Listening to God with our whole lives

 The reflection this weekend looks at how the office that a person occupies can be confused with who the person is. In an egalitarian culture such as Australia, there has been an essential recognition that a person is taken on their merits rather than on the position they occupy. Authority tends to be hard won and easily lost when a person acts differently from what they say. I believe that this is important when we seek to reflect on the role of people who occupy ecclesial offices and how they can be perceived as speaking for God rather than about God. I believe this can be at the heart of any Christian life or in fact any religious person that they need to hold this balance of what they can speak about definitively and what they can speak about from their own reflection. I believe this is what lies at the heart of the Gospel text that notices the subtle distinction between proximity to the Holy and closeness to the Holy One.

I know from my ongoing reflection that it is important that I seek to live a life of closeness to God in my prayer and in my prayerfulness. I cannot presume that I am close to God simply because I exercise an office with the Church. I am only too aware of the apparent contradictions within my own life between what I say and what I do. Almost like St Paul, I seek to do good but often find myself doing the very thing I hate. It is important that at the heart of our life that we abide in a living relationship with God not just our own perceptions of holiness. We are called to be formed into the image of the Divine Master who is ever creative and ever new.

This calls us also to ponder on how we seek to live the Word of God in our daily lives. This is not just through a familiarity with scripture but rather an absorbing the word and allowing our hearts to be transformed by what we hear. There is a need to have a heart that is teachable and tenderized. This is not a blind pounding of noise but rather a softening attentiveness to the quiet breeze of God. We listen to the life that lies at the heart of all life and allow ourselves to be taught.

It is in this spirit that we gather to be present to God who presides over our life with mercy and compassion. We become formable and present to the guiding hand that entices us to draw closer. This is not through our own merits but rather our deepest need. God demonstrates love for us by seeking broken hearts and earnest longings. We discover that we are indeed close to the heart of God who reaches out to us long before we reach out to God.

The Golden Rule

 The word "must" stands out to me as the translation in Matthew's gospel echoes the words from Deuteronomy 6.5. This gives an indication that the imperative to love God is not an optional extra or a nice ideal but the central teaching of all scripture. In saying that we are called to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our understanding we start to gain a glimpse of what is at the heart of religious life. This is not just following a law to love but rather finding the heart of God that is always turned outward towards the love of another.

Unpacking each of these elements we start to see that the three elements are wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. By learning things by heart we are not just called to a rote way of living but rather an appreciation of applying what we have learned to the situation in which we live. At the heart of wisdom is the ability to notice what is necessary for this moment and this time. What might fit for one person or culture may not be appropriate for another. It is a call to be immersed into the culture with the heart of God that seeks to inculturate the Gospel for others. 

In a similar way, our understanding is a willingness to commit our life to God and others not just to do our own thing. This commitment helps to notice that our life has an influence on others and can transform their life by witnessing to what God has entrusted us. This is calling us not to be alienated from God or from each other. We are  called to be soulful in the way we are present to God's grace that lies at the heart of our creation

Then we apply our minds and our strength to how God is manifest in daily life. This is not thinking God into being but rather noticing how our belief in God shapes our way of being present to the world. There is an integration of belief that builds on solid foundations. It helps us to recognize the language with which God has written the universe that is writ large for those who seek what sustains life. We are called to be people of faith and reason. Detectives of God in a world that seeks light over darkness, substance over triviality, and depth over dissipation. 

The separation of Church and State

 The Gospel Weekend seems to give a clear differentiation between the sacred and the secular. Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's. It seems to be clear-cut where one should not influence the other or vice versa. The danger is that religion is seen only as a private affair that has no impact on the public arena. However, we believe that rather than seeing our beliefs as icing on the cake they are core to our identity and to how we view creation. What we believe influences how we view ourselves and how we act in the world. Thus our beliefs do influence our relationships and how we act as good stewards in the world.

It is with this understanding that there is a sacred underpinning to all life that we seek to interact with each other and how we seek to care for the environment we live. This stance helps us to see that we are both body and spirit. As people influenced by the incarnation of Jesus Christ we are called to see how his life influences our own. The belief that the divine and the human are intimately interlinked helps us to use material things for the good of others not just for the good of ourselves. Thus it is this understanding of the sacred underpinning for all life that shapes who we seek to become.

Thus we seek to serve the common good by respecting both the material and spiritual welfare of the community of which we are a part. We are called to be good citizens in both the earthly and heavenly realms. This helps us to know that our identity as Christians is called to incarnate the Gospel in our own day. In creating a culture that fosters the welfare of others, that displays good stewardship for the people and creation entrusted to our care, and our seeking to be transformed by the Word we display a life that seeks to be authentic and whole. This is at the heart of holiness not that we have a foot in both camps, the sacred and the secular but rather that the secular becomes an expression of that divine imprint that is planted on our hearts. This means that we seek to live in a way that considers who God is and how that influences the way we act for the good of all creation. 

Misreading the signs of the times

 After the week of horror that has confronted us on a daily basis, we can wonder where God is in the midst of this carnage and destruction. In what has shown us the basest of human behavior we can relate well to the passage on how people's priorities can be distorted by their minds and hearts. How violence can ever be seen as a way to peace continues to astound me. It is also easy to see how violence can breed anger, disappointment, and revenge and thus perpetuate the cycle. In the midst of this reality, we see the stark contrast of how God invites his people to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. It is important that we do not become consumed by those who peddle hatred and vengeance but rather look at opportunities for reconciliation and healing where people can sit down with each other. 

This is the hard work of reconciliation and healing that is not just preached in words but lived out by witnesses. I believe that this urgency of mending broken hearts is not easy or pious talk. Many minds and hearts have sought to understand how this long-standing conflict can be resolved in a way that brings both justice and peace. Often this is by recognizing that all people carry the wounds of this suffering and have longed to consider a place they can call home. Often the question is why people hate each other so much that they cannot see their common humanity. War and its consequences often produce a distorted ingenuity and cruelty to inflict pain on another. However, it can also breed a hope within others to stand in harm's way to protect, heal, and strengthen those whose lives must be rebuilt. 

Our earnest prayer is that as we gather to pray at Mass we do not stand ideally by and wash our hands of making difficult choices. The art of reconciliation seeks firstly to notice how hatred and fear can often fill our own hearts. There is a need to acknowledge this so that we do not become infected by the same parasite that can leap from generation to generation. This is the hard work of prayer because it means that we are not immune to the suffering of others. What afflicts others has an impact on our own lives. There is also a call to be people who reflect on how so easily a conflict in a distant land has the potential to put people at odds with each other in our own. We should not stoke the fire but rather put out the flames. Lastly, we should not act in a way that seeks to isolate ourselves from reaching out to those in great need, those who believe they are excluded from enjoying the banquet of life. We need to seek equity of opportunity not just equality of choice. We are called to become pilgrim people who walk with each other and talk with each other along the way. Cardinal Pizzabella, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, has requested people to join him for a day of fasting, abstinence, and prayer to express our thirst for peace, justice, and reconciliation. 

Called to be good stewards

 Each of us has been gifted with life and entrusted with a way of life that is given not possessed. Each day provides the opportunity to examine how we build on these foundations in a way that gives glory to God, not ourselves. It allows us to notice how our lives become a prayer that echoes the voice of God lived for the good of all creation.

It is important that we listen to the voice of God and not just our own. This is at the heart of the Synod on synodality where we are called to be in the world but not of the world. In our listening, we are called to act justly, walk humbly, and love tenderly in how we are present in our day-to-day realities. 

This is important when we realize that in entrusting life to us God calls us to witness to proclaiming the good news in our own time and space. In a world that often seeks to divide people against each other, we need to seek how the kingdom of God is actually producing fruits in our own age. Will there be a fruit that is rich and juicy or sets our teeth on edge? In all things, we are called to discover the quiet voice that dwells deep inside for the good of the whole of creation.

As we pause to cast our votes on the referendum may we act justly, walk humbly, and love tenderly in the way we care for the land that we call home and for the indigenous people who invite us to share their wisdom.