Fear and Love

He does not treat us according to our sins nor repay us according to our faults. For as the heavens are high above the earth so strong is his love for those who fear him.
Ps.102:10,11

The psalmist reveals the mighty mercy and love God has for those who fear him.

The heavens are measurelessly high above the earth yet this is how God describes his love for me despite my sins. What's the qualifier? Fearing God.

Fear has a negative connotation yet scripture constantly holds up the fear of God as a great virtue. The fear of God is the start of all wisdom. Hearing someone is God-fearing actually makes us trust that person more. If they fear God, they are more likely to keep their word and treat others with kindness. It's as though they have one eye on God while relating to people.

The fear of God is more than just holding God in awe and wonder. It's making him my constant reference point, his mercy and love the mark against which I measure how I relate to people. This is both difficult and easy. Difficult because the smoke screen of the world works to obscure my view of God. Easy because God is constantly leaning down to reveal himself to me. I just need to look for him.

Jesus, you are God-with-us. I want you clearly in sight today so I may fear you as I love others.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Death, Where is Your Sting

‘I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’ 

Jn.11:25-27

Feast of Saint Martha 

Jesus arrives at the tomb of Lazarus and is met by Martha who remonstrates that had he not tarried Lazarus would be alive. Jesus answers with a clear revelation of who he is and challenges Martha to state her belief in him. Martha gives the right answer and in that atmosphere of pure faith Jesus performs his great miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead.

Martha is coxed by Jesus to give her magnificent statement of faith... "you are the Christ, the Son of God". It seems Jesus uses her faith to fuel the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. Here he reveals that even death, the big bogey for all of us, is conquered by his love.

My mother, on her deathbed, accepted Jesus as the resurrection and the life after a lifetime of atheism. I saw the transforming peace this gave her, even commented on by my non-believing sister.

My proclamation of faith in Jesus means death has lost its sting and the door is opened for life, peace and joy to flood in.

Jesus, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Wheat Among the Weeds

Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn. 

Mt.13:30

Jesus tells the parable of the wheat among the weeds to explain the Kingdom of Heaven.

This another time where Jesus tells the unpopular truth that not everyone is going to heaven. Some come into the the Father's house while others are gathered and burnt. Sorry, there it is. According to Jesus, Hell exists and it's unpleasantly hot.

This puts a sharper focus on evangelisation, especially on ensuring my family are wheat and not weeds. It's not just a nice thing to do. It's a matter of eternal life or death.

And then there's the matter of my own salvation. What assurances do I have there? Only the assurances of Jesus. "Come to me... I am the way".

Yes, weeds exist. They are life-choking. Wheat is life-giving. Today I am to be the seed on fertile ground, the wheat among the weeds to nourish those around me.

Jesus, sometimes the weeds, the cares and worries of the world, choke me. I flick those cares off my shoulders and lift my face up to you. I want to be life-giving in you today.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Just Breath

Their descendants stand by the covenants and, thanks to them, so do their children’s children. Their offspring will last forever, their glory will not fade. Their bodies have been buried in peace, and their name lives on for all generations.

Eccl.44:12-14

Today is the memorial of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and grandparents of Jesus. Sirach writes a hymn in honour of all faithfull ancestors.

I attended grandparents day at our grandchildren's Catholic primary school yesterday and had the joy of attending Mass with my six year old grandson sitting on my knee. I was reminded of how faith is caught, not taught. Teaching has to happen but the gift of faith is something that is breathed in. And to be breathed in it has to be in the atmosphere being breathed.

My faith was caught but not in the usual way. My children evangelised me, their non-believer father. They caught their faith from their mother, my wife, who in turn caught it from her parents. So God can give the gift of faith in many ways but it always involves relationships, usually within families. It's in a family where faith is practiced that faith is breathed in, that faith is caught.

As a mighty Kauri generates oxygen through photosynthesis, I still have a role to play in my children's and grandchildren's lives. I can generate a faith-laden atmosphere so it can be breathed in by those around me.

Lord Jesus, thank you for my gift of faith. Help me add faith to the atmosphere in my home so it can be breathed in by those close to me.
Saint's Anne and Joachim, please pray for me.

Family of God

‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.’
Mt.12:50

The crowd listening to Jesus is so large his anxious family can't reach him. Jesus uses the situation to explain that all who do the will of God are family to him.

This elevates the relationship with God that we are invited into. Jesus says we aren't just servants, we're not simply followers, we are family. Families live together, eat together, laugh, cry, squabble together. We are real with each other. Mostly, we love each other.

Our essential humanness, our strengths and failings, are revealed in our families. Families are messy but Jesus is saying that is OK. Why? Because the glue that holds our families together, holds my family together, is love. Today, when I love my family, I am doing the will of God the Father in heaven, I am part of the family of God.

Lord Jesus, your family thought you were crazy, misunderstood you. Family can be hard. Yet my family are my first church, the very ones I am to love first. Help me do God's will and be a father, brother, husband today.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

More Oxygen - Increase the Heat

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. 

Jn.20:18

Mary Magdalene stays weeping at the entrance of Jesus' empty tomb after Peter and John leave as "They still did not understand...". She was the very first to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus is alive!

Mary Magdalene's name is mentioned more often in the Gospels than most of the Apostles. She was at the epicenter of all that happened in Jesus' ministry, death and resurrection. Her great love of Jesus is held up today, her feast day, for us to model.

True to form, Jesus continues to use the weakest to first reveal himself. He could have used Peter and John but he didn't. They left the tomb still scratching their heads. It was to Mary, lost in her grief, paying the price of her magnificent love, that he first showed his resurrected self.

It seems that love is the key, like the love of Mary Magdalene. If I want to proclaim the Good News I need to love the Good News. Love will make me run down a hill and burst into a room shouting "Jesus is alive!" That sort of enthusiasm can change lives, can change the course of history, starting today...

Jesus, sometimes my love of you wanes. The cares of the world smother me. Help me push aside the less important so my love for you gets more oxygen and can blaze with heat again.
Saint Mary Magdalene, please pray for me.

Burn the Rule Book

'And if you had understood the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the blameless. For the Son of Man is master of the sabbath.’
Mt.12:7,8

Jesus' disciple are condemned by the Pharisees for picking and eating corn on the Sabbath. Jesus defends his disciples by pointing out the hierarchy of true religion. Mercy is greater than sacrifice.

The history of the Church is littered with times when a genuine move of the Holy Spirit has had a picket fence built around it and membership tickets, with associated rule books, handed out. At such times the Holy Spirit quietly steps over the picket fence and moves on, leaving the membership tickets and rule books behind.

The Pharisees were still inside the empty fenced area with their rule books. Sacrifice had become an idol at the expense of mercy. Jesus set the record straight.

There's a little lawyer inside of me that loves rule books. They are so neat and tidy, so black and white. Mercy can be messy, painful even. Yet this is what Jesus calls me to be, not an agent of rules but an agent of mercy.

Jesus, help me be merciful with the people I meet today.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Rest for my Soul

Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’
Mt.11:28-30

Jesus is teaching and preaching in the towns of Galilee. People are starting to notice Jesus and he encourages them to come to him and receive rest for their souls.

Oh what a sweet and ageless message. Jesus promises rest for my soul, an easy yoke, a light burden.  In an era where technology is meant to relieve us of burdens, tiredness is a common complaint. This shows that the burdens we carry are spiritual in nature, not physical.

When my spirit is exhausted little things can crush me. When my spirit is rested and refreshed I have extra stamina both emotionally and physically. I roll with the punches. I can go the extra mile.

How do I receive this life giving rest? Simply put, I come to Jesus. I spend time with him, daily.

Thank you Jesus for the rest you give me. I shoulder your yoke and learn from you.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Mercy

Now Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe in the river, and the girls attending her were walking along by the riverside. Among the reeds she noticed the basket, and she sent her maid to fetch it. She opened it and looked, and saw a baby boy, crying; and she was sorry for him.Ex.2:5,6

While Pharaoh is slaughtering all Hebrew baby boys Moses is hidden in a basket in the reeds of the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter discovers the baby and is moved by pity to rescue and raise him.

While Pharaoh is bent on destroying the Hebrew race his own daughter is instrumental in ensuring that God's plan of salvation succeeds. The pivotal point where a decision either way could alter mankind's destiny is when Pharaoh's daughter opens the basket lid. At that moment pity and mercy change the course of history.

Mercy is often seen as weakness. This is never true. It takes courage to be merciful, to withhold judgement. It is one of the great virtues of Christian life and where it is exercised it reveals great strength of character.  It is the mercy of God that gives me hope every time I enter the confessional, gives me hope when I face final judgement.

Mercy reveals the face of God and can be exercised by anyone, great or small. Mercy can be exercised by me today.

Lord Jesus, let your mercy triumph over judgement. Help me be an agent of mercy today as you have been merciful to me.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Lord at my Side

‘If the Lord had not been on our side,’ this is Israel’s song. ‘If the Lord had not been on our side when men rose up against us, then would they have swallowed us alive when their anger was kindled.Ps.124:1-3

The psalmist writes while recalling the Hebrew's escape from the yoke of slavery in Egypt. Even in the darkest of times the Lord was on their side.

The weather is cold and wet outside. The stark contrast with the European summer I have just left is palpable. I haven't had the advantage of the gradual acclimatisation of autumn. New Zealand winter is entrenched and oppressive.  It's easy to forget there is blue sky above the rain clouds, that spring always follows winter.

Today's psalm reminds me God is always at my side, in hard times and easy, in cold sleet and balmy sunshine. Always at my side. This keeps my head looking up, stops the oppressive here and now from obscuring my vision, clouding my purpose.

So, with the Lord at my side today the joy of the Lord continues to be my strength, in rain or sunshine, easy times or hard. Alleluia!

Thank you Jesus for your faithful friendship, for your constant presence, for always being at my side.
Saint Bonaventure, please pray for me.

Rejoice!

Be proud of his holy name, let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.Ps.104:4

The psalmist recounts the wonders God has done for his people and exhorts believers to be bold and rejoice in their faith.

Having just returned from over seven weeks in Europe I'm meditating on what on I have observed and experienced in that time. One thing stands out. The last two thousand years of western history has been inexorably entwined with Christianity.

Wherever we were, simply seeking out where to go to Mass each day led to a greater discovery about the history of a place. It was like peeling back the skin of an orange and discovering not only does the fruit look interesting but it tastes sublime as well.

I've returned with an increased pride in my Catholic faith and a joy in being a seeker of the Lord. We have been given much. There is so much more to look forward to.

Lord Jesus, thank you for your Church. Thank you for my gift of faith. Give me more of your spirit to fire me into a bold and joyful witness for you.
Little Flower, please pray for me.