JUBILEE MEANS JOY

WHO WILL BREAK THE CYCLE OF DESTRUCTION?

The Church is the deep, strong current moving through history by which God is drawing all mankind into the Trinity. It is his gradual process of healing humanity. Just as he focused his redemptive activity on Israel in the Old Covenant in order to prepare a people advanced in faith, he has been focusing his redemptive activity mostly on the old Roman/Greek world for the first 1500 years of the New Covenant. In and through the Church he has been drawing out of the heart of fallen humanity its deepest pathologies to begin their healing. A pathology is a deep brokenness or disease weakening a body. The ones referred to here are some of those that have been growing in humanity since and because of original sin. All are still active today, but God has been breaking their power through the saints and members of the Church in successive centuries. This process is not because the redemption of humanity by Christ on the cross was deficient. Through his sacrifice, Christ broke the grip of all sin, but he will not apply his healing remedy without the full cooperation of his brothers and sisters. He draws us into the act of salvation because he wants us to achieve our full stature, as the children of God for whom fallen frustrated creation has been longing. St Paul expresses this great honour in Colossians 1:24: “In my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church”. St Peter, in 1 Peter 4:13, expresses it like this: “Rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed”. I will try to illustrate this process here. Pathology number 1 - the conviction that God is distant and will not come close to us. Although it was human beings who shut God out at the Fall, their consequent inability to know him grew into a convinction that it is impossible to be close to him. This was radically challenged by the coming of the Son of God, Jesus, as a real human being. In the first three centuries after Jesus, many Christians had a problem believing that it really was God who had come close to us. But great saints and Fathers of the Church bore the pain and strain of believing in the great mystery of the incarnation, until the Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) was held to counteract the many heresies going around about the nature of Jesus. It declared that Jesus was both God and man. It is where we get the Nicene Creed which we often recite in Mass. The overwhelming, but erroneous conviction that God can never come close to us has been radically weakened. Many people still feel it, but it is more easily dealt with. Pathology number 2 - we are so broken that we cannot become part of God. The early Church Fathers, once the controversy of the union of divine and human nature in Jesus had been settled (Nicaea), quickly gave voice to a sense that was very strong in the Church, that Mary the Mother of Jesus had a unique role in the process of human salvation. This teaching was a logical consequence of the revelation of Jesus’ two natures, and also the abiding deeply felt experience of Mary’s spiritual presence among us, assisting Christ in the process of salvation. At the Council of Ephesus (431) the Church declared that Mary is the “Mother of God”. At the Second Council of Constantinople (533) the Church declared that she was a virgin all through her life, dedicated to God with her every breath and every heartbeat. The belief that she was conceived in her mother’s womb without any trace of Original Sin was strongly held from this time throughout the Church, although it was only formally proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854. Likewise, it was widely held from earliest times that she was assumed body and soul into heaven at her death, although that was only formally proclaimed by Pope Pius XII in 1950. The Church Fathers grasped that, as Mary faithfully cooperated with God in reaching her own perfection, she is the sign given to the developing Church of how, through the Church, humanity would become perfect and united with Christ in the marriage of the Lamb, on the Last Day. The human race will be perfected and be drawn into the Godhead. We can and will become part of God Through all the prayer and struggle to understand Mary, a profound vision of how humanity can be perfect was realised. The overwhelming and erroneous sense in humanity that we are so broken that we cannot become part of God has been radically weakened. Many people still feel it, but it is more easily dealt with. Pathology number 3 – the strength of peer pressure cannot be broken. There are many deep stratas of human brokenness haunting fallen mankind that God is healing. All are crazy paths that humanity has followed as a result of the Fall, which need to be retroden in order to reclaim human integrity. As the Church moves through history, gathering people into the life of God, numerous holy souls are engaged in the work of bearing with Christ the pain of repairing humanity through their prayer and sacrifice. Through the Church the Holy Spirit is bringing about the reintegration of humanity. I do not intend to treat with all the twists and turns by which the Spirit is doing this – I am only trying to illustrate this dynamic of God’s Church healing humanity; I will fast-forward to the 1500s, the time of the Reformation. The Church had been very successful at converting tribes and nations, usually through converting leaders who were then followed by their people. This was because human society was largely tribal. People had group-think, which left many with shallow faith. But humanity was about to take a big step forward in development. A great awareness of the independence of the individual was developing. For centuries the Gospel teaching that each person has been freed in Christ was percolating in the heart of members of the Church. It had found immense resistance due to the organisation of society into tribes and social groupings. But like water smoothing a stone, it was building in strength until it broke the dam at this time. The freedom of each person became central in people's awareness. The universal demand for individual freedom was first focused in the Protestant Reformation and then the Catholic counter-reformation, when society began to move from being tribal to individualistic. It is important to note that individuality is a feature of the Trinity as is unity. Humanity had reached the point of growth when people wanted to know more authentically: How can I take responsibility? It involved a huge and bloody struggle. Bit by bit people gradually became more to claim their own freedom. The tribal mentality gradually changed. An example of change is St Thomas Moore who was at first virulent in attacking reformers, advocating the centuries-old practice of burning heretics at the stake. This was one of tribal society’s method of maintaining uniformity through terror. But after imprisonment in the Tower of London for over a year, he emerged to his own execution at peace and converted to love of his enemies and everyone. Those months transformed him into a mystic who battled the demon wishing to keep humanity in a primitive, limited form of responsibility. The stifling pathology of peer pressure has been radically weakened. Many people still feel it, but it is more easily dealt with. Pathology number 4 – human sin is so great that we are incapable of reaching heaven . Fast forward to the 1700s, 1800s and part of the 1900s. Individualism had become established, and with it came the need to face another deep pathology in humanity. It is all very well being free, but with greater sense of responsibility comes the dread of being wrong and failing. It was the age of dreadful guilt. Culture was formed by it. Many Christians stressed the judgment of God and the likelihood of being condemned. The question at the root of all this was: how can we find a remedy for humanity’s deep sense of guilt? Holy people battled with this pathology. One example of this was St Paul of the Cross who lived in the 1700s. He had reached a very high state of sanctity by the age of 33. Then, for over 40 years, he was given a dark night of the spirit; he felt all the time that God was displeased with him. Enduring this inner torment, he carried on his ordinary life with graciousness and humour. Paul battled with this feeling on behalf of other people for 40 years, always holding on to God in pure faith and love. God gave evidence that this hidden struggle was effective. Whenever he entered a town to preach a mission there were numerous healings, endings of discord, and lives changed for the better. The overwhelming and erroneous sense of guilt in humanity has been radically weakened. Many people still feel it, but it is more easily dealt with. Pathology number 5 – there is no God. It is obvious from the many weird religions which have been created over the ages, that there is an estrangement between mankind and God. Human beings have a pathological insecurity as they experience God’s absence, and have tried to fill the void by creating gods, which usually reflect exaggerated images of ourselves. These have been worshiped and fought over with very little positive effect. At best these religions have served to mitigate the profound insecurity that being alienated from God produces. If we do not know God, we fear the unknown, and feel incapable of making sense of events. In its strongest form it is crippling. There have always been two extreme reactions to this fundamental void in the human heart: fanatical holding to the perceived tenants of one’s religion whatever it might be, and cynicism about the whole issue of religion. These two are enormously powerful today in the West. As the Holy Spirit has brought about the weakening of humanity’s pathological sense of guilt, deeper understandings of the human psyche have emerged. The vast new insights produced by psychology, anthropology and sociology along with neurology have been so fascinating that our culture has focused on mankind itself. Much of the previous terror of God’s condemnation has been dismissed as mental sickness, and it has become accepted thought to explain God’s existence as a myth created to keep populations controlled by fear. At the same time, scientific progress, has flowered spectacularly in the West as a result of Christians seeking understanding of the universe created by the loving God who orders all things well. It is only because Christians believed in a good law-giver that we have been liberated to discover the processes which he has put in place. But the richness of scientific progress has prompted a temporary exaggerated pride in human knowledge . This sense that we can explain our world, coupled with the growing human-centred world view, has made the belief popular that we can explain everything on our own without God. And many today dismiss the notion of God, or just avoid thinking about him. Only now are we reaping the harvest of this human arrogance: young people suffering mental sickness because they see no meaning in life, people enslaved to consumerism, people doubling down on the frenetic search for distraction and entertainment, and selfishness elevated to the status of desirable life-style. Our culture projects itself as happy, but there is little joy. I believe that God has led us to this situation where we are so enabled to build a better world, and at the same time are pervaded by distress. It is so that we will seek him more earnestly and enter into a time of spiritual flowering. As Christianity has seemed to decline in its cradle, the West, God has quietly been profoundly active in holy souls preparing the coming age of more mature Christianity. An example of his mysterious activity is the life of St Therese of Lisieux. All during the last century she has been one of the most popular Saints. Her appeal was her joyful sense of God’s cooperation as we perform the simplest human activities, coupled with her ability to shine light while living an obscure life which lasted only 23 years. She has inspired millions who have enjoyed enormous spiritual strength through her closeness. It is only recently that writings of hers have been released which reveal that She was haunted by an all-pervading sense of there being no God for the last 18 months of her short life. She held on to faith in God without letting anyone know the fierce trial she was enduring; everyone admired her serenity and care for her companions. Jesus was sharing with her the struggle to overcome the deep sense of God’s absence, that age-old pathology resulting from the Fall, which he is bringing to a head for remedying in our day. Therese prophesied that a great trial of belief in God’s existence would come, and she willingly took her part in lifting the burden of this with Jesus. There is an untold army of similar souls who have offered their lives daily in union with Jesus to heal this deep pathology in humanity. We will see very soon the result of their “spiritual sacrifice” (1 Peter 2: 5) as graces are being released, enabling people to encounter Jesus in ever growing numbers today. Where is it all leading? That is unclear, but we should expect to see more and more evidence of people turning to Jesus and his Church in the West, which some have foolishly claimed to have outgrown Christianity, and thrown off its shackles. In fact, it is in the West that Christianity is undergoing the deepening of maturity which the rest of the world will follow as different peoples pursue their own development in Christ. The overwhelming sense that there is no God is being radically weakened. Many people still feel it, but it is more easily dealt with.

Easter 2023 We spent Holy Week 2023 in Lourdes. The liturgy was wonderful. Much of it took place in the Underground Basilica which holds about 25,000 people. At the Easter vigil, it was packed. There must have been about 300 priests concelebrating. As we priests processed to the sacristy at the end, hundreds of people held out statues and rosaries and holy water for us to bless. The procession was quite rapid, and most priests tried to bless the objects by touching them as we passed. I felt that was a bit casual. So I stood at the back and blessed those that were brought to me. A long queue formed, and it went on so long that, in the end, we were forced to leave so that the janitors could lock up. How did I bless? I touched the objects, or carrier bags containing them, and closed my eyes. I looked towards the Father and concentrated on his love and grace. I was like a conduit of blessing, because I focused on him. My own thoughts and attempts to formulate prayers did not matter. Gradually, people knelt down and asked me to bless them instead. It carried on for a long time. There was a French speaking African married couple. I asked them to bless me, because I had become overwhelmed by the beauty of their sacrament of marriage as I blessed them. They were surprised that I asked them to do this, but they agreed to do it. The same long session of blessing happened after the main Easter Mass in the Underground Basilica next day. Once more, we had to leave because of the impatient looks of the janitors. Starting afresh every day I don’t think I could have done that if I had not spent time in the prayer of contemplation. That is when you leave thoughts, feelings and imaginations aside, and just stand in love before the Father. You cannot do this properly without being helped by Jesus. In fact, it is really sharing in the deepest movement of his heart, his infinite love for our Father. Don’t think that I get wrapped up into the seventh Heaven. Most of the time I just stay there hoping to be in love. I will give you an example. This is how it went today. I wake up with all sorts of problems filling my mind. Pictures of war-shattered cities, children being abused, politicians acting like children, Church members polarising, and widespread indifference. I get up and come before the Lord. I struggle to seek his face because these thoughts keep chasing each other in my head. My prayer is: ‘Father, show me your face. Jesus, help me to know and love the Father’. It carries on for a long time. I try to clear my head and put my thoughts and feelings on one side, and bit by bit I settle. Even though I want to, it is not often that I can rest quietly and peacefully in the Father’s presence. But I get a growing intimation of his peace. It is there somewhere deep inside, and things calm down. I am convinced that Jesus prayed like this – it must have been a lonely lifelong struggle to find the Father’s face and touch everywhere in this very broken world. I am sure St Patrick, the young slave in Ireland, while he was minding sheep out on the hills at night, also prayed like this. What an effect proceeded from his prayer! The Irish are one of the few peoples that were converted without bloodshed, and they are a people quite capable of that. What is going on when we begin to contemplate? Imperceptibly but surely, we come to contemplation with some of the sin of the world clinging to us, and it is pulling us down. Often, we want to switch off and find distraction in other thoughts and activities, e.g. switch on the TV. But in this prayer, we are with Jesus, the child of God parting the cloud of darkness to let the light of the Father descend. When that light penetrates there is healing warmth. Then things make sense, solutions occur, and hope is reborn. Also blessing and healing (salvation) descends on the earth. It remains and it is building up. It is like an indelible pen: it cannot be obliterated. In the moments of peace and being wrapped in the arms of the Father, we are never alone. We are surrounded on all sides by our brothers and sisters in their needs and lifethrows. Consolation in the arms of the Father can never be individualistic. We may personally experience peace and enlightenment, but that will be small fry if we don’t have an open heart to the brothers and sisters. This is how contemplation flows over into intercession. As we seek to see the face of God, even faintly we begin to experience the boundless generosity of his love. That very boundlessness demands an act of communion with other people as well. One thing that was striking about the Easter Blessings in Lourdes was that the people were from all over the world, Africa, Australasia, South America, Europe and the States. It was a great blessing to me to witness their thirst for the Kingdom. It was a true experience of Church.

Connected deep down A family farmed in a vast open land. They had a well that supplied all their water. Many miles away a tanker overturned. It was carrying purple dye, which emptied out and flowed into a nearby well. Soon the family found their own water had turned purple, and they discovered that all their neighbours across the countryside had purple water also. Things gradually returned to normal, but they had all learnt that their water supply was connected deep down in the ground. We human beings are similarly connected to each other in our deepest being, our spirits. My actions influence the lives of everyone, and vice versa. We can see this on the level of our emotions and intellects. Look how the supporters of one football team will share the same thoughts and feelings. But on the spiritual level it is far more profound, even though we are usually unaware of it. It is because it is so profound that we are unaware. We were made in the image and likeness of God, who is a Trinity of persons so perfectly bonded in love that they are unity; they are one. That same profound drive for unity is integral to our human nature made in God’s image. The problem is that it has been weakened by our sin. It is fracturedness that we experience more than unity. But we are made to be united at the very deepest level, love. We know well how the disunity shows itself and proliferates. How can the unity be restored? Restoring human communion It is the Christ who is the restorer of unity. His Spirit is the life-force that penetrates the spirits of those who are open to God, or at least to goodness when the presence of Christ is obscured. The more a person opens to Christ, the more they become restorers of human unity. How does this work? Firstly, it is important to say how it does not work. Christ does not work through human engineering of society. True, we have an obligation to work for a just society in which the well-being of all is sought. And God gives many graces to people who work for the good of society. But Jesus said “my Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18: 36). He shows us that building an earthly kingdom is the wrong way round. What Jesus did was to connect spiritually with all mankind, and he works from within us. During his life on earth, his humanity developed at such a phenomenal rate that, by the time of his passion, he had drawn all humanity into his heart, and his brilliant mind knew us all. This process was not simply one of studying us intellectually; it was one of love. He was the divine lover seeking to ‘know’ his beloved brothers and sisters. He was falling in love with each of us. Lovers give their beloved power to break their hearts, and the on the cross Jesus experienced the heartbreak of all mankind. He not only knew our every struggle and pain, but experienced them all as personally as we do. Why did he drink this dreadful chalice? Because he knew that only the Father could draw out the poison of our woundedness and heal us. Someone needed to open it all up to the Father for healing. He knew that he needed to make one gigantic act of trust. It was the for-all-time cry of mankind for the saving mercy of the Father. No one else could make such an unimaginably gigantic sacrifice of self. We all give up so easily. As he hung on the cross, he must have wondered if it would ever end, but, finally, he said “It is finished ”, and, with a loud cry, breathed forth his spirit to his Father. He had joined earth to heaven once more. ‘It is finished’ - the New Creation went into operation. This whole process of identifying himself with all people had started at his conception in the womb of Mary, and had taken a huge step forward when he was baptised at the Jordan. Jesus’ choice to be baptised, and so to join himself to our sin, drew from his Father the cry “This is my Son that I love; I am so pleased with him!” (Matthew 3: 17). [2] Here is no stern, demanding parent, but one who is entirely wrapped up in the elder brother’s brave struggle of love for all the rest of his children. It was never about punishment; it is all about our healing. St Augustine said: “Our Lord came first as medicine, not as judge” After Jesus died the earth stood dark and silent for a while. Then, to prove he was dead, a soldier pierced his heart with his spear. Out poured blood and water. The Church has always understood that that is the water of baptism to birth humanity into the family of God, and the blood is the Eucharist to feed his new people on their journey into God. Another ancient understanding of the piercing of Jesus’ side is that just as Adam’s bride, Eve, was formed from his side while he slept, so the Church, the bride of Christ, was formed from his side as he slept in death. The old world, stained by sin, began its transformation into The New Creation. The second body of Christ The death of Jesus was followed by his awesome resurrection, and 42 days of wonderful intimacy with the disciples before he ascended to heaven. At Pentecost nine days later, he returned in and through the Holy Spirit, and drew the disciples into the wondrous unity of his new body, his Church. On that Pentecost day a great sign was given. Thousands of foreign pilgrims to Jerusalem had rushed to hear the tumult caused by the disturbance of nature and the Spirit-filled disciples going wild with the joy of God. Although the disciples were all Hebrew, each of their hearers heard their words in their own language. The curse of Babel was removed. At Babel mankind had united in an attempt to build their own way to heaven. Their prideful plan fell to pieces and so did their unity. Pentecost was the great sign that God is now restoring human unity. Only it is not the outward unity which we attempt to engineer. We have a special name for it: communion . The Holy Spirit is drawing people into a new cohesive body, which is none other than the Mystical Body of Jesus, the Church. That is the true Kingdom of God which Jesus announced was arriving. It had now arrived.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS  INSIDE YOU

WHAT PRAYER MAKES THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS GROW?

ST. PAUL OF THE CROSS  (1694-1775)

A MAN WHO BELIEVED THAT GOD IS DETERMINED TO PERFECT HUMANITY St Charles de Foucauld  (1858-1916)

CAN PRAYER EVEN EMPTY HELL?

LOVE IS A FUNNY THING

WERE THE SAINTS DELUDED?

 IS God UNFAIR?

HOW DOES INTERCESSION WORK?

 I’M TOO BUSY TO PRAY

 IS God DOING SOMETHING NEW IN OUR TIME?

FURTHER THOUGHTS ON SOMETHING NEW

ALL SAINTS, ROME 2024