Sunday in Octave of Christmas 26 Dec 2021 Sermon

Sunday in Octave of Christmas 26 December 2021 The eternal Day

We said it all yesterday but we come back today, the day after Christmas.

Life presses on and does not give us a lot of time to reflect on important issues.

Even liturgically one day merges into another and we speed along rapidly.

We hold on as best we can to the fast-moving train! It is not usually a comfortable ride for us.

One reason for this is that the things we celebrate (such as the Birth of Christ) are not yet fully integrated into our daily lives, or in the surrounding society. So there is always an element of struggle involved.

Many do not believe these events are important, or they fail to give them the attention they deserve.

The calendar takes us quickly from Christmas Day to St Stephen’s Day, and then two days later to the feast of the Holy Innocents.

The gentle crib scene of one day gives way to brutal martyrdom on another day.

We would like to live in a world where everything was as peaceful and ordered as that crib scene.

The next best thing is that we are ready to live either way. If it is peaceful, fine - we can cope with that. If it is violent, and we face the prospect of martyrdom, fine. That is harder but we can still cope, by the grace of God.

We live our faith in such a way that we are prepared to die for it.

We are fortified for such a life by continuous prayer, penance, sacraments, good works.

We follow the example of the great saints, who were holy and humble enough to withstand worldly pressure and hold firm to the Truth.

They imitated Christ, they obeyed Him, they witnessed to Him.

There is an urgency. We rest the body but never the spirit. We are in a long war, and there is work to be done.

It is not just Christmas Day that we are thinking of these things.

The first Christmas was an enormous event. Now it is up to us to bring that event into our time and space. It is up to us now because the people of past times are resting, and the future ones are not here yet.

Oh, but I am inadequate for the task, we will say. Yes we are inadequate if on our own, but we have access to the grace of God, to help us do everything that has to be done.

To save souls is the big task - to get people to accept the will of God and actually be submissive to Him.

It is very difficult to change long-held opinions but the task has to be done, rain or shine.

The clock does not stop; we use our time in the sun. Not clinging too much to this life we interpret everything in terms of the spiritual world.

We might envy the worldly people but we must not. We are the lucky ones to be employed in the vineyard (Mt 20,1-16).

We integrate all days, special and ordinary, and join them to the eternal Day of Heaven.

If ever and whenever we do reach the point that life is all peaceful and everything goes as it should, we will not stop praying.

There is still the matter of praising God, for which we were created! That is what they do in Heaven – all day, as it were.

 

Christmas Day 2021 Sermon

Christmas Day 2021 The Saviour comes

The strong ones of the world use military power to subjugate their weaker neighbours, and set up their own empires.

This is the way of the world; it is certainly not the way of Christ.

He could have used violence if He had wished, and He would have won any battle He entered.

But He set Himself a harder task than simply military victory.

He chose to operate by persuasion rather than force.

Through His word, and deeds, and by establishing sacraments, He offered salvation to any who would be humble and compliant enough to receive Him.

Thus He would make the crooked places straight and  the rough places plain, as Isaiah had prophesied, Is 40,4).

This may look like weakness. How do you conquer a world by persuasion, when everyone else is firing rockets at each other?

He was aiming to change the way people think, to uproot wrong attitudes that had been around since Cain killed Abel.

He wanted to teach the way of Love to a world that knew mainly violence and hatred - so that swords can be turned to ploughshares and truly peace would reign.

What would change people is the experience of divine love, moving their hearts to mercy and kindness. It has worked for many; many others have held out against it.

People who repent can testify that something has changed within them, and it is now a joy rather than a burden to forgive their enemies.

It is no longer such an effort to forgive because we have the heart and mind of Christ acting in us.

We here present are included in this plan. If we have the humility to cast ourselves down before the Infant King, like all those present at the time, we will be transformed within.

We will derive gentleness from the Child and His Mother. We will absorb the peace and joy that emanate from that scene.

We have our share of worldly forces acting on us; let us give some time for Heaven to act as well.

Christ could have come to earth in other ways, but He chose this way. It was to teach us a lesson in humility, and in patience. He was in no hurry to rush out and say everything at once.

What Our Lord did at Bethlehem, He is still doing now. He is teaching us the need to get our basic attitudes right, whatever else we may attempt

There has been no break in the continuity. Ever since that first entry into the world there has been saving activity going on.

The Saviour saves! Or at least He exerts a saving force, which we hope will break down the barriers that we put up.

Imagine a doctor arrives in a town where everyone is sick, and the townspeople chase him away. This is what the world does with Christ. He can make them well, but they prefer to stay in their sins.

They throw stones at Him (Jn 8,59), try to throw Him over a cliff (Lk 4,29), and finally crucify Him.

No, we can do better than that. We will adore Him instead.

This will solve a lot of problems as true order returns to the world - like disease, poverty, cruelty, wars etc.

However, salvation is the big prize. There are still a lot of people who need saving, need to turn away from sin and get their lives in order.

At Christmas we celebrate God's saving intervention in human affairs; and we also recognize the call to be a part of that saving process – as it affects our own salvation and as calling us to help in the salvation of others.

The Saviour saves. O come, let us adore Him!

4th Sunday of Advent 19 Dec 2021 Sermon

 

4^th Sunday of Advent 19 Dec 2021   Longing for the Kingdom

In the lead-up to Christmas we say that we are awaiting the birth of Christ; soon He will be born.

Yet we know very well that He already has been born, and that was a long time ago. So why do we act as though His birth is something in the future, to be looked forward to?

He has been born in the past but we still have to come to terms with it, to unravel the mystery.

So by going back ritually to His birth we hope to take this event more to our hearts, to assimilate it - an incredible fact, but true anyway.

It is a stranger fact still, perhaps, that He has come yet we do not see the effects. His birth is ignored. He came to heal the world of sin - which is essentially ignoring God; but when He came the world ignored Him again by continuing to sin - and still does, at a great rate.

So we have to go back and back until we get this right. We put ourselves in the position of the people of Israel who longed for the Messiah to come; of the shepherds who in their humility and simplicity hoped for better times. Of the wise men who recognized a good thing when they saw it.

We are child-like enough to believe that there can be a change in the human heart, the way that people live.

Christmas is for children, they say. Well we are like children in our sense of wonder and hoping for better things to come.

We can see all the brutality and falsehood in the world, but we are still able to hope and look to heaven and say: Father, You can save us.

The Israelites waited for the Messiah. We are doing the same thing in many ways. Though He has come it is largely as though He has not. Our prayer is not that He come to the world but that the world take Him seriously.

It starts with us. By reliving His birth, we are opening our hearts and minds wider, to understand our need of the Saviour, to recover that sense of wanting, longing, desiring passionately the coming of God.

Many would shrug their shoulders, and say, So what? What difference does it make? And looking at the world they are, in a way, right. But the reason it has not made a difference is that people have been shrugging their shoulders for 2000 years!

We have to believe that change is possible, and then persevere in that belief until the change happens.

So we say: Come Lord, not for the second time, but for the first time, so we can finally get on the right footing to receive You.

People observe that it is sad that children grow up and lose the magic of Christmas. It is never as exciting for an adult.

But adults can still get excited, not because we want to rush to the Christmas tree and open our gifts, but excited in hope that maybe this year the world will respond as never before to the birth of Christ.

This is the gift we really hold out for. It is better than any material object we might have hoped to receive. It is harder to achieve, but yet we cannot fail to hope knowing the power and goodness of the One who has come among us. And knowing further that the only barrier to this result is indifference on our part.

It has not happened - this does not mean He has failed; nor does it mean it is impossible. It just means His offer has not been taken up.

We can do our part by desiring, hoping, and accepting all that Our Saviour has brought to us. Our joy is not yet in the fulfilment but in the anticipation, knowing that it is coming closer.

3rd Sunday of Advent 12 Dec 2021 Sermon

3^rd Sunday of Advent 12 December 2021 Gaudete

The Lord is near. If so, then how can we worry? If you are in a castle and there are ten thousand soldiers attacking but you have the most powerful general standing next to you then you feel confident.

The Lord is lord of all and can easily overcome any opposition.

We say this, but still probably do not feel it to be certain.

We need to be more familiar with Our Lord. This will bring us to greater faith, more acceptance of God's commands, and above all, charity.

It is in God's nature to bless, to heal, to transform, to improve things. What is wrong can be set right; what is good can be made better.

It takes time if we are to discover the depths of what is possible.

Otherwise, we are too busy panicking and worrying - which is what happens if we are looking only at the externals.

We need to cultivate the worship of God to the point that it springs spontaneously from the heart.

Think of prayer as time spent with one we love. We do not begrudge that time. cf young lovers.

We need to discover the spark, so that our faith is not just a few concepts and commands.

It will come if we pray, and if we make some necessary adjustments to our lives – such as doing penance, and avoiding occasion of sin. If we do these things God will enliven our faith, and with that will come trust, and joy.

To say that prayer does not ‘work’ is self-fulfilling. If we do not pray, indeed nothing will happen.

But if we give God the space and the time to get through to us, then we will see miracles.

Have I been with you all this time (Jn 14,9) ?

The apostles saw so many miracles but still doubted at every new development. It just shows how hard it can be; but it is also manageable.

By contrast, we find in Our Lady and St Joseph a much stronger response to God's mysterious will.

They were more adapted to God's ways and therefore made a more spontaneous response in trust whenever something difficult emerged.

The way forward is to know God better, to become more familiar with His way of operating.

We may not like some things that God does, or allows to happen. But we can take comfort in the overall plan. Everything finds a place. Even when things happen that God does not want, He can rework it to the best possible outcome.

Trust will come with practice, and experience.

But if we give up too easily we will never progress, and will not be rejoicing in God's closeness.

God wants people to believe in Him, to be at home with the miraculous.

Before He comes He wants His people to understand these things.

He does not want most of the human race ignoring him, as we have now.

We atone for this general ignoring of God and His will. We give God the humble attention that He deserves from us.

If others curse we will bless; if they complain we will praise; if they give up we persevere.

The only way to make sense of this universe is to acknowledge, and be on good terms with the One who put it all in place.

This we do, on Gaudete Sunday - we rejoice.

May God bless His people, and sustain us at all times. 

 

2nd Sunday of Advent 5 Dec 2021 Sermon

 

2^nd Sunday of Advent 5 December 2021 Aspiring to higher things

People liked hearing John the Baptist preach, even the evil Herod (Mk 6,20), and the crowds who went out to confess their sins (Mt 3,5). John did not spare the feelings of those who heard him. He was calling them to repentance - which can be painful - but is always a good thing to do.

When we hear the Gospel in all its clarity, or when we hear stories of heroism in those who lived the Gospel, we find we have two opposite leanings within us.

One is to settle with what we have and just amble along at our own pace, admiring the great ones but not attempting to join them.

The other leaning is to allow ourselves to be stirred within, so that we aspire to greater levels of holiness, really wanting to make some impact with our lives on this world.

In practice the two tendencies co-exist and fight for our attention.

We like feeling inspired, but we also like to take it easy!

We hear about the saints, or people who have been through great trials, or generally are closer to God than we are.

We sense that some of that holiness should have a beneficial effect on us. Imagine spending a morning with the Holy Family, for instance!

We can neutralise that call to higher things by putting limits on it – for example, by declaring that we are good enough as we are, and don’t need changing.

Or we can give space for that influence of grace to lift us to higher things.

We never know ourselves which tendency will prevail. Some days we do better than others.

Consistency itself is something that can be helped by exposure to higher powers.

We do not just admire those who pray more than we do, who seem to be closer to God. We come to be like them.

We gradually extricate ourselves from too much worldliness.

With other fields of endeavour we can learn from the masters – be it sport, or music or scholarship. We can admire the best at their craft, but we cannot ever be that good.

But the spiritual world is open to all; the Gospel is addressed to everyone.

Anyone, high or low, gifted or not, can answer the call to holiness.

Holiness does not require ‘talent’ in the normal understanding of the term.

We do not have to be ‘good at’ something to make progress in holiness.

Anyone can be generous, kind, forgiving, chaste, honest, etc

We cannot do it without grace, but we have access to all we need of that.

We can keep listening to the stories, letting the example of great figures inspire us. We can also recognize the temptation to level all that out, to excuse ourselves from taking part.

We need to see instead that we are vital players in the drama and are called to an open-ended commitment, which will see personal progress, and also communal progress if others do the same thing.

John’s preaching is both to correct the usual sins, but also to prepare people for something deeper than they had expected.

No one expected the Messiah to be so concerned with the spiritual life as He was, but eventually the idea sinks in.

They thought He was coming only for political liberation.

Instead He teaches how to be holy, how to live to the full, with a spiritual understanding.

The fullest understanding of salvation involves the ability to be inspired, without resistance, and without conditions.

As the saying goes: We let go and we let God.

 

 

1st Sunday of Advent 28 Nov 2021 Sermon

 

1^st Sunday of Advent 28 November 2021 Smooth transition

Some passages in the Bible speak of being caught out doing the wrong thing.

The five foolish virgins who did not have enough oil for their lamp (Mt 25,1-13), or the servants who became lazy because unsupervised (Mk 13,34-37).

Or the people of Noah’s time who ignored the warnings. (1 Peter 3,20)

God does not take pleasure in catching us out. These passages are meant to have the opposite effect of spurring us on to doing the right thing.

He is saying, Don’t be like those people… instead follow what I am saying and you will have great happiness.

This is always at the basis of Church preaching… warning people they could die soon, that the world could end any day… we don’t want anyone to be lost.

For some the ‘fright’ approach might be the only thing that works.

The preferred option would be simply to point out the immense benefits that come to anyone who tries to act as God would want, and then let things take their natural course.

God came to His own and they knew Him not (Jn 1,10). He would have much preferred if they had known Him.

The preferred idea was that Our Lord would come to the earth and proclaim the Kingdom and all the freshness that goes with that.

People would be impressed by His teaching and miracles, and then would follow on in their own lives.

This would create a near perfect world if enough people would follow that same lead.

It did not happen like this, certainly not in such a direct way, but it did happen in another way.

Our Lord spoke of leaven in the bread as an image of what He was trying to do. (Mt 13,33)

The effect would be slow, too slow to be visible, but it would eventually emerge for all to see. The tallest tree. (Mt 13, 32)

This counterbalances the suddenness of the prophesied endings.

Yes there will be dramatic signs in nature symbolising the battle between good and evil.

But for the elect there will be no sudden changes necessary. They already believe; they already obey; they have been living in God's grace for years.

For them, the second coming will be a joyful event, merely confirming what they already possess.

We could say that the Lord comes quickly and slowly, depending on which aspect of His dealings we are addressing.

The ‘slow’ coming is the everyday communications of Himself that He makes with all who call upon Him.

This would be especially found in the sacraments, and most of all in the Eucharist.

He is coming again, but He is really here anyway, only not in visible form.

He is seeking by His continuous presence to work changes in us, to help us break free from patterns of sin; to develop virtues; to reform our society to be like the Kingdom.

This is  how it was meant to happen. If it has to be a punitive coming with people hiding from Him in terror – God does not want this, but it is what will happen if people reject Him.

We are doing all we can to prevent that.

Advent is to help us see all this in perspective. Our position is one of joyful anticipation.

In short, the second coming is not meant to be seen as an interruption but as a smooth transition.

The same could be said for our own death. If we are in a state of grace, and really seeking to keep things on track we should be able to embrace death without fear.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Last Sunday after Pentecost 21 Nov 2021 Sermon

Last Sunday after Pentecost 21 November 2021    End times

It  is hard to adjust to the language of the end times when most of our lives are routine and very quiet by comparison.

The Bible is full of reminders that the world as we see it is going to be turned on its head at some point. All sorts of signs in nature; all sorts of change. It will be a very disturbing or joyful time depending on how close we are to Our Lord, when He returns.

The end of the world is the same thing as the Second Coming of Christ.

We are told we should be ready at all times for either that event, or any other that might originate from Heaven.

We express our readiness not by simply watching for supernatural intervention, but by carrying on our normal lives as in 1 Thess 4,9-12: We exhort you, brethren… to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we charged you.’

We should work to the end like the servants who are busy when the Master returns (Mt 24,46).

Our Lord wants us to be aware of the last times without being preoccupied with them..

There is an end, a judgment, but not an end to those in union with Him.

It certainly is necessary to remember there is an end coming so we do not become too engrossed in this life. This life is just the preface, the opening scene.

It keeps us level-headed knowing that there are superior forces watching over us, and higher destinies involved. (If mankind were the highest intelligence we really would be in trouble!)

It keeps us in a state of urgency regarding the need for all people to repent, and to pray for those who will not.

We have not seen many of these future realities. We have not died; we have not seen Heaven; we have not experienced the Last Day or other cosmic upheavals.

We can still believe in these things, however. Our Lord’s promises of future events are just as reliable as the past events such as the Resurrection.

God never changes. His word is reliable, far more so than ordinary human words.

We can manage to deal with the ordinary times and at the same time be aware of the apocalyptic.

We understand we can influence the timing of apocalyptic events by our response.

God waits on us to see how much we want Him to return. If we pray, Come, Lord Jesus, it is because we want Him to come - even if it means we might have to abandon our own plans.

But nothing we can devise for ourselves could match what He can do for us.

We reach this point every year. We are tempted to give up… They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”2 P 3,3-4

God is testing us to see if we love Him enough to wait for Him.

We prove that we do love him by being faithful across many years, and between us over millennia.

Every time we think of Our Lord’s second coming it can draw us closer to readiness.

We have to stay awake for ourselves and for the world, which is generally asleep.

The world has no concept that it faces judgment. We have to keep the idea current - to soften the blow, as it were.

And to lead people to the happiness that is found only in a proper understanding of this life and its relationship to the next.

Second Last Sunday after Pentecost 14 Nov 2021 Sermon

 

2^nd Last Sunday after Pentecost 14 November 2021 (readings 6^th S after Epiphany)

The Church comes in three sections: Triumphant, Suffering, Militant.

The triumphant Church is in Heaven; the suffering in Purgatory; the militant – that’s us, toiling away in the hope of becoming triumphant.

When people talk about the Church… what it says, does, whether it performs well or badly, they are talking about the visible Church here on earth, the Church where a great deal of human frailty is in evidence.

We regret that frailty, that it leads to sin, and gives bad witness.

When people see the Church in action they should not have to be looking at scandals and division. The Church is meant to be on fire with faith and charity, relieving the ills of body and soul, assisting with material needs where possible, and most of all providing direction and grace to bring people to Heaven.

The human element will work as it should only when it calls on its ‘better half’ – the triumphant element, including Christ as Head, and Mary as Mother, and countless angels and saints.

Then we start to see what should have been there all along – that every disciple should be as one with Christ, and each other, fully believing, fully functioning, ready to live or die for Christ.

This is what we must strive for if we do not yet have it. Last week we heard that God is patient and can wait before judging people. He gives us time to get things right. Some things take time to sort out all the bits.

Today’s Gospel conveys the same sense of a long time passing and enabling fruitful results.

A seed starts out small and become eventually a huge tree. This is an image of God's influence in the world. He makes Himself known, little by little,

The Church has spread from a very small beginning to very big.

We are big in size, but we do not yet cover the whole world as Our Lord instructed: Go and baptize all nations (Mt 28,19).

So much for the quantity; we also need quality, which can come only when each person is a disciple of Christ, and when each disciple is seriously committed to what that means.

God does not want just our external compliance; He wants to be dwelling inside us, directing our thoughts, words and action so that we become more like Him.

We take shelter in His branches, or we are branches attached to Our Lord as the tree.

We draw what is good and all that we need from Him, which we can do if we are consciously seeking to be united with Him.

If we are united with Him He will enable us to bear fruit. He will bless our efforts in His name, and bring forth fruit.

We do not fall away from the tree as others do, either through actions or beliefs.

We cannot survive anywhere else because only in Christ is the source of all truth. Only there can we make sense of this life and obtain all we need to live it.

When it comes to religion people often want to break out on their own, asserting their own beliefs and opinions.

True happiness is found not in individual experimentation, but submitting to the perfections of Christ, claiming His presence in our lives, offering Him to the world.

We have come a long way as the Church, and we have a long way to go. We are privileged to be where we are, to know what we know.

But with that privilege goes a task. We do all we can to bring the militant Church to its eventual triumph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Third Last Sunday after Pentecost 7 Nov 2021 Sermon

 

3^rd Last Sunday after Pentecost 7 November 2021 (readings 5^th Sunday after Epiphany)

We are influenced by what others around us do. This can work for good or evil.

Take a simple example like neatness. If everyone around us carefully puts things away we would be more inclined to do that ourselves. If everyone threw their rubbish out the window on to the street then we would probably at least relax our standards.

Morally this is seen in many ways, such as the way we talk to each other, the way we evaluate things, the things we hold to be important.

It is difficult to go against the tide of what most people do, most of the time.

Take churchgoing. Imagine if almost everyone in a city went to church, the few that did not would feel a strong pull to find out what they were missing out on.

In today’s parable we have a reference to the fact that believers and unbelievers alike must mingle together.

From another parable we know that the good are supposed to be the leaven in the whole community  (Mt 13,33). This is how it is meant to work. If the evildoers are in our midst it is our job to make them good instead of evil!

How do that? By generating a climate of goodness that will be impossible to ignore. To embarrass people into giving up their crooked ways and win them over. This has happened before, and is the way that saints always influenced their surroundings.

We have to establish a new normal, and this is what the Kingdom of God is.

It is hard to be good when others around us are not, but someone has to start off. We have to get used to the idea of working with little or no support.

This is why God allows evildoers to endure. He wants to give them time to see things differently; to be influenced by a different view of the world.

To save people requires a certain amount of time, to give them a chance to learn from their own wrong directions. So they can ask questions like, Why is my life falling apart? Maybe I should turn back to God.

What does it mean for us trying to be good, the wheat in this parable? We have to take the same view as God takes.

He can love people that we cannot (not yet anyway).

We would tend to write people off too quickly, whereas God, who can see all, can judge better.

We do not try to judge how good or evil another person may be. We simply press on, seeking to be good ourselves, encouraging others likewise. We cannot judge as in we must not, and anyway we do not have enough knowledge to be able to form a judgment.

The idea is to keep going , be good do good, become better. and encourage each other ‘teaching and admonishing one another’ (epistle), as we all seek the same result.

We race to the finish and do not ease up. ‘We bear with one another and forgive one another (epistle). With charity holding it all together.

As we do this our capacity to love others will increase.

For those holding out we pray and give good example, avoiding scandals which only impede the whole operation.

Another point for letting the unholy have more time is that some of them, if they did come inside, would do a better job than we can. Cf St Augustine, St Mary Magdalene, St Francis, St Ignatius, and many others who  had major conversions. In every age there must be a great pool of talent not being fully utilised.

Instead of just wishing evildoers dead we can wish them alive with the life of Christ! 

 

Christ the King 31 Oct 2021 Sermon

Christ the King 31 October 2021 One above all

Our Lord has the right to be honoured as King - in His divinity, as being God anyway; and in His humanity as the Saviour of the world.

As Man He has performed the most dramatic rescue ever seen, saving us from sin and death. This is someone fit to lead. He commands our respect, gratitude, obedience etc.

Tragically He is ignored or denied by many, who have allowed themselves to be caught up too much in this life. Many believe in God in some sort of way, but not sufficiently to give Him central place.

People think they can govern themselves. At Babel, God confounded the efforts of those who thought they could get by without God.

Let the nations know they are but men (Ps 9,20). A necessary humbling, but only to pave the way to exaltation. Once we do acknowledge Him we find everything falling into place.

Some take diversity of language culture etc as sign that there cannot be just one source of truth; but human nature and the essential sameness of the human condition do establish the oneness of our origin and destiny. Human beings, human souls are very much the same when it comes to their status before God.

There is only one true God, many false. Our role is to atone and restore the human response to the glory of God, and give to God what is God's.

We pray that He will open hearts and minds to accept His true status and to acknowledge it. This would do wonders for the world.

That we acknowledge God is more important than being saved from particular problems.

Instead of going straight into the prayer asking for things, it is good if we first acknowledge our stance before God, and express our sorrow for offending Him in any way.

The more we do that the more powerful our prayer become, and we are helping the world to come back to equilibrium. We do this as often as we can, while praying for others to do the same thing.

How can we help people to see the greatness of God? Everyone wants certain things, such as the freedom to live in peace. Or enough food for the hungry, or health for the sick. These are legitimate desires and things we should want.

It is just a matter of how we go about them. Do we think we can solve all these problems without God, on a purely secular or humanistic basis?

It never works. It does bring some success, but often at the cost of other important ends.

For example, to save the planet is a good objective, but should not be seen as replacing the need to save souls.

To have healthy children is a good objective, but not good if we abort any baby that might have a defect.

As for different religions, it is good if we do not go about killing each other, but not good if the wrong religions are given the same respect as the true one.

There is only one name under heaven by which we can be saved. (Ac 4,12)

If we go with Christ the King we will get the right objectives and the right way to get there.

We will have peace on earth because nobody wants to kill each other anymore. Hearts have been cleansed of hatred; desires have changed permanently in the right direction.

God wants people to know Him at this level. He wants to bring the people to submission, not enforced but in the free response of heart and mind, whereby the people will come to love God , not just obey.

They will look on the one whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him (Zech 12,10).

Every knee shall bow, but it will be out of reverence not terror.

Christ the King offers a much better way of finding happiness. We acknowledge Him today, King of kings, and Lord of lords.

22nd Sunday after Pentecost 24 Oct 2021 Sermon

22^nd Sunday after Pentecost 24 October 2021 Give to Caesar

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God's (Mt 22,21).

Some would say nothing is God's and close Him out completely.

Others would give Him only what ceremony or custom require, such as Midnight Mass and weddings and other formal occasions.

Others again would see Him as an authority figure, to be avoided as much as possible.

Our understanding is that everything belongs to God at least insofar as He has a say in how we use it.

He does not need our houses and cars or any other possession, but He has an interest in whether we use them for His glory, or we think they are entirely our own to use as we please.

We give to God our obedience, trust, gratitude, even abandonment to His will.

What remains for Caesar is that we operate in the worldly sphere, and Caesar represents all that is legitimate in that sphere.

So we are honest in our business dealings, and we do not steal or cheat; and we do not covet what our neighbours have etc.

We give priority to the spiritual domain but that will always coincide with the best way of handling material concerns.

For example, if we trust in God's providence we will see there is no need to steal.

If we love God first, we will find happiness in Him, and not be drawn to false and harmful pleasures, such as through impurity and drugs.

If we worship God we will not be worried about our own social standing, but be happy to be seen as a servant of Christ.

It  all  hinges on our attitude towards God.

If we reduce Him to zero or only partial relevance we will have a very diminished life.

Instead we seek Him out; we give Him due place in our lives.

God wants us to understand Him as more desirable than any other person, thing or activity; to be appreciated, thanked, obeyed, adored, seen as a source of blessing.

God is as relevant as any being can be. He is the referral point to everything else. He is there first and last.

He cannot be removed even if we deny or defy Him – He cannot be removed from existence; nor can His plans be derailed.

Where do we look, and how far, in trying to keep God in mind?

He does not expect us to think of Him every second of the day, but if we are absorbed in the material domain we will still be operating by spiritual principles.

If we do not know exactly God’s will at every point, we can at least avoid things which we know will displease Him – such as any form of sin.

Then we can sort out more specific responses to His will, as we grow in wisdom.

We develop a sense of what He wants, His general approach, as we learn from revelation and inspired writings, and example.

We have all the formal events still, but not in such a way that we present as strangers. We do this every day anyway – that is, we pray. Sometimes we are a bit more formal than others but always with the same idea.

Praying will not become a dull routine if we stay sensitive to God's presence. It is an adventure to be involved with Him. Look at the saints, and what they experienced. We can be part of that world.

We do not have to pray 24 hours on our knees, but nor do we ignore God for 24 hours either. We find the balance, which will always be in general terms that the spiritual world governs the material.

Everything comes from God, is kept in being by Him, and directs back to Him.

All praise and thanks to Him.

21st Sunday after Pentecost 17 Oct 2021 Sermon

21^st Sunday after Pentecost 17 October 2021 Forgiveness

God is abundant in His actions, as we see for example, in the size of the universe, and the variety of  His creation.

This abundance extends to His attitude to our sins and our need for mercy.

He is rich in mercy (Ep 2,4); He runs to meet the repentant son (Lk 15,20).

He desires the conversion of a sinner (Ezek 33,11) and even the angels rejoice over one repentant sinner (Lk 15,10).

That He forgives so freely can be mistaken for indifference on His part; that He just brushes off the sin as a thing of no importance.

This is not the case, however. God sees our sin in the clear light of divinity, where even the smallest sin would be seen in its ugliness. (Like defacing a work of art.)

He saw sin as serious enough to require the Incarnation and Crucifixion to deal with it.

When God forgives sin He restores us to right relationship with Him.

God forgives us because He looks at us through His Son, the perfect sacrificial victim.

This sacrifice was such a strong act of love that it more than compensates for the sin of the world. God is more pleased with His Son’s sacrifice than He is displeased by our sin.

We could never atone for the sins we have committed against God; they are too many and too serious.

So we go through the Son, relying on His merits to make up for what is lacking in us. And this is essentially how we are saved.

We might settle for just good health and material blessings, but those things are just steppingstones to our complete destiny, which is freedom from sin, union with God.

Sin, meanwhile, is ugly and destructive. We need to ask for mercy whenever we sin, not just simply presume that mercy will happen anyway.

We need to be sufficiently contrite on the one hand, and sufficiently grateful on the other. Contrite enough to realize we are in a dark place; and grateful enough to realize we have been rescued from that darkness.

Not everyone is automatically forgiven. There has to be at least some contrition, some recognition of what sin means, and why it is so undesirable.

Many think of sin as just a part of life, normal human behaviour. It is very normal as far as how often it happens but it is not meant to happen.

Forgiveness is available to any who genuinely seek it. We are then claiming on the merits of Christ.

But if we do not ask we will not receive. There are various reasons why someone might not ask for mercy – they don’t think they need it; they don’t see how God comes into the picture; they are afraid to ask for it etc.

The more contrite we are in the process the more complete will be our forgiveness, and the less likely to re-offend. Also, in the light of today’s parable we will be more likely to forgive others whatever wrongs they have done us. Generosity flows from gratitude.

The first debtor in the parable must not have been contrite enough because he certainly was not grateful enough (Mt 18,28).

We need a real spiritual sensitivity here. The world has grown coarse with too long denying proper attention to Almighty God. The world denies sin and mercy, and cannot offer any way out of the tangle it has created.

We have, by contrast, the way to be free of sin and the way to Heaven.

Lord, have mercy on us.

 

 

 

20th Sunday after Pentecost 10 October 2021 Sermon

20^th Sunday after Pentecost 10 October 2021 Degrees of faith

The nobleman had a certain amount of faith but not strong.

Our Lord then gave Him more faith through the miracle.

It is one thing to have a miracle. How we respond is vitally important.

If we receive a blessing we thank God and store up the memory in our hearts (cf Our Lady, Lk 2,19).

We do not just shrug it off carelessly as did the nine lepers (Lk 17,11-19).

We have an ever-increasing list of miracles the Lord has worked for us. What marvels the Lord has worked for us, indeed we are glad (Ps 125(126), 3).

As we accumulate our list of blessings we can also deepen our faith, and we will have more faith to call upon the next time we need a miracle.

Our Lord does not want, however, that we be lurching from one miracle to the next but putting our permanent trust in Him.

Even when people could see Him, and they knew He had worked other miracles, they still doubted Him.

Our Lord objects to this lack of faith … unless you see signs and wonders.

He wants us to enter a relationship of trust with Him, such that at any time and in any need we can call confidently upon Him.

The requests flow from a full heart, an already established closeness. It is not shouting across a chasm, but a quiet confident word.

We seek a unity with God which has always been there, but needs to be restored and

increased; a natural growth from strong foundations…like branches on a tree (Jn 15,5).

So that we increase in our love for God.

We do not see Him as only a problem-solver. We are not seeking just to squeeze benefits from Him, but to have a constant trust and gratitude towards Him.

We express all this in our prayer, which is our link with all that is good and powerful.

One of our most important prayers is the Rosary, which we highlight, particularly in this month.

If we seek certainty and security, the Rosary will definitely help.

The Rosary has great stability, being prayed at all places and times, bringing before us the central mysteries of our faith - mysteries which keep rolling upon us like waves on the shore.

Based in eternity, yet active in time, these mysteries remain true and relevant. The more the prayer is prayed the more good is going to come.

It is a prayer with many aspects. It will work at different levels, It makes us stronger, it heals the rift between humanity and God, and because of the increase in faith it is more likely to make things happen.

The Rosary helps to anchor us in God Himself, rather than just being preoccupied with outcomes.

Success or failure we press on. We should pray the Rosary every day. We are not obliged to do that; it is just that it bears so many fruits.

As far as outcomes go, some things require more prayer than others. For really big things like rescue from an invading army, or the overturning of immoral abortion laws, we need more time and more numbers.

It is not that we lack faith that we have to keep doing the same thing – it is just that bigger objectives require more prayer, and more people praying.

Then, there is reparation for past sins, which are countless; and for perennial causes such as conversion of sinners. We have much to keep us busy.

See yourself as the nobleman of today’s Gospel. He was told his son would live but he did not see the miracle straight away. Maybe he thought he would go home and find his son was dead.

Faith enables us to see victory before it is evident. We pray the victory into reality.

The Rosary helps to do this.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

 

 

19th Sunday after Pentecost 3 Oct 2021 Sermon

 19^th Sunday after Pentecost 3 October 2021 Heaven or Hell

Can we be certain of being saved? We can make it certain, but we are warned against being complacent.

Many today think that it is impossible to go to Hell, and that leaves Heaven as the only option, which by default becomes certain!

The last part of today’s parable indicates that salvation is not so easy as it may look. (The man without the wedding garment is expelled Mt 22,11-13)

Salvation is easy from one angle, insofar as it is not hard at least to initiate unity with Almighty God. A simple act of repentance can be enough.

That gets us started, but we then have to maintain the new state of affairs and live with it.

First we accept God’s invitation to the banquet (initial repentance, salvation); then we conform with whatever that acceptance requires (ongoing interaction).

We must not, like the unfortunate servant, bury our talent. (Mt 25,25) Once called to work in the vineyard we must work till the end of the day. Or, having put our hand to the plough, we must not look back (Lk 9,62).

If salvation is easy to begin, it is also easy to lose (cf the seed that did not make it to the harvest (Mt 13,1-7).

We are aware of the possibility of being lost, but this is not meant to cripple us with fear; only to ensure that we keep a respect for the wiles of the enemy and the lure of the world.

Those who think Heaven is automatic are at great risk of not paying sufficient attention to the dangers surrounding them.

Any sense that we have already ‘arrived’; that we are already ‘good enough’, must be guarded against.

We race to the finish (2 Tm 4,7) as St Paul puts it. Even he thought he could still be lost (1 Cor 9,27).

We are not meant to be quaking with fear that we might go to Hell, but just keeping a healthy caution.

There is a danger of being lost even if one has been on the right track for most of one’s life (Ez 18,24)

This is the reverse of the idea that one can be saved even after living an evil life (Ez 18,21).

It is what we have become that determines how we are judged.

The best idea is to live a good life and have a good death!

We cannot assess our exact status before God because there may be aspects to our lives that we have not given much attention towards.

There are always certain things we can do which will improve our position even if we don’t precisely know what that position is.

For example, we can always make acts of contrition and confess our sins. We can always pray, do good works. God will know if we are sincere, and He can even help us to be sincere if we were not before.

It would be comforting to believe everyone went to heaven, but this belief is just not tenable.

There is a great deal of Scripture and Tradition that tells us otherwise. eg today: Many are called, few are chosen (Mt 22,14).

Nor is it logical, when we consider that God does not force salvation on anyone. We are invited to the banquet, not forced.

So we keep operating at our fullest capacity, to make more likely our own salvation and - understanding the communal nature of the Church - to help others find their way to salvation as well.

We have to work overtime at present, because relatively few see it in this light.

There is not much prayer for the dead at present. The dead need our prayers more than our praise! Prayers such as: forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those who most need Thy mercy.

18th Sunday after Pentecost 26 Sep 2021 Sermon

 

18^th Sunday after Pentecost 26 September 2021 Authority

Where does the man get all this power? The Son of Man did many wonderful things, and He spoke and acted with authority (Lk 4,32)  Authority comes from the same word as author and God has complete authority over His creation because he is author of the whole thing.

Imagine a play where the actors can change the script. In this case it is God's play and we are the actors. He lets us write our own script, but asks that we stay within the main idea of the play.

He gives us freedom which we then must learn to exercise in the right way.

If we put alien things in the story it has to be rearranged to end the right way.

How will the story finish? We know that Christ comes at the end, but many other details are not known yet.

There are millions of people involved and everyone has some say on what happens.

God also makes inputs to the play. He will not withdraw our freedom; but He will seek to repair any damage we have done.

If we use our freedom wisely good things will follow. We might be able to bring about a miracle by our intercession. We would undoubtedly, however, have a lot more miracles if we were closer to God, especially in humility and obedience.

God wants us to bring His authority to bear on the world around us, and generally bring healing and good fruits to people everywhere, as individuals and societies.

We can achieve this if we are at one with God. He desires our oneness, because then our prayer has more power. Where two or three agree…it shall be done for them (Mt 18,19).  

Our Lord desires us to be one, also because perfect unity is itself part of the full salvation plan.

In Heaven we will have perfect unity with God and all others there. This should also be the case on earth, no matter how far we may be from it at present.

God can deal directly with individuals, but His main preference is to work through the Church, into which individuals have been incorporated.

Some think of God as remote, like someone who may have created us but takes little further interest.

He is in fact vitally concerned with us, only working through us, rather than just doing everything Himself. He wants us to grow into the part that we play.

We see the malice of the Pharisees, always trying to win arguments, even at the risk of their own salvation. We have to keep pulling off the tentacles of cynicism and despair.

Instead we maintain humility, trust, perseverance, and the like, taking our part in the ‘play’, coming in with the right script.

We compose our part of the script as we go, and we influence the final outcome. It will be our own work, but it will be guided by the Holy Spirit and will conform to what God would want from us. It is freedom but not license.

We learn not to despair just because there are difficulties, resolving to overcome those difficulties by grace.

Our Lord’s greatest miracle will be, perhaps, the convincing of His own disciples to believe in Him and place Him firmly at the centre of all our thoughts, words and actions.

17th Sunday after Pentecost 19 Sep 2021 Sermon

 

17^th Sunday after Pentecost 19 Sep 2021 God's ways

How to love God? Loving someone who is so far superior to us must be expressed in submission, obedience, gratitude and the like.

We never forget our inferior position but express gratitude that God makes the whole thing possible.

We are tempted to rebel, just as the fallen angels did. They had sufficient beauty to distract them from the One who had all perfection, and so they lost their place

This has happened to a great many humans as well, even though they lack the beauty of the angels.

The temptation is Pride. Why should I worship and obey God, one asks?   Because He is so much greater, one replies.

We cannot tell God what to do, nor complain of His treatment to us.

Instead we wait for Him to tell us what to do, and then do whatever that is in a cheerful spirit.

We express gratitude that we are here in the first place. God first created us, then saved us, now promises us a reward - none of which He had to do, nor do we deserve.

We build up certain possessions and positions - like a marriage, a home, a car, a good job etc and then if one of these things is taken from us – do we rant and rave, or like Job wait patiently for an answer (and a restoring of those things, or equivalent).

This life is a constant battle between the right and wrong desires; we are pulled and pushed in all directions.

God wants us to understand how He sees us. We are not slaves, but children (Ga 4,7), or friends (Jn 15,15).

We can enjoy this status without detracting from each other. There was a man who said: It is not enough that I succeed; others must fail!

We do not have to be so mean-spirited. There is enough for everyone when we speak of God's bounty.

Certainly God is not like that man. He wants to share His glory with as many as possible. He wants all to be saved (1 Tim 2,4). We have not chosen Him; He has chosen us (Jn 15,16).

Thus the second command comes about that we must love one another. We must learn to handle with care the other person because God has called that person friend.

We are more than servants in God's sight, but as far as our response goes, we are to be like servants who do their duty first and only later expect to be rewarded (Lk 17,10).

In the writings of the saints we are ‘miserable worms’ – albeit worms called to become eagles, in due process; but never forgetting what we would be without God's grace and mercy.

Many would object that too much humility is demeaning, and a mark of weakness.

Christ was not being weak staying on the Cross for three hours. Our Lady was not weak to be at the foot of the Cross for that long. It is not weak to forgive enemies; to submerge one’s pride, to overcome the usual reactions of anger, hatred, revenge etc.

It may appear to be weakness but over time it reverses ingrained and false attitudes.

In short, we never forget what God has done for us, or if we do, all else collapses.

We have never got this right so far in human history. Revenge and related elements always win out as the normal response. We are still coming to terms with Our Lord’s plans and methods.

His teaching remains largely untried, at least beyond a certain level of commitment.

May He take us further than we have ever been before!

 

16th Sunday after Pentecost 12 Sep 2021 Sermon

 

16^th Sunday after Pentecost 12 September 2021 Finding God

We cannot give away the Faith. If we had a sign out the front offering Free Beer we would attract a lot of people. But if we advertise Eternal Life available here – not much response!

There are strange distortions in human desire. We want the wrong things and dismiss the right ones.

This is the result of past sins which cumulatively obscure the way forward.

Make straight the way of the Lord, as the Prophets say. May we be able to iron out all the distortions and truly recognize what we have.

Why is it so hard to find God?

There is  a sense in which God hides Himself , such as in the Song of Songs where the bride has to go looking for her Beloved. Or in the way that Our Lord was missing for three days.

This is a challenge for us who already believe but still have to look for a deeper perception of God's presence.

But many will not even look for Him, placing their hopes elsewhere, but never successfully.

We are commanded to love God above all else, but many would much prefer to love the ‘all else’. God is not first for them, nor anywhere near first.

If I do not love God it is because I do not know Him. To know Him is to love Him.

This is what St  Paul is praying for (epistle, Ep 3,13-21) that people will know what treasure they possess.

We love what is loveable. God is more loveable than anything He has created but how do we get to appreciate Him properly.

We are distracted by other things which present themselves more obviously.

We have never had so many distractions as there are now. Some are legitimate, some not, but they can all serve to prevent our coming to know God better.

They make us think we are too busy for God.

How do we reach the real God? The first and last thing is prayer - even if we are not sure He is listening. The answers will come.

Then straight obedience. Do whatever He tells you (Jn 2, 5).

Then  Give thanks for past blessings, which we do as the Church, and individually.

Throughout all this we develop patience and work towards the desired state. It will take time for most people, but it is always possible.

God is invisible but we see His works everywhere

God is intangible … but we learn what love is from other people (such as parents), and we can learn to trust God.

God is inaudible. We have His word, and that means we can ‘hear’ Him. We know what He says, and what He wants.

For an ongoing relationship of trust we have past miracles, wise teachings, and examples of fervent love found in the lives of the saints.

A lively sense of God's presence will enable us to live this life with all its twists and turns, and without losing our balance.

People question God and everything about Him. We have to remember the lowliness of our position. To question God too boldly is to be like someone in the dark of the cellar pronouncing on the qualities of sunlight.

If we had not sinned God would be blindingly obvious to us, and we would quickly understand His ways, at least as they relate to us.

We can help answer St Paul’s prayer by being receptive to what God is offering us. That you may know also the charity of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge.

15th Sunday after Pentecost 5 Sep 2021 Sermon

 15^th Sunday after Pentecost 5 Sep 2021 Spiritual restoration

 Our Lord gives the son back to his mother. This is a sign of God's plan on a much wider scale – to bring back all that is presently lost to how it was meant to be. This applies especially for humans. God wants to save, to heal, to restore.

Regarding spiritual restoration the matter is much more complicated than a physical miracle.

Our Lord wants to lead people to an understanding of their spiritual hunger, and how completely they need to be in union with Him.

This requires a certain amount of thought on our part, and also a definite response.

In the current era people generally overestimate their status before God, due to a mistaken belief that there are no sins anymore; or at least that they themselves do not commit any.  

People give themselves a lot of latitude re their position. They will say that they love God, but will not be looking at their lives in a sense of what needs to change.

People who believe in Heaven often think they are going there, and this without any effort or adjustment to their lives.

We, for our part, try to be good, while maintaining a contrite attitude for the sins we do commit, and holding on to the hope of Heaven.

It is not so hard to get this right if only we will give the matter serious attention.

One has to be somewhat careful in the moral life, but as we grow in knowledge of God we also come to love Him, and from there it is more of a joy than a burden to walk in His ways.

If we have faults we must work on them, not just leave them there.

There are many traps around, which will present danger to people in different stages of faith.

Those, like us, who do take the faith seriously will not be tempted to be stealing cars and vandalising public properties, but more subtle sins such as thinking ourselves better than others; thinking ourselves good enough in our own strength. (cf pharisee and publican Lk 18,9-14).

We are tempted to call sins by other names, such as mistakes, peccadilloes, bad choices,  inappropriate behaviour.

We should call a sin a sin – that way we have more chance of uprooting it.

Another temptation is to try to bargain with God. If I do one thing right does that excuse another thing I do wrong?

We cannot trade obligations with God. This is what St Paul is saying in the epistle. God will not be mocked (Ga 6,7); He must be taken seriously.

We just do what God commands, and consistently, till this becomes part of us.

We seek the pathway to moral recovery, and that requires repentance.

We cannot get by pretending God does not exist or does not count. That approach will lead to disasters, and we have plenty of those.

Sometimes God puts an extra bit of urgency into the call, reminding people how fragile is the base on which they build.

The Covid disease is not just a physical problem, but has a spiritual dimension. Repentance is the most urgent need to begin to escape such problems.

As soon as God sees we are serious (at least a fair part of the human race) He will relent and we will see better days. Many times God relented on plans to punish Israel, because someone interceded (cf Moses Ex 32, 11-13).

We bring our own contrition before God and intercede for others. Thus we are restored, as God always wanted. 

14th Sunday after Pentecost 29 Aug 2021

14^th Sunday after Pentecost 29 August 2021 Trust in God

We still do not trust God. No mater how many miracles He has worked we still doubt the next one!

Our Lord challenges us to have more faith (Gospel). Consider the lilies of the field. They do not spin or reap (Mt 6,28).

It is strange that we put more faith in other things than in God Himself.

We know the precise time of sunrise and sunset, which can be calculated far in advance.

We trust fellow human beings to manage difficult tasks – like surgeons, pilots, artists

We trust technology for all sorts of things.

Yet we do not extend the same confidence to God. We profess faith in Him verbally on many occasions yet still manage to doubt.

It could be said that we have faith in God in a general way, but not necessarily in the particular way that confronts us at any given moment.

We cannot always summon the requisite faith when it is needed. We need faith which is strong enough to bear any adversity - so that we can draw upon all our knowledge and experience of God from a whole lifetime, and bring that faith to the present moment.

It is not only our own personal history but the history of the whole of God's people, going back to Abraham.

God has delivered us time and again, and all He asks is that we would trust Him for the future as much as for the past.

If we look from God's side He is unchangeable and always the same (Heb 13,8).

He is the same God with all the same characteristics, whether we personally are having a good or a bad time.

He always has goodwill towards us, offering kindness and mercy.

We draw upon that goodness in our prayer and sacraments, and let it work in us.

The eternal sameness of God is our strength when we think our world is falling apart.

What about the fact that people do starve and suffer other deprivations?

We have to go back to how it all started. If we (as the human race) had ever taken God at His word with sufficient conviction these things would not happen.

Overall the human race has not trusted and so we do not see a lot of miracles; and we have so much disorder, such as war.

Had we not sinned, or at least not so much, we would live in a much happier world.

We can still go some way to establishing that world. Thy kingdom come.

When we ask for food and clothing, or any particular request, it is always with this background understanding that we need a spiritual healing of the whole world.

Repentance is required in any request. We cannot treat God like a machine that will give us whatever we order. We have to be on the right footing before we can ask for favours.

Our prayer would be so much more powerful if we (the human race) would position ourselves rightly before God.

We ask for that as well – a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.(Ps 50,17). The prayer of the humble man will pierce the clouds (Sir 35,21).

We make it easier for God to help us by cooperating with His will.

If we ask the right way there will be many miracles, and even a change in the way things usually happen.

The biggest miracle would be that most people in the world would have an enduring faith, and a true love of God.

For that we pray day and night!

13th Sunday after Pentecost 22 Aug 2021 Sermon

 

13^th Sunday after Pentecost 22 August 2021 Feast of the Immaculate Heart

The average human heart will be a mixture of good and evil desires: good, as in thoughts of love, generosity, kindness to others; bad, as in carrying grudges, wishing harm on others, selfishness, and the like.

In the Heart of Mary we would find only the good desires, and they would be in much larger quantities than we could even imagine.

Mary is not just a little bit better than the rest of us, but far and away above us. As St Alphonsus puts it: The fire of her love was most extreme. If Heaven and earth were placed in it, they would be instantly consumed. And the ardours of the seraphim, compared with it, are like cool breezes.  

We associate Mary with gentleness and quietness, but the external demeanour conceals a furnace of love and all related qualities.

Her fierce love for God enabled Him to work all His plans in her. She did not merely obey God, but wanted to serve Him with her whole heart and soul.

When her role as Mother and Queen of Heaven was established she was then able to turn her attention to loving the rest of us… Woman, this is your son. We are all her children, and she directs this blazing love towards each one of us.

It is tragic that so many people feel alone and unloved, when in fact they have a Mother who is close to their hearts, and would help them if only they could turn to her.

She can help us with everything the world will not give us.

The world lusts after power, impurity, wealth, immediate satisfaction etc. She is humble, pure, poor in spirit, able to trust God over ages of time.

The world ignores God, she seeks Him out.

The world blasphemes God; she glorifies the Lord

Many ignore her; many others (like us) do call out to her but we find we have much work to do in cleansing our hearts and re-directing them the right way.

It is because of our sins that we can be so dull of perception in these matters. Hearts which are weighed down by sin are not capable of perceiving the greatness of divine love, or of Mary’s unique human love.

Part of her loving work for us will be to release our hearts from the false attachments of sin, enabling us to see more clearly the activity of God in our midst.

Her heart was Immaculate, that is, without sin or stain of any kind. We could never love with the same intensity as she does, but we can at least move in that direction.

Our prayer, directed to Mary’s Immaculate Heart will give us the strength to persevere, and not to fall back into cynicism or despair. There is so much sorrow in the world at present; we could collapse under the weight of it all, but we will learn from Mary how to deal with that sorrow and turn it to joy.

The only way is to deepen our link with Almighty God, to find in Him the source of every good thing.

The more the earth fails to keep us happy the more we cling to God (at all stages assisted by Mary).

She can see the solution but she also understands the resistance people have developed. The people have to be eased out of their wrong way of thinking into the real solution.

This takes much prayer on her part, and our part too. We share her sorrow for all who are labouring, and increase our prayers and penances that they will see the way out.