8th Sunday after Pentecost 14.7.13 Stewardship
Small children will take hold of an object and then proclaim that object to be ‘Mine’.
Other people will try to tell the child, No, it is not yours, it is someone else’s or for such and such a use.
Due to original sin we start out life thinking everything is Mine, and everything revolves around Me.
Then we get a little older and we learn that we are not the centre of the universe. We become less selfish and more able to see where other people come in.
But this is a lifelong struggle, and goes deeper than it first appears.
As adults we understand clearly about ownership. This is my car and that is your house etc.
But today’s parable of the Unjust Steward reminds us that even what is ours in a legal or commonly accepted sense is really God’s more than it is ours.
We are stewards of God’s creation. Certain things are entrusted to us, for our use; but everything about our lives must be seen in the context of our belonging to God.
If I have money, for example, that money is mine but God intends me to use it according to His will, for His purposes.
The same for all our possessions; we are merely stewards. We must give an account of our use of all these things.
Including our talents. They are for God’s work, to advance His kingdom.
Even our lives are not our own. We might die at any time, thus parting from all we have in one moment. We have to be free of undue attachment, even to life itself.
We are pilgrims, just passing through. We must never forget that, though we do forget it very easily!
The moment we start to think of these things as Mine we are ensnared by them and led into sin.
What we give goes into a heavenly account. The good deeds we do, the things we share - these all come back with interest.
And there is an earthly reward as well; we are transformed into better people, more in tune with the will of God.
The more we give, the more willing we become to give more. It is the opposite of becoming greedy and grasping.
It is not a problem having things, just how we use them.
The important thing is to do exactly what God wants. It is often asked, Why does the Church have art treasures, or why have such elaborate churches? Should we not sell everything and give it to the poor?
In the Old Testament God Himself commanded the building of the Temple and it was to be a grand building, not just an economic little room (cf 1 Chronicles 28,11-12). God was teaching us that to give glory to Him is itself a noble objective.
And we have Our Lord Himself telling us that the woman who poured expensive ointment over Him was doing a good thing, not a wasteful thing (Jn 12,8).
True wisdom and purity of heart will enable us to do exactly the right thing in each case. God will help us use the gifts He has given us.
Even the poor need to be generous. If He allows me to be poor then I seek refuge in Him, not in the grasping ways of the world.
He will find us our daily bread.
However, there should be nobody poor anywhere in the world, especially not in the Church.
There is enough to go round, but we don't make it go round.
Justice and charity require us to do whatever we can to make the world better than it is; to relieve poverty and the things that cause poverty.
It begins with a proper understanding of our own individual position. None of it is Mine; all of it is His!
Wednesday, 17 July 2013
7th Sunday after Pentecost 7 Jul 2013 Sermon
7th Sunday after Pentecost 7.7.13 Certainty of salvation
It is not those who say Lord, Lord who will necessarily be saved. (Gospel)
Can we be sure, or make sure, that we are saved? One day we will have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. What will He make of us?
We want to make sure we have it right.
Can we be certain of our salvation? Protestant Christians tend to claim certainty, and in these relaxed times many Catholics would assume they are saved - but can we be sure?
We do not claim certainty of salvation because there is always the possibility of falling from grace, but we can reach a point where the probability of salvation approaches a practical level of certainty.
I might fall from grace but I can do things to make sure that is very unlikely. This is the approach we need to take.
It comes to this: we either obey God in all things, or we ask His mercy for when we have disobeyed Him.
If we are good, good. If we are bad, we become good – by the mercy and grace of God.
All the while we are reflecting on our lives, on our attitudes, our thoughts, words, actions; looking at all aspects of our lives from a spiritual point of view.
What does God want me to do? Do I need to change the way I think or act? Do I need to give up some vice, or develop some virtue?
We need to think about these things, so we are not just drifting along.
Drifting is highly likely to lead us into worldly thinking – living by the flesh and not the spirit.
We are always asking for mercy for whatever we have not got right; and for grace to make any necessary changes.
This will keep us on guard against complacency so we do not fall from grace.
Thus we increase the probability of salvation to the point that it is certain for all practical purposes; but not to the point that we go about boasting of that certainty – lest overconfidence cause us to fall; and also lest we give scandal to others by way of making them presumptuous.
In the Church there have always been the two extremes of Presumption and Despair.
Presumption is when people take their salvation for granted. I know I sin, but so what, God will forgive me.
Or when they say: I do not sin at all (which a lot of people today would say).
Despair is when people do not believe they can be forgiven, not even by God.
Presumption is probably the more common problem in the Church today.
We must avoid both extremes.
The sensible position is to say we have a confident hope of salvation; and this hope can be increased to the point of practical certainty.
Act of Hope: O my God, relying on Thy almighty power and infinite mercy and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of Thy grace and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.
Having this hope we then maintain it and increase it. We have to bring the plane into land, so to speak. We are on course for a safe landing but we still have to concentrate on all the essentials. We are not home yet.
Those who say, Lord Lord, can be saved after all - provided we say it with genuine feeling and commitment.
Everything is possible by grace and nothing is possible without it. So we pray that we remain vigilant to the end.
There is a partnership between God and us. He is trying to bring us home. We are trying to get home. It is not so hard if we see it in these terms.
May it be a soft landing for all of us!
It is not those who say Lord, Lord who will necessarily be saved. (Gospel)
Can we be sure, or make sure, that we are saved? One day we will have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. What will He make of us?
We want to make sure we have it right.
Can we be certain of our salvation? Protestant Christians tend to claim certainty, and in these relaxed times many Catholics would assume they are saved - but can we be sure?
We do not claim certainty of salvation because there is always the possibility of falling from grace, but we can reach a point where the probability of salvation approaches a practical level of certainty.
I might fall from grace but I can do things to make sure that is very unlikely. This is the approach we need to take.
It comes to this: we either obey God in all things, or we ask His mercy for when we have disobeyed Him.
If we are good, good. If we are bad, we become good – by the mercy and grace of God.
All the while we are reflecting on our lives, on our attitudes, our thoughts, words, actions; looking at all aspects of our lives from a spiritual point of view.
What does God want me to do? Do I need to change the way I think or act? Do I need to give up some vice, or develop some virtue?
We need to think about these things, so we are not just drifting along.
Drifting is highly likely to lead us into worldly thinking – living by the flesh and not the spirit.
We are always asking for mercy for whatever we have not got right; and for grace to make any necessary changes.
This will keep us on guard against complacency so we do not fall from grace.
Thus we increase the probability of salvation to the point that it is certain for all practical purposes; but not to the point that we go about boasting of that certainty – lest overconfidence cause us to fall; and also lest we give scandal to others by way of making them presumptuous.
In the Church there have always been the two extremes of Presumption and Despair.
Presumption is when people take their salvation for granted. I know I sin, but so what, God will forgive me.
Or when they say: I do not sin at all (which a lot of people today would say).
Despair is when people do not believe they can be forgiven, not even by God.
Presumption is probably the more common problem in the Church today.
We must avoid both extremes.
The sensible position is to say we have a confident hope of salvation; and this hope can be increased to the point of practical certainty.
Act of Hope: O my God, relying on Thy almighty power and infinite mercy and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of Thy grace and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.
Having this hope we then maintain it and increase it. We have to bring the plane into land, so to speak. We are on course for a safe landing but we still have to concentrate on all the essentials. We are not home yet.
Those who say, Lord Lord, can be saved after all - provided we say it with genuine feeling and commitment.
Everything is possible by grace and nothing is possible without it. So we pray that we remain vigilant to the end.
There is a partnership between God and us. He is trying to bring us home. We are trying to get home. It is not so hard if we see it in these terms.
May it be a soft landing for all of us!
Thursday, 4 July 2013
6th Sunday after Pentecost 30 Jun 2013 Sermon
6th Sunday after Pentecost 30.6.13 God works through us
The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves (Gospel) reminds us that we can never rely purely on human solutions for the problems we face.
Yet the human component is essential for some miracles to take effect.
Our Lord could have made bread out of nothing but He chose to work from the small amount which human resources could provide. He also needed human help to distribute the bread once it had been produced. (Again He could have distributed it miraculously but chose to use human instruments.)
This, we could say, is His preferred method for working among us. He works among us by working through us.
He expects us to provide some sign of trust in Him, some spirit of co-operation. And if we do that His infinite power will come into play. But if not, very likely there will be no miracle.
The miracle will happen only if someone is on hand to trust in God, to obey His will.
If such people can be found there is no limit to what the power of God might do in our midst.
Think of Noah building an ark when there was no apparent threat of flood. Or Abraham told to sacrifice Isaac; or the apostles told to put out their nets when they had caught nothing all night.
Do whatever He tells you - like filling up large containers with water, and see the wine that comes in its place.
Some miracles take longer than others. They unfold over time, even a whole lifetime, or longer still.
The kingdom will grow like a seed turning into a tree. The survival and growth of the Church has been a long-term miracle. Despite human weakness, persecutions, internal division – we are still here!
But it does always need somebody out there to believe the word of God and act upon it.
That is where we come in. We are to facilitate the miraculous power of God. He has all the power but He needs people to do His bidding. He will then multiply our humble efforts and good fruit will emerge.
Why does He want our contribution when He does not really need it? From His point of view it is more important that we believe in Him than the particular outcome of the miracle.
He did not feed the thousands just to give them lunch, though He was attentive to every need. But it was more important to Him that people would come to faith through the miracle, and through their part in it. So He wills for us in our lives.
With this approach every day is a new adventure even if it looks the same as all the others. There is a myriad of possibilities for the power of God to be at work. If we are faithful, humble and expectant, we will be opening the way for miracles.
And this can be both the short-term miracles where present problems are solved, and the longer-term miracles where it might take years for the soil to be right for God’s intervention.
The Annunciation, for example, did not happen in a vacuum. Many things had gone into making Mary as ready as she was. ‘At the appointed time...’
We just ‘do whatever He tells us’. The less capable we feel the better, as it keeps us humble and leaves more scope for the power of God to work.
The miracle we really want is the same one as God wants: that a very large number of people will come to conversion and salvation, through belief in Him.
We declare to Him now that we are ready to co-operate in bringing on that miracle!
The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves (Gospel) reminds us that we can never rely purely on human solutions for the problems we face.
Yet the human component is essential for some miracles to take effect.
Our Lord could have made bread out of nothing but He chose to work from the small amount which human resources could provide. He also needed human help to distribute the bread once it had been produced. (Again He could have distributed it miraculously but chose to use human instruments.)
This, we could say, is His preferred method for working among us. He works among us by working through us.
He expects us to provide some sign of trust in Him, some spirit of co-operation. And if we do that His infinite power will come into play. But if not, very likely there will be no miracle.
The miracle will happen only if someone is on hand to trust in God, to obey His will.
If such people can be found there is no limit to what the power of God might do in our midst.
Think of Noah building an ark when there was no apparent threat of flood. Or Abraham told to sacrifice Isaac; or the apostles told to put out their nets when they had caught nothing all night.
Do whatever He tells you - like filling up large containers with water, and see the wine that comes in its place.
Some miracles take longer than others. They unfold over time, even a whole lifetime, or longer still.
The kingdom will grow like a seed turning into a tree. The survival and growth of the Church has been a long-term miracle. Despite human weakness, persecutions, internal division – we are still here!
But it does always need somebody out there to believe the word of God and act upon it.
That is where we come in. We are to facilitate the miraculous power of God. He has all the power but He needs people to do His bidding. He will then multiply our humble efforts and good fruit will emerge.
Why does He want our contribution when He does not really need it? From His point of view it is more important that we believe in Him than the particular outcome of the miracle.
He did not feed the thousands just to give them lunch, though He was attentive to every need. But it was more important to Him that people would come to faith through the miracle, and through their part in it. So He wills for us in our lives.
With this approach every day is a new adventure even if it looks the same as all the others. There is a myriad of possibilities for the power of God to be at work. If we are faithful, humble and expectant, we will be opening the way for miracles.
And this can be both the short-term miracles where present problems are solved, and the longer-term miracles where it might take years for the soil to be right for God’s intervention.
The Annunciation, for example, did not happen in a vacuum. Many things had gone into making Mary as ready as she was. ‘At the appointed time...’
We just ‘do whatever He tells us’. The less capable we feel the better, as it keeps us humble and leaves more scope for the power of God to work.
The miracle we really want is the same one as God wants: that a very large number of people will come to conversion and salvation, through belief in Him.
We declare to Him now that we are ready to co-operate in bringing on that miracle!
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
5th Sunday after Pentecost 23 Jun 2013 Sermon
5th Sunday after Pentecost 23.6.13 Unity in Christ
Be reconciled with your brother first, the Gospel tells us. Be reconciled, before we offer the sacrifice.
We cannot come in here offering love to God if we have hatred in our hearts.
We cannot offer the perfect sacrifice of Christ unless we are of one mind and heart with Him. There must be unity between the one offering and what is offered.
Of course we cannot immediately match the perfect charity of Christ, but we can at least remove the more obvious cases of uncharity.
Thus the epistle tells us to be compassionate to each other, to restrain the tongue from evil, and all similar points.
We must work on these points in between Masses so that when we come to offer sacrifice the next time we will be more ready than this time. And so on into the future.
There should be complete unity among any congregation gathered for the Mass. Yet we know how difficult that can be.
Arguments, resentments, jealousy, disagreements, prejudices... all sorts of things can divide us.
The quickest and best solution is for each person to converge on Christ. He is the one who unites us, who can make Jew and Gentile one, or male and female, or white and black, or any other way of distinguishing one person from another.
If each of us is united with Christ we must therefore be united with each other. We are all meeting at the same place. We converge on Him, taking on His mind and heart, being formed by Him. All that is improper in our hearts and minds is swept away by Him. He gives us His own way of thinking, His own power to love.
We cannot do literally what the Gospel says: go and be reconciled with every other person. There are too many people to consider and too many points of difference to be able to cover all of them. When we can reconcile a quarrel, certainly, let’s do that. But the Gospel is asking us at least in our hearts to forgive everyone who has offended us, and to pray that others will do the same for us.
We all have something wrong with us; we all have sins and faults. If we work on our own faults while encouraging others to do the same we become more Christ-like. We start to look like a united people.
Even one person fixing one fault will help the whole Body of Christ to heal; will make the Church more united.
What we cannot achieve before the Mass will be helped by the Mass itself. We come, all unworthy, to the Altar. Our own personal offering will be limited to some extent by whatever faults we still carry. But if we open our hearts and minds to Christ while the Mass is happening we will be healed. We will be helped to love one another by being here - provided always that we let Our Lord work in us.
If we consider that during Mass we are actually standing at the foot of the Cross - that we have Calvary made present for us – then at such a time we can hardly begrudge mercy to each other.
To maintain an unforgiving attitude to another person in the congregation is to be standing at Calvary and saying: Lord, have mercy on me, but not on this other person here!
We cannot stop the flow of God’s mercy, nor should we want to stop it.
We come to see each other as standing together rather than standing opposed. We are all on the same side here, all wanting the same outcome.
It is only the snares and wiles of the evil one that make us turn on each other in anger. A little reflection and prayer will help us see things the right way up.
Ut unum sint, as the Lord Himself prayed.
Be reconciled with your brother first, the Gospel tells us. Be reconciled, before we offer the sacrifice.
We cannot come in here offering love to God if we have hatred in our hearts.
We cannot offer the perfect sacrifice of Christ unless we are of one mind and heart with Him. There must be unity between the one offering and what is offered.
Of course we cannot immediately match the perfect charity of Christ, but we can at least remove the more obvious cases of uncharity.
Thus the epistle tells us to be compassionate to each other, to restrain the tongue from evil, and all similar points.
We must work on these points in between Masses so that when we come to offer sacrifice the next time we will be more ready than this time. And so on into the future.
There should be complete unity among any congregation gathered for the Mass. Yet we know how difficult that can be.
Arguments, resentments, jealousy, disagreements, prejudices... all sorts of things can divide us.
The quickest and best solution is for each person to converge on Christ. He is the one who unites us, who can make Jew and Gentile one, or male and female, or white and black, or any other way of distinguishing one person from another.
If each of us is united with Christ we must therefore be united with each other. We are all meeting at the same place. We converge on Him, taking on His mind and heart, being formed by Him. All that is improper in our hearts and minds is swept away by Him. He gives us His own way of thinking, His own power to love.
We cannot do literally what the Gospel says: go and be reconciled with every other person. There are too many people to consider and too many points of difference to be able to cover all of them. When we can reconcile a quarrel, certainly, let’s do that. But the Gospel is asking us at least in our hearts to forgive everyone who has offended us, and to pray that others will do the same for us.
We all have something wrong with us; we all have sins and faults. If we work on our own faults while encouraging others to do the same we become more Christ-like. We start to look like a united people.
Even one person fixing one fault will help the whole Body of Christ to heal; will make the Church more united.
What we cannot achieve before the Mass will be helped by the Mass itself. We come, all unworthy, to the Altar. Our own personal offering will be limited to some extent by whatever faults we still carry. But if we open our hearts and minds to Christ while the Mass is happening we will be healed. We will be helped to love one another by being here - provided always that we let Our Lord work in us.
If we consider that during Mass we are actually standing at the foot of the Cross - that we have Calvary made present for us – then at such a time we can hardly begrudge mercy to each other.
To maintain an unforgiving attitude to another person in the congregation is to be standing at Calvary and saying: Lord, have mercy on me, but not on this other person here!
We cannot stop the flow of God’s mercy, nor should we want to stop it.
We come to see each other as standing together rather than standing opposed. We are all on the same side here, all wanting the same outcome.
It is only the snares and wiles of the evil one that make us turn on each other in anger. A little reflection and prayer will help us see things the right way up.
Ut unum sint, as the Lord Himself prayed.
Thursday, 20 June 2013
4th Sunday after Pentecost 16 Jun 2013 Sermon
4th Sunday after Pentecost 16.6.13 Beyond the limits
The miraculous catch of fish, and other miracles worked by Our Lord, take us to a higher level than just our own immediate concerns. We worry about the immediate future, like what is for lunch, but He will take us much further than that.
The food that He offers us is not just to take away hunger but to fulfil every desire, for eternity. When He heals one person it is a symbol of the complete healing He offers every person - when every part of our being will be made whole.
We tend to adopt a pessimistic tone to our lives. If someone asks us how we are we might reply with standard phrases: No use complaining; As well as can be expected; Just getting by... There are many such phrases. They indicate that we are not expecting much in the way of happiness. We don't dare to hope for more than a reasonable amount of happiness, as we strive just to make ends meet, to stay out of trouble.
Yet the promises of the faith are so rich and vast. We are promised happiness way beyond what we would ask for, or even be able to imagine.
We would settle for a heaven that was just a bit better than this earthly life. Yet we are asked to believe in a much better heaven than that - so good that there are not words to describe it (cf St Paul in 2 Cor 11, unable to describe his heavenly vision).
How to have the vision and how to keep it? Prayer, especially the Mass, will raise us to higher things.
When we pray we are coming into contact with the extraordinary figure, Jesus Christ, who could inspire such confidence in the apostles that they left all to follow Him, not knowing anything of the future, but feeling they could trust Him.
And so are we led to that same trust. We want to follow this Man even if we do not see how He can do what He promises. The visionary in us is awakened. And we are converted or re-enthused.
We know enthusiasm can wear off with time. In fact, though, the promises are just as real and just as grand as they ever were. We cannot let our tiredness diminish the hope. Eternity does not get any shorter just because I am downhearted!
In eternity there will be no suffering, not so much as a mosquito bite; not a single tear will be shed.
The epistles reminds us that the sufferings we go through are as nothing compared with the joys we await. We would say it the other way round: that eternity cannot be compared with the sufferings because the sufferings are NOW, while the promises seem very remote by comparison.
But a bit of arithmetic will tell us that eternity is much longer than 80-100 years. This may not put money in our bank accounts, or take away pains in the body, but it does help to know there is a larger picture.
So also with earthly joys - they too are as nothing compared with heavenly joys. Earthly happiness is so fickle and fragile. But in eternity there is no disappointment. So much for ‘just getting by’.
We do have to attend to the little things, the daily concerns, the mundane, the humdrum etc. But we see those things as pointers to a much larger reality. The little things do not imprison us; they release us!
St Therese tells us that we could save a soul by doing a little thing with full love of God, eg picking up a pin.
If we are faithful in the little things we will be entrusted with greater.
Leaving all else and following Him we will discover all that is promised to us.
The miraculous catch of fish, and other miracles worked by Our Lord, take us to a higher level than just our own immediate concerns. We worry about the immediate future, like what is for lunch, but He will take us much further than that.
The food that He offers us is not just to take away hunger but to fulfil every desire, for eternity. When He heals one person it is a symbol of the complete healing He offers every person - when every part of our being will be made whole.
We tend to adopt a pessimistic tone to our lives. If someone asks us how we are we might reply with standard phrases: No use complaining; As well as can be expected; Just getting by... There are many such phrases. They indicate that we are not expecting much in the way of happiness. We don't dare to hope for more than a reasonable amount of happiness, as we strive just to make ends meet, to stay out of trouble.
Yet the promises of the faith are so rich and vast. We are promised happiness way beyond what we would ask for, or even be able to imagine.
We would settle for a heaven that was just a bit better than this earthly life. Yet we are asked to believe in a much better heaven than that - so good that there are not words to describe it (cf St Paul in 2 Cor 11, unable to describe his heavenly vision).
How to have the vision and how to keep it? Prayer, especially the Mass, will raise us to higher things.
When we pray we are coming into contact with the extraordinary figure, Jesus Christ, who could inspire such confidence in the apostles that they left all to follow Him, not knowing anything of the future, but feeling they could trust Him.
And so are we led to that same trust. We want to follow this Man even if we do not see how He can do what He promises. The visionary in us is awakened. And we are converted or re-enthused.
We know enthusiasm can wear off with time. In fact, though, the promises are just as real and just as grand as they ever were. We cannot let our tiredness diminish the hope. Eternity does not get any shorter just because I am downhearted!
In eternity there will be no suffering, not so much as a mosquito bite; not a single tear will be shed.
The epistles reminds us that the sufferings we go through are as nothing compared with the joys we await. We would say it the other way round: that eternity cannot be compared with the sufferings because the sufferings are NOW, while the promises seem very remote by comparison.
But a bit of arithmetic will tell us that eternity is much longer than 80-100 years. This may not put money in our bank accounts, or take away pains in the body, but it does help to know there is a larger picture.
So also with earthly joys - they too are as nothing compared with heavenly joys. Earthly happiness is so fickle and fragile. But in eternity there is no disappointment. So much for ‘just getting by’.
We do have to attend to the little things, the daily concerns, the mundane, the humdrum etc. But we see those things as pointers to a much larger reality. The little things do not imprison us; they release us!
St Therese tells us that we could save a soul by doing a little thing with full love of God, eg picking up a pin.
If we are faithful in the little things we will be entrusted with greater.
Leaving all else and following Him we will discover all that is promised to us.
Monday, 10 June 2013
3rd Sunday after Pentecost 9 Jun 2013 Sermon
3rd Sunday after Pentecost 9.6.13 Lost sheep
In some things 99 out of 100 would be a good result, for instance in a test.
But not in others. If we had six children and one was missing we would not say, well, five out of six is not bad. I won’t worry about the one that is missing! No, we go after the lost one. And so we should go after the spiritually lost.
We, meanwhile, tend to love only those who are lovable. We find it very hard to love the unlovable. We insist that they must deserve our love, have something good about them that is worth loving. We are quick to write people off.
This is not God’s way. He loves far more deeply and distinctively. He knows every detail of every person’s life, whereas we are inclined to judge people on just one offence or one point of difference.
We love those who ‘deserve’ our love but God loves the undeserving too. We can love a bad person after he becomes good. God, however, loves him before he changes. (Jesus died for us while we were still sinners (Rm 5,8). He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust (Mt5,45)).
The Pharisees could not work out why Jesus would eat with sinners. He was trying to change the sinners from bad to good. Like a doctor who visits the sick to make them healthy.
Meanwhile we mix only with those we like and approve of!
It is clear we have a lot to learn from Our Lord and Teacher. We have to un-learn the ways of the world and take on the mind of the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd goes out in search of the lost, however unlovable or objectionable they might be at this moment.
Why does He love them so much? He can see the goodness that was planted in them.
All babies start equal insofar as they have not done anything wrong (yet). If we walked into a room full of babies we would not be able to say, Ah, this one will be a murderer, this one a saint... There is an equality at the start. All are created by God; all are meant for heaven.
It is easier to love people if we look at them in this way. We don't look at their faults but at the original idea when God created them.
The Pharisees were the ones who needed to explain. Why did they not reach out to sinners?
So do we need to explain if we begrudge mercy to one who is presently bad. How could I possibly want someone to stay in his sins?
In everyday life we would help someone in need. If someone is trapped in the rubble after a building collapse a whole host of people try to pull him out.
But would a whole host of people pray night and day for one soul to convert? The need is not so evident.
If we come from God’s point of view it is easier to see; it is a straightforward rescue mission. If we come from our point of view it is hard because our view is so distorted. We want the bad people to suffer for their sins and crimes. We don't want them to have mercy (or at least we are tempted not to want it).
We need healing too, if we think like this. The Good Shepherd will come to us and correct our false thinking.
In fact the more lost someone is the more love he needs. If you are a parent and one child is sick you spend more time chasing after that child than the healthy ones. Just so in the spiritual world.
We realize how much saving we need when it comes to cleansing out the wrong attitudes. We find that Catholicism is a lot more than just going to Mass 52 times a year! There is a lot we need to re-adjust if we are to take on the mind of Christ.
May He find all the lost, including us!
In some things 99 out of 100 would be a good result, for instance in a test.
But not in others. If we had six children and one was missing we would not say, well, five out of six is not bad. I won’t worry about the one that is missing! No, we go after the lost one. And so we should go after the spiritually lost.
We, meanwhile, tend to love only those who are lovable. We find it very hard to love the unlovable. We insist that they must deserve our love, have something good about them that is worth loving. We are quick to write people off.
This is not God’s way. He loves far more deeply and distinctively. He knows every detail of every person’s life, whereas we are inclined to judge people on just one offence or one point of difference.
We love those who ‘deserve’ our love but God loves the undeserving too. We can love a bad person after he becomes good. God, however, loves him before he changes. (Jesus died for us while we were still sinners (Rm 5,8). He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust (Mt5,45)).
The Pharisees could not work out why Jesus would eat with sinners. He was trying to change the sinners from bad to good. Like a doctor who visits the sick to make them healthy.
Meanwhile we mix only with those we like and approve of!
It is clear we have a lot to learn from Our Lord and Teacher. We have to un-learn the ways of the world and take on the mind of the Good Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd goes out in search of the lost, however unlovable or objectionable they might be at this moment.
Why does He love them so much? He can see the goodness that was planted in them.
All babies start equal insofar as they have not done anything wrong (yet). If we walked into a room full of babies we would not be able to say, Ah, this one will be a murderer, this one a saint... There is an equality at the start. All are created by God; all are meant for heaven.
It is easier to love people if we look at them in this way. We don't look at their faults but at the original idea when God created them.
The Pharisees were the ones who needed to explain. Why did they not reach out to sinners?
So do we need to explain if we begrudge mercy to one who is presently bad. How could I possibly want someone to stay in his sins?
In everyday life we would help someone in need. If someone is trapped in the rubble after a building collapse a whole host of people try to pull him out.
But would a whole host of people pray night and day for one soul to convert? The need is not so evident.
If we come from God’s point of view it is easier to see; it is a straightforward rescue mission. If we come from our point of view it is hard because our view is so distorted. We want the bad people to suffer for their sins and crimes. We don't want them to have mercy (or at least we are tempted not to want it).
We need healing too, if we think like this. The Good Shepherd will come to us and correct our false thinking.
In fact the more lost someone is the more love he needs. If you are a parent and one child is sick you spend more time chasing after that child than the healthy ones. Just so in the spiritual world.
We realize how much saving we need when it comes to cleansing out the wrong attitudes. We find that Catholicism is a lot more than just going to Mass 52 times a year! There is a lot we need to re-adjust if we are to take on the mind of Christ.
May He find all the lost, including us!
2nd Sunday after Pentecost 2 Jun 2013 Sermon
2nd Sunday after Pentecost 2.6.13 Banquet
The Holy Mass is, among other things, a banquet (Gospel) and we are invited. Normally at a banquet you would expect to get a big meal. Going just by quantity we do not have much to eat in this banquet. The Host would not relieve our physical hunger. Nor does it give us much pleasure in the taste.
So we have to look deeper here. If the Eucharist is a banquet in what way is it so?
Many will have dropped out by this stage: I stopped going to Mass because I wasn’t getting anything out of it. (Not easy to recognise ‘anything’!)
The ‘anything’ that we are supposed to ‘get out of’ the Mass is no less than being formed in the image of Christ, made Christ-like, changed into a better person than I was before. This is a huge benefit, very much requiring excitement and thanksgiving.
When we pray for what we need there are probably not many who would start by praying to be better people.
Yet this is where we need to start because it is the most important need we have; and because it is necessary to get on level ground with God before we can ask for other things. (This is why every Mass begins with confession of sorrow.)
It is good to be good; for its own sake. This is itself the quest - to be sanctified; to be as much like God as we can be; filled with sanctifying grace.
The word ‘sanctified’ might sound chilling and remote. But it does not have to be so. To be sanctified means to be like Christ - therefore kind, generous, approachable, and every other good quality.
At the Eucharistic banquet we are feasting on the goodness of God. We are actually taking His goodness into us and being changed by it.
What is the good of goodness, we might say, if I can't pay my bills and my marriage just broke up, and my health is collapsing? Because if you are good that is the top of the mountain, that is the prize.
The other things do matter, but in their place. St Paul said he could cope with anything, full stomach or empty, poverty or plenty (Ph 4,12)
Would you rather be a good person with an empty stomach or a bad person with a full stomach? We might say: I would rather be good and have a full stomach!
So we may have both. But we cannot always guarantee the physical blessing, whereas we can always guarantee the spiritual.
And we can reach a point where we really don't care so much about the circumstances, at least insofar as they affect us.
The saints often say that they would rather be dead than alive, because being dead would mean they were closer to Christ. But being saints they also had a sense of duty, so that they would have been highly charitable to those around them, making sure they had something to eat etc, even if the saint did not. We can be indifferent to our own comfort but not to that of others.
We come to see there are many variations in terms of benefits from this Banquet. A lot will depend on how much we hunger, and how prepared we are to receive the benefits.
And each time we can get a little stronger. We cannot do all this in one Mass. It is a banquet that is repeated and we have many chances to get this right.
So we hear the invitation to come and we make no excuses. This is the best place to be; this is the best meal that can be had anywhere around here!
The Holy Mass is, among other things, a banquet (Gospel) and we are invited. Normally at a banquet you would expect to get a big meal. Going just by quantity we do not have much to eat in this banquet. The Host would not relieve our physical hunger. Nor does it give us much pleasure in the taste.
So we have to look deeper here. If the Eucharist is a banquet in what way is it so?
Many will have dropped out by this stage: I stopped going to Mass because I wasn’t getting anything out of it. (Not easy to recognise ‘anything’!)
The ‘anything’ that we are supposed to ‘get out of’ the Mass is no less than being formed in the image of Christ, made Christ-like, changed into a better person than I was before. This is a huge benefit, very much requiring excitement and thanksgiving.
When we pray for what we need there are probably not many who would start by praying to be better people.
Yet this is where we need to start because it is the most important need we have; and because it is necessary to get on level ground with God before we can ask for other things. (This is why every Mass begins with confession of sorrow.)
It is good to be good; for its own sake. This is itself the quest - to be sanctified; to be as much like God as we can be; filled with sanctifying grace.
The word ‘sanctified’ might sound chilling and remote. But it does not have to be so. To be sanctified means to be like Christ - therefore kind, generous, approachable, and every other good quality.
At the Eucharistic banquet we are feasting on the goodness of God. We are actually taking His goodness into us and being changed by it.
What is the good of goodness, we might say, if I can't pay my bills and my marriage just broke up, and my health is collapsing? Because if you are good that is the top of the mountain, that is the prize.
The other things do matter, but in their place. St Paul said he could cope with anything, full stomach or empty, poverty or plenty (Ph 4,12)
Would you rather be a good person with an empty stomach or a bad person with a full stomach? We might say: I would rather be good and have a full stomach!
So we may have both. But we cannot always guarantee the physical blessing, whereas we can always guarantee the spiritual.
And we can reach a point where we really don't care so much about the circumstances, at least insofar as they affect us.
The saints often say that they would rather be dead than alive, because being dead would mean they were closer to Christ. But being saints they also had a sense of duty, so that they would have been highly charitable to those around them, making sure they had something to eat etc, even if the saint did not. We can be indifferent to our own comfort but not to that of others.
We come to see there are many variations in terms of benefits from this Banquet. A lot will depend on how much we hunger, and how prepared we are to receive the benefits.
And each time we can get a little stronger. We cannot do all this in one Mass. It is a banquet that is repeated and we have many chances to get this right.
So we hear the invitation to come and we make no excuses. This is the best place to be; this is the best meal that can be had anywhere around here!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)