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OH, THE RICHNESS!!! If you blink, you could miss some of the treasure poured out into our laps at this time. First, we are nearing the end of the Easter Season. Like Christmas, it is all too short. Personally, I am just getting into re-examining the Resurrection of Jesus – it is ending too soon! In recent years I have found myself concentrating on his passion and death, the central drama of human history, in which he fought and conquered evil. I have found such richness in the acclamation, “We proclaim his death”. I see my valiant and all-loving saviour routing, in his suffering heart, mind and body, the forces which entangle me and my world. What love! What courage! What hope! But this year it is the resurrection which is stunning me. I have been thinking a lot about the aversion of our modern minds to the whole idea of miracles. Mathematics and science base themselves on strict and unchanging laws in nature. Many philosophers today say that what seems to us to be a miracle will eventually be explained by the discovery of natural forces that we are presently unaware of. They say, if there is a God, he is primarily the law-giver, and therefore he is incapable of changing the laws that he has made. Even among ‘Christians’, there are some who say that one day we will discover the bones of Jesus somewhere in Palestine. But God is not primarily the law-giver. He is the Father who is the delight of his children. He can never be put into a box of human definition and will always surprise us. Through miraculous glimpses and disciplined formation he is re-forming us into his own likeness. On Easter morning, his Son really revived his own body as it slept in death. He not only came back to life he pulsated with the glorious new life of the new creation. I can’t get to the bottom of that – I need more time! Second, Pentecost comes quickly. There was such a supernatural commotion in Jerusalem that thousands of people flocked to the scene. What they saw was some deliriously joyful men celebrating with a big ' C' . The Holy Spirit of God, released into the world at Easter was bringing the Church to life. The Apostles are inspired, there was the miracle of everyone understanding them in their own language, and 3000 were baptised that day. I feel like spending more time here to think about God’s Spirit forming mankind into Church, bringing about the new creation here and now. I feel we only get time to remember what happened at the first Pentecost, and then are moved quickly on by the liturgy. But isn’t that desire to enter more into Pentecost as it is happening here and now precisely the work of ‘Ordinary Time’? Oh, I hope so. Third, we move onto Trinity The diet of the Liturgy seems too rich. God needed 2000 years to reveal to Israel the Mystery of the amazing love life of the three persons who are united as one God. There is no truth more deep or important. How can we just give it a day in the Liturgy? But that very deepest reality, Trinity, is what every single day is about not just Trinity Sunday. It is where we have come from, where we are now and where we are going. It is the reality in which we “live and move and have our being” (Acts 17: 28). Every day is meant to be a new stage in our exploration into the reality of our God-filled existence. A large part of the Liturgy, the big feasts, is revisiting the events of salvation, and reliving them to receive their message and know afresh the power of God. But an equally large part is just being in God and learning reality under his mighty hand. We do that by letting the Holy Spirit give us encounters with Jesus, who gradually incorporates us into himself and takes us to our Father. That is Trinity life here and now. Suddenly it’s Corpus Christi In the last paragraph I said that Jesus ‘incorporates’ us into himself in order to take us to our Father. What a surpassing mystery that he should actually do this physically when we eat his body and drink his blood! The Eucharist is the daily bread of Christians, the food for the journey. We call our last reception ‘Holy Viaticum’, the Latin for ‘food for the journey’. In that case the journey is from this world to the fully real world of the Trinity, where there will be no more days, only the eternal now, which we cannot even imagine. We only know it is eternal bliss and beautiful complete communion. The Mass is that point when millions of Christians throughout the world gather as one with all the saints of heaven and are given a foretaste of that glory which is to come. In its strength, we go out to fulfil the next stage of our task of drawing all creation into Jesus’ new life. Through repetition we learn. The great feasts we celebrate so closely together at this time, are like the headlines in a newspaper, which we scan, and later return to in order to familiarise ourselves with the details. They highlight in dazzling dramas, the everyday drama of ordinary life in Christ. It says a lot for God’s understanding of us that we spend year after year relearning so that day by day we can live more fully.
WHERE DOES EVIL COME FROM? The argument from reason that there is a good God. One of the great arguments for the existence of God is the way the world is so perfectly designed. Such detail and harmony working in such incredible complexity, could not just have happened on its own. There has to be an amazing mind at work creating it. This argument will move many people to believe in God and many will seek to know him. Then it is not a matter of reasoning yourself into a conviction that there is a God, but of actually relating to him. The argument is called reason; the relationship is called faith. The argument from reason that there cannot be a good God. But reason will often object: ‘then why is there so much violence and evil?’ The only answer we can offer is not one from reason but from faith. Those of us who believe the scriptures know that an event took place soon after the creation of humanity, whereby human beings chose to know evil as well as good. Put simply, our faith teaches us that evil is not God’s doing but our own. Reason will often argue; ‘even though there are terribly evil human beings, evil is so enormous and so clever, that there must be a mind greater than any human mind behind it’. Our faith informs us that there is indeed a spiritual being so powerful that he is the origin of all evil. He, the Devil, was the one who tempted the first human beings to let in the hideous reality of evil. The father of lies The Devil suffers from such enormous self-absorption that he deceives himself into convincing himself that he is like God, and he actually tries to be God. In dreaming that he is absolute goodness, be cuts himself off from the only being who is absolute goodness, and he hates goodness and hates God. But just as darkness cannot put out even a little candle flame, but must flee before it. He flees from God and concentrates on trying to corrupt God’s beautiful creation where humanity gives glory to God. He wants to own us The Devil is incapable of creating anything – only God can do that. His mode of operating is to twist and wound things that are good. He turns loving into lust, zeal into violence and caution into craven fear. Just as a skilful magician distracts us while he performs his tricks, the Devil is the deceiver par excellence. His object is to lead human beings into hell. That is not primarily a place, but a condition of mind and spirit. The Devil has enormous power to put deceptive thoughts into our minds. When a person gives in to his subtle deceptions he or she violates truth and goodness in themselves. Once that takes hold, he manoeuvres in subtle ways to lead them to consent ever more deeply to their own brokenness. Thus the inner awareness that we are good is eroded until we are filled with such hatred of ourselves that we cannot stand it and direct our hatred outwards at the world and ultimately at God the source of all good. Then, although the person may sustain an attractive persona for a while, they are fundamentally absorbed by evil. That is hell on earth. Does the Devil really exist? Despite the manifold evidence of supernaturally organised evil, his favourite deception in our day is to convince us that he does not actually exist. That works for a while in the good times, but leads to us being caught from behind by the mounting experience of evil. He tries to tell us that all evil comes from human sickness and brokenness, which we can’t help. But no human being could really desire and plot the hideous institutionalising of senseless destruction which we hear of daily in the media. It is the Devil who is the great orchestrator. What is the remedy? It is simple. The Devil has no power to harm us if we are clothed in Christ. We must concentrate our hearts and mind on Jesus. Like drivers on a darkened road when powerful headlight are approaching, we keep our eyes on the white line at the side of the road which is the true way onwards. The dazzling lights which try to dominate our senses will always pass. They are nothing more than smoke and mirrors. We keep our focus on Jesus, the Lord of abundant life. There is a difference between denying that there is a Devil and cultivating a habit of ignoring him because we are focused on Christ. If a child has a tantrum because he has decided that he does not like carrots, it is good to ignore his screams and protests and just carry on enjoying tasty carrots until he discovers his strop isn’t working. He will soon give up. The Devil always withdraws in the face of peaceful faith. Jesus never withdraws. He is with us always until time has run its course and all is lifted up into the glory of God.
HE NURTURED LAY FAITH GUIDES Within the life time of many of us a great saint lived on Malta, St George Preca (1880 - 1962). George was born in Valletta, Malta, growing up not far from the Carmelite Shrine there. At the age of four he nearly drowned in the Grand Harbour, but was rescued by a passing boatman. When his family later told the story, they would joke that he had been rescued from the waters, like Moses. George, recalling that the rescue had happened on the 16th July, feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, attributed his rescue to the protection of the same Lady. As a young man, George was enrolled in the Carmelite scapular and later joined the Third Order. Attracted to the service of the priesthood, George joined the diocesan seminary and was ordained a priest in 1906, inspired by a personal mission to convert the world. Early on, Father George (‘Dun Gorg’ in Maltese) noticed the lack of genuine faith education amongst the young people of Malta . Their religion was built around festivals and formalities, with little connection to their interior lives and a truer following of Jesus. His vision for something more and his lived integrity attracted a circle of young men around him who gathered for prayer, discussion and ultimately to work as lay missionaries in parishes and villages around Malta. His society was known as MUSEUM, which stood for Magister, Utinam Sequatur Evangelium Universus Mundus, or “Master, would that the whole world would follow the Gospel.” A society of laymen who would teach the catechism to the people while receiving instruction themselves was unheard of at the time, and it took twenty-five years and much tension with the Church authorities (including at one point the closure of the Society’s houses) before the Society’s existence was officially approved. It continued its work throughout World War II even in the places where members fled from the violence as refugees. Dun Gorg continued preaching and writing, drawing on the rich spiritual writings of Carmelites Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, as well as, Elijah and Mary, his models as a Third Order Carmelite. He had a flair for making Carmelite thoughts, teachings and traditions clear and simple for working people. In 1951 Malta celebrated the Seventh Centenary of the Brown Scapular, with Father George at the forefront. In the same year the Carmelite Prior General, Killian Lynch, formally affiliated him to the Carmelite family. We gain an insight into his spirit when we learn that it was he who composed the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary in 1957. He died in 1962, and was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 3 June 2007, being described as “Malta’s second father in faith” after St Paul. Today the Society has over a thousand members and is responsible for the teaching of some 20,000 young people in the Maltese islands, the UK, Australia, Peru, Albania, Kenya and the Sudan. Dun Gorg’s feast day is the 9th May. (Acknowledgement to Universalis for this information)
A POPE’S DEATH AND A POPE’S ELECTION – A TIME OF BLAZING LIGHT Looking at media coverage of Pope Francis’s funeral and the election of Pope Leo. The worldwide interest in the event in Rome in recent weeks has been astounding. Even our British BBC and SKY have had nearly 24-hour coverage. The main-stream papers have been full of it as well. That seems to me to be in sharp contrast to their default position of ignoring everything Catholic. It is as though being forced to take note of Francis’ death, they were suddenly drawn into a drama so stunning they could not ignore it. The more they publicised tributes to Francis, the more they were mesmerised by the Jesus shining out of the man, even though they may not be able to use those words. Being used to dismissing Catholic witness to Jesus as “absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent”, preferring “other securities like technology, money, success power and pleasure” (quotes from Pope Leo’s first sermon), they were suddenly confronted by the vibrancy of the Church they had ignored with prejudice. They did not know it was Jesus shining through his people, but they were gob-smacked to witness a life-force which lit up a broken world rather than cast darknes. After that, they could not resist publicising it. The whole beauty of the setting - St Peters, its square, the sunshine, the many thousands of people there every day, the number of motivated people of all ages and nations, even the ancient ritual of black and white smoke were compulsive watching and publicising. The ceremonies in which elderly cardinals were wrapped in deep prayer exploring the God dimension before the eyes of the world, challenged the flat, uninspiring and drab world view they usually portray. To the surprise of the many, the firm trust that God is near and active among us was on full view. And there was wonder, which is the godmother of faith, at the seeming miracle of President Trump and President Zalinskyy reconciling in the immense splendour of St Peter's Basilica. The media’s mixed treatment There was a unusual exposure given to Catholic leaders and commentators, and much of their talk was shot through with genuine decency, restraint and cheerful faith. These were no crack-pots or weIrdos, but a refreshing change from the prophets of doom and the polarised commentators we get day after day. Without knowing it, they were putting on display “communion”, the Spirit’s gift which draws over a billion human beings into unity. What a contrast to the usual sensationalising of conflict! But they could not resist their need to accentuate opposing views in the Church which most of us are only mildly aware of, as though they were the main issues facing the Catholic Church. There was this tiresome talk of conservatives and liberals, traditionalist and progressives from the talking-heads. Yet when they went among the people in the square, they found joy and evident good-will. This was remarkably present even among the tears of Francis’ passing and funeral. It should not surprise us that they came with their controversy hats on. They know no better, but how tedious it was! The issue facing the Catholic Church is the same as always: how to be faithful friends and followers of Jesus. Not what political wing we may identify with, but how to be holy individuals and loving as a communion, so that the world meets Jesus and turns to him, who alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Straws in the wind On this website we seek to enhance Catholic Hope by stressing that God is preparing a new and glorious age of Christianity here in the West. It is in the West that our modern wonderful advances have been produced. Now, here God wants to produce a development of the human heart which more fully lets Jesus inspire us to use these abundant gifts for the good of all. Here, we frequently offer evidence of this new age dawning. Surely the witnesses to Jesus given over the past few weeks in Rome and around the world are signs of God’s urgent activity. France 2025 Another straw in the wind is the remarkable news that 10,384 adults and 7400 teenager s were received into the Church in France this Easter. There has been a 160% increase over the past decade. Read about it in this article from the American Catholic News Agency. ( link below)
I wonder how many people you know watched some of the funeral of Pope Francis. I wonder how many were touched by his ability to empathise with everyone he met. It has been said that the Catholic Church is dying yet it is estimated 4000,00 people were in St Peter’s square for his Requiem Mass or lined the streets for his final funeral journey. Over 250 thousand people from all over the world queued for hours throughout the day or night to pay their last respects to a man that many had never met but somehow, they had encountered and been affected by him. Many hundreds of youth were present for the Jubilee of Youth and they stayed because they wanted to show their respect to a great man, Pope Francis. On the Saturday evening people gathered outside the Basilica of St. Mary Maggiore, the church of his final resting place. They hung around for a longtime as they wanted to be part of the recitation of the rosary but it was as though they could not bring themselves to leave. They wanted to be close to him. The media revelled in the idea that just before the funeral Mass was to begin, the meeting between Presidents Trump and Zelensky was engineered by the late Pope Francis bringing the possibility of peace closer. This maybe true, but it definitely shows people are looking for spiritual intervention in this world. People are fascinated and touched by the ability Pope Francis had to make them feel accepted whatever their faith situation. He was someone very special. Yet all he did was live out the Gospel values as we are asked to do. Yes, he was unusual as he was in charge of the faith practised by billions of people and he put his own stamp on the role of the pontiff. It was a more relaxed, welcoming, loving pontiff that we saw, who was very much in charge but who had time for everyone. At the same time, he was himself, George Bergoglio – the caring sympathetic personable man who everyone could identify with. Is this how we live out our faith? The last command of Jesus in Mathew 28:19 was ‘Go out and make disciples, baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teach them all I have taught you.’ We need to look deeper into how to do this or maybe how to do this better. When we accompany people in the faith, we walk beside them and help them to encounter the faith or return to the faith. We can do simple things in our everyday life such as at the end of a conversation say ‘God bless’. I try to do this when I am speaking on the phone trying to solve utility difficulties or talking to someone at the bank – they are often taken aback and say thankyou which shows they are not just shaken by it, but they appreciate it. Sometimes they shakily reply ’oh yes and to you too’. When responding to a question from a hairdresser about what I do, I spoke about working for the Church and having a ministry helping adults to know their faith better. I then discovered she was a catholic and now always wants to talk about the Church. She probably cannot do this with any other client. We should not let our British reserve, or shyness prevent us from speaking about God. Sometimes we feel blocked by a lack of confidence in our knowledge of the faith. Are we happy just to stay in this rut or is there something we can do to help our faith knowledge increase? Is there someone you could speak to about this or any kind of reading you can do to help your faith foundation increase? We need to be aware that we need to grow deeper in knowing our faith with our heart, not just with our head. Anyone can read and just quote others, but the attraction to the faith and conversion of the heart are sparked by the passion seen in someone who believes and speaks from the heart. When someone turns up at Mass, they may be returning to the church after being away for a while or maybe they are a new comer. The last thing they need is an interrogation, but a simple ‘hello’, ‘how are you’, ‘great to see you’, at the church door to welcome them is much better and less oppressive. Once we have repeated this exercise for a while, maybe we could offer to sit with them in church. Many non-regular attenders who arrive at the church door are hesitant and do not need to be bombarded, they are often anxious and unsure of themselves and may feel too much is expected of them too soon. They often feel lost as they do not know or cannot remember the responses in Mass, but with someone standing beside them guiding them often helps them to relax. In today’s world where faith is not valued, we British are not only reluctant to share our faith with others, we are also reluctant to share the fact that we are on a journey constantly seeking to know more because it looks as if we do not know our faith well enough. On a recent trip to Spain several people from the church went for a coffee in a local coffee shop and all the talk was about things connected to the faith. This is partly because they come from a culture of faith, it is embedded in their DNA. Do we do this when we go for coffee after Mass or is our conversation about anything and everything except our relationship with Jesus and the Church? We often find this depth of faith in immigrants who come to our parishes. Many British, although they do their best, do not have a faith at such a depth that it penetrates all their being and everything their family does. Is there a way to make a breakthrough to enable sharing about Jesus, and our faith to be the norm in the groups we are part of. Recently one of the members of a group spoke about a relative being a sister in the church and the others in the group were fascinated. Questions were raised by this, such as ‘What made her want to do this?’ ‘How could she give up a family?’ But also, people were incredibly impressed and touched by the fact that this young woman could give up everything for God. This was a chance to speak about the importance of God in our life. People are seeking and want to know about this loving God but they are afraid to ask in case they are ridiculed, so we need to make the openings to enable them to ask questions. We need to remember to trust the Holy Spirit as he will give us the words we need to speak to the heart of others. No-one said it was easy but let us have confidence in God- He will provide all we need. We need to initiate others in the art of accompaniment within their own circles, including in their families. How many parents avoid the subject of religion with grown up sons and daughters in fear that an argument will follow and they will distance themselves from you. We need to pray, speak and trust that God will provide the opportunities to share our faith. He will provide the words we need to speak and open the ears of those we speak to. We cannot do this alone We need him. We cannot hide the fact that there are times when we will be attacked for what we say, we will be mocked and may sometimes feel a failure. However, we have a responsibility to spread the faith which includes laying down the seeds of truth. Then the Holy Spirit will develop the seed you planted within others, but you need to give him room to work within them. This is when prayer is so important, we plant the seed and step back and pray as the Holy Spirit moves in for his part in the process. The more we share, the more our confidence grows. The more we know our own faith, the more we can accompany others with a growing confidence. Pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you to situations in which to share your faith and ask him to give you the words others need to hear.
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.