Sunday, November 17, 2024

False Truth


Sermon for the twenty-fifth Sunday after Trinity (using propers of the sixth Sunday after Epiphany)

Is the shroud of Turin
a fake?

In the past forty years or so,
competing scientific research 
has deemed it 
a fake from the Middle Ages
or undoubtedly 
a relic from the First Century.

Many people 
believe it to be genuine.

Many people 
believe it to be a forgery.

And it seems
people are determined 
to use the scientific method 
to prop up their own
belief about what this cloth is.

It does seem,
given recent articles 
that no-one comes to 
study the shroud
without some preconceived desire
to prove that it shows
The True Christ 
or a false Christ.

Does it show 
the True face of Christ?

[PAUSE]

If it does,
then we have
some way of recognising Him
when He comes again.

Wouldn't it be awful
if He returned to us
and we didn't recognise Him?

Wouldn't it be awfuI
if we've missed His second coming
just because we didn't know
what He looked like.

Doesn't the Turin Shroud 
give us a way of knowing 
Who we're looking for?

Doesn't it give us
a frame of reference for our faith?

Doesn't it give us
the ability to say
"Yes! This is Christ!
Here He is!"?

No.

No it doesn't.

And why?

Listen to the True Christ.

"If any man shall say unto you, 
Lo, here is Christ, or there; 
believe it not. 

For there shall arise false Christs, 
and false prophets, 
and shall shew 
great signs and wonders; 
insomuch that, 
if it were possible, 
they shall deceive the very elect."

If the Shroud of Turin 
is real,
and there is every chance
that it is,
then it is an ikon
a way of seeing into
the Heavenly Truth.

But,
while ikons are so good
for the soul
and a necessary part
of Christian doctrine
no one ikon
is necessary.

The Shroud of Turin
adds nothing to our Faith
beyond any other ikon.

If the Shroud is a fake 
then this takes nothing away
from our faith:
it still remains as much an ikon
as any ikon written on wood.

The Shroud is not the basis
of our faith.

Christ is the basis of our faith.

The Man
depicted upon the Shroud 
the one depicted in the ikon
the one depicted upon the Cross,

He is the Christ 
and basis of our faith.

[PAUSE]

But don't we say 
"Here is Christ"
when the priest lifts up
the consecrated host?

Indeed we do,
but this is Christ in the Sacrament,
not Christ coming in glory
to judge the quick and the dead.

It is those people
who say "Here is Christ"
meaning the Messiah 
at His second coming 
who are talking about
a false Christ.

It is those people
who are thinking of a Christ
made in their own image
who hope for a return 
of a false Christ.

[PAUSE]

But that is not how Christ will return.

He won't suddenly appear
in one place
so that we all have to pile
into cars and aeroplanes
to meet Him

He won't appear
on television
and tell us to do bizarre things
to prove our love for Him.

But if the Shroud is fake 
how will we recognise Him?

[PAUSE]

The apostles tell us how.

They see Him
hear Him
and touch Him.

And their faith is ours.

We just need to preserve that faith.

Christian Doctrine
isn't just about
what to do
and what not to do.

It is about living,
studying,
praying,
and getting to know Jesus
as He is
through what the Church
has always handed down to us
since those feet in ancient time
walk closely with the apostles 
and walk with us 
through those who follow the apostles.

Christian Doctrine 
will ensure 
that we will truly know Him
when He comes again
in His own way
at a time when we least expect Him.

And then how much joy
will there be for us?

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Sunday, November 10, 2024

Worth worship

Sermon for the twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity 

So many people
seem to think
that Jesus never claimed
to be God.

There are so many places
where He does make that plain
such as saying 
"Before Abraham was, I am."
which causes the Pharisees 
to pick up stones
since Jesus has just used
the same words
that God uses in the Burning Bush
to Moses.

Jesus does not say explicitly 
"I am God!"
but it's there
in the Gospels.

And today 
we see Jairus
- at least it's probably Jairus
since St Matthew
doesn't say -
approach Jesus
to heal his daughter.

And crucially
what's the first thing
Jairus does?

He falls down and
worships Jesus.

This is exactly 
the same worship 
that Our Lord tells us
belongs to God.

The Greek word
that we translate as worship
literally means
to kiss the hand
in the same way
that a pet dog 
licks the hand of its master.

Is that how God wants us
to worship him?

[PAUSE]

The underlying idea
behind worship
is the amount of value 
we put upon a thing
or a person.

Worship is worth-ship:
that's where the word comes from.

The question is 
how do we demonstrate 
the worth something 
or someone has 
in our estimation?

If we regard someone 
as more important than us,
as possessing some 
power over us,
as someone whom we need
to live our lives,
then we have to demonstrate 
that respect.

We demonstrate it 
so that the person we value
knows we value them,
and we demonstrate it
to remind ourselves
if how much
that person means to us.

You can certainly see
how people who are shown
into the presence of
an emperor 
get on their knees
in knowledge 
that he has the power
of life and death over you.

Your bowing down 
is the outward act 
of your expression 
of the emperor's worth.

[PAUSE]

And we see Jairus 
(if it is indeed Jairus)
worshipping Jesus,
bowing before Him.

A leader of the Jewish community 
is bowing before this teacher 
and so shows Him of greater worth
than his own standing 
in the community.

But the Commandment says,
"Thou shalt not make unto thee 
a graven image, 
nor any manner of likeness, 
of any thing that is in heaven above, 
or that is in the earth beneath, 
or that is in the water 
under the earth;
thou shalt not bow down 
unto them, nor serve them."

Now, 
there are several times
when someone falls down 
to worship someone 
who isn't God.

This happens to St Paul
and Barnabus, 
who are mistaken 
for Greek gods,
and St John gets
terribly overawed
and tries to worship an angel
in the Revelation.

In each case,
where the worship 
is misplaced,
they say,
"don't worship us
we are not God."

But Jesus doesn't do that.

There is no rebuke 
for those
like the Magi,
the Leper ,
Jairus,
and the Disciples 
especially after 
St Peter walks on water
and again after the Resurrection,
all of whom 
worship Jesus as the Son of God.

But worship 
can go wrong.

[PAUSE]

The Roman Soldiers
who mock Jesus
before His crucifixion 
worship Him

St Matthew tells us that.

What does that mean?

It means 
that the soldiers
go through the motions
of worship,
bowing down 
and genuflecting.

But it isn't true worship 
because the intention 
to honour Jesus
is not there.

They do not see Him
as being of any value to them
so they have no respect for Him.

There is no actual worship here,
just the appearance of worship.

They worship Him in truth
because Jesus is truly God
but not in spirit
because they do not love Him.

[PAUSE]

And then there are
the Israelites 
who make a Golden Calf 
and worship it.

They believe that 
the God who saves them
from Egypt 
has the likeness of a calf.

But this is not true.

God does not have
the image of a calf.

The Israelites 
are worshipping in spirit 
because they intend to worship the calf 
but not in truth
because the calf is not God.

Further,
in the persecution under the Romans
Christians are compelled
to burn incense to the pagan gods.

They could do so,
secretly intending 
to burn the incense 
in honour of God.

But this is worship in spirit 
and not in truth.

The outward sign
and the inward intention
do not marry up.

[PAUSE]

Jesus says,
"God is a Spirit:
and they that worship Him
must worship Him
in spirit and in truth."

Jairus worships Jesus
in truth because he
perceives that
Jesus is God
and in spirit 
because he believes 
that Jesus can raise 
His daughter 
from the dead.

St Paul says that Jesus is 
the image of the invisible God.

When we see God with our eyes
it is Jesus Whom we see.

This makes sense
because the Father
is the source of all being
and stands outside the gaze
of anything He has created.

And the Holy Ghost is a spirit
who does not have a body.

It means that Jesus 
is the focus of our worship 
because we have someone 
visible to bow down to.

It means 
whenever we see 
a picture of Jesus
we can bow down
not to the picture
but the one in the picture.

[PAUSE]

We Catholics are often accused 
of worshipping statues
but we know this is not the case.

We venerate the saints
because we see Christ at work in them.

We venerate Mary greatly
because we see Christ born in her.

And we worship Christ
the image of the invisible God.

And we do what the Church has done
from the earliest times.

We venerate ikons,
sacred images,
because of who they depict.

Our outward worship 
is towards a picture 
of Christ
and our inward worship
is towards the Christ depicted.

We worship Christ truly and in spirit.

We don't worship
the block of wood 
with paint on it,
but the truth of Christ
the visible God.

If people cannot tell the difference 
then they are only watching our worship
at a superficial
and unspiritual level.

[PAUSE]

As Jairus worships 
the image of the invisible God
so must we venerate His image
with Jairus.

Ikons of the saints 
help us remember that
they are truly real
and truly alive
- spirit and truth.

Ikons of Our Lady
help us remember 
that God becomes a man
so that man can become like Him
in spirit and in truth.

Ikons of Our Lord,
show us the picture
of the One Who saves us
by showing us His very self
in spirit and in truth.

We are not worshipping 
a graven image,
but Christ Himself through
that image in the truth
of His Incarnation 
and we do so in spirit 
because we love Him.


Sunday, November 03, 2024

Present Tense Saints

Sermon for the Sunday in the Octave of All Saints

Our Lord sits
on the mountain 
to teach.

His disciples 
are those who
have climbed after Him
scaling the rocky crags
against gravity,
against comfort,
against the better judgment 
of others
to hear this Man teach.

Already,
they show themselves 
to be blessed
for "blessed are those
who hunger and thirst
for righteousness' sake
for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven."

And how the disciples
demonstrate that!

In clambering uphill
they have demonstrated 
their hunger and thirst
for the teaching of Christ 
because they know 
that what He teaches 
is not just righteous 
but Righteousness
itself.

Last week,
we recognise 
Jesus as our King
and this week 
we follow Him
and set ourselves apart for Him
from the World.

And if we set ourselves 
apart from the world
for Righteousness' sake
God sets us apart for Him.

We become holy.
We become saints.

[PAUSE]

We are only as holy
as far as we are apart from 
Sin, the World and the Devil.

Our salvation is 
precisely the end of 
our separation from God,
our return to the full health
that God has wanted for us 
from Eternity.

Our Lord promises those 
who hunger and thirst
for righteousness' sake
a place in His Kingdom 
which St Peter describes as an
eternal Kingdom,
something that even
the prophet Daniel knows to be true.

Something is Eternal
if it is connected 
with God's age.

Just as we have 
the Stone Age,
the Iron Age,
the Bronze Age,
whatever is Eternal
is of the God Age.

Think about that,
because,
for God,
Time is not a limitation.

He is as present now
as He was a million years ago
and a million years to come.

All Time is present to God
at once.

And this is the Eternal life
that He offers in His Kingdom.
He offers His saints
to be of His Age,
Eternal, 
not simply everlasting 
but unbound to Time.

St John tells us
that we cannot understand 
what we will be like
when we are in His Kingdom 
but we will be like Him
because we will see Him as He is.

When Jesus says
that God is not the God of the dead 
but of the living
He shows us that
Abraham,
Isaac,
Jacob,
Moses,
Elijah
and all the saints are still alive
and that Death 
for the saints
is an event,
not a state of being.

The saints are not dead.

[PAUSE]

And, we know that St Peter says
the ears of the Lord
are open to
the prayers of the righteous,
and their prayers ascend 
before God like incense.

St Jerome says,
"If the Apostles and Martyrs, 
while still in the body, 
can pray for others, 
at a time when 
they must still be anxious for themselves, how much more 
after their crowns, 
victories, and triumphs are won!"

We also no that 
nothing in Heaven and Earth
or under the Earth,
not even life and death
can separate us 
from the love of Christ.

And the saints are righteous 
because they show 
the love of Christ to us
even as Christ in Heaven 
shows His love for us on earth.

[PAUSE]

So,
the saints are alive,
but are no longer
bound by Time and Space.

The saints still love us
because they are perfected
in the love of God,
and Love is something 
that requires action.

The saints have passed 
through death 
but are neither 
separated from God
nor from us
because nothing separates us
from the love of God.

The saints pray
just as they have 
throughout their lives
hungering and thirsting
for Righteousness' sake.

Prayer is more than just words.

It is a communication 
at a deeper level between 
us and God
and 
us and those who love God.

Likewise,
we pray for our departed loved ones
for their happiness in God.

This prayer is an expression
of our continued love 
for those who have died.

The saints prayer for us
is an expression of
their continued love
for us who are yet to 
undergo death.

This is true communion
for these prayers
bring us closer to God 
because God is love.

This is precisely 
the communion of the saints
a communion expressed 
through mutual prayer
and, at its summit, 
Christ Himself 
in the Blessed Sacrament
of the altar.

[PAUSE]

We should rejoice
that we have such
a cloud of witnesses
cheering us on
bringing their concerns for us
to God,
and that our prayers
do the same
for those in need
whether living 
or departed.

There will be those
who try to show us
that we are wrong,
who say the saints are dead
who say the dead heart nothing
who say that praying for the dead
does nothing.

But these are they
who do not understand prayer
who do not understand death
and who do not understand 
that Love and Power are the same in God
and grow in the hearts 
of those who hunger and thirst 
for Righteousness' sake.

May Holy Mary,
Mother of God
and all the Holy Angels and Saints 
pray for us
and may the souls 
of the faithful departed 
through the love of God 
rest in peace.
Amen.



Monday, October 28, 2024