Sermon: Conversion of St Paul

There is one simple point I wish to focus on today: the PRIMACY of God’s action in our lives.

 

Today is the feast of the conversion of St Paul.

When we speak of  ‘conversion’ we speak, usually, of someone who changed their mind:

“He’s a convert” -usually means: he used to not be a Catholic

Now, he is a Catholic,

AND, If you ask him, he’ll tell you what intellectual conviction led him to the Catholic Church.

The problem with that narrative is:

That God doesn’t fit into the conversion account

-this description is about the man changing himself, changing his MIND

-this description isn’t about GOD changing him.

Perhaps most worryingly, 

not just about “the convert” but about “the seminarian”

-this description is one that lends itself to PRIDE

I have MADE myself into this GREAT man you see before you

I, the perfect seminarian.

I, the perfect formator.

 

Saint Paul was not a self-made man.

In contrast, we might say: SAUL was a self-made man.

But God took that “Saul” guy and knocked him off his horse, both literally and symbolically

God took him, and by His mighty providential planning,

By His mighty works of miracles -the voice, the blinding, the healing,

By His mighty grace -worked an inner transformation that made a NEW man:

Saul no longer, but Saint Paul.

 

 

 

(Pause)

I read a meme this week, quoting Fr Garrigou-Lagrange, who was probably the greatest theologian of the 20^thcentury.

It said:

There are two doctrines that preserve us from pride:

One, the doctrine of creation ex nihilo

-If I have been created out of nothing, what pride can I take in myself!?!

Two, the doctrine of the primacy of God’s grace

-Even my ability to RESPOND to His grace is itself a work of grace within in.

We might note, not on that particular meme, but in St Thomas:

Concerning freedom, 

(for those of you who get concerning pondering this)

When God works in us by His grace

He moves us such that we become MORE free because of His action

Not less free

In a crude analogy:

When a father lifts a child so the child can reach something,

The father increases the child’s freedom, he doesn’t diminish it.

-even more so with God’s grace in us.

 

 

Back to Saul.

Saul, as we know, was what the early Christians would have seen as a boogy-man:

A man to frighten little children by telling tales of him.

Determined, organised, out to get them.

Travelling city to city, getting the proper documentation and authorisation to hunt and destroy them.

Saul was a very UNLIKELY CHOICE for an apostle.

But if God can make something out of nothing,

He can, even more easily, make an apostle out of a persecutor and sinner.

 

 

 

 

Now, where does this leave us?

I have many things in my life that don’t seem to change

Or, that seem to change only very slowly.

As long as I think my change is about ME,

Then my failure to change is a cause to despair.

But,

If my change, my conversion, is about HIM,

Then the whole problem looks different.

GOD is in charge,

GOD knows what He is doing.

If He can make an apostle out of Saul

Then He can make a saint out you and me.

He orders all things mightily,

As St Paul would later put it,

All things work to the good, for those who love the Lord,

For all He has called according to His purpose, called to be saints. (Rom 8:28)

He can take my being one who “loves the Lord” 

Even if I only live Him weakly,

He can take that, build on that, and work all things to the good. 

 

 

One of my favourite books, the Spiritual Combat, by Don Lawrence Scupoli,

Expounds at length about how, even in His permitting my specific sins and falls:

He works to help me grow in humility,

Helps me grow in awareness that I need to place my confidence IN HIM.

Even in my failings,

“All things work to the good, for those who love the Lord”.

Why did God strike Saul from his horse?

Why did He blind him?

Because He had a plan for him, 

Because He loved him.

And it has been the same in my life, and yours,

He allows your sin,

To lead you humility

To lead you to more

He sometimes slaps us around a bit,

Because He has a plan for us

Because He loves us

 

To conclude,

Today we celebrate a conversion;

Today we celebrate the working of God’s grace;

God’s grace converted Saul, 

It was not Saul who converted Saul.

Let us rejoice to think: He can even convert us.

Sermon: He knows our weakness, Monday Ordinary time week 2, Year I

Heb 5:1-10

The law of the Church, in multiple places but most immediately in the General Instruction at the front of the Roman Missal, says there’s always to be a crucifix on clear display by the altar,

An image of “Christ crucified” (n.308) that is “clearly visible to the assembled congregation” (c.f. GIRM 117, 122, 306).

Why?  

Because the sacrifice on the altar is the sacrifice on the cross.

Devotionally, however,

the crucifix in a church means much more than, dare I say, “just” its relationship to the altar, 

and our first reading from Hebrews gets to the heart of it in speaking about how the Son “knows human weakness”.

 

The last four years, before I came here,

 I was stationed in a church that didn’t have a crucifix, 

with a congregation that had lived its entire existence never knowing a crucifix.  

I can remember having a public meeting explaining plans to install a crucifix, 

I can remember things the people said.

One said, “I don’t want a dead man hanging there”.

Another sad, “When you see him like that, it just makes you sad”.

Such words are words I’m afraid, that aren’t seeing with faith.

And, it is with faith in what the crucifix portrays

that we revolutionise how we think God interacts with us and with the world.

 

Is He a distant God?

Is a disconnected God?

On the Cross, as Hebrews tells us, 

we see the Son, sharing our weakness.

God is close

God is among us

In the everything when it FEELS like He is absent, 

the Cross shows us that He is not.

 

Do you feel lonely and isolated and fed up with the isolation of quarantine?

He knew loneliness and isolation in His last night in earth when they locked Him in a cell.

Do you feel tired and fed up?

He knew tiredness, 

Whatever you feel of human weakness: 

He knew mourning, He knew “silent tears”, He knew and knows it all…

 

All this tell us about God.  

And it is a revolution.

And, sadly, there is a comfortable middle class false God that tries to hide from suffering, that does not like like cross,

 

(pause)

But, the Cross, and the letter to the Hebrews,

 it also tells us about the priesthood,

 and about your vocation to the priesthood.

Pope Francis speaks about “accompaniment”, 

that the priest is to accompany his people, 

that the priest is to smell of the sheep.

 

You are weak and human, 

and your future parishioners need to know that you FEEL weakness WITH them.

You sin, and go to confession,

and your future parishioners need to know that you FEEL this WITH them.

 

(pause)

To conclude, 

All Christians need to see themselves on the Cross.

Need to learn to take up their own cross WITH Him

Need to learn to hang there with Him.

A priest,

a seminarian,

Needs to learn a devotion to the crucifix that sees himself there.

So that he can learn, even more,

“to sympathise with those… in weakness”.

 

Sermon: Stay with Him, 2nd Sunday Ordinary Time, Year B

Jn 1:35-42; 1 Sam 3:3-10,19

I want to return to one of my favourite themes:

what it was like, as an EXPERIENCE for the apostles to meet the Lord.

That first encounter;

The Baptist had said, “Behold!”

And WHAT did they behold?

when God, the infinite, the Almighty,

-when He took flesh and was THERE before them?

That first seeing Him

 -what did He look like? how did His body move?

 

Pope Francis makes an observation about the text we heard in the Gospel, about that description of the first encounter between the Lord and what was presumably the disciple John:

Saint John wrote that text many YEARS later, possibly many decades later,

Yet, he still remembered the precious moment, the exact time, he first met Him:

“The apostles never forgot the moment when Jesus touched their hearts: ‘It was about the tenth hour [four o’clock in the afternoon]’ (Jn 1:39).”(Evangelii gaudium n.13)

And, what did they do?

“They stayed with Him the rest of that day” (Jn 1:39).

 

You and I are here today because we also have encountered the Lord.

We have encountered Him in many different ways:

Childhood catechesis,

My First Holy Communion,

Confession 

Most of us, also, have had moments when we could specify something tangible:

When I was in THAT church, in THAT year of life, after THAT problem/blessing/event

-but the Lord does not have ONE path He calls by, 

and our experiences are manifold

 

What is common to us all, is that we have met and been called by the Lord.

Maybe by a voice that was clear, like Samuel in our first reading;

Maybe by a silent breeze, like Elijah.

But, regardless,

We are here because we were called.

And even if you don’t yet know if you’re called to be a priest, you know that HERE in this place,

You are called to “They stayed with Him that day” (Jn 1:39).

 

 

Seminary, as know, can have its trials.

But, even speaking as someone who went to a very bad seminary,

Seminary is place of unique blessing, 

Because, it is a place to “stay with Him”.

 

 

(pause)

Most of us, I’m sure, are returning from a nice rest and break.

But many of us, I know, found it hard to PRAY while we were away,

Found it hard to “stay with Him” while we were away.

The laity are also called to be with Him,

But we are uniquely fortunately to have way of life STRUCTURED around making that possible.

So, how are we going to USE that opportunity this semester?

 

This semester is going to be rush.          

Less than 11 weeks of being physically resident.

No mid-term rest.

Still restricted in our movements off-campus.

But whatever else this semester is going to be, 

We need to make it time to “stay with Him”.

The apostles stayed with Him 3 years non-stop before He sent them off.

 

(pause)

Returning to our Gospel text:

What did John and Andrew DO when they “stayed with Him that day’?

Presumably, some of the things we need to do:

They listened, 

as we need to listen to hear HIS voice through our lectures and talks and reading these months.

They looked, 

as we need to be ATTENTIVE to have Him communicate to us, amidst events, amidst people.

And, most simply, 

they were PHYSICALLY there, 

as we need to be with Him in prayer, with Him here in the chapel.

And, today, in class, in prayer, 

the Gospel texts especially need to be what we are reading, 

where we are seeking to find Him.

 

To conclude.

“Jesus looked hard” at Peter

And He has looked hard at you.

He chose Peter,

And He has chosen you.

He found Peter worthy, worthy to be given a chance to become something more,

And, somehow, He’s found you worthy too.

 

This is our first Sunday together,

We could do worse than take this image for our semester: 

To “Stay with Him that day”

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.