3rd Sunday after Epiphany 21 Jan 2018 Sermon

3^rd Sunday after Epiphany 21.1.18 Faith and Charity

If I have faith to move mountains but have not love I am nothing (1 Co13,2). 

When it comes to asking for things in prayer we might regard God in a somewhat impersonal light, as though His will is fixed and there is nothing we can do to move it, so we might as well leave Him to it - in other words, not bother to pray.

This is not how He wants us to see it. He does not want us to be fatalists - those who believe that fate is fixed irrevocably - but rather to pitch in, and have an influence on how things turn out.

There is much that we cannot control, and we certainly do not get all the things we would like, but repeatedly we are encouraged to ask for what we need. God would not tell us to ask for what we need if it never could make a difference.

Always there are so many good causes to pray for. It is not selfish that we do this, as much of our prayer involves the wellbeing of other people; and also we want God’s own order to be established.

Charity is at the heart of the matter. The supreme commands are that we love God and Neighbour. Our prayer for whatever intention should flow from these commands.

Loving God, we come to trust Him that He is always working for our best interest. Loving others, we come to see them as God sees them, to want for them what He wants.

We come closer to the pulse of Christ Himself, the Good Shepherd, the Good Samaritan, the Sacred Heart, seeking out the stray sheep, the prodigal sons, the victims of the robbers - with great compassion, in which we come to share.

At the same time we develop a greater faith that God has the power, and will use it for the best. The centurion of today’s Gospel had this kind of faith. To him it was straightforward that God would give a simple command, and a good result would happen.

We want what is best for each person, and we believe that God will bring it about if we ask Him. Sometimes it takes a lot of asking because the problem is much deeper than a simple illness, as in today’s Gospel.

We learn to pray for more than just physical short-term blessings. We have a better idea of what is best.

The prayer would be more powerful if more people were praying. We need a stronger, more uniform approach. The whole body needs to be at prayer for each other, for the other members of the body. If one suffers [we] all suffer (1 Co 12,26).

God is pleased when we ask Him for favours, but even more pleased when we seek to be near Him, when we seek Him for His own sake.

If we are prepared to go to this deeper level He is more able to bless at the earlier levels.

Close to God is the best place to be, and from that place come wisdom, generosity, goodwill, mercy, and all other related good qualities. If we can plant ourselves there, all else will follow on.

Let us then pursue vigorous prayer for a range of intercessions, physical and spiritual, individual and communal, temporal and eternal.

It all comes together in the mind and heart of God, where we position ourselves.

Only say but the word, Lord…and we will be healed, and from that will other healing come.

2nd Sunday after Epiphany 14 Jan 2018 Sermon

2^nd Sunday after Epiphany 14.1.18 The new wine

The miracle of Cana is an extension of the Epiphany, another ground-breaking revelation of the power of God, working now through the adult Christ.

Thus begins a series of many public miracles, each of which sends out a challenge to each person: are you with Me or against Me?

The Jews were divided over Him. Some believed, others always wanted more proof.

We should not believe too readily every claim of religious phenomena, but on the other hand we should not be sceptical to the point of rejecting everything in advance.

We cannot restrict God. It is His creation after all, and He can intervene at any point and in any way.

So He can turn water into wine, walk on water, make it come out of a rock, make it part in the middle, and make it go quiet in a storm – all of which He has done.

Generally God lets the world run on the laws that He has put in place. But He always has the right and the power to override those laws.

Miracle or not, ordinary or extraordinary, the most important thing for us is to be in union with Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Are we prepared to put our faith in Him as the one and only Saviour of the universe, or are we going to try to level Him out with other possible saviours – thus reducing Him to no more than a source of inspiration?

Other religious figures can be inspiring in places, but they do not work the miracles that Christ did, especially raising people from the dead, not least raising Himself! How many people can do that?

And all that He does is good. He does something advantageous for the people receiving the miracle; and for everyone else He gives a taste of what salvation is like.

He solves problems, such as today’s shortage of wine; and even better still He helps people come to faith. This coming to faith is a greater blessing than whatever the miracle brought about.

Turning water to wine is a symbol of what He is doing for us. He is enriching us, upgrading us to something better.

From now on this is how we do things around here. This is the New Covenant taking root.

Human nature itself has been upgraded in Christ’s human nature. Other elements of creation may be receiving an increase in quality too. All nature longs for the fulness of Christ’s salvation (cf Rom 8,19-27).

The miracles will come, when needed, and for our good.

In the face of so much power and goodness, we come to take God seriously.

We come to realize that a miracle is being worked in us, a miracle of transformation, whereby we become people of charity, and all the other virtues mentioned in today’s epistle (Rm 12,6-16).

Drink the string drink (that is, receive Him fully, without condition) and we will ourselves become the new wine, as in perfect.

It has to be a full acceptance. We cannot half-believe, or half-commit.

He will help us with this. It may not be as quick as the Cana miracle, but if we show signs of commitment He will build us up in all the virtues, another miracle of transformation. Why did we leave it till now to become the best wine?!

Holy Family 7 Jan 2018 Sermon

Holy Family 7.1.18 Mercy

If we had an invitation to visit the home of the Holy Family how would we feel?

Would we be overawed at the prospect of being in such exalted company… Lord, I am not worthy that I should enter under Your roof!

Yet, we can visualise what they would do if we knocked on the door… they would welcome us and treat us like royalty.

In ordinary life we would not walk up to an important place, like Buckingham Palace or the White House, and expect to be let in, without a lot of security and fuss etc.

But here at Nazareth, the most exalted place on earth, we would be welcomed.

This tells us something about the power of sin to put such fear into us, and the power of mercy that we could be set free from such fear.

We expect punishment, coldness, rejection, and we receive warmth, welcome, kindness.

It is the same experience as the Prodigal Son had when he took courage and approached his father’s house (Lk 15,11-32).

We are a little afraid of goodness because we feel our own lack of it. But goodness is of its nature welcoming and forgiving.

This is what God is like; this is what the Holy Family would have been like.

We do not use this information as an excuse to continue our sinful ways, but to make us determined to shake off all traces of sin, allowing the inspiration of holiness to move us to better things.

Do not be afraid, the words so often used in the Bible. Do not be afraid, because when God approaches it is always with the view of making it better for us, setting us free, enlightening us etc.

So we are not afraid to travel to the house in Nazareth, and let ourselves be moved by the encounter.

It should mean a change in the way we treat each other. If we are forgiven much we should be able to forgive others who have offended us less (Mt 18, 21-35).

It should mean that every sinner in the world can find hope of welcome if he will only turn his steps that way.

Even the complacent who think they have no sin will be moved by the encounter. Their smugness may give way to true contrition. Leave me, Lord, I am a sinful man. (Lk 5, 8)

It should mean that families everywhere can live in peace, if each will draw from the example of the Holy Family.

It should mean that those who dispute the Church’s teachings about family matters will submit graciously to the certainty that here is real wisdom, unanswerable. The Church should change its teachings? No, I should change my behaviour!

The Church, in all its aspects, should be a place along the lines of the Holy Family’s home. We welcome sinners because of their value as persons. We seek, by our holiness, to offer a place of refuge to them, a way of life that will move them to change.

It is a big assignment, but it is part of our mission.

We know, to our grief, that we have failed many times. Sin puts us all under pressure; makes us irritable, short on patience.

So we renew our own experience of the Holy Family, drawing mercy from them, at the same time as inspiration to live better lives.

We rejoice to be in the presence of holiness, of the Holy Family, of God Himself: One day within Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere (Ps 83,10).

We can help each other to rise to better things. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, have mercy on us, and pray for us.

Sunday in Octave of Christmas 31 Dec 2017 Sermon

Sunday in Octave of Christmas 31.12.17 Waiting on God

Simeon and Anna had great love for God, evident in that they would be prepared to wait so long for the fulfilment of His promises. (Not everyone is so patient.)  And when He finally does appear, they recognize Him immediately, even though there are no external phenomena to announce His presence. (Not everyone could recognize the Messiah just from seeing a baby!)

Their extraordinary love was fulfilled and rewarded.

God challenges us all to exercise patience in waiting on His holy will, and to develop the ability to discern His presence.

He wants us to search for Him (cf Song of Songs, the bride seeking the bridegroom).

God wants us to love Him, and will help us to understand what that requires.

Think of human lovers, like Romeo and Juliet. You would not have to tell Romeo that he should spend time with Juliet. He would want to do that anyway. He would not be trying to wriggle out of the obligation, or begrudging the time he gives Juliet.

God wants to be with us, but we may not want to be with Him.

Some people do want to be with God – such as Simeon and Anna, and all those we call saints, and us too, at least somewhat.

The saints inspire the rest of us to find out what they knew.

God has a sense of understatement. Not everything He does is accompanied by trumpets.

He is looking for people who are looking for Him, who are prepared to put in some effort in the quest to find Him.

Situations vacant: people who can love God, who can see below the surface, who can wait out a crisis without panic, who are willing to seek a greater desire.

If He is so desirable why do we have to be commanded to love Him? It is because we are beginners in the matter, and we have to be told what is good for us.

Eventually we can break free of the command. We don’t stop keeping it; it is just we no longer need to be told.

To love God on our part becomes as natural as for a bird to fly.

Taste and see the Lord is good (Ps 33, 8). It is a taste that is acquired. The command is only to set us in motion. The rest will look after itself.

A good start is to practise the discipline of prayer, learning from Simeon and Anna – they prayed day in and day out. And so must we.

Waiting for God to show Himself; waiting for Him to grant us an increasing desire to see Him, the sensitivity to recognise that presence, and the patience to keep waiting.

We need His help to do all this. He will stir up in us a love for Him, and such a desire that if we get to a certain point we can then go on further.

It might be painful at first, as we are pulled away from our worldly delights, but it will be great joy if we can battle through all the distractions.

We have it in us but it is jumbled. We have all sorts of good thoughts and resolutions (New Year and otherwise), but we are too disorganised to make it work.

What we have now is the reverse of the situation in Simeon and Anna’s time. They were in the Temple and God was not. Now He is in the church and the people are not!

He is waiting for them to come. And what are the people doing? As in the time of Noah they are eating and drinking, buying and selling (Mt 24, 38).

But we are here, and we bring what we have. We are not as humble or as faithful as we should be, but by the grace of God we will become so. We will learn what it means to love God, and we will do it.

Christmas Day 2017 Sermon

Christmas Day 2017 Entering Joy

We have major feast days, where the Church rejoices. We may not feel as joyful ourselves as the feast would seem to require.

With a little effort on our part, and loads of grace, we can enter into the joys these major feasts convey.

Their reality is so great that there is room for us, like a big house where one can move from one room to another.

We cannot exhaust the richness, the mysteries of Christ, and His coming among us.

We do not allow the difficulties we face to limit us to just a one-dimensional approach. Rather we let the mysteries of Christ lift us to a higher plane of understanding.

Our problems may remain, and may take a lot of fixing, but we ourselves will be focussed more on the goodness of God and how He blesses us.

So we have in the Christmas season some of the main truths of our faith, which we can enter more fully.

One of these mysteries is that of the Incarnation, where God became Man, or the Word was made flesh.

This has been likened to one of us becoming an insect, living with other insects. Would we like that? And what about being killed by them as well?

God has lowered Himself more than that to take on our human nature!

If we maintain a proper sense of the scale of what He has done we are less likely to dismiss it.

It is important to remember the divinity of Christ. Many think He is just another man, just another long-haired prophet!

Or they will say He was just another religious figure, thus downgrading His importance.

Or that He did not really know what He was doing.

No, He was fully aware of what He was doing. There was always a perfect balance between his words and actions.

His death was not a mix-up, or miscalculation; it was planned all along for His own purposes.

This is not just a good man, giving us a few good ideas how to live. This is God Himself come to live among us.

God takes our nature, firstly to live it properly, free of sin; and then to offer Himself in atonement for sins against that nature, before and after His coming.

There should not be any sins after His coming but there have been a great many.

Some do not know about Him. Others know, but somehow it does not sink in far enough.

We need more depth. We become more grateful as we consider what we would have been if He had not come.

The Church today says, Rejoice everyone, because this is a good day for you! And the people might say, Is it? Yes, because you are being lifted up to something better.

Nothing in human history can match this. No war, revolution, tragedy, discovery, advance, accident, disaster can come close to the importance of God's intervention in our world.

Despite all the attempts to suppress Him, then and since, still the message goes out.

This is the one truth that prevails over all falsehood or part-truth. This is light on the hilltop.

All this we celebrate here, and we allow ourselves to be taken up into it.

Christmas takes in all those who do not know its importance, or would even fight against it.

God means to reach every person, regardless of nationality. He is God of the whole world, even if the world does not know.

It helps greatly if we cooperate with the process. Behold, I stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear my voice, and open to me the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Rev 3,20)

Today we open that gate; we let the Saviour in, to do His work among us. We give Him our full, conscious, willing assent to all that He has in mind to do. He has been resisted too much. No more by us.

Christmas Vigil 24 Dec 2017 Sermon

Christmas Vigil 24.12.17 Desire

This is the age of instant gratification. People take what is due to them before it is due, and even if it is not due them, there are many who will still take.

The idea of deferring pleasure to a later time is not an easy one to sell – even if the delay will bring more happiness overall. For example, food seems a lot more satisfying after a fast than if we have been eating all along.

The Church, in her wisdom, has established seasons of penance before seasons of joy, and vigils before major feasts.

This gives us a chance to cultivate a hunger for what the feast is offering us.

In the case of Advent (and the Vigil of Christmas) our hunger is for the effects of Christ’s coming among us.

Christmas must be the easiest feast to miss in terms of other distractions. To miss, that is, the spiritual richness of the feast.

Those who come to Mass only at Christmas are missing out on necessary preparation. We have to give time to God to understand more deeply how He is saving us, and what He wants us to know.

One or two Masses a year will not be enough.

So we are here now, seeking to get this right for ourselves, and atoning for the general lack of enthusiasm in the human family.

We let our hunger for God be deepened. Like a lover seeking the beloved (cf Song of songs, Hosea, where God uses marriage imagery to describe His relationship with His people.)

The lover goes looking for her Beloved – an image of the Church, as bride, seeking the Bridegroom. The eventual discovery of him is more joyful for the fact that there was a time without him.

God looks at us like that. He longs to be united with us!  And we respond with stony indifference (in the main) – a one-sided love story. We need the other side to turn up!

It is worth something when even one more person can get into this view of what is really happening. This is Christmas, much deeper than all the trimmings.

One theme of Advent is, Look out for the Master in case he returns unexpectedly and you are not ready. That is a true consideration.

But we could also say, Look out for the Master simply because He is desirable to know. This is apart from any thought of reward or punishment.

Somehow this does not happen. Our desire has been spent on other things, less than God.

We desire the forbidden fruit, but not the One who made the whole garden.

Our desire is generally stunted or restricted to too small an area, and we spend our time and energy on filling that desire, not realizing there is an infinity of delight and goodness beyond where we are looking.

People who spend Christmas just partying think they are happy, and to some extent they are; but they would be a lot more happy if they were seeking God for His own sake; losing themselves in Him, like the Lover and Beloved.

This is the language of the saints, and mystics, and the Bible itself.

Instead, people ignore God, except to tell Him off for not running the universe properly.

We are here to set matters straight. We will celebrate Christmas with an increasing awareness of what it means (always with God's help).

We pray for the right understanding to grow everywhere; that people will grasp with sufficient awareness the importance of His Incarnation and other events.

That they will develop a taste for God, which will be good for them, and the whole Church.

We need Him to come among us to save us from sluggishness, deafness, blindness, etc….

He needs us to recognize that we are sluggish, deaf, blind etc! Come, Lord Jesus.

3rd Sunday of Advent 17 Dec 2017 Sermon

3^rd Sunday of Advent 17.12.17 Spiritual progress

The human race goes on, one generation after another. In some ways we make progress:

Technology, transport, communication, medicine…

In other ways we make little or no progress: we still have hatred, violence, neglect, greed etc

Morally or spiritually, each generation repeats the mistakes of all the previous generations.

God has led us all the way, from Eden to the present day, making a series of covenants with us - with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and finally Christ, each intervention showing a greater generosity on God's part; yet our response does not match it.

We should be smarter or more aware of moral matters than previous generations, but somehow we are not.

Why does spiritual progress differ from technological progress?

The spiritual aspect requires a deeper perception. Anyone can see the marvels of a mobile phone, but not everyone can see what is wrong with adultery.

Our Lord could have worked more miracles, even in our time, and keep people on track through frequent reminders of His closeness.

He is looking for something deeper on our part. He reveals Himself only to those who are humble, pure, and contrite enough to recognize Him – the poor in spirit, people such as Simeon and Anna, or John the Baptist himself. The last shall be first; the humble shall be exalted.

The proud are too preoccupied with themselves to see the work of the Messiah, let alone welcome Him. They are not looking in the right place, or in the right way.

Not recognizing the coming of Christ they do not change their lives.

Meanwhile they buy more gadgets for their home! They recognise one progress but not the other one.

The saying: Seeing is believing could be better put: Believing is seeing.

This is what God asks of us - to trust Him in advance, to believe His promises before we see them (such as the Second Coming), and then all manner of things can happen. Moses held out his staff and the waters parted. Five minutes before that event, it would have seemed highly unlikely, like most miracles. Miracles happen when someone obeys first.

If we can be like that we will escape the folly of the present and previous generations.

We will have the essential joy (Gaudete Sunday). Rejoice if you have such a stance with God, because you will directly experience His blessings.

Presently we are hemmed in by massive amounts of sin, doubt, fear, and the like, all of which threaten to submerge us.

It can be a battle to keep even our own faith, still more to try to convert others.

It is as simple as which road we take. So much depends on the decision.

It is all there if we want to know, the revelation of God, the story, the miracles - it is all there for public consumption.

There are mysteries in our faith, but the general thrust is clear. It is not classified information. Go to your local library, or to your very advanced phone! The data of our faith, the technical details are not hard to find.

The hard part is to be humble enough to recognize truth, and to desire it; to go down on our knees, from which position we are able to learn a lot.

Naaman the Syrian was told to wash himself seven times and he would be cured. He thought that was too easy. Yet, persuaded to do it, he was cured (4 Kings 5,1-19).

What we are asked to do to reach faith is not difficult, apart from overcoming one’s pride.

We pray we can unravel some mysteries, and finally we will get that long-overdue improvement across the generations.