On 30th September last year, 2010, Pope Benedict published a document entitled, in Latin, Verbum Domini, the Word of the Lord. It’s the latest in a long line of documents in the last sixty to seventy years which call on Catholics throughout the world to put the The Word of God back where it should always have been, at the centre of our lives. But the bible is a complex series of books and there are a variety of different approaches to it. We need to study it and learn to undertand it, not least because the failure to do so, hanging on to often infantile ways of thinking about it, which we reflected on in relation to the Christmas, make it very difficult for people in a modern scientific world to take it seriously. But as well as studying the bible, we need to do something even more important with it. We need to pray it, and one of the ways we can do this is by entering imaginatively into its stories. Imagination is one of God’s greatest gifts to us. We use it when we read a novel or watch a film and without it, without the capacity to imagine new things and new ways of doing things, humanity would still be living in the stone age. These stories, as we also said at Christmas, are like bottles with a message inside them floating through history, just waiting for us to pick them up and enter prayerfully into them. And so I invite you to join me in an imaginitve journey through the story of the Magi.
And as we begin, the first thing which strikes me is to wonder how many people other than those who finally got there had the same initial urge to follow the star Westwards in search of the infant King of the Jews and what happened to them. We know from sometimes painful personal experience that not every thought or inclination leads to action. Many good ideas come to nothing and, in my imagination, this must have happened to many in the place the Magi came from. Like the seed that fell among thorns, they would have been so caught up in the cares of life that what began as a good idea remained no more than that and came to nothing; an invitation to reflect on how often this has happened in our own lives.
But for those who did begin the great journey in search of Jesus, many problems lay ahead. The journey to Bethlehem was a long one and would take them through many different lands. In my imagination many of those who set off would never have been abroad before and so, just a few days into the journey, would have taken cold feet and returned home. Unable to cope with new, unfamiliar experiences, they scurried back to where they were comfortable, seeking refuge in what they had always known and reminding us of the times when we have started journeys or projects only to give up on them when the going got a little bit tough.
But for those who resisted the temptation to turn back, the frontier of a very difficult land to pass through soon loomed ahead, the land of confusion and uncertainty. To leave one place and go to another where Jesus is, involves more than an outward physical journey. Even more difficult than that journey, the journey from one place to another, was the inner journey each person had to make, the journey from one way of thinking to another which inevitably involves a period in the middle when nothing seems certain and everything seems in doubt. And at the centre of this land lies a great crossroads which no one passing through it can avoid. To the left, the signpost tells the traveller, lies certainty, something very attractive to the confused traveller, but in reality this is no certainty at all. It is only apparent certainty in the form of simple answers to complex questions and the name of the town which lies along this road is religious fundamentalism. And many today seek refuge in it. But Jesus is not to be found there. And to the right lies another town which offers some respite to the weary traveller. Its a kind of biblical Benidorm offering all kinds of attractions to distract the traveller and take his mind off the challenges of the journey. And so many who wanted to meet Jesus but didn’t want it enough settle down there and go no further. But for those who are brave enough and committed enough, the road ahead point towards Bethlehem and along this road go the Magi.
But before they reach the place where the child lay, the biggest challenge of all still lies ahead. In search of the infant King of the Jews, they, naturally, expect to find him in a palace. And so they visit Herod. But the one they have come so far to see is not there. They have been seeking him without realising who it is they seek. Unknown to them, the child they are looking for is infinitely more than they could ever have imagined. He is God made man and living among us. He is Son of God and son of Mary. He is something totally new in history with the result that all the expectations and all the pre-conceived ideas the Magi have brought with them from the East – up to now the place where people have gone in search of wisdom -have to be left outside at the entrance to the stable. What lies inside this stable is not power but powerlessness; not riches but poverty: not human wisdom but divine foolishness. The Magi brought their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh expecting to offer them to the new infant King, only to discover that, far from being the bearers of gifts, they are, in fact, the receivers of the greatest gift history has ever seen: God’s gift of himself. And so, as Matthew tells us, they went home by a different route, their whole lives transformed by the experience of meeting Jesus.
At this point, of course, you might imagine that they would take home with them the story of what had happened to them and who it was the star had led them to. But in my version of the story this is not what happened. There are some things which cannot be shared. We have to discover them and experience them for ourselves. And so when the Magi arrived home, no one even noticed them. By then the memory of the great journey so many had begun had faded. Life had moved on and, just like today, very few people would have known what they had missed out on. ....
So do you know?
BIDDING PRAYERS
On this Day of Prayer for Peace we begin by holding up before God the whole of humanity, torn apart, as it still is, by conflict and division. The journey through history in search of the peace we long for is slow and painful. Bogged down in ancient prejudices and century-old disputes, the world repeats over and over again the mistakes of history and so remains trapped in its past. And so we ask God today to lead us out of this trap into a new way of relating to each other.........Lord hear us
The peace we speak of is a peace the world cannot give. It is a peace only God can give. It is not the result of diplomacy and can never come about through warfare, no matter how many times we delude ourselves into thinking it can. It’s only possible when, through grace, the hearts of men and women throughout the world are changed and we begin to think as God thinks and love as God loves. And so we ask God to bring about this transformation through his Spirit at work in history.........Lord hear us
The Church, like the Magi, is itself involved in a great journey, this time through history. Many times over the centuries, however, it has wandered from the path and become bogged down in one mess after another of its own making. The great sign of this in today’s world is the tragic state of division which exists between the followers of Jesus, and, on this day of Prayer for Peace, we ask God to heal these divisions as a sign to humanity of an even deeper healing among nations............Lord hear us
Our own parish, too, is on a journey. Rooted in the teaching of Jesus and in the tradition of the Catholic Church – especially the documents of the Second Vatican Council – we are moving slowly but surely from religion to faith, from being a people who have heard of God to a people who know God intimately. And so we thank God for the progress we have already made on this great journey and ask him for the courage and faith we need to persevere in it to the end.............Lord hear us
But in the end, it is each one of us who is on this journey. Each one of us is called, like the Magi, to follow the star wherever it takes us. But no two people follow exactly the same path. We journey within the context of the Christian community to which we belong, but, since God has a unique dream for each one of us, we must have the courage to discern our own individual vocation and follow it. And so we pray for the courage and maturity we need to do this, no matter the consequences..........Lord hear us
When St Matthew wrote the story of the Magi – and it is unique to his Gospel – he saw them as a sign, right at the beginning of Jesus’ life, of his mission to all nations. In Jesus there are no longer any divisions between one nation and another. In him all men and women are equal and every person on the face of the earth is our brother or sister. And so we ask God to free us from every trace of racism or xenophobia and fill us with a desire to reach out to every person on the face of the earth.........Lord hear us
Friday, 31 December 2010
Saturday, 18 December 2010
FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
It’s easy to understand the dilemma Joseph faces in today’s Gospel. He’s betrothed to Mary, but before they come to live together he discovers she’s expecting. So what’s he to do? Joseph, Matthew tells us, was a man of honour, a technical term in those days for someone who observed every detail of the law. And so Joseph’s first instinct would have been to turn to the OT. And there, in chapter twenty two of the Book of Deuteronomy, he would have found the guidance he was looking for. The relevant section begins by pointing out the obvious; that there are two ways in which Mary could have become pregnant. Either she has consented to have sex with another man, in which case she is guilty of adultery; or she has been forced to have sex against her will, and so is innocent. And to establish which of the two is the case, Joseph, according to the Law, was entitled to call for a trial. Joseph, however, chooses not to go down that road but to divorce Mary informally, in other words, without a trial. In this way, he will spare her publicity, another technical term which meant she would not be ‘exposed to public disgrace’ or ‘made a public spectacle of.’ In the end, of course, Joseph does not go down this road either. This upright man who, up to now, has lived his whole life according to the law, rejects the old religious solution and takes Mary home to be his wife. So why did he do this?
Well, the answer to that question takes us to what we have been reflecting on since Advent began. Essentially, the choice facing Joseph was between trusting what came from outside of himself, the law, or what came from inside himself; what, for weeks, we have been calling a deep interior knowledge which comes, not from external evidence but from the Spirit of God moving in us. And this is clearly happening in the story. The text talks about dreams and angels, but there’s no need for us to take those words literally. What else are they but attempts to describe something much more ordinary and much more profound, namely the deep, gentle but persistent movement of God in each one of us. The religious law which had governed the people’s life for centuries was pointing him in one direction, but Joseph chooses instead to trust the truth we see emerging from deep inside himself. And in this simple but profound moment, a moment intimately linked to the equivalent moment in Mary’s life, which is the Annunciation, husband and wife become one in their openness to God. And in this way God enters our world and becomes part of human history. Joseph trusts the movement of the Spirit. Mary trusts it too. Each of them in their own way says, ‘Let it be done unto me according to your will,’ and as these two acts of human freedom come together, the New Testament begins. And it is a moment which tells us everything we need to know about what it is to be a Christian today.
As the 21st century begins, you see, we, too, are being called by God to give birth to Jesus in the world of our own day. But just as neither religion nor the law were enough to bring Jesus to birth 2000 years ago, so they are not enough today. They were inadequate then and they are inadequate now. For Jesus to be born in the world of the 21st Century, millions of us who call ourselves Christians have to make the journey Joseph made in this week’s Gospel. It is simply not enough to keep rules and perform religious actions. It’s not enough to come to Mass each week and go away untouched by what we have done. Something profoundly new has to happen in us. It is not enough to have heard about God or believe in his existence. What we are called to is a personal relationship with the God who lives and moves in us too, and only if we allow this relationship to develop and grow; only if we learn to listen to the God whose Spirit speaks deep within us – as Joseph and Mary did - will it be possible for Jesus to born in us again today.
But there’s a problem. And it’s this. Deep within the Catholicism many of us have grown up with, there is a deep resistance to the very idea of such a relationship. Brought up to think that being a Catholic is about going to Mass and the sacraments and observing a series of rules, many, because they have no experience of personal faith and cannot imagine what it would be like, actually fear it and think it is taking the whole business of God far too seriously. And so thousands in our parishes live shallow, religious lives, ignorant of the intimacy God offers. But things will not always be like that. God is doing a new thing today and I would like to give you an example of it.
A friend of mine who teaches RE to a fourth year class in St Matthew’s Academy showed them recently the second episode of the programme called the Big Silence which some of you have seen. It follows five people, none of whom were Church-goers, as they make an eight day silent retreat in St Beuno’s, a Jesuit spirituality centre in North Wales where I did the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius myself as a thirty day silent retreat over twenty years ago and where I have directed many retreats since. Dealing with the silence was a huge struggle for all five of them, but by the end of the retreat they had come through that struggle and arrived at a deep spiritual place they had never been to before. Each in his or her own way had met God in the silence and it had changed their lives. And when the programme had finished, my friend asked the class how many of them would like to have that kind of relationship with God. And to his utter amazement, every single person in the class put up their hand.
And yet this should not really surprise us. Many young people today have rejected traditional religion. But that will not be the end of the story. Created to share the life of God the desire for God will surface in them again in new ways and our job is to be the kind of Church which will have something deeper than mere religion to offer them when it does. My friend’s story is a glimpse of the future. The question is; do we want to be part of it or are we too scared of what it might involve?
BIDDING PRAYERS
Joseph, in today’s Gospel, is a model of how to listen to the movement of God deep within himself. Three times in St Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus he decides on one course of action and ends up doing the opposite when asked to do so by God. It is not only Mary who is open to God’s will in her life. Joseph, too, has his Annunciation experience and, like Mary, is willing to go where God leads. And so we pray for the grace we need to be more like them both in the way we respond to God in our lives…...Lord hear us
So long as we take literally things like angels appearing to people in dreams, it is easy to tell ourselves that such things only happen to other people. And so we pray for the courage we need to develop more accurate and more mature ways of reading the Scriptures which enable us to see that the whole of both the Old and New Testaments is actually about ourselves. What God has done in the past he continues to do today and we pray for the wisdom and insight we need to recognize this......Lord hear us
Led to believe that being a Catholic was about going to Mass, receiving the Sacraments and keeping the laws of the Church, the idea that we are called to a deep, personal and intimate relationship with God is difficult for many to come to terms with. To some traditional Catholics it sounds ‘protestant’ or ‘evangelical,’ not at all the kind of thing Catholics do. But while there are historical reasons why this has happened, it is a deeply mistaken notion and we pray for the grace to leave it behin........Lord hear us
The Church itself has a long history of resisting the movement of God. Time and again over the centuries it has wandered away from the Gospel and embraced the values of the secular world. And so, in every age, the Spirit has called her to renewal, a call which has always been resisted and continues to be resisted in our own day. And so we pray for the grace we need to read the signs of the times and accept the many challenges of the Gospel at this moment in history without fear or anxiety................Lord hear us
Many today worry about the faith of the young. Born into a deeply secular society very different from the one many of us who are older were born into, the Church as we knew it means nothing to them. But God continues to work in their lives. The very shallowness and emptiness of our consumer-driven society can itself, in time, become the place where a desire for something deeper begins to stir, and we pray that when that happens our parishes will be places ready and able to respond to their needs.......Lord hear us
Being pregnant put Mary in a very vulnerable position. A male-dominated world with double standards in this area has always been very severe on women who find themselves pregnant and alone. And so we pray for single mothers today, especially those who are used as scapegoats for the sexual sins of men. And we pray in a particular way for women who, in the not too distance past, were judged and condemned within our Catholic parishes and who still carry the pain of that experience.........Lord hear us
Well, the answer to that question takes us to what we have been reflecting on since Advent began. Essentially, the choice facing Joseph was between trusting what came from outside of himself, the law, or what came from inside himself; what, for weeks, we have been calling a deep interior knowledge which comes, not from external evidence but from the Spirit of God moving in us. And this is clearly happening in the story. The text talks about dreams and angels, but there’s no need for us to take those words literally. What else are they but attempts to describe something much more ordinary and much more profound, namely the deep, gentle but persistent movement of God in each one of us. The religious law which had governed the people’s life for centuries was pointing him in one direction, but Joseph chooses instead to trust the truth we see emerging from deep inside himself. And in this simple but profound moment, a moment intimately linked to the equivalent moment in Mary’s life, which is the Annunciation, husband and wife become one in their openness to God. And in this way God enters our world and becomes part of human history. Joseph trusts the movement of the Spirit. Mary trusts it too. Each of them in their own way says, ‘Let it be done unto me according to your will,’ and as these two acts of human freedom come together, the New Testament begins. And it is a moment which tells us everything we need to know about what it is to be a Christian today.
As the 21st century begins, you see, we, too, are being called by God to give birth to Jesus in the world of our own day. But just as neither religion nor the law were enough to bring Jesus to birth 2000 years ago, so they are not enough today. They were inadequate then and they are inadequate now. For Jesus to be born in the world of the 21st Century, millions of us who call ourselves Christians have to make the journey Joseph made in this week’s Gospel. It is simply not enough to keep rules and perform religious actions. It’s not enough to come to Mass each week and go away untouched by what we have done. Something profoundly new has to happen in us. It is not enough to have heard about God or believe in his existence. What we are called to is a personal relationship with the God who lives and moves in us too, and only if we allow this relationship to develop and grow; only if we learn to listen to the God whose Spirit speaks deep within us – as Joseph and Mary did - will it be possible for Jesus to born in us again today.
But there’s a problem. And it’s this. Deep within the Catholicism many of us have grown up with, there is a deep resistance to the very idea of such a relationship. Brought up to think that being a Catholic is about going to Mass and the sacraments and observing a series of rules, many, because they have no experience of personal faith and cannot imagine what it would be like, actually fear it and think it is taking the whole business of God far too seriously. And so thousands in our parishes live shallow, religious lives, ignorant of the intimacy God offers. But things will not always be like that. God is doing a new thing today and I would like to give you an example of it.
A friend of mine who teaches RE to a fourth year class in St Matthew’s Academy showed them recently the second episode of the programme called the Big Silence which some of you have seen. It follows five people, none of whom were Church-goers, as they make an eight day silent retreat in St Beuno’s, a Jesuit spirituality centre in North Wales where I did the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius myself as a thirty day silent retreat over twenty years ago and where I have directed many retreats since. Dealing with the silence was a huge struggle for all five of them, but by the end of the retreat they had come through that struggle and arrived at a deep spiritual place they had never been to before. Each in his or her own way had met God in the silence and it had changed their lives. And when the programme had finished, my friend asked the class how many of them would like to have that kind of relationship with God. And to his utter amazement, every single person in the class put up their hand.
And yet this should not really surprise us. Many young people today have rejected traditional religion. But that will not be the end of the story. Created to share the life of God the desire for God will surface in them again in new ways and our job is to be the kind of Church which will have something deeper than mere religion to offer them when it does. My friend’s story is a glimpse of the future. The question is; do we want to be part of it or are we too scared of what it might involve?
BIDDING PRAYERS
Joseph, in today’s Gospel, is a model of how to listen to the movement of God deep within himself. Three times in St Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus he decides on one course of action and ends up doing the opposite when asked to do so by God. It is not only Mary who is open to God’s will in her life. Joseph, too, has his Annunciation experience and, like Mary, is willing to go where God leads. And so we pray for the grace we need to be more like them both in the way we respond to God in our lives…...Lord hear us
So long as we take literally things like angels appearing to people in dreams, it is easy to tell ourselves that such things only happen to other people. And so we pray for the courage we need to develop more accurate and more mature ways of reading the Scriptures which enable us to see that the whole of both the Old and New Testaments is actually about ourselves. What God has done in the past he continues to do today and we pray for the wisdom and insight we need to recognize this......Lord hear us
Led to believe that being a Catholic was about going to Mass, receiving the Sacraments and keeping the laws of the Church, the idea that we are called to a deep, personal and intimate relationship with God is difficult for many to come to terms with. To some traditional Catholics it sounds ‘protestant’ or ‘evangelical,’ not at all the kind of thing Catholics do. But while there are historical reasons why this has happened, it is a deeply mistaken notion and we pray for the grace to leave it behin........Lord hear us
The Church itself has a long history of resisting the movement of God. Time and again over the centuries it has wandered away from the Gospel and embraced the values of the secular world. And so, in every age, the Spirit has called her to renewal, a call which has always been resisted and continues to be resisted in our own day. And so we pray for the grace we need to read the signs of the times and accept the many challenges of the Gospel at this moment in history without fear or anxiety................Lord hear us
Many today worry about the faith of the young. Born into a deeply secular society very different from the one many of us who are older were born into, the Church as we knew it means nothing to them. But God continues to work in their lives. The very shallowness and emptiness of our consumer-driven society can itself, in time, become the place where a desire for something deeper begins to stir, and we pray that when that happens our parishes will be places ready and able to respond to their needs.......Lord hear us
Being pregnant put Mary in a very vulnerable position. A male-dominated world with double standards in this area has always been very severe on women who find themselves pregnant and alone. And so we pray for single mothers today, especially those who are used as scapegoats for the sexual sins of men. And we pray in a particular way for women who, in the not too distance past, were judged and condemned within our Catholic parishes and who still carry the pain of that experience.........Lord hear us
Saturday, 11 December 2010
THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Between chapter three of Matthew’s Gospel, where we met him last week, and chapter eleven of the same Gospel, where we meet him today, John the Baptist has made a thoroughly modern journey. Last week we saw him emerge from the wilderness of Judaea so sure of himself and his message that wasn’t afraid to confront even the Pharisees and the Sadducees. A brood of vipers was how he described them. People flocked to hear him, news of him spread everywhere, and as he baptized the people in the Jordan John was a man at the peak of his powers. Now, however, just a few chapters and a few months later, it’s a very different John we meet. He’s in prison now. News of what Jesus is doing is filtering back to him and, clearly, he’s disturbed. John, with his garment of camel hair and leather belt round his waist, was every inch the Old Testament prophet. Fire, brimstone and dire warnings about the future were the tools of John’s trade and he fully expected the Messiah to be the same. Things weren’t working out like that, however. Jesus was not living up to John’s expectations, and as he lay there in his dark cell, dark thoughts were surfacing in him. He had gone into the desert convinced that God was leading him there. He had emerged from it convinced he was doing God’s work. His whole life was about ministry. He had sacrificed everything for it and now he was having to confront some truly terrifying questions. What if he were wrong? What if he had been deceiving himself all these years? What if it was Satan and not God he had met in the wilderness? What if his whole life had been a mistake? And so, in desperation, John sends some friends to ask Jesus: “Are you the one who is to come, or have we to wait for someone else?”
John’s struggle, of course, is the struggle of many in today’s world. Like him, we are living through a time of transition and many things are not turning out as we had expected. For John, it was the movement from the Old to the New Testament. For us, it’s the movement from one way of thinking and one way of being Church to another and it is proving as disturbing for many good people today as it was for John. Our whole way of thinking about God is in turmoil. Old images of who God is, images which, like the OT itself, sustained people’s faith for centuries, are proving totally inadequate for the world we live in. We have lived through a period of change in the Church the likes of which few generations in history have had to deal with, at least in terms of the speed with which it has happened. All kinds of thing we once believed and held dear are questioned now and our faith in the Church itself as an institution to be trusted has undergone serious re-evaluation in the light of things which have emerged in recent years. And so it is hardly surprising that that there are people around today who feel pretty much the way John did in his prison all those centuries ago. What is going on? What, if anything do I believe any more, about God, about Jesus, about being a Catholic? Is the modern world right when it says religion is a thing of the past. Do I really want to be part of it anymore? These are serious question requiring serious answers.
For some, of course, Jesus’ answer in today’s Gospel is not a real answer at all. Jesus, however, has too much respect for John to give him the kind of answer we, deep down, would like God to give. He doesn’t resolve John’s doubts. He simply invites him to look around and observe what is happening. The answer, he is saying, is all around you. It’s in your own experience. You don’t need me to answer these questions for you. You can answer them for yourself. And the reason Jesus has such confidence in John is that he recognizes in him a man of great personal maturity. John, he says, is no reed swaying in the wind, blown about by every passing breeze. Worldly honours mean nothing to him and so he cannot be bought and sold. John is a prophet who makes up his own mind about things and that is what Jesus invites him to do now. Reflect on your experience, he tells him. Engage with these doubts and questions. Don’t be afraid of them and they will lead you to the truth.
At the heart of what Jesus says, of course, is the notion of maturity. It is absolutely vital for men and women of faith today and without it we will struggle to survive the times we are living through. Faced with so many unanswered questions and, even more importantly, unquestioned answers, there are two main places where the fearful immature person can seek refuge. The first is to retreat into old certainties, the most extreme form of this being the religious fundamentalism which all religions suffer from today and which is causing so much trouble in the world. And the second is to avoid the questions, follow the line of least resistance and go along the road, not so much of unbelief – that at least would be a decision – but of shallow, un-reflected living, the road of un-thought-through lapsing.
In between, of course, is the way of faith-filled reflection. Look around you, says Jesus, and you will see. And what I see is a new infant Church being born. Unlike the one which went before, a Church which enjoyed great worldly power for so long, it’s being born into a world which rejects it and has no room for it in its Inn. But born it will be. Nothing can stop the process even when the labour is long and painful. And when the child is born there will still be plenty of modern day Herods anxious to do away with it. But, despite everything, there are people around who understand what is happening. Most of them are not powerful or important in the ordinary sense of the word but they know with that deep interior knowledge that comes from God that this new Church with its emphasis on faith and justice rather than religion and power is our hope for the future; that the birth we are witnessing is Good News for people everywhere. That’s what I see and invite you to see it too.
It may be, of course, that you cannot see it...yet. Maybe, like John, you, too, are confused and uncertain. Well, that’s OK. Keep an open mind and, in time, it will become clear. I promise you.
BIDDING PRAYERS
We begin this week by holding up before God all who, because things in life have not turned out the way they had hoped for or expected, have lost faith in God. We pray that they will have the courage and maturity they need to engage with the disappointments of life, finding meaning, not in what might have been, but in what has actually happened. God can only be found in what is real, no matter how difficult or painful this may be at times, and we pray for the courage we need to accept this..........Lord hear us
We pray in a special way this week for any priests who, like John the Baptist, have given their whole lives to ministry and now, seeing what is going on around them, are left sad and disillusioned, wondering if they have wasted their lives. We pray that, in the words of the first reading, God will “Strengthen weary hands, steady trembling knees and say to all faint hearts, “Courage! Do not be afraid.” While in Scotland, the Pope urged the bishops to care for priests and we pray that his words will be heard......Lord hear us
Maturity, sadly, is not something that has always been encouraged in the Church. Often in the past the very opposite was seen as virtue in people. Rather than ask questions and so explore the meaning of faith, we were encourage to be quiet and, like children, do what we were told to do and believe what we were told to believe. And so we ask God to help us become a more mature Church which encourages adult faith in all its members and so becomes more and more fit for purpose in the modern world.........Lord hear us
When it comes to the things of God, there will always be more questions than answers. This is because anything we say about God can only be partially true. The full truth will always be beyond us. And so we pray for the wisdom to see that unanswered questions are not as big a problem as unquestioned answers. There are many issues today to which people of faith have no answer and we pray for the wisdom we need to accept this, come to terms with it and live joyfully with its consequences......Lord hear us
In the second reading, St James speaks of the farmer who waits patiently for the autumn rains and spring rains so that his precious harvest can bear rich fruit. And so we pray for the patience, sense of perspective and breadth of vision we need to allow a new way of being the Church to be born in the world today. Like many new births, it can be a long and painful process. Things have to be given time to run their course. There is always a time of waiting. But we pray that, in God’s time, a new Church will be born....Lord hear us
A week on Tuesday, we will, God willing, celebrate our Advent Penance Service. By celebrating the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation in this way, we acknowledge to ourselves and to each other that there is a constant need for conversion both in our personal lives, in the life of the Church and in the world itself. And so we pray for the grace we need to prepare prayerfully for this event, and that, when it comes, it will be a time of deep faith for us, both a individuals and as a parish........Lord hear us
John’s struggle, of course, is the struggle of many in today’s world. Like him, we are living through a time of transition and many things are not turning out as we had expected. For John, it was the movement from the Old to the New Testament. For us, it’s the movement from one way of thinking and one way of being Church to another and it is proving as disturbing for many good people today as it was for John. Our whole way of thinking about God is in turmoil. Old images of who God is, images which, like the OT itself, sustained people’s faith for centuries, are proving totally inadequate for the world we live in. We have lived through a period of change in the Church the likes of which few generations in history have had to deal with, at least in terms of the speed with which it has happened. All kinds of thing we once believed and held dear are questioned now and our faith in the Church itself as an institution to be trusted has undergone serious re-evaluation in the light of things which have emerged in recent years. And so it is hardly surprising that that there are people around today who feel pretty much the way John did in his prison all those centuries ago. What is going on? What, if anything do I believe any more, about God, about Jesus, about being a Catholic? Is the modern world right when it says religion is a thing of the past. Do I really want to be part of it anymore? These are serious question requiring serious answers.
For some, of course, Jesus’ answer in today’s Gospel is not a real answer at all. Jesus, however, has too much respect for John to give him the kind of answer we, deep down, would like God to give. He doesn’t resolve John’s doubts. He simply invites him to look around and observe what is happening. The answer, he is saying, is all around you. It’s in your own experience. You don’t need me to answer these questions for you. You can answer them for yourself. And the reason Jesus has such confidence in John is that he recognizes in him a man of great personal maturity. John, he says, is no reed swaying in the wind, blown about by every passing breeze. Worldly honours mean nothing to him and so he cannot be bought and sold. John is a prophet who makes up his own mind about things and that is what Jesus invites him to do now. Reflect on your experience, he tells him. Engage with these doubts and questions. Don’t be afraid of them and they will lead you to the truth.
At the heart of what Jesus says, of course, is the notion of maturity. It is absolutely vital for men and women of faith today and without it we will struggle to survive the times we are living through. Faced with so many unanswered questions and, even more importantly, unquestioned answers, there are two main places where the fearful immature person can seek refuge. The first is to retreat into old certainties, the most extreme form of this being the religious fundamentalism which all religions suffer from today and which is causing so much trouble in the world. And the second is to avoid the questions, follow the line of least resistance and go along the road, not so much of unbelief – that at least would be a decision – but of shallow, un-reflected living, the road of un-thought-through lapsing.
In between, of course, is the way of faith-filled reflection. Look around you, says Jesus, and you will see. And what I see is a new infant Church being born. Unlike the one which went before, a Church which enjoyed great worldly power for so long, it’s being born into a world which rejects it and has no room for it in its Inn. But born it will be. Nothing can stop the process even when the labour is long and painful. And when the child is born there will still be plenty of modern day Herods anxious to do away with it. But, despite everything, there are people around who understand what is happening. Most of them are not powerful or important in the ordinary sense of the word but they know with that deep interior knowledge that comes from God that this new Church with its emphasis on faith and justice rather than religion and power is our hope for the future; that the birth we are witnessing is Good News for people everywhere. That’s what I see and invite you to see it too.
It may be, of course, that you cannot see it...yet. Maybe, like John, you, too, are confused and uncertain. Well, that’s OK. Keep an open mind and, in time, it will become clear. I promise you.
BIDDING PRAYERS
We begin this week by holding up before God all who, because things in life have not turned out the way they had hoped for or expected, have lost faith in God. We pray that they will have the courage and maturity they need to engage with the disappointments of life, finding meaning, not in what might have been, but in what has actually happened. God can only be found in what is real, no matter how difficult or painful this may be at times, and we pray for the courage we need to accept this..........Lord hear us
We pray in a special way this week for any priests who, like John the Baptist, have given their whole lives to ministry and now, seeing what is going on around them, are left sad and disillusioned, wondering if they have wasted their lives. We pray that, in the words of the first reading, God will “Strengthen weary hands, steady trembling knees and say to all faint hearts, “Courage! Do not be afraid.” While in Scotland, the Pope urged the bishops to care for priests and we pray that his words will be heard......Lord hear us
Maturity, sadly, is not something that has always been encouraged in the Church. Often in the past the very opposite was seen as virtue in people. Rather than ask questions and so explore the meaning of faith, we were encourage to be quiet and, like children, do what we were told to do and believe what we were told to believe. And so we ask God to help us become a more mature Church which encourages adult faith in all its members and so becomes more and more fit for purpose in the modern world.........Lord hear us
When it comes to the things of God, there will always be more questions than answers. This is because anything we say about God can only be partially true. The full truth will always be beyond us. And so we pray for the wisdom to see that unanswered questions are not as big a problem as unquestioned answers. There are many issues today to which people of faith have no answer and we pray for the wisdom we need to accept this, come to terms with it and live joyfully with its consequences......Lord hear us
In the second reading, St James speaks of the farmer who waits patiently for the autumn rains and spring rains so that his precious harvest can bear rich fruit. And so we pray for the patience, sense of perspective and breadth of vision we need to allow a new way of being the Church to be born in the world today. Like many new births, it can be a long and painful process. Things have to be given time to run their course. There is always a time of waiting. But we pray that, in God’s time, a new Church will be born....Lord hear us
A week on Tuesday, we will, God willing, celebrate our Advent Penance Service. By celebrating the Sacrament of Penance or Reconciliation in this way, we acknowledge to ourselves and to each other that there is a constant need for conversion both in our personal lives, in the life of the Church and in the world itself. And so we pray for the grace we need to prepare prayerfully for this event, and that, when it comes, it will be a time of deep faith for us, both a individuals and as a parish........Lord hear us
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