Last Sunday after Pentecost 21 Nov 2021 Sermon

Last Sunday after Pentecost 21 November 2021    End times

It  is hard to adjust to the language of the end times when most of our lives are routine and very quiet by comparison.

The Bible is full of reminders that the world as we see it is going to be turned on its head at some point. All sorts of signs in nature; all sorts of change. It will be a very disturbing or joyful time depending on how close we are to Our Lord, when He returns.

The end of the world is the same thing as the Second Coming of Christ.

We are told we should be ready at all times for either that event, or any other that might originate from Heaven.

We express our readiness not by simply watching for supernatural intervention, but by carrying on our normal lives as in 1 Thess 4,9-12: We exhort you, brethren… to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we charged you.’

We should work to the end like the servants who are busy when the Master returns (Mt 24,46).

Our Lord wants us to be aware of the last times without being preoccupied with them..

There is an end, a judgment, but not an end to those in union with Him.

It certainly is necessary to remember there is an end coming so we do not become too engrossed in this life. This life is just the preface, the opening scene.

It keeps us level-headed knowing that there are superior forces watching over us, and higher destinies involved. (If mankind were the highest intelligence we really would be in trouble!)

It keeps us in a state of urgency regarding the need for all people to repent, and to pray for those who will not.

We have not seen many of these future realities. We have not died; we have not seen Heaven; we have not experienced the Last Day or other cosmic upheavals.

We can still believe in these things, however. Our Lord’s promises of future events are just as reliable as the past events such as the Resurrection.

God never changes. His word is reliable, far more so than ordinary human words.

We can manage to deal with the ordinary times and at the same time be aware of the apocalyptic.

We understand we can influence the timing of apocalyptic events by our response.

God waits on us to see how much we want Him to return. If we pray, Come, Lord Jesus, it is because we want Him to come - even if it means we might have to abandon our own plans.

But nothing we can devise for ourselves could match what He can do for us.

We reach this point every year. We are tempted to give up… They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”2 P 3,3-4

God is testing us to see if we love Him enough to wait for Him.

We prove that we do love him by being faithful across many years, and between us over millennia.

Every time we think of Our Lord’s second coming it can draw us closer to readiness.

We have to stay awake for ourselves and for the world, which is generally asleep.

The world has no concept that it faces judgment. We have to keep the idea current - to soften the blow, as it were.

And to lead people to the happiness that is found only in a proper understanding of this life and its relationship to the next.

Second Last Sunday after Pentecost 14 Nov 2021 Sermon

 

2^nd Last Sunday after Pentecost 14 November 2021 (readings 6^th S after Epiphany)

The Church comes in three sections: Triumphant, Suffering, Militant.

The triumphant Church is in Heaven; the suffering in Purgatory; the militant – that’s us, toiling away in the hope of becoming triumphant.

When people talk about the Church… what it says, does, whether it performs well or badly, they are talking about the visible Church here on earth, the Church where a great deal of human frailty is in evidence.

We regret that frailty, that it leads to sin, and gives bad witness.

When people see the Church in action they should not have to be looking at scandals and division. The Church is meant to be on fire with faith and charity, relieving the ills of body and soul, assisting with material needs where possible, and most of all providing direction and grace to bring people to Heaven.

The human element will work as it should only when it calls on its ‘better half’ – the triumphant element, including Christ as Head, and Mary as Mother, and countless angels and saints.

Then we start to see what should have been there all along – that every disciple should be as one with Christ, and each other, fully believing, fully functioning, ready to live or die for Christ.

This is what we must strive for if we do not yet have it. Last week we heard that God is patient and can wait before judging people. He gives us time to get things right. Some things take time to sort out all the bits.

Today’s Gospel conveys the same sense of a long time passing and enabling fruitful results.

A seed starts out small and become eventually a huge tree. This is an image of God's influence in the world. He makes Himself known, little by little,

The Church has spread from a very small beginning to very big.

We are big in size, but we do not yet cover the whole world as Our Lord instructed: Go and baptize all nations (Mt 28,19).

So much for the quantity; we also need quality, which can come only when each person is a disciple of Christ, and when each disciple is seriously committed to what that means.

God does not want just our external compliance; He wants to be dwelling inside us, directing our thoughts, words and action so that we become more like Him.

We take shelter in His branches, or we are branches attached to Our Lord as the tree.

We draw what is good and all that we need from Him, which we can do if we are consciously seeking to be united with Him.

If we are united with Him He will enable us to bear fruit. He will bless our efforts in His name, and bring forth fruit.

We do not fall away from the tree as others do, either through actions or beliefs.

We cannot survive anywhere else because only in Christ is the source of all truth. Only there can we make sense of this life and obtain all we need to live it.

When it comes to religion people often want to break out on their own, asserting their own beliefs and opinions.

True happiness is found not in individual experimentation, but submitting to the perfections of Christ, claiming His presence in our lives, offering Him to the world.

We have come a long way as the Church, and we have a long way to go. We are privileged to be where we are, to know what we know.

But with that privilege goes a task. We do all we can to bring the militant Church to its eventual triumph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Third Last Sunday after Pentecost 7 Nov 2021 Sermon

 

3^rd Last Sunday after Pentecost 7 November 2021 (readings 5^th Sunday after Epiphany)

We are influenced by what others around us do. This can work for good or evil.

Take a simple example like neatness. If everyone around us carefully puts things away we would be more inclined to do that ourselves. If everyone threw their rubbish out the window on to the street then we would probably at least relax our standards.

Morally this is seen in many ways, such as the way we talk to each other, the way we evaluate things, the things we hold to be important.

It is difficult to go against the tide of what most people do, most of the time.

Take churchgoing. Imagine if almost everyone in a city went to church, the few that did not would feel a strong pull to find out what they were missing out on.

In today’s parable we have a reference to the fact that believers and unbelievers alike must mingle together.

From another parable we know that the good are supposed to be the leaven in the whole community  (Mt 13,33). This is how it is meant to work. If the evildoers are in our midst it is our job to make them good instead of evil!

How do that? By generating a climate of goodness that will be impossible to ignore. To embarrass people into giving up their crooked ways and win them over. This has happened before, and is the way that saints always influenced their surroundings.

We have to establish a new normal, and this is what the Kingdom of God is.

It is hard to be good when others around us are not, but someone has to start off. We have to get used to the idea of working with little or no support.

This is why God allows evildoers to endure. He wants to give them time to see things differently; to be influenced by a different view of the world.

To save people requires a certain amount of time, to give them a chance to learn from their own wrong directions. So they can ask questions like, Why is my life falling apart? Maybe I should turn back to God.

What does it mean for us trying to be good, the wheat in this parable? We have to take the same view as God takes.

He can love people that we cannot (not yet anyway).

We would tend to write people off too quickly, whereas God, who can see all, can judge better.

We do not try to judge how good or evil another person may be. We simply press on, seeking to be good ourselves, encouraging others likewise. We cannot judge as in we must not, and anyway we do not have enough knowledge to be able to form a judgment.

The idea is to keep going , be good do good, become better. and encourage each other ‘teaching and admonishing one another’ (epistle), as we all seek the same result.

We race to the finish and do not ease up. ‘We bear with one another and forgive one another (epistle). With charity holding it all together.

As we do this our capacity to love others will increase.

For those holding out we pray and give good example, avoiding scandals which only impede the whole operation.

Another point for letting the unholy have more time is that some of them, if they did come inside, would do a better job than we can. Cf St Augustine, St Mary Magdalene, St Francis, St Ignatius, and many others who  had major conversions. In every age there must be a great pool of talent not being fully utilised.

Instead of just wishing evildoers dead we can wish them alive with the life of Christ! 

 

Christ the King 31 Oct 2021 Sermon

Christ the King 31 October 2021 One above all

Our Lord has the right to be honoured as King - in His divinity, as being God anyway; and in His humanity as the Saviour of the world.

As Man He has performed the most dramatic rescue ever seen, saving us from sin and death. This is someone fit to lead. He commands our respect, gratitude, obedience etc.

Tragically He is ignored or denied by many, who have allowed themselves to be caught up too much in this life. Many believe in God in some sort of way, but not sufficiently to give Him central place.

People think they can govern themselves. At Babel, God confounded the efforts of those who thought they could get by without God.

Let the nations know they are but men (Ps 9,20). A necessary humbling, but only to pave the way to exaltation. Once we do acknowledge Him we find everything falling into place.

Some take diversity of language culture etc as sign that there cannot be just one source of truth; but human nature and the essential sameness of the human condition do establish the oneness of our origin and destiny. Human beings, human souls are very much the same when it comes to their status before God.

There is only one true God, many false. Our role is to atone and restore the human response to the glory of God, and give to God what is God's.

We pray that He will open hearts and minds to accept His true status and to acknowledge it. This would do wonders for the world.

That we acknowledge God is more important than being saved from particular problems.

Instead of going straight into the prayer asking for things, it is good if we first acknowledge our stance before God, and express our sorrow for offending Him in any way.

The more we do that the more powerful our prayer become, and we are helping the world to come back to equilibrium. We do this as often as we can, while praying for others to do the same thing.

How can we help people to see the greatness of God? Everyone wants certain things, such as the freedom to live in peace. Or enough food for the hungry, or health for the sick. These are legitimate desires and things we should want.

It is just a matter of how we go about them. Do we think we can solve all these problems without God, on a purely secular or humanistic basis?

It never works. It does bring some success, but often at the cost of other important ends.

For example, to save the planet is a good objective, but should not be seen as replacing the need to save souls.

To have healthy children is a good objective, but not good if we abort any baby that might have a defect.

As for different religions, it is good if we do not go about killing each other, but not good if the wrong religions are given the same respect as the true one.

There is only one name under heaven by which we can be saved. (Ac 4,12)

If we go with Christ the King we will get the right objectives and the right way to get there.

We will have peace on earth because nobody wants to kill each other anymore. Hearts have been cleansed of hatred; desires have changed permanently in the right direction.

God wants people to know Him at this level. He wants to bring the people to submission, not enforced but in the free response of heart and mind, whereby the people will come to love God , not just obey.

They will look on the one whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him (Zech 12,10).

Every knee shall bow, but it will be out of reverence not terror.

Christ the King offers a much better way of finding happiness. We acknowledge Him today, King of kings, and Lord of lords.

22nd Sunday after Pentecost 24 Oct 2021 Sermon

22^nd Sunday after Pentecost 24 October 2021 Give to Caesar

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God's (Mt 22,21).

Some would say nothing is God's and close Him out completely.

Others would give Him only what ceremony or custom require, such as Midnight Mass and weddings and other formal occasions.

Others again would see Him as an authority figure, to be avoided as much as possible.

Our understanding is that everything belongs to God at least insofar as He has a say in how we use it.

He does not need our houses and cars or any other possession, but He has an interest in whether we use them for His glory, or we think they are entirely our own to use as we please.

We give to God our obedience, trust, gratitude, even abandonment to His will.

What remains for Caesar is that we operate in the worldly sphere, and Caesar represents all that is legitimate in that sphere.

So we are honest in our business dealings, and we do not steal or cheat; and we do not covet what our neighbours have etc.

We give priority to the spiritual domain but that will always coincide with the best way of handling material concerns.

For example, if we trust in God's providence we will see there is no need to steal.

If we love God first, we will find happiness in Him, and not be drawn to false and harmful pleasures, such as through impurity and drugs.

If we worship God we will not be worried about our own social standing, but be happy to be seen as a servant of Christ.

It  all  hinges on our attitude towards God.

If we reduce Him to zero or only partial relevance we will have a very diminished life.

Instead we seek Him out; we give Him due place in our lives.

God wants us to understand Him as more desirable than any other person, thing or activity; to be appreciated, thanked, obeyed, adored, seen as a source of blessing.

God is as relevant as any being can be. He is the referral point to everything else. He is there first and last.

He cannot be removed even if we deny or defy Him – He cannot be removed from existence; nor can His plans be derailed.

Where do we look, and how far, in trying to keep God in mind?

He does not expect us to think of Him every second of the day, but if we are absorbed in the material domain we will still be operating by spiritual principles.

If we do not know exactly God’s will at every point, we can at least avoid things which we know will displease Him – such as any form of sin.

Then we can sort out more specific responses to His will, as we grow in wisdom.

We develop a sense of what He wants, His general approach, as we learn from revelation and inspired writings, and example.

We have all the formal events still, but not in such a way that we present as strangers. We do this every day anyway – that is, we pray. Sometimes we are a bit more formal than others but always with the same idea.

Praying will not become a dull routine if we stay sensitive to God's presence. It is an adventure to be involved with Him. Look at the saints, and what they experienced. We can be part of that world.

We do not have to pray 24 hours on our knees, but nor do we ignore God for 24 hours either. We find the balance, which will always be in general terms that the spiritual world governs the material.

Everything comes from God, is kept in being by Him, and directs back to Him.

All praise and thanks to Him.

21st Sunday after Pentecost 17 Oct 2021 Sermon

21^st Sunday after Pentecost 17 October 2021 Forgiveness

God is abundant in His actions, as we see for example, in the size of the universe, and the variety of  His creation.

This abundance extends to His attitude to our sins and our need for mercy.

He is rich in mercy (Ep 2,4); He runs to meet the repentant son (Lk 15,20).

He desires the conversion of a sinner (Ezek 33,11) and even the angels rejoice over one repentant sinner (Lk 15,10).

That He forgives so freely can be mistaken for indifference on His part; that He just brushes off the sin as a thing of no importance.

This is not the case, however. God sees our sin in the clear light of divinity, where even the smallest sin would be seen in its ugliness. (Like defacing a work of art.)

He saw sin as serious enough to require the Incarnation and Crucifixion to deal with it.

When God forgives sin He restores us to right relationship with Him.

God forgives us because He looks at us through His Son, the perfect sacrificial victim.

This sacrifice was such a strong act of love that it more than compensates for the sin of the world. God is more pleased with His Son’s sacrifice than He is displeased by our sin.

We could never atone for the sins we have committed against God; they are too many and too serious.

So we go through the Son, relying on His merits to make up for what is lacking in us. And this is essentially how we are saved.

We might settle for just good health and material blessings, but those things are just steppingstones to our complete destiny, which is freedom from sin, union with God.

Sin, meanwhile, is ugly and destructive. We need to ask for mercy whenever we sin, not just simply presume that mercy will happen anyway.

We need to be sufficiently contrite on the one hand, and sufficiently grateful on the other. Contrite enough to realize we are in a dark place; and grateful enough to realize we have been rescued from that darkness.

Not everyone is automatically forgiven. There has to be at least some contrition, some recognition of what sin means, and why it is so undesirable.

Many think of sin as just a part of life, normal human behaviour. It is very normal as far as how often it happens but it is not meant to happen.

Forgiveness is available to any who genuinely seek it. We are then claiming on the merits of Christ.

But if we do not ask we will not receive. There are various reasons why someone might not ask for mercy – they don’t think they need it; they don’t see how God comes into the picture; they are afraid to ask for it etc.

The more contrite we are in the process the more complete will be our forgiveness, and the less likely to re-offend. Also, in the light of today’s parable we will be more likely to forgive others whatever wrongs they have done us. Generosity flows from gratitude.

The first debtor in the parable must not have been contrite enough because he certainly was not grateful enough (Mt 18,28).

We need a real spiritual sensitivity here. The world has grown coarse with too long denying proper attention to Almighty God. The world denies sin and mercy, and cannot offer any way out of the tangle it has created.

We have, by contrast, the way to be free of sin and the way to Heaven.

Lord, have mercy on us.

 

 

 

20th Sunday after Pentecost 10 October 2021 Sermon

20^th Sunday after Pentecost 10 October 2021 Degrees of faith

The nobleman had a certain amount of faith but not strong.

Our Lord then gave Him more faith through the miracle.

It is one thing to have a miracle. How we respond is vitally important.

If we receive a blessing we thank God and store up the memory in our hearts (cf Our Lady, Lk 2,19).

We do not just shrug it off carelessly as did the nine lepers (Lk 17,11-19).

We have an ever-increasing list of miracles the Lord has worked for us. What marvels the Lord has worked for us, indeed we are glad (Ps 125(126), 3).

As we accumulate our list of blessings we can also deepen our faith, and we will have more faith to call upon the next time we need a miracle.

Our Lord does not want, however, that we be lurching from one miracle to the next but putting our permanent trust in Him.

Even when people could see Him, and they knew He had worked other miracles, they still doubted Him.

Our Lord objects to this lack of faith … unless you see signs and wonders.

He wants us to enter a relationship of trust with Him, such that at any time and in any need we can call confidently upon Him.

The requests flow from a full heart, an already established closeness. It is not shouting across a chasm, but a quiet confident word.

We seek a unity with God which has always been there, but needs to be restored and

increased; a natural growth from strong foundations…like branches on a tree (Jn 15,5).

So that we increase in our love for God.

We do not see Him as only a problem-solver. We are not seeking just to squeeze benefits from Him, but to have a constant trust and gratitude towards Him.

We express all this in our prayer, which is our link with all that is good and powerful.

One of our most important prayers is the Rosary, which we highlight, particularly in this month.

If we seek certainty and security, the Rosary will definitely help.

The Rosary has great stability, being prayed at all places and times, bringing before us the central mysteries of our faith - mysteries which keep rolling upon us like waves on the shore.

Based in eternity, yet active in time, these mysteries remain true and relevant. The more the prayer is prayed the more good is going to come.

It is a prayer with many aspects. It will work at different levels, It makes us stronger, it heals the rift between humanity and God, and because of the increase in faith it is more likely to make things happen.

The Rosary helps to anchor us in God Himself, rather than just being preoccupied with outcomes.

Success or failure we press on. We should pray the Rosary every day. We are not obliged to do that; it is just that it bears so many fruits.

As far as outcomes go, some things require more prayer than others. For really big things like rescue from an invading army, or the overturning of immoral abortion laws, we need more time and more numbers.

It is not that we lack faith that we have to keep doing the same thing – it is just that bigger objectives require more prayer, and more people praying.

Then, there is reparation for past sins, which are countless; and for perennial causes such as conversion of sinners. We have much to keep us busy.

See yourself as the nobleman of today’s Gospel. He was told his son would live but he did not see the miracle straight away. Maybe he thought he would go home and find his son was dead.

Faith enables us to see victory before it is evident. We pray the victory into reality.

The Rosary helps to do this.

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.