FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

‘At the start of his ministry on earth, Jesus goes into the wilderness and after forty days of fasting, the devil tempts him three times:

The devil first tempts Jesus in the physical arena (hunger). Jesus responds that “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” 

[Matthew 4.4] 

He next tempts Jesus on the mental arena (vanity): “If you are the Son of God throw 

yourself down”. Jesus resists the devil by declaring a truth from Scripture “It is written. You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”  [Matthew 4.6,7]

In the third challenge, the devil tempts Jesus in the spiritual arena, promising Jesus reward if he falls down and worships him. Jesus responds by quoting from Deuteronomy a third time” ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”    [Matthew 4.8-10]

This Lent, what things can I do to resist temptations of the heart, mind or body? 

Jesus quoted the Bible; how can I know more of God’s word so it can strengthen me?’

                                           Reflections for Lent, Cardinal Hume Centre 2020

Even here in the wilderness, childhood’s ghosts visit, bearing red-faced memories,

times when an infant, challenging falsehoods, awesome among elders, small town 

devotees.

When found by parents, puzzled and fearful, he’d shown obedience, set mission aside,

been too early to make mother tearful, or anger father who’d not be defied.

Some called him toper: wine’s conversion too tricky, some missed a small miracle;

he still felt the cold shock of immersion, mission now changed to the political.

From these and other phantoms’ endless pain he knew he’d never feel at ease again.

                                                                                       TC

“You are light for the people of the world. At night, the light from a city on a 

mountain top can't be hidden. No one lights a lamp to hide it under a basket. No, he 

places a lamp on a stand to spread light throughout the house.” Matthew 5: 13-14

It is tough being a leader, being on a hard road with followers, some of whom are loyal, some rebellious, some prepared to do what you ask, others who constantly grumble. Yet this is the role Jesus asks of us, in telling us we are “the light of the world”. It sounds pretty wonderful to light up the world, to be like a film star, successful sports person or a beloved politician.

But that’s not what Jesus is asking of us. He wants us to go where ordinary people may not wish to go, or cannot see the sense in going, or fear unacceptable risks in following you, or just do not believe you:

“So, shine like light before everyone you meet. Then, they can see all the good 

things you do and praise your Father in heaven.” 

                                                                                                     Matthew 5: 13-14

No-one, Jesus tells us, looking each of us in the eye, ”No-one can be a witness by inaction.”  We must show what we believe in action for others to see, so that they come to faith and, rejoicing, praise God.

Jesus, in other words, wants us to be leaders, a light beaming from the way we live,

illuminating Christian love and care. He doesn’t ask us to be celebrities. He does ask that we remember what we became when we were baptised - monarchs, prophets and priests and to behave accordingly and in humility. And that means action. Inaction hides the faith: we act through the way we lead our lives to show our faith and how others can share in it.We open our arms to others and God walks into their hearts. 

                                                                                      TC

“You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men.” Matthew 5: 3-6 

Salt has many uses: as a seasoning, as a preservative; as an ingredient of fuel. This makes it valued in most societies, even those, such as our own, where the supply is plentiful. In other societies its importance and value has led to it being used as money, instead of coinage. So, what did Jesus mean by ‘the salt of the earth’?

In the Palestine of his time, salt was mixed with other material – usually animal manure – to form briquettes used as fuel for outdoor ovens. Salt helped the fire to burn longer and even increased the heat. Salt, therefore, turned something unpleasant and unclean into a thing which was central to the health and wellbeing of the community – heat. And this is what Jesus was asking of his followers – to be agents for the good in an impure world, to keep the fire of faith alive even when stressed by persecution.

So, how can we be the salt of the earth? How can our example make a difference? By 

following Christ, 

• we can sacrifice our wants for others’ needs in acts of love and caring, within married or single life, within the family, at work, in reaching out to others, along with our prayers;
• in what we say and what we do, we can bear witness, especially by getting out of God’s way and letting him work through us;
• by answering Jesus’ call to give ourselves to Him in daily life, in the family, at work and through regular involvement in church life;
• By answering this question so that you can show your love of God to others. The question is: What can you do today to be a good Christian example?

                                                                                                                 TC

Most of us would see conversing with God as another way of referring to prayer. Prayer, of course, is a powerful and probably the most used means of communicating with God. Sometimes we will make up a prayer, but most of the time we will use traditional and well remembered prayers such as ‘Our Father’, “Hail Mary”, “Glory be....’ and so on. To be meaningful, prayers require concentration and focus. Otherwise they can turn out to be rattled off with no commitment on our part to what we are actually talking about. God still hears us, of course. But do we hear his response?

Crucial to our spiritual life as prayer is, there are other ways to contact God. The focus in prayer tends to be on what we have to say. In a conversation with God the focus is on what both you and God have to say to one another. This is because, in conversation, you communicate with God as you would speak with another person. That is, you say directly and honestly what is going on with you and you share what is in your heart and mind.

This can be a bit daunting, because the words we use are our own, not the memorised words of conventional prayers. We may worry that we won’t know what to say, or that what we say may be the wrong thing to say to God. Relax. The person we are talking to is the One who made us, the One who loves us, the One who saves us. What counts is not eloquence, but honesty, not flowery words but straight talking. 

The more we try this, the more comfortable we will become and it will really feel that we are talking to God as a friend, to someone to whom we give our love, affection, respect and trust.

God waits to hear from us. Give it a try.

                                                                                            TC

How can we listen to God? 

That depends on how we listen. There are at least three ways of listening to someone talking to us. The first is when you are doing something on which you are concentrating, while someone else is speaking to you. You occasionally make a sound or say something, such as ‘Really?” to indicate you are listening. But you are NOT. The second way is to listen carefully to what is said, in order to jump in at the right moment to say what you have to say. This does not mean that you have understood – except superficially – what the other person means as they talk to you.

The third way is to keep quiet, and listen very carefully and caringly to what you hear, and reflect back to check that you understand. For example, “I think what you are saying is …” This kind of listening shows respect, care and that you value what you hear. This is the way to listen to God.

But how do we know that God is speaking to us?

He already has. We heard in Fr Luke’s homily last week that the Bible is the best thing if you want to hear what God has to say. Growing your familiarity with the Bible, especially the New Testament, and reflecting on what you read, or hear at Mass, will tune your ear to God’s message. 

There are many other resources. For example, The Wednesday Word is now available at the back of both churches. Other ways of ‘tuning in’ are books of reflection, especially those which give a reflection or prayer for each day of the year, such as An Ignation book of days: or, for a shorter period, 15 days of Prayer with Thomas Merton. Nor should we omit saying the Rosary – providing that we pause and reflect on what we are reading and praying.

                                                                 TC

“To live by faith means to put our lives in the hand of God, especially in our most difficult moments.” 

                                                         Pope Francis

“We need to let ourselves be evangelised by the poor. They have much to teach us.”

                                                         Pope Francis

“The secret of Christian living is love. Only love fills the empty spaces caused by evil.”

                                                         Pope Francis

"God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy."

                                                         Pope Francis

“Man becomes an image of God not so much in the moment of solitude as in the moment of communion.”

                                                         St John Paul II

“Life with Christ is a wonderful adventure.”

                                                         St John Paul II

“Nothing is small in our relationship with God”

                                                          St Francis de Sales

“Some people live for God, some live with God, some in God”

                                                       Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

“A decline in courage may be the most striking feature that an outside observer notices in the West today… Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling and intellectual elites, causing an impression of a loss of courage by the entire society. There are many courageous individuals, but they have no determining influence on public life… Political and intellectual functionaries exhibit this depression, passivity, and perplexity in their actions and in their statements, and even more so in their self-serving rationales as to how realistic, reasonable, and intellectually and even morally justified it is to base state policies on weakness and cowardice… Must one point out that from ancient times a decline in courage has been considered the first symptom of the end?”

                                                                                      Aleksander Solzhenitsyn 1978

“Every human being desires communion and peace. Everyone needs peaceful co-existence. But this can only grow when we also build inner peace in our heart. Many people live in a constant hurry. In this way all that they have inside them tends to be overwhelmed. This also affects how we treat the environment. It is necessary to grant oneself more time to recover a serene harmony with the world, with creation, and also with the Creator. Let us try, in contemplation and prayer, to achieve ever greater familiarity with God. And gradually we will discover that the heavenly Father wants what is good for us. He wants to see us happy, full of joy and serene. It is this familiarity with God that also inspires our mercy. Just as the Father loves, so do his children. As he is merciful, we too are called upon to be merciful towards each other. Let us allow ourselves to be touched by God’s mercy, also through a good confession, to become increasingly merciful like the Father.”

                                                               Pope Francis May 2016

“True peace is not man-made but a gift of the Holy Spirit. "A peace without a cross is not the peace of Jesus" for it is only the Lord who can give us peace amidst tribulations. This was the central message of the homily of Pope Francis at Mass, Tuesday morning, in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence in the Vatican.

Developing his homily on the words of Jesus at the Supper in John’s Gospel, "I leave you peace, my peace I give you,” the Holy Father focused on the meaning of the peace given by the Lord. The day’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, he noted, speaks of the many tribulations that Paul and Barnabas experienced in their journeys to proclaim the Gospel. "Is this the peace that Jesus gives us?" the Pope asked, and immediately answered saying Jesus emphasizes that the peace He gives is not the one given by the world.

The world wants anesthetized peace to prevent us from seeing the Cross

"The world teaches us the way to anesthetized peace: it anesthetizes us from seeing another 

reality of life: the Cross. This is why Paul says that one must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven 

on the road with many tribulations. But is it possible to obtain peace amidst tribulation? From 

our side, no; we are unable to make peace that is tranquility, a psychological peace, our peace, 

because tribulations are there, whether pain, illness or death. But the peace that Jesus gives 

is a gift: it is a gift of the Holy Spirit; and this peace lasts through tribulations and beyond. It's 

not a sort of stoicism of the ‘fakir’. No. it’s something else.”

God's peace cannot be bought, without [the] Cross [there] is not real peace”

                                                                        Pope Francis Midnight Mass Homily 24 December 2019

“John had done a great job of preparing the people for the coming of Jesus. St. Matthew records that “Jerusalem and all Judaea and the whole Jordan district made their way to him, and as they were baptized by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins,” (3.6) In the harsh solitude of the desert John had made the people ready for what would be a life-changing encounter with Jesus.

“The Baptist was such a success story that in order to deflect celebrity status away from himself he had to tell the crowd there at that very moment and in their very midst was one “who comes after me is more powerful than I, and I am not fit to carry his sandals,” (3.11).

“Never for a moment did John expect that Jesus would join the crowd in seeking to be baptized by him! John vehemently objected, “It is I who need baptism from you, and yet you come to me!” The reply of Jesus was even more emphatic, “Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that uprightness demands.” For Jesus it would have been utterly wrong for Him to stand as an aloof spectator to what was most obviously a God-inspired dramatic occurrence.

“John, therefore, went ahead in baptizing Jesus. Righteousness had demanded this. In so doing the Baptist had been given a glimpse of what it meant for the Son of God to become the Son of Mary - one of us, a member of the human family, a child of Adam. In this John had received a hint of how it would be throughout the ministry of Jesus.

“Ordinary people would realize that whatever Jesus had done for them and for others, whatever Jesus had said to them in his inspiring sermons and in his kindly chatting to them, had come from ‘one of them.’”

                                                                            Extract from a homily by Fr Peter Clarke OP

“The feast of the Epiphany, one of the most beautiful of the liturgical year is rich in content and meaning. We let its glow shine forth to penetrate our hearts, as we continue to contemplate the mystery of Emmanuel, who came to dwell among us.

“Though [Christ’s} birth is the focal point of our Christmas celebration, there is another birth, more intimate and personal, of which the Fathers of the Church often spoke. It is the spiritual birth of the Son of God in the hearts of those who desire and welcome Him. ……..

“The mystery of Bethlehem is renewed each year, each Christmas, each day, in the innermost parcels of our hearts where Jesus seeks comfort and shelter. It is in our hearts that he seeks to make a permanent dwelling, revealing to us the meaning of His words in the Gospel. There, He teaches us how to pray and call upon His name. It is also in our innermost hearts that He shows us the Father’s face, for ‘he who sees me, sees the Father.’  Finally, He comes to this innermost part of ourselves, the most intimate of sanctuaries, when we receive Him in the Eucharist. It is there that He remains, as he did in the crib in Bethlehem, and in the arms of his Mother, waiting for our silent love and adoration.”

                                  Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourette OSB

“In its genuine simplicity, the nativity scene reminds us it is not the quantity of things that counts in life, but the quality of relationships. Drawing our gaze to God, who is poor in possessions and rich in love, it recalls us to what is essential.”

                                   Pope Francis 30 December 2019

Nature’s first green is gold, 

Her hardest hue to hold. 

Her early leaf’s a flower; 

But only so an hour. 

Then leaf subsides to leaf. 

So Eden sank to grief, 

So dawn goes down to day. 

Nothing gold can stay. 

                           Robert Frost 

                           From A Poem for Every Night of the Year 

It’s an old question, which goes through our heads when we experience pain – whether ours or other people’s. Some continue to believe that pain is God’s punishment for our sins, although Truth (as old as the Church itself) is gaining ground– the truth that God is Love. Flowing from this great truth are two others. 

The nature of God is revealed in the loving trust he puts in us to safeguard and nurture His creation, and in Jesus’ willingness to suffer pain and death so that we can be free to do what God wants of us. 

Pain occurs when things malfunction: mind or body don’t work properly because of illness or the way we - or someone else – mistreats them: groups, communities and nations go wrong because of poor or bad leadership, hatred, economic failure, bad weather, etc. Natural disasters overwhelm us. Whilst we should pray to God to help us cope with pain arising from these events, God trusts us to find ways of coping and ways of avoiding or reducing different kinds of pain. And that’s not just a job for experts and politicians, church leaders and others in positions of power. It’s down to us as well, 

Pope Francis’ way of coping with pain is 

“The only answer to pain is tenderness, caresses and closeness.” 

I’m writing in pain and would like to add to this a sense of humour and tenacity which will remind us that we are never alone, with Jesus at our side. 

Prayer 

“Lord, please lay your hands of love and healing on all who suffer, and bring them, in the fulness of their time to everlasting life with you.” 

                                                                  TC 

God of autumn, 

the trees are saying goodbye to their green, letting go of what has been. 

We, too, have our moments of surrender, with all their insecurity and risk. 

Help us to let go when we need to do so. 

God of fallen leaves 

lying in coloured patterns on the ground, our lives have their own patterns. 

As we see the patterns of our own growth, may we learn from them. 

God of misty days and harvest moon nights, 

there is always the dimension of mystery and wonder in our lives. 

We always need to recognize your power-filled presence. May we gain strength from this. 

God of harvest wagons and fields of ripened grain, many gifts of growth lie within the season of our surrender. 

We must wait for harvest in faith and hope. 

Grant us patience when we do not see the blessings. 

God of flowers 

touched with frost and windows wearing 

white designs, may your love keep our hearts 

from growing cold in the empty seasons. 

God of life, 

you believe in us, you enrich us, 

you entrust us with the freedom to choose 

life. For all this, we are grateful. 

Amen 

                                                                            TC

Early today I watched two small birds playing in the garden. Even at this late time of the year they chased one another as if it were a Spring day. The sun had just emerged from behind the willow and began to warm an otherwise chilly morning. In and out of the branches the birds swooped and dived with obvious energy and pleasure. 

We are used to thinking that birds use trees to shelter from the storms, snow and icy temperatures of winter, but this is not so. Trees are wonderfully kind to them around the year, as shelter from the heat as well as the cold, as places to work and play, and simply for rest. Overall, they can be places of peace. 

Watching their gracefulness and purity reminded me to think of Christ’s observation, as reported in Matthew 6:26: 

“Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.” 

It is, to me, something of a wonder that the rest of us do not find sheer delight in the simple things of nature. It may be that in the effort to deal with the necessities of daily living we have lost sight of how much we can get from observing nature in all its beauty and grace. To do this, however, is to look at the world not through the foggy glasses of human pre-occupation. We need to take them off – put aside our assumptions, concerns and ‘normal’ ways of looking at things and, as Jesus urges us, to develop the purity of heart that enables us to see reality in its simple state and, so, to hone our ability to see ourselves almost exactly as God sees us. 

                                                                                TC 

The love we have for one another is central to our faith journey with Jesus as Pope Francis has emphasised; 

“Agape, the love of each one of us for the other, from the closest to the furthest, is in fact the only way that Jesus has given us to find the way of salvation and of the Beatitudes.” 

But what does that mean in practical terms? For theologian Henri Louwen it means service and prayer, as he wrote in Following Jesus: 

“Service is being involved in something that is for the people of God. 

At times we might be involved in larger things – clothing the naked, sheltering the poor, helping the refugees, visiting the sick or imprisoned, but it is always small to begin with. It begins with small gestures. Being kind to your family and the people you work with, saying a patient word, writing a card, sending a flower… 

When we pray frequently and know that God is in us here and now, we are very attentive to others because we are less pre-occupied with ourselves. We are less worried about ourselves, and if we are not very worried, we see other people more clearly. We see their struggle. We see their beauty. We see their kindness. We see they are not trying to hurt us but that they have their own problems. We are much gentler, because we are in the presence of the Spirit. ……. 

This is one of the first and greatest rewards of following Jesus. Suddenly the Spirit in you sees the Spirit in them. The Christ in you sees the Christ in them…. You cannot see Christ in the world, but the Christ in you can see the Christ in the world.. … The spiritual life is the recognition of the Spirit, in the Spirit, for the Spirit.” 

Last week we read Henri Nouwen’s thoughts on service and prayer as the foundation for following Jesus. Here are more of Nouwen’s thoughts: 

“When you practice the presence of God, you will find yourself drawn to the poor, to people who are struggling, to places where people are in pain. You want other people to realise that God is with them. Service means to simply bear witness to that new life in you. 

We do not do service to earn anything. It is not an anxious need to save the world. We don’t act on the condition that change will take place. No. You can see how intense that might become. If our only concern is ‘I better help him or her,’ or to do things to change a person or the world, or the country or the politics, or the social condition – if change is the condition of service – we are going to be very bitter and very soon. But if service is an expression of gratitude for the love we have already experienced then we can be free and engage in change without trying so hard. Service is an expression of the gift you have within you that you want to share with others. 

In a way service is an act of gratitude. We are so full of God’s presence, we are so aware of God’s promise, that we don’t want to hold it back. We want to share it. The disciples went around the world to announce that God is with us and that we can already now enjoy his presence. The disciples concern for the poor, the hungry, the sick and the dying was an expression of a deep faith in God’s presence. ‘what you do for the least of mine, you do for me’ (Matthew 23:40).” 

St Augustine was Bishop of Hippo in North Africa for 30 years and more. He was a prolific writer (113 books and treatises, 200 letters, more than 500 sermons). His advice on praying is wonderful: 

“For the desire of your heart is itself your prayer. And if the desire is constant, so is your prayer. The Apostle St Paul had a purpose in saying: Pray without ceasing. Are we then ceaselessly to bend our knees, to lie prostrate, or to lift up our hands? Is this what is meant by saying: Pray without ceasing? Even if we admit that we pray in this fashion, I do not believe that we can do so all the time. 

Yet there is another interior kind of prayer without ceasing, namely, the desire of the heart. Whatever else you may be doing, if you but fix your desire on God’s Sabbath rest, your prayer will be ceaseless. Therefore, if you wish to pray without ceasing, do not cease the desire.” 

Poetry can be prayer. Here are two poets who prove it:

As Winds That Blow Against A Star 

Now by what whim of wanton chance 

Do radiant eyes know sombre days? 

And feet that shod in light should dance 

Walk weary and laborious ways? 

But rays from Heaven, white and whole, 

May penetrate the gloom of earth; 

And tears but nourish, in your soul, 

The glory of celestial mirth. 

The darts of toil and sorrow, sent 

Against your peaceful beauty, are 

As foolish and as impotent 

As winds that blow against a star. 

Joyce Kilmer 

The Recommendation 

These houres, and that which hovers o’re my End, 

Into thy hands, and hart, lord, I commend. 

Take Both to Thine Account, that I and mine 

In that Hour, and in these, may be all thine. 

That as I dedicate my devoutest Breath 

To make a kind of Life for my lord’s Death, 

So from his living, and life-giving Death, 

My dying Life may draw a new and never fleeting Breath. 

Richard Crashaw 

is the mystery of God within himself. A mystery in theology does not mean that something is unknowable, it refers to something beyond reason that is revealed by God.  This is an important point: We can talk and write about the Holy Trinity and we can say some reasoned and necessary things–things that are true, but as true as they are, they are always going to be an incomplete truth about God. A good image for this might be a beach: Imagine a sandy beach with the sand representing the whole mystery of God. One person could pick up a few grains of sand in his or her hands and in holding those few grains they would be holding true grains of sand. In other words, part of the mystery literally could be grasped. As hard as one might try, however, it would be impossible for one person to grasp all of grains of sand in his or her hands. Basically, we can grasp something of the truth, but not all of it – and that’s okay!  Humans are finite beings and trying to grasp the fullness of infinite truths is, quite simply, beyond us.

Well, from all eternity God existed both as one being but three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The masculine terms Father and Son are used, not because God is male or female but because they express the nature of a relationship between these two persons. Before there is anything there is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: The Father loves the Son with a perfect love and the Son loves the Father with a perfect love and the love which goes from the Father and Son is a perfect person: the Holy Spirit. The Greeks used a special word: ‘Perichoresis’ to describe this relationship. A good translation in English is ‘dancing’ From all eternity God exists as a perfect dance of love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To believe in God the Father, is to believe in God the Son and the God the Holy Spirit. It is to believe in a God who is communion of persons caught up in an eternal dance of love – and as Christians we called to share in that divine dance!

                                                                                Fr Luke

What is the difference between a mystery and a problem? The one is frequently mistaken for the other. So we have crime “mystery” books and TV shows, and problems such as “The Problem of God”, or the problem of knowing how Jesus ascended to heaven or what happened at Pentecost.

The difference is simple but profound: a problem is solvable: a mystery is not - it is something we have to grapple, learn to live with and make sense of as much as we can.

So the establishment in Jerusalem had a problem with a man from out of town, a Nazarene, and they solved it by having him falsely accused and executed for treason.  But they could not stop his followers from continuing to believe in him, and to get others to believe in him. They and authorities across the Roman Empire tried to solve that ‘problem’ by persecution of the bloodiest sort. They failed because they were dealing with a mystery - the mystery of Faith, why anyone should put their trust in someone who claimed to be God.

So, at this time of Pentecost, we may ask “How did that happen?” or “Tongues of Fire?  What was all that about? The Holy Spirit? What’s that? How can there be a 3-in-1 God?”  Although we may find explanations for these events: we. will never - in this life - fully understand them. They are mysteries, a focus for understanding our loving God.  It is right to question this and other fundamentals of our faith. However, we need to ask not to find a complete answer, but to refurbish and add to what we understand about our trust in God and the wonders of his love.

It’s like asking ourselves “Why should God love me?”

Now that’s what I call a mystery!

                                                          Tom Caple

Today we complete the days of the Easter cycle - exactly fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus. Today we experience the descent of the Holy Spirit into our lives Today, he comes to reveal to each of us the hidden meaning of all that Jesus taught during his earthly years. “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.” John 14: 25-26)

Today, the Holy Spirit is given to us as he was once given to the Apostles: to understand with greater clarity and depth the teachings of Jesus. The gift of understanding is essential if we are to continue, in our own small way, the work of Jesus. The Holy Spirit descends upon the entire universe. We realise that he descends upon people of different places, races, cultures, tongues and times. He fills all things with the gift of himself.

Thus, today, both creation and the Church are renewed by the Holy Spirit who sustains all life.

Saint Seraphim of Saros never ceased to remind his disciples that, “The only purpose of Christian life consists in the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.”

                           From Blessings of the Daily: Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourette

Jesus has just ascended to rejoin his heavenly Father. Christ, of course, was not abandoning his followers. He went to fulfil his promise to send the Holy Spirit to comfort, guide and inspire us in the mission Jesus has set us - to bring all to Him and to the path to heaven. 

The Holy Spirit is not an “add-on”, a worthwhile bonus to the wonders of Jesus. St Basil the Great wrote: 

“All living things turn to the Holy Spirit in their need for holiness. … The Holy Spirit … extends his own light to every mind to help in its search for the truth.” 

This is what those in the upper room that day experienced - not just a capacity to communicate with their world, but the insight, wisdom and language to bring forth the Good News. And the Holy Spirit offers us the same gift - not a Berlitz course in a foreign language, but a far more exotic tongue - the language of love and salvation. 

In that room the world turned upside down. 

This was no gift of Greek or Latin 

nor any patois of the world then known, 

These were words familiar but forgotten, 

grammar and syntax learnt at mother’s 

breast, cast off, life’s first lessons unlearnt. 

New understanding bursts into flame, 

excised crisp cynicism and terror’s fear, 

the dull language of despair and death 

displaced by a lexicon of love: - 

a language to talk peace, abandon war; 

to join in reconciliation 

minds and bodies once used to slaughter; 

to win what’s worth the winning for all; 

to deploy the strong subtle syntax 

of forgiving; to give and accept 

clemency with humble compassion; 

to slough despair, put on hope; 

to put up with, and not to put down;; 

to offer a hand, withhold the fist; 

to offer words for unity, not croak 

apartheid; to sing love, drown out hate. 

                                                   Tom Caple 

The Bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly, I tell you, I do not know you.” Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. 

                                              Matthew 25: 10-13 

“How many are the moments in which we can be Christ for others? 

Now is the moment: do not delay. The Bridegroom is coming. Trim the wicks of your lamps. Perhaps next to you, perhaps now reading your email, perhaps sleeping next to you, perhaps in the cubicle next to yours, perhaps on the other end of the classroom, perhaps on the playing field, is someone whom Christ must touch right now. 

And perhaps yours are the only hands, the only voice, the only smile, the only embrace, the only look that He can use to touch His beloved. 

Be alert! The moment will never come again. Trust yourself to God and He will act.” 

                                            Tim Muldoon Dot Magis blog cited in An Ignatian Book of Days 

We celebrate Christ’s Ascension on Thursday, 30th May. Though Christ has ascended, let us remember that God is not absent. Christ has raised us up so that we can experience God in the many details of daily life and to be the channel for His love for us and all around us. 

                                                               TC 

“When Spring arrives, I turn my ears to the joyful and sublime music of Mozart. I have heard musicologists describe Mozart’s music as ‘divine’, ‘heavenly’, or ‘out of this world’. It is probably all of that and more. The appreciative listener is susceptible to the wide range of feelings and emotion the music of Mozart inspires: joy, serenity, graciousness, civility, refinement, melancholy, a sense of longing for the inner world. In the music of Mozart, one seldom confronts the sense of tragedy or struggle of other composers. Mozart, deeply human as he was, used his music in a positive manner. He wished to affirm all that was good in creation, such as it came from the hands of God. 

“Every Spring, as we relive the mystery of Christ’s Resurrection and feel the resurgence of life taking place all around us, I am quietly drawn to Mozart. His music, a metaphor for God’s life in us, inspires us to incorporate in our daily lives a sense of sobriety, beauty, goodness, godliness, joy, and all other positive attributes connected with the divine. Thus, through listening to Mozart and through the mysteries celebrated during the season, we may experience the truth hidden beneath the words of the Cure d’Ars: It is always spring in the soul united with God. 

“…… Mozart’s music seems to divulge in a lyrical fashion the sublime sense of renewal and amazement taking place in our midst…… Mozart, in his own incomparable way, affirms our faith in the reality of the Resurrection. Life is worthwhile and there is meaning in it after all, for Jesus is indeed risen!” 

Blessings of the Day Brother Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette: Liguori-Triumph 2002 

                                                            TC 

It is something of an oddity that we celebrate St Stephen’s feast day at Christmas, some thirty years before he was martyred. Yet, it is in the third week of Eastertide where we read of his reproof of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council which had accused him of “speaking against this holy place (The Temple) and the law”.

In his response he turned the tables on his accusers, claiming that they were the ones who, with their ancestors, resisted the Holy Spirit and persecuted prophets. Naturally this did not go down well, and the council members drove him from Jerusalem and stoned him to death.

What Stephen did before the council was to stand up to those who had been responsible for the legal murder of Jesus. You have become his betrayers, his murderers.” [Acts 7,51-8.1] As such it is a message to all Christians to stand up in defence of our Saviour. The stones we face today are the jibes, lies, and objections hurled at Our Lord and at us, his followers, each ‘stone’ intended to hurt with dismissal, denial and claims that our faith has no meaning or goodness.

As the stones rained down on him, Stephen knelt in prayer: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” [Acts ibid.] Even as an agonising death overtook him, he called for mercy on his persecutors, as Christ did on the Cross.

Before this, Stephen had been an active follower standing for Christ, busy in synagogue and meeting places bringing the Good News to fellow Jews and irritating the Establishment to the point where they decided to get rid of him. 

In these ways - standing up to Christianity’s opponents, being humble in praying for their salvation and standing amongst non-believers proclaiming the Good News - he is the very model of an active Christian we should all aim to be.

                                                           TC

The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed for his own use anything that he had as everything they owned, they held in common. … None … was ever in want, as all those who owned land or houses would sell them, and bring the money … to the apostles; it was then distributed to members who might be in need.

                                                              Acts of the Apostles 4:32-36

This is a vivid picture of the early Church: a small group, living simply, sharing what they had, joined in faith and committed to the mission Christ has set them.

What would it be like if Pope Francis issued an instruction for all Catholics to live like this? And to say to the world, “If you wish to be a follower of Christ, you cannot until you sell your house or land and car(s) and give the surplus to the poor, give away your iPad, unwanted designer shoes, fashion clothes, jewellery - everything you don’t really need.”

No doubt there would be cries that the pope had gone mad, or was a heretic, and riots would follow. Why? Because, where the early Church sought to be noticeably different from the rest of society, today it seems that we Catholics want to be seen as a ‘normal’ part of our society, following society’s norms and ways of doing things. All very well until your life bumps into racism at football matches, drug selling on the streets, young people knifing one another, inequalities in working practices, corruption in public office and private business, sexual exploitation and abuse of children as well as adults, evil gossip and foul language everywhere. These are part of ‘normal’ society, but no part of a Christian way of life. So what do we do? Walk on like pharisees? Or show the world in our actions and demeanour what a Catholic life is and how different it is from the lives of many around us? 

                                                             TC

Dali’s painting Christ of St John o the Cross is a breath-taking vision of what Christ has done for us. The original can be seen in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow and is well worth a visit. 

The painting is known as the Christ of Saint John of the Cross, because its design is based on a drawing by the 16th-century Spanish friar St John of the Cross. The composition of Christ is also based on a triangle and circle (the triangle is formed by Christ's arms; the circle is formed by Christ's head). The triangle, since it has three sides, is a reference to the Trinity. The circle represents Unity. 

Like its subject, the painting caused controversy when first acquired by the Art Gallery. Heated debates ensued about the propriety depicting Christ in a secular place, whether it was blasphemous and whether it was too clearly ‘papist’ propaganda. There was also a petition to have the money used to buy it (£8,000) spent on facilities for art students. The fury of this brouhaha led one over-zealous opponent to attack it with a stone and his bare hands, causing considerable damage that, fortunately, could be repaired by conservators. (Since then it has won a poll as Scotland’s favourite painting.) 

It is ironic that the attack on the painting with stone and hands mirrors the attempts, and ultimate failure, of his enemies to humiliate and destroy him. Christ lives with us still, as does this painting. 

“For many, God seems to be distant: he does not evoke any emotional resonance. They do not love God less, if they venerate him as God and do his will. [However] by becoming man God gave us an object more accessible to our emotions. By loving Christ, and our neighbour in him, we love God with our heart of flesh…… 

“He who sees Christ, sees the Father. Christ giving himself up to death for love of us - that is what the Father is like. He gave what was most dear to him, his Son, who is ‘the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being’ (Hebrews 1:3), whom he loved with a love that is his eternal substance. Could he love us with such great love and remain beyond reach?................ 

Perhaps the deepest mystery is not that God loves us, for he is Love, but that he wants our love - for he is God. 

“That love is pure gratuitousness, before any response on our part. ‘Christ died for us while we were still sinners … enemies [of God].’ (Romans 5:8, 10). My faith is o believe in the existence of this love, not in the perfect, abstract love as the philosophers would like to imagine it, nor in a universal love for my fellow humans as such. It is in this scandalous, irrational, gratuitous, absolute love of God in Christ that I believe. 

‘The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’ (Galations 2:20)” 

From ‘From Advent to Pentecost: Carthusian Novice Conferences’ by A Carthusian: DLT 1999 

On Sundays and special feast days the Church requires the singing of the “Gloria.” It is an ancient hymn, one that started out very humbly as a personal poem, imitating the Psalms, seeking to praise God. 

The initial words of the Gloria are straight from the Bible and part of an angelic hymn to God on that first Christmas night. (Luke 2:14) 

However, after that line everything else was composed separately. Who com-posed it? There is no known author, but it can be traced back to the third century., “The Gloria, like the Kyrie, was not created originally for the liturgy of the Mass. It is an heirloom from the treasure of ancient Church hymns, a precious remnant of a literature now almost buried but once certainly very rich.” 

                            Joseph A. Jungmann in The Mass of the Roman Rite 

These early hymns were called, “psalms by private persons” and were not written for any particular liturgical use. At first it was used in the East as a morning hymn in the Little Hours of the Divine Office, as a general hymn of thanksgiving and praise used outside the main liturgical events. One of the first instances of its use during the Mass was at the Mass of Christmas night. Later it was added to Sundays and feasts of martyrs. As the centuries went by this particular hymn became more and more a central part of the Mass and was obligatory on certain days by the 5th century. 

The current General Instruction of the Roman Missal explains its vital importance: 

The Gloria in excelsis (Glory to God in the highest) is a most ancient and venerable hymn by which the Church, gathered in the Holy Spirit, glorifies and entreats God the Father and the Lamb. The text of this hymn may not be replaced by any other. 

It is a glorious song, one that invites us to complete the hymn of the angels and to add our voices in thanksgiving for everything that God has done for us. 

Source: https://aleteia.org/2018/02/03/how-someones-poem-became-the-greatest-hymn-of-the-mass/ 

“It was revealed to Abba Antony in his desert that there was one who was his equal in the city. He was a doctor by profession, and whatever he had beyond his needs he gave to the poor, and every day he sang the Sanctus with the angels. 

              ST ANTONY THE GREAT 

Re-reading this episode about the life of St Antony of the Desert is always refreshing. One wonders who is worthy of greater admiration: Saint Antony, the father of monks, who with deep humility recognises the holiness in another and rejoices in it: or the admirable evangelical witness of this doctor’s life, who strove to live by God’s word in the midst of the wicked world of his times!

Both lives, one lived in the solitude of the desert and the other amid the distractions of the world, spring from the same love for God, the same purity of intention in God’s service, possess the same love for the poor in whom both recognise the person of Christ, and practise the same detachment in giving up what is superfluous in their lives.

Because of this, both Abba Antony in his austere desert solitude, and the humble doctor in his noisy city environment are equally pleasing in the sight of the Lord and are given the equal joy of praising God unceasingly, singing daily in the company of the angels the thrice-holy hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy.”

Brother Victor-Antione d’Avila-Latourette: Blessings of the Daily 

At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the gala procession in honour of his Presentation in the Temple 40 days later—February 15. 

This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple. 

The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25, the Presentation was moved to February 2, 40 days after Christmas. At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession, which has become part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas. 

After celebrating the Nativity of our Lord, with its splendour in both the Church and the popular culture, it would be easy to overlook the significance of this feast. Yet Joseph and Mary’s presentation of the baby was no pro forma event. They did this to conform with the Law and in doing so God enters the Temple. The words of the prophet Malachi are fulfilled in the poor parents presenting their firstborn son along with their humble sacrifice of two turtledoves. 

Simeon and Anna, having spent their lives in prayer and waiting in the Temple for the Messiah, have their ‘moment’ with the glorious Nunc Dimittis of Simeon. With Candlemas we celebrate the coming of the Light of the World. But a shadow also passes. Simeon not only proclaimed that he had seen his salvation, but also told the Mother of our Lord that her share would include a sorrow-pierced heart. 

                                                           TC 

Laetare is the Latin for Rejoice and comes from the first words of the Introit at Mass - Isaiah 66:10-11, which begins "Rejoice, O Jerusalem" and continues "Rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow". Today, the Fourth Sunday, has been viewed traditionally as a day of celebration tinged with sadness, coming in the middle of Lent when Easter is in sight and Lenten austerity can be lessened briefly to encourage people to continue with the discipline of penance. So the purple of Lent is put aside and rose vestments are used instead. 

In fact ‘Rose Sunday’ is another traditional name for this day, although by far the most recognisable name is ‘Mothering Sunday’ - not, note, “Mother’s Day”, which is a modern commercial invention. 

Mothering Sunday got its name during the Middle Ages, when people were expected, at this time in Lent, to go to mass at their ‘Mother’ church; i.e. where they were baptised, or their parish church or their cathedral (a cathedral being the ‘mother’ of all the parish churches in a diocese). 

In later times, Mothering Sunday became a day when domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother church, usually with other family members. It was often the only time that whole families could gather together, since on other days they were prevented from doing so by conflicting working hours. Today is not much different. 

As for “Mother’s Day”, my mother got it right: she would always say 

”Why one Mother’s Day? Every Day should be Mother’s Day!!” 

                                                          TC

This is still for some, the lambing season. For Christians, the presence of a new baby lamb is an intimation of another lamb. 

Jesus the Lamb of God, offered himself in sacrifice to the Father at the exact time of the Jewish Passover, at the very moment that paschal lambs were being killed for sacrifice in the Temple. 

The Lord’s self-sacrifice was accomplished out of that incomprehensible love he had for us, so that he might “take away the sins of many and bring salvation” to those who eagerly await him. 

Prayer 

O long-suffering Lord, who accepted death for our sake, glory to you! 

May we walk by your side and bear witness to your love for all mankind. 

Amen 

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: 

to loose the chains of injustice 

and untie the cords that imprison unfairly, 

to set the oppressed free 

and break every yoke? 

Is it not to share your food with the hungry 

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— 

when you see the naked, to clothe him, 

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, 

and your healing will quickly appear; 

then your righteousness will go before you, 

and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; 

you will cry for help, and he will say: Here I am. 

                             Isaiah 58:6–9 (NIV) 

“Too often we become enemies of others: we do not wish them well. And Jesus tells us to love our enemies! And this is not easy! Let me just answer this question and let each of us answer it in our own heart: ‘Do I pray for my enemies? Do I pray for those who do not love me?’ If we say ‘yes’ I will say ‘Go on, pray more, you are on right path.” 

                                 Pope Francis - Vatican Radio 

Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 

                                 Romans 12:17-18 

Reconciliation is not an end in itself. St Teresa of Avila summed up beautifully why we need to cleanse our souls in readiness for Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension. 

CHRIST HAS NO BODY 

Christ has no body but yours, 

No hands, no feet on earth but yours, 

Yours are the eyes with which he looks 

compassion on this world, 

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good, 

Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world. 

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, 

Yours are the eyes, you are his body. 

Christ has no body now but yours, 

No hands, no feet on earth but yours, 

Yours are the eyes with which he looks 

compassion on this world. 

Christ has no body now on earth but yours. 

Charity ... 

is more than giving money. It is stretching out to those in need with Christian love: 

“If you break the chains of oppression; 

if you set the pris’ners free; 

if you share your bread with the hungry; 

give protection to the lost; 

give a shelter to the homeless; 

clothe the naked in your midst; 

then your light shall break forth like the dawn.” 

Marty Haugen ‘Return to God’ 

The Holy Humility of Christ 

The ‘Kenosis’ icon reminds us of the trial and death of Christ and his patient endurance throughout. These are not the sufferings of an ordinary man. They are endured by the Son, in whose person the divine and the human co-exist. Christ’s humility in accepting suffering is a lesson and model for us all. 

The icon (see below) is the focus of “The Bridegroom” service celebrated in churches of the Byzantine tradition in Holy Week. The stanzas of the Bridegroom hymn are beautiful and expressive, especially when sung. Here are some in loose translation: 

O Bridegroom, more beautiful than all men, 

Called to your kingdom’s spiritual feast, 

We need your flawless wedding garments, 

So that clothed in all your beauty’s raiments 

We may come into your bridal chamber, 

Shining as your guests with glory and joy. 

Let us love the Bridegroom, ready our lamps. 

Let virtue’s radiance and faith’s depth shine, 

And thus, wise virgins, let us come with Christ 

To the wedding feast and receive from God 

The incorruptible garment and crown. 

(for more go to http://standrewgoc.org/hom

"Nor do I condemn you. You may go." (John 8:11) 

Forgiveness, in its truest and highest form, is a free act of love. But precisely because it is an act of love, it has its own intrinsic demands: the first of which is: ”God alone is absolute truth. But He made the human heart open to the desire for truth, which He then fully revealed in His Incarnate Son. ...”. Pope John Paul II 

Christians must let go of resentments and forgive those who have wronged them so that they may experience God’s forgiveness, Pope Francis has said. 

This can be particularly difficult when “we carry with us a list of things that have been done to us,” the pope said in his homily on March 6th at morning Mass in the Domus Sanctae Marthae. 

“God’s forgiveness is felt strongly within us as long as we forgive others. And this isn’t easy because grudges make a nest in our heart and there is always that bitterness,” he said. 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus 

In your mercy heal us; 

In your love and tenderness, remake us; 

In your compassion, bring grace and forgiveness; 

For the beauty of heaven, may your love prepare us. 

                                          TC

There are many myths about the origins of the snowdrop.  Among these is the story of Eve, who was distraught after God had expelled her and Adam from the Garden. As Eve sat weeping, an angel appeared to comfort her. The angel caught a snowflake and breathed upon it. The snowflake fluttered to the earth and gave birth to the snowdrop. Thus did this delicate bloom come to symbolize hope and rebirth. 

Snowdrops bloom in late winter and so it is no wonder that they are regarded as indicators of forthcoming Spring and better weather. They also have a special meaning for Christians. They bloom before or at the beginning of Lent, the season in which we remember Christ’s sacrifice to redeem us, and when we anticipate the glory of Easter and the Resurrection. It is perfectly proper then that we rejoice in the blossoming of snowdrops, for they give us hope, reassure us of rebirth and provide consolation as we recall our Saviour’s suffering. 

                                                         TC