HOPEFUL CATHOLICS

STRAWS IN THE WIND 2 God is preparing a greater age of Christianity, which will bless the earth. He has made us weaker to make way for a clear display of his own strength and grace. He himself is calling people to seek Jesus and his spiritual body, the Church. This is a corner of our website which highlights signs of hope in the world today. Here are two RESURGENCE OF THE Catholic FAITH There has been a lot attention given to a recent survey of people’s attitudes to Christianity. It was commissioned by the Bible Society, and carried out by the independent pollsters YouGov. It threw up some encouraging facts. Most outstanding is that there is an increase of young adults seeking to join the Church. The proportion of young men attending Church has risen from 4% to 21% since 2018. Here is a link to an article about the survey. It was by Catherine Pepinster in the Telegraph on 14 th of April, entitled: The extraordinary resurgence of the Catholic faith in Britain. ( please click on the title of the article) ATHEIST FEMINIST JOINS THE Catholic Church The powerful attacks on faith by militant atheists in recent years has had an enormous effect on how people think in Britain. Denying the existence of God has become popular and trendy. That dismayed us because it was so new and forceful. But there are signs that its momentum is decreasing rapidly as people feel its depressing and impoverishing effects. Basically it proclaims that there is no meaning in life, or, as Richard Dawkins put it, we are just the product of random genes which need to reproduce themselves. There is now a trend in the opposite direction. Here is a link to a YouTube video of a “conversation with Ayaan Hirsi Ali ( please click on the name) a prominent atheist feminist about her recent journey into the Church. It is an hour and a half long, but well worth viewing.

His people On Easter night, he entered the upper room to the amazement of his people, and breathed the Holy Spirit upon them. With that breath the renewal of creation began. For centuries God had been preparing for this renewal through his deepening relationship with his chosen people, Israel. Long ago, he took a tribe of slaves out of oppression in Egypt. Then he led them through the desert for 40 years in which these wild spirits gradually made covenant with him, because they saw his mighty deeds. It was his right hand alone that brought them victories. Remember how Joshua and Hur held up Moses’ arms in prayer to bring them victory over the Amalekites? The walls of Jericho tumbled down as they processed around them praising him. He led them to conquer city after city, becoming skilful warriors. But it was by God’s “right hand and arm” that they gained victories “because he loved them”. (Psalm 44). That was an amazing time. Then they settled and cultivated the land, became farmers and gradually their civilization grew, they started recording their history in books. But it was also a long period of centuries in which he stopped feeding them like babies – they had to grow up. They struggled to stop inventing their own religion, and slowly learned to deal with the real God in the way he demanded. All their worst vices came out and they had terrible times of crisis, but after two thousand years, there were enough of them ready to receive the Messiah. Jesus, the Son of God became flesh. After Jesus had ascended to Heaven, they assumed their new name “Christians”. It was time to bring all people into Israel. He stunned them with spiritual victories as they converted the Roman Empire and assimilated the wisdom of many cultures especially the Greeks. As they continued their journey of converting new peoples throughout the world, holiness flourished alongside depravity, all the worst vices came out and they struggled each in their day with evils within themselves. A great Christian culture developed. Its fruits were: human rights, university learning, universal education, the founding of hospitals, science and democracy to name a few. But that too was a preparation stage from which the next development is to take place. God’s renewal of creation is progressive not static. What is the next development in God’s plan? In a prophetic poem, Christopher Fry writes: Thank God our time is now when wrong Comes up to face us everywhere, Never to leave us till we take The longest stride of soul men ever took. Affairs are now soul size. The enterprise is exploration into God. Where are you making for? It takes So many thousand years to wake… (The Sleep of Prisoners) Our own day and age. God is leading us into a new age. He has enabled an explosion of development in the sciences, which can be used for wonderful human development or for destruction. Real development will only come if humanity manages to grow up. We have to face the depravity and brokenness of the human heart. Like Israel claiming the Promised Land, we will only achieve maturity through the "right hand and arm" of him who loves us. And he has been busy preparing his people for the new age of grace. In the West, the cradle of Christianity, he is changing his Church. From being the powerful formers of culture, he has made us weak almost to the point of irrelevance. This was so that we would radically depend on "his right hand and arm", not on our selves, which is always a temptation when times are going your way. We are diminished in size, but growing in holiness. We are now to come before him to intercede, and believe that the walls of mankind's inner Jerichos will fall. "Affairs are now soul size". He is calling us to recognise our royal priesthood which requires us to intercede more profoundly. That means a greater life of prayer - the "exploration into God". God’s donkeys In making us more humble he is enabling us to be better agents of his will wherever and however he shows it to us. This will usually takes the form of fulfilling humble tasks. It is in these that we will be refined and grow into agents of refining humankind like gold. Our King comes riding on a donkey. Not a pretty animal, stubborn, sounding like a fog-horn, designed to pull and carry heavy loads. No one writes songs about donkeys. But there is a cross marked on its back, and for millennia it has carried our aged, infirm, pregnant mothers and precious children. It is the humble servant of the King. And how humble our King is! We are his donkeys today, bringing him to a hungry world through offering him all our works and prayers, the “spiritual sacrifices” St Peter spoke of (1 Peter 2:5). We must never underestimate the immense power of this prayer of intercession. When we open ourselves to God in prayer, we journey into his mysterious, ineffable being. Our understanding fails to grasp him, but a knowing grows in our hearts. That knowing is that undefinable activity called love, and love will never be satisfied until everything is bonded finally with God, and all creation is renewed. The Holy Spirit is the hidden agent in the Trinity, the catalyst and choreographer of this love which fills the universe. He is bringing the universe into the wholeness and holiness of the Trinity. We are his chosen collaborators. The name of this God-charged phenomenon is Church. Through his Church, God is gathering all creation into communion As people today rightly claim their freedom to take responsibility like adults, traditional communities have become fractured and new so-called ‘communities’ are springing up in social media. They are virtual and far from virtuous, lacking the richness of physical touch. But the fracturing of communities founded on flesh and blood is preparation for the emergence of 'communion', which is how the Holy Spirit transforms human communities. As our hearts grow in the prayer of loving our Father, love and responsibility for others become more active and spreads, and the world itself is gradually changed. This is the dynamic we have to understand. There is a great difference between natural human communities and the communion which is the fruit of the Spirit. At Easter his people first met the risen Lord and they remembered how he told Martha “I am the Resurrection and the Life”? He didn't say "I am risen", but "I am resurrection". It is not just Jesus who rose two thousand years ago, it is us along with all creation that are in the process of rising from the dead with him. It is the death of selfishness and disharmony. He is “The Life” and is among us. Through Church, humanity is increasingly being drawn into that life. Expect greater penetration of the Holy Spirit who generates harmony.

THE BEAUTIFUL CHURCH Our Lent Zoom Course has turned into a series of sharings about the deep treasures of our faith. As it proceeds, I am realising that we were a microcosm of the Church. We are very different people with years of their own experiences behind them. Yet, as others talked, we each recognised our own experience and hopes and graces and frustrations. Was that just a straw poll of individual Church-going Catholics or was it the phenomenon of a master hand at work in all of us? It was the Holy Spirit working in different ways in each one of us, but producing a symphony of outcome which displays his unifying energy working in each of us. What we call Church is the functioning of a coordinated master plan, which is in fact all around us. It is the flow of God’s Spirit in human hearts and persons which is really a gigantic river moving through human history, and gradually drawing all people into itself. The second body of Christ After the crucifixion, Jesus went in his glorified physical body into heaven only to return through the Holy Spirit who is forming this new Mystical Body for him just as he formed his physical body in the womb of Mary. We need to revise all the notions we have of what the Church is, and start to appreciate the breadth of this God-guided phenomenon which is gradually enveloping humanity. Only after that can we reassess what we have been taught about the Church. The true picture of the Church only comes into focus when we have gained a notion and sense of this vast current, working through human history to renew mankind. God is gathering into the life of the Trinity, the children of Adam and Eve. The meaning of the original Greek word for Church, “ekklesia”, is “the gathering”. The functioning of this entity, Church, is entirely personal. It really is Jesus in his new body reclaiming us through a process of gradually drawing all humanity into communion, nurtured and cherished by the Holy Spirit. And wherever the Spirit forms Christ, Mary is his partner. The process isn’t finished. We are deluded if we expect it to be. Look how God worked through centuries with Israel. He is working gradually, forming the new Israel, the Church. Our impatient aspirations can blind us to the reality. Are we shrinking in the West? No, we are being reorganised by God in preparation for the next stage which he has planned. Do you think this phenomenon of Church is static? No it is developing. Have we got a handle on where the Church is now being taken by God? No, we will have that when we are deep in the stages which will follow this emerging era, when people will be writing their history books. This is about hope and a firm belief that when the Father sent his Son, he absolutely well knew what he was doing. And if we aren’t told the whole plan, that’s our look-out. We aren’t meant to see it all, but to walk by faith, which Adam and Eve never did. We can get stuck on the Church hierarchy which developed organically under the guidance of the Spirit But far more important is the Mystical Body functioning in millions of brothers and sisters all over the world, not the visible representations of the phenomenon. The Pope, bishops, priest and nuns are important, but to focus mainly on them and Church organisation is wrong. Focus on Jesus and on all the evidence of God’s unerring determination, and on what we know of how he worked in the past, and you will get a sense of how he is active now. You are a Royal Priest These words of St Peter's words (1 Peter 2: 29) remind us that a serious obligation has been placed on each of us by God. The next article will explore how that works. it is entitled The Church that Moves Mountains.

During a bitter argument with the Jews, Jesus said: “I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and, as it is in my power to lay it down, so it is in my power to take it up again ” (John 10: 17-18). Those who executed Jesus did so only because he not only allowed it but explicitly chose it. This is borne out by the events leading up to his death, starting in the previous week. Bethany He is on his way to Jerusalem and reaches Bethany where he had raised Lazarus from the dead a few days before. Suddenly something happens which is his Father’s signal to him that he must enter into the final drama of redemption. It is the sign he has been waiting for: Gentiles come looking for Jesus. He then proclaims that the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Suddenly, he is overcome by distress saying “Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say: Father save me from this hour? But it is for this very reason that I have come to this hour; Father glorify your name!” A voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and I will glorify it again”. Jesus said: “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 men to myself" (John 12: 27-32). after a moment of fear, he makes the decision to go ahead, and takes up the terrifying burden of our redemption, totally committed to his Father’s will. God has chosen Jerusalem to be the epicentre of divine-human intercourse. Jesus’ heart is heavy as he approaches it to bring to a head the time of judgment. As he drew near and came in sight of the city he shed tears over it and said, "If you in your turn had only understood on this day the message of peace! But, alas, it is hidden from your eyes!” He prophecies the coming destruction of the city and its inhabitants. “And all because you did not recognize your opportunity when God offered it”. (Luke 19: 41-44) Palm Sunday Jerusalem’s name means something like 'where wholeness is developed' or ‘where peace is forged’. He enters as King of Peace, riding not a war horse but a donkey. The people go wild with joy. They cannot help themselves. The Cosmos is crowding down upon them, gathering for the final battle. When Some Pharisees tell him to silence the crowd, he answered, "I tell you, if these keep silence the stones will cry out." (Luke 19: 40) He then goes to the temple, makes a whip, and rids it of all the market stalls which provided a nice income for the Chief Priests and Jewish leaders. They are enraged and come to protest. It is the last stage in the bitter arguments he has provoked with them publicly exposing their hypocrisy. He has staged the whole series of confrontations to leave them no choice but to seek his death. He is brutally forcing the issue. He is entirely in charge of the developing events. Passover After four days, he celebrates the Passover, the Last Supper. As he institutes the Eucharist, his eternal sacrifice of himself is begun. We join in that same sacrifice at every Mass. At the end he says: “The prince of this world is on his way, He has no power over me, but the world must be brought to know that I love the Father and that I am doing exactly what the Father told me. Arise, let us go” (John 14: 30-31). He has summoned Satan to the final cosmic battle. Satan comes with all his powers of darkness. From now on, the full power of evil will press down upon the city. Jesus feels it keenly. He leaves the city and crosses the Kedron Valley to the Garden of Olive Trees. He tells the disciples “pray that you do not be put to the test”. Then he withdrew from them, and knelt down and prayed. "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done not mine. Then an angel appeared coming from heaven to give him strength. In his anguish he prayed even more earnestly, and his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. When he rose from prayer he went to the disciples and found them sleeping for sheer grief” (Luke 22: 39-46). They cannot stand the weight of darkness gathering around them. Judas comes with the soldiers sent by the Chief Priests and the Pharisees. “Knowing everything that was going to happen to him, Jesus then came forward and said, "Who are you looking for?" ·They answered, “Jesus the Nazareen”. He answered “I am he”. When he said “I am he”, they moved back and fell to the ground” (John 18: 2-8). As he voluntarily surrenders himself into their power, see what power he himself emanated! Later Pilate senses it. Foolish Peter cuts off a soldier’s ear. Jesus heals it and tells Peter to put his sword away “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father who would promptly send more than twelve legions of angels to my defence? (Luke 26:53). The total ferocity of Satan As he relinquishes his power, all hell, literally, breaks loose. People change and their worst characteristics take over. When he was eight days old, Simeon had prophecied that through him "the secret thoughts of many would be laid bare" (Luke 2: 35). His followers, who have witnessed multiple, amazing, miraculous demonstration of his power, are overcome by craven fear and run away. Peter, the foremost among them ends up swearing and cursing that he does not know Jesus. Judas the traitor hangs himself. As he is first held at the palace of the high priest, “the men who guarded Jesus were mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and questioned him. "Play the prophet," they said. "Who hit you then?" And they continued heaping insults on him” (Luke 22: 64). Later the Roman soldier whipped him within an inch of his life and then mocked him. Herod dressed him as a fool. After his first trial, the Chief Priests and Pharisees, men who usually clung rigidly to their dignity, turned into a rabble, striking him and spitting on him. They will continue to break out into frenzy as he hangs on the cross throwing dirt at him and loudly ridiculing him. Pilate’s wife has terrible dreams about him, and urges her husband to have nothing to do with it. But the mob is going crazy and Pilate’s best efforts fail to prevent the death penalty. The Reversal of History As the Original Sin along with all its horrible consequences are pouring into the chalice that he will drink in order to break its power, the Woman, the New Eve comes and takes her place with her New Adam. She binds herself to him in her heart, a heart pierced by all the sorrows of the world. Who can imagine the force of evil driving his torturers and spirit-tormentors, and how it tore his heart to shreds? He had said to Satan’s henchmen “This is your hour when darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53). The full force of evil which had held the world in bondage almost broke him; he even lost the sense of his Father which he had enjoyed all his life. Who can imagine such torment? Who can imagine such courage and tenacity as he opened all of human vileness up to his Father, for the wonderful Father to heal? At the end, he proclaims that the battle is won, and with a loud cry breathes his last. The darkened land was hushed for three hours. The people slunk home deeply disturbed. That night the spirits of the dead roamed the streets. For a while the earth held its breath awaiting a sign of release. That came on Easter morn. He took up his life again, as he had predicted.

STRAWS IN THE WIND is a corner of our website which highlights signs of hope in the world today.

Am I okay? Am I worth anything? Do I have a valid future? All these are questions we ask and don’t have the answers.