Mary, Mother of God

Mary, Mother of God
1 January 2012
Rev Les Ruhrmund

Let me take this opportunity of wishing you God’s richest blessings on this New Year’s Day on which we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. A week ago we celebrated the birth of Jesus, our Saviour. Today we give thanks and honour and devotion to the woman who made that possible. Without Mary there is no Christmas as we know it. What a marvellous and appropriate way to start a new year, a new beginning, with the one who was herself the embodiment of a new beginning; Mary, the New Eve.

While the date of 1^st January for the celebration of this feast was only formally introduced into the liturgical calendar in 1974, the Church has been celebrating Mary, Mother of God for very many centuries. By the 5th century already it was being celebrated in France and Spain on the Sunday before Christmas.

There are other feasts through the year celebrating Mary’s life and the role that she played in God’s plan for our salvation but today we focus on Mary as the Mother of God. A title that is perhaps as contentious in Protestant Christianity today as it was in the early Church in the 4^th and 5^th centuries.

Origen of Alexandria in the third century is often cited as the earliest known author to have referred to Mary as the Mother of God and the earliest known Marian prayer called ‘Beneath Thy Protection’ dating back to about AD 250, also uses this title. A copy of the text of this prayer written on papyrus was rediscovered in Egypt in 1917. The direct English translation of the Greek reads:

Beneath your protection,

we take refuge, O Mother of God:

do not despise our petitions in time of trouble:

but rescue us from dangers,

only pure, only blessed one.

The Latin translation (Sub Tuum Praesidium) has been put to music many times most notably perhaps by Mozart and Salieri (there are least 50 versions posted on Youtube).

The ecumenical council that took place in Ephesus in AD 431 was convened specifically to discuss a serious dispute that had arisen about the use of this title of Mother of God for Mary. The Patriarch of Constantinople at that time, a man named Nestorius, maintained that Christ had two persons – one divine and one human – and he condemned the use of the reference to Mary as the Mother of God. He insisted that the most that could be said of Mary was that she gave birth to the human person of Jesus and not the divine. The council condemned his teachings as heresy and he was swiftly retired and eventually exiled to a monastery in Egypt.

One of Nestorius’s greatest opponents, Cyril of Alexandria,  wrote “I am amazed that there are some who are entirely in doubt as to whether the holy Virgin should be called Mother of God (Theotokos) or not. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how is the holy Virgin who gave [Him] birth, not the Mother of God (Theotokos)?

Affirming Mary as Mother of God has more to do with who Jesus is, than who Mary is. Mary was human as we are and obviously could not be the origin of a divine person but Jesus took his human nature from Mary.  For nine months she carried in her womb and then gave birth to God incarnate; Jesus, fully human and fully divine. She was in every sense his mother.

Looking at our own mothers is another way of perhaps understanding this better. My Mom only gave me 50% of my genetic make-up, the other 50% came from my Dad. My soul came from God. But my Mom gave birth to the complete me – body and soul. She is my mother and I am her son. Mary is the Mother of God because she’s the mother of Jesus, who is God.

This is traditionally the day when we make resolutions about changes we want to make in our lives in the year to come.

This is when we decide…

To lose weight …again.

To get more exercise …again.

To put more time aside for prayer ….

To eat more healthily; perhaps quit smoking or drinking;

To spend less money and save more; to worry less and laugh more …….

May I suggest that we add to the list a resolution taken from today’s Gospel reading?

Let us in the year ahead be more like the shepherds.

After they had seen Jesus in the manger with his mother Mary and Joseph they went back to the fields where they were watching their sheep ‘glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.”

We have hung the decorations, admired the lights, sung the carols, exchanged gifts and celebrated with a feast. We have marvelled at the mystery and the wonder of God coming into our world.

But what do we do now?

What do we do with what we have heard, seen and experienced?

If we just wrap up the lights, put the ornaments back in tissue paper and pack away the presents, it has been for nothing.
We need to tell the world what we know, what we believe, what we hold to be true in our hearts.

The shepherds went back into the fields to tell the story and share the good news – they were the first evangelists.  And so it needs to be with us.

Mary, the Mother of God – the one who presumably showed the newborn Jesus to the shepherds – is the one who brought Christ into the world.

And now it is up to us to bring Christ into the world.

Let us resolve, then, this year to do something more challenging, more daunting, more difficult than just giving up desert or spending time on the treadmill.

Resolve to love those who seem unlovable; to remember those who are forgotten; to accept those whom others reject; to forgive those who have hurt us; and to pray for those whom we’d rather condemn.

In these ways and more, we can be the shepherds to our world, proclaiming in our own way what we have seen and experienced in Bethlehem.

And maybe, in doing all that, we can do our part to bring about what this holy season represents. We can indeed bring tidings of comfort and joy. We can bring the Prince of Peace into the lives of those we meet and those we love.

Let’s join our hearts and voices now and say together that ancient and much loved prayer:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee …………

Exam Prep Time

Christ The King Year A
20 November 2011
Rev Les Ruhrmund

We’ve come to the end of another liturgical year and today we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King; Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Universal King. The Resurrection set up a situation that affected the whole of humankind for all time. There is no place or situation that is outside Christ because there is no place or situation that is outside grace and the Holy Spirit. God’s grace is offered to all and since all grace comes from (and leads to) Christ, Christ is present to all; even to those who do not know and acknowledge him. Christ is the Universal King.

The readings for this glorious celebration of Christ the King are appropriately and particularly beautiful.

Ezekiel in the first reading, written about 550 years before Jesus was born, uses the much loved image of God as the good shepherd tending the flock, leading them to rest in good pastures where the lost will be sought after and those who stray brought back, where the injured will be bandaged and the sick restored to health. And being a good shepherd he separates the sheep from the goats. In ancient times sheep symbolised honour, virility and strength because they could withstand the cold of winter and they suffered in silence. Goats on the other hand are physically vulnerable to inclement weather and were considered lascivious animals because the males mated indiscriminately. Goats came to symbolise shame and shameful behaviour.

In the gospel reading, Jesus also uses this image of God as shepherd separating the sheep from the goats as he describes the final judgement at the end of time. In Matthews’s gospel this passage comes at the end of Jesus’ time on earth. In the very next verse Jesus says “You know that in two days time it will be Passover, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified” introducing Matthew’s telling of the Passion.

The last few weeks have been a trying time for many of our parishioners writing exams. Many of them I’m sure would have been happy to sacrifice much to have had a preview of the exam questions so they could better prepare. Today’s gospel gives each of us a privileged preview of the final exam we will encounter after we have died and are assembled before God where we will be judged to be worthy either of eternal light or eternal darkness. If we fail the exam we have only ourselves to blame.

I imagine there will be many surprises when the final results become known. In the gospel reading even those who Jesus judged to be virtuous seemed to be surprised by their selection. I think it’s fair to say that the majority of us are sinful people and that if saintliness is the only criterion for eternal life then few of us will qualify. Jesus says something quite different. He says we will be excluded from heaven not because of the sinful things that we have done but because of the good things that we have not done. Living a squeaky clean life that follows all the laws of church and state is not enough to pass the exam.

Jesus says that the sole criterion for citizenship of heaven is love.

Everything we do in our lives and relationships – work, play, prayer and worship – must be directed by and towards love. We are created in love, to love and to be loved. Doctrine, prayer and liturgy in themselves are of little value if they do not inspire and motivate us to love.

The opportunities to express and experience love are all around us in simple acts of kindness.

We cannot touch and know Jesus as the disciples did but we meet Jesus every day in others. Jesus says we will find him very specifically in those who are suffering. In meeting and caring for those who suffer we meet and are graced by Christ. Wherever there is suffering, there is Christ. Wherever there is suffering, we can be Christ.

I don’t think we have to take the examples of suffering that Jesus uses as absolute or literal. If we use the examples as our guide we will find suffering close at hand.

Jesus refers to those who are hungry. Some of us are able to assist those who are hungry for food through charity or employment. But many more of us can bring comfort to those who hunger for understanding, companionship, acceptance and respect.

Thirst can mean more than a desire for something to drink. For some thirst may be a craving for affection or friendship to bring some life into the desert of their loneliness.

Jesus talks about welcoming strangers. Strangers are not only those whom we have never met before. Do we have friends or family members that we treat as strangers because we can’t find it within ourselves to love them just as they are? If that’s true, we’ll fail this question.

And then the question of clothing the naked. Do not most of us have cloths in our wardrobes that we never wear but which would bring much comfort to others who have very much less? Imagine how many people we could bless, mostly strangers, if we each went through our wardrobes this week and donated all our excess clothing to charity. We should be able to score bonus points on this question.

Jesus talks about visiting the sick and those in prison. This would include people who suffer from mental illnesses and depression, anxiety, fear; also those imprisoned by addictions and poor self-image. It includes those who are feeling isolated from God and to whom we can show the face of Jesus through our love, kindness and understanding.

We find Christ when we go looking for him.
We know the questions that will be asked of us in our final exam and we have been given the rest of our lives in which to prepare. It is only the date of the examination is unknown.

Deacon Les 19 November 2011
A thought for the new liturgical year:
Next weekend we start a new Church year with the first Sunday of Advent. The liturgical calendar is one of the treasures of our religious tradition and one that we should carefully and judiciously protect and observe both in our daily lives and in the Mass. The different seasons through the year celebrate the full mystery and miracle of our Christian faith; the life of Jesus as Christ and Jesus the man. As we remember each year the cycle of Jesus’ Nativity, Passion and Death, Resurrection, Pentecost with the birth and growth of the Church, we are renewed and encouraged on our pilgrim journey. If we disregard the seasons, the feasts and the solemnities of the liturgical year in our daily lives and in the Mass, then every day and every Sunday becomes the same and we risk losing both the intrinsic beauty and value of our faith tradition and the perpetual stirring of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

All Souls Year A

Deacon Les
2 November 2011

The Commemoration of the Faithful Departed has been officially celebrated in the Church for well over a thousand years but the practice of praying for our deceased loved ones and friends dates back to the very earliest days of Christianity. On this All Souls day, we pray for those who have died, who are in purgatory.

It’s a fundamental feature of our faith. We believe in the communion of saints – that community that exists between all members of the Church; the saints in heaven, the believers on earth and the souls in purgatory. Only the body can die; the soul is immortal and death cannot sever the ties that join us.

The soul is very much alive and the love that connects those living with those who have died continues. And so it is only right that we should continue praying in love for those who have died; just as we prayed for them in love when they were alive. And specifically we should prayer for the souls in purgatory. For those who have dead and are in hell, no prayers can help them; and if they are in heaven, they don’t need our prayers. It’s only the souls in purgatory who need our prayers.

The ultimate prayer of course is the Mass in which the communion of saints is most fully expressed and experienced. At the Consecration and at Holy Communion, heaven and earth are united. The saints, together with we the believers and the holy souls in purgatory are all intimately connected and united through Christ on the altar.

Our belief in purgatory is often misunderstood and criticised but quite frankly without purgatory much of our understanding of heaven doesn’t make sense. How many of us really believe that we are worthy enough to share eternal life with God in heaven? I’m sure we all have the desire but if we look deeply into our heart of hearts do we see a soul that reflects perfect love in thought, word and deed? And if we are not models of God’s perfection then surely our very presence in heaven would render the kingdom imperfect.

 So there has to be a place or a way for those who have died marked with the sign of faith to purify their souls so that we can be worthy of heaven. That place is purgatory.

Some of us will have pictures of purgatory in our minds of burning torture and torment; perhaps more like a suburb of hell than a suburb of heaven. Fire is often associated with purgatory but I don’t think it’s the flame of a furnace. Rather I think it’s the fire that the two disciples walking to Emmaus felt when Jesus talked to them “Wasn’t it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us.”

The torment and punishment of purgatory is the pain that comes with the understanding of the true meaning of love and the understanding of how inadequately we have loved. The pain is the knowledge that heaven is close at hand but for the time being is out of reach. It’s the pain of having Christ so near and yet still so far. It’s a healing pain that brings with it joy; the joy of knowing that the outcome is nothing short of heaven.

It is an act of love to pray for the faithful departed. We pray for them today in the joyful hope that they soon will be united with Christ in the fullness of heaven and that when the time comes, they in turn will pray for us.

Real Authority is a form of Service

31st Sunday
30th October 2011
Tony van Vuuren

Chapter 23 of Matthew begins with a severe indictment by Jesus of the Pharisees and Scribes about their arrogance and pride. It is important to note though that Jesus is not making an attack on all the Pharisees and all spiritual leaders. We know that there were some very good Pharisees. Nicodemus, the man who came to see Jesus by night, was a Pharisee.

It was he who assisted in arranging to have Jesus buried after his death on the cross. Another highly revered Pharisee was Gamaliel, who urged caution in acting against the disciples of Jesus preaching the gospel. “If they are frauds, their movement will collapse”, he said, “but if it is of God, there is nothing that can be done to stop them.”

The Gospel passage reflects some of the conflicts which arose between the early Christians, especially those who were Jews themselves, and for whom Matthew was writing his Gospel. What Jesus is attacking is not specific people so much as a certain arrogant and hypocritical way of thinking and acting, of which some people in his time were guilty. And these attitudes could be found just as easily within the early Christian community that followed and every period since then. We should listen to Jesus’ words, then, directed not so much to abstract “Pharisees and Scribes” but to ourselves today.

Jesus first of all emphasises that as people in authority and experts on the subject of Jewish law, the Scribes and Pharisees should be listened to with respect and they should be obeyed when they teach.
But in their behaviour, their example should not be followed.
- they don’t practise what they preach, and – they do what they do to attract the admiration of others. -they have no hesitation in drawing up rules which are difficult for people to carry out but they do absolutely nothing to help in their implementation.

These are the double standards, where those in authority set the rules which they themselves do not keep:

What follows is the “Do as I say, not as I do” syndrome or “You will do it because I tell you to do it.”
Is that in itself sufficient reason to demand respect?

Real authority is not the exercise of power but of enabling people to do and be what they are called to do and be; it is a matter not of overpowering but of empowering.
In fact, the words of Jesus are a warning to all people in authority. He was attacking the Pharisees but his words can be applied to many positions in our own society. Executives, managers, doctors, lawyers, clergy, civil servants, teachers, parents can all be included here.

In so far as they have genuine authority, they should be listened to – the doctor about things medical, the lawyer about things legal, the clergy about things spiritual, the parent about family matters…
It is easy to read today’s Gospel and start pointing fingers at others, but it is important that we recognize how it applies in our own lives. The Gospel is always addressed to ME; to each one of us here. And today we need to hear what Jesus is saying to us about humility, righteousness, arrogance and pride. Of course, we can point a criticising finger at all the officials we know, political, religious or otherwise, who take advantage of their position, but are we any different? How often do we stand on ceremony? How touchy are we about how people treat us, especially if one has some title or responsibility?

Real authority is a form of service, not a way of control or domination or a claim to special privileges. As Jesus says, ultimately we are all brothers and sisters; the greatest among us is the one who best serves the needs of those around them rather than the one who has the most impressive titles.

When we put ourselves on a pedestal of authority, we are in danger of being knocked down. Following the advice of Jesus, we realise that real greatness is in offering ourselves in service to one another, only then are we likely to meet support, understanding and cooperation in bringing people closer to God.

We are all given different responsibilities in our community and some of these responsibilities are more demanding or require special qualifications or talent. But, the greater the responsibility towards a greater number of people, the greater is the demand to serve the needs of one’s community. Today’s Gospel, addressed to all of us, calls for integrity and honesty, where there is no pulling of rank, no demand for respect or privilege, no double standards, but a deep sense of equality and mutual respect, a desire to serve, to share what we have and who we are for the benefit of all. Sometimes even without thanks!

Granted some of us are called to leadership roles and have official or unofficial titles; but Jesus solemnly reminds us to remember that at the very core of our being, as baptized members of the church, we are brothers and sisters; we are called to serve; no matter what honorific titles we carry in the community. We all need to be reminded that we are as human and as frail as those scribes and Pharisees.

Help Me Lord

20th Sunday Ordinary Time Cycle A
14th August 2011.
Matthew 15: 21-28
Rev Tony van Vuuren

Today we hear about one of the truly magnificent women of the Gospel. She is a Canaanite – and she has one goal: the healing of her daughter tormented by a demon. This Gospel account also contains one of the most memorable verbal duels recorded in the four Gospels. First of all though, it is important to note that Jesus is speaking here to a woman, something rabbis back in those days did not do in public. Not only that, but she is a foreigner, she is a descendant of the ancient Canaanite tribe; ancestral enemies of the Jews. Matthew, with his strong Jewish roots, stresses her paganism by calling her by the derogatory term of Canaanite; though Mark, in his Gospel, refers to her as a Syro-Phoenician.

What is Jesus doing “in the region of Tyre and Sidon” in the first place? It’s pagan country and it’s the first time that He has ventured out of Jewish territory. Remember when he was among his own people he met opposition; and so He may be getting away for rest or be taking a break from all the conflict He has been facing. Ironically, now, among so called non-believers he hears a distressed mother call him by the title he might have hoped to have heard from his own people, “Son of David.”

She pleads her case with him; “Lord Help me!” The disciples want to send her away and even Jesus at first seems to brush her aside; and then he says; “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.” This is a harsh sounding response coming from Jesus but, he is simply using a form of the derogatory stereotype used by Jews of Gentiles; Gentile Dogs. We should note though that Jesus uses the term “house-dogs”, which can be translated as “pet pups”; but even if we reduce the sting of his response to her, Jesus is still saying that salvation is to come to the Jews first. His response is a test of her faith. The woman shows no resentment and extends Jesus’ metaphor into a Gentile context, saying that,” even the pups get the scraps that fall from their master’s table.”

We have come to accept that Jesus has the last word in every single verbal confrontation in Scripture. Whenever he is called onto the carpet and confronted by Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, elders, lawyers, or even Pilate himself, Jesus seems to get the upper hand when it comes to a contest of words (plucking wheat, taxes, woman caught in the act of adultery, healings on Sabbath, It is you who say that I am, etc.) The opposition is always crippled by their motivations. They wish to engage in dialogue with Jesus in order to threaten, to shame, to convict, to mock and to overthrow him.

What makes this woman different — the only person in Scripture to seemingly get one-up on Jesus — is that fact that her motivations are pure and selfless.

Pagan she might be, but in her heart there is love for her child. It is this love that makes her approach a Jewish Rabbi; it is love that makes her suffer the apparent rebuff, and love makes her recognise Jesus’ compassion.

She has faith that grows in contact with Jesus. She begins with a request and ends in prayer.

She has perseverance; Jesus is not just a possible helper; He is her only hope; she refuses to be discouraged and is not prepared to take no for an answer.
She has good cheer; despite her trouble we can also imagine her smile as she answers Jesus about the scraps. God loves the cheerful faith; faith in whose eyes there is always the light of hope; faith with a smile that can light up a room.

She searches for a way to keep Jesus engaged in conversation by introducing the great comeback line – “even the house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table”. She does not wish to test, to try, or threaten Jesus. She simply wants her daughter healed; and the longer she can keep Jesus engaged in repartee the more of a chance she feels that she will get what she wants.
In the end, Jesus gives her what she asks. Her perseverance, her selflessness, her love and faith, and her cleverness are responded to by Jesus.
We have no scriptural account of Jesus laughing, however, if we had to choose a story in which to insert such laughter this is the story we might choose. A surprised smile would lead to a hearty laugh and as Jesus throws his head back he would half laugh and half speak the words – “Woman, you have great faith!”
At its heart, this is a story of a mother with a terribly distressed child. Who knows what strange behaviour the child was manifesting? But we don’t have to look far to be able to name a father, mother or grandparent suffering because of a child. Notice the mother’s request, “HELP ME…” —-such is the suffering a parent takes on when a child is distressed. Indeed, the parent would rather suffer in place of the child and is indeed suffering at least as much as the child.

Some children seemingly change overnight and exhibit clear signs of torment—from drugs, alcohol, sexual addiction, abuse, rebellion, etc. They show “possessed behaviour”: turning on parents, family, friends and teachers; becoming violent, drifting, turbulent, and troublesome at school; associating with a new and rough element; becoming indifferent in class and rejecting activities they once loved. What a torment for those who love them! Most often, even before we pray for ourselves, we offer desperate prayers for these children we love so much and can’t seem to help. How many parents, desperate to help their children, like the Canaanite woman, have accompanied them to talk to teachers, or sit hours with them in the company of counsellors and therapists to calm their troubled and tormented spirits?

All the while, voicing in these or other words, this Canaanite mother’s prayer, “Help me, Lord, Son of David. My child is tormented.”
This Gospel account gives us another lesson about prayer and the gift of faith, and about the cooperation of God in our lives.
The woman recognizes Jesus as someone who can indeed heal.
The woman asks for mercy.
The woman selflessly intercedes for her daughter whom she loves.
The woman is persistent in her request.
A response is made to the woman.

These are simple actions — recognition of divine power, a plea for mercy, a request for help, persistence in that request, and a response.
If someone has stopped praying and needs a jump-start, this might be a good weekend to remind that person of the importance and necessity of prayer — and not only of prayer, but of persistent prayer.

Is it that God does not hear us the first time? No. Is it that God wants to toy with us and make us beg for what we want? No. Rather, it has to do with the ways of God, which are so above our ways that we cannot comprehend all of the movements of His will in and around our lives. Our job is to remain within our ways, within our human ways of thinking and understanding and to simply ask for what we need, to persevere in that request, and to wait for a response from God.

Lord, save me!

19th Sunday ordinary time.  cycle a. 
August 2011.   
Matthew: 14: 22-33.
Rev Tony van Vuuren

Last weekend we heard about Jesus curing the sick and the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. It immediately precedes today’s account of the storm at sea. Imagine the excitement that would have accompanied that miracle. Many people might have concluded, “Here we have someone who can take care of all our ills and hungers!” Religion sometimes sounds like that; If we could only “get it right”; and be on the right side of God by doing our religious practices faithfully and properly—then maybe God will take care of our problems. If you’ve “got religion” and do things “properly” you’ve got protection and life will work out for you. Just do what you are supposed to do and do it in the right way.

Well, many of us here knew a man in his fifties who did things properly. A fellow parishioner. A good man, he was a regular church goer, loving husband.  He was sincere in his religious practices and generous with his time for the Church and the needy. This very special man was struck down with motor neuron disease, fought a painful battle with it and within a couple of years died.  Didn’t he say the right prayers? What about the prayers we said for his healing? What about his visit toLourdes?  What more could we have done? Where was Jesus in his and our storm?  We know lots of people with similar stories.  When things turn out poorly for us or someone we love, we wonder what happened. We may even blame ourselves for not praying correctly or enough.  Didn’t we follow the directions, say the right prayers, have the proper attitude, get enough people to pray with us?

Look at the disciples in today’s story.  They listened and responded to Jesus’ directions; he gave them an explicit order and they followed it.  He “MADE the disciples get into a boat”— it sounds like they wanted to stay where the miracles had just happened and bask in some of the reflected glory that must have been coming their way as Jesus’ disciples.  But they went ahead and got into the boat, without Jesus, whilst He went to the hills to pray.  Do we feel that at times? That we have responded to Jesus and tried to follow where he leads, but storms arise that make us feel like we are separated from him and on our own to work things out?  “The boat was battling with a heavy sea, for there was a strong headwind.”  All of us can identify with that line, just fill in the blanks with our own personal struggles to serve the Lord on, what sometimes can feel like, stormy seas “with the wind against” us.  

 We can even name the individual stormy waves; the specific moments we feel adrift and at sea. The story speaks immediately to our lives; if not today, then yesterday; if not yesterday, then tomorrow.

We are tempted to ask a question faithful people have always faced: Where is God when I am in need?  Where is Jesus in the midst of the storm?  Matthew tells us he came to his disciples “in the fourth watch of the night.” That’s between 3 and 4am. What took him so long?  We don’t understand the delay, especially considering the intensity of the struggle. 

Maybe Jesus is not supposed to be “Mr. Fix-it.”  He may not immediately end the storm, but instead enables us, together with him, to walk on the stormy seas. 

Peter walks on a stormy sea, not one that has been made calm by Jesus.  Jesus is there to help us in the storms and the reprimand he gives Peter speaks to us too, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”  Only when he is in the boat with them does he calm the storm; Jesus expected them to trust while the storm was in full fury; he expected Peter to trust while he was walking on the raging waters.

The disciples may not have felt his presence, but they were safe and getting through the storm while Jesus was still up in the hills praying for them. 

Would some of the storms we face be more manageable if we put aside time for prayer?  To some that might seem like a waste of time during an emergency. But the prayers and expressions of dependency on Christ aren’t made on a retreat in the mountains somewhere, but in the midst of the crisis—brief prayers expressing trust and dependency on the God who speaks to us in whispers of assurance; just as He whispered in the wind and reassured Elijah hiding in the cave.

The stormy voices around us shout, “Don’t just stand there, do something!”  But another voice whispers from this gospel today, “Don’t just do something, stand there.”                           

Whether this is a stormy time of our lives or not, we could practice some form of trusting, quiet prayer.  We could take a few more moments each day just to be conscious of Christ’s presence in the ordinary events of our lives; after all we haven’t left him behind at church on Sunday. He isn’t off on some mountaintop a long way from us.  We could pause a few times this week and replay this story in our memories, especially as we face the ruffled waters of even routine events; when we are being blown about in our own boats of life; by winds of temptation, winds of despair, winds of sadness, winds of anger, winds of jealousy.

The real heart of this Gospel story is the interaction between Jesus and Peter. Peter knows that whatever Jesus commands is made possible. Peter has witnessed all day long Jesus commanding cures to be worked and loaves and fishes multiplied. Peter has no doubt that what Jesus commands will happen. However, the command requires a response, and we learn that the success of the response is dependent upon faith. The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer states that Peter had to leave the boat and risk his life in order to learn perhaps the most valuable lesson and straightest path in his spiritual journey: the realization of both his own weakness and the almighty power of Jesus. Bonhoeffer says that, had Peter remained in the boat and not taken the first step, his faith would have been worthless.                 

 The response to follow Jesus requires a definitive and unavoidable step, and those who think they can follow Jesus without making this step are deceiving themselves. Jesus gives Peter the courage and power to come forward and whilst his faith in Christ lasted he walked on water. But he returns to reality and his faith weakens when he sees the large wave approaching. However, the response by Peter — Lord, save me! — is in a sense one of two perfect prayers when nothing else comes to mind in prayer (the other one is — Thank you, Lord). Jesus catches him and lifts him up, remarking that it was the wavering of his faith that caused him to sink; “Man of little faith; why did you doubt?”

Peter is the model of a very human journey of faith. He seeks, He steps, he sinks, he is saved, he praises. One could propose that the faith of Peter returns when he refixes his gaze on Jesus and says — Lord, save me! — not, Lord, save me IF you can; but Lord save me! 

Peter trusts in the immediate saving help of Jesus. Weakness which leads to the awareness of the saving power of Jesus is always beneficial. Have we moved our gaze from Jesus? Has our gaze turned toward fears or distractions that cause our faith to falter?                                        

What we should take away from this interaction between Peter and Jesus is the courage Peter displayed in first asking Jesus to command, and second, responding to that command. We should also be mindful of the pure request of help from Peter (Lord, save me!), and the immediate response from Jesus.

Why do we come here to church week after week?  Apart from it being our Catholic obligation; We are storm walkers—asked to walk the stormy seas of involvement in complex issues, as well as family and community needs. The waters we Christians face are seldom calm and coming here reminds us that we are not alone. In this place we have so many examples around us of people who have strong faith despite the turmoil life has thrown at them. Those faithful ones give us courage that when our testing time comes we will not be alone.  Just as he did for Peter, Jesus reaches out a hand to us. We gather here to remind ourselves that we have companions—people who break and eat bread with us and help us when the going gets rough. We remember with gratitude the times we did need a hand for courage and support and we received it from a fellow parishioner in the boat with us. Other times we are the helping hands for others.  

 Let us look back on any tough times and be comforted. Let us continue forward with courage knowing that the blessed assurance we have in Jesus’ presence and care is unconditional.

Votive Mass for Priests

Celebrating Fr Harrie 35^th Anniversary of priestly ordination

Readings:
Jer 1 :4-9
Ps 109
Eph 4 :1-7;11-13
Jn 21:15-17
Deacon Les Ruhrmund

This weekend we celebrate the 35th anniversary of Fr Harrie’s ordination to the priesthood and the readings have been selected specifically for this wonderful occasion.

Before we look at the readings, I think it might be a good idea to reflect for a few minutes on priesthood itself. Most of us are aware of the shortage of priests and the dwindling numbers of young men studying for the priesthood but I don’t think we talk often enough about the essential role that the priest plays in our relationship with God and we don’t talk often enough about our responsibility to encourage and promote vocations to the priesthood in our families and community. This is a serious omission in our Christian duty.  

Serious because without priests, there is no Church. 

Going back to the early history of Israel in the Old Testament, the priests acted as mediators between the people and God; they offered God the people’s worship, they invoked his help and begged his mercy for the people’s sins; and they did this in a distinctive way. They offered sacrifices of goats and sheep, of bread and wine, of wheat, barley, and oats, and the first fruits. That’s what a priest is: someone who offers sacrifice to God on behalf of the people.

In the new covenant between God and his people, in reconciling mankind to himself after being rejected, God became man in the person of Jesus and offered himself as a perfect sacrifice of reconciliation. Being God, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross isn’t limited to space and time – his sacrifice is eternal. Jesus made his physical presence a reality in the world after the Cross and his Resurrection through the sacrament of the Eucharist that he gave to the apostles at the Last Supper. The Mass makes that holy and perfect sacrifice of love a present and living reality to us in this exact space and time.

Throughout the world, every hour of every day on thousands of altars in many hundreds of languages, the Holy Sacrifice of our Redemption is being offered in the Mass by priests on our behalf. Jesus is present in the Priest at the Mass. Without priests, there is no Eucharist and we are deprived of the real presence of Christ in our lives and in the Church.  Without the priesthood Christianity would be a memory but no longer a reality.

In the first reading, Jeremiah is responding to God’s call to him to be a prophet. A prophet was a messenger of and spokesperson for God. The message was most times unpopular denouncing the lifestyle of the people; condemning their immoral behaviour, their disregard for God’s laws, their unfaithfulness to the covenant. The Church today has that prophetic responsibility in society.

Jeremiah knows that this was a responsibility that guaranteed trouble. And he was right; throughout his life as a prophet he suffered great humiliation and physical injury. Legend has it that he was eventually stoned to death by his own people.

Jeremiah responds to God’s call and tries to get out of it saying “Ah, Lord, I do not know how to speak; I’m too young.” But God doesn’t let him get away and Jeremiah’s only comfort is God’s promise “I am with you to protect you” and he touches Jeremiah’s mouth saying “There! I am putting my words into your mouth.”

Each one of us in baptism has been anointed with the prophetic duty to make known to the world the reality of Jesus Christ. We are a prophetic people.

Paul says in the second reading that we have each been given our own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. ‘I implore you,’ he says “to lead a life worthy of your vocation.”

We each have a vocation to know, love and serve God in one way or another; some as teachers, some as parents, scientists, builders, politicians, artists, hairdressers, business-people ….and some as priests. I wonder how many of us react as Jeremiah did when faced with our calling, with our true vocation?  While we might recognize the grace of our calling with our minds, it comes to nothing until we respond with our wills.

I have no doubt that we have men, young and older, in our parish and in our wider community who have or who are being called to the priesthood but have chosen instead to follow another path. Perhaps they have been discouraged by the appalling betrayal of the priesthood by some deviant priests; perhaps they have been dissuaded by their own families and friends; perhaps the allure of material wealth is irresistible. By our example and through our encouragement and prayers those who are being called to serve in the priesthood will find the courage to become priests. If we are not people of good faith and passionate conviction, we will not have priests.

“Simon son of John, do you love me ? …… Feed my lambs, look after my sheep …feed my sheep.” That feed is the food we receive in the Most Holy Eucharist. Just as Jesus called on Simon Peter of Galilee so is he calling the Simon Peters in Rondebosch and Cape Town and throughout the world to feed and look after those who follow him. We pray that many will have the courage to say “Yes, Lord, you know I love you and I will be your priest.”

35 years ago a young man called Harrie Hovers answered that call and has remained faithful and dedicated to his vocation. We give grateful thanks for that today. We thank him for making real to us the miracle of the Eucharist in the Mass. And we thank him for bringing into our lives the healing that is available only through the grace of the priesthood in the sacraments of reconciliation and the anointing of the sick. Over the last 35 years Fr Harrie has played a vital and indispensable role in the relationship between God and the lives of many thousands of Christian pilgrims. We thank God for the gift of the priesthood and his faithful priest, Fr Harrie; a priest for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old.

Corpus Christi

Cycle A, June 2011
Deut: 8: 2-16. 1 Corinth: 10: 16-17. John 6: 51-58.
Rev Dcn Tony van Vuuren

The inauguration of the Holy Eucharist is celebrated first and foremost on Holy Thursday in its natural place the night before Jesus died on the cross. But it is because that celebration takes place very much in the context of the sadness of the events of Christ’s passion and death, the Church gives us this second feast; Corpus Christi; established in 1264; to help us celebrate more fully how God continues to make Himself present to His Church; how He sustains and nourishes us through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist; how the risen Christ walks among us and guides us.
On the night before He died Jesus gave His disciples a meal with a difference. It was a meal during which, and through which, He showed them the very depths of His love.
At every mass, the liturgy of the Word precedes the Eucharistic liturgy. There are two “communions,” one with the Word and one with the Bread. One cannot be understood without the other; and celebrating this solemnity is one of those times that really requires all of us; readers and congregation to meditate on the readings for a good while.  They may be so familiar that perhaps they have lost their impact; but, it is their meaning that highlights an essential part of the Catholic Faith. The focus of the readings is clearly on the value of the Eucharist in our lives.
          
Moses says “not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD.” Paul challenges the Corinth Christians to become the food they eat; the Body of Christ. “We though many are one body for we all partake of the one loaf.” In the Gospel passage from John, Jesus says “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”                                                                               

The Jews that Jesus was addressing in John 6 had gathered to ask him for more bread. Jesus promised to give them the sacramental bread instead. But in their worldly frame of mind they could not understand or appreciate the sacrament. They disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” They ended up distancing themselves from the Eucharist because the sacramental language makes no sense in a world of materialism.                                                                 

The same problem that these early would-be followers of Jesus had is still with us today. If we approach the Eucharist with a materialistic mentality we fail to understand and so lose the benefits of such a wonderful gift of God’s love. The Eucharist is true food but at the same time it is very different from every other food. The great difference lies in these words of Christ which St Augustine heard in prayer, “You will not change me into yourself as you would food of your flesh; but you will be changed into me.”                                                                                      

When we come to receive Communion and the Ministers of Holy Communion hold the sacred food before us, they will say, “The Body of Christ.” They are not only naming what they are offering us to eat, they are also naming each one of us, for we are, “the body of Christ.”  We enter into communion with the very life of Christ.                                                                                                          
The Eucharist, an important tenet of our faith, is why many people who are so disenchanted with so much about the Church choose to stay anyway and in spite of!  It is also why those who do not believe in the Eucharist think our faith is “way out there.”  As firm believers in the Eucharist, it is because it is indeed “way out there” that it is so important to us.  It is not only symbolism; and there is nothing magic about the Eucharist!                                                                                              

There is something really extraordinary about a tangible God whom we can experience through our human senses.  The Eucharist reminds us that God in the Person of Jesus is always present to us, is always ready to nourish us.
The celebration of the Eucharist has no meaning if it is not lived with love. To reverence the Eucharist and to partake in the Eucharist with such an understanding is life-changing.  We are called into an ever-deeper union with our God.  It is because of the Eucharist that God’s Word is such a source of empowerment for us as well as a source of nourishment.
       
Scripture tells us we are to become like Jesus; we are to become the person whose Body we eat. This transforming of one’s life is an inside job, only done by God’s grace.  We can cooperate by meditating on God’s Word and by living as we are so guided to do. We are called to appreciate these gifts that we have been given in a special way.  We are also called to reflect on how we might use them in God’s service.                                                                                                                        

To celebrate the Eucharist is to commit oneself to a discipleship that “remembers” Jesus, not only in the ritual breaking of the bread, but also in the “imitation” of Jesus. In order to bring the love of our God into a world that is in such need of unconditional love, we must be nourished ourselves and empowered to act as Jesus did.                                                                                                  

Having received the body of Christ we must ask ourselves some questions; because to worship in spirit and truth requires that our liturgy and ritual prayer be linked with our daily living. How do we bring our daily living into the Eucharistic celebration? What effect does the Eucharist have on our daily living? How does our devotion to the Eucharist and devotion to family and work enable us to be true disciples, in adoration before the Eucharistic presence of Jesus?

 How are we to be like Christ and feed the hungry? What is our relationship between Eucharist and Reconciliation? Who is excluded from our love at this moment? Who is crying out for our presence? What do we say to those who are unable to partake of the Lord’s Supper?                                                                                                        

 The Eucharist does not only provide inner strength, but also a certain way of life. It is a way of living that is passed from Jesus to us Christians.       

Sunday Mass and Holy Communion should not just be an obligation to be fulfilled, but a privilege to celebrate. An honest look into our hearts and into our attitude would do each one of us a lot of spiritual good and might make many of us find we have an urgent need to turn over a new leaf.  Including myself!

Pentecost. Year A

12 June 2011
Rev Dcn Les Ruhrmund

At the time of Jesus, Pentecost was one of the three annual great festivals in the Jewish calendar; the other two were the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Passover is celebrated in the northern hemisphere (in the Holy Land) in the spring; that time when the earth awakens from its winter dormancy and everything starts to grow again. Pentecost, meaning ‘fifty’, falls fifty days after the Passover and celebrates the start of the harvest; the first fruits and grains of the new crops.

Pentecost was a time of pilgrimage. Women and children, young men and old would troop into Jerusalem; each family carrying a basket of first fruits to the Temple. The baskets would be filled with Israel’s seven fruits mentioned in the book of Deuteronomy: “A land of wheat and barley and vines and fig and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey.”

Historic accounts describe the procession. Travelling by district, villagers would enter the city joyfully accompanied by music and parade through the streets to the Temple Mount. Runners would advise Temple officials of the group’s imminent arrival and a welcoming committee would be sent to greet them. Before entering the Temple courtyard, the villagers would stop and rearrange the produce that had got jostled along the way and then the baskets would be hoisted onto the shoulders of their owners. Temple priests would receive the gifts and lead the people in saying the prayers of thanksgiving.

So many people travelled to Jerusalem during the three festivals, that archaeologists have found massive hotel-like structures among the ruins of the Temple and the surrounding areas.

But on the day of Pentecost that Luke writes about, rather than being out on the streets of Jerusalem celebrating the festival, the apostles with Jesus’ mother Mary are secluded from the crowds; they’re in hiding …waiting. In the previous chapter Luke tells us “For forty days after his death Jesus appeared to them many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that he was alive. And when they came together he gave them this order: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift I told you about, the gift my Father promised. John baptised with water, but not many days from now, you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”

They are hiding and waiting. And on that day of Pentecost, fifth days after the Jewish Passover, fifty days after the resurrection of Jesus, God reveals himself to them in the Holy Spirit; anointing and confirming the apostles in their Christian faith – and the Church is born.

Those timid, frightened men are transformed into courageous, bold heralds of the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ. They are changed from being mere observers to being faithful, confirmed witnesses of the Word.

Jesus had returned to the Father and the Father and the Son have sent the Holy Spirit to guide them and sustain the grace of Christ in them.

We cannot separate Pentecost from Christ. God came to us at Christmas in Jesus Christ, to reveal to us God’s very nature; to bring about a means of salvation for the world. God came to us at Pentecost in the form of the Holy Spirit to empower the Church as a continuation of Christ’s mission; to teach, sanctify and govern; prophet, priest and king.

That same Spirit of Pentecost sustains and guides the church today.

We’re told that Peter, the first pope, filled with the Holy Spirit, addressed the large crowds that were gathered in Jerusalem and that 3000 pilgrims were baptised into the new Church.
The list of countries that Luke gives us serves less to emphasise the specific geographic origin of the pilgrims than to signal the imminent spread of the gospel in every direction. The pilgrims in the city would return to their homes, north, south, east and west of Jerusalem bringing the good news of Jesus Christ with them.

We’ll never really understand what Luke means by the tongues of fire and the noise that sounded like a strong wind – and a perfect explanation is not important. The apostles probably didn’t really understand either. What is important is the effect. We know from the actions of the apostles that from that moment onward, their lives were changed forever. Peter would never again deny that he knew Jesus.

In the gift of the Spirit their fear is changed into freedom. In the Spirit the disciples are empowered to understand the past anew and see the future with hope. In the Spirit we are able to do the same.
For each of us, our Pentecost experience is found in the sacrament of Confirmation.

Through the grace of Confirmation, we too are empowered to be public witnesses to the truth about Jesus Christ. We are empowered to bring the love of Christ into the lives to all those who will receive it. We are empowered to say “Jesus is Lord.”

Paul says in the second reading that “the particular way in which the spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose…….there are all sorts of services to be done … working in all sorts of different ways in differ people.”

Part of our mission is to discover how the Spirit has gifted us in individual ways, and to appreciate and accept the Spirit’s different gifts in others.

We are all different. Christ came to St. Paul in a different way than he did to Peter. God comes to us where we are. God speaks to us according to our needs. Let us speak to the world according to its needs.

The pilgrims in Jerusalem on that day of Pentecost heard the Gospel in a language that each could understand. There are people in our lives and in this very community who are waiting to hear the Gospel in a language they can understand. Let us translate the Gospel into words and acts that cannot be misunderstood; words like love, compassion, forgiveness and acceptance.

We don’t need to understand the great theological truths; we speak most clearly, we proclaim the Gospel most convincingly, through our actions; through our hearts.

Jesus’ Prayer

7^th Sunday Of Easter.
Cycle A    June 2011
Gospel: John 17:1-11
Dcn Tony van Vuuren

Listening to the eleven verses from today’s Gospel has allowed us to be present in an intimate moment as Jesus prays to His Father in heaven. We listen in on this prayer and learn that Jesus and his Father are united in what is about to happen; and what is about to happen will be a revelation of God to the disciples, as has each of the works Jesus has done throughout John’s Gospel.

The reading from Chapter 17 is described as Jesus’ last will and testament; and takes us back to the upper room during the Last Supper before the crucifixion. Within the context of John’s Gospel the prayer stands as Jesus’ Priestly Prayer; His last public accounting to God for His mission.

In this final prayer John doesn’t present Jesus in agony as the other Gospels do. Jesus is not asking God to take away what he is about to endure. Rather his concern is for his disciples; he is concerned for them and how they will fare “in the world.” as he speaks about eternal life for them.

Jesus’ mission was to reveal God more fully than before and to open up the prospect of “eternal life”; human life lived in the knowledge of God and in communion with God. As the time for His death approaches He anticipates leaving His disciples to carry on with that mission down through history: “I am not in the world any longer, but they are in the world.”

Jesus goes on in his farewell prayer; not asking that they might find escape, but that they might find victory. He was not asking that they might find comfort, cloistered in a monastic life, withdrawn from the world. He was asking that they might find courage in the rough and tumble of life, where one must live out their Christianity.

Christianity was never meant to withdraw us from life, but rather better equip us for life. It does not offer us release from problems, but rather a way to solve them. It does not offer us a life in which troubles are escaped and evaded, but a life in which troubles are faced and dealt with. We don’t always succeed and we might ask; “where was God?” but that is no reason for us to be tempted to turn our backs on Him.

In his concern Jesus shows a parent’s sentiment for his followers. There is a pattern in Jesus’ prayer that we see lived out by parents in a beautiful, concerned and sometimes sad way in every stage of life. The act of receiving, of nurturing, blessing and letting go.

It is a prayer said by many loving mothers and fathers on a daily basis when we have had to let go, and let our children, whatever age, whatever stage of life, find their own feet; whatever the circumstance; we hand over to God and place them in His hands.

I don’t have to give any examples because any parent here will have been on your knees praying or will be in the future; but the power of parents’ prayers for their children is undeniable. Trusting God to bring to completion the plan for which he allowed one to take such a wonderful part; and asking through our prayers that God may help us and our family and friends to face the challenges of each day with courage and dignity; and help us loosen the grip of our possessive and self-seeking habits that will enable us to let go.

Listening to Jesus’ prayer we are all invited into a very personal space, not just in hearing Jesus’ words to his Father, but into the very intimacy of their relationship. As we listen in we feel included because Jesus is praying about us. We hear his realistic appraisal of our situation because we are left in a world that easily rejects God, and so we need God’s loving protection and help when it comes to making our choices, large or small, based on the courage of our faith in Jesus and His Gospel.

The disciples gathered together in the “upper room”; the place we traditionally associate with the place where Jesus celebrated the first Eucharist with His disciples; and so each week we gather here at his table; a table that has no place names, a table that has no order of merit seating; to hear the words Jesus has spoken to us about God. And each week Jesus again gives glory to God by revealing God’s compassion, forgiveness, love and healing to us. It is what Jesus did and what he does for us again at this Eucharist. Coming to know God in this way is Jesus’ gift of eternal life for us now.

Jesus’ prayer can give us the courage to face the darkness, no matter how scary, and search for the signs of God’s glory. As Jesus’ hour nears, one feels that God is drawing even closer to him; which is what God does with us each and every time we face our hour of need.

Sinners or sinless, we are still followers of Christ, and that prayer of His for us at the Last Supper asking His Father, ”to give eternal life to all who are His” was not said in vain. Unless we deliberately desert Him, He will not desert us. He will bring us to the Father, where we will rejoice forever in the company of Christ, who shared our humanity with us, so that we could share and enjoy His divinity and humanity in heaven for all eternity.