Quinquagesima Sunday 19 Feb 2023 Sermon

 Quinquagesima Sunday 19 February 2023 Believing is Seeing

 

We see as through a glass darkly (epistle). There is much we do not see because we are limited to physical sight. We cannot see God, angels, demons, Heaven etc.

 

We also cannot see the future, being anchored in the present.

 

The Lord gives us sight – the faith to see what we cannot see physically, and the trust to negotiate each passing moment in the grace of God. Not to give way to despair or fear or disobedience or loss of faith or any such negative.

 

The negative results will happen if we do not pray, receive sacraments, generally exert ourselves in the right direction.

 

We come to a point where we can see, at least enough to know what is around us, and what will come with the future.

 

Some things God will not tell us, but He does tell us enough for us to play our part and help to bring about His plans.

 

The Lord will give us sight if we ask for it, but there are so many false religions and philosophies out there that many are trapped in the darkness. They do not ask the real God to help, and they must thrash about in the dark till someone can offer them the true light.

 

Those who say they can see are blind. The Pharisees could see only worldly advantage. Blind totally to the real God. Sin blinds us in the spiritual sense, as we have less understanding of what is real. Jesus said, 'If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains (Jn 9,41).

 

We ask Our Lord that we may see. We will see what is what, as to right and wrong, and when there are issues open to interpretation, we will make good decisions, pleasing to Him.

 

Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe (Jn 20,29). Many would dispute that, thinking that the lack of seeing is the crucial factor. I will believe it if I see it is the common phrase.

 

Our Lord is reversing that saying: I will see it when I believe it. If you believe you will see, because then your eye will become clean: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light (Mt 6,22).

 

We can believe to the point of certainty, such certainty as we see in the saints. They are so convinced of God's reality and goodness that they do not doubt for a second.

 

We learn how to think like that. With a lot of help from Heaven we grow in grace, and wisdom. We can learn from experience, even from our failures. Spiritual thinking becomes a part of our whole lives, permeating all else.

 

We do not just keep the odd commandment; instead it becomes habitual to seek God's will and put it into practice.

 

Many will try to dilute Christianity, as if to accommodate their doubt. But if we do not have doubt we can venture much more.

 

We do not have to be great saints, but at least to get our part right.

 

We speak of certain understandings as dawning upon us. Why did I not see that before, we ask?

 

Why did I not see that before? Spiritual sight. We will see a lot more if we stop the sin and actually look for Him.

 

Everything looks different through the light that Christ brings. We find we have new talents and inclinations, which is a much happier state.

 

Lord, that I may see needs to be our constant prayer, as we stay afloat amidst stormy waters.

 

 

 

Sexagesima Sunday 12 Feb 2023 Sermon

 

Sexagesima Sunday 12 February 2023 Suffering for Love

 

St Paul, in the epistle is showing how seriously one can take discipleship.

 

Christianity makes much of suffering, honouring the martyrs and those who are persecuted for their faith.

 

We honour them for their supreme love of Christ. They were forgetful of themselves being so focused on Him.

 

Those who suffer for Christ do not mind the suffering. The saints teach us that being in union with Christ more than compensates for whatever hardships we may suffer along the way.

 

Allow me to become food for the wild beasts, through whose means it will be granted me to reach God. (St Ignatius of Antioch). He did not want to be deprived of the privilege of dying for Christ!

 

We can tell how much we value Christ by how much we would be prepared to suffer in His name.

 

Really serious Christians can find some share of what St Paul went through, being ostracised, ridiculed, losing employment or chances of promotion. Many are still killed in our day, and many falsely imprisoned (cf Cardinal Pell).

 

Lesser disciples want their belief to be kept at a moderate level - enough religion to feel good, but not to the point of painful sacrifice. (those in the Sower parable who gave up when it got too  hard.)

 

We do not seek suffering as an end in itself, but as a way to experiencing union with Divine Love, our true calling.

 

To be united with Christ is the best thing that can happen to anyone. It is in that state that we are discovering the greatest goodness and blessing possible. This is the key to all else.

 

God is not just a vague powerful impersonal force somewhere out there in the universe. We see Him as a personal presence, interested in us, desiring to  help us.

‘I call you My friends’ (Jn 15,15).

 

We might wish He were further away in our desire to take liberties with His commands, but we always come back to realizing He is the only way we can find happiness.

 

He is indeed far away but also close, aware of our innermost thoughts. We cannot hide even if we wanted to; but we don’t want to, not when we have sorted out a few things.

 

 

As we come to know more about God we see what all the controversy was about. The saints show us the way to follow. While everyone is playing Him down they give all for His sake.

 

He is not just a wise man, or another prophet, cut off too soon.

 

He Is God, and so must be given all the attention, honour and obedience. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain (Rev 5,12).

 

If we don’t see this now we will see it later, either at a point of personal conversion or death.

 

The parable of the Sower presents the final status of each disciple, but for those who are still alive there is still time to repent.

 

So we can get to the fourth group, with the rich harvest, if we can focus ourselves in that direction.

 

With a sufficient dosage of heavenly grace we can start again.

 

For now let us rejoice in Christ’s existence, importance, goodness, desirability and similar qualities, and take from St Paul and other saints  the example of what it means to seek God and really get serious about knowing Him, not fearing what the world does to us, but claiming that world for Him. Thy Kingdom come!

 

The human race does not think they need Him; they can do better. They cannot, but they think they can!

 

We are here to show what can be achieved by faithful disciples who love Him enough to suffer in His name.

Septuagesima Sunday 5 Feb 2023 Sermon

Septuagesima Sunday 5 February 2023 Working for God

Working for God is a much happier course than just aimlessly trying to find meaning in life; often choosing paths which make it worse.

Whereas working for God we have direction and help. We know where we are going and we have the grace to get there.

Working for God can be visible tasks, such as visiting the sick or building a church. It can take in other things less visible such as the silent offering of pain.

It really means doing whatever the situation requires, whether it be something we do only once in a lifetime or something we do every day.

Being set in time we cannot do everything we need to do at one time, so we take each moment and give it to God, asking Him to make use of it in His plans.

Why does God expect us to work in His name, if Christ has already saved us?

It enables us to express our gratitude for God’s first loving us. Not just a verbal gratitude but activated to do more good along the same lines as God has done for us.

Beyond tasks of whatever sort, working for God will mean that we are in union with Him at every moment.

He values our work but does not really need it, as He could work any miracle to achieve the same result.

He values that we love Him enough to want to serve Him.

It is the thought that counts here. In a marriage, for instance, husband and wife can do certain things for each other, but that would not be the main reason for marrying.

The husband would not say, I love my wife because she cooks so well. Nor the wife say that I love my husband so much because he is good at fixing things.

Nor do we stop loving if the other person becomes sick and unable to do those things anymore.

This is a clue to how God sees us. It is not so much what we do, as the spirit in which we do it.

So when God asks us to work in His vineyard we understand there is a lot more involved than just clocking on and off like a workman.

Full commitment is called for. The sooner we start the better, giving us more chance to serve God and to grow spiritually.

It is sad when people see God only as a taskmaster who demands certain things from us, but otherwise does not care about us.

God does command certain things but only to bring us to the point that we would have done it anyway. For example, we do not steal, because we understand how wrong stealing us.

The rules can be helpful but are not meant to be our final state of understanding..

There will come a time when we really can do whatever we like, because we like the right things.

The sooner we grasp God's way of seeing things, the better for everyone.

Those who work through the heat of the day have more time to understand their position. This is our category.

We do not envy those who are late in starting because they are missing out on the happiness that comes from conscious union with God.

Those who serve Him in this life and the next are the happiest people.

So much misery in the world would be overcome if more people understood the way of true happiness.

We rejoice for those who do make this discovery, early or late.

For those still outside the invitation still stands. But better get in quick, because time is limited!

4th Sunday after Epiphany 29 Jan 2023 Sermon

4^th Sunday after Epiphany 29 January 2023 God is close

The apostles did not seem to do much wrong here, insofar as they were in trouble [storm at sea] and they asked for divine help to escape that trouble.

We do this ourselves, every day probably.

Our Lord did not mind that they asked. He wants us to ask for things that we need : Ask and you shall receive (Mt 7,7); and many other places, eg 1 Jn 3,22; Mk 11,24.

The problem in this case seems to be that they were asking without faith, letting their fear override their confidence in Our Lord. They had already seen countless miracles so why doubt this one?

Would Our Lord have let the boat sink, and everyone drowns? Not likely.

They thought He had forgotten them, which is what most of the human race thinks when it comes to God.

But it can never be so, that He would forget us… I have carved you on the palm of my hand (Is 49,15-16).

He may not tell us everything; He may leave us some things to dwell on; but He will never ignore one who calls upon Him.

In our sinful state, God will appear even more mysterious because sin clouds the mind. But as far as remoteness goes, it is we who are remote if anyone is.

Today let us consider the ways in which God makes Himself close to us, and how He encourages us to call upon His help.

He is present to us first of all in the Eucharist, the equivalent of having Him stand next to us, or even dwell within us. It is His strongest mode of presence to His disciples.

Then there is His word which gives life, sustaining us in all our troubles.

Then He is present through His general influence on us, helping us to have the right thoughts, desires, attitudes etc, whereby we become better and stronger people.

This influence is what we call grace; it can come through prayer, sacraments and good works, and will enable us to deal with crises (like sinking boats) with faith and not fear.

We want to feel His presence as strongly as we can, so we make use of whatever method of reaching Him that presents itself.

We have as much possession of Him as the apostles had. But we must be prepared to search a little.

It does depend a lot on attitude of each person.

Two people could both pray, or receive Holy Communion, or do a charitable act, yet one will benefit more than the other because he has a better attitude.

The attitudes required: humility, charity, trust, genuine sorrow for sin etc

The more of these things we have the more we are talking Our Lord’s language, and the closer He will seem to us.

Another element is that of suffering. To be really close to Our Lord we share in His sufferings. We do not ask only for an easy ride, though it is always possible to ask for relief from suffering.

However, as we come closer to the Lord we develop the ability to suffer with Him, a suffering which is one of the demands of charity.

He will make Himself known to us in the midst of our sufferings. He will not abandon us, no matter how great the adversity seems.

The Apostles went through other tests and generally failed, at least until the time of the Cross and Resurrection. Then they reached a new level of union with Our Lord and never again thought He had abandoned them.

We are each out there somewhere, straggling along the highway. Let us take this opportunity to call on the Lord for help, not in panic but in trust.