Day 44, Holy Thursday, 1 April Covenant

 

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Day 44, Holy Thursday, 1 April

Covenant

A covenant is, literally, a coming together – like two people when they marry; they pledge themselves to each other forever. God made a covenant with Noah, with Abraham and with the people of Israel. The sign of this covenant was the Passover meal in Egypt when ‘a lamb without blemish’ was sacrificed and shared by each family (Exodus 12:1-14). Later, in the desert, the implications of this sign were spelt out in the law given through Moses.

Today, Holy Thursday, the day before Jesus dies, we are given a new covenant, a new meal, the sharing in the bread and wine, signs of his sacrifice, of his presence among us and of our union – communion – with him (1 Cor 11:23-26).

The implications of this sign are spelt out in an action that shocks the gathered disciples. Jesus deliberately rises from the table and goes down on his knees before each of them and washes their feet. A little gesture? No, something highly significant and Peter and the others know it. They are appalled; ‘you will never wash my feet!’  Jesus is blunt with them. ‘If I do not wash your feet, then it is all over between us’ (John 13:1-15). ‘If you cannot grasp that my whole life has been one of service to you and to the world then we can’t go on. It is over.’ These are dramatic words but this is a dramatic moment. Jesus is about to enter into the greatest act of service of all: his willing offering of himself in suffering and death for the salvation of the world. Peter does not understand but his love for Jesus is such that he immediately withdraws his refusal.

The new covenant is one of service; our service of one another, our opening our hearts to people who are different from us, maybe even hostile to us. It means breaking down the barriers that divide us; it means a new heaven and a new earth.

Day 43, Wednesday, 31 March ‘I made no resistance’

 

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Day 43, Wednesday, 31 March

‘I made no resistance’

Explicit in today’s Servant Song from Isaiah 50:4-9 are these words. ‘I made no resistance. And it is true, at no point in the passion do we find Jesus protesting or resisting. He submits himself knowing that from the human power point of view he cannot resist but, much more importantly, from the divine mission he is given he has to submit. This is the only way, when you think about it, he can save the world. He has to go through what his sisters and brothers go through. That is what the Incarnation, the ‘dwelling among us’ means.  

Then there is that awful fulfilment of what has been hinted at for some time; the betrayal of Judas (Matt 26:14-25). How the centuries have loved to hate Judas and lay on him so much guilt and blame, without pausing to reflect how much we all share in one way or another in that betrayal, starting with Peter. True, his betrayal was brutal and clear. Ours is more subtle and hidden.

    

Day 41, Monday, 29 March The Servant Songs

 

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Day 41, Monday, 29 March

The Servant Songs

Isaiah (42:1-7) here and later gives us what we call the Servant Songs, a description of the Messiah, the promised one who will lead his people to true freedom. Through various pictures and poetic expressions we build up an image of a servant who suffers for us. The steady purpose of God over centuries now reaches it goal. He is the one ‘in whom my soul delights’. He does not cry out or waver until he brings through justice. He submits himself to the weight of the world’s burden. The islands (I come from an island!) are waiting for him. He will open the eyes of the blind and free the captives.

It is a song of triumph but full of references to the Passion. The accompanying gospel (John 12:1-11) tells us of the anointing of the body of Jesus, something that could not happen after his death – because there would be no body! So it is done before! All of this is fiercely confident. The early Church knew what it was writing about.

We have entered a week of intense sorrow and will stand by the cross with Mary on Friday. But it is a week of intense confidence for us in the one in whom we delight.

Day 42, Tuesday, 30 March ‘I have exhausted myself for nothing’

 

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Day 42, Tuesday, 30 March

‘I have exhausted myself for nothing’

Today we read another ‘Song of the Servant’ (Isaiah 49:1-6), expressing the suffering of Jesus, this time the mental anguish, ‘I have toiled in vain; I have exhausted myself for nothing.’ In the gospel (John 13:21-38) Jesus is ‘troubled in spirit’ as he knows what Judas will do.

We know so many stories of people struggling alone; women whose husbands have died or left them and they have to struggle to bring up their children alone. Or people in war zones – Yemen, Tigray, the east of the Congo and now northern Mozambique. We see pictures of them. We feel their anguish. The People of God now sing the Song of the Servant in so many corners of the globe. Even in developed ‘settled’ countries there is the anguish of loneliness, imprisonment, drug addiction. This is the passion of the world.

When Jesus went to his passion, he knew he was embracing this other passion – ours. Desolate and exhausted that he was, he knew that he would inaugurate a new age in which the suffering of the world would be overcome. When people of faith share in the suffering of others and do not hide from it in comfortable cocoons, there is the promise of overcoming it.

In the year that has passed since last Easter the world has woken up to know that ‘Black Lives Matter’, that Covid knows no boundaries and that the earth is warming to a degree that is almost out of control. Everywhere there are signs that people are ‘pushing back’ against the evils connected with these things.

May we have the grace this Holy Week to labour in the sure belief that we do not labour in vain or exhaust ourselves for nothing.

THE LITTLE BIRD STRAINS TOWARDS ITS MOTHER

 

THE LITTLE BIRD STRAINS TOWARDS ITS MOTHER

Theologians and mystics speak of the utter ‘otherness’ of God. He cannot be known as we know other people. We have some knowledge of him but it is far, far from the reality. We can love God and, in that sense, we can know something of him. You cannot love one you do not know. The Book of Genesis says we are ‘made in his image’ and the psalms speak of us as ‘a little lower than the angels.’

 

What does all this amount to? Two things. One, God is infinitely beyond our reach. When we are talking about God and ourselves in the same breath, we are speaking about two completely different realities. Neither science or any other rational activity can grasp God. So we hold on to his utter otherness. But then, two, God wants to come to us, to share his life with us, his joy, his love. ‘He has made us for himself,’ says Augustine. He has made us with a capacity to receive his life. He cannot give us what he wants to give us until we open our beak like a newly hatched bird in the nest. They strain upwards to receive the food the mother wants to give them.

The food we receive carries a weighty message. Jesus gave us the Eucharist to enable us to share in his suffering and death. We have to do more than open our beaks. Receiving Holy Communion in the Eucharist commits us to the ‘way’ that Jesus lived. The early Christians called themselves people ‘of the Way’, that is, people who, as followers of Jesus, tried to live as he lived. This would mean, as we constantly see this week in the readings from John, opposition, virulent opposition. It would also lead, for many early Christians, to physical suffering and even death.

If we open our beak and strain towards God, this may happen to us. But we understand, do we not, that this is getting to grips with the real issues of our life in this world. The more we touch suffering in ourselves and in others, the more we sense that this is a reality that can lead us to God if we can be open to it. No one wants suffering but countless people will acknowledge that it enables them to ‘touch the hem of his garment’ and grow into the fullness of life.  

This is real knowledge even if imperfect and it opens the way to love. We have entered Holy Week. Will we let it go by and be absorbed in our usual business? Or can we open our beak and be fed by the life and death of the Suffering Servant whose life on earth reached its terrible climax in the days we are now entering?

28 March 2021     Palm Sunday   Is 50:4-7  Phil 2:6-11  Mark 14:1-15:47

Day 40, Palm Sunday, 28 March

 

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Day 40, Palm Sunday, 28 March

We accompany Jesus today from the welcome with palm branches, and the cries of ‘Hosanna’ and ‘Blessings on the coming kingdom’, to his death and burial. Mark, (in Ch 14 & Ch 15) paces it out like our practice of the Stations of the Cross and we can consider each step:

·        The chief priests and scribes look for a way of getting rid of Jesus before the people even know what is happening (14:1-2).

·        Jesus is anointed by a woman before his death and, despite the complaints of wasting money, he honours her (3-9).

·        Judas delights the chief priests by offering his help to get him arrested (10-11).

·        Jesus celebrates the Passover with his disciples, his last great act of fulfilling the old covenant (12-16).

·        He foretells his betrayal (17-21).

·        He celebrates the first Eucharist of the new covenant (22-25).

·        Jesus foretells Peter’s denial that he ever knew him (26-32).

·        In Gethsemane, Jesus is overcome by sorrow and distress (32-42).

·        Judas leads armed men to the spot and Jesus is arrested and his disciples scatter (43-52).

·        Jesus is tried before the Sanhedrin. At first, he is silent but when solemnly asked if he is the Christ, he replies, ‘I am’ (53-64).

·        In response they spit on him and mock him (65).

·        Peter denies him three times and when he realises what he has done burst into tears (66-72).

·        Jesus is taken to Pilate where, again, he remains silent. The chief priests incite the crowd to demand his death and the mob cry, ‘Crucify him!’ To placate the crowd Pilate has Jesus flogged and orders his death (15:1-15).

·        The soldiers mock him and lead him away to Golgotha (16-22).

·        They strip him and nail him to the cross and hang him on it (23-27).

·        Again Jesus is mocked and taunted (28-32).

·        Jesus feels desolate and abandoned, even by God (33-36).

·        He dies at the ninth hour (3.00pm) and the centurion believes and calls him ‘a Son of God’ (37-39).

·        Many women were there to give Jesus comfort (40-41).

·        Joseph, though a member of the government, bravely takes the body for burial (42-47).

 

Day 39, Saturday, 27 March Gathering what is scattered

 

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Day 39, Saturday, 27 March

Gathering what is scattered

It is Ezekiel’s turn to give a dream of the future (37:21-28). God will ‘gather’ his people and they will become one nation and will live in peace. The starting point is the divided kingdom of Israel but the vision goes far beyond that. The high priest Caiaphas now, unknowingly, makes a prophecy; Jesus would ‘die for the nation and not for the nation only but to gather together in unity all the scattered children of God (John 11:45-57).

We are moving closer to a fuller understanding of what God is planning and what ‘Thy Kingdom come!’ might mean. God is creating unity. Today’s media and our past history is littered with attempts to create unity among people, to ‘gather’ what is scattered. The United Nations. I can think of my country of origin, Ireland, which is crawling painfully over decades towards unity. We can think of Germany, once divided, now united. We can think of Zambia: one Zambia, one Nation. Zimbabwe and so on.

We can think of families and the struggle to reconcile estranged relatives. We can think of our laws, how they try to bring people to harmony and so on. We are all caught up in a world moving together, ‘gathering’ and God is in the midst of it struggling with us. His death is a death to the old divided world. His rising is a sign of the gathering of all nations. 

Day 38, Friday, 26 March Denounce him! Let us denounce him!

 

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Day 38, Friday, 26 March

Denounce him! Let us denounce him!

It is terrifying to be caught up in the midst of mob rule. Individual judgement gives way under the pressure of the group who are seized by some mad urge to destroy. An individual is suspected of some crime and mob energy takes over, oblivious of the truth. Jeremiah (20:10-13) experienced this and the Friday before Good Friday prepares us for the cries against Jesus, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’

In the passage from John today (10:31-42) the Jews want to stone Jesus and probably would have done had he not eluded them. They seem incapable of stopping, of thinking and of using their own individual judgement.

History tells us that we have to progress from ‘we’ to ‘I’. People sometimes say ‘we don’t know about this’, meaning, I am suppressing what I know and taking shelter in the crowd! I may know something or suspect something but I just keep quiet. I do not want to stand out among the crowd.

The Acts of the Apostles, which we will read in Easter time, is littered with examples of the disciples of Jesus standing up and speaking out about him, about the truth, regardless of the consequences. When Jesus says, ‘the truth will make you free’, this is what he means. The apostles rejoiced in the new freedom they discovered in witnessing to Jesus even though they had to suffer for it.

Day 37, Thursday, 25 March, The Annunciation You have prepared a body for me

 

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Day 37, Thursday, 25 March, The Annunciation

You have prepared a body for me

This annunciation, this proclamation, this ‘breaking news’, is astonishing. The quote from Isaiah 7:10-14 doesn’t really say much. ‘The maiden is with child and will soon bear a son’. Nothing out of the ordinary there, you would say, except the enigmatic name – Emmanuel, ‘God is with us’ – gives a hint.

The passage from Hebrews 10:4-10 deepens the mystery. The whole letter is about God’s Son: ‘in our own time, the last days, he has spoken to us through his Son … he is the radiant light of God’s glory.’ Now we are told this Son has a body, a human body, that defining structure of flesh and bone, blood and life, that we call a human person. God has been conceived as a person in the womb of a woman. Did the hearers of the letter understand?

Finally, the Church preserves the words of Luke (1:26-38) as the definitive clear expression of the breaking news: the child that Mary will bear will ‘rule over the house of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end … the child will be called Son of God.’

Of all the proclamations that have been made since the world began this is the most wonderful. If God becomes one of us then nothing can ultimately go wrong. He is with us, among us, part of us, one of us. This day, 25 March, just nine months before 25 December.

We are living Lent. But as it moves to a climax, we recall today the beginning of the story. Because he was one of us, he had to live out the implications of being human which includes the battle with sin and death. Because he was God, there was no way sin and death could overcome him. His rising from the dead is the sign of this. Good news for us.

 

Day 36, Wednesday, 24 March Nothing I say has penetrated into you

 

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Day 36, Wednesday, 24 March

Nothing I say has penetrated into you

There is a great sadness that comes over us as we continue our journey through these last days of Lent. How is it that they could not see? How was it possible for them to reject someone so manifestly good, wise and loving? Well, they did and Jesus is still brushed aside or, perhaps, ‘tamed’ in the sense that he is created in our image, not we in his. We make him fit into our world rather than making our home in his.

Again, to shame the ‘Jews’, we have an example of ‘conversion’ from the pagan world where the raw Nebuchadnezzar, in one of his nefarious tricks, throws three young men into the furnace. They are untouched by the fire and the king recognises the hand of God and blesses Him (Daniel 3:14-28). The rescue of Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego serves as a parable for the liberation God will bring to all his people.

‘If you make my word your home

You will indeed be my disciples,

And you will learn the truth

And the truth will make you free.’

 

These brief words in John 8:31-42, say everything. Can we ponder these words, chew them and digest them so that they become part of us?

Day 35, Tuesday, 23 March Believe that I am He

 

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Day 35, Tuesday, 23 March

Believe that I am He

Everything now, as we approach Holy Week, is charged with this sense of ‘crunch time’. It is like the last minutes of the World Cup when the outcome is still in the balance. Will they or will they not believe? Jesus longed for the Jewish people to believe that he was the one – ‘I am He’ – sent by the Father to reveal the fullness of the revelation – ‘life to the full’ - God had prepared for his people.

They might reject him, he knew they would, but if they did, he would himself carry the consequences. He did not say, ‘OK. You have rejected me so now I will reject you and you can face the catastrophe creeping up on you alone.’ No, despite their rejection of him he went through the consequences himself – he ‘carried our burdens’ (Isaiah 53:4) - and so ‘saved’ us from them. Many would understand later and believe.

It is important to understand what it means when we say, ‘Jesus died for us.’ We need to think about it. We may not come to a full answer. We have one image from the Hebrew scriptures today (Numbers 21:4-9) to help us and the same image is repeated three times in John’s gospel. The one today comes from 8:21-30.  It is the image of Jesus ‘lifted up’. This refers to his crucifixion which we will remember especially on Good Friday. But it also means his being lifted up to heaven, in other words, his final triumph over sin and death.

This is the mystery we live in and we need to think it out, to understand it as best we can, so as to nourish our prayer.   

Day 34, Monday, 22 March Susanna Monday: stories of justice and mercy.

 

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Day 34, Monday, 22 March

Susanna Monday: stories of justice and mercy.

We are given almost a whole chapter of Daniel to read today, (13:1-62). Normally we cut it and read just the last 30 verses. But even that is quite a lot! It is the story of Susanna and how two old men tried to seduce her. Susanna cries out. There is a case. A woman’s words mean nothing and she is condemned to death. Daniel steps in, shows up the old men and they are executed instead.

It is the story of God bringing justice to his people, especially the most vulnerable, and it is twinned with the story in John (8:1-11) about the woman caught in adultery, She, presumably, is guilty but she too escapes, this time through the mercy of God. 

Two stories about the justice and mercy, proclaimed in the law and the prophets and revealed, emphatically, by Jesus. Perhaps the reason for putting them at the head of this penultimate week of Lent is to remind us of the cost: Good Friday.

Justice and mercy are present in our world despite all the evil that seems to grab our attention. But it cost Jesus much suffering and, in the end, his life. It costs us too. It is not easy to ‘act justly’ with everyone we meet. I remember being struck years ago when President Carter of the US (he is still alive) included it in his inaugural address: ‘to do what is right’ (Micah 6:8). Not easy!

Then mercy! In this passage from John 8 Jesus is showing what he meant by the parable of the forgiving Father in the story of the prodigal son (Luke15:11). There is no question of blaming, punishment, retribution. The mercy of God blots out iniquity – but not cheaply. It costs. It cost a lot for Jesus and it costs a lot for us.

THE AGONY AND THE TRIUMPH

 

THE AGONY AND THE TRIUMPH

It sounds incidental. Just a detail thrown in to add variety: ‘some Greeks’ appear at the Passover festival in Jerusalem (John 12:20-33). They are curious and want to see Jesus. They go through Philip and Andrew, the very two who introduced Peter and the others to Jesus in chapter 1. Here, in chapter 12, they introduce the Greeks to him. ‘Greeks’ in the gospel refer to gentiles, pagans, outsiders – like most of us. Suddenly, it is no longer ‘just a detail’.

We have reached the climax of Jesus’ ministry, the moment when he says, ‘a grain of wheat must die.’ We are given John’s version of the agony in the garden, ‘now my soul is troubled.’ We are also made to understand immediately that this is a triumphal progress through his suffering: ‘Father, glorify your name.’ A reply is received, ‘I have glorified it and will glorify it again.’  The supporting second reading, from Hebrews (5:7-9), in the most poignant words in scripture, tells us of the intense suffering of Jesus and the ‘perfection’ it leads to.

And the short passage from Jeremiah (31:31-34), has, ‘Deep within them I will plant my law. Writing it on their hearts.’ They, that is us or we, will understand this mystery of God among us suffering with us and triumphing over evil and death. We will grasp it. It will make a difference to our lives. It is a treasure there before us ready to be laid hold of, unpacked, giving us courage and joy.

Sr Janice McLaughlin, who died on the 7^th of this month, left a note that she only wanted known after her death. It read:

‘One night in September 1977, after my arrest and detention in Chikurubi Prison, I lay on my bed, feeling helpless, scared and miserable. I tried to recall what I had written in my diary that had been seized by the police. I worried that I might have got others into trouble through my naivety and stupidity. I started to cry, deep, wrenching sobs from the deepest part of my being. The tears would not stop.

‘As I lay there, I noticed a dim yellow light in the corner of the room. It moved closer to me and became brighter and I could feel a warmth and peace flowing from it. The light, a kind of misty, hazy golden glow shaped like a halo around a person, stopped by the right side of the bed. A voice came from the light, saying ‘You are the stupid, silly little girl whom I love.’ I did not hear the words spoken aloud but within me. I felt a great peace and comfort. All fear and self-pity left me. Gradually the light moved back until it faded away completely.’   

This is the agony and the triumph of the passion which we now enter.

21 March 2021    Lent Sunday 5B     Jer 31:31-34     Heb 5:7-9     Jn 12:20-33

 

Day 32, Saturday, 20 March Never has anyone spoken like this

 

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Day 32, Saturday, 20 March

Never has anyone spoken like this

It is the police who speak the truth. They have no idea whether Jesus comes from Galilee or from Bethlehem. They are not interested. All they know is this man has a message and he speaks powerfully. But the chief priests and the Pharisees are interested in where he comes from because it supports their prejudice that this man is a trouble maker and has to be got rid of. They have closed their minds to Jesus. Ironically, the author of the gospel tells us (John 7:40-52), they say ‘the Christ will come from Bethlehem’, the very place Jesus was born. But once minds are closed no contrary information is welcome. As the saying goes, ‘my mind is made up; don’t confuse me with facts!’ So the police are ignored.

The passage from Jeremiah (11:18-20) speaks of the quiet way Jesus is being led to his passion, ‘like a lamb to the slaughter-house’. The dark clouds are gathering and he knows what will happen. He continues to struggle against it, trying to answer the Jews’ questions but – meeting a blank wall – he becomes more forceful as the days go by. He trusts in his Father who is always with him: ‘Lord God, I take refuge in you. From my pursuer save me and rescue me’ (Ps 7).

Lent presents us with this real challenge of our day: the call to be authentic and true to ourselves and to the gospel in our hearts in a world that tries to seduce us into compromise. We live this tension.  

Day 31, Friday, 19 March Joseph, the man of faith

 

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Day 31, Friday, 19 March

Joseph, the man of faith 

Today we take a break on our Lent journey to celebrate St Joseph, the spouse of Mary and the one who adopted Jesus as his son. ‘Your father and I have been searching for you’ (Luke 2:48). His namesake in the book of Genesis (chap. 37) was called ‘the man of dreams’ by his brothers and was the one who saved them from death in Egypt. St Joseph was also a man of dreams and also saved Jesus through their stay in Egypt.

The central insight of his life came in a dream, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived her child through the Holy Spirit’ (Matt 1:18-25). Only a person blessed with strong faith could accept such a message and build his whole life on it. Abraham did it, Mary did it and now Joseph does it.

We have a second reading today enlarging this picture. 2 Samuel 7:4-16 speaks of a ‘house’ meaning a family, a people, built on this foundation of faith, that will be established ‘for ever’. Finally, we have a third reading, from Romans 4:13-22, emphasising that this whole story began with the faith of Abraham. We have layer upon layer of faith culminating in this story of the incarnation: God becomes a human being and ‘dwells among us.’

Perhaps it is a moment to stand back and think about faith. What is it? Can we imagine Joseph heading off with Mary and the child to Egypt? Did they know what they were going to? Would they be welcomed? Find work? Shelter? Food? All Joseph had was his belief that if this is what he was called to do, God would provide, a saying that reminds us of Abraham’s words to Isaac (Genesis 22:8). We can look at our own situation. How often we worry! We have to struggle, as Joseph did, but deep down we pray to learn to trust.

 

 

Day 30, Thursday, 18 March Growing tension with the Jews

 

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Day 30, Thursday, 18 March

Growing tension with the Jews

If we allow the force of Jesus words to the Jews in John 5:31-47 to reach us we sense the growing conflict that has now become unavoidable. Jesus is speaking plainly about his mission from the Father ‘but his words find no home in you.’

‘You study the scriptures’ but you want them to tell you what you want to hear! You want them to approve of what you are doing and how you are living. You are not open to the message I bring you from the Father. ‘You place your hopes in Moses’ and use Moses to support your narrow view of the law. But you don’t accept that Moses was speaking about me.

This passage evokes the memory of the Jews in the desert in the time of Moses (Exodus 32:7-14) and how the people could not stand the waiting. They wanted immediate results. The made a golden calf and worshipped it. God threatens to destroy the people but Moses pleads on their behalf.

The Jews of Jesus’ time also have made a ‘calf’ in that they have fashioned the law according to their own wills and have abandoned the destiny God has in store for them. They too can’t bear the waiting. 

Day 29, Wednesday, 17 March The Source of Life

 

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Day 29, Wednesday, 17 March

The Source of Life

We will be reading John’s gospel from now until Easter. John crystalises the other gospels in the sense of drawing out key themes from the whole revelation of Jesus; darkness and light, thirst and water, hunger and bread and – here – death and life. The Father is the ‘source of life’ (John 5:17-30). When people are asked to say a prayer they often begin, ‘Father, thank you for the gift of life.’ It is a spontaneous prayer that springs up in the heart. The gift of life, of existence, of being, is the foundation of everything.

At one moment we did not exist. Then we begin to exist and for ever! That is the first gift, described in a colourful way in the book of Genesis. But the gospels go much further and say this existence has a capacity without limits. Existence, life, is open to a fulfilment beyond our imagination. The other reading we have today, Isaiah 49:8-15, celebrates this, ‘come out, show yourselves, break into happy cries! For the Lord consoles his people.’

The journey of Lent has a purpose: it is to discover, ever more deeply, the joy of God’s call to his people. He longs to fill us with his own life and all that we live and do in this short life of ours paves the way for this bubbling up of life from the source.

An image. Today is the feast of St Patrick, who, in the fifth century, brought the gospel to the remotest isle in the west of Europe. In his Confessions, he speaks of himself as a stone buried in the mud which God lifted out and placed on the top of the wall.

Day 28, Tuesday, 16 March Along the river will grow every kind of fruit

 

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Day 28, Tuesday, 16 March

Along the river will grow every kind of fruit

Settled organised communities, in contrast to nomadic loosely structured ones, grew up on the banks of great rivers; the Euphrates, the Nile, the Niger. Water was the life blood of the earliest developed communities and is central to any human settlement – even the driest. Botswana’s currency is simple called pula, water.

It was natural, when choosing a symbol for the life of grace, the divine life, for the scriptures to choose water. The Israelites passed through the waters of the Red Sea and the Church, following the teaching of Jesus, settled on Baptism as the initiation rite for belonging to the Christian community.

In today’s reading from Ezekiel (47:1-12) we have a rich illustration of the power of water – not just in the flooding and cyclones of nature which we hear about and often see with our eyes – but in the pouring out of God’s spirit over the earth. Even the leaves of the fruit trees are medicinal and when the book of Revelations takes up this reading from Ezekiel it adds ‘for the healing of the nations’ (22:2) a striking reminder that grace is at work in politics.  

This fourth week of Lent hints at victory. There are constant references to the new life that will unfold through the mystery of Jesus among us. We read a passage in John (5:1-16) about the man at the pool waiting for someone to dip him in ‘when the water is disturbed.’ Jesus, the great disturber of our complacent world, comes and asks him, ‘Do you want to be become well?’

That is the second time he has asked that question. The first was in John 1:38. ‘Do you want?’ The water of life, the divine dwelling within, the gift of God. The question keeps coming to us and gently calling us give ourselves to this new life that is offered.

Day 27, Monday, 15 March Words of Consolation

 

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Day 27, Monday, 15 March

Words of Consolation

The fourth Sunday of Lent and the whole fourth week is marked by consolation. There are joyful messages which give us a glimpse of the future triumph of good over evil; all the struggles that people endure everywhere on the planet have a meaning and bear within them the promise of overcoming evil. The seeds of joy are already sown. But we have to rise to them.

Yesterday, in New York, the funeral Mass for Sr Janice McLaughlin was streamed and there was a moment when the sister speaking about her, told of an event that had never been mentioned by Janice in her lifetime. She wanted it known only after she died. She was in Chikurubi prison near Harare in Zimbabwe after her arrest in the liberation war and lying awake one night crying in misery because of her foolishness in leaving her diary with evidence of her contacts with the guerrillas on her chair. The police had no problem in finding it and following up information it gave of others in the Justice and Peace Commission which led to their arrest. How could she be so stupid she asked herself in misery. Then, in her agony, a soft yellow light appeared in the cell which came closer and became brighter and she heard a voice, not out loud but in her heart, saying, ‘Yes, you are a stupid silly girl, but I love you’. She was filled with an immense peace which stayed with her for the rest of her life.

We read Isaiah 65:17-21 today, ‘I create new heavens and a new earth … be glad and rejoice for ever for what I am creating.’ These words do not cancel the Passion any more than the words Janice heard cancelled her later trials and sufferings. But they give great hope. And this makes all the difference. We struggle to overcome illness, faltering relationships, social and economic hardships. We may or may not succeed in the short term but hope tells us we will succeed one day. No doubt about it.

The reading from John 4:43-54 is about the court official (Matthew makes him a centurion, that is, a pagan) who believes the word of Jesus. He doesn’t insist Jesus comes to his house to cure his son. This too is hopeful news. The pagan world is stirring itself to trust  - even when there are no visible signs.    

Day 26, Sunday, 14 March TO LAUGH OR TO CRY

 

RETREAT IN LENT 2021

Day 26, Sunday, 14 March

TO LAUGH OR TO CRY

A story on the news recently told of a mother in Sierra Leone receiving back her daughter who had been rescued from traffickers who took her to Mali. Joy and tears appeared together on her face. She had wept for her daughter but now her tears were turned to joy. ‘Those who sow in tears sing as they reap’ (Ps. 126).

Midway in Lent we read from the Chronicles of Israel (2 Chron 36:14-23). ‘Their enemies burned down the Temple of God, demolished the walls of Jerusalem … and the survivors were deported to Babylon’. It was a total disaster. But then, after ‘a sabbath rest’, (Holy Saturday?), Cyrus, king of Persia, is aroused by the Lord to issue a proclamation; ‘Rebuild the temple! Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God be with him! Let him go up’.

We then go to John’s gospel (John 3:14-21) where we read of the ‘lifting up’ of Jesus on the cross. ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life’. And a medieval crucifix in the castle of Xavier, in Spain, shows a laughing Christ on the cross. In his agony he is full of joy; he is a bleeding warrior who has conquered his enemies.

We are caught in this maelstrom, this whirling tumult, of pain and victory. This is our life. For some their share of suffering seems unbearable. Think of Tigray, the Eastern Congo or Burma, where a nun pleads with the military on her knees to stop their violence against the people. But then you see two of the soldiers also going down on their knees as they watch her intently.

These readings tell us; ‘do not give up’. ‘Do not lose heart’. ‘Keep pressing against the frontiers of evil and opposition. They will eventually give way’. The sufferings of people in Zimbabwe will eventually give way to a new life of dignity. I have just been reading about families in England in the 1930s: the poverty of the people and the heartlessness of the government. If a family member got sick it was a disaster for the whole family. The cost of medical care drained them. The writer could have been describing Zimbabwe in the 2020s.

In England, all this changed after the war and, together with many countries, the people now enjoy social security covering health, unemployment and old age. It will happen here too but not until there is a change of mind among those who run our country. ‘Those who sow in tears will sing as the reap’. That change of mind will come when it is contagious, when it spreads and no vaccine will stop it.   

Day 25, Saturday, 13 March ‘This love of yours is like a morning cloud’

 

RETREAT IN LENT 2021

Day 25, Saturday, 13 March 

‘This love of yours is like a morning cloud’

A constant theme for us in our daily life is to move from functioning to depth, or, as Cardinal Newman put it, from the ‘notional’ to the ‘real’. In other words, despite all our best efforts, we spend a lot of energy on just ‘managing’ our lives so that we present ourselves as we would want to be seen by others but not necessarily as we really are! We want to ‘survive’ this meeting or cope with this interview.

We have Hosea again today, this time (5:15-6:6) tell us that Israel’s love was ‘like a morning cloud’. It is there this moment and gone the next. There is nothing solid or permanent in this kind of love; ‘it is like the dew that quickly disappears’.

The story of the Pharisee (Luke 18:9-14) who goes to the temple to tell God what a great person he is, is like a comedy. His obvious pretence is laughable.  But if Jesus is telling a joke, he is also making a point. This is the, maybe unconscious, attitude of people ‘who think themselves to be virtuous and despise everyone else’. In some of his public utterances the last president of the United States projected this sort of image of himself. He was high profile but we know the attitude is common to many of us and in one way or another touches us all. The parable, ridiculous as it may seem, gets close to the bone.

We also note, of course, the tax collector, who comes from a ‘despised’ group of ‘sell-outs’. It shocked Jesus’ hearers that he is the one praised for his honesty. He knew he was compromising; he knew he was in a crooked profession. But he admitted it and was clearly looking for a way out; ‘Be merciful to me, a sinner!’ Jesus is upsetting prevalent attitudes. Sr Janice McLaughlin, who put herself ‘on the frontline’ in supporting Zimbabwe’s war of liberation in the 1970s and who died this week, used to like the Shona word for God Chipindikure, the one who turns things upside down, was also willing to do this. Calling people to ‘get real’! 

Day 24, Friday, 12 March Returning to myself

 

RETREAT IN LENT 2021

Day 24, Friday, 12 March 

Returning to myself

Augustine, in his Confessions, addresses God, ‘Being admonished to return to myself, I entered into my inmost depths, with you as guide; and I was able to do because you were my helper.’ In Hosea, 14:2-10, which we read today, we see the same cry, ‘Come back to the Lord. Say to him, “Take all iniquity away,” so that we may have happiness again.’ The theme of ‘turning back’, ‘returning to the Lord’ is constant in Lent.

Another word is ‘conversion’ (from Latin, vertere, to turn) with the idea of turning to my true self. We often live a false version of our true self. Shakespeare, in Hamlet, says, ‘and above all else, to thy own self be true’, implying that it is a struggle to be true to oneself. So Lent is the time to ‘enter into my inmost depths’ and reflect whether this or that way of acting, this or that choice I make, is really true to who I am, is really in harmony with whom I am and is a true living out of my gifts.

If we are true to ourselves, we provide a light to encourage others to be true to themselves. In Mark 12:28-34, the scribes, for once, are on the same page as Jesus! They all agree that ‘the first of all the commandments’ – to love the Lord your God – is linked to the second – to love others as yourself. This is the heart of the matter! True love of self flows into love for others and is an expression of our love of God. These three – self, others, God – is the journey of life. We begin by being conscious of ourselves. After a while we come to ‘know’ others, normally starting with our mother, and finally we broaden our scope by coming to know God.

Day 23, Thursday, 11 March ‘In his will is our peace’ (Dante)

 

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Day 23, Thursday, 11 March 

‘In his will is our peace’ (Dante)

Dante Alighieri, born 1265 in Florence, Italy, is to Italian what Shakespeare is to English. His Divine Comedy, an imagined purifying journey of the dead to Paradise, is considered one of the greatest pieces of world literature. This saying of his, ‘in his will is our peace’, sums up his whole outlook as it does the whole of Christian theology. Its origins are, of course, in scripture and today’s readings are a good example of the source.

‘Follow right to the end the way that I mark out for you, and you will prosper’, says Jeremiah (7:23-28). ‘But they did not listen and followed the dictates of their own hearts’.  In the gospel, (Luke 11:14-23), there is a blank refusal to accept Jesus and they prefer to say he is possessed by a devil. Jesus warns them strongly: ‘the kingdom of God has overtaken you’ whether you like it or not. You can fight against it, try to ignore it, brush it off as the devil’s work.  But it is there, immovable, solid as a rock.

If we do not accept this gift and follow the way Jesus reveals to us, we will have no peace. Our joy, our peace, is in surrendering to love, the love of God for each one of us. Human love is a taste of divine love and leads on, if we follow the path, to divine love. In human love we give ourselves to one another. If we hold back, and try to control love to our own liking, we know we will have no peace. We have to lose ourselves so as to find ourselves. This is written on every page of the gospel. And of every page of world literature.

It is the wisdom of the ages which each generation has to learn and re-learn repeatedly until we truly find his will – ‘thy will be done’ – and our peace.     

 

Day 22, Wednesday, 10 March ‘Do not let these things slip from your heart.’

 

RETREAT IN LENT 2021

Day 22, Wednesday, 10 March 

‘Do not let these things slip from your heart.’

At this stage in Lent there is a reminder of the covenant between God and his people forged in the desert (Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9). The covenant, like a book of instructions for a new tool, lays down what to do. If you follow the instructions things will work and you will be happy. If you don’t read the instructions, or ignore them, you will proceed by guessing and you may damage the tool and things may fall apart and you won’t be happy.

The instructions in the desert were basic but they were a foundation. Jesus says in Matthew (5:17-19), ‘build on them’ as a teenager builds on her or his primary education. The point here is about freedom. Freedom is not about doing what I like without any reference to others or to the real world, for example, of medicine. Freedom is about choosing what is life-giving for me and for others and this immediately imposes limits.

If I want to irrigate a field, I can’t just empty a tanker of water on it; it will only reach a small part of the field and the rest will run off and be wasted. No, I have to direct (limit) the water to pipes or channels so that the whole field feels the moisture and receives life from it.

So it is with the ‘new’ covenant given us by Jesus on another mountain (Matthew 5: 1-12). ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit’ who choose to be free. They are not slaves to money or power or property. They may have them but they do not dominate their life. They are free. The Queen of England’s grandson and his wife felt these things were crushing them and they have chosen to opt out. They have chosen to be free.

So we look at our choices. There are good choices and there are better choices. A poignant example of this is given in Luke (10:38-42), where Martha makes a good and necessary choice. But then Jesus tells her that Mary has made an even better one!

‘Do not let these things slip from your heart’ says Moses in the book quoted above.

 

 

Day 21, Tuesday, 9 March Unless you forgive …

 

RETREAT IN LENT 2021

Day 21, Tuesday, 9 March 

Unless you forgive …

I remember a homily given by the late Fr Raymond Kapito where he spoke at length about forgiveness. He told many, often amusing, stories in his concern to hammer home the lesson of forgiveness; that it was not easy but it was essential if we are to break through the barriers that divide people and cut the spiral of bitterness and recrimination that can sometimes exist even in families.

I am always struck by how Mark begins his gospel with Jesus insisting from the beginning on the call to ‘change your way of thinking’. The Greek word Mark uses is metanoia, sometimes translated as ‘repent’ (Mark 1:15) but it is more than repentance. It is a whole new way of seeing things.

Jesus gives a story in today’s reading (Matthew 18:21-35) where he basically says, ‘you are happy when someone forgives you and solves your problem but you can’t see that this binds you to forgive others and solve theirs – which can often be much smaller than yours’. In the introduction to the parable, Matthew tells us the disciples wanted to put limits to forgiveness but it is clear that Jesus reacted radically to this. There are no limits. Both Jesus - and Kapito - are saying this is the test of being a follower of his: my attitude to others has to be unconditional just as God’s love for me is unconditional.

Unconditional, except that we do have to ask for forgiveness. God loves us without conditions but he cannot give us ‘life to the full’ unless we want it and so there has to be a turning towards the Lord. We have only to think of the prodigal son. He came to his senses and said, ‘I will arise and go to my father’ (Luke 15:18). Without that, the father could do nothing. But when he does return, all the father can think of is celebrating. There isn’t a word of judgement or condemnation. Ancient Israel learnt this lesson quickly: God was ‘a God of tenderness and compassion’ (Exodus 34:6). He longs to forgive, to heal, to make whole. We find it hard; we want to put up conditions. ‘OK, I’ll forgive but I won’t forget!’ Forgiveness is liberating – for the one forgiven and for the one forgiving.

The first reading today, from Daniel (3:34-43), laments the failure of Israel to understand these things and keep the covenant. But from bitter experience in the exile, the prophet speaks of Israel at last having a ‘contrite heart’ and ‘seeking the face’ of God once more.  

 

RETREAT IN LENT 2021

Day 20, Monday, 8 March 

Naaman and the little girl

Jesus reminds his hearers in the synagogue in Capernaum that the pagan Syrian listened to Elisha the prophet and was healed (2 Kings 5:1-15), whereas they do not welcome his message (Luke 4:24-30). They are enraged and want to throw him off the edge of the cliff near their town. What strikes me about this story is how the Syrians listen to a little captive girl.

She is a child. She is a girl and she is a captive. All these would surely, in the culture of the time, make her someone not worth listening to. But, not only does the king heed her, he sends Naaman loaded with gifts to Israel to be cured. What power that little girl had! Perhaps it reminds us of Bernadette of Lourdes who insisted, against all the ‘wise’ objections of her elders that she had seen the lady at the grotto and that she had given those instructions.

Naaman becomes sceptical when Elisha tells him to bathe in the River Jordan. ‘Surely the rivers of Damascus are better than any rivers in Israel?’ But again, he listens to an unusual source, this time his servants, and goes and does what the prophet commands and his flesh is cleansed and becomes ‘like the flesh of little child’.

‘Unless you become like little children …’ (Matt 18:3). Naaman, the successful army commander, seems to become a little child in this story.

Jesus is asking the people pf Capernaum to drop their prejudices and comfortable arguments and accept the gift God is offering (John 4:10) in humble faith. It means putting to one side all the images we build of ourselves and allowing him to come to us and change us.

REALITY IS BIGGER

 

REALITY IS BIGGER

Remember last year, that period between the outbreak of Covid 19 and the production of the vaccine! There were moments of fear. Will millions die? Will I be one of them? Normally, we believe we can manage our planet. Even climate change. We know there are solutions even if the will to implement them is not yet fully there. But Covid, at times, seemed beyond us. It was everywhere. Despite all precautions you could even pick it up in hospital. My brother did.

Among the many lessons we have learnt in the past twelve months an overriding one has to be that reality is bigger than us. Since the dawn of the scientific age 400 years ago we have believed that, if we keep searching, we will find the solutions to all our problems. But the more we advance in our technology the more the goal seems to recede. We, collectively, are part of something much bigger than ourselves.

This can be a threatening thought or a liberating one. It will threaten us if we really think we can solve all our challenges through research. It will liberate us if, having done all the research we can, we let go and trust. It is, maybe four years ago now, but I am still awed by the story of those Thai boys trapped in a cave underground when the waters rose all around them and left them only a small breathing space. Their location was discovered and rescuers used every technique known to get them out and they succeeded. But no one could be sure the rescue effort would be successful until it was.

The story is a parable of our lives. We can do everything within our power to live healthy fruitful lives. But while we know what happened yesterday, we do not know what will happen tomorrow. The pope is in Iraq today and we pray he will not only be safe but will build the bridges he has set out to build. But we cannot be sure. What we can do is trust. ‘Whatever happens, Meg, it will be for the best’. These words are taken from a letter of Thomas More to his daughter while in the Tower of London awaiting execution in 1535.

In today’s account of Jesus driving out the sellers of cattle and sheep from the temple we sense the bitter taste of a bond gone lifeless. The Jews had given up on the covenant and turned the house of God into a market place. Sometimes marriages are like that where nothing remains of the original promise. There is no more trust in the relationship. All that remains is a desire for immediate satisfaction.

We are bigger than that. We are part of something we do not yet fully understand. Is it not possible to live precariously? Trusting? Never certain. Always a pilgrim.

7 March 2021    Lent Sunday 3B   Exod 20:1-17   1 Cor 1:22-25    John 2:13-25

Day 18, Saturday, 6 March I will arise and go to my father

 

RETREAT IN LENT 2021

Day 18, Saturday, 6 March 

I will arise and go to my father

It is a matter of continuous astonishment that God gives us the key to our own salvation, our own happiness. The story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) is the story of God’s forgiveness but his compassion is unlocked by the son. Without that ‘coming to his senses’ and decision to ‘arise’ (it is the same Greek word as is used for the resurrection of Jesus) ‘and go to my father’ there would have been no healing.  

The accompanying passage from the prophet Micah (7:14-20) also pleads for forgiveness: ‘Have pity on us, tread down our faults; to the bottom of the sea throw all our sins.’ It is a constant theme, especially for Luke, in the gospels. Women and men come forward, express their need for healing – in body and spirit – and every time they receive it. It is not just words, ‘Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy’ but a deep felt cry for healing.

And the father rejoices! The son has made his day by coming home. The father forgets all the hurt, anxiety and disappointment he felt. He falls over himself making arrangements to welcome home his son; the best robe, a ring, sandals, a feast. His joy is so great he can’t think of anything more he can do. Then the elder brother comes in – all gloomy and judgemental – threatening to dampen the joy of the moment. Big brother fails to ‘rise’.

Reconciliation stretches us. When someone is truly sorry it is still difficult to forgive and perhaps even more difficult to forget. But Micah pleads that our sins be buried at the bottom of the sea. And then we rise above it all into the joy of God’s compassion and love.

Day 17, Friday, 5 March A Luta! The Struggle continues

 

RETREAT IN LENT 2021

Day 17, Friday, 5 March 

 A Luta! The Struggle continues

States, colleges, schools, bishops, religious orders and many more have ‘coats of arms.’ They are distinctive badges, sometimes with a motto. The origin goes back to the time when bands of soldiers adopted a standard or badge to distinguish themselves from the enemy in battle. Ignatius of Loyola used this practice to illustrate the enduring battle between good and evil. Satan had his standard and called people to follow him; Jesus had his and called people to follow him. There would be a battle, a battle which continues today.

The story of Joseph and his many-coloured coat (Genesis 37) is one such battle. Reuben makes an effort to restrain his brothers from killing Joseph who is sold into slavery instead. Joseph’s personal battle begins and his faith in God, learnt from his father Jacob, leads in time to a blessing for himself and all his brothers. It is a parable for Israel – did they understand it? I seems not.

Jesus takes up the theme in a parable of his own (Matthew 21:33-46). The vineyard is the people of God and those who are to care for this vineyard and help it bear fruit, the leaders, are more interested in enjoying the fruits than in offering them to the one who owns the vineyard. Messengers are sent to warn the leaders but they are ignored or killed. Finally, the owner sends his own son. ‘They will respect my son’, he says. They don’t. They kill him too and the whole weight of Good Friday breaks in on us on this preparatory Friday of Lent.

We are to notice this struggle within us every day. The battle continues within families, in work places, in leisure moments, in politics, in the Church – everywhere. ‘Peace be with you’, we say, but it is a deep peace which is the foundation, a hidden source of our strength to face the evil ever present. There is no peace except that peace.

We pray today for Pope Francis as he sets out for Iraq, the home of Abraham, the father of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Today it is a dangerous place with many rivalries and unresolved issues. Christians fled abroad in their thousands during the recent wars. Guns are everywhere and Covid is rampant there too. Yet Francis insists on going. He wants to bring a message of hope and consolation by his presence. 

Day 16, Thursday, 4 March The devious heart

 

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Day 16, Thursday, 4 March 

The devious heart

The very first of the psalms sets the tone for today: ‘Happy the person whose delight is the Lord …they are like a tree planted by flowing waters. Not so are the wicked, … they are like winnowed chaff’ (Psalm 1). And Jeremiah (17:5-10) repeats this psalm almost word for word. That it is the first psalm of all perhaps suggests it is the dominant theme of all the psalms. Certainly, it is the leading theme of the Christian life: trust in God.

Many people today trust in God even though they would not put it in those terms. They live an unselfish life even if they do not enter a church. The media often reports stories of women and men whose motivation is concern for others. Just yesterday there was a report of a blind 9-year-old boy in a shattered school building in war-torn Yemen who stands up and teaches the class when the teacher does not turn up.

Jesus tells a horrific tale of a man who goes the other way (Luke 16:19-31). He enjoys himself everyday and takes no notice of the poor man at his door. For him the poor man does not exist. They both die and finally the rich man’s eyes are opened and, in his pain and regret, begs Abraham to warn his brothers. But Abraham tells him ‘a great gulf has been fixed’ between ‘your side and ours’. It is too late.

Whatever our thoughts on hell, one thing is sure. There is a finality about death. Up to that time we can cross the gulf between affluence and misery, oppression and freedom, hatred and love, rich and poor. But after death the gulf is ‘fixed’. We will then live by the choices we have made. It will be too late to change. And the greatest choice of all, the one we learn with our mother’s milk, is to trust.

Day 15, Wednesday, 3 March You do not know what you are asking

 

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Day 15, Wednesday, 3 March 

You do not know what you are asking

Have you ever had the experience of doing something against the advice and wishes of all those closest to you? They do not understand what you are doing and maybe think you are a little crazy. Jesus had that experience with his disciples. Mathew tells us in one place (chap 16) that Peter objected strongly to what Jesus planned to do and in today’s reading (Matthew 20:17-28) even the mother of two of his friends completely missed the point.

The prophets of former times had the same experience. It was a lonely calling and we sympathise with Jeremiah’s (18:18-20) anguish: ‘They are digging a pit for me’. In the following chapter (19) we get a glimpse of where Jeremiah finds the courage to go on despite all the opposition: ‘You have seduced me, Yahweh, and I have let myself be seduced.’ At times he wants to run away from God but then, ‘there seemed to be a fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones.’ In the midst of all the hostility he feels, he knows, deep down, that God is calling him to be faithful, to persevere in his task.

During World War II, an Austrian farmer, Franz Jägerstätter, refused to serve in Hitler’s army. His family, his neighbours, his local priest, even his bishop told him his duty was to serve. A film has been made of his inner battle, A Hidden Life, and it shows his long agony ending in his execution by Hitler’s government.  Today he is a hero in Austria and Germany and is on the way to canonisation. But is his lifetime he was misunderstood, insulted and persecuted.

Where do these reflections come into my life? One of the big questions must be: do I follow what is deepest within me? Or am I afraid of what others will think?