2nd Sunday after Easter 23 Apr 2023 Sermon

 

2^nd Sunday after Easter 23 April 2023 Good Shepherd

 

Our Lord is Shepherd to us insofar as He protects us from evil. We can picture a scene whereby the shepherd protects from the wolf. The protection Our Lord offers is not physical so much as spiritual.

 

He protects us from the cunning of the evil one, so that we can assess whatever situations arise and make the right decisions each time.

 

He delivers us from evil by helping us to recognise what the evil is and where it comes from.

 

We like to be physically safe but there are more important concerns.

 

The worst thing that can happen to us is that we commit sin.

 

He delivers us from sin in two ways: one, that of forgiveness, whereby the sins lose their sting and we can make a fresh start.

 

Secondly, that He equips us with the grace needed to reject sin, not only when tempted but overall, choosing instead to seek God and His perfections rather than the false promises of the world.

 

See the flock which He gathers around Him as a kind of school. A disciple is one who learns, so that is what we do. We learn from the Master and in the process become a bit more like Him each encounter.

 

We grow in holiness, become better people. Our vices disappear and our virtues increase.

 

If we are sheep we become like the Shepherd. We become like Christ.

 

We become more resilient to misfortunes, as we find ways of coping with difficulty and not allowing ourselves to be deflected from the main event – which is that we follow Christ wherever He leads.

 

As sheep who learn a few tricks we can see the devil coming and tell him to begone.

 

We have a share in Our Lord’s power over evil, enough at least to resist temptations.

 

This is one reason we have sacraments, to be kept on the boil as far as spiritual matters are concerned.

 

Being conformed to Christ means that we will ultimately be able to lay down our lives, if required. This might sound too much, but it is the logical result of learning from the Saviour. As our love for God and Neighbour increases we will be more capable of making sacrifices for others.

 

This is what salvation means – that we come to full spiritual maturity, not just obeying laws (though we do that) – but understanding and appreciating the will of God, at least in its broad direction, if not in every detail.

 

We are not saved passively but actively, cooperating with the grace of God as He seeks to form us in His image.

 

We give to the Lord unconditional obedience, but not unthinking obedience. We are aware of what He is asking us to give back to Him.

 

It follows that Our Lord would give us ways of coping in His absence. He left us at the Ascension but He did not leave us to our own devices.

 

We can draw from Him as to wisdom and to power. We are close at all times to Him and He is never further away than a prayer.

 

We call on Him constantly, asking Him for all we need, but most of all to be more like Him in His perfect humanity.

 

The Church defends itself against spiritual attack, but we also go on the offensive.

 

We ‘attack’ the ingrained errors of the world, offering a much better solution to all the troubles it encounters. Live like Christ and all else falls into place.

 

We seek to turn the hearts of men towards God and away from hatred and revenge etc.

 

Then to consolidate that with continuous learning from the Good Shepherd, the Teacher of truth.

 

Drawing life from Him we are truly alive and eternally so.

Low Sunday 16 Apr 2023 Sermon

 

Low Sunday 16 April 2023 Mercy for all

 

Resurrection is a big miracle and so is it a miracle when someone is converted to the true faith.

 

Even God finds that one hard insofar as He gives people free will, and does not force them to repent.

 

When God stops the storm, that storm has no choice; but sinners do have a choice.

 

We have a choice too, and we can use it for the best possible result as we receive the Good News, persevere in it, and make it known to others that anyone/everyone can be set free from the degradation of sin; that they can turn from darkness to light, death to life through contact with our Saviour Jesus Christ.

 

St Thomas came to faith through touching Our Lord. Not everyone can do that but everyone can come to the same faith as Thomas reached.

 

My Lord and my God! is our response.

 

He has claimed us as His own, and He wants us to claim Him in return. We have come to know Him, to whatever degree so far. There is much more to know; we build on what we already have.

 

We come to grasp the radical nature of our faith - that once we have put our hand to the plough we must not look back (Lk 9,62).

 

And part of the momentum of knowing Him is to offer to others what we have learned.

 

We assure others that if they take Him at His word they will find the happiness that can be found nowhere else.

 

I will see it when I believe it – this is the correct way to put it.

 

Blessed are those who have not seen and [still] believed (Jn 20,29).

 

Today is a chance to reaffirm our faith the Resurrection and all that goes with that.

 

There are many opposing forces, but the force of Christ Risen beats them all.

 

Today has more recently been called Divine Mercy Sunday. Blending with the image of the Sacred Heart from earlier times, both devotions bring out very strongly Our Lord’s desire to save sinners. That is what He came for and what He has been doing ever since.

 

This is one of the most challenging parts of our religion – that we are supposed to want our enemies to be forgiven and saved; and we hope to meet them in Heaven!

 

Further, that we love people before they are loveable, treat them better than they treat us, and generally wish good upon them.

 

This may be hard, especially at first, but Christ Himself carries most of the momentum here. He loves our enemies even if we do not.

 

If we ask on our own behalf (pray for them), then He can reach deeper into the hearts of those presently resisting Him, and bring about a change of heart in them.

 

Why does God love sinners so much? It is because He can see the goodness within. He is repairing damaged goods.

 

We are part of that process, both in being repaired ourselves and in helping others to make it happen to them.

 

One example of major conversion : three thousand on one day (Ac 2,41). When people realize they will repent, if only the candle will stay alight in a very cold wind.

 

Eastertide is to help people grasp the magnitude of what we believe. It is not just bodies rising, which is great, but lives coming out of the cold and dark, the swamps of sin; of dark hidden places coming into the light.

 

Such is the joy of freedom discovered. This is Christ risen and what he is offering every person is new life, mercy, and faith. Every day is another chance to accept those things, but they must be accepted and not just taken for granted.

 

Moved by gratitude and a sense of urgency, we gladly take our place following Christ,  believing in Him, offering Him to others, praying that as many as possible will join us on the path to salvation.

Easter Sunday 9 Apr 2023 Sermon

 

Easter Sunday 9 April 2023 Life prevails

 

On this day above all others we celebrate our Lord’s coming from the tomb, as an historical fact; and then what it means for us.

 

He did actually rise and was seen by many. It is not just a legend; it is an actual event, as real as any other event in history.

 

But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. It was impossible that the Anointed one be kept captive by the grave (Acts 2,24)

 

And He could have risen sooner but for visiting the souls in Hades, and giving us a few extra hours to reflect, as we do between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

 

Death is what happens when some kind of rift comes between Created and Creator. We see death everywhere and it is depressing, but there is a major work of reconciliation going on. Life is displacing death, conquering it, setting itself up as the new normal.

 

We are accustomed to death interrupting what is otherwise going fine; it will not always be able to do that.

 

It was sin that brought death into the world, and ever since God has been helping us to get rid of the sin, and thus also death.

 

We still pay the penalty of physical death, but are freed from eternal death; that is, that we will come back to life for ever once fully reconciled with God.

 

God has power over all His creation. Life begins with God. He is Life (as Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life (Jn 14,6). To be near God is to be alive, to be far away is to be dead. Think of the Sun. Closer means bright and hot, further away means dark and cold.

 

God is ‘and ever shall be’… He does not run down; He is all vitality and power. Much of His creation suffers from age and decay, not God Himself.

 

We are insecure and have fear of many aspects of death, but when we turn our attention to Christ we get a very different view.

 

Faith helps us to see beyond the shadows.

 

We will live forever if God says so, and He does say that to those who come to him for mercy. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. (Mt 11,28)

 

We can anticipate the Resurrection in this life. If it is sin that causes all the trouble we will take serious steps to reducing that sin.

 

It is hard to talk about resurrection because it is something we have not experienced, nor have we even died. But we can work out some things anyway.

 

Look at nature. The dawn comes back every day to reclaim what the night has taken. A tree can come to bloom again and again, overcoming barrenness. Even after a fire nature will regenerate.

 

If God can do this for His lesser creations, He can do it all the more so for the human race, His special creation.

 

He invites us to trust in Him, basing our faith on Him and His goodness, and not giving attention only to what we can perceive with the senses.

 

Let us use this time of Easter to deepen our faith to the point that we will never again be afraid of death while we have the Lord of Life with us.

 

He can bring us back to life as effortlessly as He did for Himself. He has risen, Alleluia. And so -in Him - are we.

 

  

Latin Masses on hold

 Our various appeals to the Archbishop have failed, meaning that I will not be able to offer the Latin Mass publicly after Easter Sunday 9th April.

This is very sad for all concerned, but we maintain hope and will continue to pray for better days to come.

I will continue this blog so please keep in touch.

Thanks to all for your prayer and support.