Wisdom, Discernment and Providence

 How do we trust everything to God? This is not just an abandonment of responsibility for our actions but rather a considered approach to the way we live our lives. We are called to be people who are prayerfully attentive to the situation in which we live. This is noticing how we are present in the world in which we live while also considering how we listen to the voice of God. This incarnate way of living centres the way we see things to be in harmony with God's creative nature which is ever ancient and ever new. We are people who not only hear the Word of God but seek to allow that Word to be written upon our hearts. This allows us to become people who seek to live that Word in whatever environment we are called to live.

Our discernment seeks for us to think, feel and sense ourselves into what brings all things before God daily. The first step in our prayer is that we think about many things and we need to sift them to distinguish the dross from the pearl. This process allows us to not only think about the pearl but to allow all our senses to become curious about what we are called to hold on to. This application of the sense helps us to appreciate how the Word engages us practically and not just theoretically. It allows the Word to sink deeper into us. Allowing us to notice how it becomes one with us there can be a sense of nourishment that is not just based on our hunger but by a deeper encounter with what truly fills us. This allows us to notice how through this simple pattern of prayer we can start to look at our lives differently and attend to things more readily.

By allowing this to become a daily practice we trust to rely on what comes to hand rather than fretting about the future or being anchored in the past. There is a growing confidence that God can help us to be present in this moment and this place. Even when we have difficult choices to make or the circumstances constrict us with possibilities there can be a clearer understanding of the next obvious step. This is not blind faith but a disposition that we can be guided to trust that God will show us the way. 

What makes us teachable

 We live in an age where we know much about life but struggle to live an integration of that life. Every day we can be bombarded with self-help programs to discover who we are called to become by doing things differently. There can often be a discomfort inside ourselves that this becomes overly complex and we look for a way that is simple and achievable in our own lives. Nowhere is this felt more often than in relationships, particularly where the focus is on marriage. The pressure that people can feel is that they need to be perfect rather than transformed. This can often be the tension that can develop where we expect someone to be different from who they are. When we look back on the Saints who have guided us through the week I believe they can give us some hints about how to develop a relationship founded on Christ.

St Jerome reminds us that ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ. I believe this is not just about reading scripture but allowing us to be absorbed by scripture into the heart of Christ. This is the starting point for all prayer as it seeks to discover how God faithfully communicates with us through the written word. This written word is not just to be written on the page but is to be written on our hearts.

St Therese of Lisieux in reading through the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians in Chapters 12 and 13 discovered that her vocation was to love rather than undertaking a particular role or function. This is not a self-serving love that sought to obtain special preference for herself but a self-giving love that sought unconditional love for the good of the other. This allows us a vision that sees ourselves encountering the love of God through our everyday encounters with each other.

The Guardian Angels remind us that in each sacrament of life both in Marriage and Priesthood there is a guardian angel and an empowering angel. This guides us to safeguard what brings life to the other while also encouraging us to witness God's love in daily life. They help us to not just focus on our own needs but on how we encounter others and become detectives of grace.

The last word probably belongs to St Francis of Assisi which is best proclaimed in his prayer.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness,  joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Especially in our current age and as we prepare for the Feast of the Holy Rosary on Monday we are called to be people who pray and fast for each other and for our world. To seek the peace of God that is at the heart of all creation. 

Casting out devils and protecting the innocent

 I used to be an avid follower of current affairs but now I am hesitant to listen to the radio, open the newspapers, or turn on the television. It is not just that it seems to report daily the conflicts that beset us but can often cause us to feel powerless against forces beyond our control. There is a poverty or emptiness that seeks to resist being filled with violence and hatred. We discover in this place a humility that allows us to abandon everything to God and not just trust ourselves. The need to discover our original innocence is not a wishing away the problems of the world but rather an acknowledgment of how we can be present to the world differently.

In the Gospel, there is the acknowledgment of the person who gives a cup of water to another because they belong to Christ. This act of charity is not just a reward for being Christian but rather an understanding that all belong to Christ. The law of charity can not be contained to one particular religious group but follows the promptings of the Holy Spirit to reach out to those in need. It also acknowledges how we need to acknowledge daily the obstacles that remain within us that prevent us from seeking to be good to others and not just ourselves. 

There is a temptation at times like these to retreat into our own castles and lift the drawbridge. That seeks to defend ourselves against the ravages of the world and hunker down for a quieter age. Where we become consumers of life rather than participants in something greater. The truth that we often need to appropriate to ourselves is that we are part of the solution not just part of the problem. In an age where trust has been stretched almost to breaking point and credulity has been tested by who we believe we can wonder who will lead us to a life of meaning. I think this is where we need to become a people of prayer not just people who say prayers. 

Our prayer is an honest seeking of who God is in the midst of our current age. This is not just an intellectual pursuit to find the right words or an industrious effort to look busy about many things. I believe it is a discovery of how we can listen to God in a way that slows us down to a walking pace. This allows us to not only become aware of how many of our thoughts and feelings that disturb us do not find their origins in God. It allows a place to sift through the competing demands both physical, emotional, and spiritual that besiege us daily. By providing these oases of grace we can start to appreciate where we can make a difference. Rather than looking for what is falling apart, we discover simple acts that hold things together. These daily selfless acts run contrary to the me-too culture that wants to focus on my problems and wishes to narrow our focus only to what affects me. God seeks to expand our hearts by allowing us to discover in our own emptiness, poverty, and humility that it is the precepts of the Lord that gladden the heart. Sometimes it is important to remember that we need to plant seeds not drop bombs.

Prepared to die or prepared to kill

 The readings for this week notice the two voices that often present themselves in life. Are we prepared to die for another or kill another to get what we want? This sharp contrast between the spirit of life and the spirit of death brings us to become people of prayer who seek to live for God and not just ourselves. This can present itself in many ways in our daily life. How often have we been in a queue waiting for something important to happen? Whether this as the airport waiting to be called on to a flight or simply queueing at the supermarket checkout. There can often be an impatience that starts to creep up within us and before we know it we start to notice the idiosyncrasies of those in the line ahead of us. They start to get under our skin and we wonder why they have not checked in that bag or seem to be taking so long. Before we know it all sorts of stories start to manifest within us and before we know it we can be thinking about what is wrong with the person. We notice how quickly our mood can change towards uncharitable thoughts and actions.

Yet what we notice is that those who are gentle and considerate to others seem to have an easier time of it. Their focus is not just on considering their own needs but the needs of those around them. They seek to assist those who are struggling, whether it is by a kind word, a warm smile or a helping hand. Each encounter is considered to be a meeting with the person of Christ is who seeks to bring peace and shows leadership by a profound giving of self. This is not to draw attention to himself but to draw attention to the love of God that transforms death into life.

As we travel through this week we can notice how each moment is an opportunity to be people who die for others rather than seek to compete with others for what we want. Will we seek to be people who die to ourselves so that others may discover how they are loved by God?

Doing good or being good

 On reflecting on the writings of St James we are presented with the conversation of faith and works. This acts as a counter-point to the discussions between Jesus and Martha about who has chosen the better path. There is also the reflection on the contemplative and the active life. However, I believe what might be lost is that God takes the initiative both in our prayers and our works. When we think that prayer or good works are initiated by ourselves we leave God out of the equation or just come along for the ride. Yet God's goodness is for us to be grounded in a relationship that can sustain us and enable us.

I believe this is at the heart of what St James is seeking us to reflect on. Our prayers or our actions should not be solely self-centered. We are formed to be in a living relationship with God and with each other. Thus our prayer is not just about making us right in the eyes of God but rather a dynamic conversion of heart that offers everything to God as God offers everything to us. Our prayer is not just about self-improvement but rather an openness to God's creative action in our lives. As I read in Psalm 66 verse 18 where there is a purification of heart that takes place, "If there had been evil in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened he has heeded the voice of my prayer." God seeks to draw the good out of us by giving voice to our deepest desire that accords with the divine plan.

This is where we are called to listen to the voice of God in the context of our own environment. The voice of God is not alien to the world we live in. The incarnation shows us that God is well aware of our daily lives and how we are called to bear witness to the goodness of God in our lives. It is this bearing witness that allows us to discover how we can respond creatively to the needs of others. This is not just out of an urge to assuage our guilt but rather a willingness to share how we can share the goodness of God daily with those we meet. This opens our eyes and our hearts to those we meet along the way. The obligation is not one imposed upon us but it is a genuine desire to share the blessings we have received for the good of others. This is for each person to pray each day that they may meet Christ and share what is within our providence to share with another.

You cannot tell a book by it's cover

 As we continue to reflect on St James' writings we can become aware of how we judge people, places, and events by our opinions of their appearance. There is almost an unconscious evaluation of how we should react to their presence and whether they are worth spending time with. They also say this process is in play when people seek to interview another for a position that they are summed up in the first thirty seconds. They say much of the remaining time of the interview is spent trying to affirm our presuppositions. This can be challenging because we want to be considered tolerant, open-minded,  and considerate of those we meet. When we become aware of this inner contradiction we need to pray from that place so that we may act justly.

This just approach to life also helps us recognize when we feel deaf and mute. When we start to either close our ears or feel unable to speak out. There can be a sense that we withdraw into ourselves and close to the world around us. On this Sunday when we consider how we provide an environment that is safe for children and vulnerable people and that nurtures and sustains them. As Christians, we are called to walk humbly with others.

This calls us to notice how our hearts well up with joy within us. This is a courageous approach to life that overcomes our greatest fear. We discover a God who loves us tenderly and desires for our eyes to be open, our ears unsealed and our lips able to sing for joy. In an age when we are shaped by the information that we are called to consume on a daily basis we need to trust that God can open our minds and hearts for the good of ourselves, the good of others, and the good of God. May we pray that we may be shaped into God's image and likeness able to be people who are rich in faith as we touch eternity hear on our earthly journey.

Learning to live by the spirit of the game

 When I listen to others I often ask myself what am I listening for? There is an art in conversation that is more than considering your response but attentiveness to what the other person is trying to express. I often find myself echoing the prevailing wisdom or the latest insight I have heard from others. The difficulty with these responses is that they bounce along the surface and do not seek what I am prepared to live for. We live in an age where opinions are readily available and easily transmitted around the world but do not reveal who we are called to become.

We discover this in the discussion between Jesus, the Pharisees and the scribes. These are people who take the discussion about faith seriously as can be seen when they address the hygiene laws of the day. What is added to this discussion is that not obeying these laws makes a person unclean on the inside. Jesus challenges this viewpoint to not just observe external laws without an inner conversion of heart. Thus we don't just obey laws because we want to look good but we seek to be good that enables us to care for others. 

This conversion of heart builds the foundation of Jesus' life. He does not just want lip service but a way of being present that reaches the depth of our soul. This acknowledges how we allow God into the places that we hide away and give rise to evil intentions, the things that truly make us unclean. By acknowledging this reality we start to find the spirit of the law. We discover how God meets us even in our darkest night and seeks to kindle the flame that burns away the darkness. That warms us from the inside out and transforms our world.     

Come closer but not too close!

 The remarkable miracle of the Eucharist is that God wants to invite us to the table and be met body and soul. So often we find people asking whether people will notice if they are not there on Sunday and quietly slip away. There can be a sense that the profound intimacy offered by God goes stale when there seem to be so many other good things that we can partake of that seem to satisfy that deep longing in our hearts. Yet while we can be involved with many things there can be a sense of a deep emptiness that yearns to be filled. It is in this sense that we long for something or someone who will meet us and come close.

Jesus speaks of this in the crescendo of the reflections in John that disturb those who hear him. He wants to come close to us and be embraced by that divine love that is poured out for us. This is where God's desire for us is often stronger than our response. It is the question that often can resonate in our own hearts about a life that is eternal. We can often be perplexed that we want to partake of this divine love but only rely on our human understanding. Yet this is where God meets us in our questions and our relationships that seek to manifest this divine love.

It is this encounter that can sustain us by holding us close and enveloping us in a loving embrace. God wants to hold our gaze and look upon us. This divine encounter allows us the greatest freedom to be who we are called to be. In each Eucharist, we discover a God who wants to hold us close and come closer. To fill us with a divine love that sustains and nurtures us. Our simple response is to be present and give thanks for such a profound gift that floods our world with life and light!

When a house becomes a home

 One of the struggles of our time is how we provide adequate housing for people so that they can feel at home within the community in which they live. The emphasis can often focus on the external provision of a building to meet the internal needs of the heart. I think this is where we may need to return to the philanthropist businessmen of past ages who realized that they were not solely in it for the money but for their vision to build a better world. Growing up in Birmingham, I was conscious of the tradition of George and Richard Cadbury who sought to build a model village to improve the conditions of the workers in an environment in which they could flourish. This vision is also present in the suburbs of Glebe and Pyrmont sought to provide not just houses but a community in which people could live.

This also helps us to see that we need to have a certain wisdom that perceives who is welcome at the table. In an age where much of our lives are dissipated on external things to improve our health, our wealth, and our depth we often avoid what brings us home where we are called to spend our time. The media often provides a vision that looks at external pleasure and success rather than what truly nourishes and sustains us. Thus as St Paul notices we become intoxicated with ways of life that dull our senses. Yet we are called to pray in a way that resonates with God and seeks to harmonize with others.

We are called to imbue the life of Christ each time we gather for Eucharist. We are called to participate in the life that Christ offers to us. We are called to become what we eat and drink. It is why our liturgy engages all the senses of sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing. We are called to be transformed by what we receive and not just adopt a consumerist approach to life. This is where we find our true home because God wants to make a home within us. This is not just a transitory home but an eternal home where we can discover who we are and who we are called to become. We are drawn into a life that will sustain us to eternity, the bread of life that is food for the journey.

Having a conversation that matters

 Having a conversation that matters.

We encounter Elijah at his lowest ebb. Having escaped from the clutches of Jezebel he flees into the desert after he has put the prophets of Baal to death. At a time when we witness one of the great signs of the offering of sacrifice to God, we notice the inner turmoil within Elijah. He just wants to die because he fears for his life. Into the midst of this turmoil God enters into the dialogue through providing food for the journey not once but twice. There is a need to move beyond just wishful thinking towards a life-giving encounter that will sustain Elijah to the mountain of Horeb.

In our own lives we are sustained by this food for the journey each time we encounter Jesus’ present in the Eucharist. This encounter meets us at times when we can be on the verge of giving up and the burdens, we carry appear to be too heavy. Especially as we encourage people to return to celebrate Sunday Mass post COVID we need to have conversations that matter. The obligation to attend Sunday Mass is not an extra duty to be fulfilled but a recognition that we need to be fed with the bread of life on a regular basis. We are called to the table of the Lord to celebrate who we are in God’s eyes. This is important especially when people cannot attend Mass because of their illness. That they can be remembered at our Masses and then provided with communion by people who faithfully bring the bread of life to nurture them. This demonstrates that they are not forgotten or alienated from God. Just like the angel visiting Elijah they are provided with the food for the journey.

I think this is especially true for people who are close to death or are faced with a life-threatening condition. Reading through the general instruction on the pastoral care of the sick we can notice some of the instructions about viaticum that involves the three sacraments of Eucharist, Penance and Anointing. Especially in an age where people can be confronted with the reality of suffering and death, we are called to have conversations that do not shy away from the meaning we find in life.  People need to be accompanied so that suffering and death does not have the final word. We are called to see the value of each person’s life through the eyes of God. It is this pastoral care that provides the sensitivity to provide what is on hand to draw a person into a deeper relationship with God. This seeks to alleviate both their physical and spiritual suffering that can so easily cause them to be plagued by fears of their own worth when they feel that they are alone.

Paul also notices this in how we seek to be people who are reconciled with each other rather than diminished by our differences. The call is to be people who sustain each other especially when we notice our own resistances to God’s grace. The Eucharistic presence available to us through confession helps us to notice how God enters our deepest fears. We are not left alone to fight the battle of faith on our own. This anointing also sustains us to influence others even at the moment of death by freeing us from what oppresses and afflicts us.

God does not abandon us to our own fears, our own sins or our own hunger. He provides the bread of life that offers his very self. This encounter sustains us in the journey of life and embraces us with the promise of eternal life. As people who walk with others on this journey we can become pilgrims of faith, hope and love. Who see in each meeting that every life has a deeper meaning, and no prayer is left unanswered.

Do not work for food that does not last but work for food that endures for eternal life.

 We are often told by dieticians and nutritionists that we are what we eat. In a world where diets come in and out of fashion, we are often bombarded with too much information to look after our bodies. There is often a plethora of information about what will make us healthy and what can sustain us. The focus while important can make a lot of money for people who seek to tell us what to do. As a person who has struggled to maintain a healthy weight and be told the mantra watch what you eat and exercise more, I am often confused by whose voice I listen to. I want to be healthy but find that even when I work hard in seeking to maintain a good and healthy balance it often focuses more on externals rather than an internal disposition.

This is where our reflection of this week's Gospel draws us into sharp focus. We so often pay attention to what others tell us is healthy that we do not focus on what endures and sustains us in life. We need to look at things that are nutritious and life-giving but this is not just about the food that we consume but rather the thoughts that fill our minds and hearts. When we look at the Eucharist this is not just about receiving communion but rather an encounter with the person who brings us to life. This is where the Gospel clarifies that working for God is to believe in the one he sent. A  person who can nourish our body and soul. This encounter reshapes how we see ourselves as a person befriended into life.

When we witness our week we are called not to follow illusory ideas that cause us to follow every new "diet" that promises to satisfy us. We are called as St Paul says to the Ephesians to renewed in the goodness and holiness of the truth. So often we are informed about what the issue of the day that needs to be addressed for our good. Yet over the last week, we have recognized that instant media can feed us with counterfeit food. It can also lead us into conversations and debates that waste our time and dissipate our spirits. I think when we invite people to the table we need to choose carefully what it is that we consume. We live in a world that will fill us with good, bad, and the ugly all too quickly we can swallow it whole. Yet we are to be formed by a person who seeks us out for our good and the good of the whole world. This is where each time we gather for the Eucharist we are called to be transformed not just by the host we consume but the person who invites us to the table. We are to work for people who seek to live for the truth that renews us to be people of Good News. In encountering each day as a time blessed by the Lord we discover the person of Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 

Achieving little things with great love

 The next few weeks call us to reflect on the importance of our Eucharistic faith. This binds us closer to God and to each other. As we enter the scene, we see Jesus seeking to feed the five thousand from what appears to be very little. When asked to live our faith in a culture that values strength, achievement, and power, this can often be our reaction. We tend to stake our lives on externals rather than the gifts that we have on hand. Some doubts emerge about whether we have enough for the task entrusted to us. There can be a sense in which we pray for what we believe we need rather than praying about what we need. Thus our intentions focus on what we believe we need to finish the job at hand rather than praying on what God desires for us.

The focus on the immediate can overflow into our daily lives. We bounce from one activity to the next trying to cram more into our daily that is physically possible. We start to make impossible demands upon ourselves and upon others. Our lives seem to be so busy that we become intolerant of delay, failure, and ambiguity. Yet St Paul in his letter to the Ephesians promotes selflessness, gentleness, and patience. The need is to become people who seek to build people up rather than tear them down. We are called to be in the race together.

Over the next few weeks, we will witness the Olympics which brings together people from many nations. The aim is to seek to build up unity through friendly competition and respect. Yet we know that from the opening ceremony, it seems that respect was not present to those who see the Eucharist as the summit and source of our life. In an age where tolerance is valued, it is disappointing to witness how little respect the organizers of the opening ceremony had for how this may be viewed by people of faith. Over the next few weeks, we pray that our hearts and minds may be open to finding ways of witnessing to our faith in little ways with great love. 

Like Sheep without a shepherd

 We live in an age in which everyone has an opinion. We notice it almost every day when pundits and commentators seek to inform us of the day's issues. This constant stream of news can catch up in a wave that seems to carry us along with little time to reflect on where we might stand. It may also rob us of the inner freedom to consider what is most central both to our own life and the life of the community in which we are called to live. This barrage of noise can dissipate us and cause us to lose our way. We find it hard to listen to the small still voice that guides our hearts.

This is why we need to spend some time each day where we can listen to God through contemplation of scripture and a review of life. These are precious times when we need to log out of social media, turn off the radio or television, and put aside the magazine or newspaper that covers the latest hot topic. We need the time when our minds and hearts can rest can dive below the surface into the depths of our souls. This quieting presence allows us to be sustained in a world that can often seem chaotic and erratic. It helps us to be still and present what is most important for the moment.

When we emerge from these times of prayer it is possible to notice our own inner compass that gives us direction and purpose. It allows us to listen to the voice of God in daily life and attend to what is necessary not just what appears urgent. This saves us from wasting time on what is beyond our control or our influence. This allows us to seek to trim our sails and be guided in the way that leads to life. A life that shepherds us to be present to God in all that we are and all that we seek to do.

Take Nothing with you

 There is often a belief that Australians tend to overpack when they go on a trip. Especially when going overseas we seek to forsee whatever we may encounter along the way. We aim to cover the eventuality that we are aware of the climate in which we find ourselves. We can adopt this attitude, especially in times of uncertainty when we seek to predict what the future will hold. This can even be as simple as looking forward to the next weekend or seeking to secure a house or plan for our retirement.

Thus the gospel of the weekend seeks to disturb us that Jesus invites us to take just the clothes we are standing in on the trip we will make. This reliance on the providence of God for our immediate needs can surprise and confound us. This is not how the modern pace of life meets us because we are called to be prudent and risk-averse. Especially in an age where people are called to plan their financial future and are presented with cost of living pressures, this attitude seems to be reckless or foolhardy. Yet each day we face as it comes.

So how do we take this gospel to heart?  Jesus teaches us to meet others as people who already possess the wisdom and insight into our daily needs. This way of being seeks to provide what is needed for today. It shows how we can be present to God as we are not as we think we are. This way of being present allows us to focus on what is needed for today rather than being unreasonably worried about what the future may bring. This focus calls us to do what we can and not what we cannot do. It is not a way of avoiding our responsibilities to plan for the future but this is often dictated by what we can do in the present. We can only attend to what today may bring and allow God to guide us to make good choices.

Even in the darkest night God's light will shine

 Our prayer at times of trial can be particularly problematic as we can feel that God has abandoned us. A reaction can grow in the pit of our stomach, engulfing us with fear and trepidation that we must have done something wrong. This anxious sense can flood us with stories that can overflow into our minds and our hearts. We become nervous and flighty jumping at ghosts and becoming overwhelmed by the circumstances we are in. This is more than just a reaction to an external threat but rather our vulnerability to the picture that we paint.

Often this emerges in those restless nights when we toss and turn worried about how we will chart a safe course. Even when sleep seems to come we become besieged by strange dreams and phantoms that break like waves upon us. They capture us in bizarre movies and scripts that try to make sense out of nonsense. Sometimes they are so vivid that they wake us in fright and bathe us in sweat. They seem to be more real than reality itself.

Yet amid these stormy thoughts, we can become awakened to a God who calms the seas around us. There is an acknowledgment that this is where faith is born. The realization that God is with us even in our darkest night. By abandoning ourselves in trust to God's embrace we discover a God who as Theresa or Avila says writes straight with crooked lines!

The smallest seed!

 Often we are impressed by grand visions and measurable results. The Olympics usually carry this motto: faster, higher, stronger. We wonder if there is no limit to human endeavor and achievement. Yet for many of us, we sit back and marvel at the accomplishments of others so that we can speculate what impact we have on the world. The daily task of investing our time and talents in a particular project seems to be less noteworthy and remarkable. They don't grab the headlines and often seem to be taken for granted. Yet we are called to be present to God in planting seeds that can grow in ways that are not directly within our control but can be life-changing for others.

The parable of the mustard seed that Jesus tells seeks us to notice how we are called to be constantly planting seeds. Modern agriculture has discovered many ways to provide the best environment for a seed to grow and for it to achieve the best yield. The consequence of this persistent resolve of farmers and scientists is to act for the greater good of others and for the best care of the environment. We all benefit from their diligent work and for their faithfulness especially when we work with the vagaries of changes in the climate. They help us to see how the simple task of turning up each day makes a difference for a whole community.

I believe that our own persistence is similar to that of our Olympians in training and for those who work on the land. We are called to be faithful to our own talents entrusted to us by God. We are called to invest our gifts in good soil so that they can benefit the whole community. Each day the planting of these seeds bears a crop that benefits others not just ourselves. 

Why do I do what I do?

 Reflecting on the Gospel last weekend we can often feel that we have to justify what we do according to other people's perceptions. The passage from last Sunday brings this into sharp relief. Some believe that Jesus performs his miracles because he is in league with the devil and his own family who believe he is out of his mind! Mark does not hold back this sharp relief as they seek to portray who Jesus is based on their own perceptions rather than a personal encounter.  This is often contained in the metaphor that you can tell a book by its cover but in an age of marketing, we know this is not true. Often people seek to draw on our vulnerabilities by selling us on how our own inner struggles can be fixed by adopting a particular stance on life.

Yet Jesus challenges us to some deep inner work that seeks out what brings life and what holds our attention. This means that we need to avoid hiding our inner life away from God. We need to become accustomed to hearing God's voice when he walks through our garden. God seeks us out but we often fear our own nakedness and what to put on our best clothes that hide who we really are. We seek as Paul says to the Corinthians for those things that appear invisible. This internal search is not just to remove ourselves from the world but to seek how even when we are troubled, afraid or ashamed a person regards us as brother, sister and mother.

This is at the heart of the incarnational love of Jesus we do not need to wait to have our life in perfect order. In fact, Jesus meets us even when can be perceived as too busy to eat or care for ourselves because we seek to bring healing and relief to others. This is where we need to be transparent with God and ourselves about who we are and whose we are. This allows us time to focus on what is important so that we discover the will of God that wells up inside us. The sacred space where God is at the heart of all things.

Invited to the table

 Having just completed the Walk with Christ event in Sydney yesterday it gave me time to ponder how we are all called to become pilgrims. What stood out for me is how reverently people participated in this event and how it became a time of prayer where we stood in communion with each other. Archbishop Anthony Fisher spoke the following words that witness to how the Eucharist is central to our Catholic Faith.

"Communion with God and each other is not achieved by force of arms, by walking the corridors of power or wealth, by utilising spinners and influencers, by synods, negotiations or other human efforts. To unite us as His company or communion, Jesus gives us His substance in “Holy Communion”.

In 2022 the Plenary Council of Australia reaffirmed “the pre-eminent role of liturgical worship in the life of the Church” and pointed out that “our communal worship witnesses to unity and hope in a fractured world increasingly hostile to public acknowledgement of God”. Today you have very publicly acknowledged God. Today you have witnessed to unity and hope. The Plenary Council thought the time was ripe for “renewal in catechesis, formation and devotion to this Sacrament”. To that end, it reverberated our request and that of the Bishops Conference to the Holy Father “that the 2028 International Eucharistic Congress take place in Australia.”

This would allow for “a time of prayerful preparation for the People of God”. But how are we to prepare? The Plenary Council called on dioceses to “commit to planning and promoting communal public events that focus on the Eucharist, in service of forming Catholic belief, culture and identity. These might include feast day celebrations, Eucharistic processions and adoration, and the development and performance of music well-suited to worship.” Today, my dear friends, you have done as the Council asked and helped prepare this city and country for that event we devoutly hope Pope Francis will grant us in 2028.

My dear people, you have just proclaimed to our city the gift of redemption in Christ Jesus. Not through robust argument, clever rhetoric or special effects, but simply by Walking With Christ whom you love. You have formed a chavurah, a minyan, a communion, not of ten but more like ten thousand! Like a priest calling down the Spirit upon the elements of bread and wine to change them into Christ’s Body and Blood, you have exercised your priestly power as the baptised to call the Spirit down upon this city to change it into God’s kingdom. That His kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as in heaven, you brought Sydney our daily Bread, the Bread of Life. You proclaimed that Christ lives in our city, our communities, our hearts. He has given us His all, His very Body and Blood, all His substance and reality, all His spirit and grace, so no one would be left behind. Give Him your all in return!"(https://www.sydneycatholic.org/addresses-and-statements/2024/ferverino-for-benediction-after-walk-with-christ-3/)

Invited into a divine relationship

 There can often be difficulty in trying to understand how God relates to us daily. At the heart of the doctrine of the Trinity is the desire that is planted in every human heart to both comprehend and apprehend who God is. In our Christian understanding, we see God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is a relationship where we see a love relationship develop between the Father and the Son and between the Son and the Father through the Holy Spirit. We are caught up in that relationship through the Incarnational love of the Trinity that seeks to overflow into the whole of creation. This divine love notices how God is present in the dance, the dancer, and the dancing. 

Yet we can often struggle to see the reality of God in material terms. Thus we can personify elements of God in terms that we can understand. We want to see the face of God and live. Many artists and movie directors have sought to aid in recreating bible stories and the life of Jesus. Yet in many ways, each of these depictions only creates a door rather than a mirror of the divine reality. No image can encapsulate the whole of God. If we could grasp God in a particular image or likeness it would become an idol that recreates God in our own image and likeness. 

This is where we encounter God within ourselves through the room of self-knowledge. We often struggle to understand ourselves let alone understand God. Yet this desire for the infinite and the longing for a relationship draws us to a deeper appreciation of the whole of creation. This burning fire overflows into our day-to-day relationships and causes us to ponder how this love that sustains all things in being overflows into how we interact with each other. It calls us to be people who give thanks for how God is present in all things without making anything God. There is a glimpse of how God becomes present in the way we share our gifts and talents. It helps us to appreciate that spirit that sustains unity of purpose while also recognizing the diversity of charisms. God seeks to be at one with us so that we can be one with God.

Allowing the light to shine within us

 After 50 days we arrive at the end of Easter with the celebration of Pentecost. This celebration marks the birth of the Church not just as a physical entity but as a shift in the relationship between God and humanity. It is why Mary is often depicted in iconography as presiding over the birth of the Church just as she presided over the birth of Jesus. This significant moment allows us to ponder more deeply where the light of Christ is called to shine out from within us to set the world on fire with the love of God.

It is poignant that after this particular season, we extinguish the light of Christ that has been focused on the Paschal Candle. The Paschal Candle is only relit at baptism to mark how we are born into Christ through the waters of baptism and how at a funeral we are born into eternity through our own dying to self. The light of Christ is extinguished externally because the light of Christ is called to burn deep within us and transform us from the inside out.

This is at the heart of the passage from the Act of the Apostles 2.1-43. In this reading we seek to hear the voice of God addressed to us in a language we can understand and appropriate. This prayerful listening helps to unlock the wellspring of God's grace within us. The sense of renewal and rebirth can gush forth powerfully in a way that often amazes and surprises us. The descent of the Holy Spirit is not scheduled on our timeline but on God's initiative. 

As we see this allows us to be open to the teachable moment where Peter reechoes the work of Scripture contained in the words of the prophet Joel.  The reality is that in the person of Jesus, we see the law and the prophets fulfilled. Drawing on the Davidic proclamation that we are called to be glad in celebrating the reign of God within us.  This teachable moment touches both our minds and our hearts in welcoming this Good News.

This proclamation is to be shared in the way we live by sharing what we hold in common. Allowing us to break bread with each other and share generously with those in greatest need. The reality is that we are called to be at one with each other so that we can be at one with God.

This is at the heart of synodality as we listen to the voice of God in our own age. It allows us to become teachable in discovering who we are called to become in Christ. Then to provide pathways that most easily allow the Gospel to be witnessed in our own time.

Go out to all the world, proclaim the Good News to all creation

 The missionary impulse to tell the Good News is not confined within the walls of our Churches but seeps out into the whole of the created universe. Often we can become comfortable in familiar environments and beautiful places designed for worship. Yet I remember being present in York Minster Cathedral in  December, amidst a snowstorm. The yellow light created through the stained glass, and illuminated this sacred place in a way that was hard to describe. It was like being enveloped in a golden pall that sustained me in a deeper appreciation of God's goodness.

It is these moments of grace where creation seems to shine through our lives' windows to appreciate our salvation. Creation is that unwritten Gospel that speaks in a language echoed by poets, musicians, and artists. Yet even these cannot contain the reality of who God is for us. We need to discover and believe in something greater than ourselves. This is the God whose love initiates all that brings life into our world and hearts.

In our modern age, we can see belief poisoned by demons who seem to corrupt and pervert what was created to sustain all life. It takes people of many languages to raise our voices in a common language that renews and recreates our environment. It calls us not to be afraid of what seems to poison or corrupt us but to discover ways that bring healing to our world. This common language is not to deify creation but to recognize our common call to be stewards of the life entrusted to us.

The Good News we are called to proclaim does not place us at the heart of creation but God who seeks to sustain all life. This is especially important in how we walk gently on our earth rather than seeing us at war with nature. Like St Francis, we are called to seek a communion with God that engages us with the whole of creation as a gift and not as our private possession. That helps us to engage with the gift of creation and the work of human hands. We are called to be people of thanksgiving who sustain this gift in how we seek to be present to God and each other. We are called to rejoice in how we live not just consume the life gifted to us. To proclaim with our lives what we witness in our hearts.

How do we choose our friends?

 In an age where it is possible to know people from around the world who can be in contact with us instantly, it is hard to distinguish between a friend and an acquaintance. This is especially true when people can become virtual friends through the challenges of AI. We can start to notice how friendships may be built around how much people like our posts or the number of times they view our photos. Admittedly, the gift of friendship applications is that they keep us connected with each other in lives that are occupied by many things. Yet they can also burden us by substituting online interactions with deep and lasting friendships where we know the person more than just knowing about what they are doing.

The challenge of the Gospel is that Jesus doesn't just want a passing friendship with us. He actually engages with us even when we are not ready to be chosen. In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that the Holy Spirit is poured out on believers and non-believers alike. The one attitude to life is that they are listening to what is right and what brings meaning to their lives. This attentive listening is often referred to in modern terminology as mindfulness. Yet it is not just seeking out a good for ourselves but rather a more radical sense that is willing to go the extra mile for others even to be extent of giving our lives for them.

This outpouring of love is most radically expressed by Jesus in his passion, especially in the Garden of Gethsemane. I find this the most profound place of love because it demonstrates the internal struggle that we share in recognizing our human limitations and our divine calling. God chooses us to love others not because of some remarkable talent or superhuman gift but rather because God sees our fundamental ability to share our lives for the good of another.

Each day we witness how people lay down their lives for others: parents for their children; children for their aging parents; first responders who rush into harm's way and even those little courtesies that make room for the other. Jesus places a radical call on our hearts to see that our friendship is not just skin deep but rather speaking in a language we can all understand. God chooses us to be known and remain in that love.

Be not afraid

 Traveling back to Sydney on Saturday afternoon, I reflected on the ordination of the two young men to the priesthood and a gathering of Cursillistas at a country retreat centre. Both were joyful encounters where people gathered to celebrate the risen Christ who seeks to bring life and hope to our world. Amid these occasions, we were all shocked by the senseless murder of innocent shoppers in the Bondi Junction shopping centre. We pray for those who lost their lives, for those who are recovering from the injuries they suffered, and for the families who seek to support them. We pray for the first responders and the many brave people who sought to support people traumatized by this event. Then just as we sought to make sense of this tragedy we heard of the fresh attacks arising in the Middle East. This seems to be a never-ending story of violence and retribution that haunts us still.

Yet amid these stories of violence and senseless killing, we witness Jesus enter the upper room and proclaim peace be with you. This paradox of his presence addresses our deeper fears that we are doomed to death and destruction. There is a fear that we can become isolated in our upper room when the eddies of destructive fear whirl around us. Jesus helps to recognize that the resurrection is actually an encounter with the divine person who seeks to share life with us. This is not an abstract concept but rather a real encounter with the person who can bring hope to our world. Who holds out the promise of reconciliation and forgiveness. This seems almost impossible to be true yet it is what we are called to witness in our lives.

Thus on Sunday morning, we gathered at St Mary's Cathedral to pray for the unborn and to witness the sanctity of life in the March for Life to NSW parliament. The gospel speaks to us that in the face of a culture of death that seeks to make the weakest and most vulnerable voiceless we are called to proclaim a culture of life that cares for them. This often means entering into the messiness of life where people confront the issues of suffering, isolation, and death. Yet we witness many Christian people who accompany these vulnerable people to make choices not just for themselves but for people placed in their care. Good stewardship is found in supporting women who have difficult pregnancies, providing palliative care for those at the last stage of life, and providing shelter to those who seek refuge and protection. As a culture, we are called to inculturate the Gospel in our current age by proclaiming that Jesus is Risen. The proclamation is made in the concrete events of our daily lives. Bringing healing to those whose lives have been torn apart and forgiveness that sends to reconcile broken hearts.

Doubt and Belief

 We live in a skeptical age where everything is questioned and everyone is believed! This paradox of thinking and trusting in the goodness of another seems to be disturbed each day. Who speaks the truth confronts us at every turn. We look for vested interests and no longer take things at face value. This can breed a certain cynicism that distrusts everything and everyone which is unhealthy for the individual or the community in which they live. Yet we see so many examples of how power can be misused, where influence can mislead and opinion can misrepresent. This is almost our constant fair that we are fed through our media, our conversations, and our reflections.

Yet amid this confusion and uncertainty we meet the risen Christ with all our living questions. We seek life to be different but do not want to invest our belief in another blindly. We need to experience it with our own eyes and our own hearts. Into this scene walks Thomas who seems to ask the most plausible of questions, unless I see it for myself and touch the reality I refuse to believe. I think we can all have a heart for Thomas as he is called to touch the living heart of Jesus. We live in a very material age where we are called to touch the reality of what is true. There is a hunger to understand and experience things for ourselves. We know how easy it is for our lives to be manipulated for the interests of another that we have a longing to experience it for ourselves. It is the discovery of being present to what is real.

This is at the heart of our Easter journey because unlike Thomas we are called to believe without seeing and touching the wounds of Christ. However, we know that the wounds that Jesus experienced can be discovered even in our own age. The innocent suffer, people are unjustly condemned, people can be exploited for what they have not for who they are, and we are confronted with the reality of evil almost daily. It would be easy to lose heart and retreat into our own castles. Jesus, however, liberates us from what imprisons us. Jesus seeks to meet us with compassion that touches our fears and our doubts. It is this radical honesty that allows us to see our questions in a new light. It calls us to meet Jesus as the risen Lord who frees us to live a new life. A life that takes our questions seriously but transforms them into a compassionate life of belief. It calls for our minds and hearts to be in sync with each other. No longer are we abandoned to our own devices but we discover Jesus who listens to our inmost prayers. He enters into that locked room and offers us peace to touch his wounds. May we trust in him who can even appear in the places where we try to shut out the world. In that place where we discover who we are called to be for the good of the world.

The scandal of the cross and the shock of the empty tomb!

 The preparations for the Easter Triduum are entering their final stages and we are called to ponder how we enter into the central part of the Kerygma of Jesus Christ. The fact that God cares so much for us that he is willing to undergo suffering and death so that we may experience resurrection. This seems to run contrary to our expectations of God in that we seem to encounter one on the cross who seems powerless, poor and destitute. This is not how we would want God to be. We would much prefer a God who appears powerful, wealthy and in control. This is the scandal of the Cross that changes how we relate to God and how we pray. No longer are we relating to a God who holds us at arm's length but rather a God who holds us close in our suffering, pain and uncertainty? When we encounter God in this way it changes our own way of living because we experience a level of intimacy that does not abandon us and leave us to our own devices.

Yet we know this is only half the story. The Paschal mystery does not end on Calvary but draws us into a deeper silence. The profundity of this experience is that we are rendered speechless when everybody else seeks to explain what happened. This way of being led into what appears darkness shows us that even in the darkest night his light may shine. We are called to wait upon the Lord in places where we feel afraid and uncomfortable with what may come next. The experience of the echoes of the empty tomb seem to match our own when we have lost someone we loved who has died. There is an aloneness that no one else can fill and we long to be filled. Yet this loving emptiness allows us the opportunity to make space for the Risen Lord. It is the place where we can surrender ourselves to a God who brings a deeper appreciation of what brings faith, hope and charity at the centre of our living.

In an age where we seem to be scandalised by the trivial and consumed by so many things these three days allow us to ponder who God is calling us to become. We are called to enter into the mystery of Christ who sustains us even in our deepest fears and in our greatest uncertainties to build a world that is not our own. God draws us closer and loves us more deeply than we can imagine. God allows us to live in a new way.