Pentecost - What is it?

 

 

PENTECOST - What is it?

 

Article by Victor S E Moubarak - LINK HERE

 

John 14:15-17 ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, because He abides with you, and He will be in you.'

 

Pentecost is a Christian festival celebrated the 49th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus while they were in Jerusalem celebrating the Feast of Weeks. Acts 2:1-31.

 

The Apostles and others were gathered together in a house in fear of the authorities. Suddenly there's a mighty sound and flames of fire on their heads. The Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, descended on them and became one with their very souls.

Their soul and the Holy Spirit were one. And this union of the human and the Divine manifested itself in many ways. For a start they all had the courage to speak up. They were no longer afraid. These very people who days before had ran away when Jesus was arrested, suddenly gained new courage given them by the Holy Spirit.

 

They knew the truth about Jesus and His Resurrection and they were no longer afraid to keep the secret to themselves. They had the courage to stand up and shout their truth to all willing to hear. They were not afraid of the consequences.

 

And what's more, by receiving the Holy Spirit the followers of Jesus gained a new ability as well as courage. They were all able to speak in different languages that up to then they knew nothing about. There were many people in Jerusalem at the time and they heard the followers of Jesus speak to them in their own language and proclaiming the truth about Christ and His Resurrection.

 

To the early Christians, the Holy Spirit was real indeed. They had experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. They received Him at Pentecost in tongues of fire and they were able to speak to the crowds that gathered in different languages. This was not something they had read about in the scriptures and the writings of the prophets. This was real indeed. They experienced it personally and had the courage to tell everyone about it. Just like you would do, if some supernatural experience happened to you.

Because the disciples had experienced the Holy Spirit, He became such a force in their lives, giving them strength to spread the Good News that Jesus had taught them, enabling them to live as Jesus had lived. 

It was they who handed on to us this mystery that in one God there are three Persons. Because they had experienced it in their lives. They had met Jesus and came to accept Him as the Son of God, and now they had also experienced the power of the Holy Spirit.

With the passage of time, the story of Pentecost, or more precisely, the significance and understanding of receiving the Holy Spirit, has been diluted over the years.

 

The reality is that we can all receive the Holy Spirit into our souls today. All we have to do is to believe it is possible; and to sincerely ask God to send us the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost - Not as Orphans

 

Sermon by Father Jonathan E Moore - LINK HERE

Pentecost Sunday 2026        Not as Orphans

“Alleluia! Not as orphans are we left in sorrow now.” Reassuring words from a much-loved hymn, (Alleluia! Sing to Jesus, William C. Dix 1867)  Last week, we heard the consoling words Jesus spoke to His first followers: “I will not leave you as orphans” (John 14:18). Jesus promised the gift of the Holy Spirit. Today we celebrate the fulfilment of that promise. God’s Church has been gifted with the Holy Spirit, as a whole and in each and every individual member. On the first Pentecost Sunday, the Apostles experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit in an awesome, powerful, life-changing and dramatic way. It is possible for us to become so blinded by the “epic” of the Church’s birth that we lose sight of a great truth: “This promise is for you.” (Acts 2:39). Yes, the Gift of that same Holy Spirit is given to each and every one of us, and today I would like to share with you just two thoughts about receiving that gift.

Over my years as a priest, I have heard many people speak of their experience of Confirmation, often with confusion and  a sense of disappointment afterwards. One might summarise their words as follows: “We heard the story of Pentecost and of great Saints who had done marvellous things in the power of the Holy Spirit. We were told that we would receive the same Spirit. We were prepared for something great and exciting to happen, but after receiving the Sacrament we felt no different.”

I think that there is a common mistake in catechisis which is somewhat akin to a school teacher who so desires to give her pupils a love for great literature that she forgets to teach them to read first! Pope Francis spoke of what he called “Spiritual Illiteracy”. (Homily for Pentecost 2016)

This is certainly manifest when people can only believe in spiritual experience on an emotional level. In Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Counselling, I have often found that a lack of feeling in prayer and worship can lead the unwary to conclude that they are spiritually dead, and failing Christians. It can be such a relief for them to learn for the first time the basic spiritual truth that the faculties of the soul are Memory, Understanding and Will. Emotion is nowhere in it! The most cursory reading of the lives of the Saints reveals that the best and holiest of people experienced years of spiritual dryness, finding no delight or consolation in prayer at all. What makes them saints is the fact that they persevered in their efforts to love and serve God and neighbour, even when it seemed to bring nothing at all to their own selves. Saint Charles Borromeo prayed : “Lord, make me do good without knowing it”. Saint Ignatius prayed that he might “Fight and not heed the wounds, labour and seek for no reward save that of knowing that in all things I am doing Thy most holy will.” His Spiritual Exercises are matter-of-fact and often austere in their practicality, yet they have brought millions closer to God, and continue to do so today. The New Testament is clear that the immediate need of the Apostles on the first Pentecost Sunday was for COURAGE. That same gift is available to every confirmed person. People who have done extraordinarily brave deeds invariably tell of the personal terror which possessed them at an emotional level, but was overcome with an act of will. This again is clearly descriptive of the Holy Spirit at work.

“I will not leave you as orphans”.  My second thought today is about the importance of family for all of us. There is a cynical and oft-repeated aphorism “God gave me my family, but in His mercy permitted me to choose my friends!”, and maybe there are times when we might feel inclined to agree! That said, few really believe that to be true. One only has to witness the loneliness and vulnerability of the orphaned child or the desolation of the neglected old person to see how very important family is. We constantly come across stories of people going to extraordinary lengths to trace children given up for adoption at birth, or the adopted ones seeking their birth parents. Not all of these stories have a happy ending: sometimes the adoptive parents feel rejected, and sometimes the birth parents have no wish to be found. Nevertheless, the instinct to seek family, the need to belong, is a compelling motive.

The Holy Spirit, Saint Paul tells us, makes us the adopted sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven, confident to call Him “Abba” (Daddy). We are Sons and Daughters “in the Son” (cf. Romans 8:14-17), with Jesus as our older Brother. Our Lord gave us Mary to be our Mother (John 19:26). If we are all children of the same Heavenly Father, it follows that we are all brothers and sisters one with another.

Getting back to the way we feel about things, it may well be that our experience of home and family is not always one we feel all that good about, maybe our relatives are demanding, tedious and unappreciative at times, but it would be a very poor parent who used the bad behaviour of a child as an excuse for neglecting their own responsibilities. In the same way, the crankiness of an elderly parent would be no justification for their children to “wash their hands” of them.

Our adoption as sons and daughters of the one Father, and as brothers and sisters in Christ, brings its own responsibilities. Even though that great family may not always be a lot of fun, they are still family, and we are not free simply to walk away.

Perhaps the correct question for every confirmed person to ask on Pentecost Sunday is not “How should Confirmation make me feel?” But “How should I, as a child of God, be living my life?” In the 25th Chapter of Saint Matthew’s Gospel we are given a clear picture of the Day of Judgement. The “Blessed of my Father” who Christ the Judge calls into the Kingdom of Heaven looked after their brothers and sisters, but they didn't feel particularly virtuous in so doing. The damned didn't feel bad about their neglect of those in need. They were not judged on how they had felt, only about the way they acted.

"In the midst of winter, I found that there was within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, there is something stronger - something better - pushing back" (Albert Camus)

“But with regard to the breath of God, it not only warms, but also gives perfect light, His Spirit being an infinite Spirit, whose vital breath is called inspiration, because by it the Divine Goodness breathes upon us, and inspires us with the desires and intentions of His heart.” (Frances de Sales Treatise on Love of God VIII. 7)

May the Holy Spirit give us all the wisdom and understanding to know ourselves as children of God, and the courage to live accordingly.

The Treasure of Kindness

 

 Photo of movie poster (from Wikipedia)   

The Treasure of Kindness

Article by Fr Seán Coyle 

LINK HERE 

The first book I ever read, when seven, was my father’s unabridged copy of Robert Louis Stevenson.

I was seven and the book, my father’s, was unabridged. Dad rarely read books but always got the morning and evening paper. He encouraged me to read and when I was eight I got a card in Dublin City’s excellent public library system.

The year I read the book, 1950, a movie based on it came out. There was great excitement when it came to our local cinema in Dublin, the Broadway. The ushers were dressed as pirates and there was to be a raffle before the main movie at the children’s showing on a Saturday afternoon. Wearing a brown corduroy suit and with sixpence for the admission ticket which would serve for the raffle, I excitedly joined the queue.

When I got to the box office, though I searched every pocket, I couldn’t find the sixpence. Then I began to walk away, crying. The manageress approached me and asked me what was wrong. When I explained she told me just to go in. I was grateful and consoled. However, I still wanted a ticket for the raffle and kept searching in my pockets and eventually found the elusive sixpence. In my excitement I ran out to the box office and got my ticket.

However, it didn’t win a prize. But as the years went by, the kindness of the Broadway’s manageress keeps popping up in my memory and when it does I pray for her and, as I write this, I have prayed for the ‘pirates’ also that all of them have gone to the ‘Treasure Island’ that is heaven.

The kindness of an adult to a child can be an ongoing treasure. The memory of it brings a smile to our face. Part of the treasure is that children learn from such experiences how to behave as adults. Around 2010 a teacher in the Philippines reminded me that when she was a child I had bought her a pair of flip-flops, known as tsinelas (‘chinEELas’). I had vaguely remembered the incident which took place in 1980. Chatting with a group of children near the parish church, I noticed that one of them was wearing tsinelas that had seen better days. It wasn’t that her family was poor but rather that her flip-flops had ‘given up the ghost’ that afternoon and her home was some distance away. We went to a nearby store and I bought her a new pair, costing me only a few pesos. I totally forgot about the whole thing until she reminded me about it.

Though I didn’t make the connection at the time, the kindness of the Broadway Cinema manageress to me in Dublin in 1950 was part of what my young friend in Mindanao experienced in 1980 and still vividly remembered in 2010. The kindness of any adult to a child is part of God’s treasure available to all of us.

Broadway Cinema Dublin 

Photo from cinematreasures.org

The cinema closed in 1956 

but the building is now used as a youth centre.

Me and my friend Jesus

 

Jesus praying

Sermon by Father Jonathan E Moore - LINK HERE

7th Sunday of Easter 2026

The seventh Sunday of Easter, consecration in the truth. We've heard a part of the 17th chapter of Saint John's Gospel, the priestly prayer of our blessed Lord. Saint John locates this long prayer within his account of the Last Supper.

Jesus is praying for His disciples, all of them, present and future. Jesus is praying not just for Simon Peter and his companions, He's praying for you and me. Jesus prays that we may be true to the Father, that we may be united and that we may be consecrated in the truth.

Saint John's Gospel is very carefully put together. Nothing is there without a purpose and nothing is where it is without purpose either. John deliberately situated this prayer of Jesus, our high priest, in between two scenes in which we meet a very different high priest, Caiphas by name.

He tells how Caiphas railroaded the Sanhedrin into deciding that Jesus should die, it being his opinion better for one man to die, which John includes twice in his narrative, once before Jesus is arrested and again afterwards. There is no question of justice here, simply expediency. The priestly prayer of Jesus is followed by Saint John's passion narrative, where Jesus receives a mockery of a trial and, encouraged by Caiphas and his gang, even the Roman governor is railroaded by the Jerusalem mob into passing the death sentence on a man in whom he can find no fault.

Jesus lovingly prays for His followers. Caiphas manipulates and abuses his own people. There's a world of difference between the two, isn't there? Caiphas the high priest was a political appointment in the first place.

The Romans, doubtful of his loyalty, had deposed the high priest Annas in AD 15. They appointed Caiphas in his place. The change didn't really achieve much because many of the Jewish people continued to believe that Annas was the high priest, so Caiphas had to keep Annas on side all the time, which Saint John highlights by revealing that Jesus was taken as a prisoner first to be interrogated by Annas alone and only afterwards to Caiphas and the Sanhedrin, His condemnation already a done deal.

At the same time, however, Caiphas had to try and do the job the Romans had put him there to do. Poor Caiphas, in many ways a pitiable character, situated between a rock and a hard place. Having removed one high priest, the governor could just as easily sack another.

There's a story of the Russian tyrant Stalin warning Lenin's widow Krupskaya, who was protesting at his behaviour, be very careful, if necessary I can always find another Lenin's widow. John contrasts Jesus, the true high priest, with Caiphas, the politician, the phoney high priest. Caiphas is both manipulated and manipulative, a man whose ends justify whatever means are needed to achieve them.

His masters demand of him compliance and he in turn demands the same of those he leads. Sir Winston Churchill famously remarked, a lie can be halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on, and I rather suspect that with Caiphas the truth hadn't even got boots to put on. Jesus, the true high priest, cares for His followers, He wants them to know the truth, to live the truth, to be set free by the truth, to be sanctified in the truth.

What a world of difference between our Lord and Caiphas. John was the last of the apostles to die and may well have lived into the second century AD. He had plenty of time to see the consequences of living the truth and he knew just how bitter those consequences could be.

He recalled Jesus telling His followers that they would be hated just as He had been. A follower of Jesus can neither own the world nor be owned by it. A follower of Jesus can neither be a lover of the world or its beloved.

God is reality, God is all truth, the only truth in which we are ever truly sanctified. Faith in Jesus Christ frees us to live in relationship with the blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God can neither deceive or be deceived.

God knows you and me better than we know our own selves. So our journey of faith will reveal to us unwelcome truths about our own selves and temptation is never far away either. In the Old Testament story of Cain and Abel, God warns the angry, jealous Cain, sin crouches like a lion at your door.

This is all part of the reality in which we need to be grounded. It is the surest defence against perhaps the greatest of all temptations, pride. Be grateful when you are made to feel small because in truth we all are.

Jesus asked the Father, consecrate them in the truth, Your word is truth. We need to recognise the falsehood of living as though we belonged to the world. None of us is resident here for very long.

The temptation to materialism, to the pursuit of success, wealth and celebrity will crouch at our door as long as we live. We need also to see that the worst lies we ever tell are the ones we tell ourselves. The prejudices, false judgements and self-justification to which we can fall prey.

As Easter tide draws to its close, can we pray especially that God's word will be a lamp for our feet, a light for our eyes and that knowing the truth about God and about our own selves, we will enjoy the glorious liberty of the children of God, sanctified in truth. Amen.

Choice

 

Article by Victor S E Moubarak - link HERE  

What a wonderful world we live in where, (some of us), enjoy the freedom to do and say what we want, (within limits).

And we have so much choice with which to enjoy that freedom. We can do different jobs, (according to our abilities), we can live where we want, (generally), and we can love and appreciate so many good things in life.

So much choice! Have you seen how many different brands and types of toothpastes there are at the supermarket? And so many different beers from different countries. And if you want a car, there are so many makes and models and colours with so many added extras as well. 

Yes, modern life is so full of choices.

Except in one respect where the choice is binary: only two possibilities - YES and NO.

Do you believe in God and His only Son, Jesus?

On this one question, with a simple YES/NO answer, rests so much for each one of us.

There is so little time now for me to expand and explain why this one question is so important and relevant to each person on this planet.

But let it be an invitation to every one in the world to consider it now and analyse the implications of each individual's response.

Get the wrong answer, and you'll have a long time to reflect on the consequences!

Fruits of the Holy Spirit

  

Sermon by Father Jonathan E Moore - LINK HERE

6th Sunday of Easter 2026               Fruits of the Holy Spirit

We heard in last Sunday’s Gospel reading how unsettled the Apostles were by the thought of Jesus leaving them. “We don't know where you are going” said honest Thomas “so how can we know the way?” Jesus responded by telling Thomas “I AM THE WAY” (John 14:6). Jesus is himself the road which leads to the Father. Like all roads, the road to the Father has its traffic laws and Highway Code - rules which every road user must observe. Today, Jesus says to his friends:  

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15)

Those commandments are the rules of the road we must travel as followers of Jesus. Their foundation is the Law which God gave to Moses more than three thousand years ago - the Ten Commandments. They formed the basis of the teaching of Our Lord Himself; but, as we know, in His great Sermon on the Mount He called for his followers to go beyond those ancient laws on the road to the Father (Matthew 5:20). He gave a new Commandment, that we should love one another. (John 13:35)

“Love” is a strange word, isn't it? Certainly often misused these days, mispronounced too. When was it that “Love” became “Lerrv”? Sometime in the Swinging Sixties, I'm sure! Love, as the song says “Means different things to different people”, so how can we know exactly what Jesus meant? Fortunately, Jesus does not confuse us by advising us to “follow your heart”, or “do what seems best to you in the circumstances”. No, Jesus was quite clear: love is not a matter of talk but a matter of fact - we show it rather than say it. If our behaviour is in accordance with His teaching, then we are loving Him.

It doesn't take very long in anyone’s life to understand the difficulty of being good, and it doesn't get any easier as life goes on. Granted, the circumstances and temptations may change, but we don't. “Wretched man that I am!” exclaims St. Paul “Who will deliver me from this body of death” (Romans 7:24), and again “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Jesus knew quite well how hard it would be for his followers to keep to the rule of the road, so He made them a great promise, After He had returned to the Father, He told them, they would be given another Advocate to remain with them for ever. The word “Advocate” is a translation of the Greek word “Paraklitos”. Our word “Advocate” has mainly legal connotations these days, but “Paraclete” has a much richer meaning. I can't take time to speak of that meaning in detail today, but you can read further in the Catechism or online, and you would find much food for thought and prayer, I can promise you.

We can make a workable summary of the meaning of the word by saying that they all boil down to a “Paraclete” being someone stronger, wiser or more skilled than ourselves, and someone we can “call in” to help us when we face problems. The particular problem Jesus had in mind was precisely our inability, left to ourselves, to live up to His commandments.

At this time of the Church’s year, groups of young people the world over will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. This is a very special day in the life of every Catholic because it is the day when we have to start to travel along that road to the Father as adult people, facing the challenges of our world as grown-up Christians. The Candidates for Confirmation will have been learning about the Seven Gifts which the Holy Spirit gives through Confirmation, and all of us should be praying at this time that they will understand the gifts they receive and use them well.

Use them well? Yes! The Gifts of the Spirit are not ornaments, neither are they given simply for our personal satisfaction. They are given us to be used. 

How can we judge how well we are using those Seven Gifts? Again, Jesus made this clear in His teaching - one judges a plant by the fruit it bears (Matthew 7:15). So what fruit should we be bearing? There are Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit, twelve great qualities making up a true follower of Jesus Christ. It may be a long time since you yourselves were confirmed, and I won't embarrass anyone by asking for the list! If you remember them, however, it's a very good sign.

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit were something St. Paul wrote about in his letter to the people of Galatia all those many years ago now:

Charity

Joy

Peace

Patience

Kindness

Goodness

Generosity

Gentleness

Faithfulness 

Modesty

Self Control

Chastity 

(Cf. Galatians 5:23)

Jesus said that all human beings can be known by the fruit they bear. Appearances can be so very deceptive, and sometimes we can be shocked to discover that apparently good people are living very bad lives, and surprised to find that some people we wouldn't rate at all highly are so much better than we think. You can't judge a book by the cover. The Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit are the pages within the cover of your book and mine. They tell the true story of the kind of Christians we are, or aren't.

It will soon be Pentecost Sunday again. It is a day when all confirmed Catholics should recall the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit - Advocate, Helper, Friend. In preparation for that celebration, (and, by the way, for our own Day of Judgement too!) we would all do very well to meditate long and hard on how well we are using those gifts in our lives right now. Which fruits are we bearing abundantly, which are frail and diseased, are there any (God forbid!) we can't find at all?

Jesus promised the Advocate to his friends because they were so afraid, so please don't be afraid to ask yourself the question, or of the answers it might bring. Remember, the Holy Spirit comes down and remains with us, so if we find our fruits rather sparse this year, we know exactly Who to ask for help!

What do Christians believe?

 

Article by Victor S E Moubarak - Link HERE 

Every large organisation or institution has a Mission Statement. A statement outlining what the Organisation is set up to do, what are its values, ethics, and purpose.
 
Many years ago, in the year 325, the first ecumenical council of churches met and wrote a "mission statement" which is better known as the Nicene Creed. The name originates from the city of Nicaea in Turkey, where the ecumenical council met.

Also known as the Credo, (I believe), this document or statement has been accepted by most Christian denominations in the world.

It is, in fact, what a Christian truly believes. It is what identifies a Christian from anyone else. 

Let's look at it in some detail:

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty.

This proclaims at the onset that there is only one God. We are taught to see him and address Him as a Father. A symbol of love, caring, mercy and forgiveness. And that He is almighty; not like any other father here on earth.

Maker of Heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

He is so almighty that He has made everything. Visible and invisible.

This bit is important. It says visible and invisible. Not seen and unseen. If I were to leave one room and enter another I become unseen. But I am not invisible.

The use of the word invisible is to underline the fact that there is an invisible, spiritual, world which we do not see. We are both visible in human form and invisible in our spiritual form - our soul.

There is also an invisible world of angels and spirits of those departed from this world. As well, of course, as the invisible Holy Spirit.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and born of the Father before all ages. God of God, light of light, true God of true God. Begotten not made, consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made.

Note in particular that we say one Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Lord, our Master, and there is no other.

Begotten - born of a Father (God) - not made by God just as He made us, and the planets and everything else.

Before all ages. Jesus has always existed. He did not just begin to exist when He was born on earth. This is when He appeared to us in human form. But before that, He has always existed with God, because He is God.

Consubstantial to the Father. From Latin consubstantialem, of one essence or substance. This word was used by the Council of Nicaea (325) to express the Divinity of Christ. The Trinity is not a hierarchy. It isn't God at the top, then Jesus, and then the Holy Spirit. All three are equal and one; and have always been so.

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from Heaven. And was incarnate of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary and was made man;

Another proclamation that Jesus, who always existed, became human form through the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.

was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried; and the third day rose again according to the Scriptures. 

What is Pilate doing here? Why is he getting a mention in the Creed?

This is very important and significant. Jesus' life, death and resurrection is not some fairy story we hear and tell our children. "Once upon a time ..."

This is actual fact and it happened at a point in time. When Pilate was ruler. The mention of Pilate is to serve as a beacon in history so that future readers reciting the Creed can identify when these real facts actually happened.

Jesus died and rose again as predicted in the Old Testament by the prophets.

And ascended into Heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, and shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose Kingdom there shall be no end.

Jesus is indeed King in Heaven with God. We also believe that He is with us here and now in Spiritual form. Always by our side and ready to help us with our needs.

But we also believe that He will return to earth in human form as He did all those years ago.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who together with the Father and the Son is to be adored and glorified, who spoke by the prophets.

Another proclamation that the Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son.

The Holy Spirit has always existed. Just like God and Jesus.

He inspired the prophets to write what they wrote, and to predict the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The prophets did not make it all up as a fairy story. They were told by the Holy Spirit what to write.

And the holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

The word holy does not refer to us. There are plenty of so-called Christians who are far from holy! This refers to the Church. It was created by Jesus through Peter and it is holy because of this.

Catholic means throughout the world, universal. (Katholikos from katholou).

Apostlic means belonging and starting from the Apostles as chosen by Christ.

I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.

If we are to be put right with God we just have to accept Him through baptism and to confess and be sorry for our sins.

And I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

This is yet again very significant. Here we proclaim that this life, in this world, is only a passing phase. When we die there will be a resurrection and a new spiritual life in a spiritual world.

A message from Father Jonathan

 

A message from Father Jonathan Moore:

May I take this opportunity to say thanks to all those who, through “The Christian Lounge” website, and also the "Time for Reflections" website,  have offered assurances of prayer and good wishes. Unlike those members of my “virtual parish”, to whom I email a weekly reflection, you are not personally known to me, but be assured that you are much in my prayers at the present time. God bless you!

Love one another as I have loved you

 

Article by Father Francis Maple - LINK HERE

 LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU

In today’s Gospel from Gospel of John, we find ourselves at a very tender and solemn moment.  It is the Last Supper.  Judas has just gone out into the night to betray Jesus. And what does Jesus do?  He speaks… not of fear, not of anger, not even of betrayal.  He speaks of love.  “I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also must love one another.”

Now we might say, “But Lord, love is not new.  The Old Testament already told us to love our neighbour.” Yes, that is true.  But what is new is this: “As I have loved you.”  That is the difference. That is the challenge.

 What kind of love is this?  Jesus is not speaking about a comfortable love, or a polite kindness.  He is speaking about a love that: washes feet, forgives enemies, bears suffering and gives even life itself.  Within hours, He will go to the Cross.

So when He says, “Love as I have loved.”  He means: love when it costs you something, love when you are not appreciated and love when it hurts.  This is not easy love.  This is Christ-like love.

A woman once cared for her elderly husband who no longer recognised her.  Day after day, she fed him, washed him, and sat beside him.  Someone asked her, “Why do you keep doing this when he doesn’t even know who you are?”  She replied quietly, “Because I know who he is.”  That is love “as Christ loves.”

It is not based on what we receive.  It is based on who we are called to be.

Jesus says something very striking: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Notice—He does not say: “They will know you by your knowledge,” or “by your success,” or even “by your prayers.”  No.  They will know you by your love.  This is the mark of a Christian.  Not the cross we wear… but the love we live. 

Let us be honest.  It is easy to love those who are kind to us.  But what about: the difficult neighbour?  The family member who has hurt us?  The person who misunderstands us?  This is where the Gospel becomes real.  This is where holiness begins.

Perhaps today, the Lord is asking each of us: is there someone I need to forgive?  Is there someone I have neglected?  Is there someone I find hard to love?  That is where this Gospel must be lived.

The beautiful thing is this: Jesus never asks us to do something without giving us the grace to do it.  We are not loving alone.  We are loving with His love in us.

As St. Augustine once said: “Love, and do what you will.”  Because when we truly love as Christ loves, everything else falls into place.

The world today is hungry, not just for words, not just for ideas, but for real love.  Let us be that love.  In our homes.  In our parish and in our daily encounters.  So that others, seeing us, may say: “They belong to Christ.”

Lord Jesus, You have loved us with a perfect and self-giving love.
Teach us to love one another as You have loved us.  Give us patience in trials, forgiveness in hurt, and generosity in service. May our lives reflect Your love, so that the world may come to know You.  Amen.

Followers of the Way

 

 

 

Article by Father Francis Maple - LINK HERE 

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

 

FOLLOWERS OF THE WAY

 

I once had a priest friend who spoke very bluntly.  If a person wasn’t talking sense he would say, “You’re on the wrong bus, Mate!”

 

Buses, of course, usually display a destination board at the front.  What should be written on the destination board of your and my life?  I hope our destination board reads “Jesus” - if not, then we are definitely “on the wrong bus”!

 

St. Luke tells us in his Acts of the Apostles: “It was at Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians” (11:26).  Interestingly, he doesn't say “The disciples called themselves Christians”; no, it was what other people called them.  In the Church’s very early years, followers of Jesus Christ did not call themselves “Christian”, they defined themselves as “Followers of the Way”. 

 

In our Gospel today, Jesus says “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”.  In this statement, Jesus takes three of the great principles of the Old Testament, and declares that He is the fulfilment of all three.  Today I would like to concentrate on just two words: “THE WAY”. 

 

We are all on a journey through life.  Every single human person at this moment is somewhere along that short passage between birth and death.  The big question is: “Where are we going?”  It's something every one of us should be asking ourselves every single day - just where does the road we are travelling lead?

 

Jesus left His disciples in no doubt at all where He was going: “I go to Him who sent Me.” (John 7:33). Again and again He told them “I am going to the Father”, but they found this hard to understand.  It became even harder for them when Jesus started telling them that His path home to the Father involved dying on a cross.  This left them bewildered.  Peter could not accept this.  He was not going to let this happen.  But Jesus swiftly rebuked him, “Get behind Me Satan.”  (Mt. 16:23)  That must have left the others rather afraid to question Him any further.

 

There was, however, one of them who had both the honesty and the courage to own up to his own doubts.  That, of course, was our dear friend Thomas.  He spoke of his doubts and inability to understand.  This question brought from Jesus the beautiful words, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”  That should encourage us never to be ashamed of our doubts before God.  To feel doubts does not betray a lack of faith, but rather a faith which wants to grow deeper.

 

To a Jew at the time of Jesus, the words, ‘I am the Way’ were both powerful and awesome.

 

We see in the Old Testament countless references to the way people needed to live if they were to walk in the ways of the Lord. 

In Deuteronomy (5:32) we read: "You shall not turn aside to the right or to the left, but shall walk in ways which the Lord God has commanded you."  The Prophet Isaiah told the people: "Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying “This is the way, walk in it" (30:21). He also spoke of “The Way of Holiness" in which no person, even the simplest, would be lost (35:8).

 

Psalm 27 prays "Lord, teach me Your Way, so that I may walk in the Truth (v.11)

 

So the image of a Way that led to God was very familiar to them.  Imagine, then, the impact of Jesus saying: "I am that Way".

 

So the Road to God is not a "concept", but a person. Follow Jesus, and you too will find your way leads, not to death and non-existence, but to eternal life with God.

 

All the saints followed Jesus.  Let us take one saint, Teresa of Avila.  She wrote a wonderful book of spirituality entitled "The Way of Perfection".  For her Jesus the Lord is most definitely THE Way, and she admits no other spiritual path than a close and faithful adherence to Him.  She speaks of this beautifully when writing about the Eucharist.  She says, "If, while Jesus lived in the world, the mere touch of His garments healed the sick, who can doubt that when He is dwelling in the very centre of our being He will work miracles on us if we have a living faith in Him?" (208).

 

She also encourages us to have a firm and faithful perseverance in following The Way, that everything depends on people having a great and resolute determination never to halt until they reach their journey's end." She is strongly encouraging us to persevere on our journey to the bitter end.

 

What all of us must all ask ourselves every day when we examine our conscience is Where am I going?  If we are not following Jesus, the Way, then we are definitely travelling the wrong road.  Reach out for Jesus.  Let Him take hold of you and show you the way. 

 

Yes, at the end of each day, we would do well to ask ourselves: “Which bus am I on today? On the destination board is the word Jesus displayed?”