Peace: constant inner strength and interior serenity

Peace that comes from God alone

John 14: 27-31

Christ grants a peace that surpasses any kind of peace the world could offer. The peace He is referring to is not merely an absence of war, or aggression even – what our Lord is talking about is a peace that is an infusion of God’s constant strength and interior serenity. The world cannot provide this kind of peace – human beings on their own cannot achieve that inner peace. And our Lord is clear that the source of this inner peace, inner strength and inner serenity is God the Father. And the only way we can tap in to that source of peace is through Christ – Christ being in Himself that unity of God and man.

“The Father is greater than I” – this phrase of Jesus can cause confusion if we consider it in the context of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Surely in the Trinity the Father is equal to the Son is equal to the Holy Spirit. And that is true. In their divinity they are equal. But our Lord is referring to His humanity. And He is talking about completing His mission of bringing His human nature (which resulted from the Incarnation) to the Godhead. In “returning” to the Father our weak human nature is lifted fully into the Godhead, and the consequence is that the peace that our Lord is talking about becomes a real possibility. But not only peace but all the means of grace that can enable us to also “return to the Father” that is “eternal life in bliss and perfect love and joy”.

What we must do now, in this world, is make sure we do what our Lord did, which is obedience to the Father. Obedience reveals love. Our Lord is bidding us to obey because we love.

Unreserved Obedience (Wed of Lent 3)

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

Deuteronomy 4:1,5-9 ; Matthew 5:17-19

WE BESEECH thee, almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of thy humble servants: and stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty; to be our defence against all our enemies; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 

The Agony in the Garden - "...not my will be done, but thine"

Unreserved Obedience

The way of Christ is the way of obedience. Jesus was obedient to His Father always. Today we are reluctant to obey unreservedly. Somehow it seems a backward or unsophisticated thing to do. Modern man is surely much more subtle and learned to not need to obey like that? So instead of obeying freely we reserve the right to question everything and decide whether to obey or not – and we do this even with God! We have made ourselves the masters and we do not like the idea of making someone else our master.

The way of Christ is obedience even when it means suffering. The way of Christ means saying with Our Lady, “Be it done unto me according to thy word.” The way of Christ is obedience because it is obedience to an entirely trustworthy Person – God the Father. God the Father can always be trusted. Does a father give his son a stone when he asks for bread? Even if our Heavenly Father allows us to suffer we can be sure there is a very good reason for it and the outcome will be good for us.

Christ Jesus came not to abolish the Jewish Law. He fulfilled the Law and the Prophets in His very self. When He died sacrificially on the cross He fulfilled and completed all the laws of ritual and sacrifice. In the New Covenant all ritual and sacrifice is focused on the Cross. The moral law of the Old Testament was not abolished but deepened. Not only was the moral law still to be obeyed in the New Covenant but it was located on a deeper and more demanding level – the level of the heart. We are to still obey the Ten Commandments but now at a much deeper and demanding level.

So are we willing to obey God the Father as Christ Jesus did? Do we trust the Heavenly Father? This was at the heart of the first sin, and thus at the heart of all sin – do I trust God the Father, or do I think He has a secret agenda against me? The serpent tempted Eve to believe the latter. Our Lady believed the former. She trusted and obeyed.

Psalm 147

Laudate Dominum

O PRAISE the Lord, for it is a good thing to sing praises unto our God :

yea, a joyful and pleasant thing it is to be thankful.

2. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem : and gather together the out-casts of Israel.

3. He healeth those that are broken in heart : and giveth medicine to heal their sickness.

4. He telleth the number of the stars : and calleth them all by their names.

5. Great is our Lord, and great is his power : yea, and his wisdom is infinite.

6. The Lord setteth up the meek : and bringeth the ungodly down to the ground.

7. O sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving : sing praises upon the harp unto our God;

8. Who covereth the heavens with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth : and maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains, and herb for the use of men;

9. Who giveth fodder unto the cattle : and feedeth the young ravens that call upon him.

10. He hath no pleasure in the strength of an horse : neither delighteth he in any man's legs.

11. But the Lord's delight is in them that fear him : and put their trust in his mercy.

12. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem : praise thy God, O Sion.

13. For he hath made fast the bars of thy gates : and hath blessed thy children within thee.

14. He maketh peace in thy borders : and filleth thee with the flour of wheat.

15. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth : and his word runneth very swiftly.

16. He giveth snow like wool : and scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes.

17. He casteth forth his ice like morsels : who is able to abide his frost?

18. He sendeth out his word, and melteth them : he bloweth with his wind, and the waters flow.

19. He sheweth his word unto Jacob : his statutes and ordinances unto Israel.

20. He hath not dealt so with any nation : neither have the heathen knowledge of his laws.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting out sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

"They are only rules" (Ember Saturday of Lent)

Ember Saturday of Lent

(a day of prayer and fasting)

Deuteronomy 26 : 16-19  ;  Ps 119: 1-8 ;  Matthew 5 : 43-48

WE BESEECH thee, O Lord, graciously to hear the prayers of they people: and of thy great goodness turn aside from them the scourges of thine anger; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Since becoming a Catholic one thing I have heard said by long-standing Catholics, more times than I know, is “they are only rules”. There seems to be a widespread opinion that rules are not the sort of thing that God is interested in. And that if one breaks a few rules here and there that it doesn’t really matter that much. Very often this is being applied to moral matters or liturgical matters.

It is of course a very convenient position to hold because it gives one permission to disobey rules when one wishes to do so.

Perhaps it is a reaction against legalism in the past? It may also be to do with our society’s increasing emotionalism where people are more concerned with feelings than reason and logic. So people are concerned with whether someone has been offended by an action more than if the action itself was actually morally wrong. It may also be the influence of Easter religions and philosophies. Or a combination of all these things!

In the reading from Deuteronomy today, the Lord exhorts the people of God to keep all His commands and ordinances with all their heart and soul. He commands them to walk in His ways. These are not therefore rules which one can sit lightly to. God requires obedience. And obedience leads a person to walk in His ways. This is the point. It is not legalism but the way in which we train ourselves to walk in the divine way.

In the Gospel, Christ makes incredible demands of His disciples. We are to not only love those who love us back, but to love even those who are against us. But that is not all! We are to be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect! If it weren’t our Lord Himself teaches this, we might think the person saying this was mistaken. How on earth can we be perfect as God? The simple answer is that we can’t make ourselves perfect, but God can!

It is of course grace which enables us to become what God wills for us. And grace itself is the very life of God poured out for us. The more we are filled with grace, the more we cooperate with it, the closer we come to perfection as God wills.

So the important question must be, how?

Part of the answer is that we must walk in His ways. It is not about legalism it is about training ourselves. We must learn obedience with humility. We want to find reasons to not obey rules and commandments often because deep down we do not want to let go of our independence, we do not want to humble ourselves before God.

We are called to live Christ’s commandments (which includes His words, commands and actions) because it is the path to the perfection of charity.

 Psalm 119

Beati immaculati

BLESSED are those that are undefiled in the way : and walk in the law of the Lord.

2. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies : and seek him with their whole heart.

3. For they who do no wickedness : walk in his ways.

4. Thou hast charged : that we shall diligently keep thy commandments.

5. O that my ways were made so direct : that I might keep thy statutes!

6. So shall I not be confounded : while I have respect unto all thy commandments.

7. I will thank thee with an unfeigned heart : when I shall have learned the judgements of thy righteousness.

8. I will keep thy ceremonies : O forsake me not utterly.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent: create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 Fr Ian is a catholic priest of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England. He is by papal dispensation married. He lives in a former convent with his wife and children in Devon, near the sea.