What draws our attention

 Our attention can easily be swayed by memories of what has happened to us in the past, events that seem to be unfolding before our eyes, or the future that we hope for and pursue. What can elude us is how to be present in the moment without becoming trapped in a particular way of being. This can be so easy when we feel pressured by outside influences that seem to be beyond our control. There is the illusion that the urgent takes priority over the important, and we find ourselves overwhelmed. As we see Lent drawing to a close, this allows us to reevaluate what, or rather who, gives direction and purpose to our lives.

This means that we need to examine the past not to relive it but rather learn from how it has formed us into the person we are today. There can often be the temptation to wonder what would have happened if we had made different choices and how our lives may have unfolded. This pondering can produce a whole mixture of emotions, thoughts and memories. Yet, as Isaiah notes, learning to discover what sustains us and brings us life is important. This allows us to notice how we see the maps we have travelled and how we have arrived at who we are today.

At the moment, we can become aware of our own shortcomings. This can cause us to feel exposed and vulnerable when people notice our weaknesses and behaviour. This fear of being exposed to the opinion of others can cause us to withdraw from public view. The guilt and shame that can often hang over us like a dark cloud need to be viewed with the eyes of Jesus. He sees to the heart of our lives and our need for healing. He sees that each person needs to encounter the person of Jesus, who does not condemn us. In the sacrament of penance, we discover a God who can walk with us even when we feel heavily burdened.

This victory over sin and death helps us discover that Jesus does not abandon us to our own devices. He encourages us to keep pursuing the prize of eternal life. This is about looking towards a distant future and running with Jesus. We are called to discover God's pleasure when we notice the wind blowing through our hair. God encounters us daily in ways that nourish us and sustain us with hope. 

Being an Ambassador for Christ

 This is at the heart of our Lenten journey, and we seek to continue proclaiming God's work. This is the work of reconciliation, where we seek not to identify our faults but rather the desire to be reconciled with God. This is contained within the proclamation of St Paul to the Corinthians, where he states, "For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God (2 Corinthians 5.21). " This statement deserves to broaden our understanding of the radical nature of the incarnation. God seeks to transform our inner nature from an addiction to sin into a life that proclaims the goodness of God.

In the parable of the prodigal son, we discover a God who seeks us out even when we become distracted from the central mission of our life or become resistant to a life-giving relationship with God. He confronts both of his sons' ability to distance themselves from God. Both seek to inherit the goodness of God's creation for their own benefit. The younger son aims to take possession of this goodness to support him in his own lifestyle that distances him from God by indulging in behaviours that focus solely on his own pleasure. The older son seeks to take possession of the goodness of God by keeping the rules, but centres on what he is doing rather than the relationship with the Father. Yet we notice that God does not judge either of them but seeks to go out to meet them along the way. God provides and invitation to the feast of reconciliation. 

In our Eucharist, we discover bread for the journey. God will provide what is necessary to draw us into a life-giving relationship. At the heart of our journey, we are called to be reconciled, healed and nourished by God. When we adopt this sacramental way of life, we discover a God who meets and welcomes us home. God seeks to liberate us from the culture of death that focuses solely on our own needs. God presents a culture of life that proclaims the goodness of God to the whole of creation.

Where is our promised land?

 As we enter the midpoint of Lent, our minds and hearts can start to focus on what happens at Easter. A longing that yearns for something to celebrate in the desert arises within us. These noon-day devils can cause us to lose focus and wonder what is over the horizon, just out of reach. St. Paul reflects on this in the letter to the Corinthians when he noticed that our thirst and hunger can make us consume things that will not lead to our overall spiritual health. In particular, he warns about the spirit that complains about not being satisfied with the good things that God provides. 

In the burning bush, Moses starts to recognise that he is standing on holy ground. He encounters God in a new and unexpected way. This revelation is not solely for his good but also to help others journey with him. Similarly, Lent is never just about our own needs but how we accompany each other towards a future that can not be possessed, but that frees us to trust God more deeply.

This calls us to allow us to draw from the waters of life that are not simply to be refreshed for ourselves but to produce good fruit born by the spirit. As we enter into this midway point, let us encourage each other to seek God, who accompanies us even when we face the greatest challenges or the driest parts of our lives.

Knowing the unknown

 Half of our life is learning how to live and adapt to the vagaries of life. The second half of life is unlearning what we believe we already know. This can be deeply challenging because there is an inner desire to be authentic and genuine in how we interact with the world, God, and ourselves. Yet, as we grow older, we start to notice our inconsistencies, incompleteness and half-heartedness. There can be a longing to discover what will make us whole and holy.

In the Mountain of the Transfiguration, this story plays out with Jesus accompanied by Peter, James and John. Just at the point where Jesus encounters Moses and Elijah, it is as though Peter finally grasps who Jesus is as the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets. He gains an inner insight that wants to capture the moment by building three tents. He wants to be able to return to this truth that helps him discover that the divine life seeks to engage with our humanity. Yet, at the very moment of realisation, the disciples are covered by a dark cloud that hinders their vision and all their senses. They are deeply afraid that they can no longer see or touch Jesus. All they hear is the voice of God echoing the words spoken at the Baptism in the Jordan, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him."

This is often how we enter into Lent, where we are called to enter into the cloud of unknowing, where Jesus is obscured from us so that we can clearly hear his voice free from attachments. This can disturb us to be known even in our darkest nights when we surrender everything to God. Our listening transforms us and allows us to notice how we are changed from the inside out. It allows us to conform to Christ, who fills the spaces that make us more fully human and alive.

A long loving look at the real

 As we enter into Lent, we can become aware of what distracts us from living the Christian life. In our prayer, fasting and almsgiving, we can notice how we can seek to control external events, situations and things that influence our lives. This attention can easily consume our time, resources, and efforts to pursue outcomes that do not nurture us or feed others. They appear like real phantoms in the night but disappear like a morning mist. These disturbing experiences can both frighten, perplex and bewilder us as we seek to focus on what will bring us into a loving encounter with God.

What we notice is that there are three possible distractions in daily life. The first is trying to turn something tangible into a different substance. When we see ourselves hungering for something that will sustain us in life, we can seek to manipulate people, situations or experiences into a shape that fills our own appetite. This can rob us of noticing how to be present to the goodness of their natural way of being. Thus, bread is bread, and rocks are rocks. Each has its purpose but cannot act as a substitute for the other. This calls us to work with what is to hand rather than wishing it was somehow different.

In a similar way, we can notice how our time can be focused on activities that rob us of serenity and peace. They become all-encompassing and become our sole endeavour in life. They seek to take a life of their own and take on a personality of their own. They can take us away from relationships that sustain us and rob us of the joy of celebrating the life entrusted to us. We can start to become driven rather than guided, tending to worship our work rather than being thankful for how we can cooperate with God's creative plan. 

Lastly, we can notice how we can take unnecessary risks to test out whether God truly loves us. Rather than asking for help, we can plunge into activity. There can be a headlong pursuit of seeking our own ends rather than seeking what will enable us to become who we are called to be. Often, there is an impatience with God that wants to make things happen rather than allowing things to unfold.

As we enter into this season, let us take a long, loving look at the real and notice how God guides our daily lives. We want to be thankful for the situations and people entrusted to our care. We must be open to what brings life and aware of a God who walks close by our side.

Praise no one before he speaks

 We are often influenced by the words of another, not only to see what rings true to us but also what we are called to reflect on. In recent times, we have noticed how our responses to one another can be shaped by instant communication. There is a tendency to hear but not listen to the voice of another. Unfortunately, in an increasingly opinionated world, we only have to speak louder or more frequently to be heard. The trend is played out not only in the regular news cycle but also in applying those opinions that can influence and alter the lives of others. We often find people being labelled or alienated from us due to our viewpoints not being mirrored back to us.

The danger to ourselves and our community is that we become shaped by the instant unreflective response. We read or hear something and instantly notice a reaction inside ourselves that demands to be heard. Yet, when this happens, we must set aside time for prayer. This is the first time we have noticed our internal response, which may have been angered, saddened, or disappointed. This is not to stew on the feeling or reaction but rather to befriend it. This befriending of our internal response helps us to know what may be masked within us. By owning how we react, we can then have an honest heart-to-heart engagement with God to discover how we become a people of thanksgiving. This allows us time to consider the appropriate response and how we may invest in resolving a particular dilemma. It gives us room to open to changes in approach that aid others and myself to grow in a communal spirit that seeks the good of the whole body.

As Thomas Merton notes in "Thoughts into Solitude, p33, "To be grateful is to recognise the Love of God in everything. He has given us-and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love; every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him. Gratitude, therefore, takes nothing for granted, is never unresponsive, and is constantly awaiting new wonder and praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful man knows that God is good, not by hearsay but by experience." This changes how we see ourselves and others. Our gratitude emerges from a place that does not just plaster over the cracks of our own failures but from a generosity that seeks the good of each person, especially with the person from whom we are most easily estranged. 

Turn the other cheek

 The Gospel goes to the heart of the matter. Does God love us even when we do not behave lovingly. It appears on a daily basis that examples of people who cannot tolerate the life of another are thrown up to us. They go to war with them either in their own hearts or the concrete reality of daily life. It appears that hatred can become parasitical when ingested into our bodies. This parasite can take root and wants to be fed to be kept alive. Like any parasite, hatred can take a firm hold on us, and we can find recipes that stew within us. They can spew forth antagonism either in words or actions that seek to destroy the other. They can easily pass from the host to another person so easily that it is hard to heal the hurt they cause.

Yet Jesus stands in the midst of these conflicting thoughts, feelings and actions. He draws attention to the reality that it is only through love that the life of another can be transformed. This is actually at the heart of the incarnation when the Trinity ponders how humanity can be redeemed from the violence of sin. We discover that God does not stand idly by watching our own destructive instincts but intervenes to proclaim a different way of being. Jesus says, "Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you; a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back."

This is contrary to what we read on a daily basis, which feeds on conflict and hatred. The magnification of this can be seen to be multiplied through social media, where we see people seek to use power, control and opinion to shape our response to issues of the day. The separation between persons grows greater when we cannot meet people face to face. Trading barbs over the internet or through the letter pages in newspapers only adds fuel to the flames. It isolates us into our own thought bubbles, and we lose the ability to read the other. We also lose the capacity to pay close attention to our own internal world and our capacity to empathise with the life of another. I believe our prayer can be founded on how we are called to be present in our existing reality with wit and humour. When we hold ourselves lightly, God, we are no longer just drowning in a sea of information, but we are formed in God's image and likeness. This is the path of transformation where we do not throw up our hands saying thus is the world, but thus do we make the world.

Where do we sink our roots?

 One of the miracles we witness in Australia is the desert flowers that bloom following heavy rains that filter inland. This spectacular ray of life not only emerges from what appears to be a dead and barren landscape but also attracts many birds to the middle of the desert. They can sense life instead of blooming in the middle of a wilderness. There is a fresh sense of hope that not only delights the eye but lifts the spirit.

This new life almost occurs in contradiction to what we believe there is only death. It helps us to experience a renewal of life that engenders faith. These fruits help us imagine the earth witnessing a deeper life within. They cause us to discover how this new life bears witness to the creative power of God present in our world.

The beatitudes presented by Luke bear witness to how new life can bloom where there seem to be only tears, hunger and poverty. They help us to discover how, in our deepest human need, God can accompany us with a charity that is more than skin deep. This helps us to know that it is at times when we are most deeply challenged, or our resources are stretched to the limit that we can trust in a God who will not abandon us. At times when we are comfortable, we tend to rely on our resources and credit ourselves for our own success. It is not that we are called to welcome hard times but to discover how we need to sink the roots of our faith deep into the earth, anticipating the saving rains so that we are not overwhelmed.

Real Life not Infotainment

 As we witness the scene unfolding with the dialogue between Jesus and Peter, we are struck by the seeming contradictions. Fishermen usually mend their nets during the day to fish by night. They are used to the hard work that goes along with an unsuccessful night of fishing. Lastly, it takes a person who is not a fisherman to tell them when they should go out and fish. It is these contradictions that can often preoccupy us in our daily tasks. We become used to the routine of daily life even when there do not seem to be any rewards at the end of the day. We can seem to go through the motions, but nothing gains traction.

As the Gospel unfolds, Jesus seeks to make us into people who are willing to go fishing in waters that are familiar to us. There can be a natural resistance that points out the fact that we have tried hard to bring in a catch but have not caught anything. In our disappointment, we can become despondent, wondering if we have done something wrong or whether it is worth the effort. Yet this is where Jesus steps into the scene to put fresh heart into us and a new vision or way of seeing.

I feel this is important because we can often focus totally on our work rather than what engages us in the work. As people who are called to pray, we discover that this is about being present to God in the midst of our daily lives. This is not about the quantity or length of our prayers but rather that we become present to God as ourselves. We seek to settle our minds, hearts and bodies into silence. It is from this silence that we can start to live as people who witness a life that connects us together. We can act in a way that draws others into God's creative plan. This is not by just being observers of life watching a reality show on television but an engagement with real people in real-time.

Presentation and the year of Hope

 In the Presentation, we notice how the old meets the new. Mary and Joseph bring the child Jesus to the temple for ritual cleansing of Mary and his presentation to the Lord as the firstborn in accord with the Mosaic Law. This consecration to the Lord recognises the deep longing in our hearts to be focused on God with all our heart, mind and body. This is not just an abstract ritual but a genuine desire to discover the light of Christ shining amid our assembly.

We see this seed planted especially in those consecrated to the religious way of life. In renewing their vows of poverty, obedience and chastity, they echo the words of Simeon, who longs to see the face of God. While they may perform many good works, the relational aspect of their lives witnesses to a life that is not their own. They are inspired by the Holy Spirit to be pilgrims of hope in our modern age. 

In our own lives, we, too, are called to witness the hope manifested in the Presentation. We are called to be witnesses to Christ with our whole life. We are gifted with the spirit to live for Christ in our baptism. We become a people who are consecrated to become more like Christ and to focus on how we live that out with our whole heart, mind and body. We are called to become wholistic so that our call to holiness is not just an achievement of our own but points to God. 

How do we fill our jars!

When I undertook the Ignatian exercises, I was called to reflect on the scene from the wedding in Cana. I recall that I came to Jesus with a long list of complaints saying that I did not have to fill six jars but over 37 jars with water. As soon as I finished filling the last one, the others were exhausted from their contents. I remember staying with this prayer at the time and even now. We seek to fill many jars with our natural gifts and are left feeling spent that there are never enough hours in the day to achieve what we desire. The focus is on ourselves and the demands that are placed upon us. We wrestle with the fact that there are only 24 hours each day and seven days a week. Where will I find the time to be all I want?

As I stayed with this scene, I was reminded that I had only been asked to fill six jars with water. Also, it was not my actions that turned the water into wine but the graceful presence of Jesus. This experience can become a sobering insight when we believe our salvation is achieved through effort and hard work. Sometimes, we have to realise that we are called to be people who cooperate with the Holy Spirit through the gifts we have to share. We are called to grow in a partnership with God and each other. Our spirituality grows through a relationship of mutuality that does not seek to change the world into our image and likeness but allows us to rejoice in God's creative plan.

Thus, what do I feel God is prompting us in our current age? The first is six days for work and one day for rest. Each day brings challenges, and we are called to fill our jars with the natural gifts and talents entrusted to us. It is also important to realise that by surrendering ourselves to God's grace, Jesus turns the water into wine. We enjoy not just any wine but the finest wine. So when we reach the end of the day, we can look back with thanksgiving for how we noticed God's graced presence that day. Then, on Sunday, it allows us to become present to a God who can rest with us and rejoice.