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:

The Promise of Inheritance

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

One day, a man heard that a distant relative had died. Soon after, a package arrived, containing his unexpected inheritance: a violin and a painting. He sent them for valuation, and received the results: “What you have is a genuine Van Gogh and an original Stradivarius.” The heir was delighted and cried out: “I can sell these for millions!” The valuer stopped him “Not so fast, she said. Stradivarius wasn’t much of a painter… and Van Gogh made lousy violins.”

Inheritance! There are few topics with the power to bring so much hope and so much disappointment to families. You can hear Abraham’s disappointment at the thought he wouldn’t be able to pass on his wealth to his own son… and the power of the promise which God then made to him.

In the sixteen years I’ve been a priest, I’ve heard so many stories about lives ruined by disputes about inheritance. Someone was promised verbally that they would receive something, but this was never written into the Will. Or there was an assumption that a family member would divide up items of sentimental value a certain way, but that didn’t happen. The fallout can divide families for years, or forever.

Now I’m the first to recognise that when you expect to inherit something, it’s easy to daydream. My parents own a house, and when the time comes, its value will probably be split between my brother and myself. I could dream of a round-the-world holiday, or buying a brand-new car, or sponsoring some expensive charitable project. Or perhaps we’ll keep the house, or my brother will buy out my share. Yet maybe none of that will happen. Perhaps the house will have to be sold to pay for care home fees – or a survey might find an old mineshaft under its foundations and make it worthless. So I can dream, but I would be foolish to plan a future based on something I might never receive.

Yes, inheritance is beset by problems. Promises which are neither transparent nor fixed in writing. Hopes which may be dashed by circumstances. And cases where it’s not easy to see what a fair share looks like.

Imagine, for a moment, that you have four grown-up daughters.

• Angela never married, and has spent the last 20 years looking after you in your own home.
• Bridie married a teacher, but isn’t able to have any children.
• Christine married a very wealthy businessman, who is like another son to you. They have two children.
• Deborah defied your wishes and married a man with a criminal record who you thought was totally unsuitable. They have four children.

Now, it’s time to write your will. What do you do? Deborah’s family has the greatest needs: the children are nearly old enough for university. Christine’s children have all the money they need, but if you leave nothing to them, that will look mean. If you leave the house to Angela, there won’t be much money to donate to the rest of the family – but if you sell the house to give a share to each daughter or a share to each grandchild, where will Angela live? It would certainly seem unfair to make Angela homeless, but there are ways of leaving property “in trust” so its value can be shared out later.

I once used this example in another parish; a solicitor present told me afterwards that English Law would by default give equal shares to each daughter, but takes no account of grandchildren: “they are their parents’ responsibility”. His practical experience suggested that leaving grandchildren more than a token amount in a Will tends to cause conflict.

Sometimes there will be no easy answers – but there will be traps that we can avoid. Inheritance might not feel like a very Christmassy topic, but as we make New Year’s Resolutions this weekend we might want to include some good decisions which will avoid broken promises or shattered hopes. So here are some tips:

Be pro-active. None of us knows the day or hour when our Will will become effective. If you haven’t made one, your wishes surely won’t be carried out.

Be consistent. If you’ve made a promise that someone will receive something, take steps to make that official as soon as possible, by at least adding a codicil to your will. But if circumstances have changed and you’re not willing to keep the promise, it’s on you to walk it back in a way that minimises damage.

Be generous. Apply our Christian values and pray about the decisions you will need to make. A will is not a place to punish people – Jesus asks us not to judge others in this way.

Are you angry with a deceased relative for not including you in their will? Let it go. It was never your money in the first place. Pray for their soul!

Are you angry with a living relative for not sharing a portion of their inheritance with you? Let it go. They have had their reward already. Pray for their conversion!

Are you angry because the executor of a will is being slow to give you your inheritance? Let it go. God will allow your portion to come to you at a time when you’ll need it. Love and bless your adversary!

While you’re making your New Year Resultions, think also of the other crucial conversations which we put off having in families. Does your next of kin wish to be an organ donor? Do elderly parents need to put in place a Lasting Power of Attorney for healthcare or financial decisions? When will you have that conversation about burial or cremation, and whether you want Mass offered for your soul?

Today’s readings are also about promises being kept. God made good on the promise that Abraham would have a Son – and Mary and Joseph kept the Covenant by presenting Baby Jesus in the Temple. When it comes to arrangements for frailty and inheritance, we rely on others to carry our what was promised in good faith. To keep a promise is a sacred duty and, when done for our parents, is the keeping of one of the Ten Commandments. If we do the right thing by God, God will do the right thing by us. That’s a promise!

Up and Across

Homily to the Sunday Mass congregation at Craig Lodge Family House of Prayer, 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A.

This homily begins with a picture of the gates of heaven hanging from the rather low ceiling of the chapel.

“Which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” When a person asks a question like this, I think what they’re really asking is, “What’s the one thing I have to do to get to heaven?” So perhaps the children here today can help me find a way to get to heaven?

First of all, let’s try walking horizontally – I mean walking across the floor level. So children, just try walking around the chapel. Is that helping you reach heaven? No, we can’t get there. It’s too high up.

OK, going sideways didn’t help, so let’s try going up. Maybe we can climb this wall? (Invite a child to stand on a chair against the wall.) Can we reach heaven from up here? No, it’s still to far across.

So what could we do to get to heaven? (Allow suggestions.) I think we need to go up and across. Maybe we can built a ramp. Now, we’ll need to use a bit of imagination because this is a chapel, not a construction site, but we could imagine this small stool getting us up to a big chair is a bit like a ramp. Now can we reach heaven? YES!

Jesus was asked for one commandment, but he gave us two. That’s because to get to heaven we need to go up, and across. Every time we look at a crucifix, we see two beams. One goes up, the other goes across. The vertical beam reminds us to stretch out our hands to heaven, to show our love to God. The horizontal beam reminds us to reach out to other people, to show love to our neighbour.

The world is full of kind people – and not-so-kind people. Most religions have some version of “be kind to other people”. Jesus even said that being kind can be enough to get us to heaven, because he is hidden in the poor people we are serving. But if just being kind does get us to heaven, it’s because Jesus has to reach down and lift us up – it’s not the path he has set out for us.

It’s easy to think of ways we can love other people. But sometimes we get a bit confused about what it means to love God. If we truly love God, it will also motivate us to show love for other people. But what kind of things can we do to show love directly to God? (Invite children for answers. I’m hoping they will suggest: saying prayers, singing hymns, going to Mass, taking communion, lighting a candle in church, taking time to read God’ Word.)

I’d also like to say something this morning about the big meeting which has been taking place in Rome this month, the Synod. Last night they released the official report. I know many people were feeling a bit afraid of what might happen – that people might ask for changes in the Church which don’t line up very well with the teaching of Jesus. But I’ve looked at the report and it’s OK. Nothing is going to change immediately. The Synod doesn’t have the power to do that. Rather their job was to write a report and say: “Here are some things the Church needs to think about.” So they did.

Now we have 11 months to think before the final Synod meeting in 2024. Questions on the table include understanding better how the role of deaconesses in the early church was similar or different to deacons, and how leadership in the Church relates to ordained ministry. We know that priests and bishops have to be male because they represent Christ the Bridegroom at the Last Supper. But does that mean that a priest leading a Vatican department automatically has to become an Archbishop, or that only ordained ministers can make executive decisions in the Church? When God gives leadership gifts to women and to lay men, how are these meant to be used?

The big idea in the report is the idea of synodality itself. This means no big decisions should be made without listening to everyone. And here again it’s important to remember that the Church herself goes up and across. We don’t need to be afraid, and I’ll show you why.

There are some people in the Church who like to stay exactly where we are. We feel safe, we’ve been doing things this way for hundreds or even thousands of years, so why change? (Invite a small child to stand on a chair as a sign of staying exactly where we are.) I’m going to put the crucifix here at the base of the chair to remind us that the Church is built on Jesus and the things he said and did, but has grown upwards in its culture over the years. For instance, in the first thousand years, no Catholics said the rosary – it hadn’t been invented yet! But they did call upon our Blessed Mother in other ways.

There are other members of the church whose hearts go out to people on the margins. Pope Francis keeps telling us we need to go outwards, to go across, to people who feel like they are outsiders. And sometimes new Catholics join the church because they see the outreach work, but they haven’t yet fallen in love with Jesus at the centre. So some of us are going out, and others are slowly coming in from the outside. (Invite a middle-sized child to stand some way from the chair and crucifix.)

Now, what happens when we get everyone in the same room and try to listen to all the points of view? Some will be pulling up, to keep our traditions unchanging. Others will be pulling across, to make sure the Church doesn’t needlessly exclude anyone. But look what happens when we pull in both of those directions? (Get both children to pull my hand at the same time.) It keeps us going back to Christ at the centre, and it means any change in the Church will be very slow.

When God truly wants us to change, we will be graced by the Holy Spirit, who pulls us in the direction of heaven. (Children, you may need to move when I tug – and I pull up diagnonally towards heaven.) Look! Those of us who have gone too far up, will be brought closer to Christ, who is at our roots, and moved outwards towards others. Those of us still at the fringes will be brought closer to Christ at the centre!

The Mass, and the Crucifix, are where the horizontal and the vertical meet. Reach up to God in worship. Reach out to your neighbours in distress. Do both these things, and you will find the pathway to heaven.

Unworthy But Worth It

Homily to members of a Pilgrimage in the Footsteps of St Paul, preached Friday of the 28th Week of Ordinary Time at St Barbara’s, near the port of Lavrion in Greece

Do you ever feel like you don’t belong? They call it imposter syndrome. Maybe you’re a highly skilled professional or a departmental manager at work, but you quake when your pastor asks you to do something for your parish? Or maybe you’re a Brit on pilgrimage with a large group of Americans! It’s easy to feel like at imposter. And at one level, your instinct is correct. None of us belong here. We’re not worthy.

Even the bishop on pilgrimage with us today is not worthy! If you were with him at Mass in his own diocese, and no other priest concelebrated, he would have to say, “We pray for Francis, our Pope, and me, your unworthy servant.”

I once heard of an Archbishop who had an assistant bishop, let’s say the assistant was named John. Celebrating Mass, the Archbishop would pray for “Francis, our Pope, me, your unworthy servant, and John, my unworthy servant!”

Now it’s bad form to insult a congregation the first time you get to preach to them, but I do have to say: not one of you is worthy. I heard you say so at Mass yesterday! “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you…”

In fact, there are only 5 worthy people in this place today. At an ordination of a priest or deacon, the bishop will ask he he was been found to be worthy. The representative of the seminary or parish will declare that after due examination the candidate for ordination has been “found worthy” and everyone cries out “Thanks be to God!” 

But isn’t that ridiculous? If not one of us is worthy to receive the Eucharist, still less can any of us worthily minister at the altar!

But of course, “worthy” has multiple meanings. The first is whether we deserve it. And the answer is, of course, no. None of us deserve Jesus. He gives himself to us out of love.

The second meaning is “qualified”. When we ask if a candidate for Holy Orders is worthy, we are asking if he has what it takes. Is it worth entrusting this task to this guy?

And there’s a third meaning, too. What a thing is “worth” can also mean what you’re willing to pay for it. Remember that when haggling in the markets we will visit!

So what are we worth? More than many sparrows! Each and every one of us is worth nothing less than the blood of Jesus! For God so loved the world that he sent Jesus to die for our sins, and the Lord would have died to save even one of us!

Brothers and sisters, if you ever feel like an impostor, you are correct. But don’t let that stop you responding to the call of Jesus.

God chose Abraham not for what he had already done, but for how he could respond to God’s calling.

You are members of the body of Christ on earth. You belong to the church. Not because of anything you have done – but just as God chose Abraham, so God chooses you.

God not only chose Abraham. He chose Moses, who was a murderer, to lead his people to freedom. And he chose Paul, who at least condoned the murder of Stephen, to preach Christ to the nations.

Brothers and sisters, I’ve enjoyed hearing about your home situations, your parishes. You might have said something like, “I don’t do much in my parish, I’ve only been there 5 years.” But, friends, even on day one, you belong! You have been made worthy by the blood of the Lamb. 

To quote the great St John Henry Newman, God has chosen you for some definite purpose. He has work for you in your parish which he will not entrust to anyone else. You are indeed an imposter, for God has imposed his calling on you. The only question is, will you do what Abraham did, step out in faith, and receive all the blessings which God has in store?

If your pastor has asked you to undertake some task you are free to do, then don’t let unworthiness stop you. Of all the unworthy people he could have asked, he has chosen you. So get on with it!

Starwards! A New Hope!

Homily to members of Sion Community for the 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A.

“Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive for God in Christ Jesus.”

Consider this: what does it mean to consider?

Scripture invites us to think differently: “Be transformed by renewing of your mind!”

We are also counselled to consider other people to be “better” than ourselves.

Does that mean they are better than us? No, for they are counselled to consider us the better person. But it creates a respectful attitude of mind.

Good consideration is the antidote to false identity. Because as followers of Jesus, members of his body living in this fallen world, each one of us must hold together two truths. 

I have sinned!

and… 

In Christ I am dead to sin!

We may suffer temptation to spin our identity out of the worst thing we ever did

I once told a lie. So I am a liar!

I once stole a pencil. So I am a thief!

Saul approved of the death of Stephen so Saul is a murderer.

It’s clear that St Paul himself grappled with these questions of identity. He famously gives a long list of people identified by their defining sin in I Cor 6:9:

“Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers… will not inherit the kingdom of God!”

And only a few verses after his message today about considering oneself to be dead to sin, he will cry out: “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … Nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.”

What does it mean for sin within us? In part, that’s about an affliction which comes from the outside, which is why deliverance ministries like Unboundhave their place in the church. But in part it’s about the struggle we all face to tame the instincts of our fallen flesh. What’s important is that I am what I choose, not what I desire.

Your sin is not your identity!

No !

The devil is the accuser.

He will take your worst failing and offer it back to you as the defining feature of your very being! 

He is a liar! 

It’s different for him. Being a Liar is his identity! Being an angel, the choice he made to turn from God did radically corrupt his nature forever. He is a liar through and through.

Not so for us! We are creatures of spirit and flesh, and as long as there is breath in our body we have the opportunity to turn to Christ and repent. What Jesus says to us is this. “I will take your sin. I will add it to my burden that I bore on the cross for all mankind. In return. I give you my Grace and a share in my identity. You are a member of my body. Choose Life. Choose me. Choose my desires for you, not the desires of your fallen flesh.”

So here is a paradox. Scripture tells us that even the just man sins seven times a day … we know that in all likelihood we will commit more sins before we end up in heaven. Yet  each time we go to confession we are invited to say the same form of words which goes something like this. “Lord, by the help of your grace I will not sin again.”

Once, as a fairly new Catholic, and trying to be honest with my Confessor, I said, say “With the help with your grace, I will try not to sin again.” The Confessor corrected me: “You know, he said, You must believe that with God’s help, with God’s grace, it is possible to live a life without sin. This is what you’re putting your hope in God for.”

Now I’m going to let you into a secret. I only saw the film Star Wars for the first time a few years ago if I’d seen it when I was much younger, I would probably at that point remembered Yoda’s words to Luke: “Do, or do not. There is no try.” And Luke did.

This doesn’t mean that Jesus is inviting us to a kind of wishful thinking, which is not grounded in reality. When it comes to identity, we do need to hold up a mirror to reality. It is good to see the gifts and talents which we have been given, and they do form part of who we are. For those of us taking part in Called and Gifted we will find positive things that we can build into a sense of who we are.

But when it comes to sin, take a moment to remember who God is. The God, who loves you is your Saviour. He has not rejected you. There He goes, lifting your load. Again.

In this life, he will always forgive your sins, when you come to him with a contrite heart. So when you know you have sinned, you are not a sinner. You are a saint in the making, struggling to overcome the sin which dwells within you. But while your feet are on earth, raise your head to the heavens. Consider yourself to be dead to sin, and live in Jesus Christ. This is the future reality of which we can be certain, and those future truths which we are certain of are what we call hope.

If we are to be purified and become the best version of ourselves, then our true identity is the person we will be when we are dead to sin.

Good news people! The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this! Word!

Right now, it’s quite hard being dead to sin. I still seem to be trying to die to sin every day, but that doesn’t make me a sinner. I am a saint in progress, reaching out my hands and trusting the fullness of who I am will be completed by the grace of Jesus on the day he calls me to himself.

Until then I will cast my eyes to heaven, and not to the mirror, to tell me who I am.

Consider yourselves dead to sin.

The very word “consider” possibly comes from a root meaning “with the stars”. So look to heaven! Look starwards, and hold on to this new hope! Consider yourself dead to sin and alive in Jesus Christ because that is who you are!

May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Children of Mary

Homily for Sunday 1 January 2023, Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, at St Joachim & St Anne, Dunvant

“To all who did accept him, he gave power to become children of Mary.”

You won’t find those words in the Bible, but they are just as true.

In yesterday’s Mass readings we heard again words which you might have heard at Christmas – Jesus, the Word, became flesh and lived among us. Many rejected him; but to all who did accept him he gave power to become children of God.

That same Jesus, as he was dying upon the Cross, said to the disciple he loved, “Behold your Mother.”

If we are followers of Jesus, we have been given power to become children of God – and if we are disciples of Jesus, we are entrusted to Mary as our mother. After all, if she is worthy to be mother of God, she is surely good enough to be a mother to us!

On New Year’s Day it’s traditional to make predictions about the year ahead, so I’m going to make one – in the Catholic world, especially online, this year there will be a lot of talk about Mary.

Why? Since 2019, an independent media production called The Chosen has sought to dramatise the life of Jesus and his (chosen) disciples as a multi-season series. Maybe you’ve seen it – if not, I recommend it.

Now whenever you try to show the Bible on stage or on screen, you have to invent some things to fill in the gaps. What did people say in their conversations? How did they dress? What were their personal traits? The people who make The Chosen aren’t Catholics – although the actor who plays Jesus, is – but they do listen to Catholic and Jewish advisors, as well as Evangelical Christians.

There are many things we believe are true, but they come from traditions handed down apart from the Bible. They don’t go against the Bible – and that’s the big difference between us as Catholics and evangelical Christians. Many Bible-believing Christians say they’ll only accept what is in the Bible. But that itself is not very Biblical – St Paul wrote, in the Bible, that the believers in Thessaloniki should hold to the traditions given to them by spoken words as well as what they had in writing.

So what do we know about Our Lady, which doesn’t come from the Bible but doesn’t go against it?

• She was conceived without original sin.
• She was presented in the Jewish Temple as a girl.
• She did not experience labour pains, since these are consequences of original sin; furthermore, the birth of Jesus was a physical miracle which did not rupture her womb.
• At the end of her earthly life, she was taken up, body and soul, into heaven.

There’s one thing, which we would get wrong if we only had the Bible to go on. We’re told clearly in the Bible that one day Mary came to visit Jesus together with his “brothers”. The natural reading would be that Jesus was the eldest of a large family. But in the ancient world, the same word could be used for brother, or step-brother, or cousin. So we can also read the text as suggesting Mary came with her step-children, or her nephews. Since we know from Catholic tradition that Mary remained a virgin after giving birth to Jesus, they couldn’t have been her natural born children.

Why is this important? It means Mary can be equally mother to every disciple of Jesus. She is Mother of God and our Mother too, because by our baptism, Jesus, who is God, became our eldest brother. Here’s a thought to get a conversation going: if someone asks you about this church, tell them it was named after your grandparents! We know – not from the Bible but from tradition – that Our Lady’s parents were named Joachim and Anne. But if you accept the gift of Mary as your Mother, then they are surely your spiritual grandparents. And if today we celebrate that Mary is Mother of God, we also rejoice that we are brothers and sisters of God! Yes, God-in-heaven is Our Father. But God-in-Jesus is our brother!

Jesus came to reveal that his Father in heaven is our Father, and I have seen grown men weep as they realise for the first time that God is not some remote spirit in heaven but someone who loves them better than any earthly father could. But sometimes we need healing for a difficult relationship with our mother, and for this, God has gifted us Mary. She is not divine – but she is a perfect model of motherhood.

I have a friend, a wife and mother who was brought up Baptist, and one of her greatest fears about becoming a Catholic was having to accept uncomfortable facts about the Virgin Mary. But then God granted her an extraordinary gift. As she was praying one day, she sensed Our Lady come to her and assure her that she had nothing to fear; Mary would not ask anything of her but just wanted to be known by her as one mother to another. She was so struck by the great humility she sensed in Our Lady on that occasion, that her fears about becoming a Catholic melted away.

What God offered my friend, he offers you too – the gift of Mary. I can’t promise you a vision of Our Lady but I can leave you with words which come from one. This is the report of St Juan Diego, the elderly man privileged to see Our Lady in Mexico City almost 500 years ago, who received the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on his cloak:

“Listen, my beloved son, have no fear or anxiety in your heart… For am I not here with you, your mother? Are you not safe in the shadow of my protection? Am I not the source of your life and your happiness? Am I not holding you in my lap, wrapped in my arms? What else can you possibly need?”

God has given you power to become children of Mary, It’s as easy as calling on her name. If you are worried about anything this year, ask Our Lady to wrap you in her arms. What more can you possibly need?

Three Ships

Homily for Christmas Day at St Mary’s, Pembroke Dock

“I saw three ships come sailing by on Christmas Day in the morning.”

When I was asked to come to Pembroke Dock to celebrate Mass this Christmas, I wondered if I would see any ships sailing by the harbour, and it reminded me of this traditional yet mysterious Christmas Carol. Why would anyone see three ships on Christmas Day? Certainly not in Bethlehem, which is 20 miles from the nearest coastline! So what might these three ships represent? As I prayed about it, I was led to the gifts of faith, hope and charity.

The gift of faith is the gift of knowing that God is real. That’s what we’re celebrating here today. God loved us so much that He did not wish to remain apart from us in heaven, but stepped down into the messiness of life on the earth He had created. The baby born today was fully God yet fully human. This is why one of his names is Emannuel, which means “God is With Us”. And it is because God is with us that we worship – that’s our first ship today. For the four weeks of Advent we have refrained from singing Glory to God in the Highest, but at the start of today’s Mass we once again joined in the song of the Christmas angels. When we pray the Creed in a few moments we will kneel down as we declare that God became flesh and dwelt among us; this too is worship. The shepherds came to the manger to offer their worship; we have come to this church to offer ours. And a manger is a place where food is placed – God wants to be with us so much he feeds us in the form of the Bread of Heaven. When we take time to receive the gift of Holy Communion, or make an act of spiritual communion, we truly worship God.

Our second ship is less welcome, for it is hardship. We are living through difficult times – covid, Ukraine, inflation, the cost of living. It is to get us through the challenges of life that God offers us a second gift, the gift of hope – the gift of being confident that things will get better. God does not always protect us from hardship; the baby whose birth we honour this morning would have to go into exile in Egypt and later be whipped, crowned with thorns and nailed to a cross. Yet we have a promise in Scripture that God turns all things to the good for those who love Jesus. Sometimes healings and miracles come in this life; the greatest hope, though, is that our earthly life is only an appetiser for a life of happiness in heaven which never ends. If we choose to follow the teachings of baby Jesus, we will be safe, because that very name, Jesus, means “the God who saves”.

Faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love, sometimes called charity – the selfless love which puts the needs of others before ourselves. It is in the Christmas season of goodwill to all people that we are reminded of so many stories – in fiction and in real life – of people who put others before themselves. In times of stretched finances we cannot always give generously from our wallets, but we can always give generously from our hearts. A smile, a kind word, a few moments of our time: if we cannot afford to give anything else, we can at least give these things freely. Another of our Christmas carols celebrates Good King Wenceslaus, known for his kindness to poor citizens. Maybe it is no coincidence that his royal coat of arms featured three ships. Our third ship is friendship – the friendship God has shown to us, and the friendship we are called to offer to others.

Sometimes friendship can be strained. How many of us will go from this Mass to eat with members of our families we may not see at other times of year? We may not agree with all of the decisions made by our relatives and loved ones. We may be reminded of old grudges and resentments. But God is offering us a gift this Christmas – the gift of letting go. If you know there is someone you must spend time with today or in the days to come who makes you uneasy, come to the manger and speak to Jesus about them. Does the behaviour of someone you know offend you? Another person might try to give offense, but it is in your control whether or not to take offense. Is there some past wrong you find it hard to forgive? Forgiveness is a decision, not a feeling. It’s a choice not to punish the other person, but to treat them with goodwill.

At every Mass, shortly before Holy Communion, the priest prays “Look not on our sins but the faith of your Church.” Will the Lord see enough faith in this church that people choose to forgive? To forgive is not to excuse or agree with bad behaviour; it is to love a person despite the choices they have made in their life. If you cannot do that by your own strength, come to the child in the manger and ask for his strength to love and to forgive this Christmas. There is enough hardship in the world without any of us bringing more of it sailing by.

“I saw three ships come sailing by on Christmas Day in the morning.”

Worship. Hardship. Friendship. This Christmas Day morning, there are two ships to get on board and one to endure until it passes. We are not alone; our God is with us, he has come to save us, and will not rest until he welcomes us into heaven. Other Christmas gifts might be unwrapped in a few moments, but unwrapping the gift of Christ will take a lifetime. So many things are new for us this Christmas – a new Bishop in Menevia, a new King making a speech this afternoon, a new Prime Minister. But above and beyond these worldly things, receive anew the gift of Baby Jesus – worship him, and renew your friendship with everyone you meet. Merry Christmas, one and all.

The Choice to Rejoice

Homily at Sion Community Family Day for the 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year A.

Let the wilderness rejoice! Fear not, rejoice and be glad! Rejoice in the Lord always!

You don’t have to look far in the Bible to find an invitation to rejoice. God’s people are called to be a people of praise, a people who rejoice in what God has done for them.

The trouble is, we don’t always feel like rejoicing.

There’s a temporary joy which comes from an emotional experience. What happens when your football team wins a match? What happens when one of your children gets a prize at school? No explanation is needed for the smile on your face and the song in your heart on a day like that.

But even if you’re an England fan, I am daring to invite you to rejoice this morning.

Christian rejoicing is not born of a temporary emotion but a lasting decision. Each one of us can make the choice to rejoice. Even when your team has been knocked out of the World Cup – in fact, ESPECIALLY when your team has just lost a big match – you are invited to praise God. This is why the Church’s year has a rhythm of feasts and solemnities, days when we are invited to make a sepcial effort to praise God, regardless of how you’re feeling. Today is one such day, Gaudate Sunday, Rejoicing Sunday!

One of the things we’re blessed with in Sion Community is the talent of so many musicians. When we come together to worship, we choose to sing. That’s a deliberate choice – it’s part of our choice to rejoice. And it’s one of the ways we make the joy of heaven present on earth.

Music is part of the story of the first Christmas: angels appeared in the heights, singing Glory to God in the highest! During Advent we take a short break from the Gloria, but only so we can rejoice all the more on Christmas night when we sing it anew. Although the Bible doesn’t say so, we can make a good guess that when shepherds were watching their flocks by night, they sang and played pipes to pass the time. We read in the Bible that Jesus and his disciples sang psalms at the Last Supper. There are plenty of songs in the New Testament too – most famously Our Lady’s Magnificat but also words in St Paul’s letters which the scholars think were hymns sung by the first Christians. One of the psalms invites us to “Come, ring out your joy to the Lord our God.” This is a daily invitation!

John the Baptist wanted to rejoice in who Jesus was, but hesitated. Was Jesus the long-expected Messiah, or must they wait for someone else? Jesus answers John’s question with a message about how the blind were receiving their sight and the lame enabled to walk. John heard, though he did not see, and believed. For us, too, if we move among joyful Christians we will hear many stories of healing miracles but might not witness a healing with our own eyes. Like John the Baptist, we may have to settle for the evidence of our ears, and let that be enough to cause us to rejoice. It is painful when stories of healing exist alongside our own sickness or news of the death of a loved one, and yet we hear just enough of the news of God’s presence that we still dare to rejoice. The most extreme example is the prophet Ezekiel; the Lord warned him that when his beloved wife died, he was not to mourn but to wear the garments of someone celebrating good news. The Lord will ask few of us to do that, but all of us to celebrate even on those Sundays when our hearts are heavy.

There’s a prayer within Mass, where I say to God, as priest of this community, “Look not on our sins but on the faith of your church.” O God, don’t dwell on our failures, but on our trust in you. In the same way, I must say as priest to this community: “Let us not be downcast or dwell on our sorrows. When we gather for Mass, we’re here to celebrate life.” When our thoughts are racing with questions, saying “Why doesn’t God do something about these outrages?” it’s my job to remind us that God has done something about it. God so loved the world that he sent his only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but shall have eternal life. As Zephaniah put it, “The Lord has repealed your sentence.” Jesus walked among us not to rule this earth with an iron rod, but to fling open the gates of heaven.

You might know a famous song from the musical, The King and I, where the English governess, Anna, is teaching one of her children to keep his spirits up. “If you feel afraid, whistle a happy tune.” But then she realises what effect the tune is having on herself:

The result of this deception
Is very strange to tell
For when I fool the people
I fear I fool myself as well.

Sometimes, we sing because we’re happy. Sometimes we sing – or whistle – or smile – because we want to make ourselves feel happy. And what’s true for earthly happiness is even more appropriate for divinely ordained rejoicing. We gather every Sunday to sing Alleluia, Holy Holy, Hosanna, because we know the message is true. Whether we come to worship in the best of moods or bearing the greatest of burdens, we are called to choose to rejoice. Singing for joy is always an appropriate response to God’s love for us, whatever is happening in the world around us.

The choice to rejoice is not just a choice for Sundays in church. It’s a choice we can make every morning – indeed the Latin name for the morning prayer of the church is LAUDS, which means Praises. It’s a choice we can make as a family – you could sing a song of praise to God every evening. You don’t need to be a talented musician. These days you can even find a worship song on YouTube with lyrics and sing along to that. And if you have small children there are worship channels devoted to simple songs which they can join in with too.

So today, Rejoicing Sunday, make teh choice to rejoice. Choose to rejoice at this Mass. Choose to rejoice every morning. Choose to rejoice as a family. And when you do, the wildnerness of your down days will blossom with the living water of praise. Make the choice to rejoice, and the Lord will raise you up!

For further reflection, check out these words of St Augustine!

The Mustard Challenge

Homily at St Mary’s, Crowborough, on the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C.

On this very weekend, eighteen years ago, I was in trouble.

At the time, I was a student at seminary. We were allowed to go out after Sunday lunch – but we had to be back for evening prayer at half past six.

With another student, I’d driven to a meeting to plan a youth retreat. One of the young women involved had asked for a lift home. I worked out that we had time – but only just – to drop her off and get back for evening prayer. After all, she needed our help, and it was the right thing to do.

We got lost!

Eventually, we found the right road. But we arrived back at the seminary five minutes after the start of Evening Prayer. The other student and I had to make a decision – should we go into the chapel late, and hope no one noticed? Or should we say our own evening prayer separately?

We chickened out and decided not to go into chapel. So we took out our prayer books and said the official Prayer of the Church together.

Near the end of Sunday Evening Prayer, there’s a line which is taken from the Gospel of the day. It was just as well we hadn’t gone in to chapel that evening, because we collapsed in fits of laughter when we read out loud the words: “We are useless servants – we have only done our duty!”

Laughter aside, there’s a serious matter at hand here. Jesus wants us to know that God, Our Father in Heaven, expects us to do our duty. Is it our duty to become slaves to Jesus, so in heaven we have to serve his dinner? No, Scripture makes clear that in the banquet of heaven, we will be the special guests and Jesus will serve us! But to be worthy of honour in heaven, we are invited to behave as good servants of God on earth.

We’re entering into a week of mission, for which you have chosen the title, “Faith Into Action”. What does it look like when we put our faith into action? For many followers of Jesus it means helping the poor. At our Sion Community headquarters in Brentwood, we partner with another local church which runs a food pantry – food from shops and restaraunts which is going out of date is made available to people who could use it. Last month some regular suppliers cut the amount they were willing to donate by two-thirds! The leaders knew they would still have the same demand for food, if not more, from their hard-pressed clients, so they prayed for God to do something – and that very morning God answered their prayers with not one, not two, but three unexpected deliveries of bulk food! That’s faith in action!

Jesus said, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed’ you could work miracles.

You don’t need to be a follower of Jesus to help the poor. Indeed, there are millions of volunteers in the world who follow no faith or other faiths, who do wonderful work to help people who cannot help themselves. Perhaps you’re a volunteer too. In which case, I have a question for you to ponder. Do you help other people because you love people, or because you love Jesus?

It’s great to love other people. In fact, it’s the second most important thing that Jesus asked us to do. But if you want to work miracles in the lives of others, it’s not enough to just want to help people. You also need faith in Jesus, at least faith the size of a mustard seed. If you have this kind of faith, you will want to worship, and you will joyfully invite other people to come and be part of this church.

We’re here, this week, from Sion Community, to plant mustard seeds.

We’d love to visit each one of you at home, to discover what Jesus means to us and to you.

We’re here to offer different kinds of experiences of prayer, so you can connect with Jesus in new and different ways.

Do you know how to hear Jesus as he speaks in the pages of the Bible? Tuesday is all about learning to listen.

Do you struggle to overcome guilt and shame in your life? How could Jesus use someone like you to work miracles? Wednesday is all about overcoming our failures by receiving God’s Divine Mercy.

Do you know how to love Jesus? Thursday is all about adoration, how we place Jesus before us so we can look on him with love.

All of this is building up to our great parish celebration on Friday night, which will call us to action. But to put our faith into action, first we need to plant the seed of faith. For some of us, this week will be planting seeds. For others it will be watering the seeds already there to see how they have grown. And for some, it will be calling forth life from seeds which are dormant. If you’ve received the Sacrament of Confirmation, that mustard seed is already planted within you! Hear again the words written to Timothy:

Fan into a flame the gift that God gave you… God’s gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control. So you are never to be ashamed of witnessing to the Lord… You have been trusted to look after something precious; guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

Selected verses from II Timothy 1

If we want to be good servants for God, it’s not going to happen spontaneously. We have to choose to incubate those mustard seeds, to fan the flame of their fire. By coming to this week’s mission events, by receiving a visit at home, by spending time in prayer and asking God to bear fruit in you – you will work miracles. But it starts with a decision. Ask for a home visit. Come to a mission event. Take time to pray. Put your faith into action – if you dare!

Have a Sinner for Dinner!

Homily at Sion Community during the CCRS Evangelisation Course for the anticipated Mass of the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C.

Your sheep has been incapacitated.

Your sheep has been sentenced.

Your sheep has perished.

Your sheep has been destroyed.

Your sheep has been damned to hellfire for eternity.

That sounds a bit more dramatic than “Your sheep is lost”, doesn’t it!

In today’s Gospel, St Luke speaks of a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son, always using the Greek word apollymi. That’s a strong word – with all the harsh shades of meaning I’ve just used.

St Matthew also recounts a parable of a lost sheep but he uses a gentler word which means “wanders off”. Here, St Luke has gathered together three stories where Our Lord is seriously warning us of the road to destruction – but there’s hope! The perishing sheep is not irrecovably destroyed or damned to Hell; it is still possible for the good shepherd to rescue it.

Three weeks ago, we heard Christ warn us to enter by the narrow door, for many who think their place in heaven is secure will not make it. Two weeks ago we heard his invitation that when we throw a party, we should invite those who cannot return the favour. These sayings reach a climax in today’s lesson – because there is more in today’s Gospel than is first apparent.

What kind of lost person is today’s Gospel speaking of? Among evangelical Christians, it’s common to speak of “the lost” to mean the “unsaved”, those who have never responded to Christ’s saving message, or even heard it. But all three of today’s parables are about the loss of something which already had a place – in the flock, in the coin collection, in the Father’s house.

Should we then think of those who once attended Mass but no longer do so? The famous Church of the Nativity in Timonium expressed its mission statement as: “Welcome the Lost & Grow Disciples.” Fifteen years ago it purposefully focussed on attracting a generation of non-churchgoing middle-aged men who had been raised Catholic and increased its congregation from 1500 to 4000! Certainly it is good to help those who never attended Mass to connect again, but simply coming to Mass doesn’t make a person a disciple. Today’s Gospel might inspire us to reach out to non-churchgoing Catholics, but the focus is more subtle than that.

What happens when the lost is found? In each of today’s parables, the finder throws a party. Something that gets lost in translation is that the woman who finds her drachma invites her female friends – you could say, her women’s fellowship – to come and celebrate. And of course, the lost coin is not really a coin. A drachma is an item of value which bears a human face; it represents a lost person. A lost woman is restored to fellowship, just as the prodigal son is welcomed back into the Father’s house. Unlike his elder brother, that son knew that all his Father’s wealth belonged to him; he chose to take the money and run far away from home.

The story of that son makes it clear that the “lost” we are restoring here are sinners, people whose choice of lifestyle or burden of shame has separated them from the community of believers. Remember why Jesus is telling these parables – he’s having a meal with tax-collectors and other “sinners”, causing the scribes and Pharisees to complain about his behaviour. But should we be surprised? When Jesus has a meal, he invites those who cannot repay the favour, those who don’t believe they should be there at all.

There are many reasons that people drift away from Church practice. Some never had strong roots in the first place. Others enter a time of intellectual doubts. But today’s message is strongly focussed on sinners – people who believe they cannot be forgiven, or who lack the courage to ask. And we are called to reach out to them. What kind of woman, or what kind of shepherd, would we be if we failed to do that?

If you spend a lot of time online, you may have seen this meme:

Person: I want to do “X.”

Catholic Church: You are free to do it.

Person: But you think “X” is wrong.

Catholic Church: Yes.

Person: Because you want to control me?

Catholic Church: No. You are free to do what you want.

Person: But you think “X” is wrong.

Catholic Church: Yes. But only because I want your ultimate good.

Person: But I want to do “X.”

Catholic Church: You are free to do it.

Person: But I want you to say that is good.

Catholic Church: I cannot say that.

Person: Why do you hate me?

It sums up the terrible dilemma we have as Catholics. We proclaim that certain actions are always wrong, so many people feel alienated. But at the same time we want to speak of God’s mercy and the possibility of restoration for anyone who has gone astray.

Our minds might turn immediately to abortion, or remarriage after divorce, or the pursuit of same-sex attraction. But not all sources of shame are connected with sexual behaviour. Eating disorders, attempted suicide, serious involvement with occult activities – there are a myriad reasons why someone who was once a follower of Christ might wrongly believe there is no path to restoration.

Such persons are not going to hear Sunday sermons or simply turn up at a parish penitential service. The only way to restore such lost souls is through a good shepherd or a wise woman who takes the time to come alongside them with love and friendship. The only way to overcome that “Why do you hate me?” Mentality is with genuine love.

Jesus ate with tax-collectors and sinners; we should not be afraid to draw near to persons whose lifestyle is far from Christian. It’s true that the Bible does speak of situations where you “cut off” a person from fellowship, but that’s where a person is stridently insisting that their sinful behaviour is consistent with Christian living. Here, rather, we are speaking of the work of reaching out to someone who knows their lifestyle has fallen short of a follower of Christ. We see the same advice given by the apostle Jude (22-23):

When there are some who have doubts reassure them; when there are some to be saved from the fire, pull them out; but there are others to whom you must be kind with great caution, keeping your distance even from outside clothing which is contaminated by vice.

So take a moment to think about your network of friends and family members.

Who is your lost sheep? Who is your one in the midst of the 99?

Who was once an active member of the church but has been distanced by sin or shame? You know what God expects you to do. It will take time. It may take repeated efforts, some of which are rebuffed. But every attempt to love is an act of love. So take a moment now and ask God to make clear where you should focus your loving outreach in the coming weeks…

We know how the story ends.

Your sheep has been pardoned.

Your sheep has been restored.

Your sheep has been snatched from the fires of hell and restored to eternal happiness.

Now that’s a reason for angels to throw a party. But you are the one who must first invite someone who can’t return the favour. The next move is on you!