22nd Sunday after Pentecost 21 October 2018 Sermon

22^nd Sunday after Pentecost 21.10.18 Relevance of religion

Give to God what is God's. And that turns out to be everything.

Is our religion something that is just on the edge of our lives, only for Sundays, with fish on Fridays… no, but even that has gone. As has the restful sabbath, now much like any other day, maybe even busier; and not used for its primary intention: to give glory and thanks to the Creator and Saviour.

In fact God claims all seven days, and every minute of them; as He claims also all the other places besides churches. He claims the shops the squares, the ovals, the workplaces - everywhere.

Of course He gives a large amount of autonomy to our activities. He does not normally intervene in every detail. He lets us decide what we are going to do and will normally let things follow their logical course (which is why we are in so much trouble!)

For example:  Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen. (Rm 1,24-25)

He has the last say. He expects us to understand that it is all from Him. We have to refer back constantly, in thanksgiving, in sorrow, in petition, always orientating ourselves to His abiding and overall will.

He is not an oppressive ruler by any means, being ready to give us more than we dare to ask (Ep 3,20).

If we keep our religion in a separate compartment we will find ourselves living exactly like non-religious people – making money, seeking a good time, with no thought for an eternal tomorrow.

This is why Our Lord came to save us – to save us from our own folly; to reinforce for us the relevance of our faith; of true religion.

We can help get the message out by being faithful and persevering in all weathers; keeping the lights on so that people can see there are still some believers about.

We keep the spiritual perspective foremost. We still do all the necessary mundane things, but never to the point of forgetting the spiritual.

Part of our prayer needs to be atonement for the fact that God is so widely ignored and denied.

Father, forgive them, they know not what they do (Lk 23,34). They are a stiff-necked people. (Ex 32,9)

As regards worldly attitudes we are often sold out by our own side, that is, Catholics who are so keen to embrace the world they surrender their own beliefs. They uncritically adopt popular causes, and then expect the Church to fit in with them.

It is a fight to the death between light and dark; a battle for relevance. Our opponents want us to be irrelevant, and they will use any sort of attack against us, honest or not.

We have the same message as Isaiah and Jeremiah, as Elijah and Ezekiel: Behold your God!  Come to terms with Him, or reap the consequences. In short, Repent.

The people either laughed at the prophets, or tried to kill them. It is much the same today.

It becomes a bit draughty for the faithful disciples. We can spend a lot of time standing apart from the majority. This has to be done until better times come. We stand with a crucified Saviour.

Today the Church prays for Propagation of the Faith. Through teaching, convincing, persuading, we seek to bring people to see the absolute blinding importance of God, of His relevance, His centrality, His uniqueness. One God, one Saviour, one Hope.

21st Sunday after Pentecost 14 Oct 2018 Sermon

21^st Sunday after Pentecost 14.10.18 Spiritual war

St Paul refers to the spiritual battle in which we are all engaged. We are fighting against demons and their influence; helped all the while by angels.

It is hard to imagine, as we go through or daily lives, where most of the time there is no visible drama – that these powerful beings are concerned with us.

We do not see them, nor the battle that is raging, but we can feel the effects.

We feel it in the form of thoughts, attitudes, moods, and contrasting inclinations at different times, towards both good and evil.

We are tempted to sin in various ways; and we are also inspired towards good. Go, and help that person, be honest, be humble etc.

Both these things will happen many times each day. We are not sure ourselves which way we will react. We do know, however, that we have a choice each time we are confronted with good or evil; and we are further encouraged that we are never tempted beyond our strength (1 Co 10,13). There will always be enough grace for any good that we need to do.

Like soldiers in a battle we have to do certain things which go against our first inclination. To get up early to pray, or go to an extra Mass, or to do spiritual reading, or visit the sick, or anything that is a bit harder. Or to avoid watching immoral entertainment, or to suppress an irritable comment, and a hundred other things.

Just as in a war we face battle on many fronts at the same time - the army, the navy and the air force are all involved.

We have to deal with matters both personal and communal, involving the Church and the wider society. We address everything from irritable thoughts to genocide.

We fight off temptations affecting our own behaviour, at the same time battling to preserve Christian values: for life, justice, in general establishing God’s kingdom in our world.

Victory at one level will help the other levels. If individuals could be less selfish that would fix social problems (eg drug addiction). If the society would follow God’s ways that would help individuals to live good lives.

We seek to convert people who are presently on the wrong side of the battle - in favour of the wrong things, eg abortion, euthanasia.

This is seeking to establish the Kingdom of God, where all is in order, individually and communally.

We feel all this, and this is our share in the spiritual warfare, alluded to by St Paul.

The angels and demons fight around us. They do not fight with swords or guns, but with the push and pull of ideas, concepts, thoughts and attitudes.

It is helpful when we come together to pray, because we need encouragement. Discouragement is a major player on the side of evil. The devil wins a lot of battles because the people are not sufficiently armed – going into battle without armour, without the defence of being in a state of grace; in many cases not even knowing there is a battle raging.

St Paul is telling us to be aware of all this, but also confident of victory. If Christ is for us, who can be against us? (Rm 8,31)

It is vital that we maintain hope, realizing that being uncomfortable is not the same as losing.

If we stay alert, remembering the nature of the battle, we can make certain that we will achieve the personal victory of salvation, and do much to help others to the same goal.

We will win the battles, and the war.

20th Sunday after Pentecost 7 Oct 2018 Sermon

20^th Sunday after Pentecost 7.10.18 The Rosary

Today we acknowledge the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

There is prayer, and then there is the Rosary.

The Rosary has long occupied a special place in our treasury of prayer. It is likely to be a standard part of any serious Catholic’s prayer. There are all manner of other prayers, but everyone prays the Rosary.

It has so much endorsement from saints, and also so many miracles associated with it.

The essence of the prayer is that we accompany Mary in her relation to Our Lord, as He goes through the various stages of His saving work.

First she longs for Him to come, then He comes, amidst a combination of joys and sorrows.

Then he suffers for the sins of the world. Then He rises in triumph and pours out graces on those who look to Him.

In all these stages, there is found Mary, giving her perfect assent to all that He wishes to achieve.

She is the one, and only one, who is fully in sympathy with Him. Through the Rosary we can join her, expressing such faith as we have, and asking for more.

As we go with her, she like a teacher will say: let us go over the same ground until you know it.

It started with God's promise to save His people; then he came among us. He lived, died and rose, and ascended, and will come again.

Have you got that yet?  It sinks in a little deeper each time, we hope.

We go with Mary as she travels the path from obscurity to Queen of the whole universe.

She loved God perfectly at every moment of her life, but as she took part in these mysteries her love increased. She grew into the role at each stage. First Joy, then Sorrow, then Glory.

She grew ever deeper into love of Him and her role.

The Rosary transforms us as we pray it. One of the prayers implicit in all intercessory prayer is that of the distraught father: I do believe, help my unbelief (Mk 9,24).

With that will come faith, and other virtues, especially the charity to persevere through difficulties.

We are moving a few stones at least, in terms of breaking through strongholds of evil. If nothing else we make reparation for evils done.

We can go as far as we dare in our own pathway from Joyful to Glorious, our own rags-to- riches story.

All the time we try to help others to see the same vision. Most people would have no clue about the Rosary or related matters. We can shed some light where possible.

And we will be helping to make things happen. At certain times in Church history there have been special public and communal praying of the Rosary to avert particular crises. Lepanto 1571, Vienna 1683 (against Muslims); Austria 1950s (against the Soviets). This coming 13^th October there will be international public rosaries pleading with Our Lady of Fatima, to address our present-day needs.

Some things take more prayer than others. It takes more prayer to change the mind and will of another person, for instance. That is why our prayer for conversion of sinners does not always have instant success.

But it can be done; just about anything can be done, if enough people are praying as one, and continuously. We should not give up too easily.

Nor should we ever feel we are praying on our own. The Rosary would be in progress somewhere in the world at any given moment. When we start to pray we are joining in with others, with the same general intention that God's will be done.

The chain reaction goes on - obtaining graces for the world, for a host of intentions.

But only if we Pray the Rosary.

19th Sunday after Pentecost 30 Sep 2018 Sermon

19th Sunday after Pentecost 30.9.18 Anger

Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. (Epistle)

The sin of Anger has to be one of the most frequently committed sins, and one that just about everyone would commit.

Some express anger more overtly than others, but it can be quiet and seething as well.

There is a righteous anger, which Our Lord manifested when He cleared out the traders from the Temple, or when He roasted the Pharisees on occasions. Just anger is when the basis for the anger is just. We perceive that certain actions are against the proper order of things and we can be rightly angry about that, for example if we see someone lighting a bushfire, or bashing someone in the street.

In such cases we ‘hate the sin and love the sinner’, not usually knowing the motives or state of mind of the offender but the action itself brings on a just anger. We want the proper order of things to be restored. This is what God wants too.

In Our Lord’s case we must understand that He did not ‘lose His temper’. All His actions, thoughts, words were in perfect harmony at all times. There would always be sufficient reason for anything that He did.

For the rest of us mortals, there is usually an element of sin in our anger, even if the anger is justified. We tend to overreact, to lose self-control or commit some injustice of our own in reply.

It is very hard for us to get all the elements right at the same time. To correct a wrongdoer without oneself doing wrong is demanding.

We have to fortify ourselves with the right habits, to build up the virtues, and then we are more likely to handle things the right way, even when under pressure of temptation.

Our Lord was always ready for any temptation or emergency. He could not be caught off guard, or having a bad day etc, such as happens to us. We are so unpredictable, even to ourselves. We do not know what we are likely to say or do next.

Not to be unjustly angry comes under the higher command of Charity. Charity requires that we have a due moderation in all our thoughts, words and actions. We look for to the best in them. We want the best even if it is not there.

We do not want to crush the bruised reed. We do not want to hurt anyone more than is necessary for their good, and the common good.

We take no delight in revenge, or the misfortunes of others.

This does not mean we are naïve. We can see the evil; we just wish it were not there.

For any wrong done to us, humility comes into play. Any wrong done to us, we can deal with by remembering our own sinfulness, and not making too much of our own importance.

Thus we are less upset for self (cf Christ and saints); and more concerned for the evildoer; and this is where correction and punishment come in.

In some cases not to correct could be a sin, eg someone in authority with care for others. Sometimes we need to say less; sometimes more.

We pray for the wisdom and charity to get all these things in the right place. We have to practise restraint in the quiet times.

With sufficient grace we will become better people, more like Our Lord and thus more able to do as He would have done - always ready for anyone or anything.

What comes out of us is simply an expression of what is inside. It is all light in there, no malice or poison.

The light comes from Our Lord; may He dwell within us and guide all our thoughts.