Holy Family
28/12/08 08:41 Category: Homily
Thought:
I am constantly impressed by the boundless patience parents seem to have. As children grow up they may feel that great patience is required of them, but it seems to me nothing compared to the patience needed by parents. It is not something they have from the beginning, but carved out of them – out of their flesh one could say.
We might think that patience was not required of Joseph and Mary because Jesus is the Son of God, but I am not so sure. Enormous faith and generosity was demanded of both of them – they put their trust in the Lord as Abram did – trusting that though God was asking a great deal of them he is faithful.
And as the child grew up we see in the Gospels that Mary was tested. The prophecy of Simeon in today’s Gospel foreshadowed great things for this child, but also testing for all who encountered him.
Luke tells us that the child ran away while they were in Jerusalem and that his parents spent three days looking for him – imagine their fear and distress. Mark tells us that the relatives of Jesus feared that he had gone out of his mind because of his behaviour and that they and his mother came to fetch him at the start of his ministry. And Jesus tells them that they are not his family, his family are the tax collectors, sinners, prostitutes, fishermen and others around him. What pain it must have caused Mary. But we see that she did not run away, she pondered and prayed over what her Son said and she became his disciple. A terrible time of testing was to come at foot of the Cross; she must have wondered what it all meant.
Being the mother of Jesus was not easy. But Mary put her faith in God and his faithfulness and she listened and prayed and changed and responded. She and Joseph are models to us of faith – are models to parents of the faith which enables them to be faithful to their calling – models to children and young people and everyone of the listening and faith which can give meaning to their lives and help them in whatever situation they find themselves.
Mary and Joseph found their lives re-configured around Jesus – the one from God. May our lives too be focused and re-configured continually around him – God with us.
Mary and Joseph found their lives re-configured around Jesus – the one from God. May our lives too be focused and re-configured continually around him – God with us.
I am constantly impressed by the boundless patience parents seem to have. As children grow up they may feel that great patience is required of them, but it seems to me nothing compared to the patience needed by parents. It is not something they have from the beginning, but carved out of them – out of their flesh one could say.
We might think that patience was not required of Joseph and Mary because Jesus is the Son of God, but I am not so sure. Enormous faith and generosity was demanded of both of them – they put their trust in the Lord as Abram did – trusting that though God was asking a great deal of them he is faithful.
And as the child grew up we see in the Gospels that Mary was tested. The prophecy of Simeon in today’s Gospel foreshadowed great things for this child, but also testing for all who encountered him.
Luke tells us that the child ran away while they were in Jerusalem and that his parents spent three days looking for him – imagine their fear and distress. Mark tells us that the relatives of Jesus feared that he had gone out of his mind because of his behaviour and that they and his mother came to fetch him at the start of his ministry. And Jesus tells them that they are not his family, his family are the tax collectors, sinners, prostitutes, fishermen and others around him. What pain it must have caused Mary. But we see that she did not run away, she pondered and prayed over what her Son said and she became his disciple. A terrible time of testing was to come at foot of the Cross; she must have wondered what it all meant.
Being the mother of Jesus was not easy. But Mary put her faith in God and his faithfulness and she listened and prayed and changed and responded. She and Joseph are models to us of faith – are models to parents of the faith which enables them to be faithful to their calling – models to children and young people and everyone of the listening and faith which can give meaning to their lives and help them in whatever situation they find themselves.
Mary and Joseph found their lives re-configured around Jesus – the one from God. May our lives too be focused and re-configured continually around him – God with us.
Christmas
25/12/08 22:36 Category: Homily
Thought:
Traduttore, traditore. It is an Italian aphorism which says that the translator is a traitor. It speaks of the difficulty of conveying accurately meaning across languages. We all have seen....Translating – capturing the sense of sentence in another language is difficult... God sets himself of translating the eternal relationship of love which is his life, the life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit into our world so that we can share in this life. The mind boggles – indeed we struggle with it; we stuff up often.
God started out by calling a people and showing them how to live in love and justice – the people of Israel; the history of the Old Testament is the history of God’s faithfulness to the people he had chosen and the mission he set himself and the people’s failures. But this was only a preparation for the greatest work of translation – he sent his Son to live in our midst and to show us how we can live God’s life starting here and now in the ordinariness of our world.
This great work of translation starts on Christmas day – the Son of God born not in a palace, but in a place where animals are kept. Cared for not by royalty, but by a young virgin and her carpenter-husband. Worshipped not by the elite, but shepherds – people fairly low down on the social ladder. This is what eternal life looks like on earth.
Jesus enables us to follow him, to live the life of God which is the fulfilment of our existence, which gives lasting meaning and value to our lives. We eat his body and drink his blood, nourished by the food of heaven. We are called to put our bodies at the service of others, to walk with the people with whom Jesus walked, to learn slowly to look at the world through his eyes. Filled by his Spirit and following him every day we live the eternal life of God which will one day blossom into glory.
In the meantime we celebrate God’s great work of translation which began at Bethlehem two thousand years ago, we look at the child in the manger whose eyes are filled with wonder and love. Whose arms reach out to us. God made flesh that we poor creatures might become like God.
God sets himself of translating the eternal relationship of love which is his life, the life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit into our world so that we can share in this life
Traduttore, traditore. It is an Italian aphorism which says that the translator is a traitor. It speaks of the difficulty of conveying accurately meaning across languages. We all have seen....Translating – capturing the sense of sentence in another language is difficult... God sets himself of translating the eternal relationship of love which is his life, the life of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit into our world so that we can share in this life. The mind boggles – indeed we struggle with it; we stuff up often.
God started out by calling a people and showing them how to live in love and justice – the people of Israel; the history of the Old Testament is the history of God’s faithfulness to the people he had chosen and the mission he set himself and the people’s failures. But this was only a preparation for the greatest work of translation – he sent his Son to live in our midst and to show us how we can live God’s life starting here and now in the ordinariness of our world.
This great work of translation starts on Christmas day – the Son of God born not in a palace, but in a place where animals are kept. Cared for not by royalty, but by a young virgin and her carpenter-husband. Worshipped not by the elite, but shepherds – people fairly low down on the social ladder. This is what eternal life looks like on earth.
Jesus enables us to follow him, to live the life of God which is the fulfilment of our existence, which gives lasting meaning and value to our lives. We eat his body and drink his blood, nourished by the food of heaven. We are called to put our bodies at the service of others, to walk with the people with whom Jesus walked, to learn slowly to look at the world through his eyes. Filled by his Spirit and following him every day we live the eternal life of God which will one day blossom into glory.
In the meantime we celebrate God’s great work of translation which began at Bethlehem two thousand years ago, we look at the child in the manger whose eyes are filled with wonder and love. Whose arms reach out to us. God made flesh that we poor creatures might become like God.
Third Sunday of Advent
18/12/08 16:34 Category: Homily
Thought:
I would hazard that a fear of the night and the dark are wired into us – we cannot see too well in the dark, but there are all sorts of beasties which can. Darkness is used in literature, art to symbolise death, our fears, the unknown.
When one is younger the night can seem spooky....
Our imaginations run riot in the dark of night and we look to the dawn for comfort, to the ‘rosy fingers of dawn’ as Homer wrote in his Odyssey.
John the Baptist comes foreshadowing the dawn – he comes as a finger of the dawn. The dawn which floods our world with light. John lived in a world which knew oppression, cruelty and injustice. In this it was a world not unlike our own, and we can add to the generic list with our own stories of oppression, sin, brokenness and fear. John foreshadowed the coming of one who ‘brings good news to the poor, binds up broken hearts, proclaims liberty to captives’.
Jesus is the one promised. In his life, his death and resurrection he shines on us. He works his promise of liberation in our lives through the sacraments, through everyday graces and invites us to respond to his grace and live in his grace. We can taste something of the good news now, experience God’s liberation now in following Jesus, but remember these are only glimpses into the glorious future which God has in mind for us and all his children. We can rejoice no matter what comes for we are the in hands of our loving, liberating God. We can rejoice because God’s Spirit is at work in our lives freeing us and urging us to generosity, to love, compassion, friendship and goodness. If we co-operate with him, if we respond to his grace, listen to his quiet, but sure voice, then we become part of God’s grand design. St Paul reminds us that we are called to be happy in the good news, to be happy in the Lord.
In the darkness of the world may we be joyful witnesses to the dawn which will come upon us from on high, bringing light to those in darkness, those in the shadow of death, guiding us into the way of peace.
Jesus is the one promised. In his life, his death and resurrection he shines on us. He works his promise of liberation in our lives through the sacraments, through everyday graces and invites us to respond to his grace and live in his grace. We can taste something of the good news now, experience God’s liberation now in following Jesus, but remember these are only glimpses into the glorious future which God has in mind for us and all his children.
I would hazard that a fear of the night and the dark are wired into us – we cannot see too well in the dark, but there are all sorts of beasties which can. Darkness is used in literature, art to symbolise death, our fears, the unknown.
When one is younger the night can seem spooky....
Our imaginations run riot in the dark of night and we look to the dawn for comfort, to the ‘rosy fingers of dawn’ as Homer wrote in his Odyssey.
John the Baptist comes foreshadowing the dawn – he comes as a finger of the dawn. The dawn which floods our world with light. John lived in a world which knew oppression, cruelty and injustice. In this it was a world not unlike our own, and we can add to the generic list with our own stories of oppression, sin, brokenness and fear. John foreshadowed the coming of one who ‘brings good news to the poor, binds up broken hearts, proclaims liberty to captives’.
Jesus is the one promised. In his life, his death and resurrection he shines on us. He works his promise of liberation in our lives through the sacraments, through everyday graces and invites us to respond to his grace and live in his grace. We can taste something of the good news now, experience God’s liberation now in following Jesus, but remember these are only glimpses into the glorious future which God has in mind for us and all his children. We can rejoice no matter what comes for we are the in hands of our loving, liberating God. We can rejoice because God’s Spirit is at work in our lives freeing us and urging us to generosity, to love, compassion, friendship and goodness. If we co-operate with him, if we respond to his grace, listen to his quiet, but sure voice, then we become part of God’s grand design. St Paul reminds us that we are called to be happy in the good news, to be happy in the Lord.
In the darkness of the world may we be joyful witnesses to the dawn which will come upon us from on high, bringing light to those in darkness, those in the shadow of death, guiding us into the way of peace.
Second Sunday of Advent
07/12/08 14:43 Category: Homily
Thought:
‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,’ says the prophet on behalf of God....Holding a purring cat is a great consolation. But perhaps God thinks that people and the problems of the heart and the world are somewhat more complex than that.
In the first reading the prophet speaks to a broken people – a people who have been through war, defeat, devastation and who are now in exile in a foreign land – in Babylon. This is around 500 years before Christ. He promises her that her time of exile will end. And indeed the Chosen People were to return to their land. But the promise of the prophet looks beyond physical exile and return, to a deeper healing and return – a healing of wounded hearts and a return to intimacy with God; the prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose Spirit comforts.
We have listened in the Gospel to the first verses of Mark’s Gospel. And Mark proclaims the fulfilment of prophecy – ‘the beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ ‘Good news’ in Mark’s Greek is a translation of the word Isaiah uses in the first reading to express the message of consolation. Isaiah is proclaiming freedom from captivity in Babylon, but the one Mark announces frees us from our slavery to sin and death. This truly is good news.
People had been waiting for a saviour, Mark tells his readers that Jesus who lived in their midst, who was crucified is now risen and is the saviour for whom they long.
John makes his appearance in the story, a great prophet like Elijah, and he calls the people to a change of heart, but even though he calls for repentance, he is only preparing the way for one who is far greater than he.
We, experience brokenness still in our lives, we live with ambiguity, Advent is about preparing our hearts and lives anew to hear the Good News, to be amazed by the child in the manger, God in our midst. We look for consolation, for meaning in so many things, but Isaiah and John call us to turn to God again, to turn from our usual ways, to listen, to attend, to follow anew the one who is coming. He will console us, he will free us. He is our saviour come among us in weakness and humility. We prepare to greet him – there is none else who can console our hearts, who can save.
We, experience brokenness still in our lives, we live with ambiguity, Advent is about preparing our hearts and lives anew to hear the Good News, to be amazed by the child in the manger, God in our midst.
‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,’ says the prophet on behalf of God....Holding a purring cat is a great consolation. But perhaps God thinks that people and the problems of the heart and the world are somewhat more complex than that.
In the first reading the prophet speaks to a broken people – a people who have been through war, defeat, devastation and who are now in exile in a foreign land – in Babylon. This is around 500 years before Christ. He promises her that her time of exile will end. And indeed the Chosen People were to return to their land. But the promise of the prophet looks beyond physical exile and return, to a deeper healing and return – a healing of wounded hearts and a return to intimacy with God; the prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose Spirit comforts.
We have listened in the Gospel to the first verses of Mark’s Gospel. And Mark proclaims the fulfilment of prophecy – ‘the beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ ‘Good news’ in Mark’s Greek is a translation of the word Isaiah uses in the first reading to express the message of consolation. Isaiah is proclaiming freedom from captivity in Babylon, but the one Mark announces frees us from our slavery to sin and death. This truly is good news.
People had been waiting for a saviour, Mark tells his readers that Jesus who lived in their midst, who was crucified is now risen and is the saviour for whom they long.
John makes his appearance in the story, a great prophet like Elijah, and he calls the people to a change of heart, but even though he calls for repentance, he is only preparing the way for one who is far greater than he.
We, experience brokenness still in our lives, we live with ambiguity, Advent is about preparing our hearts and lives anew to hear the Good News, to be amazed by the child in the manger, God in our midst. We look for consolation, for meaning in so many things, but Isaiah and John call us to turn to God again, to turn from our usual ways, to listen, to attend, to follow anew the one who is coming. He will console us, he will free us. He is our saviour come among us in weakness and humility. We prepare to greet him – there is none else who can console our hearts, who can save.
Feast of Christ the King
25/11/08 22:51 Category: Homily
Thought:
We associate kingship with power. The king is the one who through might of arms or canny politics sits on the top of the pile. Then there are all the trappings of power – ‘His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;’
‘But’, as Portia tells us, ‘mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.’
Mercy. The king whose feast we celebrate today is a king so unlike others that he re-defines kingship. He is the mercy of God. He fought no battles, governed no one. Even now his kingship is hardly obvious – it is becomes visible in those caught up in his love, in saints like St Joseph Pignatelli, Blessed Mary MacKillop, and the ordinary saintly people we know or we are who live God’s love every day.
I see in the news that the quite frankly ridiculous citizenship test has been modified. The test for membership of the kingdom of God is not a written one. In the Gospel today we see that the citizens of his kingdom will not be judged by their passports, religion, wealth, power, popularity, intelligence, but by their love, generosity, their willingness to respond to the needs of the least of his brothers and sisters. And therein lies a challenge – the least of our brothers and sisters: who are these? Those who beg in our streets, refugees, those in our prisons, the list goes on. Do we receive them as we would Christ? We shut them up in prisons, put them in camps, wish them away. The least of his brothers and sisters. Are families communities which care for the least amongst us. Are we citizens of the kingdom, are we helping our children be citizens of the Kingdom?
We may not always see results , but Jesus assures us that our loving, forgiving, reaching out, including, healing make us part of this Kingdom. He is risen from the dead and if we want to reign with him then we need to walk with him even on the paths of helplessness and service. And everytime we love and forgive and help others and reach out to the unlovely our actions are a prayer which are heard ‘Through what I do now may your kingdom come, O Lord.’
In the Gospel today we see that the citizens of his kingdom will not be judged by their passports, religion, wealth, power, popularity, intelligence, but by their love, generosity, their willingness to respond to the needs of the least of his brothers and sisters.
We associate kingship with power. The king is the one who through might of arms or canny politics sits on the top of the pile. Then there are all the trappings of power – ‘His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;’
‘But’, as Portia tells us, ‘mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.’
Mercy. The king whose feast we celebrate today is a king so unlike others that he re-defines kingship. He is the mercy of God. He fought no battles, governed no one. Even now his kingship is hardly obvious – it is becomes visible in those caught up in his love, in saints like St Joseph Pignatelli, Blessed Mary MacKillop, and the ordinary saintly people we know or we are who live God’s love every day.
I see in the news that the quite frankly ridiculous citizenship test has been modified. The test for membership of the kingdom of God is not a written one. In the Gospel today we see that the citizens of his kingdom will not be judged by their passports, religion, wealth, power, popularity, intelligence, but by their love, generosity, their willingness to respond to the needs of the least of his brothers and sisters. And therein lies a challenge – the least of our brothers and sisters: who are these? Those who beg in our streets, refugees, those in our prisons, the list goes on. Do we receive them as we would Christ? We shut them up in prisons, put them in camps, wish them away. The least of his brothers and sisters. Are families communities which care for the least amongst us. Are we citizens of the kingdom, are we helping our children be citizens of the Kingdom?
We may not always see results , but Jesus assures us that our loving, forgiving, reaching out, including, healing make us part of this Kingdom. He is risen from the dead and if we want to reign with him then we need to walk with him even on the paths of helplessness and service. And everytime we love and forgive and help others and reach out to the unlovely our actions are a prayer which are heard ‘Through what I do now may your kingdom come, O Lord.’
Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
18/11/08 10:03 Category: Homily
Thought:
‘A perfect wife – who can find her?’ Anyone, anyone….
It would be all to easy to mock the first passage as out of date – testament to the attitudes of an age long past – it was probably written about 2500 years ago. There is rather more to it than that. It is not the church trying to keep wives quiet and obedient. The passage comes from the Book of Proverbs. The first chapters speak of God’s Wisdom in feminine terms ‘Wisdom cries aloud in the street’. She calls men and women to come learn from her. The passages which follow are made up of proverbs and advice. The passage to which we have just listened is part of the last chapter of the book and it paints a picture of what God’s Wisdom looks like in the home – her presence makes activity fruitful and she inspires generosity. So the Wisdom of God is about the everyday – it guides our actions. What is the source of our wisdom – our everyday source of knowledge for decision-making? These days, in the current turmoil, the wise of this world tell us to pull our heads in and batten down the doors. But we listen to God’s wisdom
God’s wisdom is made incarnate in Jesus Christ. Wisdom in love, generosity, self-giving. Wisdom shown in using the gifts, the time given us truly wisely – in union with Jesus.
Today we have the Archbishop’s appeal for lifelink.....
What is the source of our wisdom – our everyday source of knowledge for decision-making?
‘A perfect wife – who can find her?’ Anyone, anyone….
It would be all to easy to mock the first passage as out of date – testament to the attitudes of an age long past – it was probably written about 2500 years ago. There is rather more to it than that. It is not the church trying to keep wives quiet and obedient. The passage comes from the Book of Proverbs. The first chapters speak of God’s Wisdom in feminine terms ‘Wisdom cries aloud in the street’. She calls men and women to come learn from her. The passages which follow are made up of proverbs and advice. The passage to which we have just listened is part of the last chapter of the book and it paints a picture of what God’s Wisdom looks like in the home – her presence makes activity fruitful and she inspires generosity. So the Wisdom of God is about the everyday – it guides our actions. What is the source of our wisdom – our everyday source of knowledge for decision-making? These days, in the current turmoil, the wise of this world tell us to pull our heads in and batten down the doors. But we listen to God’s wisdom
God’s wisdom is made incarnate in Jesus Christ. Wisdom in love, generosity, self-giving. Wisdom shown in using the gifts, the time given us truly wisely – in union with Jesus.
Today we have the Archbishop’s appeal for lifelink.....
All Souls
03/11/08 22:31 Category: Homily
Thought:
Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
Children used to be taught that prayer...We shall all die – you and I. We don’t know the time or the place, but death is part of life. That prayer, this day, All Souls, and the month of November evidence a healthy attitude to death. It is part of life.
Our first reading taken from the Old Testament is a prophecy of hope. The Chosen people are told that God will destroy death for ever. They are not told how this will happen – it must seem incredible.
That prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ words in the Gospel are reassuring – the Father has entrusted everything to his Son. The Son can be trusted. We can have faith in him. And the Son has changed our lives and our deaths in his own life, death and resurrection. In death life is changed not ended. In him our hope of resurrection dawned and the sadness of death gives way to the bright promise of immortality. That is our faith and hope.
So death has become a passing over to the fullness of life with the Father, Son and Spirit. And with the Father, Son and Spirit all who have died in the Lord.
So today and this month we remember those who have walked before us. We do not hold on to them as fading memories, we pray for them as members of a great family which includes the living and dead. We are united to them still; they are with us still. Our dead continue to walk with us in life praying for us, supporting us.
We pray for them. There is a process of passing over – we do not know what form it takes – but in that passing over to the fullness of life the dead are supported and hastened with our prayers. As we walk easier when we walk with others, so the dead make that final journey supported by our love and prayers.
One day we shall see them again. We shall, all of us, the children of God, be gathered around his throne.
The words of Jesus are not just addressed to us now. They are addressed to us in death ‘Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest’
We pause now to recall names and faces… Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace.
Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
Children used to be taught that prayer...We shall all die – you and I. We don’t know the time or the place, but death is part of life. That prayer, this day, All Souls, and the month of November evidence a healthy attitude to death. It is part of life.
Our first reading taken from the Old Testament is a prophecy of hope. The Chosen people are told that God will destroy death for ever. They are not told how this will happen – it must seem incredible.
That prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ words in the Gospel are reassuring – the Father has entrusted everything to his Son. The Son can be trusted. We can have faith in him. And the Son has changed our lives and our deaths in his own life, death and resurrection. In death life is changed not ended. In him our hope of resurrection dawned and the sadness of death gives way to the bright promise of immortality. That is our faith and hope.
So death has become a passing over to the fullness of life with the Father, Son and Spirit. And with the Father, Son and Spirit all who have died in the Lord.
So today and this month we remember those who have walked before us. We do not hold on to them as fading memories, we pray for them as members of a great family which includes the living and dead. We are united to them still; they are with us still. Our dead continue to walk with us in life praying for us, supporting us.
We pray for them. There is a process of passing over – we do not know what form it takes – but in that passing over to the fullness of life the dead are supported and hastened with our prayers. As we walk easier when we walk with others, so the dead make that final journey supported by our love and prayers.
One day we shall see them again. We shall, all of us, the children of God, be gathered around his throne.
The words of Jesus are not just addressed to us now. They are addressed to us in death ‘Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest’
We pause now to recall names and faces… Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace.
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