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!