Mar phobal seolta

“…Sheol mise sibhse uaim chun fómhar a bhaint nár shaothraigh sibh féin. Shaothraigh daoine eile é, agus chuaigh sibhse isteach ina saothar” (Eoin 4:38)

Eoin 4:31-38 (Year B: Lá le Pádraig, 17 Márta 2018)

Sán áit bheannaithe seo ina bhfuilimid bailithe le chéile chun an Chomaoin Naofa a chéiliúradh ar an lá speisialta seo, Lá le Pádraig, cuimhnímid ar Naomh Dúileach. Níl mórán eolas againn faoin bhfear naofa sin seachas the scéalta a tháinig anuas ó na sinsir. Is léir gur áit speisialta, naofa agus cáiliúil í seo inar chaith na mílte daoine laethanta fada ag guí, ag obair agus ag fónamh ar riachtanais an phobail thart timpeal.

Saint Doulagh’s church is described, in Irish, as Clochar Dúiligh.  Normally, the word ‘Clochar’ refers to a convent.  I wonder if the use of stone in this pre-norman church including the stone baptistery gave rise to the expression Clochar Dúiligh?. Be that as it may be, we are standing on holy ground. Yet, we stand in a fast-changing, multi-ethnic and post-modern Ireland where we are challenged to adapt our thinking but not our core faith – the faith of Paul the missionary, Patrick our national patron saint, Sampson and Doulagh our local saints and many others. That faith shared and expressed in the Creed which we will say together in a few moments is our rock – our Cloch or clochar.  It is, above all, our real, living and life-giving personal relationship with the Lord Jesus that must be the Cloch of our lives.

Just imagine all the countless generations who have worshipped, cried, laboured, rejoiced, died and who were born close to here? Just imagine the many languages that have been spoken here over the centuries from An Sean-Ghaeilge to some Viking dialect to Norman French to Anglo-Norman early English to modern day Northside Dublin not to mention the many ethnic and linguistic groups that have visited or even stayed here to join us for worship.

Fingal – the name of this part of Dublin – comes from ‘Fionn Gall’ or the tribes or territory of foreigners. Agus is maith rud gurb é sin ainm an cheantair seo. And it is very good that this is the name of this part of Dublin.

Sa lá atá inniu ann, táimid – mar a déarfeá ag na ‘croisbhóithre’ idir ceantar sách compordach and rachmasach ó thuadh ón áit seo agus ceann de na ceantracha is boichte sa tír seo ní I bhad ó dheas anseo. Níos faide siar ón séipéal seo tá aerphort rí-ghnóthach Bhleá Cliath trína imíonn na miliúin daoine gach bliain ar thurasóireacht nó fáthanna eile. San áit bheag, ciúin ina bhfuilimid an mhaidin seo táimid cóngarach do na naoimh a d’imigh romhainn. Níl Dúileach é féin ró I bhad mar

Óir, mar a mbíonn beirt nó triúr tagtha i gceann a chéile i m’ainmse, bím féin ansin ina measc.” Matha 18:20

San áit ina bhfuil beirt nó triúr tagtha le chéile ní I bhad uainn ríocht na bhflaiteas. Táimid ag gcéiliúradh I gcuideachta na n-aineal, na naomh eile agus an pobal a d’imigh romhain. 

“bíodh a fhios agaibh go bhfuil ríocht Dé in bhur lár.” Lúcas 19:21

Ag an am céanna táimid cóngarach do na mílte daoine atá ina gcónaí thart anseo. Is iad seo daoine le mianta, le buarthaí, le haislingí, le páistí, le seantuistí, le ceisteanna, le riachtanais spioradálta nó ábhartha. 

(thousands of people live in this district. These are people with worries, dreams, children, grandparents, questions along with spiritual and material needs).

Ó thosaidh an tseirbhís seo ceathrú uair a chloig ó shin is dócha gur imigh na céadta gluaisteáin thart ar an mbóthar amuigh. Tá daoine go imeacht dtí lár na cathrach chun an pharáid a fheiceáil. Tá daoine ag dul ar thuras fada, b’fhéidir, chun cuairt a thabhairt ar lucht muirneach éigin. Tá daoine eile, b’fhéidir, ag filleadh abhaile ó a bheith ag obair san óiche mar bhanatraí nó baill den fhoireann éigeandála.

Tá dhá mhíle bliain ar ár gcreideamh ach níl dhá mhíle bliain ar ár smaointeoireacht.

Our faith is two thousand years old but our thinking is not and must not be.

Is é sin le rá go roimmimid an creideamh céanna leis na deisceabail, le Naomh Aindriú, leis na mairtírigh fadó agus inniu, le Naomh Pádraig and Naomh Dúileach and Naomh Mearnóg  agus Naomh Sampson cibé daoine iad sin agus leis na naoimh sa lá atá inniu ann og obair, ag strachailt, ag fulaingt nó faoi ríméid ag déanamh toil Dé ó lá go lá díreach mar sa staid ina bhfuil siad agus sa timpealacht ina bhfuil said.

Óir is fíor don seanfhocal sa mhéid seo: ‘Cuireann duine, baineann duine eile.’ Deir Íosa linn arís inniu sa soiscéal dár chualamar:  ‘Sheol mise sibhse uaim chun fómhar a bhaint nár shaothraigh sibh féin. Shaothraigh daoine eile é, agus chuaigh sibhse isteach ina saothar.”

In English that translates as:

For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’ (John 4:37-38)

And we stand here this morning as people who have reaped much benefit from the self-sacrificing faith and love of those who reaped here and who directly reaped in our own lives by their teaching and example. We have the joy of entering into the fruits of the labour others in this hallowed place between affluence and acute poverty, between the different historical Viking, Celtic and Norman linguistic and spiritual roots and in which early Celtic monasticism mixed with the arrival of a Norman and a very Roman ordered style of Christianity and then the tragic political and religious events in which Western Christianity and many kingdoms were sundered apart in Europe and on this island and in this very area. We also stand on the ‘Northern Fringe’ of Clongriffan and surrounding areas where thousands of new families and individuals will come to live in the coming years. These are exciting and challenging times for us who have been entrusted with the torch of faith and hope. Will we pass that torch to others? Will future generations follow in our footsteps when we are long gone?  Might St Douglaghs described as the ‘Jewel in Fingals’ Crown’ – Seoid Choróin Fhine Gall become a special place of healing, prayer and outreach where Christians of all traditions might offer hospitality and listening?  Does this sacred place have potentials that we cannot even imagine this morning?

Is mór an onóir dúinn seasamh anseo mar oilithreacha agus mar dheisceabail – i gcónaí ag cosa an Tiarna ag éisteacht agus ag ithe Briathar agus Arán na beatha I dteanta a chéile.

It is a great honour to stand here as pilgrims and disciples – always at the feet of the Lord listening to his word and taking to ourselves his Word and his Bread as we are gathered here.

Is pobal seolta sinn cinnte.

We are, surely, a people sent.

Mothers are special

“…and a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:35)

Luke 2:33-35 (Year B: Fourth Sunday of Lent, 11^th March 2018)

Have you remembered?  Flowers, card or even a meal out?  Or, as many do in Ireland, perhaps a flower and a chat in the cemetery with granny when nobody is overhearing one for the theologically unscrupulous?

 

Our hyper, commercialised and digitalised world will not let us forget it that this Sunday is ‘Mother’s Day’ at least in English-speaking North-West Europe. In some places and traditions, it is referred to as ‘Mothering Sunday’ and it falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent each year. While the origins around this particular day are a bit obscure, we know that it provides a type of half-way mark during our Lenten journey and it is linked to a special remembrance or appreciation of our mothers.

Mothers are held in high regard across the world and nobody can deny the very special and unique experience of a mother’s love at least for most of us who have been blessed and lucky enough to have had loving mothers. I realise that it is not always that perfect and even far from it in a minority of cases.

I remember my own mother with fondness and appreciation. Although deceased some years ago, I often remember her and recall with gratitude the many things she did and said over that part of her long life which spanned 97 years which I had the grace of knowing.  Indeed, it was sometimes the things that she did not say or do when she might have had good reason to that I remember with particular gratitude! Silence allied to a loving patience is a wise policy when better alternatives are lacking.

What is it that makes a mother’s love so special and central to our human experience? In the first place, we come forth from our mother in the womb. We are bonding with her as we are knitted together in that sanctuary as it says in Psalm 139:13. And then we are fed, clothed, cuddled, carried, talked to, listened to and loved as we move through the natural stages of growing up. She was there when we had our first day at school. She was there when we celebrated birthdays and special treats. She was there when we cried. She was there when we were bold and needed to be corrected. We learned to speak our ‘mother’s tongue’ in the first years of our life. And, for most of us, she was there when we left home to study or work or get married as the case may be.

The love of a mother is generous, unconditional and sustained. This is why, when we hear the words of scripture we associate a motherly love with that boundless love that God has for each one of us. Though we always address God as Father, there are many places in scripture where the love of God is spoken of in motherly terms. For example, the prophet, Isaiah, declares the Word of God in these terms:

Can a woman forget her nursing-child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?  Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. (49:15).

As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. (66:13)

In both cases, God acts towards us as a mother would. Even then, if it were to be the case that mother and father were to forsake us, God would still be there for us as Father and as Mother as David declares in Psalm 27:10.

But, motherhood is far from being all joy and happiness. In today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke we hear a hard saying of prophecy spoken by Simeon:

This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.

Simeon saw and affirmed what others could not see in this child.  He saw beyond this moment of great joy to a time when all would be hardship and pain because a sword will pierce our souls.  And why? ‘the inner thoughts of many will be revealed’ and the truth will be told and that ‘sign that will be opposed’ will be the cause of grief. In our lives, there will be times of tribulation, sickness, possibly betrayal, conflict, doubt mixed with times of extraordinary consolation, uplifting, grace and renewal. Let nobody pretend that life is a bed or roses. Mothers know that only too well.

Sometimes people can say and do things to us that are deeply wounding. Or, we sometimes can do the same to others.  What is so wounding is the ‘thoughts revealed’ as Simeon says. We speak from what is within the heart and, unfortunately, what is there is not always to our own good or those who hear us. But, sometimes what has a wounding effect is, ultimately, for the good of the other or ourselves.

The ultimate wounding for Mary occurred in the desolation of Calvary.  There, she grieved for her son. Jesus, according to the Gospel of John, who gave his mother, Mary, to the disciple John, ‘Behold your mother’, he said to John. Many Christians see in this story an invitation for Christian disciples to experience the motherly love of God in the person of Mary who accompanies us in our earthly journey. She, too, grieves for us when we go astray as some of us do from time to time. In these moments, Mary reminds us that her son Jesus Christ, alone, is sufficient for us.

But, in addition to Jesus and Mary, there was someone else who heard what Simeon said. This was Joseph.  Fathers and fatherhood are often overlooked in modern culture.  I look forward to a liturgy focussed on fathers later this year! J

But, there is a question we might consider today and at this time in Ireland.

How do we regard and treat mothers? When it comes to rights in the workplace as well as rights to housing, healthcare, training and community support for families, are we as good as we say we are or should be?

Choosing the good

“…and he was with the wild beasts” (Mark 1:13)

Mark 1:12-15 (Year B: First Sunday of Lent, 18 February 2018)

Trials can bring out the best and the worst in people.  Alone with the ‘wild beasts’ in a lonely desert place, Jesus the child of the earth or the Son of Man was confronted with the rawness of nature. But, he was confronted, as a full human being with the realities of hunger, thirst, danger and temptation.  He went into a place that we, all of us, will have to face sooner or later as our bodies wear out and our time beckons. Some are fortunate to avoid much sickness and material poverty in the course of a long life. Others are less fortunate.

Lent gives us a time and an opportunity to reflect on and re-focus our lives.  Focus comes with difficulty for us as we juggle many things and surround ourselves with lots and lots of things.  Staying still and focussed even with the ‘wild beasts’ of negative people, situations and inner feelings is an art. Great peace and great inner empowering is the fruit of a masterly stillness. God keeps those in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him (Isaiah 26:3). But, what if we have received troubling news or what if we are surrounded by much evil?

In our times, there is much that is very wrong and even evil – even in our supposedly enlightened and inclusive democracies.  People are subjected to huge pressures – financial, emotional and spiritual.  Major choices face people as we debate matters of life and death. Complex moral dilemmas confront us on all sides. Nothing is every simple or straightforward. And yet, the call to turn back to God is ever simple, ever fresh and ever life-giving.

How does Mark 1:12-15 speak to us on this first Sunday of Lent 2018?

The Kingdom of God…

The phrase ‘kingdom of God’ had deep resonance in Jesus’ milieu. It may be a little lost on the world today, unfamiliar or unfriendly to human notions, metaphors and institutions of royalty. But, the idea of the Kingdom still has currency and relevance if we understand it as a spiritual reign or ruling over minds and hearts freely accepting of this. It signifies a reign of personal and social freedom and justice. The two go hand in hand. It implies that those who are poor, oppressed, excluded are brought into the centre of our communities and listened to and empowered. There, peace and love are established where, before, suspicion, resentment and factionalism prevailed.

And the kingdom belongs to those who received it with childlike simplicity, trust and openness (Luke 18:17). It is a common practice to associate the term and the idea of the kingdom of heaven with the world that it is to come, or, simply that which is after death. But, it is clear from most usages of the term in the Gospels that the kingdom is also in the here and now in our midst – very near and about to break into our little world.

In the life of the Christian community there are times when Jesus’ followers over-identified or reduced the Kingdom of God to the ‘Church’ (and that very often in strictly party denominational sense). Others over-identified or reduced the Kingdom of God to some interior, subjective state of feeling or reasoning. The truth is that both perspectives are valid and needed!

It is near to us ….

It may be a question of time or place. In truth, we can say that our lives are short and the day we anticipate is nearer now than was the case yesterday.

Repent…

Lent is very much about repentance.  To repent is to turn away from something. It means turning away from all that is harmful, poisoned, destructive within us and around us. This is difficult because we seek refuge, sometimes, in falsehoods, riches and comfort – the comfort of our systems of thinking and association that surrounds us all the time. We are invited to return or turn back to the basics of

• Doing what is right 
• Believing in what is true 
• And avoiding what is evil for ourselves and others.

Our role is not to go about confronting people with the language and a system of ideas that means nothing to them. Rather, we are invited to gently lead others to where they are ready and willing to go in their own time at their own pace. Ultimately, we are called not to announce the word so much as to live it and thereby draw others into the family of trust, belonging and purpose which is the community founded on the example, teaching, death and resurrection of the Jesus who continues to live in our midst.

And so….

This lent let’s take that prayer, Our Father, seriously and practically meaning what we say and putting it into practice day by day. And ‘Your Kingdom Come’ will be a reality more and more as we walk towards Easter. And we will be amazed to find that it is indeed true that ‘For the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory are yours’. Put another way it means:

• Power is everywhere
• Change if possible
• Hope is vital

May Lent 2018 be a special time for each of us as we move from winter to spring and as we prepare, hopefully, for other winters and springs on this earthly journey. For the kingdom of God has come nearer to us this year. We must make haste, focus on the Gospel, change what needs changing in our lives now and trust and believe in the good news that Jesus announced 2,000 years ago and still announces to each of us and all of us together today.

If we are willing

“…If you choose, you can make me clean” (Mark 1:40)

Mark 1:40-45 (Year B: Sunday before Lent, 11th February 2018)

[In some traditions and places the chosen Gospel reading for this Sunday may be from Mark 9:2-9 – the Gospel account of the Transfiguration. For a blog on Mark 9:9-29 see Basking in Sunshine  - 1 March 2015]

‘I do choose’ was the curt answer from Jesus to an earnest request by someone with leprosy who ‘came to him and begged him on his knees’ (v. 40). Some versions report that Jesus was ‘moved with pity’ (v. 41) while other translations state that ‘Jesus was indignant’. I prefer ‘moved with pity’. Perhaps the leper, in breaking social norms, approached someone who was clean. Was Jesus taken by complete surprise and reacted angrily in the first instance? Or, perhaps, his ‘anger’ was more to do with fear? Who would touch a leper? Would you or I touch someone with a highly contagious disease?

Whatever was felt by him, Jesus was moved to act and to respond to what was a bold request and, surely, a risky one for Jesus who risked deadly infection as well as social disapproval for associating with someone who was ritually impure.

In today’s ‘advanced economies’ leprosy has been abolished.  However, a few centuries ago leper hospitals and colonies were common.  Here, in Dublin, Townsend Street just south of the River Liffey is translated from the original of ‘Sráid na Lobhar’ where, there was a hospice for lepers (lobhair).  Note that when the new arrivals took over from the 12^th century onwards they just named the place ‘Town’s End’. That sounds better, you see. Further to the east of Sráid na Lobhar were the natives pushed, literally, to ‘Irishtown’, or Baile Gaelach, beside An Rinn – land’s end in around the year 1454 in line with the Statutes of Kilkenny.  Rather like the inmates of a West Bank Palestinian camp, the Gaeil had freedom to trade by day in medieval Dublin and to get back to Baile Gaelach at night passing by the Leper hospice just south of modern-day TCD and then down by ‘Misery Hill’ (just beside the headquarters of Facebook in Ireland today!) where lepers, who did not have the medieval equivalent of private health insurance and could not afford the hospice closer to Dublin, hung out (there being a medieval pecking order of social and physical leprosy at the time). Only some things have changed since those days.

(According to one source, the name Misery Hill ‘derives its name from an age when the corpses of those executed at Gallows Hill near Upper Baggot Street were carted here and strung up to rot as a warning to other would-be troublemakers’).

All societies, tribes and in-groups know how to include and to exclude.

One of the tragic aspects of leprosy in those far off times must have been the sense of loneliness, isolation and social exclusion. When this was reinforced by false religious notions that, in some way, the condition was due to the sinfulness of the victims (either directly or indirectly) the sense of brutality is heightened. In our modern, sophisticated and supposedly enlightened world is ‘social leprosy’ a thing of the past?  Change the medical details and the face of the sufferers and we might find disturbing cases of 21^st century social leprosy (including modern-day traditional leprosy in many parts of the world). Persons by reason of their ethnic status, colour, religion, sexual orientation, marital or relationship status or political persuasion are placed in situations of exclusion, disrespect, mistrust and oppression. If we think that this is something of an exaggeration in our little slice of the world try considering some of the following:

If a family from ‘that group’ moved in next door how would our enlightened socio-liberal principles stand up?

Have we ever been at a wedding in a church where the happily married couple and their families of mixed Christian backgrounds as well as friends are not, all, allowed to share at the one Table of the Chief Host at the banquet? (and here one is referring to the 21^st century and not the 16^th century where, instead, the guests might have killed each other before arriving at the ceremony).

Is someone’s sexual orientation or relationship status something to be best ‘not told and not asked’ about? Conveniently swept under the carpet when, in fact, everyone knows but can’t talk about it or deal with the issue honestly?

And the list could go on.

Healing for others may not just be an exercise in compassion where illness of one sort or another is concerned. It might also involve healing for the healer (us) because we treat others – healthy and wholesome people – as if it were they who need healing and not us. Roles can be reversed and healing happens in us as we learn to let go of our own prejudices, wounds and fears.

What this passage from the Gospel of St Mark shows is that Jesus’s approach and values were utterly ‘sacramental’ to use a theologically loaded term. One way of understanding sacramentalism is that it concerns outward visible signs of inward spiritual grace. Touching and being touched in ways that are entirely appropriate and healing is a type of sacramental action. In the established sacraments of Western catholic Christianity touching can happen at Baptism, the Eucharist, Reconciliation (Penance), Ordination, Anointing, Marriage and Confirmation. It’s all taken for granted. But, ‘sacramentalism’ does not stop there. Ministries of healing have developed in the Christian community and many have been touched deeply in their souls. Outward signs are important. But, the inner healing is something powerful, real and lasting. Many miracles are still happening today but they are not readily visible. One of the greatest miracles is the grace people may receive along with incurable diseases to accept their situation and grow in love and trust. This does not necessarily lessen the suffering or grief in which they find themselves. But, they find a deeper level of meaning, purpose and peace that is lacking where trust has been abandoned.

If a leper in 1^st century Palestine could not be touched by another person (other than another leper) – especially when most needed such as in the moments someone is slipping away from this life (as anyone will know who has journeyed with some to the ‘farewell point’) – then we have many types of social leprosy in modern-day Western economically ‘advanced’ societies. We just change the language and the detail and turn it into clinical and linguistically sanitised terminology.

Much of what we strive for is the result of forces and desires deep within us. We may not even be aware of some of these forces and may ascribe our actions to motivations and influences outside our control. However, if we are more honest with ourselves we must acknowledge that our own will power is an important factor. It is always conditioned by circumstances but it is never eclipsed. If we are willing, we can rise to extraordinary heights. ‘Where there is a will there is a way’ as the saying goes. Was Jesus moved with astonishment, emotion and pity as a result of the desperate, humbling and faith-full pleas of the leper? It is plausible to think that Jesus was cornered and his compassion triggered as a result?. Let’s say that it was not on the agenda for that day. Someone crossed his path who was an outcast, ‘a sinner’ in regards to the thought systems of the time and someone who was dangerously ill.

In responding to this situation Jesus ‘reached out his hand and touched the man’. In doing so he declare ‘I am willing’.  God in Jesus is willing to reach out to us and to touch us in the very depths of our despair, our worries and our fragility. In healing the leper Jesus does not omit to instruct the healed one to present himself to the priests in accordance with the Torah – the religious law (as laid out, for example, in the Book of Leviticus (3:1-2)).

And the healed one ‘went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news’. But there was a price: ‘As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places.’  In short, he was never far from the excluded and the outcasts. Maybe he even hung out with them in different places and times? For us mortals, extending the hand of healing to others could trigger our own inner healing.

Are there among us, today, those with an inner wound of some sort? Society treats various forms of mental illness as a form of stigma, for example. This isolates those who are affected and builds walls of separation and shame. If we are willing we can become channels of healing for others. But those who experience healing in this way, in their turn, become sources of healing in us.‘ Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.’ (v. 45)

It never stops and it shouldn’t.

(words above = 1,452)

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

Here is a leper outside the Mosaic Law. Jesus does not overturn that Law but shows the Power and Love of God.  The results are striking. The unclean has been made clean and the prescribed response before the Priests is carried out (refer to Leviticus 14:1-32)

1:40: Pleading

A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ 

Begging has mixed connotations and not something used, generally, in regards to prayer. But we can be sure that God speaking through David will not leave us down - ‘I am here and I call, you will hear me, O God. Turn your ear to me; hear my words.’ (Psalm 16:6). We may note that again and again across the Gospel stories it is an attitude of humble trusting that characterises those healed by Jesus. From the healing of the leper to the words of forgiveness on the cross addressed to the ‘good thief’ God is open to those who seek with a humble and trusting heart.

1:41-42: Welcoming and healing

Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’  Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 

Jesus listened. Jesus saw. Jesus was ‘moved with pity’. We can learn from this. However, some translations translate as Jesus was indignant or angry. We should not miss the critical point, here, that Jesus physically touched the leper. By doing so, Jesus made himself ritually impure in the sight of the Law. Hence, there is a subtle point: Jesus did not come to disregard the Law but to complete it by showing its true and overarching purpose – namely the loving kindness or hessed of God. In this sense, Jesus the Son of God was above the Mosaic Law. The world would never be the same again.

1:43-44: Sending forth 

After sternly warning him he sent him away at once,  saying to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ 

Religious rituals and protocols had to be followed. The evangelists are careful to situate the story of Jesus in the concrete religious mores of his time.

1:45: The healed one can’t stay quiet

But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

There are times when we just cannot stay quiet! We need to tell someone what God has done in our soul. And the healing may be physical and psychological. Why not?

Cultivating habits of the heart early

“…Very early the next morning, Jesus got up and went to a place where he could be alone and pray” (Mark 1:35)

Mark 1:29-39 (Year B: Second Sunday before Lent: 4^th February 2018)

A day in the life of Jesus. He is up and out before sunrise – praying. The previous night he was engaged in healing after sunset in the house of Peter’s mother-in-law and before that he was at the Synagogue on the Sabbath with his small band of new followers.  Today, he is heading towards other places in Galilee. Always on the move, living from the centre of his being and in relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Jesus moves among the people preaching, healing and setting people free.

Praying in solitary places was Jesus’ way of refuelling and recharging.

Praying in solitary places is not just for monks, spiritual nerds and other people with time on their hands. Praying in solitary places is for everyone including, I believe, people who say they are atheists and agnostics. There is a hole in every person’s heart to be filled with awe, wonder, conversation, asking, thanking and even cursing at times (the psalms can come in handy for this purpose!). The point is that everyone needs space and time to simply ‘be’. The story goes that the Protestant reformer, Martin Luther, said ‘I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours of my day in prayer.’  In recent times, Dag Hammarskjöld, a former Secretary General of the United Nations said that, because of his busy schedule, he got up an hour early to pray. When he was ‘extra busy’ he got up two hours early for the same purpose.

Spending two to three hours in prayer is not an option, I suspect, for most ordinary people like you and me. However, quiet times and spaces are a must.  A story is told that many decades ago a novice in a certain religious congregation who had not yet learned the art of ‘seeking forgiveness more than permission’ asked a brother who looked after novices if it was OK to smoke while praying. After a firm ‘NO’ he paused for a moment and asked ‘But, would it be OK to pray while smoking?’  High five!

The point of prayer is a ‘lifting up’ (some of us will remember our old ‘Green Catechism’) and opening out while going in….going into a secret place in the depths of our hearts that goes beyond space, time and consciousness.

Seriously.

And simply. 

Manuals, textbooks and various types of ‘guides’ tend to overcomplicate what is an altogether natural and wholesome thing for humans to do. We, the busy ones, are merely joining the rest of creation by resting in the anguish and glory of ‘Being’.

Pick your times and your place or places.

It might be on the top of the first bus into town for work (the driver can always wake you if you fall asleep before reaching the terminus!). It might be a little corner of your bedroom where you place a picture of a loved one, a bible, an icon or some other ‘reminder’.  It might be a place of fondness on a mountain or by the sea. And, crucially, it could be a place in the middle of a busy congregation gathered together to pray and break bread.  Just as the novice, in the story above, ‘prayed while smoking’ Christians delight to ‘pray while eating and drinking’ at the Eucharist. But, after some time in prayer the reality is that ‘Everyone is looking for you!’ (Mark 1:36).

The morning is a precious time of the day. As it says in the Psalm (5:4):

‘In the morning you hear me; in the morning I offer you my prayer, watching and waiting.’

Watching and waiting early, very early in the morning. A tonic for a weary, thankful and hopeful soul as a fresh day begins. As it is written in Isaiah (30:15):

‘..in quietness and trust is your strength..’ (‘A new spring in your step’)

Or in the first book of Kings (19:12):

‘And after the fire came a gentle whisper’

That still small voice that whispers gently to us in the quiet of the house or streets as the sun is rising.

A brother at the community of Taizé has put it:

‘So many Christians find in prayer the courage to take on responsibilities. Rooting themselves in the very wellsprings of Christ, they run the risks of faith.’

By going to the wellsprings deep within us (we are baptised, actually or by entrusting) we find the courage and the faith to risk everything while remaining rooted in the here and now and all that we are called upon to do this day. And just as the morning is the key to the day, the evening is the lock for the night.

Together let us praise the Lord for ourselves and others.

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

Nearing the end of the first chapter and having called his first companions, we see Jesus move into full healing and mission mode.

29-31   Jesus cures Peter’s mother-in-law

As soon as Jesus left the meeting place with James and John, they went home with Simon and Andrew. When they got there, Jesus was told that Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with fever. Jesus went to her. He took hold of her hand and helped her up. The fever left her, and she served them a meal.

Early Christians saw in the lifting up of Simon’s mother-in-law a sign of the resurrection to come.  Jesus has declared that sickness, death and evil do not have the last word then or now.  The mother-in-law was quick on her feet to serve Jesus a meal.  It looks as if Simon-Peter’s friend Jesus was in very good standing that day with Peter’s mother! So also, we may presume was the wife of Peter who mostly likely was present at this healing (see 1 Corinthians 9:5).

32-34   Jesus heals many sick persons 

That evening after sunset, all who were sick or had demons in them were brought to Jesus. In fact, the whole town gathered around the door of the house. Jesus healed all kinds of terrible diseases and forced out a lot of demons. But the demons knew who he was, and he did not let them speak.

The Sabbath is over with sunset. Hence, healing is permitted according to the strictures of the Law.  Evil knows the Name of Love but Love is not overpowered by evil.

35         Jesus goes to pray in a solitary place,

Very early the next morning, Jesus got up and went to a place where he could be alone and pray. 

Timely and consistent prayer was a cornerstone in the life of ministry of Jesus.

36-37   In search of Jesus

Simon and the others started looking for him. And when they found him, they said, “Everyone is looking for you!”

38-39   Time to move on: Jesus sets the disciples’ sights on wider horizons

Jesus replied, “We must go to the nearby towns, so that I can tell the good news to those people. This is why I have come.” Then Jesus went to Jewish meeting places everywhere in Galilee, where he preached and forced out demons.

Now is the time

“…And immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Mark 1:18)

Mark 1:14-20 (Year B: 3^rd Sunday after the Epiphany, 21^st January 2018)

Throughout the Gospel of St Mark there is an immediacy and urgency about the message of Jesus. The time is said to have come. It is time to repent and believe now and to follow the Saviour.  When called, the disciples leave what they are doing and who they are with immediately. ‘Without delay’, Jesus calls them and they respond without delay.

In life, our natural tendency is to wait and see, to evaluate and consider, to consult and reflect and to postpone a decision until later. Sometimes this is good to do; others time not: we need to know the difference.  When God calls we are bid to follow with clarity and courage leaving behind doubts and obstacles. We must trust that God will show us the way and enable us to follow there.

The secret in following is in the now. Answering a lifetime’s call is made in a series of steps beginning with a simple step now. Giving a full yes here and now is the only reality we can embrace. The past is a given and the future has not yet arrived. We can only live in the here and now. Nothing else is real as far as action and will are concerned.

The Gospel of Mark, which we read over most Sundays for the remainder of this year, is a very concise account of the life of Jesus Christ. The first chapter reads, in many respects, as a type of ‘executive summary’ of this entire Gospel and all four canonical Gospels. This week’s passage from the first chapter of the gospel of St Mark may be summarised in five key points:

To repent of our sins (v 15).
To believe in Jesus (v 15).
To be healed by Jesus (v 34).
To follow Jesus (v 17).
To be sent by Jesus (v 17).

As in other callings, we have here a call addressed both to individuals and to groups or pairs of individuals. We never walk alone – at least not entirely.

We would do well to take Mark in hand today and let the words and their meaning sink in. As with the rest of the gospels, the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark is worth reading slowly and prayerfully. It holds the key to the entire Good News story about Jesus. When a sentence or a phrase strikes we can just stop there and linger awhile in silence and quiet. A quiet spot and a regular time of day, if at all possible, is a great idea for this type of exercise. It takes practice and discipline. It bears fruit. In that way, we can ‘prepare a way’ in the desert of our lives. And we will be overtaken by surprise – surprise that God loves us more than we ever imagined possible.

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

14:  It all starts in Galilee

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God

The ministry and first calling of the disciples originated in an obscure corner of an obscure country in the Roman Empire.  It did not start on the floor the Temple or the Holiest of Holies in Jerusalem. Neither did it start in Rome – the centre of political power at the time. It didn’t start in some pre-existing religious community such as the Essenes in Qumran.  It didn’t start in the halls of some institution of human learning and skill. And it didn’t start in the continent of Europe as we know it today.

15:       The waiting is over

and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;[c] repent, and believe in the good news.’

The time of waiting (‘kairos’) is over. This is the acceptable and necessary time to turn (‘repent’) and to experience the good news of God’s saving work. To repent is not to sink further into guilt, shame and retribution. Rather, to repent is to be set free not because we deserve it but because God loves us unconditionally and waits for our free response in love. This is what repentance is about.

16-17:  A new way of life for those called to be ‘fishers’

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ 

From the natural occupation of fishing on a large lake (The Sea of Galilee which is probably about twice the size of Dublin Bay) Jesus sees that these fishermen will have a purpose and a trade of a different kind. The analogy of fishing for people will not be lost on Peter and Andrew. I wonder what their families thought when the brothers went off to follow Jesus? Peter was, after all, married and the evidence from 1 Corinthians 9:5 (and see, also, Mark 1:29-31) is that his wife was alive and not dead at the time of his calling and subsequent ministry. We may note that, at this point, the emphasis in Mark is on the preaching of the Word of God. Miracles accompanying this preaching would follow very soon. In the Acts of the Apostles, we see Peter along with the other apostles or disciples preaching, healing, calling and sowing the seeds of a new reality and kingdom. It all began on the shores of a lake in a far off place. Peter and Andrew must have had little idea where this would all lead when this amazing Rabbi/Teacher said to them abruptly one day: ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people’ (v. 17).

18:  Answering the call without delay

 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 

There is no evidence that they hesitated. They ‘immediately left their nets and followed him’ (v. 18).

19-20:  Immediacy

As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat  with the hired men, and followed him.

And again, the disciples called did not delay but dropped their nets and left their families and fellow-workers behind.  The sons of Zebedee would have inherited a family fishing business for mention was made of ‘hired men’.  The sons did not leave their father without help in those who were hired and stayed behind.

What do we really want in life?

“…What are you looking for” (John 1:38)

John 1:35-51

Year B: 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, 14th January 2018

When did you last read an obituary (or hear a funeral eulogy) that went something like this:

‘He was a much revered person who worked all the hours God gave to become the head in this industry and organisation. He put in long hours, cut deals, fought off competitors and saved the organisation on more than one critical moment. He received numerous honorary doctorates and one real one while he wrote six books, 30 journal articles and served on many commission and boards. He had many friends and contacts but none terribly close. He did make time for family life and local rotary club activities.  He will be missed but life goes on and things change. It was sad to see his health deteriorate in his final years.  He did recognise the few who visited him in the very final months at St Fachtna’ Nursing Home.  His farewell was an occasion of some sadness.’

Not often, I suggest. Not at all in fact!

Write your own obituary or, better still, live in such a way that others will write an obituary that you can be justly proud of because you were a caring, loving, truthful and fair person in whatever role or responsibility was entrusted to you.

Every so often we need to stop for a few minutes, or hours or even days and ask the hard question that Jesus asked the two disciples: ‘what do I want?’ What do I seek?  Above and beyond the daily toils and struggles what is my purpose and aim in life? Truly?

Sometimes there are no immediate or clear answers. It may involve some trial and error. ‘Come and see’ was Jesus’ reply when asked ‘where are you staying?’

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

The choice of passage is all encompassing: it combines John 1:35-41 with John 1:42-51 as, respectively, these correspond to the typical choice of Gospel reading on this Sunday in the Roman Catholic and most of the Reformed Churches.  Perhaps, by accident, the former emphasises Peter and his brother Andrew while the latter emphasises Philip and Nathaniel.

35-36:  John bears witness

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ 

On ‘the next day’ (the third day), John bears witness in front of two of his own disciples. John’s Gospel attaches great importance to time, night, day and numbers hiding key parallels and deeper significance beneath the stories and words.

This is where Galilee and Judea meet up: the disciples of Jesus, according to John the evangelist, were disciples of John the Baptist. Where ‘two or three’ were gathered there was the Messiah in their midst. This prefigures what is to come after the resurrection of Jesus.

I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. (Isaiah 65:1)

37-39:  Time to come and see

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.

It was late in the day and as often happens in the Gospel of John, light and darkness, day and night play out in a deep exchange of meanings.

The two disciples who followed Jesus belonged, initially, to John’s people (was Jesus also associated with them?). John lets go of his own disciples. These disciples were prompted by John and they set off on a new and unexpected course.

(We should always remain open to the inspirations and promptings of the Holy Spirit especially when they come through someone wise and someone we can trust).

‘What are you looking for?’ is the same question posed by St Benedict to those would follow in the monastic way of life. What do you seek? Do you really seek God?

Andrew and another disciple sought the Saviour. Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist and there is a possibility that, his brother, was at least connected to the Johannine dessert movement.  Note that, according to this passage, Jesus does not say to them, at this stage, ‘Come and follow me’ but, rather, ‘Come and see’. Jesus respects the freedom and responsibility of the disciples who will be called. In reality, this day is the decisive day for Andrew and the other disciple.  By following Jesus to where he stayed they were being led to a new reality. This was more than an individual call. The two disciples sought and followed Jesus together and not each of them alone. Might it be possible that the other disciple who is unnamed by John the evangelist was John the evangelist himself? Or, might it have been – perish the thought – a woman who could not be named but had been a follower of John the Baptist ! 

There is a strong echo of John 20:15-16 here. At the resurrection (the ‘third day’), Jesus is sought by Mary who does not recognise him at first. When she does acknowledge him she addresses him as ‘Rabbi’ just as Andrew and Peter do.

Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew,‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher).

This coming to Jesus to see is a very striking way of telling us that the first disciples had a personal encounter with Jesus. Following Jesus was, in the first place, a personal encounter and experience and not a detached intellectual discourse followed by assent. They simply saw where Jesus lived and how he lived and related to them and others.

‘Staying’ and ‘remaining’ with Jesus that evening chime with our lives as disciples. We stay and remain in the blessed Trinity. As it says in the Prayer of Humble Access:

‘….and that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us’

40-42   Seeking, finding and responding

One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).

Andrew could not contain himself. He had to go and tell his brother Peter and invite him to join up. He declared to his brother ‘We have found the Messiah’. John the evangelist is drawing important theological conclusions, here, and is careful to explain the meaning of terminology such as Rabbi, Messiah and Cephas to a non-Hebrew audience. Jesus ‘looked at’ Peter. Using the underlying Greek word, emblépō, it would be accurate to understand this ‘looked at’ as the equivalent of looking in a concentrated and sustained way.

The call to discipleship is pressing, urgent and appealing. In fact, irresistible. Our first and natural instinct is to share it with others and, perhaps, they too will follow.

There is a touch of irony here. The one to be called ‘rock’ was not quite rock-like when confronted with an opportunity for martyrdom on the night of Jesus’ betrayal.  Not even Peter could resist his human nature and betray his Lord at a crucial moment. Did this stop him from going on to witness to Jesus and, ultimately, be led to death for his sake? No.

Jesus would say to Peter much later in the Gospel of John:

Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.’  (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ (John 21:18-19)

Following Jesus is the road to freedom. But the paradox is that it leads to constraint too. This is especially so in those called to lead as Peter was. Grace is never lacking.

43-46   Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael  

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’

A third person from the ‘city’ of Bethsaida is called and this time it is Philip. (It may be that all three came from Capernaum which is 10 Km down the road from Bethsaida by Lake Galilee.  By now, the village must been buzzing! However, Nathanael (probably the same person as Bartholomew Matthew 10:3) was added to the small band. A distance of over 50 Km separated Bethsaida from Jesus’ home town of Nazareth.  Jesus was in search of followers and, perhaps, he already knew Philip or knew of him.  His invitation was simply ‘follow me’.  There are scarcely any occasions where the invitation to ‘follow’ is used in the New Testament except on the lips of Jesus. It reminds us as 21^st century disciples that we are invited to follow Jesus and Jesus alone. However, we do not follow him on our own. We travel together with others. This is, also, a key point of this passage of scripture. Nathanael is, initially, sceptical when Philip tells him of the Messiah he has found.  The invitation is extended by Philip to ‘come and see’.

47-48   what you see is what you get

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’

Were it only possible to say about every politician, church leader, minister, doctor, lawyer, plumber, car mechanic, economist, employer and trade union official: ‘Here is someone in whom there is no deceit – what you see is what you get’!

49-51   The dream of Jacob come true

Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’

Nathanael’s declaration of faith is more gradual in the synoptic gospels. John compresses a lot to bring theological matters to the fore. There is no mistaking it – Jesus is the Son of God and the King of Israel and it takes an Israelite without deceit to declare it.

Speaking of ascending and descending is very much rooted in scripture.  There are plenty of stories about people ascending up to heaven (e.g. Jacob’s dream of angels ascending and descending in Genesis 28:12, Jesus’ conversation with Nathanael in John 1:51, Elijah being taken up in a ‘whirlwind’ to heaven in 2 Kings 2:11).  In many different cultures of the ancient world people had a three-tier idea of the universe: the heavens up there, hell down there (a hot place!) and the earth right here where we stand. Over time, other categories were stitched on such as limbo and purgatory to meet various theological conundrums (necessity being the mother of invention!).