4th Sunday after Epiphany 28.1.07 Prayer
When the apostles woke Our Lord as He slept they were engaged in an act of prayer. Save us, Lord, we are going down. Straight to the point! Prayers in emergencies tend to be very short and very sincere.
‘Get me out of this, Lord, and I’ll be good for a month’ etc
Yet they were rebuked by the Lord. There was something wrong with their prayer. It lacked real trust in Him. They were panicking when they should have remained serene.
So they received one more lesson in prayer on that occasion. Our Lord was constantly teaching His disciples about prayer. May He teach us something today.
Lord, teach us how to pray.
Prayer presents certain difficulties for us. We often do not feel much like praying. It can seem like a chore or a task that has to be done, like washing the dishes.
We would rather be outside playing, or inside watching television, or a dozen other activities, but not many people would regard prayer as one of their favourite things.
Prayer sometimes brings emotional uplift but often not not. We don’t always feel better after praying; we don’t always see much result to the prayer.
The world seems much the same whether we pray or not, so we can become discouraged and pray less (this is why many no longer pray, even though they were brought up on it.)
Also prayer is an open-ended reality. There is no clear end point. If I have another task, like washing the dishes, I know when I am finished, but with prayer there is always more that could be done.
Because of the lack of emotional stimulation and the lack of clear results, we tend to measure off our prayer on the lighter side, and pray less rather than more.
This is not a good idea. Prayer is not a task; it is communion with one we love and who loves us.
Romeo did not regard time with Juliet as a chore. He would have liked more time. This is how we should be with God. It is a meeting of lovers.
And think of all the things we pray for. What is enough?
We could take any one aspect of prayer, eg asking for mercy, and if we did that every second of our lives, it still would not exhaust the need for mercy.
Or the praise of God. If we did that every second of our lives there would still be more to be said in praise of God’s infinite glory.
Always more prayer is possible and always more prayer is better than less.
Two Hail Marys are better than one (presuming always sincerity in the one praying).
The more Masses the better; the more people at Mass the better. We want to establish a chorus of non-stop prayer. Praising, Thanking, Interceding, Asking for mercy.
The whole Church prays around the clock, but we can still do a lot more and a lot better.
Because it is not a chore this is not something that should alarm us. Prayer will reveal to us its own delights. If we are not ready just yet to see prayer as exciting and rewarding it will become more obvious as we go.
God makes Himself known to those who seek Him (remember the wise men).
And then we do not count the prayers like getting through some task. It is a communion of love. Time stands still when we pray.
The apostles were rebuked because their prayer was from shallow roots. They had not established a communion of love and trust with Our Lord. This is what we need to do.
We don’t pray just when the brakes fail or the boat starts to sink. We pray all the time, so that when a crisis emerges it is just a matter of gently turning to the Lord and He will help us deal with it. Son, they have no wine…
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Sermon for 3rd Sunday after Epiphany 21.1.07
3rd Sunday after Epiphany 21.1.07 My soul shall be healed.
It is a lot harder to heal a soul than a servant. Because a soul has so many moving parts.
We can be forgiven a sin, or tackle one particular fault only to find it is leaking somewhere else.
Overcome selfishness today and lust tomorrow and you are still not perfect but becoming so.
If the Lord can heal it by a word, we wish He would.
But we start to realize the complexity of the matter. We sense that by ourselves we are never going to be able to plug all the leaks.
So we ask the Lord to speak the word. He does that and He also enters our souls despite our claims of unworthiness.
He comes inside us and starts to tidy up the house. He restores order just as He dined among sinners and the castoffs and brought order to them.
Cleaning up a room means putting everything in its proper place. Jesus helped the sinners to put their desires in order. They sensed His mercy and kindness and desired those qualities more than money or pleasure or whatever else they had known so far.
They may not have known how they were going to achieve this new vision, but they knew they wanted it above all else. (This is the essence of repentance and conversion – the detail comes later, but at least we know where we are pointing.)
This is what happens for us also. The Lord heals us by offering us a new way of looking at things.
It is all a matter of desire. We desire the wrong things. We chase after false gods.
The soul does not know its own sickness, only that it is restless. So it dangerously goes in all directions looking for satisfaction and often makes things worse.
Our Lord heals the soul by giving it the right object to seek – Himself, and His kingdom.
He will draw us to Himself like a magnet makes all the little filings point the same way. He will ‘fix’ our gaze on Him so that we will not look away again.
Then all our various desires and passions will be in place and our souls will be running like new engines.
We will want what He wants. Simple as that. That is what a ‘healed soul’ looks like!
It doesn’t sound so hard when we put it like that, does it?
In practice it will take a while because we are not used to this, and it takes a lot of learning.
We have been thinking and desiring too long in worldly ways. It is not easy to change the way we think. But the lesser will give way to the greater.
And the way the Lord ‘heals’ us, changes us, is to draw us to Himself. By revealing His own beauty and goodness we are drawn irresistibly to Him.
(This is why they cannot sin in heaven. They still have free will but no one would want to use it against God’s will).
So this process goes on until we are fully healed. Like repeat visits to the doctor.
He is the Doctor after all, and He called Himself as much.
It is our very sickness (sin) that makes us unworthy to receive Him, but in removing the sickness He makes us worthy, restores us to His friendship and gives us a share in His glory.
My soul shall be healed, and also guided, led (custodiat) into eternal life.
The rest of our lives is a constant process of being healed and strengthened, finding the right order in our souls, preparing for eternal glory.
It is a lot harder to heal a soul than a servant. Because a soul has so many moving parts.
We can be forgiven a sin, or tackle one particular fault only to find it is leaking somewhere else.
Overcome selfishness today and lust tomorrow and you are still not perfect but becoming so.
If the Lord can heal it by a word, we wish He would.
But we start to realize the complexity of the matter. We sense that by ourselves we are never going to be able to plug all the leaks.
So we ask the Lord to speak the word. He does that and He also enters our souls despite our claims of unworthiness.
He comes inside us and starts to tidy up the house. He restores order just as He dined among sinners and the castoffs and brought order to them.
Cleaning up a room means putting everything in its proper place. Jesus helped the sinners to put their desires in order. They sensed His mercy and kindness and desired those qualities more than money or pleasure or whatever else they had known so far.
They may not have known how they were going to achieve this new vision, but they knew they wanted it above all else. (This is the essence of repentance and conversion – the detail comes later, but at least we know where we are pointing.)
This is what happens for us also. The Lord heals us by offering us a new way of looking at things.
It is all a matter of desire. We desire the wrong things. We chase after false gods.
The soul does not know its own sickness, only that it is restless. So it dangerously goes in all directions looking for satisfaction and often makes things worse.
Our Lord heals the soul by giving it the right object to seek – Himself, and His kingdom.
He will draw us to Himself like a magnet makes all the little filings point the same way. He will ‘fix’ our gaze on Him so that we will not look away again.
Then all our various desires and passions will be in place and our souls will be running like new engines.
We will want what He wants. Simple as that. That is what a ‘healed soul’ looks like!
It doesn’t sound so hard when we put it like that, does it?
In practice it will take a while because we are not used to this, and it takes a lot of learning.
We have been thinking and desiring too long in worldly ways. It is not easy to change the way we think. But the lesser will give way to the greater.
And the way the Lord ‘heals’ us, changes us, is to draw us to Himself. By revealing His own beauty and goodness we are drawn irresistibly to Him.
(This is why they cannot sin in heaven. They still have free will but no one would want to use it against God’s will).
So this process goes on until we are fully healed. Like repeat visits to the doctor.
He is the Doctor after all, and He called Himself as much.
It is our very sickness (sin) that makes us unworthy to receive Him, but in removing the sickness He makes us worthy, restores us to His friendship and gives us a share in His glory.
My soul shall be healed, and also guided, led (custodiat) into eternal life.
The rest of our lives is a constant process of being healed and strengthened, finding the right order in our souls, preparing for eternal glory.
Monday, January 15, 2007
Sermon for Feast of Holy Family 7.1.07
Feast of The Holy Family 7.1.07
Many committed Catholics find themselves at larger family gatherings over the Christmas period. And what can happen is that discussions start over religious matters, and this can often turn ugly as various lapsed or dissenting family members poke fun at those who still believe these things.
This is what Our Lord referred to when He said that He had come to divide a family, three against two, father against son etc.
It was not Our Lord’s will to have people quarrelling but that He knew there would be division as a consequence of the different reactions that would be made to Himself.
In every family here, no doubt, there are non-practising, non-believing members, and we pray for their return to the faith (or first coming).
Ultimately so we can be reunited and find the true source of all human unity – Christ.
No use being a close family if we are all in the wrong place!
So we pray passionately for union with Christ, and through Him with each other.
Unity in belief; unity also in peace. In the Holy Family we find both. Total union with the will of God in belief and practice.
we might feel excluded from such exalted company. How could we hope to set foot in that house, where holiness burns like a fire.
It is as though they are on top of a mountain and we are down far below just looking up and wishing we could be where they are.
After all, in our houses, there is quarrelling and nasty comments being made, and a lot of inconsiderate and selfish behaviour.
How could we hope to have a house like that where everyone is thinking of the other first?
Rather than be discouraged and just declaring that we can’t do it, we can try another approach.
If we spend some time in their house, we can allow the effects of their holiness to rub off on us.
When we spend time in the company of others we are influenced. Ever visit a convent or monastery where there is a holy atmosphere, and you feel different? Or even a quiet church full of statues and stained glass windows.
The atmosphere affects us and we feel a little bit holier. Not saints all in one day, but just a slight improvement.
Well, the same principle applies here. Let us visit the house at Nazareth in our prayer and meditation.
Praying the Rosary is one way, especially the Joyful mysteries.
But every Mass, every time of quiet prayer is a chance to enter this holy environment and draw a lesson or two.
I emphasize ‘quiet’. The Holy Family would not have been listening to Triple X, Y or Z, would not have been playing on the computer all day and night, would not have turned the television on as soon as they stepped in the door – they would have lived in tranquil silence, we imagine. It is hard to imagine any noise more discordant than the sound of carpenters’ tools.
And no shouting matches either! What sort of a place is this?
Not boring as some would venture. Another dimension altogether. Getting in touch with ourselves. You pay a fortune to go on a course to ‘find yourself’.
You could find yourself at home if you turned off enough gadgets.
Just try a little silence and a little kindness. We cannot do this just by willpower, but we don’t have to.
We can drink in this shower of grace that comes from a higher place.
Take this drink and it changes from being ‘don’t argue’ to you ‘won’t argue’. The nastiness simply goes out from us and we actually become holy.
Not a dream, just reality waiting to happen.
Many committed Catholics find themselves at larger family gatherings over the Christmas period. And what can happen is that discussions start over religious matters, and this can often turn ugly as various lapsed or dissenting family members poke fun at those who still believe these things.
This is what Our Lord referred to when He said that He had come to divide a family, three against two, father against son etc.
It was not Our Lord’s will to have people quarrelling but that He knew there would be division as a consequence of the different reactions that would be made to Himself.
In every family here, no doubt, there are non-practising, non-believing members, and we pray for their return to the faith (or first coming).
Ultimately so we can be reunited and find the true source of all human unity – Christ.
No use being a close family if we are all in the wrong place!
So we pray passionately for union with Christ, and through Him with each other.
Unity in belief; unity also in peace. In the Holy Family we find both. Total union with the will of God in belief and practice.
we might feel excluded from such exalted company. How could we hope to set foot in that house, where holiness burns like a fire.
It is as though they are on top of a mountain and we are down far below just looking up and wishing we could be where they are.
After all, in our houses, there is quarrelling and nasty comments being made, and a lot of inconsiderate and selfish behaviour.
How could we hope to have a house like that where everyone is thinking of the other first?
Rather than be discouraged and just declaring that we can’t do it, we can try another approach.
If we spend some time in their house, we can allow the effects of their holiness to rub off on us.
When we spend time in the company of others we are influenced. Ever visit a convent or monastery where there is a holy atmosphere, and you feel different? Or even a quiet church full of statues and stained glass windows.
The atmosphere affects us and we feel a little bit holier. Not saints all in one day, but just a slight improvement.
Well, the same principle applies here. Let us visit the house at Nazareth in our prayer and meditation.
Praying the Rosary is one way, especially the Joyful mysteries.
But every Mass, every time of quiet prayer is a chance to enter this holy environment and draw a lesson or two.
I emphasize ‘quiet’. The Holy Family would not have been listening to Triple X, Y or Z, would not have been playing on the computer all day and night, would not have turned the television on as soon as they stepped in the door – they would have lived in tranquil silence, we imagine. It is hard to imagine any noise more discordant than the sound of carpenters’ tools.
And no shouting matches either! What sort of a place is this?
Not boring as some would venture. Another dimension altogether. Getting in touch with ourselves. You pay a fortune to go on a course to ‘find yourself’.
You could find yourself at home if you turned off enough gadgets.
Just try a little silence and a little kindness. We cannot do this just by willpower, but we don’t have to.
We can drink in this shower of grace that comes from a higher place.
Take this drink and it changes from being ‘don’t argue’ to you ‘won’t argue’. The nastiness simply goes out from us and we actually become holy.
Not a dream, just reality waiting to happen.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Sermon for 2nd Sunday after Epiphany 14.1.07
2nd Sunday after Epiphany 14.1.07 Cana
We have been celebrating in the Christmas season that God the Son took on human nature, joining it to His already existing divine nature.
Today’s miracle at Cana has been traditionally understood as an epiphany, a showing forth of God’s glory, the first public miracle worked by Our Lord.
An epiphany requires to be ‘seen’ to have its full effect. Can we see what is happening here? Have we eyes to see?
The symbolism of this miracle can teach us much. Water is turned into wine. And it is the very best sort of wine.
In every Mass we pray that through the mingling of water and wine we may come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.
If divine is wine and human is water, the lesser is taken up into the greater and enriched forever.
Once God has taken on human nature humanity can never be the same.
We have been upgraded. Our Lord said on another occasion: we cannot put new wine into old skins. The skins would burst and the wine would be lost.
New wine, new skins. If our human nature is to hold divinity we must be remade, be new people.
The ‘epiphany’, the point we must see, is that we cannot be new humanity if we continue to live in the old sinful ways.
We cannot be lazy, lying, lustful, bearing grudges and rages, and still hope to be sharing in the divinity of Christ.
This is old skins and the new wine will not hold.
Nor can we fulfil this new state just by ritual observance (such as going to Mass once a week)
Nor by minimal observance of the commandments, cutting corners at every possible chance.
What is required is no less than a complete makeover, a complete new person, like a new building from the foundation up.
To be incorporated into divinity is no small thing.
We must rise to the occasion.
How do we do this?
Just think that you probably came to this Mass in a car. How many came on horseback? A hundred years ago everyone would have come on a horse, or pulled by one.
We have upgraded. We do this for every area of our lives except the most important.
When it comes to our human nature - when an upgrade is available – we stay with the old. We stay with our sins because we are used to that way of living.
Hard for us to change, even if we do see the need, because old and bad habits die hard.
How to dig them out? Gradually it can be done.
One more prayer, one more act of penance, one more good deed, one little bit more exertion, one more sacrament…
Just push ourselves a little harder and we find new doors to grace opening and we become stronger.
We can reach a new platform from which other progress can be made.
Supposing we overcome one bad habit. If there was a certain sin we were committing five years ago, but are not committing now, this is progress. It gives us another starting point.
We don’t go back to the old ways and we can head further into new territory, the land of holiness.
Living in union with divinity is a skill to be learnt, but we can practise it and get better.
At least know what is required. ‘See’ the revelation, grasp the point, and don’t try to pretend that nothing has happened at Cana.
You are marked for greatness; don’t settle for less.
We have been celebrating in the Christmas season that God the Son took on human nature, joining it to His already existing divine nature.
Today’s miracle at Cana has been traditionally understood as an epiphany, a showing forth of God’s glory, the first public miracle worked by Our Lord.
An epiphany requires to be ‘seen’ to have its full effect. Can we see what is happening here? Have we eyes to see?
The symbolism of this miracle can teach us much. Water is turned into wine. And it is the very best sort of wine.
In every Mass we pray that through the mingling of water and wine we may come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.
If divine is wine and human is water, the lesser is taken up into the greater and enriched forever.
Once God has taken on human nature humanity can never be the same.
We have been upgraded. Our Lord said on another occasion: we cannot put new wine into old skins. The skins would burst and the wine would be lost.
New wine, new skins. If our human nature is to hold divinity we must be remade, be new people.
The ‘epiphany’, the point we must see, is that we cannot be new humanity if we continue to live in the old sinful ways.
We cannot be lazy, lying, lustful, bearing grudges and rages, and still hope to be sharing in the divinity of Christ.
This is old skins and the new wine will not hold.
Nor can we fulfil this new state just by ritual observance (such as going to Mass once a week)
Nor by minimal observance of the commandments, cutting corners at every possible chance.
What is required is no less than a complete makeover, a complete new person, like a new building from the foundation up.
To be incorporated into divinity is no small thing.
We must rise to the occasion.
How do we do this?
Just think that you probably came to this Mass in a car. How many came on horseback? A hundred years ago everyone would have come on a horse, or pulled by one.
We have upgraded. We do this for every area of our lives except the most important.
When it comes to our human nature - when an upgrade is available – we stay with the old. We stay with our sins because we are used to that way of living.
Hard for us to change, even if we do see the need, because old and bad habits die hard.
How to dig them out? Gradually it can be done.
One more prayer, one more act of penance, one more good deed, one little bit more exertion, one more sacrament…
Just push ourselves a little harder and we find new doors to grace opening and we become stronger.
We can reach a new platform from which other progress can be made.
Supposing we overcome one bad habit. If there was a certain sin we were committing five years ago, but are not committing now, this is progress. It gives us another starting point.
We don’t go back to the old ways and we can head further into new territory, the land of holiness.
Living in union with divinity is a skill to be learnt, but we can practise it and get better.
At least know what is required. ‘See’ the revelation, grasp the point, and don’t try to pretend that nothing has happened at Cana.
You are marked for greatness; don’t settle for less.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Sermon for Octave Sunday of Nativity 31.12.06
Sunday in Octave of Christmas 31.12.06 Innocence
One of the features of Christmas is the theme of innocence. The Child, the Mother, St Joseph, the humble shepherds, even the animals, the peaceful scene, plus our own sense of wanting to be better and wanting a better world – all adds up to an admiration for and desire for innocence.
We want to be delivered from evil in all its forms and taste the goodness of the Lord.
Innocence is good in itself because it is a freedom from evil.
Innocence is also very useful because it is a powerful weapon in getting the desired result.
When we pray for things to happen we have much more chance of having our prayer heard if we pray with pure hearts.
For example we cannot sincerely pray for world peace if we have war in our hearts.
Then also when our hearts are pure we are in communion with God and we are close to Him. We do not have to shout our requests across a chasm but can whisper in His ear.
Lile children on their father’s lap (Abba, Father).
So we ask the Lord (and Mary) to give us pure hearts, to take the sin out of our system, so that we can pray with the innocence of children.
Unless you become like little children you cannot enter the kingdom.
Child-like but not childish. The quality of children that we seek is their relative innocence. And their capacity to trust. They just assume that they will be looked after.
So we should trust God in the same way.
When we look at the world in all its complexity we might propose various solutions. More study, more dialogue, more education, more meetings, more troops, more spending…
but none of those could match innocence. Be childlike; be good; trust in your heavenly Father, come to Him with all your needs.
See how we labour to find worldly solutions for worldly problems. We make the problem through our sin, and then we try to relieve the problem through worldly ways. eg education on how not to get Aids.
When all we need is pure innocence to avoid getting into trouble in the first place and then to get out of trouble if we are in it.
Simple to understand, not easy to achieve. How to get to be pure when we have been otherwise.
Ask the Lord to make us so, to cleanse our hearts of malice, envy etc and our minds of worldliness in all its forms.
Need to make frequent and heartfelt Confessions, and serious purpose of amendment.
Humble ourselves before the Crib now and before God all the time.
Wonderfully simple that we can solve all our problems just by acknowledging we can’t solve them!
When we pray like this we are getting in touch with a great power, without obstructing it with needless complication. Not being naïve but very smart. Not neglecting responsibilities but approaching them in right way. Doing what God asks of us, after all.
Abba Father! Call on Him, and the more fervently we do that, the more trustingly, the more He will hear.
Go back to the start, halt at the crossroads, look well what path it was that served you long ago. That path follow…(Jer 6,16)
One of the features of Christmas is the theme of innocence. The Child, the Mother, St Joseph, the humble shepherds, even the animals, the peaceful scene, plus our own sense of wanting to be better and wanting a better world – all adds up to an admiration for and desire for innocence.
We want to be delivered from evil in all its forms and taste the goodness of the Lord.
Innocence is good in itself because it is a freedom from evil.
Innocence is also very useful because it is a powerful weapon in getting the desired result.
When we pray for things to happen we have much more chance of having our prayer heard if we pray with pure hearts.
For example we cannot sincerely pray for world peace if we have war in our hearts.
Then also when our hearts are pure we are in communion with God and we are close to Him. We do not have to shout our requests across a chasm but can whisper in His ear.
Lile children on their father’s lap (Abba, Father).
So we ask the Lord (and Mary) to give us pure hearts, to take the sin out of our system, so that we can pray with the innocence of children.
Unless you become like little children you cannot enter the kingdom.
Child-like but not childish. The quality of children that we seek is their relative innocence. And their capacity to trust. They just assume that they will be looked after.
So we should trust God in the same way.
When we look at the world in all its complexity we might propose various solutions. More study, more dialogue, more education, more meetings, more troops, more spending…
but none of those could match innocence. Be childlike; be good; trust in your heavenly Father, come to Him with all your needs.
See how we labour to find worldly solutions for worldly problems. We make the problem through our sin, and then we try to relieve the problem through worldly ways. eg education on how not to get Aids.
When all we need is pure innocence to avoid getting into trouble in the first place and then to get out of trouble if we are in it.
Simple to understand, not easy to achieve. How to get to be pure when we have been otherwise.
Ask the Lord to make us so, to cleanse our hearts of malice, envy etc and our minds of worldliness in all its forms.
Need to make frequent and heartfelt Confessions, and serious purpose of amendment.
Humble ourselves before the Crib now and before God all the time.
Wonderfully simple that we can solve all our problems just by acknowledging we can’t solve them!
When we pray like this we are getting in touch with a great power, without obstructing it with needless complication. Not being naïve but very smart. Not neglecting responsibilities but approaching them in right way. Doing what God asks of us, after all.
Abba Father! Call on Him, and the more fervently we do that, the more trustingly, the more He will hear.
Go back to the start, halt at the crossroads, look well what path it was that served you long ago. That path follow…(Jer 6,16)
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Sermon for Christmas 2006 (Day Mass)
Christmas 2006 Morning Mass. Total salvation
Jesus said to the messengers from John the Baptist: go and tell John what you see and hear – the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the blind have their sight restored etc
Signs of salvation. Are you the one to come? Jesus answers indirectly. Well, what does it look like?
Are these the signs of some ordinary person or does it look to you like salvation has been unleashed?
This was just the beginning. Restoring sight to a blind person is certainly a great thing, but that is just good for one person in one place. Jesus’ full plan was much grander than that.
He came to heal the whole person, going right to the root cause of the problem. And that is not that you can’t see or can’t walk, troublesome as that might be.
The root problem is sin, alienation from God. He came to heal that problem by reconciling us with God.
So that in our wounded humanity we would now be once more filled with the life of grace, would once more share in divine life.
This is a much more valuable healing than having sight restored. After all, if I was blind and then I could see – I would be happy for a while but then would be the same as everyone else – looking for meaning. I can see, but so what?
No, we need to be set right at the very deepest level of our being, and this means to be right with God, to receive His forgiveness and have His life in us.
Knowing who we are, where we are from, and where we are going.
This is a challenging level of healing because it might be further than we want to go.
We might be happy just to have our aches and pains removed and then left to live as before.
The Jews did not want to be saved beyond certain political changes – get rid of the Romans. Otherwise leave things be. Those who crucified Our Lord thought He was asking too much (or offering too much).
Thus it has been in every generation since. Help me, Lord, and then back off, please.
If we recognize Him for what He is, and what He wants, we will then both value His coming AND cooperate with it.
The Last Gospel is the main Gospel in this Mass – brought to a more prominent position.
He came to His own and His own did not receive Him.
They were so busy worrying about their aches and pains they did not see what was being offered to them.
To understand the scope of the salvation which is offered is a necessary part of receiving it. Many sell Christ short in all sorts of ways – just free bread, physical comfort, ticket to heaven, nice non-threatening religion, ethical teacher, another religion to go with all the others… but He is so much more and will never be understood unless given centre stage.
We must see further. We read that Gospel so often to remind ourselves that His own should have received Him.
And just in case we haven’t been receiving Him we can always start now.
If we do receive Him His salvation will take deeper hold in us and gradually extend to the whole world – which was always His plan. (also alluded to in the Last Gospel).
He came for the whole world but still it has not happened.
He needs people like us to receive Him so that progress can be made.
Enjoy your Christmas but don’t reduce it to just a nice day with family and friends. It is the key to the renewal of the whole world. Christmas is about Christ!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Christmas Mass times at Holy Name
Christmas Mass times:
Sunday 24th Dec 9.30am
Midnight Mass 12.00am Monday 25th
Mass of the Day 9.30am Monday 25th.
Happy Christmas to all!
Sunday 24th Dec 9.30am
Midnight Mass 12.00am Monday 25th
Mass of the Day 9.30am Monday 25th.
Happy Christmas to all!
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Sermon for 3rd Sunday of Advent 17.12.06
3rd Sunday of Advent 17.12.06 Getting out of prison
In the Hail Holy Queen we describe ourselves as ‘mourning and weeping in this vale of tears’.
In Psalm 23 we mention that we are walking in a ‘valley of darkness (or death)’.
St Paul describes this earthly life as an exile… we are exiled from our true home at present and we long to throw off this earthly tent. (2 Co 5)
There are other references to the same import. (Hebrews 11,15 hoping to reach our true home) Our true home is in heaven (Ph 3,20)
These are strong images and when we take them together we seem to be getting a message. We notice already that this earthly life is not always a bowl of roses. Now from the above references we can conclude that it is not meant to be a bowl of roses.
In a valley of tears, a valley of death, a land of exile… one can expect to be unhappy, at least to a certain extent.
Today we traditionally express reasons for our joy. We have just established why we are not joyful! In what way can we be joyful in a valley of darkness?
a) because there is a better place
b) and we are coming out of the valley and going towards this better place
Our present condition is temporary; we will not always be suffering like we are now, and we are looking forward to a future of unalloyed bliss.
This perfect happiness will arrive when we leave this state of exile; when we arrive in the place where there is no sadness or darkness, where every tear will be wiped away, our true home.
We are like prisoners chalking off each day on the wall and longing to be set free.
Many people allow themselves to despair in this life. They see the misery around them and their own misery, and they conclude that this is all there is. Some even go as far as killing themselves because they see no other way to escape the misery.
We who have faith, also have hope. We see the misery too but we are not overwhelmed by it. Because we also see the place where misery is no more, and we see there is a way to get there.
Reflecting on the limitations of this life actually will help us to find true joy.
The important thing is not to try to find all our happiness here. It cannot be done, so we should not try.
Many do try to build up an earthly paradise and they do it through money and power and status – and they end up in the grave. The psalms tell us this and they were written 3000 years ago! We can be slow learners.
We pass through this life like flowers, like grass on the roof. We bloom for a day and we are gone.
This could be depressing, but it really is the key to great joy, because we don’t want to stay here, remember. This is a prison. We want to get out of here and get to the place where there is real and permanent happiness.
Naturally, in a prison we try to make things as comfortable as possible. We decorate the cell, we take some recreation. So we live in nice houses and we play sport etc. But this is only peripheral to the main desire to get to freedom.
Our joy is that we are getting out of here soon. We make the best of it while we are here but we do not cling to it, nor to each other, as we wish each other speedy and safe passage to this better place – our true home.
In the Hail Holy Queen we describe ourselves as ‘mourning and weeping in this vale of tears’.
In Psalm 23 we mention that we are walking in a ‘valley of darkness (or death)’.
St Paul describes this earthly life as an exile… we are exiled from our true home at present and we long to throw off this earthly tent. (2 Co 5)
There are other references to the same import. (Hebrews 11,15 hoping to reach our true home) Our true home is in heaven (Ph 3,20)
These are strong images and when we take them together we seem to be getting a message. We notice already that this earthly life is not always a bowl of roses. Now from the above references we can conclude that it is not meant to be a bowl of roses.
In a valley of tears, a valley of death, a land of exile… one can expect to be unhappy, at least to a certain extent.
Today we traditionally express reasons for our joy. We have just established why we are not joyful! In what way can we be joyful in a valley of darkness?
a) because there is a better place
b) and we are coming out of the valley and going towards this better place
Our present condition is temporary; we will not always be suffering like we are now, and we are looking forward to a future of unalloyed bliss.
This perfect happiness will arrive when we leave this state of exile; when we arrive in the place where there is no sadness or darkness, where every tear will be wiped away, our true home.
We are like prisoners chalking off each day on the wall and longing to be set free.
Many people allow themselves to despair in this life. They see the misery around them and their own misery, and they conclude that this is all there is. Some even go as far as killing themselves because they see no other way to escape the misery.
We who have faith, also have hope. We see the misery too but we are not overwhelmed by it. Because we also see the place where misery is no more, and we see there is a way to get there.
Reflecting on the limitations of this life actually will help us to find true joy.
The important thing is not to try to find all our happiness here. It cannot be done, so we should not try.
Many do try to build up an earthly paradise and they do it through money and power and status – and they end up in the grave. The psalms tell us this and they were written 3000 years ago! We can be slow learners.
We pass through this life like flowers, like grass on the roof. We bloom for a day and we are gone.
This could be depressing, but it really is the key to great joy, because we don’t want to stay here, remember. This is a prison. We want to get out of here and get to the place where there is real and permanent happiness.
Naturally, in a prison we try to make things as comfortable as possible. We decorate the cell, we take some recreation. So we live in nice houses and we play sport etc. But this is only peripheral to the main desire to get to freedom.
Our joy is that we are getting out of here soon. We make the best of it while we are here but we do not cling to it, nor to each other, as we wish each other speedy and safe passage to this better place – our true home.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Sermon for 2nd Sunday of Advent 10.12.06
2nd Sunday of Advent 10.12.06 Repentance
What did you go out to see? Our Lord asks the people. This is not just any old prophet. This is someone bringing in a new era, a new state of things.
How much difference is there to being a Christian? What amount of change is required. When John preached repentance how much change was he asking for?
Is repentance a minimal adjustment or a major transformation?
You might think from the way some people talk that the only difference between being a Christian and being anything else is that the Christian goes to church for one hour a week.
The Christian has one hour less golf, or shopping, or dog obedience class but otherwise the two lives are exactly the same.
This is not how it is meant to work.
The Christian is one who is like Christ. Filled with His Spirit, overflowing with good works and transformed in his whole attitude.
It is inconceivable that the Christian could be the same as everyone else when we have received a whole new kind of life.
When it comes to repentance, we cannot just mean mentioning a couple of sins in confession, but otherwise everything is ok.
We are not comparing ourselves with our neighbours but with Christ.
If we are to compare ourselves with others we will come off well and will be able to say truly that we are not so bad.
But we belong to Christ and we draw our light from Him.
When we compare ourselves to Him we have to say we have not been so good at being ‘other Christs’.
So Repentance has to be a clean out of the whole system, and being drawn into the life of Christ.
We can say the same thing in two ways:
Repent, behave yourselves, keep the rules (and all true, too)
Or, Come to the water, receive the abundant love that is being offered to you.
We all would like to receive more love, but may not all want to change our lives.
In fact, though, the receiving of love will move us to change our lives. By that stage we will want to change and it will not be a burden.
Take Scrooge at Christmas. He was so transformed by his dreams that he wanted to be generous.
It was not just that he knew he had to change, but he wanted to. So the change was delightful to him.
Zacchaeus another example. He spontaneously wanted to give back four times as much as he had stolen, so great was his joy at discovering the new life.
Repentance is not a burden but a path to new joy.
but we need help to keep the vision of what is expected and what is possible.
We stop both too soon.
We have little faith and we do not expect God to work miracles.
We have low expectations of our own behaviour so we do not ask for or exercise the grace which enables higher things.
We settle for ‘one hour a week’ or ‘two hours a year’ for those who go only at Easter and Christmas, and call ourselves religious.
The invitation is there for us to break into a new layer of life, to discover the better air the other side of the fog. So we seek a deep and complete repentance. We will not try to minimise our response.
Let the grace of Christ carry us beyond minimalism or technical Christianity. Let Him change us on the inside so that we each become a new person in Christ.
What did you go out to see? Our Lord asks the people. This is not just any old prophet. This is someone bringing in a new era, a new state of things.
How much difference is there to being a Christian? What amount of change is required. When John preached repentance how much change was he asking for?
Is repentance a minimal adjustment or a major transformation?
You might think from the way some people talk that the only difference between being a Christian and being anything else is that the Christian goes to church for one hour a week.
The Christian has one hour less golf, or shopping, or dog obedience class but otherwise the two lives are exactly the same.
This is not how it is meant to work.
The Christian is one who is like Christ. Filled with His Spirit, overflowing with good works and transformed in his whole attitude.
It is inconceivable that the Christian could be the same as everyone else when we have received a whole new kind of life.
When it comes to repentance, we cannot just mean mentioning a couple of sins in confession, but otherwise everything is ok.
We are not comparing ourselves with our neighbours but with Christ.
If we are to compare ourselves with others we will come off well and will be able to say truly that we are not so bad.
But we belong to Christ and we draw our light from Him.
When we compare ourselves to Him we have to say we have not been so good at being ‘other Christs’.
So Repentance has to be a clean out of the whole system, and being drawn into the life of Christ.
We can say the same thing in two ways:
Repent, behave yourselves, keep the rules (and all true, too)
Or, Come to the water, receive the abundant love that is being offered to you.
We all would like to receive more love, but may not all want to change our lives.
In fact, though, the receiving of love will move us to change our lives. By that stage we will want to change and it will not be a burden.
Take Scrooge at Christmas. He was so transformed by his dreams that he wanted to be generous.
It was not just that he knew he had to change, but he wanted to. So the change was delightful to him.
Zacchaeus another example. He spontaneously wanted to give back four times as much as he had stolen, so great was his joy at discovering the new life.
Repentance is not a burden but a path to new joy.
but we need help to keep the vision of what is expected and what is possible.
We stop both too soon.
We have little faith and we do not expect God to work miracles.
We have low expectations of our own behaviour so we do not ask for or exercise the grace which enables higher things.
We settle for ‘one hour a week’ or ‘two hours a year’ for those who go only at Easter and Christmas, and call ourselves religious.
The invitation is there for us to break into a new layer of life, to discover the better air the other side of the fog. So we seek a deep and complete repentance. We will not try to minimise our response.
Let the grace of Christ carry us beyond minimalism or technical Christianity. Let Him change us on the inside so that we each become a new person in Christ.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Sermon for First Sunday of Advent 3.12.06
1st Sunday of Advent 3.12.06 Being ready
While praying in front of the tabernacle once, it occurred to me that I felt at peace to be in the Lord’s presence, but that if I were to die suddenly I would be afraid to meet Him face to face.
How could this be: that I would be at the same time at ease and not at ease in His presence?
It must be that I am in some degree of union with God but not yet complete union. There is love but there is also fear. As St John says: Perfect love casts out fear. I do not yet have perfect love for God. So I ask Him to bring me to that state of perfect love for Him.
Supposing I am on an aeroplane and suddenly the plane starts plunging towards the sea below. What would I do? Make an act of contrition; ask the Lord to have mercy on my soul.
If I tell the Lord I am sorry when my plane is plunging into the sea, why not tell Him I am sorry now?
It is fear of punishment that makes me sorry in that case. We want to reach a state of perfect contrition whereby we are sorry anyway, and do not need an emergency to bring on an expression of that sorrow.
So we come to one of the main themes of Advent: that in this season we should seek such a degree of union with God that we are ready to meet Him at any time, whether He comes in the third watch or the second… later or sooner.
That we will be so much at ease in His presence we will not care if we are alive or dead – it is all the same to us, so long as we have Him.
There is always the temptation for us to put off complete repentance till ‘the last minute’.
There is the (false) assumption that we will get more enjoyment out of life if we break a few rules, that sin is ‘the only way to enjoy oneself’.
But the truth, waiting to be discovered, is that the greatest source of enjoyment in this life is to live as closely as possible to God Himself.
To live a life of grace is to experience the full joy of being like a bird in flight, every part of our being working as it should; for the first time a round peg in a round hole.
This explains why the saints were such happy people, when to the world, they appeared to suffer so much, and miss out on so much of earth’s pleasures – but they had the one thing that matters, the pearl of great price.
The epistle refers to living in the daylight and not being dissipated with strong drink.
People sometimes seek refuge in drink as a way of numbing their sense of reality.
But when we discover what Reality is we seek it. We should be wearing T-shirts with ‘I love Reality’ written on them, because the true reality is Union with God and all the joy that comes with that.
The solution is not drugging ourselves against reality but entering it more fully.
Thus we seek a fuller union with God
– a union that will mean both more perfect contrition, and a greater desire to do His will.
-A union that will mean we are ready to be with Him, either in this life or the next;
that will enable us to discern His presence in time of plenty or poverty, full stomach or empty.
To be with Him is everything; to be without Him is unbearable.
This is what we seek in Advent – we seek God and He will not be slow in making Himself known to us.
While praying in front of the tabernacle once, it occurred to me that I felt at peace to be in the Lord’s presence, but that if I were to die suddenly I would be afraid to meet Him face to face.
How could this be: that I would be at the same time at ease and not at ease in His presence?
It must be that I am in some degree of union with God but not yet complete union. There is love but there is also fear. As St John says: Perfect love casts out fear. I do not yet have perfect love for God. So I ask Him to bring me to that state of perfect love for Him.
Supposing I am on an aeroplane and suddenly the plane starts plunging towards the sea below. What would I do? Make an act of contrition; ask the Lord to have mercy on my soul.
If I tell the Lord I am sorry when my plane is plunging into the sea, why not tell Him I am sorry now?
It is fear of punishment that makes me sorry in that case. We want to reach a state of perfect contrition whereby we are sorry anyway, and do not need an emergency to bring on an expression of that sorrow.
So we come to one of the main themes of Advent: that in this season we should seek such a degree of union with God that we are ready to meet Him at any time, whether He comes in the third watch or the second… later or sooner.
That we will be so much at ease in His presence we will not care if we are alive or dead – it is all the same to us, so long as we have Him.
There is always the temptation for us to put off complete repentance till ‘the last minute’.
There is the (false) assumption that we will get more enjoyment out of life if we break a few rules, that sin is ‘the only way to enjoy oneself’.
But the truth, waiting to be discovered, is that the greatest source of enjoyment in this life is to live as closely as possible to God Himself.
To live a life of grace is to experience the full joy of being like a bird in flight, every part of our being working as it should; for the first time a round peg in a round hole.
This explains why the saints were such happy people, when to the world, they appeared to suffer so much, and miss out on so much of earth’s pleasures – but they had the one thing that matters, the pearl of great price.
The epistle refers to living in the daylight and not being dissipated with strong drink.
People sometimes seek refuge in drink as a way of numbing their sense of reality.
But when we discover what Reality is we seek it. We should be wearing T-shirts with ‘I love Reality’ written on them, because the true reality is Union with God and all the joy that comes with that.
The solution is not drugging ourselves against reality but entering it more fully.
Thus we seek a fuller union with God
– a union that will mean both more perfect contrition, and a greater desire to do His will.
-A union that will mean we are ready to be with Him, either in this life or the next;
that will enable us to discern His presence in time of plenty or poverty, full stomach or empty.
To be with Him is everything; to be without Him is unbearable.
This is what we seek in Advent – we seek God and He will not be slow in making Himself known to us.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Sermon for Last Sunday after Pentecost 26.11.06
Last Sunday of the year 26.11.06 (with First Communion)
Today we have the last and the first. The last Sunday of the year, and the first Holy Communion for seven children.
Understanding where we are supposed to finish is always a good place to start.
The last Sunday plus the season of Advent, with its emphasis on repentance and judgment, is a time of reminder for us to keep the last things in view. We are reminded that life is short, that the world is passing away, that we should be ready like wakeful bridesmaids or watchful servants to meet the Lord when He returns.
This is how we are supposed to be when we finish our lives. So how can we reach and maintain such a state?
By taking advantage of every source of grace we can receive in this earthly pilgrimage.
And the greatest source of grace we have available to us in this life is Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
This Sacrament is so important because it is no less than Jesus Christ Himself.
To receive Holy Communion is to receive all-of-God. We receive Him and everything good about Him.
If we receive Him worthily and as fully as we are able then we will be ready to die, and to live, ready to end our lives or continue them, ready for anything and everything.
To receive Him as fully as we are able. At the physical level it is easy to receive Our Lord in this Sacrament.
It is easy to digest one small host, and it may seem like no big deal. To those with little or no faith that is how it will appear.
But with the eyes of faith this small host is bigger than the whole universe. Because it contains what cannot be contained – the Mystery of God Himself, the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity.
Infinite reality packed into a very small space. How precious is one of these hosts.
To some it means nothing, to us everything.
But if what we receive is so great, how can we take it in? How can we grasp so much goodness in a way that we can translate into our everyday lives?
This is food that we enter, rather than food that enters us.
We enter the Mystery of God. We cannot contain Him, but He can easily contain us.
So we enter the goodness of God, like going into a large room, or an ocean and being immersed in that goodness.
It expresses itself in different ways at different times.
So Holy Communion might one time bring you comfort in a time of fear, or consolation in a time of grief, or wisdom in a time of searching, or love for your neighbour in a time of need.
Anything that is good might flow from this Sacrament when it is received worthily and with at least some amount of faith in the recipient.
Children, who are receiving Him for the first time today, you will enter the Mystery again and again. Like a room full of good things, you cannot take them all out with you at any one time, but you can go back for more each time.
So we need to receive the Lord repeatedly, because He is bigger than we are.
And for the adults, who have received Him many times – realize the momentousness of each Holy Communion – treat it like it is your First and your Last.
And doing this as often as we can through our lives, we are far more likely to be awake and watching when the Lord returns, or when our life ends.
We will have nourished ourselves on His goodness, having learned to live in communion with Him. Death and the end of the world will be no more than a change of address for us because we are already close to Him, and will rejoice to see Him face to face.
Today we have the last and the first. The last Sunday of the year, and the first Holy Communion for seven children.
Understanding where we are supposed to finish is always a good place to start.
The last Sunday plus the season of Advent, with its emphasis on repentance and judgment, is a time of reminder for us to keep the last things in view. We are reminded that life is short, that the world is passing away, that we should be ready like wakeful bridesmaids or watchful servants to meet the Lord when He returns.
This is how we are supposed to be when we finish our lives. So how can we reach and maintain such a state?
By taking advantage of every source of grace we can receive in this earthly pilgrimage.
And the greatest source of grace we have available to us in this life is Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
This Sacrament is so important because it is no less than Jesus Christ Himself.
To receive Holy Communion is to receive all-of-God. We receive Him and everything good about Him.
If we receive Him worthily and as fully as we are able then we will be ready to die, and to live, ready to end our lives or continue them, ready for anything and everything.
To receive Him as fully as we are able. At the physical level it is easy to receive Our Lord in this Sacrament.
It is easy to digest one small host, and it may seem like no big deal. To those with little or no faith that is how it will appear.
But with the eyes of faith this small host is bigger than the whole universe. Because it contains what cannot be contained – the Mystery of God Himself, the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity.
Infinite reality packed into a very small space. How precious is one of these hosts.
To some it means nothing, to us everything.
But if what we receive is so great, how can we take it in? How can we grasp so much goodness in a way that we can translate into our everyday lives?
This is food that we enter, rather than food that enters us.
We enter the Mystery of God. We cannot contain Him, but He can easily contain us.
So we enter the goodness of God, like going into a large room, or an ocean and being immersed in that goodness.
It expresses itself in different ways at different times.
So Holy Communion might one time bring you comfort in a time of fear, or consolation in a time of grief, or wisdom in a time of searching, or love for your neighbour in a time of need.
Anything that is good might flow from this Sacrament when it is received worthily and with at least some amount of faith in the recipient.
Children, who are receiving Him for the first time today, you will enter the Mystery again and again. Like a room full of good things, you cannot take them all out with you at any one time, but you can go back for more each time.
So we need to receive the Lord repeatedly, because He is bigger than we are.
And for the adults, who have received Him many times – realize the momentousness of each Holy Communion – treat it like it is your First and your Last.
And doing this as often as we can through our lives, we are far more likely to be awake and watching when the Lord returns, or when our life ends.
We will have nourished ourselves on His goodness, having learned to live in communion with Him. Death and the end of the world will be no more than a change of address for us because we are already close to Him, and will rejoice to see Him face to face.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Sermon for 24th Sunday after Pentecost 19.11.06
24th Sunday after Pentecost 19.11.06 Leaven in the bread
We are to be the leaven in society.
If we cannot convert people directly we can at least influence the kind of world we have. We are helping to civilise and direct the world to the right end.
It is not easy to convert people, but we can at least put the truth in front of them by the way we speak and act.
A lot of our present struggle is whether the Church is leavening the world or the other way round.
Much of worldly thinking has infected the Church, eg feminism, syncretism of religions.
We have to be very clear that the Church is teacher of the world, and not the other way round.
Yes, we can learn from the world sometimes, but only as to detail, never as to basic belief and policy.
So, for example, if we have an atheist neighbour who is generous with his time and possessions, we can learn from him to be generous, but not to be an atheist.
So the Church beckons the world to come to Christ, come to the water and be saved.
The world says it doesn’t need to come anywhere. The Church in fact should move, relax its standards and apologize for past wrongs.
Then, with a vague blend of spiritual values all the world will live in peace.
But you can’t be in peace if you don’t have the basic link with truth.
Only Christ can save. There is only one God and only one Saviour.
This is the stunning simplicity of our belief.
So much more fashionable to believe in many gods without taking any of them very seriously.
This throws us back onto humanism. We decide for ourselves what is right - and we get it wrong.
If we don’t make Christ known the whole world will drown in its own ignorance. Darkness will prevail.
We must give the world what it needs. To know Christ; to come to full faith, baptism, eucharist, eternal life.
General goodwill is not enough. Tolerance is definitely not enough.
We ourselves have a lot to learn as we seek to be leaven.
In this sense the growth of the Church is in two ways: in holiness and in numbers.
We want to get bigger and we want to get better.
Certainly if we get the holiness right the numbers will rocket. It is only our lack of holiness that impedes our growth.
As the Church has always produced saints in every generation so there has been growth.
Imagine how much more that growth would be if more rank and file Catholics took the faith seriously.
If saints, instead of being one in a million, were one one in a hundred.
Why not? The grace is there; the truth is there.
Without holiness our growth in numbers will be just nominal (like higher population), but no real life.
We must get both right – be what we are supposed to be and we cannot help but get bigger.
The birds will fly to the tree when they see how safe and strong it is.
Or the nations will flock to Zion when they see how tall it is.
We are to be the leaven in society.
If we cannot convert people directly we can at least influence the kind of world we have. We are helping to civilise and direct the world to the right end.
It is not easy to convert people, but we can at least put the truth in front of them by the way we speak and act.
A lot of our present struggle is whether the Church is leavening the world or the other way round.
Much of worldly thinking has infected the Church, eg feminism, syncretism of religions.
We have to be very clear that the Church is teacher of the world, and not the other way round.
Yes, we can learn from the world sometimes, but only as to detail, never as to basic belief and policy.
So, for example, if we have an atheist neighbour who is generous with his time and possessions, we can learn from him to be generous, but not to be an atheist.
So the Church beckons the world to come to Christ, come to the water and be saved.
The world says it doesn’t need to come anywhere. The Church in fact should move, relax its standards and apologize for past wrongs.
Then, with a vague blend of spiritual values all the world will live in peace.
But you can’t be in peace if you don’t have the basic link with truth.
Only Christ can save. There is only one God and only one Saviour.
This is the stunning simplicity of our belief.
So much more fashionable to believe in many gods without taking any of them very seriously.
This throws us back onto humanism. We decide for ourselves what is right - and we get it wrong.
If we don’t make Christ known the whole world will drown in its own ignorance. Darkness will prevail.
We must give the world what it needs. To know Christ; to come to full faith, baptism, eucharist, eternal life.
General goodwill is not enough. Tolerance is definitely not enough.
We ourselves have a lot to learn as we seek to be leaven.
In this sense the growth of the Church is in two ways: in holiness and in numbers.
We want to get bigger and we want to get better.
Certainly if we get the holiness right the numbers will rocket. It is only our lack of holiness that impedes our growth.
As the Church has always produced saints in every generation so there has been growth.
Imagine how much more that growth would be if more rank and file Catholics took the faith seriously.
If saints, instead of being one in a million, were one one in a hundred.
Why not? The grace is there; the truth is there.
Without holiness our growth in numbers will be just nominal (like higher population), but no real life.
We must get both right – be what we are supposed to be and we cannot help but get bigger.
The birds will fly to the tree when they see how safe and strong it is.
Or the nations will flock to Zion when they see how tall it is.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Tradelaide in Rex Magazine
Tradelaide blog has been featured in the new issue of Rex Magazine. If you would like to have a look, visit: www.crex.org
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Sermon for 23rd Sunday after Pentecost 12.11.06
23rd Sunday after Pentecost 12.11.06 Total trust
The Gospel presents us with two different ways of asking Our Lord for help. One man insists on His personal attendance at the scene of the trouble; one woman is content to pray just by touching, without saying a word.
Both receive what they want. We sense that the woman’s faith is stronger than the man’s, but from both we learn again that Our Lord is willing to hear our prayers, and we should keep them coming.
Our Lord is pleased whenever He encounters above average faith. He commends this woman who touched His garment. He commends the centurion who trusted that Our Lord could heal from a distance. He commends the Canaanite woman who persisted in her prayers despite apparent rejection.
He tells us to be like the importunate widow who would not give up until the unjust judge gave her what she needed.
O we of little faith are more likely to give up too soon, or expect too little of Our Lord.
We can be too tentative in our prayer, not really expecting anything good to happen.
Why do we give up so easily? There are a couple of major barriers we need to get across.
1) Lack of trust. We are not convinced enough of God’s love for us, His closeness to us, or even (sometimes) His existence.
We allow our experience of suffering and disappointment to dent our trust in God. If He would allow me to go through suffering then is He really my friend?
So we either stop praying altogether or pray only half-heartedly and sporadically.
This does not express or engender faith. If we do not ask we do not receive, or not as much anyway.
2) Lack of knowledge of God’s will. Supposing we do still trust Him to a fairly high degree. The problem can then be that we do not know what He is planning; what is His will for the particular problem we confront.
We believe He has the power to do anything; we are just not sure what He wants to do in this case. For example, a prayer for the healing of someone with a terminal illness.
So we tend to be less forthright in asking than we would like – out of a kind of deference to God’s will. Yet He does want us to ask for things. Ask and you shall receive.
He wants us to discern His will and approach Him with confidence.
It is all a matter of trust. He wants us to get so close to Him that when we pray we are not shouting across a great canyon in the hope that He might hear us, but rather whispering in intimate confidence, knowing that He does hear us.
Look at Our Lady at Cana, and how she made that prayer. She approached Jesus quietly and confidently. She did not have to shout the prayer. She did not have to explain what she meant. She just put it before Him knowing that He would be in sympathy with her feelings on the matter.
So the miracle was worked. If we need a miracle this is how to ask for it. We don’t have to make a lot of noise, but just develop an enduring sense of trust.
Come close to Him every day, and every day closer than the one before.
We do not always know what He is going to do, but we do know that it will be something good.
In many ways the state of perfect trust in God is itself the answer to the prayer. When we love Him that much we are filled with His grace and that is really better than any earthly advantage we might otherwise be seeking.
Also when we do trust Him that much our prayer is going to work much better because it will be prayed in strong faith (like the woman, the centurion, Our Lady etc).
So to advance in trust, until we reach total trust. Any lack of trust can be part of our prayer: Lord, help my unbelief.
Any previous disappointment or disenchantment with Him: ask Him to heal it, to reassure us that He has never been absent from our sides.
Then, together, we draw close, and miracles will happen.
The Gospel presents us with two different ways of asking Our Lord for help. One man insists on His personal attendance at the scene of the trouble; one woman is content to pray just by touching, without saying a word.
Both receive what they want. We sense that the woman’s faith is stronger than the man’s, but from both we learn again that Our Lord is willing to hear our prayers, and we should keep them coming.
Our Lord is pleased whenever He encounters above average faith. He commends this woman who touched His garment. He commends the centurion who trusted that Our Lord could heal from a distance. He commends the Canaanite woman who persisted in her prayers despite apparent rejection.
He tells us to be like the importunate widow who would not give up until the unjust judge gave her what she needed.
O we of little faith are more likely to give up too soon, or expect too little of Our Lord.
We can be too tentative in our prayer, not really expecting anything good to happen.
Why do we give up so easily? There are a couple of major barriers we need to get across.
1) Lack of trust. We are not convinced enough of God’s love for us, His closeness to us, or even (sometimes) His existence.
We allow our experience of suffering and disappointment to dent our trust in God. If He would allow me to go through suffering then is He really my friend?
So we either stop praying altogether or pray only half-heartedly and sporadically.
This does not express or engender faith. If we do not ask we do not receive, or not as much anyway.
2) Lack of knowledge of God’s will. Supposing we do still trust Him to a fairly high degree. The problem can then be that we do not know what He is planning; what is His will for the particular problem we confront.
We believe He has the power to do anything; we are just not sure what He wants to do in this case. For example, a prayer for the healing of someone with a terminal illness.
So we tend to be less forthright in asking than we would like – out of a kind of deference to God’s will. Yet He does want us to ask for things. Ask and you shall receive.
He wants us to discern His will and approach Him with confidence.
It is all a matter of trust. He wants us to get so close to Him that when we pray we are not shouting across a great canyon in the hope that He might hear us, but rather whispering in intimate confidence, knowing that He does hear us.
Look at Our Lady at Cana, and how she made that prayer. She approached Jesus quietly and confidently. She did not have to shout the prayer. She did not have to explain what she meant. She just put it before Him knowing that He would be in sympathy with her feelings on the matter.
So the miracle was worked. If we need a miracle this is how to ask for it. We don’t have to make a lot of noise, but just develop an enduring sense of trust.
Come close to Him every day, and every day closer than the one before.
We do not always know what He is going to do, but we do know that it will be something good.
In many ways the state of perfect trust in God is itself the answer to the prayer. When we love Him that much we are filled with His grace and that is really better than any earthly advantage we might otherwise be seeking.
Also when we do trust Him that much our prayer is going to work much better because it will be prayed in strong faith (like the woman, the centurion, Our Lady etc).
So to advance in trust, until we reach total trust. Any lack of trust can be part of our prayer: Lord, help my unbelief.
Any previous disappointment or disenchantment with Him: ask Him to heal it, to reassure us that He has never been absent from our sides.
Then, together, we draw close, and miracles will happen.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Sermon for wedding Steven and Louise 4.11.06
Steven Zollo and Louise Donohue 4.11.06
It is good to marry in the Church because here we are able to get to the source and meaning of what marriage really is.
In this place we are acknowledging that it is God Himself who has invented, established marriage.
Only if we go back to Him can we get the full picture, can we understand exactly what marriage is and what it requires.
Why did God invent marriage? To make His own love visible and tangible.
Being creatures of flesh we need physical reassurance. To be told that ‘God loves us’ is good, but it may seem a bit abstract or remote.
He knows that so He gives us love in forms we can understand and appreciate.
He uses human love to mediate His divine love.
There are many forms of human love but of them all marriage is the most intimate and the most intense.
So especially in marriage does Almighty God mediate His divine love to the couple, through each other.
The couple’s love for each other becomes a sign and a sharing in God’s love for each of them.
Their love and fidelity would demonstrate God’s much greater love and fidelity.
As well God has instituted marriage for new life. In this way new children will be born for His kingdom. He claims the children as His own.
Steven and Louise can do all this – with His help.
They know their need for His help and have committed themselves to seeking Him in preparation for this marriage.
They know also that it is not only today they must pray but every day. And we, as we pray for them, must not end the prayer with this wedding, but keep them in continuous prayer.
We pray for good fruit to come from this marriage.
The most obvious fruit of marriage is children, and we pray that they come.
Other fruits are things like stability for society, hospitality, service to the Church and community.
Steven and Louise, if you succeed you will be doing us all a favour. You will be establishing one place in this world where there is love and peace.
In a world where there is so much trouble and alienation, we will be able to point to your house and say, There is one place where love can be found, where God is enthroned.
So we pray that it be so, and God will bless you in every way.
We take the chance to pray for all marriages, for all who are married or who will marry, that they will grasp the plan of God in establishing marriage and will live by His will.
Marriage will make sense only when we include God in the picture.
May He continue to show His divine love through human love.
It is good to marry in the Church because here we are able to get to the source and meaning of what marriage really is.
In this place we are acknowledging that it is God Himself who has invented, established marriage.
Only if we go back to Him can we get the full picture, can we understand exactly what marriage is and what it requires.
Why did God invent marriage? To make His own love visible and tangible.
Being creatures of flesh we need physical reassurance. To be told that ‘God loves us’ is good, but it may seem a bit abstract or remote.
He knows that so He gives us love in forms we can understand and appreciate.
He uses human love to mediate His divine love.
There are many forms of human love but of them all marriage is the most intimate and the most intense.
So especially in marriage does Almighty God mediate His divine love to the couple, through each other.
The couple’s love for each other becomes a sign and a sharing in God’s love for each of them.
Their love and fidelity would demonstrate God’s much greater love and fidelity.
As well God has instituted marriage for new life. In this way new children will be born for His kingdom. He claims the children as His own.
Steven and Louise can do all this – with His help.
They know their need for His help and have committed themselves to seeking Him in preparation for this marriage.
They know also that it is not only today they must pray but every day. And we, as we pray for them, must not end the prayer with this wedding, but keep them in continuous prayer.
We pray for good fruit to come from this marriage.
The most obvious fruit of marriage is children, and we pray that they come.
Other fruits are things like stability for society, hospitality, service to the Church and community.
Steven and Louise, if you succeed you will be doing us all a favour. You will be establishing one place in this world where there is love and peace.
In a world where there is so much trouble and alienation, we will be able to point to your house and say, There is one place where love can be found, where God is enthroned.
So we pray that it be so, and God will bless you in every way.
We take the chance to pray for all marriages, for all who are married or who will marry, that they will grasp the plan of God in establishing marriage and will live by His will.
Marriage will make sense only when we include God in the picture.
May He continue to show His divine love through human love.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Sermon for 22nd Sunday after Pentecost 5.11.06
22nd Sunday after Pentecost 5.11.06 Purgatory
If a disaster struck and we were surrounded on all sides by sick and dying people, we would try to look after them, would we not?
The motivation in such a case would be the highly visible and audible suffering which we could not escape even if we wanted to.
We just could not ignore people lying all about us and moaning in pain.
What we are doing on All Souls Day, and whenever we pray for the dead, is precisely the same thing.
We are helping people who are helpless; people who are moaning in pain and in dire need of whatever help we can give.
It is not so easy to maintain the motivation in this case because we cannot see or hear their distress.
It is so easy to forget the dead – forget at least their distress . We remember those we love, but even then do we think to pray for them?
We might be more conscious of our own pain in missing them, but what of their pain as they experience the purifying fire of purgatory?
Part of the problem today is the assumption that many make of instant entry to heaven.
Read the funeral notices or go to a funeral and there will always be a very clear statement that the deceased person has gone to heaven and is already enjoying eternal bliss.
It may be so, but it is likely that most people would spend some time in Purgatory before they move on to Heaven.
And Purgatory, by all the teachings of the Church and the witness of the saints and mystics – is a painful place.
Yes there is the joy of knowing that salvation is assured, but there is also the intense pain of being purified from every sin and every kind of sin we have committed in life.
We see in all its clarity our own grubbiness in the light of God’s glory. It is, we can imagine, like being embarrassed or humiliated, only a hundred times worse than we have experienced on earth.
So there is pain in purgatory. We might think the dead do not need to worry because they will be released. But think if you were trapped in a ditch and people were passing by. You know eventually you will be released, but you are still suffering while you are in that position.
What if everyone said to you: Don’t worry, pal, someone will get you out one day – but noone actually did get you out and you were still there a hundred years later.
Some of the suffering souls must feel like that.
In the Church there has been a marked decrease in prayer for the dead – due in part to the assumption of an easy heaven, and in part due to a decline in any sort of prayer.
We must do our bit. We are surrounded on all sides by people in distress. It’s bad enough on earth but we have this other world where there may be millions of people trapped in the state of sin in which they died and they need us to pull them out of the ‘ditch’.
We don’t know who is in purgatory, and we are not sure whom we are helping with our prayers, but we do know we are helping someone, and that is enough motivation.
It is a work of mercy to pray for the dead and we may need someone to do the same for us.
(Though in our case we will take the lesson that we will try to be purified before we die, not after).
To keep the motivation just see in your mind that people are being relieved and released from pain when you pray for them, and the more you pray the more this is happening.
We can forget them because we cannot hear their cries, so we make a special effort to keep them always in mind.
If a disaster struck and we were surrounded on all sides by sick and dying people, we would try to look after them, would we not?
The motivation in such a case would be the highly visible and audible suffering which we could not escape even if we wanted to.
We just could not ignore people lying all about us and moaning in pain.
What we are doing on All Souls Day, and whenever we pray for the dead, is precisely the same thing.
We are helping people who are helpless; people who are moaning in pain and in dire need of whatever help we can give.
It is not so easy to maintain the motivation in this case because we cannot see or hear their distress.
It is so easy to forget the dead – forget at least their distress . We remember those we love, but even then do we think to pray for them?
We might be more conscious of our own pain in missing them, but what of their pain as they experience the purifying fire of purgatory?
Part of the problem today is the assumption that many make of instant entry to heaven.
Read the funeral notices or go to a funeral and there will always be a very clear statement that the deceased person has gone to heaven and is already enjoying eternal bliss.
It may be so, but it is likely that most people would spend some time in Purgatory before they move on to Heaven.
And Purgatory, by all the teachings of the Church and the witness of the saints and mystics – is a painful place.
Yes there is the joy of knowing that salvation is assured, but there is also the intense pain of being purified from every sin and every kind of sin we have committed in life.
We see in all its clarity our own grubbiness in the light of God’s glory. It is, we can imagine, like being embarrassed or humiliated, only a hundred times worse than we have experienced on earth.
So there is pain in purgatory. We might think the dead do not need to worry because they will be released. But think if you were trapped in a ditch and people were passing by. You know eventually you will be released, but you are still suffering while you are in that position.
What if everyone said to you: Don’t worry, pal, someone will get you out one day – but noone actually did get you out and you were still there a hundred years later.
Some of the suffering souls must feel like that.
In the Church there has been a marked decrease in prayer for the dead – due in part to the assumption of an easy heaven, and in part due to a decline in any sort of prayer.
We must do our bit. We are surrounded on all sides by people in distress. It’s bad enough on earth but we have this other world where there may be millions of people trapped in the state of sin in which they died and they need us to pull them out of the ‘ditch’.
We don’t know who is in purgatory, and we are not sure whom we are helping with our prayers, but we do know we are helping someone, and that is enough motivation.
It is a work of mercy to pray for the dead and we may need someone to do the same for us.
(Though in our case we will take the lesson that we will try to be purified before we die, not after).
To keep the motivation just see in your mind that people are being relieved and released from pain when you pray for them, and the more you pray the more this is happening.
We can forget them because we cannot hear their cries, so we make a special effort to keep them always in mind.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
20th Sunday after Pentecost 22.10.06 Praying for rain (and other things)
Australia is in the grip of a drought. As people of faith we know what we have to do when we come across a crisis. Whatever practical steps we might take we must also and always pray. Pray to Almighty God to rain down His blessings on us.
Rain in particular is a natural thing to pray for because it symbolises so perfectly God’s bountiful mercy. The sacred scriptures often use rain as an image as well as a practical expression of God’s goodness.
Australia is a barren country anyway. From a Christian viewpoint we would say barren in two senses – not much rain and not much faith.
Drought is therefore not surprising if we understand the symbolism that God can withhold His blessings when a people does not pay Him proper attention.
The prophet Elijah had the power to close and open the heavens according to his judgment of the faith status of Israel. What would Elijah say about Australia in 2006?
Is God punishing Australia? Very likely.
What about the innocent people who are doing the right thing (in which number we hope to be considered)? It often happens that the innocent have to carry some of the burden of the guilty (look at world wars for example).
If we are innocent then drought (or any adversity) can be offered by us as atonement for the sins of the nation. We accept the suffering and pray that it will end as soon as possible and that all of us will learn the lesson as we turn to the living God.
So we pray for rain. Can I make it rain single-handed by the power of my faith? Can you? We are not Elijahs, but we can at least make things head in the right direction.
The more of us asking for the same thing in faith, and persistently, will make the thing more likely to happen.
Having been in rural parishes the amount of rainfall was always a major topic. It commonly happened that having come out of Mass where we prayed for rain someone would say, Oh well, we can’t do anything about it can we, Father? A kind of fatalism. What will be will be.
Can’t do anything about it? What do they think prayer is for? Yes we can do something about it. Faith not fatalism.
When we pray in faith for rain (or anything else) we are activating the grace and mercy of God to fall on us like rain (and in this case actual rain).
We don’t always know God’s will. If, for example, He is punishing Australia with this drought He may not wish to break it immediately. But we pray in that case that the need for punishment cease – that is, that Australians repent. And that in the meantime we bear well with the suffering, with the consolation of His grace.
In any case, whether we know what is going to happen or not, we just keep praying because praying will always improve the overall situation. It will bring us closer to God for one thing, and that is always of paramount importance.
The closer we are to Him the better everything else will work.
This is what Our Lord was conveying in today’s Gospel. It was not so much whether He would heal this person or that person. He had enough power to heal everyone.
What concerned Him more was that people did not have faith; did not love God; did not trust Him; would not draw close to Him in confidence.
With a living faith we come to Jesus with every need, large or small, and we entrust the outcome to Him. We trust in Him rather than the desired outcome.
Whether it rains or not God is still God, and the more we acknowledge that, the more likely it is to rain (or any other blessing to happen).
Australia is in the grip of a drought. As people of faith we know what we have to do when we come across a crisis. Whatever practical steps we might take we must also and always pray. Pray to Almighty God to rain down His blessings on us.
Rain in particular is a natural thing to pray for because it symbolises so perfectly God’s bountiful mercy. The sacred scriptures often use rain as an image as well as a practical expression of God’s goodness.
Australia is a barren country anyway. From a Christian viewpoint we would say barren in two senses – not much rain and not much faith.
Drought is therefore not surprising if we understand the symbolism that God can withhold His blessings when a people does not pay Him proper attention.
The prophet Elijah had the power to close and open the heavens according to his judgment of the faith status of Israel. What would Elijah say about Australia in 2006?
Is God punishing Australia? Very likely.
What about the innocent people who are doing the right thing (in which number we hope to be considered)? It often happens that the innocent have to carry some of the burden of the guilty (look at world wars for example).
If we are innocent then drought (or any adversity) can be offered by us as atonement for the sins of the nation. We accept the suffering and pray that it will end as soon as possible and that all of us will learn the lesson as we turn to the living God.
So we pray for rain. Can I make it rain single-handed by the power of my faith? Can you? We are not Elijahs, but we can at least make things head in the right direction.
The more of us asking for the same thing in faith, and persistently, will make the thing more likely to happen.
Having been in rural parishes the amount of rainfall was always a major topic. It commonly happened that having come out of Mass where we prayed for rain someone would say, Oh well, we can’t do anything about it can we, Father? A kind of fatalism. What will be will be.
Can’t do anything about it? What do they think prayer is for? Yes we can do something about it. Faith not fatalism.
When we pray in faith for rain (or anything else) we are activating the grace and mercy of God to fall on us like rain (and in this case actual rain).
We don’t always know God’s will. If, for example, He is punishing Australia with this drought He may not wish to break it immediately. But we pray in that case that the need for punishment cease – that is, that Australians repent. And that in the meantime we bear well with the suffering, with the consolation of His grace.
In any case, whether we know what is going to happen or not, we just keep praying because praying will always improve the overall situation. It will bring us closer to God for one thing, and that is always of paramount importance.
The closer we are to Him the better everything else will work.
This is what Our Lord was conveying in today’s Gospel. It was not so much whether He would heal this person or that person. He had enough power to heal everyone.
What concerned Him more was that people did not have faith; did not love God; did not trust Him; would not draw close to Him in confidence.
With a living faith we come to Jesus with every need, large or small, and we entrust the outcome to Him. We trust in Him rather than the desired outcome.
Whether it rains or not God is still God, and the more we acknowledge that, the more likely it is to rain (or any other blessing to happen).
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Sermon for 19th Sunday after Pentecost 15.10.06
19th Sunday after Pentecost 15.10.06 Reward and Punishment
The Gospel gives the double message of invitation to the banquet and then conformity once inside the banquet.
It shows forth a tension which is always present in Catholic life and preaching.
On the one hand we present the Good News of God’s mercy and the possibility of eternal life to all who want it, a free and abundant gift, lavished on all who receive it.
When we hear that we feel good but just when we start to have some vision of eternal bliss we hear the other message that we have to behave ourselves or the whole thing will be taken from us and we will be cast into the darkness!
So are we happy because of the promise or miserable because of the warning, or some mixture of the two?
Catholic preaching and teaching has always had to give due weight to both of these perspectives.
The carrot of eternal reward, and the stick of eternal punishment.
Many have strayed, either from assuming the reward is so easy to attain that it does not require any response; or from being so depressed at the thought of punishment that they accept it as inevitable. (The twin perils of Presumption and Despair)
We must sail in between these two extremes, and have a healthy hope of salvation (overcoming despair) but realizing we are not saved automatically having to ‘work out our salvation in fear and trembling’ (overcoming presumption).
This means, in terms of today’s parable, that we must first accept the invitation – instantly and gladly. Then we must do all that is required to stay in close union with God, working in the vineyard, persevering in holiness the rest of our lives.
Accept the invitation: It means to believe there is something better than this life and this world the way it is.
It means to look beyond earthly pleasures and ambitions for our ultimate fulfilment. We are looking to a banquet that will satisfy without making us feel bloated and weary, a banquet of eternal delights. Our appetite will always be active and at the same time will always be satisfied.
It means recognizing the Good News as the one piece of news that really does lift us above the normal dreary daily round. It takes us into a higher dimension, and so calls forth a radical response from us.
To accept the invitation to the banquet means we do not just turn up but actively and fully engage with all that it means.
And this leads to the second part; that having arrived here we must put on the wedding garment. We must conform to all that is expected of us as members of this new kingdom, discovering this new way of life.
This could sound like something tedious (you have to work for your keep), but in reality it is a delight to do the will of God, to discover in fulfilling our obligations that God is sweet to the taste and a delight to serve.
My yoke is easy and My burden light.
In practice we are probably a bit of both. We can move away from the fear of punishment and the emphasis thereon, as we take up the positive motivation of serving God out of love, and the reward that flows from that.
We can fear the devil like we fear a shark. I know I will not be eaten by a shark if I swim between the flags etc. So, I am aware of the devil but I will not let him get me.
While never forgetting the awful possibility of punishment, the knowledge of God and the blessed hope of reward will flood our souls and keep us on the right path. We shall, with St Paul, finish the race and claim an eternal wreath.
The Gospel gives the double message of invitation to the banquet and then conformity once inside the banquet.
It shows forth a tension which is always present in Catholic life and preaching.
On the one hand we present the Good News of God’s mercy and the possibility of eternal life to all who want it, a free and abundant gift, lavished on all who receive it.
When we hear that we feel good but just when we start to have some vision of eternal bliss we hear the other message that we have to behave ourselves or the whole thing will be taken from us and we will be cast into the darkness!
So are we happy because of the promise or miserable because of the warning, or some mixture of the two?
Catholic preaching and teaching has always had to give due weight to both of these perspectives.
The carrot of eternal reward, and the stick of eternal punishment.
Many have strayed, either from assuming the reward is so easy to attain that it does not require any response; or from being so depressed at the thought of punishment that they accept it as inevitable. (The twin perils of Presumption and Despair)
We must sail in between these two extremes, and have a healthy hope of salvation (overcoming despair) but realizing we are not saved automatically having to ‘work out our salvation in fear and trembling’ (overcoming presumption).
This means, in terms of today’s parable, that we must first accept the invitation – instantly and gladly. Then we must do all that is required to stay in close union with God, working in the vineyard, persevering in holiness the rest of our lives.
Accept the invitation: It means to believe there is something better than this life and this world the way it is.
It means to look beyond earthly pleasures and ambitions for our ultimate fulfilment. We are looking to a banquet that will satisfy without making us feel bloated and weary, a banquet of eternal delights. Our appetite will always be active and at the same time will always be satisfied.
It means recognizing the Good News as the one piece of news that really does lift us above the normal dreary daily round. It takes us into a higher dimension, and so calls forth a radical response from us.
To accept the invitation to the banquet means we do not just turn up but actively and fully engage with all that it means.
And this leads to the second part; that having arrived here we must put on the wedding garment. We must conform to all that is expected of us as members of this new kingdom, discovering this new way of life.
This could sound like something tedious (you have to work for your keep), but in reality it is a delight to do the will of God, to discover in fulfilling our obligations that God is sweet to the taste and a delight to serve.
My yoke is easy and My burden light.
In practice we are probably a bit of both. We can move away from the fear of punishment and the emphasis thereon, as we take up the positive motivation of serving God out of love, and the reward that flows from that.
We can fear the devil like we fear a shark. I know I will not be eaten by a shark if I swim between the flags etc. So, I am aware of the devil but I will not let him get me.
While never forgetting the awful possibility of punishment, the knowledge of God and the blessed hope of reward will flood our souls and keep us on the right path. We shall, with St Paul, finish the race and claim an eternal wreath.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Sermon for 18th Sunday after Pentecost 8.10.06
18th Sunday after Pentecost 8.10.06 Forgiveness
Our Lord heals both body and soul as He raises the paralytic and forgives his sins.
It takes more authority and power to forgive sins than it does to heal the body. Any doctor can attempt healing and often succeed, but who can forgive sins?
Only God. Because all sin is an offence against Him He has the right to determine how to deal with that sin.
So Our Lord, demonstrating His divinity and His infinite authority tells this man he is forgiven, and so he is.
He demonstrates the power at work by raising the man’s body physically. He is made well again, all deformity removed.
So sin deforms the soul and needs to be removed.
We are ‘raised up’ from our sickbeds every time we experience the mercy of God.
Raised up in two senses: 1) that we are in better spiritual health and 2) that we are raised beyond the power of that sin to hurt us again – we will not (need not) commit that sin again.
It is one thing to receive mercy (not difficult). Quite another to ‘retain’ that mercy, so that we do not lose it and fall back into sin. This is much harder.
Easy to say we are sorry. Easy to be sorry. But so hard not to do it again.
How can we get stronger at retaining mercy, so that it works in our soul for healing and we become immune to that sin or tempation to which we have succumbed.
We say in the act of Contrition that we will not sin again. Yet when we go to Confession we are probably confessing the same sins over and over.
What went wrong? How can we fix the leak in the spiritual system that lets the grace escape and leaves us back where we were before?
The main thing is to believe that change is possible. We might think we are so weak that we will certainly commit the same sin again.
Yes we are weak, but someone else is strong. It is by the grace of God that we hope not to sin again. It is His strength we draw upon.
And it is something of an insult to Him to say that we cannot change when He Himself is changing us!
We are weak but we become less weak as we are exposed to His grace. What seemed impossible now becomes achievable.
We might have thought of Confession as a carwash where we clean the car but fully expect the car to get dirty again, and we come back next week, or month etc. There is no change to our behaviour; we just come back every week and get washed.
But Confession is not a carwash. It is more like going back to the factory where we are remodelled and made into a brand new car. I don’t wash the car; I get a new one each week!
The Sacrament of Confession is an encounter with the Son of God, the One who has power over both body and soul; the One who has authority and power to forgive, to raise up so there is no falling back.
Is it cruel of God to expect us to be perfect? No more than the doctor is cruel in trying to heal us. God can see that our sin is a deformity. He simply removes that deformity. How can it be cruel to make us into something better than before?
His mercy is curative as well as liberating. It is a complete cure. You will never even want to sin again once you open your heart to this mercy. And you will not sin again.
It may need more than one confession to get this right, but each confession is part of the process of total cure. Rise up, take up your mat and walk! Go, and sin no more!
Our Lord heals both body and soul as He raises the paralytic and forgives his sins.
It takes more authority and power to forgive sins than it does to heal the body. Any doctor can attempt healing and often succeed, but who can forgive sins?
Only God. Because all sin is an offence against Him He has the right to determine how to deal with that sin.
So Our Lord, demonstrating His divinity and His infinite authority tells this man he is forgiven, and so he is.
He demonstrates the power at work by raising the man’s body physically. He is made well again, all deformity removed.
So sin deforms the soul and needs to be removed.
We are ‘raised up’ from our sickbeds every time we experience the mercy of God.
Raised up in two senses: 1) that we are in better spiritual health and 2) that we are raised beyond the power of that sin to hurt us again – we will not (need not) commit that sin again.
It is one thing to receive mercy (not difficult). Quite another to ‘retain’ that mercy, so that we do not lose it and fall back into sin. This is much harder.
Easy to say we are sorry. Easy to be sorry. But so hard not to do it again.
How can we get stronger at retaining mercy, so that it works in our soul for healing and we become immune to that sin or tempation to which we have succumbed.
We say in the act of Contrition that we will not sin again. Yet when we go to Confession we are probably confessing the same sins over and over.
What went wrong? How can we fix the leak in the spiritual system that lets the grace escape and leaves us back where we were before?
The main thing is to believe that change is possible. We might think we are so weak that we will certainly commit the same sin again.
Yes we are weak, but someone else is strong. It is by the grace of God that we hope not to sin again. It is His strength we draw upon.
And it is something of an insult to Him to say that we cannot change when He Himself is changing us!
We are weak but we become less weak as we are exposed to His grace. What seemed impossible now becomes achievable.
We might have thought of Confession as a carwash where we clean the car but fully expect the car to get dirty again, and we come back next week, or month etc. There is no change to our behaviour; we just come back every week and get washed.
But Confession is not a carwash. It is more like going back to the factory where we are remodelled and made into a brand new car. I don’t wash the car; I get a new one each week!
The Sacrament of Confession is an encounter with the Son of God, the One who has power over both body and soul; the One who has authority and power to forgive, to raise up so there is no falling back.
Is it cruel of God to expect us to be perfect? No more than the doctor is cruel in trying to heal us. God can see that our sin is a deformity. He simply removes that deformity. How can it be cruel to make us into something better than before?
His mercy is curative as well as liberating. It is a complete cure. You will never even want to sin again once you open your heart to this mercy. And you will not sin again.
It may need more than one confession to get this right, but each confession is part of the process of total cure. Rise up, take up your mat and walk! Go, and sin no more!
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Sermon for 17th Sunday after Pentecost 1.10.06
17th Sunday after Pentecost 1.10.06 Love God and neighbour
We have to love both God and neighbour. Hard to love either, because in God’s case He is invisible and in the neighbour’s case, he is visible!
With God we find Him abstract and difficult to connect with.
Yet we can work our way towards Him and find by various paths that He is loveable (literally adorable) and we love Him spontaneously.
Of course it is a strange thing to be commanded to love something, since love seems such a personal matter.
Imagine being commanded to love spinach! Love as just a feeling does not obey commands; it either goes that way or it doesn’t.
But love as an action can respond to command, and this is what is being referred to:
Love God means to do what He says, to act according to His will, to try to please Him.
To obey the command applicable to the present moment is one way to love Him and to discover how to love Him.
When we do the right thing we receive an insight into the mind/nature of God and we come to love what we discover. There is something intrinsically good about what we discover.
The only reason the whole world does not love God is that He is difficult to locate amidst all the noise and confusion.
So people give up the search and they say: He does not exist, or He does not matter, or He is ‘out there somewhere’, cold and remote.
No, we must do better than that. We must search like the lady in the Song of Songs, go through the streets till we find Him.
When we do we will experience great rapture as everything will then fall into place.
We will find, in the famous words of St.Augustine, that our hearts are made for Him and cannot rest until they come to rest in Him.
How do we find Him? By obedience and also by prayer and reflection.
Come to where He is. Ask Him to make Himself known, and He will.
We can find Him in the help He provides in everyday matters where we see the fruits of His love. He is the mysterious benefactor that sets up the world we live in, opens doors in advance of when we reach them.
It is He who provides the sunlight, the air you breathe, the clothes you wear, the ground you walk on, the family you were born into, the brains by which you can think, the many fascinating things which attract and interest you.
It is He who has been there from the beginning of your life and will still be there at the end. It is He who fills the whole universe with His being, knowing every particle of creation and what is happening with it.
Logically of course we can reason that if God made all the people and things we love, He must be greater than they are and must therefore be even more loveable.
So if you would rather go to the football or the beach than to Church, then just consider who invented football or who created the beach.
If we can find such a Being then we have everything else as well.
So, coming logically, practically, mystically, every possible way, we arrive at this Supreme Being who is Love.
We love Love because we cannot resist.
We are being commanded to do something we cannot help doing. It is like being commanded to breathe or eat.
Only in this case we have to search a little bit before it becomes so obvious.
Every person, no matter how unlikely it might seem at first, is called to love God, and is made for that purpose more than any other.
There is a magnetic pull drawing everyone to find this perfect Love. We must not resist that pull. It is our destiny, and if we do this we will also help others to find where they belong.
We have to love both God and neighbour. Hard to love either, because in God’s case He is invisible and in the neighbour’s case, he is visible!
With God we find Him abstract and difficult to connect with.
Yet we can work our way towards Him and find by various paths that He is loveable (literally adorable) and we love Him spontaneously.
Of course it is a strange thing to be commanded to love something, since love seems such a personal matter.
Imagine being commanded to love spinach! Love as just a feeling does not obey commands; it either goes that way or it doesn’t.
But love as an action can respond to command, and this is what is being referred to:
Love God means to do what He says, to act according to His will, to try to please Him.
To obey the command applicable to the present moment is one way to love Him and to discover how to love Him.
When we do the right thing we receive an insight into the mind/nature of God and we come to love what we discover. There is something intrinsically good about what we discover.
The only reason the whole world does not love God is that He is difficult to locate amidst all the noise and confusion.
So people give up the search and they say: He does not exist, or He does not matter, or He is ‘out there somewhere’, cold and remote.
No, we must do better than that. We must search like the lady in the Song of Songs, go through the streets till we find Him.
When we do we will experience great rapture as everything will then fall into place.
We will find, in the famous words of St.Augustine, that our hearts are made for Him and cannot rest until they come to rest in Him.
How do we find Him? By obedience and also by prayer and reflection.
Come to where He is. Ask Him to make Himself known, and He will.
We can find Him in the help He provides in everyday matters where we see the fruits of His love. He is the mysterious benefactor that sets up the world we live in, opens doors in advance of when we reach them.
It is He who provides the sunlight, the air you breathe, the clothes you wear, the ground you walk on, the family you were born into, the brains by which you can think, the many fascinating things which attract and interest you.
It is He who has been there from the beginning of your life and will still be there at the end. It is He who fills the whole universe with His being, knowing every particle of creation and what is happening with it.
Logically of course we can reason that if God made all the people and things we love, He must be greater than they are and must therefore be even more loveable.
So if you would rather go to the football or the beach than to Church, then just consider who invented football or who created the beach.
If we can find such a Being then we have everything else as well.
So, coming logically, practically, mystically, every possible way, we arrive at this Supreme Being who is Love.
We love Love because we cannot resist.
We are being commanded to do something we cannot help doing. It is like being commanded to breathe or eat.
Only in this case we have to search a little bit before it becomes so obvious.
Every person, no matter how unlikely it might seem at first, is called to love God, and is made for that purpose more than any other.
There is a magnetic pull drawing everyone to find this perfect Love. We must not resist that pull. It is our destiny, and if we do this we will also help others to find where they belong.
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