Saturday, August 30, 2025

Real righteous reality


Sermon for the eleventh Sunday after Trinity

What's wrong with 
being a pharisee?

You don't extort money.

You don't commit adultery.

You act according to the law.

You are follow the religious practices. 

You fast like you're supposed to.

You give alms like you're supposed to.

Everything has been done
according to the very rules
that God has set down
for you to live your life by.

The Pharisee does nothing wrong.

But we know that's 
not the real issue here,
don't we?

[PAUSE]

St Luke tells us 
right from the start 
why Our Lord preaches 
this particular parable
"unto certain which trusted 
in themselves that they were 
righteous,
and despised others."

We can see exactly 
what's gone wrong,
can't we?

The Pharisee despises the Publican.

But that's not surprising
if you think about it.

A publican doesn't run a pub.
He'd be more popular 
with his community 
if he did.

No. 

This man is a tax-collector,
like Zacchaeus,
like St Matthew.

He is a tax collector,
collecting money 
for the Romans who oppress
Israel and Judaea.

Not only that,
he's charging more
and creaming the profits
off the top.

He extorts 
and he is unfaithful 
to his country and his God
- no better than an adulterer.

Is the Pharisee not justified
in his assessment 
that he is more faithful to God
than one who is not?

Is the Pharisee's sin
really that he despises
someone who is contributing 
to the ruin of God's nation?

[PAUSE]

And what of this Publican?

If we look at him
as he bows his head
and strikes his breastfeeding
and begs for mercy in his sinfulness,
isn't he agreeing with the Pharisee?

So why does he go home
justified
and the pharisee not?

Well,
we know why.

The Publican 
goes home a changed man 
like Zacchaeus,
like St Matthew.

He has been made right,
he has been justified.

Something about him
is different. 

He enters the temple
a sinner,
he leaves it righteous.

His prayer to God
is for him to be made righteous again.
He doesn't thank God
for himself
because what he knows of himself
is sin
against God and against his neighbours,
and he sees it
and he hates it.

And so, 
he does what only he can do.
He comes to God
bearing only his sin
and begging for healing in his soul.

And that's what he gets.

He is made righteous. 
Not just declared righteous, 
made righteous,
really righteous.

And what of the Pharisee?

What does He bring God?

[PAUSE]

All God is presented with 
is the Pharisee's opinion
of himself
in relation to others. 

The Pharisee offers God 
nothing of the reality of himself.

Yes, 
he keeps the law
and respects the prophets
and fasts and gives to charity
and does all the things 
that you are supposed to.

But he gives God
nothing of himself.

What does he want God for?

Clearly not for forgiveness!
A medal?
a reward?
a blue plaque on his house?

Is he asking God to receive his thanks?

Well, yes, 
thanks that he is more righteous 
than other people.

Why should God receive his thanks?
There's nothing real here
that the Pharisee is thankful for.

He's done the work.
He's not extorted.
He's not committed adultery.
He's fasted.
He's given tithes.
Where is God in his thanks?
It seems little more 
than lip service. 

The Pharisee wants nothing 
and so he receives it in abundance. 
He leaves the temple 
unchanged,
no better, no worse.

His heart empty
and his life its own reward.

[PAUSE]

Every Mass,
we come to God
with an opportunity 
to offer him ourselves 
as we really are.

And we come here,
not to be smug
and happy that we're 
better than others
but to bring to God
that brokenness 
that needs healing.

Of course,
we bring thanks,
thanks for what God is doing
thanks that we have not 
got what we have deserved,
thanks that God is willing to make us
right with Him
based on who we really are
not on how we think we are,
especially in relation to
other people.

[PAUSE]

The way that we should live life
is determined by God Himself
because He is what it means 
to be righteous.

God does good
because He is what it means
to be good.

The Publican knows this
which is why he can only
approach God 
in humility
not presuming on God's mercy
as a done deal,
but actively desiring it
and only expecting it
because that's how God is
and for no other reason.

The Pharisee's idea of goodness 
lies in his keeping of the Law
and forgetting Who gives that Law.

If God is what it means
to be righteous, 
then this means
righteousness is real 
something to be lived
and experienced
and grown.

Not a list of rules
and consequences. 

To be justified 
means more than 
"well, you're okay with me."

It means
being really infused
with God Himself. 

Justification 
isn't just something 
that is pronounced;
it isn't just a legal statement 
ratified by a judge;
it is something in us
that is planted and grows
and grows by how much 
we tend it
through engaging
actively
with Our God Who
gives Himself to us
in the Holy Eucharist. 

[PAUSE]

The Pharisee may do what is right
on paper
but it is the Publican 
who goes home
with God in his heart
rather than scrolls 
of parchment. 

We, too, can leave here
with parchment in our hearts
or God Himself.

It depends on what
of ourselves we truly offer God
in the sacrifice of the Mass
and why.


Sunday, August 24, 2025

Night of the Living... Apostle?


Sermon preached at the Cathedral Church of St Augustine of Canterbury on the Feast of St Bartholomew

Horror films 
aren't what they used to be.

Once upon a time,
it was a classic battle
of good and evil 
where the evil 
was a vampire
Frankenstein's monster, 
a werewolf
or a zombie.

Yes, sometimes 
this battle between 
good and evil
was not so clear cut.

Is the Phantom of the Opera
truly evil
or is he the victim
of some psychological trauma?

These days,
horror films
seem to be more
about punishing the audience
for going to see them.

They are more gruesome
and much time is spent
in forcing the audience
to endure the evil acts
that the villain
is inflicting upon the innocent,
and then allowing 
the villain to triumph
over the innocent.

There is a strange fascination
that human beings can have
about the horrible things
we can do to each other.

Why?

[PAUSE]

When St Bartholomew 
is mentioned,
we easily remember that
he is a Martyr.

And what's the first question
we think of when we hear
that someone is a Martyr?

"How did they die?"

Do we really want to know?

No.

But yes.

But absolutely not!

But we sort of do!
behind our fingers,
with eyes half turned to watch
with a squint and a readiness
to turn our face away.

[PAUSE]

Cards on the table.

St Bartholomew
probably wasn't skinned alive.

Like many other martyrs,
it is likely that his death is dressed up
to make him appear more holy,
to present a faith so strong
that it won't bend under torture.

He is more likely to have been
beheaded or drowned.

His death doesn't need to be dressed up.

He faces death 
for his faith,
for his Christ,
for us.

Surely, what should concern us most
is that St Bartholomew would rather die
than renounce His Saviour, 
the Saviour that He spends
so much time with,
listening to His teaching,
seeing the miracle,
eating and drinking together 
enjoying each other's company.

St Bartholomew would rather
die for the truth
than live for a lie.

Indeed,
many Christians today
owe their faith and lives
to the Gospel 
St Bartholomew preaches
in Armenia and India. 

That should be all that concerns us.

But nonetheless, 
at the back of our minds
there is still that possibility 
that St Bartholomew is skinned alive.

And it niggles us.

[PAUSE]

Some of us
don't want to go there.

We want to push it aside,
not thinking about it,
because it disgusts us
frightens us,
appals us,
makes our skin crawl.

Others of us 
become fascinated
and even depict it
in ghoulish fashion in art
determined to confront
the squeamish 
with the gory details.

What's going on?

What's going on
is our inability to cope
with human suffering,
especially the suffering 
of one so obviously 
engaged in battle with Evil.

[PAUSE]

Those who turn from 
the death of St Bartholomew 
disturbed and sickened,
don't want to participate 
in his pain and suffering. 

It's too much for them,
because they experience the world 
with empathy
and recognising others' feelings.

Those who turn towards it
are fascinated by the truth,
while still yet being horrified by it,
but their need to know 
prevents them from looking away.

The fact is 
that we cannot handle fully
the suffering of others
and, when we can't do anything 
to stop that suffering,
we either run
or remain transfixed and helpless.

The fact is, 
we need both 
attitudes.

If we keep turning away
from the suffering of others
then we deny the reality
of that suffering.

It becomes
hypothetical,
and, because it's unpleasant,
we can be tempted 
to deny its existence.

If, however, we keep
fixating upon the suffering of others 
then we can again forget
that there is a human being suffering.

The fixation becomes clinical,
passionless,
and distracting from 
what matters.

Thus, the suffering of others
becomes a horror film to enjoy
and then walk away from. 

[PAUSE]

In both cases,
we separate 
the suffering
from the sufferer.

Our Lord Jesus Christ
shows that you cannot 
do that.

You cannot
separate the suffering 
from the sufferer.

When He appears
to St Bartholomew and the other Apostles 
He still bears the wounds of the Cross.

Our Lord's suffering means something. 

The Cross has become 
part of the Incarnation. 

Likewise,
the gruesome legend
of St Bartholomew 
points to his participation
in the agonies of Christ
however he meets his martyrdom.

But how he meets his martyrdom 
doesn't make him greater
or lesser than any other martyr.

Oh, be assured 
that whatever we suffer in this life
will be recompensed to us
by Almighty God.

But we cannot measure a martyr
by the cruelty inflicted on then
by human beings. 

The glory of the martyrs
is the same, one cross of Christ.

There is no greatest 
or least save only
in the judgement of God alone.

And yes,
yes, of course we should flinch
yes, of course we should turn our head,
yes, we should be disturbed
at the agony of others.

That's Love working in us.

It's our natural state 
of sympathy, empathy 
and compassion. 

Our reaction is human.

It is those who are inflicting the agony
who are denying their own humanity
because they can
separate the suffering 
from the sufferer.

Our duty is not to let
the agony of others
cause us to walk away
without seeking God in that agony.

For God is not the torturer.

He hears the cry 
of every drop of innocent blood spilled.

God ensures that 
every scar borne for Him
and His Children 
becomes a badge of honour
because He does not separate 
the suffering from the sufferer. 

He replaces pain with pleasure.
He replaces tears of sadness 
with tears of joy.
He replaces humiliation 
with exaltation.

All that is given up
for Him
is returned by Him in abundance,
but not to become the greatest
or the least,
not to create status
but solely because it is joyful
in the eyes of God
to restore that which has been
taken away for His sake
by the cruelty of Evil.

And, for us,
disturbed and traumatised 
by the Good Fridays of the saints
He gives us their Easter Days 
of Resurrection.

[PAUSE]

Life may be
a horror film at times, 
but it's a classic film
- one where, in the end
Good triumphs over Evil.

Modern horror films
truly depict 
the cruelty that hides
within us
but they often fail 
to show us of the truth 
that God is alive and with us
until our journey's end.

And, 
after all his suffering 
for His Master,
St Bartholomew 
walks away into the same
Sunrise of the
Eternal Divine light
that will envelope us
in our turn
when our time comes.

Monday, August 18, 2025

Anglican Catholic Vocations



Do you feel called to ministry? Might that ministry be in the Anglican Catholic Church Diocese of the United Kingdom?

Saturday, August 16, 2025

Blessed battle banner bearer?

Sermon for the Sunday in the Octave of the Assumption of Our Lady 

A nervous young man,
enflamed with love,
turns to his beautiful girlfriend,
looks her lovingly in the eye,
and, barely concealing
the passion for her 
that causes
his heart to beat faster,
opens his mouth and says,
"Ee Luv,
yer like a big, frightening
formation of Sherman tanks!"

It kills the moment, rather,
don't you think?

Ladies, 
how often does your man
compare you to
military manoeuvres?

Do you take it 
as the complement 
intended?

Or is he saying,
"Yer a reet battleaxe,  Luv?" 

And yet,
in our most passionate book
of the Bible 
we hear the Great Lover
say of His Shunamite Bride,

"Who is she 
that looketh forth as the morning, 
fair as the moon, 
clear as the sun, 
and terrible 
as an army with banners?"

And whatever you think
of the failings
of Ancient Israelite courtship,
this verse is consistently applied
to Our Lady.

In our liturgy,
the Blessed Virgin,
Queen of Heaven,
full of grace 
is described as being
as terrible as an army 
with banners!

Our Lady the battleaxe?

[PAUSE]

Seeing Our Lady 
as a cosmic Nora Batty
is an image that belongs to our culture
not to the culture of Bronze Age Israel.

Imagine
a young man
beset by the turbulence of life
an uncertain future,
tormented by
the same demons
that beset us today.

Yes, the same demons
who try to turn us from God
with enticements to sin,
and despair,
demons that show us
that we are worth nothing
demons that makes us feel laughed at
ridiculous, 
hated.

Imagine that young man
surrounded by this army of misery
look up into the eyes
of his girlfriend
and see in those eyes,
love,
the love that makes Him
feel seen, appreciated and cared for,
the love that drives those demons away
howling and screaming. 

One woman
routing the Army of Darkness
with a kiss.

How terrible as an army with banners!

[PAUSE]

It is said that 
the Powers of Hell
fear Our Lady in the same way.

It's not that she possesses
a Divine Nature,
but rather that,
through her and in her
the Divine Nature of Our Lord Jesus
shines forth.

Our Lady is not our Redeemer
but she certainly plays a vital rôle 
in our Salvation 
just as much
as the person who dials 999
plays a vital rôle in saving the life
of a heart-attack victim.

All who know her,
who see her,
who talk to those that have met her
know that she is indeed without sin.

She needs Salvation nonetheless 
because no-one can be raised
from Earth to Heaven
without Christ.

No-one can participate 
in the Divine Nature
without the Divinity
of Christ taking on
our Humanity.

And Our Lady
participates in 
the Divine Nature of Christ
by saying "Yes!" 
to bearing Him from embryo to foetus to baby
bearing Him to infant, to boy, to teenager, to man
bearing Him to ministry and miracle
to suffering and crucifixion, 
bearing Him to death
and bearing Him
to resurrection.

The whole of His Holy Incarnation 
is borne in the person 
of one sinless virgin.

All of our Salvation
is borne in the person
of one sinless virgin.

And the demons know it.
And they tremble. 

At the sight 
of a lady, 
so little and gentle
the armies of darkness flee,
because of the Christ
Who shines in her.

Yes,
Our Lady is as terrible
as an army with banners
but an army
that fights for us,
formidable and strong 
and yet 
wins its battle 
with a kiss,
a gentle word,
a look of love and compassion,
a warmth that tells us in our misery,
"you are not forgotten."

This is why Our Lady 
is assumed into Heaven,
soul and body.

Where else should she be?

Saturday, August 09, 2025

Future Tense?

Sermon for the eighth Sunday after Trinity

Do you know
that the world
was supposed to end in 2012?

That's according to 
an old Mayan calendar.

According to St Malachi
Pope Francis is supposed 
to be the last.

Nostradamus
predicts an apocalyptic event
in 1999.

And perhaps you remember 
Harold Camping
who very publicly
proclaims the end of the World.

When that doesn't happen
he says he's got his sums wrong
and gives another date.

When the world doesn't end
on that day either,
he says it is a spiritual apocalypse.

Prophets of doom
have an expiry date
when we know whether
they are truly foreseeing the future.

By the fruit of their prophecy
we will know them.

Until then, 
we might laugh off
a prediction about the end of the world
but still keep an eye 
on the calendar.

But we know that 
not all prophets are 
as easy to test.

The fruit of a prophet's testimony 
always lies in the future.

[PAUSE]

The future is the place
where all our work is tested
and sometimes waiting to see
the outcome of our labours
is uncomfortable. 

But it is the prophet of God
whose work will be 
most rigorously tested
in the passage of Time.

And that makes it 
uncomfortable for us 
because we cannot see 
whether this prophet is true 
or false
for the foreseeable future.

A prophet 
may do wonderful deeds now
but turn out to be
a damp squib.

For us with the benefit
of 20-20 hindsight
we can see clearly
that Our Lord's prophecy
is reliable 
and that He truly is
the Son of God.

When we think 
that His testimony 
is snuffed out on the cross,
He rises again
not only proving Himself 
to be the Son of God
but also proving the worth
of the Old Testament prophets
who said that He would.

He rises again
according to the Scriptures.

The prophets of the past
though dead
live again
and are proved to be truly 
the messengers of God
which is why we,
in their future,
venerate their prophecy
in our Bible.

Our Lord Jesus
in His resurrection 
binds up the past, present and future -
Jesus Christ
the same yesterday, 
today
and forever. 

[PAUSE]

This is important for us.

We are born in time,
haunted by the past
and worried about the future.

Around us are sheep
that have always looked like sheep
but who will be
unmasked by the future
as ravening wolves.

People and institutions
that we thought were good
may turn out to be far from good.

Do we have any way of knowing?

Is there anything
or anyone who can
give us confidence?

Such a one must be
the same yesterday, today
and forever.

[PAUSE]

We don't put our trust
in anyone but Christ.

Even the saints
receptive their trustworthiness 
through Christ.

Even Our Lady,
the Queen of Heaven
can only be a true saint
because of her son,
Our Lord.

The Church can only ever be
One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic
if it is true to the One Lord Jesus Christ,
separated from the World 
by His Holiness, 
according to the sane Catholic Faith
proclaimed everywhere
by His faithful Apostles
and their successors.

In order to see the future,
we Christians 
must hold onto the past,
but we only hold onto the past
in order to sanctify the future.

As Christians,
we embrace past, present and future
altogether. 

We might not see the future
but we can be confident 
in what is coming
by holding on to what
we have always been taught.

What we Christians see in the future
is the return of Christ,
the judgement of the world
by Him
and the exaltation of
all who believe in Him.

In the future,
we will see the union 
of all Christians 
because all Christians 
will gather at the feet of Christ.

For this reason 
we must see the sacraments 
as passports to the future.

Our priests aren't ordained 
just for now but for ever 
after the order of Melchisedek;
our bishops are consecrated
in order to keep the Apostolic line going
for our brothers and sisters yet to come. 

And the same is true 
of all Christians. 

Whatever we do,
we must do it for Christ and, 
in doing what we do for Christ,
we are doing it also
for our brothers and sisters yet to come:
the Christians who aren't yet born,
the Christians who will live
long after we are dead and gone,
the Christians we will only meet
at the Resurrection of the Dead.

[PAUSE]

We Christians aren't meant
to live just for now. 

Our behaviour shouldn't be
just for pleasures
that seem wonderful now
but are blown into oblivion
on the winds of Time.

Our lives are to be built on
the rock that is Christ
and this means
living faithfully to Him
despite what those winds of Time 
blow at us.

We must live
as if we are building something
that we would expect
to be permanent 
for God.

If we do,
then we should not find
the future a worry for us
but rather the arena
in which we will meet God
face to face.

Saturday, August 02, 2025

Fishfinger sandwiches


Sermon for the sixth Sunday after Trinity

There is probably
nothing quite as
quintessentially English
as a fishfinger sandwich.

It's a delicacy that
has not really made it
across the Pond 
to America
and yet, perhaps,
in a twisted imagination,
just perhaps,
Our Lord feeds the four thousand
with something like
fishfinger sandwiches. 

Perhaps this is proof
that Our Lord
really is Anglican!

But then,
perhaps this is 
a somewhat spurious 
argument.

It does, however,
cause us to wonder
where the fish come
In Our Lord's miracle.

We always hear about bread:
the Bread of Life,
the breaking of bread
leavened and unleavened bread
and so on.

Our Lord consecrates bread
to become His body
in the Eucharist
and the parallels 
between the Eucharist
and the feeding of the multitudes
is unmistakable. 

But we always seem
to gloss over the fish.

Where do the fish fit in?

[PAUSE]

The multitude have followed
Our Lord into a wilderness
in the Decapolis region
which is not far
from the Sea of Galilee
where Peter, James and John 
usually fish.

While bread is a food
that is shared across 
so many different communities
and cultures,
fish are usually found
only in fishing communities.

Fish don't travel well
unless they are refrigerated 
or dried out in the sun.

The fact that these fish
have survived a few days
in the wilderness 
is a miracle in itself.

Yet, here too, 
the fish are multiplied
for people to eat,
and they clearly eat well.

It is a food
that they are used to.

But still, the question remains:

If the feeding of the multitude 
is supposed to be a clear pointer
of the Eucharist,
and if we have bread at the Eucharist,
why do we not have fish as well?

[PAUSE]

Put simply,
it's because 
there were no fish 
at the Passover.

And Our Lord
fulfils the Passover 
when He offers us His Body and Blood
under the appearance 
of bread and wine
which are associated 
with the Passover,
Our Lord Himself being 
the Paschal Lamb.

No fish.

So what does this detail
told to us by St Mark 
tell us
that the multitude are fed with fish?

Why are the fish 
important for us to know about?

[PAUSE]

In our Mass,
you will be aware 
of the Offertory.

It's when the priest 
takes the host
and the wine
and offers them up.

What else happens?

Isn't the collection 
of money offered up too?

It's what we bring to Jesus
that gets offered up
and sanctified.

We do the same sort of thing
in our Harvest Festivals.

We bring our produce 
to God to give thanks
and for that produce to be blessed.

And the fish are
the produce of Galilee.

They are offered to God
Who blesses them
and then magnifies them
to feed so many people.

It's what we bring to Christ
that matters.

We offer Him bread 
and He makes it His body.

We offer Him wine 
and He makes it His blood.

We offer Him fish
and four thousand people
are fed good food.

It's what we bring to Christ 
that matters.

We only get anything out of the Mass
if we have put something in.

If we leave Church
feeling uninspired
or grumpy
or indifferent,
is it because we did not 
bring anything with us
for Christ to sanctify?

Did we forget 
to offer ourselves
to God
to be made Holy
to be distributed for
the good of all people?

We only get out of the Mass 
what we are willing
to invest in it.

If we don't even bring ourselves
to be sanctified 
then the Mass will be
just as much as a desert
but without the miracle.

We can receive
the Body and Blood of God
but if we only offer indifference
to Him,
we will only receive indifference 
in abundance.

[PAUSE]

The fish represent
ourselves,
our situations,
our cultures,
our homes and families,
our daily lives.

If we offer these to God,
He will bless them and use them.

If He can consecrate
a fishfinger sandwich, 
how much more
will He consecrate us 
in His service
and in His love?



Monday, July 28, 2025

Anglican Catholic Soundbites

 


Why we have to be careful about the language we use to bring Christ to the people and people to Christ.

Sunday, July 27, 2025

Judging disciples


Sermon for the sixth Sunday after Trinity

"You Christians
are so judgemental!"

We hear that a lot,
but what does it mean?

We often find ourselves
in situations 
where the Christian life
runs contrary 
to the life of the world.

We have seen this 
in the public votes
in Parliament 
which have ruled
that there are circumstances 
in which it is lawful
to take the lives of innocent people.

We also live in an age
where profoundly 
destructive worldviews 
are being taught 
uncritically 
to those who are
learning how to live life.

And we Christians speak out
and get pilloried for doing so.

But we have to be careful
because people do not like to be judged.

Why not?

They think that
what they are doing
is good,
not harmful,
beneficial,
even beautiful.

And the basis for their judgement 
is that it "feels right" and
"isn't hurting anyone "
and "isn't trying to control people".

The basis of their sense of righteousness 
is themselves 
or it is the culture around them 
telling them that they are right.

Their righteousness 
is man-made,
not God-made.

Their righteousness 
will change with the times
and they will look back on the past
and declare it immoral
"by today's standards."

But "today's standards"
will be immoral by tomorrow's.

[PAUSE]

Our righteousness 
as disciples of Christ
has to exceed the righteousness 
of the Scribes and Pharisees 
of today.

Let's be clear,
there is no-one more 
educated in the Law
than the Pharisee. 

It's his job to know 
and to follow all the little bits and pieces
of the Divine law,
but his basis for the Law
is the law itself.

The Pharisees righteousness 
is based on a law
which is indeed God-given
but applied by a greater law
namely the Pharisee's
self-righteousness.

But doesn't the Church 
follow the Divine Law?

What makes the Church
any better than the Pharisees?

[PAUSE]

Our Lord shows us
that the law 
goes beyond the letter.

To.murder someone 
means more than 
sticking a knife into them.

We can commit murder
by calling someone a fool
and kill their place
in our hearts.

We can commit adultery
by looking lustfully at a women 
just as well as getting her
into bed.

The law of the Pharisee
is written on parchment. 

The law of God
is written on human hearts.

We've seen the effects
of applying the written law
inhumanely 
and the effects have been appalling.

If the written law 
has the capacity
to end the life of 
an innocent person 
then innocent people will die
and the world will think
that it has done a good thing.

And anyone who objects
will be regarded as
judgemental
and inhumanely
for allowing people's suffering 
to continue. 

[PAUSE]

This, of course,
ignores the sovereignty of God
and His ability
to turn our suffering into joy,
perhaps not in this life
but Eternally so.

All pain and suffering on earth
will end in time
and the heart that seeks
the righteousness of God
will find peace in Him.

Man does not have the capacity
to see the fulness of another's pain
nor the value that it possesses.

Man can only walk with those 
who suffer and tend
the wounds inflicted. 

Only God can reach the cause
of pain
because pain tells us
that something is wrong,
that there is a conflict 
between what is and what should be.

The righteousness of this world
seeks to numb that pain
by providing a distraction 
or a pleasure to distract
from sorrow
rather than addressing 
the actual cause.

[PAUSE]

It is only through Christ
that we can see true righteousness 
which will exceed the righteousness 
of Scribe and Pharisee 
because it is based
on Love
- not the sentimental feeling,
- not the legalised idea of compassion
- not the politically correct form of caring.

God is Love
and God is Righteousness. 

He is the basis of morality 
and if we make our judgements
based on His love,
then the World can call us judgemental
as much as it likes
but our judgement will be good
because it will pour the love of God
into the wounds of the suffering
and they will be healed in Him
eternally.



Saturday, July 19, 2025

Baited breath?


Sermon for the fifth Sunday after Trinity 

What does He say
that draws people to Him?

What words does He use
that makes Him worth listening to?

What is it about Him
that makes crowds of people
gather around Him
to the extent
that He can only teach
by launching Himself 
out onto the Sea of Gennesareth
and using the natural acoustics
to magnify His words?

Our Lord is clearly 
a phenomenal teacher.

But then,
we must admit,
He does back up
His extraordinary claims
with miracles.

If Our Lord is
the great Fisher of Men
what is He using as bait?

[PAUSE]

It is interesting that
St Peter probably does not use bait
to catch the fish.

This is why he fishes at night.

The idea is that the fish
don't see the net as well
and swim into it unawares.

If this is the case
then we see why St Peter
thinks Our Lord's words
to cast the net in broad daylight
as odd and perhaps
even a bit exasperating.

The result: two ships full of fish!

Clearly something 
has drawn them to this place
where they can be caught. 

Just like the crowd.

Something has drawn them
to this place
where they can be caught
by God
in broad daylight.

Why broad daylight?

If you can see the net
then you can choose
to swim into it
or not.

Ironically, 
it is those who swim 
into Our Lord's net
who are saved.

Unlike St Peter,
Our Lord uses bait. 

He knows that there is something 
for which each of us
is truly longing.

It may not be something 
that we realise we long for.

It may be a longing 
which we mistake for another longing 
or one which we try to cover up
with something 
more accessible 
and immediately gratifying. 

Our Lord knows
what we truly long for
and He can supply it.

And this is something 
that we crave because 
we are created
and we look to our Creator
to make us whole again
from the wounds 
Caused by the battering 
that sin, the World and the Devil
inflict upon us.

Our Lord Himself is the bait.

He says,
"no man can come to Me, 
except the Father 
which hath sent Me draw him: 
and I will raise him up 
at the last day."

It is the Father 
that draws us,
and if we see Jesus
then we see the Father.

And it is Jesus
who will raise us 
from the depths of Death.

How?

Because in consuming His flesh
and drinking His blood
we become one
with Christ's humanity.

But it is the Divine nature of Christ 
that draws Him up from Death
into Heaven
to stand before the Father.

If we are one with Christ
then we are drawn up into Heaven
to stand before the Father.

We have been caught
and landed
like a prize carp
on the end of a line.

While the carp may be cooked
and eaten
we have been drawn to life
and joy.

This is what Salvation is.

And we need to fall for it,
hook, line and sinker.

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Oh, for crying out loud!


Sermon for the fourth Sunday after Trinity

How's your Greek?

A quick test.

What's the Greek 
for mercy?

You have no clue
until you remember
that you have sung
your "Kyrie eleison" today
and "Kyrie eleison" means
"Lord, have mercy!"

"Hooray!" you think 
"The Greek for mercy 
is eleeos!"

You're right...
but you're not right,
though you must be praised
for your reasoning there.

You're not right in the sense
that Our Lord isn't using
eleeos when He tells us
to be merciful
even as Our Heavenly Father
is merciful.

And now you're thinking,
"Oh, for crying out loud!"

And now you'd be nearer the mark.

[PAUSE]

We're often presented 
with trying to reconcile
the mercy of God
with the justice of God.

How can we be both
merciful and just
to a murderer that says,
in all sincerity,
"I'm sorry, please forgive me!"

We can't let him off,
but neither can we ignore 
his plea.

The Greek for mercy here
is oiktos,
and the "oi" bit
is a cry.

The mercy that is oiktos
should make us
cry "Oh!" to someone's predicament. 

Oiktos is the mercy 
that cries out in compassion
that recognises 
a human being in distress.

Oiktos causes us
to raise our eyes
from a list of misdemeanours 
and see a human being,
fallen and broken through life,
and yet failing and breaking others.

Oiktos is to see ourselves 
in another 
in all the pain and sorrow of life
and hold onto that.

Oiktos is having compassion
in the highest order.

But what of eleeos?

Why do we ask God 
"Kyrie eleison"?

[PAUSE]

Eleeos is active.

Eleeos has the sense
of pouring oil on troubled water.

Oiktos is what motivates eleeos.

The cry of "oh" and recognising
the distress and misery in another 
causes us to act with compassion.

Not by condemnation for sins, 
but by finding a way to be generous
without diminishing sin.

Our God is generous and merciful.

He fills the barrel of mercy and love 
and shakes it
and presses it down 
to make more room
for mercy and love.

God, the perfect judge
knows full well how to deal
with repentant murderers.
 
He even made one a saint!

Oiktos forces us
to see the human being 
behind even the most vile of crimes.

Criminals should receive 
our pity that their brokenness
should influence them
into committing their crimes. 

That doesn't excuse them.
They made their choice 
to commit crime 
and that must be addressed
proportionately,
fairly and fully
in law for the good of society.

But we must not ever,
for the love of God 
demonise a criminal
on account of the crime.

A criminal is a human being
and a human being
is the object of God's love.

Yet, we don't want to love him
because of his crime, 
so we turn him into a demon 
because that makes it easier for us
to cope with.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord 
is telling us 
not to take the easy path 
to judgement
and condemnation. 

He is telling us 
that we need to react
in mercy.

Yes, to hear the blood of Abel
crying from the ground
but also to hear the cry of Cain
fearing for his life 
in his land of banishment 
for murdering his brother.

As Christians
we are called to a life
knowing that we cannot 
judge or condemn a criminal
to Hell,
and that is a life of discomfort 
because we see sin,
and we see the sinner,
one we must hate
the other we must love
and yet separating the two
is far from easy.

We have to live in that tension.

We have to live 
concerned that sin is called out
for what it is
and yet seeing our very selves
in the face of the vilest offender.

We only love our neighbour 
insofar as we love 
the worst of humanity.

That's hard.

That's so hard.

It's hard to the extent
that we cry out "Oh!"

And then God hears "Oh"
and that stirs his oiktos
the mercy that hears the cry
of one troubled,
even scandalised by 
the Divine love even for the most wicked.

And He has mercy 
- eleeos -
on us because 
we will probably fail
to be merciful 
even as he is merciful.

Even if we fail,
we must never despair
of the mercy of God -
the mercy that hears a cry
and the mercy
that seeks to do something 
about it
- all for crying out loud.

Saturday, July 05, 2025

It's just one...


Sermon for the third Sunday after Trinity

"Oh it's just one..."

"...just one biscuit 
that's been dropped 
on the floor."

"...just one page 
that's been torn."

"... just one person
who missed the bus."

"It's just one..." is a 
handy little phrase
that we like to use
so that we know 
we don't have to care anymore.

Just one thing 
is lost, broken or won't fit,
so we can put it aside
and worry about
the other things 
that aren't lost or broken
and which fit into our scheme 
nicely.

That surely seems reasonable.

We can't worry 
about every little thing.

If we do
then we will
burn ourselves out
with too much worry,
caring too much about
things we can't control,
sweating the small stuff.

If we worry about 
every little thing
then it hurts us,
we become exhausted
and fearful.

Some of us 
are like that
and they need reassurance 
and care
for a condition that 
afflicted their lives.

Indeed,
the people who worry
so much 
that it becomes 
a disorder
must themselves 
not be written off.

"It's just one
of those people
with OCD."

This makes for
an uncomfortable dilemma. 

Do we care about things
too much
or too little?

[PAUSE]

The Pharisees
care a lot about 
the observance 
of the Law.

They are rigorous
and will let neither
t be uncrossed
or i undotted.

But woe betide anyone
who does not observe the Law,
the sinners, 
the publicans,
the prostitutes, 
even
the leprosy,
the maimed,
the sick.

They are completely 
written off.

"Oh they're just sinners. 
Not worth the time of day."

Human beings
who have no worth?

Human beings
in their God-given complexity 
in their God-given dignity
that have no worth?

And the Pharisees 
are effectively saying,
"Jesus, don't corrupt yourself 
with these sinners.
Just associate yourself 
with us, instead."

These sinners 
have been completely written off.

They have no value.

There is no chance 
of forgiveness,
reconciliation 
or rehabilitation.

Once a sinner
always a sinner. 

Oh doesn't that 
sound utterly dismal?

[PAUSE]

Where the Pharisees 
write people off,
Our Lord seeks to 
write people on.

Anyone 
who comes to Him
will be heard,
will be healed, 
will be loved.

No exceptions.

"Ah," say the Pharisees, 
"you just said,
that it would be 
harmful to care too much
about things."

"Things," Pharisee? 

People aren't "things!"

While we simply 
cannot worry about
the needs of everyone,
we don't see people 
as things.

If Our Lord speaks 
of the joy of finding
a lost sheep,
or a coin,
then how much more joy
can there be
for finding 
just one lost human being?

That joy makes
the Universe rattle
with millions of angelic feet
dancing in jubilation 
on the head of a pin.

And that's just one human being.

Just one human being
returning to God
sets heaven ablaze
with delight.

Just one human being.

Just you.

If that's the joy 
you cause God
when you return to Him
then imagine 
the joy of so many other
people who repent.

There are infinities
too small to contain that joy.

[PAUSE]

It's very true
that we human beings
can care too much.

We can stress,
overwork 
and forget about ourselves 
in order to care for 
absolutely everyone.

We can sweat the small stuff.

But perhaps we just need
to look at what we are valuing.

Just as the Pharisees 
value the Law 
above the spiritual 
and physical needs
of those around them,
so can we value the wrong thing
in helping other people
to the extent 
that we burn ourselves out.

God gives us two commandments
and one is certainly,
"love thy neighbour 
as thyself.

But the first commandment
is to love the Lord our God
with all our heart and soul 
and mind and strength.

Love God before Man.

Why?

Because it is 
in loving God first
with all the faculties 
that He has given us
that we learn to love
our neighbours 
as part of our own being.

And this regulates us.

We cease to dismissal others 
as just one of the crowd
and we cease to dismiss ourselves 
as just one of the crowd too.

In our prayers,
we present ourselves to God
Who doesn't see our prayer
as just one among many
but values it
because He values us
as individuals
and refuses to turn us away.

He possesses every magnitude 
of infinity 
to care intimately 
and fully for
every single human being
in every aspect
of their lives.

And he will not let us go.

In our prayer,
we bring our tears, sorrows,
cries for forgiveness,
cries for justice,
our bitterness,
our grief,
our loneliness
our longing for someone 
to love us just as we are.

And God hears
each of these
and, in the invisible mystery 
of His action
finds us and
brings us home,
not writing us off,
but writing us on His Sacred Heart.

Saturday, June 28, 2025

Clearly apostles


Sermon for the Feast of St Peter and St Paul

There is just 
so much noise.

A million voices
ricochet around us
spreading confusion 
and misinformation. 

We hear so much
that claims to be news
but isn't.  

It's fake news.

And that which is called
"fake news"
sometimes turns out
to be true.

And we don't know 
what to believe.

[PAUSE]

We don't know 
what to believe 
until we hear a voice
"Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the Living God."

A moment of clarity. 

The clouds of confusion part.

Not St John the Baptist.
Nor Elias. 
Nor Jeremiah.
Nor another prophet.

But the Christ!

Peter's words
might just be more words
among so many.

Just another statement 
of fake news.

What makes them different?

[PAUSE]

It's the truth!

If Our Lord tells us
that He will rise from the dead
and then does so.

If He preaches,
and then backs up His words
with miracles. 

If He touches the hearts of people
and inspires them to love
and go to their deaths for love, 
then He is telling the truth. 

His is the voice 
that we should believe.

And St Peter 
confirms that with his words.

In St Peter,
there is clarity 
a rock on which the Faith will grow.

Christ the chief cornerstone of the Church
and Peter the rock.

And to St Peter 
are given keys 
the authority to bind 
and loose sins.

That authority 
isn't given to St Peter alone 
for St John tells us
that it is given to all the Disciples
when the Lord 
breathes the Holy Ghost on them.

St Peter has the truth
as do the other apostles.

And as does St Paul.

[PAUSE]

St Paul,
the zealous Pharisee
is given the truth 
that blinds him for a while.

He is blinded to 
the cacophony of sights
which,
like the noise,
disrupt and confuse our lives.

The blindness of St Paul
helps him to be
refocused on the truth,
a truth which he once thought
unpalatable 
but now defends 
with his every breath,
with his every word.

And to him
is given authority 
to bind and loose sins
as he becomes 
one of the first bishops 
to receive episcopal consecration 
at the hands of the Apostles.

He is given the authority 
of the Truth
to cut through the swathes
of falsehood 
through the doctrine 
he has received through
the grace of Christ.

[PAUSE]

For us,
the noise is louder than ever.

False gospels are being preached.
The truth is supposedly 
being debunked.
The saints are still being 
contradicted
and even vilified.

For us, 
there is much confusion
and disharmony. 

But for us,
there is also truth
a truth which grounds our Faith.

Our Faith begins
when we say with St Peter
to the face of the man Jesus
"Thou art the Christ
the Son of the Living God."

That is where we put our trust.

That is where we ground 
our knowledge,
our belief, 
our faith.

And we grow 
by reading the first writte documents
of our faith
which are the letters of St Paul:
Gospel written before
the gospels.

This is how we cut through
all the noise.

We shut it out
and listen to the Holy Apostles 
for they speak with greater clarity
than the world can know 
and yet wants to prevent us
from knowing.

Jesus truly is the Christ
the Son of the Living God.

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Articulating Christ's Body

Sermon for the Sunday in the Octave of Corpus Christi

"The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper
was not by Christ's ordinance
reserved,
carried about,
lifted up 
or worshipped."

Does that sound familiar?

And yet,
we do reserved the Body of Christ,
we do carry it about,
we do lift it up
and we worship Christ
in the Most Holy Sacrament. 

Are we being wrong?
Are we being idolatrous?
Are we blaspheming?

[PAUSE]

One reason why 
we Anglican Catholics 
do not regard 
the Thirty-Nine Articles
as being authoritative 
is because of their ambiguity.

They were designed to appease
polarising factions 
within the Church of England.

They were designed
to stop the struggle 
for the Soul of England
to be a war within the streets.

And that's why 
the Articles have 
a historical importance 
that has allowed 
Anglican Protestants 
to walk with Anglican Catholics 
until comparatively recently.

So they are necessarily ambiguous. 

And this Article 
about the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper,
which we Catholics 
commonly call the Mass,
is deliberately ambiguous. 

It's true to say
that Our Lord
at the Last Supper
does not tell His Disciples
to reserve His Body
nor to carry it about
nor to lift it up
nor to worship it.

Neither does He expressly 
forbid it
even though He knows full well
the tendency of human beings
to fall into Idolatry.

He remembers the Golden Calf incident 
all too clearly.

And He does not forbid 
the reservation,
the carrying around,
the lifting up
or the worship
of His Body.

Why not?

Why does He not forbid it?

[PAUSE]

There is three underlying factors
behind how we Catholics
treat the Sacrament of the Mass.

Simply, it's Faith, Hope and Love.

By our Faith in Christ
we believe that 
what we behold
in the Sacrament of the Altar 
really, truly and fully 
is the Body and Blood
of Christ.

It is what He promised:
His flesh and blood
so that we might have life within us.

By our Hope,
we believe that showing people 
the Body and Blood of Christ,
displaying our faith
that what seems to be 
a disc of unleavened bread
is truly the Body of Christ,
we may stir in the hearts
of people hungry for hope 
the truth of Christ's presence with us.

By our Love, 
we reserve that Sacrament 
so that those who are unable 
to come to Mass 
may partake of the Body of Christ
and we carry it
to those who are too sick
to receive it.

And we do not worship 
bread and wine
because we believe 
that they have been transformed 
into the true Body and Blood of Christ,
Body, Soul, Mind, Humanity and Divinity
all that pertains to
the Person of the Son.

And the Son is God
and God is to be worshipped 
for our benefit
not His.

[PAUSE]

No. Christ does not command
that we should take the Sacrament 
of His Supper
and reserve it,
carry it about,
lift it up
and worship it.

He does not command that
but He does give us Himself
to be present with us
and to be consumed by us
so that we might love God
and neighbour.

We reserve the Love of God 
for our neighbour to eat.
We carry about the Love of God 
to our neighbour in his frailty.
We lift up the Love of God
for our neighbour to see.
We worship the Love of God
for our neighbour to share.

This is why
we put the Consecrated Host
into a monstrance 
for people to see
and be blessed 
so that one day they might receive.

[PAUSE]

The Articles of Religion 
are not authoritative 
for us Anglican Catholics 
especially when they give the impression 
that what we do is not 
part of the Catholic Religion. 

We don't need to hold them now
because, we pray,
we know better than going to war
with Anglican Protestants
whom we love despite our separation.

Nonetheless,
the Real, Objective and Physical Presence 
of Our Lord in the Most Holy Sacrament 
should draw us closer to Christ
in faith, hope and love for our neighbour.

Food for thought?
Or food for prayer?




Saturday, June 14, 2025

From the top


Sermon for Trinity Sunday

We know that Jesus can speak Greek.

Greek in Israel for Jesus
is like English is for us.

It's a language 
that everyone knows
but often not well.

Indeed, 
some older people
who have taken up English
later in life sometimes struggle
to say what they mean.

And even now,
we hear that confusion
and it is a confusion
that still affects the way
that people translate
Holy Scripture from Greek 
to English.

St Nicodemus hears our Lord say
that we must be born anōthen
- that's the Greek word.

It's a word that describes
the garment taken from Our Lord 
at His Crucifixion:
that seamless garment
woven from the top.

So anōthen is a word 
that we could translate
as "from the top".

The trouble is
that there are two meanings
to the phrase "from the top".

[PAUSE]

It could mean,
afresh or again,
and this is what St Nicodemus hears.

St Nicodemus hears
Our Lord say
we must be "born again"
which is why he gets confused 
and thinks that his poor mother
is going to have to suffer 
a terrible fate.

But that's not what Jesus means.

He us using the other meaning 
of "from the top".

He is talking about
being born from above 
from Heaven,
by the power of God

This is why He talks about us
being born of water and the Spirit.

It's a clear indication 
of our need for Baptism.

It is through the waters of Baptism
that we are born from above
into the Kingdom of God
and thereby into Eternal life.

This birth from above
is not from this world.

It is a birth that lies beyond
our experience in life
and why it is given to us
as a Sacrament. 

We see the external water
and know that,
through the covenant with God 
we are born in the Holy Ghost.

Our Baptism is Baptism by the Holy Ghost.

And our birth in Him
can only be known
in this world
through the water in the font.

And what on Earth 
has all this to do 
with Trinity Sunday?

[PAUSE]

What on Earth?
Well, that's the point exactly.

If we are born from above,
then we are aware of things above
which have only pale shadows 
here on Earth.

And our God,
The Triune God,
The Three-in-One,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Whom Earth and Heaven adore,
is not a thing of the Earth.

He is not created -
His Incarnation took
our Human Nature 
into His Godhead
- He is not created.

And this means 
we cannot expect
to understand 
with minds of Earth
the Truth from above
that God is Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

We know it 
because He shows it to us
in the words of Scripture and the Fathers
and the rational intelligence 
that draws its Holy conclusions
from the words of Scripture and the Fathers.

We know it by His revelation,
not by looking at shamrocks
or ice-water-steam 
or one flame on three wicks.

They are imperfect illustrations 
and even the most complete
theological understanding 
by the greatest Doctors of the Church
is like straw
compared with the reality of God
that is revealed from the top down to us.

[PAUSE]

If the world gives us grief
because it does not understand 
the Holy Trinity,
that is not our problem 
because the world listens 
with ears of clay
to words born from on high.

Our task is to spread the news
of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
and to baptise as many of those
who believe 
so that they may be born
from the top.

Saturday, June 07, 2025

A greater feast

Sermon for Whitsunday

"My Father is greater than I"

Those who hate Christianity 
love to trot out this verse.

"If the Father is greater than Jesus,"
they say,
"how can Jesus be God?"

The most obvious answer
is that Our Lord is speaking
of Himself as a man,
not in His Divinity. 

Because He does not think it
a prize to be equal in Divinity
with the Father
He humbles Himself
by being made Man,
thus giving a place
for His obedience to the Father
to show us how we must be
obedient to God.

But we human beings
are always thinking in terms
of greater and lesser,
better and worse.

That's the way our mind works.

We might say
that the Father is greater than the Son
because the Father begets the Son.

But the Father cannot be a Father
without the Son.

The relationship between 
Father and Son
reveals their identities
as two distinct persons
but a single God.

But today is Whitsun,
not Trinity Sunday.

Where's the Holy Ghost?

Shouldn't we be focussing on Him?

[PAUSE]

We see the Holy Ghost
sent from the Father 
in the Son's Name,
and yet He is often presented
as an instrument. 

Our Lady conceives by the Holy Ghost.

The Apostles speak in
foreign languages
through the Holy Ghost
Who falls upon them.

Our Sacraments bestow grace
through the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is described as
the Spirit of God
or the Spirit of Jesus.

The Holy Ghost 
seems more like a pipeline
to the Father and the Son
rather than a distinct person
in Himself.

This won't do. 

It's not enough.

[PAUSE]

The Holy Ghost is a distinct person
from the Father and the Son.

Our Lord Himself
describes the Holy Ghost
proceeding from the Father.

But God is indivisible,
and not made of anything,
so how can anything 
proceed out of God
that is not God Himself?

This procession
shows the relationship
between the Holy Ghost
and the Father.

We sing "breathe on me,
Breath of God"
because that's the best
we little human beings
can understand what
proceeding means.

In this sense of procession
the Holy Ghost 
proceeds from the Father alone.

It is an analogy 
that shows us how
God the Holy Ghost
comes forth
from the Father
to be God in us,
in the same way 
that the Son
is begotten of the Father
to be God with us.

But if there is a relationship
with the Father
there must be 
a relationship with the Son.

And there is.

The Son is conceived by the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is breathed
upon the disciples 
through the Son.

The Word is carried on the Breath
and the Breath issues forth 
because of the Word.

The Holy Spirit 
is God.

It means that 
we worship Him,
we pray to Him,
we relate with Him.

Indeed,
we relate more with Him
than any other Person
of the Trinity.

Certainly,
we pray, "Our Father,"
and we pray, "Jesu, mercy!"
but our inner prayers
our cries of "Lord, help me!"
those fleeting flicks
of our attention to God
are present directly
to the Holy Ghost.

St Paul tells us
that every time 
we praise God
it is because the Holy Ghost
dwelling within us
gives us the ability
to praise God.

We speak through Him,
we learn through Him.

By His grace, 
He bestows Himself upon us
at our Baptism and Confirmation.

The priest says,
"the Lord be with you."
and we don't say,
the vacuous 
"and also with you,"
but rather
"and with thy spirit"
because we pray
that what our priests 
breathe out on us
is the Breath of God
in the sacraments 
they must distribute.

[PAUSE]

Our awareness of the Holy Ghost
must move away from thinking of Him
as being like spiritual petrol
which reinvigorates our faith,
but rather to recognise
His living in us.

We look upwards
to the Father. 

We look around us
to the Son.

So we must look within us
to the Holy Ghost,
and worship Him
accordingly.

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Told you so!


Sermon for the Sunday after Ascension 

It always seems
a bit odd to hear Our Lord's words
after we have witnessed
His Ascension into Heaven.

Indeed, 
what is most jarring
is that we have been hearing
his words
on the night before He dies.

And today,
the Sunday after Our Lord ascends,
we hear Him tell His disciples
that they will be killed 
for their witness to His truth.

And, having said that, 
He says,
"But these things have I told you,
that, when the time shall come,
ye may remember that 
I told you of them."

Does that mean
that during the oncoming tribulation 
that our beloved apostles endure,
the memory of this night
pops into their heads
with Jesus saying,
"told you so!"?

[PAUSE]

People who say,
"I told you so!"
are usually berating us
for not following their advice. 

"Told you so" comes with
an air of smugness
and satisfaction 
that misfortune has come upon us
because we haven't followed
someone's advice.

But we don't see that in Our Lord.

So why does He effectively say
"Told you so"
to those whom He loves
as they suffer for His sake?

Clearly He doesn't mean it like that.

Clearly, he wants them to remember 
that He has not forgotten them.

In a few hours, 
Our Lord will be dead
hanging on the cross
and it will be easy for 
the disciples to forget 
the promise of Resurrection
amid the sorrow and anguish.

[PAUSE]

But remembering 
is an activity that
we don't fully appreciate 
these days.

Remembering is not just
being able to recite your phone number
or a thousand digits of pi.

Remembering is
 literally a re-membering
- a putting back together
of an event.

For the disciples,
remembering Our Lord's words
is absolutely vital.

It is their calling,
their witness, 
their testimony of all
that Jesus says and does
in their sight.

In their persecution, 
they remember that
Our Lord told them so
and that His promises are true.

And they remember
that they have received 
the Holy Ghost,
Who proceeds from the Father
Who us sent by the Son
who comes to us
with strength - 
cum forte -
for us to use to proclaim 
the Word of God.

[PAUSE]

The night before Our Lord dies
is a night to remember, 
to piece back together,
and we do just that here in the Mass.

We are re-membering
what Our Lord told us to do.

And in re-membering 
the Last Supper
we are given the presence 
of Christ Himself 
in the Holy Sacrament
so that we, too,
like the Apostles,
may go out and tell the truth
about Christ.

And, as we increase in faith,
and see the work of God 
at our hands,
as we suffer our persecution, 
our temptation, 
our repentance,
our humiliation, 
our cross,
all for His sake, 
we will see Our Lord in His glory 
pointing to our place 
in His Kingdom
and saying,
"Told you so!"