IT WAS HORRIBLE

IT WAS HORRIBLE

Our real hell only began about 11 a.m.  They started dropping 6¨ high explosive shells into us.  You could hear them coming and they made a row when they hit anything.  The 4^th dropped plumb into one of my guns and blew four people to pieces – I was covered in their blood and pieces of their limbs.  Some of them were not quite dead, but horribly wounded and kept on talking and begging for water, or to be shot.  It was horrible.  For three hours this went on.

So wrote a soldier to his mother in September 1914, six weeks into WWI.  So might a person write today who is caught in the inferno of Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus or in any other hellish place on earth.  Calvary is not far from us. “From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour” (Matt 27:45).  Another hellish three hours.

Good Friday is the one day in the year when we remember the awful suffering many of our brothers and sisters endure.  In a real sense they suffer “for us” as Jesus did.  The soldier above was actually my uncle and the mother my grandmother.  He was killed two years later and the family wrote on his remembrance card, “No one can have greater love than to lay down their life for their friends” (John 13:15). It is not “them” who are suffering in Damascus; it is us.

But Good Friday is not pointless, a waste, a disaster.  Jesus says “it was necessary” (Luke 24:26).  There is no other way to break the grip of evil other than to confront it and accept the price – even to the extent of being broken by it and losing one’s life.  Good Friday and Easter Sunday are the two sides of the same coin; you cannot have one without the other.  Somewhere, somehow, in the awfulness of human suffering there is the seed of a new and joyful life. Evil is conquered.  And that is also what we remember this day. That cross we hang around our neck or place on our wall is not a sign of defeat but of defeat transformed.

The Son of God has done this. John is uncomfortable with Luke’s Simon of Cyrene. John says Jesus carried his own cross.  It is he, the one from heaven, who alone has opened the way to the Father for us. 

Good Friday                           30 March 2018

Isaiah 52:13-53:12                  Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9                      John18:1-19:42

THEY TOOK NOTE OF WHERE HE WAS LAID

PRAYER PAUSE

Holy Saturday, 31 March 2018

THEY TOOK NOTE OF WHERE HE WAS LAID

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of Joset were watching and took note of where he was laid.” (Mark 15:47)

Reflection. Holy Saturday is the Chruch’s feast of waiting.  Where he was laid, and even how he was laid (Luke 23:55), must have seem rather irrelevant in view of what happened the next day.  But they had no idea what would happen. They were sad, confused, lost.  But they hung on to some thread of hope.  A lot of our life is waiting: what will happen?  We plan but we have no control over how things will work out.  Holy Saturday invites us into a loving trust both for our own future and that of others – our families, the world and – what is biting many of us a lot these days – the furure of the Church.

Prayer. Lord, we want to wait with Mary today in expectation.  Help our belief that, just as your broke through death to new life, so will you help us resolve all the personal and social issues that occupy us. Amen 

HE WENT OUT CARRYING HIS OWN CROSS

PRAYER PAUSE

Good Friday, 30 March 2018

HE WENT OUT CARRYING HIS OWN CROSS

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “carrying his own cross he went out to the place of the skull…” (John 19:17)

Reflection. Luke tells us Simon of Cyrene helped carry the cross and this has its meaning. But John sees Jesus alone carrying the burden of humankind.  War in Damascus, migrants drowning at sea, people killed and displaced in the search for minerals in the Congo and land in the Amazon;  whereever there are suffering lonely and oppressed people Jesus is there among them carrying his cross. That simple sign – two crossed pieces of wood from the earth – stands as the emblem that recapitulates the whole struggle of humanity.  Today, we take time to ponder and wonder.  We try to let this one event  - in the whole history of humanity – sink into our consciousness. God has visited his people and lifted the weight of their sorrow and placed in on his own shoulders.

Prayer. Lord, we come before your cross today in wonder and awe.  Help us to have some idea of your love for us.  And help us to reach out is response.  Aman 

YOU SHALL NEVER WASH MY FEET

PRAYER PAUSE

Holy Thursday, 29 March 2018

YOU SHALL NEVER WASH MY FEET

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “Never!” said Pater, “you will never wash my feet.” (John 13:1-15)

Reflection. We come to the three peak days, charged with evants that will have perennial meaning. The symbolic act of washing his disciples’ feet shocks them to the core.  Peter expresses their common sentiment; “You shall never …”  The meaning of what Jesus does hits them: he goes down on his knees to wash their grubby feet – the action of a servant, the lowest in the household. This is not the Messiah of their imagination. And their protest rings down the centuries. The Church has not found it comfortable to live this servant message. In fact history oten shows her in a contrary light.  But each generation - and this is such a sharp challenge today – is called to live out this servant call; the Church is the servant of humanity.

Prayer. Lord, may we be servants to one another, especially those who are weakest and often forgotten. Amen   

ONE OF YOU IS ABOUT TO BETRAY ME

PRAYER PAUSE

Wednesday of Holy Week, 28 March 2018

ONE OF YOU IS ABOUT TO BETRAY ME

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “When evening came he was at table with the twelve disciples. And while they were eating he said, ‘I tell you solemnly, one of you is about to betray me.’ They were greatly distressed ...” (Matthw 26:14-25)

Reflection. When we think of the passion, we think of the physical torture and the suffering it brought. We also ponder the mental anguish of suffering alone with almost no one having an idea what is going on.  The reading today describes Judas’ betrayal.  He was “one of the twelve,” the closest followers, and he turns on Jesus. Peter’s denials were not so deliberately planned but they too hurt Jesus immensely. In the end they all fled.  He stood alone.  We had a Passion Play yesterday and the one who played Jesus stood for some moments alone surrounded by hostility.  Our accompanying Isaiah reading speaks of him “setting his face like flint.”

 

Prayer. Lord, we want to accompany you on this awful journey.  We want to enter into your physical and mental anguish.  We want to do this through the way we live.  We believe this is the way - the way to life. Amen   

NIGHT HAD FALLEN

PRAYER PAUSE

Tuesday of Holy Week, 27 March 2018

NIGHT HAD FALLEN

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “As soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread he went out.  Night had fallen.” (John 13:21…38)

Reflection. In the Servant Song today (Isaiah 49:1-6) we read  “I will make you the light of the nations.” But then in the gospel, as Jesus comes to the climax of his revelation to Israel, Judas betreays him and Peter is about to deny him.  We are reminded that it is in the midst of betrayal and denial, even today, that God does his work.  It is in weakness that Paul discovers his strength and in the recent film, Silence, the Japanese Kachijiro denies his faith repeadedly but ends up – in his weakness – as a Christ-like figure.  God achieves his purpose in the midst of weakness.  There is so much happening beneath the surface that we do not grasp.

 

Prayer. Lord, you are at work, even in the “night”.   Teach us in this Holy Week to discern your ways in our own lives and of those around us. Amen   

HE DOES NOT WAVER

PRAYER PAUSE

Monday of Holy Week, 26 March 2018

HE DOES NOT WAVER

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Faithfully he brings true justice; he will neither waver, nor be crushed until true justice is established on earth, for the islands are awaiting his law.” (Isaiah 42:1-7)

Reflection. For one who comes from a remote island in the west this is a consoling prophecy!  But it is a painful one too. ‘Wavering’ is something I know all about.  Many times I have had a clear idea of what the gospel calls me to do but many times the price seems to be just too much.  Both David and Solomon staretd off well. But then they ‘wavered.’ Why?  Fidelity to Jesus and his way, courage to face the issues that arise and persevereance in focusing on them and seeing them through -  all seem so hard. We compromise. We fudge the issue. We do anything but face the problem squarely and unwaveringly. Perhaps it is the zenith of our life in the spirit to approach this singleness of purpose. We do achieve it sometimes.  In Holy Week we see Jesus utterly focused, totally unwavering.

 

Prayer. Lord, in this holy time grant us the grace not to waver but to embrace totally your way that leads to life and happiness. Amen   

HE IS COMING

HE IS COMING

Is it because I have a mind formed in the north that I become irritated when people say, “He is coming”?  “When?” comes to my lips and if I actually say the word I just get an indulgent smile.  It is enough that ‘he is coming.’  Why ask further questions.

The gospel is charged through and through with this announcement.  Mark opens his account with, ‘the kingdom of God is approaching” (1:15).  At one point the disciples do ask, “When?” (Matthew 24:3) and they get an indirect answer, “Stay awake!”  Dries van den Akker, in Pathways to God, a “Jesuits in Britain” website, tells us Mark uses the word ‘approaching’ three times in his gospel.  This is the first.  The second is when Jesus ‘approaches’ Jerusalem (11:1) and sends two disciples to fetch a donkey.

This event, celebrated each year as ‘Palm’ Sunday, is an unambiguous announcement of the arrival of the kingdom, foretold by Zechariah (9:9): “your king is approaching riding on a donkey.”  Luke tells us the Pharisees object; they knew full well what all this meant.  But Jesus said, “If the people keep silence the stones will cry out” (19:40).  There was such bursting forth of energy – like the explosion of a star in a distant galaxy – that nothing can stop it.

That is the announcement of Palm Sunday  But the third time Mark uses the word ‘approaching’ is in Gethsemane, where Jesus felt “terror and anguish” (14:34).  He endures his agony alone as his friends went to sleep and when he roused them he said, “The hour has come. Get up! Let us go! My betrayer is approaching.” (14:42)   

For Mark, the approaching kingdom means the approaching passion. No passion, no kingdom.

Is there a way we can stop parcelling up these things in religious language? Because when we do use this language we anaesthetize the passion and separate it from ordinary life. We can even put the passion in a box marked ‘Holy Week’ as though that is the time for thinking of the passion.

And yet we know the passion is with us always.  We cannot escape it while we live this life.  It is something to endure but also something to relish.  Jesus said, “I have longed to drink this cup” knowing this was the only way to achieve the purpose for which he came.  No one longs for suffering but one can accept suffering knowing it is the way to purification and victory.   By couching this in religious language we can rob suffering of its sting and that is no help to anyone.  God did not create us to suffer.  But his creation became tainted with evil, in a way we will never satisfactorily understand, and it is through struggling against this evil that we attain the purpose and fulfilment of our lives.  “For the sake of the joy which lay ahead of him Jesus endured the cross, disregarding the shame of it and has taken his place at the right hand of God.” (Hebrews 12:2).   

25 March 2018                                 Palm Sunday B

Mark 11:1-10                                   Isaiah 5:4-7                                   Philippians 2:6-11                            Mark 14:1 – 15:47

HE GATHERS THE SCATTERED

PRAYER PAUSE

Saturday 24 March 2018

HE GATHERS THE SCATTERED

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Jesus was to die to gather together in unity the scattered children of God.” (John 11:45-57)

Reflection. Evil scatters, love gathers.  The story of the Jewish people is one of scattering, vividly and refreshingly illustrated in Fiddler on the Roof. It is a tragic story and is repeated again and again. We are scattered and divided.  But the life and death of Jesus “gathers” us as a hen gathers her chicks, as a mother gathers her family at nightfall.  There are many forces at work in the world that move us slowly but surely towards unity. The death of Jesus, as John prophesises here, acts as a leaven, drawing people together.  Jesus, in his death, has grappled with the forces of darkness and scattering.  He has suffered their impact to the full. He has touched the point of their greatest ferocity and cruelty. He is broken by them but not defeated. They have done their worst but they cannot conquer him. He will rise and we will be gathered and unity with him.   

 

Prayer. Lord, gather us together and break down the divisions that scatter us. Amen   

BUT THE LORD IS AT MY SIDE

PRAYER PAUSE

Friday 23 March 2018

BUT THE LORD IS AT MY SIDE

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “But the Lord is at my side a mighty hero; my opponents will stumble, mastered, confounded by their failure.” (Jeremiah 20:10-13)

Reflection. Jeremiah describes his enemies circling around him, determined on his destruction.  But his heart reaches out to the Lord in unshakeable trust. In the end their schemes will not succeeed.  It is a prophecy of Good Friday – now just a week away. And it is a prophecy of the struggle we are in, where we do not yet see the outcome. But the “Lord is at our side” and the passage ends, “Sing to the Lord,.praise his name for he has delivered the soul of the needy.”

 

Prayer. Lord, may our lives proclaim our trust in you that you are at our side. Amen   

ABRAHAM REJOICED TO SEE MY DAY

PRAYER PAUSE

Thursday 22 March 2018

ABRAHAM REJOICED TO SEE MY DAY

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to think that he would see my Day; he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:51-59)

Reflection. The controversay with, or the trial of or even the judgement of, the Jews becomes more intense.  They have a fixed view of God and refuse the revelation given by Jesus’ words and life.  Even Abraham, in the long past, glimpsed the revelation of God through the sacrifice was called to make of his own son. Abraham understaood and rejoiced. Yet even though Jesus is standing before them the eyes of the Jews are closed.  We have to fast forward to our own day and look around: how people fashion “God” to their own purposes. How many leaders and people of influence invoke “God” all the time but have no idea of the humble and compassionate Jesus. And we have to look at the image of God we have in our own hearts. Does my life really proclaim the humble compassionate God revealed in Jesus?

  

Prayer. Lord, may our lives proclaim our faith in the suffering servant, our humble compassionate Lord. Amen   

SENT BY GOD

PRAYER PAUSE (apologies for no post yesterday)

Wednesday 21 March 2018

SENT BY GOD

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Yes, I have come from him; not that I came because I chose, no, I was sent, and by him.” (John8:31-42)

Reflection. This is the crucial statement and the sticking point for “the Jews.” They did not believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the promisd Messiah.  And they certainly did not believe he was the incarnate Son of God.  John, the evangelist, is emphasising that Jesus is God who has become flesh to dwell among us for a time to show us the way and fulfil the plan of God. John develops this message by emphasising the sharp contrast between this message and the reception of the Jews. There is a huge divide, a gulf. And that gulf runs through our world today between those who try, consciously or unconsciously, to follow the way and those who are set on their own contrary agenda.   

Prayer. Lord, heighten within us during this coming Holy Week the sense of your presence among us sthrenghtening and guiding us along the way. Amen   

YOUR HOUSE WILL ALWAYS STAND SECURE

PRAYER PAUSE  

Monday 19 March 2018, St Joseph

YOUR HOUSE WILL ALWAYS STAND SECURE

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Your house and your sovereignty will always stand before me and your throne be established for ever.” (Samuel 7:4… 16)

Reflection. Joseph stands in the line of Abraham and David as ancestors in faith who believed the promises of God that he would found a “House” that would last forever.  When Jesus came he said, “the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” He has no “house” other than the community He is building founded on faith in the promises.  The stronger we believe in the “promise” of our life the more engaged, content and satisfied we will be.  The future is as unknown to us as it was to Abraham and Joseph. But they wee people of faith firmly rooted in the promises.   

Prayer. Lord, may we have the faith of Abraham and of Joseph, firmly rooted in your promiss as we engage in the task you set before us. Amen   

A GRAIN OF WHEAT

A GRAIN OF WHEAT

We were running out of fuel but there was no sign of a filling station anywhere. We stopped at a village and someone produced 20 litres while asking us to give two of his relatives a lift.  We continued our journey until the front left tire hit a concealed stone at the side of the road and burst.  Changing a wheel is easy enough if you know how, but this was a new car and there was no instruction leaflet about how to release the spare wheel and, more seriously, one of the nuts on the offending wheel refused to budge.

People stopped to help and offered suggestions. None worked.  Night drew in and we were still beside the road alone as the passengers had taken advantage of those who stopped to continue their journey.  Five hours into our waiting for further help, another car stopped. It was now quite dark but the men in the car had the tools and the knowhow. Within minutes we were gratefully on our way again.

“Was I a farmer,” our Good Samaritan asked.  I told him who I was and it drew an apologetic response. “I’m not a church man, myself, but my wife keeps me on the straight and narrow.”  Well, maybe she does, I thought to myself, but you took the decision to follow her prompting as it resonated with your own desires.  Generous acts grow out of a lifetime of making small decisions to help others.   

This event, which disturbing my normally smooth routine, was a “break-in” of the values Jesus came to proclaim. Sometimes our plans have to “die” for some new understanding to break through. We could have sat there in the dark frustrated, anxious and looking for someone to blame for our dilemma.  Instead, after doing what we could to remedy our situation, we were able to relax, talk about other things and see what would happen.  And then, by and by, our Good Samaritan came along.

I was thinking these thoughts as I read this Sunday’s gospel and Jesus’words, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains only a single grain; but if it dies it yields a rich harvest.”  Sometimes we use this passage at funerals but we can also use it for everyday life. Every day we are called to “die” to our plans and our opinions of people and events. Every day we are asked to be ready to change, abandon the old and see the new with “rinsed eyes”.

We read this passage on this fifth Sunday of Lent and it is followed by the words of Jesus: “now sentence is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world is to be overthrown. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” Amen to that!

18 March 2018                                    Lent Sunday 5 B

Jeremiah 31:31-34                   Hebrews 5: 7-9                                    John 12:2023

SO THAT HIS NAME MAY BE QUICKLY FORGOTTEN

PRAYER PAUSE  

Saturday 17 March 2018, St Patrick

SO THAT HIS NAME MAY BE QUICKLY FORGOTTEN

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “Let us destroy the tree in its strength, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be quickly forgotten.” (Jeremiah 11:18-20)

Reflection. They tried to destroy the influence of Jeremiah.  They tried to do the same with Jesus. Their hostility was physical and powerful but in the end Jeremiah is remembered by all subsequent generations. And Jesus, through the Paschal Mystery, is the Lord of life for all.  Our gospel today (John 7:40-52) describes rock-like hostility but the undercurrent is burgeoning victory.  Irish people – and all those who wish to be Irish for a day – celebrate Patrick whose name has never been forgotten. He too suffered from hostility and the constant threat to his life.  But today his name stirs emotions of pride and gratitude in many hearts.  Yet I noticed, at the reception at the Irish Embassy here, that – while the achievements of the Irish were mentioned and the good relations celebrated – there wasn’t a word about what Patrick actually set out to do: to proclaim faith in Jesus. It is as though faith is now a taboo.

Prayer. Lord, thank you for the gift of Patrick.  May his courage and perseverance continue to inspire us at a time when our faith seems to flicker in the winds of our current culture.. Amen   

I REALLY COME FROM HIM

PRAYER PAUSE  

Friday 16 March 2018

I REALLY COME FROM HIM

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “There is one who sent me and I really come frm him, but you do not know him … They would have arrested him then but his time had not yet come.” (John 7:1…30)

Reflection. Two weeks before Good Friday the temperature of confrontation rises.  The real issue is whether the people accepted Jesus as the one sent by God or not. There would be huge implications whatever way they decided.  This choice has hung over humanity ever since. Two of us were travelling yesterday and we had a blow out on a front wheel.  People stopped to help but could not solve our problem. Eventually, well after dark and on a lonely road far from anywhere, a man stopped with just the tools needed. As he sorted us out he confided he was not a great one for church or faith. But it was clear he had made  a choice in the direction of his life. He was a good Samaritan but would have been surprised at Jesus’ commendation of him.

Prayer. Lord, help us, as we approach Holy Week, to relect on our choices. May we “lose our life” so that we may find it. Amen   

YOU PLACE YOUR HOPES ON MOSES

PRAYER PAUSE  

Thursday 15 March 2018

YOU PLACE YOUR HOPES ON MOSES

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “You place your hopes on Moses, and Moses will be your accuser. If you really believed him you would believe me too.” (John 5:31-47)

Reflection. The lines of confrontation are emerging. For “the Jews” it is all words, words, words. They speak of Moses, God, the Law, the Sabbath, but their hearts are not there. They cannot see beyond the world they have created for themselves. This is not just an ancient scenario. It is still with us. Jesus has come to confront it and rasise us beyond ourselves and the limited world we have made. He draws us to the Father but there is so much in us that resists.

Prayer. Lord, help us, as we approach Holy Week, to confront the gravity in us that pulls us down.  May we rise with you to the new life you draw us to. Amen   

WHAT HE SEES THE FATHER DOING

PRAYER PAUSE  

Wednesday 14 March 2018

WHAT HE SEES THE FATHER DOING

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “I tell you most solemnly, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees the Father doing.” (John 5:17-30)

Reflection. We now enter the period before and after Easter when we read John’s gospel. First we read of the controversies and confrontation with ”the Jews” who represent all who do not believe. Then, after Easter, we read how Jesus consoles and strengthens his disciples. Today we have clear statements about the unity  between the Father and the Son. This is a revelation hard to grasp. For John, the key to Jesus is that he is the revelation of the Father. He can only “do” what he sees the father doing. The “work” he does is the work of the Father.  The Father is intensely “at work” in the world and Jesus shows us how.   

Prayer. Lord, may we understand and reverence the work of the Father in our lives and in the world. Amen   

AND THE LEAVES MEDICINAL

PRAYER PAUSE  

Tuesday 13 March 2018

AND THE LEAVES MEDICINAL

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal.” (Ezekiel 47:1-12)

Reflection. Our readings today – the gospel is John 5:1…16 – have the common theme of water. As we approach Easter, the time for baptism, this motif comes to the fore.  Baptism is the sign a person is committing themselves to the new life offered by God.  So, while water is the source of life in every human settlement throughout history, water now becomes the source of a life “towards” God in the new world. And the imagery of life is so powerful that everything the water touches brings life and healing  - even the leaves of the trees on the river bank.  When the author of Revelations takes up this theme of Ezekiel he adds that their leaves are “for the healing of the nations” (22:2). The “nations” may take little note of it today but they are being “healed” by the work of God in this world of ours.     

Prayer. Lord, we let us see your action at work everwhere and rejoice. Amen   

I SHALL EXULT IN MY PEOPLE

PRAYER PAUSE  

Monday 12 March 2018

I SHALL EXULT IN MY PEOPLE

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading: “I shall rejoice over Jerusalem and exult in my peoplet.” (Isaiah 65:17-21)

Reflection. This is a consoling week in Lent – an anticipation of the triumph of the resurrection. God, as it were, looks forward to the time when his peple will turn to him and we are given one of the six individuals in John’s gospel who does just that: the centurian (John 4:43ff). Nicodemus, the woman at the well, this centurian, the man born blind, Mary, Martha and Lazarus – three men, three wome - all come from differnt backgrounds but all cut though their “baggage” to reach out to the heart of Jesus and respond in faith. Some do it immediately, others more slowly. It is all a promise of things to come and we can find their like among us to day.  

Prayer. Lord, we rejoice in anticipation. Help us to respond in faith and love. Amen