Remember!

One of the hardest things in life is going to the funeral of a person who has loved us and whom we have loved. Even when a person’s death is expected it is never easy and we can come with all sorts of mixed emotions. We feel the loss and the numbness inside which we cannot quite put into words but we are also embraced by the words of those who mourn with us. The support of a community is vitally important not just because we hold a person up in prayer but also people need to witness to the prayer that has legs, in the people who gather with us. This silent and powerful presence allows us to know that we are not alone in our grief.

The funeral service allows us to pay respect to the living and to the person who has died. It helps us to be reassured that through a Christian community that our life has a value to others. It allows us to farewell a person with dignity and to assist them on their final journey with our prayers. I think the hardest thing about the funeral are all the questions which we are left to ponder afterward when our conversation is filled with the silence of that loss which no one else can replace. We look for tangible reassurance that they are remembered. This is why during the month of November we remember all those who have died and as they have been close to our hearts, that they may be close to the heart of God.

Being present as I am not as others think I should be!

There can be a natural tendency to look at a person’s faults and to emphasize the errors they have made in life. The difficulty with this approach is that it magnifies our failures while ignoring the moments of grace that can transform a person’s life. These moments of grace are not immediately obvious because we can become so accustomed to a person’s story or our way of perceiving that person that we are no longer open to change either within ourselves or within that person. Zacchaeus was well known within the community as a wealthy person but also an awareness that this was achieved at the expense of others. No wonder people were muttering behind his back when Jesus went to stay with him for supper. How could Jesus not know what this person was like? Yet this is the point, he did and still he wanted to eat and drink with this person. Faith is not a popularity contest it calls for the person to encounter God as they are and as they are they can be transformed and be present to others. Faith has this profound combination of private conversion and public witness. Our faith is deeply personal and communal. It calls us to grow in our personal relationship with God and with each other which demonstrates how our faith transforms us and the communities in which we live. It is no longer just about my own private salvation but how God reaches to others through being present as I am.

Lord Jesus Christ, Have mercy on me a sinner

There can be times when we can treat our prayer as though it was a frequent flyers card. We can see it as clocking up prayer miles rather than strengthening of a relationship with God. This is evident about this weekend’s gospel which compares the Pharisee with the publican. The Pharisee basically lists out a whole list of activities he has undertaken to live a faithful life but he misses out on one essential element, being receptive to the merciful heart of God. The Publican, on the other hand, puts no claims on God but simply presents himself as a person in deep need of God’s mercy. In many ways, he is no different to all of us. None of us can make claims on God to love us more or less. God simply reaches out to embrace and love us. On our part, we just need to be present to that love, which can engage us far more than we imagine or think that we deserve. This is not about making ourselves right in the sight of God but echoing the words of what has been commonly known as the Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner”. 

Be persistent and consistent!

Do we find God or does God find us? This is often the dilemma which can confront us when we seek to live our faith in the world, do we reach out to God or does God reach out to us? Living a faithful life is not beyond our reach. It does call us, however, to be consistent and persistent in being open to the promptings of God. Ultimately, this is about becoming a person who is present to the promptings of God. It calls us to become the message we seek to proclaim. We become a living word formed by God. Our lives are called to be sacramental in the way we encounter Jesus Christ in each other. The same reverence we show to Jesus in the reception of the sacraments is called to also be present in the way we receive and listen to others. It also calls us to recognise the importance of scripture as the Living Word. This is not just an add-on to our sacramental encounter with the person of Jesus Christ. When we listen to scripture we learn how to be guided in our lives to become holy and to avoid what diminishes us. This is why we should be as hungry to listen to the Word as we are to receive Eucharist. At the heart of the prayer of the people gathered is the need to listen to that Word and to allow it to be received and proclaimed by our lives.

Open our hearts to gratitude

God listens to our prayers not as a disinterested observer but as an active participant in our lives. He seeks what is for our good and what is within our reach. The lepers who approach Jesus are given a simple instruction to go and present themselves to the priest. In this turning around of their lives, they discover healing. However, healing is never just for the person concerned but for the community of which they are a part. Often the healing is twofold it is not only a physical healing but also a social healing, The people who were held at arm's length and excluded from the community were brought back into communion. The same is true of us we are called to be people who are able to welcome back those who have experienced exclusion. There is also a sense of gratitude in the person for this healing which is not an artificial response but a heartfelt liberation of the person to give praise to God. In this way, we do not treat God like a slot machine or an atm. God calls us into a living relationship which liberates us to praise him with our lives.