Hi everyone,
I have typed up my notes from the presentations we received at our Assisi Retreat,
Hope all is going well,
cheerio
paul
the notes can be accessed here:
http://maryboroughatholicnewsletter.blogspot.com.au/2007/11/assisi-retreat-notes.html
(I also print it here below in case the link no longer works
Assisi Retreat (Notes)
Hello everyone,this is Fr Paul, I have typed up notes I took from our wonderful retreat with Fr John Harris. Again, these notes are my interpretation so apologies if they are different from what he said or what others heard, its just what i heard. Hope these are helpful, thanks everyone for a superb Sabbaticalcheerio always,paul kelly
Assisi IV - TALKS -
Our retreat director at Assisi was the Irish Dominican preacher Fr John Harris. He was excellent.
He started with the gospel passage of the Woman at the Well - Jn 4.
The retreat director said that Assisi was the place where Young men see visions and old men dream dreams.
John Paul II came here with the leaders of other religions because Assisi is a place that allows for the Freedom of the Holy Spirit.
St Francis believed in Real peace, Real joy, and Real hope.
After the horrors of "911" in New York the Pope brought us back here to Assisi and to Francis as a reminder that "here is a place where things can be different from what they are."
The retreat director mentioned how he once was approached by a person he was directing who told him "I don't like you and I don't like the Irish so I am going" but the director said to him - "don't leave Assisi just because of me! Let this town be your Director- let this town speak to you, let St Francis speak to you. It is not about listening to me, it is about you and the Lord. So, reflect, listen, pray, rest, dream dreams, (he paused and said, I don't know so much about seeing visions, he laughed)!. Take this time before you go back to your homes.
This is the place where St Francis met the Lord and it changed his life.
Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" (God is Love) writes "we have come to believe in God's love... It expresses a fundamental decision. It is an encounter with an event - a person - which gives one's whole life new direction.
To be a "Christian" is essentially to MEET Jesus.
The gospel of John: the woman at the well. It is noon, Jesus is there sitting at the well already - waiting. The woman meets Jesus at the well and this meeting changes her whole life.
Our retreat director said that often a retreat is described as "going into the desert" but he prefers the idea of a retreat as "going to the well, to meet Jesus, to be renewed by living water"
Benedict XVI refers in his encyclical as "people whose hearts Christ has conquered with his love.
Another example : Zechariah (a temple priest) in Luke's Gospel, goes to the temple, it is his turn to perform an important ritual. He is not expecting anything special to happen. He thinks he is just going to go in and come out. But he is shocked, something new and different happens and it changes everything.
In contrast, Elizabeth his wife is expecting something to happen. She doesn't know what but she is a woman of faith, patiently hoping that the Lord will somehow take her shame away.
So, we see two different responses:
- The priest expects nothing or expects what he wants.
- The woman of faith expects something but knows not what.
Now, look at Jesus' words to the woman at the well: "..if you only knew the gift of God.... If you only knew .."
This is a sigh from the very heart of God...the Carus Dei (love of God).."if you only knew what I have to offer you..... What I want to give you......"
If only we truly and completely believed and knew God's love for us.... God's love for You!
A retreat is "time spent with God"
You know God... You love God..... I am not introducing you to God... You know that each of you already have a deep personal relationship with God or else you wouldn't be here. You have spent your lives and your daily work being a conduit for God's grace (everyone who follows Jesus is this too).
Each one of us could spend hours telling our story..... But does anyone really know what it takes for one person any person to "stick at" (persevere in ) their vocation - through good times and bad ??
You have each MET the Lord and this has changed your direction, it has changed your life. We each have this in common. We have met the Lord.
The director said that he doesn't like the new station of the cross "the fifteenth "Jesus rises from the dead" - the reason he doesn't like it is because its not a station its our Faith! We believe and know that Jesus is risen because we have met him. That is why we are here. It is not just about some past events of distant history, its also our present time (here and now) too.
You already have a friendship with Christ, you have come to this place to strengthen and renew this and deepen this friendship.
We are great at saying "God loves you" (itis the catchphrase of Christians) but we must also believe that God loves Me! We must believe that God is here with us- we too can and do meet Christ.
One priest once said to a candidate to priesthood: "you know, you are being ordained to disappear!"
By this saying he meant, "when people leave Mass, when they leave confession, when they finish hearing the homily, they will hopefully say not "what a nice priest he was" but rather that in the experience of these moments : "I have met the Lord!"
We look back at all the great men and women of the Church's history and we are still inspired by their lives and their prayers. Although we may say that we are nowhere like them in greatnes nevertheless, Jesus has asked what YOU (not St John Vianney or St Francis or St Clare) but YOU to bring God's love, healing and forgiveness to people in this time, this place, this age!
God himself chose you to be his minister and to allow Christ to touch his people through you.
" I have met the Lord" - if people can say that after leaving the sacraments.
Our whole priesthood, our whole three months sabbatical, our whole retreat this week is all about "meeting Christ".
So, in this retreat time:
Pray for one another. Pray to the Lord that whatever grace is needed by the others, whatever Grace God intends for them will be given. Prayer is not a sign of defeat - a last resort in disaster. Prayer is the best and most wonderful thing you can do for one another. In prayer you carry another person into that sacred space where ONLY God and you are, and in this sacred, intimate space you speak the name of the one you are praying for.
Give each other that sacred space to be alone, to meet the Lord. Do not be afraid, don't look back, don't look forward but just BE.
Show brotherly (fraternal) love for eachother. This is most important because you and I have just met the Lord.
As for the sacrament of confession, I always tell people, that this should be the one place that you can be safe and secure that you are unconditionally loved. No matter what you may have done, no matter what you are still totally and utterly LOVED.
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Homily 12/11/2007. ST STEPHEN'S CHURCH. ASSISI.
Fr John in his homily quoted Pope Benedict in a talk he gave at Assisi in June this year on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the conversion of St Francis. The pope called Assisi a "Territory of Grace". Fr john added that the Mass, wherver it is celebrated is a territory of grace, the highpoint of this territory, as is also our sacred place of prayer where we are individually alone with our God.
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Session II -
Fr john quotes the bible passage where the mother of the sons of Zebedee comes up to Jesus and asks Jesus to grant her sons the places of honour at his left and at his right. Jesus replies that this is not his to grant but it is alloted to the ones the Father grants it.
One of the famouse Giotto frescos has a picture of thrones to the left of and right of Jesus. One tradition has it that perhaps this empty throne is for 'il povoro' the poor one, Francis. In any case, this empty space is an invitation not only to the sone of Zebedee but to each one of us to follow Jesus in his path of love (and true love suffers by nature _it is by no means a sweet cup to drink from but it is a loving cup nevertheless).
Fr john takes up the image of an utterly loving God. God who is all love. God is compared to a mother who loves her baby. So it appears very clear "God cannot but love us!" God cannot help but to love us always and completely. This is not about deserving or meriting it, any more than a child deserves or merits the love of their parent. They parent loves, the child receives.
So, God is like a parent who cannot but love her child. This a real love, a love that does not plaster over faults or weaknesses, but who sees the person as they realy are and loves them unconditionally as their own.
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SESSION THREE
FR john quotes the bible passage from Genesis : "now the serpent was the most cunning of creatures and he spoke to Adam and Eve...you will not die if you eat the fruit...... Later, God came walking in the garden in the cool of the evening....."who told you you were naked?"
This is the second cry from the heart of God (the first is "if only you knew what I an offering you" and now this sigh..from the heart: "who told you you were naked?"...
God left a space in his heart for us - for love - here is the cry from God.
Fr john says this cry from God must be like the look from his friends mother he once saw.. Their friend had been out with them and they other boys had convinced him to break his "pledge" and drink. The other boys jubilantly rushed home to tell the mother that he had had his first drink - fr john says the indescribable look of dismay and sadness that came over that boy's mother's face was like a sigh from the heart "who told him to drink?" (that look from the mother said more than anyone could imagine, of sadness, of history repeating, of the start of alcoholism which did in fact occur and she probably knew better than anyone.....) fr john says he always thinks that this is what God would have meant when he said in the Garden "who told you this? Why have you listened to lying voices? Why have you opened a door that has shut me out?"
God is saying to humanity "who told you that getting me out of the way would give you true freedom?"
This is probably the real sin and tragedy of the Genesis story: the serpent was saying to humans: "if you get God out of the way and if you put YOURSELVES at the centre of the garden then you will be free." but this is a lie.
Interestingly the Genesis account describes God as "coming into the Garden in the cool of the evening." God went looking for his creatures, he desired to be with them in the evening to share their time.
And who does adam blame? Actually, not Eve but rather he blames God! He virtually says "you made the fruit and you made it look good to eat, so its your fault that we weakened!"
God gave us the ability to think, to reason, to reject, God created food and made it good to eat and God gave us the ability to do the things we ought not so its God's fault! (so reasons humanity).
It is like that scene in the death camps where people were being hanged and someone asked "where is God" and another replied "he is there, hanging".
This can mean a few things, including this: when humans replace God with themselves this is the monstrous "god" that is created - an idol of pure evil when humans put themselves at the centre of the wolrd ..the garden look what sheer evil can result. That is life without God.
God who loved us totally and dies for love.
God allows humans to flower. We are given the freedom the absolute freedom to say NO to God and to say NO to even what is good for us. God awaits our Yes. God awaits humanity's "yes" as a bridegroom awaits the yes of his bride.
This is why it is a huge mistake for us to ever say "I will wait until I am perfect before I approach my God. When I have "sorted ourselves out" then we think we are worthy to approach. This is madness. This is human pride gone mad. We all need God, we are loved by God and we do not merit this love. We are beloved and need to approach God in the truth of who we are and where we are here and now, not in some theoretical perfect future which may never come.
We can only go to God THROUGH love and mercy, not of our own "worthiness". This is incredibly liberating to acknowledge that.
Another example: the father of the prodigal son: the father is always running. Note: the prodigal son story is NOT a story of "conversion" - the son isn't sorry, he's just HUNGRY and he knows where he can at least get a feed. This story is about the FATHER!
- THE RUNNING TO MEET THE PRODIGAL SON IS LIKE THE INCARNATION, GOD STOOPS DOWN TO MEET US WHERE WE ARE IN OUR VULNERABILITY, WEAKNESS, SIN AND IMPERFECTION.
- THE ARMS OF EMBRACE FOR THE PRODIGAL SON IS A REMINDER OF LOVE - HOW WE ARE SCOOPED UP BY GOD OUR LOVING PARENT INTO THE ARMS OF LOVE.
Fr john noted: st john of the cross and Teresa of avila both speak of "spiritual progress" but perhaps this can be unhelpful.
For example, in life we go from the utter dependence of babies to the dependence of children to the independence of adults.
In contrast for the spiritual life, it seems to be the opposite: in the spiritual life we start out being totally indepenedent and move towards an understanding of our utter dependence on God. Total reliance on God's love and care. Perhaps that is the meaning of Saint paul's line "when I am weak, then I am strong!"
Fr john then uses the example of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemene. Jesus goes to the garden with his disciples an then takes his closer friends a little further with him and then goes a little further alone and prays. Similar for each of us, we have family, parishioners and friends, each of us have a few friends whom we share all our hopes and fears and then at some points in our lives we can only go into an experience alone in that solitary sacred space. Where no one else is there but God and you.
St Bernard said "the only ones who will understand are the one who sings the song and the one to whom it is sung." each person's relationship with God is unique. No one else can fully comprehend it, no one else can go there.
False prayer= Prayer is not showing off in front of others. Prayer is something that can be conducted with all the discretion that one givers to love and lovers. It has a uniqueness and sacredness that in some ways can never be truly divulged or described to any other human being.
This is why we should never judge another person. You cannot judge- in science one can say with confidence a+b+c=d. But not so with humans. No one can rightly judge. Only God can judge. We can only see the outward actions and consequences of a person. We may see them "fall" but we do not know the lead up to this or how they may have resisted this fall or desired some other result. Only God can see the soul of another person and only God can see into the heart of a person who has 'failed' but perhaps does not want to fall.
John 21 is very encouraging. Peter and the disciples are in their boats fishing. Jesus is on the shore. Peter's reaction is amazing. He has denied Jesus, but when he sees Jesus he does not try to row away in fear and shame. He is clearly overjoyed to see Jesus whom he loves. He thinks nothing of leaping from the boat and swimming to shore to meet Jesus. This is the truth of the man whom Jesus could see into his heart. This can give us great encouragement in prayer - Peter cries out - "it is the Lord!" if we put God back in the centre of the garden, this will free us.
That raises another interesting example - in the gospel where the devil tempts Jesus to leap from the pinnacle of the temple, Fr john raised an interesting insight - if Jesus did leap from the pinnacle of the temple, where would he have landed? The kidron valley? And more specifically the garden of gethsemane. Jesus did eventually end up in gethsemene but 'on the Father's terms, not the devil's terms.' Jesus obeyed the will of the Father in the Father's time. There was no way of shortcutting or short circuiting the way to calvary and the path of preaching the good news that preceded it.
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Homily at Chiesa Nuovo.
Are we pilgrims or tourists? Fr john tells the story of priest who had lived in Rome for many years. Fr john asked him what the difference was in recent years. The priest answered. Many years ago the people visiting Rome were pilgrims, making a spiritual journey of devotion. Nowadays the numbers of people are increasing but they seem to be more tourists, seeing the sights as tourist destinations and not as necessarily religiously significant. (i wonder though if in recent years this has changed and now the numbers of pilgrims is again increasing). Nevertheless, it is a good question: are we pilgrims in life or merely tourists? Not just here but also in everyday life.
Fr john preached on the reading of the Ten Lepers. He picked up on the line in the gospel - "jesus was walking along the border between Jerusalem and Samaria". This is an interesting phrase - in his life Jesus walked along the borders and ministered there. We are called to do the same. As priests we walk the borders of people's lives. We live on the borders between death and eternal life, the borders between sin and forgiveness, etc.
Fr john have an example of the most important lesson he ever learnt about preaching. When he arrived in a new parish, there was a lady therewho did everything. She would never let anyone help her and if anyone dared offer, their name would be mud as she would badmouth them from pillar to post. When he arrived, she said "father, I was here before you arrived and I will be here after you go, welcome Father." One day fr john felt he needed to challenge this and so he gave a homily about not badmouthing others and not speaking ill of those around us.. He said that "people have a right to their good name and that we need to be people of encouragement. After mass, as Fr John was taking off his chasuble, the lady came in to talk to him. He was worried she would be upset but rather she said: "that was a good homily father. They needed to hear it" !!!
This is a reminder, in any homily the preacher preaches first to himself and hopefully it might also be relevant to others and others who are disposed to receive the message.
Also, Jesus never called anyone a "sinner". For example, For many people in the church Mary Magdalene is seen as a sinner who converted, but to Jesus she was a Saint who loved much. Jesus always hated the sin but loved the person commiting the sin.
We need to enter (ever deeper) into God's love for us.
St Peter when he meets the risen Lord on the seashore has three questions asked of him:
"...do you love me more than these?"
Note, that of all the questions Jesus COULD rightly have asked Peter, such as "why did you desert me?" "why did you deny me?" - he only asks this question instead: "DO YOU LOVE ME?"
This is the only question he is interested in, the only question he asks, ... It appears to be the only question God really wants an answer to and the only question we can really answer - "DO YOU LOVE ME...more"
Jesus asks Peter DO YOU LOVE ME...more.... More than you did last Wednesday night when you denied me?...more than your own life?
Pope Benedict XVI. In one of his Wednesday morning talks speaks of the Greek words for Love that are used in this incident. Jesus asks Peter twice in a row do you love (agap é=self-giving love) and Peter twice in a row replies "I do love (filié=brotherly love).
Peter is really simply being honest here. In the past Peter would answer Jesus brashly by saying "I would die for you" but after his denials on the night before Jesus died, Peter is more aware of his weaknesses and limitations. He no longer has the brash, reckless confidence to say the things that might just be words. Now, Peter is honest and humble. He admits that at this moment he is only capable of brotherly love, not the full-fledged self-sacrificing love of agape. Jesus shows us that God will meet us where we are because the third time he asks Peter he asks "do you love (filié) me? . God doesn't want us to lie or pretend. He wants us to be open and honest about where we are.
Pope Benedict says: "God lowers himself"
For the moment God is happy with Peter's truthful lesser profession. For the moment! But later Peter will be called to the fuller love and give his life for Jesus.
The three vows made by a religious person make sense in terms of Jesus' question of Peter:
1. Chastity: do you love me more than anyone else.
2. Poverty: do you love me more than any THING else?
3. Obedience: Do you love me more than any of Your plans and more than the way you want things to be.
Whatever our job or role, whether it be for priests a new parish, a new job, a new Diocese.... Or for others, the Lord asks us anew this question: DO YOU LOVE ME?
Fr john said, " if you can't do your job with love then don't get out of bed!
A lot of people get caught up in liturgical arguments or political arguments, but ultimately the real question is "am I doing this with love?"
After all, Jesus knows our suffering, lonliness, weakness, fears... And he still asks one question.. "DO YOU STILL LOVE ME?"
And isn't this the one question we keep asking God, time and again? DO YOU STILL LOVE ME?" We often ask it like this : "DO YOU STILL LOVE ME...despite this or despite that?"
Fr john tells the story of an order of nuns who were shifting from their old building to a new one but there was one problem. One of the elderly nuns would not leave the old. This nun had been a hard working, spartan living nun and now she was confined to a wheelchair. She said she would not go because this new place was too luxurious. Fr john talked with her and asked: "sister, if you got the use of your legs again, would you go back to Africa again if asked?" the sister answered "yes I would walk to africa if I could!". Then he asked "if Jesus asked you to do something difficult would you do it," the nun replied, "I don't like where this is going, but.... Yes" Then fr john asked her: "then why won't you go across the corridor. "Do you love Jesus enough t walk across the corridor?"
He had no doubt that going across the corridor to the new rooms was the hardest thing in the world for that nun to do anything would have been easier. But she did it for love of her Lord. There was no romance in it for her, no joy, but pure love for Jesus, that is the heart of that woman.
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Fr john quoted the bible passage: "if your eye/hand/foot causes you to sin, cut it away". This is a disturbing message. Does Jesus really want people to maim themselves for him? No. These three things have a common relation: the eye sees something it wants, the hand graps for the thing it wants and the feet take you to the thing you want. Jesus is reminding us that "our happiness is not OUT THERE SOMEWHERE" / OUT THERE is not where happiness is.
Jesus is saying, what I am offering you is IN HERE (in the heart) and that is where you have to go.
It is inside: "do you love me?"
This question can sound trite but really this is at the heart of our Christian message and the heart of our Christian vocation.
God is love. God is filled with passionate love. By nature love needs to be reciprocated. If it is one way love then it may be an illusion, we may be in love with simply the idea of the other. Real love is about truly and honestly taking the REAL person seriously.
The real definition for love is what God thinks of it. And God's idea of love is that concept of a holy commuion - a coming together a union of God and us. A true coming together, God's love for us and our love for God.
In the scene of Jesus and Peter at the lakeside, after Jesus asks Peter three times "do you love?" peter asks "what about him?" (pointing to the beloved disciple). Jesus replies "what's it to you? I am speaking to you right now, you alone, what I say to another is not you affair." (it is like that saying of St john of the Cross: Be alone, to be alone"). Ultimately we face God one to one.
The issue of solitariness is a big issue in the world today. Lonliness can be a big issue for priests. They may think "when I shut the door at night who cares if I ever come out again?" one monk once complained that if he died the other monks will come and take all the best habits from his closet and bury him in the oldest one!" this can lead to priests filling up their lives with distractions.
One priest joked that the bishop at one priest's ordination must have anointed a particular priest's hands at with motor oil because ever since his ordination he's driven around in the best cars!
But, fr john reminds them, you didn't become a priest because you wanted a nice car or to play Golf well. You became a priest because you positively answered this call from Jesus: do you love me? Follow Me!
We need to support eachother, that is important, and at the ame time recognise there is a certain solitariness but this is not bad.
"Lord, you know everything. You know how much I love you. You know I love you as I love you today .... Not as I did love you yesterday.... Not as I will love you in the future. The only love I can give you is my love you now .... As I am. "
It was easy for St Peter to say to Jesus as they were walking one day: "you are the Christ, you are the Son of God." it was a warm day, they had a full belly and everything was going fine. But at the Circus Caligula in Rome at the ancient Vatican site where Peter eventually met his horrifying end crucified upside down, he probably could only utter these words and finally mean them as "agapé" : "You know everything Lord, you know I love you!"
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Wednesday session.
Fr John told us a story of how he visited a convent and there was one nun who was particularly unwell. She had a form of dementia and she would come in day after day to have a conversation that made absolutely no sense. On the last day, when he was almost beside himself with this behaviour, and when he himself was wondering how to make his prayer after communion more effective. The nun comes in and he is almost about to say he had run out of time and couldn’t stay to speak when she blurted out. “Father, I have this problem in my prayer after communion. I hope it is okay, but I don’t pray anything, I just sit there in silence and let the Lord love me†he was utterly stunned and realized that although this nun had lost her mind, she had never lost her heart. Fr John said, that of all the wonderful things that all the popes and theologians ever said, he learnt more about faith and prayer from that amazing lady than anyone else.
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In the Mass for that day, Fr John mentioned that we need to always be disciples of Kindness, Love and encouragement. Above all, this is what we are called to be and to witness to others.
Fr John in the mass also said that St Francis charitable and practical work is unable to be separated from his relationship in prayer and love to Jesus, to God. The Horizontal (practical action in the world) and the vertical (relationship between disciple and God) elements cannot be separated. He did good works of charity and kindness BECAUSE of his deep love and relationship to God, and his deep love for Jesus made no sense whatsoever unless it showed itself of love of neighbour and love of those most in need.
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Final Talk:
FR John quoted the Gospel: Mt 13
Matthew
Chapter 13:18 and following - "Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away.
The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold."
It is good for each of us to ask ourselves – “where am I in this parable?â€
If my life is a garden, what is happening in it? Certainly, it is not “all or nothing†– I am not bringing forth fruit in hundred fold in every part of my life, but neither am I completely fruitless in my life, certainly not bereft or empty of God ! I (my life) if like a garden, and with any garden there may be parts of it, parts of my life that are very fruitful and productive and in good shape and other parts might be rocky, and other parts thorny, and other party patchy. If ‘salvation is to come to this house,’ this “garden†of my life – I must let ALL areas of my life be open to God’s grace and action. Every area of my life needs to be open to God sowing the seed of new life and fruitfulness to bring forth new life.
To be truly ‘saved’ – we need to bring the Lord into ALL areas of our life. Into the fears of the past, into the thorny parts of our life or personality, etc. We must not be afraid to let the seed of God’s love, God’s word to grow in ALL areas too, including the rocky relationships where you might think that nothing good can or will ever come of it.
Pope Benedict XVI in his talks speaks of “salvation†as being “healingâ€. This is also why we now refer what used to be called the sacrament of the sick as ‘the sacrament of healing.’ We are not a machine. We are human beings. We do not have switches that can be turned on and off. We do not have ‘temperature control’ the way a machine does. We are human and we are all in need of healing of one kind or another. Parts that we are ashamed of in our lives, things that we bury away in the garden that is our life – these too need to be brought for healing.
Fr John continued the garden analogy by referring to some people he knew who had this enormous boulder in their back yard. It was too big to move, so they turned it into a feature at the centre of the garden. What cannot be changed, what cannot be moved, can be made a feature and things can grown in and around this immovable reality. The same is true with our lives. We too can allow the Lord to put his presence into those areas of our lives that seem immovable or rocky or the areas of our lives that we have not allowed God to come into and be present to.
Fr John gave an example of a person he used to come across who, for no good reason, he just didn’t like, didn’t feel comfortable around. This person had never done anything wrong to him, he just didn’t like him and didn’t know why. So, he brought this inexplicable part of his life to the Lord and did not hide it in prayer to God. He would say, “Lord, I no there is no reason why I don’t like this person, they have never done me any harm, where are you in all this? Why is this happening Lord? What is the fear that this encounter with this person is revealing in me? What is the preoccupation? Lord, let your seed be in this issue….â€
In the Book of Genesis it says, “God came into the garden in the cool of the evening.†God was LOOKING for Adam and Eve. God comes looking for us, in our garden that is our lives. In our ‘interior garden.’ As priests we are given a special privilege to walk with people in their sacred interior garden that is their inner life and their sacred relationship with God. We are invited in to be of service in the garden to help people in the rocky parts of the garden - we don’t FIX the garden, we are only guides and servants, but we help invite the Great Gardener (the great Garden Makeover person – GOD!) in.
Fr John mentioned too, this is a question he often leaves with men training to be priests. He asks them “what is the most important thing to ensure that you enable in the sacrament of confession?†The answer: “Make sure they come back.†Make sure the experience they have does not have them vowing never to return, feeling never able to feel welcome back.
Related to this, HEALING TAKES TIME !
St Thomas Aquinas once said: “Virtues take time to grow.†We are all on a journey of life and it is a journey of discovery, a journey of healing. We, as priests, are there over time to journey with people in the sacred gardens of their lives.
People might say to this: You talk about God’s love and healing, but what about being a disciple to get out there and CHANGE THE WORLD! where does that fit into this?
The answer seems to be: God is interested in PEOPLE knowing that they are loved. If people truly realize this, then this has the power to change the world. St Francis and St Clare are clear examples of that.
The group of people Jesus seemed to lose his temper with most seemed to be the Pharisees. However, it is important to note, Jesus is the great healer and he told us that he came to heal the sick not the well. So, why is Jesus going on about the Pharisees? He must be upset and acting FOR THEM? These people, these Pharisees, their life goal was to be good religius people. They are not there to be the ‘bad guys’ – Jesus is very upset with them because they are HIDING the real truth about religion behind systems. The temple is surely a sacred space, so when he tips over the tables of the money changers he is not rejecting the people, rather he acts this way in THEIR interests as well as others. He is trying to save them. He is saying, you moneychangers are robbing yourselves of your God, you are defiling your own sacred inner space. Jesus, by tipping over the tables and pushing them out of the temple is trying to save them from their own false gods.
Jesus died for ALL, INCLUDING THE PHARISEES!
Jesus does not say from the cross: “Look what your sins have done to me!†No, rather, he is saying: “Look what I am doing for you… out of LOVE†So that you may be FREE !
In another part of the gospel, when Jesus heals someone he says “salvation has come to this houseâ€. So, salvation is about healing.
There are some areas of our lives, our sacred garden, where we won’t take Jesus. However, we ought not be afraid or ashamed about inviting Jesus into all areas, even the parts, especially the parts that we feel are most rocky, most shameful, most thorny!
It is interesting, in John’s Gospel, when Mary Magdelene is standing at the empty tomb she meets jesus but does not initially recognize him. The gospel says, she ‘mistook him for the gardener.†She was actually RIGHT. Jesus is the gardener. Jesus is in search for us in the garden of our lives (pk: to do a complete renovation, a makeover? – remember those gardening rescue shows when a celebrity will show the host their garden and parts of it are beautiful, and parts are just awful, some celebrities even try and steer the garden-rescuer away from the bits that are terrible, but the gardener gets in and exposes the problem areas and starts to treat the areas so that all parts of the garden are fruitful and valuied).
Let Jesus, the gardener, lead us.
In EVERY issue in life …. Bring God in. bring him into the areas he is missing.
Three theological virtues mark our discipleship – St Paul tells us this:
FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE !
Pope benedict XVI says of this:
HOPE: is courage to believe in LOVE in the midst of darkness.
FAITH: is believing in the LOVE truly there in JESUS, even in the cross, and in the love of God revealed in the Risen Lord too.
LOVE: is bringing that LOVE into the world.
Pope Benedict XVI says: LOVE IS POSSIBLE
We know that hate is possible, we know that ENVY is possible…… we must believe that LOVE is possible. Let is expand and seep into the shallow, rocky, thorny parts of our life too. It also needs to seep deeply into the lives of others. Let God’s healing seep into the wounded and scarred parts of life too.
Be at peace in your own inner garden, in that sacred place where you alone are with your God.
Be at peace with your own interiority.
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Final Mass: At the Crypt of St Francis:
When Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in this Crypt, this peaceful place here, the tomb of St Francis, he said that this place was like his “spiritual compass†this place helped him centre himself on his true priorities, and on what was most important. This place can be a spiritual compass for how the world really can be – based on love and peace and forgiveness.
May this place, Assisi, may this time of retreat, and may the Eucharist, which wherever it is celebrated, be your Spiritual compass that directs you to the priorities and message of Jesus good news.
Now, go in peace, go, rebuild God’s church, for as you see it has fallen into disrepair !
Assisi IV - TALKS -
Our retreat director at Assisi was the Irish Dominican preacher Fr John Harris. He was excellent.
He started with the gospel passage of the Woman at the Well - Jn 4.
The retreat director said that Assisi was the place where Young men see visions and old men dream dreams.
John Paul II came here with the leaders of other religions because Assisi is a place that allows for the Freedom of the Holy Spirit.
St Francis believed in Real peace, Real joy, and Real hope.
After the horrors of "911" in New York the Pope brought us back here to Assisi and to Francis as a reminder that "here is a place where things can be different from what they are."
The retreat director mentioned how he once was approached by a person he was directing who told him "I don't like you and I don't like the Irish so I am going" but the director said to him - "don't leave Assisi just because of me! Let this town be your Director- let this town speak to you, let St Francis speak to you. It is not about listening to me, it is about you and the Lord. So, reflect, listen, pray, rest, dream dreams, (he paused and said, I don't know so much about seeing visions, he laughed)!. Take this time before you go back to your homes.
This is the place where St Francis met the Lord and it changed his life.
Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" (God is Love) writes "we have come to believe in God's love... It expresses a fundamental decision. It is an encounter with an event - a person - which gives one's whole life new direction.
To be a "Christian" is essentially to MEET Jesus.
The gospel of John: the woman at the well. It is noon, Jesus is there sitting at the well already - waiting. The woman meets Jesus at the well and this meeting changes her whole life.
Our retreat director said that often a retreat is described as "going into the desert" but he prefers the idea of a retreat as "going to the well, to meet Jesus, to be renewed by living water"
Benedict XVI refers in his encyclical as "people whose hearts Christ has conquered with his love.
Another example : Zechariah (a temple priest) in Luke's Gospel, goes to the temple, it is his turn to perform an important ritual. He is not expecting anything special to happen. He thinks he is just going to go in and come out. But he is shocked, something new and different happens and it changes everything.
In contrast, Elizabeth his wife is expecting something to happen. She doesn't know what but she is a woman of faith, patiently hoping that the Lord will somehow take her shame away.
So, we see two different responses:
- The priest expects nothing or expects what he wants.
- The woman of faith expects something but knows not what.
Now, look at Jesus' words to the woman at the well: "..if you only knew the gift of God.... If you only knew .."
This is a sigh from the very heart of God...the Carus Dei (love of God).."if you only knew what I have to offer you..... What I want to give you......"
If only we truly and completely believed and knew God's love for us.... God's love for You!
A retreat is "time spent with God"
You know God... You love God..... I am not introducing you to God... You know that each of you already have a deep personal relationship with God or else you wouldn't be here. You have spent your lives and your daily work being a conduit for God's grace (everyone who follows Jesus is this too).
Each one of us could spend hours telling our story..... But does anyone really know what it takes for one person any person to "stick at" (persevere in ) their vocation - through good times and bad ??
You have each MET the Lord and this has changed your direction, it has changed your life. We each have this in common. We have met the Lord.
The director said that he doesn't like the new station of the cross "the fifteenth "Jesus rises from the dead" - the reason he doesn't like it is because its not a station its our Faith! We believe and know that Jesus is risen because we have met him. That is why we are here. It is not just about some past events of distant history, its also our present time (here and now) too.
You already have a friendship with Christ, you have come to this place to strengthen and renew this and deepen this friendship.
We are great at saying "God loves you" (itis the catchphrase of Christians) but we must also believe that God loves Me! We must believe that God is here with us- we too can and do meet Christ.
One priest once said to a candidate to priesthood: "you know, you are being ordained to disappear!"
By this saying he meant, "when people leave Mass, when they leave confession, when they finish hearing the homily, they will hopefully say not "what a nice priest he was" but rather that in the experience of these moments : "I have met the Lord!"
We look back at all the great men and women of the Church's history and we are still inspired by their lives and their prayers. Although we may say that we are nowhere like them in greatnes nevertheless, Jesus has asked what YOU (not St John Vianney or St Francis or St Clare) but YOU to bring God's love, healing and forgiveness to people in this time, this place, this age!
God himself chose you to be his minister and to allow Christ to touch his people through you.
" I have met the Lord" - if people can say that after leaving the sacraments.
Our whole priesthood, our whole three months sabbatical, our whole retreat this week is all about "meeting Christ".
So, in this retreat time:
Pray for one another. Pray to the Lord that whatever grace is needed by the others, whatever Grace God intends for them will be given. Prayer is not a sign of defeat - a last resort in disaster. Prayer is the best and most wonderful thing you can do for one another. In prayer you carry another person into that sacred space where ONLY God and you are, and in this sacred, intimate space you speak the name of the one you are praying for.
Give each other that sacred space to be alone, to meet the Lord. Do not be afraid, don't look back, don't look forward but just BE.
Show brotherly (fraternal) love for eachother. This is most important because you and I have just met the Lord.
As for the sacrament of confession, I always tell people, that this should be the one place that you can be safe and secure that you are unconditionally loved. No matter what you may have done, no matter what you are still totally and utterly LOVED.
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Homily 12/11/2007. ST STEPHEN'S CHURCH. ASSISI.
Fr John in his homily quoted Pope Benedict in a talk he gave at Assisi in June this year on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the conversion of St Francis. The pope called Assisi a "Territory of Grace". Fr john added that the Mass, wherver it is celebrated is a territory of grace, the highpoint of this territory, as is also our sacred place of prayer where we are individually alone with our God.
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Session II -
Fr john quotes the bible passage where the mother of the sons of Zebedee comes up to Jesus and asks Jesus to grant her sons the places of honour at his left and at his right. Jesus replies that this is not his to grant but it is alloted to the ones the Father grants it.
One of the famouse Giotto frescos has a picture of thrones to the left of and right of Jesus. One tradition has it that perhaps this empty throne is for 'il povoro' the poor one, Francis. In any case, this empty space is an invitation not only to the sone of Zebedee but to each one of us to follow Jesus in his path of love (and true love suffers by nature _it is by no means a sweet cup to drink from but it is a loving cup nevertheless).
Fr john takes up the image of an utterly loving God. God who is all love. God is compared to a mother who loves her baby. So it appears very clear "God cannot but love us!" God cannot help but to love us always and completely. This is not about deserving or meriting it, any more than a child deserves or merits the love of their parent. They parent loves, the child receives.
So, God is like a parent who cannot but love her child. This a real love, a love that does not plaster over faults or weaknesses, but who sees the person as they realy are and loves them unconditionally as their own.
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SESSION THREE
FR john quotes the bible passage from Genesis : "now the serpent was the most cunning of creatures and he spoke to Adam and Eve...you will not die if you eat the fruit...... Later, God came walking in the garden in the cool of the evening....."who told you you were naked?"
This is the second cry from the heart of God (the first is "if only you knew what I an offering you" and now this sigh..from the heart: "who told you you were naked?"...
God left a space in his heart for us - for love - here is the cry from God.
Fr john says this cry from God must be like the look from his friends mother he once saw.. Their friend had been out with them and they other boys had convinced him to break his "pledge" and drink. The other boys jubilantly rushed home to tell the mother that he had had his first drink - fr john says the indescribable look of dismay and sadness that came over that boy's mother's face was like a sigh from the heart "who told him to drink?" (that look from the mother said more than anyone could imagine, of sadness, of history repeating, of the start of alcoholism which did in fact occur and she probably knew better than anyone.....) fr john says he always thinks that this is what God would have meant when he said in the Garden "who told you this? Why have you listened to lying voices? Why have you opened a door that has shut me out?"
God is saying to humanity "who told you that getting me out of the way would give you true freedom?"
This is probably the real sin and tragedy of the Genesis story: the serpent was saying to humans: "if you get God out of the way and if you put YOURSELVES at the centre of the garden then you will be free." but this is a lie.
Interestingly the Genesis account describes God as "coming into the Garden in the cool of the evening." God went looking for his creatures, he desired to be with them in the evening to share their time.
And who does adam blame? Actually, not Eve but rather he blames God! He virtually says "you made the fruit and you made it look good to eat, so its your fault that we weakened!"
God gave us the ability to think, to reason, to reject, God created food and made it good to eat and God gave us the ability to do the things we ought not so its God's fault! (so reasons humanity).
It is like that scene in the death camps where people were being hanged and someone asked "where is God" and another replied "he is there, hanging".
This can mean a few things, including this: when humans replace God with themselves this is the monstrous "god" that is created - an idol of pure evil when humans put themselves at the centre of the wolrd ..the garden look what sheer evil can result. That is life without God.
God who loved us totally and dies for love.
God allows humans to flower. We are given the freedom the absolute freedom to say NO to God and to say NO to even what is good for us. God awaits our Yes. God awaits humanity's "yes" as a bridegroom awaits the yes of his bride.
This is why it is a huge mistake for us to ever say "I will wait until I am perfect before I approach my God. When I have "sorted ourselves out" then we think we are worthy to approach. This is madness. This is human pride gone mad. We all need God, we are loved by God and we do not merit this love. We are beloved and need to approach God in the truth of who we are and where we are here and now, not in some theoretical perfect future which may never come.
We can only go to God THROUGH love and mercy, not of our own "worthiness". This is incredibly liberating to acknowledge that.
Another example: the father of the prodigal son: the father is always running. Note: the prodigal son story is NOT a story of "conversion" - the son isn't sorry, he's just HUNGRY and he knows where he can at least get a feed. This story is about the FATHER!
- THE RUNNING TO MEET THE PRODIGAL SON IS LIKE THE INCARNATION, GOD STOOPS DOWN TO MEET US WHERE WE ARE IN OUR VULNERABILITY, WEAKNESS, SIN AND IMPERFECTION.
- THE ARMS OF EMBRACE FOR THE PRODIGAL SON IS A REMINDER OF LOVE - HOW WE ARE SCOOPED UP BY GOD OUR LOVING PARENT INTO THE ARMS OF LOVE.
Fr john noted: st john of the cross and Teresa of avila both speak of "spiritual progress" but perhaps this can be unhelpful.
For example, in life we go from the utter dependence of babies to the dependence of children to the independence of adults.
In contrast for the spiritual life, it seems to be the opposite: in the spiritual life we start out being totally indepenedent and move towards an understanding of our utter dependence on God. Total reliance on God's love and care. Perhaps that is the meaning of Saint paul's line "when I am weak, then I am strong!"
Fr john then uses the example of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemene. Jesus goes to the garden with his disciples an then takes his closer friends a little further with him and then goes a little further alone and prays. Similar for each of us, we have family, parishioners and friends, each of us have a few friends whom we share all our hopes and fears and then at some points in our lives we can only go into an experience alone in that solitary sacred space. Where no one else is there but God and you.
St Bernard said "the only ones who will understand are the one who sings the song and the one to whom it is sung." each person's relationship with God is unique. No one else can fully comprehend it, no one else can go there.
False prayer= Prayer is not showing off in front of others. Prayer is something that can be conducted with all the discretion that one givers to love and lovers. It has a uniqueness and sacredness that in some ways can never be truly divulged or described to any other human being.
This is why we should never judge another person. You cannot judge- in science one can say with confidence a+b+c=d. But not so with humans. No one can rightly judge. Only God can judge. We can only see the outward actions and consequences of a person. We may see them "fall" but we do not know the lead up to this or how they may have resisted this fall or desired some other result. Only God can see the soul of another person and only God can see into the heart of a person who has 'failed' but perhaps does not want to fall.
John 21 is very encouraging. Peter and the disciples are in their boats fishing. Jesus is on the shore. Peter's reaction is amazing. He has denied Jesus, but when he sees Jesus he does not try to row away in fear and shame. He is clearly overjoyed to see Jesus whom he loves. He thinks nothing of leaping from the boat and swimming to shore to meet Jesus. This is the truth of the man whom Jesus could see into his heart. This can give us great encouragement in prayer - Peter cries out - "it is the Lord!" if we put God back in the centre of the garden, this will free us.
That raises another interesting example - in the gospel where the devil tempts Jesus to leap from the pinnacle of the temple, Fr john raised an interesting insight - if Jesus did leap from the pinnacle of the temple, where would he have landed? The kidron valley? And more specifically the garden of gethsemane. Jesus did eventually end up in gethsemene but 'on the Father's terms, not the devil's terms.' Jesus obeyed the will of the Father in the Father's time. There was no way of shortcutting or short circuiting the way to calvary and the path of preaching the good news that preceded it.
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Homily at Chiesa Nuovo.
Are we pilgrims or tourists? Fr john tells the story of priest who had lived in Rome for many years. Fr john asked him what the difference was in recent years. The priest answered. Many years ago the people visiting Rome were pilgrims, making a spiritual journey of devotion. Nowadays the numbers of people are increasing but they seem to be more tourists, seeing the sights as tourist destinations and not as necessarily religiously significant. (i wonder though if in recent years this has changed and now the numbers of pilgrims is again increasing). Nevertheless, it is a good question: are we pilgrims in life or merely tourists? Not just here but also in everyday life.
Fr john preached on the reading of the Ten Lepers. He picked up on the line in the gospel - "jesus was walking along the border between Jerusalem and Samaria". This is an interesting phrase - in his life Jesus walked along the borders and ministered there. We are called to do the same. As priests we walk the borders of people's lives. We live on the borders between death and eternal life, the borders between sin and forgiveness, etc.
Fr john have an example of the most important lesson he ever learnt about preaching. When he arrived in a new parish, there was a lady therewho did everything. She would never let anyone help her and if anyone dared offer, their name would be mud as she would badmouth them from pillar to post. When he arrived, she said "father, I was here before you arrived and I will be here after you go, welcome Father." One day fr john felt he needed to challenge this and so he gave a homily about not badmouthing others and not speaking ill of those around us.. He said that "people have a right to their good name and that we need to be people of encouragement. After mass, as Fr John was taking off his chasuble, the lady came in to talk to him. He was worried she would be upset but rather she said: "that was a good homily father. They needed to hear it" !!!
This is a reminder, in any homily the preacher preaches first to himself and hopefully it might also be relevant to others and others who are disposed to receive the message.
Also, Jesus never called anyone a "sinner". For example, For many people in the church Mary Magdalene is seen as a sinner who converted, but to Jesus she was a Saint who loved much. Jesus always hated the sin but loved the person commiting the sin.
We need to enter (ever deeper) into God's love for us.
St Peter when he meets the risen Lord on the seashore has three questions asked of him:
"...do you love me more than these?"
Note, that of all the questions Jesus COULD rightly have asked Peter, such as "why did you desert me?" "why did you deny me?" - he only asks this question instead: "DO YOU LOVE ME?"
This is the only question he is interested in, the only question he asks, ... It appears to be the only question God really wants an answer to and the only question we can really answer - "DO YOU LOVE ME...more"
Jesus asks Peter DO YOU LOVE ME...more.... More than you did last Wednesday night when you denied me?...more than your own life?
Pope Benedict XVI. In one of his Wednesday morning talks speaks of the Greek words for Love that are used in this incident. Jesus asks Peter twice in a row do you love (agap é=self-giving love) and Peter twice in a row replies "I do love (filié=brotherly love).
Peter is really simply being honest here. In the past Peter would answer Jesus brashly by saying "I would die for you" but after his denials on the night before Jesus died, Peter is more aware of his weaknesses and limitations. He no longer has the brash, reckless confidence to say the things that might just be words. Now, Peter is honest and humble. He admits that at this moment he is only capable of brotherly love, not the full-fledged self-sacrificing love of agape. Jesus shows us that God will meet us where we are because the third time he asks Peter he asks "do you love (filié) me? . God doesn't want us to lie or pretend. He wants us to be open and honest about where we are.
Pope Benedict says: "God lowers himself"
For the moment God is happy with Peter's truthful lesser profession. For the moment! But later Peter will be called to the fuller love and give his life for Jesus.
The three vows made by a religious person make sense in terms of Jesus' question of Peter:
1. Chastity: do you love me more than anyone else.
2. Poverty: do you love me more than any THING else?
3. Obedience: Do you love me more than any of Your plans and more than the way you want things to be.
Whatever our job or role, whether it be for priests a new parish, a new job, a new Diocese.... Or for others, the Lord asks us anew this question: DO YOU LOVE ME?
Fr john said, " if you can't do your job with love then don't get out of bed!
A lot of people get caught up in liturgical arguments or political arguments, but ultimately the real question is "am I doing this with love?"
After all, Jesus knows our suffering, lonliness, weakness, fears... And he still asks one question.. "DO YOU STILL LOVE ME?"
And isn't this the one question we keep asking God, time and again? DO YOU STILL LOVE ME?" We often ask it like this : "DO YOU STILL LOVE ME...despite this or despite that?"
Fr john tells the story of an order of nuns who were shifting from their old building to a new one but there was one problem. One of the elderly nuns would not leave the old. This nun had been a hard working, spartan living nun and now she was confined to a wheelchair. She said she would not go because this new place was too luxurious. Fr john talked with her and asked: "sister, if you got the use of your legs again, would you go back to Africa again if asked?" the sister answered "yes I would walk to africa if I could!". Then he asked "if Jesus asked you to do something difficult would you do it," the nun replied, "I don't like where this is going, but.... Yes" Then fr john asked her: "then why won't you go across the corridor. "Do you love Jesus enough t walk across the corridor?"
He had no doubt that going across the corridor to the new rooms was the hardest thing in the world for that nun to do anything would have been easier. But she did it for love of her Lord. There was no romance in it for her, no joy, but pure love for Jesus, that is the heart of that woman.
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Fr john quoted the bible passage: "if your eye/hand/foot causes you to sin, cut it away". This is a disturbing message. Does Jesus really want people to maim themselves for him? No. These three things have a common relation: the eye sees something it wants, the hand graps for the thing it wants and the feet take you to the thing you want. Jesus is reminding us that "our happiness is not OUT THERE SOMEWHERE" / OUT THERE is not where happiness is.
Jesus is saying, what I am offering you is IN HERE (in the heart) and that is where you have to go.
It is inside: "do you love me?"
This question can sound trite but really this is at the heart of our Christian message and the heart of our Christian vocation.
God is love. God is filled with passionate love. By nature love needs to be reciprocated. If it is one way love then it may be an illusion, we may be in love with simply the idea of the other. Real love is about truly and honestly taking the REAL person seriously.
The real definition for love is what God thinks of it. And God's idea of love is that concept of a holy commuion - a coming together a union of God and us. A true coming together, God's love for us and our love for God.
In the scene of Jesus and Peter at the lakeside, after Jesus asks Peter three times "do you love?" peter asks "what about him?" (pointing to the beloved disciple). Jesus replies "what's it to you? I am speaking to you right now, you alone, what I say to another is not you affair." (it is like that saying of St john of the Cross: Be alone, to be alone"). Ultimately we face God one to one.
The issue of solitariness is a big issue in the world today. Lonliness can be a big issue for priests. They may think "when I shut the door at night who cares if I ever come out again?" one monk once complained that if he died the other monks will come and take all the best habits from his closet and bury him in the oldest one!" this can lead to priests filling up their lives with distractions.
One priest joked that the bishop at one priest's ordination must have anointed a particular priest's hands at with motor oil because ever since his ordination he's driven around in the best cars!
But, fr john reminds them, you didn't become a priest because you wanted a nice car or to play Golf well. You became a priest because you positively answered this call from Jesus: do you love me? Follow Me!
We need to support eachother, that is important, and at the ame time recognise there is a certain solitariness but this is not bad.
"Lord, you know everything. You know how much I love you. You know I love you as I love you today .... Not as I did love you yesterday.... Not as I will love you in the future. The only love I can give you is my love you now .... As I am. "
It was easy for St Peter to say to Jesus as they were walking one day: "you are the Christ, you are the Son of God." it was a warm day, they had a full belly and everything was going fine. But at the Circus Caligula in Rome at the ancient Vatican site where Peter eventually met his horrifying end crucified upside down, he probably could only utter these words and finally mean them as "agapé" : "You know everything Lord, you know I love you!"
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Wednesday session.
Fr John told us a story of how he visited a convent and there was one nun who was particularly unwell. She had a form of dementia and she would come in day after day to have a conversation that made absolutely no sense. On the last day, when he was almost beside himself with this behaviour, and when he himself was wondering how to make his prayer after communion more effective. The nun comes in and he is almost about to say he had run out of time and couldn’t stay to speak when she blurted out. “Father, I have this problem in my prayer after communion. I hope it is okay, but I don’t pray anything, I just sit there in silence and let the Lord love me†he was utterly stunned and realized that although this nun had lost her mind, she had never lost her heart. Fr John said, that of all the wonderful things that all the popes and theologians ever said, he learnt more about faith and prayer from that amazing lady than anyone else.
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In the Mass for that day, Fr John mentioned that we need to always be disciples of Kindness, Love and encouragement. Above all, this is what we are called to be and to witness to others.
Fr John in the mass also said that St Francis charitable and practical work is unable to be separated from his relationship in prayer and love to Jesus, to God. The Horizontal (practical action in the world) and the vertical (relationship between disciple and God) elements cannot be separated. He did good works of charity and kindness BECAUSE of his deep love and relationship to God, and his deep love for Jesus made no sense whatsoever unless it showed itself of love of neighbour and love of those most in need.
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Final Talk:
FR John quoted the Gospel: Mt 13
Matthew
Chapter 13:18 and following - "Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away.
The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold."
It is good for each of us to ask ourselves – “where am I in this parable?â€
If my life is a garden, what is happening in it? Certainly, it is not “all or nothing†– I am not bringing forth fruit in hundred fold in every part of my life, but neither am I completely fruitless in my life, certainly not bereft or empty of God ! I (my life) if like a garden, and with any garden there may be parts of it, parts of my life that are very fruitful and productive and in good shape and other parts might be rocky, and other parts thorny, and other party patchy. If ‘salvation is to come to this house,’ this “garden†of my life – I must let ALL areas of my life be open to God’s grace and action. Every area of my life needs to be open to God sowing the seed of new life and fruitfulness to bring forth new life.
To be truly ‘saved’ – we need to bring the Lord into ALL areas of our life. Into the fears of the past, into the thorny parts of our life or personality, etc. We must not be afraid to let the seed of God’s love, God’s word to grow in ALL areas too, including the rocky relationships where you might think that nothing good can or will ever come of it.
Pope Benedict XVI in his talks speaks of “salvation†as being “healingâ€. This is also why we now refer what used to be called the sacrament of the sick as ‘the sacrament of healing.’ We are not a machine. We are human beings. We do not have switches that can be turned on and off. We do not have ‘temperature control’ the way a machine does. We are human and we are all in need of healing of one kind or another. Parts that we are ashamed of in our lives, things that we bury away in the garden that is our life – these too need to be brought for healing.
Fr John continued the garden analogy by referring to some people he knew who had this enormous boulder in their back yard. It was too big to move, so they turned it into a feature at the centre of the garden. What cannot be changed, what cannot be moved, can be made a feature and things can grown in and around this immovable reality. The same is true with our lives. We too can allow the Lord to put his presence into those areas of our lives that seem immovable or rocky or the areas of our lives that we have not allowed God to come into and be present to.
Fr John gave an example of a person he used to come across who, for no good reason, he just didn’t like, didn’t feel comfortable around. This person had never done anything wrong to him, he just didn’t like him and didn’t know why. So, he brought this inexplicable part of his life to the Lord and did not hide it in prayer to God. He would say, “Lord, I no there is no reason why I don’t like this person, they have never done me any harm, where are you in all this? Why is this happening Lord? What is the fear that this encounter with this person is revealing in me? What is the preoccupation? Lord, let your seed be in this issue….â€
In the Book of Genesis it says, “God came into the garden in the cool of the evening.†God was LOOKING for Adam and Eve. God comes looking for us, in our garden that is our lives. In our ‘interior garden.’ As priests we are given a special privilege to walk with people in their sacred interior garden that is their inner life and their sacred relationship with God. We are invited in to be of service in the garden to help people in the rocky parts of the garden - we don’t FIX the garden, we are only guides and servants, but we help invite the Great Gardener (the great Garden Makeover person – GOD!) in.
Fr John mentioned too, this is a question he often leaves with men training to be priests. He asks them “what is the most important thing to ensure that you enable in the sacrament of confession?†The answer: “Make sure they come back.†Make sure the experience they have does not have them vowing never to return, feeling never able to feel welcome back.
Related to this, HEALING TAKES TIME !
St Thomas Aquinas once said: “Virtues take time to grow.†We are all on a journey of life and it is a journey of discovery, a journey of healing. We, as priests, are there over time to journey with people in the sacred gardens of their lives.
People might say to this: You talk about God’s love and healing, but what about being a disciple to get out there and CHANGE THE WORLD! where does that fit into this?
The answer seems to be: God is interested in PEOPLE knowing that they are loved. If people truly realize this, then this has the power to change the world. St Francis and St Clare are clear examples of that.
The group of people Jesus seemed to lose his temper with most seemed to be the Pharisees. However, it is important to note, Jesus is the great healer and he told us that he came to heal the sick not the well. So, why is Jesus going on about the Pharisees? He must be upset and acting FOR THEM? These people, these Pharisees, their life goal was to be good religius people. They are not there to be the ‘bad guys’ – Jesus is very upset with them because they are HIDING the real truth about religion behind systems. The temple is surely a sacred space, so when he tips over the tables of the money changers he is not rejecting the people, rather he acts this way in THEIR interests as well as others. He is trying to save them. He is saying, you moneychangers are robbing yourselves of your God, you are defiling your own sacred inner space. Jesus, by tipping over the tables and pushing them out of the temple is trying to save them from their own false gods.
Jesus died for ALL, INCLUDING THE PHARISEES!
Jesus does not say from the cross: “Look what your sins have done to me!†No, rather, he is saying: “Look what I am doing for you… out of LOVE†So that you may be FREE !
In another part of the gospel, when Jesus heals someone he says “salvation has come to this houseâ€. So, salvation is about healing.
There are some areas of our lives, our sacred garden, where we won’t take Jesus. However, we ought not be afraid or ashamed about inviting Jesus into all areas, even the parts, especially the parts that we feel are most rocky, most shameful, most thorny!
It is interesting, in John’s Gospel, when Mary Magdelene is standing at the empty tomb she meets jesus but does not initially recognize him. The gospel says, she ‘mistook him for the gardener.†She was actually RIGHT. Jesus is the gardener. Jesus is in search for us in the garden of our lives (pk: to do a complete renovation, a makeover? – remember those gardening rescue shows when a celebrity will show the host their garden and parts of it are beautiful, and parts are just awful, some celebrities even try and steer the garden-rescuer away from the bits that are terrible, but the gardener gets in and exposes the problem areas and starts to treat the areas so that all parts of the garden are fruitful and valuied).
Let Jesus, the gardener, lead us.
In EVERY issue in life …. Bring God in. bring him into the areas he is missing.
Three theological virtues mark our discipleship – St Paul tells us this:
FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE !
Pope benedict XVI says of this:
HOPE: is courage to believe in LOVE in the midst of darkness.
FAITH: is believing in the LOVE truly there in JESUS, even in the cross, and in the love of God revealed in the Risen Lord too.
LOVE: is bringing that LOVE into the world.
Pope Benedict XVI says: LOVE IS POSSIBLE
We know that hate is possible, we know that ENVY is possible…… we must believe that LOVE is possible. Let is expand and seep into the shallow, rocky, thorny parts of our life too. It also needs to seep deeply into the lives of others. Let God’s healing seep into the wounded and scarred parts of life too.
Be at peace in your own inner garden, in that sacred place where you alone are with your God.
Be at peace with your own interiority.
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Final Mass: At the Crypt of St Francis:
When Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in this Crypt, this peaceful place here, the tomb of St Francis, he said that this place was like his “spiritual compass†this place helped him centre himself on his true priorities, and on what was most important. This place can be a spiritual compass for how the world really can be – based on love and peace and forgiveness.
May this place, Assisi, may this time of retreat, and may the Eucharist, which wherever it is celebrated, be your Spiritual compass that directs you to the priorities and message of Jesus good news.
Now, go in peace, go, rebuild God’s church, for as you see it has fallen into disrepair !
