30th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 27 October 2024 Sermon

 

30^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 27 October 2024 Perseverance in Prayer

The blind man called out loudly - which indicates to us that we should exert ourselves  when asking for heavenly favour.

The story is for our benefit so that we will have more confidence in God, and present our needs to Him more boldly. We don’t have to shout, but we do have to believe, and the stronger our belief the more effective the prayer is going to be.

(See also the Canaanite woman, the nobleman who petitioned for his son, the ten lepers, the friends lowering a man through the roof.)  

1) Jesus wants us to approach Him: Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened (Mt 11,28)

And He give us parables to reinforce this. The importunate widow and the troublesome friend. (Lk 18,1-8; Lk 11,5-13) God does not get annoyed like we would do. He is always awake, always listening.

2) He wants us to trust in Him, that He has both the power and the will to heal us.

The blind man believed both of these.

So we cry out to Him when we are in any kind of trouble. Our cry is heard. The Lord hears the cry of the poor. Ps 34,17)

There are things we can do to build up our faith.

One thing is to keep our contact with God always current. We do not allow our faith to cool off. We thank him for past blessings and ask for current needs non-stop. This way we will not be discouraged. In this pattern of prayer we unite ourselves with the whole Church, which is always praying.

Perseverance in prayer is itself an expression of faith. We believe just the same whether the prayer is answered immediately or with a delay. Because we are dealing with the same God, who never changes one time to the next.

We are tempted to think we are alone and so stop praying, stop expecting any change for the better.

We are never alone. Praying will enable us to have a stronger sense of God’s presence. It is that sense of being alone that probably impedes us, a kind of ‘what’s the use’ feeling.

So when we are in trouble we pray more not less. Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! (Ps 126,5)

The more prayer, and the more people praying the better.

But if we are all discouraged we will stop too soon.

3) Pray like the saints. It does make a difference who is praying. Mt 11,28)

A saint will pray with more love of God, and therefore more trust and more power will come from that.

The more we ‘agree’ with God the more smoothly everything will run.

This is what makes things give way, when we love God enough we can make a request without fear. We fit ourselves into His plans and whatever He is doing or not will be ok with us. Son, they have no wine is the ultimate prayer. Mary understood her Son and was at one with His will. (Jn 2,1-11)

God wants us to be absorbed in His will and take comfort there. Whatever difficulties we have with prayer will always stem from a certain distance on our part, whereby we do not fully trust God, or do not know Him well enough.

We learn from the blind man to be uninhibited in the face of divine power and love. Call out to him without fear and we will be heard.

[Universal prayer for universal need. We pitch in here as well, with the whole Church.]

29th Sunday Ordinary Time B 20 October 2024 Sermon

29^th Sunday Ordinary Time  (B)  20 October 2024 Saved by the Cross

Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? My servant justified many …

Why could he not have just come from heaven and wish us a happy time and work a few miracles with a bit of advice?

He took a very different course. He did spread some sunshine  with his many miracles, but there was a much darker element involved as well.

Why was that necessary? It was part of the age-old battle between good and evil.

Satan is a malignant and powerful foe requiring much shifting on our part. Saving a person, or saving the human race needs a lot of interior work – that is, work on the hearts and minds of people in terms of what they love, what is most important to them.

Just having goodwill is  not enough. Something was needed beyond the normal or average response.

A new order of power had to be found because the grip of sin and death had become too strong for mere human resistance. Drastic measures were needed.

The measure that God adopted was to send His Son to become Man, and as Man, to make a sacrificial offering to the Father, which offering is renewed in every Mass.

When the Father sees the Son He looks with approval, and also looks on those whom the Son brings with Him. The Father will accept whomever His Son brings. Your friends are My friends, so to speak.

When we take part in Mass we are asking Jesus to take us with Him as He goes to the Father; our sins already forgiven we travel in humility and thanksgiving.

God does not force salvation so when we say humanity is reconciled with God that is ‘in potential’. Every person has an opportunity to be saved in this way, being identified with the Son.

We cannot overcome past evil by being good from now on, though that will help. What really works for us is simply being sorry for past sins.

The good deeds will help put us into the right mood to receive mercy.

We are grateful that we can get in the door, and we promise sincerely that we will be on our best behaviour from now on.

Meanwhile I will change what I can to be free of sin, to be full of good deeds generosity and humility etc.

The good that we do will help by keeping us in the right framework of seeking to please God.

It will not be enough in itself to save us but will make salvation more likely as we are constantly reminded of our dependence on God.

Unless I am humble I will not value what Christ has done for me and therefore not benefit. If I am humble that is the key that unlocks the door to Heaven.

Whenever we see a Cross we are reminded of how it all works, and we are invited to renew our desire to be fully reconciled with God.

Then we really can do business – when we admit to being nothing without Him.

This is why Christ was crucified and why the mysterious ‘servant’ from Isaiah had to suffer.

We might think something simpler would have done it, but God knows what is necessary. It has to be something good enough to counteract the evil which has been committed, thus the necessity of the Cross.

Salvation is not only for when we die, but should express itself in the way we organize our societies, where justice and peace etc should prevail.

We need to keep the Cross in view, and what it means, and what it requires from us.

Then we share in the glory of the servant: His soul’s anguish over he shall see the light and be content. First reading, Is 53,10-11)

 

 

 

28th Sunday Ordinary Time 13 October 2024 Sermon

28^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 13 October 2024  Challenge

I prayed and wisdom was given me (Wis 7,7). Wisdom to know what to do with everything else.

If wisdom is sorting out desires, then God must be our first desire.

God may be hard to know but He is the deepest object of our desire.

If we get a taste of the Lord (Taste and see Ps 34 (33),8) we will find it a delight to discover Him.

There are two false trails we could take.

One is to doubt God's promises to us, of such things as heavenly reward, and from today’s Gospel, manifold return on what we give up for the Kingdom.

The other is to doubt that God asks any more of us than a general compliance with a few commands here and there, not exerting ourselves in the pursuit of a holy life.

The rich young man of today’s Gospel was succumbing to the second temptation, a watering down of what true discipleship requires.

He was too attached to his riches, when he should have been attached to Jesus Christ.

So it can be for us, that we fear losing what we have, and are not sure if there is compensation for that. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Not with God.

Remember those quiz shows where you could either take the prize and go, or come back next time to get bigger prizes – but if you come back you might lose the lot!

As disciples of Our Lord we are very much in the category of ‘coming back next week’, always striving for more – more knowledge of God, more compliance with His will, more expectation of a joyful result.

We risk loss of some earthly securities, but we have the main treasure, the central point of the whole operation – the gaining of Heaven.

We can settle too easily for too little. We might settle for just a few earthly possessions, like money, health, friends, career etc, length of life, and say that is enough.

If we have those things, thanks be to God, but we do not stop there. We strive for higher things.

We need more belief in what we believe! We doubt God, not His existence, but His providence.

Jeus came to give us so much more than a few earthly assets. And He came for a lot more than telling us to be just more or less the same as everyone else.

It is easier to go along with the flow, but rarely the right course.

We take the path of serious resistance (not least resistance). We do not follow the ways of the world.

We take the demands of the faith seriously, eg if your eye should cause you to sin, pluck it out  (Mt 18,9). If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife, children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. (Lk 14,26).

We don’t have to be a St Paul with shipwrecks and floggings etc (2 Cor 11,23ff).

God knows what we are capable of, each one to his own capacity.

We can take it with small steps; we gradually grow in faith and readiness to commit. If we read the signs as we go, we will grow in confidence and understanding – this is what wisdom does. We start to see things the right way up.

We do the small things but we don’t think that either the promises or the demands are small-scale. There is a great deal more, and we are discovering it.

We must  ‘come back next week’… to seek bigger prizes!

27th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 6 October 2024 Sermon

27^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 6 October 2024  Marriage

When God created Adam and then Eve, He joined them together in marriage. It was the first marriage, and the first thing that happened in what was now a society.

Why was marriage so important to God and why is it still so important, that God and His Church have detailed so much about it?

Marriage is given to the human race by God as a way of sharing in His life and love, and of coming to understand Him more deeply.

We can see this from different aspects of marriage.

1) Covenant love. As God gave Himself for the human race (most notably with Jesus dying for us) - husband and wife give themselves to and for each other.

There is a dying to self in marriage as each partner gives to the other.

Whenever this happens the love of Christ for His Church is activated and many blessings follow.

2) Fidelity. As God is faithful to His people, even if they are not faithful to Him, so husband and wife promise to be true to each other. Ideally, this promise is made regardless of the other partner’s attitude.

I will be faithful to you even if you are not faithful to me (imitating and drawing upon God’s fidelity, cf Hosea, and other passages.) God loves and forgives, far in excess of what we can give to Him. Mercy is a strong illustration of this.

3) Permanence. God is faithful forever. His fidelity lasts not only till death but beyond. It stretches across millennia. Compared with that a life together of 50-60 years is not so demanding. That is all that is asked of married couples. True love endures. The promise to be together till death is a reminder of God’s greater promise to be with us always.

4) Children. God loves to create, to give life, to share what He has with His children.

Parents have the power, the privilege, and the joy of  sharing in the creation of their own children. As they freely decide to have children they share in both the power to create and the love which makes that creation desirable.

All of these elements reveal and enable humans to participate in God’s love.

True, they are not always achieved in every marriage. Love can be lacking. We can take rather than give.

Fidelity and Permanence can be sacrificed if there is too much of a self-seeking attitude at work.

Children can be seen as a burden not a gift.

But the best outcomes are worth striving for, as they carry so much good effect.

God never fails from His side of the covenant, and His covenant love keeps married people and all people going. He will provide help for all who need it.

We all benefit from God’s great love for us, and need to participate in that love.

It canot be just my marriage; it all comes under the light of Christ’s marriage to the Church.

Fortunately, wrong attitudes can be forgiven, as God is merciful. We ask that mercy for all who need it, and for the good effects which will follow.

Jesus calls the people of His time back to one husband and one wife. And they protest, How come people of Moses’ time were allowed to have more than one spouse?

Jesus says, because you were so unteachable (Mt 19,8). God tolerated polygmaous marriages for a time, but now it is time to get serious again!

We are still trying to get this right. It is an area where there is so much resistance to trusting in God's way.

Married or not we pray for  a deeper understanding of marriage itself and for all who face difficulties.

26th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 29 September 2024 Sermon

26^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 29 September 2024 One in Christ

Today is Migrant and Refugee Sunday throughout the Church.  We recall our pilgrim status as we journey through the ‘desert’ of this life striving to reach the Promised Land of Heaven.

We are right to be proud of our nation, of who we are and where we come from,  but our identifying with Christ is our strongest point of identity.

I could be other than Australian but I cannot be other than Christ-ian.

As St  Paul puts it: There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Ga 3,28). He has broken down the barriers between us.

We do not have to be the same in every way. Different cultures have different ways of doing things. But on certain fundamental points we are the same – such as striving for Heaven, trying to make this earth a slice of the heavenly Kingdom, where everyone is treated with justice and charity.

Whatever is different between us cannot be allowed to change the basic beliefs of our faith, and our identification with Christ.

Some have tried to do that with certain questions of morality, suggesting that what is forbidden in one culture might be allowable in another. For example, whether it is reasonable to insist on celibacy or chastity for people of all cultures.

With the major commands and creeds it has to be the same across the board.

This is no great difficulty if we unite ourselves with Christ. Whatever He wants we must want it too.

We find our peace in Him, and every other good quality, such as creativity, which we celebrate today.

Our cultural expressions should reflect God's goodness. Art, music and Literature sport, education, scientific research, medical care – all areas of importance would be purified and enriched by drawing from the infinite goodness of Jesus Christ.

God never stops helping us to get it right. Let us recall what He has done, as regards nationality.

God has been teaching us about all this since the day He called Abraham to begin a new race. Israel was supposed to be the vanguard, the cutting edge, showing forth what happens when people obey the one true God.

It worked sometimes but the Jews were too disobedient overall to be able to teach the other nations. So God adjusted the plan to go to the Gentiles instead - with the idea that the Jews would come back afterwards and all could be one (Rom 11,23).

Moses says (first reading): if only the whole people of the Lord were prophets… (Num 11,29)

Foreshadowing a new era when it will be normal for people to interpret events in a religious framework, not just political and economic as we have now.

As we discover God we acquire more of His gifts, and can use them to help each other.

God lets people find Him in various ways, always calling them to a deeper level.

How can we achieve justice and peace if  others do not?  There are many things we can do, but most of all if we live the way of Christ ourselves; that will at least give some direction to the surrounding society.

We have set our course for Heaven and will not be deflected from that straight course.

There is only one race of people in Heaven – the Redeemed, the People of God.

In the meantime we do everything we can to be like Christ as He opens His arms to all in need.

We pray for the day when all the people of the world are crossing the desert and no one is chasing them, because the ‘chasers’ are seeking salvation too!

 

 

25th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 22 September 2024 Sermon

25^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 22 September 2024 Jealousy

Abel and Cain were brothers. They offered gifts to God. God preferred Abel’s gift to Cain’s, and Cain was jealous, from that moment resolving to take revenge on Abel.

And so the first murder is recorded in the Bible (Gen 4,1-18).

Even further back in the angelic world there was a major breach in the ranks because Lucifer was jealous that God had decided to become Man, and Lucifer saw that as a slight to himself, considering himself more deserving of God's favour than mortal man.

‘Wherever you find jealousy and ambition, you find disharmony and wicked things of every kind being done.’ (second reading, James 3,16)

Jealousy is considered bad enough to be included in two of the ten Commandments: thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife…. And goods.

Coveting means wanting something too much, and it’s the wrong thing as well.

We have many desires and ambitions; some are good, some not.

The Gospel today speaks of the apostles arguing among themselves which one is the greatest (Mk 9,34) – not likely to be the right topic. And they are suitably chastised by Our Lord

If we want to be first we must make ourselves last and servant of all Jesus teaches (Mk 9,35).

Jesus Himself lived this way. He came to serve and not be served.

He is King and Lord, but always looking out for others and their needs, not like many kings just piling up riches.

We probably have all suffered jealousy at some point. Whenever we compare our lot with another person. He has a better car, or house, or more chocolates than I have… It can rear its head in many places. The green-eyed monster of Shakespeare.

One cure for jealousy would be to develop a team approach which rejoices in the gifts of another disciple. If someone can do something which I cannot, so much the better. If someone else is growing in faith and good works, so much the better for him and me too.

It is better, after all, to be surrounded by saints than by sinners.

This is how the Church is meant to run – that all of us, striving for holiness and for the final prize of eternal life – will encourage each other in holy competition to be and do better.

We are not worried about who is better than whom, but each one trying to improve in virtue and eliminating vices.

If jealousy is based in a fear of missing out we can reflect that God is generous with us, in creating us and then being merciful to us, despite our lapses.

It is in His nature to be generous as that is a major characteristic of charity.

He therefore asks the same from us – freely you have received, freely give (Mt 10,8).

Given that God's supply of everything is abundant we have nothing to lose by directing His blessings to others.

Heaven is big enough for all, and no one has to miss out.

A cynical man once said: it is not enough that I succeed, others must fail!

In God's order we can all succeed, and without any sense of resentment at others doing well.

And if we would stop killing each other we could find a lot more productive things to be doing.

So let us expel jealousy for ever, remembering how lucky we already are, receiving so much more than we deserve.

Thanks be to God who has created us and the whole universe to share and would give us much more besides if we demonstrated trust in Him.

24th Sunday Ordinary Time B 15 September 2024 Sermon

24^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 15 September 2024 Taking up the Cross

There is an Easter flavour to the readings today. And yesterday was the Feast of the Holy Cross, reminding us that the things we talk about at Easter are relevant all year.

The Cross is such a central part of our faith, that we refer to it again and again.

It is also a very mysterious reality which always invites more reflection.

Jesus did not come just to give inspiring teaching and to work miracles. These things did much good but more was needed. There had to be Sacrifice.

He had to take up His cross and make an offering of Himself, as Man, in atonement for the sins of humanity, past, present and future.

He made Himself the Lamb of God, who would replace as victims the animals that had been offered in past times. Our Lord would make a more effective sacrifice because He understood what He was doing, and could will it with all His heart and mind.

The offering thus becomes more perfect because it involves a higher degree of giving.

Jesus thus defeats the devil and loosens his hold on the world.

To give oneself into the hands of the enemy seems a strange beginning, but we see that it leads to ultimate victory.

The love Jesus showed by giving up His life was so strong as to atone for all the sins of all time. It was a perfect sacrifice.

And it has released an infinite supply of grace and mercy into the world. He has given us all a new chance to live.

Then Jesus takes things to a new level. Now we have to take up our Cross and follow Him.

At first it looks easy to be a disciple of Jesus, just follow Him across the beach into the future; it all looks very promising. When we are inspired enough we can do great things and Our Lord was inspiring to be around.

But we come to realize that it takes a certain effort to follow Him. To follow Him does not just mean that we walk behind him, but that we imitate Him.

We do not imitate His masterful teaching or miracle-working but we can imitate Him in virtues such as kindness, mercy, compassion, generosity etc

Jesus had them all; we have them in some degree. We have to lock those things into our character so it is our first instinct to bring forth those qualities.

Our human nature will be changed for the better by contact with Jesus’ divine nature.

The radical newness of the call is in the interior transformation that takes place.

We have to renew every day our commitment to follow Jesus, with whatever that means according to what the day brings.

We refine it and work on it each day, like an artist touching up the picture – until we get it right; and then we keep it right.

We are not afraid of the suffering that goes with the Cross. It will be manageable and it will be brief (relatively).

Each cross is specially designed for each person.

We are willing to suffer whatever he sends; it will be manageable and we will come out much better for the experience.

We did not ask for any of this but we are glad, or will be glad that it is so arranged.

We keep doing this until He comes for us. We straggle along behind Him hoping to grow in stature as his disciples.

If we have died with Him then we shall live with Him (2 Tm 2,11). It will take longer than three days, but it will happen.

All glory to the Crucified and Risen Lord

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time B 8 September 2024 Sermon

23^rd Sunday Ordinary Time B  8 September 2024  Salvation

Every problem has its solution. If we are thirsty here is a drink, tired here is a bed, lost at sea here is a helicopter etc

Every problem has its answer and that answer could be called a form of salvation. We are saved from the problem when we find and apply the solution.

(One could refuse to take the solution which means the problem remains. It also means that one problem compounds with another and what a tangle that can be.)

Saviour is one title we have for Jesus as He comes among us. He is a walking solution. Everything about Him is good and serves to make things better than they were before.

He wanted to lead people to an understanding of what they most needed in life. It was not just bread, nor physical healing, but to be reconciled with God, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit; so they would be people who once walked in darkness, but now in the light (Is 9,2).

In Jesus we find the solution to each problem, and the whole big problems of where we are heading, the meaning of life, the fulfilment of our potential as children of God.

Jesus came to save us, and demonstrated His power and His general intention by working miracles; whereby people would sense that there is a better way altogether than they have been living.

So Jesus heals the blind, meaning that we can see more clearly what is good and what is not.

He heals the deaf, meaning that we can hear God's word and come to a deeper understanding of what it means for us.

He sets free from demons, meaning that we can be free from sin in all its forms. Set free to live a better life.

The biggest problem we can have is not to know God. There are people who need saving  but they may not know it;  or if they do know it they will put it off for another day.

We have to grasp the urgency of the situation, just as we would if we were in physical danger. We do not have the luxury of time; we need to be right with the Saviour around about Now!

It is not that difficult to take the spiritual relief  once we get a taste of what is available.

We can learn from the way others have responded to the offer of salvation.

We see the joy of instant conversion when someone realizes both his need and the fulfilment of that need in the one moment.

Cf  St Matthew, Zacchaeus – both tax collectors, St Paul, the Good Thief, the one leper who came back, Mary Magdalene - set free from seven demons. And others in every age.

These people could see something that can escape others. They could see the essential goodness of God, His desirability, His lovableness.

They could see the green fields instead of the usual desert (first reading, Is 35,4-7a).

We cannot rely just on human goodwill, but if we take hold of God's grace we can rise to a higher level.

Otherwise we keep floundering and despair of any improvement.

We aim for the bigger solution while we make use of smaller ones. For example, drive safely, eat the right foods, keep out of the sun etc - but most of all be a person who needs to know God.

One day within your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere (Ps 84 (83), 10). Lord, where else can we go?(Jn 6,68)

Heaven is not just a paradise full of good things, but a place to dwell for people who have seen the overall solution, that all their being is fulfilled in God.

22nd Sunday Ordinary Time B 1 September 2024 Sermon

22^nd Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 1 September 2024 Life to the full

Jesus said once: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn 14,6).

And He also said: I am the Bread of life (Jn 6,35).

He does not say: I have life, but I am life. God is life, and there is no trace of death or decay in Him. He does not grow old or tired; He does not  wear out with time. He is beyond time and has no beginning or end.

Out of this great abundance God came among us that we might have life and have it to the full (Jn 10,10). He invites us to Him at every possible chance and draw life from Him.

We draw life from Him through prayer and sacraments, and living a good life – spiritually and morally good.

We do have a beginning, at conception, but no end. Our souls are immortal and cannot die. What we call death is when the body stops functioning and the soul leaves the body.

We then live on in the soul; we are aware of what is happening.

We will live on in the soul until the Last Day, when the bodies of all the dead will rise again. If we are saved our bodies will be glorious and reunited with our souls from that time on.

We can become more alive through making progress in the spiritual life. When Jesus said, ‘life to the full’ He meant spiritual life. Physical life decays but spiritual life can get better and better.

Finally when all sin and imperfection have been cleared away we are ready for the glory of heavenly life.

We see that God is solicitous for the spiritual progress of each person. He is not remote, as many think, but right in our midst, guiding and correcting us in various ways.

He wants us to participate intelligently in all His workings with us. He arranges matters such that we can help bring each other to a greater degree of life. We do this by sharing in His creation of new life (children), then by evangelism, catechesis, and trying to retrieve the lost.

Can we measure how alive we are? It is what is inside us that tells.

It might be fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride and folly  (today’s Gospel Mk 7, 21-22) OR love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5, 22-23).

We can decide what we have inside us by going to the source of all goodness and life, and drawing the good qualities from there.

We can pray these things for others too, and it will benefit us and them when we do that.

On Fathers Day we think of those who have brought us to life, physically and spiritually.

Fathers are meant to continue their role through instructing the child into the right ways.

There comes a time when our fathers grow weak and they need our support as once we needed theirs.

We are grateful for what they did for us; now we do something for them.

For the fathers who have died we make special prayer, drawing from the infinite depths of the Sacred Heart to forgive their sins and lead them to final glory.

Thus we help them to attain life in all its fulness.

God can impart life, and create and re-create. In spite of how it sometimes looks, life is much stronger than death, and all traces of death will be removed from us.

May the Lord of life, bring us to our eternal home.

21st Sunday Ordinary Time B 25 August 2024 Sermon

21^st Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) 25 August 2024 Loyalty

To test their love, Jesus challenges the crowd to leave, and many do: they should have stayed with him.

They should have said, with Peter: To whom shall we go? There are many other religions but they are not based on truth.

Other gods cannot save - whether we mean the carved idols of biblical times, or the false gods of our time, such as money and pleasure.

The real God may be mysterious but He is not beyond our reach. We can know certain things about Him, and we can know enough for our salvation.

We follow Joshua’s example (first reading) and resolve to remember always the goodness of God; and let that memory affect all future actions.

Remembering what God has done is very important. If we stop remembering we will stop other things too, such as believing in Him, or obeying Him. Or worshipping Him.

If we do not remember we will forget, and that means we drift away from God. From where we will be further tempted to despair, as we think about all our troubles and forget to call on God who can do all things necessary.

There are many difficulties but God is far greater than all of them put together.

He is far higher than us: Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things. (cf Rm 1, 33-36).

If we submit to His wisdom we will come through triumphantly.

To be in right relationship with God is always the main point. If united already, we can increase that union, and that is our goal in this life and the next. That is really what salvation means – that we are, at this moment, in union with God.

Our trust in God will increase too and what we found difficult before will suddenly seem a lot easier.

The second reading speaks of married couples. We would expect a married couple to love each other on their wedding day, but even more so at later times.

This will certainly be the case for the Church as Bride to Jesus as Bridegroom. The more we know about God the more we like Him. The more we accumulate memories of His goodness to us, the more faith we have for new challenges.

Unless we are clear about our worship of the one true God we will be allowing different types of falsehood into our lives.

We may be Catholic but that does not mean we are free to throw in other ideas, such as found in New Age practices. (cf as is said of Haiti “70% Catholic, 30% Protestant, and 100% Vodou”.)

There is abroad the hazy notion that all religion is much the same and there is no harm in a little blending of one religion with another.

One God, many gods? What’s the difference, people ask. It is for the same reason that you can have one spouse, but only one.

More than one god is spiritual adultery, certainly not the faithfulness to Christ the Bridegroom, which is so necessary.

There is abroad also a false humility whereby Catholics try not to appear as though they know anything more than their neighbours.

It is good to be humble but not at the expense of revealed truth.

Real humility will help us keep our focus on the one God who actually has helped us, and promises us a lot more to come.

Lord, to whom shall we go?

20th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 18 August 2024 Sermon

20^th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) 18 August 2024   First Communion

This Gospel passage (Jn 6,51-58) is one of the most explicit in teaching us that the Eucharist is actually the body of Christ. We are eating His body and drinking His blood. The Eucharist is not just a symbol; Our Lord is physically present there.

God dwells where the bread was, and now it is He who is present instead of the bread.

In coming to us in this form Jesus does not lose anything of His own reality, but gives more reality to what He has created.

Bread and wine are called for duty in making this Sacrament possible. We treat the presence of Jesus with great reverence, so we take it carefully and thankfully.

If we honour the Lord in this way He will honour us with His abundant grace, and many good effects will follow.

Today we have several children receiving their first Holy Communion. We welcome them and surround them with our prayer.

It is the first time for them, but for some of us it would be in the hundreds or thousands of times.

As it has been put: We should take each Communion as if it were our first and our last. First, insofar as there is excitement and expectation there. Last, as when comes our time to die we want to be in the best company possible, and that would be Jesus Christ.

We give the sacrament as much time as we can to take effect within us.

St Thomas Aquinas gives us some idea of the many good effects Communion can bring us: Let this Holy Communion be to me an Armor of faith and a shield of good will, a cleansing of all vices, and a rooting out of all evil desires. May it increase love and patience, humility and obedience, and all virtues. May it be a firm defence against the evil designs of all my visible and invisible enemies, a perfect quieting of all the desires of soul and body. May this Holy Communion bring about a perfect union with You, the one true God, and at last enable me to reach eternal bliss when You will call me. I pray that You bring me, a sinner, to the indescribable Feast (which is Heaven).

In short, through the Eucharist Jesus can make us a new person, generous, merciful, humble, searching for justice, able to endure persecution, and much more.

He can do more for us, and in us, if we invite Him in - which is what we are expressing by coming for the sacrament.

When we say Amen it packs a punch. Implicitly it expresses a desire to deepen our union with Him, which could land us in trouble (cf apostles, martyrs) but it is more than worth it.

What about frequency? The general idea is that we receive once a week.

Like food it has to be repeated and often.

Many think they do not need it, but this is just lack of understanding as to what Our Lord can do for us, and what He is asking of us.

It is like bringing a glass to the ocean. We can fill the glass but it will not last long before we need a refill. We can take in only so much each time. This is why we have to repeat Holy Communion. There is so much going on we cannot express it all on one occasion.

It does help if we prepare, and if we resolve to live what we express here.

With practice, with prayer, with learning from past faults, we come to see beyond appearances, and then the deeper truth will appear.

Even in Heaven we will not have exhausted all the ways in which we can know God.

Our first Communion is one step; there are many more to go.

Bread of Life, be the beginning, the middle and the end of all that lies ahead, until we reach our true home with Thee.

 

 

19th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 11 August 2024 Sermon

19^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 11 August 2024 Vocations

Every person in the world is called to be a disciple of Christ.

Come, follow Me… imagine how compelling that could be if addressed to us.

Our Lord does say this to us, in whatever place or time. It may not be as dramatic as the beach scene with the apostles, but it will be just as real.

For life-time Catholics it might be just a progression from one step to the next, at certain times new insights coming and a deeper commitment requested.

Everyone receives the general call from God, or at least it is there in potential.

When we are called there are then other more specific callings to do certain things as the Lord directs.

Some are called to harder things than others. For example, being Pope, or  a missionary martyr. These are big callings, and we can be assured that those so called will receive extra grace for the task.

Everyone is called to holiness of life, whether we are high or low in the workings of things.

Each of us has certain gifts, and not others. This forces us to see our mutual dependence on God’s grace. We are formed into a team, or a body, and that is good for us spiritually.

Of course, in the rough and tumble of life we face many different situations and we can be more than one thing at a time. One time a prophet, another time a helper, another time a leader etc.

If we are basically holy God can work through us.

God know the spiritual status of each person. He draws us to Himself, by the force of His goodness. He helps us to realize that to be with Him is the best place to be.

We see with greater clarity how we can serve Him.

Under His guidance we can change things about our lives as required.

When we make wrong turnings and act against the plans of Our Lord, then He is ready to show mercy and repair any damage done. The basic call remains in place.

If we are doing well then God will ‘prune’ us like branches on a tree (Jn 15,2), and He will get the best out of us, probably involving suffering, but we will not mind by that stage!

We can learn to relish the challenge. As in the parable of the talents, the more we do the more we get to do! Give the wasted talents to one who will use them well (cf Mt 25,28).

It would be a lot easier for Jesus if everyone just signed on with no questions or arguments etc.

But humans are not good at keeping quiet as a rule, so we have to work our way to a humble understanding of God's ways.

Today we are referring especially to the call to discipleship which leads to priestly and religious vocations. Harder tasks requires more prayer. We pray for conversion, growth, response.

We do our best to prepare the soil to make acceptance of the call more likely. We move to help wherever in the body the need is felt.

For example, we pray for the Pope and Bishop everyday because their job is harder.

We pray for vocations because they are less likely to happen. So we make it more likely.

We pray for the response to the general call and then for the next stage of greater responsibility.

It is not necessarily the more outstandingly talented who are called to religious life. God knows what each can do, or what He can do with them. There must be no pride or jealousy between disciples of Christ. We are glad to serve in whatever way He decides. Our main desire is to help advance His plans for the world and all within it.

18th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 4 August 2024 Sermon

18^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 4 August 2024  Aiming high

Jesus is saying one thing and the people are taking him at a different level. They are thinking only of the physical benefits of the miraculous bread while He is talking about higher matters, eternal concerns.

Many would regard the religious dimension as an unnecessary intervention. They like to receive good results, but do not want to get involved any more than ‘necessary’.

But God is not a machine that can be activated by the touch of a button.

He will bless us, yes, and more than we expect ([He]who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Eph 3,20). But it will be on His terms not ours.

He wants most of all to win our hearts and minds to submission to Him. This is a blessing for us, though it may not seem so at first glance.

Jesus tells the crowd He is giving them more than they presently realize. They came because of the earthly bread, but He is offering them the living bread (Himself).

He gave them food to eat, but gave them also the ability to see what that food symbolises – God in their midst. He wanted them, and us, to relate to Him at a deeper level of our being.

We do have to concern ourselves with economic matters, and they are important. But not as important as the spiritual life where we seek conformity with God's will.

He helps us to organise our lives around His holy will.

He wants us to reach a point where we do not call on Him only when we need something, (like a Mr Fixit) but anytime and all the time.

Implied in all prayer is a searching for God. Lord, deliver me from this or that problem but most of all help me find Thee. It may not always be at the front of our minds or the first thing we would say, but it is there, at the root of all else.

‘Do you love God?’ is the most important question we can be asked.

We want to say,  Yes, but how do we love God? Put Him first!

We can love other people and other things, but God first.

Exposure to the love of God, coupled with experiencing His mercy, will awaken love in us, and we are then developing as His children.

It is easy to stop too soon on this trail. To stop at having enough to eat and to wear, and to live comfortably, with a few friends and some spare time etc.

Why go further than that? Because God wants us to know, love and serve Him, and whatever is needed to get to that point.

We reach the point that we prefer God's will to our own, even if it presents difficulties.

All of Jesus’ miracles have this deeper level. It is great to be able to see, hear and walk, if we could not before; but great for the rest of us too, as we learn to seek spiritual sight, hearing and motivation – simply to love God more than we ever have before.

Whatever we do or whatever is done to us, it can all be negotiated, as we draw upon God's closeness to us.

This is the ‘spiritual revolution of our minds’ referred to in the second reading. (Ep 4,23).

Our Lord has been appealing to every generation for the last two thousand years – all who eat this bread will live forever. It will be real life, eternal life.

17th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 28 July 2024 Sermon

17^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 28 July 2024  Miracles

This was an extraordinary miracle, the feeding of the five thousand. It was a real miracle, with the bread being actually multiplied. It was not just that everybody started sharing their lunch, as some interpret this event.

The miracle shows God's desire and ability to feed His people, to give them what they need, beginning with food, but going beyond to any miracle or any level. This miracle clearly foreshadows the Eucharist.

Jesus makes it look easy. His miracles always seemed effortless. Sometimes He would sigh or show vexation, but that was at the difficulty of getting through to hard hearts, rather than any difficulty in working the miracle. He has command of all creation. Even the wind and the sea obey Him (Mt 8,27).  So do bread and fish obey Him!

The supply of bread miraculously continued. There was always more to come. God does not run out of  power. He will give us what we need when we need it – our ‘daily bread’.

He can do things by natural or supernatural means. He makes the natural and supernatural work together fluently. It is all one to Him.

We should not seek miraculous intervention to do what we could do ourselves. eg chores, obligations. We understand that Jesus most of the time operated on normal natural laws. For example, He would walk for miles and get tired, when He could have just moved Himself miraculously.

However, there is nothing wrong with asking for a miracle if there is a serious need and there is no other obvious solution. We can work at both levels, natural and supernatural, doing what we can while asking God to intervene.

Miracles are not always obvious. It could be just something that appears natural, like a chance meeting or some twist of circumstances. We get a few of those probably and may not be sure if it was a miracle or not, but we keep asking anyway.

eg praying to St Anthony for lost objects. Or to avert trouble eg for a safe trip. Natural or Supernatural it is all under God’s providence.

We can call directly on Almighty God, or Our Lady, or any angel or saint. The lesser beings will take our prayers to higher regions. It all goes to God eventually.

Nor should we see miracles as just a novelty (like Herod on Good Friday Lk 23,7-15)

Through miracles God shows us what He is like, how much power He has, and how much desire to help us.

Sometimes we need a miracle but it cannot be attained all at once, due to the level of difficulty involved. For example, praying for the conversion of a sinner. Or world peace. We have to chip away at the big issues. Every prayer helps.

God makes it clear that we can influence what happens. We do not believe in an immovable fate. The future is flexible. We can make it go one way rather than another.

We have access to the throne of grace, a treasury of grace and mercy.

There is much to pray for, if we are to turn this earth into the visible kingdom of God, to heal the disorder caused by sin.

We are not telling God what to do, as it may seem. We are doing what Our Lady did at Cana: a simple statement of the need, and the rest is trust in God.

He will know what to do, and whether or not our prayer fits in with His plans.

There was enough left over to feed others. That detail is for our benefit. We can feed ourselves and others with this inexhaustible supply of good.

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) 21 July 2024 Sermon

16^th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) 21 July 2024  Lost sheep

We know from the Lost Sheep parable that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and goes looking for that one lost sheep no matter how difficult to find.

We could take the parable a little further and say that the lost sheep, if it has enough sense, will be helping the shepherd to find him, and actually looking for the shepherd anyway.

Today’s Gospel tells us that the people went looking for Jesus and went to some trouble to find Him.

They might have had different motivations for doing that. Some would have wanted physical healing, some to hear His teaching, some maybe just for the novelty of being part of the crowd.

But they went after Him and many would have been healed.

Jesus drew them to Himself. He wanted them to come. Admittedly sometimes He needed to rest, but overall He was glad to see them and to help all comers.

One thing He will ask in return is that we be His disciples. Come, follow Me.

If I am already His disciple He will expect me to be a stronger one.

It means that if I go to Jesus and ask Him to give me sight, or hearing, or even life itself, I must be prepared to ask on His terms, not my own. I must let Him decide what is best for me, and be happy with His decisions.

The sheep comes looking for direction, and guidance, and rejoices when he find his needs not only met but enlarged.

There is more happiness in being a disciple of Christ than in having good health or lots of possessions.

This is a crucial point that we may have to wrestle with.

He will heal us of our blindness, and lameness etc but He will also heal us of anything that holds us back from fuller commitment.

This is why many hold back from seeking Him. They are afraid to go inside a church for fear they might get ‘hooked’, and spend the rest of their days singing hymns! The book ‘The Cross and the Switchblade’ set in 1950s New York described the gang warfare at that time. If a youth was converted to Christian the other gang members would say he ‘got religion’, as though it were a disease. So it can still seem in our culture.

Conversion stories abound of people getting caught by some circumstance and receiving enough grace to change the course of their lives.

It happens to someone every day and we rejoice in it, but it is not easy to make it happen to order, as regards a particular person.

Some lost sheep are not ready yet, but they can learn what they need to know.  A disciple is one who learns, and we are all doing that even if we have been in the Church for decades.

The day we can say that we would rather be forgiven for our sins than to be healed of some bodily ailment – on that day we can say we have learned something.

The Sheep meets the Shepherd and finds His true pasture.

So we have the psalm today: the Lord is my Shepherd. It is the most famous psalm and it covers all the main points. It is an expression of total trust that under the Lord’s guidance all must be well.

If it is not well yet it is becoming so. ‘There is nothing I shall want’ if I have the Shepherd Himself.

15th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 14 July 2024 Sermon

15^th Sunday Ordinary Time  (B) 14 July 2024 The Main Event

It is possible to see our faith as just a part of our lives, that we engage in sometimes but not all the time; that has some bearing on the decisions we make, but is not necessarily the main focus.

Today’s readings put Jesus firmly at the centre of everything – our lives, our whole world, the whole world.

[He is seated at the right hand] far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church… (Eph 1,21-22).

Does that sound like someone who is just one of many? He is not a side event, or a non-event; He is the Main event.

Whatever else we interest ourselves in, whatever else we do – He is the most important reality in our lives.

In practice we deal with many things, and today’s world is probably the busiest it has ever been, with the appearance of so many IT gadgets and global communication.

To say that Jesus is at the centre of it all might seem impractical. On the face of it we would have less time to pray or engage in spiritual matters, one might expect.

If we take Our Lord as the root, the foundation, the ‘cornerstone’ we can see what is meant.

If we have Him as the guiding principle of all that we think, say or do – then we can manage all our concerns in a consistent and productive way.

As a quick reference point we can ask ourselves: would what I am doing now be pleasing to God? We seek to please Him, and avoiding all that would displease Him.

We go back to Him at regular intervals, correcting ourselves if we are drifting too far from him.

There are many temptations to make less of Him than He really is.

Many today would say that the purpose of religion is to help people. We can help people without going to church or praying etc, so why not leave it at that?

Some would say that it is too narrow to have just one Saviour; there can be many sources of help. But He is at the centre of it all.

Or we could say - I do good, I am good enough, etc. I don’t need anything else.

Or, I am spiritual but not religious.

Or, all religions are the same.

These attitudes do not do justice to Jesus Christ who is the only God who actually exists, and requires from us not only conformity to His laws, but love and worship in return.

The first Commandment is to love God. We do not just deal with Him to solve our problems but consciously, explicitly acknowledge His importance.

It means we want what He wants. He will guide our choices.

Better still He will form us in His image, and make us Christ-like on the inside, in our hearts and minds, the way we think and feel.

 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.(Eph 3,16-17)

He is as central to us as we are to ourselves. We look out on reality with His eyes, discerning good and evil, forgiving readily, encouraging to persevere.

Praised be to Him, forever.

14 th Sunday Ordinary Time 7 July 2024 Sermon

14^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 7 July 2024 Acceptance and Obedience

In the Gospel we have Jesus being rejected by His own people. We can understand that it might be difficult to think of someone from your own town would be a messianic figure, let alone God and Saviour!

But after constant miracles and profound teaching, they should have been prepared to give Him a fair hearing.

Too close for some, too far away for others – those who say they need not import ‘Christianity’; they have their own religions already.

There is no pleasing people when they are in a defiant mood. Our Lord compared the Pharisees with children in the marketplace who would tease anyone with any sort of contradiction (Lk 7,32).

In the face of great miracles the pharisees were more worried about the day of the week than the good effects of the miracle. They objected to Sabbath miracles (Mt 12,1-8).

It is easy to be negative about anything different, especially if we are in a despondent mood. Five loaves – what is that among so many? (Jn 6,8-11)

To every promise of better things we can recall bad things from the past and allow our hope to be smothered.

We can be critical even of God, wanting to dispute His ways. Why does He not stop all the things that are wrong, or go wrong? why does He not do what I ask?

God invites us to believe in Him, and entrust ourselves to His care.

We have the freedom to reject His offer, but how much misery that will bring.

It is better just to accept His invitation to the banquet, or to Come follow Him.  trusting His wisdom and His timing.

Naaman the Syrian was offered healing if he would bathe in the River Jordan. His first reaction was to dispute the offer, saying he had rivers just as good back home.

But his servant helped him to see things more plainly. Just do what the prophet asks you to do. He accepted that advice and was healed. (2 K 5,1-19)

If people prayed more and complained less, imagine the difference! All that energy we could use more profitably than by complaining and disputing.

Why not simply accept the way God has set things up, and resolve to obey Him at every turn?

God could do things more directly and use His miraculous power more often.

Generally He prefers to work through our response. He builds us up in faith and humility and so we take part in our own salvation.

This is a miracle on slow cooker; over years we can learn to trust God more and be more compliant with His will (Compliant is just two letter different from Complaint!)

The human race has been arguing with God since Day One. We can try a different line.

Each of us can do something. Each of us is unique as to when and where we live, what gifts we have and weaknesses too; it all goes into the mix and we take our place - which others can cover for but cannot fully replace.

Whatever God asks of us it will be the right thing, so we set ourselves to work with Him and follow His leading.

In our time it is vital that we hold on to our faith in the chill winds of scepticism and cynicism. Many have rejected the plain truth of God's revelation; in these times we must make it known. The carpenter’s son from Nazareth commands our attention.

13th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 30 June 2024 Sermon

 

13^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B)   30 June 2024   Death

Here [raising the young girl to life] we have God restoring life, something He is very good at doing. He can make life out of nothing, and He can make an existing life more alive, reflecting more perfectly His own life, something He has to an infinite degree.

We have a great desire for life. We do what we can either to avoid death or overcome it.

Death is an unwelcome visitor; it was never of God's fashioning (first reading). We are not meant to like it; God certainly does not. He allows it into the world but He will not let it have the last word.

We wrestle with God and His will on the matter of death. We have difficulty accepting death of loved ones, our own death, or death in general.

We do what we can to postpone death, attending to physical safety and healthy living, but we cannot put it off forever.

We can, however, take the sting out of death. The sting of death is sin (1 Cor 15,56) and if we could remove the sin then dying becomes like falling asleep (Gospel) She is not dead but asleep.

Removing the sin happens in two ways: that we stop committing it, and that we repent of the sin we have committed.

As we expel the sin from the system we become more ‘alive’ and much happier.

Indeed, dying is just like going to sleep if we can go far enough in that direction. The saints fell asleep in the Lord, either through a peaceful death, or in martyrdom where the focus was not on the pain of dying but instead the martyr’s love for God.

We cannot stop the dying itself but we can leave behind the fear. We yield ourselves to God's care: Into thy hands O Lord I commit my spirit. (Lk 23,46)

In His Passion and death Jesus spoke to the women of Jerusalem, to the Good Thief, to His Mother and St John, to the Father in prayer – all outwards movements. He was not feeling sorry for Himself. He was not afraid of dying. Perfect love casts out fear (1 Jn 4,18).

We can restore some of what we have lost.  It means living according to God’s will - the way we live and the way we die.

Things we can do to overcome the fear of death:

1) Express to God our sorrow for sin. Sin is the real culprit, even more than death is. Death is the outwards result  while sin is the inner cause.

2) Live in harmony with the will of God, and a lot less will go wrong in the world, making it a safer and happier place.

3) Pray for a happy death. St Joseph is the patron of a happy death. When he died who else was in the room? Jesus and Mary! We cannot get much better than that. Death is not lonely as it may appear, not if we have friends from Heaven.

***********

4) Trust in God's grace to carry us along.

We cannot stop all the sin in the world but we can atone for it, and in proportion as we do that there will be Life instead of death. Imagine an army on the move, only this army brings love not the usual destruction. Together we make such an army.

In the meantime we seek cures for diseases and whatever natural remedies can be found, even things like drive safely. God wants us to preserve life as far as we can, within reason. But these things only postpone death; we need supernatural means to overcome death, and forever.

We could say in summary: we do not like death but we do like God, and His holy will.

12th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 23 June 2024 Sermon

 12^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 23 June 2024 Trust

There are bridges where you can see through the surface you are walking on, and see the drop below. It is intimidating. Like walking on air.

To be afraid at that point is not logical, insofar as we know that this pathway is as solid as any other, but it does not look safe.

So, in our faith we are asked to believe in things we have not yet seen, or cannot ever see, or fully understand.

With God we can use a certain amount of logic, such that we know He will not let us down; yet we have more trust for a bus driver or a dentist or cook than we have in God. This is because the people we deal with have only one task at a time, and it is within our normal range of understanding.

With God there is more mystery. But also a lot more reliability.

If we all just got up and followed Jesus what a difference! But because we want to check and re-examine and look at it from different angles we don’t make much progress.

How can we increase our trust of God? How shake off that doubt and hesitancy?

A lot of it is ‘just do it’ and it will fall into place. Live like you trust God and you will find the trust is justified.

Even God's existence we might question. Just act as though it is true and we will find that it is. Cf Peter walking on water (Mt14.22-33).  What made it possible for him to do that was that he was for a time focused on Our Lord.

It is hard to have more faith than the people around us, yet this is what we are called to achieve.

We are told to believe in a life without end, of great happiness, of things way beyond what we have seen so far.

Just because something is hard to understand does not mean it is untrue.

Who made the world? If God can put the world in place could He not raise one dead body, or indeed all bodies? God can do whatever He likes, in His time and His way.

We need a personal encounter, to build up our trust in the personal reliability of God. We trust Him for who and what He is, not for how things look.

Would Jesus trick us, lie to us? Would he sell us a faulty used car?

Instead, go with it and see what happens. Most times we won’t be asked to do anything overly difficult.

A lot of it is just basic attention to detail, getting the little things right. If we are asked to do something really difficult we will have had some preparation beforehand.

Jesus will carry us across the chasm of doubt and fear, and we end up with a triumph of faith over doubt, and life over death.

If we don’t believe the contents of our own creed  we are on the way to believing it, or recovering belief.

We should get better each week than the one before. Well, over time we can improve; and a lot faster if we follow this basic idea that our trust is in Him, God made Man.

God gives us not only whatever we need, but most important of all, the ability to trust Him at all times, that ability itself being a gift.

So we say, without panic, Wake up, Lord, and bring us safely to the other side.

11th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 16 June 2024 Sermon

 11^th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) 16 June 2024 Miraculous growth

 The Gospel speaks of the mysterious growth of the Church. Like a tree which grows night and day without being visible in the actual progress of growth. (You can't watch it grow). So the Church somehow has increased from a handful of disciples to millions.

We realize that a lot of Christians are not overly good in their lives, but still the continuous growth of the Church has been clearly miraculous, and much is yet to be hoped for.

If we look at Church history we see many different movements that have tried to destroy the Church and failed, though they have made plenty of trouble.

The Church as such is indestructible – the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

We must, of course, not be complacent, but we can benefit from studying the opposition.

Physical attack: Jews, Romans, Barbarians, Vikings, Muslims, Secularists, Communists, Nazis – to name a few down the ages.

And undermining of the faith: all kinds of heresies, schisms, and internal persecutions – one Christian against another. Such as: Arianism, Albigensianism, Pelagianism, Jansenism, Protestantism - all manner of false beliefs enticing people from the true faith, or punishing them for keeping that faith.

We still have a lot of these things; it is just a matter of what name they go by. One of our biggest problems today would be an aggressive secularism, trying to remove the Church’s right to exist on its own terms – accusing us of ‘hate speech’.

And the prophecies tell us there is worse to come! Such as the Antichrist.

Christians have been very unpopular much of the time, yet all we have been doing in essence is to bring the world the word of life, and Bread of life.

All the malice towards the Church ultimately comes from the evil one who opposes everything Our Lord establishes, or seeks to do.

And that opposition can find a place in the human heart where through pride we do not want to be told what to do,  nor give up sins to which we are attached.

Despite our turbulent history we have had good people in every age who have been able to keep the truth intact, and pass on to succeeding generations the essentials to survive.

Thus we have the Martyrs, and the unsung saints who did good in their time.

Christ is the head, Mary is the Mother, and the Holy Spirit is our guide, and these are all powerful sources of help, animating the right people, the right movements and bringing it all together.

Always we pray. When we pray things will go better. See for example how the early Church prayed Peter the first head of the Church out of prison (Acts 12,5-9).

Then we keep to our mission of seeking to baptize all nations, offering the way of salvation, free of charge.

A glorious future is proposed, even finding union with our enemies if we and they make all due repentance.

Yes, we have misbehaved but that is no reason to change the beliefs. Let’s keep; the beliefs and stop the misbehaviour.

Let’s keep going another century or so and see the marvels the Lord will do in our midst (Ps 125 (124), 3)

Christians have often felt they have been abandoned but the Lord has never been far from us. He is just helping us in other ways besides direct rescue – to form us more completely as disciples, and children of God, fit for Heaven.

Remember our past and how many crises we have ridden out; one or two more crises will not defeat us!

10th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 9 June 2024 Sermon

 

10^th Sunday Ordinary time (B)  9 June 2024 The devil

How did the devil get to be a devil? He was created an angel but rebelled against God, so losing the beauty with which he was created and becoming deformed instead. This happened to Lucifer and all his allies.

The fallen angels suffered from the sin which is at the heart of all sins, namely Pride.  This is a sin to which we are all tempted. Rational creatures who can think and decide things of a spiritual nature are subject to this temptation.

The fallen angels cannot recover from their fallen condition but humans who have fallen away from God can recover if they make a good repentance. God is always welcoming towards a repentant sinner, cf prodigal son, or later workers in the vineyard. (Lk 15,11-32; Mt 20,1-16)

The fall of the angels has had a flow-on effect in the world, one sin leading to a lot of other sins. Worse for us the devil has a malevolent attitude towards us and seeks to lead us into sin and eternal loss if he can.

He can be like a sneaky serpent as in today’s first reading (Gen 3,9-15), or a roaring lion (1 Peter 5,8), respectively offering us seductive delights, or filling us with terror. If we recognize his methods we have more chance of repelling him. We can resist but we have to be alert.

We cannot afford to be complacent, as there are many ways from which temptations can come. The man who thinks he is safe must be careful he does not fall (1 Cor 10,12).

Nor can we afford to despair of our ability to obey God. He will provide the grace we need to overcome our sins, if only we ask for that grace.

God wants us to rise above the whole sordid world of sin, leaving it behind like an old set of clothes. From now on we put on Christ, we wear the white garment of purity and innocence.

Being this good all the time might sound too hard, but it can be managed if broken down to small pieces. If I get the next thing right, and then the next one. And if I fall I can then get back up again and start fresh. A good deed here, a prayer there, a change of habits – whatever is needed.

Even if we are relatively safe at the moment we have to be concerned for other people as well, and pray for them, give them instruction or at least example of the right way forward.

Generally in our preaching and teaching these days we do not mention the negative factors such as the devil, or  hell, or mortal sin. but these things are still with us and must be acknowledged. Salvation is not automatic and can be forfeited.

A false optimism could be fatal.

It is much like when we talk about physical health – try not to catch a disease. It is negative to a degree, but necessary.

Many do not believe in the devil, thinking of evil as a kind of negative force, but the devil is a personal being, full of cunning, and seeking to cause as much harm as possible. The amount of evil in the world and its intensity, tell us we are dealing with a malevolent intelligence here, not just a blind force.

We are not overly fearful, just careful. Swim between the flags.

It is all worth it for the sake of the reward which awaits us, the weight of glory which far exceeds the suffering we go through in this life. (second reading).

We must hold on till the end, every day applying what we know and taking up the task.

 

 

 

Corpus Christi 2 June 2024 Sermon

Corpus Christi 2 June 2024 Worthiness

The Eucharist is God's main way of being present to us.

It requires faith as it goes beyond sense experience. Things can be true even if they are not seen or understood … where the feeble senses fail.

Earthly bread can sustain only the body. The bread from heaven will take us to a higher state. We will never die, promises Jesus (Jn 6,51). We will never die in the soul, that is.

We still have to endure physical death but we will have continuous life in the soul.

What is life in the soul? It means we share in God's eternal and perfect life, above all to be seen in the area of charity. We learn to love as God loves, at least to share in the burning intensity of that love.

We acknowledge we are unworthy. That implies that we will be making efforts to improve. We are becoming one flesh with Him, loyal members of His community. It cannot be less than that.

But becoming Christ like implies also that we will take on His generosity and readiness to sacrifice for the greater good. We will be braver and humbler and kinder etc.

We wish each other every possible blessing from this sacrament.

It is a great leveller as it puts us all on the same footing, aware of each other’s need.

It is above all a sacrament of charity, which includes all those qualities in 1 Cor 13, 4-7. Love is always patient and kind etc

Am I still unworthy? Strictly speaking we are all and always unworthy, but we can be worthy enough to be in the category of the sick who need the doctor (Mk 2,17) It comes to attitude. If I acknowledge my need I an worthy enough; if I deny that I have a need then I am too proud to benefit. More homework required.

We cannot lift up this human race by any other power than that which resides in the Eucharist.

It is in the nature of the sacrament that we should try to improve from one time to the next.

Or if we fail to do that we would have sincere sorrow for sin and a desire to be better, even if we cannot see our way to achieve that.

Total humility is the key. If we empty ourselves to be filled by Him, then we make progress.

The Eucharist is an interactive event whereby what we are and what we have mingles with what Our Lord has and does. Whatever good we bring can be seen as the loaves and the fishes, which multiplied miraculously.

And what we receive from Him can be like the wine at Cana, greatly improved through encountering the Lord.

Lowly though we may be we can improve and should be striving to do that.

We can reduce the sins we commit and ask pardon for those we have committed.

The more fervently we receive the Blessed Sacrament the more good it will do us.

This feast reminds us of the great gift we have in our midst. We can draw endlessly on the goodness of God. It is like wading into the ocean – there is always enough and more to spare.

Many will say they do not need the Eucharist, but everyone does need it. It is just that the benefits are more subtle and can escape the eye.

If we receive worthily we will see wonders. We will grow in our knowledge of God and that will bring more power into play.

Trinity Sunday 26 May 2024 Sermon

Trinity Sunday 26 May 2024 Eternity

Where did God come from? If He made everything who made Him? These are questions which arise.

No one made God because that would mean there is someone superior to God, which there cannot be.

He did not ‘come’ from anywhere because He had no beginning. Beginnings imply the presence of time. God lives outside of time, in eternity. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.

He is Creator of all that is, seen and unseen. The world was perfect when it left His hands, but has deviated off course because of sin.

Not so much off course, however, that we can still see the beauty of His work.

Human beings are the most complicated part of God’s creation because we have free will and can defy God’s will.

Other parts of His creation do not have the capacity to reason or decide things. People are a danger to themselves because we can decide wrongly.

Whereas if we could learn from the lesser creation to obey at all times we would be a lot happier.

It would not be slavery for us to do this but a true release where we work with God and establish a pure connection to His power and goodness.

Anyway there is no where else we can go for such a result.

The more we know about God the better, and the more likely we are to entrust ourselves to Him, and not be looking elsewhere for what can be found in Him alone.

So we have the chance today to focus on the nature of God Himself. What is He like? How much can we know Him? He wants us to know all that we can.

He has revealed Himself to us as a Trinity of Persons in one nature, which is God.

The Father begets the Son, the Son returns to the Father, the Spirit comes from both. These are all acts of humility as each Person yields to the other and claims nothing for His own use.

We learn there some clues relating to ourselves.

That goodness fills all the universe, that in an endless flow of giving and receiving which we see in the Trinity we learn humility, generosity, community.

We can learn to live together peaceably, and share whatever there is fairly.

God does not need us but He does want us. We cannot add to God's glory which is infinite, but we can help all the same, by making Him more widely known.

We are important to Him, but sadly the human race does not generally return the compliment, and either ignores or defies God’s infinite goodness.

We can atone for that neglect and disobedience, and give full praise and thanksgiving to a very generous God.

We can always find Him at short notice in prayer, in any time or place; and we will derive some comfort from that. It is not the full eternal joy of Heaven but it is a step in that direction.

We are drawn into divine life as we imitate it in our own lives now. We are not yet outside of time in blissful eternity, but we are practising for what that is like!

The more generous, humble… etc … we are, the more we are conforming to the inner life of God and can hope to share that life.

One key is Giving, wanting to give more than receive. This is what the Trinity does, and we are learning it.

All glory to the One God, Three Persons.

 

Pentecost Sunday 19 May 2024 Sermon

 

Pentecost Sunday 19 May 2024 The cenacle relived

We ask the Holy Spirit to come upon us. it is not as though we are asking Him to do something He does not want. He wants it more than we do because His love is greater. And when He comes upon us it is essentially an act of love, to change, heal , transform us.

The love of God, in particular, changes us and makes us as the apostles were, ready to die for others, even complete strangers, so great was their zeal for the Gospel.

To receive the Holy Spirit we must be open to Him, not putting conditions on Him, telling Him what He can or cannot do.

We do not necessarily start with such openness. It might take years to reach the sort of spiritual maturity that is required to receive fully the Holy Spirit.

Even in that Upper Room, with all the exalted company there, it took nine days for the Holy Spirit to come. This is telling us that preparation is always important.

For some things a lot of prayer is needed. We repeat the prayer, not because we doubt God, but because there are a lot of barriers to be overcome. Eg praying for world peace.

Still we should ask for what we think we need. The more pressing on the door the better. And God knows how to work things around so all our prayer is material for Him to work with. He can tie all the loose ends together.

We are ourselves part of the prayer as when we say Come, Lord we are volunteering ourselves for whatever purpose God wants.

If we do not feel quite ready to be so abandoned, that also can be matter for prayer.

Sometimes in the spiritual world we might promise things we don’t fully mean; but we can come to mean what we have said through the grace of the Holy Spirit.

It just needs a little perseverance and time.

When we ask God for something there is always implied that we are asking to come closer to Him. We do not just seek isolated blessings. We want to come closer to God, to know Him better.

He wants us to love Him more than any other person or thing. Not easy, but again it can be changed through prayer.

To be right with God is always the reference point.

We let Him do what has to be done, to form us, like a sculptor, chipping here and there  to get us to the state He desires.

He can rework even our sins, as we see most strikingly in the Crucifixion from which so much good has come.

(In our cenacles we imitate the first great Cenacle. We have a lot to learn and our prayer will help us do that.)

Our prayer is never wasted. People do convert to the true faith, and confess after many years and change the way they are living. We just need a lot more of it.

We have enough sense to turn up here at church, and that is a good start. We are trying to get used to the richness that we deal with here, real as it is, and unworthy as we are.

It is like having a cure for a terminal disease but very few want to know it.

We work on our own response to God's generous mercy; at the same time praying for success in helping others to receive it.

We pray for the courage of those first disciples, and the love which makes the courage possible. We love enough to die for the cause. We can change the world after all!

The Ascension 12 May 2024 Sermon

Feast of the Ascension 12 May 2024 Living in Heaven

Today, we mark Our Lord’s Ascension into glory. He rose from the tomb, which was one triumph. Then He rises to Heaven, to complete that triumph over sin, death, and corruption. He had to leave this earth because His true home is in Heaven. From there He can direct us to make the best of every situation here on earth. But we also are not meant to stay here forever.

The best way to prepare for Heaven is to live like we are already there, in our attitudes and inclinations, reflecting heavenly values.

We can be already living in heaven in our minds and hearts. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (Colossians 3,1-2).

Seek the things that are above. This does not mean we abandon practical concerns, becoming absent-minded.

In fact it should mean we are more alert because we will be operating at a higher level of energy and commitment.

If we have the right understanding of matters we will be practical and useful.

The same could be said for immediate tasks or one’s whole approach to life.

It makes a great deal of difference if we have an idea of the purpose of our lives.

Many do not think there is any overall purpose to life; for them it is just a matter of making the best of it. Oh well, we are here, so here goes.

This leads to some very arbitrary approaches to what is right or wrong. Who can say what is what if we have no God, no overall authority?

But we, as Christians, have a very clear purpose for being here, We are here to know, love and serve God, expressing this love in the way we live especially as regards charity, and all related qualities.

Living without God will lead to a distorted view of life and many wrong decisions will come from that.

This life is an exile but if we know where our true home is the exile becomes a lot easier.

We can attend to all our earthly concerns at the same time as seeking the will of God in all things, even as to our thoughts.

The will of God directs us to love our neighbours, forgive our enemies, to be charitable and merciful to all comers, helping others to carry their burden whenever we can.

We avoid false attachments, and disordered desires, which will be offered to us as sources of happiness, but they are ‘forbidden fruit’.

The life of a disciple of Christ requires discipline, good order, restraint - which might sound unappealing, but it leads to happiness in this life.

This is living already in Heaven, where our hearts and minds have achieved some degree of possession.

We live earthly life by heavenly laws, and this brings great peace to the one who does that, as well as going a long way to healing the whole world.

Jesus has gone before us in all things, all the processes of this life, and then preparing that final dwelling place, His true home, and ours too because we are one with Him.

He has not really gone away from us insofar as we have His presence in the Eucharist, and in His word, and His many answers to prayer which we make to Him.

And next Sunday we re-live His return with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

So as He says, He does not leave us orphans (Jn 14,18). We just need His help to navigate our way to our eternal home.