14th Sunday after Pentecost 26 Aug 2018 Sermon

14^th Sunday after Pentecost 26.8.18 Covenant of Trust

God asks us to trust in Him, and we are not very good at doing that generally. We like to control our own destiny, to make sure we have enough of everything; and become extremely anxious when something is out of place.

Rather than focus on a particular need which might distress us, we learn to take a wider view, reflecting on the goodness of God - which never changes, nor can change.

Our trust is in Him rather than this or that situation.

We know He can work things to their proper conclusion, having much greater power and insight than we have.

For our part we negotiate the path as we go. If I need something I can mention it in prayer, and He will grant it or not, according to a host of factors.

He sums it all up by saying: Seek first the kingdom of God. This means seeking that absolute sense of trust in Him; such that we no more doubt His desire for our good than our own desire.

It is better if we let Him decide what happens to us, rather than decide for ourselves. This is the level of trust which can be reached, and needs to be.

It will not come all at once. It is the end result of a lot of prayer, reflection, and experience.

God asks this of us: He will provide what we need, but we have to let Him be in charge.

He wants a covenant relationship with us, where we are the junior partners.

He wants us to see prayer as not just when we have a special need, but part of a continuous relationship. We do not do drive thru prayer.

We communicate constantly with Him. There will be much we may not understand, but seeing our whole lives as in His keeping makes it all simpler.

We do not arrow in too much on particular requests, which may or not be granted, but it is more a case of saying I put my life in God's hands, and remembering His fidelity over the years. Fidelity in my life, and in the whole history of His people.

We pray at all times and in all weathers. We give thanks even when things are going against us. Why? Because God is still working for us at those times. So we still need to thank Him.

We keep the communication going, and it all runs much more smoothly.

The discipline of regular prayer helps us to get into a spiritual way of thinking.

Most people have not much time for religion; they are serving the wrong master (Gospel).

God allows people a lot of freedom to decide their course in life. This means a lot of sins are committed, and this in turn makes everyone’s life more difficult.

We suffer from that, but can work back in the other direction by simple trust.

We never turn our back on God as if to blame Him. We express our trust, routinely, every day of our lives.

The good fruits referred to in the epistle have a harmony about them, going beyond instant gratification. They give us a sense of order and peace; we start to feel we are coming back to life.

People say God failed them. It is highly likely they were taking short cuts with Him. We have to get to know Him.

We are in an everlasting covenant. If we obey Him He will bless us. If we disobey the result will be one or other form of chaos.

We serve one Master only; everything else will sort itself accordingly.

13th Sunday after Pentecost 19 Aug 2018 Sermon

13^th Sunday after Pentecost 19.8.18 Assumption of Our Lady

During the week we celebrated the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady. This is a major event in our understanding of our faith.

The Assumption demonstrates the close link between obedience and blessing.

Our Lady obeyed God always and to the fullest degree. As a result she helped the human race recover Eden, not the natural beauty of Eden before the Fall, but even better - this time through human responsiveness, the original sinless state is restored.

Where sin is absent, life abounds. All it needs for the human race to break through into a better era is more obedience and compliance in our response.

Our Lady’s response is so perfect that it opens doors previously jammed shut.

She is one person who has given the perfect response to God at all times. Over all her life this has led to a profusion of blessings, most of all the Incarnation of Christ.

Her being assumed body and soul into Heaven is her own homecoming to her ‘true home’ (Ph 3,20)

It paves the way for the rest of us to follow. Heaven is our true home also.

How we should long for it; work and strive for it; and how we should have the confidence that it is the fulfilment of all our hopes.

With the benefit of faith we pursue a precise goal (the attaining of Heaven) as opposed to random drifting, which is the only alternative.

However, even if we have faith, we can still be so caught up in earthly matters as to forget the glorious destiny that is promised us.

Mary stands before us, to keep us on track.

She beckons us to come to her. She is the end, and the means to the end. It is our destiny and hope to dwell with her forever; she is the means to make this happen, the Mediatrix of all graces.

She encourages us to be more like herself, living our lives in more complete union with the will of God.

In this world there is so much sadness and anguish, so much of which is unnecessary, given that it is only sin which has brought all this trouble upon us; and sin is the most unnecessary thing ever invented!

We are caught up in the turbulent after-effects of sin, even if we did not sin ourselves.

We regret our own sin and that of the world. We would do anything to remove it, and so rediscover Eden.

If we could just attach ourselves to Our Lady we will be introduced into this new world, this place where there is no hurt or harm on all God's holy mountain. (Is 11,9)

It may seem distant at the moment but the more people join in the wider the entrance becomes, and the more relief there is from all the suffering.

For this we strive, and we help it to happen.

We will feel peace immediately as we establish order in our lives; we will have mastery over our own passions and desires - a big breakthrough.

We enter heaven in two stages: by living in a state of grace in this earthly life; and then by actually entering heaven at the end of our lives.

We have Heaven upon earth insofar as we do live in God's will. This is Eden rediscovered.

At both stages we have the help of Mary, inspiring and helping us to live this life well; and then being there in Heaven to welcome us when the journey is done.

We cannot do this on our own (cf epistle); we need grace. Our Lady is ‘full of grace’ and distributes it to those who ask her… Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners…

12th Sunday after Pentecost 12 Aug 2018 Sermon

12^th Sunday after Pentecost 12.8.18 Good Samaritans

People are all around us. We could dismiss whole sections of humanity as not of great importance to us. But Our Lord gives us a very different example to follow.

He took a great deal of interest in us, going as far as to die for our sins – our sins, not His.

He is the Good Samaritan, picking up - not just one person by the side of the road - but millions of them, the whole of broken humanity.

Then He tells us that we should follow His example. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. (Jn 13,14)

We are picked up ourselves from whatever darkness of sin; then we become co-Samaritans, anxious to help others have the same experience. There is a flow-on effect. Freely you have received; freely give. (Mt 10,8).

Material help is very important but spiritual help even more so.

In spiritual terms, how many people are there lying on the side of the road? Probably more than there are standing up!

A lot of people are physically active but many of them would be spiritually in darkness, a state of death caused by sin; thrown down by robbers (demons).

The physical and material needs are easier to fix, certainly easier to see. Call an ambulance, or pitch in with some money etc.

But how do we help people who have spiritual problems, especially if they are set against Christian solutions, as many are.

We can always pray for them. They can't stop that!  When we pray for someone we are directing the mercy and grace of God towards him. Maybe such a force will break down his resistance.

We pool our faith together, becoming a collective Good Samaritan. We can win a lot of people over (or win them back) if we pray and act with true faith and charity.

But whatever we can do, the chief Good Samaritan is always Our Lord Himself.

He knows exactly what every person needs, and He has the power to provide it.

He knows the level of their resistance. Sometimes He will use people as His agents; sometimes He will intervene directly in the lives of people. He can send them signals, put things in their path.

They may or may not respond, but the offer is always there, while life lasts.

We, for our part, continue to offer His mercy to people, putting them on their feet.

Much of what we do will look like nothing is happening, but we do not give up easily and do not stop.

Be it prayer, action, speaking - anything that helps; anything that can be used to influence others, and to assure them that help is still there.

Put out your nets, baptise all nations, proclaim the Kingdom, bring them to the banquet – there are many ways of putting it, but they all amount to saying that every person should be in union with Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Church testifies to the mercy of God, and His desire to save. Even just the sight of churches dotted around the landscape will give people a reminder that – despite living in such secular times – the Good Samaritan is still looking for wounded people.

We still have something to say to the world, despite being rocked by scandals and loss of numbers. There are setbacks which slow us down, but cannot change our basic orientation – to save lives (for eternity).

We take our place with the Good Samaritan. This human race is badly damaged and needs a lot of stitching up. It can be done.

The Good Samaritan seeks to save as many as possible - especially those who most need His mercy.

11th Sunday after Pentecost 5 Aug 2018 Sermon

11^th Sunday after Pentecost 5.8.18 Resurrection

When Our Lord rose from the dead He appeared to a succession of disciples. He did not appear to unbelievers.

Nor does He appear to most of His disciples when it comes to later generations.

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe (Jn 20,29). He wanted us to be so strong in faith that we would not be always seeking proof. We come to a firm basis of belief, and then build on that.

We ‘perceive’ rather than ‘see’ Him. His resurrection is ingrained in us, enabling us to act in confidence, even to the point of giving up our lives.

Thus we see so many martyrs in our history, cheerfully yielding themselves to death, knowing that they would emerge even more alive in eternity.

Why did Our Lord not appear to everyone, including people like Pilate, Herod and Caiaphas?

If people are not properly disposed they will not benefit from a miracle, even if they see one.

Come down from the Cross and we will believe in you… they said (Mk 15,30). But they probably would not have believed. They would have said it was sorcery, or an illusion etc.

We believe it first, then we see it (or perceive it).

It is a belief which we must keep front and centre of our lives, always on the boil. We live among people of little or no faith. We have to be able to stand apart from the mockers and the cynics, not letting them drag us down.

For St Paul it was the main message. Christ rose from the dead. Think about it: Who can do that? Is it not a proof of divinity? Who holds the keys of life and death like that? It must be the same God who created us and the whole world.

This man was dead beyond question and buried in a tomb, with a large rock across the entrance. Yet He came out of that tomb of His own accord and power. For it was impossible that death could hold Him (Ac 2,24).

And we believe in the resurrection of the body… (Creed) 

Sometimes we are accused of believing in the Resurrection only because we want to believe it. No, we believe it because it is true.

We do not see resurrections every day. If we walk through a cemetery, no one rises before our eyes. Yet God could raise any, or all of them. But such is not His plan. The occasional person has come back to life, but the main plan is that there will be a general resurrection on the Last Day, with the good being raised in bodily glory, and the unrepentant in shame, condemned to Hell.

We can make sure it is Heaven for us.

It is certainly true that we want to believe in the Resurrection; but it is no less true for that.

It is a completely logical belief. The world did not make itself, nor did we make ourselves. A benevolent wise powerful Being made all this. It is not then so much to believe that He would want life to endure over death. It was death before He gave it life! Why would He make us for death? Death was not of his fashioning (Wis 1,13).

If He can make us the first time, it is no more trouble for Him to re-form us a second time.

Even non-religious people believe in life after death, however hazily. They hope that their loved ones are in some state of happiness.

We hope the same, only as Christians we can give the belief more substance.

We can offer hope to those who do not yet believe, or believe only faintly.

Christ’s resurrection gives us hope of eternal life. By the help of His grace we can make that a certain hope.

10th Sunday after Pentecost 29 Jul 2018

10^th Sunday after Pentecost 29.7.18 Identity

Some believe in reincarnation - which would mean we could be more than one person over the course of the years.

But as Christians we believe that we stay the same person all the way through. Once conceived we have an immortal soul, and will never cease to exist, much less turn into anyone else.

We might wish we were someone else, or had different parents, or were born in a different time or place etc, but we cannot change any of those things.

Nor can we change the ways in which God has gifted us, or restricted us: the things we find easy or hard to do.

It is all part of God's plan for each person.

We can accept if we are not good at something – if we cannot sing or run fast, for instance. But there are some things we should not accept, such as the presence of sin in our lives.

The pharisee in today’s Gospel compares himself with the publican, thinking himself better.

It is a dangerous approach. For one thing it is very hard to have an accurate idea of how good or bad someone else is.

Even to know that for ourselves is hard. We try to be in the grace of God, and to get things right, but we do not always know exactly whether He approves or not.

We do not try to be better than others but better than ourselves at previous times.

We are tempted to take pleasure in the downfall of others, because it can make us feel superior. If everyone else were a worse sinner than I then I would be the best person around!

But this is not progress. We should simply want that every person, ourselves included come to the best possible place with God, each one developing to the level God wants.

There is no place for envy or conceit. As St Paul puts it:  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (1 Cor 13,6)

We want the best, even for our enemies, even if they do not want the best for us.

They might be trying to destroy us but we return blessing for curse (Lk 6,28). That is Christianity in full flight.

Christ Himself put this into practice, thus backing up His own teaching.

The pharisee should have prayed for the publican, and asked for mercy for both.

Instead of taking comfort in the faults of others, we should seek to be good: for its own sake; because it pleases God; and because it produces the happiest results.

We support each other at all times; exhorting each other to seek to overcome faults - one of which is this precise thing: that we take too much notice of the faults of others.

We cure this by seeking the goodness of God, and wishing it to be spread widely.

There is no re-incarnation; we achieve the fulness of our destiny by becoming the person He meant us to be.

We do not envy anyone because we have discovered the direct link with the love of God, which more than satisfies our quest for happiness.

We do not know every detail of what God wills for us; but one thing we know for sure - that He wants us to be without sin, radiant in holiness.

We do not ask, Why have you made me thus? Does the pot say to the potter: why have you made me thus? (Rm 9, 21; Is 45,9) We do not complain of God's will for us; instead, we cooperate with it.

Thus we find our true identity; each one of us filling a unique place in God's vast vision. We do not need, or want to be anything other than that.