We are in the midst of a spiritual housing crisis!

We are in the middle of a housing crisis. People long to find shelter and a stable place which they can call home. We have witnessed many governments and individuals seeking to address this issue, especially in a time when it is difficult to raise sufficient funds to make a deposit or afford the monthly repayments. How do we assist people to build on solid foundations, not just for this generation but for future generations?

It is against this background that we hear St Peter encourage people to build on the person of Jesus Christ as the living stone on which it is possible to create a living relationship with God. If you ask any builder, it is important to deal with a building's foundations before you let it take shape. This means that the sewer lines, electrical cables, and other essential items must be installed before a frame is ever created, bricks are laid, or a roof is set in place. This is where we start to realise that it is in baptism that we first encounter the person of Christ. We build on this foundation to continue to meet him daily. It provides the living encounter that forms us in our relationship with a faith community, where we can build our lives. This allows us to be reconciled, healed, and nourished and provides the sacramental witness of how people witness to their faith through marriage, ordination, religious life, and single commitment. You are a chosen nation, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation set apart to sing the praises of God.

This living presence of Jesus Christ is also affirmed in the passages from John. Amid all the uncertainty we face, sometimes daily, we are called not to let our hearts be troubled. This may seem easier said than done, but it calls us to recognise the principle and foundation that becomes our touchstone for our faith. What scripture passage can we call to mind that will sustain us through each day? This is at the heart of Thomas question when he hears Jesus say that he will prepare many rooms for us so that we can be with him. This is not just about careful planning for a future event, but about a present reality in which we meet Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It also leads to Philip’s deeper question about how we see Jesus in the events of this day. This can at times seem very abstract, but it is where we are called to be together as a prayerful community. We are called to witness to others through our presence that God is with us. This allows us to study the environment in which we work, noticing the graced moments when God is at work and when we are called to act. At the end of each day, we can examine how we have both cooperated with God’s grace and resisted it. This gentle art of reflection allows us to surrender each day to receive and give thanks for how God is at work in our lives.

We also know through the Acts of the Apostles that people can be moved to focus on aspects of community life. At the heart of synodality is the need to listen not just to the loudest voice but the living heartbeat of Christ that draws people together. Where there are differences of opinion, we need to ensure that all the charisms are at work to build up a community of disciples who preach the Good News with their lives. At the heart of this is also a recognition that certain people are set aside for prayer and service of the Word. Yet a community is not just built on the work of one person but on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who fills us with wisdom to spread the Gospel in our times.

A faith community builds on solid foundations, not just the priests' but also the baptised's, who have formed a community. People in our own age are looking for a place where they can belong and call home. There is a spiritual housing crisis! This is not just about finding any place, but about seeking a continual renewal of faith that calls each of us to be disciples. This allows us to become people of prayer, reflection, and action who embody the words of the psalmist: "Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you."

What do we look for in a Good Shepherd

  

What do we look for in a Good Shepherd? This question comes to mind as we reflect on the weekend's readings. There is a diverse amount of commentary that seeks to guide our understanding of how we form young men for the priesthood. We are called to help form people into shepherds of souls. Yet this is not something that can be done in isolation from the people whom they will be called to serve.

The Vatican study group that reflected on priestly formation emphasised the important role that women undertake in that formation process. This recognises that women and men have an equal dignity in sharing their charisms in building up a community of faith. Those in formation for the priesthood need to grow in maturity and confidence through the mentorship of those they are called to serve. They need to be immersed in people’s lived realities. This shifts from a purely academic, insular training to one that seeks to build communities of faith through active discernment of God's voice in their daily lives. This engagement seeks to explore how, in a digital age, we can be cluttered by the many things that seek to draw our attention away from Gospel living. As Pope Francis says, they need to have the smell of the sheep. They need to be familiar with walking among them and listening to their voices.

We can see in the readings that everyone needs to encounter themselves as beloved by God and to bear faithful witnesses to that abiding love. We cannot share with others what we have not received ourselves. They need to hear the voice of God that speaks to our hearts as we hear St. Peter stress the need to die to our own faults and live for holiness. It is through our wounds that we are healed.

This is stressed in the Acts of the Apostles: we are called to repentance, forgiveness of sins, and baptism. This movement, stressed by St Peter, calls upon people to have their broken hearts healed. In this, we start to see that the sacrament of penance is not just a ritual to be undertaken but an encounter with the risen Lord. As we seek to recognise what ties us up in knots, we are called to an honest evaluation of what burdens us so that we can speak it aloud. This allows the Lord to meet us when we are in deepest need and when we carry a load that is too heavy for us. The weight of our sins is not just a quick fix for all our problems; it addresses the inner darkness that threatens to destroy us.

The psalmist stresses how God seeks to lead us to good pasture, guides us by restful waters, and revives our drooping spirits even in the darkest night. The psalmist also sees this as leading us to a banquet that will be prepared even in the sight of our foes. This is to seek goodness and kindness that allows us to dwell in the House of the Lord. What appears essential is that we do not need to be perfect when we set out on the journey, but we need to trust that we are heading in the right direction. We care to encounter the person of Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

The Gospel stresses the need to hear his own voice. This calls us to be close to the shepherd who leads us in and out safely. We are awoken to an awareness that Jesus seeks to walk with us on our journey of faith. God will always be faithful if we open our hearts, especially at moments of brokenness, grief, and sadness. Thus, a shepherd is a person who can bear his own wounds so that he can shepherd and guard others. Thus, the person called into ministry needs to recognise themselves as a wounded healer.

So, this poses a deeper question for us: how do we recognise the Good Shepherd who walks among us and calls us to nurture people in their vocation? It draws us back to take our baptismal calling to be disciples to heart. Priests do not appear by magic; they emerge from communities like ours. They seek to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd that will help others to be guided to be healed, nourished and forgiven. As we pray for those discerning this call, we also seek to nurture our own baptismal vocation to be priest, prophet, and king, helping others to meet the risen Lord.

 

 

 

 

How do we find our way home?

 How do we find our way home? This only makes sense when we are away from home, when we start to notice the absence of what is familiar and everyday. People leaving on a journey or taking a step into a new environment often feel this sense of separation. They are open to new realities, but eager not to lose contact with the people they love. Often, this deep longing can feel like a sickness, weighing heavily on a person as they feel disoriented by a new reality. They often need to talk to another person on the journey to find what makes sense. This can even be seen in people posting on social media or by making telephone calls, if only to have a familiar presence who helps us make sense of what we are experiencing.

When we encounter the two disciples on the walk back to Emmaus, we encounter the same reality. They are all too aware of all the events leading up to Jesus’ life and death, but struggle to make sense of the empty tomb. This is not just idle chatter; it is a faith conversation about how their hearts have been broken and their hopes dashed. The supreme irony in this story is that they are unaware that Jesus walks with them and seeks to make sense of who he is, which is more important than the events that have unfolded. Jesus listens to what is most disturbing them and then guides them to understand the scriptures that speak about him. Then, when they reach their destination, he takes bread, blesses it, breaks it, and shares it. These show how this Eucharistic action is mirrored in our celebration whenever we gather for Mass.

What is central to this Eucharistic moment is that Jesus shares himself both in Word and Sacrament. Saint Peter points to this when he notes that the tomb cannot contain him and that he has freed us from the corruption of sin and death. This allows us to understand the fulfilment of the promise that he would sit at God’s right hand and that we would experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

We start to discover that our true home is in heaven and that God walks with us on the journey. This is not just an abandonment of our day-to-day encounters, but a call to accompany each other, especially when we walk together. This shows that true happiness does not come from our own efforts but from our willingness to meet the person of Christ. We recognise that we cannot meet God on our own or manufacture grace. We are called to a point where, especially when we are besieged by the events of life, God will meet us there. Where two or three are gathered in His name, He is present in their midst.

As we continue our journey together, Jesus makes himself known to us. These may be fleeting moments, but they help us to glimpse the truth. This is the reason we gather each week to celebrate the Eucharist. To listen to the Word broken open for us and the bread taken, blessed, broken, and shared as the precious Body and Blood of Christ. Jesus does not abandon us but walks with us, often unseen, as we share our stories of faith. He enkindles the fire within us so that we may notice his footsteps alongside our own. 

From the darkness of doubt to the light of faith

 In Caravaggio's painting of this encounter between Thomas and Jesus, we see how Thomas is drawn from the darkness of doubt into the light of faith. The intensity of this encounter can often raise questions for us about why Thomas was not with the disciples in this first encounter with the risen Christ. Yet it is not about who was there and who was not. Jesus makes the same proclamation when he says peace be with you. The drama of the scene is often not lost on me as I notice that the invitation to put your hand into the side of Jesus is to touch the living heart of Jesus. This most intimate of encounters touches our own reality, especially on Divine Mercy Sunday. We are not called to faith in the abstract events of daily life but to learning to be agents of forgiveness. This is the recognition that when we celebrate the sacrament of penance, it is not just about cleaning up our own sins but about adopting the forgiving nature of Christ. This profound shift is what we pray in the Our Father, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.

As we enter this Easter season, there is also a call to recognise that, as a Christian community proclaiming the Catholic faith, we should notice how our actions mirror those of the first community.

·      Being faithful to the teaching of the apostles

·      Gathering in common

·      Sharing in the Eucharist

·      Becoming a people of prayer

·      Sharing generously with others

This allows us to become a people of faith that acknowledges that our faith is to be proclaimed to the world in which we live through the community we are.

We can see glimpses of this in how we engage in our own communities of faith. We celebrate how, as a faith community, we have gathered together as a Church. This is an important foundation where we acknowledge the many ways that Christ has touched our own lives and how we share that with each other. I also know that many of you have shared your reflections through our prayer, study and action on how we build on these foundations. What is central are the words we hear where we are encouraged by the words of St Peter, “You did not see him yet you love him; and still without seeing him you are already filled with joy so glorious that it can not be described, as you look forward to the salvation of your souls.”

As people of faith, we too are called to move from our fears, doubts, and anxieties, which can be present in our own lives, into the light of faith. This is not to make light of our daily struggles but to know that Jesus will meet us there, both as individuals and as a community gathered in faith. As we journey together through this Easter, may the Risen Lord meet us along the way and encourage us to open our hearts to His most divine heart of mercy. May his life transform our own as we seek to become missionary disciples for our own age.