![]() Solomon has it all! He even has God talking to him in his dreams! His dreaming self hears the question God is always asking, "What is it that you want?" When we wake up, of course, the question is harder than it looks. Why? Because it can only be answered with great care. The word we speak coming straight from our heart. I know a lot of jokes about genies wriggling out of bottles or fairies swooshing their wands, who ask the lucky finder the same question. Usually the answer is a request for endless wealth. Solomon does not need to ask for what he already has, so he asks God for the gift of 'Wisdom'. A Wisdom that supports a community to grow. A Wisdom for relating! Notice how this stirs surprise and delight in Gods' own heart. And God is delighted to answer this prayer. The Psalmist must have had a similar experience. You can hear it as she sings, "The law from your mouth means more to me than silver or gold." Or in the words and experience of Saint Paul, God adorns us in Glory. What are they all telling us? What lesson can be learned here? First of all, something happens. A baby looks at you and smiles and, no matter what you're feeling, you just have to smile back. Because, first of all, something happens. You're standing at a graveside, tears your only prayer, as the storm of grief rages from your heart to your eyes. Someone takes your hand and joins you in that lonely place which is now less lonely. First of all, something happens. A secret weakness is exposed, but the support of a good friend is stronger than the shame that threatens to engulf us. First of all, something happens. We are unexpectedly kissed, we see an old person refusing to be old. First of all, something happens. These are the 'moments' that throw us into the Mystery we share with each other. We are suddenly face to face with the Presence within which we live our lives. God does not wait for a suitable moment or for a polite introduction. His presence breaks through our routines, demanding our attention, insisting that we talk. When God speaks, we may laugh or cry, we might sing or fall silent. But whatever we do we are praying at our best. The 'moment' the 'encounter' has changed everything. We pray for the coming of God’s Kingdom. But when it arrives it is always a surprise! In farming a field, a treasure is stumbled upon. A door opens and the perfect pearl is for sale. Out of nowhere there is a gold embossed invitation to the Kings' Banquet! Every genuine encounter with Jesus is always a surprise. Lawyers who expected justification are challenged. A rich young man asks for advice and is offered a vocation. Zacchaeus, hoping for a glimpse of a prophet, dines with his Saviour. A woman at a well leaves with a bucket full of self-revelation. All of them got more than they asked for. Their emptiness suddenly brimming over, their ravaged lives called to greatness. These experiences bring us to prayer. Our own story now made more by our encounter with Jesus. We begin to make links with the Prophets and disciples who have gone before us. In their company, old worlds are subverted, new worlds rise from the ruins. We are blessed by a Love stronger than death. We are suddenly filled with a new confidence. We have become the prayer.
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![]() A handful of wheat, a fistful of mustard seeds, a pinch of yeast. Jesus uses these beautiful things to say something amazing about the Kingdom of God. He begins with the great reassurance that love is invincible. No matter how small the beginning, no matter how vulnerable or threatened the middle, the end is never in doubt. In life and in death, the Kingdom will come and Gods' will, will be done. Next. He will not allow us to take a simplistic, no grey in the middle, view of the world. We are all complicated. There is no neat division of people into the 'good' and the 'bad'. We are all a strange mixture of both. Take the first disciples as an example. One moment they are all over Jesus like a rash, then they are following at a distance or not following Him at all. And if we are honest, we don't always go along with Holy things. We drift from time to time. The Great Reassurance of God walks with the Great Not-So-Sureness of the human heart. And so the struggle goes on. Or the struggle goes well. It is a struggle for bread, for shelter and for Compassion. Only the Wisdom which allows the wheat and darnell to remain intertwined can make this happen. This Wisdom puts us in a place of unending repentance as we await the time of harvest. This invitation to unending repentance is one of the big themes of Saint Matthews Gospel. It is an invitation to shake ourselves free of anything in us which causes hunger, homelessness and despair. And when we have completed this work, we start all over again. This labour goes on and on throughout our lives. This is why, when we leave the retreat centre, full of good intentions and two minutes into the journey home we are screaming at someone who cut us up on the road, we smile. Or we leave Holy Mass full of love, kindness and consideration which evaporates the minute someone presses the wrong buttons. We smile! How many times have we witnessed Saint Peter proclaim his love unto death for Jesus being chastened and illuminated by his own betrayal. Perhaps we dream more than we can do. Perhaps not. In the teaching of Jesus weeds and wheat grow together. Small seeds become huge trees. Leaven raises dead dough into bread. All are given the gift of time. Time to try again. Time to become repeat repenters and not just repeat offenders. But one day the time will run out and the urgency of the struggle is clear. We all fail and we are all ashamed of the failing within us. But we must not give up on ourselves. Out of our errors and frailty come some of life's most important lessons. There is a freedom that awaits us. It can only be found by those who carry the light, of a certain kind of love, into darkened places. ![]() Jesus leaves the house (church) where the converted are gathered, and goes to sea. He is looking for fish, and they arrive in large numbers. So, Jesus, who likes to fish for people, begins to teach from a boat. Jesus teaches many things using Parables, which are a soup mix of conventional knowledge and spiritual wisdom. He draws on what is already familiar, what people know best. But Parables are not just stories. They make demands on those who listen to them. They might draw on farming, legal situations, family conflicts and weather etc, but there is always something about them which is a little strange. Today’s Gospel Reading is a great example of this strangeness. It's a farming Parable, but it's not about a careful farmer. This one is wild and reckless and yet, the yield abundant. This is a clue that the listener is being invited to go deeper. The invitation, 'Let anyone with ears listen!' means the Parable is over and the struggle to understand it has begun. For many reasons, some people get the Parables and some don't. The spiritual teacher helps the disciple to move towards a deeper understanding and a new awareness. But not everyone wants to be helped. Some harden their hearts against the deeper meanings in the Parable for fear that a new and higher consciousness might demand a change in lifestyle. Against such as these, even the Divine Teacher is powerless. It has been said that there are basically two kinds of teachers; those who love teaching and those who love their students. Those who love teaching are never short of words, details and explanations. They make objections with one breath and answer them in the next. They can often be funny and charming individuals who really like the sound of their own voice. They will take questions but only because it gives them a chance to talk more! Those who love the students talk less and listen more. They are too busy feeling for the student’s level of understanding, for blocks to their advancement, for paths that may be taken and paths that may be avoided. They are experts is knowing the person who sits beside them. They see what is needed but they do not say it out loud. What they say is said only to support the student to discover the next step. The teacher who loves the student provides the right conditions for an inner revelation. If they can follow the clues, they will come to know for themselves and not be overly dependent on the insights of others. Good Parents are especially good at this. When Jesus tells Parables, He is clearly a spiritual teacher who loves His disciples. The Parables do not give up their secrets too easily. They invite a wrestling match. They are not just information. They require engagement. But for Saint Matthew there is a third Person in the ring. The Holy Spirit is working from the inside out to 'reveal these things to us?' And the reason we know that Jesus is the kind of Teacher who loves his disciples is that He powerfully introduces them to the presence of God in the depth of their own being. ![]() When Saint Augustine spoke his well known, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless till they rest in Thee." - it sounded like he was saying that the human person is, in modern speak, 'hardwired for God'. It sounds great to say that humanity cannot be reduced to physical, social or psychological models. We are much, much more. We are made in the image of God. It is good to say and believe these things, but we have to be able to say something about the other drives that are in us and how they work together or not. Sacred Scripture speaks of the human face bearing the Sacred Imprint and that the God Drive in each person demands that we give them endless respect. And while this is true, it is also true that there are other 'drives' in us. We have physical drives for food, air, water, and sex. We have strong social drives to be liked and respected, to wear decent clothes, and live in decent houses. To be in control of our own lives, rather than being controlled by another. Our physical and social drives move in unique ways in each of us. Our minds, sift through these drives, trying to put them in order and lining up the ones that are most important. So we are hard wired for God, and we are hard wired everywhere else. How do we hold these different drives in such a way that we are real? Well, it isn't easy! There is a real temptation to get into worshipping idols. This isn't fanciful Old Testament theatrics. When we do not reserve our God drive for God but attach it to money, family, power, food or sex, we ask these social realities to do for us what only God can do for us. We ask that they give ultimate meaning and worth to our lives. But they cannot. The invitation of Jesus to 'store up treasure for ourselves in Heaven '. (Mta 6,19) is a call to see through the temptation to give our wealth, our position or even our family too much importance. On their own they are fine. But they must take second place to what comes first. This is no put down. When families, communities and nations are not distorted by giving them undue importance they can be what they are. They are the relational field where our deeper spiritual identity acts with love and justice. We do not pull our father, mother, daughter, son, or spouse into an ultimate void and ask them to fill it. Just a little bit too much pressure there! Rather, they are the relationships where the one loved by God loves in turn. We do not ask any created thing to grant us eternal worth. Rather, the places where we meet as communities and nations are places where, the one rooted and grounded in God, expresses their sacred self in compassionate and just behaviour. Things fall into their right place, and life, and the life of God in us, flows freely. This life flows in us and through us. We join the transparent Prophets, the Just and the little ones. People welcome us, not because we have blood ties, or power. They welcome us because the Prophets, the Just and the little ones come from God, - the first in our hearts. This is what they seek, and this is their reward - the right ordering of spiritual, physical, psychological, social and moral life. |
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November 2020
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CATHOLIC PARISH OF ST JOSEPH & ST MARGARET CLITHEROW
St Joseph’s Church. 39 Braccan Walk, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 1HA (Directions)
Tel: 01344 425729
Email: stjb@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk
South Berkshire Pastoral Area
The parish is part of the Diocese of Portsmouth.
Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust registered charity 246871
St Joseph’s Church. 39 Braccan Walk, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 1HA (Directions)
Tel: 01344 425729
Email: stjb@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk
South Berkshire Pastoral Area
The parish is part of the Diocese of Portsmouth.
Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust registered charity 246871