How do we use our time and money?

With the Feast of the Epiphany approaching we are able to notice how the wise men lay down their gifts at the feet of Jesus. What I particularly notice about this story is not just their generosity but also their gentleness to give thanks to God in the place they had not expected to visit. They had thought that their wisdom and knowledge would have been acknowledged in the halls of the powerful but instead were led to a stable. They thought that their gifts would win them favor by appearing appropriate to celebrate the birth of a King yet they found that they knelt at a crib. They thought that they would do the most appropriate and relevant thing but found that they need to return home by a different way never to be heard of again. The urge to be powerful, spectacular and relevant can linger in our own hearts. Yet often we find that we can appear powerless, ordinary and mundane. We do not have all the answers but we can seek to live the question of where do we find Christ in our everyday lives?

The three gifts that we bring before God each day are our money, our treasure and our concerns. This may seem pretty obvious but our bank accounts, our diaries and our priorities shape who we become and what we consider important. They are a visible record of who we are becoming and what we notice. Then can be a useful guide to observing what we say is important and how we actually place the emphasis of our lives. They become a theological statement of how God is present at the heart of our lives and who we truly follow. Each day presents the opportunity to notice what is enlivening our hearts or what is consuming us. We do are called to live our lives in a way which allows us to centre on the direction that God wishes us to follow.  We discover that our lives can be Good News for ourselves and for others. We start to become aware of how God shapes our world and invites our response in a way which seeks faith, hope and love.

My thoughts at this time go out to the many communities who have been effected by bush fires. I am very conscious of the fires on the  coast of  Victoria and New South Wales. Having lived through the fires that ravaged Canberra in 2003 I am aware of not just the immediate impact of loss of homes but also the trauma which lingers longer than the smoke.  The devastation that has occured around Lake Conjola, Mallacoota, Batemans Bay, Mogo and Cobargo is hard to comprehend. The rebuilding of infrastructure and the rebuilding of lives go hand in hand. The next week will not be easy as many of the things we take for granted like shelter, power, food, and water will need to be reestablished. We pray for those men and women who often perform this work often unseen and in difficult circumstances. We pray for their safety and for the communities they serve. Often it is this dedication which defines the human spirit to live your life for others. May we all be able to notice that our lives are built on a solid foundation of seeking out the good in all things especially when immediate circumstances can seem to render us powerless. As we enter into 2020 may we review where we spend our money and time which indicate what we consider most important.

Resolutions

After Christmas we have time to review what is important in our lives. So often we seem to be driven by what is urgent. This can cause us to wonder what direction our lives are taking. What do we consider most important for the way we live. I think this is the essential starting point for any new resolution. How we would like to be gives substance to what we focus on. 

So these may be some suggestions for the next few days as we approach the new year. Spend some time each day considering what fills us with life and hope? Where do we find ourselves undertaking something we love doing? How do our lives encourage others to be their best? Where do we notice God at work in our lives and in the life of our community?

When we look at these questions what we decide to focus on each day is more than just achieving a goal but rather discovering who we are called to be. May this year be blessed and guided by a God who seeks us out. To discover that we can be open to God in all things.

So many signs!

Around the world our attention is drawn to what is happening in our immediate neighbourhood. Whether it is particular natural disasters like bush fires or floods, local protests or even just the difficulties of daily life it all seems like bad news. It is easy to see how people can become beset by events which seem to be out of control and why our focus becomes on solving our immediate needs. We want to discover why these things are happening and what we can do to solve our current troubles. This immediacy can start to influence how we live our lives which can become more food to mouth. We look at what we help us to survive one more day rather than looking at what will feed us for a lifetime.
Yet at Christmas we are called to see our world differently. This is not that Jesus was born outside of the daily problems of life. After all the reason why Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem was to meet the requirements of a Census. They knew the difficulties of travel often through hostile territories and what it was to leave everything familiar behind to travel to a new land. Yet in spite of all these difficulties they discovered that they were called to see things differently. To discover how God is with us and does not just abandon us to our own devices. God actually encounters us in our fears and wants us to discover that our lives have eternal value.
This does not remove us from the world but is does allow us to see our world differently. It does not ignore the difficulties of life but it does help us to seek a God who seeks us. The sense where our lives have a deeper meaning which calls us to work with each other for the good of all. The sign of Jesus entering into life out of poverty, in a world beset by a loss of hope and doubting everything calls us to be renewed by a spirit of charity which recognizes that our lives are not of just striving for the immediate wants of today but rather a seeking of what we truly desire. The person of Jesus comes to our lives when we least expect it and transform them for good. May the peace of Christ disturb us!

Watch and Act

With all the smoke and raging bush fires surrounding Sydney, Brisbane and many of our regional centres, the impact on daily life has been sorely felt. This is not only waking up to a day when we can't clearly see the sun or when we feel oddly out of sorts as we struggle with the effects of the inhalation of the smoke. There is a sense in which our anticipation for Christmas seems to be postponed or put on hold as we consider what is going to happen at this moment. We are called to be on alert and to have a plan about what will happen if the fire comes too close. If we leave where will we go where we know we will be safe? If we stay are we fully prepared to fight the fire? These are life-changing choices which need to be carefully considered not just for ourselves but for those we care about.

So in this context how are we called to watch and act when the fires do not threaten us? There is a necessity that we do understand our environment in which we live and the fragility of our own lives. This does not mean we are called to live in fear of creation but rather to consider how we do not live apart from creation. We are called to be people who act responsibly not just for the moment but also for every moment. There is a need to recognise that we are gifted with the place we live not just for ourselves only but so that we can be stewards who are able to pass it on to future generations. This allows us to understand the simple ways in which we can care for the environment and care for each other which sustains all life.

As we notice Christmas is different in Australia. Whereas in traditional scenes it would be raining snow here it has been raining ash. Yet in the face of such contradictions, we are called to encourage each other and reach out to each other. We pray with and for the firefighters who have faced overwhelming situations with great courage, skill and resilience. We pray for those who have lost their homes that they may find a place of welcome which will help them to rebuild shattered dreams. We pray for our politicians and public servants that they may have wisdom in guiding people to act in the common good. We pray for ourselves that our fears may not overwhelm us and that our hopes may transform us into people who bear witness to Christ with our lives.

Prepare the way

The immanence of Christmas can cause us to start to plan with the end in mind. Our activity while being focussed on that event can distract us from what is happening at the moment. The preparations can all seem present to something that has not yet happened but which we anticipate. It is in this sense of anticipation that we can miss the everyday events which make the journey worthwhile. When we hurry towards the destination we can forget who we are travelling with and why we are seeking to arrive there quickly. Maybe it is time to hasten slowly!
Each day is not just to be struck off the calendar as one day less to go. We are called to see what is happening within us as we search for who we long for. What brings meaning and substance to our life? This is a time where we can look at what Christmas and the coming of the Christ child mean for us. What is it that we are looking for and how do we see ourselves more clearly?
With John the Baptist this is a time when we are called to notice what holds our attention and whether this assists us along the way. We are called to be people who are open to the promptings of God and to let go of the things that bind us too strongly. May we become people who travel lightly and freely towards God. May the joy which rises in our hearts disturb us with a peace the world cannot give.

Beginning at the end

We start the first Sunday in the same way we finished the liturgical year. We are called to be aware and awake of how God is present to us in our daily lives. This can be especially important as we journey towards Christmas. The season of Advent often becomes lost in a relentless sense of activity which seeks to wrap up the year with attention to exterior activities. I start to lose myself in attending to expectations and pressures which call me to attend to things that seem to be outside our control. It could be as simple as trying to find a car parking spot close to the place we will make our next shopping expedition. It can be the dilemma of knowing who we should send cards to and whether are greetings are truly heartfelt for the good of the person. There can be a variety of pressures which cause us to overcommit and overspend.

What may be a useful practice is to consider where the Word of God is called to read our lives. Maybe as a small group or even on our way to work, we can listen to how God wants to plant seeds in our hearts. This allows us to make room for the variety of ways in which God wishes to greet us along the way. It may allow us to pray for the person for whom we will shop or send a card. The consideration that allows our hearts to become attentive and alert to what is happening rather than what we think should happen. It calls us to allow the opportunity to notice what will bring life.

Then at the end of each day, we can review our lives to see what brings life and what overwhelms us. By attending to what is happening in the everyday. By allowing how God meets us disguised as our lives we notice how we always begin at the end!

Who will lead us to the truth?

This weekend we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. In a world where the idea of the monarchy has diminished to a ceremonial role and leadership is found in the form of democracy, dynastic rule or in the cult of personality we can lose sight of who we are called to become in Christ. The form of leadership that is put forward talks about being in power, being spectacular and being relevant. The focus moves off the office and onto the person occupying the office. We are then bombarded by opinion polls which tells us to the degree to which that person's leadership is acceptable rather than a consideration of how they are called to be at service. When this focus shifts significantly we start to recognise that no one person can fulfil all our desires which are beyond their human capacity to achieve in their own lifetime!

It is against this reflection on leadership that we start to notice how Christ leads from the midst of people and their everyday lives. He seeks us out first that we may discover the truth of who we are called to become. The Kingdom is not something to be discovered and established outside of ourselves but rather a gentle invitation to be at home with him and him at home with us. This desire to enter under our own roof as we so often hear at the time of communion is a recognition that we are worth the effort. This means Jesus meets us in our failures as much as our successes, in our sickness as much as in our health, in our wealth and in our poverty. This meeting is not just focused on our circumstances but on the heart of our life which meets us with an intense desire to be present in all things and in all situations.

So in our own time what is the leadership we seek? Many issues seem to come to the fore as things which compete for our attention. Even over the last week, the relationship to the environment we live has been debated and many have called for fresh vision and insight. We hear many competing voices which speak about the information about how the climate is changing and we struggle to respond in a way which balances our own needs with the impact that we do have on the world around us. In many cases, the emphasis is on how our intervention is needed to provide remedies to a world which has the perception of falling outside our control. However, I believe that the leadership that is needed is to recognise that we are called to be stewards of creation not masters of the universe. We are not called to dominate the world around us and conquer it by force to bend to our will. Rather we need to listen to how our we are called to become at one with each other and with God in cooperating with the natural world. We are called to be co-creators with God. Since we have received all things as a gift we should treasure what has been entrusted to us. Not to be exploited solely for our own ends but rather used wisely with respect for all creation of which we are part.

A rule of life

We live in a world where the opinions of others matter deeply. We can become fascinated by the latest developments whether they be about finance, politics, fashion or sport. Part of the fascination can be motivated by a deep interest in a particular aspect of life and how it can help us to give expression to who we are. Yet too often the opinions can just become chatter which prevents us from becoming more deeply engaged either with the person who is speaking or what they are speaking about. It just becomes background noise to an already crowded world vying for our attention. What is more difficult is the intrusiveness of technology which can start to notice what we are paying attention to and give us more of the same. Whether it is a search engine, an electronic device or a social media page we can find our direction being channelled into unexpected avenues and our ability to reflect being influenced by the amount of material on offer.

In such an information-rich environment how do we choose what to listen to? There can be a constant diet of bad news or misinformation that we find it hard to filter out and reflect on what is truly important and valuable. We find that people play with our emotions in ways which can cause us to react rather than reflect more deeply on what actually brings us life. We can be fed with a diet which is not truly nourishing and which does not settle well in our stomachs. There is a sense that we are become consumed by what we hear rather than listening to a deeper truth.

This is where we need to look at what brings life and purpose to us. Where do we find meaning which is substantial and life-giving? This is where we need to work for that which brings hope, faith and charity into our life. This is called a rule of life which is not about rigid discipline but rather a way of reflecting on who I am and what I seek to become. The simplest example is the ancient command echoed by Jesus as the golden rule, "Love the Lord with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength and all your soul and your neighbour as yourself." This allows us each day to reflect on how we live this ancient truth which reflects that when we come close to God we come close to others and close to ourselves. We become people who live in a communion which seeks to be present to the God of all creation not the gods of our own creation.

A God of the Living not of the Dead

During the month of November, we are called to remember those who have died and to offer prayers on their behalf. This is not just a way of overcoming our grief but is an expression of how we still hold them in love and affection. This mirrors God's love and affection for the person.  There can be a tendency to believe that it is through our prayers that a person is saved and drawn into deeper communion with God. However, I believe that God prompts us to cooperate with being lovingly present to the person and seek out what is best for them. Thus our prayers for those who have died are not based out of just our own initiative but out of God's loving desire for all things to be at one. This overwhelming desire wells within us and seeks to give voice to what God wishes for all people.

This allows us to notice that God is at the centre of all things and wishes all things to discover the freedom to have our hearts turned towards God and be fortified in Christ. This divine desire helps to strengthen us against even those forces which threaten to destroy us and would rob us of the liberty of being children of God. Those forces which seek to emphasise the utility of things rather than the relationship with people. In this way, we can see a false message which treats temporal things with greater respect than eternal relationships. This is where God prompts us to notice that in praying for the dead we also pray for the living. We seek to discover what brings life and hope to our age and where the meaning in our life resides. What do we work for: power, status and influence or do we seek to allow life to unfold in beauty, surrender and giftedness. One seeks to rest the control of life to possess it and hold on to it while the other seeks to discover God in all things. This is where especially in these last days of the liturgical year that we are called to reflect on which voices hold the greatest sway over our lives and to at whose feet do we lay down our gifts.

A God of mercy and justice

When we encounter situations which cause us difficulties which cause us to suffer or which cause us harm our immediate cry can be for justice against the person who has caused this event to occur in our lives. We want to see external resolution before we can internally forgive a person. Justice not only has to be done but has to be seen to be done. Yet what we discover is a God of mercy and justice. The ordering of the phrase is important as it helps us understand how God draws us into a life giving relationship. We need to experience ourselves as loved sinners rather than as redeemed servants. The first recognizes that God reaches out to us when we believe that we are of little worth and want to hold God off at a distance. The second is often more attractive because if someone pays the price at least we can try and work off the "debt". The difference is that if we rely solely on God's mercy we start to see every aspect of our life being viewed through the vision of God who seeks the best for ourselves even when we do not choose it. In granting mercy we can start to see that we are not the centre of the universe and it allows us the opportunity to see how our lives matter to God and to others. No longer do we try to privatize our relationship with God or with others in the terms of a divine transaction or earning credit points to salvation. Rather it is a more radical shift which recognizes that all good things come from God and all good actions are prompted from that life giving relationship. Our life moves in and out of this communion which notices that every action seeks to build the kingdom of God.

In this way we can approach life not as paying off a debt which has already being paid but rather a sustaining and life giving relationship which calls us to abide with God each day. No longer do we focus solely on what we are doing but rather on who we are called to become in Christ. It is through this life giving relationship that God sits down with us even when we notice we do not live up to our own expectations of "holiness". God spends time with us so that we can capture his heart as he captures ours. It is about a constant surrender and yielding to that divine touch which prompts us to respond tenderly and justly to those in greatest need around us. It's focus is that every action seeks to embody that presence of the person who walks close by our side. 

To be good or to do good

One of the temptations of the Christian life is to believe that we win God's love by what we do rather than who we are called to become. If we believe that our goodness is judged by the number of good acts that we perform then we will only be judged by our last good act. We will also start to believe that our relationship with God is based on transactions rather than relationship. We become hooked on a spirituality which is as transparent as our fly buy cards or the number of reward points that we have collected. We can start to treat God in the same by bargaining our way through life by saying something like, " I have done all these good things now I would like this to happen in my life". We also start to make comparisons with others especially when from outward appearance their life does not appear to be as holy and devout as our own. We can start to see God as our own personal friend who deals with us exclusively on our own terms.

Yet the reality that we discover is that we are called to be good in spite of all the struggles that we encounter in life. This includes our own internal struggle to live a life which response to the grace of God in a way that does not just focus on my own goodness. The heart of the spiritual life is to recognise that it is God who loved us first and who wants to enter into a relationship as we are at the moment. This is especially true when we experience our own failures, sinfulness, addictive behaviour and lack of vision. We come before God not because we are perfect but so that we can be perfected in God's love for us. This calls us to notice that our holiness does depend solely on our good acts as though it can be achieved through our own effort. Rather it is a discovery that God wants to work with us each day in strengthen a relationship which enables us to undertake good actions which flow out of that enduring relationship. In this way, we discover the freedom to be ourselves and creativity which glorifies God with our whole life.  No longer do we engage in God acts because they will bring rewards in the future which guarantee our salvation we engage in God acts because they are an expression of God's love for us and our love for God and for others. 

In this way, we discover a humility which does not diminish us but enlivens us to walk with God each day. It allows each day to be a gentle surrender to God's providence to provide what is needed and how we can be present to others. It is an open-hearted response which says yes to each day to the people I meet and the work that I undertake with love and compassion. 

God give me strength!

In this weekend's readings, we can see the image of Moses combating the Amalek's. When he raised his hands up they were victorious but when he became tired they started to lose heart. So Aaron and Hur sat him down and kept his hands raised. In a similar way, the poor widow keeps coming before the unjust judge demanding justice where he seems to be worried almost to death! Lastly in his 2nd letter to Timothy, Paul insists that we reflect on Holy Scripture for refuting error, guiding people's lives and teaching them to be holy both welcome or unwelcome.

Often this is the dilemma that we confront in our modern world where we are called to accommodate our teaching to suit the audience that we are addressing. Preaching one Gospel to one group of people and another Gospel to the other. What we are called to preach is the same person who is Jesus Christ who leads us into a deeper relationship with God through him. This is where we are called to be people who respond in faith to His voice. This means that what we read in scripture may well challenge us to understand how God draws us into a life-giving relationship which sustains all our relationships. This Good News is not of our making but rather a living Word which draws us into a way of life which builds up the reign of God. Each day we need to turn to scripture which is not a dead letter but a wellspring of hope from which we can draw strength and encouragement to be sustained on our journey. 

As I read during the week in 1 John 2.3-6, "Anyone who says, I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, refusing to admit the truth. But when anyone who does obey what he has said, God's love comes to perfection in him. We can be sure that we are in God only when the one who claims to be living in him is living the same kind of life that Christ lived." What strikes me about this passage that I have often thought this passage was about intellectual or emotional assent to the truth of Christ rather it is a surrender to the truth of God's strength which we allow to enter in. When we hold up barriers against the truth of God's love we try to do everything under our own strength. Yet when we turn in our weakness to God and make this honest prayer, "God give me strength" we open the door to the grace which floods in and allows us to see our life with God's eyes which is more loving and transformative than our own. We are not called to be self-reliant but rather people created in God's image and likeness.

Praying for healing and mercy

Even in an age of greater levels of medical care, there can still be a feeling that sickness isolates us from the rest of the community. We start to recognise that our priorities shift and that we start to wonder how this will change the way we live and interact with others. Much has been done to recognise that the way we live with an illness is not just about the treatment provided but the way that the treatment allows the person to be treated with dignity and engaged in the healing process. We are not just worked on as though we are a car going in for a service but rather as a person who has inherent worth which allows them to discover who they are called to become even in the midst of suffering.

This is part of our prayer which deeply engages with who we are and who we wish to become. There is a desire for wholeness and integration which helps a person to recognise who they are in spite of the suffering they may experience. There is a call to holiness which does not just endure suffering but which seeks to assist the person not to become their illness or condition. Just as we see people being labelled as lepers causing them to be excluded from the heart of a community we need to see the person not just their illness. Once we actually see them they discover that even in the midst of great suffering they can still be loved and accompanied as a person with inherent dignity and worth.

This is a call where the gifts of both healing and mercy come to the fore because they seek to help the person discover God's compassionate face through human hands. They help people to discover that even in the most difficult circumstances that they can experience the healing touch present in a person's expertise but also in their attitudes. Far from being isolated from the community, they are surrounded by people who look out for their welfare and wellbeing. In being accompanied they discover their true identity in God who seeks them out with grace and mercy. Our whole system of welfare is based on this fundamental dignity of the human person which sees people created in God's image and likeness. This changes how we see ourselves and see others in great suffering as people who we hold in prayer.

Listening for the still, quiet voice!

Our faith starts from where we are and the place where we encounter Christ. This call to follow him is not just a private endeavour or a personal preference but rather a living response to how Christ calls us to follow. Often we can feel that when we are perfectly formed, well educated and have our lives together that we will meet God. Yet the contrary is true. God meets us in the midst of our daily lives when we are working hard when we are finding it difficult to find spare time to be by ourselves and when the demands of daily living seem to mount up like a wall of water around us. The focus on the immediate and our availability is tested by many things. 

However, the still quiet voice of God rings out in the midst of this seeming never-ending activity. It calls us to bear witness to the Good News not at a time when it is convenient but in the middle of what seems to hold our attention. This is not one of compulsion but rather a loving voice which creates a response in a way which is present to people with grace and power. This is the ability to respond with a loving heart. Nothing is foreign to God yet in all situations he calls us to hear his voice and not harden our hearts. 

This level of faithfulness is not just generated by a stoic resistance to the events of life but rather slow, patient anticipation of the unfolding of God's vision. Even when world events proclaim doom and disaster we are called to respond with mercy and grace. In an age where we can be provoked to make a response based on the latest headline or the most recent news report. This steady and careful gazing at what is real allows us to be contemplatives who take action for the good of others, for the good of ourselves and the good of God. In all things, we seek to be people who seek silence, stillness and solitude which touches that which brings life and Good News to our world.

The climate is changing!

In our post-modern age, we often live as though our world is empty and meaningless and where we are called to define our own meaning. Things become what we want them to be rather than what they are. There is a sense in which this retreat away from reality stands in stark contrast to even our understanding of the natural world which underpins much of our scientific research and our theological thought about the source of all life. Things, when viewed solely by their utility rather than by their essence, leads us into unchartered waters where we start to view something as having value and worth if it is useful to ourselves. This causes us to act in a way which is centred solely on what we need for this moment and this day and ignores both the physical and spiritual reality that at the heart of life we have a connection with God which shapes how we become stewards of all creation.

Hence, when we close our hearts and our minds to the reality of the world we live in and focus solely on what we need for the moment we can rob others of the vitality with which they need to live. It can cause us to look for what will make us wealthy, successful and relevant at the expense of others and future generations. We can become driven by immediate concerns rather than looking to that which can sustain life in all its beauty and diversity. When we look solely at what we own, the power that we possess and the status we have achieved we have an ability to divide people into categories: rich and poor; liberal and conservative; citizens and refugees; the haves and have nots. Such divisions are based on artificial constructs some of which are based on birth, opportunity and identity. They can cause us to see others solely through the prism of the label we put upon them rather than as people equal in dignity and worth. When we lose our sense of humanity we live on shifting sand for it would be too easy for us to lose what is essential to life the fact that we are created in the image and likeness of God. Wealth, power and success can become illusory and can be stripped from us by sickness, unemployment, failure and ultimately by death. We can actually construct a philosophy devoid of hope, which lacks faith and denies charity rather than a philosophy which proclaims life in all its wonder and diversity.

In seeking to discover who we are called to become we need to listen to the heart of God which beats through all creation. This is a recognition that we are not called to just use our environment as we please but rather as a stewardship entrusted to us by God. This starts not only with how we treat each other but how we seek to care for the environment in which we live for the good of God and the good of each other. We are not called to live as aliens in a strange land who seek escape from reality either through denial or apocalyptic rhetoric. We are called to be a living witness that God created all things and sustains them in being. We are called to be co-creators who seek to live that vision which we encounter in the person of Jesus Christ. This way of life seeks us to be present in our current situation with grace. We seek the truth of life by reflecting on what challenges we face and what moves us into action. We seek to discover how our life changes through these encounters in a way which lies at the core of who we are. As people on a pilgrimage, we are called to travel with each other by acknowledging that each of our stories interweaves with the divine story. We are not called to be people removed from our current reality but people who live an incarnate faith which engages with the way we live in our world and creates a way of life which professes what we believe.

Who plays the tune of our lives?

The news programs are often timed to occur at the traditional times when people would gather from prayer at morning, noon and evening. These hours seek to let us know issues of importance which are occurring in the world and in our local community. Often what we are presented with is a surfeit of information which can have an impact on our lives but over which are powerless to change. There can be a sense that we are formed to receive but not engage with the reality of life. Even when we see events occurring in the world we become observers not participants in issues which create the world we live in. We stand by the sidelines cheering or shouting but not being personal moved in a particular direction. 

Yet the Good News takes a very different approach which seeks for us to discover the person who can make a personal difference to our community and to the way we live. This is not based on how much we own, what status we have received or even whether our opinions mirror those of everybody else. Rather it asks the question on what foundation do I lay my life? Whom do we trust to give us meaning and purpose? Do I measure my life on my material value or my eternal values? Depending on how we answer these questions will become the focus of how we live our lives. Do I seek to engage with God with my whole being which influences the way I act in my relationships with others or do I engage with what I own which shapes how I seek to build walls around myself to protect my stuff?

These are fundamental questions that we need to answer especially in the light of recent debates around abortion, climate change, relationships, gender identity, refugees, and migration it determines how we see ourselves as human persons in relationship to God and to each other. When we seek to redefine what is truly human on our own terms without reference to the reality that we are made in God's image and likeness we can start to treat others in a way which seeks our greatest utility. What is convenient to use and our own immediate needs. People become a means to an end or rather can become treated as objects to be used or rejected. Our economy of life is built solely on ourselves.

Yet the divine economy sees us drawn into God's plans for the whole of creation which sees us as co-creators. We are not isolated from the life which can sustain all life. We start to see God in all things. It helps us to see the human person from conception to natural death in a new way. It helps us to engage in relationships which seek to provide for the needs of others, especially those in great need. It does not see life as expendable or the life of another as disposable depending solely on our choice. The value that we see the creator at the heart of all creation and us as stewards of the life entrusted to us. Our life sings with the glory of God and not a staccato beat which jars the senses based solely on our own sense of rhythm. Our lives have eternal value and worth which draw us into relationships which sustain each other and are sustained by our being drawn into the mystery of God.

To whom do I confess my sins?

There has been much debate over recent months since the Royal Commission on the sacrament of confession and about the seal of confession. Many jurisdictions have enacted laws or are proposing laws to mandate what is heard in this sacramental setting as reportable if a person confesses to having abused a child to the priest. The question has largely focussed on what is being confessed and who it is being confessed to. In the civil understanding, the knowledge is revealed to another human being whereas in the sacramental understanding the priest acts in the name of Christ and so that the person is bearing their soul to God. I think what lies at the heart of the issue is whether a person is truly penitent and therefore able to take responsibility for their actions before God and before the Christian community. A person should never approach confession solely for their own good but out of genuine desire to reform their lives and to be open to being transformed by God. The sacrament should never be seen as cheap grace or a get out of jail free card! The fruits of a good confession should prompt a person to care for others and not just for themselves. It is never just about the healing of the individual but the healing of the whole community.

So how do we assist a person to make the first steps towards a good confession and a penitential life? I think that we should not see a good confession just as a private act which a person undertakes solely for their own redemption. This is not just about having a private conversation with God but a place where we consider how our actions have both seen and unseen consequences on those around us. These can either cause harm or benefit the life of another. This is where we need to reflect the orientation of our life and the direction in which we are heading. When we look at the younger son we see a person who wants to have all the benefits of the Good News on his terms rather than with the closeness of a loving relationship with God.  In a similar way, the older son sees himself as slaving for the Father but lacks the insight of what this relationship means. He lives in the same house but also the closeness of that loving relationship alludes him. The difference is that the Father looks out for both of them and takes the initiative. He provides the grace necessary for us to take the initiative to reach out to those who may seem lost or even to ourselves, when the focus is on an open squandering of the gifts or the critical judgment of others. God enables us to be attentive to that need for mercy, healing and forgiveness.

I feel that the deeper question that our community faces is how do we see reconciliation as a communal activity rather than just a private matter. At the heart of this activity is the seeking of the will of God which brings healing to our communities. This is more than just an attitudinal shift which seeks the restoration of what has been lost but rather the development of a reconciled heart. Much has been done to ensure that our communities become places where children can grow to maturity in safety but there is a deeper call to encounter a God who transforms our lives to heal and be healed from the harm that lies in the human heart. This is never about just pious intentions but a genuine desire to allow God's grace to be discovered and lived. Without it, we will live in quiet desperation looking for a person who can rescue us for ourselves rather than reaching out for the person who can restore us into full communion. It will rely more on our efforts rather than God's promptings to be reconciled and reconcilers.

Building on good foundations

Planning is an essential part of life. It calls us to seek out a vision which inspires us into action and also to review the place from which we begin the journey. Nobody starts life from ground zero even when we have the desire to make all things new. We are formed not only by our own development but also by the history and the community in which we live. Our relationships are created by recognising that we are living stones, not dead weight which is the burden of our circumstances. We start to recognise that what we build on is not just an infrastructure created by an institution but a living hope to encounter what we most value in our community.

Yet as Christians we are more than bricks and mortar. We are called to recognise that we are flesh and blood. This is essential if we are to live the Christian life. It is always too easy to focus on the material and tangible outcomes rather than on who we seek to become as disciples. We notice this even in our Churches and related institutions where the first order of business is given to finances, policies and procedures. These are all necessary but they should flow from whom we seek to become rather than consuming the majority of our energy. They should seek to be tools not masters of our destiny. The first order of business which Jesus addresses to his disciples and Paul addresses to Philemon is the desire to surrender all to Christ. This is the sense of being available and directed by the spirit of God in all things.

Yet, in seeking to discern where we are led we grapple with the reality of our own humanity. We seek a pearl of practical wisdom which sees dimly the glory of God in our daily lives. God works with us not against us in making the first step from what we know about ourselves and what we know about others. It is this relational aspect which helps us to see our life as a gift which is to be lived for God and for others. Our lives are not formed solely by our own works but rather by how those works reveal the fundamental life-giving relationship which is their source. People are formed by this relationship rather than carefully prepared programs or projects which we can initiate out of our own desires. God calls us to seek together that which leads to peace in our own hearts and the hearts of our community. What God seeks is for us to surrender our whole selves in the service of the Kingdom. This should be the foundation on which we build which is the living heartbeat of God and the way our lives echo that rhythm in our own lives. 

What's in it for me?

What am I doing this for? This question can loom large in life when we seek to discover what the result may be for all our effort. We can consider whether the goal is worth devoting our energy too and whether the reward is really worth it. The emphasis is on engaging in a particular task for the hope of a promised or anticipated reward. This makes common sense in many fields of life we are called to discover what we want to spend our life doing. Yet the problem is that once we have achieved one thing we start to feel a sense of dissatisfaction and start to look for a new endeavour. Our life can easily become a to-do list which we tick off at the end of each day.

The readings for this weekend promise a deeper reality about how we can find a place withinside ourselves where we discover a God who calls us to be humble and at home. When we hear the word humility we can start to react strongly against it for fear that it will diminish our abilities or limit our choices. Yet Jesus points to a very different reality that we are not the centre of the universe and that our spiritual journey is not a pilgrimage we make on our own. He points to a connection between our prayer, our environment and our actions. This is not just about seeking the best for ourselves but seeking an outcome which is good for those who are considered to be on the margins of our society. Jesus does broaden our vision beyond narrow self-interest to a more global perspective where each person is seen as daughter and son of God. This is a vision which sees that the realm of God is proclaimed and live in a world where our actions are directed towards living out that in vision.

What this calls us to consider each day is how we examen how God has been guiding us in each day and how ready we have to respond to those promptings. The focus then seeks to discover how we live each day in a communion of faith which embodies the Gospel. Our way of living changes to see what we are called to become. In this becoming, we start to notice the way live and act differently. The Gospel is no longer words written in scripture but words written on our hearts and translated into action by our lives.

Where are you coming from?

Whenever we meet a new person often the first questions reflect what we consider important about life. Hence the most universal questions in the western world are what do you do and where do come from? What quickly follows are incidental questions about where do they live and more specific questions about their family, the education and their interests. These all help us to gain an understanding of what forms the background of the person. Yet what they do not tell us are who they are and what they think. These more intimate questions come as we build trust with the person and cause us to engage with them in a way which is not just a collection of facts. We are called to experience who they are and what forms them to be the person they are.

In a similar way, our understanding of the person cannot just be engaged from a textbook or some else's' reflection on their life. No matter how deep the insight we are called to recognise that what intrigues about the person cannot be learnt by hearsay or by second-hand reflection by another. This is especially important when we encounter the person of Jesus in prayer. He needs to meet us as a real person, We are called day by day to set aside time for us to be with him and to discover the ways in which he is present to us. This calls us to make a priority for this reflective time which we are called to consider as central to our Christian life. This is not just about finding the "right" method of prayer but rather a heart to heart meeting of what we consider central to who we are. We need to discover what satisfies and sustains us in a relationship which is pivotal to who we are called to become. By discovering this place of self-knowledge we encounter God who motivates us and sustains us. 

This is where we need to discover the language in which God most easily communicates with us. What moves us into action and helps us to understand the universal call to respond to the Good News. By pondering on how we are in daily life and reflecting on what brings us a life we move closer to God's purpose and mission. This is not just engaged with as isolated individuals but as a communion which enables us to be drawn into a solidarity of faith. It builds on a tradition which is ever ancient and ever new. The life-giving spirit which in every age challenges us to be faithful to the Word that dwells within us. Each day we are called to become more the person God has loved into being by reflecting that love in our prayer, study and action. In this way, our life becomes centred on God who seeks to draw us closer. This mystery is not just a one-way street but rather a pilgrimage where we discover who we are. As we walk by the way we discover the person who walks close by our side and helps us to notice who we truly are.

Marathon not a sprint

There are many how-to books that we can buy in the bookshops or borrow from the library. They seek to give examples of how the author has adopted a certain method which they wish to apply to how we should live will be successful for another. The temptation to swallow another person's life whole is alluring especially when a person appears on talk shows and appears on radio slots which promote what they have to sell. Yet like all advice, it has to be tested in the marketplace and pondered in our prayer. While we can turn to the wisdom of others we need to see what moves us to become who we are truly are. We have to discover what sets our lives on fire with faith, hope and love. This cannot just be kindled by another's insight but only through our own willingness to engage with the relationship which will lead us closer to God and the mission entrusted to us. The goal of our life is not so much a task to be completed but a relationship which is to be sustained. It is in this relationship that we discover our own unique calling which will help others to discover who they are called to be.

In our own age, there is an increasing recognition that the call to live a life which is faithful to God and to others is becoming more complex. This is not just about living private lives which see our faith as being only about our own self-improvement. Our faith calls us to give witness that at the heart of all life God creates us for a good purpose. This is why we seek to create a culture of life which sustains people from conception to birth into eternal life. In a culture which increasingly seeks to treat human life as a commodity rather than a gift, we can lose a sense of hospitality which welcomes life. When we start to see life as disposable or consumable then our sense of values changes. We measure people by their usefulness and convenience rather than by their fundamental dignity and worth. By realising that Christ calls us to an incarnate way of living we see that each person is both body and spirit. This changes how we live and what we stand for in caring for others. This is especially important when we seek to protect the lives of the most vulnerable. Our culture and our society are shaped by how we give a voice to those who have no voice of their own.

Listen!

I have been reflecting over the last month on how our relationship with God is fundamental not only to our prayer but the way we live. I think some of the difficulties that we find in our prayer is that we concentrate on whether we are achieving a closeness which permeates all our interactions. There is often a trusting solely in our own efforts or in seeking a silver bullet which will make sense of who we are seeking to enter into a relationship with. Often these can have echoes of the first question asked by the disciples where they approach Jesus and ask where do you live and he says come and see. This is where our searching for God becomes an activity that we undertake amidst many other activities. We acknowledge its importance but somehow we are the person who chooses when and where we will pray and what will be at the forefront of our lives. Yet as we enter deeper into prayer we recognise an interplay between what we consider important and what God considers is important. While we can be engaged in many things which help us to know about God at the heart of our prayer God wishes to know us. The gentle art of letting down our defences and taking off our masks to be truly known can cause us fear and anxiety wondering if we are truly known will we ever be the same. Yet in reaching out to us God helps us to discover it is from this place of being truly known as our true self that we can discover the call which is unique to each person. God calls us to be ourselves and in knowing ourselves we discover what it is that we can devote our lives too. Ultimately this is at the heart of the pilgrimage journey that we take. We are called to be companioned along the way where we discover the God who walks with us. Rather than searching outside ourselves for this relationship, he draws us deeper into the place that God already calls home. We are not called to be aliens in a foreign land but rather fellow travellers who accompany each other on the way. As Jesus concludes when Thomas asks him what he is called to do Jesus points to himself and says, "I am the way, the truth and the life" By searching each day for were God is always present we can see that God's grace is not beyond our reach or outside the realm in which we live. He walks with us, talks with us and breaks bread with us. May your hearts burn within you as you listen to His voice.

How do I get to the other side

I am often reminded of the conversation between two people on opposite sides of the road. One calls out to the other, "How do I get to the other side?" The person responds, "You are on the other side!" Sometimes this can be our experience of prayer, that somehow if we cross over into a different realm we will be more present to God and God will be more present to us. Yet the truth is more dynamic when we hear Jesus say, the Kingdom of God is within you. This is the most surprising and stunning revelations that we find it hard to wrap our minds around it. We tend to have a false understanding that God is far distant from our experience much like Better Midler's song, "From a distance, God is watching us!" Yet this is not the truth of the incarnation. God breaches the gap to draw us closer.
The pilgrimage of life, therefore, is not one of travelling from one place to another but discovering how God is present in our day to day lives. Our prayer seeks to help us rest in that place where God has always been. God seeks us out not to just know about but to be known by that life-giving Spirit which wells up inside us and calls us to be our true selves. Trust yourself to God in prayer today!

What nourishes us?

What we bring to the table is what we are called to eat. There is an understanding that in our age the gift of being a table with another has often been lost in what we are called to consume. The emphasis is placed on what we put into our mouths at what gives us the necessary nutrients to feed our bodies. In shows like Master Chef, we are called to also recognises what feeds and engages our senses. Yet rarely are we asked what feeds our souls. The conversation which takes place at table marks out what we consider important to life. It might be good to reflect on what we talked about last time we shared the table? What did we consider most important, what moved us most deeply, what did we hope for and what did we imagine? The discourse is not just about attending to grand ideas and great movements but rather how God called us to be present to the other.

When we sit down at the table it is looking for what will help us to notice where God is work in our lives. What allows us to become more the person we are called to become. This is not about being preachy or giving instruction but it is about being open to what will bring life and hope to another/ It calls us to listen to God's voice which is at the heart of all conversation. Will I rise from the table more deeply encouraged to be the person God calls me to become or will I speed eat to engage with a more pressing task? How will I linger over this time in a way which recognises that we are called to be present to who is there and how we are in their presence.

The other important element of any meal is that we trust the person who feeds us. This is not only in making sure there is enough to go around but that it will sustain us for the journey. In an age where we can access food from around the world more easily there is also a call to become aware of what we eat is not solely about ourselves. It brings us into connection with this who produce it and those who carry it to our door. We honour these connections when we realise each meal is a sacred time where we ask for blessing and thanksgiving not only on our gathering but on how each work of human hand and divine intervention in our lives. These are the Eucharistic moments which gather us at Mass to celebrate the person who unites us as body and spirit called to live in this world with truth and grace.

Listening to God

I have been reflecting over the last week how I seek to work hard and then take my rest. There seem to be so many things to be done that I believe that all the good things that we enjoy in life are the fruit of my own labour. I find at times that in the midst of all my work that I may have missed out on something important and sometimes collapse under the weight of my own expectations. I often sympathise for Martha in the midst of the gospel because there seems to be a criticism of her endeavours to make things work out for the person of Jesus. 

Yet in the midst of this disappointment and frustration, I discover that Jesus is helping Martha to understand our primary calling is to listen for His Voice. This is not always easy especially in a culture which seeks to put merit and rewards on the work of our own hands. We can often be praised for the goals we set and achieve. What I hear Jesus saying to me is that I need to take time to rest and come aside to be with Him. Otherwise, the work I undertake may be solely looking for the fruits of my labours and the secret desire to be praised for all I have done. I can seek to draw attention to my own works at the expense of God's grace. I can start to believe that God's initiative builds on my work rather than being the source of my life. The subtle message can be is that I can earn God's love or even more forcefully that God is in my debt. Neither is true but they can trap us in a way of being which puts reliance on a relationship with God which focuses on ourselves at the centre.

In this situation, Jesus points to Mary not because she does no work but because she places the relationship with God at the centre of her life. This helps to shape who she is and what she seeks to become. She starts to notice that is in this relationship she discovers her true self. By discovering how she is called to be then she can direct her efforts to be present to him. I feel that this may be the greatest challenge in my life. I am called to work harder but rather to work in a way which reflects this relationship. The merit and rewards are not found in what I produce or the recognition I receive for my labours but rather who I become in the work I undertake. This shifts the balance of how I live out of a life of prayer. By listening to His Voice my life is no longer grounded solely on what I achieve but rather on how it gives substance to the person I seek to become. In this way, our work is an expression of this relationship rather than being the heart of our relationship. We give thanks not to idolise what we have done but rather the spirit of thanksgiving which draws closer to the origin of our life. Our work unfolds in the discovery of how we are called to become and sees that in all things we can cooperate with God for His greater glory and our greater good.

Who is our neighbour?

Whenever we are trying to learn a new skill or activity there is a desire to know the rules we will play by.  This is important so that we may not only appropriate what is necessary for the task at hand but also so that others can know with a sense of certainty that we can be relied upon. This is born out not just by our observations of others performing the task but also by discovering the gift inside ourselves. Yet of equal importance needs to be placed on why we choose to exercise that skill or be involved in a particular activity. We need to know ourselves and the other. It is by discovering that the task has a deeper meaning which engages us in making a positive contribution to the community of which we are part.

As Jesus echoes the Golden rule about loving God and our neighbour we need to discover that we need to be open to the circumstances of our lives. The "rule book" that Jesus gives us is the people we encounter each day. The way we approach each of these people seeks to discover what is for their good and not just our own. There is a need to become aware of the environment in which we live which calls us to be people who have compassion for people in need. Some of these situations will call us to be more available than others but the desire is the same, we seek the good of the other.

One of the modern day curses is the need to look busy or preoccupied so that we can be seen to be making our mark on the world. Yet this very desire to be constantly active can say more about our desire to be useful rather than to be present. We attach our sense of worthiness to our productive ability and to make things happen. When it looks as though somebody will intrude on our activities we hold them at arm's length or maybe just walk on by. We do not stop to take stock of whether we can attend to what others need. We tell ourselves stories about our own busyness or how a person should be self-sufficient. I don't need to list examples we know them too well.

Yet as prayerful people we seek to discover how our lives are called to embody that loving presence of God. This is not just about performing good works but developing a good heart. One which is not closed to the world around us and is moved into action. This looks not at what we cannot do but how we can be present with the gifts entrusted to us. Each day provides the opportunity to be present to others in great need.

How will they know we are Christians?

There can always be a need to recognise that there is a connection what we say we believe and how we actually act. The essence of which is a shibboleth which can identify a person as a Christian. In Paul's letter to the Galatians, we hear him talk about the stigmata that he carries in his person. Similarly, in the Gospel, we recognise that Jesus identifies how a disciple will follow his way of life by seeking to be a person of peace who proclaims the realm of God. There can be an emphasis on recognising these external signs which indicate an internal disposition which draws us closer to Jesus. Yet we can start to believe as the disciples did that the external works that they perform prove their holiness to others. Yet as Jesus reminds them true holiness comes from God and it is this which enables us to perform good acts for others. 

So what evidence do we look for in our lives which mark us out as Christians? I believe firstly, it is a willingness to surrender our whole life over to God and trust that he will provide what we need. This is not easy because we can often try to win God over by performing good acts or by seeking to reach a sense of the ideal self on our own terms. In fact, we see this in much of our daily planning where we set goals which we can achieve. There is a desire of seeking to reach beyond us which needs us to engage with life. This is all good as it means that we are taking life seriously enough to use our gifts and talents in a way which can produce a tangible result. We need to achieve these goals in order to live in a way which is ordered and predictable. 

We can adopt the same approach to the spiritual life where we seek to become like God. Yet how we become like God is through a daily examen of what moves us to become closer to the person God wishes us to become. This is more than just producing a list of achievements it is actually a recognition that we are called to grow in hope and trust of a relationship which sustains us. We are loved by God not because we are useful and have utility. We are loved by God simply because we are created in God's image and likeness. By discovering that we have been called by name allows us to see that it is this relationship that we find our true meaning. We notice that our personal vocation is to be true to our name. In finding that identity we are drawn closer to God and it is this which becomes the touchstone of our faith. In this way, we do not point to what we have done as a proof of what it is to be Christian but rather we point to ourselves and the person who assists us to know who we are. We are Christian not because of what we have done but in who we are and it is in who we are that directs what we are called to be present to in our daily life.

Heart Surgery!

How do we create a reconciled heart? This is at the heart of the readings for the three days at the end of this week which celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Solemnity of Peter and Paul and the 13th Sunday in Ordinary times. The readings focus on one reality how do we as Christians seek to love Jesus as He loves us. Jesus dialogue with Peter calls him to discover a love which goes beyond mutuality founded in friendship towards a total giving of self. Often we share the struggle of Peter we want to love God with all our heart, mind and strength but somehow we fall short. We are drawn towards the love of Jesus but we find ourselves caught short when we try to act out of that love for others. 

Yet this is at the heart of our life of prayer where we are called to hold the living heart of Jesus as Thomas did. This calls us to not hold it the heart too tightly so that it stops beating nor is it about holding it too lightly lest we don't allow our hearts to beat in time with His. The reality of prayer is that we find that our hearts adopt a synchronous rhythm which allows our life to be at one with His. Yet we know how easy it is in community life to ask Jesus to follow the beat of our drum rather than resonating with His song line. When we bring this beat into community living it can sound more like a  cacophony of noise rather than a melody of life. When each person seeks to drown out the other we find that people discover more about us than they discover about Christ. 

The heart of the prayer of the Church, therefore, is how we allow Christ to set aside the natural division of being preoccupied with what interests ourselves towards a vision which unites us into deeper communion. This is the constant challenge of community life we need to allow prayer to be both an effective and an affective encounter with the person of Christ. It also calls us to notice the noise which can be more internal than external where we encounter more of our own spirit rather than the Holy Spirit. This I believe is the heart of prayer for us to notice and become aware of how important heart surgery needs to happen in our spiritual life if we are to be authentically present to others. In this, we echo Pauls words to the Galatians where we do not seek the critical voice which tears each other apart but rather the voice which enables us to love our neighbour as yourself. This changes all our relationships and the way we are called to live with each other.

We become what we eat!

Dieticians have started to notice that what we eat can change the way we think and the way we feel about life. This is not just about watching our weight but rather how we are called to live in this world. People are starting to ask important questions about what will actually nourish and sustain us. There is also a need to discover who provides the food that we consume to ensure that they are given just recompense for their labour. We start to discover that how we eat is not just about what we enjoy but how we are called to create communities which are sustainable and life-giving.

As we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, we see that at the centre of our Christian life stands a person who wishes to sustain us in our faith. His presence makes all the difference not just when we celebrate Mass but in how we are called to listen to the Word and be sent out into our daily lives with a spirit of thanksgiving. The Eucharistic celebration is never just about feeding myself but rather an engagement with the graced presence of God who seeks to draw us into a life which is more than a distant memory. It calls us to be present to the presence and to be transformed more and more into His Body and His blood which sustains the Church. 

In an age where people seek to exercise an increasing level of choice about what they eat, where they eat and when they eat we need to acknowledge that it is the Mass which can draw people together from a variety of backgrounds into the living body of Christ. Our obligation to attend Mass especially on Sunday is not a dry fact but rather a discovery that without this anchoring in our life we start to build our faith on our own opinion rather than on His Life. The Eucharist does change us, restore us and heal us from indifference to God and to each other. It calls us to see God at the centre of our lives. By being aware of this we see the world differently as a place where we live in relationship with the whole of creation and as stewards of the land in which we live. We see the connections between how we live and what we consume. We become what we eat!

Can we name God?

Whenever we celebrate Trinity Sunday we can struggle to gain a complete understanding of how God can be three persons equal in nature and divine in Majesty. Words can struggle to paint the picture of how we can come to be drawn into a relationship with God which articulates who we are called to become. We can witness this ongoing dialogue with God which cannot be contained by our own descriptions. This occurs in Genesis where God is seen as breath poured out on the world who brings life into being. God breathes out and creation is born. We see this in Abraham's dialogue with God in trying to understand "I am who I am". Moses also seeks to be drawn into the relationship as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Throughout the narrative which is contained within scripture, we come to a belief of how that self-revelation of God changes the lives of the people who listen and who are caught up in the mystery of God.

Then as Christians, we enter into the relationship which the person of Jesus had with Abba, God the Father. It is by being drawn closer to the words that Jesus used in His prayers and in His teaching that we start to discover how this relationship embraces all of us. The words that He chooses are not just words to be used in a private conversation but a level of intimacy to which all are invited. There is a revelation that we are not called to establish our own language but that we are called into the same relationship which Jesus has with the Father. We see this not only contained in our scripture but also in our liturgical action when we are formed and reformed into the mystery of that relationship through the words we encounter on His lips. In our own prayer, we join with Jesus in praying as He prayed.

This can often cause us some confusion in a world where the identification of God with a particular gender can cause resistance among some who find difficulty which sees our theology understanding of the Trinity as predominantly masculine. Yet one only has to look at the history of many of the Fathers and Mothers of the Church who can see both feminine and masculine dimensions to that relationship with God. Even in the picture of the Prodigal Son painted by Rembrandt we see this portrayed both in the hands and the face. Yet no picture can adequately paint our image of God or how our relationship is called to enfold us with light. I think essentially we need to acknowledge that our prayer is called to be both effective and affective. In our effective and liturgical prayer, we are caught up in the mystery of the dialogue of Christ in drawing us into a relationship with God the Father through the presence of the Holy Spirit. In our affective and personal prayer, we are called to discover for ourselves how God names us and draws us into a life-giving relationship. I think it is this difference which enables us to become prayerfully present in all things.

Whose spirit descends upon us?

We live in an age where our faith can be challenged by forces which seem to be out of control. We listen to so many opinions and believes that we can lose a sense of who we are called to be and what we are called to become. In such a climate we can easily be swept along by the latest opinion or be challenged by the latest revelation of how evil seems to beset our world. People can seem to provide solutions which will fix all our ills or keep us safe from the destructive forces which hide in the dark recesses of our world. There is a sense in which we can be confronted by a spirit of fear, anxiety and anger which reacts against others and which does not befriend us but rather oppresses us. There is a sense in which this malevolent spirit plays havoc with our lives by both causing us to believe that we should only act in our narrow self-interest and then accusing us of playing false to our upbringing when we do succumb to that way of thinking.

As we pray for the spirit of Pentecost, however, we are called to believe that God seeks to build a community of faith which sharply contrasts with this deceptive and destructive voice. It calls us to experience a life which will sustain us in the person of Christ in producing good fruits of charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity. This fruitfulness is found in the way we pray and the way we live. It calls us to become aware of how the Holy Spirit contrasts the forcefulness of a spirit which seeks only destruction, enmity and division. By seeking to call upon the Holy Spirit to descend we acknowledge our lives are called to be at one with God and at one with each other. This is recognised in much of the good work of the ecumenical movement which seeks reconciliation in Christ. 

By listening to what we have in common rather than what separates us we start to overcome the divisions which hold us apart. It also helps us to acknowledge that often we are engaged in a spiritual battle which can too easily create hostility and misunderstanding or even at times paper over differences with pious platitudes. We do no one any favours if we do not treasure our faith and listen to how Jesus is present in the way we live. Yet this way of being present which we all hold dear should allow us to be open to how another may hear the voice of Jesus spoken with a different tenure and tone. By allowing us to listen and appreciate this depth of divine praise spoken by many voices we come to experience the voice of Jesus who echoes over the centuries not in monochrome but in a rich splendour of colours which speaks of His Spirit resting upon us. Calling us to be fruitful in the way we live and preach the Gospel in our age.

May the eyes of your heart be enlightened

We are called to live differently in our world by allowing God's light to be in our hearts. In a time when we are bombarded by bad news, it is hard to believe that there is a different way of looking at how we are called to be present to others. We often feel pushed to react and feel outraged at the latest headline but there is often an associated sense that we cannot do anything else. We are struck by the repetition of a view that such is our life that we can fall into a fatalistic way of living believing that nothing can be done. The problems seem too big that they seem insurmountable.

Yet the way of viewing the world is changed through the celebration of Ascension. The first is that Jesus does not desert us to retreat into a safe haven he promises to send the Holy Spirit which allows us to continue to be present to Him. The second is that he enables us to be ministers of reconciliation who seek forgiveness, healing and nourishment as our way of listening to the way we are called to live. We find this both in our celebration of sacraments of Penance, Anointing and Eucharist. They are what bind us together as a community and which we celebrate in the Mass. We come to know and be known the person of Jesus Christ who walks close by our side.

It is from this incarnational way of living that we start to discover how we become people who seek reconciliation, restoration and renewal which nourishes the body and the spirit. It becomes food and drink for us in the way we are called to discover that we become what we eat. This is not just how we sit at the table, or even the communion we receive at Mass but rather how we seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit in every action of our lives. As St Peter Claver prayed, "Seek God in all things and we shall find God by our side."

Where do I feel most at home?

In an age where it is possible to travel to another country in under a day and where our communication with the world allows us to be instantly present to what is happening on the other side of the world, we often wonder where am I most at home? This ability to access the lives of many different people broadens our minds but does it enlarge our hearts? There can often be paradoxes which seem to confront us: we can travel to many parts of the world while at the same time making it more difficult for people from other countries to make a home with us. There is a feeling of connection and alienation which confuses us where we want to be hospitable but also we don't want to be taken advantage of. When we put out the welcome mat do we actually mean it?

This is the story which stays with us when we listen to the Gospel passage this weekend. When we hear the passage about Jesus asking us to make our home in Him. This can catch us unawares and we can give a theoretical response where we say both yes and no. We have a deep desire to allow Him to be at home with Him and for Him to be at home with us. Yet at the same time, we can develop a sense of resistance bred out of fear and ambiguity where we somehow doubt to take him on His Word.  How can he bring about a peace the world cannot give and how do we allow His life to become our own? We want to surrender everything and hold on to everything at the same time. We want Him to be the tenant but not the landlord!

This is the mystery of the Easter journey where he seeks to take up residence not by force but by desire. He wants us to discover how much value our lives have so that we can value the relationship that He has with God. When we discover this gift of life opened up for us we start to acknowledge that this homecoming allows us to surrender our lives to Him and receive our lives back for the good of the place where we live. We start to discover that our minds can be broadened and our hearts enlarged in our own space and time. We discover that our relationships make a difference and allow us to sit with the contradictions we find within us. By being at home with Christ we discover that God does not treat us like a doormat where he wipes His feet on our welcome sign and takes possession but rather allows us to discover how he deeply respects every human person and the whole of creation. He builds the kingdom by offering everything of Himself to us so that we can do the same in return. He desires to make His home in us but do we desire to make our home in Him?

Who is opening the doors for you?

When we seek to pray we often tempted to set the agenda and step out in faith. We seek to approach God as though we know everything and God knows nothing. We can seek to convince, cajole and influence God to seeing the world as we see it. We then become disappointed when God does not seem to pay attention to our heartfelt cries and our deepest need. At times when we are in our greatest need, we can behave as though God was deaf to our pleas by shouting louder for a result which will be rewarded for our intense effort. At times in the midst of this prayer, we can also sense a spirit of discouragement which can catch us unawares.

Yet we know that it is God who actually initiates and draws us into prayer in the first place. God seeks to draw us closer to the life which will fill our greatest desire. This is the reason why we need to keep on praying about the things that are important to us. By becoming aware of how they influence our lives we become more open to praying about them with a different level of intensity which invites us to surrender our lives to what God seeks to engage us with in life. This is not about a senseless banging our heads against a brick wall but rather a deeper longing for what will open the doors of faith to the grace God wishes to impart. It calls us to be encouraged in the lives we are already living which God is always aware of. God is not absent from us where we need to shout louder or work harder. God stands at our side in the person of Jesus seeing where he establishes a home amongst us. 

In this discovery, we find all creation is made new and God helps to experience a love which is not ethereal but is a revelation which draws us closer to Him. It leads us in a way of life which is holistic and holy. God is glorified in the lives we are called to live. No longer do we hold God at arm's length but allows us to open doors which have for too long seen Him as a stranger distant from our lands. Jesus helps us to know that God always abides with us and opens the whole of our life to his loving presence. Our life becomes a prayer and our prayer becomes our life.

Listen to my voice!

We are living through a time where the political climate has become more adversarial and partisan. This has probably been as true in how we vote for politicians as it is how we choose to believe in what is God is saying to us. It feels like a great divide has been created within humanity which can threaten to tear us apart. We can start to feel hidden violence and antipathy which seeks to destroy us. In listening to that voice we start to notice how it can lead to disharmony, intolerance and prejudice on both sides of the divide. The hidden force seems to revel in what will dampen our enthusiasm, confuse our best intentions and leave us believing that we are only destined for destruction. It is easy to see how this bad news can draw our attention and drive our lives. It can cause us to become paralysed, fearful and reactive in making instinctive choices which are not ours to control. In this atmosphere, we need to be careful that we do not succumb to false images of what is successful, esteemed and relevant either in our private or corporate life.

What we are seeking is eternal life and the voice which rings true to the reason for which we are created. We know that when politics enters into the spiritual life we can adopt positions which only reinforce what we already know or which play to our worst fears. They can even start to portray our image of God as a dulled vision of ourselves. It can affect the way we read scripture, listen to theological arguments and how we seek to live our lives. We can easily become consumers of religious things rather than people called into a life-giving relationship. In this environment, our religious practice becomes more about what makes us comfortable, safe and secure rather than encountering the person of Jesus in our own vulnerability and need.

Yet Jesus is the only person who can meet us in this poverty where we acknowledge who it is that we hunger and thirst for. We want food that can satisfy us and drink that quenches our thirst. This is more than just filling ourselves on our own terms but rather allowing God to meet us in that place of deep need. The Gospel we are called to proclaim is not a cleverly argued text but a living relationship which wells up to eternal life within us. It is from that place where we have to acknowledge that we have had a gutful of suggestions which sound good but do not sustain us. It means that we need to sit with those things that stew within us and which cannot be easily resolved just through our own efforts. That we can be honest with God with our whole self in our prayer and in the way we live. It is from this place that we discover a way of incarnational living which befriends us and calls us to proclaim the Good News. This will change the way we live because it is a political statement but it is one in which we seek life, not death!

Have you caught anything my friends

There is often a temptation in life to measure the success of our relationship with God on the tangible results produced. We want to know that we are not 'wasting' our time or our money on something or someone who does not produce the goods. Such an emphasis on success can cause us to work hard and endeavour to produce spiritual benefits through our own efforts. There can be an emphasis on working as though everything depended on us and praying as though everything depended on God. In adopting this attitude we tend to yield to a view of obedience which asks God to dance to our tune and to praise us for our own efforts. What we discover is that our lives become hard work and our relationships become transactional where we seek something good on our own terms.

In the midst of this daily story, Jesus calls to us from the shoreline, have you caught anything, my friends? What would often seem so clear to us and to Jesus that the question almost appears to answer itself in the asking? Yet we still adopt the same approach that carried us in our other relationships, God will praise me for my hard work and will reward me for my efforts. Yet what is revealed in this story is that what makes the difference is the willingness to fish on the other side. Literally to turn our lives around to see that what we are seeking is very close to us and within our reach. This is not about profoundly changing our circumstances or about a radical change of our environment but rather a discovery that God is intently interested in helping us discover how fruitful our lives can be. This is not about living a different story but seeing our story in a new light.

This is shown when Jesus addresses Peter and asks him three times do you love me? This is not about humiliating Peter but helping him discover the three degrees of humility to which we are all drawn. In discovering that our lives can give testimony to God in our daily lives we see how we can live the Gospel at the heart of everything. This is the Easter message not just to clothe ourselves in Christ but to allow Christ to draw out of us the words which change how we seek to enter into a relationship with him. In this way no longer is our worth gauged by how hard we work or how much time we spend performing good works but rather how we become present to Christ in all things. In this way, the voice we listen to is that of Christ who changes how we view our story and how we live our lives.

In times of great suffering Christ appears to us

Dear Cursillistas in the Risen Lord,

I am writing this message to you from the Mt Schoenstatt Shrine in Mulgoa, New South Wales at the end of a Life's Healing Journey for our 1st-year seminarians. Like many of you, we have been deeply saddened by the news of the deaths, injury and trauma besetting the Church in Sri Lanka. It seems appropriate that I write to you from this place as it draws many pilgrims from the Sri Lankan community in Sydney and other places from many faith traditions to offer their prayers to our Blessed Mother to guide and intercede with us.

Overnight Marg Morris, the president of the Asia Pacific Group of Cursillos in Christianity and myself have been in contact with Fr. Tony Martyn, the spiritual advisor and Suzanne De Silva, the interdiocesan president for the Cursillo Movement in Sri Lanka. Our immediate consideration was to let them know that while many miles separate us we are with them in prayer. The importance of being in solidarity with other Christians at this time is an important element of our faith. Just as when the first disciples gathered with Mary in the upper room deeply traumatised by his death and feared persecution they encountered the risen Lord for the first time. He came and stood in their midst and said, "Do not be afraid and peace be with you, my own peace I give you." This is especially important at this time because often at times of great trauma we can lock the door of our hearts to keep great evil at bay. Yet in the midst of the need for spiritual and psychological healing, we discover that Christ stands with us not apart from us. He shares our grief and our sorrow. He also recognises that when we are deeply affronted by great evil, our hearts can be infected by the same parasite weakening our selves to believe that in the midst of all the goodness of creation that evil and suffering is all to present to our lives. The Good News, however, is like Mary we are called to ponder how in the midst of living through times of great suffering we can respond in a way which does not payback like for like but seeks the forgiveness which only Christ can give. This is not a cheap grace which we can dispense at will it is a heart-rending cry to be at one with God and one with each other. It calls us to also ensure that in the forgiveness we remember the pain and anguish people suffer through actions which seek not to minimise their pain. We cannot just wish this away through pious acts or good intentions. When one person suffers we suffer with them. In that forgiveness, we also recognise that the people who have committed these evil acts need to be held to account and face justice, not of retribution but of atonement for the deep suffering they have caused. In all things, we seek both mercy and justice.

Please join with me in offering three days of prayer  for those who have died, those who have been injured, those families who are deeply traumatised and the heart of the Church in Sri Lanka and the heart of the nation. This is a loss which cannot just be told in words but only in our heartfelt response which covers the distance between us. Trust always in the Lord that he is with us even to the end of time. Go gently in the days ahead.

De Colores,

Fr. John

The incredible shrinking God?

There can be key moments which touch us deeply and we find it hard to explain why. This week we woke to news on Tuesday morning of the fire which consumed the nave of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Having visited this Cathedral on a number of occasions this news held me transfixed in watching the flames consume the building. Several things sprung to mind but the lasting impression I had was of deep sadness for what was lost and how such a building represented our hope for a lasting relationship with God. Yet in the midst of deeply secular culture, it is hard to see how people are called to respond with faith and hope. The idea of God is at the heart of all human relationships seemed to be being consumed along with the flames. The desire to touch the divine presence seemed to be awakened in a way which is hard to explain.

The fact that this event happens in Holy Week seems particularly poignant as we seek to understand the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection. We stand transfixed by the same event which seems to be the destruction of human life to transform us into a mystery we don't fully understand. Too often we try to contain God in a way which is understandable, acceptable and explainable to others. Yet the difficulty is that we cannot explain the mystery of Christ crucified we can only bear witness to how it stands at the heart of our Christian faith. Trying to limit its power or explain it on our terms makes light of the intense longing that God has for each of us. As one of the responses in the Office of Reading says during the week, "When you were estranged from God, your minds alienated him by a life of sin, he used Christ's natural body to win you back through his death so that he might bring you into his presence holy, pure and blameless." 

It is when we hold ourselves at arm's length from God that something shocks into the true worth of our lives. This is the resurrection story where God touches us in our deepest fears and draws us closer. This is a befriending which is often outside our grasp but God brings it closer through transforming our relationships. God seeks us out and expands our life at the very moment that we want to shrink God to our own reality. This expansion draws us into a cosmic reality which transcends us in its intimacy and immediacy. It transforms us in grace to live not solely for our own wants and needs. It moves us to make choices which enable us to listen to that which calls us to be truly our selves by responding to God's loving call to be our best self.

Whom do we welcome? Whom do we follow?

Our lives are shaped by who we are attentive to and how we welcome them into our lives. They allow us to discover what is important to us and what is that moves us to be present to them. This is truly the story of how Jesus attracts people to Himself. There is a struggle to discover a person who can speak authoritatively and with knowledge about what is important to our hearts. This is not just about seeing and believing that what someone says is true but listening and appropriation of what we are called to live with our lives. The meeting with Jesus does not happen by chance but rather meets us where we need to be met.

As we journey of with Jesus on the way of the Cross we start to realise how we tend to hold on to our lives too tightly rather than surrendering it to His loving relationship with the Father. I think part of our reluctance comes from the scandal of the Cross as we try to make sense of how that surrender seems to lead to death rather than to life, to despair rather than hope and sadness rather than joy. Yet the reality is that Jesus recognises that he cannot walk away from himself and what he truly seeks to live: that God loves Him as a beloved Son. It is that recognition that sees as the source of his whole life where he cannot divide himself in two between the human and the divine. In a similar way, we cannot walk away from Christ without dividing ourselves in two. We discover that when we are truly who what God wants us to be that all suffering is transformed by His loving action which draws us to the Cross. It helps us to see that our solidarity and our communion does not destroy us but free us to be present to His life.

Over this next week, I believe the main intention is not to take on a greater suffering or greater guilt but walking with Jesus even in our darkest night and knowing that His light enflames our own. He never walks away from us when we can walk with Him.