3rd Sunday after Epiphany 23 Jan 2022 Sermon

 3^rd Sunday after Epiphany 23 Jan 2022    The real business

The main business of the Church is to save souls, or at least to help in that process. Only God can save, but we can help.

For one thing we can present ourselves for salvation, as in actively seeking the mercy and grace of God to cleanse us of sin already committed, and to steer us away from likely future sin.

For another thing we do what we can to help the work of salvation continue.

This is why we pray for other people, especially around the time of death, because we believe that God will hear the prayers of one person for another; and in death the one dying may not be able to pray.

Some question why they should pray for people they do not like. They do not deserve my prayer, one could say.

The words of today’s epistle bring home to us that we should pray, and also exercise charity towards the one in need, be it friend or foe. If your enemy be hungry, give him to eat; if he thirst, give him to drink… be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rm 12, 20-21).

This is one of the most defining points of Christianity, overcoming evil with good, exercising charity to one’s neighbour, without seeking anything in return. We might appreciate some return, but we must not make our behaviour conditional on any personal gain.

We seek solely the welfare of the other person.

We want what Christ wants, and this is the basis of the whole operation.

We would be right in saying a person does not ‘deserve’ mercy, because no one does. Mercy, by definition, cannot be ‘deserved’. It is a gift from the one who is in a position to punish, but shows mercy instead. In Christian terms we exercise mercy for the sake of bringing about a change of heart.

We really have to trust here, that God has already arrived where we are going, and He can see it much more plainly than we can.

He can see the good He has intended for each soul. Someone may at present look very ragged from a spiritual viewpoint, but God can see what he would look like with sufficient mercy and grace.

We see only the rough exterior, but there is a lot going on that we cannot see.

Another reason we might not pray (or exercise charity) for another is that we do not think the prayer will do any good. The person is ‘too far gone’, we think.

A conversion may be unlikely if you look at it strictly mathematically; but when miraculous grace goes into operation, we can expect surprises.

There are things that will happen if we pray, and will not happen if we do not pray.

Lord, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof… the word of command from God is enough. He is more likely to speak that word if we have established trust in Him.

A miracle in this case becomes less of a surprise, but no less a wonder that God takes so much concern for us.

When it comes to converting sinners we are asking for an infusion of grace to move the heart and mind of the one for whom we are praying.

God can do this, and will respond if we ask Him. Some people will take more converting than others; and probably some are beyond reach, for all practical purposes.

But we do what the word of God says: we bless those who curse, we feed them if they are hungry, we wish them to know the mercy of God, and themselves come eventually to Heaven.

If we don’t want others to receive mercy then we need to ask for mercy ourselves to soften our hearts! Saving souls is our main line of business.

2nd Sunday after Epiphany 16 Jan 2022 Sermon

2^nd Sunday after Epiphany 16 January 2022 New wine

God can change substances, one thing into another. He can change water into wine (as at Cana), and wine into blood (as at the Last Supper).

He is prepared to bless His people. He lavishes His gifts on us, wine, food, music, sunshine, friendship, all kinds of enjoyments… which can mean for some that is all they want. They are happy to rest with the gifts of God, and not bother with God Himself.

God wants us to enjoy His gifts, but more importantly still, He wants us to be able to see where it all fits in.

In gratitude for His gifts we come closer to Him; we are more conformed to His way of thinking, and eventually we are more interested in God than in the things He gives us.

One thing He gives us which does not sound much like a gift is the ability to lay down our lives for Him!

Organisations honour their outstanding past members. The names are engraved on honour rolls on the wall. We do that too, in the Church, with our lists of saints, and especially martyrs.

These are our best ‘graduates’. This one was put to death in such and such a time and this one another time, and so on, through the centuries, and over the globe.

The world honours the rich and famous and watches them for what they wear, and say, and then imitates them. Anyone with that much money must be worth knowing, they reason.

We come from a different angle. We admire those who can sacrifice themselves. We honour them in proportion to how much of themselves they gave to God.

This makes an unusual list of people – often very obscure, always poor, even if they started with money.

This is what happens to people whom Our Lord transforms, who cooperate with His grace to change ‘substance’ into a new humanity, based on that of Christ.

They come to think like He does, to value what He values.

Do we want to be associated with such people? Yes, if we really understand.

Our Lord came to save sinners, and that is what His closest disciples will also be seeking.

It is not easy to save people, because they generally resist the process, and sometimes even put to death those who are making the attempt.

Still, it does happen that people are transformed from lives of selfishness and futility and become instead a new ‘substance’, a new kind of humanity, imitating Christ and not the golden calves of the world.

Conformity to the will of God, and going wherever that leads – that is our position. That is ‘success’ as we see it.

Our Lord works the Cana miracle to help the people in that time and place, who had a pressing need. But much broader than that, He is setting our minds on a path to full understanding.

Humanity is good at enjoying itself, but is much less inclined to give of itself for the sake of others. Our Lord works the transformation that makes self-giving an attractive proposition.

Drink the wine and it will make you feel good, but will not make you a better person.

Drink the Blood and it won’t instantly make you feel better, but it will make you a better person - every time.

Blood of Christ, save us.

The Holy Family 9 Jan 2022 Sermon

The Holy Family 9 January 2022  Anchored in faith

We are coming out of the Christmas season, in which time we have contemplated the mysteries of the Incarnation of Christ, and what that means for us.

Why did Christ come as a baby? To identify more fully with our human condition, and to prepare us for sometimes long waits for the next thing to happen.

The Messiah came as a baby, and then waited thirty years before beginning His saving activities. This is probably much slower than we would have done things, had we been in charge!

A tall building needs very strong foundations. We could say that a major work of redemption needs a sold foundation too. And this private time of Christ was such a foundation.

He was sanctifying the world, quietly, just by His presence and His prayer, maybe the occasional miracle.

The house of the Holy Family was an oasis of holiness in a sin-infested world. How much good must have emanated from that house – in prayer, in charity to neighbours, good actions, and most of all everything directed to the glory of God.

Going back to the foundation we learn a lot about all the necessary virtues - patience, humility, trust in God, openness to His will. These are all things we need in abundance.

We are not so well-prepared as Mary was, so we have some work to catch up. She was so immersed in prayer that even when an angel appears she still maintains composure. How would we respond to such an event?

Mary’s calmness in the face of divine activity tells us that we must be ready at all times to receive whatever God chooses to send. It will not usually be anything spectacular, nevertheless He does have many ways of communicating with us. We want to be able to read the signs, whatever they may be.

It there is no clear message we can cope with that too. We are not always looking for something different. Sometimes we know well enough what is needed; in which case we   are trying to summon up the grace to take our place in the process.

A lot of our moral life is like that. A lot of the family situations which test our charity, for instance. We don’t need an angel to appear to us to tell us to talk kindly to those with whom we live.

And as the Church we know what we have to do, most of the time. It is just a matter of doing it well, and better. Charity, Evangelisation, Catechesis etc.

We want to be as cooperative as possible. And as unresisting as possible.

Prayer, sacraments, good works, self-denial – they all help. We are ready then for a once-only event, or for the general foundational work that is essential.

The Church needs a core of strong believers and enthusiastic members. Strong and enthusiastic enough to be able to go against the tide, to pray when others do not, to wait and hope against all appearances.

The Holy Family, we can be sure, never missed a day of prayer. Nor should we. If you are the only person in your family who believes, or you live alone, draw upon your ‘other’ family, which we all share – the Church.

Thirty years tells us that the quiet build-up is necessary, and also fruitful.

For us here, now, we make our own personal commitment to stand with the Lord through whatever lies ahead, and we make reparation for all times we or others have allowed the cares of life to distract us.

We call upon Jesus, Mary and Joseph to let us into their ‘house’, and help us in all aspects of our lives - the practical, the mundane, the spiritual, the local and universal, the future near and far.

On such a foundation as they provide, we will not fall.

Holy Name 2 Jan 2022 Sermon

Feast of the Holy Name 2 January 2022

By this name and no other…

Calling upon God to do something is not a magic formula. We cannot tell God what to do, nor can we make things happen without His consent.

We may start out asking for mainly selfish things, but as we mature in the faith we take a wider and deeper view. To start with we may just want to win the lottery; by the time we finish we are ready to die as martyrs!

We can still pray for material needs, but increasingly these are seen in the light of spiritual values.

It comes to mean that eventually we will ask only for the things God would want us to have. This might seem a let-down because we know He will pick things for us like humility, generosity, courage… and these are not as exciting perhaps as a new car or new house.

But then we realize that God is leading us into a deeper awareness of ourselves, the way we are designed, the way we operate; a deeper awareness of His holy will, the greatness of His plans, the intensity of His power. It is by this stage that we are ready to ask ‘in His Name’, and we shall receive it (Jn 14,13).

When we have finally aligned ourselves to God's will we can then communicate more effectively with Him.

Our prayer emerges from our faith. We are not dealing with a distant deity but with a personal presence closer to us than we usually realize. Faith is identifying with God and expressing our closeness to Him. Prayer should not be shouting across a void but a whisper from the heart.

As Our Lady prayed: Son, they have no wine. She knew that statement would be enough for her Son to act. It can be like that with our prayer.

We seek to be perfectly at one with the will of God, not even considering for a moment that we would disobey Him or overrule Him. This is ‘seeking first’ the Kingdom of God.

When we call on the Holy Name we are drawing power from Our Lord. This power can be harnessed only if we are on right terms with Him.

Calling Him by name will ‘succeed’ only if we are in a position to communicate with Him. It is not an impersonal transaction where I say the word and something happens as a result (as with magic).

Calling on His name itself enables us to draw closer, becoming stronger in faith each time. We come to know Our Lord better, and love Him more, as we surrender more of our own will to His.

So we see that maturing takes place in what we ask for, and in the confidence with which we ask.

God wants us to ask all day long because this is communing with Him on an ongoing basis. He wants us to have this level of trust, and increase it.

Once unity with Him has been established the grace can flow more freely.

Increasingly we come to understand and appreciate the spiritual aspects of every matter, not just seeing God as a supplier of good things (putting material needs first.)

When we can sacrifice lesser desires for greater ones, that is progress. Let us continue that progress far into the future.

Let us call on and reverence the Holy Name, with all the sincerity we can find. Blessed be His Holy Name; blessed the Name of Jesus.