Walking with Meaning

Not so many years ago, well in the memory of many here, Catholics were people of great processions. We processed in and out of church, we processed around with statues and relics, we processed for Our Lady, St Patrick and St Joseph, and most importantly, we processed for Christ the King, Corpus Christi and Palm Sunday.

Each of these processions spoke loudly to those around us. In former days they told people that we were an oppressed Catholic minority in an Anglo-Saxon Protestant country. In other countries they similarly reinforced cultural, religious and tribal affiliation. They signalled the difference of those who were processing to those around them.

Of all these processions, one remains that is mandated for all Catholics: the Procession of Palms on Passion Sunday.  We who processed into this Cathedral are different. We have entered the ritual space that allows us to appreciate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord in context. The week ahead is our week, the Great Week, crowned by the three days of the Paschal Triduum. The reason that we have entered this Cathedral carrying a palm frond is that we are part of this drama, part of this historical reality. Jesus entered Jerusalem with fear and trepidation, concerned about the future and not duped by the false adulation of the crowd.  The way to Jerusalem had not been easy, and the way of the cross was almost too much to bear. He invites us to accompany him along this road this week.

We have the choice, as we always do, to walk with Christ. By the palms we hold we have already signalled our intention to move into this ritual space, not to be carried by the cry of the crowd, but instead be quietly present with Jesus. As Jesus stood beside Pilate and his silence is deafening. The scene asks us for our answer, not just our feeling, but our hard and fast answer.

This week is one for few words, much contemplation and some action.

Enter the ritual space, enter the quiet, listen to God’s call and accept the invitation to walk this great week beside your Lord and Saviour. 

It is only by entering into this space that we are able to live the resurrection. 

Homily, Passion Sunday 17^th April 2011, OLQP

Jesus Wept

Jesus has visited his friend Lazarus and in his humanity is distraught at his death. The shortest verse in the scriptures puts it succinctly: Jesus wept.  In all his preaching teaching and leading he has been unable to prevent the death of his close friend. It is no wonder that he stayed in Jerusalem for two days after he heard that Lazarus was ill. He had a premonition, not only of Lazarus’ death, but of his own. In weeping Jesus was not only coming to terms with his friend’s death, but with the inevitability of his own, and this is what provides the transformative power to this scene.

Jesus claims the power of God to be brought to bear on this situation and his Father listens to his prayer.  Lazarus, who believed in the resurrection from the dead on the last day, is raised to life. In this action Jesus provides his last and ultimate sign. Death is conquered!

For the last few days the words of one of the Holy Sonnets composed by the English metaphysical poet John Donne have been in my mind. They speak directly to this Gospel:

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

After all the preaching, witness and teaching of Jesus, his life is fast coming to its zenith. He has invited his disciples to join his liberating journey towards new life. He uses Lazarus as his last and most poignant sign of this journey. Lazarus was raised to life again and died again sometime afterwards. He did, however, experience the liberating presence of Jesus. He believed and this faith led him to be free.

On the cusp of Holy Week, Jesus offers us the same freedom. As he called Lazarus out of his tomb, he calls us out of our tombs. He calls us to leave behind the deathly parts of our lives and accept the new life he offers. Leaving behind the deathly parts of our lives is a constant challenge, so as we enter the final week of Lent we are presented the chance to commit ourselves again to God, to take advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to align ourselves with the new life Jesus promises us, the life we will celebrate at Easter.

Lazarus, surrounded by those he loved, returned to this life and was confirmed in his desire to live the new and eternal life promised by Jesus. His sisters were asked by Jesus to confirm their faith. ‘Just as Jesus asked Martha if she believes that he is the "resurrection and the life," Jesus addresses to each of us this same question that in fact exceeds our ability to understand. Jesus asks us to trust him, as he has been entrusted to the Father. And despite our doubts and our darkness, we are invited to follow Martha's example and say to Jesus, "We believe in you, because you have the words of eternal life. We believe in you, we hope in the gift of life after life, an authentic and full life in your kingdom of light and peace.[i]"’

We all need to grow and change. Remember Martha when she appears earlier in the Gospel. She was admonished by Jesus for worrying and fretting about too many things. Here we see her calm and focussed: a model of growth in faith and wisdom. It is worth remembering that the church has a feast of St Martha, but not of Mary and Lazarus. Martha is the one who grew the most.  This chance is offered to us as well, and we live safe in the knowledge that our saviour Jesus Christ has defeated death of the soul and given us the words of his everlasting life.

Homily 5^th Sunday of Lent, 10^th April 2011, Year A OLQP

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[i]Reflection by Benedict XVI, March 9 2008

The Light of the Blind Man

I was alongside a friend born and raised in the desert.  He kept looking down at the ground as we walked along, so in my ignorance I said to him: Why do you always look down? You have to look up and see the world, not be ashamed and look down. He retorted immediately: And what can you see? Nothing, only blue sky, that’s it. If you knew and looked down you would see the tracks of all the people who have been at your camp while we were away. You could see the country.  In my superior fashion I had been blind and tried to force my own blinkered vision onto my mate. It was obvious that I would blunder along and learn nothing. I needed to learn from my friend.

Samuel came looking for God's chosen, whom he assumed would be strong, mature and wise. He almost chose the wrong one. Only when he stopped to listen to God did he discover the one whom God had chosen.  He found David, slight, immature and young. This was the one chosen to be the leader of his people.

The lesson here for us is clear. We are all people of faith, committed to following God and building the kingdom. But how central is God to our decision making process? Do we seek the truth or just the bits that agree with our present desires or situation?

The story of the man born blind provides us with some challenges. The first one is: Who is responsible for his blindness, him or his parents? This is the same craziness as blaming God for the tsunami in Japan or the flood in Warmun.  Jesus wants to make it clear that this is not our God. Unfortunately there is enough punishment, enough terror, enough pain in this world that comes directly from us, the people created by God and endowed with freewill. The God of love does not punish people. God does not stand idly by and watch us suffer; instead giving us hope and reason for existence. The second crazy claim is: How can a sinner produce signs like this? The God of Jesus Christ is not vengeful. God gives us scope to escape our negative blindness, to be able to overcome the obstacles that nature or other people place in our path. Our God shines through others, believers and unbelievers. The difference is that we believers know the reason for our hope, the reason for our lives. In this we are different to those who have no faith, whose lives are mapped by fatalism.

The man born blind, with the help of Jesus, was able not only to recover his sight but also to be a beacon for others to the light. Those who surrounded this man were in the dark, where they did not want the light of knowledge to illuminate the dark. The blind man’s life was subject to a burst of light and joy that went far beyond him. He was able to see the same things as the others but through a different lens: that of faith, joy and hope.  St Paul reminds the Ephesians: try to discover what the Lord wants of you, having nothing to do with the futile works of darkness.

We can stay blinkered or blind, being led by opinions or trying to make God’s word fit in with our own beliefs, just like the Pharisees, or we can follow the urging of St Paul and : Wake from your sleep, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine in you.

Homily 3rd April 2011 Lent 4 Year A OLQP