3rd Sunday of Advent 15 December 2024 Sermon

 3rd Sunday of Advent 15 December 2024  Recapturing joy

At times we  have some joyful experiences in life, such as wedding days, passing exams,  winning a grand final - and we wish those feelings of joy could stay always, but unfortunately the joy fades away.

Imagine you were present at Bethlehem at the first Christmas, or at the empty tomb the first Easter, and how good that must have felt. Yet even these joys faded somewhat with time, and the people involved had to deal with other problems – such as divisions in the Church.

Yesterday’s miracle can seem like old news if we let it. 

If the joy of something fades it does not necessarily mean the experience has disappeared; it may just have sunk down deeper;  still there, but not as easy to identify. It does not mean we have lost our faith, just that the emotional support is not always there.

God wants us to learn how to trust Him; to walk by faith not by sight  (2 Co 5,7).

The whole history of the Church is there for us to draw upon and find the strength we need now. Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. We have the Bible,  creeds, councils, popes, saints - they all sustain us if we turn to them.  

We are glad these events happened, but how to connect with them so that they have their full effect? 

We do not let the passing of time dim our enthusiasm. The reason we gather on a Sunday is to recapture the Sunday that Jesus rose from the dead, and the Sunday that the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles.

The people were excited then; they can be excited now. Sometimes we will feel it; all the time we will believe it.

And the more we believe, the more we are going to see signs of victorious activity around us. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe (Jn 20,29).

Our repetition of prayers and sacraments should work to cement our faith more fully.

We believed it in the past, so we believe it now, and always.

The passing of time is one thing. What about when things happen which are decidedly non -joyful.  Rejoice always does not mean we are happy about bad things that happen. What we are glad about is that Christ is Risen, and all the connected themes that go with that.

If even one thing that we believe is true we have enough joy for the whole world and for all time. If one part of the chain is true, then so is the whole chain. 

There are many things going on but front and centre there is Jesus Christ, and I belong to Him; my life is based on Him, and He lives in me. This is what I am happy about. 

The sorrow is real, but we do not dwell in it, or on it, but reclaim the joy that never expires;  and sometimes at least the feelings will come along too; but with or without them we have the basic truth which sets us free (Jn 8,31-32).

Every day we can reaffirm who we are, what we are, where we have come from, where we are going. We check in with God to get all those things back in the right place and when balanced correctly we must be happy.

All praise to Jesus Christ, born, died, risen and coming again.  

2nd Sunday of Advent (C) 8 September 2024 Sermon

2nd Sunday of Advent (C)        8 December 2024 Salvation

Prepare ye the way of the lord… a levelling out of what is crooked can be taken in different ways.

There is what God does for us, and what we need to do in response to Him - which is to repent; and then keep that repentance in view as we purify our lives of all that is unworthy of disciples of Christ. We do not grasp for too much but travel light on our pilgrim way.

God rescues us by leading us to true sorrow for sin and a continuous learning of what He wants to reveal to us.

God wants to take us a long way, probably a lot further than we would have sought for ourselves.

Consider, you are on a raft at sea, in great danger. A boat comes by and rescues you. There is gratitude about being saved from such a predicament. This is ‘salvation’ to a point, but if I was a greedy grasping person while I was on the raft, I will still be greedy and grasping when I am safely on the boat. I still need more saving, to get my character right.

Salvation, divine style, is when we go that extra step and seek inner healing, the forgiveness and healing of all that is wrong in our thoughts and attitudes. This is what comes out of my mouth and what actions I do. It is from within (Mk 7,21-23) Our Lord says, that good or evil things come, not from external rituals.

If we get the interior right the external behaviour will match accordingly. Blessed are the peacemakers etc 

People generally stop too short of the kind of self-renewal that is needed. 

Some will say that we must take people as they are. Yes, but that does not rule out correcting faults. Self-acceptance means I am called to belong to Gods family; healing of faults will restore me to Gods family and give me a strong sense of belonging.

We participate in our own salvation. To be saved I have to face my own contribution to the problem. I cannot just put all the blame onto others, or the ‘system’.

It will take more than  education or discussion; I need to be right with God.

Some will declare victory too soon. ‘I have met the Lord; I am saved’ It is  a good start but there is a long way to go.

On the other hand, we can become cynical about life and people, doubting they can ever change for the better. But we have some strong anti-cynicism medicine in our prayer and sacraments!

The levelling of the countryside means the removal of obstacles. We can take a fresh approach to reaching God's kingdom.

He will clear away obstacles in our path, and we will do the same for Him.

He will enable us to see things in a new light and that will give us motivation to do things differently.

We will make it easier for him to save us if we do not resist. The one sheep could run away from the good shepherd. People generally resist God's efforts to save them. Unless they hit rock bottom like the prodigal son.

We will not get a completely straight run in this life, but we can make it easier than it has been so far.

Prepare the way of the Lord!

1st Sunday of Advent 1 December 2024 Sermon

1st Sunday of advent 1 December 2024 Stages of growth

The season of Advent tends to be somewhat swamped by Christmas, as most Christmas events are celebrated before Christmas Day arrives.

We still have the Advent liturgy, however, and that keeps us in our place as far as needing to prepare for Christmas, and not just stumble into it.

The Advent readings take us the full range of time, from distant future to distant past, as we contemplate the infinite power and goodness of God.

All time is in God’s hands, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. We squeeze in there somewhere; small as we are we will not be overlooked.

The Advent season, coming over four weeks gives us a sense of progression from one stage to the next. Think of the Advent wreath as an accumulation of desire on our part, desiring the Lord more each week than the week before. And this of course can go all year, as we grow in our love of God from one time to the next.

As it has been observed, how can we be afraid to meet the Lord if we profess to love Him?

We do not usually fear those we love. So, it is put to us in today’s Gospel that we should go out to meet the Lord with our heads held high. To be able to do that we need to ask Him to draw us along, teaching us, forgiving us, generally maintaining us. He will be no stranger to us when we meet Him on the Last Day.

We are commanded to love God. That it needs to be a command is to help us get used to the idea. But when we love Him enough, we will not need to be told to love Him. The love will flow naturally. It will come with prayer and sacraments as we realize Gods progressive goodness to us.

God knows we cannot take in much at a time, so He reveals His plans gradually, stretching over thousands of years and many generations. 

So, are we progressing in the love of God? We love what is loveable; once we break through initial reserve we will see much more.

We must do some basic things to help this along, such as attend Mass. Get the little things right and the big ones will follow.

We will shed earthly attachments as we do this. Thus, we de-clutter the way; we live simple and good lives, with all the various virtues emerging as needed. Make straight the way of the Lord. 

Many see the Church and religion in general as a kind of drag. Not if we get into the right understanding. A lot of it may be unfamiliar but we get to like it. 

Ask a child who plays in the back yard. Ask him if he would like to be still doing that in ten years’ time. He would probably say yes, but ask him in ten years and he would not want to go back. 

And that in a nutshell is our situation. We don’t know the layout of where we are going, but we do know it is better than here; and we will be better people there than we are here.

The four weeks of Advent symbolise a continuous movement towards eternity. 

May we never stop loving God or seeking more.

In the meantime, let this be the best Advent and best Christmas ever! 

Christ The King 24 November 2024 Sermon

Christ the King 24 November 2024 Two kinds of King

Christ can be seen in different lights. He is humble, taking blows and insults, yet all the while He had the power to crush those mistreating Him. He showed another kind of power in restraining Himself.

Consider Ph 2,6 that He did not cling to his divinity but humbled Himself to become like us.

This feast celebrates His greatness, infinite goodness and power. It also acknowledges His humility stemming from love which motivates His actions.

Christ can be seen in both lights - glorious and sorrowful.

We can admire and respond to both aspects.  As to the sorrowful, we are grateful that He has not annihilated us many times over. Just because He does not punish straight away, people take liberties.

At Fatima, when people though the sun was falling on them, they became very contrite!

Most days there are no major disturbances, so it is easy to put off any spiritual aspirations.

We cannot make light of our sins just because there may be no obvious punishment. God does take sin seriously, serious enough to die for.

We can imitate Him in His humility if not His greatness. And He wants us to do that.  And that will enable us to discover our true human nature, as originally in the design of God’s holy will.

Unless we see signs and wonders we will not believe (Jn 4,48). We start doubting God if we slacken in our awareness of His past miracles. We have 2000 years to call upon, plus another 2000 years in the Old Testament.  We have to assimilate what has been already and draw strength from that.

Eventually, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Ph 2,10-11).

We can anticipate His glorious return, and we get to know Him that way too. We worship God for His goodness; this is one of the reasons He created us.

If we bring ourselves under His providence we will blossom, and so prepare for eternal life. 

This double aspect of Christ’s kingship can be applied also at world level.

The kings of the world have often misbehaved in their exercise of authority.

They have tried to rule with power, without worrying too much about being humble first. They just charged in and took what they thought was theirs.

Often using brute force to stay in power, they missed the point entirely. A king is there to serve His people, enhancing his own dignity because he is following in the steps of Christ.

There have been some saintly monarchs, and we honour them. They have put into practice the example that Our Lord has established.

His model of leadership is what all nations should be doing, instead of fighting each other.

Many would be too cynical to try Christian humility against the weapons of the worldHumility has never caught on fully, and certainly not lately in world affairs.

This is why Christians have been martyred in such numbers, because violence has been for so many the main way of operating.

Try instead submission to God’s way, and there will be a lasting peace.

In the meantime, we have to be prepared to be treated about the same as Our Lord was treated. 

If we identify with our King, we will be prepared to do as He does. Not for us the luxuries of royal life, but more like the combat of soldiers in the heat of battle.

Christ will prevail in both aspects. His glory will shine out in full, and His humble charity will be our motivation.  

Long live Christ the King!

33rd Sunday Ordinary Time 17 November 2024 Sermon

 33rd Sunday Ordinary Time 17 November 2024 Readiness

There are two things that we need to get right -  one is to be ready for the coming of Christ when He comes on the Last Day. The other is to be ready today and every day to be doing the will of God, living according to His will. Readiness for one should help with the other. 

We are ready if we are on good terms with the Master, such that His sudden appearance would not startle us too much. We make sure we are in a state of grace (free from grave sin); generally living good lives.  We can do this with His help, and we call constantly for that help.

We express our desire to meet the Saviour every day of the year, greater and lesser days. Most days do not look like the end of the world but we still find a place for what will end certainly, and might end suddenly.  

It is mostly little things we do yet there is a sense of urgency about getting those things right. To live in such a way is to have a good chance of earthly happiness, and also of reaching other people, to convince them that they too should be ready for the Master to return.

Procrastination is not helpful here. One might have a sense of getting around to it eventually. 

I will start praying and go back to church but not yet. It is always possible to put if off another day. But, says St Paul Now is the acceptable day (2 Co 6,2).

The end of the world, or the end of one person’s life – they can both come suddenly, and we have to keep both of them in mind.

It is easy to give all our attention to other matters, so this is why the word of God comes through the Bible and the teachings of the Church to remind us of the real perspective on time.

In our time and place  most people do not worry about religious matters, but this is a false calm before the storm. There are questions each person must face, and we need to get that right before we die, not after. We need to be – everyone needs to be – ready to meet the Saviour.

He does not want us to be afraid of Him, and we will not be if we have developed the habit of living with Him, according to His will.

As His disciples we should be seeking to please Him, not out of fear but love.

We seek to please Him for His own sake, not just because He is the boss or the landlord.

He wants more from us than to be servants, or employees. He calls us friends, or disciples, a more intimate connection.

Some things change, like fashion and food and language and a lot of things. But things of the spiritual order do not change. They remain fixed as regards how we interact with God. Things like the commandments: thou shalt or shalt not do those things. No amount of time can make these things less important.

We seek to please God for His own sake, but fortunately that will have the effect of making it more certain that we will stay faithful to the end; and also gives us more chance to influence others to make necessary changes in their lives.

And this will offer hope to people who generally do not have much. Let’s all be ready for the coming of Christ, and all that comes with that event.

32nd Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 10 November 2024 Sermon

 32nd Sunday Ordinary Time  (B) 10 November 2024 Generosity

The woman gave more than the others because she gave more of herself. It was ‘all she had,’ whereas the rich could give plenty, but they still had a lot in reserve.

It was the same story with the widow in Elijah’s time (first reading). She was preparing what she thought was her last meal, and yet was willing to share it with the prophet. To make matters worse the prophet insisted that she feed him first – a clear hint to us about whether we give first place to God or to ourselves.

To be people who give rather than take. God is Love. The essence of Love is to give without counting the cost. God gives of Himself within the Blessed Trinity, and then extends that out to us, giving of Himself to us in His healing, forgiving, comforting, strengthening etc.

It is not the amount we give but the attitude with which we give it.

This is why a poorer person could give more than a rich one – because he has an attitude of giving. The willingness to give defines his humanity and brings Him close to the Heart of God. When God became human it was generosity that was one of His clearest attributes.

He was generous to the point of death, and this was ‘while we were still sinners’ (Rom 5,8-9).

It is then up to us whether we learn the lesson – in some ways a lifelong lesson.

If we do have a generous attitude, we will receive a hundredfold in return (Mk 10,30) we will have discovered the key to the whole business.

Generous to neighbour, but first to God, in gratitude and obedience.

God will know if we mean it or not, and He will help us to mean it, by implanting His grace – His giving nature. We cannot measure spiritual qualities like purity of the heart, but we can always do things which will increase that quality – such as prayer, such as risking generosity and seeing what happens.

The cynical will deny that true goodness is possible, dismissing it as unrealistic and unattainable, grasping meanwhile for what they can get and keep. We learn instead from the evangelical simplicity of Our Lord, and other saints through the ages who were nearly always in material poverty yet knowing spiritual joy. 

While we want to reduce poverty, we want even more to bring about a change of heart for the better in each person. 

So, we resist the temptation to dismiss generosity as impractical, and we turn to the Lord in prayer to derive every necessary grace from Him. The widow’s food did not run out, and nor will ours if we take this path. God will give us our daily bread, and reward us for our trust in Him.

If we can put all this into practice we have discovered the key to eternal life, the precious pearl that is worth selling all else to possess (Mt 13,44).

So, we also strive for evangelical simplicity, to be generous to the poor even if we are ourselves poor, and so discover a great spiritual richness, which will after all express itself in financial form, while at the same time making the world a more pleasant place to inhabit. 

31st Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 5 November 2000 Sermon

 

[This is one from the archives, as I did not get to write one last week]

31st Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 5 November 2000 Desire for God

We are told in the Gospel that we should love God above all else, with our whole heart, soul, and mind.

We can find this difficult because God can seem remote or abstract, whereas we are more comfortable with people and things that we can see and touch.

Even if we want to love God we can find it hard to know precisely how to do so.

We can learn something of how to make progress here from considering another important topic at this time of year - the souls in Purgatory.

We are asked to help the souls in purgatory by our prayers. Help them to do what precisely?

To see the face of God. That is their greatest longing.

If you had been crawling through the desert for three days, your greatest longing at that time would be for a drink of water.

If you had been stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean your greatest longing would be to see a ship come by.

Well, if you are in purgatory, your greatest longing is to see the face of God.

They are close enough to God to know how good He is, but not close enough to be able to see Him, and it is a great frustration for them.

We could make an inadequate comparison from our own experience whenever we have just missed experiencing something that we really wanted to do.

If we just missed out on a trip, or seeing a particular concert, or being present at a memorable event.

Or, more seriously, the feeling of grief for the death of one we love.

It is that sense of nearly having, but not having it now. It becomes the one main desire.

In purgatory the souls have nothing else to distract them. (We are insulated from this pain by having other things to do.)

In this they can teach us what it means to love God - loving God means not putting a dozen other things ahead of Him.

On earth we tend to crowd God out as we can get so busy with other things. We mean to get around to God, but well, the time just seems to get away.

But even on earth we get snatches of awareness of God, which really pierce the heart.

The effect of some music, for example, which seems to awaken long ago and far away memories, or hopes that we could not easily put into words.

The almost unbearable feeling of nostalgia that can grip us at times as we think of lost friendships and pleasant moments that can never be recaptured (in this life at least).

We have a way of glossing over the past. The ‘good old days’ itself is indirectly a longing for heaven, as we sense within us the possibility of something better than this.

Nostalgia is a good image of what purgatory must be like, because it is a sad and sweet experience at the same time. We possess partially what we like, but it escapes our grasp.

So we learn from these moments that there is a greater world beyond. The hard-boiled dismiss these experiences and get on with life. But for us with faith, and hope, these moments are signs of something better to come.

We can use them to motivate us to seek out God. Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is thirsting for You, my God.

If we do this, we are fulfilling in a way that we can understand the command given by Jesus: to love God above all else.

This is not just a commandment, it is a desire. A desire that we ourselves have. We will realize it in purgatory; why not realize it now and set about seeking Him?

The best thing about all this is that if we are seeking Him we will eventually possess what we desire. It may seem a long time coming, but once we have possession we won’t mind that!