Lord teach us to pray

Wednesday Week 27 Ordinary Time, Josephinum 6^th Oct 2021

Lk 11:1-4

I want to reflect on the request of the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray”.

I want to start by noting that there is something amazingly beautiful about seeing a man in love.

First, to see a man in love with his new wife, or his young pregnant wife:.

• A man whose eyes follow her,
• A man whose thoughts are obviously concerned for her,
• A man who is clearly not just caught up in himself, but is thinking about HER.

It’s a beautiful sight.

It’s a manly sight.

Second, a man in love with God.

To see a man, a young man, caught up with God, is a beautiful sight.

• To see him in chapel, gazing at the tabernacle.
• To see him reading his Bible, caught up with the God he is discovering.
• To see him, to hear him, confess and repent, because he loves and he wants to love MORE.
• To see him excited to know more, learn more, LOVE God more.

It’s a beautiful sight.

It’s a manly sight.

We’re made to give ourselves away, we’re made for self-gift,

And to see man live that out is an amazing sight.

Back to our Gospel text.

It’s seems to me that when the disciples looked at their Lord

They saw a man in love.

They saw Him rose early to go and pray alone

They saw Him seek to leave the crowd, to be alone in prayer 

They HEARD Him speak of God,

With an intimacy

With a love

They saw Him pray

They saw a man in love

And it must have been an even more amazing sight than the sight of men in love that you and I have seen.

And, small surprise, they said,

“Lord, teach us to pray”.

To ask the Lord Jesus to “teach us to pray”,

Is to ask Him to introduce us into the heart of His relationship with the FATHER

it’s no small thing that He responds

 by teaching them a prayer that starts,

“Our Father…”

(Pause).

Shifting focus.

There never comes a time when we no longer need to LEARN how to pray.

One of my own annual formation goals this year is

To improve the quality of my mental prayer 

To have my time with HIM

Not just be vegging-out in the chapel

Not just sitting in distractions 

But being intimate with Him

Because I am still learning how to pray,

after 22 years a priest

after 30 years with a committed daily schedule of mental prayer or meditation 

I’ve been attending the prayer laboratories 

I’ve been reading and re-reading books on method in mental prayer

Because I want the wisdom of the saints

Methods of the saints

I want to share with you my favourite short summary of such methods, such techniques against distraction etc

25 copies here

We ALL still need to learn how to pray

The disciples saw in the Lord Jesus a man in love

A man who was not just a man

A man whose love was the inter-personal love of the Trinity somehow visible on earth 

Let’s hear those words of the disciples, their request, and make it our own:

“Lord, teach us to pray”.

Apostolic Poverty

Wednesday Week 25, 22^nd Sept 2021, Josephinum

Luke 9:1-6

Today I want to reflect on apostolic poverty, 

on poverty and the diocesan priesthood.

In our text we heard the Lord say:

• Take nothing for your journey.  No staff, no bag, no money, no spare tunic, etc (Lk 9:3)

But, we know that elsewhere He says:

• Take a purse, a bag, and a sword (Lk 22:35-6)

An obvious and standard interpretation of these 2 apparently conflicting texts is this:

• some of His commands are specific to a specific mission,

 specific to a time and place

There is a general rule we could phrase as this:

• Poverty is measured by the needs of the mission

Today, in our era:

• Pope St John Paul II has reminded us of the demands of poverty and simplicity of life for the diocesan priest

We take no vow of poverty, not even a simple promise

• Yet, JPII teaches us:
• The diocesan is called to live poverty for the sake of our apostolate

• Poverty is REQUIREMENT OF living our state of life
• I need to avoid all that “smacks of worldliness” (canon law 282.1), 
• I need to adopt “a simple life” (directory, 67), 
• “In all aspects (living quarters, means of transportation [car], vacations etc) the priest must eliminate any kind of affectation and luxury”(n.67).
• I need to have the Lord for my “inheritance” (directory, 67) rather than earthly possessions as my inheritance.
• And there is twofold reason:
• First, to follow the Lord better:
• “voluntarily embracing POVERTY to follow Christ more closely.”(n.67).
• Second, as a MEANS to grow in “apostolic charity”
• The freedom of poverty frees me to love,
• love like an apostle, living for others

Living “a simple life” is not simple, 

• it involves dozens of significant financial decisions per year
• it involves multiple daily and weekly smaller decisions

Responding to what seemed (to my Bishop and me) as a call of Providence, 

I came here.  

I gave up a 6 bedroom rectory, 

a private garden, 

and threw away a thousand books, 

to name a few things.

Charity called, I was happy to follow, 

but I knew various things couldn’t follow with me.

I needed that interior freedom

But, I also stand here with an iPad and an Smart Watch 

(though not the most recent version -one of my constant criteria: 

never have the most recent model phone)

Difficult decisions.  

Qu: What is the criterion to judge?

An: The needs of the mission, 

which takes us back to today’s text.

(1) For some missions, 

take a “spare” tunic and two swords 

-you need to be ready for  the task.

(2) For other missions, 

take neither staff nor bread nor money 

-the Lord will provide.

(3) In all missions:

Apostolic charity is the measure.  

What I possess: 

 it must not hinder me from loving with the freedom of apostolic loving  

 it must aid me in my mission 

To close:

Three questions to take away:

• What did you give up to come here, give up already?
• What do you expect to give up in the future, to not possess because you’re a priest?
• What are you willing to give up, for the sake of the mission?

Humility

Monday 23^rd Week Ordinary Time, 13^th Sept 2021, Josephinum

Lk 7:1-10

I want to focus on the words of the centurion, 

words that holy Mother Church puts on our lips at every Mass:

• “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof”

I’d like to walk you through 3 phases of faith and humility, and for you to ask yourself where you fit in these phases, and maybe, where you have fit in your own past.

First phase:

For those of us raised after the cultural revolution of the 1960s,

Humility often does not come naturally to us:

• We were raised on self-affirmation
• We received little discipline 
• We were told we were good.

To my generation, 

we would tend to think:

• “Lord, actually I AM worthy, 
• and I just don’t need you to enter under my roof”

A second phase:

When I went to college I found the Lord,

• I came to know Him “personally”, as we say.
• But, if I’m honest, I still thought of myself as “worthy”.

And while I wouldn’t have phrased it exactly like this, I think it would be true to say that my attitude was:

• “Lord, I AM worthy, 
• But you bring added value to my life, added meaning
• So,
• For MY own sake, please do come and enter in”
• That is NOT the faith of the centurion
• That’s a “faith” that is a problem

Still today, I know this is a problem in my spiritual life:

• My self-affirmation
• My lack of being criticised as a child,
• My upbringing has been such that I struggle to say,
• “I am not worthy”

Yet, 

• I know my eternal salvation depends on having the ‘unworthiness’ of the centurion

We need to be in a third phase, one that has a humility born of faith.

Let’s connect those 2 things: faith and humility

• The words of the centurion expressed humility, :I am not worthy’
• But the Lord praised him for his “faith” –‘not even in Israel have I found such faith”

True faith recognises the Lord for WHO He is:

• He is God
• He is much greater than me
• He is pure; He is goodness,
• “me?  ‘’I am not worthy’
• Real faith SEES this
• Real humility ACCEPTS this

Where are you in those three phases of humility and faith?

• If you are one of the post-1960s generations who struggle to be humble, then pray
• Pray for what is MOST important:
• Not healing the body
• But healing what is wrong in your soul:
• but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed”

“Power came forth from Him [that] healed them all.”

Tuesday 22nd Week in Ordinary Time, Josephinum seminary

“Power came forth from Him [that] healed them all.” (Lk 6:19)

To return to one of my favourite questions:

What was it like to be in His presence?

And, as I often reflect, the reaction of the people shows us so much:

They sought Him out.

They came from vast distances:

The phrase, “the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon” 

means the Mediterranean -not the nearby lake of Galilee

means they came from gentile as well as Jewish towns

-as St Bede and St Cyril note, in St Thomas’s Catena Aurea (p.206)

They came  

“to hear”

“to be healed”

To have “unclean spirits” cast out

“Power came forth from Him [that] healed them all.” (Lk 6:19)

(pause)

As priests, power goes forth from us too.

As priests, it is a power 

to teach, 

that they might again “hear”, in a world of confusion

to comfort and console the distressed, 

that they might again “be healed” in a world of brokenness

The people long ago sought to “touch” the Lord

In many ways, they seek to touch us too

NOT

not because of something that is ours per se, 

but because of something we ourselves have touched and continually touch: 

The Lord 

 

St Ambrose points out a symbolism to be found in this passage (in St Thomas’s Catena Aurea (p.207)):

Jesus ascends the “mountain”, to the heavenly,

before DESCENDING to the “plain”, to the crowd, the earthly

Thus, might well say that, 

The mountain and the plain both meet in Him

Heaven and earth meet in Him

God and man meet in Him

And, if we want that “power” to touch others, this is what we must first touch ourselves.

(pause)

Here in seminary, there are many things we seek to do in you and to you

We seek to teach you

We seek to form and remedy human issues in you

But these, and many other things, PALE in comparison to the importance of leading you to a deeper encounter with the Lord.

The “power” that people will seek in you

The “power” that can “go forth” from you

-this power is not YOURS but HIS

So, we must first seek to come and touch Him ourselves.

Sermon: Fixed on Him

Monday Wk 22, Josephinum,  Lk 4:16-30 

 

I preached on this gospel last year, and as fate or the liturgist, has directed, 

I’m preaching on it again this year. 

It’s one of my favourite lines in the Bible, because it reminds me of two things: 

First, how people REACTED to the Lord 

 -the awesome power of His personality 

 -I love pondering on how people responded to Him, 

because it teaches me about HIM. 

Second, this phrase sums up how I know I need to still react to His awesomeness today: 

I need to be FIXED on Him. 

Let’s ponder for a moment, the different ways people REACTED to the Lord? 

We might think of: 

The guards who were sent to arrest the Lord, but returned to their superiors empty- 

handed simply saying, 

“No one has every spoken like this man”. 

The crowds, who said of Him, 

“He has done all things well”. 

His preaching manner summed up by the evangelist, saying, 

“He spoke with authority, and not like the scribes and the pharisees.” 

No wonder we get the line in today’s text: 

“All eyes on the synagogue looked intently at Him”. 

(Pause)  

Yet, that awesome power of His person also had others reject Him: 

In this passage, it starts with fascination but ends with them trying to throw Him from the cliff. 

 

What of me and you? 

There is another reaction to Him that I fear: 

Indifference, somehow letting Him pass by. 

Knowing that there is BACON at the PCJ breakfast, in less than an hour, and my mind not being with Him. 

 I want, in contrast, to be “fastened” onto Him in everything I do during the day: 

When I study, 

to study for love of Him, remembering Him, 

because it’s what HE wants of me, 

Even if you’re looking at Greek 

When I chat with guys, 

to do so with a heart that loves them BECAUSE He loves Him, 

Because He loves even better than I do. 

When I eat bacon, 

to rejoice in His presence, 

Because bacon is one of the signs that God is good. 

(Pause) 

But if I’m going to “fixed” on Him in bacon, I need to be fixed on Him where He is MOST particularly:

 The Tabernacle.

As I said last year: 

When I genuflect, especially, I need to know that I am greeting and honouring a PERSON 

I need to utter a little prayer of love HE is here! 

In contrast, a genuflection can LOOK like an empty action; can BE an empty action 

-rather than a pivot around which my daily awareness of His presence moves. 

An action: 

With eyes fixed on Him 

With a heart fixed on Him 

With prayer directed to Him 

With a body posture, a straight back, worthy of an act reverencing Him who the crowds gazed stupefied before.

“The eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at Him”. 

St Joseph the Worker

Wed 25^th Aug 2021, Josephinum

Today we’re keeping a votive Mass of St Joseph.

• Formators want us to focus our house Josephinum devotion 
• Wednesdays and the 19^th of the months are days traditionally given to St Joseph
• I have special prayer I always say on those days 

What to say about St Joseph?

• It might be thought that we don’t know much about St Joseph, 
• but
• what we do know gives us much to reflect in and much to learn from

How start?  Votive Mass of St Joseph the WORKER

• Start of lectures and schoolwork today, thus the WORKER
• What to say?
• What to LEARN?
• Not only an example, also a powerful patron and protector
• But, today, focus on example

3 points

(1) He slept

• What do the Gospels record St Joseph doing?
• More than ANYTHING, they record him sleeping
• 4 times the Gospels record an angel speaking to him while dreaming, while SLEEPING
• So, he slept
• WHY did he sleep so much?
• He worked HARD
• You can’t work unless you sleep
• Do you want to work well?  
• Then sleep well -go to joseph
• Do you struggle to sleep?  Go to Joseph
• Sleep:
• You can’t be a good priest or seminarian UNLESS you have a regular pattern of sleep
• How many hours do you take?  Enough?
• Do you go to bed on time?
• Do you get the physical exercise you need to sleep well?
• St Joseph slept

(2) Silent Doer

• St Jospeh is often called a 'silent' man
• There is not a single recorded word spoken by St Joseph
• He went to Bethlehem
• He went to Egypt 
• He returned 
• and went to Nazareth 
• he went to the temple in Jerusalem
• -not a single recorded word
• A DOER not a chatterer
• A MAN
• Scientifically, we know women speak many more words in a day than men
• Women talk and communicate
• Men DO
• St Joseph: a man’s man
• Be a DOER
• Get stuff DONE
• Don’t chat about what you plan to do, DO IT
• Nike: Just do it

(3) Union with God

• WHAT did St Joseph do? 
• The things God told him (via the angel), 
• in fact, ONLY things God told him
• “He did all that the angel told him to…” (Mt 1:24)
• Our Lady at Cana, “do whatever He tells you”.  
• St Joseph, probably deceased already, but he’d been living this in everything we see recorded of him
• What should WE do?  
• What God wants, 
• looking to what He wants, etc

• Lord, what do you want ME to do now?  
• Lord, would like me to procrastinate a little longer right now?
• Lord, would you like me to do this easy thing rather than this important thing?
• Tidy my sock drawer rather than write that paper? 
• Be like St Joseph:
• Always seek to God’s Will
• Be a DOER
• But a DOER of what GOD wants of us,

(4) Many other things -other sermons to be given...

Summary:

• We’re in his seminary, the 'Josephinum' 
• We’re starting our school work of classes
• Let’s look to him as a model of work:
• Sleep, 
• as he slept, 
• 4 times recoded in the Gospels
• Do 
• -without needing to talk 
• get it done, don’t get it talked about
• Do it in union with God 
• look to God to do the right work, 
• as he “did the angel told him to do”