16th Sunday after Pentecost 25 Sep 2022 Sermon

16^th Sunday after Pentecost 25 September 2022 Pride

The demons were angels first but they let their own beauty seduce them away from God.

It is the same for us, in principle. Humans are able to reflect on themselves, having self-consciousness. We are aware of our identity, and can take pride in ourselves.

There is a right and a wrong pride.

The right pride is that we are aware  children of God, and that He puts great value on us. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn 3,16)

The wrong pride is when we take the credit ourselves for any good attribute we have,  or anything we are good at doing.

We must at all times acknowledge that we come from God and are kept in being by Him; and all that is good about us is made possible only by Him.

We must admire the real God, not ourselves.

If we think we are better than others or take undue pride in our abilities this is danger for us spiritually.

We see how people with inflated egos can cause great harm – dictators, tyrants, bullies, chronically selfish people.

It is good to have talents. We do not have to deny that we have them, only attribute them to God as their originator, and ourselves to be stewards of His gifts.

Thus we maintain a true humility, which is an essential quality for any would-be disciple of Our Lord.

He was humble Himself in coming down from Heaven to share our condition.

God allocates gifts as He chooses. He may give more to one than another.

We should be grateful that He takes any notice of us at all.

Must we deny all good feeling, praise etc? If we get the right balance it is fine.

We can encourage each other and affirm a job well done. Only, we must be wary of forming too high an opinion of ourselves.

God will help us choose wisely. When we exercise our free will in union with God's will then we have the right formula. It is thus that God wants to work with us, and through us.

If we are to be praised it would be that we had enough sense to make the right choice.

Faced with all else I chose the right place to go – which is to God.

Our Lord accused the pharisees of pride in that they worried only about appearances. They wanted to look good without actually being good.

God searches the hearts and knows what a man has in him (Jn 2,25). We cannot deceive God, and should not try to deceive each other.

We should not be jealous if another seems to have more gifts than we have. Nor should we take pleasure in thinking we have more gifts than another.

We wish others to do well, to find their place with God, as we find ours.

We compare with Christ rather than each other, insofar as we are following Him not someone else.

Being right with him should make us right with each other.

We are grateful for praise from others but do not demand it or rely upon it; and if the praise is inflated then we adjust it downwards.

Some talents are more public than others and more likely to draw praise eg singing, acting, sport.

But other talents may be hidden such as being a good listener, a patient nurse, one who prays powerfully for others etc.

Many ministries within the Church are hidden. Think of the Holy Family, and the good they expressed, without the whole neighbourhood knowing. Great good can come from the right thing being done humbly.

cf extract from Litany of Humility. From being  esteemed,  loved, extolled, honored, praised, preferred to others, consulted, approved,

 From the fear of being humiliated, despised, of suffering rebukes, calumniated, forgotten, ridiculed, wronged, suspected. Deliver me, O Jesus

That others may be loved more than I, That others may be esteemed more than I, That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, That others may be chosen and I set aside, That others may be praised and I go unnoticed, That others may be preferred to me in everything, That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should,

Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

15th Sunday after Pentecost 18 Sep 2022 Sermon

15^th Sunday after Pentecost 18 September 2022 Christ is Life

We wish every funeral ended like this one, with great joy to all who loved the dead man; but it does not usually happen.

God's plan was to give us better than that, by offering eternal life to those who have died, and then to all of us, whereby we will once again be reunited with those we love.

Our Lord referred to His mission to bring life to the world:  I am the way the truth and the life (Jn 14,6); I am the resurrection and the life (Jn 11,25); I came that they may have life and have it to the full(Jn 10,10).

We could say He has life; He is life! Life and death are part of His own creation; He remains above it all; just as He lives beyond time.

He radiates life to all around. He can even bring a dead body back to life.

We are so used to death and generally things declining. But death is temporary too!

Death to us seems such a big thing but to Our Lord it is no great difficulty; He can reverse death with a word, or even a thought. He is the Creator, Saviour and giver of life.

He is the Lord of the living and the dead (Rom 14,9). Life is much more God's signature. Death is all around but it will not win. The last word will be Life.

Our life is a share in the life of God, eternal and infinite.

Far from life running down, our spiritual life can increase, as when we overcome sin and come to prefer the good to the evil.

We are most alive when our souls reflect the glory of God, and we live out the moral demands that come with that. So, for example, we do not steal because we trust God to provide for our needs.

We are alive in proportion as how close we are to God, in ways of thinking and acting.

Union with God is the key point as to working out whether we are alive or not.

We are not told what happened to the man who was brought back to life, but we can hope that he would have learned a lot more about the spiritual life and what it takes to be fully alive.

We cannot escape the physical decline of our bodies but we can make the soul flourish and expand.

We don’t have to wait till death to try to navigate all this.

Life is good; it is good to be alive. Many find this life dreary and burdensome, having no meaning or direction, no end in sight, at least that they can see.

All such limitations can be swept away by an encounter with Our Lord.

We should not be overly surprised at the Resurrection, nor become too attached to this earthly life. Just about everyone does become too attached, but by God's grace we can learn to look higher. If we are close to God then death holds no fear. Death, where is thy sting?(1 Cor 15,55).

The mercy and grace of God keep us restored and revived, and getting better.

We can use the time remaining for us to increase all the right things and banish all that holds us back. We will have a desire to be good, and to do good. Even if we are physically restricted, lacking bodily life we can still worship God and serve Him.

Eventually we hope to hear those words: Well done, good and faithful servant (Mt 25,23); Come and enter the kingdom prepared for you (Mt 25,34).

14th Sunday after Pentecost 11 Sep 2022 Sermon

14^th Sunday after Pentecost 11 September 2022  Reconciliation

When God created the human race He intended only blessings and good things to happen to us.

Had we never sinned this would have been the case - straightforward happiness with no sickness or sorrow, no death, or anything unpleasant, truly Heaven on earth.

Tragically we did sin, through Adam, and our own sin as well.

That sin has broken the bond between us and God, but not forever, as God Himself has been trying ever since to restore it; and we take our part in that process too.

It is difficult to heal the break because sin has done so much damage.

But God has made a massive contribution to the process in coming Himself to take on human nature and share our difficulties. The word was made flesh.

This has done much to heal the breach and opens up the possibility of even more happiness than we had before the Fall. O happy fault!

All of these factors are still in play. God still intends what He started way back then.

It is complicated because the response we make to His will has been very poor, speaking generally. And this makes it much harder for God's plans to take effect.

It is hard to rescue someone if they are pushing you away.

The Gospel today - about the lilies in the field – (Mt 6,24-33) is appealing to us to let God go about His work, without impeding Him.

Our Lord is saying the birds and the plants have more sense than we have on this score. They do not resist God's bounty.

If we obeyed God without hesitation our happiness would come back quickly, the bond between God and us would be restored, and we would have a much happier world than it is now.

We have all this within reach, but the effect of sin already committed makes things look harder than they are. Sin makes the division and impedes the reconciliation.

Sin clouds our minds and weakens our wills. It is sin that makes us hesitant to give God all our attention. We are ill at ease with Him, not wanting to face Him directly.

We can at least identify the problem if we cannot fix it in one day.

We can work our way towards God by each prayer we make, each sacrament we receive, each good work we do.

We will be edging closer to giving Him the first place which is fitting, and where our attention needs to be.

We can still be greatly blessed ourselves, even if others resist.

But of course we want others to know about this, the people we pray for, our own families, the general run of humanity.

We are all called to link with God, obey Him, trust Him, walk in his ways. This is the kingdom of God among us.

Also we will come to a clearer sense of the need to avoid sin, which does so much damage and prevents the good from taking hold.

It is beyond us to save the whole world but we can help to save that part of it around us, and for the rest we hope and pray.

It can be done and must be done; there is no other refuge than to bring ourselves before the Saviour and let Him act on us. Reunited with God we come to the state God always had intended for us – eternal blessing.

13th Sunday after Pentecost 4 Sep 2022 Sermon

 

13^th Sunday after Pentecost 4 September 2022

The nine lepers who did not come back did not fully absorb what had happened to them. They had interest only in Our Lord’s ability to fix things; they did not take the extra step of considering the full meaning of the event.

They did not, for example, consider becoming His disciples; they had what they wanted and there it was.

The same temptation occurs for us – that we call on God only when we need something.

In a time of danger it is Lord, save us, help us etc. By all means call on the Lord in danger, but also when all seems calm. The need for His mercy and blessing is always present no matter what appearances may be.

Salvation is more a process than a moment. It is a lifelong interaction between the disciple and God, with the disciple constantly seeking to improve in responsiveness to God's holy will.

Our whole approach to life needs to be permeated with belief, trust, knowledge of God, increasing through continuous prayer and reflection.

The one leper who returned was able to see beyond the physical blessing he had just received, and came to faith as well.

When we thank God we are going much further than just one transaction. Each act of thanksgiving ties in with all the other aspects of our spiritual life.

Each Mass is among other things an act of thanksgiving, expressing the various aspects of God's dealing with His Church.

He creates us, He provides for us, He will come again to reward the faithful.

We thank God that we can thank, that we have enough rationality to be able to relate to Him.

We take the chance to ask His pardon for not thanking Him enough.

We can still say, however, that God does fix things, only on many levels at once, as He brings the best out of millions of people and situations.

This ongoing attitude of thanksgiving is found in Mass and other prayers and ceremonies. These all keep before our eyes the bounty of God and help us to trust Him for future events.

The solution is bigger than the problems! After a certain point we no longer dwell on the problems, instead expressing belief in the goodness of God. Problems melt away like snowballs in the sun.

We try to encourage others to see things in this light. It is very hard when we are worried to stop worrying, but to dwell on God's goodness is a strong move in that direction.

God wants us to trust in Him to the point that we will no longer complain or argue with Him.

The extra confidence we attain as we battle through many trials will make us ready for bigger challenges. We thank God for enlisting us in this task.

All the different types of prayer come together. The petitions are not in the draft on their own, but surrounded by all the other types of prayer (praise, thanksgiving, contrition) which will reinforce to us the ongoing nature of our dealings with God.

We need faith to be strong enough to withstand some cold air.

The regular routine thanksgiving such as we offer at Mass is vital, to keep us on the boil at all times, and also to discern other more subtle blessings God give us. It is not only on sinking ships or other disasters that we call upon Him. He is involved in everything. For which we thank Him.

Gratias agamus Domino Deo nostro.

12th Sunday after Pentecost 28 Aug 2022 Sermon

 12^th Sunday after Pentecost 28 August 2022 Stages of Salvation

 God provides for His people, in the first place creating us, then sustaining us in His grace and mercy, letting us go on living when we have offended Him so much; still seeking to save us despite our collective ingratitude and obstinacy.

He finds us lying on the side of the road, like the man in the parable. The devil has robbed us of our rightful inheritance as children of God and now God Himself seeks to restore what has been lost.

God proves Himself to be a neighbour to the one in need. He helps those in need - which is everyone - or at least offers help.

He saves us from whatever our problem is. There are many levels of salvation.

The most pressing need is that we be saved from eternal death, going to hell.

He saves us also from sin, which is a wrongful use of the will, made more likely through the effects of previous sins; and living in a world which ignores or denies God.

Then there is temporal death, and other misfortunes in the physical domain. He helps with these too, though complete freedom from this suffering is not possible.

Still He does save us at this level too, and more so if we ask for it in prayer. They brought to Him many and He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick (Mt 8, 16-17).

Some would blame God for allowing so many troubles to come upon us, asking why - if He loves us so much - does He not make it easier for us by clearing away all the difficulties?

He is building us up:  Consider it pure joy, my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. (Jm 1,2-3)

He lifts us up, as for the man on the side of the road. That is the first stage of salvation. Then He helps us to live the right way, the second stage.

If we do not try the second stage the first stage will not help much. It is good to be free from hunger and disease etc, but at some point we have to address the spiritual dimension – why am I here? It is to know, love and serve God.

God wants us to help each other. This is good for both the one helping and the one helped. One has his needs met, the other has the chance to grow in grace..

We gladly give material aid when we can. This will kindle our compassion and generosity towards others and that will be a catalyst for other spiritual growth in us.

Spiritual aid is better still because it carries greater benefits. Whenever we can we evangelise, catechise, encourage, admonish – we help each other to come to the full dimension of salvation.

The greatest favour we can do others is to help connect them to God.

Some will say that we should not attempt to change someone else’s religious views. But the truth shall set you free (Jn 8,32). We never force, only offer the truth.

All of this comes under the broad heading of salvation, being set free from whatever afflicts us.

We hope to go to Heaven, which is the fullest expression of salvation, but before that to achieve the interior transformation we all need. We seek purification of all trace of sin, and a general clean out of the inside where the passions are found - in heart and mind.

The more we discover the goodness of God, the more we connect with Him, the more ‘saved’ we are, the more glory we can hope for in heaven, and the more useful we will be to our various ‘neighbours’.