THE POPE IN IRELAND

I am in Ireland and Pope Francis is about to land.  When Pope John Paul arrived almost forty years ago it was to a tumultuous welcome and was billed “The Greatest Day for Ireland”.  This time it is as though the pope is landing in a war zone.  In the build up to his coming the media has been relentless in emphasising the abuse of the vulnerable by clerics and consecrated people, the subsequent cover-up and the failure to bring those accountable to trial.

Francis has written a forceful letter to the universal Church calling for conversion through fasting and prayer leading to a complete change of heart.  In the strong words he used to the Chilean Church about the blight of clericalism he reminded us that, “whenever we have tried to replace, or silence, or ignore, or reduce the People of God to small elites, we end up creating communities, projects, theological approaches, spiritualities and structures without roots, without memory, without faces, without bodies and ultimately, without lives.”

These are strong words about the way we create groups (elites) where the members become untouchable.  This is true of the Church but also of the state.  Yet we can begin to see that this desperate tragedy (abuse of the vulnerable) can be turned into a call for a transformation of the Church and ultimately of society through processes of accountability.  Ultimately the awful suffering of so many may be the seeds of a conversion that leads to a new way of being community.

But the media in Ireland is having none of this and it seems nothing Pope Francis will say or do will satisfy them.  People have suffered and continue to suffer and we have to absorb this.  But there appears to be a note of bitterness and a desire for retributon in some of what the media presents to us. This seems neither helpful nor healthy.  But having said this, our hope must be that we are so shaken that we will indeed set up those structures of accountability which our brothers and sisters are pushing us to do. At the end of the day the media has done us a great service in persistently calling for action.  .

26 August 2018                                               Sunday 21 B

Joshua 24:1 … 18                                Ephesians 5:21-32                               John 6:60-69

THE SLEEPING OF MARY

THE SLEEPING OF MARY

The actual word is ‘Dormition’, not ‘sleeping’, but it means the same,  It is the Greek Orthodox title for the feast of August 15^th which the Catholic Church calls the ‘Assumption’ of Mary. Even that word is a conundrum.  It is the word we use for Mary being taken up into heaven after her death. But then we might ask why do we have this special word?

When Jesus says, ‘I am the bread of life’ or ‘I am the light of the world’, we have some idea what he means. We know what bread is and what light is. But when he says ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ do we have any idea what this could mean?

Aretha Franklin, an African American singer, has just died. A startling picture of her in a red robe appears today on the front page of the Irish Times and inside the paper a whole page is devoted to her.  She sang at Obama’s first Inauguration and her voice “soothed and scalded” America for five decades.  She suffered much in her early days but clearly triumphed later.  She was a lady who fulfilled her dream.

Fulfilment is what we are born for and every person has the seed of it within.  The Catholic feast of the Assumption of Mary, and the Orthodox equivalent, is a celebration of the total fulfilment of everything Mary was born to be. And when we celebrate her we celebrate every person who achieved fulfilment in life even in the most simple things. I once met a mental and physically handicapped girl in the Ivory Coast whose whole task in life seemed to be to give joy to others through her smile. She died at 13, her life fulfilled.

The world is very competitive.  We measure ourselves in relation to others; their qualifications, achievements – even their looks.  This can obscure the often hidden inner seed in each of us which is longing to come out and blossom. Each of us has our own measure.  When we sleep for the last time may it be the sleep of one who has fulfilled their own personal dream!

15 August 2018                                   The Assumption of Mary

Revelations 11:19, 12:1-6, 10  1 Corinthians 15:20-26                        Luke 1:39-56         

WHAT GOD HAS UNITED

PRAYER PAUSE

Friday August 17, 2018

    

 WHAT GOD HAS UNITED

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading.  “What God has united, mena dn women should not divide.”  (Matthew 19:3-12)

Reflection. What parent does not stop in wonder when they see their child for the first time? They gaze for a long while at the new person born into the world. And then their gaze shifts to the one they are sharing their life with; this child is the fruit of their love for each other, the seal of their bond. They are no longer one, but two; no longer two, but three. Jesus dedicates our marriages through this arrival of new life and the ideal is that this a consecration of a union that will last for ever – despite the fact that it often does not last very long.  But the ideal remains and the will of God remains.  The fact that we do not always live up to it is a matter of sorrow but not of judgement.

Prayer. Lord, as we approach the World Celebration of Familiesin Dublin, Ireland, this coming week, help us to live out the union of minds and heart our families represent with faithfulness and joy.  Amen 

THE FOOD THAT ENDURES

THE FOOD THAT ENDURES

Spare a thought for the people of Zimbabwe.  It was so difficult to hold it all together.  Everyone had high hopes for the elections and their hopes ran faster to the tomb of 37 years of disappointment than the reality that soon caught up.  Six people died.  For their families it must be almost unbearable.  Our politics is so wrapped up in our hopes. We are so identified with our expectations.  Our leaders seem the only ones who can unlock the future and satisfy the longings of millions.

It seems such a battle to get things right.  The desire to put my private interest before the public good is powerful.  That basic trust – that I will benefit, in the most profound sense, if everyone benefits - gets lost under the pressure of competition.  In our hearts we know we will never build “community” – that word we use so lightly – until we stand back and make room for others.

“Populism” is a new word for tribalism and tribalism is all about securing the survival of my group with little concern for others.  Listening to the words of populist leaders in the “developed” world sounds alarmingly like hearing old tribal voices.  It is so hard for us to get it right.

The core message that comes out of John’s gospel this Sunday is that God is ready to fulfil our efforts to achieve community if we allow him to do so.  This is easily said, but it calls us to be really open to his coming into our lives so that we “get it right”.  He offers help and invites us to “seek the food that endures.”  The sixth chapter of John’s gospel is about “the bread of life” and we read this as John’s way of presenting us with the Eucharist. But the Eucharist is not a medicine that does its job automatically, like a Panadol. It requires our active urgent welcome.  It takes up the deepest desires of our heart and empowers them.  It helps us to do what we dream to do, what we want to do when we are in touch with our basic and most fundamental yearning. 

That yearning is for something beyond us, which the believer calls union with God, but it also includes union with our brothers and sisters and the whole planet.  This may all sound far removed from the elections in Zimbabwe but it isn’t.  ‘Politics’ is the word we use for the whole process we have for building community, where each one has enough to eat, a place to live, the ability to work and provide for their family.  The Eucharist is all about providing the means to achieve these things.

5 August 2018                         Sunday 18 B

Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15              Ephesians 4:17, 20-24                         John 6:24-35    

WHENEVER IT CAME OUT WRONG

PRAYER PAUSE

Thursday August 2, 2018, St Peter Faber, first companion of St Ignatius

 WHENEVER IT CAME OUT WRONG
    

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading.  “And whenever the vessel he was making came out wrong, as happens with the clay handled by potters, he would start afresh and work it into another vessel, as potteres do.”  (Jeremiah 18:1-9)

Reflection. “Getting it right!” That is our motto in what we do – whether it is cooking a meal, ploughing a furrow or writing a speech.  And God is trying to “get it right” in all his gentle handling of us through the joys and sufferings of life. Often it is hard for us to accept that he is as active in our sufferings – as well as those of others - as in our joys. The joys are consoling and encouraging but in a sense they don’t get us anywhere. The sufferings land us in a critical state; they are the gate to growth. Can we accept them with the same relish we do joyful things? That is a bit of a tough question.

Prayer. Lord, help us to discover you in all things.  Amen 

YOUR WORD WAS MY DELIGHT

PRAYER PAUSE

Wednesday August 1, 2018, St Alphonsus who founded the Redemptorists

 YOUR WORD WAS MY DELIGHT
    

Enter into the stillness of God within.

Reading.  “I belong to you, Lord God Almighty, and your word fills me with delight.”  (Jeremiah 15:10, 16-21)

Reflection. If you have been reading these daily thoughts you will notice my failure to be regular each day.  I am travelling a lot and find it hard to create the space in my unstructured day to sit down with the daily readings.  Perhaps that is your experience too?  We can often be hard pressed to find time to be quiet. Yet it s good to carve out these moments in our day.  It may not be at a regular time but we can be on the watch so that when spaces open up – we are waiting for someone or there is a gap between evenst – we can pause and allow “the delight” that Jesus offers to fill our soul.

Prayer. Lord, help us to be constantly on the watch for your coming   Amen