Clay to Gold

Peter said to him, ‘Why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.’ ‘Lay down your life for me?’ answered Jesus. ‘I tell you most solemnly, before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times.’

Jn.13:37,38

The last supper is completed, Jesus has washed the disciple's feet, he has given the Great Commandment to love one another. Peter is swept up in the emotion of the events and declares his undying loyalty. Jesus gives Peter a reality check. Yes you will die for me but not before denying me. 

That this sorry event is recorded so simply and unemotively in the Gospel of Saint John gives credence to all that the gospels say about Jesus' passion and about Saint Peter. Peter's transformation from a quaking denier to a courageous proclaimer is recorded in detail. 

Saint Peter gives me hope. I am a vacillator like him... proclaimer, denier, proclaimer, denier... The good news is in Jesus' reaction to Peter's weaknesses. He identifies Peter's weaknesses then loves him anyway. Jesus identifies my weaknesses then loves me anyway. Like Peter, my clay can then be transformed into gold.

Jesus, you died for me not because I'm holy but because I'm broken and desperate. Such love transforms me and gives me hope. Thank you Lord. 

Saint Peter, please pray for me.

 

Refuge

My God is the rock where I take refuge; my shield, my mighty help, my stronghold. The Lord is worthy of all praise, when I call I am saved from my foes.

Ps.17:1,2

The psalmist extolls the saving power of God.

The noose is closing around Jesus. In today's Gospel we hear they wanted to stone him but he eluded them. The time was not quite right. I can image that Psalm 17 would have been on Jesus' mind and in his prayers. 

Do I have foes that want to stone me? No but I have foes in the spiritual world that want to assist in my downfall, as Jeremiah writes today. 

Today I stand on the rock and pick up my shield. I am saved from my foes. I am in a place of refuge which is a place of peace.

Jesus, you are my defender and my shield. I place my trust in you.

Saint Philip Neri. please pray for me.

You Rescued Me

If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples, you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free.

Jn.8:31

Jesus is addressing the Jews to explain who he is. They won't acknowledge their slavery to sin and so can't recognise their need of a savior.

This was a big stumbling block for people hearing the Gospel two thousand years ago and it is the big stumbling block for people hearing the Gospel today. What is wrong is being held up as right, what is bad is being held up as good. If I don't need saving then I don't need a savior.

God's best building material is people who are broken. The prostitutes and tax collectors discovered this. I've discovered this. It's good for me to remember the slavery that I was in to appreciate again the freedom Jesus has gained for me.

You rescued me and picked me up 

A living hope of grace revealed 

A life transformed in righteousness 

Oh Lord You have rescued me 

Forgiving me You healed my heart 

And set me free from sin and death 

You brought me life 

You've made me whole 

Oh Lord You have rescued me

Geoff Bullock

Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Engage

‘But surely the Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without giving him a hearing and discovering what he is about?’ To this they answered, ‘Are you a Galilean too?

Jn.7:51,52

Nicodemus attempts to have some form of justice shown to Jesus but the other Pharisees already have Jesus, labelled, judged and condemned.

The first step in prematurely judging is to label. Jesus is labelled a Galilean, meaning a commoner who could never be a prophet yet alone the Messiah. I am prone to labelling those with whom I don't agree. This pushes them away from me as I attempt to place myself in a higher position. 

In a sense labelling dehumanises. Once people are dehumanised they can be disposed of, which is what eventually happened to Jesus. 

The antidote? Engage and Discover what they are about. Like Nicodemus I might just learn something, something life-changing.

Lord Jesus, you engage. Help me engage with those I'm tempted to judge today.

Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

A Man of Honour

Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her...

Mt.1:19

Joseph has discovered Mary is pregnant. In what must have been shock and anger he still controls himself and plans to act honorably by divorcing her quietly.

Few words are written about Joseph but those few words speak volumes. He is the rich soil Jesus spoke about in the parable of the sower, having a noble and generous heart. He had the power to have Mary publicly pilloried, even stoned to death but he restrained. 

For me, Saint Joseph is a great role model of manhood. Strength under control. 

Lord Jesus, you are your foster father's son, strength and power under control. Help me be a man under control, worthy to be called "a man of honour".

Saint Joseph, pray for me.

Pray

So the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

Ex.32:14

God's anger has blazed because of the apostacy of the people in worshiping a statue of a bull. Moses intercedes for the people and God relents, letting his love once again break through.

Intercession works and here is a great example. My intercession for people on my prayer list doesn't just evaporate into thin air. Somehow, my prayer moves God's hand. 

Lord Jesus, you intercede for me. I place my prayers before you this morning as a worship offering to you my God.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Do You Want to Be Well?

Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away.
Jn.5:8,9

Jesus meets a man who has been sick for thirty-eight years. By Jesus commanding the man to stand and walk, he is instantly healed.

It seems Jesus can heal in many ways, from rubbing spit into a blind man's eyes to assisting a girl to get up from her death bed, his healing action appears spontaneous and varied. In today's Gospel a man is healed by Jesus commanding him to do something, to simply stand and walk. 

The one constant in these healing miracles is Jesus' compassion. He loves the one in whom he performs the miracle. When I pray for healing for others, or for myself, a good starting place is to thank Jesus for his love for the one in need of healing. Then in faith pray for the healing. Jesus asks today, "Do you want to be well again?"

Thank you Jesus for your life changing, powerful love for all those on my prayer list this morning. On their behalf I say, "Yes Lord, I wish to be well again".

Saint Philip Neri, please pray for us.

Humilty

The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

Lk.11:13

Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. It is the humility of the Tax Collector that sets him right with God. The pride of the Pharisee distances him from God.

The Pharisee says his prayer "to himself". The Tax Collector, though not even raising his eyes to heaven, speaks directly into God's heart. A humble heart seems to spontaneously open God's heart. 

Where is my heart placed? Sometimes my prayer is all about me and I say it to myself. I do struggle with pride. Today a can be mindful of humility.

God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for us.

I am Loved

I will love them with all my heart, for my anger has turned from them. I will fall like dew on Israel.

Hs.14:4,5

The prophet Hosea writes how repentance brings from God a pent up tsunami of love.

Here we see God as a lovesick father looking for the slightest flicker of repentance so he can pour out blessing from his vast lake of love. He's aching to open the flood gates.

This is God's love for me. My part in this transaction is pathetic yet he wants to run and embrace me none the less. Oh how wonderful to feel this loved.

Jesus, God so loved me that he sent you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Heart Checkup

Gospel Acclamation     Joel 2:12-13 

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory! 

With all your heart turn to me, for I am tender and compassionate. 

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory!

Today's Gospel Acclamation is taken from the book of Joel where God is calling for conversation of the heart.

There's a lot of heart rending stuff in today's readings. Jeremiah refers to evil hearts. The Psalm entreats us not to harden our hearts and the Acclamation calls us to turn with all our hearts. In this sense it's the very core of my being that is being addressed, the essential me. 

I guess the challenge I'm hearing is, where is my heart today? Sometimes it's on fire for the Lord. Other times it's blazing with the passion of full blown sin. Where is it this morning?

I read the rest of the Acclamation where God describes what he is calling me back to. Tenderness and compassion, in other words, God's heart on fire with love for me. 

Jesus, your scared heart is burning with love for me. I don't deserve it, I don't understand it but I accept it with a grateful heart. Thank you Lord for loving me.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Law is Love

Do not forget the things your eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your heart all the days of your life; rather, tell them to your children and to your children’s children.

Dt.4:9

Moses has given the Law to the Israelites as they are about to enter the promised land. It is the Law that sets the people apart, that defines them as the Chosen People for all time.

Today's Gospel has Jesus saying he has not come to put an end to the Law but to complete it. The Law stays until it has achieved its purpose of bringing all mankind back to God. This is yet to happen so the Law remains.

What am I to do with the Law? Keep them in my heart and tell them to my children and children's children. Kate and I realise more and more the role we are to play in our grandchildren's lives, to love them and tell them they are loved by God. This, says Jesus, is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus, what a precious gift we have been given in our children and our children's children. Help me be an authentic witness to the perfection of the Law by loving them. 
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Always Always Always Forgive

I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?

Mt.18:32,33

Jesus tells the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant to answer Peter's question on how often he should forgive. The parable's lesson say's we are all bound to be merciful as we are shown mercy.

"Are you not bound?" is the question before me today. The answer of course is yes, it's just that I forget that sometimes.

It is said that the thing that sets apart Christianity from all other religions is not the doctrine of love or even the resurrection. It's grace. We Christians, if we are worthy of our name, are bound to be dispensers of outrageous grace. We are to give up our rights and offer mercy. Why? Then mercy shall be shown to me.

This Lent the second verse of the Hail Mary has been resonating with me. "Pray for us sinners". I am along side every other sinner pleading for mercy. I'm in need of outrageous grace as much as anyone. Remembering this, I find it easier to forgive. I am bound to forgive.

Jesus, you gave up your rights and forgave those who persecuted you, who killed you. Help me be a natural dispenser of pity and mercy. Let grace be my natural response.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

Outrageous Grace

While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly.

Lk.15:20

Jesus addresses the Pharisees who are criticising him for welcoming sinners with the parable of the prodigal son. The parable portrays God as a love sick father dispensing outrageous mercy and grace.

Oh how I love this parable. Why? Because oh how I need outrageous grace and mercy. This is the God I want to introduce to the unchurched guests in our Alpha Course. I'm reminded again that it's not the good people who get to heaven, it's the forgiven.

Lord Jesus, you are speaking to the Pharisee in me with this parable. Help me be a dispense of outrageous mercy and grace today.

Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

 

 

Produce Fruit

I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

Mt.21:43

Jesus has just told the parable of the treacherous tenants to the chief priests and elders. Jesus clearly states it is they who will lose what God has given them while it is given to others who produce its fruit. 

There's an obligation that comes with receiving the Good News of Jesus. I am expected not to sit on this treasure and horde it for myself but to share and multiply it. I am expected to evangelise. 

The Alpha Course is one way to produce fruit from God's Kingdom. Who can I invite today?

Jesus, give me a zeal to step up and step out for you. Lord I want to produce good fruit for you. Place in my path today people who haven't experienced your love.

Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

 

Noble and Generous Heart

Gospel Acclamation    cf. Lk8:15

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory! 

Happy are they who have kept the word with a generous heart 

and yield a harvest through perseverance. 

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory!

Today's Gospel Acclamation is drawn from Luke 8:15 where Jesus is explaining the parable of the sower to his disciples. The rich soil that receives the seed and produces plenty are people with "noble and generous hearts" who hear God's word and act on it.

Lately, this verse has become a reset button for me. When I find myself tempted or embroiled in sin I ask myself, is what I'm doing or contemplating noble and generous? The answer is usually no and makes me pull back. Today is a good time to push the reset button and regain a noble and generous heart in all I do.

Jesus, you have the most noble and generous of hearts. I take you as my role model this day.

Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.

 

Less is More

The greatest among you must be your servant. Anyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and anyone who humbles himself will be exalted.

Mt.23:12

Jesus has just called out the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees who are great at preaching the law but not so great in practicing it. He then gives this antidote to prideful attention seeking... humility.

I am a sinner. That is a good starting point. I struggle with lust, greed, judgement and pride. But all is not lost, all is never lost. That is the good news. I am called again and again to turn back to God. 

Today Jesus even shows me how to do this. Practice humility, be a servant. Then I will be given exaltation from the one who matters most, Jesus himself. Today, less is more.

Jesus, you know my struggles. Thank you Lord for continuing to pursue me. Lord, you are the Servant King. Teach me your ways today that I may follow you more closely.
Saint Philip Neri, please pray for me.