Sacraments and Sapientia: 3 O Radix Jesse

O Root of Jesse, Who standest as a sign of the people, towards Whom the kings hold their tongues, Whom the Gentiles shall implore : Come for to deliver us, now do not delay!  

Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews ii.17)

The Tree of Life branches spans the entirety of human history. Its roots lie firm in the earth of Israel, in the lineage of David, the priesthood of the Levites, in the testament of the Hebrews. At the birth of Christ, it breaks free from the soil and bursts into bloom in the world. The grace of God is dispensed to all humanity in the sap of this tree, from root to tip. As time unfolds so do the leaves of this tree to give life to all mankind from the Creator.

Our Lord Jesus at His birth is come to perfect the priesthood that it may grow, and through the ordination of sinful and fallible men, may give to all people the nourishment and comfort that they need to live life. This is the grain of mustard seed which accommodates and gives homes to all who seek shelter and rest. For the Christ-Child, shelter and rest comes from a cold, hard rocky cave serving as a stable. Yet it is upon rock that He will build His Church,

Sacraments and Sapientia: 2 O Adonai

O Adonai, and Guide of the house of Israel, who appearedst to Moses in the flame of the Burning Bush, and to him on Sinai gave the Law: Come for to release us with arm outstretched.  

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. (Acts ii.3)

There must be something to provide warmth on the hillside at night for the shepherds watching their sheep. A small open fire perhaps - safely and carefully made, just so the shepherds can keep the chill off. It must be as if that fire has gone out of control before they realise the glory of God is shining all around them. Then they see the burning figure of the Angel announcing unto them tidings of great joy! Watch as they scurry off, praising God and seeking the Christ-Child!

There must be something to provide some heat for breakfast on the morning of Pentecost Day. A small fire to cook a small meal  perhaps - safely and carefully made, just so the Apostles can have a little something warm to eat. It must be as if that fire has gone out of control before they realise the Spirit of God is shining upon them. Then they know the burning presence of the Holy Ghost empowering them to announce unto the World tidings of great joy! Watch as they scurry off, praising God and preaching the Christ-Child!

Sacraments and Sapientia: 1 O Sapientia

O Wisdom, who from the mouth of the Most High proceedest, spanning from one end as far as the other, firmly and sweetly setting forth all things: come for to teach us the way of prudence.  

"She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness." (Proverbs xxxi.26)

 So speaks King Lemuel's mother. Wisdom is something which the good wife possesses and something to be looked for when a man is looking for a lifelong companion and lover. Naturally the same must surely be true for a woman looking for her husband. In the Proverbs Wisdom is personified as the righteous woman who cries out for men to hear her ways and be happy, so it seems a marriage literally made in Heaven when a couple find in each other the radiance of the Wisdom of God to delight their eyes.

 Wisdom bids us, "Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled " (Proverbs ix.5). At the Wedding in Cana, the Lord Himself provides the best wine for the married couple. The wine our Lord gives is good to drink and bestows happiness and joy at a wonderful celebration. The presence of God in a marriage completes that very marriage, and sanctifies it so that the biological humans and metaphysical persons are in harmony with the Universe.

We see this wisdom in the Holy Family in which two people exemplifying purity, chastity and charity bring into the World the Saviour of mankind. The child is born in simplicity and humility, with nothing but swaddling bands, a trough for a bed, but the love of a wise couple. The foolishness of God is truly wiser than Man's wisdom.

Judging Advent

Sermon preached at Our Lady of Walsingham and St Francis on the Third Sunday in Advent 2013

You've come last in the Art Show.

Your beautiful picture of

Rochester Castle by sunset

 has been deemed "rubbish"

by Sir Alex Bouffant,

the famous art critic.

Of course,

you're naturally enraged that your picture

which has taken you 5 years to do

including hours and hours

of intensive art courses

using lots of very skilled techniques

costing you well over £6,000

has been judged to be mediocre at best.

So enraged are you

that you make the decision

to sue Sir Alex for slander.

Would an English Judge take such a case seriously?

[PAUSE]

How many judgements are being made

 in this scenario?

Clearly,

there is the judgement of Sir Alex

that your painting was worthless.

There is also the impending judgement

of the Civil Judge

assuming that your case goes all the way

to the courts in the first place.

What about your decision to sue?

Isn’t that a judgement too?

[PAUSE]

It's quite clear that your decision to sue

is perhaps ill-advised at best.

It was probably based on hurt pride

more than anything

more obvious.

If Sir Alex is already known for his artistic judgment,

then it’s very likely that, actually,

he knows more about what makes good art

than someone who has only studied it,

albeit intently, for 5 years.

The judgement to sue is not a sound judgement:

it is not in possession of all the facts.

[PAUSE]

St Paul has been criticised by the Corinthians

for being unfaithful to the Gospel.

They claim that he does not speak with the authority of Christ.

Perhaps they are pointing to

 his past when he persecuted Christians.

Perhaps they are concerned about

his views on whether Jews and Gentiles

can both be Christians.

Perhaps they struggle with

the criticisms he has made about their lifestyle.

St Paul makes criticisms of the Corinthians.

The Corinthians make criticisms of St Paul.

This does sound like the beginnings

of parts of the church breaking away

from each other.

Arguments lead to

squabbles which lead to

an unhealthy silence which leads to

schism, fracture and divorce.

St Paul’s reaction

to the Corinthians’ accusation

is very clear.

“But with me it is a very small thing

that I should be judged of you,

or of man's judgment:

yea, I judge not mine own self.

For I know nothing by myself;

yet am I not hereby justified:

but he that judgeth me is the Lord.”

St Paul is saying very clearly that

no man is really in any position to judge another

without first knowing

all the facts

beyond reasonable doubt.

When St Paul uses the word “judge” here,

he is using a very unique Greek word

which implies that the judgement is incomplete

– it’s the sort of judgement

you might find in a preliminary hearing,

 not a judgement

on which you could get convicted.

Of course St Paul is quite right to say that

 it is a small thing to be judged by the Corinthians

or by anyone else,

and he is quite right to say

that he can’t even judge himself,

because the results of
the preliminary hearing

are not meant to be conclusive.

St Paul is joined in this idea

by St John who says

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God,

and it doth not yet appear what we shall be.”

We heard that only a few weeks ago!

As far as St Paul and St John are concerned,

we are not finished,

we are not yet what we should be.

[PAUSE]

We believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ

will come again to judge the living and the dead.

In what sense will the Lord judge us?

We have only to look at His life

to see how Our Lord operates.

The blind receive their sight,

and the lame walk,

the lepers are cleansed,

and the deaf hear,

the dead are raised up,

and the poor have the gospel

preached to them.

 And blessed is he,

whosoever shall not be

offended in Him.

His miracles are very clear signs to us

that Our Lord Jesus Christ

is committed to our perfection.

“Be ye therefore perfect,”

 He says,

 “even as your Father which is in heaven

is perfect.”

We know full well that

we cannot be perfect at all

of ourselves.

St Paul and St John are both aware

that they don’t even know how

to begin to be perfect.

St Paul is very willing to admit

that he is still trying to work out his salvation

with fear and trembling.

Perfection can only come from

the One who created us and is,

in some very clear sense,

still creating us

albeit with our co-operation.

 We can choose to be imperfect

by choosing that which

God does not want of us.

 This is why every human being

is called to repentance,

 so that they can turn to God and allow Him

to make them perfect.

St Peter tells us,

 “Repent, and be baptized every one of you

in the name of Jesus Christ

for the remission of sins,

and ye shall receive

the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

The unrepentant see their own idea of perfection

and believe that their own studies of life

make them competent to judge their lives

to be perfect according to their will.

[PAUSE]

We are indeed the artwork of God.

We owe our being to Him and our perfection.

This Advent-time, we look for the coming again

of Our Lord Jesus as our judge.

He is our judge not to our condemnation,

but to our salvation,

our perfection and our true selves.

Until then, we must keep faithful as

“of the ministers of Christ,

and stewards of the mysteries of God,”

being patient with each other

and with ourselves until He comes again

in glory

to judge the quick and the dead.

What better judgement is there for us than that?

Signs of Christmas or not?

It's been great to get back to preaching in the college chapel. This is my first homily for a while now. Perhaps there'll be a few more.

 

Homily preached at Eltham College on 13^th December 2013 on the theme of Advent

Where is the Quiet Zone? Surely you must know or else you’ve been walking past those blue “You are now entering the quiet zone” signs for a while. Do you know where they are? Well, what about “No entry at break and lunchtimes”? That’s a genuine sign here.

When was the last time you saw a “Silence Exams in Progress” sign? Do you remember, or have they passed you by? What about "Filius patrem honorat"?

It’s amazing how we can just walk past signs without them registering. Is it because they need to be more exciting?

Do we need the green man at a pelican crossing to do a little dance before we cross the road? Would we be more observant of a “Silence, Exams in progress” sign if it jumped in front of us and said “shush”? Would a “Danger, Men at work” sign be more noticeable if it said “Danger, Miley Cyrus at work”?

What makes us ignore even some very important signs?

[PAUSE]

The problem is that, as the old saying goes, “familiarity breeds contempt”. The more we get used to something, the less attention we pay to it. Since most signs are static, we see them every day and they lose their impact and their message. This can be problematic when the instruction that the sign gives is always in force. You might not play your Martin Garrix CD at full blast in the library, but chances are you’ll forget yourself and hold a loud conversation much to our librarian's disgust. How many of us miss “Wet, Soap, Wash, Rinse, dry” and yet complain when we’ve caught a nasty tummy bug?

The signs are there. Why do we miss them?

[PAUSE]

Ironically, there are certain signs that we never miss. When the night sky is clear in December, we know we are in for frost. When we see bowties, we know it’s Tuesday. When the marquee goes up in June, we know the school year is coming to a close. When we hear loud noises and swearing from the organ bench we know that the organist has got his feet stuck in the organ pedals again.

So when we see sparkly lights in the window and weirdly decorated trees and shops full of strangely clothed people singing awful songs we know either that Lady Gaga is in town or, more likely, that Christmas is coming. So, of course, we get excited, because Christmas trees mean presents; fairy lights in windows mean the end of school; the latest Heston Blumenthal Christmas Cookbook means that sales of Gaviscon will go through the roof come Boxing Day. All these signs point to Christmas.

Why should they?

What’s to stop us from having twinkly lights in the window all year round? Why not have a conifer in your living room covered in tinsel on August 16^th? Why not sing “God rest you merry, Gentlemen” all year round, or use Heston’s latest culinary “creation” when we’d like rather than at any time of the year? After all, we can have presents at any time, school ends every Friday evening, and tummy upsets caused by overeating happen all year round. What stops most of us from behaving like this?

[PAUSE]

Clearly there is a cultural reason for keeping these signs only at Christmas. It’s something that we just do in our society. There is no law to prevent us from singing the twelve days of Christmas at the end of year Chapel service in July. So clearly Christmas must have something special about it. What is that special thing that is unique to the presence of Christmas?

[PAUSE]

If there is a special thing unique to Christmas, then Christmas itself must be a sign of that special thing. For Christians, this is obvious. Christmas Day is the day on which we celebrate the Birth of God in Human form, the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ. All this build up, all these signs point to one thing, the historical reality of Jesus’ birth.

For the Christian, these signs are important because they point the way towards a God who can now been seen with the human eye. This is why the season of Advent is so important. It is a season for preparing for an arrival and we do this by giving things up for Advent, just as we do for Lent. Some of the stricter Christians even make sure that they do nothing Christmassy before Christmas so as to keep the time of preparation clear. Advent is a time of preparation, not just waiting.

But what if you don’t believe in God?

[PAUSE]

If you don’t believe in God, then there is absolutely nothing special about Christmas at all. There’s nothing to Christmas. It doesn’t signify anything and it is no different from any other day. 

Isn’t it a day to get presents? Well, you can give presents at any time you wish to anyone you wish.

Isn’t it a day to promote peace and harmony and joy? Well, shouldn’t you be doing that at all times, anyway?

Isn’t it a holiday? We don’t celebrate the summer holidays like this, do we?

Isn’t it just social convention? Then why is it always 25^th December? Why not move it to a convenient Thursday every year, like Thanksgiving, so that it’s more convenient for business?

[PAUSE]

Without Christ, Christmas loses all meaning unless we can find within our lives some reason why we do what we do. A sign must mean something, otherwise you might as well forget it.

Look at the signs around you today - and they don't have to be signs sanctioned by the Highway Code. Which of them are truly meaningless?

Selling Records

 

This is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed and denied not, and said plainly, I am not the Christ.  

 And they asked him, What art thou then? Art thou Elias? And he said, I am not. Art thou the prophet?  And he answered, No.

 Then said they unto him, What art thou? that we may give an answer unto them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? And he said, I am the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord.

 Gibbons lovely anthem always appeals to me, especially at this time of the year. It’s an anthem I’ve sung many times and thoroughly enjoyed for its power and clarity, yet its elegance and intricacy. It’s a truly Anglican piece.

The words are those of St John the Baptist. This is an interview with the priests and Levites to ascertain who he is. St John, in typical fashion, is simply not concerned about himself at all. He knows that promoting his identity is not the agenda he has been given. He is to be faithful to the task, and indeed he is faithful to the task, of promoting the One Who Comes After. Nothing else matters. He is happy to remain poor and in the wilderness, unkempt, making do with what little fare there is outside the big cities with their flashing lights and smoky streets. He simply baptises those who come to him and preaches repentance of sins for the coming Kingdom of God.

St John is the last prophet of the Old Testament. He points to the coming New Testament and does not waver from doing so. He points to the coming Christ and prepares those who come to him for that coming Christ.

St John sets the Church a challenge, for the Church is bound to do exactly the same. Our Lord Jesus will come again, though we are told that we cannot know when. It is the job of the Church to devote its life, not in riches or fashion, not in places of comfort or luxury, but in the wilderness pointing to the coming Christ. The Church’s energies and resources are to be focussed, not on self-promotion, not advertising dates and times of services or activities, or setting out its agenda, but rather pointing out the coming Christ. The Church herself must stand and shout “make straight the way of the Lord!” with all the energy and vigor she possesses. 

To all those who come to her for guidance, she must give them God’s promised grace in the sacraments, educate them, clothe them in simplicity and love and point them, as they repent, at the Saviour for true happiness and joy.

If the Church finds herself in the wilderness and in uncomfortable places and learns to live in those places surviving on the meagre pickings, the rough surrounds, away from a more comfortable and conventional lifestyle then she is doing well. There in the wilderness, out of the influences of fad, fashion and folly, and with a clear vision of her task, her preaching of Good News, there will she see God in her purity and help so many others find Him.

How should this affect the budget for 2014?

The Sorrowful Mysteries and the Sorrowful Church

“We are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people.”

This is the belief of the Church, that we are indeed the Body of Christ. For many members of the Church, this present time is a season of hardship and difficulty as we strive to live out our Faith in a world that prevents us from doing so. The world does not understand us because it does not understand our Master and Head of the Body. As His precious body suffers, so must the Church suffer with Him. The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary do help us to focus on what the Church must face and bear as it seeks to follow Christ.

The Agony in the Garden

Our Lord wrestles with temptation. As He faces the truth of His crucifixion, He also finds that there is an opportunity to escape it, to take the easier path and to minimise His pain and suffering. He is utterly free to take this path like each one of us. However, He is faithful to His Father and seeks to do His will knowing the pain of what will follow. Yet the temptation is there and it is the most basic temptation – that of self-preservation. It causes this internal wrangling within Our Lord, an internal strife and suffering which cannot abate until all is fulfilled.

The Church herself suffers from this same temptation. It can either remain faithful to God, and thus find discomfort resulting from the hostility of the world, or it can seek to make life easy by becoming a socially acceptable establishment but losing its identity as the Body of Christ in the process. The internal wranglings of the Church make headlines these days, yet some parts of the Church have been able to commit themselves to the path ahead, stick to Godly principles and move on through Gethsemane. With Our Lord’s pattern, the Church must look ahead and see the pains and sorrows that it will face for its fidelity. In doing so, it will find its own agony but will share it with Our Lord.

The Scourging at the Pillar

Our Lord is beaten for His “blasphemy” just to appease the Jewish authorities despite the fact that the Civil Authority knows that He has done nothing wrong. He is not punished for any civil scandal, but rather for confronting the hypocrisy of society. However, as St Peter tells us that the Lord’s “own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

The Church herself has not the same record of blamelessness that Our Lord has: she has suffered as a result of the behaviour of her members. There have been abuses of moral power, there have been abuses of social power and social standing, and these have been recognised by the Civil Authorities and the perpetrators are beginning to be punished. Yet, the whole Church suffers at the hands of those in her ranks who have committed great sins and hypocrisies. One paedophile priest leads all priests to be labelled “paedophile” by those who don’t think; one corrupt evangelical preacher causes all evangelical preachers to be labelled corrupt. Christopher Hitchens rightly points out the sins of churchmen and women and that their sins have not just damaged the lives of the innocent victims, but also the innocent churchfolk who are tarred with the same brush. Just as Christ bears our sins in His body, so must the Church bear our sins too and be scourged for them.

The Crowning with Thorns

As our Lord is publically mocked for His outlandish claims, so is the Church. The Lord is the King of an unseen Kingdom: the Church is the dispenser of God’s unseen Grace. The Lord’s kingship is laughed at for its sheer irrelevance in the face of more powerful and more obvious potentates: the Church is laughed at for its irrelevance in society in the wake of more powerful and material claims.

The Church is ridiculed for seeing God in wafer, for seeing God dead upon a Cross, for believing in God Whose very existence is questioned constantly. The Church is laughed at for being anachronistic, for being behind the times, for being a social clique in which men wear and parade around in dresses mumbling arcane words and preaching about an afterlife that isn’t going to happen. “If there be no resurrection of the dead, then Is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen , then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” The fidelity of the Church will see it crowned with Her Master’s thorns. The Church bears her Lord’s message and she will suffer ridicule because of it.

The Carrying of the Cross

Our Lord told us that we must each take up our cross and follow Him. We must each bear the very thing that will be the instrument of our demise. For the Lord, this was His cross, His instrument of torture. For the Church, this will probably be the weight of the world’s indifference and hostility to the non-material (and hence immaterial) Gospel. Yes, there will be good things done by all kinds of people, non-Christian and Christian alike. Doing good things is not the sole preserve of the Church – anyone can feed the hungry, clothe the naked and heal the sick.

However, it is the preaching of the Gospel to an increasingly incredulous society that will prevent people entering the Church, but even actively push them away. This may indeed be down to poor preaching, but it is also down to the fact that fewer people have ears to hear. Isaiah was told at his call that he would “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.” Our Lord was met constantly with those who had such little faith. It is the Good News about the Salvation of man through Christ that the Church must bear, even if preaching it may finally destroy her.

The Crucifixion and Death

It is entirely possible that the Church will fade and disappear from view, crucified on her own Gospel by those who hate her. Lawsuits may strip her of her assets, her buildings, her organisation. Indifference and the pressure to be relevant will strip her of faithful bishops and priests who will peddle their own ideas just to be heard for the love of their own voices. Parishes will wink out of existence and church buildings be turned into flats, nightclubs and museums.

It is possible that the church may disappear from view, buried in the dark and forgotten.

The trouble is, if the Church is the body of her Master and her Master rose again in glory…

Conclusion

The Church is suffering and sorrowing. Each priest has a clear idea of the state of how things are in his parish. Some are low in spirit pressured by how things seem to be getting at them; others feel that they are fighting against an ever-increasing tide. The point is that this is precisely what Christ said would happen to the Church. If we are in the Church then we must see His sorrows in our sorrow. If our sorrow is not like His, then we are not doing it right. There is a spirit in the air that is profoundly anti-Christian. It cannot be pinpointed to organisations or to people, but the fact that the Church is in pain is indicative that something is happening and that the Prince of this world is mounting an attack to destroy the Church.

This has happened in every age, but it feels different this time.

However, we have Christ’s promise that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church and we have Christ’s resurrection. We can be confident in His victory and keep ourselves faithful to Him. We can still rejoice in the Lord alway!