​The Gospel for this Sunday, the 5th Sunday of Easter, Year B, comes from the beginning of St John Chapter 15 where Jesus reveals Himself as the True Vine.

In the time of Jesus most people were familiar with the grapevine process. If they weren’t growing grapes in commercial quantity, they certainly had a vine or two at home.

However, for most of us in the 21st century this is not the case.

An exploration of websites and video clips on how to prune a grapevine was eye-opening.

Jesus is the True Vine and we are the branches, and the Father is the vinedresser.

One vintner said that they spend 4-5 months pruning their vines every year. While machines are around to chop off far flung branches, machines cannot replace humans when it comes to the pruning process. Surprisingly pruning is considered the single greatest influence on the quality of the harvest, and the most strategic part of a vintner’s business.

Some plants like roses will produce a harvest from new branches.

But other plants like apple trees and grape vines only produce fruit on 2nd year branches.

This means that the pruning choices have a view to not only this year’s harvest, but also next year’s harvest.

Every grape vine is assessed individually. Each grape vine has a trunk, and most of them have two big branches called cordons. From these cordons the new branches called canes grow, and each cane grows from a bud on an older branch. It is the cane branches that get vastly reduced in the pruning process, so that each spur of previous cane growth has only two promising buds left. Unless these canes are reduced the vines will grow more leaves than grapes and the grapes will be significantly smaller. It is the difference between energy being diffused and energy being concentrated.

If the vine is weak, the vinedresser will leave less buds to grow than average. If the vine is vigorous, the vinedresser will leave more buds to grow than average.

A wine grower can time rather accurately the interval between pruning and the emergence of new growth; and will use this knowledge to stagger the order in which the sections of vineyards are pruned, so as to stagger the resulting harvests from those vineyard sections. That way, if there is adverse weather at harvest time, not all of it will be lost.

So what does this mean for us?

It means that God the Father invests a massive amount of time and forward planning with each and every one of us individually. Please linger with that thought for a while, and give it a chance to sink in.

It means that on a regular basis He is going to take away things from our lives that are less fruitful in order that more fruitful aspects of our lives can flourish. Knowing this should enable us to more graciously yield to the Father’s will when the time comes to let go of a relationship, place, ministry, hobby, job, - and levels of health and independence.

It means that we should have a level of patience when something new shows up in our lives, or in the lives of others, because often fruitfulness doesn’t come until the second year.

It means that after a period of loss and of feeling dormant, stuck, becalmed, that we can expect a lot of flourishing to happen that feels like it is happening ‘all at once’. But that we need discernment to work out the part of that new growth that the Father is favouring, and to co-operate with that.

It also means that two major things on the front burner and two quietly on the back burner are about as much as anyone can deal with fruitfully.

It means that until we work out what God is favouring, ‘or blowing on’, we should hold all of that new flourishing lightly, because most of it will get trimmed away relatively quickly.

It means that we should trust in Him more, especially when the parts of our lives that He prunes are very painful to let go of.

Amazingly challenging, yes?
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Dear Heavenly Father, please help us to co-operate more fully with You every time a new season of pruning takes place in our lives. Please grant us the patience and discernment that we need to find the new beginnings that You have lovingly chosen for us. Amen.

The Gospel for this Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Easter, Year B, comes from the middle section of St John Chapter 10 where Jesus reveals Himself as the Good Shepherd.

Most of us have very little to do with sheep, apart from purchasing cuts of meat from a supermarket or similar. Those of us who do have something to do with sheep in Australia have an average size herd of just under 3000 sheep. In the time of Jesus the average number of sheep per shepherd was 100. The smaller size herds make knowing individual sheep possible.

So what could possibly induce a shepherd to be willing to risk his life to save his sheep?

To modern minds this is beyond comprehension; and verging on crazy.

And it is, until you consider the amount of time the shepherd spends with the sheep, and how frequently a shepherd has to check for wounds, health of gums, and the quality of wool. For much of the time the shepherd is alone with the sheep; and has plenty of time to study them and to note and remember their individual differences.

Some will be placid, some will be adventurous, one might have a stiffer leg, a higher pitched bleat, a floppy ear, or be a fussy grazer. It is this long term build-up of the knowledge of what makes each sheep unique, which makes the sheep matter to the shepherd. In the same way it is the long term build-up of relationship of the sheep with the shepherd that engenders trust, making the shepherd matter to the sheep.

Jesus knows us this well. He has studied everything about us, and He can also see the traces of our various lineages too. He remembers who our parents and grandparents were, and He knows the various character traits we share with them.

He knows us this well that we matter to Him, despite being merely sheep.

Yesterday the residents at the local aged care facility had Mass for the first time since Christmas. Many of them we see each week for Communion services, and those unable to attend receive individual visits. Having been reflecting upon this Gospel passage, I could see the parallels. The more we get to know each resident, the more they matter to us. It was so good to have so many of them in the same place, and to reconnect with some we haven’t seen for a while because someone else has been doing their individual visits. At the same time, the absence of those who couldn’t be there was keenly felt.

It strikes me that this is the kind of long term deep relationship that Jesus wants with us, and that He wants for us with each other. It requires us investing time with Him; and investing time with each other.

​Therein lies the challenge because there is no shortcut to this process. 

.......................
There is nothing to compare with one on one time for getting to know someone, or even few on few.

Perhaps that is why parish visitation used to be a core part of a parish priest's ministry. 

These days it tends to be meetings and administration, but it is still possible to carve out time to go and visit the flock, 'just because'.

Admittedly these days it is not advisable to go alone without a companion as a witness and a protection, but it could still be done with a bit of planning and rotations of visiting companions.

I note with some sadness that once upon a time bishops used to come and visit the children preparing for Confirmation. It was an effective way of knowing that the children had been prepared. But these days the bishops seem to delegate that to the priests, and the priests in turn delegate that to the sacramental co-ordinator, and he or she depends on the group leaders - and even then it is a very brave group leader who will say a child is not prepared because they missed lessons, didn't pay attention, or doesn't seem at all interested.

Visiting parishioners and spending time with them is crucial if we are to imitate the Good Shepherd.     

The Gospel for this Sunday, the 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year B, comes from the almost the last verses in the Gospel of St Luke (Chapter 24) and contains an account of Jesus appearing to His disciples on the evening of the Resurrection.

Jesus shows up while everyone is chatting about His encounter with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus.

Even after the accounts of the holy women and the Emmaus disciples, their first reaction to the presence of Jesus is alarm and fright.

It takes some considerable time and patience on Jesus’ behalf before they calm down enough for them to be able to listen to Him.

We see a similar pattern of gradual revelation here as we saw last week with St John’s account.

First He is present, then He speaks to them, then He invites them to inspect His body, and then to touch Him. Jesus then uncovers His hands and feet for them. Then He shows them that He is still capable of eating.

Despite their zombie-like reactions, this is a crucially important encounter. They are seeing their Jesus for the first time as the Crucified and Risen One. It is to this reality that they are to become witnesses to the whole world.

Again, just like in St John, Jesus shows His resurrection before He reveals the evidence of His crucifixion. We know ourselves how much easier it is to talk about Jesus as the Risen One compared to talking about Him as the Crucified One. We all want to partake in His resurrection; we are definitely not so keen on sharing His path of suffering, agony and death. Yet until we know Him both ways, we cannot be effective witnesses.

Once the disciples have calmed down enough for their higher brain functions to kick back in, Jesus comes to the second part of His purpose for this visitation.

It is only now that they have encountered Him as Crucified and Risen that Jesus can unfold the whole wonderful plan of God to them. It is through Jesus, Crucified and Risen, that all of salvation history makes sense. Without this lens we cannot understand the fullness of God’s eternal purpose.

How Jesus does this with the disciples is very different to how He did it with the Emmaus disciples. He deliberately and miraculously opens their minds to fully understand the Scriptures. Can you see that it is important that they receive this revelation directly from Jesus, and not indirectly from the Emmaus disciples, so that we can have confidence that our faith is founded on the power of God and not on human reasoning?

Yet the Emmaus disciples are still a gift to the other disciples, because with all this knowledge to crunch through and make sense of, having them as memory keepers of the best scriptural starting points for understanding these mysteries is a very big blessing.

Jesus tells them to look for all the times in the Law of Moses, in the writings of the Prophets and in the Psalms that prefigured and prophesied about Him, to be amazed at how the Crucified and Risen plan of God permeates the Scriptures, and to see the ultimate reason: inviting people back into full relationship with God through repentance.

We know the Church has taken these words and actions of Jesus seriously because Sunday by Sunday the readings and the psalms are chosen to shed light on each other, with the Old Testament prefiguring the New, and the New fulfilling the Old.

This means that we cannot know Jesus fully unless we know Him Crucified and Risen, AND we also know Him through all of the Scriptures.

This also means that there are levels of understanding the scriptures that can only be opened up to us by the power of God. We should diligently ask for these graces.

We can also see that Jesus knew that it would take the disciples time to unpack and digest all the infused knowledge He gave them. That is the purpose of that first season of Easter weeks. It was a vital preparation for Pentecost. Without this process they could never have preached effectively and authoritatively. We know it worked, because on Pentecost morning Peter gets up and quotes from Joel, 2 Samuel, Isaiah, and Psalms 16, 110 and 132 with great confidence.

Let’s pray.
​
Dear Heavenly Father, where we do not know Your Son Jesus in His resurrection, crucifixion, and Holy Scripture to the extent that You want for us, please grant to us that precious revelation. It doesn’t matter to us whether You use the Emmaus method, the Upper Room method, or a combination of both; only that we come to know Jesus in the fullness that You want for us. Please make that happen so that we can become more effective witnesses to You and to Your wonderfully grand plan of salvation. Amen.  

The Gospel for the Easter Vigil, Year B, comes from the first part of St Mark Chapter 16 and contains the discovery of the empty tomb of Jesus.

Three things stood out to me from this Gospel passage, and they speak of God’s providence, His knowledge and His mercy.

In their hurry to get to the tomb of Jesus as early as possible, and therefore to attract as little attention as possible from passers-by, the women fixated on getting the spices ready and on transporting them successfully have forgotten to bring any man-power with them. The stone covering the entrance to the tomb is extremely large, and not something that the combined might of three women could budge. This worrying thought only dawns on them after they have set out for the tomb, and then consumes their thoughts for the rest of the journey. But God in His providence has already solved this problem for them, and before they even remembered that they needed help. The women don’t have to work out who is going to stay and guard the spices and who is going to go back and get help, they can proceed with their plan.

Only there’s no one to embalm with spices.

However there’s a young man dressed in a long white robe like the upper classes wear, someone of significance, sitting on the tomb ledge.

So much for not being discovered! The women experience a range of emotions that gets translated as alarmed, terrified, greatly astonished, awe struck, struck with amazement. The young man tells them ‘do not be ….’ and he uses the exact same base word for those range of emotions. Telling us that God knows exactly what we are going through, and exactly what we are feeling, and can calm us down.

Since a messenger must have a message to give; explanations for why the tomb is empty of Jesus and the details of a new mission for the women follow.

‘You must go and tell His disciples and Peter.’

If you remember the Passion narrative from St Mark, Peter well and truly blotted his copybook with Jesus; multiple
denials, emphasized with cursing, and with oaths.
Thus this message is important.

It also has at least two layers of meaning. The first layer is ‘go and tell My disciples and take special care that you make sure Peter gets the message’. The second layer is ‘go and tell My disciples, and also go and tell Peter that if he wants to become a disciple again, that the door is open for him to return’. Both layers of meaning are an invitation for Peter to receive the mercy and forgiveness of Jesus. It is quite possible that Peter might have never found the courage to return to the disciples without this merciful message.

So let us rededicate ourselves to the risen Lord Jesus, remembering that His providence anticipates our needs, remembering that He knows us better than we know ourselves, and remembering that He is willing to be reconciled with us no matter how badly we have stuffed things up.

May He help us remember, and may He enable us to increase our trust and confidence in Him. Amen.

The Gospel for this Sunday, Palm Sunday Year B, comes from about an eighth of the whole Passion narrative, and is the fifth of those eight portions. It contains the end of the interrogation of Jesus by the Sanhedrin, the denials of Peter, and the beginning of Pilate’s questioning of Jesus.

Looking at the online translation of the Greek into English via BibleHub two things become clearer, the extent of the physical violence done to Jesus at that time, and the extent of the denials Peter made.

The other thing to ponder is the title King of the Jews which Pilate uses. He wasn’t the first one to use that title for Jesus, the archangel Gabriel was possibly the first, viz, ‘He will rule over the house of Jacob for ever (Luke 1:34)’. May this reminder spur us to pray for the descendants of Jacob of our day, that they might come to know and love Jesus as their King.

As soon as Jesus responds to the high priest’s ultimate question, ‘Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?’ with ‘I am’, extraordinary levels of violence are unleashed against Him. For a mortal to say he was God’s equal was blasphemy of the highest order, and beyond outrageous. This is blasphemy as originally understood, not as we refer in everyday speech to the insulting swear words that many people make from the names of God. In their minds there was no way at all that this could be true. Hence the violence.

It starts with spitting on Jesus, then someone winds a cloth around His face to blindfold Him and everyone has a go at hitting Him with their fists. Then when the temple officers come in to take him into custody, the officers slap him in the face.
Peter is close enough to hear the violence unleashed against Jesus. It stands to reason that anyone who gave credibility to this ‘blasphemy’ is going to be a target as well.

Peter’s first denial is relatively simple, ‘I do not know. I do not even understand what you are talking about’.

As he moves from the warmth of the fire pit around to the forecourt of the high priest’s residence, to escape the gaze of the serving girl who accused him of being a companion of Jesus, the cock crowed the first time.

But that wasn’t enough to jolt Peter out of his dark mental space.

We aren’t given the words Peter used for his second denial.

At the third accusation Peter starts cursing and swearing. In our day we use these words interchangeably, so we don’t get the full impact. The word we translate as swearing means the swearing of oaths, something far more serious and emphatic than mere expletives. Something probably along the lines of ‘may God strike me down if what I say isn’t true’ or ‘on my mother’s grave I promise you this is the absolute truth’.

Only then does the second cock crow, and Peter simultaneously remembers what Jesus said to him, and how vehemently he has fulfilled it. These weren’t ordinary denials, they were completely 'burn the bridges of a relationship' denials.

Peter goes into full emotional meltdown.

Jesus was close enough to have heard every word of Peter’s cursing and swearing. It must have hurt Him far more than all the physical violence He received that night.

Yet such is the love of Jesus for Peter (and by extension His love for all of us) that He chose Peter to be His close companion, and to remain a close companion of His, despite knowing in advance the extreme hurt Peter was going to inflict upon Him - albeit under great duress.

He knows the absolute worst we can do, the absolute worst we can be, and yet He is willing to be loving and merciful to us anyway.

When times of despair come upon us, may the Lord Jesus cause us to remember this truth, and to grant us sufficient courage and boldness to seek His pardon and mind-blowing mercy.
​Amen.

The Gospel for this Sunday, the 5th Sunday of Lent Year B, comes from chapter 12 of St John and is situated chronologically between the Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem and the washing of the feet on the evening of Holy Thursday.

Against the volatility of that week, the caution shown by Philip and Andrew becomes understandable. At any other time and place a request to see/meet with Jesus wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. An observable interaction in Jerusalem just before the Passover with the potential to send His message beyond Jewish borders and the stakes suddenly get higher for both the Jewish authorities and for Jesus.

Just like the arrest of John the Baptist, which was the catalyst for Jesus to begin His public ministry, this event feels like a catalyst or an expected sign that confirms that This is The Passover for Jesus, the Passover when He will be sacrificed.

Just like the Baptism in the Jordan, and the Transfiguration, this event includes a theophany; an audible response from God the Father. While the Transfiguration happened in private, and the Baptism may or may not have had more than one witness, this theophany is public.

Therefore what Jesus is saying here carries great significance.

What we have in this passage is a glimpse into how Jesus approached His Passion, and what kept Him committed to seeing it through despite the frightening personal cost.

Unless a wheat grain dies, it does not produce a rich harvest.
Only by surrendering His life will the better, eternal life be attained.
Only by His death are the powers of evil overthrown.
Only by His death does the conquering of each heart for the Kingdom begin.
Only by His death is ultimate victory accomplished.

Verse 31 deserves special attention:
“Now sentence/judgment/justice is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world (satan) is to be driven out/cast out/ejected.”

This is a mission statement, a declaration of war, and a declaration of victory.

The purpose of Jesus is to drain the whole world of evil.

He definitively did this on Calvary.

The decisive battle is won, and it is a victory that keeps on growing.

Jesus began changing the world and began draining the whole world of the swamp of evil on Calvary.

In each era of history since then, He has continued to drain the swamp of evil and advance the kingdom of God.

Jesus is still draining the various swamps of evil today.

Every day we can declare with Him, ‘Now the prince of this world is ejected’.

Today we can declare with Him, ‘Now the prince of this world is ejected’.

And it’s true.

In our own era the swamp of evil has become boldly visible to extents and complexities never before seen.

Jesus is still about His mission of draining the swamp, and a major victory is immanent.

Sometimes an enemy has to be lured out of the shadows before it can be vanquished on a massive scale.
​
This seems to be what is happening in our era.
So do not be dismayed.
The plan to massively vanquish evil is in operation.
Jesus will attain His full purpose.
‘Today the prince of this world is ejected.’
Amen.

The Gospel for this Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Lent Year B, comes from chapter 3 of St John and contains part of the late-night conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.

It also contains one of the best loved and well-known verses in Sacred Scripture: John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

We are very fortunate that the details of this important conversation were recorded for us. Can you imagine how different our understanding of Jesus and His mission would be without them?

Nicodemus is a member of the Pharisees, a movement within Judaism that tried to live out God’s law as perfectly as possible; and Nicodemus was respected and influential which meant that if he didn’t have the official status of elder he certainly had the unofficial status. In him we see someone seriously trying to please God in everything, and who had a much greater knowledge of scripture and the law than most people of his time.

To Nicodemus Jesus can talk and entrust knowledge succinctly, and in many layers, because He knows this fine mind will retain this teaching/knowledge and mull over it and wrestle with it from many different angles, through many and varied conversations, and over many years until true understanding comes.

So what does Jesus entrust Nicodemus with?

Firstly with an understanding of the depth of the agape love of God, and secondly with the eternal ramifications of our responses to that agape love of God, among other things.

To give one’s only son is a sacrifice few can comprehend, and even fewer can make. Many see the life of their only son as more precious than their own, because the whole future of their family rests on him. Without a child to assist, provide for, dream for, aspire to make the world a better place for, life loses almost all of its purpose and motivation.

God’s commitment of covenant love for us is so great, that even as He tells Nicodemus this, He has already begun the process to sacrifice His Son for each one of us. This is incomprehensible love verging on outright lunacy in its extravagance and costliness.

The only appropriate response to this covenant love of such unimaginable magnitude is to accept such a gift of salvation with gratitude and to commit our lives in covenant love to this only begotten Son of God.

One of the eye-openers of this passage of scripture is that there is no in-between. Either we respond with agape love to God and dwell in His light, or we respond with agape love to evil and dwell in darkness.

There is no middle ground.

On the choice of where we give our agape love is what hangs our eternal future.

The sad and bad news is that more of us choose evil and darkness over God and light.

The good news is that we still have an opportunity to choose God and light, but it has to be a total agape love response. It can’t be anything less.

We were made to give ourselves in agape love.

What we have chosen to love with agape love will be given us eternally.

Choose well.

​#GospelReflection

The Gospel for this Sunday, the 3rd Sunday of Lent Year B, comes from the second half of chapter 2 of St John and contains an account of the cleansing of the Temple.

In the other three Gospels this account is part of the final visit of Jesus to Jerusalem, but with John it occurs very early in His ministry just prior to the first Passover after His encounter with the Holy Spirit in baptism at the Jordan river.

Why?

Part of the answer is in the traditional preparations for the Passover. In the preparation time all of the yeast and all leavened products are expelled from Jewish homes. The whole family does it, but the father of the family has the most authority to do so.

Yeast, if you have ever worked with it, is a rather stinky pungent substance. Getting rid of the yeast is symbolic of getting rid of anything offensive to God, especially our sins, and the whole of Lent has this purpose.

So we can see in this event Jesus with the authority of the Father cleansing the Temple of the things that didn’t belong in a place of worship and prayer.

Jesus was bringing the Temple back to its original order and purpose, and making the place more conducive to finding God during the years of His public ministry.

It was a very confronting and dramatic thing to do, and it took a deal of courage.

The rest of us would probably complain and grumble privately and never do anything to fix it because fighting ‘city hall’ is never easy.

Why do it that way?

Well how did things get that way in the first place?

To me the following seems like a plausible scenario:

In the beginning all the animals and stuff were outside the Temple walls, a short distance away. Then one day it must have rained hard, and the merchants moved their unblemished animals closer to the Temple for shelter. The dove and pigeon sellers possibly got just inside the front door, and then they got more business because of the better/closer location, sellers and buyers were happy and the birds made next to no noise. But one pigeon table became two tables, and two tables became more tables. Not too long after the lamb sellers thought they’d see if they could muscle in too. The slow creeping encroachment continued. By the time the presence of the sheep had been accepted as normal, the cattle sellers made their move. Time passed and the presence of the doves, pigeons, lambs and cattle in the outer Temple precincts became tradition. No one remembered that it had ever been anything different. People occasionally grumbled about the noise and the smells and the mess, but it was what it was, and it was still convenient.

So how do you fix something like that?

Obviously an incremental approach; remove the cattle, then remove the sheep, then remove the birds isn’t going to work. Why should I move my stall if the other bloke isn’t moving his?…etc.

How do you fix it so that no one dares to even think about creeping back in for a very long time?

You have to do it dramatically, and emphatically, and all at once.

And that is exactly what Jesus did.

We might even see Him do it again.

We have seen a lot of creep over the years ourselves, no fault divorce, contraception, abortion, cohabitation, redefinitions of marriage, gender fluidity, euthanasia. Young people today cannot even imagine a time when these things weren’t accepted and weren’t celebrated.
 
Likewise an incremental approach to fixing it is unlikely to work.

Something bold, dramatic, authoritative and emphatic that brings us back to God’s original vision for marriage and family and contains enough awe for us to never to consider that other stuff again for many centuries. That’s what would work. Something only God can do.

In history we see that whenever societal norms have swung too far one way, the pendulum swings back the other way. Similarly the ying yang concept of the orient implies that if you go too far ying then everything becomes yang, and if you go too far yang then everything becomes ying, and quite dramatically so.

Lent is a time for us to work on clearing out any compromise and any increasing levels of compromise in our lives, in order to put God emphatically first.

But we also shouldn’t be surprised if God does some dramatic and emphatic spring cleaning too; individually, in families and parishes, and on a worldwide basis.

It is wonderful that God has this kind of zeal for our salvation, and that He is willing and able to clean everything up and restore it to original order and purpose.
​
May He have His way in us, and in our troubled world. Amen.

The Gospel for this Sunday, the 2nd Sunday of Lent Year B, comes from the chapter 9 of St Mark and narrates the transfiguration of Jesus.

Most of the time when we read this Gospel passage we relate to how gob-smacked Peter, James and John were in the presence of Moses and Elijah.

I contend that it is equally likely that Moses and Elijah were awe struck to meet Peter, James and John, even though the Gospel passage doesn’t say that they did anything more than look at these three and speak to Jesus.

When we ourselves get through the pearly gates, who are we going to make a beeline to meet first? It is going to be Peter, James and John, or is it going to be Moses and Elijah? My guess is that Peter makes everyone’s ‘top 5 Saints we want to meet in heaven’, after Mary, Joseph and possibly our name saints and patron saints.

What did they have in common? Moses and Elijah were best friends with God. Peter, James and John are best friends with Jesus. This is Jesus introducing some of His best friends to each other.

What distinguishes a best friend from a regular friend? To a best friend you entrust the most private musings of your heart. To a best friend you entrust your deepest secrets. With a best friend you want to share the most pivotal moments of your life.

To become worthy of such a relationship the price is usually passing through lots of trials and tribulations and remaining faithful.

Sharing and keeping secrets are both the mark and the test of close friendship.

The healed leper we met a few weeks ago failed that test and opportunity. He blabbed everywhere. But Peter, James and John passed this test and faithfully kept the secret of this wondrous event until the appointed time. That’s impressive. It really is. It shows the depth of their friendship.

When we look at the lives of St Bernadette, St Catherine Laboure, and the three seers of Fatima we remember that God entrusted them with momentous secrets too, which they faithfully kept at great personal cost. There is therefore enough evidence to suggest that secrets are part of God’s standard operating procedure for those worthy to be called His friends.

When we recall this amazing moment in salvation history like Peter, James and John we are invited into deeper levels of friendship with God.

May we always be given the grace to say Yes to this invitation, and may we always be given the grace to recognise the secrets God entrusts to us and to be proved worthy of that trust. Amen.
​
#GospelReflection

The Gospel for this Sunday, the 1st Sunday of Lent Year B, comes from the first chapter of St Mark and references the testing Jesus went through during 40 days in the wilderness.

But that isn’t the part that’s striking me, instead it is verse 15 which could be paraphrased ‘everything the family of Israel has been waiting, hoping and longing for over many centuries is at hand, it’s Go time people!, if you want ‘in’ then it’s time to change your lives, take God more seriously than you ever have before, the choice is yours’.

All of the lives of the patriarchs, the judges, the prophets, the kings, have looked forward to the promised Messianic era. It has been a very long wait. Yet once the signals turn green with the baptism of Jesus, and His time in the wilderness, and John’s arrest, action time begins. Lepers get cleansed, demoniacs get freed, all kinds of illnesses get healed, and invitations to radically surrender our lives to God’s will are issued.

We’ve lost the sense of just how big a deal it was back then, and of how bold you had to be to make pronouncements like that.

It still is a big deal. The offer of eternal life with God always is.

Such a big offer requires a very big response; mediocre responses and ‘What are the minimum requirements?’ responses won’t do. 
 
Ash Wednesday, which we celebrated a little differently this year, helps underline the magnitude of the offer. In past years the ash was moistened with holy water and used to make a cross on our foreheads. Under pandemic restrictions the ash with as little moisture as possible was sprinkled on our heads instead. What a reminder of how ephemeral our lives are here on earth, and of how fleeting they are compared to eternity!

It is still Go time for us; if we want to accept the invitation. When we weigh up live on earth vs live eternal in heaven it should be sufficient motivation to re-order our lives towards the goal of heaven. Any other goal is worthless compared to that.

Lent is the graced time to make those necessary adjustments to re-order our lives.

May this Lent be one that really counts, and one that finds us responding, ‘I want in, no matter what; help me change, help me take You far more seriously’.
​
#GospelReflection