Sermon: Comfort my people, 2nd Sunday of Advent Year B

 

Isa 40:1-5,9-11; Mk 1:1-8

Today I want to speak of God’s plan to comfort us

 -His Advent plan to comfort us by His coming

 

Today is our last Sunday together

When we are next together for a Sunday the year 2020 will be over, 

and few of us will be sad to see it go.

 

Now, it’s true, there have been many other, worse moments in history.

If we think of the history the PCJ has lived through:

Mgr Jessing had to fight through the Prussian war with Denmark

Members of the PCJ must also have been through 

WWI and WWII

We’ve not had starvation and famine, many have.

We’ve been separated from family, 

but at least we had telephone and zoom -other generations did not.

Yet

This has been a pretty lousy year

A horrible year

And,

I want comfort

I’m pretty sure YOU want comfort

WHO will comfort us?

 

Who?

God promised

God did

God does in every generation

 

HOW does He comfort?

In His coming

-this is a truth so perpetually available that we easily forget it,

 

His coming makes all things bearable, even joyful.

The presence of a loved one, the present of a friend, makes all the difference:

I might have a shake from Steak and Shake

A burger from Chick-fil-et

And a cookie from the PCJ kitchen

but alone, without a friend -it doesn’t feel like much.

Whereas even the worst ordeal become a lighter with a friend.

 

And

WHO is coming? 

Your best friend, your greatest friend 

And He says that He comes with “comfort”

The message His commands His prophet Isaiah to proclaim to you is “comfort”

 

 

(pause)

Let’s recall the context of that first promise of coming (Isa 40:1-11):

The chosen people were at their lowest point:

They no longer had the land,

They knew their sin had caused The Lord to take it from them,

They were in exile, in Babylon, with no reasonable cause for hope.

 

 

The cause of hope they had was not natural, but Divine:

A promise

Yes, they had sinned, 

but, the promise says, 

their time of guilt has been expiated

Yes, they were still in a foreign land, 

but, the promise says, 

their God is coming, 

His Glory will be revealed

The valleys will be filled in,

The mountains laid low

The rugged ground made plain

In a phrase I always feel sums it up:

He is “Coming in POWER”

-He is a God who DOES stuff 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(pause)

I’m going home tomorrow

I’ll have 14 days of quarantine,

BUT I’m going home

And that’s a comforting thought.

I want to make the point to you, however,

Is that it would be a mistake to make my deepest COMFORT be about going home

My real comfort has to be about the presence of God.

 

 

(pause)

He is coming

But

There is something WE must do:

We must prepare

Isaiah said we must, 

“Prepare the way of the Lord”

John the baptist says, 

“prepare the way of the Lord”

 

He will not comfort me if I’m are not ready

He will not comfort me if I’ve not prepared 

He CANNOT comfort me if I have not prepared 

-within us, we need to be ready for what He WANTS to do in us and for us

 

But,

If I’ve prepared,

As much as I’ve prepared,

He comes

He comforts.

 

 

 

To return to my opening thought about the year 2020:

 

What does 2021 hold?

We might point to worldly indicators of what it holds, and some of those look good:

At least one of the 3 vaccines could restore normality to society before 2022. 

It seems, with that, an end to lockdowns and restrictions,

 in society and in the PCJ

-an end will be coming!

But, it’s still not going to be an easy year

 

So, let’s think of the non-worldly indicator of what 2021 will bring:

Yes, It’s going to be a LONG year again

But, HE could be with me in it

He WANTS to COMFORT me in it

Comfort me by His COMING

NOTHING can make life as bearable as His Presence

As one of our English martyrs said,

“First friend He was,

Best friend He is,

All times will find Him true.”(St Robert Southwall)

He was even true to me through 2020.

I can make it more so in 2021, if I let Him come

 

 

“Comfort, comfort my people…

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem…

Fear not and cry out

And say to the cities of Judah:

HERE is your God!

He comes with power…His reward with Him…

Like a shepherd He feeds His flock”

Sermon: The Seminarian's Bride

Mt 25:1-13

I want to speak to you today about your future wife, your bride, waiting out there for you.

 

In the parable we just heard, the Lord spoke of the bridegroom, and of the ten virgins waiting for him.

Whenever we meditate on the parables, we automatically apply one of the roles in the parable to ourselves.

e.g. I consider myself as the prodigal son (Lk 15:11-31), and what his behaviour teaches me;

Or, I consider myself as the lost sheep who is found (Lk 15:3);

etc

When you became a priest,

it becomes important to apply the role of the Lord Jesus in the parable to yourself:

For example: yes, I remain a lost sheep needing to be found,

But, as a priest, I need to take my inspiration from the behaviour of the shepherd who goes looking for lost sheep.

 

Let’s take that interpretation to today’s parable:

The bridegroom - is the Lord.

The wedding that is coming - is between Himself and the Church, His bride.

And there are wise and foolish virgins – members of His Church.

They are WAITING for His coming.

 

Where are YOU in the parable?

You will one day be a priest.

You, therefore, will be the bridegroom.

You, by ordination, sealed on your soul with a sacramental character,

Will be conformed to the image of Christ.

-you will be the bridegroom.

 

Much priestly writing in recent years has focused on this image:

John Paul the Great articulated it in Pastores dabo vobis

and, much like Benedict’s rearticulation of patristic interpretations

The notion of the priest as spouse of the Church, 

as bridegroom of the Church, 

is ancient and patristic.

Why am I celibate?

Because I have a wife: 

the Church

I am, to apply St Paul’s words spiritually:

I am “a man of one wife” (1 Tim 2:3), the Church 

This isn’t just practical necessity to free my time for service

Rather, it’s a spiritually symbolic

its ontologically grounded

-by my union with Christ THE Bridegroom

 

 

This will be you:

You will have a wife

She is now your bride, waiting for you.

In our seminary context, 

I want to present to you the image of your future parish WAITING for you,

Just as the Church universal waits for the coming of the Lord.

 

Your congregation will have a mixture of wise and foolish,

Just like the wise and foolish virgins

-both are waiting for you

 

When you get to your parish, 

You will meet those who already wise and good

You will hear, in all likelihood, tales of problems they have endured:

Lack of good catechesis

Lack of leadership

Lack of formation

Horrible scandals

And, probably, you will wonder why they endured it all

You’ll wonder why they didn’t walk away

Why?

Because THEY WERE WAITING FOR YOU

In your diocese there are tens of thousands of Catholics who are waiting for you

And, in all likelihood, 

You will have a moment, when THEY TELL YOU exactly this:

They were waiting for you.

Waiting for you to teach to sanctify, to govern

to guide, to lead

to shepherd, to care

They’re already wise and good, but they still NEED you

they’re waiting for you.

 

(pause)

In your future parish,

You will also meet the foolish

They are waiting for you too,

But they lack ‘oil in their lamps’

They often don’t know they lack oil

And applying that image differently, 

it’s YOUR job to bring them oil for their lamps

it’s your job to GET them ready

Even though, in many ways, they don’t know it,

the fools need you

the fools are waiting for you

 

In our parable,

The focus was on the virgins needing to be ready for the Bridegroom.

Let me be bold enough to reverse that:

In our seminary context:

You are training to become the Bridegroom

You are training to get READY

Your bride is out there

some wise, some foolish

-she is often not ready

-she needs your help to get herself ready.

-she needs YOU to be ready, yourself

Seminary is long

Seminary can be hard

But your bride needs you to be ready

 

(Pause)

Some of you, perhaps,

Are on the edge of giving up

The COVID context is hard

The seminary regulations are hard

And maybe you’re thinking of dropping out 

You’re thinking of spending a year or two doing something else

Flipping burgers 

PCJ life now is hard

This might be harder than anything in your future priesthood

But,

Your bride is waiting for you

Your bride is needing you

 

 

A final twist in our symbolism here:

Your bride 

She is only your bride in a secondary sense

we only love her in a secondary sense

Primarily, she is CHRIST’s bride

Primarily, we love HIM, 

and we love her for sake of our union with Him

by reason of our configuration to Him

When Peter was asked to shepherd the Church,

He wasn’t asked if he loved the Church

Rather, he was asked if he loved HIM

“Simon, son of John, Do you love me?”(Jn 21:17)

What, most essentially, gets you ready to love your future bride?

Your love of Him.

 

Let’s sum that up:

Your future wife, your bride is out there, waiting for you.

The Church waits for Christ;

The people of your parish wait for you

Readiness:

There will be both wise and foolish in your parish

Some ready, some not

Some knowing they are waiting for you, some not

You, however, are to get ready for them

Get ready to be the bridegroom

by being conformed to the ONE Bridegroom: Christ, the Lord.

Rejoicing to see God Again, 14th Sunday Ordinary Time, Year A

Zech 9:9-10, Mt 11:25-30

Today I want to think about us rejoicing when we see someone again, and especially today, when we see God again -here in church.

I saw my parents recently.  I hadn’t been with them for 4 months, in this lockdown.

-we very naturally rejoiced

-we, here in Church, after so long, should naturally rejoice too.

 

Thinking more specifically, our first reading told us to rejoice.

It says:

Rejoice, because He comes (Zech 9:9).

Actually, in our case, it is us who come to Him, for the first time in months.

But the points applies nonetheless

What is He like? This One who comes?

Humble,

            Riding on a donkey -not a BMW, or an ancient chariot

Humility puts others before ourselves.  

And this One who is God, somehow, comes for OUR benefit, not His benefit - to save us, to help us

Then, linking to our Gospel text , 

He calls the “weary and heavy laden”(Mt 11:28).

He takes our yoke and invites us to take His yoke

And what does He offer us, promise us?  He promises:

“Rest”, rest for “the weary”

Well, I am weary of this lockdown, 

weary of this fear, 

weary of this lack of normality 

-He promises rest for my weariness 

 

How do I gain that rest?

By bringing it all to Him.

Not carrying the load alone

In an ancient Palestine yoke there would have been two cows yoked together, side by side 

-so this image implies Him alongside us, 

we don’t carry our weariness alone.

He KNOWS what weariness is like

-tired, walking the country of Palestine

-tired, dealing to endless complaining people 

-weary, in the agony in the garden

-burdened, as He carried our load on the Cross.

He invites us to bring our weariness, 

and be yoked alongside Him.

 

Even humanly, sharing a load, sharing a yoke another, makes it so much easier.

Even humanly, for many of us, a phone call, a video call, has made this lockdown easier.

Even more so when the one we are ‘yoking to’ understands us not partially but FULLY

Loves us not partially but FULLY

 

Today in our nation there are many thing to rejoice in:

The pubs are open!

We might also rejoice in seeing other parishioners today -which is a true cause to rejoice.

But, I’d suggest to you, the DEEPEST reason to rejoice today is that we are here again WITH GOD.

Rejoice, your saviour comes to you

-and, once again, after so long, we can come to Him.

Fear amidst the Virus, 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Mt 10:26-33

Today I want to speak about fear, because fear has become a big thing amidst the current crisis.

And today, in the gospel, we heard the Lord Jesus say some important words about fear.

 

Our context, for many, is a context of fear:

The media have, it seems to me, often revelled in daily updates of deaths and strategic disasters.

The broader context, even if the media are revelling in disaster-reporting, the broader context is undeniably one of uncertainty on a range of issues:

How does the virus spread? Who is most affected? Why? Can the government, or we, really do much about it?

Uncertainty can easily breed fear.

 

What does the Lord Jesus say?

“Do not be afraid” (Mt 10:26,28,31) -which he says 3 time sin this short passage!

Let’s start there: He tells us not to fear.

We know, from recent experience and longer experience, that fear is a crippling thing, a thing that makes you shrink in on yourself and do nothing.

Fear destroys us, SPIRITUALLY, even if it’s a reaction to the possibility of  a real PHYSICAL destruction.

The Lord tells is not to fear.

 

More specifically, He focuses us:

Don’t fear those who can destroy the body, but can not touch the soul.

We need, He is saying, to get our priorities right -and if we do this it TRANSFORMS fear.

We need to think more broadly, more deeply.

 

The important thing to fear, is, the salvation of our soul.

Our soul lasts for eternity, whereas our body will not -the virus, or food poisoning, or SOMETHING will kill the body.

The soul is what really matters.

 

In the matter of our soul, as with our body, the remedy to fear is, ultimately, TRUST.

If we have someone we can trust, trust to aid us against what we fear, then we have no need to fear.

And, the key point:

The Lord tells us that there IS someone we can trust:

Trust in the ultimate issue of our soul, 

and trust, in another way, for the body.

God knows us, and He cares.

“Every hair on your head has been counted.  There is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Mt 10:31).

Regarding the soul:

We need to live in humility, in trust, in seeking forgiveness -even if we have lived badly, we can die well if we die calling out to God for forgiveness, like the thief who hung by the Lord in the Cross.

Regarding the body:

God doesn’t promise a life free of problems.  In fact, He warns us elsewhere, “In the world you WILL have tribulation”.

But He also tells us that He has conquered.

He also tells us He cares,

that He directs and guides and strengthens us, even amidst the tribulations.

 

And fear?

Well, yes, fear is a real thing.

Most us fear, at least at times, and many of us have feared at different times in recent months.

But, to repeat and conclude, the remedy for fear is trust.

His teaching TELLS us to trust;

His own life in earth has SHOWN us reason to trust.

God cares for the lilies of the fear and the birds in the sky,

“So there is no need to be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Mt 10:31)