Sunday, January 12, 2025

Finding yourself in the Mall


Sermon for the Sunday in the octave of Epiphany

Your relief is visible
when you hear the tannoy say:
"Please come to the reception desk;
your child has been found."

The panic of the last hour
frantically searching
for your child is over,
and all you need to do
is come to the reception desk
and pick them up.

Oh the relief!

But not every parent
in this situation 
finds this relief:
all too often,
there is bad news
and grief.

It's because of this 
distinct possibility that
your child is lost
that causes the panic,
the fear,
the cascade of 
a million unpleasant scenarios.

Having hope
almost makes the pain worse.

[PAUSE]

Even after twelve years,
Herod's wicked murder
of all those babies
rings in the memories
of Mary and Joseph
hunting frantically for Jesus.

He is not among
the crowds of unfamiliar faces
leaving Jerusalem for Nazareth.

He is not among the crowds
milling about in the streets of Jerusalem
nor the dark alleys,
nor in the places of buying and selling.

But then they hear the tannoy.

Voices declaring amazement
at some occurrence
in the midst of the temple.

Can He be where they left Him?

Indeed,
that's where Mary and Joseph
find Him.

Their relief is visible.

[PAUSE]

Children do this to you.

Even the Son of God
worries the life out of those
who are blessed by caring for Him.

To them
He is the most precious thing in the world.

To Him,
He is trying to become Himself.

This is the great challenge 
of parenting:
your precious child
isn't really yours.

They are their own people
and the greatest wrench
for the parent
is that their precious child
is not theirs to possess
but rather to get them to the place
where they can go
and live their own lives
away from their parents.

Jesus makes it clear that,
although He loves His Mother,
although He loves St Joseph,
He also loves His Father 
and must become 
the human being that He is
independently of those
who take care of Him.

Mary and Joseph 
must be prepared 
to let Him go.

Just as the Father 
has let us go.

[PAUSE]

Love never insists
on its own way.

It always respects the choices 
of the beloved.

In a few years' time
the precocious twelve year old
teaching the teachers
asking awkward questions 
while learning the Law
will speak of the Prodigal Son.

Just as the father
of the Prodigal Son
lets Him go and live his own life
independently from his family
so does God let us go
to live our own lives
independently of Him
in the hope 
that we may learn for ourselves
who we are and how God fits in with that.

He lets us go,
to His pain as the Cross proves.

But that Cross calls us,
like the tannoy,
back to God.

[PAUSE]

Good parents
are willing to bear the great pain
of letting their child go
despite the pain it causes.

But they work
to make sure that
their children are in the best position
to become who they are meant to be.

The loss of a child 
is perhaps one of the greatest pains
that a human being can endure
and it is a pain that God bears for us,
that God bears with us,
so that joy may come at
 Eternity's sunrise
when Heaven's morning breaks
upon us.

It is this loss that parents fear the most
and will do anything to prevent,
yet it is God's love to us
that gives us strength
to endure what we must endure
so that our children grow in love
as themselves,
and so that we grow in God's love
as ourselves.

Sunday, January 05, 2025

Bedazzled?


Sermon for the Vigil of the Epiphany 

When was the last time
you stayed up all night?

Did you see the sun rise?

There comes a point
when you look out 
across the night sky
that there is a definite 
change of colour.

The first glimmers of light
that come across the Horizon 
bring with them
a real sense that the night 
is nearly over.

These days,
because of the number
of street lights
there is always 
a perpetual glow 
on the Horizon. 

Near the cities,
we lose that gradual 
change from darkness
to light.

We also get a false sense 
of the dawn that's about
to rise upon our day.

Light pollution
is deceptive 
and robs us
of our awareness 
of the beauty of firstlight.

[PAUSE]

Here we are,
awaiting the Epiphany 
ready to see the dawn 
of the awareness
that God is made man
so that we can become
like Him.

But the world around us
is aglow with all kinds of light
making it difficult 
for us to see 
the dayspring from on high
dawning upon us.

Just as the world around us
fills our ears with chatter
and the Internet produces 
so much noise of competing ideas,
and vitriolic disagreement, 
so are the eyes of our souls
dazzled with the world's claim
on our attention
with false light.

Indeed,
it is the light that dazzles
precisely so that we 
are prevented from seeing the truth.

A dazzling light
is useless
because it stops us from seeing,
and that defeats its purpose.

As we gaze at a dawn
surrounded by the light
of streetlights
which focus us on the street below, 
we miss the emergence
of the greater day.

If we truly want to see the dawn
then we have to find somewhere remote
away from dazzling lights.

It means that 
we have to switch off
the light of the world.

But if we do that 
we find ourselves plunged into darkness.

And darkness makes us uncomfortable. 

But,
once our eyes have 
got used to the darkness,
then we can watch the true dawn arise.

[PAUSE]

This is why
the Church often makes
the day before major festivals
days of fasting.

This is why we fast before Mass. 

This is why Lent and Advent
are days of fasting and silence.

If we truly want to see
the Light of Christ 
dawn in our lives,
then we must darken
our lives and souls
from all that dazzles us,
distracts us
distorts us,
discombobulates us.

We can turn off the television 
unplug the router,
close the curtains, 
and pray in silence. 

[PAUSE]

And there in the silence
of our prayer
we see the dawn
as the Magi approach Bethlehem
as St John Baptist prepares
for a day baptising
and as a bride and groom
start to prepare for their wedding.

In the silence of our prayer
we watch the glow of God's revelation
of Himself 
to each one of us,
showing us
that He lives
that He loves us
and that He wants us
to know Him
and enter His Kingdom
where there is no darkness
nor dazzling but one equal light.