POPE FRANCIS AND HOLINESS…

When I bought a copy of Pope Francis’s latest Apostolic Exhortation ‘Rejoice and be Glad’ it was so new it wasn’t even logged into the computer of the bookshop. As I read it I am filled with hope that Francis is recognising the holiness in each one of us. To me it is a new telling of Vatican II and a reminder of the innate holiness of all God’s people…If only we touch into it. I am rejoicing that we all are God’s holy people. Let’s fill our struggling world with hope!

Joy that orientates our life

During these weeks of Easter we are invited to understand and experience resurrection, not as an historical moment or a exclusively divine event but as a presence and as joy. The risen Christ is utterly present with us, calls us by name (Jn 20:16), touches and is touched by us (Jn 20:27), walks along side us (Lk 24), heals, strengthens and encourages us (Jn 21). The Gospel stories of resurrection come into our daily lives and reality and we discover, within the ordinary events of our everyday lives, the presence of God.

It is this recognition of the indwelling of God, that now orientates our life.

It isn’t necessarily a bubbly happy joy, but a deep inner certainty that Christ is present and can be found in every encounter – nothing can ever be the same after this realisation – Christ is wholly present.

Michael Ivens in his book Understanding the Spiritual Exercises puts it this way:

..the grace … of the Fourth Week is joy. We are concerned with paschal joy, the joy proper to Easter, the joy which springs from a still more fundamental grace, that of the faith and love that make the risen Christ, though invisible, the very core of the believer’s existence. The prime object of paschal joy, then, is the here-and-now reality of the risen Christ.

Flowing from Christ, this joy has the typical effects of consolation. Consolation always moves a person to God’s service, towards apostolic mission, a source of strength, energy and courage to participate in the work of the Kingdom.

Pilgrimage to Lindisfarne

A group of FCJs and young adults are just back from a four day walking pilgrimage to Lindisfarne, a tidal island of the North East coast of England.

As we began our pilgrimage we were reminded of some elements of pilgrimage; prayerful preparation; silence and solitude. We prayed each day to remember that ‘although individuals, we travel with others…’ Our time together was full of joy, laughter, new friendships and lots of mud! Northumberland in spring is beautiful but it can be wet, and this year the snow has left the ground soaking and slippy! I don’t think our boots will ever be the same again!

 

Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island, was a centre of Christianity from the 6th Century AD and the monks of Lindisfarne, including St Aidan and St Cuthbert brought Christianity to the north of England.

Our pilgrimage took us along part of St Cuthbert’s Way, a national walking route, and across the ancient pilgrims causeway to Lindisfarne. At the end of the pilgrimage we travelled to Durham to visit the shrine of St Cuthbert in Durham Cathedral.

The Risen One

As I read the Resurrection stories from the Gospels I don’t find lots of certainty and immediate clarity, in today’s Gospel  John 20:11-18

 Mary is seeking Jesus who was placed within the tomb, and her confusion and grief when she discovers he is not there are understandable. When she meets the risen Jesus she fails to recognise him, and Jesus poses this question: “Who are you looking for?” Mary is looking for the dead, and yet Jesus is living. She is seeking in the wrong place. It is only when she hears Jesus speak her name that she hears something which calls her out of her old ideas and into a new way of understanding.

Easter, resurrection, challenges us to not look for Jesus simply in our own narrow perspective, but to be willing to meet him where he is now in his risen life. Christ is among the living, Christ brings life and hope where there was death and sorrow.

There is a song by Marty Haugen that I particularly love because it speaks of this shifting of perspective. It’s called ‘Song at the Empty Tomb’ (you can listen to a clip here but it only has the end so you miss the lyrics… )

Song at the Empty Tomb -Marty Haugen

Once you brought the dead into life,
your hands were healing and peace,
your words were fire and light,
your life was promise and feast.

Now you leave us trembling and weak,
no more the sureness of death,
No more the world that I knew,
life that is new with each breath.

Where now is the body you wore?
What is this dark empty hole?
Where is the One that I love?
Where is the fire of my soul?

You who were the truth of my life,
you now my fear and my hope,
Who shatters death and the grave,
who goes before me alone.

You who shake the earth and the stars,
who opens tombs in my soul,
Who knows my weakness and pain,
you tear and rend and make whole.

Here beyond the shadow of death,
here where the day breaks anew,
There is no future, but faith,
there is no promise but you.

Here in the midst of death,
we shall see the birth of life.
Now in the darkest hour,
we shall know the face of God.

Here in the midst of life, here within each fearful heart,
Now in each human form, you shall be the risen one.

Grant to us this day of your life,
when all your people shall see,
When death itself shall have died,
when we your kingdom shall be.
We your Kingdom shall be

PRAYING FOR YOU THIS EASTER

I have kept all of you very much in my thoughts and prayer these days as we have spent time reflecting deeply on the death and resurrection of Jesus. The last few days have offered much time for thinking of those we love and care for. It has been my practice in recent years to pray, really pray, for all those who have ever been in my life in any way. I also pray as widely as I can for the ever growing needs of our world and indeed for the whole cosmos. I include in my prayer all those who have ever read this blog. I pray for you. Wishing you a happy Easter.

Some images in Holy Week

I have been struck in recent days by how personal and tactile the events leading to the Passion are. The single, personal relationships and interactions. The choices of each individual in their relationship with God.

Mary anoints the feet of Jesus. Jn 12

When I have prayed with this passage in the past I have often focused on the ointment or oil or on the ‘fragrance filling the house’. This year however, I came across this image of The Anointing at Bethany by Daniel F. Gerhartz. In it Mary is utterly focused on Jesus, and in particular on her loving action towards him. Who she is is given to Jesus fully in this moment of her life. All of her attention, all of her love. She confirms it by touch.

“It is the one to whom I give the piece of bread” Jn 13

In Tuesday’s Gospel we see Jesus acknowledging the coming betrayal by Judas and denial by Peter. These are not simply people in the crowd – they are his closest companions, the ones he 

breaks bread with. Judas meets Jesus day after day, listens to Him, receives bread at the last supper… and yet somehow he has remained separate. He has not understood the purpose and values of Jesus, and pursues his own agenda. We don’t know his motivation, but we might recognise his action.

“What are you prepared to give me if I hand him over to you?” Mtt 26

Again today, Wednesday of Holy Week the Gospel focuses on the interaction between Jesus and Judas. the image I have chosen here is of the hand FULL of silver. Who knows the reality of this interaction, but if money changed hands it was done physically. Judas felt the short term gain, perhaps convincing himself too of a higher purpose.

In the ordinary concrete interactions of my life, how am I living out and expressing my relationship with Jesus?

 

THE CHANCE TO DO A LITTLE GOOD

It is a great privilege to be able to offer help in simple ways to those who need it. Recently we were able to give some financial assistance to a young woman who is going to Hong Kong to work. Her parents are dead and she is the sole supporter of her three young siblings. Even though it is sad that she has to leave home to find work she is determined to do this to ensure that her three sisters get a good education. Last week we gave some funding to a young man who couldn’t sit his final examinations because he couldn’t pay for them. This evening we opened our house for a prayer service for a man who died tragically several days ago. The bereaved family used to live in our Basic Ecclesial Community. We are blessed to have resources and to be given donations that can be used to help others.

COMPANIONS IN MISSION – A NEW WAY OF LIVING THE CHARISM OF COMPANIONSHIP…

I recently had the great good fortune to meet a significant number of our Companions in Mission (CiM) and I was especially blessed to be present at a first commitment ceremony. It never ceases to amaze me how the Companions in Mission are living the Charism of Companionship in a totally new way – and leading us all to new understanding. When I think of the CiM I am filled with gratitude and when I remember the five new Companions in Mission it fills me with such joy!

The most important things

Who is to say what is important and what isn’t? My diary for this week is full of interesting meetings and varied plans.

Yesterday though, I met a neighbour in the supermarket and we had a conversation, whilst standing by the onions, about grief and bereavement and kindness. The conversation lasted only a couple of minutes, but I guess it may turn out to be the most important thing of my week.

We spend so much time planning and being busy, and then these tiny gems of opportunity come our way in the most ordinary of situations, and we are given a choice – to recognise the value of the moment or to rush on past.

 

Life comes back

London rarely sees snow, so yesterday and today have a magical quality with quite a good falling of powdery snow lying across most of the city. It is beautiful! It is also a reminder that winter hasn’t gone yet – the signs of spring are there but the cold has certainly returned!

The spring flowers peeping out through the snow in our garden are a good Lenten reminder. Sometimes life can get a bit buried, a bit overwhelmed and frozen – we can feel that we are in the depths of winter. These little signs of life through the frozen earth tell us that the pull of Spring is stronger – Life comes back. Lent ends in resurrection.