"Jerusalem, Jerusalem"

 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem”

Above from the altar of Dominus Flevit Church on the Mount of Olives

The root meaning of “Jerusalem” is “cornerstone of Peace”. God choose this place as the location for the death of Jesus. It is as if that one act would become the cornerstone upon which the peace of the world would be built.

Isn’t that interesting! That God would choose Jerusalem, the crossroads of many cultures, empires and religions; here Jesus will die. It is a festival city, occupied throughout all time by one  foreign occupation force after another, and a home for the three monotheistic religions. 

This chief cornerstone is also the crossroads of so many struggles. It is tragically the altar upon which a great deal of human bloodshed occurs. Not only does Jesus die there, so too we find ourselves in conflict, hateful and violent. Countless prophets and people die there throughout the centuries and into the present.

But we needn't look that far away to see hateful conflict. Cast your eyes upon Washington, DC. You may be a Republican or a Democrat, a Conservative or a Liberal. Sooner or later we come to January 6th. 

Perhaps you are a mainstream Christian, or a born again Evangelical right wing extremist. Or you may wish too have nothing to do with organized religion. For you the intelligent option is secular humanism or outright atheism. 

Truth be told the organized churches have not always distinguished themselves in the struggles for racial justice and freedom for all. In fact too many of our churches harbor superstition and prejudice and are racked with one scandal after another. Like many of our institutions, we question everything. 

The nations are in an uproar. Peace has shaken us to the core in the Ukraine. Putin’s invasion has laid waste to one city after another. The whole world is anxiously watching as we ask ourselves how we can contain the conflict or how can we intervene without making matters worse?

The litany of conflict is endless. Race, religion and politics. Too many lives lost. 

Jesus does not mince words as he surveys the history of the City.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

Using the image of a mother hen, our Lord aches to bring us under his/her/their pinions. It is a stunning image as I see it; the transgendered image of Jesus. As she spreads her wings over her chicks or as he stretches out his arms upon a cross; this is God’s vision of obedience.

Throughout salvation history the vision of expansiveness is beyond human telling. When Abram contemplated being childless, God told him to look up at the stars in the heavens. “Count them if you can. So shall your descents be!” And Abram believed in God and God counted that belief as righteousness. When we have the kind of belief that is able to see things as God does, then we can begin to see the expansiveness of God’s love. It is that faith that becomes the source of our righteousness. This is the rock our our faith upon which God builds the foundation of Peace.

But the Pharisees warn Jesus, “Herod wants to kill you.” 

Jesus is nonplussed in the face of raw power, “You go and tell that fox for me. ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’”

I wish there were something we could do about the Herods of this world. There’s something in me that wants to pray for a celestial being to slip something into Herod’s borscht when he’s not looking. But perish that thought right now. 

God’s eyes and ours must wait and watch as the children and the elderly, their moms and dads lay awake in the night, bombs and missiles strike their homes. God’s eyes and ours must watch and wait as Jesus dies on the cross. The mother hen hides her brood under her wings but what is she against the might of Herod’s weaponry?

The prayer of St. Francis begins “Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with me.” I wonder how can we hope for a negotiated settlement in the Ukraine when our own Congressional representatives cannot even speak to one with a civil tongue in their heads? How can we hope for a negotiated peace with Russia when we cannot even sit at our family gatherings and manage civil and substantive conversations over things that matter to us like civil policy?

The world we live in is desperately broken. We are divided and enslaved by sin. We have forgotten how to listen and to hear the hearts of one another. There is too much contempt in the human heart. 

If this nation cannot find what it means to be one nation under God or if our families cannot come together at Thanksgiving or Easter to Bless God and each other then we have no idea what the Cross of Christ stands for. 

The vertical dimension of that cross describes the first commandment; “You shall love the lord your God with all you heart, mind, soul and strength”. And the horizontal dimension of that cross is Jesus’ commandment; “love one another”. 

She/he/they stands brooding over Jerusalem as a hen seeks to gather her chicks, but they would not! This is the first and fundamental fact of human and salvation history.

When all else fails, we turn to Jesus because it is in only him that we find unity, faith, love, forgiveness and most difficult of all, reconciliation. What Churchill said of Americans can be said of all humankind; “You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they’ve tried everything else first!”

St Paul surveys the human condition in today’s Epistle; “look at them, the enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.”

Jesus is the cornerstone of Peace. It is on his death and moreover his Resurrection that we find our Peace and our Hope. “Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with me. “

In the Name of God; the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen. 

Fr Paul

Below are the readings for the Second Sunday in Lent highlighted by with words and thoughts that speak to my heart and mind.

Second Sunday in Lent

The Collect:

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.

When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
   whom then shall I fear? *
       the Lord is the strength of my life;
       of whom then shall I be afraid?
When evildoers came upon me to eat up my flesh, *
       it was they, my foes and my adversaries, who
                             stumbled and fell.
Though an army should encamp against me, *
       yet my heart shall not be afraid;
And though war should rise up against me, *
       yet will I put my trust in him.
One thing have I asked of the Lord;
   one thing I seek; *
       that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days
                            of my life;
To behold the fair beauty of the Lord *
       and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble he shall keep me safe
                           in his shelter; *
       he shall hide me in the secrecy of his dwelling
       and set me high upon a rock.
Even now he lifts up my head *
       above my enemies round about me.
Therefore I will offer in his dwelling an oblation
   with sounds of great gladness; *
       I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Hearken to my voice, O Lord, when I call; *
       have mercy on me and answer me.
You speak in my heart and say, “Seek my face.” *
       Your face, Lord, will I seek.
Hide not your face from me, *
       nor turn away your servant in displeasure.
You have been my helper;
     cast me not away; *
       do not forsake me, O God of my salvation.
Though my father and my mother forsake me, *
       the Lord will sustain me.
Show me your way, O Lord; *
       lead me on a level path, because of my enemies.
Deliver me not into the hand of my adversaries, *
       for false witnesses have risen up against me,
       and also those who speak malice.
What if I had not believed
    that I should see the goodness of the Lord *
       in the land of the living!
O tarry and await the Lord’s pleasure;
    be strong, and he shall comfort your heart; *
       wait patiently for the Lord.

Epistle: Philippians 3:17-4:1

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

Gospel: Luke 13:31-35

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

"I want to go home"

                                                        

“I Want to Go Home” 

This narrative in the Passover Haggadah, begins thus:

My father was a wandering Aramean.

It was a difficult conversation. Cindy and I had agreed to answer a call to “retirement” and to serve part time at St. Peter’s Church in Salem, Massachusetts. It was our ticket home. We had served St. Mark’s Church in Saint Albans, WV for 11 years. I had enough years of credited service in the church to receive my full pension. That together with income from St. Peter’s would actually give us a respectable salary increase. I had spent many years of my professional life too far away. It was time to go home.

First however came that difficult conversation. I made an appointment with the Senior Warden. We had lunch at our customary meeting place when important matters needed to be discussed. I think he knew what was coming. When I informed him that I would be “retiring” at the end of December in 2006, his response was not one I could repeat here in exactly the same terms he used at the time. Suffice it to say, we had forged a close relationship as pastor/parishioner. His family had become close to our own.

Bruce was a man of enormous faith. He looked intently at me and said after that initial reaction, “Perhaps this is God’s way of looking out for you and your family”.

As it turned out I needed good medical care and I received that at Mass General. Cindy needed to be near her family as her folks approached their riper years. And Joshua was able to find a decent job at Logan Airport with American Airlines.

Deep within all humankind there is a yearning to go home. In our first lesson we hear that ancient creedal formula as recited by all Hebraica as a part of the Liturgy of the Passover Haggadah; “A wandering Aramean was my father”. In Rabbinical tradition the wandering Aramean was Jacob. We understood ourselves to be a people enslaved and in exile, but also a people for whom God would intervene to bring us freedom and the Law.

Many of us are a people who wander far from our homes in our origin stories. Unless we are among the peoples whose origin stories are from these lands. Often we were a people driven out of our homes by invading armies. History recounts endless examples of invasion and slavery. The Viking invasions of the British Isles in the seventh century, the European invasion of Colonial America, and of course our own participation in the slave trade. Presently, the Russian invasion of the Ukraine leaves us edgy about what comes next in our own history. 

We are driven time and again into the Wilderness. There, we are confronted with our demons. Jesus is haunted by the Evil One in today’s fascinating account of his own wilderness experience. 

Jesus ate nothing during those forty days. The Devil and Jesus knew he could turn stone into bread if he wished. How tempting,

when you are hungry to make such a command. It would be so easy. But humankind does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The Desert Fathers and Mothers often repeated those very words when they were famished.  In prayer their spirits were fed. And there is the wonderful story of a couple that went to St. Columba for marriage counsel. He fasted with them for one night. God’s word came to them in the long, lonely, hungry silence and they heard God speak to their hearts of their love for each other. That’s a unique approach to marriage counseling. Yes, humankind does not live by bread alone.

It was tempting when the Devil showed Jesus the glory of the nations. Imagine the authority and the power he has at his disposal, and all Jesus had to do was worship Satan. It is easy to give in to the evil of warfare. You can see the rubble throughout the nations during and after armed conflict. It is terrifying. Imagine having all that power at your disposal. But Jesus is unarmed. His only weapon is obedience to the law of God; love, forgiveness and reconciliation. Again and again we have to learn what Martin Luther King reminds us; “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” And hear these words from Dr King; “Evil may so shape events that Caesar will occupy a palace and Christ a cross, but one day that same Christ will rise up and divide history”. There is no room for violence or hatred in the heart of Jesus; his only possible answer to Satan is; “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

The Last Temptation of Christ is perhaps his most compelling. “Prove it Jesus. Prove you are the Son of God. Throw yourself off the pinnacle of the Temple so we can all believe you.” The tempter quotes Scripture; ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ Jesus’ reply is another quote from Scripture; ’Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ As to proving that he is the Son of God, look, even if he does rise from the dead and manifestly appears to the women first of all, then to the twelve and more than 500 at one time, still they will not believe. How would throwing himself off the Pinnacle of the Temple prove anything?

Our faith is tested time and again. We are tempted to turn away in fear. We are now in the Wilderness of War. God knows what will become of us. A mind set of cold and calculating thought is hard to predict as is its stability. 

Jesus directs us in the wilderness experience to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, to worship God and worship God alone and not to yield to the many temptations that beset us at times like this.

For as St. Paul puts it; “The word is near you,” it is “on your lips and in your heart”. It is “the word of faith that we proclaim”.

I am glad I am at home where I can retire again and again and again. It has been more than 15 years since I retired the first time. The search for peace continues. There have been many wars in all the intervening years. But as long as I am among a people of faith like yourselves, it is worth keeping the candle of faith burning. Because the word of God is always very near.

In the Name of God, the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen. 

Fr. Paul

Below are the readings appointed to be read on the First Sunday of Lent along with highlights of those thoughts that speak to my heart. 

The Collect:

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Deuteronomy 26:1-11

When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, “Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God: “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.” You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.

Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, *
       abides under the shadow of the Almighty.
He shall say to the Lord,
  “You are my refuge and my stronghold, *
       my God in whom I put my trust.”
Because you have made the Lord your refuge, *
       and the Most High your habitation,
There shall no evil happen to you, *
       neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
For he shall give his angels charge over you, *
       to keep you in all your ways.
They shall bear you in their hands, *
       lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the lion and adder; *
       you shall trample the young lion and the serpent
                              under your feet.
Because he is bound to me in love,
     therefore will I deliver him; *
       I will protect him, because he knows my Name.
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; *
       I am with him in trouble;
       I will rescue him and bring him to honor.
With long life will I satisfy him, *
       and show him my salvation.

Epistle: Romans 10:8b-13

“The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.”

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Gospel: Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

"I wish I could do more!"

 “I wish I could do more!”

Above; Our Lady of Kyiv

In the past week I’ve heard my heart, my wife and many more say those exact words. “I wish I could do more!”  The people of the Ukraine have entered into the Wilderness of War. Young men and old take up arms to defend their homeland and their families. Half a million refugees have already fled into Poland, Romania and Moldova. We are learning our Eastern European geography once again. In our own minuscule attempt at defiance we’re saying Kyiv as the Ukrainians say it and not Kiev as the Russians do. “I wish I could do more!”

The haunting words of the First Lesson are front and center on the world stage of history;

“Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near--

a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!

Like blackness spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful army comes.”

We hope and pray for God’s army to protect us rather than for Putin’s army to menace a people who only want to live in peace.

Into the Wilderness we go. Ash Wednesday comes to us this year at exactly the right time. Jesus goes into his own wilderness and there he wrestles with his demons. “I wish I could do more”. 

But here there is something you can do. In fact I am going to recommend that you do three things as you wrestle with your inner life in the Wilderness of this particular Lent.

First, let us begin with a period of self examination. I know that sounds vastly inadequate in comparison to what the folks in the Ukraine are going through or in terms of what Jesus was preparing himself to do for us. But we have to begin somewhere.

Take a good look at your own life. Pray as Jesus taught us to pray in today’s Gospel; “Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” 

Ask some questions like; What is important to you and what can you let go of? Where are your areas of satisfaction and frustration? In what ways are you energized and joyous? Where are you depleted and downcast? How do you spend the precious time God gives you? Think of your family and friends. They are counting on you and your wisdom, your love and in so many cases your forgiveness. Perhaps you are the one who is lost. You may be the one in need for wisdom, love, encouragement and forgiveness. And so much more. The Wilderness of our own souls has much to teach us. Go there with Jesus this Lent and learn with him. This is something you can do.

Secondly, read something. Turn off the TV and the Radio. Practice Silence for a time. I can recommend all kinds of books to read if you like. Perhaps you could read something from Kenneth Mcintosh. His book; “Water from an Ancient Well” was worth reading. Or anything by John Philip Newell. I recently finished “Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul”. On the other hand, you could pick up any book by any author and learn from it. It really doesn’t matter. Or study with Cathy the book she is planning to share with you during our own congregation’s Lenten journey. There are so many things to read for you heart and soul’s health.

Thirdly, sacrifice something. I realize that the idea of sacrifice is not a popular one but I am thinking of the folks in the Ukraine and what little I can do to share the journey with them. Perhaps there is something I can give up. Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights. Perhaps there is something to this idea of sacrifice. Every great religion on earth has a time of self discipline and sacrifice. Perhaps it is time to pray. 

Finally, be of good cheer. This is what keeps us going as we journey through life’s many wilderness periods. We need each other to talk to, share joys and sorrows. This is what makes me so grateful to be among a people like you. Somehow we’ve made it through all of what history has thrown at us throughout these thousands of years. Your love, your kindness and your good cheer. Your dogged resiliency.

David Bowman was an impish sort of fellow who loved to banter back and forth with his friends. When he became the Bishop of New Western New York he remained himself. He would call the clergy first thing every Ash Wednesday with a cheerful; “Have a gloomy Lent.” Everybody had a good laugh and to this day I receive a phone call from a former parishioner who loved that story. “Have a gloomy Lent, Fr Paul”, says she. And we both laugh.

We may or may not find a way to do more. But what we will do is to find a way to do enough. 

In the Name of God; the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen

Fr Paul

 

Is that You Jesus?

Is that You Jesus?

This Sunday in the Church Year we often read “On the Road to Emmaus”; the story of Jesus walking with yet unbeknownst to his disciples. He asks what they are talking about. They hasten to tell him the story; “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what’s been going on?”  They tell the stranger their amazing story. When they stop for supper Jesus gives thanks, breaks bread and then they realize, this is Jesus. Suddenly he vanishes. In the fullness of time an even fuller recognition dawns upon them that Christ often appears in a stranger’s presence.

Look around you, day in day out, here in this sacred space, or out there in that sacred space; at work, at school, at home and out and about running errands. If you take a moment you may recognize that Christ is present in friend and stranger alike in some extraordinary and in some very ordinary moments. 

“Be known to us in the breaking of the bread. Jesus, open the eyes of our faith!” today’s Collect invites us to pray. So too in in today’s Gospel Jesus is known to his disciples in the eating of a piece of broiled fish. Then he opened their minds to understand. 

There is symbolism in sharing a meal, as sociologists tell us. A study at UCLA shows; “In every society, food is highly symbolic, in the sense that members imbue particular kinds and qualities of food with sentimental, moral, religious, and health-related meanings.” This and other studies show that sharing a meal changes relationships qualitatively. Go to dinner with somebody you care about and the bond between you changes, deepens. Jesus knew this obviously, when he broke bread with us. 

The Eucharist then is essentially missional in nature to Jesus. As the Gospel says as they eat the Body and Blood; “Go forward and tell the whole world the good news about repentance and forgiveness, beginning right here” in Haverhill and then to all nations. The word liturgy in the ancient Graeco-Roman world means “public service” like road building or bridge building. We’ve got work to do to proclaim the Gospel right here, right now! This is our Liturgy; our Public Service.

And since the Lectionary does not tell the Emmaus story today, I’d like to tell you another story. It has a contemporary ring to it because it deals with a very current reality; the epidemic of depression. Depression is what my Spiritual Director calls; “The common cold; or the influenza outbreak of the Modern World.”

St. Francis and Brother Leo; I love the story and it goes like this;

One day Saint Francis and brother Leo were walking down the road. Noticing Leo was depressed, Francis turned and asked, “Leo, do you know what it means to be pure of heart?”

“Of course. It means to have no sins, faults or weaknesses to reproach myself for.”

“Ah,” said Francis, “now I understand why you're sad. We will always have something to reproach ourselves for.”

“Right,” said Leo. “That's why I despair of ever arriving at purity of heart.”

“Leo, listen carefully to me. Don't be so preoccupied with the purity of your heart. Turn and look at Jesus. Admire Him. Rejoice that He is who He is—your Brother, your Friend, your Lord and Savior. That, dear brother, is what it means to be pure of heart. And once you've turned to Jesus, don't turn back and look at yourself. Don't wonder where you stand with Jesus.”

“The sadness of not being perfect, the discovery that you really are sinful, is a feeling much too human, even borders on idolatry. Focus your vision outside yourself, on the beauty, graciousness and compassion of Jesus Christ. The pure of heart praise Him from sunrise to sundown.”

“Even when they feel broken, feeble, distracted, insecure and uncertain, they are able to release it into His peace. A heart like that is stripped and filled-stripped of self and filled with the fullness of God. It is enough that Jesus is Lord.”

After a long pause, Leo said, “Still, Francis, the Lord demands our effort and fidelity.”

"No doubt about that,” replied Francis. “But holiness is not a personal achievement. It's an emptiness you discover in yourself. Instead of resenting it, you accept it and it becomes the free space where Jesus can create anew. To cry out, ‘You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord,' that is what it means to be pure of heart. And it doesn't come by your Herculean efforts and threadbare resolutions.”

“Then how?” asked Leo.

“Simply hoard nothing to yourself; sweep the house clean. Sweep out even the attic, even the nagging, painful consciousness of your past. Accept being shipwrecked. Renounce everything that is heavy, even the weight of your sins. See only the compassion, the infinite patience and the tender love of Christ. Jesus is Lord. That suffices. Your guilt and reproach disappear into the nothingness of non-attention. You are no longer aware of yourself, like the sparrow aloft and free in the azure sky. Even the desire for holiness is transformed into a pure and simple desire for Jesus.”

Leo listened gravely as he walked along beside Francis. Step by step he felt his heart grow lighter as a profound peace flooded his soul ( a story from Brennan Manning).

Yes. Exactly. Peace. 

This is what Jesus said to us in his Risen power; “Peace be with you.” Peace, the Peace that passes all understanding. It is no further away than turning to him in every fear, anxiety, and preoccupation of your life.

I will confess to you a certain agitation of spirit whenever we launch airstrikes in a foreign land. Naturally, the risk of military escalation is always present. Naturally, I am anxious and preoccupied with the prospect of further conflict. Likewise in our political life. The failure of civil discourse and loss of the art of conversation concerns me. 

I feel much like the Psalmist in today’s Psalm; 

“On that we might see better times!” 

Still, notice how the Psalmist deals with this universal lamentation as the prayer continues into the very next verse?

“Lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O Lord.

7 You have put gladness in my heart, *

more than when grain and wine and oil increase.

8 I lie down in peace; at once I fall asleep; *

for only you, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” ~Psalm 4

You see, turn to this Mighty God and find rest for your souls, “for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (From Matthew 11:28-30)

Thankfully we have one another to share our hearts concerns and love, and more thankfully still we can turn to Jesus and come to this altar rail and receive him into our eucharistic family life. Here Jesus becomes known to us in the breaking of the bread. Here we become one in our diversity of life; whoever you are, wherever and whenever you are from. Here we meet and we become one with each other and one with Jesus at this altar rail. 

Look at the extraordinary claims John makes in today’s Epistle. “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are… Beloved, we are God's children now” This is what Leo was just coming to understand. Sin is lifted away the more we live into the life that is Jesus the Risen Christ. John explains the reality of redemption in this way; “Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins”.

The sin is wiped away and so is all the guilt…but remember this is not your doing or your achievement. Jesus did all that. The love of God does all that. Live your lives there and you will be freed from the power of sin’s merciless, depressing, grasp. Like Leo…you will come to discover this deep and abiding joy; 

“Leo listened gravely as he walked along beside Francis. Step by step he felt his heart grow lighter as a profound peace flooded his soul.”

And so may it be for us all, Amen.

In the Name of God, the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.

Fr Paul.