Learning to live by the spirit of the game

 When I listen to others I often ask myself what am I listening for? There is an art in conversation that is more than considering your response but attentiveness to what the other person is trying to express. I often find myself echoing the prevailing wisdom or the latest insight I have heard from others. The difficulty with these responses is that they bounce along the surface and do not seek what I am prepared to live for. We live in an age where opinions are readily available and easily transmitted around the world but do not reveal who we are called to become.

We discover this in the discussion between Jesus, the Pharisees and the scribes. These are people who take the discussion about faith seriously as can be seen when they address the hygiene laws of the day. What is added to this discussion is that not obeying these laws makes a person unclean on the inside. Jesus challenges this viewpoint to not just observe external laws without an inner conversion of heart. Thus we don't just obey laws because we want to look good but we seek to be good that enables us to care for others. 

This conversion of heart builds the foundation of Jesus' life. He does not just want lip service but a way of being present that reaches the depth of our soul. This acknowledges how we allow God into the places that we hide away and give rise to evil intentions, the things that truly make us unclean. By acknowledging this reality we start to find the spirit of the law. We discover how God meets us even in our darkest night and seeks to kindle the flame that burns away the darkness. That warms us from the inside out and transforms our world.     

Come closer but not too close!

 The remarkable miracle of the Eucharist is that God wants to invite us to the table and be met body and soul. So often we find people asking whether people will notice if they are not there on Sunday and quietly slip away. There can be a sense that the profound intimacy offered by God goes stale when there seem to be so many other good things that we can partake of that seem to satisfy that deep longing in our hearts. Yet while we can be involved with many things there can be a sense of a deep emptiness that yearns to be filled. It is in this sense that we long for something or someone who will meet us and come close.

Jesus speaks of this in the crescendo of the reflections in John that disturb those who hear him. He wants to come close to us and be embraced by that divine love that is poured out for us. This is where God's desire for us is often stronger than our response. It is the question that often can resonate in our own hearts about a life that is eternal. We can often be perplexed that we want to partake of this divine love but only rely on our human understanding. Yet this is where God meets us in our questions and our relationships that seek to manifest this divine love.

It is this encounter that can sustain us by holding us close and enveloping us in a loving embrace. God wants to hold our gaze and look upon us. This divine encounter allows us the greatest freedom to be who we are called to be. In each Eucharist, we discover a God who wants to hold us close and come closer. To fill us with a divine love that sustains and nurtures us. Our simple response is to be present and give thanks for such a profound gift that floods our world with life and light!

When a house becomes a home

 One of the struggles of our time is how we provide adequate housing for people so that they can feel at home within the community in which they live. The emphasis can often focus on the external provision of a building to meet the internal needs of the heart. I think this is where we may need to return to the philanthropist businessmen of past ages who realized that they were not solely in it for the money but for their vision to build a better world. Growing up in Birmingham, I was conscious of the tradition of George and Richard Cadbury who sought to build a model village to improve the conditions of the workers in an environment in which they could flourish. This vision is also present in the suburbs of Glebe and Pyrmont sought to provide not just houses but a community in which people could live.

This also helps us to see that we need to have a certain wisdom that perceives who is welcome at the table. In an age where much of our lives are dissipated on external things to improve our health, our wealth, and our depth we often avoid what brings us home where we are called to spend our time. The media often provides a vision that looks at external pleasure and success rather than what truly nourishes and sustains us. Thus as St Paul notices we become intoxicated with ways of life that dull our senses. Yet we are called to pray in a way that resonates with God and seeks to harmonize with others.

We are called to imbue the life of Christ each time we gather for Eucharist. We are called to participate in the life that Christ offers to us. We are called to become what we eat and drink. It is why our liturgy engages all the senses of sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing. We are called to be transformed by what we receive and not just adopt a consumerist approach to life. This is where we find our true home because God wants to make a home within us. This is not just a transitory home but an eternal home where we can discover who we are and who we are called to become. We are drawn into a life that will sustain us to eternity, the bread of life that is food for the journey.

Having a conversation that matters

 Having a conversation that matters.

We encounter Elijah at his lowest ebb. Having escaped from the clutches of Jezebel he flees into the desert after he has put the prophets of Baal to death. At a time when we witness one of the great signs of the offering of sacrifice to God, we notice the inner turmoil within Elijah. He just wants to die because he fears for his life. Into the midst of this turmoil God enters into the dialogue through providing food for the journey not once but twice. There is a need to move beyond just wishful thinking towards a life-giving encounter that will sustain Elijah to the mountain of Horeb.

In our own lives we are sustained by this food for the journey each time we encounter Jesus’ present in the Eucharist. This encounter meets us at times when we can be on the verge of giving up and the burdens, we carry appear to be too heavy. Especially as we encourage people to return to celebrate Sunday Mass post COVID we need to have conversations that matter. The obligation to attend Sunday Mass is not an extra duty to be fulfilled but a recognition that we need to be fed with the bread of life on a regular basis. We are called to the table of the Lord to celebrate who we are in God’s eyes. This is important especially when people cannot attend Mass because of their illness. That they can be remembered at our Masses and then provided with communion by people who faithfully bring the bread of life to nurture them. This demonstrates that they are not forgotten or alienated from God. Just like the angel visiting Elijah they are provided with the food for the journey.

I think this is especially true for people who are close to death or are faced with a life-threatening condition. Reading through the general instruction on the pastoral care of the sick we can notice some of the instructions about viaticum that involves the three sacraments of Eucharist, Penance and Anointing. Especially in an age where people can be confronted with the reality of suffering and death, we are called to have conversations that do not shy away from the meaning we find in life.  People need to be accompanied so that suffering and death does not have the final word. We are called to see the value of each person’s life through the eyes of God. It is this pastoral care that provides the sensitivity to provide what is on hand to draw a person into a deeper relationship with God. This seeks to alleviate both their physical and spiritual suffering that can so easily cause them to be plagued by fears of their own worth when they feel that they are alone.

Paul also notices this in how we seek to be people who are reconciled with each other rather than diminished by our differences. The call is to be people who sustain each other especially when we notice our own resistances to God’s grace. The Eucharistic presence available to us through confession helps us to notice how God enters our deepest fears. We are not left alone to fight the battle of faith on our own. This anointing also sustains us to influence others even at the moment of death by freeing us from what oppresses and afflicts us.

God does not abandon us to our own fears, our own sins or our own hunger. He provides the bread of life that offers his very self. This encounter sustains us in the journey of life and embraces us with the promise of eternal life. As people who walk with others on this journey we can become pilgrims of faith, hope and love. Who see in each meeting that every life has a deeper meaning, and no prayer is left unanswered.

Do not work for food that does not last but work for food that endures for eternal life.

 We are often told by dieticians and nutritionists that we are what we eat. In a world where diets come in and out of fashion, we are often bombarded with too much information to look after our bodies. There is often a plethora of information about what will make us healthy and what can sustain us. The focus while important can make a lot of money for people who seek to tell us what to do. As a person who has struggled to maintain a healthy weight and be told the mantra watch what you eat and exercise more, I am often confused by whose voice I listen to. I want to be healthy but find that even when I work hard in seeking to maintain a good and healthy balance it often focuses more on externals rather than an internal disposition.

This is where our reflection of this week's Gospel draws us into sharp focus. We so often pay attention to what others tell us is healthy that we do not focus on what endures and sustains us in life. We need to look at things that are nutritious and life-giving but this is not just about the food that we consume but rather the thoughts that fill our minds and hearts. When we look at the Eucharist this is not just about receiving communion but rather an encounter with the person who brings us to life. This is where the Gospel clarifies that working for God is to believe in the one he sent. A  person who can nourish our body and soul. This encounter reshapes how we see ourselves as a person befriended into life.

When we witness our week we are called not to follow illusory ideas that cause us to follow every new "diet" that promises to satisfy us. We are called as St Paul says to the Ephesians to renewed in the goodness and holiness of the truth. So often we are informed about what the issue of the day that needs to be addressed for our good. Yet over the last week, we have recognized that instant media can feed us with counterfeit food. It can also lead us into conversations and debates that waste our time and dissipate our spirits. I think when we invite people to the table we need to choose carefully what it is that we consume. We live in a world that will fill us with good, bad, and the ugly all too quickly we can swallow it whole. Yet we are to be formed by a person who seeks us out for our good and the good of the whole world. This is where each time we gather for the Eucharist we are called to be transformed not just by the host we consume but the person who invites us to the table. We are to work for people who seek to live for the truth that renews us to be people of Good News. In encountering each day as a time blessed by the Lord we discover the person of Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.