6th Sunday after Pentecost 24.7.11 Spiritual hunger
One of God’s many blessings to the human race is that He provides us with food – so important to us for enjoyment, and relieving of hunger.
Today’s Gospel (the feeding of the multitude) describes one such occasion when God intervenes miraculously to provide food for thousands of people.
The miraculous nature of the event invites us to look beyond just the physical dimension and see what else God might be saying to us here.
Our Lord explained that the Israelites in the desert had received bread, but that was food only for the body. Now He, Jesus, would provide bread which would satisfy the soul, and would be lasting in its effects. He who eats this bread will never die.
He was talking spiritually. He was talking about the Eucharist, where His own Body would be food for us.
Just like physical food, the bread of life, the bread from heaven would provide energy - for the soul. Eating this bread will enable us to live rightly, to meet all our obligations, to live in joyful hope of better things to come, and all other related spiritual good effects.
When it comes to this particular food from heaven, its value is often missed because it is perceived as too abstract, too far above everyday needs.
Thus it happens that many people are apathetic or indifferent to receiving Holy Communion.
Most Catholics do not receive it even weekly (because they do not come to Mass weekly).
Most non-Catholics would not acknowledge that it is really the Body of Christ.
But of these people there are few who would turn down a good meal. Spiritual hunger is very real but it does not hurt as obviously as physical hunger. So it is easier to put it off to another day.
Are we hungry for the bread of life? Or do we receive it simply because it is part of the ritual?
The attitude of the one receiving this food has a lot to do with the results that will follow.
Two people receiving side-by-side could be receiving something very different. It is the same consecrated Host, the full body, blood, soul and divinity of Our Lord that is being received.
But if one person is fully believing, desiring to be filled with heavenly grace - while the other is merely going through the motions – there will be different outcomes.
We could say we receive what we want to receive. If we really hunger for the goodness of God we will receive it. If we are indifferent, though Christ be present, we will not benefit from His presence.
(A person in mortal sin will actually be worse off for receiving the sacrament because of the sin of disrespect involved.)
One reason for the indifference of many Catholics to this sacrament is that they think they can be ‘good’ by their own strength. Why bother to go to church and receive a sacrament when I could achieve the same effect by staying home and just making good resolutions?
This is to overrate one’s own strength. Many a good resolution does not see the light of day.
Also it is to reduce our religion to a merely ethical matter, whereas we are called to a life-giving relationship with God, like branches to a tree. Our Lord was not just an ethical teacher, setting out rights and wrongs. He calls us to direct and intimate union with Him. Unless you eat this bread you cannot have eternal life. (John 6,53)
A certain amount of childlike wonder will help here. We must not argue the point: just come, open our hearts and receive whatever it is that God wants to give. Take as much as you can, ‘all you can eat’. And each time we grow in desire and will be able to receive even more the next.
Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
5th Sunday after Pentecost 17 Jul 2011 Sermon
5th Sunday after Pentecost 17.7.11 Non-competitive love
Much of our world is based around competition and conflict.
We have wars where two sides fight each other for dominance. On the sporting field two teams fight each other. There can be only one winner. In business companies compete for market share. In workplaces employees compete for promotion. In Parliament members compete for votes and influence, and so on and on.
And we are jealous of others for their success or good fortune or talents... because we fear we are missing out, but there is enough for all.
In Jesus Christ we see a new model, a new way of looking at things. The vision of the world that He has left us is essentially non-competitive. It is not just one winner and the rest are losers. Everyone can be a winner.
We put prices on things here because there are limits to available quantities. But in heaven everyone can have enough and there is still more to come.
And Our Lord wants us to see this life in the same light. Not that we stop paying for groceries but that we start to see things in a larger vision, less defensive or grasping for ourselves and more expansive in our dealings with others.
To share what we have, in terms of possessions, is one thing. But even more important is to share goodwill, mercy, kindness.
Imagine standing at the foot of the Cross and seeing Our Lord die. How could we hold back on forgiving others? How could we begrudge mercy to any other at such a time?
If I have an enemy I want him to be my friend. I could want him dead, and that may be where I start, but once I have imbibed the Spirit of Christ I see my enemy in a new light. I see him as a lost soul, a lost sheep straying and needing to be rescued.
Thus I forgive him and this is what Christ asks of us. To see others as He sees them - not in a competitive, vengeful way but in generosity and goodwill.
The Mass is being at Calvary, so here in particular we see Our Lord completely offering Himself to each and all. We can all receive from Him and there is no less for others.
The Gospel today says we must be reconciled with all others before we come to Mass. Let us say that each Mass should make us more Christ-like than the one before.
If we can’t do it all in one day we can at least make progress.
We receive His love and we hope it makes us at least a little more like He is. His blood be in our blood; His heart in ours; His mind in ours.
We have a lot of unlearning to do in this area. From the time we were babies and trying to hold onto our toys we have been trained (by the general tone of the world) to be competitive and defensive in our dealings with others. The way of Christ is very different.
We don't like to be thought naive, to be pushovers. We learn that there are people around who could harm us. To guard against that we develop a rather tough exterior.
We can be cautious without writing people off. We may have to be wary of certain people, who might harm us or swindle us. But we can still desire their salvation. So I will not walk down the rough side of town at 3am, fearing that I might be bashed. But I can still pray and hope that the would-be bashers will come to salvation eventually!
People can be better, and so can trends be better than they are right now. This is not false optimism but a well-founded hope based on the saving power of Christ.
Love is not weakness as it might seem. To love like Christ loves is to be a strong person, certainly to be a better person. May He make us a little more like Himself each time we approach His altar.
Much of our world is based around competition and conflict.
We have wars where two sides fight each other for dominance. On the sporting field two teams fight each other. There can be only one winner. In business companies compete for market share. In workplaces employees compete for promotion. In Parliament members compete for votes and influence, and so on and on.
And we are jealous of others for their success or good fortune or talents... because we fear we are missing out, but there is enough for all.
In Jesus Christ we see a new model, a new way of looking at things. The vision of the world that He has left us is essentially non-competitive. It is not just one winner and the rest are losers. Everyone can be a winner.
We put prices on things here because there are limits to available quantities. But in heaven everyone can have enough and there is still more to come.
And Our Lord wants us to see this life in the same light. Not that we stop paying for groceries but that we start to see things in a larger vision, less defensive or grasping for ourselves and more expansive in our dealings with others.
To share what we have, in terms of possessions, is one thing. But even more important is to share goodwill, mercy, kindness.
Imagine standing at the foot of the Cross and seeing Our Lord die. How could we hold back on forgiving others? How could we begrudge mercy to any other at such a time?
If I have an enemy I want him to be my friend. I could want him dead, and that may be where I start, but once I have imbibed the Spirit of Christ I see my enemy in a new light. I see him as a lost soul, a lost sheep straying and needing to be rescued.
Thus I forgive him and this is what Christ asks of us. To see others as He sees them - not in a competitive, vengeful way but in generosity and goodwill.
The Mass is being at Calvary, so here in particular we see Our Lord completely offering Himself to each and all. We can all receive from Him and there is no less for others.
The Gospel today says we must be reconciled with all others before we come to Mass. Let us say that each Mass should make us more Christ-like than the one before.
If we can’t do it all in one day we can at least make progress.
We receive His love and we hope it makes us at least a little more like He is. His blood be in our blood; His heart in ours; His mind in ours.
We have a lot of unlearning to do in this area. From the time we were babies and trying to hold onto our toys we have been trained (by the general tone of the world) to be competitive and defensive in our dealings with others. The way of Christ is very different.
We don't like to be thought naive, to be pushovers. We learn that there are people around who could harm us. To guard against that we develop a rather tough exterior.
We can be cautious without writing people off. We may have to be wary of certain people, who might harm us or swindle us. But we can still desire their salvation. So I will not walk down the rough side of town at 3am, fearing that I might be bashed. But I can still pray and hope that the would-be bashers will come to salvation eventually!
People can be better, and so can trends be better than they are right now. This is not false optimism but a well-founded hope based on the saving power of Christ.
Love is not weakness as it might seem. To love like Christ loves is to be a strong person, certainly to be a better person. May He make us a little more like Himself each time we approach His altar.
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
4th Sunday after Pentecost 10 Jul 2011 Sermon
4th Sunday after Pentecost 10.7.11 Transformed
There are two remarkable things that God does for us:
1) that He forgives our sins and 2) that He sends us out to help others to seek forgiveness for their sins.
Both would seem unlikely if we thought about them in advance.
Why should He forgive us so freely? He loves us enough to be able to do that. We should be very grateful.
Perhaps it is even more improbable that He would use us to forgive others. In today’s Gospel, when Peter acknowledges his sinfulness Our Lord does not contradict him but moves on to another matter when He says, I will make you fishers of men.
To be ‘fishers of men’: of course we cannot pull others in by our own authority. What we can do is bring Christ to others by the fact that He dwells in us.
This will work if we are humble enough. Humility is the key.
The moment we think we are ‘good’ in our own strength or by our own virtue, we crumble to nothing. But if we remember on an ongoing basis that it is only by God’s grace that we are still able to walk free... thus we are humbled, and then we can be channels of that same grace to others.
This is how the Church grew. A small band of people experienced the mercy of God which transformed them. Then, on fire with gratitude and maintaining humility this small band went out proclaiming the mercy of God and telling others what they had to do to receive the same thing.
Many believed them and they in turn became proclaimers of mercy and so the Church has spread and still does in our time.
What makes us any different from the people outside? We are not better than they are by any innate virtue. Our only claim to fame is that we have had enough sense to see our need of mercy and to receive it as offered.
We do not set ourselves up as better than the rest of the human race; only fortunate enough to have discovered the precious pearl of faith. And in our relief and joy at finding a way out of misery we want to tell others about it.
We throw out the line like the fishermen and hope to bring in some willing fish. (Real fish do not want to be caught; but the people who are ‘caught’ will be happy.)
We say that the apostles were transformed after Pentecost and it is often said that previously timid men were now courageous. It is true.
But their change from timid to courageous was made possible by a deeper transformation still: sinful to forgiven.
From that point on they were too happy to be worried about their own safety. Courage is self-forgetfulness. So is humility.
St Paul (also an apostle) thought he was the least of all, and many other saints have said the same. They were not just saying that as a polite formality. They really did think it because they could see so clearly their inadequacy in the light of Christ.
The greatest saints are the most humble people. Lesser people think they are more important, and so are less able to transmit the mercy of God. A strange paradox.
The truly humble are able to convey the reality of God to others: by the holiness of their lives, and by the fact that God can work through them.
May we be such people. There is so much need in these times. The harvest is rich. Can we be the labourers to bring them in?
There are two remarkable things that God does for us:
1) that He forgives our sins and 2) that He sends us out to help others to seek forgiveness for their sins.
Both would seem unlikely if we thought about them in advance.
Why should He forgive us so freely? He loves us enough to be able to do that. We should be very grateful.
Perhaps it is even more improbable that He would use us to forgive others. In today’s Gospel, when Peter acknowledges his sinfulness Our Lord does not contradict him but moves on to another matter when He says, I will make you fishers of men.
To be ‘fishers of men’: of course we cannot pull others in by our own authority. What we can do is bring Christ to others by the fact that He dwells in us.
This will work if we are humble enough. Humility is the key.
The moment we think we are ‘good’ in our own strength or by our own virtue, we crumble to nothing. But if we remember on an ongoing basis that it is only by God’s grace that we are still able to walk free... thus we are humbled, and then we can be channels of that same grace to others.
This is how the Church grew. A small band of people experienced the mercy of God which transformed them. Then, on fire with gratitude and maintaining humility this small band went out proclaiming the mercy of God and telling others what they had to do to receive the same thing.
Many believed them and they in turn became proclaimers of mercy and so the Church has spread and still does in our time.
What makes us any different from the people outside? We are not better than they are by any innate virtue. Our only claim to fame is that we have had enough sense to see our need of mercy and to receive it as offered.
We do not set ourselves up as better than the rest of the human race; only fortunate enough to have discovered the precious pearl of faith. And in our relief and joy at finding a way out of misery we want to tell others about it.
We throw out the line like the fishermen and hope to bring in some willing fish. (Real fish do not want to be caught; but the people who are ‘caught’ will be happy.)
We say that the apostles were transformed after Pentecost and it is often said that previously timid men were now courageous. It is true.
But their change from timid to courageous was made possible by a deeper transformation still: sinful to forgiven.
From that point on they were too happy to be worried about their own safety. Courage is self-forgetfulness. So is humility.
St Paul (also an apostle) thought he was the least of all, and many other saints have said the same. They were not just saying that as a polite formality. They really did think it because they could see so clearly their inadequacy in the light of Christ.
The greatest saints are the most humble people. Lesser people think they are more important, and so are less able to transmit the mercy of God. A strange paradox.
The truly humble are able to convey the reality of God to others: by the holiness of their lives, and by the fact that God can work through them.
May we be such people. There is so much need in these times. The harvest is rich. Can we be the labourers to bring them in?
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
3rd Sunday after Pentecost 3 Jul 2011 Sermon
3rd Sunday after Pentecost 3.7.11 Individual sheep
If we go into or any crowded place there would be lots of people around and most of them we would not know personally. We would not know their names, nor anything about them except for certain generalisations we could make.
It would be a strange thing if we could walk among a large group of people and we found that we knew the name of every person there; and not only their names but everything about them, even their innermost thoughts, fears, hopes, joys and sorrows!
It would be amazing to know all that. There is Someone who does, of course – the Good Shepherd, who knows His sheep, and also those are not His sheep but should be. The ones who are not presently His are the lost ones, for whom He goes searching.
There must be a lot of lost sheep in our present world. If ‘lost’ means anyone who does not fully belong to the flock of Christ, does not give explicit loyalty and obedience to Him, then it must mean most people in the world.
Even if we did know all those people in the crowded place it would not necessarily mean that we loved them as well. But in God’s case, yes, He does that too. He has a personal , vital interest there. His love is infinite, passionate.
To us other people can be just there, of no particular significance. It is hard for us to imagine the burning love of the Sacred Heart, caring so much for each one. But if we think of how important we regard our own lives that gives a clue. Every person in the crowd is just like us insofar as each one regards his/her life as very important. God can see that and He agrees it is important.
He loves each person and desires the salvation of that soul. Every soul is meant to be in the orbit of the Sacred Heart, keeping close at all times.
A planet is happy if it stays in its proper orbit, drawing life from the star to which it is attached. If it loses its orbit it loses everything. So with us – if we stay close to the Good Shepherd we have everything. Away from Him we are in chaos.
Our Lord seeks to bring peace and harmony into the lives of each person but many will reject His efforts, either deliberately or simply through neglect.
Others, like us, will want to cooperate but we make things harder due to our sins and inconsistent behaviour.
What can we do? For ourselves, clean up our own backyard and get our response right. Climb into our orbit. It is not dull to be in a fixed path. There we find stability, the basis to develop our true selves.
For the other people in the crowd - we desire their salvation. We believe in their importance, not necessarily their goodness; acknowledging that they were designed by God to live with Him for all eternity. So there must be something good there. No one is predestined for hell.
We hope they find their place. Increasing the overall harmony. Let us make music together, we could say. The bigger the choir the better it sounds; the better our world becomes.
We desire this – to the point that we will pray for it and make sacrifices for it to happen.
Think of saints like St Francis Xavier who travelled to evangelise complete strangers on the other side of the world. It would have been easy for him to stay home, as it is for us. But he realized their importance simply because they were human and he made sacrifices to bring them the Gospel.
Who cares about all those other people in the world? God does, and so therefore should we.
May the Good Shepherd continue to find, and keep, every lost soul.
If we go into or any crowded place there would be lots of people around and most of them we would not know personally. We would not know their names, nor anything about them except for certain generalisations we could make.
It would be a strange thing if we could walk among a large group of people and we found that we knew the name of every person there; and not only their names but everything about them, even their innermost thoughts, fears, hopes, joys and sorrows!
It would be amazing to know all that. There is Someone who does, of course – the Good Shepherd, who knows His sheep, and also those are not His sheep but should be. The ones who are not presently His are the lost ones, for whom He goes searching.
There must be a lot of lost sheep in our present world. If ‘lost’ means anyone who does not fully belong to the flock of Christ, does not give explicit loyalty and obedience to Him, then it must mean most people in the world.
Even if we did know all those people in the crowded place it would not necessarily mean that we loved them as well. But in God’s case, yes, He does that too. He has a personal , vital interest there. His love is infinite, passionate.
To us other people can be just there, of no particular significance. It is hard for us to imagine the burning love of the Sacred Heart, caring so much for each one. But if we think of how important we regard our own lives that gives a clue. Every person in the crowd is just like us insofar as each one regards his/her life as very important. God can see that and He agrees it is important.
He loves each person and desires the salvation of that soul. Every soul is meant to be in the orbit of the Sacred Heart, keeping close at all times.
A planet is happy if it stays in its proper orbit, drawing life from the star to which it is attached. If it loses its orbit it loses everything. So with us – if we stay close to the Good Shepherd we have everything. Away from Him we are in chaos.
Our Lord seeks to bring peace and harmony into the lives of each person but many will reject His efforts, either deliberately or simply through neglect.
Others, like us, will want to cooperate but we make things harder due to our sins and inconsistent behaviour.
What can we do? For ourselves, clean up our own backyard and get our response right. Climb into our orbit. It is not dull to be in a fixed path. There we find stability, the basis to develop our true selves.
For the other people in the crowd - we desire their salvation. We believe in their importance, not necessarily their goodness; acknowledging that they were designed by God to live with Him for all eternity. So there must be something good there. No one is predestined for hell.
We hope they find their place. Increasing the overall harmony. Let us make music together, we could say. The bigger the choir the better it sounds; the better our world becomes.
We desire this – to the point that we will pray for it and make sacrifices for it to happen.
Think of saints like St Francis Xavier who travelled to evangelise complete strangers on the other side of the world. It would have been easy for him to stay home, as it is for us. But he realized their importance simply because they were human and he made sacrifices to bring them the Gospel.
Who cares about all those other people in the world? God does, and so therefore should we.
May the Good Shepherd continue to find, and keep, every lost soul.
Tuesday, 28 June 2011
2nd Sunday after Pentecost 26 Jun 2011 Sermon
2nd Sunday after Pentecost 26.6.11 Eucharist as source of strength
When Joshua takes over from Moses as leader of the Israelites, the people tell him to ‘Be strong. Do not fear’( Joshua 1,18). Good advice certainly, but I can imagine Joshua saying, ‘Well, it’s easy for you to say: Be strong. How would you like to lead the way into furious battles and the like?’
In the Church we give each other a lot of advice. And in the Bible, the writings of the saints and teachings of the Church there is much instruction and exhortation about what we should do and avoid doing.
It is all good material. We know that we ought to do these things. But we sometimes doubt that we have the strength to do them.
We are so weak as individuals that we cannot easily just be courageous, or generous, or self-sacrificing as though it were an everyday thing.
We can do these things but not in our own strength. We can do them only if we are supported and sustained by the grace of God.
Like Peter walking on the water: he could do it when he forgot himself and focused on Our Lord. When he turned the focus back on himself he began to sink. So it is with us in many things.
If we set out to be kind to everyone we meet, just by our own willpower, we may not last long. But if we are fortified by the grace of God so that His kindness (and other good qualities) fill our hearts and minds – then we can make some progress.
So it is we come here to this Mass. We come here for several reasons, but one is to ask for the graces necessary that we can be the sort of disciples Our Lord wants to have.
We acknowledge that we cannot do it alone. Only by His help. And so we ask for that help in whatever form it is needed.
And He provides on request. He gives us His life-giving flesh in Holy Communion. This flesh is divinised; it is God in physical form and when we receive it we will be transformed within. We will find new courage and other virtues brimming over within us, at least for a time.
Because we are weak we are not able to ‘hold’ divine grace for long. We are small containers for such greatness. So we have to come back again and again to be fed once more, and sustained a little longer in the battle of life.
Over time we can grow stronger in a more permanent way. Our character can be developed to the point that we find certain things easy which once would have been impossible.
We commit less sins, less often and less serious, as we become accustomed to holding more and more of divine grace within. And we do more good, by the same process.
The Gospel today speaks of a divine banquet to which we are all invited. At a banquet we can eat more than usual. Normally good manners require us to be moderate in what we eat. But in spiritual terms we can take as much as possible from this particular banquet. The more of the life of God we can imbibe the better for us and everyone.
We have to be strong to be disciples of Christ these days. There are many trials and pitfalls. It is so easy to give up or just paddle along at our own speed. Always more seems to be asked of us. How can we cope? It is all possible by the power of grace. And we are given that power, so we cannot complain.
Only if we stop believing, or seeking, or coming to the fount of grace will we lose what we had and it will seem more impossible than ever. So we keep doing these things and we see progress.
May the Bread of Life sustain us to the end.
When Joshua takes over from Moses as leader of the Israelites, the people tell him to ‘Be strong. Do not fear’( Joshua 1,18). Good advice certainly, but I can imagine Joshua saying, ‘Well, it’s easy for you to say: Be strong. How would you like to lead the way into furious battles and the like?’
In the Church we give each other a lot of advice. And in the Bible, the writings of the saints and teachings of the Church there is much instruction and exhortation about what we should do and avoid doing.
It is all good material. We know that we ought to do these things. But we sometimes doubt that we have the strength to do them.
We are so weak as individuals that we cannot easily just be courageous, or generous, or self-sacrificing as though it were an everyday thing.
We can do these things but not in our own strength. We can do them only if we are supported and sustained by the grace of God.
Like Peter walking on the water: he could do it when he forgot himself and focused on Our Lord. When he turned the focus back on himself he began to sink. So it is with us in many things.
If we set out to be kind to everyone we meet, just by our own willpower, we may not last long. But if we are fortified by the grace of God so that His kindness (and other good qualities) fill our hearts and minds – then we can make some progress.
So it is we come here to this Mass. We come here for several reasons, but one is to ask for the graces necessary that we can be the sort of disciples Our Lord wants to have.
We acknowledge that we cannot do it alone. Only by His help. And so we ask for that help in whatever form it is needed.
And He provides on request. He gives us His life-giving flesh in Holy Communion. This flesh is divinised; it is God in physical form and when we receive it we will be transformed within. We will find new courage and other virtues brimming over within us, at least for a time.
Because we are weak we are not able to ‘hold’ divine grace for long. We are small containers for such greatness. So we have to come back again and again to be fed once more, and sustained a little longer in the battle of life.
Over time we can grow stronger in a more permanent way. Our character can be developed to the point that we find certain things easy which once would have been impossible.
We commit less sins, less often and less serious, as we become accustomed to holding more and more of divine grace within. And we do more good, by the same process.
The Gospel today speaks of a divine banquet to which we are all invited. At a banquet we can eat more than usual. Normally good manners require us to be moderate in what we eat. But in spiritual terms we can take as much as possible from this particular banquet. The more of the life of God we can imbibe the better for us and everyone.
We have to be strong to be disciples of Christ these days. There are many trials and pitfalls. It is so easy to give up or just paddle along at our own speed. Always more seems to be asked of us. How can we cope? It is all possible by the power of grace. And we are given that power, so we cannot complain.
Only if we stop believing, or seeking, or coming to the fount of grace will we lose what we had and it will seem more impossible than ever. So we keep doing these things and we see progress.
May the Bread of Life sustain us to the end.
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Trinity Sunday 19 Jun 2011 Sermon
Trinity Sunday 19.6.11 God’s day
Today could be described as a day specially for God. We have ‘days’ to mark all sorts of things, so why not a day for God Himself?
Let us consider some aspects of His greatness.
Where does God come from? It is hard for the lesser to understand the greater. When did God start? Who made God? He did not start. No one made Him. It is very hard for us to grasp that something can have no beginning. God exists of Himself without cause. He contains existence within Himself. He is not just someone smarter or bigger but the basis of reality itself.
We cannot expect to understand beyond a certain point. We say what we can say and the rest is mystery. Far from reducing His credibility this actually increases it. If God could be easily explained He would not be that far superior, when in fact He is vastly, infinitely beyond us.
We cannot exhaust the mysteries but we can enter them like a garden where there are endless avenues to pursue.
All this gives us a proper sense of inferiority, which may sting the pride a little, but on reflection it is actually a comfort to have someone so strong to take refuge in. If humanity were the smartest reality around we really would have something to worry about!
Having established all this we then marvel that He cares for us even individually. The God who made all this actually cares what happens to each one of us. He came down to earth to share our human nature and raise us up to live with Him.
God is not so far away as to be unapproachable; not so close as to be equal. We need the right mix of reverence and filial trust.
One of the most mysterious things about God is His Trinitarian identity. How can there be three persons in one nature? Each of us is one person and one nature. If we had more than one person inside us that would make us a split personality, and that is a disorder. But there is no disorder in God.
Three persons make perfect unity in one nature. There is an infinite love into which we are drawn.
All three persons have every perfection. We attribute things to one Person more than another but all three Persons have full possession of whatever God possesses.
So if we say, for instance, that the Holy Spirit has wisdom, we understand that the Father and Son also have it. Or that if God the Son is present in the Eucharist then so are the Father and the Holy Spirit.
The Three Persons love each other eternally. From this we learn that we should also love one another. And when we do love that it be according to God’s definitions and standards. Love is not our own property to be dealt with as we please.
Drawn into His love we discover our purpose on earth and are more likely to be able to heal the earth, so lacking in love at present. Yes, exploring the reality of God does help. We are never wasting time to get in touch with the Source of our being, who is also the End of all our activity.
In heaven they praise God constantly. On earth they ignore Him (speaking generally). This is obviously not how things should be. If not enough people are praising Him then we must double or treble our praises – that God be glorified, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Today could be described as a day specially for God. We have ‘days’ to mark all sorts of things, so why not a day for God Himself?
Let us consider some aspects of His greatness.
Where does God come from? It is hard for the lesser to understand the greater. When did God start? Who made God? He did not start. No one made Him. It is very hard for us to grasp that something can have no beginning. God exists of Himself without cause. He contains existence within Himself. He is not just someone smarter or bigger but the basis of reality itself.
We cannot expect to understand beyond a certain point. We say what we can say and the rest is mystery. Far from reducing His credibility this actually increases it. If God could be easily explained He would not be that far superior, when in fact He is vastly, infinitely beyond us.
We cannot exhaust the mysteries but we can enter them like a garden where there are endless avenues to pursue.
All this gives us a proper sense of inferiority, which may sting the pride a little, but on reflection it is actually a comfort to have someone so strong to take refuge in. If humanity were the smartest reality around we really would have something to worry about!
Having established all this we then marvel that He cares for us even individually. The God who made all this actually cares what happens to each one of us. He came down to earth to share our human nature and raise us up to live with Him.
God is not so far away as to be unapproachable; not so close as to be equal. We need the right mix of reverence and filial trust.
One of the most mysterious things about God is His Trinitarian identity. How can there be three persons in one nature? Each of us is one person and one nature. If we had more than one person inside us that would make us a split personality, and that is a disorder. But there is no disorder in God.
Three persons make perfect unity in one nature. There is an infinite love into which we are drawn.
All three persons have every perfection. We attribute things to one Person more than another but all three Persons have full possession of whatever God possesses.
So if we say, for instance, that the Holy Spirit has wisdom, we understand that the Father and Son also have it. Or that if God the Son is present in the Eucharist then so are the Father and the Holy Spirit.
The Three Persons love each other eternally. From this we learn that we should also love one another. And when we do love that it be according to God’s definitions and standards. Love is not our own property to be dealt with as we please.
Drawn into His love we discover our purpose on earth and are more likely to be able to heal the earth, so lacking in love at present. Yes, exploring the reality of God does help. We are never wasting time to get in touch with the Source of our being, who is also the End of all our activity.
In heaven they praise God constantly. On earth they ignore Him (speaking generally). This is obviously not how things should be. If not enough people are praising Him then we must double or treble our praises – that God be glorified, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Pentecost Sunday 12 Jun 2011 Sermon
Pentecost Sunday 12.6.11 Real change
Pentecost is a fuller-than-ever before revelation of the plans of God to save us, and therefore a day to rejoice. God had intervened many times before but never to this extent. All the covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, were leading up to this. Even the work of Christ Himself was not complete until Pentecost.
At Pentecost we see that God desires an internal change in people, in the way they relate to Him, in the way they live.
When the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles they were changed forever. They were given in that moment a new and deeper understanding of the reality of God, and though they believed before now they reached a new level of faith and with it, charity.
Receiving a new awareness of God, like a brand on the soul, they forgot their previous fears and were able to proclaim the Gospel to anyone, receptive or hostile.
So we talk of the Holy Spirit putting His seal on us, marking us for life. We belong to God once and for all. (Our sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation are meant to express the same reality as Pentecost, but do not always carry the same conviction. Sometimes only later do we grasp the full impact of sacraments already received.)
The apostles could not not preach the word of God. They knew too much to keep quiet about it. They had discovered the formula that would set everyone free and bring universal happiness.
The same must happen to us. Pentecost is about conversion, of moving form darkness to light, from ignorance to knowing; from not-caring about our neighbour to caring. Caring in the spiritual sense; wanting him to know what we know, the goodness of God. Not being patronising but simply pointing to something that anyone would benefit from.
For the apostles the deeper conversion and the bolder proclamation seemed to be as one movement. Once they reached a certain level of awareness they could not keep that awareness bottled up.
We need a deeper conversion. No matter how well we know God now we could all use an increase. And when we are converted enough we will find ourselves like the apostles, ready to go through fire and water to make Christ known to the world.
We do not have to wait till we are perfect to make known the glory of God. Even if there are no St Peters or St Pauls about we already know enough to know which direction we must head. We encourage each other to holiness, by prayer and example.
We can make progress even if we are only limping.
Different people have different needs for what has to be done.
Whatever our particular problem: habitual sin, doubt, anger, unforgiveness... this is our seeking at Pentecost. The change may not come on Pentecost Sunday itself, but if we keep seeking it will come. And the more the light of God gets inside us the more transformed we become, and the more powerful agents of evangelisation.
The Church vis-a-vis world seems to be always in the same position. We have so much to offer but the world does not really want to hear it. Through fear we can be huddled in the Upper Room saying, I’m not going out there.
But if we are really filled with the Holy Spirit we cannot not live it, and this is the beginning of proclaiming it. It must show.
Therefore, may that same Holy Spirit fall afresh on us and all who seek Him this day, and in due time on those who do not seek Him - but would if they knew better.
Pentecost is a fuller-than-ever before revelation of the plans of God to save us, and therefore a day to rejoice. God had intervened many times before but never to this extent. All the covenants with Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, were leading up to this. Even the work of Christ Himself was not complete until Pentecost.
At Pentecost we see that God desires an internal change in people, in the way they relate to Him, in the way they live.
When the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles they were changed forever. They were given in that moment a new and deeper understanding of the reality of God, and though they believed before now they reached a new level of faith and with it, charity.
Receiving a new awareness of God, like a brand on the soul, they forgot their previous fears and were able to proclaim the Gospel to anyone, receptive or hostile.
So we talk of the Holy Spirit putting His seal on us, marking us for life. We belong to God once and for all. (Our sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation are meant to express the same reality as Pentecost, but do not always carry the same conviction. Sometimes only later do we grasp the full impact of sacraments already received.)
The apostles could not not preach the word of God. They knew too much to keep quiet about it. They had discovered the formula that would set everyone free and bring universal happiness.
The same must happen to us. Pentecost is about conversion, of moving form darkness to light, from ignorance to knowing; from not-caring about our neighbour to caring. Caring in the spiritual sense; wanting him to know what we know, the goodness of God. Not being patronising but simply pointing to something that anyone would benefit from.
For the apostles the deeper conversion and the bolder proclamation seemed to be as one movement. Once they reached a certain level of awareness they could not keep that awareness bottled up.
We need a deeper conversion. No matter how well we know God now we could all use an increase. And when we are converted enough we will find ourselves like the apostles, ready to go through fire and water to make Christ known to the world.
We do not have to wait till we are perfect to make known the glory of God. Even if there are no St Peters or St Pauls about we already know enough to know which direction we must head. We encourage each other to holiness, by prayer and example.
We can make progress even if we are only limping.
Different people have different needs for what has to be done.
Whatever our particular problem: habitual sin, doubt, anger, unforgiveness... this is our seeking at Pentecost. The change may not come on Pentecost Sunday itself, but if we keep seeking it will come. And the more the light of God gets inside us the more transformed we become, and the more powerful agents of evangelisation.
The Church vis-a-vis world seems to be always in the same position. We have so much to offer but the world does not really want to hear it. Through fear we can be huddled in the Upper Room saying, I’m not going out there.
But if we are really filled with the Holy Spirit we cannot not live it, and this is the beginning of proclaiming it. It must show.
Therefore, may that same Holy Spirit fall afresh on us and all who seek Him this day, and in due time on those who do not seek Him - but would if they knew better.
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