3rd Sunday after Epiphany 21 Jan 2018 Sermon

3^rd Sunday after Epiphany 21.1.18 Faith and Charity

If I have faith to move mountains but have not love I am nothing (1 Co13,2). 

When it comes to asking for things in prayer we might regard God in a somewhat impersonal light, as though His will is fixed and there is nothing we can do to move it, so we might as well leave Him to it - in other words, not bother to pray.

This is not how He wants us to see it. He does not want us to be fatalists - those who believe that fate is fixed irrevocably - but rather to pitch in, and have an influence on how things turn out.

There is much that we cannot control, and we certainly do not get all the things we would like, but repeatedly we are encouraged to ask for what we need. God would not tell us to ask for what we need if it never could make a difference.

Always there are so many good causes to pray for. It is not selfish that we do this, as much of our prayer involves the wellbeing of other people; and also we want God’s own order to be established.

Charity is at the heart of the matter. The supreme commands are that we love God and Neighbour. Our prayer for whatever intention should flow from these commands.

Loving God, we come to trust Him that He is always working for our best interest. Loving others, we come to see them as God sees them, to want for them what He wants.

We come closer to the pulse of Christ Himself, the Good Shepherd, the Good Samaritan, the Sacred Heart, seeking out the stray sheep, the prodigal sons, the victims of the robbers - with great compassion, in which we come to share.

At the same time we develop a greater faith that God has the power, and will use it for the best. The centurion of today’s Gospel had this kind of faith. To him it was straightforward that God would give a simple command, and a good result would happen.

We want what is best for each person, and we believe that God will bring it about if we ask Him. Sometimes it takes a lot of asking because the problem is much deeper than a simple illness, as in today’s Gospel.

We learn to pray for more than just physical short-term blessings. We have a better idea of what is best.

The prayer would be more powerful if more people were praying. We need a stronger, more uniform approach. The whole body needs to be at prayer for each other, for the other members of the body. If one suffers [we] all suffer (1 Co 12,26).

God is pleased when we ask Him for favours, but even more pleased when we seek to be near Him, when we seek Him for His own sake.

If we are prepared to go to this deeper level He is more able to bless at the earlier levels.

Close to God is the best place to be, and from that place come wisdom, generosity, goodwill, mercy, and all other related good qualities. If we can plant ourselves there, all else will follow on.

Let us then pursue vigorous prayer for a range of intercessions, physical and spiritual, individual and communal, temporal and eternal.

It all comes together in the mind and heart of God, where we position ourselves.

Only say but the word, Lord…and we will be healed, and from that will other healing come.

2nd Sunday after Epiphany 14 Jan 2018 Sermon

2^nd Sunday after Epiphany 14.1.18 The new wine

The miracle of Cana is an extension of the Epiphany, another ground-breaking revelation of the power of God, working now through the adult Christ.

Thus begins a series of many public miracles, each of which sends out a challenge to each person: are you with Me or against Me?

The Jews were divided over Him. Some believed, others always wanted more proof.

We should not believe too readily every claim of religious phenomena, but on the other hand we should not be sceptical to the point of rejecting everything in advance.

We cannot restrict God. It is His creation after all, and He can intervene at any point and in any way.

So He can turn water into wine, walk on water, make it come out of a rock, make it part in the middle, and make it go quiet in a storm – all of which He has done.

Generally God lets the world run on the laws that He has put in place. But He always has the right and the power to override those laws.

Miracle or not, ordinary or extraordinary, the most important thing for us is to be in union with Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Are we prepared to put our faith in Him as the one and only Saviour of the universe, or are we going to try to level Him out with other possible saviours – thus reducing Him to no more than a source of inspiration?

Other religious figures can be inspiring in places, but they do not work the miracles that Christ did, especially raising people from the dead, not least raising Himself! How many people can do that?

And all that He does is good. He does something advantageous for the people receiving the miracle; and for everyone else He gives a taste of what salvation is like.

He solves problems, such as today’s shortage of wine; and even better still He helps people come to faith. This coming to faith is a greater blessing than whatever the miracle brought about.

Turning water to wine is a symbol of what He is doing for us. He is enriching us, upgrading us to something better.

From now on this is how we do things around here. This is the New Covenant taking root.

Human nature itself has been upgraded in Christ’s human nature. Other elements of creation may be receiving an increase in quality too. All nature longs for the fulness of Christ’s salvation (cf Rom 8,19-27).

The miracles will come, when needed, and for our good.

In the face of so much power and goodness, we come to take God seriously.

We come to realize that a miracle is being worked in us, a miracle of transformation, whereby we become people of charity, and all the other virtues mentioned in today’s epistle (Rm 12,6-16).

Drink the string drink (that is, receive Him fully, without condition) and we will ourselves become the new wine, as in perfect.

It has to be a full acceptance. We cannot half-believe, or half-commit.

He will help us with this. It may not be as quick as the Cana miracle, but if we show signs of commitment He will build us up in all the virtues, another miracle of transformation. Why did we leave it till now to become the best wine?!

Holy Family 7 Jan 2018 Sermon

Holy Family 7.1.18 Mercy

If we had an invitation to visit the home of the Holy Family how would we feel?

Would we be overawed at the prospect of being in such exalted company… Lord, I am not worthy that I should enter under Your roof!

Yet, we can visualise what they would do if we knocked on the door… they would welcome us and treat us like royalty.

In ordinary life we would not walk up to an important place, like Buckingham Palace or the White House, and expect to be let in, without a lot of security and fuss etc.

But here at Nazareth, the most exalted place on earth, we would be welcomed.

This tells us something about the power of sin to put such fear into us, and the power of mercy that we could be set free from such fear.

We expect punishment, coldness, rejection, and we receive warmth, welcome, kindness.

It is the same experience as the Prodigal Son had when he took courage and approached his father’s house (Lk 15,11-32).

We are a little afraid of goodness because we feel our own lack of it. But goodness is of its nature welcoming and forgiving.

This is what God is like; this is what the Holy Family would have been like.

We do not use this information as an excuse to continue our sinful ways, but to make us determined to shake off all traces of sin, allowing the inspiration of holiness to move us to better things.

Do not be afraid, the words so often used in the Bible. Do not be afraid, because when God approaches it is always with the view of making it better for us, setting us free, enlightening us etc.

So we are not afraid to travel to the house in Nazareth, and let ourselves be moved by the encounter.

It should mean a change in the way we treat each other. If we are forgiven much we should be able to forgive others who have offended us less (Mt 18, 21-35).

It should mean that every sinner in the world can find hope of welcome if he will only turn his steps that way.

Even the complacent who think they have no sin will be moved by the encounter. Their smugness may give way to true contrition. Leave me, Lord, I am a sinful man. (Lk 5, 8)

It should mean that families everywhere can live in peace, if each will draw from the example of the Holy Family.

It should mean that those who dispute the Church’s teachings about family matters will submit graciously to the certainty that here is real wisdom, unanswerable. The Church should change its teachings? No, I should change my behaviour!

The Church, in all its aspects, should be a place along the lines of the Holy Family’s home. We welcome sinners because of their value as persons. We seek, by our holiness, to offer a place of refuge to them, a way of life that will move them to change.

It is a big assignment, but it is part of our mission.

We know, to our grief, that we have failed many times. Sin puts us all under pressure; makes us irritable, short on patience.

So we renew our own experience of the Holy Family, drawing mercy from them, at the same time as inspiration to live better lives.

We rejoice to be in the presence of holiness, of the Holy Family, of God Himself: One day within Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere (Ps 83,10).

We can help each other to rise to better things. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, have mercy on us, and pray for us.

Sunday in Octave of Christmas 31 Dec 2017 Sermon

Sunday in Octave of Christmas 31.12.17 Waiting on God

Simeon and Anna had great love for God, evident in that they would be prepared to wait so long for the fulfilment of His promises. (Not everyone is so patient.)  And when He finally does appear, they recognize Him immediately, even though there are no external phenomena to announce His presence. (Not everyone could recognize the Messiah just from seeing a baby!)

Their extraordinary love was fulfilled and rewarded.

God challenges us all to exercise patience in waiting on His holy will, and to develop the ability to discern His presence.

He wants us to search for Him (cf Song of Songs, the bride seeking the bridegroom).

God wants us to love Him, and will help us to understand what that requires.

Think of human lovers, like Romeo and Juliet. You would not have to tell Romeo that he should spend time with Juliet. He would want to do that anyway. He would not be trying to wriggle out of the obligation, or begrudging the time he gives Juliet.

God wants to be with us, but we may not want to be with Him.

Some people do want to be with God – such as Simeon and Anna, and all those we call saints, and us too, at least somewhat.

The saints inspire the rest of us to find out what they knew.

God has a sense of understatement. Not everything He does is accompanied by trumpets.

He is looking for people who are looking for Him, who are prepared to put in some effort in the quest to find Him.

Situations vacant: people who can love God, who can see below the surface, who can wait out a crisis without panic, who are willing to seek a greater desire.

If He is so desirable why do we have to be commanded to love Him? It is because we are beginners in the matter, and we have to be told what is good for us.

Eventually we can break free of the command. We don’t stop keeping it; it is just we no longer need to be told.

To love God on our part becomes as natural as for a bird to fly.

Taste and see the Lord is good (Ps 33, 8). It is a taste that is acquired. The command is only to set us in motion. The rest will look after itself.

A good start is to practise the discipline of prayer, learning from Simeon and Anna – they prayed day in and day out. And so must we.

Waiting for God to show Himself; waiting for Him to grant us an increasing desire to see Him, the sensitivity to recognise that presence, and the patience to keep waiting.

We need His help to do all this. He will stir up in us a love for Him, and such a desire that if we get to a certain point we can then go on further.

It might be painful at first, as we are pulled away from our worldly delights, but it will be great joy if we can battle through all the distractions.

We have it in us but it is jumbled. We have all sorts of good thoughts and resolutions (New Year and otherwise), but we are too disorganised to make it work.

What we have now is the reverse of the situation in Simeon and Anna’s time. They were in the Temple and God was not. Now He is in the church and the people are not!

He is waiting for them to come. And what are the people doing? As in the time of Noah they are eating and drinking, buying and selling (Mt 24, 38).

But we are here, and we bring what we have. We are not as humble or as faithful as we should be, but by the grace of God we will become so. We will learn what it means to love God, and we will do it.