All at Sea

I‘ve no real experience of sailing. The only boats I have been in are ferries, the only water crossed has been the Irish Sea and the English Channel and thankfully the crossings were calm enough to allow a period on deck, viewing the waves as the ship made its passage. Of course, that’s not to say there wasn’t any swell, there was, and it was enough to make you realise the might and the power of the sea and of what enormous forces lie within. Today’s gospel certainly brings out that sense of strength when we are told that the disciples, hardened fishermen as they were, struggled to manage their boat as the sea was whipped up by a strong headwind. What though is going on here, since what follows is a very strange twist. In the midst of their trying to maintain a true course they see a vision of someone coming towards them walking on the sea.

Time, context, place and space suddenly seem to be fluid, like the sea itself,
chaotic and intangible. The natural order of things no longer applies, and fear grips them. The vision becomes ghostly and incomprehensible. Is their world about to engulf them and swallow them up? Suddenly familiar words are heard “It is I! Do not be afraid”. They reassure Peter and he responds to them and boldly steps out into the chaos, but his instincts are fragile, and he recoils, feeling himself submerging into a nightmare, shouting at the top of his voice “Lord, save me”. A hand grasps him, and suddenly he is face to face with Jesus and all is calm and serene.
What can we say about this moment. For Peter the words evoke an experience of deep spiritual significance with echoes and resonances of events to come and of events past. At his call in Luke’s gospel, Jesus is in Peter’s boat and Peter says to him “Leave me, Lord I am a sinful man”. Later Matthew will tell of Peter’s dramatic proclamation of faith in Jesus as the “Christ, the Son of the living God” juxtaposed today with Jesus’ describing him as a “man of little faith”. I think what we are being offered in this drama at sea is the very human drama of Peter’s discipleship. How is he to understand his calling to leadership in the light of the frailties that inhabit his character and bubble up to the surface when a storm breaks? We find the answer at the end of John’s gospel, when Jesus and Peter are together on the beach. At this moment all those strands of context, time, space and place come together not adhering in a ghostly vision, but in the reality of the trust the Risen Jesus places in Peter to lead the flock. A trust that will give him the strength and courage to live out his apostleship which Jesus first saw in him. “Do you love me more than these others?” “You know everything Lord. You know I love you... Feed my sheep.”

Thinking about Desire

It is fascinating to see how Jesus taps into the heart of human desire. It seems that desire is an essential part of our human make-up and like all things human it functions on two different levels; the subconscious and the conscious. Subconscious desires may or may not be the motivation and influence that drive our conscious ones, I suppose you need to be a psychologist to get to the bottom of that, but Jesus is exploring the psyche of the human mind when he compares the kingdom to sought-after hidden treasure or pearls of great value.

Each of us has, in our minds, desired something that at the time, seemed beyond our wildest dreams. We may have dismissed such thoughts as irrational and impossible, but the fact that such thoughts come into our minds signal to us an elemental character of our nature. We look at ourselves and at our condition, and we wonder: what if? Clearly our desires change as we grow, the desires we have as young children being so different from those we have as adults, which in their turn evolve as we mature. Where though is Jesus guiding us in making these statements about desire?

We often believe that there is an insurmountable difference between what we can realistically desire and how we can achieve our desire. We may desire “world peace” but what is the point of such a desire, when my ability to make any impact on such a desire is you may think impossible. But look at the parables and see what is being said. The goal or the desire which is the subject of the parables, has been found, but the parables don’t end with any idle speculation. On the contrary, both the discoverer of the treasure, and the merchant, go off and make every effort to ensure that they are going to possess what they’ve found. “Now wait a minute” I hear you say. “It’s one thing to speak about matching and achieving desire in a parable, but quite another to do the same thing in reality.” Well, granted yes, but the point being made relates the one with the other, and consequently with our response. The gift on offer, the object of our desire, is the immeasurable treasure of God’s love, and our response has to be a wholehearted one, in which we recognise the obligation that we have as disciples. Desire doesn’t end with possession but as Jesus says with things new and old. Acquiring the treasure should change us, bringing a new dimension into our discipleship. Driving us to see our lives as conduits of God’s love, through which is channelled the Spirit’s gifts to the world, gifts of consolation, mercy, compassion and yes, even world peace, all we have to do is desire it and be the disciples we are called to be. 

Living our new life in Christ

Last week we began our baptism course, and we have ten couples who came along to receive help and instruction to prepare them for the task of passing on the faith to their children. Baptism is the first of the sacraments. You cannot receive the other sacraments unless you have been baptised. Understanding the meaning of baptism is therefore essential to opening the doorway to faith. Once we have grasped the message which baptism offers, our body and soul are united into the new life of the risen Christ, and this new life which we speak of is nothing other than the eternal life to which Jesus calls us.

Putting it in these terms can sometimes come as a bit of a shock. How can we
already be living our eternal life? Isn’t eternal life supposed to start when we die? Well listen to what St Paul says in today’s second reading: when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him (Jesus) and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life. In
essence what St Paul means is that our baptism becomes the moment when our eternal life begins. We have become a new creation and we are to be considered alive for God in Jesus Christ. I think that this is such an important concept that we should take time to consider what it means and implies for each one of us who are baptised.

By virtue of our baptism, we are all now children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ. We see ourselves as bound through grace to Jesus and to one another. The role we take on as family is to christify the world. The great document of the 2nd Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium states: through baptism we are formed in the
likeness of Christ, and we are therefore compelled to manifest the kingdom in the way we live out our lives. As brothers, sisters and parents, the greatest way in which we can achieve this is by teaching our children the example of love which Jesus brings into the world. This is what the Council spoke of as the universal call to holiness.

Family life is integral to this concept of holiness. If families see in their make up a participation in this action of living out their baptismal grace within the framework of their relationships between mother, father and child, then the work of the Church, which is the body of Christ on earth, becomes the vehicle of witnessing this holiness. The sacrament of Baptism starts the engine which drives the vehicle and at the same time the other sacraments are the eternal fuel which sustain the engine and keep the vehicle running. Let us pray for our parents and their children as they begin their work. 

A Call to Divine Service

“Do not be afraid” - there’s that phrase again as it begins this week’s gospel reading. We hear it spoken so often in the scriptures and yet do we really hear its words and understand its meaning? Often it is spoken when an encounter occurs between God and humanity, when for example Gabriel appears to Mary to tell her what is going to take place to her. So, when Jesus says it to his apostles in today’s Gospel, what is the divine encounter which is about to take place?

Last week, Jesus called us to become labourers in the harvest, and he gave us our instructions for what to do and how our labour was to be administered. Have we reflected on what it implies for us? Recall those four tasks Jesus names; to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper, cast our devils. Have we taken on board the awesome nature of what they convey? If we approach them simply as frightening realities, then we are not going to be able to tackle them. If we think that the prospect of doing such things either overwhelms us or fills us with trepidation, leaving us frozen, then we are not listening properly to Jesus’ words. Perhaps we’ve covered up our ears and have failed to listen in a way which uncovers the potential that lies within the heart of each one of us to love in the way that Jesus calls us to love. If we understand the divine encounter that takes place when we open ourselves up to his call, if we hear that call not as a frightening closing down of our humanity, but as a beautiful awakening of the value of our character and its capacity to serve and heal, then each one of us suddenly becomes aware of something extraordinary: nothing less than the value that is inherent in every person, or as Jesus puts it – every hair on your head has been counted.

Such an encounter with Jesus thus raises the work of the harvest to a different order. Those four deeds are no longer beyond our capabilities because we see in them something beautiful, something true and something good. in other words, something of God. We see in them the spark of the divine life which becomes incarnate and raised up. It is a call to take up the work of divine service which is made visible in and among each one of us. We do it in our homes, our parishes, our schools, our workplaces because this is where the harvest is to be gathered in. This is our work and through it we declare ourselves for Christ, who will sacralise this work and present it to the Father

From Disciples to Apostles

Can you name them all without referencing the gospels? Most of us can manage the first four: Simon, Andrew, James, and John and then we must think a bit harder. Ah yes, Matthew the gospel writer, and doubting Thomas perhaps, and then Judas of course who betrayed Jesus, but after then things get a little hazy. Well, seven’s not bad, but the other five can we name them? Well, there’s another Simon, and another James, a Bartholomew, a Philip, and a Thaddeus. This final quintet hardly gets another mention in the gospels so its not surprising we overlook them, but their lack of mention doesn’t diminish the importance of their status. These were people who heard the call of Jesus and felt the power of his message and it caused them to change the course of their lives and by consequence our lives to.

We all know the story of the call of Simon and Andrew, James and John very well. Matthew’s call is also recorded, but the circumstances of the call of the others remains unknown. All we can assume is that they must have been members of the “large crowds” who followed Jesus, from the start of his ministry in Galilee, to his passion, death and resurrection in Jerusalem. In so doing, they would become designated “disciples”, a word which denotes an active engagement with a teacher or leader. A supporter and adherent who helps in the proclamation of the master’s message. However, we know that there was a deeper reality at work here because Jesus constantly laid out the requirements of discipleship for his followers, stressing that if you want to be a disciple of his then you must take up your cross each day and follow him. Such a demanding condition would clearly make would be disciples think long and hard before committing to this calling.

But now in the thick of their discipleship their roles are dramatically changed. Their discipleship receives an added dimension. They are given a commission in which the living heart of their calling is made dramatically present to them. The cross, which they were told they must carry as a mark of discipleship, is made real by virtue of the task they are given as apostles; go and proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. This is the ultimate reality, to make the kingdom present and the immensity of the task is exemplified in the series of tasks they are given. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Jesus annunciates the scope of the task he is giving them and at the same time predicts the many obstacles they will encounter, not least the spectre of betrayal; the impact of which will become all too self-evident to them.

Proclaiming the kingdom is an awesome task, as all the apostles, each in their own way discovered. For one his fate was tragic, for the majority, their fate was martyrdom and tradition relates that only one died a natural death. As his disciples today, may our following of Jesus make us worthy of our calling.

This Precious Gift

This weekend we celebrate the great Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Jesus. It is also the day when ninety-two of our children will make their First Holy Communion, and we pray for them and for their families. They have prepared long and hard for this day and we hope it will be an occasion in which their faith and their understanding of the real presence of Jesus in this most precious of sacraments is deepened and more fully appreciated.

My mind on this day often goes to the gospel account of Jesus telling the disciples that unless you become like little children you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Notice how Jesus doesn’t specify or say anything about age when he mentions the children. What he wants us to understand and appreciate is something more, something deeper about the kingdom and its centrality to our lives and the best way we can grasp this is by changing our whole perception of how our relationship with Jesus and thereby with the kingdom is viewed. As we know, children are open and loving and quite willing to take things on trust, not in any naïve or unreasoned way, but within an experience of generosity and loving kindness, which is established by coming to both knowledge and truth about the person who reaches out to them. These realities are the building block of the kingdom, and they are laid upon that foundation stone of Jesus. Where do we see this at work? In the lives of people who take the living Jesus into their hearts. People who receive the fulness of his sacramental body and blood as their ‘food for the journey’ and who allow his loving presence to mould and shape the pattern of their lives.

Recall the disciples who were at table in the presence of that stranger at Emmaus. Here is the example par excellence that renders all we need to help understand the eucharist as an image of vibrancy and joy. We see in these two characters a snapshot of how our lives can often seem devoid of hope. Yet it is in the breaking of bread that their eyes are opened so that they recognise him, their hope revived, and their joy reignited. They have turned into children of the kingdom, their faces alight with new expectation, their bodies reinvigorated, their minds cleared of any doubt about what they have experienced. The Risen Jesus is present with them! Renewed and filled with the bread of life they truly are companions – sharers of and partakers in the bread that is the body and blood of the Risen Lord. They go back, no longer disillusioned and downcast, but as kingdom makers.

May our hearts be similarly renewed and revitalised now, on this day and in the weeks ahead, Sunday after Sunday. We all come to the table as children to be fed, for the cup we bless, is a communion with the blood of Christ, and the bread we break, is a communion with the body of Christ.

The Trinity of Love

Today’s second reading from St Paul, contains his last sentence in his correspondence with the Church of Corinth. His relationship with his community at Corinth had at times been a fractious one, encompassing a whole set of different emotions and experiences. It ranged from a deep and personal concern and love for his flock, to a sense of shame and anger for what he felt was their failure to grasp the immensity and importance of what he was preaching to them about Jesus Christ. Here though in this last sentence of what became his second letter to the Corinthians, we find a truly trinitarian grasp of the reality of God, present in the heart of all that he preached to them.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. It is a beautiful sentence with which to conclude his whole understanding of the message he offered. A three-fold summation of what God is and of how God is made manifest. If we look at the words in bold type and examine them, we too can appreciate and deepen our own understanding of what the Trinity actually means.

In speaking about Jesus, Paul uses the word karis which has been translated as grace or charity. Instinctively we know what it conveys. Someone who is charitable is generous, considerate and doesn’t count the cost. Applying it to the person of Jesus expresses his nature as the one who offers himself totally and in obedience to the needs of others. In describing God’s love, Paul uses the word agape, a word which carries within it the image of an oblative outpouring of goodness. God is total love. A love that is to be given away to allow more love to be generated. Finally, the Holy Spirit is categorised as the one who creates koinonia, fellowship or as we call it community. The Spirit is the binding force that forges together all that is generous and loving within a framework of abundant and total giving. What Paul is doing is urging his fellow disciples in Corinth to be configured as Father, Son and Spirit are, and to live out their discipleship accordingly.

Are we able to accept a similar ideal? If we are, then the Trinity is no longer a mystical enigma that remains beyond our understanding, but instead a tangible reality that through our encounter with grace of Jesus Christ, enables us to embrace the love of the Father in the fellowship of the Spirit. This is our active participation in the life of the Trinity through our relationships, in our families and within our parishes and workplaces. It is a wonderful witness of faith alive in our world. It is the Trinity of love.