17th Sunday Year (B) 2015

 17^th. Sunday (Year B)                                                      (2^nd. Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 6:1-15)

We often hear people say, sometimes from bitter experience, that ‘looks’ can be deceptive; with Jesus however, ‘looks’ always promote truth: giving teaching and comfort, offering guidance and help.
 

When Jesus, in our Gospel passage, told His disciples to have the people sit down and prepare for a meal, He undoubtedly remembered Elisha’s words, recorded in the Scriptures (2 Kings 4:43), when he was preparing to miraculously feed one hundred people:
 

            Thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and there shall be some left over.’
 

And, indeed, there was some left over; but how much, or what later became of it, we are not told.  With Jesus, however, after His feeding of the five thousand, He had the remaining fragments gathered into baskets which eventually totalled twelve in all, foreshadowing the complete tally (cf. the 12 tribes in Israel of old) of God’s future Chosen People whom the Apostles and their successors would feed as shepherds offering -- in the name of Jesus -- eternal life and the glory and fulfilment of a place at the feast of the Lamb in the Kingdom of God.
 

Noting the ‘looks’ again, we see that whereas Elisha multiplied twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain, Jesus multiplied loaves and fish… what does that difference help us to understand, in what way does it instruct us?
 

Jesus’ bread was not just for bodily sustenance, as His words against the devil seeking to tempt Him in the desert at the beginning of his public ministry remind us:
 

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.  (Matthew 4:4)
 

Elisha, being a prophet of God, provided bread for the bodily needs of his companions, the sons of the prophets gathered in Gilgal in his honour.  Jesus however was more than a prophet, and so the bread He multiplied was food for the people’s bodily needs at that moment in time of course, but also and most significantly, it was a symbol of the food of God’s Word of salvation and re-creation:
 

Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.   For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”   (John 6:32–33)
 

Likewise, the fish He multiplied and gave to eat evoked the end days for which the prophet Ezekiel (unknown to Elisha) predicted that a stream would flow from the Temple in Jerusalem and purify the sterile waters of the Dead Sea:
 

The angel brought me to the entrance of the temple of the Lord, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east.  (The angel said), this water empties into the sea, which it makes fresh; wherever the river flows there shall be abundant fish. (Ezekiel 47, 1, 8-9)
 

That flow of purifying and life-giving water from the threshold of the old Temple foreshadowed the water that Jesus, Himself the new Temple, would give (John 7:37-39):
 

On the last day of the feast, Jesus stood up and exclaimed, ‘Let anyone who thirsts come to Me and drink.’  He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in Him were to receive.

The fish in Ezekiel’s prophecy thus foreshadowed Jesus’ future disciples, ‘fruit’ of His most Holy Spirit bestowed upon and working in His Church. 
 

The Greek word for ‘fish’ in the New Testament became an acronym among early Christians for the ancient creed: ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour’; and the symbol of fish -- big and small representing Jesus and His disciples -- was every bit as common among Christians in the early Church as is the crucifix in modern times.  At Holy Mass, therefore, we Catholics receive the true bread of God, Jesus Christ our Saviour, Who ‘gives us life’ by bestowing His Spirit upon His Church … the Spirit given to form us ‘little fish’ ever more and more in the likeness of the Big Fish Himself, for the glory of the eternal Father.  We are indeed called to worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth!
 

The hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship Him.   God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and truth.”  (John 4:23s.)
 

This nourishment for God’s Christian People looks like bread and wine because it is to be food for His disciples; but it is not like ordinary food which we eat and, by digesting, change into our own bodily substance, since the food that Jesus gives is intended to gradually change the recipient into a member of the Body of Christ living by the Spirit of Christ.  And that presence of Jesus as heavenly food for His People on earth we call His Eucharistic, Sacramental Presence.  The glorious Jesus, however, the One Who is to come at the end of time -- resplendent in all His heavenly majesty as Judge and Lord of All -- is not, as yet, directly present to us.  Therefore we should appreciate that the Jesus we receive at Holy Communion comes primarily as Food for the way, as we see foreshadowed in another episode from the life of the great prophet Elijah (1 Kings 19:7-8):
 

The angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched (Elijah) and said, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you."   So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.
 

Elijah ate the food the Lord provided for him in order that he might have strength and power to continue on his way to finally reach the mountain of God; and today, at Holy Communion the priest says:
 

            May the Body (the Blood) of Christ keep me (you) safe for eternal life.
 

The Eucharistic Gifts do not directly confer divine life, they strengthen and empower divine life already bestowed on the recipient, that we – like Elijah -- may fulfil God’s plan and our vocation to reach the mountain of God and share in the heavenly feast of the Lamb.
 

In a similar vein, Saint Paul told us in the second reading that, for the disciples of Jesus, on the way to their heavenly home:
 

There is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, Who is over all, and through all, and in all.
 

Notice those words: “there is one body and one Spirit”.  “One body” refers primarily to the Church as the Body of Christ, but it is also to be related to the one Body, the one Food, for all those who are living members of the Church which is the Mystical Body of Christ. “There is one Body and one Spirit” because the Body, the Eucharistic Presence of Christ, is given so that we might be filled – each and every one according to his or her measure -- with the one Holy Spirit of Jesus, by Whose power alone each of us will be enabled to follow Jesus and ultimately attain, in Him, our heavenly destiny.
 

That is why it is so important for good Catholics to appreciate the real nature of the Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist: He is there as food for the way – to sustain those who are actively on the way.   And to those on the way to what is beyond their imagining and largely hidden in the future, He says, You have My promises and My presence, so:
 

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.’  (Matthew 7:7-9)
 

That is what Jesus expects from His Catholic people: that, unashamedly, we ask and ask again with sure hope and patient trust; and that, with humble confidence, we persist in our knocking; because the only good Catholic is one who is spiritually alive, that is, one constantly searching for Jesus, and in Him -- by His Spirit – looking towards the Father.  Likewise, the only ‘good’ communion we can make is one that opens us up to want to know and love Him ever more, and to serve Him, His Church, and His people, ever better; a communion with Jesus that makes us, in and with Him, yearn to know and long to do the Father’s will.  No matter how old or weak we may become, we can still long and aspire to such knowledge and love, to such prayerful service and praise of God, in Jesus and by His Spirit.
 

Finally, let us also learn from the ‘looks’ of our Eucharistic food, People of God. Jesus’ presence there is humble – a thin white wafer and a sip of wine -- apparently insignificant, veiling as well as transmitting the Flesh and Blood of the Lord.   Such appearances should help us appreciate that we can best show our love and appreciation of Jesus in the Eucharist by walking humbly and with deep gratitude along that journey whither He is calling us.  It is in and through this daily Eucharistic food-for-the-way that Jesus communicates to us His Spirit, so that,  abiding in us and working with us, the Spirit might enable us to progress along the way of Jesus and grow in His likeness to the extent that, on arriving ultimately at the Father’s house, we will recognize it as our true home:
 

In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)
 

And so, as we rightly rejoice in the Lord, let us remember that this food is always a new beginning whereby, as St. Paul puts it:
 

Forgetting what lies behind (and) straining forward to what lies ahead I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13)
 

We have before us much walking to do: along ground both rough and hard, with, perhaps, some ascents to exhilarating joys, but certainly not without descents into suffering and sorrow; and, much of the time, indeed, we will be walking along ways that can seem both wearisome and boring if we allow our love for the Lord to become lukewarm.  However if, by the Spirit, we humbly persevere on that journey and take care to protect ourselves against snares hidden along the way, we will ultimately behold and worship the Lord Jesus coming in all His glory to meet us and take us, as His faithful disciples, into His  Father’s presence. 
   

May our whole-hearted participation in this our Sunday Mass, and our grateful reception of Jesus in His Eucharist Presence, help us on our way to join those blessed ones whose hunger and thirst for what is to come continually urges them to cry out with ever greater longing and expectation: Come, Lord Jesus, come!                        

16th Sunday of Year (B) 2015

Sixteenth Sunday of Year (B)

(Jeremiah 23:1-6; Saint Paul to the Ephesians 2:13-18; St. Mark’s Gospel 6:30-34)

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Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the O.T. Scriptures, as we know them, were built up very gradually over more than a thousand years, with later ages adding new layers, strata, to traditions received from earlier times; and in some of the most ancient of these traditions thus Providentially preserved and developed is the theme of shepherd:

Then (the prophet Michaia) said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace.’ ”  (1 Kings 22:17)

The Israelites were originally nomads, people wandering with their flocks and herds from one grazing land to the next, always in search of pasture for their animals.  This original, wandering existence -- bound by no ties other than the well-being of their flocks and herds and the constant search for the best available grazing -- this, in a word, nomadic life was very much admired in later ages by some of the great prophets of Israel who found themselves surrounded on every hand by decadence: by the luxury, violence, injustice, superstition and depravity of city life, and the abuse of settled agriculture for the pursuit of profit and the accumulation of money.  They looked back with nostalgia for the old days because it seemed to them that as nomads they had lived with the dignity and simplicity of men who were free, being disciplined and protected by the peace and rigours of desert life.  Yes, they regarded the original nomadic life as ideal for God’s Chosen People seeking, ultimately, only God’s will, while rejoicing in His great beauty and goodness in the world around, and above all in their own history and in their own lives.

With such sentiments those prophets regarded the Exodus as the high peak of Israel’s spiritual experience, when – with God as her shield and guide – she came out of Egypt’s slavery and wandered over desert wastes learning to know her God on the way to the land He had promised them.  Moses appeared to them as the true shepherd and David -- the great king -- as his heir.  After David, however, his successors failed to respond satisfactorily to their calling and so we heard Jeremiah declaring to them in today’s first reading:

Woe for the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of My pasture, says the Lord.

Looking to the more distant future the prophets foretold two things: God Himself would be the Shepherd of His People; as would also a future king, the Messiah of God.  These two traditions were fulfilled in the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ … and the great work of Christ our Shepherd was to bring peace to His flock: peace with God and with men of good will, as Saint Paul told us in our second reading:

He came and preached peace to you (Gentiles) who were far off and peace to those (Jews) who were near, for through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Peace for progress; peace through (faith in) Jesus and, in the power of His most Holy Spirit, access to the Father.

And so, when we heard in the Gospel reading that:

When He disembarked and saw the vast crowd, His heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd;

we can guess that He pitied them above all for their lack of peace and ultimate purpose.

His Apostles had just returned from the missionary work on which He had sent them and they were so very excited about the results of their work: the conversions brought by their preaching, the cures they had wrought and the demons they had cast out.  Oh, how excited they were; and how glad, how anxious to tell Jesus all about it! 

Jesus’ first care was to restore peace to their over-excited minds and jubilant hearts:

He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.

Notice Jesus’ method:  Leave the crowd and rest in the presence of Jesus. 

I am somewhat puzzled by Jesus’ words since I would have expected Him to say, ‘Come away with Me to a deserted place (away from the crowd) by yourselves’, but He does not explicitly say ‘Come away with Me’, but ‘Come away by yourselves from the crowd’.   Can it be that Jesus there -- for our future instruction -- does not want to promise explicitly to be physically there with, or  waiting for, His disciples; but rather -- by use of the word ‘Come’ -- implying His presence, and yet also encouraging us to seek Him there in that lonely place.   He wants to be found indeed, but nevertheless, He does not want to be thought of as being ‘automatically’ available?

Then He saw the crowds who followed after Him, and how He pitied them!  How deep was their unrest!

We notice a similar thing so very frequently these days.  In a crowd how easy it is to forget yourself; how easy to be swept along from one absorbing interest to another; a kaleidoscope of ever-changing events and excitement!  But what about when these people separate, as they must, to go their own ways, and each is then left alone with his or her own thoughts.  How few can bear that silence: for some, a threatening loneliness, for others, oppressive boredom!  And what does that show?  Simply that, of themselves, they have little that is positively theirs: that life for them is a wearisome business without the constant novelties of crowd-life, crowd-noise, crowd-reaction.  How often young people are to be seen with ear-phones pumping into their heads rock and pop music or whatever is the latest hit-style.  There is, of course, nothing directly wrong about that, but I’m sure Our Lord pities many such young people too, who cannot bear to be alone with themselves, to be aware of nothing but their own thoughts and fears, longings and regrets.  Why?  Because they don’t know where their life is going, they don’t have any guiding purpose.  Out of touch, out of tune, with themselves, surrounding silence only seems to provoke deep and largely inarticulate longings, vague and unrecognizable aspirations, which seem to well up within themselves when noise from outside and distractions round about cease.

Jesus came to bring peace to our souls by offering us life; true life such as the world cannot give, life with a calling and a purpose that endures throughout the varieties of natural life and goes beyond the grave; life centred on a rock which no storms can unsettle let alone overthrow, life with a joy which cannot be taken away from us by worldly chance, because it wells up from within our own hearts and minds; life, drawing us with our neighbour as companion and friend to God as Father and fulfilment.  That is the treasure offered us by faith in Jesus and the Gift of His Spirit in the Church.

People of God, don’t let yourselves get too wrapped up in the things of this world.  Take serious measures to be alone in the vicinity of Jesus at times; open yourself up to be with Him in faith that He may deepen His Peace, His Life within you.  Those words are emphasized because Christian prayer, and above all Christian contemplation are not to be entered upon in accordance with popular Yoga practices.    We do not use any technique on, we do not have any power (even persuasive) over, Him.   We turn to Him in our neediness, and in His Power is our peace; we hope in His great Goodness, and in His merciful Wisdom and Providence we confidently rest.

Thus we may learn to say with all our heart the words of today’s Psalm:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;     Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

15th Sunday Year B 2015

15^th. Sunday, Year (B)

(Amos 7:12-15; Ephesians 1:3-10; Mark 6:7-13)

Jesus left Nazareth profoundly shocked by His townspeople’s personal disdain and lack of faith.  According to St. Mark, He had always intended from the very first moment of choosing His Twelve Apostles, to send them out to proclaim the Gospel for which He Himself had been sent:

       

Hearing what He was doing, a large number of people came to Him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon. He told His disciples to have a boat ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush Him.

He went up the mountain and summoned those whom He wanted and they came to Him.   He appointed twelve (whom He also named apostles) that they might be with Him and He might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.   (Mark 3:8-9; 13–15)

After His rejection at Nazareth Jesus carried on preaching in the villages around but His mind was somewhat pre-occupied: He was beginning to appreciate that it would not be He Himself who would bring Israel, let alone the nations, back to God: at least, Israel would not repent and be converted back to the Lord in direct response to Himself.  The saving message would be, indeed it had to be, His message, for He Himself was the only and ultimate Good News; but others would have to continue the proclamation of His Gospel to its prescribed fulfilment, since He Himself, though being the very Son of God incarnate, would never be Personally acceptable because He was known as Jesus, Son of Mary from Nazareth.

Faced with such a situation Jesus began to think of how His future Church would be able to proclaim His Good News to the whole world and offer His saving grace to all who would believe in His Name, be they Jews or pagans.  Jesus, therefore, decided to send out these twelve disciples, for a limited period of time and exclusively to the symbolic whole of Israel (twelve tribes), on what we might call a trial run.  

Jesus also gave His Apostles strict instructions regarding the preparations to be made for the journeying ahead of them:

He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff -- no bag, no bread, and no copper in their money belts -- but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.

Now these were no random instructions, for they were of such a nature as would not fail to impress upon the Apostles that they were being sent out on a holy mission: for these same requirements would equally have fitted them for entering the Temple in Jerusalem.  Thus, it was with a similar attitude and a like intention to that of worshippers entering the Temple that they were to embark upon this mission Jesus was entrusting to them, it was to be a holy mission for God’s glory above all.  It was, undoubtedly, also to be for the well-being of those to whom they were going, because according to Mark, Jesus:

            gave them power over unclean spirits,

whereby they would be enabled to go through Israel preaching the coming Kingdom of God, and overthrowing the power of the devil by casting out unclean spirits and calling people to repentance.  This decision to send them out was made by Jesus perhaps with the hope of noting people’s response to His disciples proclamation so that He might thereby profitably adapt the final mission of His Church; but more importantly, He may also have been wanting to see how His Father would bless the mission as a foreshadowing of His Church, because Jesus was always attentive to even the slightest manifestation of His Father’s will.

As you can see, this sending out of the Twelve -- intended by Jesus from His initial choice of them (cf. Mk. 3:13-15) -- is extremely significant for us who are His disciples and members of His Body, the Church.  We should therefore try to appreciate not only the physical arrangements for food and clothing; not only the spiritual powers He gave the Apostles for their work; we should also carefully note the personal attitude Jesus enjoined on them:

In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place.

They were not to move about from place to place.  That could easily happen; for example, modern, good, kindly and considerate, Christians on such a mission might well think -- and secretly praise themselves for thinking thus – that it would be only right and proper for them to move from house to house so as not to be too much of a burden on any one household.  However, it is clear that Jesus here is telling His Apostles to be in no way apologetic for needing and accepting some help on their mission.   Indeed St. Matthew insists on this point, for according to him, Jesus said to His missionaries:

Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out.  And when you go into a household, greet it.  If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. (10:11-14)

Let me make it clearer: Jesus is saying, “Inquire who in the town is worthy to shelter you.  Have every confidence, because the blessing you bring with you is truly God’s blessing of peace, but it is only for those who are worthy.”

That blessing of peace for the host household was quite special; however, it was by no means the only blessing the Apostles carried with them, for we are told:

They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.

Many in that town or city would, indeed, have had good reason to rejoice at the Apostles’ coming.  As yet, however, I haven’t even mentioned the greatest blessing the Apostles brought with them, the blessing for which not just some would rejoice … no, the supreme blessing being offered by the Apostles was for all in that town or city: it was the blessing of having the Good News preached to them and being given the opportunity to believe in the name of Jesus and, through repentance, have their sins forgiven:

            So they went out and preached that people should repent.

These were truly Apostles of peace: peace, first of all, among the members of the household that would charitably shelter them; and then, a much more wonderful peace: peace with God to all who, welcoming their preaching and believing in the Jesus they proclaimed, would repent of their sins before God for love His Son.  These Apostles were those of whom the prophet Isaiah had spoken hundreds of years ago:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,  who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!" (Isaiah 52:7)

That such Apostles, men with such a message and such blessings to bestow, must be in no way apologetic, that was the very purpose of Jesus’ command, for they came, were sent (just like Jesus Himself) bearing unique gifts from the only and most sublime God of Israel; but, on the other hand, they must be in no way proud or avaricious, because the gifts they bring are, indeed, from God: gifts of His gracious giving alone, theirs but to humbly bestow in His Name.

People of God, Christians should in no way feel any need to apologize for God; above all they should never present, portray, themselves as more understanding and sympathetic than God either by their words or their attitudes.  Sad to say, however, such posturing seems far too common today among those who try to win human approval by apologizing for or watering down whatever is decried and opposed as being too strict or demanding for modern society in the Gospel.

Do you think that I am being too critical of modern tendencies?  I think not, because Mark goes on to tell us what was Jesus’ final bit of advice, indeed His final command, to His Apostles about to go on mission:

Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgement than for that city!

Now, many, very many, seemingly good Christians of today -- by that I mean those who are considered good Christians by modern people because they are so acceptably kind, considerate, and adaptable, rarely allowing principles to occasion, let alone cause, offence or hurt in any way -- many, very many, of such Christians, I say, would never condone such an attitude today.  And that, of course, forces us to ask ourselves the question: “Who is right, the Gospel or some of the popular modern presentations of it?”   Or, put in another way: “Who are we, Catholics and Christians generally today, following?  Is it, as indeed it should be, Jesus and His Gospel as proclaimed by His Church, or what many popularity-seeking moderns, including scholars and religious figures, like to present as the modern understanding and presentation of the Gospel? Is it Jesus, or those, the self-styled compassionate and understanding ones, who like to step forward whenever the Gospel of Jesus, the proclamation of Mother Church, threatens to get ‘out of sync’ with popular modern attitudes and practices? 

For example, Mark tells us (10:6-7) of Jesus’, not just attitude to, but rule for, Christian marriage.  And note that it is not simply concerning sexual activity, but about what is absolutely fundamental in their relationship.   Jesus says:

From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female’.  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother.

Jesus there interprets the Scriptures and states that, in the beginning male and female, men and women were made, and so still are, complimentary to each other; each made with the other in view.  ‘For this reason‘ they may be joined in Christian marriage.

There are indeed other such issues, because the whole of Jesus is rarely portrayed by those who seek popularity (for Jesus, of course!).  There are two aspects of Him Who is both truly God and perfectly man (Matthew 11:28; 10:37-38):

Come to Me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest.

Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

The first quote presents the Jesus Who gives us His all for our eternal fulfilment; the second tells us what we ourselves have to aspire to, and be willing to offer if circumstances (such as, for example, modern persecutions) temporarily require it, in return.  The first is easy to proclaim and provokes acclamation and rejoicing even from self-seekers.  The other presentation of Jesus needs time and teaching, sacramental grace and spiritual awareness, that its hearers may slowly understand and gradually respond to it with love and ever greater self-giving. 
  

Of which Church are you a member, of the Church that has suffered and endured throughout the centuries to maintain the divine fullness of truth about Jesus, or of some pleasing, comfortable, up-to-date version, which seeks to maintain not principles and teaching but popularity and prestige?

                                                       

14th Sunday Year B 2015

              14^th. Sunday (Year B)               

 (Ezekiel 2:2-5; 2^nd. Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-6)

We have here a most important Gospel reading: important, that is, for our right understanding of the vocation and spiritual life of a committed Christian; and it is prefaced by two remarkable readings from the prophet Ezekiel and St. Paul.

Let us, first of all, listen once again to our reading from the prophet Ezekiel:

Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, rebels who have rebelled against Me…. You shall say to them: ‘Thus says the Lord God!’  And whether they head or resist --- for they are a rebellious house --- they shall know that a prophet has been among them.

Things were apparently so bad with the Chosen People in those days, that the prophet was not being sent to comfort God’s people like Isaiah, not even being sent to convert delinquents since it was doubtful whether any would be converted -- whether they head or resist -- but simply to proclaim God’s word, and thus impress upon the people that there was a prophet in their midst, and force Israel to recognize that though they had often failed Him, He would never fail them.

Witness to the truth, to God’s truth!   That is the prophet’s – and a Catholic priest’s -- first and supreme function, as Our Blessed Lord said of Himself and His mission when being questioned by Pilate:

For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world: to bear witness to the Truth.  (John 18:37)

Not to convert, first of all, but to bear witness to God’s truth; conversions will come later, as Jesus went on to say:

          Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. (ibid.)

In the reading from St. Paul, we heard again about this contradictory aspect of God’s word … be it God’s activity or His spoken message.  Paul had received an abundance of revelations and was in danger of becoming too proud, and therefore a thorn in the flesh was given him.  That was God’s word in action, you might say a word of contradiction indeed, which Paul most certainly did not like, but – as ever with God – it was a word to save him.  And so, although Paul pleaded earnestly with God that the thorn might leave him, God’s reply was something which, initially, he found hard to understand because it was so much at variance with his own way of thinking …

My grace is sufficient for you, My power is made perfect in weakness.

Paul wanted to do great things for God, but he had to learn that God alone does great things, for Himself and for us.  Consequently, He would only allow Paul to do great things for His holy name in such a way that, at the same time, Paul would be learning – unforgettably – the truth that, of himself, he could do nothing for salvation.  And so Paul eventually came to rejoice, for example, in his own inability to make great literary sermons, because experience gradually taught him that when he went forward in faith – obeying God’s call and trusting in God’s help -- then, despite his own inability, God would work wonders through him and for him.

Jesus, the Word-of-God-made-flesh, Himself came among us as Lord and Saviour and -- in accord with God’s message to Ezekiel -- both His Person and His spoken words proved unacceptable to sectarian pride and less than pleasing to human hopes, with the result that, as you heard in our Gospel today, Jesus did not convert many at Nazareth because His fellow townspeople had no faith in His Person and were not impressed by the wisdom of His words.  Nevertheless, Jesus successfully carried out His mission and fulfilled His Father’s purposes in Nazareth for He bore witness to the truth and exemplified those sublime and prophetic words given to Isaiah:

 My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD.  (Isaiah 55:8)

People of God, so often today great things are desired of the priests of Mother Church: they are exhorted at times by bishops and frequently expected by Catholic people to somehow make Jesus popular and His teaching acceptable to all who hear them.  That, however, is not their primary function: they must first of all bear witness to God’s truth, learnt first of all from Mother Church and then vivified by their own faithful awareness of God’s Personal activity and goodness in their lives.  Conversions will, in God’s mercy and great goodness, follow, for:

Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.

There is something here for all in God’s flock … something to help us live our faith more fruitfully.  For we must recognize that God’s word will be – at times – a contradiction to us, or it will seem so: creating a decisive tension within us, or simply jolting us out of our complacency.  And that is its essential purpose and function: to touch and sound new depths in, to open up the very roots of, our God-given being to the influence of His grace, and thus lead us to a richer, fuller, and more authentic human life and Christian fulfilment as witnesses to God’s truth.

For, left to ourselves, we tend to spend so much of our lives in superficial pleasures and distractions which empty us of character; and these God-given contradictions, where God can seem, at times, so absent, are not necessarily meant to make us more noticeably holy  or religious, more obviously ‘good’, but simply, at times, to help us realize that we are needy individuals, and to make us look below the surface, deeper than the obvious, in order to find the true meaning and purpose, beauty and truth, of our experience of life.  Now, faith is the Christian faculty that enables us to believe, recognize, and to respond to God’s presence in and throughout the whole of life; and we respond to His presence by doing what is true, loving what is beautiful, and dedicating ourselves to life in all its fullness -- spiritual as well as bodily, eternal a well as natural -- because of His imprint which they bear and His call they express for us.

For example, how often good Catholic parents experience anguish and anxiety as they see their young people wandering away from religious practice and the Faith itself.   And yet, if they will embrace it aright, this experience can be a great opportunity for them, as with Saint Paul, to  glorify God and to draw even closer to those they love  despite the sorrow and suffering involved.  As good Catholic and Christian parents -- despite finding themselves in such a situation – they can yet persist in loving and trusting: trying to draw God to their children by constant prayer and trust, and their children to God by ever deeper (and more costly!) love and patience.  As silent witnesses to God where words of exhortation and instruction cannot be given because they will not be accepted, such parents who continue to unite God and their children through their own love and suffering for both are then, themselves being conformed very closely indeed to Christ on the Cross with one arm outstretched to men and the other to His Father, uniting them both in the great love of His most Sacred Heart. 

Again, young people growing up can encounter for the first time what have been called the ‘frontier experiences’ of sex, when their growing sexual awareness opens up frontiers of life hitherto unknown, instilling a zest and adventure into life, and discovering vast, exciting, new areas of sensibility.  On the other hand though, these ‘frontier experiences’ can also bring tension and intense anxiety, fear, and disillusionment into sincere young hearts.  Nevertheless, these trials and sufferings are not situations, experiences, where God is absent; no! for those who have faith, who seek life’s golden nugget of worthwhileness, these experiences can also be recognized as God’s word, meant to make them more humble and patient in and with themselves, more loving and trustful of His Spirit gradually leading them to the depths of human maturity that they may then be made more truly and fully divine in Christ.

Let us then, People of God, take confidence; because life’s most bitter moments, its most searching trials, when met with faith and embraced with trust in God, can be experienced as encounters with His holy word, His saving will; indeed as His self-revelation to you for a personal fellowship with Him throughout your life.  They are contradictions like the Cross, meant to result in our resurrection as newer and fuller human beings and more authentic Christians … men and women all the more capable of joy and fulfilment for having lived through such troughs of sorrow and trial.  For that to happen one thing is absolutely necessary: faith in the teaching of Mother Church and in our personal awareness and experience of God’s goodness.

Seek true humanity, full and free; seek confidently and unswervingly the meaning of life: its true beauty, worthwhileness, and purpose.  Seek, in a word, God, revealing Himself in His Son, through His Church, unique and universal, and in you by His Spirit.

May this Holy Mass bring about for us who participate in it with faith the great miracle of our resurrection from the shallows to the fullness of all our possibilities, human and divine; the fullness for which He created us and towards which He ever guides and ‘upgrades’ us through sorrow and joy, in Christ Jesus, Our Lord.

(2015)

Saints Peter and Paul 2015

SS. Peter & Paul (2015)

(Acts 12:1-11; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18; Matthew 16:13-19)

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Today we are "called out" -- that is what the word "Ecclesia", which is translated into English as "Church", means -- called together as Christians out of the world, to praise and glorify God in and through His beloved Son; for, gathered together in Mother Church we have personal contact with Jesus and are to be filled with His most Holy Spirit, that Spirit Who is the very Life of the Church.  Therefore, with joy and great gratitude today we celebrate Peter and Paul as chosen and commissioned by Jesus, each in their own way, as founders of Mother Church.   

Let us first of all notice the difference between the two as founders.  Take Peter first of all.  Jesus said to him:

I tell you that you are Peter (which means 'rock' in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke), and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:18-20)

Jesus willed to build, to establish, His Church on the rock of Peter's faith, that faith for which Jesus Himself prayed:

I have prayed for you, Simon (Peter), that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. (Luke 22:32)

Now listen to the Lord telling Ananias about the work Paul would do for His name among the Gentiles and Jews of the Diaspora (Acts 9:15):

The Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel."

As you can see, Peter was established by Jesus as the foundation rock for the faith of the universal Church; he was also, as the ultimate support and defence for the Church, given supreme authority in the Church.  Paul, on the other hand, was commissioned by Jesus for the spread of the Church and world-wide proclamation of His Gospel message, he it was who would take the name of Jesus to the Gentiles; and still today, Paul, as the first and greatest theologian of Mother Church, continues his mission by helping us to an ever deeper appreciation of Jesus’ Good News as we try to deepen our understanding of his writings.

There is yet something more about Peter which I wish to draw to your attention, dear People of God, because in the Gospel we are not only told that Jesus chose Peter as the foundation rock for His Church, but also why Jesus made that choice:

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"  They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

Notice that!   When Jesus asked "Who do people say I am?" all the apostles answered Him.  But when He then went on to ask:

But what about you? Who do you say I am?

Then, only one of them answered; one speaking clearly for himself and also for all the others who accepted his words:

Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

There we can see that the other apostles' acknowledged the position, and witnessed to the personal authority, of Peter.  Now notice the witness of Jesus:

Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

So Jesus chose Peter because He saw that His heavenly Father had already chosen him by giving him a unique awareness of Jesus’ true identity:

Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by My Father in heaven.

What confidence we should have in Mother Church!  She is founded on the rock of Peter's faith, which, as the foundation Rock, can never be lost to or taken from the Church, and which is, therefore, still with us today in the figure and faith of the Pope; and Jesus Himself still prays for Peter as the foundation rock of His Church, because, as God's well-beloved Son, He sees that such is His Father's will.  Moreover, we should also have sure trust in God’s loving Providence at work in Mother Church by the continual spread, unfolding, and appreciation of the authentic understanding of Jesus’ Gospel begun in St. Paul's life and committed to posterity in his letters (‘heard and approved’ first of all by the Apostles gathered in Jerusalem, cp. Galatians 2:1-5) which are the earliest surely acknowledged pages of our New Testament Scriptures … a continuing process which is being guided and sustained by the Holy Spirit, given as Jesus promised, to lead Mother Church into all truth.

There does arise one question however: Why do we celebrate Peter and Paul together?  After all, there is a successor to Peter, a living, celebrated, and supremely authoritative person, the Pope, but there is no named and known person who is successor to Paul.   Are we therefore simply celebrating the work both of them did, more or less together, all those centuries ago in the church at Rome for the Church Universal, the Catholic Church?   Surely that is not fully satisfactory.  What therefore is the present ‘duality’, so to speak, that we celebrate and honour every year with such pomp and with fitting and enduring gratitude and expectancy?

Rome was the ideal place for both of them: for, being the capital and centre of authority for the world-wide and supreme power, it was, indeed, the most fitting location for Peter’s authority in and over the new-born Catholic (universal) Church.  It was also the ideal place for Paul, chosen personally by the Lord Himself to proclaim His Gospel to the Gentiles; because people from all nations -- especially the flower of those nations -- came to Rome for a multitude of reasons and purposes: people with important missions and who were, therefore, suitably educated; people searching for contact with, teaching from, and the acquaintance of, powerful individuals and important thinkers, prestigious holders of rare abilities and skills, arts and sciences both necessary and desirable.  That was the place where large sectors of the Gentile world first came into contact with and heard of Paul’s proclamation of Jesus, and having learned from Paul’s presentation of Jesus’ teaching, came to admire, appreciate, and worship Jesus for Who He was.  Rome was most truly the ideal place for Paul’s Christian ‘dynamism’.

Thus we have the centripetal authority, holding all together in loving union, and the centrifugal, expansive dynamism, of Catholic universalism, and both are necessary to give suitable expression to the vitality and life of the One Body of Christ; and that is what we celebrate and pray for, above all, on this special solemnity of Peter and Paul.

Today, however, there is an incipient danger of too much emphasis being put on the person of Peter in so far as Peter does have a personal successor, the Pope, and that brings a certain imbalance to our appreciation of the feast.  What Peter taught, and the function he exercised, allows us to celebrate him along with Paul in our yearly-recurring celebration of prayer and thanksgiving; on the other hand, the personality of Peter’s modern-day successor is not part of and can intrude upon that perennial Catholic appreciation and prayer.  Peter is the rock on which our Church is built, Paul is the great evangelist who presents the Good News of Jesus to the world: Paul still gathers and brings in converts from the nations and Peter still embraces them as one family into one Body.  In such a context the psychological character of Peter’s present successor is irrelevant: whether thoughts enter his heart or his mind, whether he is emotional or intellectual, evangelical or contemplative, outgoing or retiring … all such aspects will inevitably attract some while leaving others untouched or dissatisfied.  But, such differences can be over-emphasized by interested parties even so much as to foster division in the one family, or the one Body.

Which Christian truth, what Catholic doctrine, the present Peter, the Pope, proclaims and tries to live is important for all Catholics, it is, to use a common phrase, Gospel truth; but how, or in what manner he chooses to express his personal appreciation or practice of that truth is not, in the same sense, Gospel spirituality.  Personally, I do not admire emotionality, but I know that controlled emotion is the driving force of mankind.  I mistrust emotionality, however, because in social life and politics it is often a cheap and violent challenge to reasoned discourse and mutual accommodation, while in religion it can and frequently does masquerade as, or be frequently mistaken for, devotion.  Nevertheless, and despite such misgivings, I do want – most vehemently and intensely – to love to the utmost of my personal emotional and intellectual being both the Person of Jesus and the Catholic doctrine which is the truest expression of His Being.  

Perhaps our greatest failing today in the Church is lack of trust in God.  Our Western, technological and consumerist, society is characterised by the will to make things for our use and enjoyment in many fields of activity; and people can thereby come to think they  should be able to produce desired results even in spiritual matters.  For such people it is not always easy to wait for God, when His blessings seem slow in coming; nor are they inclined to beg even Him, let alone Mother Church and human guides, for wisdom to understand better His laws and teaching when they conflict with modern attitudes and their own desires.  Indeed, too many modern disciples are inclined to try to produce their own version of what they seek, and to supply their own teaching for what they want to believe.  There is little trust afforded to a seemingly silent God.  And yet it was such trust that characterized Abraham, our father in faith and the great Patriarchs and Prophets of Israel, and above all perhaps John the Baptist, alone in a dark, damp and cold dungeon awaiting death whenever the whim of a weak and dissolute monarch goaded by bitter women might order it.  And that monumental and inspiring trust reached its sublime apogee in the patience of Jesus throughout the course of His Passion and Death after His agonizing prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Following the example of their Lord and Saviour the Apostles and teachers of our faith, Peter and Paul whom we celebrate today undertook, in similar patience, confidence and faith, to evangelise and convert the mighty, pagan, Roman Empire, trusting totally in God alone.    Did we not hear in the first reading:

Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating."

Likewise St. Paul had learnt to trust God in all circumstances and situations:

The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Peter and Paul each had a unique role to fulfil for the Church and both were blessed and spared for the good of all who were to become children of God and Mother Church.  They were given to Mother Church by the choice of Jesus and the heavenly Father Himself; let us therefore take seriously and whole-heartedly the words of the letter to the Hebrews (12:1):

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Yes, let us throw off the sin that so entangles many of our brethren today, the sin that hinders all progress in the ways of Jesus, namely lack of confidence and trust in the Lord, lack of patience and indeed joy in Mother Church.

         

         

         

12th Sunday of Year (B) 2015

 12^th. Sunday of Year (B)          

 (Job 38:1, 8-11; 2^nd. Corinthians 5:14-17; Mark 4:35-41)

The connection between today’s Gospel and our first reading from the book of Job is perfectly clear, for in Job we heard the Lord address the tumultuous waters of His creation with words of absolute authority:

Thus far shall you come, but no farther, here shall your proud waves be stilled!

And in like manner did Jesus calm the troubled Sea of Galilee:

He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!"  The wind ceased and there was great calm.

However, Jesus had been sent by His Father for the glory of His Name and for the salvation of souls: He had come among men to calm the tumultuous and rebellious thoughts and emotions, fears and anxieties, of men deeply and cruelly troubled by the ravages of sin, as exemplified in some measure by the selfishly fearful hearts and minds of His disciples on this occasion.

The purpose of Jesus’ presence among us is beautifully expressed by St. Paul in our second reading:

The love of Christ impels us.  He died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.

Or again in a more famous passage from his letter to the Romans (8:38-39):

Neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor present things nor future things, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Peace rests on power; and, complementing the calmness and inner peace of the Lord sleeping on a cushion in the stern of the storm-tossed boat, was His messianic power whereby, on waking, He instantly stilled the threatening waters.  These Galileans, His first disciples and future Apostles who, despite being professional fishermen were now so alarmed, would need to learn from their recumbent Teacher the calm strength of an unshakeable faith and confidence to which those words of St. Paul bear witness. For, just as only the omnipotent power of the Lord of all creation could calm the surge of earth’s primeval waters, so too, only ‘Rock’-solid faith in Jesus as the Lord and Saviour of mankind:

            in Whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9),

can confer that strength which enables a faithful soul to find true peace and abiding joy in a world subject to the power of Satan and his angels.

The disciples, of course, found themselves in very serious situation, indeed, it was life-threatening:

A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat so that it was already filling up.  Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke Him and said to Him: Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?

We must also remember that the waters of the deep were -- to the Israelites and the neighbouring civilizations -- the realm of Chaos.  As we read in the story of creation from the book of Genesis: before God created either the heavens or the earth,

Darkness was on the face of the deep (Genesis 1:2);

and the greatest threat to mankind was that they might be overwhelmed by those dark waters once again and fall back into chaos.  Indeed, was it not through wind and overpowering waters that the Lord had destroyed the chariots and drowned the troops of the pursuing Pharaoh when leading Israel safely out of Egypt?

With the blast of Your nostrils the waters were gathered together; the floods stood upright like a heap; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.  The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my hand shall destroy them.'  You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters?  (Exodus 15:8-10)

As Israel became less and less faithful to her covenant with the Lord, she was necessarily punished for her many failings; and these troubles and trials, this punishment and pain, was pictured by the psalmist as the looming threat of chaos:

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive when their wrath was kindled against us; then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul. (Psalm 124: 2-5)

Now, it would seem that those traditional memories and fears were used by Our Lord to teach the Apostles what sort of faith they should have in Him; for it was the Lord Who had suggested that He and His disciples should escape the large crowd by crossing over the sea to the less populated and mainly Gentile eastern side, and in doing so He had chosen to embark upon a journey that, in the event, would severely test His disciples.

As, throughout the history of Israel, God’s punishment and testing had never been for their ruin but for their education and betterment, similarly here, Jesus was testing His disciples in order to prepare and strengthen them for what lay before them and Himself: time was so very short and they had so much to learn and absorb.  If they would respond with trust in the Lord as the psalmist had portrayed, great would be their reward; but even their present failure could still serve as a lesson bringing enduring blessings if they would subsequently learn from it.

The disciples’ reaction to their situation was perfectly natural, and all those who have ever been in a small rowing boat on stormy waters will appreciate their alarm; they were found wanting not because they had been afraid of the imminent threat that their boat might capsize but because they cried out to the Lord without sufficient confidence and trust in Him, so that their words were little better than cries of panic.   Jesus therefore, although responding decisively enough, nevertheless gave measured expression to His undisguised sorrow and disappointment:

(He) woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!"  The wind ceased and there was a great calm.  Then He asked them, "Why are you terrified?   Do you not yet have faith?"

Jesus knew that soon He would be called upon to give the supreme example of confidence and trust under the pressure of mortal torment and soul-destroying abandonment saying:

            Father, into Your hands I commend my Spirit;

and the time was coming when these disciples of His -- so close to His Heart and essential for His plans -- would need to follow where their Lord had gone; and so it was absolutely imperative that they learn this lesson that would prepare them to overcome the world with Him as soon as possible.

We are told of the disciples that when they experienced Jesus’ calming of the waters:

They were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this Whom even wind and sea obey?"

After having felt such awesome fear the disciples were able to appreciate Jesus more worthily, for, as the Old Testament says:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

Jesus wills to be our strength and our peace but for that to happen we must learn to turn to Him with humility and confidence in all our needs and with all our hopes.  But our confidence has to be of a special nature, it must be a confidence that looks to Jesus with a certain and significant sense of awe: awareness that He is not only wondrous in His power on our behalf but also that He is holy above all our understanding, to the extent that we can never know how He will answer to our needs; that He will answer, and that His answer will be for our supreme good, we believe, but just what His answer will be we do not know …  

Why are you terrified?   Do you not yet have faith?

Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait I say, on the Lord! (Psalm 27:14)

If we, in the course of our own personal lives, remain merely or overly human in our attitude to life and our response to its events, if we seek -- first and foremost -- our own immediate satisfaction and relief, human understanding and help, then we can never know true peace, for people who thus seek the flesh regard Jesus in a fleshly accommodating way.  They may, at the best, consider Him to have been a good man, perhaps indeed a remarkable man, even a man without equal and a perfect role model for all who would seek to be truly and fully human; and yet, such an attitude towards the Lord is not good enough, being both condescending to His Person and superficial as regards His teaching.

Even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him so no longer.

As was the case for the original disciples, in our day too, perhaps only salutary fear will burn away, totally consume, that appreciation of Jesus ‘according to the flesh’, and lead us, instead, to what the Risen Lord had commissioned Paul to proclaim:

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new, all are of God Who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ.

We love Him Who is both God and man; but our fellowship with Him Who is of Mary and shares our flesh must never obscure our awe of Him Who is God.   The Person of Jesus is divine … I will not add ‘though in human flesh’ … He is fully God in truly human flesh, and eternally such.  That is why we must understand and acknowledge Saint Paul’s appreciation of Him when he says:

Even if we once (as a Pharisee) knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him so no longer.

Expressing such awe, our witness to Him must have a steely content.  In our increasingly decadent Western world there are Christian issues on which we have to stand firm in the face of modern conformism with popularity … Jesus’ Gospel proclaimed in the Scriptures and by His Church is the only authentic and full Christianity and today we have to steadfastly hold firm and witness to Christian marriage as the sacramental union of one man and one woman for the glory of God, the good of children, and for the spouses fulfilment and salvation.   The State may call its approved ceremonies ‘marriage’ … but it cannot call them Christian marriage.  Neither, as regards those human relationships which are now publicly acknowledged and approved as loving relationships, can we approve of and accept them as relationships expressing truly Christian love.  We do not, should not, decry or abuse persons who disagree with us, but we can never, under any circumstances back down on or change what we believe and know to be Jesus’ teaching for the ultimate good of mankind.  

And for all this we need some of that awe experienced by the Apostles on fully recognizing Jesus for what, Who, He truly was and is; we need an awe-based-love  of Jesus, which alone can give us that strength and peace which will enable us to face up to and overcome the multitude of difficulties and opposition facing Christians in today’s world and, despite such trials, still find true joy and deep fulfilment in God’s good gift of life lived under the shadow of His wings, inspired by His Spirit, and directed with love for His and our Father in heaven.