" PAST " REVEALING THE CENTRALITY OF LOVE SAINT JOHN

 

SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST

Recurringly, in his Gospel and his other writings, Saint John  leaves off his narrative for a major reflection on the meaning of the Life of Christ, and the significance  of Faith that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

In his Gospel narrative,  ( 3:16) he opens up the subject of God's Love:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son,

that whoever believes in Him should not perish

but have eternal life.

For God sent the Son into the world,

not to condemn the world,

but that the world might be saved through Him.

He who believes in Him is not condemned;

he who does not believe in Him is condemned already,

because he has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God.

And this is the judgement, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light,because their deeds were evil.

For everyone who does evil hates the light,and does not come to the light,

lest his deeds should be exposed.

But he who does what is true comes to the light,

that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

Later, in the First Epistle of Saint John (iv : 7 -11), he reveals how that Divine Love flows through us outward to transform the world:

Beloved, let us love one another;

for love is of God,and he who loves

is born of God and knows God.

He who does not love does not know God;

for God is Love.

In this the love of God was made manifest among us,

that God sent His only Son into the world,

so that we might live through Him.

In this is love,

not that we loved God but that He loved us

and sent His Son to be the expiation of our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 

No man has ever seen God; if we love one another,

God abides in us and His Love is perfected in us.

There we have laid out for us, by the Divinely inspired Saint John, the beloved disciple, the full significance of Divine Love for each of us and for the world at large. It is inspiring and challenging and gives us the measure of our success or otherwise as followers of Christ.

" PAST " MEANWHILE 1,000 KMS TO THE NORTH ORDINARY ON TAPE

  

 

 

Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane.........

 

 WITH US ON TAPE

Brisbane’s soon to retire (July, 2011) Archbishop John Bathersby is not seen as often in his Cathedral as most Archbishops are seen in their Cathedrals. But this practice is taken to weird lengths on the occasion of the delivery of most of his Pastoral Letters.

This was again the case on Sunday 6th March when the Archbishop’s Lenten Pastoral Letter – after a suitable Guitar lead-in and an announcer’s introduction, came once again over the Cathedral’s PA system read by His Grace. The effect is quite odd .The Ambo is empty, the Cathedra is vacant (perilously located under the impressive organ Pipes and casing which dominate the Sanctuary). Only the disembodied voice wafts through the Cathedral, leaving the congregation no related focus for their attention. Another Guitar passage and it is all over – almost as if it had never been.

There is a better way, but one would have to be there!

Pastoral Letters have not been the greatest strength of Queensland Bishops.There was the 2006 Advent Pastoral of Bishop Morris of Toowoomba - about which, the less said the better- and the later unfortunate effort of Bishop Michael Putney of Townsville which referred to The Blessed Sacrament as a "symbol"(! see our earlier post.) Even the Metropolitan, the above Archbishop Bathersby ( due to retire in July 2011) had an attack of "the Queensland Pastoral Syndrome" in Advent , 2006 which seemed to have been obscured by the brilliance of Bishop Morris' flames of self-destruction.

Born in Stanthorpe in South East Queensland ( the centre of a vast apple, stone fruit and wine making region), Archbishop John Bathersby of Brisbane will be 75 in July , 2011, when he must submit his resignation to the Holy Father. Ordained Priest in 1961 for Toowoomba Diocese, he became Bishop of Cairns in 1986 and Archbishop of Brisbane on 3 December, 1991.

In his 2006 Pastoral Letter for Advent he committed to published print some of his ideas we had heard in previous sermons or had been relayed to us third- hand.Here is the passage and beneath it , what the Church believes and teaches:

Archbishop Bathersby :
"Yet the title that includes all the others is the deceptively simple title 'Prophet of the Kingdom'. This title places Jesus in a long line of Jewish prophets who addressed the chosen people in the name of God,and often died because of their message. However, Jesus as a prophet was different from the others because he was unique.
 

He was the prophet par excellence, the Messiah, the long awaited messenger of God who announced the arrival of the Kingdom in Himself.

This conviction of Jesus must have developed during his comparatively short life of 33 years, when through prayer, study and action he came to realise, in a mysterious process we will never be able to understand, that, rather than being merely one of the Prophets he himself was the Messiah, the anointed one of God.

He must have realised that in himself God was not merely calling the chosen people into an ever deeper relationship as God had done with the prophets and patriarchs, but that in relating to Himself people were relating to God.

He must also have realised that relationship with Himself would save the world and change it forever.

No longer would sinfulness prevail as it had done earlier, but rather the love of God would reach out through Him not just to a few privileged people but to all people who would experience in Himself God's love and forgiveness.

It was a reckless, extravagant claim that ultimately cost Jesus his life, nevertheless this extraordinary claim was ultimately vindicated by resurrection."

"MYSTICI CORPORIS"  POPE PIUS XII :

"75. Now the only begotten Son of God embraced us in His infinite knowledge and undying love even before the world began. And that He might give a visible and exceedingly beautiful expression to  this love, He assumed our nature in hypostatic union : hence - as Maximus of Turin with a certain unaffected simplicity remarks - "in Christ our own flesh loves us "(156)) But the knowledge and love of Our Divine Redeemer, of which we were the object from the first moment of His Incarnation, exceed all that the human intellect can hope to grasp. For hardly was He conceived in the womb of the Mother of God, when He began to enjoy the Beatific Vision, and in that vision all the members of His Mystical Body were continually and unceasingly present to Him, and He embraced them with His redeeming love. O marvellous condescension of Divine Love for us! O inestimable dispensation of boundless charity! In the crib, on the Cross, in the unending glory of the Father, Christ has all the members of the Church present before Him and united to Him in a much clearer and more loving manner than that of a mother who clasps her child to her breast, or than that with which a man knows and loves himself." (Emphasis added.)

If we followed Archbishop Bathersby ( and his Anglican guru Bishop Tom Wright of Durham, England, who he refers to and has brought to Brisbane to teach Catholics about Christ) we would hold that at some time Jesus developed His thinking along these lines :

" Gosh,I think I'm the Messiah!' (whom the Jews of that time expected to be a military and political leader.) Then, " Hey, I reckon all the Jews should come to God through me". Then, " well, golly, I believe I am God."

This marvellous bit of self discovery would logically involve either :
 

(a) Jesus having become God somewhere in the process, or
(b) having been God incarnate from the instant of His Conception, but not knowing it - God, but He didn't know it!

Since we know that the Church has always taught that Jesus was God Incarnate from the moment of His Conception ( " and the Word became flesh" ) His Grace was advancing the latter absurd proposition. He should not be surprised that we prefer to stay with Pope Pius XII and the Catholic Church.

                     Archbishop Bathersby of Brisbane due to retire in July,2011

" PAST " JESUS AND JUDAS

   

 

                       " You call Me Master and Lord; and you say well, for so I am. "(John 13:13)

On that night  of the Last Supper, having so clearly set out His Divine Authority, Jesus showed forth His astounding Humility by proceeding to wash the feet of the disciples in that scene we know so well especially for its presentation of Saint Peter's characteristic demonstration of extreme volatility, But Jesus was about to demonstrate His astounding Mercy even more thoroughly though less obviously and over a number of hours.

In every scene of Sacred Scripture, Jesus is shown as truly the Master of every situation,He knows everything,"past, present and to come", and, as Sacred Scripture says of God : "omnia quaecumque voluit fecit "that is," whatever He wishes, He does".

Jesus has freely willed to accept Death on the Cross as the means to achieve our Salvation . But His Mercy is infinite and He will not allow Judas to commit the hideous crime of betraying the Son of Man - as he has contracted to do - without allowing him every grace and choice to avoid the great sin. So, in the first place, He lets Judas know that He knows what Judas has done and plans to do.

"Amen,Amen, I say to you, one of you shall betray Me." 

Note that Our Lord is careful to allow Judas every time the chance to reform with no-one else knowing what he had intended. So now Judas knows that Jesus knows his guilty secret. All of the others , sure of their present innocence but not so sure of their courage under pressure, begin their "Is it I Lord?"cries. Until with characteristic impatience to find the traitor out, Saint Peter signals to St.John to ask Him who it is.This was easy to do, because Saint John's head, in the reclining arrangements of the disciples at table, is near Our Lord's breast.Our Lord softly tells John that it is the one to whom He shall give the morsel of bread dipped in the bowl. Saint John tells us that after Judas consumed the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus knew it of course and knew that it was not possible without Judas' agreement - therefore Jesus said to the committed traitor : "That which thou dost, do quickly."  Judas went out immediately "And it was night" Saint John tells us - night the time for hidden , shameful deeds, for all manner of evil. The others automatically assumed that Judas - the keeper of the purse- had some duty to perform.

"Judas, Dost thou betray the Son of Man with a kiss?"

 

The events of this sublime evening moved on inexorably.The Saviour of the World, anticipating the bloody Sacrifice of the morrow on Calvary had given Himself -Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, as food to His Disciples and had made them the first Bishops of His Church, instituting the Sacred Ministerial Priesthood. Now, after His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane in the course of which He had accepted the burden of the guilt of every sin of mankind,past, present and to come and the Father's Will that He should be sacrificed on the Cross to redeem the sinners  who wished to  be saved. All these crushing burdens were present to Him as both God and Man, and yet...and yet..He still took care to give Judas a way out. For, as the party of Soldiers and Temple Authorities accompanied by Judas emerged from the darkness,Jesus it was Who went forward to meet them. By so doing He ensured that the disciples did not identify Judas - even now, Jesus gave him the chance to break and run.

Jesus  asks them Who they seek "Jesus of Nazareth"comes the reply." I AM HE "Our Lord firmly responds. Then showing the force of His Divine Authority all of the would be captors stagger backwards and collapse to the ground. It is enough - He has shown that if He is to be taken, it will only be because He permits it.

Now, Judas has been given every opportunity to abandon his hideously sinful intention. But he wills to proceed. Throwing Jesus' Mercy back in His Face literally, he comes forward and as the great Archbishop Fulton Sheen said : "Blistered His lips with a kiss" - How sickening a betrayal - Innocence Himself delivered into the hands of His enemies through the abuse of the great symbol of love - a kiss!
Now the disciples also knew the traitor for what he was.And indeed, Judas himself in horror realised the appalling depth of the evil he had done.The words of Jesus came crashing and crushing into his heart of darkness: "...woe to that man"by whom the Son of Man shall be betrayed: it were better for him, if that man had not been born."( Matt.26:24)

The Gospel narratives of Holy Thursday are wonderfully rich , but we have concentrated on one aspect alone,the merciful concern of Our Lord for the Salvation of the sinner planning to betray Him.Amid all the vast riches of that evening this reality is easy to pass by. But , it is and should be, a great lesson and consolation for each of us sinners to realise what a merciful God we adore.

CHRIST THE PANTOKRATOR _Palermo

" PAST " HE HAD BECOME A MAN, NOT AN ANGEL

JESUS CONFOUNDS SATAN'S ATTEMPT AT TEMPTATION

 

 

 "For the moment, Satan had been worsted, but perhaps he had learnt all he had cared to know. Whoever this Jesus was it was clear that He was a Power with whom he would have to reckon. He left Him, but in no confusion; he left Him, but, as the Evangelist carefully tells us, only "for a time". He had other weapons at his disposal and he would use them, even till the last night when would come

                        " Your hour
And the power of darkness."  Luke xxii: 53

Meanwhile, Jesus Himself was at peace. He could ask His Father, and His Father would give Him legions of angels to help Him in His work, but that would not be His way. He had not become an angel, He had become Man, and man should be His helper. Still, because of His humiliation, He should not be deserted; He Who had submitted to this buffeting by the spirit of evil should be visited by the spirits of good. As at the beginning in Bethlehem, as at the end in the Garden, so now in His first desolation,

                          "Behold angels came
                       And ministered to Him.""

- Extract from Archbishop Alban Goodier S.J.'s masterful " The Public Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ".  

" PAST " WHY OUR LORD WEPT

 

Modern day view of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount from the Garden of Gethsemane - the obscenity of the Mohammedan Mosque on the site of the Temple is all too apparent.

 

 

Father Nicola Avancini S.J. wrote "The Life and Teaching of Our Lord Jesus Christ",  a selection of meditations on certain passages from the Gospels, intended for use by Religious. Father Avancini ( 1612 - 1686) entered the Jesuits in Austria at age 15yrs - he became Rector of several colleges in Austria and died at 74 yrs as assistant for the German Provinces of the Order in Rome.The insights contained in his meditations are always interesting - often compelling:

1. "Seeing the City, He wept over it."( Luke XIX:41)
Why tears amid such a tumult of applause??Our Lord saw Jerusalem, and in it the whole world.He saw the sins of all, including our own. He saw that His Passion would cause the fall of many souls through their own malice. God could save all indiscriminately, but He wishes us to co-operate with His grace. We shall perish if we do not do so.Have we not given Him occasion to weep over us?We acknowledge His love for us, but this is insufficient unless we co-operate with Him.

2. "If thou also hadst known, and that been this, thy day, the things that are to thy peace: but now they are hidden from thy eyes."(v 42)
 

i . He showed that the reason for His weeping was the blindness of those who would not accept Him as their Saviour, whence would arise hatred, envy, ingratitude and all that is evil. It is by blinding our hearts, then, that the Devil works. This why we do not see how great a good is the grace of God and how great an evil is sin. It is through this blindness he hopes that we may pay no attention to God's inspirations lest we follow them.
 

ii. Again, the Devil acts "in this our day", that is during our lifetime, which is the only time given to him. It is followed by "the day of the Lord"at our death. Let us take heed to our ways in this our day lest we need to dread the day of the Lord. Let us deplore our present blindness and open our eyes anew to see what graces are being given us for eternal life.

iii. "The days shall come upon thee: and thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compass thee round and straighten thee on every side, and beat thee flat to the ground....because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation". ( vv43,44)

Our Lord was predicting the terrible siege and destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans  ( the present City is built upon 15 feet of rubble from the Roman destruction Ed.) on account of the sins committed there, especially against Himself. Sin is the cause of all misery, and gives occasion for the wrath of God. In these words is expressed also the unhappy state of a man on his deathbed who has made bad use of "the time of his visitation" and the graces he has received.His enemies the devils, will encompass him round, his former sins will straighten him on every side, all his grand ideas and the vain imaginations he has entertained of this world will be beaten flat to the ground, so important is it to co-operate with God's grace while there is yet time ".

 

This meditation is all the more appropriate as we approach within one week, the beginning of the penitential season of Lent.Let us not waste the opportunity Lent presents, but rather seize the opportunities it offers, so that we might be purified and so much the better able to rejoice at the commemoration of the Resurrection at Easter.

" PAST " BEHOLD! JESUS CHRIST! THE GREAT QUESTION OF THE WORLD

 

LEVANTES OCULOS SUOS, NEMINEM VIDERUNT NISI SOLUM IESUM
(from the Gospel for the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ Matthew xvii : 8 :-
         And they, lifting up their eyes, saw no-one, but only Jesus.

"Vice is so incompatible with the Christian faith, that that faith grows weak and languishes in those who will no longer combat their passions....Neither the Muslim nor the heathen need to apostasise in order to be calm in the ignominy of their senses : the Christian alone has a God who forces him to blush.

And yet, this God became man, He bore a flesh like our own; He was similar in His body to the idols of the nations, and, differing from all who had preceded Him, and from all who should follow Him, He has exercised upon Earth a regenerating power. In Him as their source, in His form as their centre, are reflected all the characters that have made Christianity an incomparable monument. Lift up your eyes now: behold Jesus Christ!

Who among you will blaspheme against Him without a certain fear that you may err? On emerging from infancy, perhaps, at an age when the eyes measure nothing, you may pass before Him without halting or bowing your head; but wait a little.

The shadows of life will increase behind you; you will know man, and returning from man to Christ with regards more humble, because they will have seen more, you will begin to discover in that face signs which will trouble you. A day will come when you will say to yourselves : Is God really there? Whatever may be the answer, your conscience will have asked the question. And what a question! What a man must he be who constrains another man to propose to himself the question of his divinity!

And even if you should not feel the foreboding of that doubt, think that for eighteen centuries it has moved and divided mankind. Now, more than ever, it is the great question of the world. Behind the political quarrels which resound so loudly, there is another which is the true and the last one: it is whether the nations civilized by Christianity will abandon the principle which has made them what they are, whether they will reach the point of apostasy, and what will be their lot. To be or not to be Christian, such is the enigma of the modern world.

And, however you may solve it in your minds, it exists, and I leave it there. It exists, Jesus Christ reigns by that doubt suspended over our destinies, as much as by the faith of those who have given Him their whole soul. His Divinity is the riddle of the future, as it was in the past.....

Pere  Henri- Dominique Lacordaire  - Conferences de Notre Dame de Paris (1846)

 

This text first came to our notice at the excellent RORATE CAELI BLOG, and Father Lacordaire was one of the most famous preachers of his day. He re-founded the Dominicans in France following the Revolution and its persecutions and those that followed it.When he preached the Lenten Sermons in great Notre Dame de Paris, crowds began to queue at 7.00am  for the Sermons given at 7.00 pm and the mighty Cathedral filled to overflowing! Even in 1846 there was a serious question whether he should dare wear his Dominican Habit in the Cathedral - so harsh were the Laws. He did, and no-one complained against him!
His words to-day read as if they were prophetic!

" PAST " WHEN DID YOU LAST HEAR HIM MENTIONED?

 

“I saw Satan fall like lightening from Heaven” (Luke 10: 18).

 Every word that came from the lips of Our Lord is priceless to us mere men. Yet we don’t often hear this text read or referred to in homilies, and if it occurs in the readings at Mass it is most often ignored in the homily. Why? Of course we don’t like to think of Satan, but our clergy have a duty to remind us of him and his works.



In the tumult, stress and distress of the post – Conciliar years, when Pope Paul VI could ,with pain ,observe that it was

 “as if, through some crack, the smoke of Satan had entered the Sanctuary of God” (Homily 29th June, 1972),

 many clergy adopted the habit of not preaching what they surmised was unpopular. It began with “Humanae Vitae “and the Church’s teaching against contraception. The media say it’s not popular, so we don’t preach it. There are Dioceses in Australia where a priest can face administrative problems if he does. The “smoke of Satan “ lingers even to the extent of not talking about Satan himself. It’s not nice. So Satan is relegated to the ad agencies and the horror movies. It suits his purposes admirably.



But Our Lord, Truth Himself, what was His practice? He was continually very open about him – HE called him the Deceiver, the Father of Lies. Consider St. John’s Gospel 8: 43-44 :

 
“Why do you not understand My speech? Because you cannot hear My word. The father from whom you are is the devil, the desires of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie he speaks from his very nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

 
Thus Our Lord spoke to a group of the Jews He knew were plotting to kill Him, but who piously insisted that they had Abraham for their Father. When did you last hear that preached?



We ignore Satan at our peril. We should not fear him inordinately – remember – God Himself is our ready defence against his wiles. With St. Patrick we can pray to the Blessed Trinity for delivery “from every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul” and KNOW that “God’s shield “will protect us. But, ignore Satan, and we won’t pray that prayer or anything like it and, when someone comes along promoting abortion whilst talking about “the need to reduce the number of abortions” we won’t want to know who is prompting him, and when some “prophet” comes along teaching millions to kill those who won’t follow his teachings, and that it’s alright to lie to advance his teachings, they won’t want to think who is prompting him and his servants. And when English heretics came along telling English Catholics that their Faith was unpatriotic, they didn’t want to think who was prompting them, and when the good intelligent German people dragged down by defeat, depression and inflation were told the Jews were responsible and were “sub-human”(üntermenschen”) they didn’t want to know who was prompting their Fuhrer. The Father of Lies, he comes in many guises, always attractive - slick, confident and smiling with spin-doctored glibness, or deceitfully promising the poor and ignorant “72 virgins” in a lustful “paradise”, or wrapped in the flag of patriotism – “the last refuge of scoundrels”, or with stage managed spectacles promising a down-trodden people a thousand year Reich, or perhaps more commonly he will just use the seductiveness of physical attraction.



We do need to heed Our Lord’s warnings, and be on our guard. We need to keep our eyes our minds and our hearts on Him, the Man – God Himself- suffering for us on the Cross and then Radiant in His Resurrection. In that Countenance is our sure Hope of Eternal Life.

LISTEN WHEN GOD SPEAKS TO US

" PAST " SERVING WITH THE ANGELS FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT

 

SERVING WITH THE ANGELS




“Familiarity breeds contempt”. The maxim brings out a truth at the extreme end of an arc of human experience, relating most often to inordinate familiarity with figures of authority. Moving back along that arc into more moderate territory, we come upon the phrase “taken for granted”. In this case the contributions, co-operation and even the very presence of a person are so much assumed that their merit and value seem forgotten.



Somewhere between the two is a position in which our experience of the Faith can sometimes be found. It can come to be one part of our very busy life - sure, a very important part - but kept in the allotted place and not allowed to disturb the other parts as we hurry along from one preoccupation to another. Set in its place, its “fire” can be dimmed, even reduced to mere” embers”.



In this situation there is little chance that we will deepen our realisation of the wonderful fact that God loves us so much that He burst into Time from Eternity to bring us His Only Begotten Son at the Annunciation. That Divine Son - the Word made Flesh - came to Earth to save us from our sins by His death on the Cross. Then, by His Resurrection, He led the way for us to follow Him. He left us the means to do so by founding His Church and endowing her with the seven Sacraments sharing with us His Life of Grace.



It seems incredible that we could sometimes become so familiar with these extraordinary realities, that in our human weakness, and distracted by our worldly concerns, we could ever come to “take them for granted”. This could create a dangerous state of affairs when, ever so subtly -  as is his wont, the Devil comes a’ knocking.



We are better prepared to counter any such tendency when we follow a regular and systematic course of reading and reflection. The daily readings from the Liturgy of the Hours, the systematic reading of Sacred Scripture especially the New Testament or some major spiritual work are useful examples. The reader finds inevitably that they are major channels of God’s Grace and of special insight. Acolyte well remembers re-reading some years ago “The Public Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ” by Archbishop Alban Goodier S.J. The words “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me for I Am meek and humble of heart” which were all too familiar to me, struck me heavily, and it was as if I had been looking Him straight in the eyes - yes He meant this message for me and for each one of us. 

God directly communicating to you and me a fundamental truth about Himself and bidding us to learn from Him.” Awesome! “as the youth of to-day too frequently say. All of His original listeners were familiar with the procedure of yoking the more experienced and reliable ox to the younger less experienced to train it. From that experience I have acquired a heightened attention to any similar direct addresses from Our Lord in Sacred Scripture.



We need to open ourselves to such possibilities, regularly refreshing our appreciation of our part in “God’s project for the salvation of mankind”. God made Man - Jesus Christ - is talking to us in Sacred Scripture, and His attention is never distracted from any one of us. He cares enough to have suffered and died for our salvation.

 Do we really give Him our best in attention, reflection, prayer and practice?

" PAST " VOCATION... THE RICH YOUNG MAN

 
                                                     THE RICH YOUNG MAN

 
Extract from "THE PUBLIC LIFE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST " by Archbishop Alban Goodier S.J.

"As Jesus came along with the approving crowd around Him,the heart of the young man was stirred. Jesus was a good man, Jesus was inspiring, Jesus professed to teach, and actually taught, what made men grander and more noble. Even for such as he, this young man thought within himself, He might have some seasonable word to give.

Jesus spoke much of the Kingdom of Heaven,of eternal life; in that He seemed to place the goal of perfect being. Therefore, thought this young man, if he would win a word of counsel from Him, he too must make eternal life his goal. The people round Jesus were enthusiastic for Him; they would approve nothing more than deference shown to Him; therefore, thought this young man, to pay Him public reverence would only add to his own reputation. His mind was soon made up; when Jesus came by , he would do the right thing. He would pay Him respect; he would treat Him as a wise man in the country, he would place himself at the head of those who would show Him honour. 

 No doubt in return he would receive some favour, if only some word of wisdom, and his place in the esteem of his neighbours would be higher than ever it had been before.

When, then, the throng came near where he stood, he made as if he would join it. For one of his position room was quickly made; soon he was in the very centre. At once, sincerely enough, and yet with motives more mixed than he knew, he began to play his part.He went down on one knee before Jesus in the road; he looked up into His face with eyes that meant to be loyal; on his brow was stamped loyalty and truth and frankness and a love of all that was straight and noble. His dress was all that it should be; his voice was mellow and attractive; carefully from head to foot as he knelt he was exactly that which he wished other men to think he was, and which he wished other men to think him.
 

"And when he was gone forth into the way
  Behold a certain ruler running up
  And kneeling before Him
  Asked Him

  Good Master
  What should I do
  That I may possess everlasting life?"(St. Luke 18 - 18-19)
 

Jesus looked at the good-natured,straight, well-groomed youth who knelt before Him. He looked at him,He was pleased; yet He was not enthusiastic.He accepted this mark of allegiance; yet He seemed also to take it as nothing strange or new.  Could He know who this was who was showing Him such consideration? If He did, surely He would realize how much it meant for Himself. Yet no; He accepted the honour but no more; the young man was only doing what might have been expected of him, and as for what he said, Jesus seemed inclined to underrate it. "Good Master!" Evidently the youth had not weighed his words.This was a compliment and no more; and mere compliments meant nothing.
 

" And Jesus said to him
  Why callest thou Me good?
  None is Good but One
  God
  But if thou wilt enter into life
  Thou knowest the Commandments
  Keep the Commandments." (St. Luke 18 - 19:20)
 

Certainly this was not the kind of reception the young man had expected. "Keep the Commandments! " That was commonplace enough, surely anyone of ordinary self- respect observed them. But perhaps He meant something else. Perhaps there were other commandments of which he had not heard, reserved for those who aspired to the Kingdom.John the Baptist had enjoined prayer and fasting;every teacher of higher things had done the same.No doubt those who followed Jesus  had like instructions, and if he showed himself willing to follow he would learn them as well. So
 

" He said to Him
  Which? "(St. Matt. 19:18)
 

But the answer was no less disconcerting. Jesus was still unmoved; He seemed almost not to care; at least one might conclude from His manner that He looked on the young man kneeling before Him as of little importance for His cause.
 

" And Jesus said
  Thou shalt do no murder
  Thou shalt not commit adultery
  Thou shalt not steal
  Thou shalt not bear false witness
  Do no fraud
  Honour thy father and thy mother
  And
  Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.."
 

And was this all? If so, then what was the difference between the teaching of Jesus and and that of any other honest man? In what did He excel? If this was all, then why was so much being made of Him? Why were His friends so enthusiastic, why did His enemies hate Him, why did He Himself make so much ado to declare He had come to teach a new doctrine? If this was all , why then he had nothing more to learn. Up to his lights he had lived a life of which he had no cause to be ashamed. Murder, adultery, theft, false witness, fraud - the idea of a man of his station ever committing anything of the kind! As for his father and mother, why of course he showed them honour; every self-respecting and educated Jew did that. And  as for his neighbour, he could call the crowd about him to witness that he had no quarrel with anyone; he was always generous to all. He could only remonstrate ; he could only speak the truth; perhaps if he did he would learn more.
 

"But the young man answering said to Him
  Master
  All these things have I kept
  From my youth
  What is yet wanting to me?"
 

Now at last, though the youth himself did not know it,the truth of his soul began to peer out. Hitherto, almost unconsciously,so much was it a part of his life, what he had said and done had  been little more than a pose. He had come to Jesus because it was the thing to do ,he had bent the knee to Him because by so doing he won approval; he had asked for the key to eternal life, because he wished to attain it, because he believed that in that he would attain his highest ambition. 

But now he was disturbed. Jesus seemed not to make much of him;the ideal he set before him was no better than might suit any common yokel. He began to feel humbled, he grew more earnest, he must really show Jesus that he meant what he said. Even as he spoke, in no Pharisaic mood but in anxious self-defence, the mannerism dropped away and the heart of the pleader rang true.
 

And at once Jesus  responded. The youth was upright; that He had known from the beginning.The possibilities in him were untold; that He also foresaw.The mannerism was no more than a little worldliness, a vanity such as is not only common, but is assumed by many as virtue. The youth had meant no wrong; he had only done what anyone of high ambition would have done in his place. Now, a new motive had been stirred, and he said what he had just said, not to win the esteem of men but to win the regard of Jesus, whose love he now began to desire. To that could Jesus turn a deaf ear?
 

"Which when Jesus had heard
  Looking on him
  He loved him."
 

His eyes turned down to him. There was fire in them now;there was eager love glowing over the whole face; love let loose all of its power and attraction.It would give this youth a great chance. He asked to be allowed to give, and Jesus asked for that which would make him a hero. And to help him make his choice aright He would pour out upon him the whole ocean of His love.
  

"Which when Jesus had heard
  Looking on him
  He loved him
  And said to him
  Yet one thing is wanting to thee
  If thou wilt be perfect
  Go
  Sell all whatsoever thou hast
  And give to the poor
  And thou shalt have treasure in heaven
  And come
  Follow Me."(St. Mark 10:21)
 

Again we have to notice here that habit of Jesus to go beyond every appeal that is made to Him and to give more,to respond to every act of faith and recognition by an increase of both.In no act of generosity will He ever be outdone.The youth had begun with convention, as a youth of his position might; he had used the polite "Good Master", he ended by appealing as to a "Master "in truth. He had at first but asked for the means to attain  everlasting life", and was told it.He was not satisfied, he asked for  more, the grace of Jesus drew him on till he began to yearn for perfection.And in like proportion did the attraction of Jesus grow; first to observance of the Law, then to observance of the counsels; first to common righteousness, then to the perfect man; first to attaining the Kingdom, then to piling up treasures without it; first to a life of ordinary duty,then to a life of union and companionship with Him.
 

"Go, sell all
  Give to the poor
  Come follow Me;
  Jesus looking on him
  Loved him;"
 

in that summary was contained the whole meaning of religious life.
The sequel was sad.As the words were uttered disappointment began to show itself in the young man's face. He had great possessions; with all his wealth he had hoped he might be of service to Jesus; he was asked to get rid of it all, and to waste it upon the poor.He was a man in authority; he had hoped that by his influence he might sway public opinion in favour of Jesus; he was asked to put all his authority away and to join a group of Galilean labourers. Surely Jesus had mistaken; surely this was not common sense; it was not reason; no one who aspired to found a kingdom would so throw away the advantages he had to offer.

So nature appealed; so it justified refusal; and yet on the other side was something which said that he had only been taken at his word. He had asked to be shown how to do a noble thing and it had been shown to him. He had aspired to the most perfect ideal that he could attain and it had been set before him. To be made free, with the freedom with which Christ would make him free, to follow the grail which was the Light of light Himself, to be rich in that which his own soul had long taught him was more excellent, - no, it was not common sense, but it was heroic. It was not according to the nature that clung close round him, but it was according to that better soul which struggled within.He was torn between the two; the joy with which he had sprung into the presence of Jesus faded into nothing. Nature said it was too much; nature said he could not, he should not.It was wrong so to wreck his life, his happiness, his power for good. He rose to his feet, he drooped his head, he turned away, distracted, sad :
 

"And when the young man heard this word
  Being struck sorrowful at the saying
  He went away sad
  For he had great possessions."
 

Jesus let him go; to what he went , who shall say?Maybe for him, in the eyes of the world of men, all went well enough. Maybe he played his part as well as he had played it hitherto, honestly, dutifully, respected by all who knew him,keeping all the rules required by his status; yet would he never forget those eyes that looked on him and loved him, that voice which spoke to him and asked him to be a friend, that soul which cleaved to him and promised him, not only everlasting life, but over and above everlasting treasure, pressed down and flowing over. And the joy for a moment would fade from his cheek, and the heart would shiver,and he would need to shake himself and turn aside to his "many possessions" to convince himself he was a happy man.
 

Jesus let him go. As he turned about and lost himself in the crowd and walked with Him no more, the eyes of Jesus followed him. They followed him and haunted him forever............"

What a dramatic Vocation and what a sorry end. Most young men to-day in Western societies are not necessarily financially rich. They are rich in opportunities and potential. They too have a lot to give up - it seems to them - when the Good Master calls. But if they refuse his call, or try to drown it out with their MP3 players, and distract themselves  with the ephemera of the cyber-world or sports or the theatre, how sad a result that would be. They have the opportunity to serve Him in heroic fashion Contra Mundum -Against the World in a time of very great need.It is not an opportunity to miss!

* PAST * SERVING WITH THE ANGELS II SATAN

 Serving with the Angels II

                                                                                      THE FATHER OF LIES


“I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven” (Luke 10: 18). Every word that came from the lips of Our Lord is priceless to us mere men. Yet we don’t often hear this text read or referred to in homilies, and if it occurs in the readings at Mass it is most often ignored in the homily. Why? Of course, we don’t like to think of Satan, but our clergy have a duty to remind us of him and his works.




In the tumult, stress and distress of the post – Conciliar years, when Pope Paul VI could with pain observe that it was “as if, through some crack, the smoke of Satan had entered the Sanctuary of God” (Homily 29th June 1972), many clergy adopted the habit of not preaching what they surmised was unpopular. It began with “Humanae Vitae “and the Church’s teaching against contraception. The media say it’s not popular, so we don’t preach it. There are Dioceses in Australia where a priest can face administrative problems if he does. The “smoke of Satan “lingers even to the extent of not talking about Satan himself. It’s not nice. So Satan is relegated to the ad agencies and the horror movies. It suits his purposes admirably.




But Our Lord, Truth Himself, what was His practice? He was continually very open about him – the Deceiver, the Father of Lies. Consider St. John’s Gospel 8: 43-44 “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you cannot hear My word. The father from whom you are is the devil, the desires of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie he speaks from his very nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”Thus Our Lord spoke to a group of the Jews He knew were plotting to kill Him, but who piously insisted that they had Abraham for their Father. When did you last hear that preached?

                                                              "I saw Satan fall like lightning out of Heaven"





We ignore Satan at our peril. We should not fear him inordinately – remember – God Himself is our ready defence against his wiles. With St. Patrick we can pray to the Blessed Trinity for delivery “from every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul” and KNOW that “God’s shield “will protect us. But, ignore Satan, and we won’t pray that prayer or anything like it and, when someone comes along promoting abortion whilst talking about “the need to reduce the number of abortions” we won’t want to know who is prompting him, and when some “prophet” comes along teaching millions to kill those who won’t follow his teachings, and that it’s alright to lie to advance his teachings, they won’t want to think who is prompting him and his servants. And when English heretics came along telling English Catholics that their Faith was unpatriotic, they didn’t want to think who was prompting them, and when the good intelligent German people dragged down by defeat, depression, and inflation were told the Jews were responsible and were “sub-human”(üntermenschen”) they didn’t want to know who was prompting their Fuhrer. The Father of Lies, he comes in many guises, always attractive - slick, confident and smiling with spin-doctored glibness, or deceitfully promising the poor and ignorant “72 virgins” in a lustful “paradise”, or wrapped in the flag of patriotism – “the last refuge of scoundrels”, or with stage-managed spectacles promising a down-trodden people a thousand year Reich, or perhaps more commonly he will just use the seductiveness of physical attraction

Adolph Hitler - Bewitched the German Nation

                                                                    

We do need to heed Our Lord’s warnings and be on our guard. We need to keep our eyes our minds and our hearts on Him, the Man-God Himself- suffering for us on the Cross and then Radiant in His Resurrection. In that Countenance is our sure Hope of Eternal Life.




ACOLYTE


This item first appeared in FOUNDATION in the July 2009 issue.

A CONTINUOUS CRESCENDO

The  Fullness of God's Love for us.

"The Year of Faith is" the Holy Father tells us, “a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the world." He expands on this explanation of its purpose by referring to the great mystery of the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ which reveal so dramatically the fullness of God's Love for us and open the way for our conversion of life through the forgiveness of sins.

He goes on to quote Saint Paul:

"We were buried......with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life."(Rom. 6:4)

Then the Holy Father tells us that “Through Faith, this new life shapes the whole of human existence according to the radical new reality of the Resurrection." We are given a deeper appreciation of this great reality by considering the words of Pope Leo XIII in "Tametsi"(All Saints Day, 1900):

”...He is the origin and source of all good, and just as mankind could not be freed from slavery but by the sacrifice of Christ, so neither can it be preserved but by His power."

 In a wonderful reflection upon a variety of writings of Saint Paul, Pope Benedict explains that "Faith working through love" (Gal. 5:6) becomes a new criterion of understanding and action that changes the whole of man's life.

The LateFather John Hardon S.J.
A remarkable example of a life of Faith working through love.

This is a crucial insight. It is something we have always understood implicitly, but here it is so succinctly expressed that we are able to address its implications more effectively. It is a brilliant expression of the appropriate understanding of Jesus as the "Way". It reveals to us with unavoidable clarity how we must follow the "Way".

Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's words should leave us unsurprised that we are always able to learn more from the life of Christ: "Every passage in the history of Our Lord and Saviour is of unfathomable depth, and affords inexhaustible matter of contemplation. All that concerns Him is infinite, and what we first discern is but the surface of that which begins and ends in eternity."(Discourses to Mixed Congregations - 19th Cent.)

Moving on the Holy Father explores the implications of this insight, and takes up the ancient formula : " Caritas Christi urget nos" that is " The Love of Christ impels us" (2Cor. 5:14), showing that it is precisely the working of Faith through love, that propels evangelization in every generation and to the ends of the earth. He urges us in effect to re-kindle the fire of apostolic zeal which will fuel the new evangelization. And, he shows that this very act of living out the implications of Faith, itself further develops that Faith and the grace and joy which follow and causes in those evangelized the opening of their hearts and minds to the Divine message.

Two lives exemplifying Faith working through love
in the service of Jesus Christ

The Holy Father quotes the great Saint Augustine to the effect that believers "strengthen themselves by believing". And he shows that in the Saints life we see a continual quest to "…search for the beauty of Faith until such time as his heart would find rest in God". He points out that the mighty writings of Saint Augustine still, after some 1,600 years are leading people to the "door of Faith".

Pope Benedict concludes this section:"Only through believing, then, does Faith grow and become stronger; there is no other possibility for possessing certitude with regard to one's life apart from self abandonment, in a continuous crescendo, into the hands of a love that seems to grow constantly because it has its origin in God."

RARE BEAUTY AND GREAT SIGNIFICANCE

Jesus calls "us to conversion through the forgiveness of sins."

Quoting from the Council's Dogmatic Constitution "LUMEN GENTIUM" ("LIGHT OF THE PEOPLES"), the Holy Father presents a passage of rare beauty and great significance- "While "Christ, "holy, innocent and undefiled"(Heb.7:26)knew nothing of sin(Cf. 2Cor.5:21), but came only to expiate the sins of the people(Cf. Heb. 2:17).........the Church........clasping sinners to its bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal". The Church, "like a stranger in a foreign land, presses forward amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God "announcing the cross and death of the risen Lord until He comes."

What a brilliant image! Truly lyrical language, deep with significance for the salvation of us all. It called to my mind the statuary once common around insurance companies depicting a hastily clad woman in classical attire clutching her children , and herself shielded and protected by the strong arms of her husband as they both look back anxiously at some dreadful threat.

Here we are given a similar image of Christ the Saviour protecting His Bride the Church and His children her faithful, as she struggles on protecting them against the agents of the Evil One.

The passage concludes: "But by the power of the Risen Lord it is given strength to overcome, in patience and in love, it's sorrow and it's difficulties, both those that are from within, and those that are from without,so that it may reveal in the world, faithfully, although with shadows, the mystery of its Lord until, in the end, it shall be manifested in full light."

From this inspiring consideration, the Holy Father proceeds to unfold the rationale for the Year of Faith - "a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the world." The revelation of God's Love for us through the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus for our salvation, calls us to conversion through the forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:31). He shows how Saint Paul demonstrates that this Love " ushers us into new life" (Rom. 6:4) . Through Faith this new life transforms human existence " according to the radical new reality of the Resurrection." The journey of Faith, is never completely finished in this life, he tells us,as "to the extent that he freely cooperates, man's thoughts and affections, mentality and conduct are slowly purified and transformed." Faith working through love" (Gal. 5:6) becomes a new criterion of understanding and action that changes the whole of man's life.( Cf. Rom. 12:2, Col. 3- 9:10, Eph. 4: 20-29, 2Cor.