Haec Oratio Domini [This is the Lord’s own prayer]

7th Sunday of Easter

01 June, 2014

THIS IS THE LORD’S OWN PRAYER, for unity in the glorification of God.

You will all have noticed how the Sunday Gospels, after the accounts of the resurrection, take us back to the night before the crucifixion, to look again at Jesus’ last words to his disciples before he gave himself up to death. It is almost as if we are the first disciples, in the aftermath of the death and resurrection of our master, poring back on his every word, trying to make sense of what has happened and where we should go from here.

And so we have been reflecting on what is commonly known as Jesus’ 'final discourse’ or even ‘last will and testament’ in John’s Gospel, the climax of which is today’s prayer. And if there was ever a model for prayer, this should be it. If there was ever a prayer that should be committed to memory by every Christian, this should be it. For this is the Lord’s own prayer; spoken with such intimacy and love, and expressing his only desire, which should become our only desire: the glorification of God.

We go to God in prayer for many reasons — some only find time to pray in time of need — but there is no better time to remind ourselves than today, that prayer is the glorification of God. Intentions abound, be they temporal, spiritual, personal or on behalf of others, they should all have one aim: the greater glory of God through our lives.

It is no accident, then, that yesterday marked the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. For through the commemoration of this moment in the life of Our Lady, we see first and foremost how to do all things, including prayer, for the glory of God. With our blessed Mother, we too should pray that our souls may magnify the glory of God in the world, and that he may use us as an instrument to lead all to the knowledge of God. For as Christ says, knowledge of God is to have received eternal life through faith in God and in the salvation wrought by his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

God will work through us to bring Christ into the world, as he did through the Holy Virgin, in so far as we emulate her in her total openness to the work of the Holy Spirit. And it is to this end that the Lord prays for us – a people taken from the world and given to Christ by the Father. He prays for us because, although our inheritance is not of this world, we are very much in the world. He prays for us because we have been chosen by God, chosen for knowledge, chosen for faith, chosen for eternal life; but chosen, nonetheless, to be given to Christ and to live as Christ lived, in the world but not of it, despised and rejected by it, whilst called to love and lead it. And it is for this mission of ours that he will send the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to guide and strengthen us, to call and send us filled with the divine charismata that is witness to God’s abiding presence in creation.

Our Lord prays not for the world but for his chosen ones. It is then for these chosen to go out and live in the world, lives worthy of being called ‘Christian’. And through our lives lived in the truth of faith and to the glory of God, we are to touch the world, as Christ himself touched it – with the tenderness of love and the obedience of sacrifice.

Let our prayer then, come before God in the spirit of this love and sacrifice. And let our prayer be in unison with the Lord’s own prayer, that we may share in his eternal glory by glorifying him with our lives.

Ex Rus Ad Mundum [From the village to the world]

The Ascension of Our Lord

29 May, 2014

FROM THE VILLAGE TO THE WORLD, was the commission of the Apostles. A truly formidable mission considering who they were: fishermen, labourers, artisans and a tax collector – lowly men with a lofty task.

We are not talking about particularly exemplary men but rather of very ordinary folk like you or I. The eleven disciples gathered with Jesus on the Galilean mountain top were not men of particularly unshakable faith, nor of particularly strong evangelical fervour. They were not, at that time at least, the glorious Apostles of saintly memory that we celebrate today.

The story of salvation, which takes a new turn today with the departure of the physical presence of Jesus from the world, is to be brought to completion through the mission of those he leaves behind. The salvation Christ wrought was not in the moment and just for those at that moment but for all time. 

The Ascension shows us that the life, death and resurrection of Christ is not just an historical fact affecting first-century Jews but an eternal reality for the whole world. In the Ascension, Christ returns to the Father not just as The Word, as he was in the beginning, but as The Word Made Flesh. He takes with him no-one and yet everyone, for he ascends in the flesh alone on this day but with the promise of his return, when all that are his will return to the Father’s house with him. 

In the Ascension, Christ sanctifies the flesh to which he chose to be born; immortalising it for eternity, by the glory of God, uniting for all time a perfected creation with its Creator. And in so doing, he elevates all men, body and soul, into perfect communion with the Godhead.

His saving work accomplished, how easy would it have been for Christ, the agent of creation, to bring an end to all things on the day of his Ascension, taking those few, who understood and truly believed, with him into eternal life? Had it been so, I wonder how many of the eleven would have gone with him that day. Certainly not the un-named few in Matthew’s Gospel account, who hesitated when they saw the Lord.

Instead, God has desired in Christ to extend a new covenant to men of all nations, that all may come to know and love him. And so here we are today, remembering the day on which our Blessed Lord ascended to heaven, making the very flesh with which we are made one with God. And we remember on this day, how his salvation is to be brought to all nations – not through glorious manifestations of the risen Christ as powerful proof, but through men of flesh to men of flesh with the power of faith.

And so let us think of the eleven on the top of that mountain, alone, with their Lord departed and a mission imparted. A seemingly impossible mission to bring an improbable truth from the towns and villages from which they came, across seas and mountains, to all nations.

That we are here today celebrating the Ascension of Christ on every continent of the world is a testament to the success of the mission of these eleven ordinary men and, more so, to the power of the Holy Spirit to lift the lowliness of our weak flesh; to take our knowledge and inspire in it faith; to take our faith and move us to conversion of life; to take our lives and use them for evangelisation – that the Church of the Lord, of which we are the body and he the head, may grow in number and strength of faith to greet him, when in the same way as he has left us today, he comes again in glory to lead our mortal bodies to immortal life in the presence of God.

Pray then, my brothers, for we stand on the mountain top with the eleven, with a mission to fulfil and imperfections aplenty that make us unworthy messengers of the good news of salvation and hesitant in the presence of our Lord. Pray not for strength in yourself, but for receptiveness to the grace of the Holy Spirit, who alone guides us, Christ’s body the Church, to continue the saving work of Christ for the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Eum, Ego, Vos, atque Eum

6th Sunday of Easter
25 May, 2014

HIM, ME, YOU, AND HIM: this is what Christianity will be all about, Christ tells his disciples. The redemption we receive through Christ is affected and manifested by and through the series of relationships that Jesus reveals through our Gospel today.

'Him, Me, You and Him’: the formula of our salvation.

The first ‘Him’ is the Father. Our Father, revealed through his Son Jesus Christ, uncloaks the heavy mantle of the austere fatherhood of the Old Covenant to manifest his deep love for creation; as Zechariah the father of John the Baptist proclaimed: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel … He has raised up for us a mighty saviour … So his love for our fathers is fulfilled and his holy covenant remembered … The loving kindness of the heart of our God who visits us like the dawn from on high.”

Our Father is a God of love. So much so that, never despairing of his creation and always remembering the love with which he first brought us in to being, he has, since the fall of Adam, devised a plan of salvation that would show the limits of what man can achieve on his own in his adherence to the law, contrasted with the limitless power of God’s love in sacrificing himself for the forgiveness of sins and to unite all of creation in the perfection of his eternal glory.

And we learn of the Father’s love through his Son – the ‘Me’ in our formula. The first relationship in the formula of salvation is that between the Father and the Son. There is nothing in the words and actions of Jesus that is not from the Father, because he and the Father are one. Thus when Jesus gives the new commandment for his disciples to "love one another as I have loved you” he is reaffirming the chief commandment to ‘Love the Lord your God’ as he has loved you in Christ – with all his heart, soul, strength and mind – but with a new twist – that the chiefest demonstration of our love for God should be in how we love one another.

This is the command that Christ urges us to keep in today’s Gospel: to acknowledge the great love of God for man and to reflect that love in our lives and interactions in the world. And by keeping this commandment we fulfil the second relationship in the formula of salvation – the ‘You’ in the formula is you and me and all mankind, and the relationship I speak of is with God himself. For, by keeping his commands, we dwell in God and God in us: “I am in my Father and you in me and I in you."

And the words of the fourth Eucharistic Prayer reveal the identity of the final ‘Him’ in our formula of salvation: “That we might live no longer for ourselves but for him who died and rose again for us, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as the first fruits for those who believe, so that, bringing to perfection his work in the world, he might sanctify creation to the full.”

The Holy Spirit, then, becomes the final bond or relationship in the formula of salvation, without which there would be no Christianity. For it is the Holy Spirit through whom we have been reborn with the bond of union between man and saviour; and it is the Holy Spirit who makes us aware of God’s presence in us and, through us, to the world by fulfilling the command to love one another.

It is then, through these bonds of love that we are redeemed. The love shown for us by the Father, through the sending of his only begotten Son. The love of the Son for surrendering himself to suffer death for the salvation of the world. The love received through the Holy Spirit, which forms in us a bond of kinship with Christ in baptism and further fills the hearts of the faithful in the sacrament of confirmation to anoint us as true witnesses to the love of God through our words and deeds. 

And it is then, through our words and deeds that we embrace the salvation wrought by Christ. Do we allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through us for the fulfilment of God’s loving purpose? Do we complete the bonds of love that bind us to God, by both returning and reflecting that love?

Let us pray, then, firstly for faith: that we may see the Father’s great love for us in his Son, Jesus Christ. Let us pray for openness to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives – that Spirit which binds us in kinship with God and frees us from looking to ourselves by affixing the gaze of our hearts on the love of God. And let us pray for strength: the strength to be true witnesses to the love of God through our lives, and the strength to love God as perfectly as he has loved us, through our love for all his people.

It is then that the formula of salvation is accomplished: The Father’s love made manifest in his Son for the forgiveness of sins and the coming of the Holy Spirit to raise us to become adopted Sons in Christ, and to send us forth to complete God’s saving work on earth and bring all men to know and love him as we do ourselves.

Et Invenietis Requiem

5th Sunday of Easter
18 May, 2014

Recording

AND YE SHALL FIND REST from the long sojourn of life, in the Father’s house, where The Son has gone ahead of you to prepare the way for all the sons of God.

The place was Jerusalem, the time was Passover, and thousands of pious Jews had descended, as they did every year, on the Holy City to celebrate the great feast of their liberation from Egypt. They stayed in cramped and overcrowded homes and hostels, and in make-shift tents pitched in every open area around the city. They travelled there to worship God in his holy dwelling place, the Temple. 

Their journeys from across the Holy Land to Jerusalem were reminiscent of the 40-year sojourn of the Israelites and a deliberate reminder of their history as a wandering people in search of the Promised Land. Their celebration was under the shadow of occupation, as it had been since the fall of Israel and Judah. The heavy cloak of impermanence and the transience of their lives was only lifted by the permanence of their God and their hope for better times with the prophesied coming of the Messiah.

And so Jesus told his disciples how they should understand the events that would happen in the days ahead: his death, resurrection and ascension into heaven, as the willing action of God to reconcile all men to himself and to permit the eternal inheritance of the kingdom of God for all that would be co-heirs in him.

Of course, Christ was acutely aware of the sinful nature of his disciples and of all men who share the human condition. He was aware that divine justice would not permit a single one of us to gain entry to the Father’s house on our own merits in adhering to the law. This is why God himself had to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. No other immolation would suffice, nor indeed ever be required again to appease the just anger of God.

And so we find Jesus at pains to emphasise that he and the Father are one. To look upon Jesus is to see the Godhead. For any, like Philip, who might have any uncertainties, Jesus gives the unequivocal answer that he is in the Father, and the Father in him – true God from true God, he is one being with the Father.

It is therefore, so that their hearts will not be troubled, that Jesus – with death only hours away – comforts his disciples by saying that he leaves them to go and prepare a place for them in the Father’s house. He commands them to believe in him as they believe in God – for he is God – so that they need no longer wander in search of the Promised Land, like shepherd-less sheep scattered in vain search of pasture. The time for wandering is at an end. They have reached, in Christ, their home and obtained their inheritance – the Promised Land, the Father’s house.

Our own lives too, are no less a sojourn than for our ancestors in the faith. Ours may be lived at high speed, compared to the Israelites who walked 40-years in the desert. We may have homes, for some, where we and generations before us have lived. But our lives are no less fleeting and impermanent than for those we read about in the bible. If anything, we have made a celebration of transience – everything from our cars and our phones to our relationships and our careers is becoming ever more transitory. Many of us are fortunate that we do not have to fear for lack of sustenance, or shelter. But in the security of the Goodlife, we are no less at risk of losing our souls.

For in the frenzy of modern life we risk losing the abiding permanence of God. Sunday Mass is something we conveniently box in between shopping and a movie. And God forbid that a Holy Day of Obligation is not translated to a Sunday. Prayer is for time of need; and love of God and neighbour becomes a means to an end. Indeed, we live life in the fast lane, but it is all to easy to lose one’s sense of direction and lose sight of our ultimate destination.

Take comfort, then, in the assurance of our Blessed Lord that our lives – sometimes so full of to-dos that they become aimless – have a higher aim secured for us in the Father’s house, where Christ both leads and waits for us, to grant rest from our assiduous quest for gratification in this life, in an eternal abode from which we may partake in the one thing that was from the beginning, is now, and ever shall be – God.

So, my brothers, in your earthly wanderings, keep always in sight the house of our Father. And when you fear that you are losing your way amidst the fleeting distractions of the world, do not fear to ask – as did Thomas in today’s Gospel, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” And listen to the reply of your Lord, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” 

The Way, is to acknowledge The Truth that Jesus reveals about Himself, His Father and His Kingdom, to which he now goes. Living in the light of The Truth means that the gift of The Life eternal is ours.

Vitam Abundantius Habeant

4th Sunday of Easter

11 May, 2014

THEY WILL HAVE LIFE ABUNDANTLY, who recognise and follow the true shepherd. For the good shepherd does not flinch or run at the sight of the wolf, but rather lays down his life to save his sheep. 

This Sunday, known as Good Shepherd Sunday, is a good time for us to reflect on the flock that we are each a part of. In the preceding weeks we have heard a great deal about the earliest Christian communities in readings from the Acts of the Apostles. The sense of community was central to the propagation of the faith— the bonds between pastor and flock and among the sheep of the flock were intimate. The survival of the Church depended on these bonds of love and trust. And in those turbulent times, it would not be unusual for a pastor to lay down his life for his sheep, for his faith, for his Lord, just as the Lord had done for him. 

Today, the call to an intimate communion of the faithful is no less urgent than it was for our founding fathers. For sure we need pastors, good pastors, strong pastors, capable of leading and defending their flocks. But evangelization is not the function of pastor alone. Rather, we, the flock that is led by the hand of The Lord and anointed with his Spirit are charged with building his Church through the testimony of our faith and the example of our lives; thereby accomplishing our commission to gather sheep who are from other pastures into the one flock of Christ. 

The life that we have gained in Christ the good shepherd, who leads us to green pastures, must be lived to the full; as a true witness to the love of our shepherd, who died that we may live. And such a life is not to be lived looking inward at ourselves but with an ostensible joy that reveals the gift of peace and love that Christ left us — a love and peace to be shared among the family of the faithful and to be carried to all people — the first-fruits of the Spirit that draws-in the unbeliever, softening even the hardest of hearts to be receptive to the Good News of salvation. 

Let us look, then, at the way we live and at the way we come together as a flock to celebrate the paschal mystery of our salvation — if our Heavenly Father were to send a lost sheep into our lives or into our church community, what would he see? Would we be able to bring this lost sheep home, into the flock of Christ?

Today is indeed a good day to pray for vocations. But not just for priestly vocations. The whole flock of Christ has a vocation — a calling to have life so abundantly that it shines forth from us like a beacon to guide all whom the Father sends to us, away from the wolves, thieves and robbers into the safe and loving embrace of Christ the true shepherd. 

Let us pray, then, for our pastors, that their vocation to lead, love and protect us may be strengthened by the Holy Spirit. And let us pray also for our own vocation, that as sheep in the flock of Christ, we may recognise the voice of our shepherd and more readily heed his call to follow him, to have life in him, and through this life to bring all people to know and love him. Amen. 

Cognosce Donum Domino

3rd Sunday of Easter

04 May, 2014

RECOGNISE THE GIFT OF THE LORD in the Eucharist. When the darkness of doubt, fear, grief and defeat approaches, journey to that familiar place in your soul, which is the abode of Christ, and fortify it with His presence against the assault of the world.

It speaks for their authenticity, that the accounts of the days following the Resurrection in Holy Scripture include moments of doubt and confusion. Last week, we heard the story of Thomas’ doubt and the Lord’s revelation of His resurrected body to him and the apostles. In today’s Gospel we meet two other disciples whose state of weariness and dejection we might all have experienced at some time.

They were journeying away from the sad confusion of Jerusalem, where their master had just been killed and cruel rumours were circulating that he might have escaped the crucifixion and live. They had had high hopes. Everything had seemed right: the preaching, the miracles, the growing number of followers, the symbolic fulfilment of ancient prophecy … They had been sure that he was the one sent to free Israel from Roman occupation, and their disappointment showed.

They journeyed west, into darkness. The symbolism here is rich; the children of Israel had always sojourned east, towards the rising sun. West was always held as the source of darkness and as they walked towards Emmaus, darkness gripped their souls.

Today we can see most clearly that Christ’s Gospel is nothing if not the good news for Everyman. These are two ordinary men, not one of the Eleven – the inner circle of Jesus’ closest companions. No, Cleopas and his companion that day were you and I. And that’s the beauty of their encounter with the Risen Lord – it could have happened to anyone – and the fact that the Lord chose these two characters for such a remarkable revelation means that he chooses you and I, today, for the same intimate experience of his presence.

Darkness comes in many forms. The darkness of sin that separates us from God’s grace and causes us to lose our way. The darkness of doubt that is the pall of faith, shrouding and suffocating the light of hope. Then there is the darkness of despair – a place we go when we have lost the hope that genuine faith gives, and choose to rely on ourselves only to discover our own frailty and mortality.

Where is your darkness? Even the Saints encountered it. Even the Saviour was not spared. So often this account of the disciples on the road to Emmaus is presented in such a positive light that we fail to see the profoundly human side of it. "Have you found your Emmaus?” many will ask. Don’t worry, Emmaus will find you – darkness always does.

But when darkness descends – this is what this narrative is about – wherever there is darkness, there too is Christ our light. Remember that fire we lit two weeks ago? Thanks be to God for the Light of Christ! For the resurrection of Christ is the dawn of a new creation when God pronounces again “Let there be light” – the first and most powerful expression of the creative act, which dispels darkness and brings all of creation to the knowledge of God.

And how shall you or I, the most unremarkable among the ordinary followers of Christ, feel His presence in our dark moments of sin, doubt and despair? You do not need to call out. You do not need to search for Him. He will be there. He will come to you. The Lord, who knows the secrets of our heart, in His compassion, will always be there, walking with us, though our path be the dusk of our soul coming on night.

And we shall know His presence through His gift of Himself to us; His abiding companionship on our long sojourn through life; His promise that where two or three are gathered in His name, He will be there; in the gift of bread and wine that becomes for us no mere sign or symbol of a historical man but a living presence that is the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation – for all men, be they apostle or saint or just a nameless follower walking through the days and nights of our life on Earth.