Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me!

One of the common sites in Sydney is seeing people who are homeless and living by their wits on the streets. Our encounters with them can vary depending on what we see and what we don't see. An initial reaction can be what do they want from me, which can be quickly followed by many questions and even judgements which are raised in our minds and in our hearts. So often we can walk by with a blank expression on our faces pretending not to see or preferring not to acknowledge their presence. They can easily become a non-person and even when the cry out we would prefer it if they kept quiet.

Yet in the Gospel, Jesus calls the blind beggar to him and responds to his deeper cry that he may see again. I think this is a challenge for us as Jesus allows the person to be treated with dignity and respect. He looks beyond the fact that he is begging by the road and even the fact that the crowd is trying to silence him. He wants the person to ask for what he can do for him. This seems like an obvious question but is one that we are reluctant to ask maybe because we have already presumed the answer. We may have become jaded by regularly encountering the same person whose life does not seem to change. Yet there may be a challenge for us to acknowledge the person and even if we do not give them money at least to give them the benefit of our presence for a short time. By knowing them and they know us we can discover that our lives have a value which cannot be measured in money. Our presence makes a difference for the times when we cry out with the same voice, "Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me!"

Tempted in every way that we are but did not sin!

There is always a temptation to ask for grace from God on our terms. We become used to asking for things that we believe will make all the difference in the world. The central temptation seems to be put ourselves in the place of God rather than allowing our lives to be in communion with God. Over the last few weeks I have been reflecting on the difference between proximity to Holy things and closeness to the Holy. Proximity can be measured and can be acknowledged by how many times we go to Mass, whether we say our prayers, whether we give money to charities and how we spend our time during the day. All of these are good things and are ways which can assist us to discover a closeness to God but they cannot substitute for an actual experience of that closeness.

The essential difference is whether we are working for Jesus or walking with him. I know this may sound like a broken record but I believe this is central to growing in a relationship of holiness and wholeness. When we want to walk with Jesus we see as what he has to say to us as important, we value his presence and we start to shape our days by what he sees as being life-giving for us. We become what he hopes for us and we start to encounter him in others and in the places where we live. It also gives the way we use our time a deeper meaning whether it is at work or play. This is an encounter of deep and lasting friendship where he desires the best for us.

This also changes how we exercise leadership which is not through force or authority over others but rather through a deeper love and engagement in what is good for them. We have become so used to seeing power being devolved from the top down that we are surprised to find that power actually comes from the bottom up. It is from those we consider powerless, insignificant and irrelevant that we are called to hear the voice of God emerge. Those who appear 'far away' from the seats of power.  When we listen to God he helps us to see that it is those without a voice who echo most deeply his desire for us. This is a call to draw the best out of us so that we do not fill up the deep emptiness inside us with power, prestige and stuff! Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you!

What would we stake our life on?

Over the last week, we have witnessed some of the controversies of advertising a prestigious horse race on the side of the Opera House. The question has not just been around gambling but how we use a central icon of Australian culture which is recognised around the world. What do we consider of adding value to our lives and what do we consider central to the way we live them. It would seem quite natural that we consider what are the foundations for our lives and what draws us into relations with others.

We can become very used to valuing who we are by what we own. In fact, this is the dilemma faced by the rich young man. Do we value things first and people second. There can often be a tendency to judge those who have nothing as lazy and lacking motivation to change their lives. Yet Jesus calls us to look at how our attitudes to others and to ourselves need to be in harmony in looking at how we use the resources that are entrusted to us. Do we believe that people are doing the best with what they have received as Brene Brown asks in her book "Rising Strongly"? If we believe that our wealth is solely our own rather than a gift from God then we will tend to be very demanding about what we expect from others. We can hold them at arm's length and distance ourselves from them. 

However, if we believe that each person is made in the image and likeness of God then we need to seek ways in which they can experience our lives as having eternal value. This then calls us to use our resources in a way which recognises that value of every human life and indeed the value of the whole of creation. This fosters an attitude which shifts our focus on external wealth towards internal wealth. This is more about what we seek to become rather than what we seek to own. In shifting our attention on to what lies at the heart of all things we start to notice that our attitude to humanity also shifts. We start to develop a sense of hospitality, generosity and thanksgiving which opens up our hearts and our behaviour to the presence of others. We do see that the central principle should not be about safety and security but rather a vulnerability which allows us to make connections with people more than things. In this, we join with the psalmist who prays, "Fill us with your love, O Lord, and we will sing for joy!"

Let the little ones come to me!

I have been reflecting during the week on the various feasts that have occurred: Therese of Lisieux, Guardian Angels and Francis of Assisi. The common theme in each of these saints is the way that Gospel inverts our priorities and looks at the value of every human life. The emphasis seems to be on being simple, being loving and being hospitable. In making room for others which the world seems common and ordinary we discover how God reaches out in friendship with us. He wants to present to us in what can appear mundane and every day rather in the successful and the spectacular. God desires to encounter us in our daily realities which call us to open our hearts and our lives to the call that brings hope and joy to our world.

The disciples were rebuked because they tried to keep those who wanted to approach God directly and to be touched by the person of Jesus. This may be the most difficult aspect of the Sexual Abuse crisis that besets us. There is a desire to ensure that children are both safe and loved. They need to discover a God who reaches out to them and trusts his life to them. In fact, I sometimes reflect it is the places where this trust has been broken by clergy and those in authority are not just criminal but demonic. Much of what we see in the Royal Commission contains important recommendations that ensure that our Churches are places which help to safeguard the most vulnerable but also provide a place where they can encounter God in their brokenness. These recommendations point to the reality that no one can be considered to able to minister on their own without the support of a community. In fact, when we try to go it alone we find ourselves becoming judgemental and alienated from each other.  This is why we also need to provide the structures which allow the Good News to be most easily lived. 

Yet I fear that structures alone will not do it alone unless we have a spirituality which enables us to confront the evils within and the evils without. The call to prayer is not just a placebo to make us feel good but rather an encounter with the living God. This means that we need to be honest in our prayer about what we truly need and what God truly desires. Sometimes it can seem that we play hide and seek with God or that he plays hide and seek with us. We look for God in all the familiar places where we have been discovered before and then at times come away disappointed that God seems to have moved on. Yet God also pursues us to find out where we have hidden and put on a disguise so that he cannot recognise us. We need to discover our God not just in the places where the light shines but also in the shadowlands where we hide away that which we would rather not see. Yet in bringing it before the person of Jesus we discover it is He who can transform what seems impossible and dark within us. He calls out that we may not be lost, afraid or forsaken. The call of the Gospel is that he seeks to meet us in our daily lives and in the environment in which we live. He desires most deeply for us to come to him in our simplicity, our every day loving and hospitality. God desires to be at home with us without airs and graces. They call us to be more human, more Christian and more present with our whole lives. Our Christian Vocation is not just a job to be fulfilled but a journey to be walked.  It is this spirituality which is assisted by the saints I mentioned earlier. May St Francis, Our Guardian Angels and St Therese of Lisieux prayer for us.