If you are looking at a particular sermon and it is removed it is because it has been updated.

For example Year C 2010 is being replaced week by week with Year C 2013, and so on.

Friday 9 December 2016

3rd Sunday of Advent Year A 2016

3rd. Sunday of Advent (A)
(Isaiah 35:1-6, 10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11)

It has often been said that many Catholics know too little of the Bible because of their  failure to appreciate the fact that not only do the Scriptures form the basis of our Christian faith and Catholic teaching, but also that the Scriptures are the Word of God to and for each and every individual child of God.  Consequently, even the most humble Catholic and Christian should be able to enter upon, sustain, and gradually deepen a personal relationship with God by the help of the Scriptures, for what we find written there can, under the guidance of the Spirit given us (above all at confirmation and by Jesus in the Eucharist), be of special significance and particular importance for our personal formation as children of God and devoted disciples of Jesus in today’s secular and hostile society. 
Let me now show you how Jesus recalled the Scriptures to John the Baptist in prison, thereby helping him learn how to face up to the future that lay before him.
John had been told by his father Zechariah:
You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins.  (Luke 1:76-77)
And John had, indeed, tried throughout his life to be faithful to that calling to prepare the way for the Lord Who was to come.  From his earliest years he had lived in the desert observing the ways of God: striving to better listen for, recognize, and respond to His guidance.  Then, entering upon his public ministry, he had openly and provocatively preached repentance to the people who had come in crowds to be publicly ‘baptized’ by him in the Jordan.  Finally, having openly rebuked the king himself for his sinful behaviour, John had been put in the dungeon where he now found himself. 
However, despite such fidelity, John had not yet come to know sufficiently well the Lord, the Messiah sent by Israel’s God to usher in the His Kingdom on earth, Whose way he had been preparing.  There had been, indeed, a time when he thought that Jesus of Nazareth, his own relation, was the One sent by God; but Jesus had not rallied the support around Himself that John might have hoped for; and now -- perhaps because of weariness from hunger, pain, and lonely abandonment -- John was not sure what was happening or just what to think.  It was in some such a state of mind that he had managed to send disciples with a message to Jesus asking:
Are You the Coming One, or should we look for another?
And what about Jesus at this time?  He knew John's faithfulness and courage: how John had spent his whole life preparing the way before Him and now finding himself imprisoned and in mortal danger because of his zeal for the Law of the Lord and the well-being of God's People.  Was Jesus -- Who later would tell the repentant thief dying on a cross beside Him, that he would, that very day, enter Paradise with Himself -- was that Jesus going to let John -- the greatest of all OT prophets -- just linger on in prison doubtful of the outcome and value of his life’s endeavour, while awaiting a violent and degrading death in lonely isolation?  If Jesus had been the earthly Messiah popularly expected He might have gathered His followers and stormed John’s prison in order to free His faithful servant; but, having been sent to witness to His heavenly Father and usher in His Kingdom on earth, was there nothing that He could do now to help John in his uncertainty, anxiety, and deadly peril?
Jesus would, indeed, send help: He would speak to John – who was, He declared, more than a prophet -- through the words of the prophets so well known to him.  Accordingly He sent John's disciples back to their master with a message from the Scriptures which they could easily remember and in which John would find the comfort and strength he needed if, fully trusting in Jesus, he would open his mind and heart to the grace of the Spirit Who had inspired those words:
Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have the Good News proclaimed to them.  And blessed is the one who takes no offence at Me.
As John listened to his disciples and considered the message they brought him, the cloud of dark unknowing in his mind and the burden of anxiety in his heart would have begun to lift; for that message told John clearly enough that Jesus was ready both to usher in the Kingdom of God and also to help him personally in his own deepest and most intimate needs.  Thus John learned that he had successfully fulfilled his life’s mission, and that Jesus was undoubtedly the long-awaited Coming One now taking over from himself as leader and indeed as the Messiah for God’s People! 
Jesus chose words from Scripture that invited John first of all to recall the prophecy of Isaiah:
The eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.
 Jesus then added further words of most particular significance:
And the poor have the Good News proclaimed to them,
specially chosen to call to John’s mind yet another prophecy in Isaiah (61:1):
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.
Jesus chose these words, so familiar and now so directly pertinent to John, because they contained a message which John, by the grace of that same Spirit, could not fail to recognize as being fulfilled in himself: 
He (God) has sent Me (the Messiah) to heal the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to captives, and open the prison to those who are bound.
The final words of Jesus, however, were of even greater significance for, by telling John’s disciples to repeat:
Blessed is the one who takes no offence at Me,
Jesus recalled to John’s mind a most pertinent prophetic warning of Isaiah (8:13-14):
The Lord of Hosts, Him you shall hallow … He will be … a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel ... and many of them shall stumble.
People of God, note carefully, for here we can trace how grace works, secretly and powerfully, upon one in tune with God:  Jesus was offering John a rewarding glimpse of the ultimate fulfilment of his own life’s work and Israel’s calling.  As Moses had been given just a distant view of the Promised Land before he died, here John was being allowed to see something of the full majesty and beauty of the One for Whose coming he -- foremost of the prophets of Israel -- had been called to prepare: the beauty of God’s Anointed, the Messiah of Israel, indeed; but yet, still more, even that of the very Son and Lamb of God Himself.
What then, for John, was the “liberty” and the “freedom” mentioned in Isaiah and now being offered him by Jesus?  He realized that Jesus was not about to lead a task force, so to speak, to release him, but rather that Jesus was inviting him to think of his final liberation, that is, to prepare himself for earthly death and heavenly fulfilment.  Jesus was doing for John what He would later do for the repentant thief: urging, encouraging, and inviting him to gird up his loins and lift up his head in hope for what was soon to come.
That was the message which none but Jesus could get through to John in his total isolation, a message carried by his disciples, taken from the Scriptures but only to be rightly interpreted thanks to John's life-long sensitivity to God’s ways and willingness to commit himself once again in response to the grace of the Spirit, to Jesus the Messiah, and to the Lord God of Israel.  John had prepared the way for Jesus, Jesus was now preparing the way for John; preparing him to die as he had lived, the greatest of all Israel's prophets. 
And so, by the grace of God, when the soldiers would come to cut off John’s head, they would not find him cowering from fear in the darkest recess of his dungeon cell; but, to their great amazement, they would discover John having -- thanks to the sustenance of the Scriptures -- a profound peace in his heart and a gleam of expectancy in his eyes; a new uprightness in his stance and a calm strength in his bearing.  All of this would show those executioners that they were not so much taking his life from him, as he, John, was offering it -- through them -- to Someone they could not see and did not know.
Such was the case; they came quickly and secretly carried out their dread task before going back to Herod with John's head.  However, they left that dungeon both humbled and puzzled.  What had happened to the man acclaimed by all and yet most harshly imprisoned there?  They had come to take his life and he had received them as welcome guests, as friends bringing him a gift: what, indeed, had happened to him in that cell?  The answer was, of course, that John had come to realize that he had, indeed, fulfilled his life’s purpose: he had borne witness to God’s truth; he had pointed out, even ‘baptized’, God’s Messiah; and now -- having learnt his ultimate lesson through Scriptures chosen for him by his Lord – he had found the peace and been given the strength to seal his witness and crown his commitment to Jesus and the God of Israel by his very blood.   
People of God, how will you approach the end of your days?  Will you feel you have fulfilled your life’s mission?  Will you be grateful to God for having inspired you to do something worthwhile with your life?
Let us listen to Jesus again as He spoke to the people about John:
What did you go out into the wilderness to see: a reed shaken by the wind?  But what did you go out to see: a man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.  For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.'  Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist.
When you come to your end and look back on your life, will you, perhaps, then painfully realize that your life has been aimless, having pursued no chosen purpose nor served any worthwhile cause; will you recognize yourself to have been just a reed, shaken hither and thither by winds of circumstance?  Or again, will you, in those final moments see that, having enjoyed the "good things of life", you have really been like one “dressed in soft clothing”.   Whichever be the case, no such qualifications would recommend you to Jesus or afford comfort for your soul.
John the Baptist had fulfilled his life’s mission and great joy, peace, and gratitude were his at the end.  You might say that anyone called to be great -- like a prophet -- would feel they had a mission in life, a purpose to fulfil, and a cause to serve, but such is not the case with ordinary people endowed with no special talents of which they are aware.  
Therefore listen once again to Jesus for a final time, and learn about yourself, perhaps for the first time (!):
Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
As a baptised Christian, as a practicing Catholic and living member of the Body of Christ, you have a calling and a purpose even higher than a prophet’s mission: you are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and called to be another Christ in this world.  Whatever your circumstances, you can -- in the power of the Spirit -- bear blessed witness to Jesus: by teaching, encouraging, and correcting your children; by showing honesty in business and speaking the truth in love; you can be charitable in your attitudes and chaste in your relationships; steadfast in faith, selfless in service of God and neighbour; you can sympathetically share with the humble and those in need; and you can always try to bear your own cross patiently with and for Christ.  Above all, as a true child of Mother Church you can, through her teaching and sacraments, come to love your heavenly Father to the utmost of your being in Jesus, by the Holy Spirit.
Now, living in such a way, dear ordinary (!) Catholic and Christian people, you can do more than any great politician, more than any powerful, rich, or famous individual, for the blessing of our world and the well-being of its peoples today and for the future.   For you are a chosen people, and each one of you has been called by the Father to be a true disciple of His Son, Jesus.  Therefore you are important enough to God for Him to want to speak to you, to speak with you, personally, in and through the Scriptures; let Him do this, let Him lead you to fulfil your vocation in Mother Church, and true happiness and ultimate blessedness will most assuredly and enduringly be yours.




Friday 2 December 2016

2nd Sunday of Advent Year A 2016

2nd. Sunday of Advent (A)
(Isaiah 11:1-10; St. Paul to the Romans 15:4-9; St. Matthew's Gospel 3:1-12).

Advent is the season given us by Mother Church to prepare the way for Jesus' coming:  He wishes to heal mankind’s wounds and succour our world’s suffering, and for that He needs entrance and welcome into the minds and hearts of men and women everywhere, most especially though into the hearts and minds of every Catholic and Christian, for no one is holy before the Lord and pseudo-religiosity is among society’s deeper wounds.  Let each of us, therefore, try to open our minds and hearts to Him at this our Advent Sunday Mass and pray that His Spirit may rule in us, our families, our society, and our world.

In our first reading from the prophet Isaiah we heard some words which are frequently, though unwittingly, imitated today by many people:

            They shall not harm or destroy on all My holy mountain.

Many indeed are those who, when speaking of themselves, use such expressions as, "I harm no one, I wouldn’t deliberately hurt anything", thereby witnessing to and seeking to justify their own actions and ideals.  At funerals, of course, like praise is lavishly bestowed on the dead.

Now, if we take such encomia at their surface value we can see what advocates of modern society in today’s more advanced countries are claiming, for there seems to be no doubt that our ‘local world’ is, as a whole, improving: human beings, animals, and even the environment, are being afforded ever more ostensible respect and attention, and this, surely, would seem to be evidence of moral progress, for in times past, kings, emperors, and rulers waged dreadful, slaughter-full, wars, often enough for merely personal pride and national advantage, whilst  at other times, when storms raged, floods came, and crops failed, thousands, even millions of people died, and nothing was done by the rest of mankind.  You might say that was because others did not know what was happening, and that is undoubtedly true in so far as radio and, more especially, television have made so great a difference.  But that is far from the whole truth, because even in more recent times, the potato famine in Ireland, for example, was known and more or less politically ignored, the world-wide slave trade was and still is blatantly practiced and protected for profit and power, whilst the Nazi pogroms and concentration camps were staffed and served, tolerated and furthered for years by wide-spread complacency and self-serving.  Today, on the other hand, the nations of the world are regularly urged, and frequently consent, to join together in providing help where and when needed; children are no longer used for cheap labour with such impunity as was formerly the case; and the equal dignity of women is more widely recognized and accepted.  In ultra-modern societies the poor are supported, the disabled are being integrated more, and the mentally incapable or retarded are regarded as subjects to be cared for, not nuisances to be buried in oblivion or otherwise disposed of.   In all these respects our ‘local world’ seems, indeed, to be much improved, and such advances are considered to be the result of purely human endeavour by those who think that to do no hurt, no harm, is the panacea for our world's needs, and the true guide to human happiness.

However, there are other, disturbing, indications, which seem to contradict such a rosy picture: never in history have there been such a plethora of murderously successful leaders such as Hitler the racist, Lenin the ideologist, and Stalin the opportunist tyrant, to say nothing of the Far Eastern demagogue, Chairman Mao, and any number of petty but murderous Asian and African tyrants.  Closer to home and in days of peace, politics and politicians are suspect, being openly mistrusted by large swathes of the population; terrorism is not only blatantly practiced but also openly justified by its protagonists; money is worshipped and the poor are ruthlessly used by international financiers; thuggery and brutality carried out by drug barons and their minions ruin more lives world-wide than even Hitler or Stalin were able to kill; finally, corruption and venality are everywhere to be found infecting iconic sporting events, while rogue states such as North Korea, Iran, Isis, and Somalia are constantly making bloody headlines.

Dear People of God, such considerations should lead us to appreciate that perhaps our world’s apparent moral progress is not the same thing as real spiritual progress; and that is indeed the case, for, even at its best, morality is not holiness: mere morality can mask supreme pride, whereas holiness is not possible apart from fundamental humility.  The Scribes and Pharisees were most moral, despising the licentiousness and cruelty of both Roman and Hellenistic society; and yet, you will remember from the Gospel reading that John the Baptist said some very severe words to the Scribes and Pharisees coming to him for baptism:

            Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

What was John targeting with such severity?  It was their racial pride, their presumed personal righteousness:

            Abraham is our father. (John 8:39)

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' (Luke 18:11s.)

What then is the Christian truth about our world's progress? 

It would seem that, to a large extent, the progress which has been noted is due to greater public awareness of the workings of evil on the one hand and the application of chosen remnants of former Christian faith on the other:

Then He said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, 'The Lord does not see us.' "  (Ezekiel 8:12)

You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.   (Psalm 90:8)

Harm and hurt are more readily done in the dark.  And so, although the light of day and the glare of public awareness can guide and promote human sympathy by exposing and thereby discouraging criminality, nevertheless, only the light of God’s grace discovers the pride and self-love which lie so often hidden in the depths of men's hearts, and which so frequently stain their most noble efforts and motivate their most abominable crimes.  Wide-spread in human society today are latent and hidden forces capable of causing terrible harm and great hurt; forces which, far from being fundamentally changed by the threat of possible exposure, are -- being personal addictions and common fears -- merely more cunningly disguised and more deviously, desperately, and viciously, promoted and carried out.

What did the prophet Isaiah say about not harming, not hurting, on God's holy mountain?  Listen:

They shall not harm or destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord as water covers the sea.

Hurt and harm, destruction and death, he says, will only come to an end -- as distinct from being cleverly hidden, ignored, brushed under the carpet, or passively tolerated -- when mankind is filled with knowledge of the Lord, when men and women are willing to humble themselves before God, and seek to direct all their intentions along the way of the Lord Jesus, for the glory of Father, and the good of their neighbour.

Our modern do-gooders, however, and those who so confidently proclaim that they do no hurt, no harm, to anyone, often enough have no intention whatsoever of obeying or glorifying God in what they do: rather they believe that the good they do proclaims their own righteousness and humankind’s self-sufficiency, without dependence upon any God, or any need of Faith and Church.

Men and women of today must, therefore, come to recognize that the true nature of sin is not to be found only in human actions, but also and above all in the human heart, otherwise there is no chance that any number of apparently sincere endeavours will effect any real change in our modern world; for all do-gooders ultimately seek that ‘good’ of which they themselves personally approve, whereas salvation and blessing for the whole of mankind only follow an awareness of human sinfulness and personal repentance, and as a gift from the God of all goodness and mercy , through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit.

No amount of individual self-justification can bring authentic peace to humankind, as we might all more clearly appreciate by recalling passages exemplifying human longing and God’s promise of fulfilment heard in today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah:

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion shall browse together with a little child to guide them.   The cow and the bear shall graze; together their young ones shall lie down, the lion shall eat hay like the ox.  The baby shall play by the viper's den, and the child shall put his hand on the adder’s lair.    They shall not harm or destroy on all My holy mountain.

The prophet solemnly told those whose hearts he would set a-yearning by such words, that One alone, the promised Messiah, could bring about that state of affairs on earth:

A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.  The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, a Spirit of counsel and of strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and His delight shall be the fear of the Lord.  Not by appearance shall He judge, nor by hearsay shall He decide; but He shall judge the poor with justice, and decide fairly for the land’s afflicted; He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.    Justice shall be the band around His waist, and faithfulness a belt upon His hips.

People of God, let us prepare to glory in our God and Lord Jesus Christ this Advent because through Him alone – GOD made Man -- can salvation and sublime fulfilment come mankind’s way.   He is, indeed, both our God and our Saviour Who shared our humanity, and in that pure flesh received from Mary, also shared our lot by dying on the Cross for our sins; and, thus freeing us from the strangle-hold of death, He rose again from the dead and ascended to Heaven in that very same flesh now glorified by the Holy Spirit, that He – ever One with us --might go before us as our Head and Lord into heaven and into the presence of His Father,  to claim and prepare a place for us there, with Him and in Him, as adopted children of the eternal God.

Apart from Him and His Gift of the Spirit, even in those who seem to be the best of human beings, sin is never absent, though, at any particular moment it may well be actively hiding itself from those it chooses to use, so as not to be publicly recognized for what it is and what it does.   Dear People of God, Jesus Our Lord and our faith in Him, His sacraments and His Church, are totally unique, prepare well therefore, prepare very well, to rejoice this Christmas, not, indeed, in empty earthly baubles but in the beauty and majesty, the eternal validity and glory, of our God-given Catholic Faith.