4th Sunday of Lent

I wonder if Nicodemus felt affronted when, having arrived by night (Jn 3: 2), he is told by Jesus: "For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed." (Jn 3: 22)? Nicodemus is afraid. He is a "leader of the Jews" and his position may be compromised if it is known that he has come to speak to Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea, too, was a secret disciple "because of his fear of the Jews." (Jn 19: 38) Their fear is understandable when we see the fury of the crowd before Pilate as they bayed for Jesus' blood. A sense of preservation is understandable, yet, we are caught by our desire to follow Jesus, since, as Peter says: "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."  (Jn 6: 68-69) Jesus warns the disciples: "'If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world - therefore the world hates you'." (Jn 15: 18-19) Together, at the Crucifixion, They remove Jesus shattered body from the Cross and place it in the tomb (Jn 19: 38-42) and they then disappear from the written record. They are not mentioned when the Apostles go on trial after the Resurrection rather it is Gamaliel who stands up to speak.(Acts 5: 21-42) It is significant that the two men were able to find courage together. It is difficult to be a disciple alone. We need to stand with each other and support one another in faith if we are to face a sceptical and derisive world as true disciples.

Thought for the Day in Wanganui Chronicle March 19-24

Thought for the Day: March 19-24

March 19

At present many Christians are observing the season of Lent. This is a period of spiritual and physical preparation looking forward to the season of Easter. I wish to reflect not only on the significance of Lent but other seasons in our lives in my Thoughts for the Day. One favourite reading for funerals states: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” (Eccles 3: 1) It continues: “a time to be born, and a time to die.” (Eccles 3: 2)  This can apply to physical living and dying. We are often amazed at the wonder of new life when there is an addition to the family. The time is counted down and there is no stopping the baby when he or she decides to arrive. We wonder what the infant will become with a sense of promise, hope and excitement as we anticipate the future.  Physical death is often more challenging. Early or unnatural death seems to be a violation yet this is not so for the elderly and infirm who feel that their time has come. Such a death is felt to be natural and even welcome even as we, who are left behind, mourn the separation and loss. At funeral services laughter and tears coincide: “… a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Eccles 3: 3-4) More difficult than this, however, can be the birth of my dreams in hope and their death through disappointment.

 

March 20

The death of dreams is associated with middle age when we have already seen many seasons. Having established ourselves through educational attainment and relationships/family we find that we construct only to tear down later on: “… a time to break down, and a time to build up; … a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together.” (Eccles 3: 3, 5) We tell our children to shoot for the stars and that they can fulfill their potential, which is unlimited, but what do we think about ourselves? At the start of Ecclesiastes: “Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.” (Eccles 1: 2-4) Surely, life is more than the raising of hopes to have them dashed? We long for eternity and meaning even as we live in a society where, most of the time, it is cheaper to purchase a new object than to have the old one fixed. This is evident in the desire of many people on the internet to have their brief moment of fame or notoriety. I may make a complete idiot of myself but at least I am now famous! It remains that there is “… a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.” (Eccles 3: 3: 7) The answer to our predicament lies not in distraction but reflection.

March 21

The truth of the matter, when it comes to dreams, is that I would be dissatisfied even if they do come true! “Paradise Syndrome,” refers to the deep down dissatisfaction that occurs when I achieve everything I dreamt of. It is associated with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame. We intuitively know that we are more than our appetites even as we buy another Lotto ticket. A document of the Catholic Church, written during the 1960s states: “Now, man is not wrong when he regards himself as superior to bodily concerns, and as more than a speck of nature or a nameless constituent of the city of man. For by his interior qualities he outstrips the whole sum of mere things. He plunges into the depths of reality whenever he enters into his own heart; God, Who probes the heart, awaits him there; there he discerns his proper destiny beneath the eyes of God. Thus, when he recognizes in himself a spiritual and immortal soul, he is not being mocked by a fantasy born only of physical or social influences, but is rather laying hold of the proper truth of the matter. (Gaudium et Spes, 14) The season of Lent helps Christians to strip away the harmful habits and distractions which keep us from recognizing what is truly important in our lives: “… a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear and a time to sew.” (Eccles 3: 6-7)

March 22

As a result of looking into the meaning of our existence the conviction grows stronger that what is truly important is what cannot be seen. When people are on mobile phones during disasters or about to die in a mass shooting the only thing they is to communicate is love usually to those to whom they are closest. We cannot see love nor do we have a scientific experiment or mathematic equation to prove love yet it is the most important thing in the world. St Paul wrote: “So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” (2 Cor 4: 16-18) He also points out: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in this that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5: 6-8) The key to our lives lies, therefore, not in our success or lack of it but in God’s love for us and our acceptance of it.

March 23

The previous reflection leads us to the point that the season of Lent is an invitation to purify and magnify love: “… a time for love, and a time for war; a time for war, and a time for peace.” (Eccles 3: 8) We are called to love God and to hate sin. Religion is not about self-absorption but rather to be perfect, merciful and compassionate just as the Father is all of those things. The realization that I am loved by God impels me to love others: “We love because he first loved us. Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is his: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” (1 Jn 4: 19-21) The ashes which are bestowed on believers at the beginning of Lent speak of a desire to turn from worldly futility and see the love of God for what it really is. Our own sufferings and frustrations are not absurd rather they can be offered up as a sign of our identification with Christ and his sufferings: “I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions or the sake of his body, that is, the church.” (Col 1: 24)

March 24

It is sounds wonderful - we should love God and love one another! As you are all aware this is not so easy! The apparent futility of our lives brings us up short as does the accumulated effects of my sin and failures. The hard news is that I need to also come to terms with myself. Jesus summed up the law: “‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength,’ The second is this, ‘’You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12: 29-31) Our Lenten exercises bring us face to face with precisely with our failures and invites us to love ourselves even as we recognise our shortcomings and broken dreams: “… a time to seek, and a time to lose.” (Eccles 3: 6) Jesus tells us: “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’. For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things will be given to you as well.” (Matt 6: 31-33) The providential love of God remains as a source and inspiration in every season of our lives.

3rd Sunday of Lent

St Paul tells us: "For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom." (1 Cor 1: 22) Do I demand anything?Some Catholics have demands because we know that they discontinue their practice of the faith when they are not met. It might be that I demand a parish or church that is free of scandal or a priest who preaches good homilies or a community that accepts my sexual behaviour/orientation or... or... or.... The problem with the Cross is that, by definition, it is something which is inconvenient and painful for us: "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done." (Lk 22: 42) Yet, the Cross is the price of true discipleship: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." (Lk 9: 23) Do I have the right to demand of the Lord? Is my relationship with the Church conditional? It is not only in our theology and preaching but also in the example of our lives and conduct that we must witness to the Cross as the source of salvation and not the moral probity of the members of the Church including ourselves: "but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (1 Cor 1: 23-24)

2nd Sunday of Lent

It is not included in this Sunday's First Reading however the full citation states: "So Abraham called that place: 'The Lord will provide';as it is said to this day: 'On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided'. " (Gen 22: 14) In life we can feel oppressed and lost for ideas at some of the difficulties that confront us. the danger is that we give up and become fatalistic. We stop praying for what we want and in doing so close our hearts to the conversation with God who in his wisdom often provides answers which were beyond our ability to imagine. The fact of the matter is, as in the First Reading so with the apostles in the Gospel, we need to climb the mountain because that is where God will provide! We will not find him at the bottom of the hill. He asks for some effort from us. What helps us to climb the mountain of suffering or difficulty is our faith. We need to trust in God and not our good works or understanding. True faith asks us to trust God even when we have no tangible reason to do so. Having climbed the mountain and experienced his mercy and love, which only he can provide, we need to return to the flat earth of everyday life fortified by the conviction of God's presence and glory. Lent is a period  when we are asked to climb the mountain of overcoming our disordered appetites and selfishness so as to encounter the glory of the resurrection anew.

Insight on Lent from Pope St Leo the Great

One of the offices of the Church is that of the Office of Readings which involves the praying of psalms, as which the other hours of prayer, however, it concludes with two readings. The first is from Scripture, outside of the Gospels, with the second coming from the Church Fathers, spiritual writers, lives of the saints, the popes and Church Councils, especially Vatican II. The second readings are rich source of doctrine and provide the classic texts which are the earliest articulation of the Church's teaching. This second reading, taken from Sermon 6 on Lent by Pope St Leo the Great (reigned 440-461), for the Office of Readings on Thursday after Ash Wednesday, struck me as being particularly apt for the season. Since many readers of this blog would not have access to the Office of Readings I have thought to share a little of what Pope St Leo wrote with you:

The special feature of Easter is that it is the occasion when the whole of the Church rejoices over the forgiveness of sin. This forgiveness takes place, not only in the case of those who are freshly reborn through baptism, but also in the case of us others who for some time have been counted among God's adopted children.

Certainly it is true  that the water of rebirth initially brings about our new life of grace, but for us all it remains necessary to struggle every day against the rust of our earthly nature. Whatever steps forward we make, there is not one of us who is not bound to do better. All of us must strive hard and so on Easter day no one should remain bound by the vices of his former nature.

An so dearly beloved, what every Christian should always be doing must now be performed  more earnestly and devoutly. These forty days, instituted by the apostles, should be given over to fasting which means, not simply a reduction in food, but the elimination of our evil habits.

To these sensible and holy fasts we should link alms-giving which under the one name of mercy covers a multitude of praiseworthy deeds of charity. Thus, all the faithful, even though unequal to one another in worldly possessions, should be equal in the drive of their spiritual lives. 

Separation of Spouses

In a recent post I spoke of the challenges faced in New Zealand society by the break down of marriage and family life and the role of parishes as serving a monastic function in crystallizing and fostering community in this post-modern era. Such a strategy recognizes that Catholics live with the tension in their daily life as, on occasions, their marriages and relationships become unsustainable even while they are called to turn the other cheek and live "till death us do part." Nobody is asked to live the impossible. The 1983 Code of Canon Law makes provision for this possibility:

Canon 1153 §1. If either of the spouses causes grave mental or physical danger to the other spouse or to the offspring or otherwise renders common life too difficult, that spouse gives the other a legitimate cause for leaving, either by decree of the local ordinary or even on his or her own authority if there is danger in delay.

Catholics can leave their abusive or dangerous spouses in good conscience. The Tribunal of the Catholic Church is also there to assist in obtaining the truth about the status of a marriage and identifying the circumstances for breakdown. 

The challenge in front of us is how to pastorally meet the needs of people who are struggling with relationship difficulties or are trying to make sense of the breakdown in relationship. The preaching and example of Pope Francis tells us to act with mercy. This means that taking people seriously and walking with them in their journey is essential to living out our Christian vocation. Our actions need to correspond to our words otherwise we will hear the reproaches of Saint James: "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them: 'Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,' and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." (James 2: 14-17)

There are no easy answers, as with the rest of the contemporary breakdown in religion and community, nevertheless we need to be open to the Holy Spirit and ready to deploy our gifts when the occasion demands it.

Submission on End of Life Bill

Dear Sir/ Madam

I wish to register my opposition to the End of Life Bill that will come before your Select Committee for consideration in the near future.

I understand that many of the arguments for this Bill will involve the suffering of men, women and children which is often distressing and tragic. Their feelings of helplessness and pain need to be respected.

I think that the hospice movement and contemporary pain medication along with love and care by relatives and the medical profession serves the vast majority of cases well.

I beg you to keep in mind the attitudes and pressures that will be placed on nurses, caregivers and doctors who will be asked to intentionally end someone's life under this legislation even with all the safeguards that are envisaged. To kill deliberately an innocent person necessarily violates the conscience of any right minded caregiver.

The "worried well" who stress and fret over the control they wish to have over their lives are disregarding the worries that attend how to treat, love and value the most vulnerable people who suffer in our society. Lucretia Seales, at the end, died a beautiful, natural death which edified her family and brought them together. This may be compared to the disastrous effect that Lesley Martin's actions had on both her family and marriage.

Life does need to be protected. It has a value common to all of us. This does not mean we need to prolong life unnaturally or at all costs but it does mean we should not choose to kill even when a person in pain wishes for that to happen.

Yours sincerely

Marcus Francis

1st Sunday of Lent

Jesus emerges from the desert after a time of prayer and preparation. His message has four parts: "the time is fulfilled" - the time of the prophets has come to an end and the Messiah promises are being fulfilled; "and the kingdom of God has come near" - the reign of God bringing justice and peace to the world is breaking in; "repent" - all who wish to welcome this reality and participate in it must turn away from sin; "and believe in the good news" - the way to do this is to believe in the message Jesus brings and incarnates. The message is the same for us today as we begin the season of Lent: we need not wait for another prophet or leader; the reality of God's reign in the Holy Spirit is already in our midst; we need to turn away from self-destructive attitudes and behaviours that form an obstacle between us and God; we need to believe what the Scriptures tell us about the hope we have in Christ. In this way the urgency which gave dynamism to the preaching of the first disciples becomes ours as well. We do not give in to fatalism and pessimism but are renewed in our baptismal/confirmation mission to take Christ to a world so badly in need of good news: "See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God... ". (2 Cor. 6: 2-8) 

Ash Wednesday

In today's Gospel Jesus says: " Beware of practicing you piety before others" (Mtt 6: 1). Does this mean we should pull back from being visible as Catholics by  praying in private and keeping secret any signs that we are believers? Some could even say this includes receiving the ashes on our foreheads before we go to work or elsewhere because it offends against his principle. Religion, they maintain, is a private thing and does not belong in public. It does not stop them however from speaking in hushed and admiring tones about Maori tikanga at marae visits as well the religious practices of Muslims during Ramadan or the Buddhists at their special times of year! It is important, as always, to read the text in its entirety. Jesus continues: "... in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven." (Mtt 6: 1) The problem, therefore, is not to be located in the actions of piety themselves but in the motivation. If we can define prayer as "raising one's heart and mind to God" then what is on our heart and mind as we undertake our cultural, social a and spiritual activity is significant. When I go to Church, receive the ashes, say grace before meals, etc, what is on my mind? Am I focused on God or on the approbation/disapproval of others? We pray, go to Mass and receive ashes because this is an integral part of how we articulate our identity as Catholics. These things happen regardless of the presence or absence of others. We do not practice our faith to receive an earthly reward. Let us therefore be focused on Christ this Lent.   

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In one of the more moving episodes from the Gospel according to Mark a leper kneels before Jesus  saying: "If you choose, you can make me clean." (Mk 1: 40) He humbly acknowledges Jesus power and trusts himself to his mercy. Jesus responds: "I do choose. be made clean!" (Mk 1: 41) The exclamation point comes from later editors but it does emphasize the drama of the moment. Even more so, Jesus has touched someone who is unclean and has thereby incurred uncleanness on himself (Lev. 5: 3). In doing so he shows not only mercy but compassion for a man who may not have been touched by another person in years. Fortunately, skin diseases do not isolate people now as they did in the ancient world, nevertheless, I think it is possible for us to come across spiritual lepers. Individuals who have cut themselves off from the practice of the sacraments or even worse have been excluded from Church through the actions or words of others. Maybe I can feel unworthy and isolated myself at times? In such situations I need to be reminded that God has chosen me and that my self-esteem relies not on my own merits but on the love of the one who has chosen and called me: "You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit; fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commandments so that you may love one another." (Jn 15: 16-17) As we look forward to the beginning of Lent on Wednesday let us consider how we might both be touched by Christ through our Lenten observance but also how we may reach out to touch others.