In what do we take comfort

 When is more, more than enough? There are various traps in living a spiritual life. The first one identified by Ecclesiastes is to look good but not be good. This is that we seek the good opinion of others as more important than God's opinion of us. We start to work hard and be concerned about many things. This preoccupation can cause us to doubt whether God loved us first or whether we seek to endear ourselves to God by what we do.

In a similar way, we can start to live in a way that dissipates our spirit between our prayer and our actions. We start to separate our prayer as our own private time with God but forget that we are called into communion with others. This is where we seek to become people of faith, hope, and charity in daily life. There is nothing better than praying the Our Father as our pattern of prayer and our pattern of life.

The last thing is to see our success in terms of earthly measures rather than an awareness of how we become rich in the sight of God. The good news is that we seek unity between our prayer, our study of the environment, and our actions. We seek God at the heart of every day. To seek how God seeks our hearts first so that we can act in a way guided by a desire welling up within. To enact who God desires us to be and how we become holy by how we act for the good of all.

Why do we pray?

 This Sunday we focus on why we pray. Often in modern culture prayer can be portrayed as trying to twist God's arm to fulfill our own wishes rather than a relationship that will sustain us. This allows us to be people who allow our whole life to become the field of God's desire for us rather than a random thought which pops into our minds. This is why we need to become people who pray always by allowing God to transform our hearts. We are called to become people who seek God's desire in all things.

In the conversation we see Abraham negotiating with God over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. When we reflect on this story we can be tempted to view God, who needs to be talked down from taking punitive action against the residents of these cities. The image that can play out is a God who seems to be looking at reality from a distance whereas Abraham is aware of what is happening on the ground. I believe this is a good starting point for understanding prayer. What do we do when we confront evil in the lives of others and what do we seek for those people. Abraham, I think eloquently speaks for the need for at least one good man to give witness to the people. Often it is this prophetic witness of a person who does not go along with the opinion of the age but trusts in a truth that speaks to the heart of every age. 

As Jesus teaches his disciples to pray he takes up this theme of seeking God's kingdom in our day-to-day reality. The Our Father which is the pattern of all prayer does not see God as removed from our lives but at the heart of life. Jesus shows that we seek God in the midst of what is needed today and seek to learn how to reconcile our conflicted hearts. This allows us to notice that our prayer is essential communal as it does not just seek the good for ourselves but for all people, especially for those that we feel are lost due to their sinful actions against ourselves. He cautions about living a life that allows us to be tempted to believe that the evil one has control over our destiny.

This is why we are called to allow prayer to be at the heart of our daily life. To notice the two voices which can seem to be at war within ourselves. The voice that speaks of desolation and ruin and the voice that speaks of faith, hope, and charity. This is more than just mind games but rather a recognition that where our hearts are our actions quickly follow. Thus our prayer is always at the heart of real life. It calls for a discerning heart that leads us towards God. At times this will take every ounce of our trust that God is at the heart of our prayer that we may seek the goodness of God in all things.

Stop, Look, Listen

When we teach children to cross the road we say stop, look, and listen. This daily task seeks to engrain a habit that is able for us safely navigate a daily task that is familiar to us. The familiarity with the activity also prevents us from assuming that the traffic on the road will be the same every day at the same time. It calls for a growing awareness of our environment. How our actions can have positive consequences for others and ourselves. This plays out in our readings for this weekend.

When Jesus visits the house of Martha and Mary, we see a domestic drama that could be familiar to many households. One person seems to be doing all the work and one person is just sitting around appearing to do nothing. Yet there is more to the story than just activity and contemplation. What we see played out is that Mary is attentive to the person of Jesus. He speaks about the reality of the situation and seeks to give a context for their activity. In this, he does not see our lives as an endless list of activities but rather an awareness of how we are present to God in our relationships.

This plays out when the three visitors meet Abraham and Sarah at the Oak of Mamre. Abraham provides hospitality to these visitors and makes them welcome. His focus is on meeting them with a receptiveness that is able to give fully from what they have available. In this, we meet God in what is available to us and allow us to be open to those graced moments that touch us deeply.

Paul is touched in a similar way when he encounters suffering. His focus is on noticing his own reality but also seeks opportunities to proclaim the truth of the Gospel to people. In this, we discover a mystery that needs to be listened to and lived out. We need to take out to stop, look and listen to discover where God is at play in our daily lives.

The Golden Rule

   This week's Sunday Gospel reading picks up where we left off last week. When asked Jesus asked what we were to focus on to inherit eternal life a particular scholar answered, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with your entire mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” This is not just something we do when we have spare time it is at the heart of the law and the prophets. The essential element is that our relationship with God will overflow into how we care for others and ourselves. This means that all that is human is intimately connected with what it is to be divine. They are not two separate realities but are interwoven with each other. What enables us to fall in love with God should also be our guiding principle in our daily relationships. Our faith is not about just a privatized religion that is confined to making sure that we make it into heaven. It seeks to embrace all people including those of different faiths and none.

We see this played out in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Where the emphasis in our religious life is only on our own efforts to encounter God then we can neglect those who fall by the wayside. Our intention can be wrapped up in becoming holy in our own right while ignoring that God seeks to renew the whole of creation. Jesus seeks to broaden our vision to seek out how we may reach out to those who are in desperate need of being included in God’s kingdom. This is often by allowing our life to be transformed by God who seeks the good not just of ourselves but for the whole of creation.

As I have stressed before this means that we need to be prayerfully present each day to what God opens our hearts and eyes to see. The time in prayer is not to shut out the world but to allow us to listen to how the heartbeat of God resonates with our own. This is a time of profound silence where we allow God to meet us as we are not as we think we should be. Often scripture, poetry, a form of prayer, or a particular icon or image may be our focus during this time but essentially it calls us to a place where we are present with where God wishes to commune with us.

This calls us to be aware of the environment in which we live and the community of which we are a part. It opens our eyes to notice how we are present to that community and in what ways we can use our gifts and talents for the good of others not just our own. This means that we also need to be thoughtful and considered where we will invest our time and talent. This is about enabling the charism that wells up inside us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to be given away freely for the good of another not just ourselves. When we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our actions, we seek not just our good but also the good of the whole community,

Lastly, we need to act in a way that allows our prayer and reflection to bear fruit. We do not stand on the sidelines as interested spectators but as active participants. This allows us to see what needs to be done and how we can be engaged in that work. It allows us to be moved by the spirit of shaping our community for good.

The Kingdom of God is very near to you.

 Jesus declares this weekend Gospel that the kingdom of God is very close to you. He builds on a text that those who listened would be familiar with, "For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off.  It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’  But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it." Deuteronomy 30.11-14. 

This may be very poignant as we start the second assembly of the Plenary Council. At the heart of the council is hearing what God is saying to our own generation building on the foundations which have already been established. When we seek to understand God there is an insight that the streams of living water well up inside us and become understandable in a language that speaks of beauty both ancient and new. God seeks our hearts first so that we can live the Good News in our own age. That we are called to be people who not only proclaim that truth but a witness it with our lives.

As Paul says to the Galatians, "Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, who form the Israel of God. Galatians 6.16" We are people who embody that life within our own. We are to be people who the mystery of life flows through as we hear in Isaiah "Now towards her (Jerusalem) I send flowing peace like a river, and like a stream in spate the glory of the nations." Isaiah 66.12. In the midst of discussions, discernment, and decisions we seek to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us to choices that best embody this reality within the life of the Church.

Over the next week, I would encourage you to keep the Plenary Council in your prayers so that there may be wise hearts and thoughtful consideration to seek what God desires for our Christian community in Australia.