The Real Me

Painting by Fr. Sieger Koder

There is a very colourful painting by the German priest-artist,  Fr Sieger Koder which depicts a clown putting on a mask. The mask is placed in such a way that it hides half the face of the person who holds it.   Koder called it “The Real Me.”

A clown of course is one of the oldest figures in the world. We love clowns, we laugh at their antics, we believe that they are real persons.  But they aren’t. Clowns are essentially tragic figures, or sad figures, or figures of derision.

Why is this, I wonder?  Probably because they hide the real person behind the mask.  They press down their worries, their fears their loneliness, their psychoses behind a funny, painted mask.  They spend their entire professional lives on stage, in circuses, in entertainment – yet they are rarely seen as they are.  They are poseurs.

Jesus once asked the apostles “Who do you think I am?”  The answers came out as “John the Baptist”, or “Elijah” or “one of the prophets.”   Only Peter said “You are the Christ.” 

And Jesus recognised that Peter could only have known who he was through the power of the Holy Spirit who guided him to the truth.  The others recognised Jesus in part, but the ideas that were current then about the Messiah dominated their thinking, and they wanted Jesus to be a conqueror, a success figure, a man of property with a court, where they of course would be leaders and men of success. That was Judas’s downfall. He really believed that Jesus was to be a human success, get rid of the Romans, make the Jews a nation which could conquer the world. And the reality was so different that he couldn’t take it. We all like to  be part of a success story, but perhaps we need to look more closely at what we mean by success!

But where does all this lead us? We were talking about being real.  In order to live a happy life – we might call it a successful life – we must recognise who we are, what our gifts are, how we can use them to help others, not just ourselves.  As we get older we tend to know ourselves more. Experience has taught us what makes for true happiness, or it should have done.  The world around us seems to be populated with so many who seek power, money and adulation of one kind or another.  We must belong to the A team, we must make a lot of money, we must be beautiful, chic, trend-setters etc.  But not all of us can do that, and we begin to think of ourselves as failures.  In Liverpool they call that being “not much kop!”

But Jesus told us that it is in our weakness that we are strong. He proved it on the Cross. It was in that hell-hole of pain, humiliation, derision, blasphemy and hatred that he won the battle for us – gave us life, hope and salvation through his Resurrection.

But to avail of this stupendous gift, won for us through the weakness, pain and humiliation of Jesus, we too, like him, have to learn to be real. When we come to eternity, we will know for certain whether or not we have become real, and have fought against the temptations to outward success, power, too much money and lust. Not necessarily in that order!

Have you ever read a child’s story called “The Velveteen Rabbit?” Like all tales supposedly told for children, it has an adult meaning. It is all about becoming real. Margery Williams tells the story through the eyes of a stuffed rabbit who finds out that to be real  you have to give and receive unconditional love. This is the conversation he has with the skin horse:

“What is REAL?” said the rabbit one day. “ Does it mean having things that buzz inside you, and have a stick-out handle?” “Real isn’t how you are made,” said the skin horse. “it’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time; not just to PLAY WITH. BUT REALLY LOVES YOU , you become REAL.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the rabbit. 

“Sometimes.” said the skin horse, for he was always truthful.

“When you are real. “ he added, “you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up, or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the skin horse. You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be ‘carefully kept’. Generally, by the time you are REAL, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out,  and you get loose in the joints, and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because, once you are REAL you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

All reality has to do with love. Unconditional love. It is about learning to love others unconditionally, warts and all, and it is of course about accepting that we are loved unconditionally by an infinitely loving God.  It isn’t easy to do that, but, In the words of the skin horse, “when you are real, you don’t mind being hurt."

It’s what discipleship is all about.

Watch the Velveteen Rabbit as told by Meryl Streep

BEING EASTER PEOPLE

The lilies and daffodils gracing our Easter gardens  in our churches may be fading a little after a week, but Easter, with all its life and colour and hope is very much with us.

One of the Easter hymns I have always loved says trenchantly:

“We are Easter people, and alleluia is our song!” 

That’s a pretty strong statement, isn’t it.  The most important thing about us is that we are people of the Resurrection.  

Is that how you feel this morning?  It is dull outside, but, as I look at our little garden, I am filled with hope.  The Spring flowers know that they are things of beauty and colour.  They bloom happily and bravely in spite of our inconsistent weather. In fact, they use the winds and the rain to shine out and remind us that , underneath all the frustration, pain, loneliness and sickness that is part of every life, there is also the possibility of something better just around the corner. 

And that we can find colour and beauty and hope if we look for it.  That is being an Easter person. It’s good to be wakened up by birdsong rather than by the inharmonious sound of the alarm clock these days isn’t it. Our migrant  birds are back with us, giving us flashes of their bright green, blue or multi-coloured coats as they go about their business of feeding the young,  bathing themselves in our tiny bird baths, pecking the seeds we put out for them, and of course filling our world with song.  The birds too know it is Resurrection time. If you don’t yet realise that the lovely sounds filling our skies and our gardens, hedgerows and lanes are the bird’s version of ALLELUIA then listen to their song more attentively! 

To be an Easter person does not mean going around with a silly grin on our faces, or by telling people in pain or trouble that “it will get better.” That’s putting us in danger of being at best, surface sort of people, and at worst,  hypocrites.

We don’t know whether this trouble will immediately fade away because of our prayer.  What we do know is that God will help this person to bear the pain. As Easter people, our task is to support, to be there in good times and bad, to reach out and just hold their trembling hands.  Sometimes that is all we can do.  Words can sometimes be meaningless but a gentle presence is comforting. Easter people know that.

I am still chuckling over something one of our Sisters gave to me recently. She puts up a “Thought for the Week” for the staff in her organisation. This is the one I am chuckling about just now:

Dear Lord,

So far today I’m doing alright.

I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or self-indulgent.

I have not whined, complained, cursed or eaten any chocolate.

I have charged nothing to my credit card.

BUT

I will be getting out of bed in a minute, and I think I will really need your help then!

Wonderful, isn’t it. But, although we cannot hear it often within our lives, Alleluia is really our song because, although we know what our clay is made of, we also know that we need help.  We need the hope that living in the power of the Resurrection gives us.  We also need to give that hope to others in any way we can – the comfort of a nice cup of tea, the smile that says “I’m so glad to see you”, the ear that is bent  towads others, listening attentively to what they are saying to us, letting them feel that they are important, no matter how old, how sick, how difficult they are. 

As Easter people we have the opportunity to put in love where it doesn’t exist, to BE that love at the centre of our world.  

What an opportunity!  HAPPY EASTER TIDE TO YOU ALL.

Photos used with permission of artist copyright (C)2014 Poor Servants of the Mother of God

                                                                  

THE MAN WHO HAD IT ALL AND KEPT IT TO HIMSELF!

Last Saturday I was in a small provincial town and I saw a crowd gathered around a bookstall on the side of the road.  Of course, I joined them.  I can never resist the lure of a book, particularly a children’s book. 

To my delight, I spied a secondhand copy of a book written for children by Oscar Wilde.  “I bet it’s got ‘The Selfish Giant’ in it,”  I thought to myself.  That was my all-time favourite story as a child, and it still is! I opened it eagerly. There it was in the centre of the book, illustrated with a very, very cross giant, outside his garden,  threatening the children who used to play there during his long absence visiting the Cornish ogre.

“What are you doing here?” he cried in a very gruff voice, and the children ran away.

“MY OWN GARDEN IS MY OWN GARDEN,  ANYONE CAN UNDERSTAND THAT!” HE MUTTERED.  “I WILL ALLOW NOBODY TO PLAY IN IT BUT MYSELF.”

So he built a high wall all around it, and put up a big notice:

 

TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED

 

                                                                                                                              

He was a very selfish giant.

The poor children had nowhere to play.  It was too dangerous in the road, and too dirty in the lanes, so they were very sad.

They said to each other: “How happy we were there!”  And they went away.

I’m sure you know what happened next.  Spring came. All over the country there were beautiful blossoms and early flowers.  The birds sang their delight at the return of Spring, but in the Selfish Giant’s garden it was still Winter! The birds didn’t want to sing in that garden because the children were banned from it, and the trees forgot to blossom. The only ones who were pleased were the Snow and the Frost.  “Spring has forgotten this garden,” they cried. “So we will live here all the year round!”

So the snow covered all the ground with her white mantle,,  and the Frost painted all the trees silver.. Then they invited the North Wind, and he roared all day about the garden.  And he blew the chimney pots down.

Then the Hail came. He broke most of the slates in the roof because he rattled for three hours every day, and went round and round the garden as fast as he could!  He was all dressed in grey and his breath was like ice.

“I cannot understand why the Spring is so late! “ said the Selfish Giant. “I hope there will soon be a change in the weather.”

But it never came, and Summer and Autumn kept away too. Autumn gave lovely fruits to every garden except his. “He is too selfish”  she said.

SO IT WAS ALWAYS WINTER THERE (and never Christmas!)

One day the Selfish Giant, all wrapped in furs, looked out at his cold, white garden, and he saw something wonderful. All the Winter things had stopped, and he heard beautiful music.

What did he see?

Through a little hole in the wall, the children had crept in, and they were sitting in the branches of the trees.  All the trees were so glad that they blossomed and the birds were flying about twittering with delight.

Only in one corner it was still Winter. A little boy was crying . He was so small that he could not reach up to the branches of the tree, and he was wandering round it, crying bitterly.

“Oh, that poor boy!” the Giant said (he was no longer selfish because his heart had melted) and he hurried down to the garden and lifted the little boy into the tree. But the other children were frightened when they saw the giant, and they ran away, and the garden became Winter again.

“Now I know why there has been no Spring in my garden”  the giant said. “How selfish I have been!  I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be the children’s playground for ever and ever.”

He kept his promise, and the children played with him in the garden which became the most beautiful one in the district.

But the giant always looked for the little boy whom he had put in the tree. He never came back, and the Giant was so sad.  He longed to see him, for he loved him best of all.

One Winter evening he looked out of his window as he was dressing.  Suddenly he rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t believe it. In the furthest  corner of the garden was a tree covered with beautiful white blossom, even though it was Winter. Underneath it stood the little boy he had loved.

So he ran downstairs with great joy, and hastened across the grass to the child. But when he got close, his face went all red with anger. He said:  

“WHO HAS DARED TO WOUND THEE?  TELL ME WHO HE IS AND I WILL KILL HIM!”

For on the child’s hands were the prints of two nails, and the prints of two nails were on his feet.

“No”, said the Child. “ these are the wounds of love.”

“Who are you?” said the Giant, and a strange awe fell on him, and he knelt before the little child.

The Child smiled at the Giant and said to him:

“You once let me play in your garden. Today you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise.”

When the children ran in that afternoon, they found the Giant lying dead under the tree, all covered with white blossoms.

Giants are often used in folklore to portray wicked , selfish or powerful people who bully others.  Here we have a portrait of one who met Christ, and became transformed through love.

He came in contact with the innocence and simple happiness of children, and his own heart was changed by them. 

Jesus promised us through the prophet Ezechiel:

“I will give you a heart of flesh, and take away your heart of stone."

Children usually have hearts of flesh.  They respond to love like sunflowers opening up to the sun   They don’t remember past hurts unless they are taught to be bitter.  Bitterness is not a child-like virtue.  Trust and love are.  They are only crushed out by insensitive adults.   

Jesus told the apostles that, in order to get to Heaven, we must become child-like.

The selfish giant learned the lesson.

Can we?                                                                                                

 

The thirst for power!

I once taught a girl who told me about her first, terrifying, day at school. She was in the playground, huddled against the wall, trying to get used to the noise of the hordes of children rushing about everywhere and screaming with delight at the freedom of the playground, when a little boy came up to her. "How old are you?" he asked her. "Five," she answered, thinking she had made a friend among all these unfamiliar children. "Then you watch it, I'm six!" the young gallant answered sternly before whizzing off to join his pals in the Second Class Infants.

That's power! We start young, don't we? In fact, long before we reach the age of six. Have you ever seen a baby having a rattle taken from him (or her)? If it's another baby who wants it, watch out for the squalls, the red faces, the screaming! That's the exercise of power!

In my misspent youth, I was the proud owner of a brand new bicycle, complete with gears, a bell with a beautiful ringing tone, and all the latest accoutrements. We hadn't heard of mountain bikes at that time, but I was satisfied with what I had. I was the only one of my friends who owned such a machine - and did I make the most of it! It occurred to me that I had a business opportunity right under my nose - rides for a penny each or some such daring entrepreneurism! But of course, it didn't work - my parents found out! But I remember the feeling of power it gave me - heady stuff! Power is seductive isn't it? It goes to the head and makes us feel giddy - even a little bit of it.

We live in a world that puts power at the top of the agenda. There is always someone who is jostling for your position, trying to pull one over on you by fair means or foul, so that he (or she) can put you down. We see it in schools - the bullying that goes on is widespread, and can have very serious consequences in later life. I was bullied at school, now I come to think of it, and it made me very miserable for a long time. "You are so stupid, you even look stupid!" I used to hear that every day. I got into the habit of looking in the mirror to see why I looked stupid! All I could see was a woebegone face and two long plaits. I longed to have my long hair cut, so that I would look clever. I blamed the plaits. But, even after I had them cut off I still looked stupid. So my tormentor told me. What a waste of money having the hair trimmed! The woes of youth!!

We might laugh at that sort of thing now - after all, what does it matter if you look stupid! But that's a grown-up way of looking at it, the hurt goes deep when you are young and not very confident. It is a very common experience - no doubt most of you reading this can look back on similar trials at school or even much later. We need to teach young people how to use power wisely. That is where the teaching of the Church, if understood properly, comes in.

Christianity is based on humility, on sensitivity to the other's point of view, on love. Jesus built up the confidence of those with whom he came in contact. He made the blustering know-it-all Simon of Bethsaida into the gentle, wise leader of post-Resurrection times - he encouraged the shy and reclusive Nathaniel to go to the ends of the earth with the Gospel message - he even accepted Judas as a member of the apostolic group and treated him as a friend. His dealings with women, particularly, were ground-breaking. Mary of Magdala, the reputed sinner, becomes the one who draws all of us into the love and forgiveness of Christ. Our Founder, Mother Magdalen wrote a lovely hymn to her. The last verse has always entranced me. In it she says:

"There are thousands in all ages come to Christ because of you."

It was Jesus who encouraged her to understand the true meaning of love and forgiveness, and now we too, come to him because of what she teaches us.

He made the Samaritan woman an apostle just by talking to her at the well in a non-judgemental way. He gave us his mother, and we have never looked back. She was one of the anawhim, the little ones who put their trust in God and did not seek power for themselves.

 

 

The power we have now is the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the power of love. Pope Francis is teaching us that nowadays. He said:

"Only when the thirst for power is replaced by love, will true transformation take place."

Our world will never be changed by power-hungry people, or by those who seek to overthrow restrictive regimes by force. The only real transformation is brought about by love. The Pope of the poor knows that. We need to learn it too.

So we pray:

Glory to him, whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.

Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.

Enjoy the rest of July. We'll be in touch next month.

 

 

 

Holiday Month!

The weather here is beautiful,  the sun is shining,  a slight breeze is rippling the trees, everyone out on the streets are smiling, dressed in their Summer finery, the flowers are breathtaking everywhere;  all they need is a pleasant drink in the evening and they are content, that is until the slugs come along!  Oh, and Andy Murray won at Wimbledon on Sunday, so all is well!

But our God is always there for us, no matter what the weather, no matter how we feel, no matter whether the flowers bloom or not. As a friend of mine from the USA used to say: “that is awesome!”  So it is.

 

What a God – in a changing world, we can always think of him and there he is!  We can always put out our hand, so to speak, and it is held securely, lovingly, protectively. We have only to call out his name, as the Carpenters, I think, used to sing, and he is there. Always on our side, always ready to lift us up when we fall,  always THERE.  And that, surely, is eternal Summer or Spring or Autumn or even, perhaps Winter – it depends what your favourite season is.



St. Paul summed it up perfectly, as he seemed to have a habit of doing:

“In him we live, and move, and have our being!”

For this month, I suggest that you take the lyrics of  The Deer’s Cry by Shaun Davey from The Pilgrim which is, of course, the Lorica of St. Patrick – his breastplate.  Think about  the wisdom they contain as you listen to the words on the DVD.

I arise today through the strength of Heaven....
I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me,
God’s eye to look before me, God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me....

 

What more can you ask? Only the last verse:  Christ before me .... but I’ll leave that one for you to reflect on at your leisure!

If you really want a crie du coeur or a cry from the heart, the last two lines make  one of the best prayers I know:

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me;

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me!   I arise today...

Oh yes, that, if lived, would make our world perfect inside and outside.  So let’s during this holiday time, do what the Celts always did so well in times gone by: live happily in the atmosphere of the God who is always on our side.

That’s better than a soak in the sun even with 30 factor sunscreen on, or even a pina colada under a gently waving palm beside a turquoise strip of water surrounded by gleaming white sand.  You don’t believe me?   Try it!

P.S . It’s a whole lot cheaper too!

REPEAT OF THE EVER-POPULAR SCHOOL HYMN TO OUR LADY AT THE START OF A HOLIDAY.

O Causa Nostrae Laetitiae     (Cause of our joy)

Mother of all that is pure and glad, all that is bright and blest,
As we have taken our toil to thee, so we will take our rest.
Take thou and bless our holiday, O causa nostrae laetitiae!

Airs that are soft, and a cloudless sky, we would owe all to thee
Speak to thy Son as thou did of old, that feast day in Galilee.
Tell him our needs in thine own sweet way, O causa nostrae laetitiae!

Be with us Mother, from morn till eve, thou and thy blessed Son;
Keep us from all that is grief to you, till the weeks and the months are run
Thine be we still, from day to day, O causa nostrae laetitiae!

Keep us in all that is blest of God,  give us the joys that endure,
Lips that have smiles and words for all, hearts that are kind and pure;
so will thou be by night and day, O causa nostrae laetitiae!

Come when earth’s tears and smiles are o’er, mother of peace and love
Show to us He who is joy to earth, and joy to the Hosts above;
So shall we laugh in the latter day, o causa nostrae laetitiae!

 

Have a good holiday!

 

Listen to the Holiday Hymn O Causa Nostrae Laetitiae in Latin

The month of Love

June is not only known as the month of the roses.  It is also kept in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church as the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart.

You may have been put off in the past by the poor quality of the pictures and statues of the Sacred Heart you may have seen in shops and piety stalls.  Many of them are crude and off-putting, but don't let things like that take away from the reality of what they represent.

June is enshrined in our hearts because it is all about the celebration of love.  Not in the commercial sense of course.  When have you seen a day celebrated in the commercial world which depicts  the heart of the man God broken for love of us?  Of course you haven't.  That wouldn't be a money- spinner.  But, nonetheless, it is true.

Jesus himself revealed to St. Margaret Mary the most astounding truth that he longs for our love;  he so wants a return for the love he has constantly poured out on us  that he came to beg us to make a response of love in return. He just asked for a small return, a sign, an acknowledgment that we are grateful, that we love him too.  It wasn't much to ask was it, yet he felt the lack of it even in the glory of Heaven. 

His heart was broken on Calvary,  pierced by a lance, if you remember.  When that great heart broke at last, it opened and left room for all of us,  sinners that we are, to creep close and to be warmed and comforted in that heart which is always ready to receive us. Haven't we all experienced that wonderful, warm, enveloping love at times, especially when we are in pain, or suffering loss or rejection.  Those are the times we notice his love, even though we feel lonely and afraid,, hurt and vulnerable.  He comes closer to us then, and reaches out his wounded hands to heal us. He invites us to rest awhile close to his heart while we lick our wounds as the expression goes.

Our Founder, who died on the 9th of June 1900, urged us with her dying breath, to "invoke the Sacred Heart."  We cannot ignore the last words of a dying person.  The testament of a saintly person is even more important.  So we do just that, in our prayer and, hopefully, with our lives.  We place our lives into the wounded hands of the one we call the Sacred Heart.  Since 1873 our Congregation has been consecrated to the Sacred Heart, and we renew this in our communities each year, in a way that is appropriate to us today.

Mother Magdalen didn't go in for what she called pious practices that seemed to point inwards.  She said that the love of the Sacred Heart was "a real, practical love for our Lord, and a realisation of his love for us." She also said that it must lead on to a spreading of that love around us stating:

"If you want to taste the love of Jesus, and to know the secrets of his heart, you must go by the gate of love for others."  

 Love and evangelisation go hand in hand. Otherwise it  is in danger of becoming mawkish or introspective. 

Remember that great French Romantic poet's words on this score:

"To have loved another is to have touched the face of God!"   Victor Hugo.

That is what the Sacred Heart also teaches us.

We wish everyone a very happy Feast of the Sacred Heart tomorrow and during the rest of this month, especially the members of Orders and Congregations dedicated to him under this title.  Our long-time friends and neighbours in Roehampton, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, have a very special day on this feast. May we all meet in the love and forgiveness of the great heart of Jesus tomorrow and always.

Walking with Francis

Pope Francis I is a man of energy and enthusiasm. He may be in his late seventies, but he is, in spirit, still in his youth.  The youth of the Spirit. He has the same gift of enthusiasm that the early Christians had.

When we read the Acts of the Apostles, we cannot but be enthused ourselves.  We are amazed each time  we read anew about the account of those men, women and children who took the Gospel message across the world as they knew it then.  Their courage, joy, steadfastness and sheer vitality catch at our hearts and make us feel good. What other qualities did they have that made them so memorable?

Well courage for a start;  then we could add openness to the work of the Spirit, faithfulness, integrity, humility, truthfulness, justice,  a love of prayer.  The list could go on....

 

Looking at what Pope Francis is saying and doing since his inauguration as Supreme Pontiff, we can see the same qualities surfacing in him.  As our leader, he is following the example of all our previous popes in his desire for a renewed Pentecost in our time. It was Pope John XXIII who, at the age of 78, started the Second Vatican Council fifty years ago by saying:

 

"Renew in us, Lord, the wonders of the First Pentecost"

 

and Paul V1th, his successor who declared "we need the fresh breath of the Holy Spirit" on our

world today.  Succeeding Popes have urged us to open our minds, our hearts and our lives to the power of the living God.  We now have Pope Benedict's Year of Faith in order to help us to do just that.

Francis has opened up a new window on the world, on the Church, on us all from the Vatican.  He strides through the byways of Vatican City and its environs with a new energy, a wide smile and with what has been called by journalists the "elan" of a Jesuit!  Let's look at some of his recent sayings:

"What a joy it is for me to announce this message: CHRIST IS RISEN!" 

 I would like to go out to every house, and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons...

 

Most of all I would like to enter every heart, for it is there that God wants to sow this GOOD NEWS.

Jesus is risen!! There is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin, of evil!

LOVE has triumphed, mercy has been victorious! The mercy of God ALWAYS triumphs!"

"Don't look at the Gospel purely through the intellect, without regard for love or beauty" he advised the employees of the Vatican printing press and newspapers.  "When ideology enters into our understanding of the Gospel, we understand NOTHING. Ideologies falsify the Gospel. The path of love, the way of the Gospel is simple. It is the road of conversion, the road the saints understood,  the road of humility, the road of love, of the heart:  the way of beauty. The Gospel is so beautiful, it makes us beautiful with the beauty of HOLINESS."

"Don't leave the Church out, you cannot follow Jesus, love Jesus, without the Church! You cannot find him.  It is the Church which gives us Jesus, gives us IDENTITY"

"You must announce Jesus with your LIFE, with your WITNESS and with your WORDS!"

"Don't be afraid to swim against the tide," he told the young people he was about to confirm. "it is good for your heart!"

And to ten young men on their ordination day.  "proclaim the Gospel with JOY and don't forget to thank your parents, your grandmothers, your catechists, for passing on the faith to you!"

 He himself was very influenced by his grandmother, who was his mentor throughout this life.

Finally, he said, wistfully, at the beginning of his pontificate.  

"How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!"

The fresh breath of the Spirit is forming us into a new pentecostal community.  So let's pray together:

"Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us, on our hopes and dreams, on our mistakes, on our loved ones, on those who walk other paths.  Make us all into a world-wide community of love and hope and friendship! " We ask this with faith in the power of your Spirit.  Amen.

Have a lovely Pentecost!

To serve us all our days....

 I have, of course, changed a well-known title of a book about a dedicated teacher after the First World War which was written by R.F. Delderfield and published in 1972. It was a lovely story  which was so inspiring. It was called  "To serve them all my days."   You may have read it, if you haven't, it is worth looking at.

But the inspiration of the teacher's dedication to his pupils no matter what they achieved or failed to achieve must, ultimately, have come from the one who told us that "he came, not to be served but to serve."
 

This special week, which we call Holy Week, shows us what being a servant really means when Christ talks about it.

Last Thursday we had the image of God in an apron, as one poem calls it.  Jesus took off his outer garments knelt down at the feet of his disciples, and washed their dirty feet! That was the work of a slave in those times.  No wonder Peter was horrified, and tried to stop Jesus from doing such a menial task.  But Jesus told Peter in no uncertain terms, that he could have no part in his mission if he didn't submit.  It was the living out of the mission statement he had offered to his own people in Nazareth, who rejected him.

"The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me", he cried out, "and he has anointed me to give good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, to give the blind new sight, to take away the chains of oppression, to proclaim a year of the Lord's favour!"   (Isaiah 61: 1- 2)

That is the mission statement of a servant of the people.  He was to be the Good Shepherd, giving his life for us, stupid sheep that we are, going the wrong way most of the time, but always being called back to his love, his forgiveness, his care.

Holy Week brings that forgiveness, that care, that love so close to us.  We see it each time with new eyes.  Didn't Jesus promise to give us new sight?  Well he does, all the time.  We are drawn inexorably into the horror, the wonder and the exultation of the Passion and the Resurrection.  The Servant God leading us once more into a realisation that we have to follow the same path - the path of love, the path of caring for others.  That is being Christ-like.  We are invited to do what he did, take the heavy burdens from the shoulders of others, give them hope and light in their darkness.  That sounds very noble, but in practice, in small ways we can all do it.  Smile at someone who looks downcast, say a little prayer for that person as we pass by - offer our friendeship and support to those suffering, put love at the heart of our Church and our world.  Love often comes in very small parcels, but without it, the world would be a grim place indeed.

Jesus, who is love, saw that.  He showed us the way of fidelity, the way of a servant. He served us all his days, and continues to do so now he is risen.  But he has no human hands, no human feet to walk among us now, he expects us to use ours. He has passed on his mission to us, and, for the time we are here, we have the obligation to bring the light of Christ which was dimmed temporarily on that first Good Friday, and obscured during Holy Saurday to that brightness which came with the first Easter Sunday morning.  How can we refuse to do that when he suffered so much for us?  Ours is really such a small return of love for such a total giving on the part of the Servant King.  We say, in faith, re-echoing the words of The Servant Song (click for music):

Will you let me be your servant,

let me be as Christ to you:

pray that I may have the grace

to let you be my servant too.

I will hold the Christ light for you

 in the night-time of your fear,

 I will hold my hand out to you

speak the peace you long to hear.

That is what we are called to do. If we fail to do this, then Christ's sacrifice on the Cross and his Resurrection from the dead will be, as far as we ae concerned, in vain.  And that would be terrible.

Let's pray that the Servant King may reach out, during this year of Faith to all those who need his love most. 

Have a lovely Easter.  We will pray for one another,  so that, like the first disciples, we may hear him say to us gently: "Peace be with you. Do not be afraid!"

THE LORD HAS RISEN , ALLELUIA!   HE HAS RISEN INDEED, ALLELUIA!

 

 

All photos and images owned by SMG. Drawings by P.Macauley. Copyright 2013.