Heading in the right direction

Each year especially as we are encouraged to undertake a review of life. This often seeks to create new resolutions which will be the focus of our life. They seek to provide a way of being present to ourselves and others. However, like many goals once achieved what do we do next? They see our lives as a set of tasks to be achieved rather than an orientation that guides our whole lives. If we know our orientation this will help us to regularly review whether what we are doing is a true expression of who God wishes us to become. 

I would propose that this may be the best way to guide us into the new year by asking who we want to become and what gives the best expression of who we are in daily life. It can be a very simple guiding principle that helps us to discover how we are present. I keep returning to Micah 6.8 where the prophet says to act justly, walk humbly and love tenderly in seeking God. This very simple review helps us to be people who act, reflect, and pray in accord with what is fundamental to who we are called to be.

Also in this year of Matthew where we accompany his insight into the person of Jesus, we are called to learn mercy not sacrifice. I believe this emphasis is not so much on the time we give, the money we donate, or the treasure we share but rather a motivation that seeks to hold a person's life as blessed as our own. It calls us to become people who are aware of how we are graced by God not solely for our own good but for the good of all creation.

As we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God we can be guided by her insight into how the life of Jesus impacted her own. This was not just a life of giving up but of surrendering to the life-giving presence of God which she bore within her. This did not just end with the birth of Jesus but accompanied him in his hidden years as she witnessed how she was helped to ponder the way that God joins us in the mystery of ourselves. May we discover how God orientates us for the journey ahead as we join on our pilgrim way in 2023.

May the peace of Christ disturb you!

 From time to time I reflect on what Christmas draws us towards. We are very much aware of the nativity scene which draws on the inspiration of St Francis of Assisi. It was the introduction of animals and a stable scene to enkindle a great sense of devotion and prayer. There was a need to see a connection between the birth of our Lord in poor circumstances with the lives of ordinary people. There was a need to see the connection between God's total dependency on others as a babe in arms that bids us hold him close to our hearts. It calls for openness and transparency which allows us to encounter a God who meets us in everyday life.

As we reflect on what this means for us now it firstly calls us to become present to a God who appears to be totally dependent upon us for everything. To be fed, clothed, comforted, sheltered, and kept warm are basic human needs that Jesus experienced from his earliest years. He was able to be known in the reality of these situations which noticed his poverty, obedience, and need for human relationships to sustain him. This allows us to see it is in these principal orientations towards us that we start to know how to orientate ourselves to God.

The incarnation thus changes how we view ourselves and the world. No longer is it just focussed on what we want but a discovering about the one thing that is needed. To discover a God who can sustain our body and soul. This is at the heart of how we reach out to each other especially those in greatest need this Christmas. We can often take it for granted that we will be fed, clothed, comforted, sheltered, and kept warm. Yet there are many who long for these simple gifts which enable them to discover they are truly human. That they have a fundamental dignity that needs to be nurtured, protected, and nourished.

In our own time, we can become aware of those who are dependent upon others for the basic necessities of life. It calls us to open our hearts to their need and discover how we can share our lives for the good of others. Christmas comes at a time when Jesus enters into our deepest needs and our most troubled hearts. May the peace of Christ disturb you!

God-is-with-us

 When we hear this phrase it is possible that we can misinterpret what it truly means. Often when we pray we can have a preset agenda that God needs to follow. We want life to be peaceful, uncomplicated, and stable. Yet in the hurly and burly of life, we can find ourselves pondering what God is seeking to communicate to us. We see this in the question which arises in Joseph's thinking when he finds out that Mary is pregnant. He starts to tell himself a story about what is best for him and for Mary. He works out a plan which both respects Mary while also allowing him to retain his honor. Part of this is driven by his fears of what others will say but also how this impacts the lives of both of them. Yet in his prayer, he is moved to act in a way he had not expected which sees his life as part of a larger adventure.

In a similar way when we hear these words of God-is-with-us we can tend to isolate  it to sound more like God-is-for-us. In this experience, we start to form God into our own image and likeness. We imagine that God will answer our prayers in the way we think best. In this situation, we seek to discover a God who will help us to maintain our control of the situations we find ourselves in and where we can see ourselves portrayed in the best light. The place allows us to believe that we can accord our lives to the prevailing opinion of others which will not rock the boat.

Yet in the reality, the Gospel message seeks for us to discover that we do not have all the answers to our problems. In fact, we often feel our own inner poverty when we do not have an immediate answer to quite challenging events that can unsettle and unnerve us. Like Joseph, we can wonder how to reconcile where our hearts are being led when they appear to be torn apart. When we wrestle with these questions we discover a God who does abide with us not to give a simple fix but a loving presence. 

I believe this is at the heart of how we prepare for Christmas when we wonder whether we have everything in place. In times of uncertainty about the future, we can seek to orientate ourselves toward a God who joins us in that poverty. God seeks us out in the disturbing presence of Jesus born in an obscure town in a far-off land in a place away from power and influence. In this place, he draws us to find our hearts especially when they seem divided in two. We discover a God who seeks to disrupt and heal us with a love that is present to our greatest desire. May the peace of Christ disturb us!

God seeks us out

 There is often a belief that the spiritual life commences with us. This often starts with a question about what brings meaning to our existence. Many self-books seek to set out methods or ways of being present in the age in which we live. While some may guide us to a point of self-reflection they can also isolate us in seeing this journey as our own private adventure. Thus we see it pushed to the margin of our society as a hobby or a way of engaging our time when we have nothing else to do.

Yet the readings for this weekend acknowledge a different reality. God comes searching for us. This recognizes in Isaiah how we can become blinded or deafened by the many competing voices and directions which are presented to us. But essentially God desires a relationship with us, not just a plan that can be followed. It calls us to patiently cultivate this relationship.

As we see in Matthew's gospel even John the Baptist had questions about whether Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus points to the reality of being healed, renewed, and known. This acknowledges that we are called to discover who we are in God's eyes and how we are looked upon with abiding love. This can be an unexpected surprise as often we engage with God believing that we are not good enough to be loved. There is nothing that can be further from the truth. God seeks us out when we least expect it and when we can feel that we do not deserve to be loved so intimately. We can feel so small when God can appear so big. I believe this is why Advent is so important we prepare a place in our hearts for a small child who seeks to befriend and draw us closer. It is this non-threatening approach that allows us to prepare a place where God can be at home with us and where we can prepare to hold him close to our hearts.

So this is how we enter into this week with a sense of joyful anticipation that God seeks to be with us even in the most mundane and everyday tasks. God seeks us out long before we seek God.

Don't rely on past glories

 One of my lecturers once warned me that completing a qualification was an acknowledgment of work done and an aptitude to apply yourself to study. However, as we have learned in our current environment we need to be open to ongoing formation in a world which rapidly calls us to be aware of new knowledge and insights. This is the danger when we start to rely upon on what we have done in the past to justify our work in the present. We are called to be people who learn what is called for today.

In a similar way in our spiritual life, we need to be open to deepening our relationship with the person of Christ. Our prayer calls us to be open to encountering Him in the current day and with a fresh appreciation of how we are called to draw closer. This allows us to take time each day in which we build on the foundations we have made but guides us to a deeper understanding of how we are known by Him. During Advent, we are called to reflect on the places where we become stuck in old habits which paralyze us in the present. This allows us to notice how we are called to produce fruit that is sweet and nourishing not only for ourselves but for all people.

As Paul reflects in his letter to the Romans where he emphasizes persistence and tolerance in reaching out to each other. This calls us into a friendship with Christ which is reflected in how we are called to be friends with each other. Especially at this time when so many things can divide us, we are called to be people who seek to be united in mind and voice. This is the place where peace and justice can flourish. 

This calls for a discerning spirit that seeks a spirit of wisdom and insight, counsel and power, knowledge and awe. This understanding of Isaiah is that we are called to be people who breathe in the spirit and speak it out. Thus being known as we allow us to welcome the reign of God which dwells within us. As we journey to Christmas may this be a time when we are gifted with this discerning spirit that seeks to build bridges, not walls.