Why are you weeping?

Why are you weeping?

God knows there’s plenty of that!

But then there are those who are able to stare into the abyss and refuse to capitulate to the fear and the sadness of it. Take Betty, for instance; she lived her life with spina-bifida. She was not able to process with the choir but she sang with all her heart and soul. She fought off depression all her life until she approached the end. That’s when things changed for Betty. One day as the inevitable came closer, I went to visit her and bring her communion. She was remarkably excited and cheerful. As I was leaving, she said to me; “Don’t forget my envelopes! After all, I promised God that I would tithe.” 

And tithe she did. Ten percent right off the top. I told her; “Betty, certainly you need some of that money for your own living expenses!”

She looked at me resolutely with a cheerful smile; “Oh Fr. Paul, all my life I have not been able to walk without crutches but soon, I will be able to leap like a deer! Don’t you know that for all Jesus has done for me, the least I can do for him is tithe. Besides, I still get to keep 90%!” 

She was so excited and cheerful as she approached the end! Yes, she suffered plenty. But she suffered all her life! As the end approached, she knew things would be very different for her soon and very soon. Because of her witness, my attitude toward giving and generosity changed. Moreover, my whole viewpoint of life, death, and the resurrection changed because of her. 

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

In today’s Gospel we are told that Mary was weeping. Not only was she grief stricken over the death of Jesus, but now, to add insult to injury, somebody had apparently taken the body away! She will not even be able to give her “Rhabbouni” a decent burial. The defeat of the cross has now given way to yet another indignity. Of course, she was crying. 

“They have taken away my Lord.”

First the angels asked her why she was weeping. But apparently she didn’t recognize them as angels. That recognition was to come somewhat later on.

Then the gardener appeared to her. Maybe this is the grave robber she thought to herself, and so she said; “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him.” Small comfort, but at least she could give him a decent burial.

Then came the Astonishing Surprise that has altered all of Salvation History. 

“Mary!” 

In that one word there came the recognition that Jesus Christ is Risen today. Alleluia!

“Rhabbouni!” The word occurs but one time in the Bible. It is of Chaldean origin and can be rendered “teacher” or “Lord” like the Greek “kyrios”…meaning “the one who is in control of my life” or “my master”. It is a word used to describe obeisance to the Emperor in the ancient world. It is therefore used by the early church to describe our obedience to our Master. The turn of phrase, “Kyrie eleison” is applied to Jesus as we greet one another in worship.

Jesus tells Mary not to hug him yet. God knows why, but something in Divine logic prevents it. He has not yet ascended to the Father. So he instructs her; “go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”!

Thus Mary’s weeping changes suddenly. Now there is excitability, incredulity, and even maybe a tinge of panic. She went and told the disciples what she had experienced; namely, the first encounter of the Risen Christ!

The weeping was over.

Folks, I wonder what side of the resurrection you and I are on? 

I know what side of the resurrection the world is on. All the warfare, violence, hatefulness, racism, and bigotry; in short, the brutal sin of it all. This world is on the other side of the The Resurrection and hasn’t got a clue as to what the Gospel is. The world has yet to hear the Good News that all our sins are forgiven and that death itself has been vanquished by the Love of God.

The world has yet to hear that Jesus planted a community on earth dedicated not just to the love God but to the love of all humankind. This without any exception. Period. As Peter said; "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to God.”

The world can be a depressing place and we ourselves can fall victim to its sin and despair. The angels and gardeners are likely to find us weeping. I suspect that you and I are frequently on the edge of Doubt and Despair!

But there are angels and gardeners all around us. In fact look around you today. You are surrounded by angels and gardeners. We can share with one another all our joys and all our sorrows. We can share our faith and doubt. We can tell our stories. We can wipe away the tears. We can proclaim the Gospel of Jesus!

And that’s because Jesus Christ is Risen today! We are the Easter People! We are on this side of the Resurrection! 

In the meantime we needn’t wait until we’re dead to know the victory of Jesus. It won’t do you much good to wait till then  to live eternal life! The living Christ is here and now in the angels and gardeners we meet all around us. You are the angels and gardeners of God for the sake of the world you live in.

Paul knew there was hardly a moment to loose in the new life he could claim in Jesus. He was forgiven. Jesus paid the price for his sins, even for his zealous persecution of the church. He more than made up for all that in the church building skills he developed. He was a teacher. He was an organizer. And what a writer! In his better moments his eloquence spoke of the love of God in such a way as to inspire us to love one another. His famous Hymn to Love is read at so many weddings. Intuitively his words speak to the heart of what we all aspire to in human relationships; “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” ~I Corinthians 13. 

What we aspire to in our life in Christ is eternal life. Still we must settle for reality. Again Paul says in today’s Epistle; “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and God’s grace toward me has not been in vain.” 

Eternal life is the Grace of God at work within us, as it was with Betty. I often remember her witness to the Victory of Jesus. Somewhere today she is leaping like a deer in the heart of Jesus. 

In the here and now of Eternal Life I invite you in the Name of the Church to Proclaim the Risen Christ: you, his Easter People!

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

Count the Stars of Heaven!

Count the Stars of Heaven

Have you ever been in the desert at night when the sky is as clear as crystal? I remember a night like that when we were out west not far from the Grand Canyon. We had taken the train cross country when the children were little, and we still speak of that amazing and memorable vacation. I remember one night stepping outside and gazing up to heaven and the sight I saw that night took my breath away. The stars filled the sky as if someone had spilt a saltskaker across the canopy of space, so vast was the multitude of stars. Being a city kid, I had never seen such a sight as this.

When I think of Abram and his encounter with God that night as he poured out his heart in lamentation over his childless estate, I think of my experience of that night in the desert. As I gazed into the heavens, I was immediately transported into the Royal Realm of the Holy One. I heard no voices that night, certainly nothing like Abram's encounter. But I did have a sense of the awesome dimension of God's creative love and mercy. There was a sense in that moment that as God embraced the Universe, so too God embraces the human heart; mine, my family's, and every family under heaven; such is God's abundant love and mercy toward us all.

It is in such a moment as this that Abram heard God's promise. He heard  that God would bless his servant with abundant hope. Abram would come to know that his descendants would be as numerous as the very stars of heaven he was looking at. We know from Science that we are all stardust. Parenthetically, istn't it interesting that stargazing leads to faith and physics, they ways of God and the ways of Science. Our Ash Wednesday liturgy teaches us; "Dust we are and to dust shall we return!" Stardust! God's stardust! Full of God's love, mercy, and hope. And we're told that Abram believed God. It was in that faith that God reckoned it to him as righteousness. 

The Psalmist tells us that the one thing we ask for and the one thing we  seek is that we may dwell in the House of the Lord forever. Here we are today in God's House, and so too in this world where we live, suspended in the heavens among the stars of the universe. Here we live in the House of the Lord forever. Amazing! "To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to seek Him in His Holy Temple". We are God people; we are God's Temple: the Temple of God's Universe.

On a different note, the Psalmist continues in vers 18 "O tarry and await the Lord’s pleasure; be strong, and he shall comfort your heart".

I know that to be true. As Helen Keller once said: "As the world is full of suffering, so is the world full of those who overcome it." During her last journey toward heaven, I asked Cindy's mom what she wanted in heaven; she looked at me as if to say; "What are you smoking?" But then she thought about it. Maybe there is a God. Maybe there is a heaven and if there is, she thought, "I want to be gathered to my loved ones; especially with my mother and my two sons whose deaths broke my heart." That's what I want from God.

What is it you want heaven to be for you? Perhaps it is too soon to ask such a question. God knows, I'm willing to put it off as long as I can. But this I know. The world may be full of suffering, but there are those who courageously overcome it as well. That heaven is in the here and now is what matters. Look at the stars of heaven as Abram did. The Father of Faith. Count those stars if you can, so shall your hopes be! Such is God's Love and Mercy.

The world we live in is full of those who renounce any hope of God, or heaven or eternal life. In today's second lesson, Paul laments those whose "end is destruction, and whose minds are set on earthly things". God knows, every time I do a wedding or a funeral, it is clear that there are many "out there" who have no church, no faith, no hope of anything more than what we know in the here and now. I know them well. There are many among our friends and family. For such as these, last week's memorial service for Nona was patiently endured until we got to the reception where we could greet family and friends and of course eat.

I was so grateful for the church that day. The love of Sarah Kelb, Priest in Charge, the women of St Paul's Church, North Andover who put on such a nice spread. The love was palpable. There were those who would have preferred that there be no service, that we rent a hall and hire a caterer. That's not how Cindy and I were going to do things. Oh no, Nona was going to have a good send off. The church was full of such faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these, as the scripture says is love. Thank you church. Your love is of the essence in setting forth the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is with such love as this that the stars of heaven shine down upon us and within us with the Glory of God.

But back to earth now for a minute. Jesus understood Jerusalem all too well, then as now. The place that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. Christians, Jews, Muslims, and many more besides. The human heart is so full of violent hatred is it not? And God looks over the heart of humanity with such deep and profound sorrow.

Jesus seeks to bring peace to the place called Jerusalem; the very name of the place means Peace.  

In English; Salem

In Arabic; Salaam

In Hebrew; Shalom

The etymology of Jerusalem means the "dwelling place of Peace" or the "foundation stone of Peace". 

How often Jesus would have gathered us within his embrace as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. But we would not. And we still won't.

It is not just religious differences, but racial, ethnic, gender and orientation that divides us. The "we/they" phenomenon is operational in our political and religious lives and it goes well beyond that simple good natured ribbing that has always been part of our mixing it up with one another. It spills over into vitriolic hatred, violence and ultimately warfare. 

As people of faith, we are called in Lent to repent; to prayer and fasting, self examination and denial. All people of faith are likewise called to repentence as Jews are at Yom Kippur, the holiest days of the year. At Ramadan, Muslims are called to prayer, fasting, self accountability, and works of charity. All people of faith are called to repentance.

How can we get it so wrong?

As with Abram, the Father of the three Great monotheistic Faith traditions, we all find ourselves under the same stars of heaven, and under the same authority of God. It is the same God who calls us all to look up to heaven and count the numbers of the stars if we can.

We are also required to pray, to fast, to examine ourselves and to acts of charity during our high holy days. And not just then, but throughout the rest ofour lives as well. 

In Judaism, God calls us to Obedience.

In Islam, God calls us to Mercy.

In Christianity, Jesus calls us to Love one another.

Obedience, Mercy, Love; these are not suggestions, these are our commandments! Yes look up to the stars of heaven; the words are written not just there in a far away place light years away, but within every human heart.

Perhaps we might remind ourselves as Paul does that our "citizenship is in heaven". I ran across these words of meditation in my prayers earlier this week in "Celtic Daily Prayer". They speak well of that kind of this kind of citizenship

Go peaceful

in gentleness

through the violence of these days.

Give freely.

Show tenderness

in all your ways.

Through darkness,

in troubled times

let holiness be your aim.

Seek wisdom.

Let faithfulness

burn like a flame.

God speed you!

God lead you,

and keep you wrapped around The Holy Heart!

May you be known by love.

Be righteous.

Speak truthfully

in a world of greed and lies.

Show kindness.

See everyone

through heaven’s eyes.

God hold you,

enfold you,

and keep you wrapped around The Holy Heart.

May you be known by love.

~Paul Field, Celtic Daily Prayer

In the Name of God; the most holy, undivided, and everlasting Trinity.

Amen.

Fr Paul

Passion Sunday Now and Then

Passion Sunday then and Now

At the moment of his death Time stands still!

The Sunday of the Passion of our Lord, Palm Sunday, has always meant a great deal to me. I loved getting my Palms as a child, the festive procession into the church, the wonderful music, and of course the dramatic reading of the Passion Narrative. It is a moment in the church year when time itself stands still and we contemplate the mighty acts by which our Salvation is given unto us.

It is also the Sunday I asked Cindy to marry me. I have often thought of how appropriate it was that we would happen to become engaged on that particular Sunday; Passion Sunday.

To tell you the truth there was a lot on my plate that year as there is every year for a parish priest. I was preparing all the Holy week services and I just didn’t need one more thing piled on. 

And so I said; “Just let me get past Easter and I’ll ask you then.”

To which she said; “A little less talk and a little more action!”

At which point I remembered the old English proverb; “The faint heart never won the fair lady.”

So I took the train to Boston and it was during that ride that I was shaking like a leaf. And I remember taking the escalator up to the 5th floor of the old Jordan Marsh department store where the wedding rings and the engagements rings were on display.

And I remember this all like it was yesterday. Behind the counter there was a diminutive lady by the name of Kelly, and I asked to look at the engagement rings.

She said; “Oh Father, you don’t want to be looking at those rings!”

Realizing then that I was wearing my clerical collar I said; “Oh this,

don’t worry about that, I’m an Episcopal priest.”

Mrs Kelly crossed herself and said; “Thanks be to God!” and breathed a generous sigh of relief and helped me find a nice ring.

I made a reservation at the Cafe Budapest, at the time, one of the finest restaurants in the City of Boston. I asked Cindy to go to dinner with me after church on Palm Sunday, and I think by now, she had a good inkling of what was a in the offing. 

And so it was, that after church that day we drove into the city and there was a lovely table set us with candles and a bud base and a red rose to greet us. We ordered dinner and a violinist came to the table and played exquisitely for us. 

I had put the ring into a Diamond match box so there wouldn’t be a bulge in my jacket pocket. Then I produced the ring and told her of my love and asked her hand in marriage. 

There was no hesitation, but a simple and uncomplicated declarative; “Yes.” We ordered a bottle of wine; “Egri Bikaver”, a popular Hungarian wine, the name of which means “Bull’s Blood”. I had  the Hungarian Goulash and the whole meal was a marvel.

When we got back to Cindy’s home to break the news to the family, Cindy’s little sister, Susan, just over 10 years of age at the time was alarmed at the news and said; “Oh no Cindy! Does that mean you’re going to be Irish now?”

That was 36 years ago.

Time stood still for us in that moment and for me, that moment still stands as the signature moment of my life. And the Passion we declared for one another bound ourselves to one another that day and since.

And we’ve seen each other and many others through many moments of joy and suffering since. As many of you have, through life and death, marriage and divorce, well being and illness. We stood with our son during his stroke and in the aftermath of his recovery. We’ve stood with parents at the death of their children. And life with all its joy and all of its suffering goes on. 

Time stands still for all of us with a love like this.

And Time stands still when we look to Jesus and a love like his.

We look to Jesus today and remember his Passion a latin word whose root meaning is to suffer, in the sense of a very intense feeling of devoted love. No doubt in his Passion you will see how much he loves you. It is a love so intense that we are bound to the Beloved in this Passion for all time. As two young lovers may do in their youth, or when they nurture and rear their children and then send them off into the world and then grow old together and eventually commend one another to God.

Time stands still for us in our Passion for God and God for us and in our Love for one another.

This Passion of our Lord binds us together forever.

Yes he suffered our of his love for us.

Yes he died.

Yes he is risen

Yes he will come again. 

And until he does we will come to this Table week in and week out where the candles are lit, the flowers are set and the music plays on. We will break this Bread and pass this Cup.

His Body and His Blood.

Received into our Body and our Blood

And we are bound together as those who love one another.

Hosanna Lord hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the Highest.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of The Holy Spirit. Amen

Fr Paul

Cheer up!

Be of Good Cheer

Our hope for Spring is not in yet another dreary weather forecast for later today and tomorrow. Certainly not. We are so done with this winter. As the old saying goes, “Put a fork in me, I’m done!”. Our hope for Spring is in the signs and portents of the heavens; Daylight Saving Time begins in seven days, the official start of Spring begins in only 18 days, and opening day for the Red Sox is only 29 days away! Cheer up, yes, there is hope!

Of all the doctrines of the Christian Church none is more central to our faith in an age of epidemic depression and anxiety, than the doctrine of the Christian Hope. In point of fact of the Five Mighty Acts of God, the Christian Hope is the final and ultimate hope we have in God. 

Let us review the material class; what are the Five Mighty Acts of God as described in our Catechism?

1.   The Creation
2.   The Exodus
3.   Jesus Christ
4.   The Church
5.   The Christian Hope 

In the words of the Catechism on page 861 in the Book of Common Prayer, we read,

Q.

What is the Christian hope?

A.

The Christian hope is to live with confidence in newness 

and fullness of life, and to await the coming of Christ in 

glory, and the completion of God's purpose for the 

world.

Imagine living with such a confidence. Imagine living a Transfigured life, born anew in the living hope of an abundant life with the Risen Christ, in such a way that all our relationships are transfigured by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

But the present is very much with us. Things did not work out as we had hoped during the Arab Spring in Egypt. Neither are they working out in the Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula as we had hoped. We are holding our breath now as Vladimir Putin and the Russian parliament authorize the use of military force in Crimea. The President of the United States has warned the Russians of serious consequences if they continue to raise tensions in the region. 

There are days when the search for hope, especially the hope of peace is but a very faint glimmer in a darksome sky. Events have a power of their own, and our efforts seem so feeble and human in the face of history.

Whether it is in the matter of international relations, or those more close to home, or even within our own internal spirits, the search for hope can seem at time like a search for a needle in a haystack.

Enter Jesus Christ now onto the stage of sacred history. Enter now the Feast Day of the Transfiguration. In the Christian Calendar in Anglicanism, it is recognized for its importance on both August sixth and on the Sunday next before Ash Wednesday.

The event is described in today’s Gospel. Six days previous, Jesus and his disciples were at Caesarea Philippi far to the north of Israel in what we now know as the Golan Heights. I was amazed when I visited the area during my first Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. There at one of the three sources of the Jordan River was the Temple of Pan. Pan was a very popular Greek god in the region. He was god of the wild, of shepherds and flocks, of nature and mountain wilds, rustic music and a companion to the nymphs. Pan was a very popular god indeed.

With this Temple as a backdrop, you will remember Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets”. Jesus pressed on, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God”. Jesus said an interesting thing then, “Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.”

The recognition of Jesus as the Messiah did not and does not come from a theological treatise or debate, or of one convincing argument or another. It comes from a direct encounter with the living Christ. It comes from deep within and in the presence of God made flesh and blood in our midst.  And it is still the case that our faith is founded more firmly on who we are and what we do, than on what we say or what we think. It is in the doing of our faith that we make a difference in our own lives as well as in the lives of others. When we come to our Eucharist today, please do not miss the joy and the mystery of Christ made flesh and blood to us in the bread and wine we share.

It was then that Jesus took his disciples up a high mountain, probably nearby Mount Hermon, 9,000 feet high. I’ve seen that mountain. It is an impressive sight. It is there that Jesus is transfigured in their sight, made whiter than any bleaching agent on earth could make him we’re told, a brilliant and radiant source Light, like that which is spoken of in John’s Gospel. “I am the Light of the world”. 

Alongside Jesus there appear Moses and Elijah; representing the Law and the Prophets of course. These great figures of sacred history teach us again and again of the influence of God’s action in history. Moses brings us from slavery to freedom and God’s Law becomes our Grace to guide us into all truth, and it is this Law Jesus is said to fulfill. Further into sacred history, the Prophets came to deliver all God’s people into Justice, and to warn us that our tendency will always be to fall back again and again into relationships of oppression and oppressed. We will seek other gods whether Pan or or the Golden Calf or the Bronze Bull on Wall Street. Make no mistake, many worship the “Almighty Dollar”, “The bottom Line” and no matter how far the divide separates the haves from the have nots, many there are who will cling to the gods we make on our own. The Law and the Prophets warn us again and again that such a posture will doom a nation. 

Moses and Elijah appear and the disciples suggest they build three “booths” or what we might call “lean to’s”. After all, it gets cold and windy high up upon a mountain like that. 

Jesus is Transfigured, in the Greek he undergoes a “metamorphosis”. He is entirely changed, much like he was at his baptism, and again much like he will be in his death and resurrection. The disciples thought “lean to’s” might help capture the moment. But they were in for a grander bargain by far than a moment or two with Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. Now they and we live a lifetime with him, in him and through him. The bonds of sin and death are broken. We are entirely changed in our baptism, our transfiguration, and indeed in our death and resurrection. 

Thus we live with confidence in the knowledge of a reasonable and holy in the joyful expectation of eternal life with all those we love both in this life and in the life to come.

Yes. Confidence. Hope. Eternal Life. These great words given to us by the power of God in the Person of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit give us the confidence to live with enduring confidence and hope. 

When Moses went up upon the mountain to receive the Law or when he went in before the Presence of God, he too was enveloped by the Glory of God. His face shone like the sun. God knows he had his challenges day after day, and after all he did for God, Moses died on Mount Nebo and he never got to step foot in the Promised Land.  In the memorable words of Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham. “My dear, all life is a series of problems which we must try and solve. First one, then the next, and the next, until at last, we die.” 

I suppose those of a lesser mettle would find such an assessment of life to be discouraging, but not when lived by one with a sense of backbone and character. The confidence and the hope with with Jesus lived, or any number of those we look up to and there are many, it is their confidence and hope that encourage us. 

In the words of the Apostle Paul, we have a more theological take on the notion, “We also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” It is this that keeps up going. 

Yes, be of good cheer! There is hope!

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of The Holy Spirit.

Fr Paul

A Pilgrimage to France

St Gabriel's Youth Journey to France

"Encountering God"

Every day we gathered for Morning Prayer and Compline, led primarily by our Pilgrims.

On our way to the Cathedral at Rouen, I reminded our pilgrims that over the great west doors at the cathedrals, we will see sculptures of the Last Judgment. The passage from scripture on which this art is based is from Matthew 25:31ff. "Insofar as you have done it to one of the least of these, you have done it to me". The passage is about God's judgment of the nations of the earth. Read the passage yourself. The poor, the hungry, the homeless, the suffering the outcast are among those Jesus considers the "least of these". Everyone who enters the greatest cathedrals of France sees the same scene. Those who presented this scene to the faithful understood how important the final judgment is to our ultimate understanding of scripture is about. Kings and Queens must enter the Cathedrals by these same doors. This is a reminder of how the rich and powerful are to treat those who are not so blessed.

It came to me that the encounter with God by Moses was a good way to organize our thoughts for this pilgrimage.

We began our first full day in France with the story of Moses at the burning bush. The scripture says that God spoke to Moses out of the burning bush to say; "Take off your shoes, for the land on which you stand is holy ground". I explained to our Pilgrims that it is obvious that the much of the ground on which we stood throughout this pilgrimage was holy. I suggested to our pilgrims that it is always the case that the ground on which they stand is holy, because life itself is holy.

Next we read that God told Moses that he had seen the suffering of God's people. God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and say; "Let my people go." The question for our lives then is that we too see the suffering of God's people. How shall we go to our "Pharaoh" to say; "Let my people go". How shall we confront the reality of injustice and oppression in our time.

When we came to the following day of our pilgrimage, we read in the same chapter (Exodus 3) that God revealed his Name to Moses: "I AM". It appears that God's Name has to do with the very nature of God's Being. So too, as we awaken to our "being" we learn of who we are and who God is for us. This is the very essence of our pilgrimage. Several of our pilgrims walked the labyrinth at Chartres and discovered God's heart beating within them. 

On our way to worship at the American Cathedral in Paris, we moved on to a few verses from the Sermon on the Mount. There comes a time in a Pilgrim's journey, when we are no longer searching so much as we now become the source of God's own Light. Thus we become the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world".

On preparing for our return home I read the concluding words of the Sermon on the Mount. "Those who listen to these words of mine and acts on them will be like the one who builds his home on rock. When the storms come, the rain, the floods, the winds, the house did not fall, because it was built on rock. But the foolish one who does not do so will be like the foolish one who builds his home on sand, and when the storms arise, the house will fall, and great will be the fall of that house."

Thus the St Gabriel's Pilgrimage 2013 was about encountering God in the least of these, at God's burning bush. We are standing on holy ground, and God's ask us to notice the suffering of God's people. God's Name is holy and so is ours so we become the salt of the earth and the light of the world. As you listen to God and do as God asks you will build your lives on solid ground; on rock.

I will stand by those words with joy in my heart of these young people and pray that they will long remember this journey to the heart of God.

Fr Paul