Troublemakers (Righteous Pests)

Homily at the Sion Community D Weekend, for the Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C.

Are you a troublemaker? And if not, why not?

Moses was a troublemaker – just ask Pharaoh! The Prophet Jeremiah was called to speak words from God which would make many enemies. St Paul, who wrote the beautiful meditation on love we’ve just heard, also wrote this:

I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. … I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. 

Why? Because Paul was a troublemaker. And in today’s Gospel, Jesus makes so much trouble that his listeners, who had only just been marvelling at his wisdom, decide to throw him off a cliff. (Spoiler alert: they don’t.)

Anyone who chooses to follow Jesus will, sooner or later, be called to be a troublemaker. This is one of the reasons we are offered the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, so we can make holy trouble when it serves God’s purposes. And today I want to offer you four tips on how to be a righteous pest.

Tip one – put on your pants.

Ok, in Bible language Jeremiah is told to “gird up his loins” but in means the same thing. Get dressed for action, physically and spiritually. Make sure you look decent, that there’s nothing people can blame in your behaviour. If you’re going to challenge other people about doing the right thing, you need to be setting a good example. If you’re gonna be a righteous pest, you need to be a righteous pest.

Tip two – get ready to deal with proud people.

Maybe you’ve heard the legend of the emperor who was fooled into believing he had a set of invisible clothes. It took a small child to be brave enought to call out “the emperor has no clothes”. Jesus could have impressed his audience when he preached in his home synagogue, but he reminds them of times when God didn’t bless the Jews and did bless foreigners. Why did he feel he needed to preach such a tough message when he was just getting going? There’s no room in the Kingdom of Heaven for people who think they are important – only for people who are willing to serve others, even foreigners.

Tip three – get ready for battle.

When you take God’s work seriously, you will meet resistance. The prophet Jeremiah was warned that he would make many enemies, but God would make him tough enough to cope. Blessed Laura Vicuña, who lived in Chile at the start of the 20th Century, died at the tender of age of 13 – but during that time, she annoyed the girls at her school by making no secret of her sense of calling to be a nun, and was beaten by her mother’s lover when she objected to her mother living in a sinful relationship. She died of tuberculosis, but it’s likely that the beatings left her more vulnerable. She offered God the sacrifice of her life in return for her mother’s conversion.

Pope Francis, preaching in May 2013, noted that everyone who follows Jesus will enjoy many good things but will also face persecution. Like Jesus, our only road to holiness leads to the Cross. The Pope warned that “when a Christian has no difficulties in life – when everything is fine, everything is beautiful – something is wrong.” If we have truly encountered Jesus, something “goes deep within and changes us. And the spirit of the world does not tolerate it, will not tolerate it, and therefore, there is persecution.”

Tip four – do it with love.

If you’re going to be a righteous pest, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. The wrong way is to take any delight in having an opportunity to confront someone – the right way is to put the other person front and centre.

You don’t have to follow Jesus to be a troublemaker. There are lots of good troublemakers out there who don’t share our Christian faith – campaigning about climate change, political prisoners, world peace and a myriad of other good causes. We can get alongside them to make trouble, as long as we do so with love. But there’s also a special kind of trouble which only Christians can make. We can also ask the eternal questions: do you believe in life after death? Do you know the only One who can admit you to heaven if you put your trust in him?

The Israelites were given a powerful example of God’s power to save when they were taken through the Red Sea and provided with manna from heaven. But for those who came afterwards, they did not witness God’s mighty deeds, only the memory passed down by their people. In the same way, we must pass the memory of Jesus. But we’re all at different stages on our journey.

If you don’t know in your heart that Jesus is alive and able to save you, ask Him to reveal himself to you today.

If you’ve already in that place where you know that He is alive but you don’t yet know what he is calling you to do, simply pray the dangerous prayer, “Here I am Lord, use me as you will.”

And if you do know he is asking you to make holy trouble, but you need more courage to step out and do it, there are two things you can do. First, ask the Lord to give you a small challenge which will help you build up your trust in him. And secondly, find some other discipels who can make holy trouble with you. 

It is in this spirit in which I ask you to reflect on today’s Gospel and ask yourself: “Am I a troublemaker?” If you’re not, don’t worry, it’s never too late to begin!

Transcribed, Transliterated and Translated

Homily for the Trustees of Sion Community for Evangelism, 23 January 2022

Today is a day of unexpected discoveries.

When Jesus stood up to read in the synagogue, no-one was expecting to witness the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy.

When Ezra stood up with the Book of the Law, things were slightly different. A community which cherished God’s law had returned to their ancient place of worship and created a great celebration of the Word of God.

Yet Ezra’s act reminds me of another scene in the Hebrew Bible: during the reign of King Josiah, the High Priest Hilkiah discovered a lost copy of the “Book of the Law” and brought it to the King. When this was read aloud, it had a profound effect: the King forbade the idolatry common at that time and returned Judah to observing God’s law faithfully.

Now the Bible scholars do ponder what book it was that Hilkiah found. Was it the entire Torah? Was it the Book of Deuteronomy? Was this in fact the time in Jewish history when scribes first wrote the Book of Deuteronomy? Or was it a now-lost book which the priests of the time wrote and hid so it could be ‘discovered’ and have just such an effect?

Does it in fact matter whether a text is ancient or newly-written, as long as it contains God’s truth?

St Luke set out to create a new text, an ordered account of the things Jesus said and did. He was not the first to write about Jesus, and most likely had access to a copy of Mark, but he also did his own research. I wonder what unexpected discoveries he made?

And so to today. Today, the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time, has been designated by Pope Francis as the Sunday of the Word of God. Here we are, the members and trustees of Sion Community, kerygmatic evangelists. What can I possibly say to you, that you haven’t heard before, about the value and power of the Word of God, and how we might celebrate it and commiunicate it more effectively? I sat with the scriptures for today, but found no fresh manna. So I did what any desperate preacher might do. I turned to Google… and that’s when I started making fresh discoveries. Not about Scripture, but about the Sunday of the Word of God.

First, I discovered that today now has an official logo. It’s based on an icon of the disciples on the Road to Emmaus. The logo was unveiled two years ago by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, who took time to unpack its rich symbolism.

See the resurrected Christ holding in his left hand a scroll, which is “the sacred Scripture that found its fulfillment in his person.” By his side are two disciples: Clopas and his wife, Mary. Scripture only names Clopas, but the Archbishop chooses to identify the other, not unreasonably, as Mary the wife of Clopas. They both fix their gaze on Christ while Clopas holds a stick to indicate “a pilgrimage. Mary is holding one hand upward and with her other hand seems to be touching the Lord, reaffirming that he has fulfilled the ancient promises and is the living Word that must be proclaimed to the world. Clopas’ free hand is pointing the road ahead, which all disciples are called to take in order to bring the Good News to everyone.

There is a star overhead symbolizing evangelization and the “permanent light” that guides their journey and shows them the way. The feet of all three are depicted as being in motion, representing that the proclamation of the Risen Christ cannot be accomplished by “tired or lazy disciples” but only by those who are “dynamic” and ready to find new ways to speak so that sacred Scripture may become the living guide of the life of the church and its people.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella

Second, I discovered that today Pope Francis plans to institute lectors and catechists in Rome. It was only last year that the ministry of lector was opened to women, marking its proper identity as a lay ministry rather than a mark of clerical status. Also last year, Pope Francis created an entirely now formal ministry of the instituted catechist. We will see, in due course, how the Church hierarchy in this country chooses to recognises suitable laity and appoint them to these ministries.

Thirdly, I discovered that our bishops have prepared a document especially for today, the 2022 celebration of the Sunday of the Word of God. It runs to 97 pages… and I discovered it at 9 o’clock this morning! Which means we have discovered, not for the first time, that our church organisation is less than brilliant at communicating its own resources to its own people. But still better than the organisation of Hilkiah, who seemed to be running a Jewish Temple without any knowledge of the Law of God!

What does this document contain? There are templates for lectio divina exercises whcih can be done at any time. There is an invitation for families to have their own celebration, today, of today’s readings. And there is an invitation to make today’s liturgy more solemn with an enthronement of the Lectionary. Now this is a dangerous symbol! We know that the Word of God is a person, not a book – though we give great honour to the book which tells the Good News of this person. Yes, it is permitted to enthrone the written word of God, even to give a solemn blessing by making the sign of the Cross with a copy of the Scriptures; but a word transcribed in ink only becomes effective when it is transliterated into human hearts and translated into human actions.

We are invited to make today a solemn day when the Word of God should be celebrated, studied, and transmitted. I will, now, share with you a final discovery – a throne prepared for the written Word of God on this occassion – but this is merely a celebration. It is up to each one of us to study the Word and spread the Word, not only today but in every day of the year to come. Do this, and you will make your own discoveries – of the hidden manna you will find within the Word, and its power to transform the lives of those with whom you will share it.

Pure Vessels

Homily at the Beloved Team Day at Sion Community for Evangelism, 16 January 2022

Six stone water jars.

St John’s Gospel is a rich document full of symbolic meanings. Why does the evangelist tells us that when Jesus turned water into wine – and so revealed his divine power to the world for the first time – that the wine was drawn from six stone jars used for ceremonial washing?

The Bible is full of references to jars, but they are more often jars of clay. St Paul famously reflected that we hold our inner treasure in earthenware vessels. Jesus warned us not to hide our own light under a jar. When his life starts falling apart, the unfortunate Job begins his misery scratching his sores with a shard from a broken pot.

We might, then, imagine that these jars represent ourselves. But they are stone jars – not clay. In Jewish law, a clay jar can become unclean by contact with corruption, but a stone jar is regarded as incorruptible. Not many families would have stone jars – they were expensive, and laborious to make by hollowing out a single piece of rock – but a household of a priestly family or of strict Pharisees might decide the expense was worth it, since the jars would never need to be replaced.

Pope Benedict XVI has reminded us that each one of us, as unique individuals, are loved and wanted by God. St John Henry Newman encourages us that each of us has been entrusted with a particular mision which God has not given to any other person. So yes, – you’re irreplacable! But we are perfectable. In this life, we keep confessing our sins and seeking God’s guidance so that over time, we can become the best versions of ourselves. But we know that at the great wedding banquet when Christ comes to marry his Bride, the Church, we shall be made incorruptible, incapable of sin, and our clay jars shall be transformed into the most beautiful stone!

Six stone water jars. These jars were made for water, and even before the water was wonderfully transformed into wine, it was already good, used for ritual cleansing. We too already contain the power to cleanse one another. By our baptism, we have authority to drive out evil spirits with a word of command. By our humanity, we have the ability to forgive another person of any sins that person has committed against us. We do not need to have become perfected to be vessels for the living water which Christ has promised us through the Holy Spirit. If the stone. – or the clay – represents what we are, the water represents what we allow ourselves to be filled with. In that most famous psalm of King David, one translation states “my cup overfloweth!” We can all ask God to fill us to overflowing, and there is no better way than through worship; “Fill us anew we pray!“

Six stone water jars. The number six doesn’t have a great reputation in the Bible, being the number of incompleteness: one less than seven, or only half of twelve. But there is something positive about six: there are six days in the week given for us to labour, and one to rest. Six represents everything that we can bring to God, so that seven represents that which only God can give to complete us. And in the context of a wedding, this sixness reminds us that the Bride of Christ is at the same time One and many. Jesus has only one Bride, the Church. And yet we are all one body in Christ. We are one body with many parts, each part a vessel able to receive a unique mix of the gifts of the Spirit, as St Paul reflected on in our Second Reading. The sixness is the fullness of our work; the perfect seven, the completion, comes through the Holy Spirit.

Part of the mystery which Scripture struggles to express is that all of us, together, are being build into this beautiful bride which Christ will wed at the Second Coming, and yet all of us remain individuals. Isaiah foreshadows this tension in prophesying that God will marry both “you” and “your land”. There’s perhaps a hint of this this in the parable of the wise virgins, where the five bridesmaids go off joyfully with the bridegroom – five single women going off with a single man, and no sign of the bride: are we meant to realise that they, together, are the bride? Even more weirdly, while as a priest, I stand it for the Bridegroom by standing at this altar to give you His Body and Blood, as a baptised Christian, although I am a man, I too am called to be a bride of Christ; there is something intrinsically feminine about every soul’s relationship with Christ. This might be an opportunity to say that I am truly greatful for the wonderful insights that come through listening to The Beloved Podcast – I will never be a mother of children, I will never see the world directly through the eyes of a woman, but through what is shared there I can experience through your eyes what I can never see through my own.

What, though, is St John trying to tell us in this account of the six stone water jars? John uses rich symbolism throughout his Gospel, but not every detail has a symbolic meaning. Many of the Bible scholars will suggest that there’s a simple reason John mentions six jars – that’s how many there were at the wedding, and we need read no more into it than that! In fact, everything I have just shared, although it is Christian truth standing firmly on the Bible, perhaps none of it was in John’s mind in writing this passage. His concern, as he states clearly, is that you should know the first sign worked by Jesus pointing to who the carpenter from Nazareth really is!

So beloved ladies – and gentlemen present, in your beloved souls:

Although you are jars of clay, you are destined to be transformed into incorruptible stone.

Although the best wine is yet to come, you are already offered the gift of living water, empowering you to bring cleansing and healing wherever you go.

Although you are many bridesmaids, each an irreplacable vessel for the unique gifts God has poured into you, you are all members of the One Bride, the Church.

Our faith is a now and a not yet faith. The wedding of the Lamb is yet to come, and yet it is present in this Eucharist. At Cana, his time had not yet come, and yet at the request of a women, Christ made his glory known. Your wedding to the Lamb will only be manifest at the Second Coming, and yet you are already Christ’s bride, for the wedding was consummated when you made your First Communion. Once again, in Holy Communion today, Christ will declare that you belong to Him and He will once again give you his body as a consummation of his love. Today’s Eucharistic banquet is not a new wedding, but a renewal of nuptial love. So I have spoken enough. Let the wedding proceed!

Fr Gareth concelebrates Mass in Cana with the late Archbishop Peter Smith, who ordained him to the priesthood.

Be a Donkey for Jesus!

Homily at the FaithLift Day at Sion Community for Evangelism, 15 January 2022

Will you be a donkey for Jesus?

Perhaps you’ve never been asked that question before. But let me explain – there’s more to this question that you might imagine!

We’re very familiar with the image of shepherds and sheep. King David was a shepherd boy when he was called to fight Goliath and later become King of Israel. Modern visionaries like St Bernadette and the children of Fatima were tending their sheep when Our Blessed Mother appeared to them. Our Lord Jesus himself said, “I am the Good Shepherd” and invited us to be the good sheep who are honoured at his right hand, unlike the goats condemned to his left. But before there was King David, there was King Saul – and we’ve just heard that he was anointed king while on a mission to find and reclaim some lost donkeys.

Now, donkeys don’t get a very good press. Think of a famous donkey… maybe the first one who comes to mind is the gloomy Eeyore, from Winnie-the-Pooh. Or more recently, we have the naïve and loudmouthed Donkey from Shrek. Soldiers in the First World War were famously said to be “lions led by donkeys” by those unimpressed with the decisions made by Generals. But all of this is really unfair to donkeykind. Scientists have conducted intelligence tests on donkeys and discovered that they are just as smart as dogs – and as dolphins!

There is one unique thing about donkeys in the Bible. You might know that in the Old Testament, Jewish Law divided all creatures into clean and unclean beasts. Clean animals could be eaten, but the firstborn male from each new mother had to be sent to the temple as a sacrifice. Donkeys are not clean animals under Jewish law; but (unlike other unclean creatures) the firstborn male of a donkey had to be honoured in the same way. How could that be done? A donkey was unclean; it couldn’t be sacrificed in the temple. So a lamb had to be offered to “redeem” the donkey. The donkey becomes a symbol of human beings, creatures who stand between earth and heaven. We have the bodies of animals, but souls like angels. We are unclean, because we sin; yet God loves us and wants to redeem us. Jesus died so that our sins might be forgiven; we are truly donkeys redeemed by a Lamb!

A donkey also features prominently in the New Testament: on Palm Sunday, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Did Mary also ride on a donkey before she gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem? The Bible dosn’t tell us that, but it’s likely that donkeys were what poor families could afford for transport.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls a donkey to be a disciple.

Levi, the tax collector, is probably the same person who is named as Matthew in other Gospels; it was common for people to have a Hebrew name and a Greek name in those days. You can imagine that a man who collaborated with the hated Roman occupiers would not have been a popular companion for the other disciples to accept into their midst.

Perhaps you’ve come across an online drama called The Chosen in the last couple of years? Over multiple seasons it tells the story of Jesus and the disciples as you’ve never seen it before. The producers try to be faithful to the scenes which are in the Bible, but of course they have to use artistic license to imagine the personality and back story of each major character, including twelve apostles.

They imagine that Levi was an intelligent but socially inept character, probably on the autistic spectrum. His math skills were essential for a tax collector, and he didn’t mind, or perhaps realise, the social handicap which would come with working for the Romans. After Jesus calls him, he uses his skills to take notes, notes which would eventually become The Gospel According to Matthew.

Can you guess which one he is in this photo? Yes, the one who sticks out like a sore thumb. He would have been able to dress well based on his tax income; would have realised that this might have made other disciples uncomfortable? We don’t know the personality and story of the real Levi in the Gospels, but we do know that Jesus did call him, and his past, if not his personality, would have made others uncomfortable.

Maybe you are part of a group which has an obvious donkey in it – a parish, or a family, or a prayer group, or a club or society which has someone who is socially awkward, someone not easy to get on with. The same Jesus who called Levi to be a disciple is calling you to welcome the donkey in your midst. That may mean you simply make allowances – or it may mean you build up a relationship of genuine love and trust until you can help the donkey look in the mirror and see what others see.

Or perhaps you are the donkey – you sense that you don’t always fit in. But be assured that Jesus is calling you to be part of his family, and others who don’t know how to welcome you must take time to learn to do this.

The world can be cruel to people who are different. But as disciples, we choose to be different, and part of that is welcoming all who seem different but choose to join us. Jesus wants donkeys – so you are either called to be a donkey for Jesus, or to welcome and look after his donkeys as surely as Saul was sent to care for his father’s livestock. It takes a donkey to care for a donkey, so I ask again – will you be a donkey for Jesus? Dare to be different – because unless our church is different from the world around us, we’re not God’s church at all!

Overcome

Homily at the Unbound Team Day at Sion Community for Evangelism, 9 January 2022

“We must live good and religious lives here in the present world; we must be set free from all wickedness and purify ourselves with no ambition except to do good.”

This is a lofty aspiration! We know that we are made in God’s image. But we face three enemies: the world, the flesh and the devil.

In Unbound, we understand the works of the devil. The ministry is one of releasing people from the additional temptations that come following a spiritual wound.

Dealing with the world is different. The influence of the world cannot be dispelled by a word of command but only by a continuous act of will. It’s interesting, living as part of a household of committed Christians… considers what happens in this house when we decide to watch a film. It’s difficult to find a film these days that has no scenes of nudity and that doesn’t have the Lord’s name used as a curse word at some point. For the Lord’s name we often use the rule of of “three strikes and you’re out”; and when something too revealing happens we seriously consider whether we need to stop the film or at least protect the eyes of the male members present, with the women saying when it is safe for the men to look at the screen again. Resisting the world needs persistence!

Today commemorates the Baptism of the Lord; and when you have to teach about baptism to someone learning Christianity, inevitably you talk about Original Sin and how because of the first sin of the human race, we are all tainted. The good news is that baptism frees us from the influence of original sin. The theologians speculate that Our Lord and Our Lady didn’t experience concupiscence – they didn’t experience the temptations of the flesh in the same way that we do. Unfortunately, the theologians also tell us that while baptism takes away the stain of original sin, it doesn’t take away the consequences, so we still have to face the battle for purity. 

Let’s not fall into the trap of blaming all our weakness on Original Sin. The whole point of the story of the Fall is that the first human being who was free of Original Sin, who was even free of any influence of the world, was nevertheless tempted by the devil and chose against the express commandment of God. Even in our purity, bearing the image of God, it’s still possible for us to make a bad decision. So let that be the antidote for any pride we might be feeling about our own godliness!

I’m sure, if you’re like me, you don’t particularly like it when someone tells you what to do. You have to follow these rules because of safeguarding. You can’t do those things because of Covid. And if you want to be a minister of Unbound do you have to do the prayer this way and use the Five Keys and not innovate. Rules protect us. One aspect of Baptism is that we have been made kings with Christ; we truly share in his authority; when we exercise authority well, and others are docile to follow our commands, we create a true image of the kingdom of God present here on Earth. But that means when we do wield authority, we must be conscientious about ruling in a Christ-like way!

If we wish to be honoured by God, we must learn to obey. We have no greater role model than the Blessed Virgin Mary, who simply said “let it be done to me according to God’s word”. She didn’t worry about the consequences; as soon as she knew that God was clearly asking her to undertake a task, she gave her wholehearted “yes” and accepted the consequences, both the human pain and the heavenly glory.

If John the Baptist were alive today, he’d be a TikTok sensation. He would have millions of followers. He was certainly what we would call an influencer; but the brand he pointed to was not his own. He knew his calling, which was to point to another, to the one coming who is greater than himself. Now, anyone who gets a reputation for being anointed for some kind of healing ministry, whether in physical healing or deliverance, will sooner or later reach that point when someone will say to you, “You’re one of those healers, aren’t you!” And the only appropriate response is to say that Jesus is the healer; we are simply empty vessels who allow him to work through us.

Water is often used as a symbol of humility, because it’s often said that water naturally finds the lowest place. After all, Jesus was baptised in the River Jordan, water flowing to the lowest-lying sea on earth! But the real sign of humility is not water, but gravity! Now, thanks to space missions, we know that water on its own is quite inward-looking; it forms a ball because of its own self-attraction! It is gravity, not any innate property of water, which draws it to the lowest point on earth. We, then, must let ourselves by attracted by the humility of Christ and follow his example of taking the lowest place.

I leave with these words by Andrew Murray:

“The highest glory of the creature is in being only a vessel, to receive and enjoy and show forth the glory of God. We can do this only as it is willing to be nothing in ourselves, that God may be all. Water always fills first the lowest places. The lower, the emptier we lie before God, the speedier and the fuller will be the inflow of the divine glory.”

Check Your Privilege

Homily at the Catholic Parishes of Maesteg and Aberkenfig for the 2nd Sunday of Christmas, Year C.

There’s a famous story about Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, lying in a field and looking up at the stars. Holmes decides to test Watson, so he turns to him and says, “My dear Doctor, what do you deduce from what you can see?”

Watson replies: From the position of Orion, I deduce that it is early January. From the absence of haze in the air, I deduce the weather will be bright and mild in the morning. And from the vast number of stars out there, I deduce that there will be many planets with strange properties, maybe even alien life. What do you deduce, Sherlock?

Holmes replies, with a snarl, “I deduce that while we were sleeping, some rotter stole our tent!”

Today’s readings are an invitation to stop and focus not on what’s obvious, but on what we should notice if we apply a little thought. Tents feature in two of our readings, though one is hidden. Our Gospel was the famous passage from John which speaks of Our Lord Jesus as the Word of God. Our translation says, “The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory. But where the English says “he lived among us”, the original Greek says “the Word was made flesh and pitched his tent among us.” Something more explicit was in our first reading from Wisdom – where Wisdom is another way of speaking about the Word of God – where God-the-Father commands wisdom to pitch a tent among the people of Israel, declaring them to be a privileged people.

We are God’s privileged people. We, as the human race, are privileged because God has chosen to speak to us – that’s why Jesus, the living Word, was born to us at Christmas. Jesus came so that we should know that God really exists, and that God is three persons in one intimate bond. All through the time of the Old Testament, God was already Father, Son and Holy Spirit – but at that first Christmas, the spiritual being we call God-the-Son was seen among us as the newborn child of Mary.

We, as members of the Church, are a specially privileged people. We have been given the power to become God’s adopted children, through baptism. All the spiritual blessings of heaven are on offer to us. We enjoy the blessing of knowing that God wants to forgive our sins, if only we turn to God with sorrow. We enjoy the privilege of Holy Communion – no angel has the Son of God physically united with their very being! We enjoy the gifts of the Holy Spirit which can be poured out on us and through us to change the world for the better!

“Privilege” is a word I’ve heard used a lot in the last few years. When I listen to news and current affairs programmes I hear talk of “white privilege” where members of Western society who don’t experience racial discrimination perhaps don’t appreciate how that gives an advantage. Or if you’re male or able-bodied (which I am) or wealthy (which I am certainly not) you might be invited to “check your privilege” if you express anything less than total understanding and support for women, disabled people, poor people or anyone else who is socially disadvantaged. As followers of Jesus we are always called to keep our eyes open for anyone who is marginalised, and do what we can to make sure they aren’t left out of society – but that’s not the message I want to focus on today.

We do in fact have a privilege as members of the Church, a privilege which will carry us all the way into heaven. It’s not our good deeds which will cause the doors of heaven to open before us; it’s our relationship with Jesus the Living Word expressed through the way we access baptism, communion and confession. And the good news is that this privilege is on offer to the whole world, to anyone willing to accept it! Many of the Jewish people to whom Jesus preached in the flesh did not believe that he was the Word of God – that’s why today’s Gospel says “his own people did not accept him”. But some did, and they became his first apostles and disciples. “To all who did accept him he gave power to become children of God.”

Friends, that’s us, gathered here, today. And I’d like to invite you to do two things because of this message, one before you leave Mass and one when you go home.

During this next half-hour, we’re going to give thanks to God-the-Father in the best way we know how: by celebrating Mass. Yes, as the priest presiding I will be doing most of the talking, but Mass is a prayer which invites participation – every response, every Amen, from the congregation is your way of saying “Thank you heavenly Father for the privilege of being a member of your family. Thank you Father (Him! Not me!), that you have opened the door for me to live with you in heaven forever!”

During the rest of the week, I’d like you to offer the privilege of becoming a member of God’s family to someone who isn’t already a churchgoing Christian. If you want a conversation-starter, try this: “Why do you think Jesus came to earth at Christmas?”

Jesus, the Son-of-God-the-Father, pitched his tent among us. It’s easy to get distracted by many troubles of the world, the places where we don’t see Jesus at work. But you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to ask the question, “Why did Jesus pitch his tent among us?” – and that’s a crucial mystery to solve, because it’s truly a matter of life and death! So as St Paul said – may the wisdom of God open the eyes of your mind, so that you may truly know the privilege you already enjoy, the hope and glory of what you will one day receive from Christ. This is an amazing gift. Merry Christmas!