Listen!

I have been reflecting over the last month on how our relationship with God is fundamental not only to our prayer but the way we live. I think some of the difficulties that we find in our prayer is that we concentrate on whether we are achieving a closeness which permeates all our interactions. There is often a trusting solely in our own efforts or in seeking a silver bullet which will make sense of who we are seeking to enter into a relationship with. Often these can have echoes of the first question asked by the disciples where they approach Jesus and ask where do you live and he says come and see. This is where our searching for God becomes an activity that we undertake amidst many other activities. We acknowledge its importance but somehow we are the person who chooses when and where we will pray and what will be at the forefront of our lives. Yet as we enter deeper into prayer we recognise an interplay between what we consider important and what God considers is important. While we can be engaged in many things which help us to know about God at the heart of our prayer God wishes to know us. The gentle art of letting down our defences and taking off our masks to be truly known can cause us fear and anxiety wondering if we are truly known will we ever be the same. Yet in reaching out to us God helps us to discover it is from this place of being truly known as our true self that we can discover the call which is unique to each person. God calls us to be ourselves and in knowing ourselves we discover what it is that we can devote our lives too. Ultimately this is at the heart of the pilgrimage journey that we take. We are called to be companioned along the way where we discover the God who walks with us. Rather than searching outside ourselves for this relationship, he draws us deeper into the place that God already calls home. We are not called to be aliens in a foreign land but rather fellow travellers who accompany each other on the way. As Jesus concludes when Thomas asks him what he is called to do Jesus points to himself and says, "I am the way, the truth and the life" By searching each day for were God is always present we can see that God's grace is not beyond our reach or outside the realm in which we live. He walks with us, talks with us and breaks bread with us. May your hearts burn within you as you listen to His voice.

How do I get to the other side

I am often reminded of the conversation between two people on opposite sides of the road. One calls out to the other, "How do I get to the other side?" The person responds, "You are on the other side!" Sometimes this can be our experience of prayer, that somehow if we cross over into a different realm we will be more present to God and God will be more present to us. Yet the truth is more dynamic when we hear Jesus say, the Kingdom of God is within you. This is the most surprising and stunning revelations that we find it hard to wrap our minds around it. We tend to have a false understanding that God is far distant from our experience much like Better Midler's song, "From a distance, God is watching us!" Yet this is not the truth of the incarnation. God breaches the gap to draw us closer.
The pilgrimage of life, therefore, is not one of travelling from one place to another but discovering how God is present in our day to day lives. Our prayer seeks to help us rest in that place where God has always been. God seeks us out not to just know about but to be known by that life-giving Spirit which wells up inside us and calls us to be our true selves. Trust yourself to God in prayer today!

What nourishes us?

What we bring to the table is what we are called to eat. There is an understanding that in our age the gift of being a table with another has often been lost in what we are called to consume. The emphasis is placed on what we put into our mouths at what gives us the necessary nutrients to feed our bodies. In shows like Master Chef, we are called to also recognises what feeds and engages our senses. Yet rarely are we asked what feeds our souls. The conversation which takes place at table marks out what we consider important to life. It might be good to reflect on what we talked about last time we shared the table? What did we consider most important, what moved us most deeply, what did we hope for and what did we imagine? The discourse is not just about attending to grand ideas and great movements but rather how God called us to be present to the other.

When we sit down at the table it is looking for what will help us to notice where God is work in our lives. What allows us to become more the person we are called to become. This is not about being preachy or giving instruction but it is about being open to what will bring life and hope to another/ It calls us to listen to God's voice which is at the heart of all conversation. Will I rise from the table more deeply encouraged to be the person God calls me to become or will I speed eat to engage with a more pressing task? How will I linger over this time in a way which recognises that we are called to be present to who is there and how we are in their presence.

The other important element of any meal is that we trust the person who feeds us. This is not only in making sure there is enough to go around but that it will sustain us for the journey. In an age where we can access food from around the world more easily there is also a call to become aware of what we eat is not solely about ourselves. It brings us into connection with this who produce it and those who carry it to our door. We honour these connections when we realise each meal is a sacred time where we ask for blessing and thanksgiving not only on our gathering but on how each work of human hand and divine intervention in our lives. These are the Eucharistic moments which gather us at Mass to celebrate the person who unites us as body and spirit called to live in this world with truth and grace.

Listening to God

I have been reflecting over the last week how I seek to work hard and then take my rest. There seem to be so many things to be done that I believe that all the good things that we enjoy in life are the fruit of my own labour. I find at times that in the midst of all my work that I may have missed out on something important and sometimes collapse under the weight of my own expectations. I often sympathise for Martha in the midst of the gospel because there seems to be a criticism of her endeavours to make things work out for the person of Jesus. 

Yet in the midst of this disappointment and frustration, I discover that Jesus is helping Martha to understand our primary calling is to listen for His Voice. This is not always easy especially in a culture which seeks to put merit and rewards on the work of our own hands. We can often be praised for the goals we set and achieve. What I hear Jesus saying to me is that I need to take time to rest and come aside to be with Him. Otherwise, the work I undertake may be solely looking for the fruits of my labours and the secret desire to be praised for all I have done. I can seek to draw attention to my own works at the expense of God's grace. I can start to believe that God's initiative builds on my work rather than being the source of my life. The subtle message can be is that I can earn God's love or even more forcefully that God is in my debt. Neither is true but they can trap us in a way of being which puts reliance on a relationship with God which focuses on ourselves at the centre.

In this situation, Jesus points to Mary not because she does no work but because she places the relationship with God at the centre of her life. This helps to shape who she is and what she seeks to become. She starts to notice that is in this relationship she discovers her true self. By discovering how she is called to be then she can direct her efforts to be present to him. I feel that this may be the greatest challenge in my life. I am called to work harder but rather to work in a way which reflects this relationship. The merit and rewards are not found in what I produce or the recognition I receive for my labours but rather who I become in the work I undertake. This shifts the balance of how I live out of a life of prayer. By listening to His Voice my life is no longer grounded solely on what I achieve but rather on how it gives substance to the person I seek to become. In this way, our work is an expression of this relationship rather than being the heart of our relationship. We give thanks not to idolise what we have done but rather the spirit of thanksgiving which draws closer to the origin of our life. Our work unfolds in the discovery of how we are called to become and sees that in all things we can cooperate with God for His greater glory and our greater good.

Who is our neighbour?

Whenever we are trying to learn a new skill or activity there is a desire to know the rules we will play by.  This is important so that we may not only appropriate what is necessary for the task at hand but also so that others can know with a sense of certainty that we can be relied upon. This is born out not just by our observations of others performing the task but also by discovering the gift inside ourselves. Yet of equal importance needs to be placed on why we choose to exercise that skill or be involved in a particular activity. We need to know ourselves and the other. It is by discovering that the task has a deeper meaning which engages us in making a positive contribution to the community of which we are part.

As Jesus echoes the Golden rule about loving God and our neighbour we need to discover that we need to be open to the circumstances of our lives. The "rule book" that Jesus gives us is the people we encounter each day. The way we approach each of these people seeks to discover what is for their good and not just our own. There is a need to become aware of the environment in which we live which calls us to be people who have compassion for people in need. Some of these situations will call us to be more available than others but the desire is the same, we seek the good of the other.

One of the modern day curses is the need to look busy or preoccupied so that we can be seen to be making our mark on the world. Yet this very desire to be constantly active can say more about our desire to be useful rather than to be present. We attach our sense of worthiness to our productive ability and to make things happen. When it looks as though somebody will intrude on our activities we hold them at arm's length or maybe just walk on by. We do not stop to take stock of whether we can attend to what others need. We tell ourselves stories about our own busyness or how a person should be self-sufficient. I don't need to list examples we know them too well.

Yet as prayerful people we seek to discover how our lives are called to embody that loving presence of God. This is not just about performing good works but developing a good heart. One which is not closed to the world around us and is moved into action. This looks not at what we cannot do but how we can be present with the gifts entrusted to us. Each day provides the opportunity to be present to others in great need.

How will they know we are Christians?

There can always be a need to recognise that there is a connection what we say we believe and how we actually act. The essence of which is a shibboleth which can identify a person as a Christian. In Paul's letter to the Galatians, we hear him talk about the stigmata that he carries in his person. Similarly, in the Gospel, we recognise that Jesus identifies how a disciple will follow his way of life by seeking to be a person of peace who proclaims the realm of God. There can be an emphasis on recognising these external signs which indicate an internal disposition which draws us closer to Jesus. Yet we can start to believe as the disciples did that the external works that they perform prove their holiness to others. Yet as Jesus reminds them true holiness comes from God and it is this which enables us to perform good acts for others. 

So what evidence do we look for in our lives which mark us out as Christians? I believe firstly, it is a willingness to surrender our whole life over to God and trust that he will provide what we need. This is not easy because we can often try to win God over by performing good acts or by seeking to reach a sense of the ideal self on our own terms. In fact, we see this in much of our daily planning where we set goals which we can achieve. There is a desire of seeking to reach beyond us which needs us to engage with life. This is all good as it means that we are taking life seriously enough to use our gifts and talents in a way which can produce a tangible result. We need to achieve these goals in order to live in a way which is ordered and predictable. 

We can adopt the same approach to the spiritual life where we seek to become like God. Yet how we become like God is through a daily examen of what moves us to become closer to the person God wishes us to become. This is more than just producing a list of achievements it is actually a recognition that we are called to grow in hope and trust of a relationship which sustains us. We are loved by God not because we are useful and have utility. We are loved by God simply because we are created in God's image and likeness. By discovering that we have been called by name allows us to see that it is this relationship that we find our true meaning. We notice that our personal vocation is to be true to our name. In finding that identity we are drawn closer to God and it is this which becomes the touchstone of our faith. In this way, we do not point to what we have done as a proof of what it is to be Christian but rather we point to ourselves and the person who assists us to know who we are. We are Christian not because of what we have done but in who we are and it is in who we are that directs what we are called to be present to in our daily life.

Heart Surgery!

How do we create a reconciled heart? This is at the heart of the readings for the three days at the end of this week which celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Solemnity of Peter and Paul and the 13th Sunday in Ordinary times. The readings focus on one reality how do we as Christians seek to love Jesus as He loves us. Jesus dialogue with Peter calls him to discover a love which goes beyond mutuality founded in friendship towards a total giving of self. Often we share the struggle of Peter we want to love God with all our heart, mind and strength but somehow we fall short. We are drawn towards the love of Jesus but we find ourselves caught short when we try to act out of that love for others. 

Yet this is at the heart of our life of prayer where we are called to hold the living heart of Jesus as Thomas did. This calls us to not hold it the heart too tightly so that it stops beating nor is it about holding it too lightly lest we don't allow our hearts to beat in time with His. The reality of prayer is that we find that our hearts adopt a synchronous rhythm which allows our life to be at one with His. Yet we know how easy it is in community life to ask Jesus to follow the beat of our drum rather than resonating with His song line. When we bring this beat into community living it can sound more like a  cacophony of noise rather than a melody of life. When each person seeks to drown out the other we find that people discover more about us than they discover about Christ. 

The heart of the prayer of the Church, therefore, is how we allow Christ to set aside the natural division of being preoccupied with what interests ourselves towards a vision which unites us into deeper communion. This is the constant challenge of community life we need to allow prayer to be both an effective and an affective encounter with the person of Christ. It also calls us to notice the noise which can be more internal than external where we encounter more of our own spirit rather than the Holy Spirit. This I believe is the heart of prayer for us to notice and become aware of how important heart surgery needs to happen in our spiritual life if we are to be authentically present to others. In this, we echo Pauls words to the Galatians where we do not seek the critical voice which tears each other apart but rather the voice which enables us to love our neighbour as yourself. This changes all our relationships and the way we are called to live with each other.

We become what we eat!

Dieticians have started to notice that what we eat can change the way we think and the way we feel about life. This is not just about watching our weight but rather how we are called to live in this world. People are starting to ask important questions about what will actually nourish and sustain us. There is also a need to discover who provides the food that we consume to ensure that they are given just recompense for their labour. We start to discover that how we eat is not just about what we enjoy but how we are called to create communities which are sustainable and life-giving.

As we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ, we see that at the centre of our Christian life stands a person who wishes to sustain us in our faith. His presence makes all the difference not just when we celebrate Mass but in how we are called to listen to the Word and be sent out into our daily lives with a spirit of thanksgiving. The Eucharistic celebration is never just about feeding myself but rather an engagement with the graced presence of God who seeks to draw us into a life which is more than a distant memory. It calls us to be present to the presence and to be transformed more and more into His Body and His blood which sustains the Church. 

In an age where people seek to exercise an increasing level of choice about what they eat, where they eat and when they eat we need to acknowledge that it is the Mass which can draw people together from a variety of backgrounds into the living body of Christ. Our obligation to attend Mass especially on Sunday is not a dry fact but rather a discovery that without this anchoring in our life we start to build our faith on our own opinion rather than on His Life. The Eucharist does change us, restore us and heal us from indifference to God and to each other. It calls us to see God at the centre of our lives. By being aware of this we see the world differently as a place where we live in relationship with the whole of creation and as stewards of the land in which we live. We see the connections between how we live and what we consume. We become what we eat!

Can we name God?

Whenever we celebrate Trinity Sunday we can struggle to gain a complete understanding of how God can be three persons equal in nature and divine in Majesty. Words can struggle to paint the picture of how we can come to be drawn into a relationship with God which articulates who we are called to become. We can witness this ongoing dialogue with God which cannot be contained by our own descriptions. This occurs in Genesis where God is seen as breath poured out on the world who brings life into being. God breathes out and creation is born. We see this in Abraham's dialogue with God in trying to understand "I am who I am". Moses also seeks to be drawn into the relationship as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Throughout the narrative which is contained within scripture, we come to a belief of how that self-revelation of God changes the lives of the people who listen and who are caught up in the mystery of God.

Then as Christians, we enter into the relationship which the person of Jesus had with Abba, God the Father. It is by being drawn closer to the words that Jesus used in His prayers and in His teaching that we start to discover how this relationship embraces all of us. The words that He chooses are not just words to be used in a private conversation but a level of intimacy to which all are invited. There is a revelation that we are not called to establish our own language but that we are called into the same relationship which Jesus has with the Father. We see this not only contained in our scripture but also in our liturgical action when we are formed and reformed into the mystery of that relationship through the words we encounter on His lips. In our own prayer, we join with Jesus in praying as He prayed.

This can often cause us some confusion in a world where the identification of God with a particular gender can cause resistance among some who find difficulty which sees our theology understanding of the Trinity as predominantly masculine. Yet one only has to look at the history of many of the Fathers and Mothers of the Church who can see both feminine and masculine dimensions to that relationship with God. Even in the picture of the Prodigal Son painted by Rembrandt we see this portrayed both in the hands and the face. Yet no picture can adequately paint our image of God or how our relationship is called to enfold us with light. I think essentially we need to acknowledge that our prayer is called to be both effective and affective. In our effective and liturgical prayer, we are caught up in the mystery of the dialogue of Christ in drawing us into a relationship with God the Father through the presence of the Holy Spirit. In our affective and personal prayer, we are called to discover for ourselves how God names us and draws us into a life-giving relationship. I think it is this difference which enables us to become prayerfully present in all things.

Whose spirit descends upon us?

We live in an age where our faith can be challenged by forces which seem to be out of control. We listen to so many opinions and believes that we can lose a sense of who we are called to be and what we are called to become. In such a climate we can easily be swept along by the latest opinion or be challenged by the latest revelation of how evil seems to beset our world. People can seem to provide solutions which will fix all our ills or keep us safe from the destructive forces which hide in the dark recesses of our world. There is a sense in which we can be confronted by a spirit of fear, anxiety and anger which reacts against others and which does not befriend us but rather oppresses us. There is a sense in which this malevolent spirit plays havoc with our lives by both causing us to believe that we should only act in our narrow self-interest and then accusing us of playing false to our upbringing when we do succumb to that way of thinking.

As we pray for the spirit of Pentecost, however, we are called to believe that God seeks to build a community of faith which sharply contrasts with this deceptive and destructive voice. It calls us to experience a life which will sustain us in the person of Christ in producing good fruits of charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity. This fruitfulness is found in the way we pray and the way we live. It calls us to become aware of how the Holy Spirit contrasts the forcefulness of a spirit which seeks only destruction, enmity and division. By seeking to call upon the Holy Spirit to descend we acknowledge our lives are called to be at one with God and at one with each other. This is recognised in much of the good work of the ecumenical movement which seeks reconciliation in Christ. 

By listening to what we have in common rather than what separates us we start to overcome the divisions which hold us apart. It also helps us to acknowledge that often we are engaged in a spiritual battle which can too easily create hostility and misunderstanding or even at times paper over differences with pious platitudes. We do no one any favours if we do not treasure our faith and listen to how Jesus is present in the way we live. Yet this way of being present which we all hold dear should allow us to be open to how another may hear the voice of Jesus spoken with a different tenure and tone. By allowing us to listen and appreciate this depth of divine praise spoken by many voices we come to experience the voice of Jesus who echoes over the centuries not in monochrome but in a rich splendour of colours which speaks of His Spirit resting upon us. Calling us to be fruitful in the way we live and preach the Gospel in our age.

May the eyes of your heart be enlightened

We are called to live differently in our world by allowing God's light to be in our hearts. In a time when we are bombarded by bad news, it is hard to believe that there is a different way of looking at how we are called to be present to others. We often feel pushed to react and feel outraged at the latest headline but there is often an associated sense that we cannot do anything else. We are struck by the repetition of a view that such is our life that we can fall into a fatalistic way of living believing that nothing can be done. The problems seem too big that they seem insurmountable.

Yet the way of viewing the world is changed through the celebration of Ascension. The first is that Jesus does not desert us to retreat into a safe haven he promises to send the Holy Spirit which allows us to continue to be present to Him. The second is that he enables us to be ministers of reconciliation who seek forgiveness, healing and nourishment as our way of listening to the way we are called to live. We find this both in our celebration of sacraments of Penance, Anointing and Eucharist. They are what bind us together as a community and which we celebrate in the Mass. We come to know and be known the person of Jesus Christ who walks close by our side.

It is from this incarnational way of living that we start to discover how we become people who seek reconciliation, restoration and renewal which nourishes the body and the spirit. It becomes food and drink for us in the way we are called to discover that we become what we eat. This is not just how we sit at the table, or even the communion we receive at Mass but rather how we seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit in every action of our lives. As St Peter Claver prayed, "Seek God in all things and we shall find God by our side."

Where do I feel most at home?

In an age where it is possible to travel to another country in under a day and where our communication with the world allows us to be instantly present to what is happening on the other side of the world, we often wonder where am I most at home? This ability to access the lives of many different people broadens our minds but does it enlarge our hearts? There can often be paradoxes which seem to confront us: we can travel to many parts of the world while at the same time making it more difficult for people from other countries to make a home with us. There is a feeling of connection and alienation which confuses us where we want to be hospitable but also we don't want to be taken advantage of. When we put out the welcome mat do we actually mean it?

This is the story which stays with us when we listen to the Gospel passage this weekend. When we hear the passage about Jesus asking us to make our home in Him. This can catch us unawares and we can give a theoretical response where we say both yes and no. We have a deep desire to allow Him to be at home with Him and for Him to be at home with us. Yet at the same time, we can develop a sense of resistance bred out of fear and ambiguity where we somehow doubt to take him on His Word.  How can he bring about a peace the world cannot give and how do we allow His life to become our own? We want to surrender everything and hold on to everything at the same time. We want Him to be the tenant but not the landlord!

This is the mystery of the Easter journey where he seeks to take up residence not by force but by desire. He wants us to discover how much value our lives have so that we can value the relationship that He has with God. When we discover this gift of life opened up for us we start to acknowledge that this homecoming allows us to surrender our lives to Him and receive our lives back for the good of the place where we live. We start to discover that our minds can be broadened and our hearts enlarged in our own space and time. We discover that our relationships make a difference and allow us to sit with the contradictions we find within us. By being at home with Christ we discover that God does not treat us like a doormat where he wipes His feet on our welcome sign and takes possession but rather allows us to discover how he deeply respects every human person and the whole of creation. He builds the kingdom by offering everything of Himself to us so that we can do the same in return. He desires to make His home in us but do we desire to make our home in Him?

Who is opening the doors for you?

When we seek to pray we often tempted to set the agenda and step out in faith. We seek to approach God as though we know everything and God knows nothing. We can seek to convince, cajole and influence God to seeing the world as we see it. We then become disappointed when God does not seem to pay attention to our heartfelt cries and our deepest need. At times when we are in our greatest need, we can behave as though God was deaf to our pleas by shouting louder for a result which will be rewarded for our intense effort. At times in the midst of this prayer, we can also sense a spirit of discouragement which can catch us unawares.

Yet we know that it is God who actually initiates and draws us into prayer in the first place. God seeks to draw us closer to the life which will fill our greatest desire. This is the reason why we need to keep on praying about the things that are important to us. By becoming aware of how they influence our lives we become more open to praying about them with a different level of intensity which invites us to surrender our lives to what God seeks to engage us with in life. This is not about a senseless banging our heads against a brick wall but rather a deeper longing for what will open the doors of faith to the grace God wishes to impart. It calls us to be encouraged in the lives we are already living which God is always aware of. God is not absent from us where we need to shout louder or work harder. God stands at our side in the person of Jesus seeing where he establishes a home amongst us. 

In this discovery, we find all creation is made new and God helps to experience a love which is not ethereal but is a revelation which draws us closer to Him. It leads us in a way of life which is holistic and holy. God is glorified in the lives we are called to live. No longer do we hold God at arm's length but allows us to open doors which have for too long seen Him as a stranger distant from our lands. Jesus helps us to know that God always abides with us and opens the whole of our life to his loving presence. Our life becomes a prayer and our prayer becomes our life.

Listen to my voice!

We are living through a time where the political climate has become more adversarial and partisan. This has probably been as true in how we vote for politicians as it is how we choose to believe in what is God is saying to us. It feels like a great divide has been created within humanity which can threaten to tear us apart. We can start to feel hidden violence and antipathy which seeks to destroy us. In listening to that voice we start to notice how it can lead to disharmony, intolerance and prejudice on both sides of the divide. The hidden force seems to revel in what will dampen our enthusiasm, confuse our best intentions and leave us believing that we are only destined for destruction. It is easy to see how this bad news can draw our attention and drive our lives. It can cause us to become paralysed, fearful and reactive in making instinctive choices which are not ours to control. In this atmosphere, we need to be careful that we do not succumb to false images of what is successful, esteemed and relevant either in our private or corporate life.

What we are seeking is eternal life and the voice which rings true to the reason for which we are created. We know that when politics enters into the spiritual life we can adopt positions which only reinforce what we already know or which play to our worst fears. They can even start to portray our image of God as a dulled vision of ourselves. It can affect the way we read scripture, listen to theological arguments and how we seek to live our lives. We can easily become consumers of religious things rather than people called into a life-giving relationship. In this environment, our religious practice becomes more about what makes us comfortable, safe and secure rather than encountering the person of Jesus in our own vulnerability and need.

Yet Jesus is the only person who can meet us in this poverty where we acknowledge who it is that we hunger and thirst for. We want food that can satisfy us and drink that quenches our thirst. This is more than just filling ourselves on our own terms but rather allowing God to meet us in that place of deep need. The Gospel we are called to proclaim is not a cleverly argued text but a living relationship which wells up to eternal life within us. It is from that place where we have to acknowledge that we have had a gutful of suggestions which sound good but do not sustain us. It means that we need to sit with those things that stew within us and which cannot be easily resolved just through our own efforts. That we can be honest with God with our whole self in our prayer and in the way we live. It is from this place that we discover a way of incarnational living which befriends us and calls us to proclaim the Good News. This will change the way we live because it is a political statement but it is one in which we seek life, not death!

Have you caught anything my friends

There is often a temptation in life to measure the success of our relationship with God on the tangible results produced. We want to know that we are not 'wasting' our time or our money on something or someone who does not produce the goods. Such an emphasis on success can cause us to work hard and endeavour to produce spiritual benefits through our own efforts. There can be an emphasis on working as though everything depended on us and praying as though everything depended on God. In adopting this attitude we tend to yield to a view of obedience which asks God to dance to our tune and to praise us for our own efforts. What we discover is that our lives become hard work and our relationships become transactional where we seek something good on our own terms.

In the midst of this daily story, Jesus calls to us from the shoreline, have you caught anything, my friends? What would often seem so clear to us and to Jesus that the question almost appears to answer itself in the asking? Yet we still adopt the same approach that carried us in our other relationships, God will praise me for my hard work and will reward me for my efforts. Yet what is revealed in this story is that what makes the difference is the willingness to fish on the other side. Literally to turn our lives around to see that what we are seeking is very close to us and within our reach. This is not about profoundly changing our circumstances or about a radical change of our environment but rather a discovery that God is intently interested in helping us discover how fruitful our lives can be. This is not about living a different story but seeing our story in a new light.

This is shown when Jesus addresses Peter and asks him three times do you love me? This is not about humiliating Peter but helping him discover the three degrees of humility to which we are all drawn. In discovering that our lives can give testimony to God in our daily lives we see how we can live the Gospel at the heart of everything. This is the Easter message not just to clothe ourselves in Christ but to allow Christ to draw out of us the words which change how we seek to enter into a relationship with him. In this way no longer is our worth gauged by how hard we work or how much time we spend performing good works but rather how we become present to Christ in all things. In this way, the voice we listen to is that of Christ who changes how we view our story and how we live our lives.

In times of great suffering Christ appears to us

Dear Cursillistas in the Risen Lord,

I am writing this message to you from the Mt Schoenstatt Shrine in Mulgoa, New South Wales at the end of a Life's Healing Journey for our 1st-year seminarians. Like many of you, we have been deeply saddened by the news of the deaths, injury and trauma besetting the Church in Sri Lanka. It seems appropriate that I write to you from this place as it draws many pilgrims from the Sri Lankan community in Sydney and other places from many faith traditions to offer their prayers to our Blessed Mother to guide and intercede with us.

Overnight Marg Morris, the president of the Asia Pacific Group of Cursillos in Christianity and myself have been in contact with Fr. Tony Martyn, the spiritual advisor and Suzanne De Silva, the interdiocesan president for the Cursillo Movement in Sri Lanka. Our immediate consideration was to let them know that while many miles separate us we are with them in prayer. The importance of being in solidarity with other Christians at this time is an important element of our faith. Just as when the first disciples gathered with Mary in the upper room deeply traumatised by his death and feared persecution they encountered the risen Lord for the first time. He came and stood in their midst and said, "Do not be afraid and peace be with you, my own peace I give you." This is especially important at this time because often at times of great trauma we can lock the door of our hearts to keep great evil at bay. Yet in the midst of the need for spiritual and psychological healing, we discover that Christ stands with us not apart from us. He shares our grief and our sorrow. He also recognises that when we are deeply affronted by great evil, our hearts can be infected by the same parasite weakening our selves to believe that in the midst of all the goodness of creation that evil and suffering is all to present to our lives. The Good News, however, is like Mary we are called to ponder how in the midst of living through times of great suffering we can respond in a way which does not payback like for like but seeks the forgiveness which only Christ can give. This is not a cheap grace which we can dispense at will it is a heart-rending cry to be at one with God and one with each other. It calls us to also ensure that in the forgiveness we remember the pain and anguish people suffer through actions which seek not to minimise their pain. We cannot just wish this away through pious acts or good intentions. When one person suffers we suffer with them. In that forgiveness, we also recognise that the people who have committed these evil acts need to be held to account and face justice, not of retribution but of atonement for the deep suffering they have caused. In all things, we seek both mercy and justice.

Please join with me in offering three days of prayer  for those who have died, those who have been injured, those families who are deeply traumatised and the heart of the Church in Sri Lanka and the heart of the nation. This is a loss which cannot just be told in words but only in our heartfelt response which covers the distance between us. Trust always in the Lord that he is with us even to the end of time. Go gently in the days ahead.

De Colores,

Fr. John

The incredible shrinking God?

There can be key moments which touch us deeply and we find it hard to explain why. This week we woke to news on Tuesday morning of the fire which consumed the nave of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Having visited this Cathedral on a number of occasions this news held me transfixed in watching the flames consume the building. Several things sprung to mind but the lasting impression I had was of deep sadness for what was lost and how such a building represented our hope for a lasting relationship with God. Yet in the midst of deeply secular culture, it is hard to see how people are called to respond with faith and hope. The idea of God is at the heart of all human relationships seemed to be being consumed along with the flames. The desire to touch the divine presence seemed to be awakened in a way which is hard to explain.

The fact that this event happens in Holy Week seems particularly poignant as we seek to understand the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection. We stand transfixed by the same event which seems to be the destruction of human life to transform us into a mystery we don't fully understand. Too often we try to contain God in a way which is understandable, acceptable and explainable to others. Yet the difficulty is that we cannot explain the mystery of Christ crucified we can only bear witness to how it stands at the heart of our Christian faith. Trying to limit its power or explain it on our terms makes light of the intense longing that God has for each of us. As one of the responses in the Office of Reading says during the week, "When you were estranged from God, your minds alienated him by a life of sin, he used Christ's natural body to win you back through his death so that he might bring you into his presence holy, pure and blameless." 

It is when we hold ourselves at arm's length from God that something shocks into the true worth of our lives. This is the resurrection story where God touches us in our deepest fears and draws us closer. This is a befriending which is often outside our grasp but God brings it closer through transforming our relationships. God seeks us out and expands our life at the very moment that we want to shrink God to our own reality. This expansion draws us into a cosmic reality which transcends us in its intimacy and immediacy. It transforms us in grace to live not solely for our own wants and needs. It moves us to make choices which enable us to listen to that which calls us to be truly our selves by responding to God's loving call to be our best self.

Whom do we welcome? Whom do we follow?

Our lives are shaped by who we are attentive to and how we welcome them into our lives. They allow us to discover what is important to us and what is that moves us to be present to them. This is truly the story of how Jesus attracts people to Himself. There is a struggle to discover a person who can speak authoritatively and with knowledge about what is important to our hearts. This is not just about seeing and believing that what someone says is true but listening and appropriation of what we are called to live with our lives. The meeting with Jesus does not happen by chance but rather meets us where we need to be met.

As we journey of with Jesus on the way of the Cross we start to realise how we tend to hold on to our lives too tightly rather than surrendering it to His loving relationship with the Father. I think part of our reluctance comes from the scandal of the Cross as we try to make sense of how that surrender seems to lead to death rather than to life, to despair rather than hope and sadness rather than joy. Yet the reality is that Jesus recognises that he cannot walk away from himself and what he truly seeks to live: that God loves Him as a beloved Son. It is that recognition that sees as the source of his whole life where he cannot divide himself in two between the human and the divine. In a similar way, we cannot walk away from Christ without dividing ourselves in two. We discover that when we are truly who what God wants us to be that all suffering is transformed by His loving action which draws us to the Cross. It helps us to see that our solidarity and our communion does not destroy us but free us to be present to His life.

Over this next week, I believe the main intention is not to take on a greater suffering or greater guilt but walking with Jesus even in our darkest night and knowing that His light enflames our own. He never walks away from us when we can walk with Him.

Neither do I condemn you

During Lent, we can become very conscious of the things that prevent us from having life-giving relationships with others. Our self-centeredness and concern only with our own salvation can concentrate on freeing us from sin while picking apart the faults of others. At the heart of Lent is the reality that we are called to encounter the person of Christ as ourselves. As St Paul says, "Nothing outweighs the advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." This is not about just a knowing about Jesus but an actual desire to meet him with our whole life. We do not achieve this by seeking perfection on our own terms but rather a faith in the person of Christ. It is this encounter which changes not only the life of the women caught in adultery but also those who would have stoned her to death. This is what is primary that our lives emerge out of a living relationship with the person of Jesus which transforms how we relate to others. When we concentrate solely on our sins rather than on the person who can free us from sinful behaviour we are on the road to destruction. 

Lent calls us to be people who are transformed through our penance, fasting and almsgiving to view our world differently. This is out of a life-giving and sustaining relationship with the person of Christ. It allows us the opportunity to centre ourselves on a relationship which sustains all other relationships. It calls us to seek out ways in which we can sustain that relationship and also the times when we can be subsumed by our own fears that we do not deserve it. In seeking the way ahead we are called to be open to entering more deeply into that relationship with others by becoming that God desires us to be. To be free of the things that bind us and addict us to forms of behaviour which prevent us from allowing our whole life being founded on the person of Christ. 

God's grace is more than meets the eye!

We are very familiar with the story of the Prodigal Son. It is almost ingrained in the stories that we are called to live in daily life. Yet in the midst of the reflection, we often ponder on the responses of the two brothers. Both want to possess the goods of God for themselves. The younger brother believes that he should inherit all the things of God now so that he can use them in the way that he bests see fit. The older brother sees that he will earn access to these same things only by adherence to hard work and sacrifice. Both seem to be thinking only of themselves in their relationship with the Father. They are in it for what they can get out of that relationship. They believe that they are masters of their own destiny and that life can be lived on their own terms without reference to the Father. In fact, the relationship is determined by what they want rather than any desire to be in a loving relationship with the Father. Both are prepared to see the relationship as one of slavery rather than of loved children.

The Father's relationship is profoundly different. He always comes out to meet the brothers where they are and in the limits of their understanding of how they wish to enter into that relationship. He wants to open their eyes to a deeper and more abiding relationship which celebrates how he entrusts each of us with the freedom to dwell more deeply into a life-giving response. The Father does seek us out so that we can more fully appreciate and respond to his life. This is not based just on the gifts that he has entrusted us with but on a desire that we can come to life through that relationship. The difficulty comes when we believe that the gifts we have received are God rather than the fruit of the relationship which draws us more deeply into God. This is evident in what the Father says to the brothers and others around. He does not say, "You stink" but rather "Come and Celebrate" that we can come back to life. We need to recognise those times when we try to use the gifts we are entrusted for our own good rather than for the greater glory of God and when in our obstinacy we object to God's merciful action in the life of another. We are called again and again to enter into a relationship which is at the heart of all relationships so that in all things we may give glory to God.

Overwhelmed by disaster

In responding to the massacre of people in New Zealand we can struggle to make sense of great evil visited upon people going about the normal activities of their daily life. What has shocked many people is not just the immediacy of the impact upon ourselves but also how we make sense of evil events that occur in life. We seek answers and solutions which seek to prevent similar events from occurring in the future but we often struggle with how the evil fomented in the life of one person can draw out a sense of a greater evil which can threaten to overwhelm us. It is in these times when Jesus calls us to a sense of how we can experience inner darkness ourselves and how we need to discover an honesty to repent of whatever can harm us and harm others. There is a call to be open to a person who does not abandon us to that inner darkness but draws it to the light so that our lives can be fruitful.

I think in all the things of life we need to examen our own hearts and response. I am very conscious of how quickly the media calls us to respond to situations of great horror. It can bring out the best and worst of us at the same time. I believe in our current age we need to become people of great spiritual reflection who listen to the heartbeat of God in our age. As John Paul II said that this will be the age of the spirit or not all. Our call is to become people of prayer in word and in action. This calls upon us to be open to where the Spirit is leading us and to be aware of how we are called to live. This is the most powerful witness of how we become aware of people within our own square metre. One of the realities of the internet is that this has been expanded to the one square metre around our computers, television, newspaper and radios. Our lives have become centred so much on what other people think and feel that we tend to lose sight of how to be present to our own thoughts and feelings. I believe what St John Paul would pray for us is that we do not become reactive in our responses but more deeply reflective on our vision for humanity. In all things, this is contained within his Gospel of Life which seeks to be present to what heralds God's Kingdom in our current age. I believe that this is the most engaging and challenging question of our age where we are called to grow in personal holiness. Like Mary, we are called to ponder great horrors but respond to them with great love.  

Covered by confusion

This weekend and we notice the scene of the disciples climbing to the top of the mountain in which they witness the transfiguration of Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah. Their eyes are heavy with sleep but they manage to stay awake and are covered by a cloud. In the midst of their confusion, they hear the voice of God saying, "This is my Son, the Chosen One, listen to him." They are reduced to silence and do not tell anyone what they have seen.

During the last week, we have witnessed the sentencing and jailing of Cardinal George Pell and are still coming to terms to what that means for us as Catholics and as a Church. There is almost a sense that this all seems surreal and that we are cast into a reality which is hard to fathom. We struggle for answers and can become covered by a mixture of denial, anger, confusion and sadness. We search for an understanding but it feels like a blanket has been laid upon us.

Yet in the reading from Paul to the Philippians in which he points out that our true homeland is in heaven and that we are to remain faithful to the Lord. I think this is as true now when we face uncertainty about what steps we should take next. This is very much a time when we are called to see how we can be prayerfully present to God and each other. We are called to pray especially during Lent for a spirit of repentance and healing which draws us closer to God and to each other.

I love coffee and chocolate

Seldom does there seem to be a day when I do not have my morning coffee and then sometime in the week crave for some chocolate. It's not that I am addicted to the taste but there is a familiarity which seems to comfort me especially in preparing for a normal days routine. Yet when we come to Lent these seem to be easy things to give up as long as you can put up with the withdrawal symptoms and the temptations to sneak chocolate when nobody is looking. Yet there has to be something more to fasting than just simply giving up things to return to them in Easter and to consume chocolate and coffee in abundance. Fasting is there to help us notice what we consume and how it can turn our attention away from God and from each other. It allows us to notice what we consume and how that has an impact on others.
The first discipline we follow is allowing the money that we would normally spend on those items to go to Project Compassion. It helps us to see a direct link between the action that we are performing as having a direct impact on another. We seek to notice how our simple act of self-denial can have an impact on another.
The second discipline is to reflect on who produces our food and whether they receive the benefits in return for their labour. This was certainly present in recent Fair Trade campaigns which sought to ensure that the people who produced the food received a just wage and also benefited from the fruits of their labour. It enabled people to consider what they bought in stores and in their weekly shop and how that made an impact on the livelihood of another. Most recently we have the example of one chain of supermarkets raising the price of milk to ensure that the farmers who produce receive a living wage.
The third discipline is to consider what may need to change in our lives to act in a way which is just in the way we consume food and other items. This is not to become scrupulous and paralysed by indecision but it is a mature reflection on how my actions can shape the good of another. This can extend to many elements of life especially when we try to live within our budget. But it asks a more vital question of how I am called to act in a way which recognises that every person is created in the image and likeness of God. How and what I spend my money on has an impact on my life and the life of another.
Lastly, there is a call for us to grow in holiness for the good of God, the good of ourselves and the good of others. This seeking after the common good seeks that all created things are entrusted to us to be used wisely and well. It actually is a natural extension of our prayer that what we consume shapes our relationships. What we desire is that our lives imitate Christ's is not seeking to have power, prestige and possessions at the expense of the good of another. We are called to consider that we cannot close our lives to the need of others and only feed ourselves. When we sit down at Eucharist we invite the poor, the lame, the crippled and those most in need. The fact that we join them in their own vulnerability helps us to recognise that in our fasting we become vulnerable. We seek not only generosity of heart but an open heart which seeks a friendship which transforms our world.

Can a sound tree produce rotten fruit

No doubt much has been written of the events of the last week with the judgement made regarding Cardinal Pell. I certainly do not intend to add to the commentary especially while we await an appeal of his case. There are many who are more eloquent and informed about legal processes than me. Yet what needs to be acknowledged is the immediate fallout that this has on the life of those who have suffered abuse and those who seek to support them. The effect goes much wider because it goes to the heart of how to believe God is revealed through the life of another. This weekend I think the reading speaks to us about three things which are important for us to remember in our Christian life.

"The disciple is not superior to his teacher" In this simple phrase Jesus talks to us about the importance of discipleship based on our faithfulness to His Life. We are called always back to a life which reflects on how our lives are called to speak of a deeper reality rather than just our own. This calls us to become aware of how God is actually speaking to our age and how we are called to listen to God and each other. 

"Brother let me take the splinter out of your eye when you cannot see the plank in your own." There is always a tendency that we can see clearly when others cannot. This is a  common perception when we seek to correct another without also examining our own perspective. We never attend to the issues in life isolated from our own context and our own viewpoint. Once we become aware of this we do not seek to perpetuate the errors we find within others within ourselves.

""For every tree can be told by its own fruit". This may be the sobering element of this week's Gospel as it does not seek to look just at our intentions but rather at the fruit that we produce in our lives which are signs of the spirit: love, joy, peace, fortitude, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are contrasted in Galatians 5.19-21 with the signs of the flesh. What is important is the closing line of the gospel which says that a man's words flow out of what fills his heart. As Odette Churchill mentioned on her reflection of the great evils perpetrated in World War 2 which she endured in the Ravensbrook Prison Camp that we should not become the host for the very parasite of evil which we have opposed in the life of another. 

At this time more than ever we need to be people who pray and act in a way which is formed by the person we seek to follow and thus reflect the words of the First Letter of St Paul to the Corinthians 15.58 where he says, "Keep on working at the Lord's work always knowing that, in the Lord, you cannot be labouring in vain."

Are you ready for Lent?

We are just about to head into Lent and it is a good time to notice what obscures the person of Jesus in our daily lives. We are called to be people who fast, give alms and pray. This is central to understanding Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. As we enter into the time it is important to recognise that we can become what we consume. Thus Fasting is not just about the food that we eat even though we recognise Ash Wednesday and Good Friday as formal days of fasting and abstinence. Rather it looks at how we take into ourselves both bodily and spiritually things which do not build up the Body of Christ. This is why we are not called to fast on our own but in solidarity with each other. We fast from something for someone. This is at the heart of almsgiving and is the logical extension of why we fast. It calls us to recognise those in need who might be able to share the things we take for granted. It calls for our hearts to be open to the possibility that our actions can transform the life of another by a simple act of generosity. Lastly, we are called to be people who are prayerfully aware of how God leads us each day to give thanks with our lives. Our prayer is not just a matter of our personal relationship with God. It is always deeply communal in joining us to the heart of God and each other. As we journey through Lent may we can discover how we can be drawn closer to Christ by listening to His Word and sharing our lives with Him in Eucharist.