Christ the King 26 November 2023 Sermon

Christ the King (A) 26 Nov 2023 Life prevails

In November we think particularly of the Holy Souls, the Faithful Departed, and express our strongest hope that each and all can find eternal happiness.

 It is comforting, then, to have such passages as today’s second reading (1 Co 15,20-28)  which remind us how the powers of Life and Goodness are in control. Adam brought death into the world through his sin; now Jesus, the Second Adam brings life.

In Jesus Christ we have the vulnerable victim, the sacrificial Lamb, who goes freely to His death, so He can achieve a complete victory over all death.

He not only breaks the hold of death on the human race, but also of what causes that death, which is Sin.

By living a sinless life in complete union with the will of His Father, Jesus draws down upon the human race a stronger than ever experience of life; this time a life that can never die again (cf He who eats this bread shall never die.  Jn 6,51).

He absorbs death and radiates life. He has complete authority over death, part of His kingship which we celebrate today.

There is always so much sad news around: wars, murders, accidents, disease – and these things can dampen our hope. We come here to find some good news, and also to make some good news! We can find life in Jesus Christ. The physical life restored, but even better the spiritual life – we are living good lives, participating in the life of Christ.

He has become the source of eternal life. All who are united with Him will experience that life. It is all concentrated in Him, the Saviour and the only Saviour.

He helps us with all our troubles, but most of all with the handling of death, because that is a battle on a much grander scale than the others.

We worry about many things, but nothing can equal the issue of whether or not we live in union with God in Heaven.

He offers us a share in His life-giving power, to rise from death ourselves at the appointed time.

The coming of Christ in judgment is not meant to frighten us, but to give us hope.

We see His coming more as a victorious liberation than a harsh retribution.

This theme will continue into the Advent season when we are encouraged to hope for the final part of the salvation which has already begun.

If we are to be close to Him; if we want to discover the source of eternal life, we can find it in the practical expression of charity listed in today’s Gospel (Mt 25,31-46)

The Lord, the Judge, will confirm our hopes that we have learned to love  Him in our service of neighbour.

And He will say to us, enter into the joy of the Lord, for I was hungry and you gave Me to eat, etc.

Charity is the ultimate expression of life. We are really alive when we are charitable, and dead if not charitable. St John spells this out in his epistle: If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1 Jn 4,20)

Today we praise Jesus’ victory over sin and death, and in gratitude we re-commit to a life of charity – practical help and also a humble merciful attitude to one another in the Body of the Church.

Not least in our prayer we ask Jesus to help us focus on Him as our main hope and source of life, now already and in eternity.

King of kings and Lord of lords, have mercy on us.

33rd Sunday Ordinary Time (A) 19 Nov 2023 Sermon

33rd Sunday Ordinary Time (A) 19 November 2023 Adventure

There are people in life who seek challenges. They want to try everything especially dangerous and exhilarating things. Like skydiving, hiking, anything with speed.

Others want to avoid all that adventure and have a nice quiet life at home, with regular habits.

Wherever you fit in with that spectrum, you probably have a fairly high degree of choice. So, for instance, no one will make you go skydiving if you do not really want it.

There is one adventure, however, to which we are all called to participate, and with this particular adventure we do not really have a choice.

This is the adventure of being created and then called to salvation. Coming to life, and then coming to eternal life.

God made us without our consent; He did not ask us first. If He had asked we might have refused. In any case, here we are!

People sometimes say: I never asked to be born. This is said as a kind of complaint, implying that the person concerned would have preferred not to exist.

However, it is only in bad moments we would say that. who really would regret tasting of this life, given all its joyful moments, and the prospect of eternal happiness?

And that is just being alive. There is more to come. Each one of us is challenged to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

We did not ask for that either, but how can we refuse? Lord, to whom shall we go? (Jn 6,68).

We are here, however we got here, so why not make the best of it? We can make this thing work.

God did not just make us and then throw us to the wolves. He gives us all the necessary support in the form of the Church, the sacraments, fraternity among ourselves, individual talents etc.

There are challenges, and many of them, but none of them beyond our reach (cf 1 Cor 10,13). We have to give up various bad habits and replace them with the corresponding good habits.

It is easy to see why one might think it is too hard, but if it leads to greater happiness, how can we lose?

As to the matter of suffering if more people obeyed God's laws there would be a lot less suffering in the world. So that is another incentive to be good.

Even those without faith would probably like to have more self-control for instance. These days there is much emphasis on wellness and living the best life, and the like.

Carefully devoid of religious reference these pursuits are designed for happiness, and would succeed to a degree, but there is still a void to be filled, which only knowledge of God can fill.

Ask the Apostles if they are glad now that they followed Jesus when He called them.

God calls some to a harder task than others cf parable of the talents.

Again if you have more talents more is expected of you; and you might say that is unfair too! But here again the more we multiply our gifts the more happiness goes with that. Ask Our Lady, or any saint.

Instead of complaining we give thanks, for making us, for saving us; for being strict with us, so that we can discover real joy, not just the passing pleasures of this life.

We do have a choice how deep we go, but once we know God's importance we might as well go as far as possible.

The ‘burden’ of existence cannot be helped, but can be enjoyed!

Stick with it, and you will hear one day the very welcome words: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord (Mt 25,23).

2nd Sunday of Advent 2017 Sermon (from the Archives)

I did not preach last Sunday, so here is one from the archives, to help prepare for Advent, which gets somewhat displaced by early celebrations of Christmas.

2^nd Sunday of Advent 10 December 2017 Salvation

There is a deep longing in us for things to be right, to be as they are meant to be. We have an instinct to want justice, for example, or an end to cruelty and violence. Certain things we see or hear will immediately bring a reaction from us.

The same longing applies to us, though it may not be so apparent. We would like to be as we are meant to be. This comes from the fact that God has planted in us a desire to be at one with Him. to share in His created order.

When God created the world He naturally saw how all things would fit in with each other. Sin has ruptured that order, but it can be retrieved, and that is the essence of Our Lord’s saving mission.

Christ came to help us to sort out our desires, to steer us in the right direction.

John the Baptist was a part of that process. He told the people what they wanted, even if they did not know they wanted it. He awakened in them, from somewhere deep down, this desire that they could be better. Even the wicked Herod liked to hear John speak (Mk 6,20).

We are torn between the selfishness we have inherited and learnt, on the one hand, and on the other hand a new freedom from sin, and purity of intention.

We choose between self-indulgent pleasure-seeking, or the ability to exercise restraint, working to a higher goal.

We know we would rather be the latter. But it takes a certain effort to sustain that vision.

Still it explains how we can be attracted to a harder life. It is the not the ‘hardness’ we want, so much as the ‘betterness’. Thus we are inspired by the lives of the saints. They sacrificed so much, always driven by a higher goal.

Young people in particular feel this dichotomy. This would explain their willingness to make sacrifices, when sufficiently inspired: for example, the desire to join strict religious orders, and seminaries.

We get tired of too much pleasure, leading nowhere. As Our Lord points out to the crowd: You did not come out into the desert to see those who live in luxury. You came out to see a man who lived a severely penitential life, and who spoke the plain truth. This is what you are hungering for.

This applies to us with the same force as to the people in John’s time. We seek the better life, and we find it in more prayer, especially the Mass; doing penance, good works, pushing ourselves a little harder, and that continuously.

There is that inner voice calling each one to something great, or at least greater.

We can hear that voice if we turn off enough of the surrounding noise.

Whether old, young, or in the middle, we are always refining and deepening our response.

If we are life-long disciples (or most of our lives), it may seem a long time to stay faithful; but it becomes easier when the attractiveness of a holy life becomes apparent.

It is not giving up happiness to be miserable instead; but giving up one sort of happiness for a much better one.

John showed the way, and Our Lord took it further still. He shows us, and He equips us to take it.

We do not just admire holy people, as we might look at an exhibit in a museum; but rather we are stirred to imitate them, and so we present ourselves now, to be stirred into true discipleship of Christ.

To live a harder life for the sake of a better life.

31st Sunday Ordinary Time (A) 5 November 2023 Sermon

31st Sunday Ordinary time (A) 5 November 2023 Holy Souls

The mercy of God is infinite and inexhaustible and always there for us to call upon. No matter how many sins or wrong turnings it can all be restarted.

In the physical realm we can have repairs but generally there is a diminishing over time.

In the spiritual realm we can not only repair what was wrong but improve on any previous state.

Replenished, refreshed, improved, we can get better at all the things we do, have a better understanding of God, greater love for Him, sensitivity for His will, increased obedience.

Even great sinners can be retrieved and restored, provided there is sufficient repentance.

We rely heavily on God's mercy. At this time of year we focus on Purgatory, a place where souls are healed and polished, made ready for Heaven.

While we think about the faithful departed we apply the appropriate lessons to ourselves, as we constantly call on God's mercy to set us on a straighter path.

The souls in Purgatory cannot advance their own salvation through sacraments and good works. They rely on the living to pray and make sacrifices for them.

The souls in Purgatory will come to feel a deep contrition for their sins, and in doing that they see things in a new light and so can be ready for Heaven.

I came that they may have life and have it to the full (Jn 10,10).  Our Lord did not mean an increase in life expectancy, but in the moral or spiritual dimension of life. He came so that people could live better lives in union with God's will.

He sets people free from false attachments, and as they do that they become more alive.

This can be our prayer to Him on our own account - that we be willing to take whatever He wants to give us.

Many do not give much thought to God or related matters, such as death and judgment. These matters never become any less important, it is just that they can be put on hold, and never clearly faced. Much prayer is needed around this matter too.

We pray for the living as well as the dead.

God likes to see us taking charitable concern. As in a physical rescue, we would pull people out of whatever difficulty they are in; so spiritually we can help those who need prayer, but cannot do it on their own.

Many people die suddenly, without the benefit of time to reflect on their lives and come to a serious assessment of where they stand.

They will need prayer to help them readjust.

Charity is the quality that makes things happen in the spiritual world. If we have genuine charity for the dead it will help them come to the necessary state for progress to higher levels.

And we benefit, as it is always good for us spiritually when we help someone else in need, living or dead.

Death may be a depressing topic, but we see there is a lot of good in the subject too, when we see the spiritual and eternal aspects of it all.

Many try to exclude the spiritual but that is exactly where the strongest comfort is found.

Each person must reach the point of voluntary surrender, being aware of their true status before God, and the right options they face.

We seek the best outcome for every person. The Good Shepherd searches the whole earth for any sheep needing rescue (Lk 15,4-7). There are a great many of these sheep, on earth and in purgatory. Our prayers and sacrifices will make up some part of what needs to happen. Let us keep to the task.

30th Sunday Ordinary Time (A) 29 October 2023 Sermon

30th Sunday Ordinary time (A) 29 October 2023 Knowing God

Loving God is an obligation, and that may seem strange as love is usually seen as a matter more concerned with feelings, not the stuff of commands.

We find, however, that we want to keep this command. We go beyond loving God because we have to, and find ourselves wanting to love Him.

This is what He wants us to discover. And from that we will find the same thing happening as regards loving our neighbours. We actually want to do it.

The fulfilment of loving God will probably not happen until we reach Heaven, but in the meantime we can grow from one day to the next.

We might say that God is too far away to love, too hard to connect with, as He is beyond sense experience. We cannot see or hear or touch Him, and that can make Him seem remote.

Then there can be a sense of estrangement from God, or even bitterness towards Him due to the sufferings of this life. Why does He let us suffer, when He could easily work a few miracles to make it easy for us?  So we might reason.

The way to see God more clearly and to understand His ways more fully is to get to know Him better.

There is a song: To know know know you is to love love love you. If we really knew what God is like we never for a moment doubt His existence, His closeness, His wisdom and good intentions towards us.

It is only the limits in our own perception that make it seem as though He has forgotten us, or whatever the difficulty is.

Think of Romeo and Juliet. If you say to Romeo that he had to go to Mass every Sunday he might say that is too boring, or too hard etc.

If you told him he had to see Juliet for one hour every week, it would be a different matter! He does not regard that as an imposition or a task.

Plainly, he loves Juliet more than he loves God - yet God created Juliet, and all that goes with her. Whatever and whomever we love in this life can be seen as coming from God, and therefore God must be better.

To know Him is to love Him.

There is still mystery with God but there are things we can know, and once we do know them we will come towards a response of love.

We seek the essence of God, and we can find it.

We see His signature all around us – in what He has made, the work of His hands.

If we move towards Him He will make Himself better known. Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near (Is 55,6).

As we experience in various ways the goodness of God we naturally reflect back to Him with gratitude, trust, hope etc.

We love what He has made, so why not Him? It is only because we do not know Him.

We can come through the clouds of doubt, fear, resentment or whatever else may obscure our vision.

It might sound abstract at first, but with continuous prayer and sacrament we perceive God's  presence not far behind.

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. (2 Chron 16,9).