Cheers to God!

Homily at Our Lady of the Valleys for the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B.

Imagine two children, aged 8 and 3, playing with a tea set. Suddenly, one of them lifts a cup and says “Cheers to God!”

This actually happened recently in a home near here, and it’s a heart-warming story I wanted to share with you in the face of St Paul’s pessimism. Paul worried that getting involved in the messy business of raising a family could get in the way of serving God. But it’s clear that in family life, something can get through and pass on a sense of faith to the next generation.

Was St Paul right to warn us against getting married? Well yes. And no.

Some people – and if you’re not currently married, you might be one of them – come to realise God is calling them to a different way of life. Last week I was in a hospital waiting room chatting to a patient, and she was most surprised to learn that as a Catholic priest I’d promised not to start a family. If God puts on your heart the call to join a religious order, become a hermit or join the priesthood, you will have no peace until you dedicate all your time to the works of prayer or Christian service. The calling is both a practical way of giving God the greatest possible share of your time and a sign to others that God is worth it.

But most of us have chosen the path of family life. Yes, there can be tensions. Instead of dedicated prayer time, family life might only provide the chance to pray the rosary while doing the ironing or mowing the lawn. When a committed Catholic is married to someone who isn’t, there is always that tricky balancing act between the desire to do church things and the needs of your spouse. But when both husband and wife are committed Christians, they can help one another to be faithful to prayer.

Having time for prayer is half the battle. Having the desire to draw close to God is the other. In the first reading, a cry went up from the people of Israel: “We don’t want to hear God’s voice!” There was something terrifying about seeing the signs of God’s presence and hearing God’s voice directly. The Israelites who were led by Moses didn’t want it to happen again. So God blessed them with a prophet who would hear God’s voice for them – a role continued today by the Pope and those under him who teach in the name of the Church. It is because Jesus taught with authority that our leaders are constantly reflecting on how to apply that authoritative teaching today.

We are in a year when Pope Francis has called us to take a fresh look at prayer. We are in a season reflecting on how we support our local Church, especially with our finances but also with our time and talents. We are just a couple of weeks away from Lent, when once again we will challenge ourselves to put God at the centre of our lives.

God is not asking us to do the impossible. But he is asking us to listen to his voice. That means making time in family life to do what is possible. With busy children, that might be just one decade of the rosary before tea. With an empty nest it might be looking again at our rhythms and routines for the start of Lent. But as long as we do what we can to put God first, God will take that and use it. And for every family who has done what’s possible to weave God into their daily life, I too will gratefully raise a glass and say: Cheers to God!

The 5p Challenge

Homily at Our Lady of the Valleys, for the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B.

We’re followers of Jesus! So what?

St Paul wrote a lengthy letter to the Christians in Corinth to advise them on how God expected them to live. Like the other early apostles, there was one thing he got wrong – he expected Jesus to return within a few weeks or months. So he gave practical advice on the basis that Christians wouldn’t be on earth for long because Heaven was coming soon!

Fast forward to the year 2024, and we can say with certainty that the first Christians were mistaken. Jesus will return one unexpected day, but it seems prudent that, like generations of Christians before us, we make practical decisions on the basis that we, and this church building, are going to be around for a lifetime before that happens.

Over the next three weeks we’re going to look at the practical and financial needs of our parish, and today I’d like to share with you the 5p challenge. The 5 ‘ps’ are things we should think about when it comes to worshipping God with our wallets. And I use that expression deliberately. Our modern word worship comes from the Old English weorþscipe – which means to declare what something is worth. Maybe you’ve never thought of giving money to the church as an act of worship but that’s exactly what it is – honouring God by showing, in a practical way, what you believe God is worth.

We’ve lived through some tough times recently. The ‘cost of living crisis’ is still with us. It’s a bad time to think about asking for money – but then it’s also a bad time for the church to have to pay its bills. The bills keep coming and the need is still there. Hence the 5p challenge. I’m going to challenge you to do one of the first four things. The 5th P stands for Prayer, which we can all do, not least in this Year of Prayer. Which one of the first 4 Ps is relevant to you depends where you’re starting from.

The first P is to plan. Some of us might simply give to church by seeing what’s in our purse or pocket when the plate comes round. If you don’t already plan how you are going to give, then I’d like to invite you today to consider making a plan. The needs of the church are too important to be left to an absent-minded search for loose change in your pocket.

The second P is to prioritise. Maybe you do have a plan, but your plan is to cover all your other expenses first, then see what is left from God. If that’s you, ask yourself whether God deserves more than that. This is the scary bit! There are all kinds of logical reasons why we should pay the mortgage, gas bill and credit card balance before we give a penny to the church. But God is King of the Universe, and his resources are infinite. In the Bible – you can look it up in Malachi chapter 3 – God says ‘Test me out on this!’ Give to God’s work as a priority and you will discover that you will not lose out in your personal finances. Humanly speaking, it shouldn’t work – but it does!

I have found God to be faithful to this over and over again when I am nudged in my own personal prayer life to give generously to certain causes, and God has always arranged for me to be repaid in full, with interest, within a week or so! It’s the same challenge which Peter, Andrew, James and John faced – to leave the security of their fishing business to travel with this strange itinerant preacher. They would embark on a journey where Jesus would challenge them to give away what they had, before they could discover how God was going to bless them in return.

The third P is for percentage. Maybe you’ve already spent years putting God first in your household budget. Perhaps you’ve even set up a standing order so that God’s money is given regularly, whatever else happens. But when did you last review this? Whether you have a standing order in place or fill an envelope each week, when did you last review the amount being given? If your habit is to give a fixed sum to the church, know that thanks to inflation, that doesn’t go as far as it used to. So may I challenge you to the possibility of giving a percentage of your regular income, be that salary or pension? Pledging a percentage also gives you permission to lower your offering when you fall on hard times. The leaflet we’ll distribute at this Mass invites you to reflect on what 2, 3 or 5 percent of your income would come to, and what God might be calling you to give.

The fourth P is for progressive. Maybe you’ve already been giving a percentage for a while. But is God inviting you to raise it? As our relationship with God deepens, as we discover how to listen to God’s nudges and experience the blessings which come our way when we give generously, God might invite us to take the next step of faith. I’m not asking anyone to do this rashly. But if God has already brought you to a place of knowing he is faithful, he might now be asking you to take one more step. He is forever challenging us to grow in love!

Above all, pray. I do not want anyone to make a snap decision today. Next week we’ll hear a message from a parishioner involved with parish finance. The following week we’ll have an opportunity for you to sign up to start or change a standing order, enrol for Gift Aid, or start using Giving Envelopes. To the many among you who are already doing what you can, thank you. But once a year we will always revisit this question. Until the Lord comes again, each year it is good to see what progress we can make in worshipping God with our wallets.

Acknowledgements: the four point plan for growing in giving is from Rebuilt by Corcoran and White.

Deliverance Ministry (Condensed Book)

Every so often in my minstry, I find it useful to take a text and produce a condensed version for quick reference. I have just done so with the Charis (formerly ICCRS) document on Deliverance Ministry. The text is below.

summary9Download

Who hears God for you?

Homily at Our Lady of the Valleys, for the 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B.

Who hears God for you?

Take a good hard look at Jesus. What do you see?

Do you see a lawyer or a law-giver?

There are many who admire Jesus and can quote his famous parables. But when we pick and choose the stories and sayings we like, we remain the lord and master of our own life.

The Prophet Samuel rose to his position because he became known as a man with the gift of hearing God speak.

Today’s psalm declares that we should delight in doing God’s will, as is written in his book.

St John the Baptist took a good hard look at Jesus. St Andrew went to spend the day with him. St Peter accepted the authority of Jesus who gave him that name, meaning rock. What they saw was a law-giver, a Lord, with authority.

In my home town there was an evangelical church which I often drove past. It more a large inscription: what think ye of Christ? And that is the fundamental question. Think ye that he is God incarnate, the one who will one day judge the whole world. Or think ye that he is just another wise man from whose teachings you can pick and choose?

When I was 16, I chose to become a Catholic. That choice was rooted in my belief in the power of the Eucharist; outside the Catholic Church, where I could I truly receive the Body and Blood of Christ? But it also forced me to ask how I expected to hear God’s voice. There are many churches in the world, but uniquely the Catholic Church claims to have a single individual who inherits the firm, reliable, rockiness of Peter. If I joined any other kind of church, I would be torn by the competing claims of equal leaders. But as a Catholic, I can be certain that there is one voice who will declare what is required to follow Jesus. If God had not given us the Papacy, I would be alone, with no way to be sure that I was hearing God’s authentic teaching. But in a world with a Pope, I know who hears the voice of God for me. The Vicar of Christ.

So: do we trust Jesus to be God’s ultimate law-giver? And do we trust the Bishop of Rome to be the ultimate interpreter of what that means in practice?

That question comes to each of us, but for different reasons. It often comes when we are discerning relationships – for not every attraction we feel is within God’s law. Some of God’s rules seem sensible, like not stealing another person’s spouse. After all, you wouldn’t want someone to do that to you. But other times God’s rules may seem harsh. “Keep away from fornication” warns St Paul – in other words, wait until the safety of a lifelong vow before experiencing full intimacy with your beloved.

Those who have been wounded by multiple failed casual relationships might nod at the wisdom here. Others, only worldly-wise, might ask if it’s not better to try before you buy? But God has not left this question up for debate. The only blessed place for full intimacy is between a husband and wife who have made lifelong vows.

Similarly, the Catholic church is not pro-life on a mere whim. The Old Testament commandment, “Thou Shalt Not Kill”, was repeated by Jesus when he was asked what we need to do to inherit eternal life. Now there are nuances. Is self-defence permitted, against a personal attack or in a just war? The Church says yes. Is capital punishment allowed? The longstanding tradition of the church, rooted in Old Testament Law, says: “in principle, yes”. But against this is the higher law of Jesus, who called us to love our enemies. Pope Francis has ruled that in the circumstances of our 21st Century world, no nation is so poor as to be unable to offer a life sentence as a more compassionate alternative. So, capital punishment? In practice, no. And when it comes to innocent life, the Church finds no exception to these words, “Thou shalt not kill”, from conception to natural death.

Modern technology allows us to ask moral questions which simply didn’t arise for earlier generations. We can create new life in a test-tube. Should we? The Church gives us a hard answer: “This is not God’s plan.” This is not a wonderful example of medical technology overcoming physical disability. And not only because so many embryos, human lives, are created but then discarded or kept on ice indefinitely. The Church’s answer cuts deeper, and asks whether we have permission to deviate from Jesus reminding us that God’s plan is husband and wife should become one flesh. This is why, as you may have heard in the news this week, that Pope Francis has spoken out against surrogate pregnancy. Again, there are complex moral issues around trafficking and the exploiting of women’s bodies – but the Church’s “no” is not just about that, but about a point of principle.

So the question which each one of us faces, is this: Who hears God for you?

Do we trust the Pope to be the authentic voice of God on earth? Our current Pope often speaks ambiguously and refuses to set out black-and-white guidance, saying “It’s complicated”. But sometimes even Pope Francis says something is absolutely right, or absolutely wrong. The only advice I can give, as a Catholic priest is to trust what Jesus is teaching us through his Rock, both when this seems compassionate and when this seems demanding.

Some of us here today will have walked other paths and then realised we have sinned against God’s law. The good news is that forgiveness is always available. However strongly the Church has spoken against something as sinful, Mother Church proclaims more loudly still: Jesus loves you, and offers you both forgiveness and healing. Like a parent who says “no” he keeps an embrace for the wayward child who comes home. Sinners who repent will be forgiven – this is God’s highest law. Let us delight in the law of the Lord.

The Three Graces

Homily to members and friends of Sion Community at the Ark of the Covenant (Coventry) on 13 January 2024.

Listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Church! We are part of something bigger than ourselves. And I want to sum that up with three graces. The first of which, is,

Bless these sinners as they eat their dinners!

We are part of the worldwide Catholic Church, which continues the mission of today’s Gospel. Jesus eats with sinners. Pope Francis’ constant message to us is, get close to sinners! Get alongside sinners! Eat dinners with sinners!

Of course, we are all sinners, constantly called to repentance. But not all sinners are equal.

There are some who claim to be followers of Jesus but insist on lifestyles which contradict His teaching. When Scripture speaks of expelling the immoral member of a community, as St Paul does in his writings, it’s this. If someone who claims to be a disciple insists on proclaiming that it’s OK for a follower of Jesus to choose abortion, or to have sex outside marriage, or embrace weapons of mass destruction, then the church has no choice but to first correct, and then excommunicate.

As evangelists, our mission is not to seek people who claim to be disciples but misrepresent Christ. Our mission is to those who are not yet disciples. Our mission is not to judge sinners, but to proclaim the Gospel to them. And this is at the heart of the very controversial document which the Holy See issued a week before Christmas.

There has been a lot of noisy publicity about whether the Catholic Church is now blessing gay relationships. But when you hear the word ‘blessing’, don’t think ‘wedding’, think ‘prayer ministry’. When someone comes to us for prayer ministry, we may gently challenge sin in their life, but we don’t say “I can’t pray with you because you’re a sinner.” The Catholic Church can never bless sinful behaviour, but if we stop blessing sinful people, we will have no-one left to bless.

Listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Church! We are part of something bigger than ourselves. And our second grace today is:

Bless us, Oh Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive, from thy bounty.

Usually the gifts we refer to would be the food upon the table, but today I am speaking of charisms, and the fruits of charisms, because we are part of the worldwide charismatic renewal. In England and Wales there is a group of prophetic intercessors, whose words are discerned and circulated through Charis. One of those words was about how God would use people who have shameful pasts to minister glorious futures – which of course is a fruit of having dinners with sinners. Another of those words was about the call to be noisy, to offer God unrestrained praise.

Today’s default First Reading was about Saul being anointed as king when he was looking for donkeys. We can all be donkeys and make a noise for Jesus. But I chose one of the special readings for a Mass of Our Lady (1 Chronicles 15:3-4,15-16,16:1-2), because we are beginning a new year here at the Ark of the Covenant. The Community of Israel chose its musicians and worship leaders and set them to rejoice as the Ark of God was set in place. The people of Israel, we are told, offered holocausts before God, and communion sacrifices. What’s the difference? In a communion sacrifice, the worshipper eats part of what is offered as a sign of union with God. In a holocaust, the offering is totally consumed by fire. Sometimes, when we come to worship, we might enjoy a profound sense of union with God. But other times we may have no consolation of God’s presence. In those moments we can offer a holocaust, a total gift of praise, keeping nothing back for ourselves. We can all choose to magnify the Lord, as Blessed Mary did, by an act of will. We praise God because of who God is, not because of how we are feeling.

We read that when King David had finished offering holocausts and communion sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. So that brings us to our third grace, which is from Psalm 128:

May the LORD bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children.

Another word circulated by Charis called upon us not to be dismayed or encouraged by numbers, but simply to plant seeds for the Holy Spirit. Our ‘children’s children’ here represent the future members who will be invited to join Sion Community by the people we will attract to Sion Community in the coming years. This is the fruit of what living out our morning offering: when we tell of the beauty of Sion to the next generation, it is what they will see of our beauty which will bear fruit in the children’s children.

So: Listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Church! We are part of something bigger than ourselves. We are part of a church led by Pope Francis, so we will be misunderstood as we proclaim the Gospel to sinners. We are part of Catholic Charismatic Renewal, so we should be encouraged by the words shared, and make a joyful noise to the Lord. We are here today as members and friends of Sion Community, called by God to share the Gospel in our changing world. Whether you are experiencing profound communion with God today, or only able to make a total holocaust of yourself, we have a day before us which will begin with Communion with God and lead to communion with one another. So for what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful. Praise God! Halleluia! Praise God!

Give Prayer A Go!

Homily at Our Lady of the Valleys for Epiphany, Year B.

What shall we give to the child in the manger?

If I were a wise man, I would do my part. But what I have I give him – give my heart.

Many hymns about Epiphany ask the question, what gift should we offer to Jesus?

The wise men brought gold, to acclaim Jesus as a King. They lay flat on the floor – which is called falling prostrate – as the ultimate sign of humble respect.

The wise men brought incense, which is used to honour things which are holy. By doing this they acclaimed Jesus as one sent from God and carrying the presence of God.

The wise men brought myrrh – a sign that they understood this child would suffer as a sacrifice for our sins.

The wise men also brought a willingness to listen. They listened to God speaking in the signs around them, when they saw this miraculous star. They listened to the Jewish scribes interpreting the Scriptures, and learned Christ would be born in Bethlehem. And they listened to God speaking to them in a dream, so that they would not go back to Herod.

In all of these actions, the wise men are teaching us ways of praying. And notice, not one of these lessons is a lesson in asking God for any gift. Rather, they have come to offer the gifts they already possess, to God.

On this first weekend of 2024, we remember that Pope Francis has called for a Year of Prayer. Next year, we’ll celebrate another quarter-century since the birth of our Saviour, as a Jubilee of Hope. But before we get there, we’re called to renew prayer in our lives.

Here in our Pastorate, I’d like to suggest two things for the start of this Year of Prayer. The first is an invitation to spend five minutes each day praying for our parish communities, and to do that we have a take-away sheet for you today. You can have it as an A4 sheet, or a double-sided A5. We also have a simpler version for children, so that everyone can join in.

Prayer is as simple as talking to God, trusting that God hears us. We can use our own words, or we can use words written for us. The sheets are written so you can use them either way.

The first invitation on the sheet invites us to pray “In thanksgiving for our Church family, for our priests, and the freedom to worship together.”

So I could use this as a springboard and pray something like this: “Lord Jesus, thank you for giving me so many brothers and sisters who worship with me in this parish. Thank you for all the priests who have served here, and who will serve here in future. Thank you that we have this building and we are free to meet here and celebrate Holy Mass.”

Or if I didn’t feel so confident to find the right words, I could simply say: “Lord God, I come to you in thanksgiving for our Church family, for our priests, and the freedom to worship together.”

They’re both fine. After all, the best way to pray is the way you pray best.

The second invitation on the sheet is to pray for God’s Holy Spirit to help us to worship with greater love, fervour and commitment. At every New Year we become aware of how hard it is to keep up our resolutions about diet, exercise or quitting some bad habit. Equally we must be aware of whether we’ve slipped in our commitment to worship together. Let’s decide today to return to Jesus as our first love.

The third invitation is to pray for people we know. Often we might pray for good health or for them to overcome challenging family circumstances. But today’s invitation is to pray for something even more important – that they would fall in love with Jesus, and so follow him securely into Heaven as active members of our church.

The fourth invitation is to pray for yourself. But again this is not just for your general well-being. It is that you would meet Jesus and bring his love to everyone.

Finally, there’s an invitation to pray for me and the Pastorate Leadership Team.

You might be thinking there’s a lot of “religious stuff” in these prayers. Well, yes.

The question is, what does Jesus want for us? Does Jesus want us to love and serve him better? Does Jesus want us to draw more members into His Church?

If the answer is yes, then who is going to pray for these things? Jesus taught us to “ask, seek and knock” in prayer. We can’t outsource our praying just to nuns and monks in some far-distant cloister. If we want our parishes to come alive and catch fire, we must ask Jesus for this – and to ask him to start in the one place you are truly responsible for: your heart.

Isaiah had a vision of all nations coming to worship the Lord. The Lord’s message has reached us here in Wales, but whether we come to worship the Lord? That’s up to us.

I said I had two suggestions to offer you. The second is to sign up for our Monday afternoon on-line course of Ways of Praying which starts Monday 15^th January. Details are included in our parish directory sheet. Here you will be led beyond simply asking God for things, into the ways of reflecting on Scripture, praying the Rosary and celebrating the Psalms.

So my invitation to you today is: give prayer a go. Do what you can. If you can give 5 minutes of your day, that’s all we ask. If you can only give us 5 minutes of your day off, we’ll take it. If you can give a few Monday afternoons, even better.

Falling to their knees, the wise men honoured Jesus. Isaiah prophesied the nations would come, singing the praise of the Lord. Let’s make this a year of prayer and look forward to the blessings God will shower upon our parish. Yes, let’s give prayer a go.

Daily Prayer Sheet for Adults

Sheet for children: