In “The Joy of the Gospel” of Pope Francis, there is a section about preaching (sections 134-159). Pope Francis writes the most interesting things which are all for priests. At our Word of Life meeting last Monday, Liliana O Hagan, an Italian lady who comes to us from Eccleston, shared with us her enthusiasm for what Pope Francis says at Mass, or at the Angelus (when 90,000, and more, are present in St. Peter’s Square) or on various occasions. She can listen, of course, directly in Italian and it is easy to find the Padre Pio website, or that from Pompeii, or the Vatican website itself, where anyone can find video footage of what Pope Francis has most recently said. I have on the IPad, that was given me by the St Mary’s Leyland High School, “The Pope App”, and that has the Pope in English, as well as Italian. Luckily Italian is one language I can converse in, and read, so I too can listen to Pope Francis directly. His mother tongue is Spanish, but he speaks a very good Italian, being born into an Italian Argentine family.

Pope Francis with a Down Syndrome Child in his Popemobile  

He certainly practices what he writes about; in “The Joy of the Gospel” (sections 139-140), we read something tender and beautiful about preaching: 

The Church is a mother, and she preaches in the same way that a mother speaks to her child, knowing that the child trusts that what she is teaching is for his or her benefit, for children know that they are loved. Moreover, a good mother can recognize everything that God is bringing about in her children, she listens to their concerns and learns from them. The spirit of love which reigns in a family guides both mother and child in their conversations; therein they teach and learn, experience correction and grow in appreciation of what is good. Something similar happens in a homily. The same Spirit who inspired the Gospels and who acts in the Church also inspires the preacher to hear the faith of the God’s people and to find the right way to preach at each Eucharist. Christian preaching thus finds in the heart of people and their culture a source of living water, which helps the preacher to know what must be said and how to say it. Just as all of us like to be spoken to in our mother tongue, so too in the faith we like to be spoken to in our “mother culture,” our native language (cf. 2 Macc 7:21, 27), and our heart is better disposed to listen. This language is a kind of music which inspires encouragement, strength and enthusiasm.

 Pope preaching with a young boy clinging to him.

This setting, both maternal and ecclesial, in which the dialogue between the Lord and his people takes place, should be encouraged by the closeness of the preacher, the warmth of his tone of voice, the unpretentiousness of his manner of speaking, the joy of his gestures. Even if the homily at times may be somewhat tedious, if this maternal and ecclesial spirit is present, it will always bear fruit, just as the tedious counsels of a mother bear fruit, in due time, in the hearts of her children. (The Joy of the Gospel, 139 – 140) 

To me, our “Mother Culture” would mean our English way of doing things. I came across a beautiful homily preached by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Justin Welby. last Sunday in Sandringham, in the presence of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. I reproduce a little of it below to give a flavour of it.

Archbishop Justin Welby with the Young Royals.

Usually unseen, churches of all sorts love and serve with vigour and passion, and while doing so are clear about their faith in Christ that motivates their action. That motivation starts for all of us with prayer, and also for the church as a whole with a renewal of what is called Religious life. Unless we are deeply prayerful and full of love from and for Christ, we are rotary with a pointy roof. Rotary is good but we are a church. In prayer we meet Christ, we listen first (St Benedict starts his Rule with the word “listen”), and are forgiven, renewed, empowered, directed, comforted.

The Religious or monastic life has been the bedrock of the church since the fourth century. Christians living in communities, in different ways, with the aim of encouraging a closer walk with Christ, have set the pace for all Christians everywhere. This last week we have begun a Religious community at Lambeth Palace, from a Catholic religious order called Chemin Neuf. They are ecumenical and modern, traditional and disciplined, they will hold us to our commitment to prayer. 

Secondly, the church must learn good disagreement. Christians will never all agree on everything, they never have. That is true for the Church of England, let alone the Anglican Communion in 145 countries. Christ does not command unanimity, but love and unity in diversity. St Paul says God reconciled us to Himself when we were his enemies. 

So we must be reconciled to each other in love. The command of love, even for enemies, flowing out of God’s reconciling love for us, is hard. In South Sudan and the Great Lakes region of Africa this coming week, my wife and I will see it at its hardest. But it is the Anglican Archbishop of the Sudan who is leading the work there, and his equivalents across the region, setting the example of courageous love. That is what has distinguished Christians across the centuries. 

So as individuals and the church we need to be reconciled to God through Christ, to each other in the church, and to be reconcilers in all sorts of conflict from domestic and local to multinational. How we do that is varied and complex, but above all it is by action in the love of Christ and the power of His Spirit – not in fine words alone.

Thirdly, we must renew our confidence in proclaiming the good news of the love of Christ for every human being. Making disciples is at the heart of our mission. We must not be ashamed of talking about numbers, or of making the effort to speak of as well as show the good news of Jesus Christ. 

Pope Francis on the day before the Sandringham sermon had preached on Church unity at St. Paul’s outside the walls in Rome to an ecumenical audience: he said this: 

Paul appeals to the Christians of Corinth “by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” to be in agreement, so that divisions will not reign among them, but rather a perfect union of mind and purpose. The communion for which the Apostle pleads, however, cannot be the fruit of human strategies. Perfect union among brothers and sisters can only come from looking to the mind and heart of Christ (cf. Phil 2:5). This evening, as we gather here in prayer, may we realize that Christ, who cannot be divided, wants to draw us to himself, to the sentiments of his heart, to his complete and confident surrender into the hands of the Father, to his radical self-emptying for love of humanity. Christ alone can be the principle, the cause and the driving force behind our unity. 

“Let us pray that he will help us on this path, on this path of unity and of love, as we advance towards unity”. Unity will not come about as a miracle at the very end. Rather, unity comes about in journeying; the Holy Spirit does this on the journey. If we do not walk together, if we do not pray for one another, if we do not collaborate in the many ways that we can in this world for the People of God, then unity will not come about! But it will happen on this journey, in each step we take. And it is not we who are doing this, but rather the Holy Spirit, who sees our goodwill.

Pope Francis with ecumenical representatives 

Dear brothers and sisters, let us ask the Lord Jesus, who has made us living members of his body, to keep us deeply united to him, to help us overcome our conflicts, our divisions and our self-seeking; and let us remember that unity is always better than conflict! And so may he help us to be united to one another by one force, by the power of love which the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts (cf. Rom 5:5). Amen.

Father Jonathan

The heading above may seem a little strange for this blog, for, first of all I want to talk a little about man’s recent successes with the ‘Rosetta Space Probe’.  Just a few days ago, it was announced on the news that scientists at the Control Room in Germany had sent a ‘wake up’ signal to the probe, in an attempt to bring it out of its 31 months’ hibernation.  Rosetta had been put into a deep sleep, in June 2011, to allow it to conserve power, in readiness for its August 2014 meeting, in space, with a comet – the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.  Would the signal bring ‘Rosetta’ out of its reverie?   Everyone waited with baited breath, then 45 minutes later, Rosetta signalled it was awake.

 Delight in the control room as Rosetta sends back a signal confirming it is “awake”

Launched from earth in 2004, ‘Rosetta’ has been speeding at mind-boggling speeds outwards and towards this small comet, which is measured at only 4.5 kilometres wide.  The comet’s orbit around the solar system describes a very large ellipse, so that at times it has been at maximum separation – millions of miles from the sun.  In August of this year, its orbit will be at minimum distance, and so the planning is that, at that time, ‘Rosetta’ will rendezvous with Comet 67/P, and in November, 2014, it will attempt to land a small Philae lander on the surface of the comet.

When things begin to happen in a few months time, it will be a time-consuming and very complicated process, as commands between the controllers and the probe will take 45 minutes to travel one way – an indication of the huge distances involved.  From March until the end of April, the instruments will be switched on, one by one – all of them will have to be checked, and, in some instances, their controlling soft-ware will have to be updated.

Beginning in May, this year, the probe will start to fire her thrusters, so that it may then target Comet 67/P – but again the distances between the two – probe and comet – will be varying enormously.  Today the separation is as much as nine million kilometres, whereas in November, when the Philae lander will be deployed, the distance will be as small as 10 kilometres.

The probe has made a very circuitous route to its target – having passed through the orbits of several planets on its ways.  In doing so it has been constructed to pick up energy from those orbits to help it on its way and to enable it to complete its mission.  In its journey it has passed by the ‘Steins’ rocks (2008) and ‘Lutetia’ (2010), sending back a great deal of information about these space bodies – and their origins – in so doing.

Eventually, it is hoped that Rosetta will follow the comet as it moves closer to the sun; if successful, it will be transmitting information on changes that take place in the body of that comet, whereas the Philae lander will report any changes taking place on the surface.  Comets are thought to contain materials largely unchanged since the solar system was formed 4.6 billion years ago. Samples of the chemical and physical composition of the comet should enable scientists to begin studying changes that have taken place over time, and, ultimately, how, when and where, the comet was formed; they will also tell of its journey through time as the Solar system has developed and about our Sun itself.

Rosetta is being billed as the big space event of 2014.   The Director of ESA’s Human Spaceflight and Operations, Thomas Reiter, made the following comments:

“Science, in general, catches the public’s imagination. In general, we try to find answers to fundamental questions, such as where do we come from, what will be our destiny and will we have to stick to this planet?   

“The knowledge we get from missions like Rosetta – which is now moving into a very interesting stage – gets us closer to answering those types of questions.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In my book, all this is very interesting, but it also raises a number of very important questions, mentioned, in passing, by Mr Reiter.  I am left stupefied by the time-distances involved, by the enormity of space, of the stars and their life-spans – never mind what actually happens when one finally implodes and disappears for ever. I am left mind-boggled by our galaxy and all that it involves – never mind how many other galaxies there are, and this we do not know.  And limitless space – how big is that?  I am left ‘floored’ by the question of just how great all this must be – how complex – how ordered – how sustained, and by questions as to how this came to be and, what will happen to all temporal life, come the end of the world?

At lunch with a friend the other week, we got to discussing space exploration and the problem of under-developed countries.  India came to mind, and we talked about the ethics of sending rockets into space (and the costs which must be counted in billions), when millions of the ordinary population are starving.  My friend then posed the question as to whether there are other planets on which beings, like ourselves, live and survive.  He suggested that it may be possible that such other beings could be far more advanced than we humans, and, using their much greater technologies, they could, at some time, decide to visit us.  When they came, what would their reaction be, and would they view us as animals and potential food?

The third important question asks whether space exploration is of any great benefit to the ‘ordinary man in the street’.  Could not these vast sums of money be better spent on looking after the poor, the sick and disadvantaged?  These are big questions, important questions, and, in many cases, there are just no solutions.

The acceptance of all the multi-advances that have taken place in science and technology, over centuries – accelerated greatly, it must be said, in recent decades – ends in a double-edged judgement: on the one hand, they have brought many, many improvements to our way of life: on the other, many would agree, that not all results have been positive as regards their final ‘cost-benefit’ analysis.  In many cases, perhaps, it has been a case of ‘one step forward – two steps back’!

Many great minds have gone though life, wondering, and searching for answers to the great mysteries – the great unknowns – that concern Rodin’s ‘thinkers’ and many ordinary people who concern themselves with life and the environment in which we exist.  But, in all truth, we must then turn our attention in quite another direction and say, really, there is no need for us to worry.  God has all this in hand – and has had since before time began.  Moreover, He has promised to be with us always.  All life is constantly changing, and in many instances, we have little or no control over the changes that come about. 

What does not change – and He is eternal – is God.  His name, in the Bible, is often given as ‘I AM’, meaning that He was always in existence, the power over all.  There never was a time when God was not there – something we cannot understand, since our reasoning is finite (and fallible).  All the wonders of space – all those that science and exploration are now revealing – have been there for eons – long before humanity – long before life in all its many forms, but they are as yesterday-born compared with God and his timelessness.  He is the first cause, the first mover; it is He who controls; it is He who designs; it is He who sustains it all in being; it is He who is first and last.

Many, I know, will say, the existence of God cannot be proved, and I have heard it said of some, that to those who refuse to believe, no proof is possible.  To those who believe, however, no proof is necessary.  Faith is a great gift of the Spirit of God – and what would we do, those of us who believe, without it?  

Certainly, I believe, the world would be a much poorer place.  As the title for the blog proclaims:

“Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise.”

Socius 

Recently, we have had a spate of funerals for people closely involved in our Parish. In their own individual ways, they had achieved, for themselves, their full potential, and God took them to himself, much to the sadness of their friends and relatives.

On another previous occasion, this blog carried some comments about parishioners who had died, and people remarked how much they enjoyed reading about those who had died – people whom they had not known, personally.  With this in mind, I now have the temerity to write, once again, about some who have died in the past three months; in doing so, I hope to share something about what God has done, in them, hoping that this might encourage we that are left behind, on our continuing holy journey of life.

Sylvia Bonner died 15 November 2013

The last time Sylvia fell ill, I received messages that she was in Chorley hospital. She often sent messages when she wanted to see me, and often that was for me to hear her confession. In the event, life was pressing on me then, and I knew she had such strong faith that it did not really matter which one of us priests would go; at that time, Fr. Stephen went to visit, and when he returned, he said to me: “What a marvellous person is Sylvia”.  I just nodded, because I knew that to be the case. Sylvia was very happy with that visit. When she was eventually released from hospital, I got another message: “Tell Fr Jonathan not to come as I am not well enough yet for him to come and see me!” Actually, her great friend had been Fr. Ambrose, (Bishop Ambrose we should call him – then  not as Parish Priest, but here in Leyland for his second stint.  He was then retired after his 12 years as Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, still carrying out wonderful work, throughout the last 7 years of his life, helping people here in Leyland, (including Sylvia, to whom he ministered so well and kindly).

Sylvia had been a nurse, very involved in the district, and she ran a nursing home, nearby Preston. She was very practical and efficient, and was one of a group of parishioners who nursed, voluntarily, two dying Ampleforth monks of Leyland, in the Leyland Priory House. First was Abbot Herbert Byrne, who died in 1978, and then came Fr. Kenneth Brennan; he died in 1986. She was excellent at her task.  Sylvia had many sufferings to face in life, but was never down-hearted. Her most obvious suffering, in the latter stages of her life, was her blindness, but this was coupled with a weak heart. Overall, she simply made the best of it, and was always welcoming to all who came to her. She had other sufferings to bear – some of them even harder to carry – but, she bore them all, with the same spirit.

At her funeral, her one remaining son, Chris and his son, Roger, had come over from Australia to be present. They chose the readings and the Gospel was The Beatitudes (Matthew 5: 1-12). Should you ever want to find a description of a good Christian, I suggest you take a look at Sylvia, her poverty of spirit, her gentleness, her mourning for so many things, including the death of her two sons, David and Michael.  She also lost Cob, her first husband, and then found Danny, and they married each a second time. Danny’s wife, Evelyn, had also died; she had been Sylvia’s best friend. She hungered and thirsted for what is right, as far as she could; she was so merciful, pure of heart, and a peacemaker; it is probable, in some senses, that she was persecuted in the cause of right. And so, I thank God for her; I thank God that many of us, in the parish, have known her and learned from her, just by knowing her.

 Alex Stirzaker with his wife Barbara

Alex Stirzaker was a most likeable fellow. He died in the last week of the liturgical year, on the feast of Christ the King, 24 November 2013. I always knew him as cheerful and friendly – and one could count on that attitude.  He would never, just walk by, knowingly, and always had a pleasant word to say. Alex was a man who displayed contentment, and, I would suspect, for most people, this would be the way he was. No wonder, then, that he was such a good husband, father and grandfather.  Loving is the heart of the Christian Life, it is what we are made for, as human beings, and being a loving person is such an attractive quality. In his manly way, surrounded by Barbara, his wife, and the five girls, all of whom have left the nest and are married with their children, Alex simply was a lovable, person because he was so loving. Alex was a good friend of God, and for this reason, he was so likeable. A convert to our Catholic Church, his mother said to him when he told her of his intention: “Well, if you do become a Catholic make sure you become a good one!” This he did. He was a life-long supporter of Preston North End, and the last thing Alex said to me, as I was leaving his home after sharing with him the sacraments, a week or so before he died, on a Saturday afternoon, was a shout from the bedroom: “Fr. Jonathan!!”  So I went back into the house, and he told me that PNE had scored a goal, and were ‘one up’ against Leyton Orient. Not bad! When playfully asked, by his wife, why he had called me back just for this, he said: “Fr. Jonathan is interested.” I was indeed! Alex was ‘outside himself’ as ever even when he was really seriously ill!  I loved hearing about him, from his eldest daughter, in her appreciation of dad at his funeral, how he would play for hours with his grandson, especially football. Only a wise man knows how to play, both with his children and grandchildren. He leaves a huge hole, in the lives of his family, and many others miss him, too.

Frank Calderbank died on 20 December 2013

Frank was a ‘reserved’ man and a very good engineer. He knew God; he loved God, and his neighbour, despite all difficulties. He died before Christmas and was buried after the Feast of the Nativity – a very homely time. The Spirit of God was with Joseph and Mary; the Spirit of God is with us too. John the Baptist saw the Spirit falling on Jesus at Jesus’ baptism: and in his photograph, above, we see the Spirit of God falling on Frank – in his openness – in the frankness of his smiling face, at that moment. This was typical of him.

Our religion is not one to follow an idea, or an ethical system or a wonderful dream about a perfect life. Our religion is one which is based on events that happened, and because of those events, we believe in the person, who was involved with them, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. The events that marked Frank’s life follow on, now, and it is through Frank’s response to these events – events that marked his life, in faith and love – that he was able to become the person we knew and loved.

Frank was born in 1938, and was the only child of Francis and Ellen, of Leyland. Frank had two older brothers, both of whom died in early infancy; to add to the tragedy, his mother passed away when he was only three years old and so it was decided that Frank should be brought up by his father’s sister, Teresa, (who he called mum), and her husband, Jim Durrigan. Teresa and Jim also had four children; Frank was raised, happily, with them, until early adulthood, whilst staying in regular contact with his father, Francis. He attended our Parish Schools, here in Leyland, and was simply a young Catholic Leyland lad – growing up.

At the age of 12, Frank was sent, as a boarder, to a seminary in Hampshire, where he remained until the age of 16. On returning home in the summer – in his words: “He discovered girls” and was destined not to return to the school in Hampshire.  Finding a completely new and different direction in life, he became an apprentice engineering machinist at Halsteads Engineering in Leyland, and here, a life-long interest (some would say obsession), in all things mechanical, was nurtured.

At the age of 18, his love-life definitely moved in the right direction, when he met his future wife, Pat, at St. Marys Leyland Youth club; they were married four years after this meeting.  However, his call to National Service meant they were soon to be parted, as Frank then spent much of the coming two and a half years in Germany. (At the height of the ‘Cold War’, National service was extended by 6 months, from the standard 2 years.)  On returning to ‘Civvy Street’, Frank was forced to look for a Job, and this he found at Iddon Brothers. Serving Iddon Brothers for the rest of his working life, Frank climbed the ladder, from Machinist to Production Director. He loved his job, but was never happier than when he was surrounded by his family, extended with two daughters-in-law and three grand-children.

His involvement in the Boy Scouts’ Association grew, as both sons, Michael and Peter, became members, Frank eventually finding himself Scout Leader.  Franks ‘other love’, (apart from Pat and Iddon Bothers), was his yellow MG; bought as a ‘runner’, he spent 15 years improving ‘her’, with the minimum amount of money spent – it was a lesson in budget motoring!

In recent years, Frank became one of the inaugural members of the South Ribble Catenian Circle, where he, and Pat, forged new friendships and a busy social life. The Society has been a source of strong support, to Frank and Pat, during his protracted illness, when God released him from his suffering and took him home to heaven.  During 53 years of marriage, Frank left his family, and friends, many happy memories. His legacy has been to raise a family that love him, and will sadly miss him, but remember him with smiles on their faces.

Fr. Jonathan

The high street stores have been counting their ‘coppers’, so we hear on the news – and their shareholders.  The House of Fraser was delighted to announce an increase in their profits, but Debenhams, rather reluctantly, had to broadcast the disappointing news that their profits had taken a tumble, and their finance director resigned, at once.  And so, it goes on, from the big department stores to the supermarkets, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Morrison’s … not to mention Boxing Day sales and the sales on the internet.  Sales, profits … money, money, money!

Is this what Christmas is all about, I ask?  At Christmas time, the news items on television, included a mention of the survey carried out in Manchester, on behalf of the Bishop, in which 51 per cent of those responding to the questions asked, said that, for them, Christ had nothing to do with Christmas, and they did not concern themselves with religion.  If only they might become aware of what they are missing! 

From Christmas, I think we might easily extrapolate and make the ‘jump’ to all life, and ask the question: “Is this all that life is all about now in England – England, once known as the ‘Dowry of Mary’; is it all about money and nothing else?  And, not just this country; the malady appears to be consistently growing across the developed countries of the modern world – America, Europe, the Far East!

I used to think that there was a sort of equilibrium in English society – a sort of balance in which work was weighed against holidays, pleasure and the like; relaxation is good for the soul, too.  People used to balance time off, with attending church services, and with time devoted to prayer.  We used to take delight in helping each other, especially when times were hard – not much money about – plenty of poverty, disease and sickness – and so, with ‘backs to the wall’ it was a wonderfully rewarding thing to be able to help a neighbour, a feeling that was very much the essence of England at war with Germany (and, it seemed, like the rest of the world) in two Great Wars. 

Our society, in those days, was a more caring society – not solely being driven by ‘self’, and at ‘breakneck’ speed by technology – in communications, in Information technology of all kinds, in television and the media; I have a feeling, we are now moving so fast along these sorts of paths, that we do not have time to draw breath before the next ‘advance’ is upon us, and all the sales hype tells us that we must have this, or that, otherwise we are not ‘with it’. “Have you seen the new curved-screen tele?” “Have you seen the new x-pad?” And, “That new game-player – gremlins and demons, et al, at the ready – is a must.”  They are KOOL, mate – KOOL!

If we follow the prescription in the paragraph, above, my view is that we are heading for disaster, and so my next question is, “How do we redress the balance?”  It does not take much soul-searching to come up with an answer – the answer is ‘HE’ and He is with us at all times:

The Word of God comes to us at Christmas – God’s gift to us in the Incarnation of His only Son, Jesus – and one of the two greatest feasts, we Christians enjoy and celebrate, hopefully for the right reasons.

 A Nativity Scene

It may be thought, like the Christmas of 2013 – now passed into history – that we are back to where were before, but that is not the end of the story, for God is always with us – He and his Son, Jesus.  Jesus promised that he would never desert us – a wonderful promise – and one, I am sure, he keeps: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptise them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you.  And look, I am with you always, even to the end of time.” (Matthew 28, 19-20).

Jesus comes to us when we pray – when we go to Mass and receive the Blessed Sacrament – whenever we are in trouble and ask for help – whenever we try to help another.  He is there when we praise and adore him.  He is there with us, in our waking and in our sleeping.  I believe it is true to say that, truly, we are never alone.  Always, we have God’s protection in the form of himself – the Father of us all, in Jesus and in the Holy Spirit – who comes to give us strength and courage to go about our lives in the way God intended.

 The Sistine Chapel’s Last Judgement – Michelangelo

This ‘coming of Jesus’, with us all the time, especially when we call upon him, may be called his ‘middle’ coming, for, at the ‘end of time’, we believe that Jesus will appear in his ‘Second’ coming on the Day of Judgement.  At this time we shall see him in all his glory.  In the Nicene, we recite our belief that:

“… he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. … We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”

As regards this Second coming of the Lord, Matthew (24:30) declares:

“At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.”

And there, we have it!  Jesus comes to us as a baby, a helpless child, poor, weak and humble – certainly nothing like the birth of a prince, or future king.  From this coming, we progress to his life on earth, his teachings, his passion and death, culminating in his resurrection – the final proof of his divinity.  His second coming, we are told will be quite different, frightening in its majestic enormity, carried on the clouds, surrounded by choirs of angels – to judge the whole of mankind.  Between, we have his middle coming – so I term it – when we know he is with us, Maranatha, Emmanuel – how exquisitely wonderful. 

As regards all of these comings, I have the distinct impression that Jesus is never more than a breath away – if only we realise the truth of his great love for us.

Socius

A very Happy New Year to everyone. The first day of January each year is always a World Day of Prayer for Peace. Pope Francis gave a very straight-forward message about peace at the Angelus in St Peter’s Square today – the Square being packed, as usual, with 90,000 people.

“I want to give each one of you here present a greeting for peace and for every good thing in your lives. This is the Church’s wish for all people, the wish of a Christian; it is not linked to magic dates or thinking of a new cycle of life. History has a centre, and that is the person of Jesus Christ who was born, died and rose again and who lives among us today. There is an aim to achieve for all creation: a Kingdom of peace, of justice and of freedom in love. There is power to reach that aim and that power or force is the Holy Spirit. All of us have the Holy Spirit that we received at our Baptism, and he pushes us forward on the journey of the Christian life to reach the Kingdom of Heaven. This force is the Spirit of Love that filled the womb of the Virgin Mary and is the same that animates all who are peace-makers. Wherever there is a man, or woman, who is a builder of peace, then there is the Holy Spirit helping that person and pushing them to achieve peace. We are all brothers and sisters, and if we want to be peace-makers, then it must begin at home. From there it will spread out to others, and to the whole world.”

 The World as seen from Space

We religious, diocesan priests and many laity frequently recite the quite wonderful canticle in the letter to the Ephesians (Chapter 1, vv 3-10). We did so yesterday, the first day of January.

After praising and blessing God: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”, the canticle goes on to explain how we who belong to Jesus, in baptism, have been chosen before the foundation of the world, to be the sons and daughters of God, in Jesus Christ. Jesus has redeemed each of us in his precious blood, but then the canticle goes on to say even more: “He has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, … His purpose he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth”. The plan is the same as that of Peace Sunday: for where all things are united in him, there is peace and universal fraternity. There could be no more war, because we will know that to harm, or kill, another is to harm, or kill, our own brother or sister.

There is a clear purpose in life: it is to live for unity, within myself, in my family, in my work place, within divided Churches, that could be divided, in themselves or among the Churches, with people of other faiths, with people who have no faith. It is an ideal that gives life a purpose. There is a reason to wake up, and get out of bed, each morning! In his Apostolic Exhortation, ‘The Joy of the Gospel’, Pope Francis writes about rejecting, “sterile pessimism”.

[84.] The joy of the Gospel is such that it cannot be taken away from us by anyone or anything (cf. Jn 16:22). The evils of our world – and those of the Church – must not be excuses for diminishing our commitment and our fervour. Let us look upon them as challenges which can help us to grow. With the eyes of faith, we can see the light which the Holy Spirit always radiates in the midst of darkness, never forgetting that “where sin increased, grace has abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20). 

He then quotes from Pope John XXIII, who spoke prophetic words at the opening of the Vatican Council, 11 October 1962:

  Pope John XXXIII at the Vatican Council

“At times we have to listen, much to our regret, to the voices of people who, though burning with zeal, lack a sense of discretion and measure. In this modern age they can see nothing but prevarication and ruin … We feel that we must disagree with those prophets of doom who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand. In our times, divine Providence is leading us to a new order of human relations which, by human effort and even beyond all expectations, are directed to the fulfilment of God’s superior and inscrutable designs, in which everything, even human setbacks, leads to the greater good of the Church”.

 Pope Francis is even stronger as he goes on in “The Joy of the Gospel”, that Christian Joy can overcome that feeling of being left ‘deserted’.

[86.] In some places a spiritual “desertification” has evidently come about, as the result of attempts by some societies to build without God or to eliminate their Christian roots. In those places “the Christian world is becoming sterile, and it is depleting itself like an overexploited ground, which transforms into a desert”. [66] In other countries, violent opposition to Christianity forces Christians to hide their faith in their own beloved homeland. This is another painful kind of desert. But family and the workplace can also be a parched place where faith nonetheless has to be preserved and communicated.  

(Pope Francis then quotes Pope Benedict XVI, at his homily, 11 October 2012, at the opening of the Year of Faith):

“… it is starting from the experience of this desert, from this void, that we can again discover the joy of believing, its vital importance for us, men and women. In the desert we rediscover the value of what is essential for living; thus in today’s world there are innumerable signs, often expressed implicitly or negatively, of the thirst for God, for the ultimate meaning of life. And in the desert people of faith are needed who, by the example of their own lives, point out the way to the Promised Land and keep hope alive”.  

In these situations we are called to be living sources of water from which others can drink. At times, this becomes a heavy cross, but it was from the cross, from his pierced side, that our Lord gave himself to us as a source of living water. Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of hope!” 

It would be the subject of another reflection, to consider how joy overcomes pessimism, a pessimism that is very deep in some Christians. Let us trust that it can be done!

Father Jonathan