Christ the King 25 Oct 2020 Sermon

Christ the King 25.10.20

We believe in one God, Creator of Heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.

We believe firstly that there is a God. He actually exists, has always existed, and will never cease to exist.

We anchor ourselves on these points every time we come to Mass.

It is comforting that we have such a strong foundation on which to base our lives.

God is real and God is relevant. There are people who deny one or the other of these points.

They will say that God  either does not exist, or if He does exist, that He is very remote, like a distant star, not really having any effect on us.

The modern movement on separating Church from State comes from this viewpoint.

Separating Church from State really means separating God from state, such that God is not welcome in His own universe!

God is the Creator of heaven and earth. Every inch of this earth is His property.

He does not always make His presence obvious as in physical miracles, but there are signs everywhere of His creative power at work. ( For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature, namely, His eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. Rom 1,19-20)

We will read also the signs that He gives us as to how to conduct our lives. The whole area of morality stems from God's closeness to us, and His desire that we understand right from wrong, and freely choose the right.

God tells us what is to be done and what to be avoided. He does this through the Church, which interprets His will, as made evident in Scripture and Tradition

The Church is unpopular for doing this, but it is vital that everyone has a chance to hear the word of God.

If we let God have a say in His own universe, we will actually be far better off than we are now.

Imagine a world where everybody did all the right things. Would you not prefer that?

We might have to give up a few vices but there would be ten-fold compensation.

We would be happier people, and better as well.

All the chaos of the present world and all our painful history can be attributed to disobedience on our part.

It is bad enough to disobey God, but when we try to keep Him from even having a voice, then we really are making trouble.

God wants us to know Him, not as a hard taskmaster, but as a loving Father.

If we can perceive that God means well towards us it will make it a lot easier for us to trust and obey Him.

We do not always trust our rulers; but God is a different matter – He is perfect.

Many people do not know God, whether through lack of instruction, or lack of prayer.

When we pray to God we come to know His ways, mysterious though some of them will always be.

But we get to know the basic ideas that God wants to impress upon us.

It will be a small number at first, as it always is. Then recognition will spread.

The kingdom is like a tree whose branches extend to all the world (cf Mt13,32)

If we know we should obey then it is only a matter of rousing the will to serve God. He can help us with that too. He tells us what to do and gives us the grace to do it.

Pope Pius XI probably did not get what he hoped for when he established this feast in 1925.

But it was a good idea all the same, as it is a good idea now to remind the world of the pressing need to give God due place.

Long live Christ the King, and may all His enemies become His subjects. 

20th Sunday after Pentecost 18 Oct 2020 Sermon

 

20^th Sunday after Pentecost 18.10.20 Redeeming the age

 Redeeming the time because the days are evil (Ep 5,16).

 What sort of a life does it take to redeem a wicked age? A holy life, a life dedicated to God in the pursuit of His will. A life free from sin, and flourishing with good works. If we have not been free of sin, then we can begin to be so at any moment.

A holy life can redeem the times on two levels. (that of example which persuades, and making recompense to God, atonement for sin.)

Persuasion. We are the light of the world, And we should not put our light under a bushel (cf Mt 5,14-15). See how they love one another, an early commentator said.

There is no doubt that Christianity lived fully would have a profound effect on the surrounding society.

Many people have converted to the faith for just such a reason. They saw something they wanted for themselves. Peace, Joy, Love etc.

The first Pentecost is probably the clearest example of this. But there are many other times, eg the missionary work of St Francis Xavier or St Patrick.

When people see the real thing at least some of them will respond.

We have to do extra to make up for lost ground. Scandals and generally poor behaviour from the Christians sets the whole work back.

Bad behaviour does not take anything away from the truth of our faith; but psychologically it makes people less inclined to see our light on the hill.

Many cannot or will not make the distinction between the theoretical and the practical.

All the more reason for the rest of us to be holy. Which leads to Atonement.  If everyone behaved we would have an easy time of it. But there are mountains of sin  being committed every day, and this all has to be ‘redeemed’, compensated for.

We understand that it is the Precious Blood of Christ which atones for all the sin of the world.

We cannot atone by our own efforts because we do not have sufficient to give to God, even with the best will.

However, we can achieve a lot by being fully attentive and receptive to what God is doing by offering us the way of atonement.

The Precious Blood will have more effect in atoning for the sins of the world if at least some people cooperate in the process.

A few can atone for many, as with Abraham and his ten good men (Gen 18,23-32) or with the saints, who all had this intuition for making atonement.

When we make atonement for other people’s sins we are taking some of the pain due to them.

This is both a burden and a privilege. It is the way of Christ and all the saints.

Living holy lives is the way to help others: giving them good example, and helping atone for their sin.

This is easier said than done. Holiness requires a certain discipline and effort.

Some things come easier than others, like loving our mothers. But a lot of it requires a real wrenching away from disordered inclinations so that we can be moderate and balanced in all things.

One reason we come to Mass is to receive the grace we need to live holy lives.

We redeem the surrounding world by flooding it with the love of God. Having reached a point of sufficient sorrow for offending God's divine majesty, we can then bear fruits of holiness, the whole process spreading to all corners of the world.

19th Sunday after Pentecost 11 Oct 2020 Sermon

 

19^th Sunday after Pentecost 11.10.20 Stability

Some things we want to change; some things we hope they don’t change. Some things - they cannot change whether we want it or not.

In the supernatural world there is a comforting sameness that what we have been taught to rely upon is still there today, and will be still there in a hundred or a thousand years time.

Things to do with God are especially unchangeable.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb 13,8)

God is eternal and beyond time, therefore cannot change. Nor does He need to change, being all perfection.

We are often reminded we live in a fast-changing world. We are often alarmed at some of those changes, for such things as gender confusion, disregard of marriage and traditional family values, a decline in common decency (language, standards of dress etc).

We cannot go back in time but we can go ‘back’ to God to be revived in wisdom, charity, zeal. It is not really going back, more like going ‘deeper’. We enter the eternal truth and apply it in each successive age.

God is faithful to His covenant and that is something that will never change.

A few days ago we celebrated the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The Rosary takes us through the sequence of our salvation, through the Life, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord.

We go back again and again to these events, which are still current and still relevant for us.

That Christ has come, and done all those things, is the difference between life and death for us.

We might wake up one morning and find our liberties reduced by legislation. We might see much of our society sinking into greater darkness.

But the Rosary will still be there; and as we see with the Rosary, the last part - the Glorious Mysteries - leave us in a very upbeat position.

We go through fire and water, but we emerge in glorious freedom.

The objective truths of our faith remain the same; our subjective response to those truths might change. We might feel stronger in faith one day, and weaker the next.

When we feel weak in faith, or in any way oppressed by life’s difficulties, take in a deep breath of unchangeable reality.

The Bible speaks in several places of God as a Rock. A rock is something that is not easily moved and can stand in the one place for a long time.

If we build on rock we will be secure (Mt 7,24). On this rock I will build My Church (Mt 16,18). The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my saviour (Ps 17 (18),2)

We call upon that rock-like stability in our lives. The Rosary is one way; the Mass is even more powerful in its effects. The Mass brings before our senses not just the truths we believe but their actual operation, as we encounter Christ coming among us and giving Himself as a sacrifice for sins.

It is often suggested that people should slow down and relax, take time out to appreciate nature etc. We can agree with that, but do better still by re-connecting with the Source of all beauty, all meaning.

We go back to where it all comes from, and the grace of God works in us and through us.

And the things that should change, such as sin and all its effects – will change.

Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

 

 

18th Sunday after Pentecost 4 Oct 2020 Sermon

 

18^th Sunday after Pentecost 4.10.20

We talk of victims of crime; there are also victims of sin. Everyone suffers from every sin committed insofar as each sin lowers the tone of the whole world, makes the world a harder place in which to live.

Our Lord came to set us free from sin; free in two senses: firstly, the guilt of sin, and secondly, freedom from any inclination to commit further sin. We are free when sin no longer has any hold on us.

To people who did not realize Our Lord’s true identity it must have seemed strange to have a mere mortal forgiving other people their sins.

Is He just saying it, or does He have real authority? He does have the authority because every sin is an offence against God, and He is God. He has the right to forgive because the sin is against Him.

If I steal my neighbour’s car and wreck it, I have offended my neighbour; but I have also offended God. How so? because every uncharitable act is an offence to the Lord of all people and all things.

There is nothing that happens in the world that is outside the providence of God. He owns the whole thing.

There is no victimless sin because Christ is the Victim of all sin, as He graphically enacts for us on the Cross.

We have put Him on the Cross by our sins. We did not mean to hurt Him, but we must understand this is what sin does, even our venial sins.

Our sins will often harm some people directly; indirectly everyone else; but most and worst of all every sin gives direct offence to God.

We should not despair, however. God is generous in mercy and quick to forgive.

Once we realize how bad the sin is, the easier it is to claim that forgiveness.

It also makes us less inclined to sin if we see the sin as a direct offence against God.

If we were lining the streets on Good Friday would we add to the sufferings of Our Lord? Of course not.

We become more sensitive about what we say, think and do.

To see our sins in their true light – this is the key to true contrition, and from there to purpose of amendment.

Sin is a personal matter. It is never just a matter of keeping rules. There is always that personal dimension.

It hurts to see our sins in their full force but it is good for us too, restoring us to the proper balance that is needed.

We gratefully acknowledge Our Lord’s authority and mercy. That mercy re-constructs us, gives us a new start each time.

Some of our sin is very hard to shake off, it being habitual and deeply embedded.

We can come at the problem from different directions. Overcoming sin is not just a matter of will power: I must not sin; I must not sin…  Yes, we should form resolutions, but we can also deepen our faith, grow in knowledge and understanding of God.

This will reinforce the personal aspect of the matter. Our religion is not just an impersonal system; it is a relationship between us and God.

The more personal our understanding the less likely we are to commit the sin, and more likely to do something virtuous.

If we stop crucifying Him (why are you persecuting Me? Acts 9,4) we can progressively share in His resurrection.

17th Sunday after Pentecost 27 Sep 2020 Sermon

 

17^th Sunday after Pentecost 27.9.20 One God

There is one God. That fact forms the centre of all our beliefs and practices.

Historically people have had many gods, of their own invention, to cover all the different areas of need - like love, war, food.

It took a long time to dawn on people that there is in fact only one God, who is powerful enough for all needs. Everything comes under His authority.

The unity of God, means we should have unity of people.

Unity of people is not so easy to achieve; people find ways of hating each other and getting into disputes.

God's intention was that we would draw our identity from Him, and share in the perfect unity of His own inner life.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have perfect unity; there is no cross word there; no contradiction.

They do not have wars, so why do we? .

There is no good reason why we do not live in peace and concord.

Human efforts to be at one do not work because there is too much malice in the human heart.

People try to be one, but excluding of God. This never works for long because there is so much sin and disorder in circulation. They try to be nice but run out of goodwill.

To achieve the desired oneness we have to go to God, so that we are all absorbed in Him and not ourselves.

It is said often: It does not matter what race you are, or what religion you have…

We can agree about the ‘race’ part; but the ‘religion’ part is a little more complicated.

Religion deals with the whole question of relating to God. As there is only one God, it follows logically that there can be only one fully true religion.

This we believe to be the Catholic faith. We do not claim any personal superiority on the basis of being Catholic, only that we believe it is the religion revealed by the one true God.

People will say that is not possible that one religion can be all right, or that even if there were such a religion we would not know which one.

But our religion is simply believing what God has Himself revealed. We did not make it up.

We do not discriminate insofar as we do not mistreat anyone who is not of our faith.

We wish everyone to know the great happiness of being one with God and discovering the true charity that follows from that.

We seek to propagate the truth about God, as that will help people to come into right order in every other part of their life.

It is said that ‘Religion’ causes all the wars. Not true religion, when it is the right beliefs and the right actions.

The absolute unity of God within Himself is something we can imitate. We are so far from achieving it in practice, but He is helping us in that direction.

We are humbled by our sense of smallness, but also exalted in knowing that we are valuable to God.

It is not by appeal to people in their own strength that we will make progress. We appeal not to strength but humility. You can have all the peace you want if you will kneel before Him.

There is a potential oneness between all people and for that we pray; in the meantime we respect others at least for the fact that they are invited to share in God's life.

We thank God for creating us in His image and for teaching us how to share in His eternal oneness.