this last group can live with true human dignity, aware of who they are, and holding on to that birthright, giving it up for nothing or no one.
In short, we must not let the devil rob us of what we have. He will offer us anything else if only we give up our privileged position.
As we approach the season of Lent we can look at our own lives and see where we may suffer from stunted spiritual growth, where we may be lacking in full response to the word of God.
Do I suffer from addictions to false ways, besetting sins, chasing false gods, always trying to take the easy way out, always seeking my own comfort and pleasure above all else?
We not only do not want to lose heaven, but even in this life we want to live as free children and not as slaves of sin.
The New Testament is always telling us to break free from sin, not to go back to Egypt.
Who would go back into slavery after being released? Answer, Christians.
How do we avoid all these pitfalls.
1) Keep the vision, remember the long term goal, and reaffirm it every day. I am a child of God, a disciple of Jesus Christ, and I will live as such this day.
2) Be watchful at all the attempts the evil one will make to deceive and distract us.
3) If we have a particular area of weakness, where sin comes easily to us, we may not be able to break free from this straight away.
So we have to work on it a little bit. Avoid obvious occasions of sin. Seek counselling or spiritual direction if necessary. Use the sacraments for extra strength. Develop the practices of penance and self-denial. Keep life as simple and clear as possible. If we must live in the world then may as little as possible accumulate on our souls. We travel best if we travel light.
We can tackle the big problems with a combination of keeping the long term view and inching our way through the short term struggles.
By His grace we can conquer (My grace is enough for thee… today’s epistle).
Esau, son of Isaac, is one of those people who has gone down in history for one big mistake he made. He was so hungry one day that he agreed to give his privileged position to Jacob, his younger brother, in return for an immediate meal of soup. He thus made himself a lesson for future generations in not trading a long term goal for a short term gain. (Genesis 25,29-34 and Hebrews 12,16)
We are tempted to do the same thing as we travel through this life. Our ‘birthright’ is that we are children of God and we have an inheritance waiting for us – a place in the kingdom of heaven.
We can be robbed of our inheritance by the various forces acting on us – all originating with the devil, the great Deceiver.
When we look at the world we see that there are many people who are not living as children of God, in various ways stunted in their spiritual growth, held captive to one or more besetting sins. People suffer from all kinds of addictions, false beliefs, chasing after false gods, looking in the wrong places for happiness.
Thus we see before our eyes today’s parable (Sower) lived out. This parable gives three different ways of selling our birthright and ending up with nothing.
Some people don’t listen to the word of God, or they don’t have it told to them. These people live as though there were no God, seeking all their happiness in this life. They are not aware that they are destined for eternal glory.
Others have some exposure to the word of God and may even be His disciples for a time, but they give this away either because they cannot cope with the sacrifice required or they seek other short-term delights.
Only some persevere to the end (and we must be among this number) and yield a harvest many times over.
Only this last group can live with true human dignity, aware of who they are, and holding on to that birthright, giving it up for nothing or no one.
In short, we must not let the devil rob us of what we have. He will offer us anything else if only we give up our privileged position.
As we approach the season of Lent we can look at our own lives and see where we may suffer from stunted spiritual growth, where we may be lacking in full response to the word of God.
Do I suffer from addictions to false ways, besetting sins, chasing false gods, always trying to take the easy way out, always seeking my own comfort and pleasure above all else?
We not only do not want to lose heaven, but even in this life we want to live as free children and not as slaves of sin.
The New Testament is always telling us to break free from sin, not to go back to Egypt.
Who would go back into slavery after being released? Answer, Christians.
How do we avoid all these pitfalls.
1) Keep the vision, remember the long term goal, and reaffirm it every day. I am a child of God, a disciple of Jesus Christ, and I will live as such this day.
2) Be watchful at all the attempts the evil one will make to deceive and distract us.
3) If we have a particular area of weakness, where sin comes easily to us, we may not be able to break free from this straight away.
So we have to work on it a little bit. Avoid obvious occasions of sin. Seek counselling or spiritual direction if necessary. Use the sacraments for extra strength. Develop the practices of penance and self-denial. Keep life as simple and clear as possible. If we must live in the world then may as little as possible accumulate on our souls. We travel best if we travel light.
We can tackle the big problems with a combination of keeping the long term view and inching our way through the short term struggles.
By His grace we can conquer (My grace is enough for thee… today’s epistle).
Sermon for Septuagesima Sunday 4.2.07
Septuagesima Sunday 4.2.07 Salvation
St Paul mentions that he is working on his faith like an athlete prepares for an event. In another letter he says he is working out his salvation in ‘fear and trembling’.
St Paul does not take his salvation for granted mentioning in one place that he himself could still be lost.
Today people would politely laugh at St Paul and tell him that no one as good as he is could possibly be lost.
It is fashionable today to see salvation as highly probable, bordering on certain, for most people.
You would (in this view) have to be very bad not to be saved.
Still there are some who see themselves as so bad that they could not be saved.
So we have the situation where some are so good they don’t need saving, and others are so bad they cannot be saved!
The readings today speak to both groups and try to draw people away from the extremes.
The people who think they are so good they hardly need to be saved from anything are not actually sinless.
It’s just that they have lost the sense of sin. They are still committing sins but no longer consider what they do to be sins.
This is because of eroding moral standards in our society, which enable what used to be considered outrageous to be normal now (eg living together before marriage).
Unless you rob a bank or kill someone you are without sin. If you are as good as most other people then you are a good person and guaranteed salvation!
St Paul and other saints call us to a much more sober view of reality. Anyone can be lost and it requires vigilance to ensure that we stay in a state of grace.
The people who think they are so bad that they could not be saved are reminded frequently that God is merciful and desires their salvation.
The Gospel today speaks of those who come in at the eleventh hour and are still paid the full reward – that is, eternal life.
It is right to be ashamed of our sins and humble before God. But not so self-absorbed that we lose sight of God’s mercy and desire to save. It is by His grace we are saved and healed. Nobody is so bad as to be beyond the power of God to change.
So people have to come in from the edges to a more balanced position. We are neither too good nor too bad; neither certain of salvation nor certain of damnation.
We can make salvation certain and this is what St Paul was setting out to do.
He was working out his salvation.
‘Work’ has two senses.
1) The work of vigilance to make sure that we are confessing our sins and uprooting them. If we fall we acknowledge it, we get up and we go on. We are not overwhelmed with guilt; nor do we deny guilt – through it all the grace of God carries us.
2) The other aspect of ‘work’ is that we should be productive in God’s service.
Our Lord referred to those who heard and kept the word of God as yielding a harvest, even a hundred fold.
If we think we are too good or too bad to worry we are not being productive. But if we have a healthy awareness of our weakness and of the Lord’s mercy we can then be productive each day as we take the opportunities for good that present themselves.
So we come, individually and together, to the final payment, the one denarius of eternal life.
St Paul mentions that he is working on his faith like an athlete prepares for an event. In another letter he says he is working out his salvation in ‘fear and trembling’.
St Paul does not take his salvation for granted mentioning in one place that he himself could still be lost.
Today people would politely laugh at St Paul and tell him that no one as good as he is could possibly be lost.
It is fashionable today to see salvation as highly probable, bordering on certain, for most people.
You would (in this view) have to be very bad not to be saved.
Still there are some who see themselves as so bad that they could not be saved.
So we have the situation where some are so good they don’t need saving, and others are so bad they cannot be saved!
The readings today speak to both groups and try to draw people away from the extremes.
The people who think they are so good they hardly need to be saved from anything are not actually sinless.
It’s just that they have lost the sense of sin. They are still committing sins but no longer consider what they do to be sins.
This is because of eroding moral standards in our society, which enable what used to be considered outrageous to be normal now (eg living together before marriage).
Unless you rob a bank or kill someone you are without sin. If you are as good as most other people then you are a good person and guaranteed salvation!
St Paul and other saints call us to a much more sober view of reality. Anyone can be lost and it requires vigilance to ensure that we stay in a state of grace.
The people who think they are so bad that they could not be saved are reminded frequently that God is merciful and desires their salvation.
The Gospel today speaks of those who come in at the eleventh hour and are still paid the full reward – that is, eternal life.
It is right to be ashamed of our sins and humble before God. But not so self-absorbed that we lose sight of God’s mercy and desire to save. It is by His grace we are saved and healed. Nobody is so bad as to be beyond the power of God to change.
So people have to come in from the edges to a more balanced position. We are neither too good nor too bad; neither certain of salvation nor certain of damnation.
We can make salvation certain and this is what St Paul was setting out to do.
He was working out his salvation.
‘Work’ has two senses.
1) The work of vigilance to make sure that we are confessing our sins and uprooting them. If we fall we acknowledge it, we get up and we go on. We are not overwhelmed with guilt; nor do we deny guilt – through it all the grace of God carries us.
2) The other aspect of ‘work’ is that we should be productive in God’s service.
Our Lord referred to those who heard and kept the word of God as yielding a harvest, even a hundred fold.
If we think we are too good or too bad to worry we are not being productive. But if we have a healthy awareness of our weakness and of the Lord’s mercy we can then be productive each day as we take the opportunities for good that present themselves.
So we come, individually and together, to the final payment, the one denarius of eternal life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)