The Joy of Hope

Since returning from Fr McKelson’s funeral in Melbourne last week, people have been asking how it went. My answer of “Great” has been a little unsettling to some, as funerals are not meant to be great. But Fr McKelson’s funeral was great. It was a celebration of the faith, hope and perseverance of a person who was, like most of us, far from perfect, but as Mary his niece told us: My Uncle Kevin was a good man. I have to agree with her, as many of you here today would agree. However, what is more is that he was a man of advent, and in being so his life pointed to something outside himself that he humbly acknowledged. The reasons are the same as those that drove John the Baptist in his ministry.

John the Baptist was aware of who he was and who he was not. He was not the one who could answer all questions, who could cure all ills, who could help all people. In short, he was not the Messiah. But safe in this knowledge, he was free to identify and name the Messiah when he appeared. His role was that of precursor, to name the Grace, to be the prophet of hope and to persevere to the end.

Today is Gaudete, which means ‘joy’, Sunday. The joy lies in the recognition of what is, what has been so far, and what will be in the future.  For committed Catholics, Advent is not a frenzied time of shopping, eating and drinking. We may partake and enjoy the festivities, but the main game is ahead as well as behind. Like John the Baptist, we look around us for the birth of grace and name it when we see it. Like Isaiah we try to identify Christ in our midst and acknowledge his power to change the world, stating with ourselves.  

We are very familiar with many prophets of doom in our society. On the other hand, Isaiah was a prophet of hope for the people of Israel, as he is for us today. He tells us: He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favour from the LORD. Advent is the time when we are able to wait with a smug grin on our face, knowing that our God is among us and knowing our co-operation in allowing God’s grace to permeate the world.

As Advent people we can wait in hope, we are able to test everything that comes our way, not being content to be led by a materialistic society into a dead end of consumerism, selfishness and instant gratification. We are people who are able to persevere in humility, people who like John the Baptist, don’t have all the answers, but know where to look.

As people of hope, we are able to rejoice in situations others find tragic, such as the funeral for Fr McKelson.  Last week in Melbourne we buried a humble man who guided the people of the Broome and Bidyadanga over many decades to live the faith, to persevere in trust, and to hope in the promises made to us by Christ.

We are all called to be advent people, prophets of hope and bearers of good news. May we encourage one another in joy during this wonderful time.

Homily 3rd Sunday of Advent Year B 11th December 2011

Rest in Peace Japulu

Fr McKelson used to speak of coming home to Melbourne, and did not like me pointing out that he had spent twice as long at Bidyadanga as here! In there lies a great truth, because for all the years he was away he carried a lot of the local church and his family with him.

After hearing and answering God’s call he was sent to Rome where his inner linguist emerged. He lived in a German speaking house, in an Italian speaking city, attending lectures in Latin and spent his holidays in France. He loved being able to smuggle newspapers and cigarettes to other Australian students who lived under stricter regimes.

In 1954, the newly ordained 24 year old Kevin McKelson arrived in Broome to assist the legendary Fr Worms, the Pallottine missionary anthropologist. Worms taught him to tread very gently on the Kimberley earth, as it belonged to another people, many of whom had had their spirit broken. Kevin listened and then was able to learn, live and teach the art of reconciliation. This required a great humility so that he would be able to say, with Isaiah “See, this is our God in whom we hoped.”

In Broome he implemented the tried and true pastoral strategies of his youth. He built a faith community with lots of social activities and sport. With Donnelly McKenzie he started the basketball competition in 1955, building a court by crushing ant bed retrieved from the bush. Later they collaborated and started the Broome Saints Football Club. He encouraged marriages between local women and the Malay or Japanese pearlers. He taught the men English, learning Japanese and Malay on the way, and blessed their marriages. A relationship with God started with relationship with others.

Lagrange Mission became his home in 1961. He would remain through joys and frustrations for 34 years.  Not long after his arrival Cyclone Bessie destroyed the Mission. Madelene Jadai, here with us today, was born during that cyclone, as is Margot Toohey, the nurse who delivered her. Fr McKelson rescued her and her mother from the collapsing hospital during the eye of the storm. He was far from being an adventurer, but history made his life a huge adventure. Lagrange taught him the primacy of relationship, of connecting people with each other and God. Many a dinner at Lagrange ended with the salt, pepper, knife and fork being used to teach the ‘skins’ (the aboriginal kinship system). If you don’t know the skins, he would say, you will never understand local people. It is all about relationships.

A key to relationship is language, enabling is to relate to God and each other in a context of mutual respect. After the Mission was rebuilt, Kevin concentrated his efforts on inculturation, the translation of the Christian message into forms and idiom accessible to the people of the five local language groups. This necessitated the learning, recording and understanding of languages and culture, which became the work and love of his life centred on the Missa Bidyadanga and Aboriginal Our Father. He was trusted by the senior men, who shared their cultural secrets with him and acknowledged that he understood more about the aboriginal law than most local people.

Lagrange was fully staffed by lay missionaries. Fr Kevin was the father figure, holding the mainly young lay missionaries in a family unit. He treated all with respect, and tried to understand, with varying degrees of success, the issues of young men and women a long way from home and family. He always looked for ways to make connections between people and groups of people, with, of course, God at the centre.

One of the greatest tests of our Christianity is forgiveness. If we can’t forgive then our faith is not deeply rooted. Fr McKelson often spoke about the cultural right to payback, and the Christian response of forgoing retribution. In 1994 I witnessed a person come to Fathers place, and he welcomed him with open arms, made him a cup of tea and spoke genially of old times. I later discovered that some years before this person had done his best to destroy the mission and Kevin’s reputation, even threatening Kevin’s life. It has been a terrible time for him yet in this he kept the faith, as St Paul wrote to Timothy, even to the end, and all of Bidyadanga were witnesses.

Kevin made courtesy an art form. Whether he was greeting visitors or growling wrongdoers, he spoke and acted with respect.  Martina Badal told me: We would milk the goats, drinking the half the milk and filling the bucket with water. Japulu found out and just told me:” Martina, you know not to do that. Don’t put water in the milk. Do you understand? He was strong but gentle.”  The same day, at the markets on Broome I was told: As a green young girl many years ago, living beyond the Spinifex Horizon, Fr Mac was my Light in the Wilderness whenever he came to Frazier Downs for dinner. (Jenny Di Marchi)

Last Monday my phone was running hot all day. Charlie Wright reminded me that when Hail Mary Bell rang Father had taught everyone to freeze with their head down to say the Hail Mary quietly. You could hear the bell from Blackrock, 3kn away! Each person ringing had a story, but at the end of each story was the quip: he really loved us, each one of us. Kevin lived, with more success than most, the Beatitudes we just heard proclaimed. 

As age and health caught up with him, a move south was necessitated. The McKelson family gave one of their own for the missions, so that others may come to know God. He returned after a long life well lived, but he was now living behind the veil of dementia. He trusted in God but was never presumptuous, so would want us to pray that his experience of purgatory be freeing as he hurries toward our heavenly resting place.

Nyamu nyina ngayu Japulu!

Homily, Requiem Mass for Fr Kevin McKelson SAC, St Brendan's, Flemington, VIC, 6th December 2011.

An Example on the Straight Track

I have been spending a bit of time lately thinking about Fr Kevin McKelson, who died during the week. He was my parish priest when as a new priest I was appointed to Bidyadanga,  (Lagrange Mission). He used to tell me that Fr Worms, who was his first parish priest when he came to Broome taught him to tread very gently on the Kimberley earth, as it belonged to another people, many of whom had had their spirit broken. Fr McKelson learned, lived and taught the lesson of the art of reconciliation. That is the message of Isaiah today when he urges: Comfort O comfort my people. This is a word of encouragement, a call to awake from sleep and to take our place in society. In my years living and working with Kevin McKelson, he never stopped urging people to stand up and take their place in society. If we do not, he used to assure people, others will stand up and take it for themselves. If we want good to happen, we have to stand up and be counted.

John the Baptist proclaimed this and provided witness by his life. The Gospel account tells us as much about what John the Baptist looked like and ate as his words. If he lived today he would be a media hit with his strange getup and alternative diet. As John the Baptist was, we are being called to be a bit alternative in Advent. There are issues about which we should stand up and being counted and upon which we can make a difference.

The time leading up to Christmas can be a time of giving and sharing, or a time of consumer frenzy and a time of extreme greed and avarice. We have the opportunity to make a difference. In the continuing question of the detention of asylum seekers, we can voice an opinion and make a difference. Yesterday I read in the newspapers about the debates on same sex marriage. Christians have the opportunity to contribute to the debate and say clearly that marriage can only be about a man and a woman who provide the safest place for the rearing of children. It is not justice or equality to have enshrined in law that two fathers or two mothers is just as good as God’s plan through the natural order.

People have been talking to me all week about how kind and loving Fr McKelson was, but also that he spoke his mind. He did not compromise the faith to be popular. I recall on occasion where his life was threatened for maintaining a moral stance when those around him stepped away. As Christians we need to have the courage of our convictions, and John the Baptist leads us in humility, courage and faith.

St Paul believed that the end of the world was imminent. In one sense he was marking time, but even within that framework he urges us to lead good lives because only then will we experience true peace.

As dvent continues let us make the decision to stand up and enter the season, to fill in the valleys and break down the barriers, to build a better and more godly world starting with ourselves.

Homily Second Sunday of Advent year B 4th December 2011, OLQP Broome. 

Actively Waiting

It is no surprise to any of us that the season is changing. The mangoes are almost finished, the build-up has begun, and plans are being made for holidays and Christmas. The church’s year changes along with the natural year. Central to Christianity is that Christ became one of us, and so therefore the natural world and the behaviour of its people teach us about our faith.

Our natural world is in a time of waiting. Here we wait for the rain and the greening of the country. The waiting is not passive, because around us the temperature is rising, the humidity increasing and the clouds are beginning to tease us from the horizon.

Often we talk of keeping vigil. We wait beside someone who is sick, worried or bereaved. We do not wait for the sake of it, nor do we wait in a drowsy of lazy state. We wait with eyes wide open with expectation that something will happen.  For Christians the time before Christmas is a time of vigil, a time of expectant waiting, a time of hope. We call this time Advent.

Karl Rahner, the famous Bavarian theologian of last century, describes it this way: The term Advent connotes not only an arrival but also that which is yet to come. It has a strange interpenetration of the present and the future, of what exists and what is yet to come, of possession and expectation. So too, in the liturgy of advent, the present and future of Christian salvation are mysteriously interwoven. [i]

In a time filled with such wonder and opportunity, it is important not to lose our way, go troppo or just be subsumed in the mindless rush of parties, end of year windups and consumer madness. We need to actively listen to God in and around us. So how do we stay awake, how do we keep our guard? We have to actively listen to the scriptures and the country. Active listening involves three Rs: Receiving, retaining and responding.

To stay awake we need to begin to understand God’s plan, and we can only receive by being in contact with God through prayer and meditation. When we begin to comprehend, we will retain that knowledge in our hearts and live it in our lives. We will be seen as people of hope. Thus we will be able to respond positively to the invitation to draw closer to the loving embrace of our God. In other words, we will be able to stay awake during Advent! Practically, this means taking time to nourish our soul. We are all busy, there are parties and celebrations galore for everyone. This is a good thing, but it ceases to be this when the peripherals eclipse the centre. If we cannot actively listen to God talking to us during Advent, then we are asleep, and we will most certainly miss him when he comes. 

Stay awake! Listen, learn and live in the present, past and future all at once. This is the gift being offered to all who look forward to the coming of Christ at Christmas.

Homily First Sunday in Advent Year B, 27th November 2011.

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[i] Karl Rahner, The Eternal Year (London: Burns and Oates) 1964, 13.

A King For Us

On Friday night at a wake, while being plied with food and drink and thinking how much running I would need to do, I commented that I was being treated like a king, which effectively meant that I was happy for people to fuss over me while I sat and did whatever I wanted to do: in other words, it was all about me and my desires. In the way home about this more and remembered a recent and unusually popular movie.

The Kings Speech tells two stories of being King. Edward VIII came to the throne of England in 1936 and abdicated less than two years later. Although touched by his devotion to the woman he loved but whom he could not marry, the British were horrified that he could put his personal desires and preferences over the fate of the realm.  In June 1937 his younger brother Bertie ascended the throne. He lacked self-confidence, could not speak in public because of an impediment, and was shy. However, he knew that these were his issues, not those of his country, and that he has to forgo self-centeredness for the sake of his people. He had a very different idea about what the role of king. An unlikely hero called George VI was born. From the outset his people knew his weaknesses, but also knew that he would die for them. George VI did not leave London during The Blitz, toured the theatres of war and stood with his people. As the movie points out, he was constantly making rousing speeches that were excruciating for him to deliver. He was one for others.  His was a model of kingship for others that could be emulated.

George received his model of kingship from the Prince of Peace, Jesus. Jesus turned the prevailing model of ruthless, selfish arrogant power-hungry kingship on its head. In its place he was the shepherd who nurtured his flock, the one who sought out the strays and lead them back to the fold: he shall, in the words of Isaiah, I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong.

Even though Christ gave us the ideal model of leadership 2000 years ago, the dark side of oppression, aggression and violence still endures, and as history teaches, sometimes prevails. Jesus’ model of kingship is one that serves, even in the face of terror. In many persecutions of the church over the centuries, men and women have died with the words Long live Christ the King on their lips, attesting that in the face of darkness, Christ offers us eternal light, something oppressors cannot take away. This hope and strength is what terrifies oppressors, is what made Stalin nervously ask ‘how many divisions has the Pope’. The same fear of the truth is what drove Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong and other despots to prioritise the destruction of the Catholic Church. Today our oppression is the more subtle that would banish religion from the public sphere to be just another interest group in society, like a sporting or social club.

At the end of time we will all stand before God and give an account of our faith or doubt, our selflessness or selfishness, action or inaction. This is a constant call to us to vigorously engage in the life of our society, challenging it to conform to the ideal of the prince of peace, so that our world and ourselves can be what God have given us the opportunity to become.

Homily Christus Rex Year A 20th November 2011, OLQP

Christians have Talent

When we think of the word talent, we think of our gifts, so naturally, when we read this passage from Matthew we hear Jesus challenging us, in an indirect way, to use our gifts. Ah, how presumptuous we can be! The word talent derives its meaning because of this gospel passage. This calls us to look at it more closely.

A talent in first century Palestine was fifty pounds of silver, or fifteen years’ wages for a working man. The master gave each of his servants a lot of money. Servants usually didn’t get anything, but here was a master giving them lots.  Now we can get into the story. Firstly, if we are given lots, lots will be expected.  Secondly, what do these ‘talents’, this money, represent? We could simply take it as natural abilities that we all have to greater or lesser extent. It is our duty as humans to develop and use these gifts. However, there is something that is not given to all humans, or which many people leave dormant, that blitzes money and natural ability. The key to this story is faith. Faith is on the one thing, common to all of us here today, that can change us and our world.

When the parable is considered in this way, the conclusion, which I have always seen as a bit harsh takes on a new meaning. When we co-operate with the grace of God, we progress along the way of perfection. If we are able to recognise and then utilise the gifts given to us, our faith will animate our lives, in turn encouraging greater gifts to emerge in our lives and the lives of those whom we touch. Thus to those who have will be given more, because they are able to see what they have, be thankful for it and then be open to accepting even greater gifts. It is not matter of favouritism but recognition.

That is where the first reading can inform our discussion. I would not be surprised if most of us listened to it cringing, or dismissed it as outdated sexist garbage. Both of these reactions are valid, but they miss the point. Thank God we are not fundamentalists in our interpretation of scripture. We believe that the scripture needs to be interpreted through the lens of the prevailing culture at the time.  Women were possessions, taken for granted, and used accordingly. It was a very wise man who actually stoped for long enough to consider the benefit of having such a person in his life. The book of proverbs showcases such a man. This is someone who will be able it appreciate the talent around him and use it for the common good. This is radical, as it proposes trust and freedom of expression, the same liberties God gives to those he created. The perfect wife uses these liberties to share in what her hands have worked for and let here works tell her praises at the city gates.

God allows us the freedom and allows us the same choice. We can use the opportunities and gifts given to us to let our faith hope and love soar and grow, or we can hold them so closely that we will stifle them, just as the servant did with his one talent. If we allow ourselves and our faith to soar, there will be no great surprises in life and we will not fear about the future, for we will be, in the words of St Paul, sons and daughters of the light and of the day.

Homily 13th November 201,1 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time year A

Staying Alert!

After spending a long time catechising a young couple on the virtues and sacramental aspects of marriage, the bride to be had an important question for me to consider. I braced myself for this curly challenge, only asked how many bridesmaids she could have at the wedding! After all my catechesis, all she could think about was superficialities. If it stopped there I could have taken it, but, alas, it did not, for in preparing the liturgy both bride and groom declined to choose anything. They asked me to pick some nice passages and get someone to do the readings, ever conscious that the whole thing would not take too long. At this I suggested that the civil celebrant down the road might be better suited to their needs, but they pointed out that they were both Catholic, and wished to be married in the church. This glimpse of light was all the evidence for faith that I could perceive in them.

They, in a very real sense, were the foolish virgins. They reminded me that they had their ticket and were taking the right course of action. However, it was all words. In the gospel it was similar, all glitz and glamour. The bridesmaids were too busy about themselves to think about the future. They didn’t care because someone else would take care of them. Well, in the real world we make decisions and live the consequences of those choices. The foolish ones of the Gospel were forced to play catch up, and sometimes catch up just doesn’t work. The foolish virgins missed out because they could not see what was right in front of their face.

The conclusion of the book of wisdom urges us to seek wisdom in all that we do. Wisdom is s divine gift that takes us beyond the grave: it belongs to the soul and therefore is eternal. Wisdom urges us to prepare for the future, not in a paranoid or frenetic way , but certainly in a sensible and determined way. The wise virgins fell into this category. They enjoyed themselves but knew that they had to prepare or else the bridegroom would pass them by as he entered the party. That is the lesson for us as well. We are challenged to be ready, not afraid or scared as some are, but ready to recognise and welcome the grace of God when it is available.

The readings between now and Christmas call us to look for the Messiah, to look for the grace of God while it may be found. Opportunities will pass today and tomorrow and never come again. If we are not attuned, then we will never see God in our midst. If we are so worried about what shoes are ton be worn, or how many bridesmaid there are to be, we will miss the bridegroom altogether.

We are challenged as to how we guard our own faith, which is kept alive by the oil of charity. St Augustine wrote: watch with the heart, watch with faith, watch with charity, watch with good works, make ready the lamps and make sure they do not go out. Renew them with the inner oil of an upright conscience. Then shall the bridegroom embrace you and lead you into the banquet room where your lamp will never be extinguished (Sermons 93)

Walk this week with open eyes and challenge yourself to see something new in another person and in the country around you each day this week.  In this was we will be better prepared to find God.

Homily 32^nd Sunday in Ordinary Time year A OLQP

Can a Little Knowledge Make Us God?

For many years Catholics were discouraged from reading scripture. There were many reasons for this practice, but the main one was the lack of education of most of the population. Books were scarce, and mistakes in those books were common. Universities were places of learning from books for the privileged few, whereas most of the population learnt their faith from preaching, songs, poems, statues and stained glass windows. Direct reading of the scriptures by those who were not experts in these times introduced a great margin for error. 

A little knowledge can be quite dangerous.

Last week I was in the jail when I was confronted with a man who asked me why I allowed people to call me Father. I was clearly wrong, he insisted, and the scripture clearly stated this fact. When I asked him whether teacher s and rabbis needed to be banished them from our vocabulary as well, he became defensive, but stuck to his guns. It was written there and he was not to be dissuaded from his assertion. When know we are ignorant we are empowered to listen to those with knowledge, but when we believe that we have all the answers, we are in big trouble.

The gospel passage today can be taken to condemn all Jews, as well as banishing us from using the words father, teacher and rabbi. If we do so we will be missing the point and allowing scripture to speak only to our prejudices. The unbroken tradition of the church, teaching these passages over the last two thousand years, speaks to us far more holistically.

If we are more concerned with position, pomp and power than service, then we shall be mimicking the worst excesses of the Pharisees.  If any of us think that we are better, closer to God or more worthy because of our position or calling, then we are placing ourselves in the position of God and do not warrant the title teacher, father, rabbi, dad, mum, granny, officer, mr, mrs, or any other term of respect. The greatest among you must be your servant. Christ lived perfect servant leadership.

Jesus called us to be humble in discipleship and to whatever leadership we called. This is non-negotiable for a Christian. It is just as well that today we investigated the new translation of the Confiteor before Mass.  At the beginning of Mass we are given the opportunity to acknowledge our need for God and be humble before him and each other. It is a lifelong task! May God accompany us on the way.

Homily, 30th October 2011, OLQP, 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

Informed Political Engagement

It has often been said, even by Prime Ministers, that religious leaders should confine themselves to religion and not meddle in politics, but what does that really mean?

Politics can be very divisive of families, communities and countries.  The same was true in Jesus time. The Pharisees tried to exploit this to discredit Jesus and thereby weaken his influence on people.  In the gospel story he was in a no win situation. If he supported the paying of taxes; he was a collaborator with the hated Romans and their idolatrous rule. On the other hand, if he supported withholding of taxes he was a revolutionary who could then be easily denounced to the Romans. 

Jesus chose a third way, which was not proposed by the Pharisees and similarly often not proposed by those who seek answers to political conundrums from Church Leaders. The new way Jesus shows is to teach the principles and then allow people to make their own decisions from that point onwards. Jesus did not tell people what to do, but he pointed out moral principles and the consequences of their actions. The role of the church is the same.

Render unto Caesar. So what belongs to God? Simply put: everything. I cannot stand here and teach about what the Christian response to the ethical, moral and spiritual challenges of society are without wishing to influence your response when you leave this church. I want us all to be a positive force in society, building and guarding the rights of all people.  If you wish me to influence you on these matters within these walls, and then become someone else when you leave, a grand schizophrenia is at work. If religious leaders did not inform politics of Australia, education, health care, social welfare and all forms of social justice would not have any prominence in our society. Currently, the rights of refugees, the family, the old and vulnerable whose lives are under threat from euthanasia and the unborn are being championed by the leaders of Christian church. This is role and calling of leaders of the Christian faith.

Most of us voted today or during the last week. We all have a calling in the political life of this country, to shape her future and safeguard her people. To do this we need to engage in the public square openly as Christians.  It is my calling as a priest theologian to guide this parish towards the correct incorporation of Catholic teaching into our daily lives. If I don’t do this I am negligent, staying ‘out of politics’, therefore, is not an option for any of us.  I am not saying that the priest as teacher always gets it right. However, if the principles of Christian ethics and the natural law are followed there is a much better chance of a just society emerging.

The price of ignoring our political responsibilities are significant. An extreme example is that of Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) a prominent Protestant pastor who eventually emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last 7 years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. He wrote: First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Catholic activists, and I was protestant. Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.

We need reflection, challenge and reform. We need to be open to listen to the views of others and then make up our mind, not based on moral principles, not on feelings or sympathies. 

Homily, 16th Octiber 2011, 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The Wedding Feast of Baptism

In the midst of all the publicity surrounding the British Royal wedding this year, in my mind I have a picture of a socialite waving an invitation, absolutely ecstatic that she had been invited. It was a time of happiness and joy, and as many weddings are, and an occasion to cement social and political ties among families and countries.

The wedding feast in the gospel is similar. It was a big occasion, and opportunity to show that everyone in the land was reconciled and happy together. That is why the king reacted so strongly when some of his people refused to come to the wedding. This was open defiance and a declaration of war, hence his reaction.

As with many of the stories of Jesus, there was an open and closed version. The open version is clear. The closed version, that which would have only been understood by Christians living around 80-110AD, is about baptism. The early church looked on this parable as a story about baptism, at a time when it was very dangerous to be baptised.

Yesterday I asked a young boy what baptism was, and he answered me that it was getting closer to Jesus. He is right and for his age that I just the answer I wanted. However, when we are adults, the answer becomes a little more involved, just as life becomes a little more complex. Baptism is about a lot more than the good feeling of becoming closer to Jesus. Baptism was serious business, and it still is today, with direct consequences in certain parts of the world. Recently an Egyptian told me that in his country Christians cannot be in the government, military or police: nothing like this happens in Australia. It does not have the consequences of the early church where submitting to baptism could well condemn a person to social exclusion and persecution, but it does have the consequences of changing our lives in this life and the next.

The parable tells us of those who were too busy to come, a clear reference to the Jewish people of Jesus time who chose not to accept him. He then went to the Gentiles, to those who were not Jewish and were not the chosen people. Many of them understood the king and accepted the invitation, knowing the love and commitment that was required. The wedding garment signifies the love. St Augustine, writing in 400, says   Listen to him: If I give away all I have to the poor, if I hand over my body to be burnt, but have no love, it will avail me nothing. So this is what the wedding garment is. Examine yourselves to see whether you possess it. If you do, your place at the Lord’s Table is secure. (Sermon 90,5-6)

Augustine wrote at a time of persecution, when faith was challenged and many fell away. Without love we cannot sustain our commitment to Christ and we fall, just like those who are described as without a wedding garment.

We come today because of our commitment and desire to deepen our love for Christ as guest as the banquet.

May God strengthen, sustain and guide us!

Homily 9^th October 2011, 28^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, OLQP Broome.

Blessing pets on St Francis of Assisi

Today the Christian Church remembers a remarkable person, Francis of Assisi. (1182-1226)

He was born in 1182 almost a thousand years ago in Italy. As a young man he sought adventure but also looked to the future. After an illness he underwent a change after a voice in a dream told him to ‘follow the master rather than the man’. He returned a changed man, and began to meditate and pray a great deal.

This conversion led Francis to share his family’s wealth with those less fortunate. Concerned about this, his Father took him to court in 1205, which led to that famous scene where Francis returned all his Father’s possessions to him, including his clothes, thereby renouncing his inheritance. Many people joined Francis, and they lived according to simple rules of poverty (not owning anything), and the teaching of the Church. He was one of the great originals, as he introduced a radical way of following Christ and depending entirely on others. This gave hope and strength to those on the edges of society.

Francis was a whole man. He wanted to be like Jesus Christ in every way, not to pick and choose what to believe or follow: every word had to be obeyed, every action tested to see if it conformed to God’s will.

Francis loved creation and lived very close to it.  He preached to the birds on number of occasions, and they listened, but to him this was less important than preaching to people to save them from their sins. He rescued lambs from slaughter, but this was less important than saving lepers from a rotting to death, unloved and uncared for. He tamed the wolf at Gubbio but was more concerned with people of the neighbouring towns who were fighting with each other.

We recall Francis’ love for all God’s creation was not just for the beauty of what he saw. He loved creation for two reasons:

God made it and therefore to was good

In creation one could see signs and learn about the creator.

Today we bless pets and remind ourselves of our God who gives great gifts to our world. He gives us the gift of companionship through our pets, who teach us to care and love even as they show us an aspect of the beauty of God’s creation.

Blessing of Pets, OLQP 4th October 2011, Feast of St Francis of Assisi.

Our Own Masters?

Each of us are aware of people who are completely full of themselves. They are so concerned about their own cares, their own ideas, their own thoughts, their own dreams and goals that there is no room for anyone or anything else. I am sure that as I am saying this, all of you here can think of someone who fits the bill, and we ourselves may have been or maybe still are that person.   If we are that person, or if we know that person, the characteristics are instantly recognisable: self-centredness, conceitedness, being always right, a disregard for others views or inspirations and many others. Sometimes this is hidden behind a stated desire for the independence of self or others, or maybe in terms of freedom fighting, but it is thinly veiled. However, probably the most insidious and damaging characteristic is that of self-sufficiency, to the detriment of community.

Traditional societies, such as aboriginal culture that we here in the Kimberley are so privileged to live in or near, values the community dimension of life. The major events, decisions, joys and pains of life are laid bare by individuals so that they are shared by the community. There is not one single person in control. This does not destroy the person, but reassures the individual that they are not alone.

On the other hand many modern societies like to emphasise the cult of the individual. In these societies, and we can count our own in this group, nothing is able to get in the way of the desire or aspiration of the individual. This can often lead, of course, to an exalted view of our own importance and a disordered understanding of the attainment of our own desires. Put simply, we are limited and finite beings, we are not capable of everything, and we are not our own gods and masters.

That is where our Gospel parable chimes in so eloquently. Israelite society was strictly organised but had God as its centre of its law. Over its history there had been times when they disregarded God’s place at the centre and as a result completely lost their way.  The greatest crime of the tenants was not to hold back the rent (this is not an economic parable), but to reject the place and their need for God claim for themselves something they had no right or capability to hold. They rejected the prophets (the messengers) and then God’s own Son, and then are not able to produce the fruits of the kingdom, as they have put themselves above it. I think that is where this parable challenges our society and the direction that it seems to be going at great speed.

Faith is the antidote to rampant individualism that sees oneself as the centre of the universe.

Any society that has put itself at the centre of the universe has ultimately fallen amid an avalanche of human rights violations and totalitarianism. The history of the twentieth century is littered with examples of violent atheistic regimes.

This is not the society envisaged by Jesus as he told this parable. It is not the society that the church strives to build on this earth to prepare for the perfect society in the next. Our task is to allow ourselves and others to recognise the place of Christ at the centre of our world, the fact that as individuals we cannot be and do everything, but as a group with Christ at our head we are able to achieve things of which we can hardly dream.

Homily OLQP Sunday 2nd October 2011, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Living with Integrity

At the ordination of a deacon, the newly-ordained deacon comes before the bishop who presents him the Book of the Gospels and tells him: "Receive the Gospel of Christ, whose herald you now are.  Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach." It is very clear and very precise, and by extension not restricted to priests or deacons, but a call to all the baptised. The order is important as well. We must believe first, then we can teach by our lives, and finally witness by putting into practice what is taught.

In effect, it is a call to lead a life of integrity, so that what we hold in our hearts is lived in our lives. Surely that is the aim of us all as we strive to lead a Christian life. In our Gospel we are presented with the two sons who acted to a challenge in different ways. The first son, for whatever reason, rebelled against the authority of his father, which was a huge issue in that society. We can only assume that he was being honest with himself, and then was given the grace of reflection, a result of which he followed the direction of his father. His integrity remained intact.

The second son just said yes, he would follow his father’s direction, and for whatever reason he did otherwise. Maybe he just wanted to keep his father happy by saying yes, or maybe he really intended to go, or there are a host of other possibilities. What is clear is that he said one thing and did another. We must assume that there was some intention of following the direction of his father, but did not follow through.  Each day we are given opportunities to choose, to remain faithful, to reflect on our decisions and amend them if it is needed. The admonition of the bishop to the newly ordained deacon can form a pattern for all of our lives. It is not something that we do once, but an action that is revisited in our daily lives, part of the ongoing process of conversion.

Many years ago I prepared a couple for the baptism of their child. As we were going through the Apostles Creed, the father stopped me and asked me to omit a line. He did not believe that one, he said, so he wanted me to leave it out. I explained that it was not a supermarket, and that I had to ask it, as this is our faith. He told me he would not assent to that at the baptism. The day of the baptism came and asked, with some trepidation, for the beliefs of the parents.  The father answered positively and the baptism proceeded. Later he told me that my challenge had made him really think, and that he had come around to an understanding of the creed. What shone through to me was his the integrity of his approach, not just keeping me, his wife and extended family happy, but truly confronting the issues of faith in his life.  He emerged, like the first son, with a stronger faith.

Today is Social Justice Sunday. Each year the Bishops of Australia put in front of us an issue of our society for our reflection and action. This year they have asked us to reflect on the situation of prisoners in the jails of our country. The challenge for our society is to discover a suitable and dignified method of rehabilitation that respects the rights of each of us in society to a safe social situation.  It asks us for our attitudes to those in prison. There are alternatives to incarceration, and the statistics do not show the success of locking up large numbers of people for minor crimes. This is an opportunity for many of us to form an informed opinion on a major issue for our society.

Reflection which leads to action means that we are able to live by the will of our God. In doing so we will lead a life of integrity.

Homily, Social Justice Sunday, 26th Sunday in Ordinary time Year A, 24th September 2011

Strength in the Storm

A few weeks ago I stood in the middle of a violent storm at an airfield in Madrid with two million others, one of them being the Holy Father. It was wild, but in the midst of the wildness of the weather there was a calmness among the people. Pope Benedict stood there, not leaving (even though he was advised to do so) like a rock, the rock of Peter. Afterwards, the press reported that the normal crowd reaction in such cases is mass panic. When you have panic in a crowd of two million, there are inevitably deaths. There was no panic, so injury, no death, because there was something else there with us at Cuarto Vientos. That same spirit is with us tonight. 

The calmness we were able to hold in the storm taught us a lesson. Pope Benedict told us before he left: “Your strength is greater than the storm. With the rain the Lord has sent us many blessings. In this you are an example. As happened tonight, you can always with Christ endure the trials of life. Do not forget this.” We had done the impossible,and emerged soaked and happy! We learned the lesson.

Peter had to learn the lesson as well. He was being very generous, going beyond the confines of the Mosaic Law in offering to forgive his brother seven times. In reality he did not have to forgive him even once. This was big. However, Jesus blows him out of the water and demands that he do the impossible. What Jesus suggests is madness, but Jesus does it with a straight face….  he is serious. Of course it is madness, and of course it is impossible, but with the Holy Spirit it is possible… forgiveness is possible, reconciliation is 

possible.

Today is the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York. My first memory of this tragedy is the horror of the planes flying into the towers, The second memory is the immediate outrage called  for righteous revenge in the style of the Mosaic Law, ‘an eye for an eye’. I am not so sure that Jesus would have been in the grandstand cheering for retribution. In fact I am sure he would not have been. Justice is to be sought and strived for in our lives, and the key plank to that effort is forgiveness. Benedict told us a few weeks ago: Dear young people do not be satisfied with anything less than truth and love. Do not be content with anything less than Christ.

This cannot be done without the active participation of the Holy Spirit, and it cannot be done by ourselves.  Without the Spirit it is simply impossible and without purpose.  Without each other, without the community of faith it is both humanly and divinely impossible. The Holy Father said during his homily at the Closing Mass: We can’t follow Jesus on our own. Anyone who would be temopted to do so would risk never encountering Jesus, or following a counterfeit Jesus. This of course means, he concluded Having faith means drawing support from the faith of your brothers and sisters.

Forgiveness and reconciliation without the Holy Spirit and each other is impossible. With each other, and strong in the Spirit, we can achieve heights of which others can only dream! That is the message of Christ, that is the message of the Holy Father, that is the message of two million young people in Madrid, and that is the message that our world needs to hear.

Homily 11th  September 2011, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time. St Vincent Pallotti, Kununurra.

Not Your Usual Sunday Mass

Two weeks ago I concelebrated Sunday Mass with the Holy Father, eight hundred bishops and eight thousand priests. It was not your usual Sunday Mass.  That Mass was at the culmination of the pilgrimage of millions of people, invited to Madrid by Pope Benedict. The reason for the pilgrimage is stated by St Paul as we heard today in the letter to the Romans: “love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour.” This is where World Youth Day starts.  I would like to ask Soleil White to come up and give us her reflections on where this leads.

The experience that most touch me on the pilgrimage was doing the Stations of the Cross in Fatima. While walking the Stations of the Cross we stopped at the Fourth Station (Peter’s Denial), as we walked away a cool breeze swarmed by and I felt at peace and that God was really with me. At that point in my life I really came to believing that God was always with me and that he brought me on this journey to find my faith. Later on that evening I explained my experience to Sabrina from the NATSICC group. She placed her arm around me and gave me a smile and said it was okay to openly believe in God and that we were all there to celebrate our faith with young people from all over the world – Soleil White

It was with experiences such as this that we came to the vigil with the Holy Father at Cuatro Vientos, when the storm hit, everyone shared umbrellas, coats and groundsheets. We tried to stay dry but just got soaked right through. The WYD cross fell over in a gust and hit a bishop, and the Holy Father remained in his chair, ignoring advice for him to move to shelter, in front of us like Peter the Rock. The whole event resulted in bringing the crowd closer together in true solidarity around our Pope. And, in addition, the rain settled the dust and cooled things down, and after the storm had passed, the wind dried the soaked us so that it made for a bearable night. Before he left, the Holy Father, who also got soaked, said:

Dear Young Friends, We have lived together an adventure. Strengthened by your faith in Christ, you have resisted the rain. Before leaving I wish you all good night. Have a good rest. I thank you for the sacrifice that you are making and I have no doubt that you will offer it generously to the Lord. We shall see one another tomorrow, God willing, in the celebration of the Eucharist. I am expecting all of you. I thank you for the fine example that you have given. As happened tonight, you can always, with Christ, endure the trials of life. Do not forget this. I thank you all.

The WYD program was intended to remind us that we are not accidents on this earth, but willed out of the love of God and destined to help each other reach the dizzy heights God has made possible for each one of us. On Sunday morning the Holy Father continued:

Yes, dear friends, God loves us. This is the great truth of our life; it is what makes everything else meaningful. We are not the product of blind chance or absurdity; instead our life originates as part of a loving plan of God. …If you abide in the love of Christ, rooted in the faith, you will encounter, even amid setbacks and suffering, the source of true happiness and joy. Faith does not run counter to your highest ideals; on the contrary, it elevates and perfects those ideals. Dear young people, do not be satisfied with anything less than Truth and Love, do not be content with anything less than Christ.

So WYD was a chance to encourage, strengthen and challenge one another. In many ways our Sunday Mass here in Broome is the same. Here we come to put aside the cares of this world and remember that there is something bigger than us of which we are a part. At the time of WYD, Vargas Llosa, a famous Spanish writer and agnostic, wrote that World Youth Day was: a gigantic festival and there are two possible readings of this event: one which sees World Youth Day as more a superficial than a religious festival, and the other which interprets it as proof that the Church of Christ maintains its strength and vitality. I was there both for the event and the testimonies of young people who participated.  I know that there was nothing superficial about WYD, jusdt as there is nothgin superficial about our presence here today.

Pope Benedict always reminds his listeners that his role is to present eternal truths in a way that encourages us think and then act in a positive way. St John Chrysostom provides a perfect conclusion to our reflection on WYD and today’s liturgy, and the necessary action that will result from it:  

             

You will be doing everything for the glory of God if, when you leave this place, you make yourselves responsible for saving a brother or sister, not just by accusing and rebuking him or her, but also by advising and encouraging, and by pointing out the harm done by worldly amusements, and the profit and help that come from our instruction.

In other words, “Whoever tries to save those that are negligent, and to snatch them from the jaws of the devil, is imitating Christ as far as a human being can.” What other work could equal this? Of all good deeds this is the greatest; of all virtue this is the summit.

That is what PopeBenedict aimed for in Madrid. That gift of God, given through the Holy Father and two million young people, is offered to this parish and every Parish in the world today.  May we accept this extraordinary gift of the Holy Spirit.

Homily, OLQP Broome 4th September 2011, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A   

Feed Them Yourselves!

When I was the assistant to Fr McKelson, he kept telling me that soon he would become a pensioner, so I told him that when he did we will throw a party to spend his first cheque! Well his 65^th birthday and party came, and to celebrate, the Bidyadanga mob went out and caught 65 salmon, which were carefully filleted and refrigerated the day before. The time of the party arrived and the fires were burning when I was told that the fridges had failed and all the fish had gone rotten. Meanwhile there were two hundred people gathering for a meal. A team of people went into overdrive and, using everything in the kitchen and convent, cooked for the waiting people. I can assure you that there was a miracle there that day, but I do not know it was a miraculous multiplication of food. However, we are part of a greater miracle, described by the readings we have reflected on today, and we are all called to be part of the response.

God calls us to come together.  Come to he water you who are thirsty. We are invited and encouraged to acknowledge our need for God, and to work together to create a better world. It does not matter whether we consider ourselves to be talented, capable or worthy. God accepts our efforts as part of the whole and invites us equally to share in the benefits of being in relationship with him.

This invitation is freely given by God and not earned by us in any way.  In that way we can never be separated from our God, who created sustains and loves us. We are, of course, able to ignore or hide from God, and to commit sin, which prevents us from seeing the work of God in our lives and world.  This can happen, but St Paul is reminds the Romans and us, two thousand years later, that neither death nor life nor angel nor demon nor any other power nor life nor death nor anything else in all creation can separate from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. The point is quite laboured isn’t it? However the point is made that God is there and is not going anywhere else! We have nothing to worry about, we are never alone.

Jesus comment to his disciples is the key to the story of feeding the five thousand. Miracles do happen, and they are from God, but those who recognise miracles cannot be passive recipients or spectators. I often have people ask me: Where is God? Why doesn’t he send a miracle to help people in need?   Our answer of the Christian is that of Our Lord: Feed them yourselves, pray and prepare, use every gift and talent you have, and when that is exhausted, God will provide. The Lord works through his people as well as through his world.

At Lourdes in France I have seen people praying and hoping for a miracle, not passive sitting, but fervently hoping praying and preparing for whatever gift their relationship with God allows them to receive. I have witnessed miracles at Lourdes and in other places, and they are all, without exception, the fruit of people co-operating with the love of God, people coming to the water, people offering the little faith, hope, love and money they have and allowing God to multiply it over and over.

God works best when things seem hopeless and people seem lost. This is not because God wants to big note himself, but these are the times that God’s people recall that God is in the middle with his suffering people, and that he is not going anywhere. We know that  God is with us we can change the world.

Homily OLQP Broome 30th July 2011

The Riches of Relationship

During the past week I have been in Sydney at a meeting called by the Australian Catholic Bishops. The Bishops asked for a representative from each diocese to come together talk about a radical concept. The concept is JESUS.  They are proposing a Year of Grace, which is defined as starting afresh from Christ. It is an opportunity to encounter Jesus I everything we do as Church, in every part of our lives. ‘What is so radical about that’ I hear you say, isn’t that what we try to do every day? Well, if my life is any indicator, yes and no.  Today’s liturgy gives us a wonderful chance to really ask ourselves that question and seek the answer.

What do I want out of life? Big question, and one that only be answered after a significant amount of reflection, and dare I say it, prayer.  We all have our priorities, and often what we would like to see as our priorities are, in fact not what is acted out in our lives.  We all have the experience of saying something that we did not intend to, and when it comes we are sure that it was from God and not from us. I think that is what happened to Solomon in his dream dialogue with God that we read about in the first book of Kings.  He did not ask for riches, wealth, and power, to win wars, to be handsome or get a stack of really good wives. Instead he asked for ‘a heart to understand how to discern between good and evil’. I don’t think that Solomon saw that one coming, but when it did, he took it and ran. It is right and true, and he was given that gift that made him the wisest and best king of Israel.  He encountered God, and having done that, everything else fell into place.

Solomon not only found the answer to life, but was able to sustain the pace. The psalm tells us about that: ‘Lord I love your commands”. That does not mean that they are all easy, or sometimes we do not find them difficult. It means that if we are in relationship with God, we accept him into our lives and allow him to mould and guide us, not just to follow the teachings of God when they happen to agree with our mood or situation.

The one we need to be relationship with, of course, is the one the Bishops have pointed us to: Christ. He is the one that all of our actions need to be measured against. In all our actions and the activities of our day we need to be able to ask: where is Jesus in all of this?

Each of us will have a different way of finding this treasure, and just like the search for the pearl can sometimes be treacherous, so the search for the pearl of great price can be dangerous, and the mighty can indeed fall prey to sin and temptation. We need to stay close to the church, be guided by ample prayer and teaching, and always move forward.

The journeys of each of us here are different, but they are carried on within the same matrix of faith. There is no new way, the path is forever the same, but with the gift of our humanity and uniqueness, always new. We hold a treasure, held in things new and old, a relationship with the Son of God, and through him, with each other. May God protect us and keep us moving together as one people.

Homily OLQP  Broome 24th July 2011

Kularri Region Reconciliation Award 2011 Acceptance Speech

I am honoured to be here tonight and receive this NAIDOC reconciliation award. 

I accept it representing many who have come before me and those who will come after. 

Over one hundred years ago, priests came to live and walk beside local people, sharing faith and hope, the good and the bad times. Fr Nicholas Emo was treated with contempt when he fed and protected vulnerable people in 1895. Opponents burnt his shack and chapel before he won them over by kindness.  

Some reported Fr Worms in the 1930s because he believed that apathy was the result of ‘cutting the sacred cord’ that bound people to their culture and land. He taught Fr McKelson, who taught me, to walk gently on this land, because it belongs to other people and we are here by invitation.

Fr McKelson, Wandjira Jack Mulardy and Nyakerin John Dodo taught me to love language, for it is a window to the liyan, the rayi, or as the desert mob calls it, the kururrn of the people. They taught me that Aboriginal people and culture are strengthened by Christianity, and that Aboriginal people are very blessed with connection to land culture and people. Later the Kukatja taught me about life, language and faith in a desert context. Today I am indeed very blessed to walk in Yawuru country.

The Homelessness Outreach of which we have heard continues the work of Emo, Worms, McKelson and McMahon. We have each used the talents available to us to work in a different way, each appropriate to the time. It bears the mark of each of them, and the faith of the Catholic people of the Kimberley for the last 100 years.

Liyan mapu wa-nangka-ma juyu Kukuni, Upani, Rayipuni, kalpu kapuni 

(May God bless you from heaven, Father, Son and Holy Spirit) (Yawuru)

GimiGimi Shed, Broome, 9th July 2011.

Care and caution with the Weeds and the Wheat.

When I was young one of our schoolyard crazes was this unusual design called yin and yang. This traditional Taoist design enthralled us all. For a long time we drew talked of and philosophised about the good and evil that were intertwined. In the end we would all come to the conclusion, through our Christian lens, that in every good there is some evil and in every evil there is some good.

The reason that made sense to us young Catholic men was that it resonated with our deep faith. It resonated with the parable of the wheat and darnel. We know that the world is not perfect, and that in the midst of good there are things that are not right, just as in the midst of great evil there are bright moments.

To maintain our balance, we need to be aware of the movements on our lives and society. In most things the solution is not a simple one, as it is, for instance, in the case of abortion or euthanasia. These are simple open and shut issues for people, like us Catholics, who respect life.  In the issues we confront each day, most of us tend towards pontificating and declaring our position to be correct. This is natural, but not necessarily correct. Just because I hold a position to be correct, even if I am supported by a multitude of people, it does not make that position correct. The truth is most often to be found somewhere between the extremes of opinion.

The parable of the wheat and darnel, however, takes us further than the yin and yang concept. The parable takes us to the plane of making judgements. The wheat and weeds are left together until the end because there is no way of harmlessly separating them before harvest. We are called to live out our own vocation, honestly and with integrity whilst respecting the ways of others who do not agree with us. This requires patience that is best delivered through an active prayer life.

The mood of our town at the moment gives us the opportunity to practice and show the way in this matter. During the week I was told of an argument that almost turned into a physical fight at a workplace because staff had differing opinions over the gas hub at Price’s Point. The question of the hub is an important one for our town, and one in which we Christians, whatever side of the fence we are on, can show leadership through our diligence, our dignity and our patience. The worst outcome in this debate is not whether the gas hub is built or not, but if hurt and division split families and relationships in our community. The best outcome is if we manage to keep families and relationships in our town together. This is a task for us as church.

When you stand in the middle of a young wheat field, it is hard to see what plants are wheat and what plants are darnel.  That is why in the parable the farmer waits until the end to separate them. God asks us to exercise caution, tolerance and care as we move forward calmly, and leave judgements to God.

Homily 16th July 2011 OLQP Broome

God's word on our Earth

A few years ago my brother and I walked across the north of England, just for a change. From the Lakes District to the high moors and then down to the Swaledale, deep in Yorkshire, where all those tales of “it shouldn’t happen to a vet’ occurred. After a village called Keld, just before we got to the dales, we walked through a moonscape. It was awful. No trees, no grass, just the debris left behind when the lead mines were closed in 1948. David and I tramped silently through this example of how not to treat our earth for two hours before descending again to the Garden of Eden at Reith. 

The effect of that mornings walk has never left me. 

God has given us this earth, and in Isaiah’s words, he has watered it, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating. It the word cannot achieve its purpose without the collaboration of God’s most magnificent creation, which of course, is humankind. The responsibility we hold is enormous, as is the opportunity for destruction and preservation. 

The Kukatja have a wonderful word kaninyirninpa, meaning holding.  Just as we a mother holds her child in the womb, and god holds his people, we hold what is entrusted to us until it is time to pass it on to others. Christians do not own anything, even our own lives. We hold all that we have been given in trust for god and for future generations. Whoever financed, allowed and profited from those lead mines in Yorkshire did not live this, for if they had they would not have been able to wreak such permanent destruction on God’s wonderful creation, denying it to future generations.

St Paul reminds us that creation ‘has been groaning in one great act of giving birth’.  We are part of that birth, and we care called to hold this creation, to nurture this baby.   I our hands we hold the seed, and we can spread this seed on rocky ground, where it will not take deep root; among thorns, where it will be strangled, or in deep rich soil where it will be nurtured. The choice is ours.

 We all have a role to play in ensuring that God’s earth is protected and nurtured. None of our voices are raised in vain.  Listen anyone who has ears.

Homily 10th July 2011 OLQP Broome.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday

In this country we have been spared many of the atrocities that have befallen people in other parts of the world. We are indeed fortunate. Living in the Kimberley, this is brought home to us ever more strongly as we see around us the beauty of God’s creation. However, we cannot say that our country is, or ever has been, peace-filled. In this sense our country is still in process, it is still being formed. To be complete it needs an unwavering commitment from all of us to this end.

Twenty five years ago, in 1986, people from Broome went over the Tanami on Frank Lacey’s bus to meet the Holy Father in Alice Springs. He affirmed the extraordinary gifts that Aboriginal people and culture have brought to this Great South Land. However, he went further and told the gathering that “the Church in Australia will not be fully the church that Jesus wants her to be until you have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully accepted.”

This challenge is one to a partnership, and it is issued to all of us who strive to follow Christ, whether we are Aboriginal or not. Of course, the Holy Father was calling us to the greatest of gifts, that if peace. Peace is the free gift that can only come through the action of the Holy Spirit. The first reading urges us to seek this gift, and reminds us that true peace may only be obtained from one source, from the one who rides on the donkey, from Christ who came among us to serve. It can only be shared by those who are open to their spiritual selves, who acknowledge the presence and power of God in their lives.

The gift of peace enables us to build community with each other. It allows us to open our hearts to views that differ from our own and opinions that diverge from ours. It allows us to see that the future is built together. The words that Blessed John Paul spoke in Alice Springs should continue to resound in our ears, so that we are constantly reminded that our God comes among us and has shared his word among us all equally. With this knowledge, we are empowered to keep moving forward with strength and determination, but also with the knowledge that the gentle Christ is with us on our journey.

Homily OLQP Broome 3rd July 2011

The Body of Christ for the World

During the last week the priests from the Kimberley were here in Broome to learn more about the changes to the way we celebrate Mass. Those of you visiting from the eastern states may have already experienced some of the changes that will be implemented here in November. The changes to the Mass have been made to ensure that what we pray is what we really believe. The time with the priests reminded me that the structure of our prayer and the church’s year is very important. It is not by accident that we celebrate the Ascension forty days after Easter, or Pentecost fifty days after Easter. It is planned and crucial to the way we believe and pray that we have celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, then the perfect communication of God within himself and then to us through the Holy Spirit on the feast of the Blessed Trinity. These feasts prepare us for the feast of the Body and blood of Christ, known for a thousand years as Corpus Christi. God has given us all that is possible to allow us to respond to his grace and love.

On Thursday Pope Benedict reminded his listeners that Corpus Christi is inseparable from Holy Thursday. On Holy Thursday Jesus gave himself to his disciples at the Last Supper before giving himself for us all on the wood of the cross. He offered bread and wine, changing them to be his body and blood, that same body that would die and the same blood that would flow from his side on the cross. This leads us to the wonderful centre of this feast. We celebrate who we are and what we can become. We acknowledge that we are the people called by God, we are the Body of Christ, a sure and visible sign of the presence of God in our world. We are bearers of hope peace and joy to a world that is looking for these things in all the wrong places.

We gather around this altar conscious of who we are, with our strengths and weaknesses. We bring the best we have to offer. We bring our needs and desires, our joys and hopes, our fears and anxieties.  We bring money for the needs of the church and the poor, knowing that we pray with our bodies, talents and resources as well as our minds. We bring the bread and wine, the staples of life and we offer them to God to be sanctified and transformed into what we are called to become, the body of Christ. This offering, like the offering of Christ, like the offering of ourselves at this altar, is taken, blessed, broken and shared. In this way be become the visible Christ to our world.

In many places of the world today there will be processions of the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of cities, and villages. The aim of this is to recall he who calls and leads us to bear witness. It recalls the power and strength of our God who came to live among us, in our towns and villages. The Corpus Christi Procession is led by Christ the head of the Body of Christ, and we follow.

In the gift of the gift of the Eucharist God gives us the best so that we can give of our best. We hold in our church this treasure, far greater than anything humanity can produce. This treasure gives life to all who are able to experience it. Let us celebrate and live our faith.

Homily , 26th June 2011 Feast of Corpus Christi A

God in our World

People often come to me and say: ”it doesn’t matter what you believe in as long as you are a good person”, or “I don’t care about all that dogmatic stuff, it is what is in your heart that is important”. Honestly, I usually don’t know what to say back to them, as they are not usually looking from an answer and often assume that I agree with them. Well, have to say now that, regardless of whether you are I am good people or not, what we believe is crucial to the way we think,  look at the world, live our lives and prepare for what comes after this life.

So today we celebrate Trinity Sunday, which for most people is a pretty dry topic. As the young say: boooring!!! Maybe it is if you are approaching it from a dry theoretical perspective. The trick for us is to remember who we are, we are a people called by God .  Just last Sunday we remembered that we are held together by the Holy Spirit, the same spirit who animated the apostles and sent them out to all nations. This Spirit was sent by Jesus, who himself was sent by the Father. All that we know of the Trinity revolves around relationship… about how they fit together, work together and reach out of themselves to others.  It took the first four hundred years of the Church’s life to nut this one out. Finally it was decided that the three persons were coequal, consubstantial and coeternal.  This leaves the question of how they relate to each other and us. Once we understand how the Trinity relates to each other, then we can become to know the way to relate to them and to each other.

One explanation that makes sense to me is called the mutual love theory. St Augustine developed it in the fourth century. It goes like this: the Father and Son relate to each other through a love, they bestow this love on each other. This bestowal, this breathing forth, is the Holy Spirit. They then reach out to the world as one God, but through different persons. The Son became incarnate and lived among us as Jesus the Christ, and Holy Spirit was breathed forth into our world by the Father and the Son, and continues to live in the Church as the Holy Spirit. The love of God returns to God. 

We are inheritors of a circle of love. If we want to be true disciples, we continue to relate to each other and with God through love. We are invited into this circle through Jesus who offers us a share in his life. He wants to draw us into the life and love of the Trinity. John 3.16 makes this plain: ‘so that everyone who believes on him may not be lost but have eternal life’.  The love that we are called to is succinctly put in the letter to the Corinthians: “try to grow perfect, help one another, be united love in peace”.

Relationship is at the heart of the Trinity, holding it together and sending it forth. This love comes from God to us, drawing us out of ourselves into relationship with God and with each other. Life on earth can only make sense if we are able to from and sustain relationship with God and each other. We are reminded by this every time we say: in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Homily 19th June 2011, Feast of the Blessed Trinity

The Holy Spirit of Peace

One Pentecost morning in Lightning Ridge, in the far north west of New South Wales, the reader began the first reading, the same as we have just heard. After stumbling over some of the place names he looked up and said: “Well there were a lot of people from a helluva lot of places and they could all understand each other.”

Maybe that is the right place to start discovering what this feast means. Jesus the Christ rose from the dead, after appearing to many people, ascends into heaven, vowing not to leave us alone. The apostles looked to the sky because he was leaving them, yet saying that he was not going anywhere.

Just after this, the apostles, scared and outnumbered, gathered in the Upper Room, the only place they felt safe. Tradition says that Mary was there with them. This was the place where Jesus had held them together on the night of the Last Supper. It was there that the Holy Holy Spirit came among them and strengthened them. It was there that the Church began, because the Holy Spirit formed the Church. If the Holy Spirit is not our initiator and sustainer, we are a rag tag group of like-minded people, maybe like a sporting or interest club. We know that we are far more than that, and it is the Holy Spirit that allows this to occur and sustains the church. The Holy Spirit guides us individually, and far mote powerfully, as a Church united with the Holy Father and the Bishops. Jesus did not promise the Holy Spirit primarily to individuals, but to the gathered assembly of the church. It is through the Church that Christ leads onwards and hold us together. That is why today is rightly known as the birthday of the church.

This Holy Spirit works in and through us in many ways, as St Pauls enumerates for us. We all have a particular part to play but it is part of the whole, not our own show.  We are interdependent.

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are wide and varied, but the greatest of them are the quietest, and the strongest is that of peace. In the gospel we experience Jesus, who appeared among the disciples to share with them the gifts a peace and forgiveness, the most precious gifts. These are gifts we can live share, and they can only come through the work of the Holy Spirit.

In my ministry as a priest, I am privileged to be with people in many facets of their lives. Recently I have been with people as they have allowed the peace and healing of Christ into their lives, and it is an extraordinary experience. Being accepting, hopeful and happy when ones prognosis is dire, when alongside the sick person there are family and friends are despairing, blaming God or just angry, is a great and wonderful gift. It is a quiet gift, but contains the strength to transform society. This gift of peace and forgiveness shines out from within a person who has it and is visible those around.

This Pentecost, remember our dignity as a people chosen and called by Christ to be people who live and grow together, gradually spreading  joy, peace, forgiveness and hope to a broken world. These can only be sustained through the Holy Spirit, and we are taught that the Holy Spirit never ceases working through the Church. It begins with us here today, and truly has the power to transform the earth.

Homily, Pentecost  Sunday, 12^th June 2011 OLQP Broome

Allowing Christ to Soar

When you train for a pilot’s licence, the first big challenge is to fly a circuit around the airstrip yourself. It is called the first solo.  Many years ago when I was training for a pilot’s licence, the instructor suggested to me that it was time for me to fly by myself. I suggested to him reasons why I was not quite ready. We landed and taxied, as we normally did, the instructor working the radio and me flying the plane. As I looked at the instruments I heard him say on the radio: “Jandakot Tower, India Bravo Papa, request first solo”, after which he leapt from the plane and ran across the taxiway and grass. It was time, even though I thought was not ready, but I picked up the radio to confirm the towers assignment of runway to me, lined up and took off, and landed again.  After that, the sky was the limit and the whole world of flying opened itself up to me.  If I did not accept the challenge, I could not have moved on and would not have grown. All the theory would have been wasted.

The Ascension had to happen. None of the disciples wanted it to happen, for they liked having Jesus close. Jesus needed to go so that all the faith hope and love he had given them could bloom and spread far beyond the confines of those whom Jesus could personally touch. The Ascension made the message of Jesus soar!

The Ascension marks a fundamental change in the way that the followers of Jesus relate to him. When Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection, she wanted to hug him. Instead he tells her: No not hold me, for I have not ascended to my father. Just as Jesus had opened to us a new way of relating to god, he shows us a new way of relating to him. It does not have to be physical. In this age where we have to see everything to believe, he asks us to feel and know him in our hearts. Of course, we know that this is a far stronger presence of the risen Christ than if he was among us physically, for he stays with us always.  Pope Benedict teaches us: Ascension does not mean departure into a remote region of the cosmos but, rather, the continuing closeness that the disciples experience that it becomes a source of lasting joy. [i]

To live our Christian life, we need to know that the presence of Christ is always with us. He has promised to always be with his Church, and indeed he is. In this liturgy he remains with us in various ways: in the word proclaimed, in the priest who acts in persona Christi, in the Eucharistic species, in the congregation as the body of Christ. He is here among us, Christ resurrected and ascended. The apostles looked in the sky and the angel asked: why stare into the sky, he is ascended. We are called to live as people of the resurrection; bearing witness to the Christ we know in our hearts by going out to all nations, baptising them in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them all that Christ commands and reminding them that is with us always, yes, until the end of time.

Homily, OLQP, Ascension Sunday 5th June 2011. 

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[i] Jesus of Nazareth II 281