...saved souls in heaven together

Friday of Week 11 in Ordinary Time

St. Thomas More, Martyr (1469-1535)

I still remember the first time I watched the film “A Man for All Seasons.” It is one you keep coming back to.  I think it is the conviction…no, not just the conviction but the ethos behind the conviction…that makes me wonder.  The movie poster is a kind of icon of this ethos: Thomas, in a firm, but soft stance.  King Henry VIII, mouth wide open and forceful, hands powerfully on hips.

When in prison, Thomas More composed the following prayer which has since been given the title, A Prayer for Our Enemies.  I am hard-pressed to name ‘enemies’, certainly none keen to behead.  But I love the humility and genuine love that Thomas More has for his very real enemies.  And I can see how praying this prayer might help me break down my own barriers that close me off from those who I am quick to ignore, belittle or condemn.  

Read it slowly...the language needs our pause.

Almighty God,

Have mercy on --- and ---,

            and on all that bear me evil will,

            and would me harm,

            and their faults and mine together
                        by such easy, tender, merciful means
                        as thine infinite best can devise;

            vouchsafe to amend and redress
                        and make us saved souls in heaven together,

            where we may ever live in love together
                        with thee and thy blessed saints,

            O glorious Trinity,

            for the bitter passion of our sweet Saviour Christ.  Amen.

Lord, give me patience in tribulation and grace in everything,
            to conform my will to thine,

            that I may truly say: “Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra”.
                                                             (Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven)

The things, good Lord,

            that I pray for,
            give me thy grace to labour for.  Amen.

                        

Welcoming Exhortation

Tuesday of Week 8 in Ordinary Time
1 Peter 1:10-16

Making me a little better…an everyday ask…an everyday miracle on offer

Reading this passage from 1 Peter called to mind the Pope's recent Apostolic Exhortation:

On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World (Par 14 & 15)

Rejoice and Be Glad! 

We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves. Are you called to the consecrated life? Be holy by living out your commitment with joy. Are you married? Be holy by loving and caring for your husband or wife, as Christ does for the Church. Do you work for a living? Be holy by labouring with integrity and skill in the service of your brothers and sisters. Are you a parent or grandparent? Be holy by patiently teaching the little ones how to follow Jesus. Are you in a position of authority? Be holy by working for the common good and renouncing personal gain.

Let the grace of your baptism bear fruit in a path of holiness. Let everything be open to God; turn to him in every situation. Do not be dismayed, for the power of the Holy Spirit enables you to do this, and holiness, in the end, is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life (cf. Gal 5:22-23). When you feel the temptation to dwell on your own weakness, raise your eyes to Christ crucified and say: “Lord, I am a poor sinner, but you can work the miracle of making me a little bit better”. 

Stretch Out Your Hands*

2nd Sunday of Pentecost

Year B

Mark 2:23-3:6

(plucking grains and withered hands)

My first reaction, 

and I suspect that some of you might share this…

My first reaction to this gospel reading was 

…a tab bit smug

Those Pharisees!  

What a rigid lot!

Those Pharisees

Those church going

Institution protecting

Rule honoring good-ole-boys

But with only a smidgen of imagination

I AM a Pharisee!

My friends, aren’t we all the Pharisees?

21^stcentury Pharisees? 

                                                                                                                  

I hope so!  I’m okay with that!

Not only okay…happy even!

The problem is not being a Pharisee

The problem is being a Pharisee made of concrete!

About 4 years ago

When I was working a night shift at the hospital

(which meant that I was the only Chaplain in-the-house)

I got that dreaded page: 

“Please come to ---,

The room number is a giveaway

A young couple has lost their baby

Stillborn at 33 weeks

She had a name

She had a crib

There was a nursery waiting with a fresh coat of paint

But before I say any more

I have to back up

You have to know how I feel about Baptism

I love Baptism

I love preparing couples to bring their children to Baptism

I did that for years when I was on staff at my former Parish

I love celebrating Baptism in the midst of the Sunday congregation

Listen!  

I have Power Points (really good power points) and handouts!

We had talked about this in the Chaplain Residency Training program I took for a year.

I remember saying (with robust conviction) 

how wrong it was to Baptize a baby who had died.

Sacraments are for the living!!!

I have Good Sacramental Theology on my side!

Did you hear me?  

I have really really good Power Points!

(and handouts;)

My pager went off

The nurse shared what she knew

The couple weren’t really ‘church-going’

But they were open to a chaplain visit.

In that very quiet hospital room

This grieving and very quiet…all-cried-out… couple

Were holding their stillborn baby girl

There we were

Just sitting in a kind of comfortable and reverent silence

It seemed to last a long time

And finally

They spoke

They simply asked if we could baptize their precious daughter.

It took me a few seconds to realize 

This was NOT a catechetical moment

My really really good power point…and my handouts…were useless!

In the face of this small and devastated family…

I was stuck

The Holy Spirit…at least I believe it was the Holy Spirit…

took control of my mouth and said, of course.

Now…Sacraments ARE for the Living

And my Power Point is still REALLY REALLY good

But right or wrong, for me

In that moment

With that family

And that baby

Pouring water

And praying that ancient formula

Was the only response my body could make 

I LOVE the order that law and tradition give

But law and tradition are not the end

  in and of themselves

And throughout the history of the Jewish people

…through the prophet and on through the history of the church

We…

   Institutions and people…

   Living…not made of concrete

have always needed

Renewal

Correction

Adjustment

…like being put back in place

Have you ever been PUT IN YOUR PLACE???

I have

Plenty of times

By Mrs Walsh my 3^rdgrade teacher

By my brother, my daughter…

Certainly by a boss or two…

But the thing I conveniently forget is why?

Surely…there was a bit of reform/adjustment that needed to happen.

Jesus is putting the Sabbath…

And by extension

The larger tradition

Back in place 

Not because Jesus is anti-law or tradition

Jesus loves the Sabbath

Jesus is a good Jew

Jesus is anything BUT stuck in concrete

Jesus wants to put the Sabbath back in its place

As a gift

Not a threat

I want to be a 

‘Sabbath is made for Humankind’ kind of person

I want a vision that sees

God as gift-giving

That the Sabbath is a gift embedded in the very act of creation itself.

But what seems to creep in

Like the invisible force of gravity

What seems to happen is that I get the Sabbath-God equation turned around

I turn it into a threat when I creep into thinking that

I am made for the Sabbath

The equation gets turned around 

Sabbath isn’t a gift from God to God’s creation

But a test 

A test…so that God might know how I measure up

A test…to check my level of holiness…of purity… 

A test of…acceptability

Slowly my gift giving God becomes a ‘Pass…Or else!’ God

Jesus puts Sabbath in its place

Others did the same thing before him

The God of this theology is Love, 

And Love is always freely given…or it’s just not love.

God doesn’t need the Sabbath---WE DO

God doesn’t need to be schooled in GIFTING---WE DO

God doesn’t need a life-giving example to follow---WE DO!      

And here we are

Good 21^stCentury Pharisees…not made of concrete

I know that because we are here!

Here…where we come to meet God…sacramentally

…not limited to here but ritually and sacramentally here!

HERE

In each other

And in us as one body

In the Holy Scripture

In the bread and wine

And in our sharing

We come here to remember

Our Baptism

To remember

Being made in the image and likeness of a gift-giving God

God gifts us the Sabbath 

and it’s call to rest, 

and the tasty grain asking to be plucked,

and the words of invitation and healing

“Stretch out your hand”

Jesus says to the man with the withered hand

‘Stretch out your hand’

He invites the man

He invites US

When we process to celebrate communion

We are asked

To ‘stretch out our hands’

Whatever is withered

Whatever is withering

Offer it

Open it

BRING IT ON

Stretch it out to be healed

And made whole

And this 

My friends 

PUTS US IN OUR PLACE

Our right and proper

And life-giving place

And from that place

To go and ‘do this in memory of me’