Daydreaming: Enemy of happiness; enemy of holiness

A talk to our parish men's group

West Moors 9^th July 2019; 

Shaftesbury Feb 2015

Mortifying wandering thoughts 

         A big thought in any saint’s writings

A particular focus of St Josemaria: 

daydreaming as enemy of being rooted in your own life, of being able to care about and sanctity that everyday life

Talk plan:

Why daydreaming is an enemy of happiness

Why daydreaming is an enemy of holiness

St Josemaria: Dream of being holy as a monk, 

not work to be holy as the layman that am

How to avoid daydreaming: 

mortifying imagination,

Inc. Mortifying impurity 

Thanksgiving

As a habit to focus on the good that we have, rather than on the good we don't have

Sacrament of the Present Moment 

Preface: Imagination is a tool, and a useful one

To pray:

Many saints propose methods prayer using the imagination

St Ignatius: take a Gospel scene, 

imagine our Lord in it, talk to Him there etc

E.g. I meditate on the Cross by mentally taking myself there

By picturing it, smelling it, hearing it

Then, talking to God about it

Imagination is a tool to prayer

St Josemaria: “Make it a habit to mingle with the characters who appear in the New Testament.”(Friends of God, n.216)

To plan:

Envisage a new project by imagining it

Envisage a new achievement by imagining it

I don't just do the thing physically in front of me

I picture the task for next week

I imagine its details and circumstances, 

I imagine what could go wrong

I imagine what I need to do to ensure it goes right 

Etc

My imagination enables my planning

My imagination becomes a TOOL to engage with reality

Not a diversion from it

For planning –if engaged with reality, to envisage change 

BUT 

Neither of these is the same as ‘woolgathering’ or idle daydreaming

What do I mean by daydreaming?

Answer: That mental behaviour by which we escape reality

(1)        Daydreaming is an enemy of happiness

How achieve true happiness?

Not by escaping from reality 

Not by living in daydreams!

Living in daydreams means:

We fail to ENJOY the good things that we have

Because we fantasise about other things that we don’t have

We fail to REMEDY the problems we need to remedy

Because we fantasise about another life, rather than move ourselves towards it

Daydreaming is very easy

It is EASIER than confronting reality 

I can daydream instead of praying, or while praying,

I can start by praying:

Lord, I thank you for the many things you have given me,

I thank you that you have put me in Dorset,

I thank you that you have made me a priest,

I ask that you will help me to be good,

Help me to be a good priest,

Help me to be a super priest

Being superpriest would be great

What kind of powers would superpriest have?

And before I know it my mind has wandering into daydreams 

Of what outfit superpriest would wear

And whether his X-ray vision of souls would be more important than his being able to fly around the parish

The imagination can DIVERT me from reality

Rather than ENGAGE me in it

Magnifies difficulties

Uncontrolled imagination sees problems that are NOT there

It can make us TIMID and indecisive 

Spanish proverb:

“The man who daydreams has little stomach for the fight”

(Through Wind and Waves, p.122)

(2)       Daydreaming as the enemy of holiness

Holiness is hard work

Holiness requires engaging in the reality I am situated in

Not daydreaming 

In particular,

St Josemaria was concerned about holiness for laypeople

About how a layman can become a saint

Yet, he noted that many laymen can make their being a layman an excuse to not be saint:

I'd have time to pray if only I didn't have this job

I'd have time to be recollected if only I didn't have the noisy children

I'd have time to be a saint if only I was wasn’t married

What all of these ‘if only’ statements have in common is that they daydream in an escape from reality

Yet, few of us are called to ‘escape’ the lay state, even though ALL of us are called to be saints:

As Scripture says, “Every one should remain in the state of life in which he was called”(1 Cor 7:20)

And, “What God wills is your sanctification”(1 Thess 4:3)

Giving glory to God in each and every vocation:

 “Whatever you eat, whatever you drink, whatever you do at all, do it all for the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31)

And of course,

Having fled to the monastery we find our lack of holiness has followed us there,

And the monk, too, can live in fantasy:

I'd be holy if only I was the guestmaster and not the sacristan etc

The truth is:

I can be holy exactly where I am, 

in the state of life that God has called me to

St Josemaria:

St Josemaria:

 “Stop dreaming.  Leave behind false idealisms, fantasies, and what I usually call mystical wishful thinking: If only I hadn't married; if only I had a different job or qualification; if only I were in better health; if only I were younger; if only I were older.  Instead, turn to the most material and immediate reality, which is where our Lord is” 

(St Josemaria, In Love With the Church, n.54, cited in Holiness for everyone p.119)

(3)       Thanksgiving: a remedy

One way to root ourselves in reality is a habit of thanksgiving

Giving thanks for what we have means:

We RECOGNISE the good things we have,

Rather than fantasising about other things that we don't have

We acknowledge that these things are actually GOOD:

Your job, wife, house, and childen are not distractions from God,

But are rather GOOD things given to you

Thanksgiving brings me into ENGAGEMENT with my reality

In practice:

If I am in the midst of mental wandering, daydreaming, what happens when I give thanks for God?

I immediately am shifted away from fantasy, 

And, focus on reality: focus in something about what is HERE

I don't fantasise about another parish

Rather, I give thanks for something REAL, here

HABITUAL thanksgiving:

How do we make a habit of this?

(a) Every night thank God for three things

Maybe something unusual, or maybe something routine

Examination of conscience to see my sins, and apologise for them

Recall the good things of the day, and give thanks

(b)         Every morning –some people thank God for a new day ahead

(c) During the day:

Pause to give thanks

Try to create a HABIT of this

Remedy: acquire a habit of giving thanks

Thanksgiving focuses me on the good I have

Rather than the imaginary things I don't have

(4)       Mortification of the Imagination –another remedy

Mortify means to put to death

Some things in me need killing, like trains of bad thoughts

E.g. Fantasy of killing boss

E.g. Fantasy of sex with another woman 

-I can recognise that I have engaged upon a chain of thoughts

HOW mortify thoughts?

(A) first, simple ‘no’

I say ‘no’ to the thought of killing the Bishop

(B) second, if sinful, v.brief prayer asking for divine help, 

or from my guardian angel

I recognise that I am tempted, so I call for help

“Lord, help me not consent to this”

(C) third, divert chain to some other topic

If a serious sin, then a random idle thought is better

BUT habits of idle daydream thoughts make us lazy

I.e. generally, not idle thoughts

I divert my mind from killing the Bishop to a thought of:

(i)            The plot of a book I am reading,

(ii)          A plan for my summer holiday,

(iii)        Or, something serious: 

A work dilemma

-but an issue that brings me to the real world

(iv) Or something pious:

e.g. Jesus dying in the Cross

(D) think of reality: 

your wife, your task, your fun, your novel

Same pattern with daydream:

‘no’ I do not wish to live in my dreams, I ask God’s help, I think of reality 

A handout for purity, c.f. Mortification of impure thoughts

(5)       Another Remedy: The Sacrament of the Present Moment

A classic art of the spiritual life:

Seek to live in the current moment 

Seek to not be lost in YESTERDAY or in TOMORROW

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?”, ”Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”(Mt 6:25; 34)

A sacrament: a place where we meet God

In the Mass: physically present

In confession: meet Him in forgiveness

The present moment: 

this is the most basic place to meet God

Pause during the day and:

Place yourself in the presence

Place yourself before God

And don't be lost in idle fantasies 

Summary Conclusions:

Daydreaming is an enemy of happiness

Daydreaming is an enemy of holiness

St Josemaria: Dream of being holy as a monk, 

not work to be holy as the layman that am

How to avoid daydreaming: 

mortifying imagination,

Inc. Mortifying impurity 

Thanksgiving

As a habit to focus on the good that we have, rather than on the good we don't have

Sacrament of the Present Moment

Spiritual Reading

From ‘Holiness for Everyone’ by Eric Sammons, excerpts from pp.117-120

We will find it no easy task to achieve holiness through our work…

we may be tempted to think that if we could just change our state in life, we could avoid those struggles. In ancient days, very few people had the opportunity to change their lot in life, so few even considered it. But today, when people change jobs — and even spouses — as easily as changing their shirts, such temptations can weigh very heavily indeed. We look at our life circumstances — a disappointing career or limited resources, for example — and believe that if these circumstances would just change, then we could really serve the Lord fully. …we whisper to ourselves, "If I could just get out of this job, I could really spend more time serving the Lord in prayer and good works;' or "If I hadn't married, then I could have served the Lord completely." 

Although we believe that different life circumstances would lead to a holier life, a holier life depends much more upon how we respond to our circumstances, and less on the circumstances themselves. 

For a number of years I went to the same priest regularly for confession. Young and enthusiastic, Fr. Woods was always compassionate and merciful to me while I recounted my sins. With one exception. I mentioned to him once that I was struggling with the responsibilities of being a husband and father, and made a comment that a life of holiness would be easier if I were single or a priest. Although I considered it an offhand remark, Fr. Woods immediately — and surprisingly — admonished me. He recognized my comment as a dangerous thought even to entertain, for he knew that such an attitude could grow and end up destroying my soul. He stressed to me that every vocation and state in life has its challenges, and it is spiritual suicide to fantasize that some other vocation — any vocation other than my own — would lead to a better, holier life. Although I was initially taken aback by his strong words, I came to realize the wisdom — and love — behind them.…

No matter where we are in life we are going to meet challenges. … In these situations there are two possible responses: fight or flee. Will you fight to serve the Lord through these challenges, or will you flee to supposedly greener pastures? The saint faces these challenges and offers them to God for his glory; by befriending the difficult co-worker and embracing the demanding tasks, he unites these difficulties to the Cross and makes them part of our redemption. 

Sons in the Son, Baptism of the Lord, Year A

Mt 3:13-17

I’d like to share with you something I saw my little niece do, something that illustrated to me a point about identity –because today’s feast reminds us that our identity is revealed in baptism.

Many of us have been with family over Christmas, and seen little ones opening presents.

I was remembering how a few years ago, for Christmas, I got my two little nephews costumes to wear: 

a Batman costume for one, and Darth Vader costume for the other, both kitted out from head to toe complete with masks and flowing capes.  And they were a big hit!  

My niece was only two years old, and she didn't get a costume, but she observed the behaviour of her brothers quite closely, and when the opportunity arose she would grab bits of the costume to wear herself. 

However, she hadn't quite grasped the significance of the different costumes, and so we were treated to the sight of a child in a Batman mask repeatedly making the sinister heavy breathing noises appropriate for the Darth Vader character in the Darth Vader mask.  

She had failed to grasp the significance of the identity she was clothing herself in 

–and this is the point I’d like to relate to today’s feast.

One of the mistakes we can make as Christians is to fail to accurately realise what is involved in the identity we have TAKEN ON as a Christian.

One of the things that today's feast of the Baptism of the Lord reminds us is that it was at His baptism that He was first PUBLICALLY identified, revealed to the world for His public ministry. 

He had no need of baptism for Himself, as we heard Him and John the Baptist discussing, 

and yet to fulfil "all righteousness", He chose to be baptised, 

and when He did so the voice of the heavenly Father publicly declared, identified, who He was: 

“This is my Son, the Beloved”.

There are many things that are important about Jesus Christ, there are many things that are part of His identity, but there is nothing that is as central to his identity as His one-ness with the divinity, as His being THE Son of God.

He is a descendent of David, He is a Jew, He was a carpenter, 

but while these and other things were important, none of these or other things compares to the significance of His one-ness with the divinity, of His being THE Son of God.

Most of us here have been baptised, and in our baptism we have died and risen in Christ (Rom 6:4), 

in our baptism we have gone down into the water, down into the tomb, and arisen to a new life and a new identity: 

by baptism we have become “sons in the Son” (Eph 1:4-5; Gal 4:4-6; Rom 8:15-17, 22-23; 9:4),

by union with Christ we have become adopted children of the Father.

So, of the many things that identify ME, none are as important as this relationship I have with the heavenly Father due to my union with Christ in baptism.  

I was born in England, the son of two teachers, I have blue eyes and light brown hair, but none of these things are what give me my REAL identity: I am a son of God, a son in the Son.

And yet, what ARE the things that we define ourselves by?  Usually?

All too often we define ourselves by things that are ultimately of little significance: 

our appearance, our talents, our job, our money, our schooling, or some such thing.

But what TRULY defines my identity is my relationship with God.

All humanity relates to God as “Lord” -either accepting His Lordship or rejecting it.

But it is only those who have been ADOPTED, become “sons in the Son” in baptism, that have this as our identity.

And if this is our identity then it should PATTERN our behaviour, and DIRECT our hopes and longings:  

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.”(Col 3:1).

To come back to my little niece.  She didn’t know whether she was taking on Batman’s identity or Darth Vader’s.  If we know more than a 2 year old, then we need to recall the identity we have taken on:

We are “sons in the Son”.

New Year Resolutions: Epiphany

Today, on the feast of Epiphany, we recall how the Wise Men from the East came bearing gifts for the new-born King of the Jews, namely, Christ.  

This is one of the reasons why it is traditional for us to exchange gifts at Christmas time, 

also following the example of St Nicholas the 3^rd Century bishop in Turkey whose feast is 6 December and who was renowned for giving gifts, especially to children. 

When we think of the gifts presented at the epiphany it is common to reflect on what one of our hymns calls the "mystic meaning" of these gifts. 

We have no real idea as to why, in their own minds, the wise men gave these specific gifts (i.e. gold, frankincense and myrrh), but there are some very clear symbolisms:  

Incense is offered before the deity, and so frankincense is a gift fit for the divine Christ-child.  

Gold is fit for a king, for He who is a King of Kings.  

Myrrh is perhaps the most striking of the gifts. 

Myrrh is the perfume traditionally used to anoint the dead, something people rarely choose to focus on at a birth -it would be like buying one of those advance funeral payment plans and presenting it to two parents at the birth of their child: rather odd.  

    But Christ was no ordinary child, He is the one who entered this world to die, to die for us.

The gifts that the Magi brought were gifts worthy to worship the newborn Christ. 

I would suggest to you today, that we would do well to ask ourselves what gift we would bring to the newborn King today.  

The popular Christmas Carol sings, "I will give my heart", 

and I suggest you that today is a good day to combine such a thought with our New Year resolutions. 

New Year Resolutions are very Catholic notion, a very sacramental notion: 

taking a specific moment as a specific opportunity, 

an opportunity to change, to repent, 

to find something in my heart that I will present anew to the Lord. 

New Year's Day has already passed but I don't think it's too late to make a resolution for the year ahead. 

This year my primary resolution is to wake more promptly, with more determination, to GO

-sadly, something I have resolved other years also, but I offer to Him anew this year.

So, like the Magi, let us today make an offering to the Lord, a gift worthy of Him.  

But I would offer a final thought: 

let us recall the symbolism of the offering that is made in every Mass:  

the bread and wine are brought forward in procession, 

SYMBOLS of the offerings of our whole LIVES and of the whole congregation. 

And this bread and wine, unworthy and INADEQUATE an offering as it is, 

this offering is taken by Christ and TRANSFORMED into the one fitting act of worship: 

is transformed into Christ Himself, His Body, His Blood, His Soul and His Divinity, 

and it is all offered to the Father 

-the self-same sacrifice that He offered once on Calvary is made present again on the altar at Mass. 

The wise men from the East, if they had truly known who lay before them in the manger, would have felt that even their gifts of mystic meaning were inadequate such a king.  

If we realise that our lives are not worthy to be gifts presented to the King, 

then let us remember that He knows this already, 

that He loves us despite this, 

and that He wants our gifts and offerings despite this,  

for He is the one who takes what we give Him 

and transforms it into an offering that is even more. 

God made Visible, Christmas

Today I want to talk about how Christmas shows us what God is like; Christmas tells us what God has shown about Himself.

And this is important because some people think you can’t know God, whereas, in fact, Christmas means the “invisible” God has become “visible”.

Let me note 3 ways.

First, Christmas shows us that God is CLOSE in the details of our lives.

Sometimes we can think that God is far away, and removed from our lives, however, at Christmas we recall:

God, who eternally existed, entered time and was born of the Virgin Mary.

He entered REAL life, hard life: 

There was no room for Him at the inn: He was born in a stable;

When He grew up, He became a carpenter, doing real work;

He wept in sorrow when His friend Lazarus died;

He sweat blood;

He suffered and died on the Cross

-in all this and much more, Christmas shows God to be CLOSE in human existence, present in the details. 

Second, Christmas shows us that God is ACTIVE in our world.

Sometimes we can think that God is powerless, that He doesn’t DO much, however at Christmas we recall: 

Even before He was born, centuries before, there were PROPHECIES of His birth:

WHERE He would be born (Bethlehem); 

WHICH tribe He would be born to (Judah); 

That He would be born to a VIRGIN

-no one else has ever been announced before His birth!

There were miracles at his birth:

angels sang and guided the shepherds to the manger;

a star appeared and led the wise men;

When He grew up:

He cured the sick: the blind saw, the lame walked, the deaf heard;

He taught the ignorant -about life, about heaven;

He even raised the dead, and rose again after His own death.

Christmas shows that God is ACTIVE.

Third, and finally, Christmas shows that God is REAL:

He took FLESH when He was born of the virgin.

You can only take flesh if you are REAL.

Sometimes people think that God is just an IDEA, a nice but vague thought.

However, Christmas shows the opposite.

The eternal God is transcendent, beyond us, invisible.

But in the event of Christmas, He is invisible no more.

When you next wonder, “Can we know God?”

Think of the crib at Christmas:

the God who sometimes seems distant, has shown Himself to be close and involved;

the God who sometimes seems inactive, has shown Himself to do much;

the God who some speak of a vague spirit, has shown Himself to be definite and to take flesh.

In Christmas we recall that we can know God because He has made Himself known.

Asking for a Gift, 4th Sunday of Advent, Year A

Isa 7:1-14

Today I want to say a few words about asking God to give you a gift this Christmas,
and about how this is a good way to PREPARE for what He wants to give you this Christmas.

In our first reading we heard the Lord God tell King Ahaz to ASK Him for something, in his case: “a sign”.

God, in fact, is a generous giver.

He wants to give us things.

He wants us to TRUST Him enough to ASK Him.

God was upset that Ahaz didn’t trust Him enough 

-Ahaz was instead fearful of ‘testing’ God (Isa 7:12).

Lots of physical gifts are going to be given to people in a couple days. 

I’d suggest to you that this is a good moment to consider what SPIRITUAL gift you could ask God for 

-God gives us many different graces through the different liturgical seasons;

we do well to focus ourselves to receive these different graces in these different seasons.  

I remember, when I studied spiritual theology, being struck by the saints and theologians of the Church talking about all the graces that are LOST to us because we don’t ASK God for them.

The Lord, “Ask, it will be given to you”(Mt 7:7)

The saints tell us to be SPECIFIC in what we ask God for (St Thomas ST II-II q83 a5).

to repeat:

-Our heavenly Father wants us to trust Him enough to ask Him for things.

What might I ask God for this Christmas?

I might ask for guidance, as we heard Him guide St Joseph in the Gospel.

I might ask for better obedience, that I might do what others ask me to do, as St Joseph did what the Angel told him, or, to phrase that differently, to be better at accepting what OTHERS want to do rather than what I want to do.

I might ask for more patience, 

or more strength.

God wants to give me something, and He wants me to ask.

I might ask for a BMW, or something silly and selfish. 

c.f. “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly”(James 4:3)

Or, I could ask for something that He knows is good for me, 

something He WANTS to give me 

-but He’s waiting for me to ASK.

Probably not a BMW, but material things are among fitting things to ask Him (St Thomas ST II-II q83 a6).

The HEART of what He wants to give us is: HIMSELF.

The child to be born will be Emmanuel, “God-is-with-us”.

Most of us, probably, can say that there are areas of my life where God is ALREADY present.

But, unless I’m going to claim to be a sinless as the Blessed Virgin, 

and to claim that I am super-human and strong and all self-satisfied and complete,

then, there are other areas of my life where He is NOT fully present

-those are places I can pray that He be BORN in me anew this Christmas.

This final Sunday of Advent, Our Lady is presented to us as the perfect Advent figure:

She was ready for the Coming of the Lord, and so He came to us in her.

Asking God, in prayer of petition, is one way of MAKING ourselves READY for what He wishes to give us.

(St Thomas ST II-II q83 a2c)

King Ahaz refused to ask God, let is not make the same mistake:

What gift are you going to ask Him for Christmas?

Rejoice while Waiting, Gaudete, 3rd Sunday of Advent Year A

James 5:7-10; Isa 35:1-10; Mt 11:2-11

Today I want to speak about how ALL of Christian life is a type of Advent, a type of waiting, and I want to talk about why this should be a reason to REJOICE.

Today is one of my favourite moments in Advent, and favourite moments in the liturgical year:

Today is ‘Gaudete’ Sunday, a Latin word meaning ‘rejoice’.

As a consequence, we interrupt our Advent purple and I wear, not girly pink, but manly ‘rose’.

We interrupt what might seem like the SADNESS of our Advent waiting, and the Church bids us remember our reasons to rejoice -rejoice even while we wait.

 “Rejoice… the Lord is very near” (Phil 4:4-7, second reading Year C) - the words in our entrance antiphon.

We are in Year A, and our readings this year give us a different focus from Year C:

our reason to have PATIENCE in our waiting (James 5:7).

When we wait for something it’s easy to be IMpatient, to be constantly checking our watch.

“Has Jesus come yet?  No?  How much longer is He going to be?”

Let me suggest a different type of waiting:

A waiting in which we are so filled with gladness at what lies ahead, that we are rejoicing in it EVEN BEFORE it comes.

Children often show us this: 

they can be almost as happy in the build up to Christmas as on Christmas itself.

One of the reasons Children can anticipate this joy is that they TRUST their parents 

-trust that Christmas will come.

We, likewise, need to trust that the greatness of God’s coming will be true.

So, our liturgy today gives us some reminders of why we should trust.

Generally speaking, we trust someone because they have shown themselves to be trustworthy:

the way they have behaved in the PAST shows they are RELIABLE.

Our first reading and Gospel text are given to us today to make that point:

In Isaiah, God prophesied that He would come,

He promised that He would give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf (Isa 35:5), and so on.

In the Gospel, we heard the Lord Jesus point out that this is exactly what He was doing:

The blind saw, the deaf heard, the dumb spoke, the lame walked, etc (Mt 11:5)

The Lord proved that He was the fulfilment of the promise that the Messiah would come.

Then, He said something a little obscure, but that is pivotal for us if WE are to rejoice today:

He said, “Blessed is the man who does not lose faith in me”(Mt 11:6).

If we stop trusting in Him, if we ‘lose faith’ in Him, 

then we lose our reason to rejoice.

Whereas, IF we trust Him, confidently trust Him,

then we can rejoice EVEN WHILE we wait -because we are confident in His coming.

and confident in all He has said He will DO when He comes, namely, put all things right.

God promised in the past, and He was faithful to His promises.

He has SHOWN He is trustworthy.

So, let us be patient while we wait.

It’s a wonderful thing to have been promised something great.

It’s a DELIGHT to know that great thing IS coming.

All of a Christian’s life that this FORWARD-looking dimension, this hope-filled dimension.

If we are faithful, then He will be faithful.

‘Rejoice… the Lord is very near” (Phil 4:4-7, second reading Year C).

Confession, 2nd Sunday of Advent, Year A

Isa 11:1-10; Mt 3:1-12

We’re now starting the second week of Advent, the second week of our getting ready for Christmas.
Last Sunday, the Church's liturgy focussed on WHO it is we are preparing for -by dwelling on the Second Coming.

This Sunday, the Church’s liturgy focuses us on what we need to do to PREPARE for Him to come.   The collect prayer at Mass this Thursday expressed this very beautifully when it said,

“hasten the salvation which only our sins delay” (current breviary translation).

What stops the Lord coming to me?

Nothing on HIS part -He WANTS to come.

What stops His comes, “impedes” it, is my sins.

Each time I sin I choose to let something else come into my life, something incompatible with Him.

I choose laziness, because I don’t get around to what the Lord wants me to do.

I choose irritability and impatience, because I’m focussed on MY priorities rather than those of other people.

I choose over-indulgence in food, because I value these pleasures more than they are truly worth.

Let me look at this a different way:

Christmas is about peace: 

We hail the child to be born as “the prince of peace” (Isa 9:6);

Our first reading from Isaiah poetically described the peace His definitive reign will bring:

the wolf and the lamb lying down together (Isa 11:6).

When I sin, I damage the peace and harmony that should exist in every one of my relationships:

between God and me;

between my family and me;

between my work-life and me;

and even my inner peace -I damage the harmony within myself.

The solution to this, however, is not complicated:

The solution is to turn to the very One whose coming my sins delay.

To turn to Him and seek forgiveness.

In the Gospel we heard the powerful call of St John the Baptist:

“Repent…

Prepare a way for the Lord”.

If we would prepare for His Christmas coming, then we need to do the very same.

And, like the people who came to St John, we need to “confess” our sins (Mt 3:6).

The sacrament of Confession is a beautiful thing, it reconciles us to God.

When we go to confession we CONTACT forgiveness -not just as words on a page.

It’s part of God’s plan to work THROUGH other people, through His Church, through His priests.

He said, “He who hears you hears me”(Lk 10:16), to His apostles, the first priests.

He said, “Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them”(Jn 20:23), to His apostles, the first priests.

And He knows that we need to HEAR those words of forgiveness, “I absolve you…”, from His living representative on earth: the priest.

Pope Francis, as I think most of you know, goes to confession every 2 weeks.

The standard advice for parishioners is to go every month:

That’s a timeframe that means we can still remember our sins;

That’s a timeframe that can help us be suitably prepared to be ready to receive Holy Communion. 

As our last Bishop (Christopher Budd, 1998 pastoral letter) put it: It’s not enough to go to confession just at Advent and Lent, we need to go regularly.

Many of you go to confession in other churches -I know because I sometimes see you there when I’m at Ringwood or the Oratory to go to confession myself.

Our newsletter lists the times of nearby confessions, and in just over a week we’ll have 4 priests here for our Advent confessions service.

Our newsletter this week contains an examination of conscience on peace (see here) and our various damaged relationships -I hope it helps prepare you for Christmas.

I urge you, especially in this holy season, to get to confession before Christmas.

“Prepare a way of the Lord”(Mt 3:3).

+++++

The examination of conscience referred to in the sermon can be viewed at:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vcIWWJmt24KaFnEEnxuMnjMyqpcnBqAM/view?usp=sharing