In the Gospel account, the humanity and humility of Saint Peter are demonstrated in his offer to construct some kind of earthly dwelling for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Of course, as The Father reminds him (and us), what is needed for our worship of God and consequent Salvation is firstly internal, i.e. our loving acceptance of and positive response to the Truth.
As created beings of flesh and blood, we are called to and certainly must employ our God-given bodies and our senses in participating in the Life of the Church. Today’s Feast firmly grounds all that we think, do and say on the ‘Truth that comes from God…’ which, alone, can strengthen us against and, ultimately, free us forever from the constant ‘pull’ of our Fallen Nature. Through the Teachings of the Church, challenging as they undoubtedly can be in this life, and through the Mass and the Sacraments, we are provided with a sure ‘route-map’ to our Heavenly destiny. God has endowed Humans, His highest Creation, with intelligence; we are capable of reason and can discern right and wrong. While intimately knowing our weakened Nature and making full allowance for our being misled, through ignorance, into genuine error, He will respect any choices we make with full knowledge and understanding for or against His Laws. Perhaps we can interpret The Father’s words to the Apostles that day as reminding us that although, being Human, we must live as and where God has put us, we have immortal spiritual Souls and so we must keep our sights firmly set on our true purpose, to ‘know, love and serve God in this life so as to be Happy forever with Him in Heaven’. May God continue to grant us the Gifts of Faith, Hope and Charity, ever drawing us Homewards! May we ever, ‘…listen to Him...’. God, as we know, loves us as only He, our Creator, can. The reason for our continued existence, from the moment of our conception, is that He holds us, constantly, in His Mind; in fact, everything that exists, whether animal, vegetable or mineral, down to the smallest undiscovered particle, exists because it is ever in the Mind of God. Even the most loving and conscientious of earthly parents cannot have this infinite view of the Life of their offspring or see clearly how and when we will come to face Eternity. Small wonder then, that the Church, founded by Our Lord to protect and guide us in His stead, is very definite in Her Teachings. As any loving parent will direct their children’s lives towards Good and train them to perceive and avoid what is (even if outwardly attractive) evil and, therefore, harmful, so the Church makes very clear to us what must be done and indeed what must be avoided if we are to reach Heaven as planned. God’s creatures are, as Matthew underlines in his Gospel, a ‘mixed bunch’. Due to the Original Sin of our First Parents, Adam and Eve, we do not, naturally, incline to Good. We can become very worldly, in danger of coming to believe that our destiny is entirely our own affair and that, whatever we do or do not do in this life, ‘everything will come right in the end’, seemingly believing that we know better than God!
God, unlike His creatures, cannot change. Our love for Him cannot be forced; it must freely come ‘from the heart’. However, all is not ‘doom and gloom’. As the psalmist says, God knows us ‘…through and through…’. Unlike the often subjective media, He truly sees our good points and our bad; more importantly, He sees our intentions in making decisions and whether it is through ignorance or wilful rejection of the truth that any of us depart from the, ‘...straight and narrow way…’. God will keep calling us to Him until our earthly life is over. Let us continually beg Him, challenging though life may well be, for the Grace to enable us to stay on (or get back on) the road to Eternal Happiness!
Today’s Entrance Antiphon anticipates the Joy which will be ours when, following a life of faithfulness to God, we come before Him at our Judgement and hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant….”. Today we consider how God provides us, through the Pope, Bishops and Priests, the Teachings of the Church and the Sacraments, with the means to reach Eternal Life and our fundamental responsibility to make use of these means. Isaiah compares weather conditions, which nurture growing crops, with God’s Word, which stimulates our spiritual growth. Of course, just as crops cannot grow and flourish without the farmer’s efforts in conjunction with the weather so, to attain Eternal Happiness, we must ‘take on board’ and act upon God’s Truth, aided by His Grace. The Responsorial Psalm might be read as a ‘companion piece’ to the Gospel, talking lyrically of God the Creator’s limitless Love which provides for us in this life, seeks our willing response, and, so, brings us to live forever in Eternal Joy once our time on Earth is over.
A major stumbling block for some could be the growing materialism and declining moral standards of the world, so clearly in opposition to our Creator. Satan, knowing as he does that God will, in the end, triumph over evil, nevertheless does not give up tempting souls to join him. Temptations will only cease when we enter Eternity.
Of course, Good Shepherd that He is, God does not cease to love, watch over and call each and every one of us to Himself until the day we die. Those who drift away may, please God, in time, return to the practice of their Faith. It is an act of Charity (certainly not judgmental) to pray for the return of our lapsed Brothers and Sisters, sometimes nicknamed ‘resting Catholics’. It is exceedingly unwise, however, to gamble one’s Eternity by putting off a return to the Church on the basis that ‘God won’t let me be lost’. Saint Augustine reminds us that God created us without our co-operation but makes our Salvation totally dependent upon that co-operation throughout our life. God knows (but we can rarely be certain) when we shall die and come before Him, but to love Him and go to Heaven is a choice He will not force upon us. Love must come freely from our heart in return for His Love, as we meditated more deeply in June. Christ’s parable, of course, ends on a ‘high-note’; countless souls will hear, be inspired and live by the Church’s Teachings, thereby coming, as planned, to be happy with God forever in Heaven, the “…glory…which is waiting for us”, as Saint Paul writes. On the Friday following the Second Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Seat and Symbol of His Burning Love for us; Love which moved Him to Die for us, in agony, on the Cross on Good Friday and also moved Him, at the Last Supper, to institute the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in which, through Holy Orders and Father’s words and gestures, that once-for-all Sacrifice will be made present in our churches and offered until the end of time. Christ, of course, does not suffer any more; He just wishes us to join ourselves, in our own particular time and place, to His Sacrifice, and longs to give Himself to each of us in Communion.
If you are looking to better understand this Truth, perhaps to explain it to others, then one of the clearest explanations of the Three-in-Oneness of God is to be found in Frank Sheed’s book, Theology for Beginners, chapter 5, The Three Persons. This can be further simplified in order to explain it to our children; they also have a right to the Truth and we have a duty to do our best to teach them. For those who would postpone such teaching until children are ‘old enough’ (and who of us will ever be ‘old enough’ to understand it?!), you would do well to heed the words of a renowned educational psychologist, Jerome Bruner, who said that anything can be taught to anyone at any age as long as it is properly thought out first. Such forethought will be very beneficial to teachers as well as those being taught.
In this day and age this Doctrine may be a stumbling-block to be overcome in a journey of Faith. It takes Prayer and perseverance to break down barriers; we cannot allow our human limitations to be transferred to God. We have to make a ‘leap of faith’ over the barrier! The image is 'The Holy Trinity' a miniature from the Grandes Heures of Anne of Brittany, Queen consort of France (1477-1514). God the Father is depicted on the left, God the Son (Jesus) on the right, holding a book with seven seals open to the Alpha and Omega passage, and the Dove of God The Holy Spirit in the centre. The animal symbols of the Four Evangelists are depicted in the corners.
On Good Friday, we recalled Our Lord’s being nailed to the Cross, hanging there for three hours then being laid, dead, in Mary’s arms; He was buried in the Tomb, in the eyes of many, gone for good! As we are hearing at the moment in the Gospels, in particular, Christ definitively proved that He is, indeed, God; He Rose from the dead, having atoned to the Father for the sin of Adam and Eve. As we recite, weekly, in the Creed, He soon confirmed the precarious Faith of the Apostles by sending the Holy Spirit; gone was the fear of reprisals for proclaiming the Truth. We are already hearing, not only of the bold proclamations of the Truth, but of the resistance to that truth, in the forms of beatings, imprisonment and death. Did the Church curl up and die? Not a bit of it! Energised by the Grace of God and by His Presence in Holy Communion, the Church has gone from strength to strength as, indeed, Christ promised it would. He promised, before ascending into Heaven, that He would be with us, “...until the end of time…”. Saint Paul, another of the fruits of the conquest of Good over evil, recalls us to this fact: If we live, faithfully, God’s Way, nothing can keep us from attaining Heaven.
Our Brothers and Sisters, in certain places in the world, are still suffering attacks, privation and death for living out the Faith which, in the ‘free’ world, so many treat so casually. Please God we will not fail our young people, the precious Church of the future. May they grow up in families where the Faith is an integral and growing part of life; may it never be allowed to come to be regarded like so many of the fashions and interests which they may well discard as they grow older. Actions, as the Apostles demonstrated, speak louder than words. Enriched by regular reception of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, may our lives, ever more, be the examples which stimulate the growth of the Church!
Saint Josemaria underlined the fact as did the Fathers of Vatican II, later, that we are all called to Holiness; from the most to the least prominent in the Human Race, all are created by God who Wills that, however long, short or ‘unnoticed’ their life is, they do their best to respond to the Grace of God.
The Little Flower, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, is another prime example; the sanctity of her life and the profundity of her writing on the ‘Little Way’ reinforce the breadth and the depth of the Call to Holiness. Saint Martin dePorres’ life is also well worth reading; illegitimate, of mixed-race and, so, at that time, looked down on, his life of Charity would certainly put many of us to shame in our attitudes to those whom the world (and we?) consider ‘beneath us’; Saint Gianna Molla, an Italian paediatrician, denied herself cancer treatment and, subsequently, died in order that her unborn Daughter could live; the Venerable Matt Talbot, an obscure working-man, conquered alcoholism. The list goes on and on. If the great multitude of Witnesses to God seems a bit daunting and you are seeking inspiration for yourself and your Children, maybe the Saints named above might provide an ‘entry’ to an inspiring gallery of role-models. If not then how about researching your name-Saints; is there a particular Saint named as Patron of the Country in which you or your ancestors have roots? Those in various professions can usually find a Saint who worked in the same line. There are countless examples of Saints who, quietly, got on with being Husbands, Wives and Parents, the often ‘unsung heroes’ without whom other Saints would not have later come to exist. Finally, don’t omit to read the lives of Saintly Priests, such as Saint John Mary Vianney or our own Saint Pope John Paul II; our Pope and Priests are in the ‘front-line’ of the battle against Satan. They, as well as we, need the assistance of the Saints. The image depicts St. Josemaria Escrivá, Founder of Opus Dei (canonised in 2002)
Whether we, personally, feel the need to pray or not (although we all need to prepare ourselves for, as the Fathers of Vatican II, spoke of, “…full, conscious and active participation…” in the Mass) charity surely demands that we consider those who do wish to speak with God, those who need this weekly oasis in which to rest in God's Embrace, the calm in the eye of the storm of life!
Our lovely new banners will, hopefully, remind us of Our Saviour in the Tabernacle, waiting lovingly and patiently like the Father of the Prodigal Son, calling us to his Divine Embrace. He is ours for the asking!
As we must never forget, our final bliss in Heaven is dependent, not just on God’s Mercy but upon our each having freely co-operated with his Grace. God will not force us to be obedient and go to Heaven; the choice is ours! As the highest of God’s creations, we are endowed, from conception, with a spiritual Soul and Free-Will; we are capable of coming to know and understand His Will for us, aided in the formation of our Conscience by our Parents, Priests and Catholic schools and, as we mature (a status marked by the Sacrament of Confirmation) by our own careful study of the often challenging Teachings of the Church. We must pray, often, that we will clearly discern exactly what Vocation (or call) God is giving us. As we see, in following the news media, the traps set by Satan are numerous and, in some cases, presented under the guises of ‘Human Rights’ and ‘Love’, of which they are, in truth, a denial.
One might say that the “bottom line”, regarding our hope to receive God’s Mercy, lies in the words we say, sometimes, sadly, with little thought, virtually every day of our Life: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” or, to put it another way “Do not forgive me if I refuse to forgive others”. That is not to say that to forgive is easy; hurts and harm can penetrate deeply. It may well be, too, that it is hard, if not impossible, to forget wrongs done to us. Pope Francis, among other matters, referred to the abuse, not by strangers, but by those close to the victims. Christ, in His Passion, showed just how forgiving we must be; In the end, it is Satan who thrives on hatred and unforgiveness. As Christians, we are called to be merciful as God is merciful. That means that we must, as well as forgiving, not forget our duty to correct error; it is just as merciless to, for instance, fail to warn someone we know to be living in a sinful state as it is to refuse to forgive those who repent and ask forgiveness of us. It is NOT being judgmental and may see us fall in the ‘popularity ratings’ but this duty supersedes our possible inclinations. God, grant us the Graces we need to spread your Divine Mercy. The image above, entitled Divina Misericordia, was painted by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski in 1934. This is the only painting which was done under the indications of Sister Faustina
Christ also, as we will readily understand from praying, "....forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...", expects us to show mercy to others.
We must, of course, regularly seek God's Mercy in Confession, so increasing (or, indeed, restoring) the Grace we need in order to avoid sin and attain Heaven. Is regular Confession a priority in your life? How about saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy as part of your preparation? Find out more about Divine Mercy HERE, and read what our Holy Father has said to us about it. This November, Month of the Holy Souls, we come to the close of the Jubilee Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis. Let us ever have before our eyes the beautiful Image of our Merciful Lord, His right hand raised in Blessing, the left indicating the rays issuing from His Pierced Heart, and say the Prayer, “Jesus, I trust in You”. Jesus explained the meaning of these rays as follows: “The two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls…” (Diary, 299). Loving Mercy is continually and freely offered to us. We are in great need of It! How eager are we to repent of our sins and to ask for and accept Divine Mercy? Extracts from Saint Faustina's diary: Used with permission of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. The image above, entitled Divina Misericordia, was painted by Eugeniusz Kazimirowski in 1934. This is the only painting which was done under the indications of Sister Faustina |
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