Words

'To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, this is far more important than any holocaust or sacrifice.’ Jesus, seeing how wisely he had spoken, said, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’   Mk.12:33

Jesus has just answered a Scribe who asked which of the commandments is the greatest. Love God and love others is Jesus' reply. The Scribe agrees and Jesus tells him he is not far from paradise.

The words above could be taken as Jesus' words, but they're not. They're spoken by the Scribe, one of a group normally opposed to Jesus. The Scribe is recognised by Jesus as one who has spoken wisely.

The words a man speaks says much about his heart. Today I should consider more carefully what I say. My words will either show me a fool or wise.

Lord Jesus, I want to be seen as wise by you. Help me change my heart so that what I speak will be pleasing to you.
Little Flower, please pray for me. 

Tender and Compassionate

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!   Gospel Acclamation, Joel 2:12-13

God calls for a complete conversion of the heart, showing his tender and compassionate nature to welcome us back.

There's always this gap between God and me. I'm here in my brokeness, God is there in his perfection. But the constant initiative from him is to call me back, call me up, call me further in. I'm inexorably drawn to him by his tenderness and compassion. Who can resist it?

This turning back is an inside-out thing, not outside-in. It comes from the heart and that's the way God wants it. There's no big stick, just a calling for a conversation of my heart, all of my heart. This affects everything I do. It's a calling home, the place of peace and joy.

Father, I confess again my brokeness. Help me as I stumble my way back to you. Let your mercy triumph over judgement. Oh change my heart O God!
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Tell the Children

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.    Duet.4:9

Moses is about to die and the Jewish nation is about to cross the Jordan into the promised land. Moses gives the people the Law is told to him by God.

The Jewish people had just wandered forty years in the desert. They had seen God as a pillar of smoke by day and a tower of flame by night. They had seen water come from a rock, manna fall from heaven, their enemies supernaturally defeated. In short they had seen God's love for them at work.

This was something that become intertwined into the fabric of who they were as a people. They become the chosen race. This new national character was to be passed from generation to generation, to their children and children's children.

I have had the joy of passing on this essential fabric of faith to my children and now to my children's children. Praying with my grandchildren, as chaotic as it can be, is placing something in their hearts. It's heart surgery of the best kind.

Thank you Jesus for the gift of faith you have placed in my heart. Help me be an authentic teller of faith to my children and children's children.
Little Flower, please pray for me.

The Power of Yes

‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’    Lk.1:38

The Annunciation of the Lord - Solemnity

 The Angel Gabriel has just announced God's plan of salvation of the world to Mary who is to play a crucial part. Mary trusts God and says yes.

Out of all of history this is the big moment, the crucial moment. Will the young Jewish girl say yes? All of heaven must have held its breath. Mary's fiat, her yes, would have released shouts of joy throughout heaven and groans of despair in hell. Now Jesus' birth was assured, the cross was to be made ready, the tombstone hewed so it could be rolled away, wheat grown to form bread, the grapes planted to make wine. All is measured from this point forward.

Mary's yes echoes down through the ages and has its affect on me today. Her baby has become my Lord, my Saviour, my source of hope and joy. My life is centered around the result of Mary's yes. Today is a good day to thank her for this.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. 
Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. 
Amen.

The Unforgiving Brother

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them: ‘A man had two sons...'

People from "the wrong side of the tracks" are crowding towards Jesus as they sense he has good news for them. The Pharisees complain. To show their error Jesus tells his famous parable of the prodigal son.

I've heard it said this parable should more accurately be called the parable of the unforgiving brother. This was the main point of Jesus' story. He was addressing the Pharisees and their lack of compassion towards the broken people of their times.

In the parable the older brother sees himself as a slave to his father. He refuses to name his brother as such, calling him "your son". He is complaining and aggrieved at his father's benevolent generosity, just as the Pharisees are complaining and aggrieved at Jesus' generosity and love towards the tax collectors and sinners.

This is both good news for me and a warning for me. The good news is that Jesus' love for me is as high as the heavens are above earth. The warning is for the little Pharisee within me that complains and is aggrieved when seeing God's love and compassion for those outside the fold.

Jesus, forgive for the times I have been judgemental of those who don't live the way I do, who are different. Help me see all people as you do, souls in need of love and acceptance, souls who need to hear your good news. 
Little Flower, please pray for me.

Evil into Good

Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, for he was the son of his old age, and he had a coat with long sleeves made for him. But his brothers, seeing how his father loved him more than all his other sons, came to hate him...    Gen.37:3-4

Israel's favouritism for Joseph incites jealousy in his brothers who grow to hate him.

The stage is set for evil to be executed but God turns that evil into good. Joseph's slavery in Egypt eventually leads to the salvation of all God's people in time of famine.

Unspeakable evil has been executed in New Zealand just one week ago now. We are still in shock and asking how this could have happened. That's a good question and it needs to be asked. But today is a day of mourning.

The black cloud over our nation is starting to grow a silver lining. Grief, compassion and love for our Muslim community is growing. People are demonstrating more unity than I have ever seen before. What was intended to divide is having the opposite effect. Evil is being turned into good.

A high price has been paid for this good. Fifty innocent lives. The good must be enshrined, galvanised into the new fabric that is being weaved into the character of who we are as New Zealanders. Today I will go to Mass and pray then stand outside our local Mosque while the are at prayer. They are us. We are them.

Lord Jesus, heal our nation. We are in pain from the assault of evil. Be our strength, our unity, our peace, our love.
Saint Peter Chanel, pray for us.

Generous Heart

Happy are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.    Lk.8:15

Today's Gospel acclamation is taken from Jesus' parable of the sower. The seed falling on good soil is the happy person who hears the word of God and is generous in applying it.

Happiness. We all seek it. Here we are given the way of obtaining it. Hear God's word and be generous in applying it.

My wife is good at generosity. She can cheerfully place an envelope stuffed with $20 notes under the windscreen wiper on the car of a needy family. The other night she organised for us to pray with a dieing man in our parish. It was the last thing I felt like at the end of a busy day at work. The man's wife was so grateful.

Lent is the perfect time to be generous in applying God's word. It's the time for a generous heart.

Lord Jesus, generosity doesn't come naturally to me. Help me change my hand from grasping to giving, then happiness is mine.
Little Flower, please pray for me.