Who we are is what we see!

When we go to the doctor it is usually either for a general check-up or because we are starting to notice symptoms which either cause us pain or discomfort. The better we are able to describe these symptoms, the better the doctor is able to diagnose what it happening. Yet the most important thing is how we respond to the diagnosis and what questions we need to ask. How we become present to our own health concerns helps us to become involved and engaged in the process of receiving appropriate treatment. It helps us to know that our health touches on physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of our lives. The ability to work holistically with the people who provide us health care can produce a good outcome.

In a similar way, our spiritual health calls us to be present as a whole person. Advent is not just a time for confessing sins, hoping that the chaff will be burnt away, it is a time for a review of life which looks below the surface and seeks to listen to the voice of God. This is not just a time to go through the motions but to seek out what God is calling us to. Reconciliation is not simply about squaring ourselves away with God but a deeper call to produce the fruits of the sacrament we receive. It calls us to open our lives to God’s grace in a way which does not just take notice of the symptoms which distance us from God and from each other. This calls us to allow God to enter into our own hearts so that we can see our lives differently.

Often we focus on what we want more than what God wants, we can easily miss the mark. God wants us to go to the heart of the matter. A relationship which can sustain us and helps us to grow closer together in faith. By seeking to be reconciled with God helps us in our reconciliation with others and inside ourselves. It helps us to become people who are more open to God’s grace which seeks to heal and reconcile all of our humanity. By showing our willingness to renew our faith in reconciliation, to become less cynical and chastened by our own coarseness, we open our hearts to become disciples. May the peace of Christ disturb you!

Christ has a plan, do you?

We know that this is the beginning of Advent and we start planning for Christmas. There are gifts to buy, cards to be sent, meals to be prepared and guests to be invited. In the midst of the preparations we also attend pre-Christmas functions, which look back to celebrate the year and to say thank you. Yet with all these celebrations how do we prepare to receive the person of Christ in our midst. This is very much the focus of this weekend’s readings if we do not pause and reflect that the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.  This seems counterintuitive. We know when Christmas Day is and we plan accordingly. Yet the important part of these celebrations is that we allow Christ to meet us. Just as we are called to be Bush Fire ready we need to alert and aware of how we are called to meet Christ each day. Christ has a plan, do you? By setting aside some time at the beginning and end of the day we can prepare and reflect on where God is at work in our lives. It helps us to be attentive to seeing Christ in the people we meet and in the things we do. It allows us to be receptive to those graced moments where Christ is present. 

Who is our King?

The desire to give our lives for the good of others is at the heart of the call of servant leadership. It runs counter to many other forms of leadership which seeks to gain power, position or success for the person. At the heart of Jesus’ leadership, we see a person who seemed powerless, whose life seemed to end in failure and whose position on the cross stands in sharp contradiction to all that we seem to admire in others who lead us. The cross casts a long shadow over our civilisation and our world. It calls us to consider what truly matters in life and how we are called to find eternal value in what we seek to become.

At the heart of this year we have sought to discover the mercy which was at the heart of Jesus’ life. It calls us to discover how we are called to become people, who open up our hearts to God by opening our hearts to each other. This is not just by working harder and longer hours but by adopting an attitude to others which is truly merciful. This seeks to discover how we become a people who take reconciliation seriously. This is not just by an individualistic view of forgiveness but a genuine desire to surrender our lives over to God who calls to make us disciples of mercy. We cannot simply be saved by our own efforts but allowing ourselves to bear our own wounds, which are transformed by Jesus life, death and resurrection. We are called to allow Christ to become our King.

The End is Nigh?

When we read in the news about growing tensions around the world, natural disasters, the results of a highly divisive election, the suffering of people in Mosul and Aleppo, people drowning at sea and the rattling of sabres between countries we naturally become afraid. These events quite naturally can have a direct impact on our thinking and on how we act. We can start to overemphasise how our salvation depends more on ourselves than on the Kerygma of Jesus Christ. It is easy to become distracted about events beyond our control and beyond our reach. The one thing that we need to do is the work that God has entrusted us with and gifted us to do.

The call of the Gospel calls us not to be afraid. In fact, these words are often repeated when Jesus speaks to his disciples. When our lives are driven or controlled by fear we are either paralysed into inaction or reaction. Our lives are no longer our own. Our prayer can try to be manipulative of God. We seek what we want and proclaim what we want to hear rather than listen to God in the silence of our hearts. Our response should always be one which seeks to heal, reconcile and proclaim that the Kingdom of God is very near to us. It is how we live and breathe the Holy Spirit in a troubled world.