Category: Discernment

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Endurance and Courage

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Today’s gospel is such an uncomfortable read that my heart sank a little when I first picked it up. Jesus warns his disciples to expect persecution, imprisonment and betrayal because they have chosen to follow him. While we all know this is part of the cost discipleship we are all too willing to push it to the back of our minds. This is something none of us want to experience, and we prefer to concentrate on the positive, focusing our attention on God’s love, and on the promise of new life.

At first glance it could seem like today’s gospel negates that promise, but that is not what Jesus is saying. He is taking a very realistic and direct view of life, which we all know involves suffering, pain, betrayal and persecution. He tells us that suffering can’t be avoided or run from:

“You will be hated by all people on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.”

In hard, challenging times we need the realistic hope he offers more than ever. Not the false hope that we can avoid suffering by choosing to follow him, but the real promise that whatever we suffer he will be there with us, supporting us, giving us the courage to endure and the the wisdom and strength we need to live in difficult times.

What hope is Christ offering you in the difficulties you face today?

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The call of the King

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The feast of Christ the King can be challenging. We know that the kingdom Jesus promises is based on a different value system to our human institutions. Yet this feast can bring to mind those human institutions, secular and religious, that have both used and abused power. In our times, when institutions and authorities are often viewed with suspicion, it carries particular challenges. This makes it an uncomfortable celebration and we can be tempted to walk away from it or underplay it.

I find that the parts of our Christian heritage that are most uncomfortable are the ones that need the most attention. If I can face the discomfort, and look beyond the surface they often yield a rich and unexpected harvest. Today I’ve gone back to the Baptismal call that anoints each of us as priest, prophet and king, called to unite with Christ in making his kingdom a reality:

“God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has freed you from sin, given you a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and welcomed you into his holy people. He now anoints you with the chrism of salvation. As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet and King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.”

This puts the whole notion of kingship into a new context, pointing to me back to the example of Jesus in the gospels. It is a kingship based on service, love, compassion and kindness. There is no arrogance or judgement in it. This is a kingship that we can all share in by serving others with love and compassion wherever we can.

As we celebrate the feast of Christ the King where are you being invited to live out your baptismal call today?

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The signs of the times.

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I always find the more apocalyptic scriptures unsettling and disturbing. The imagery in today’s gospel of darkening sun and falling stars seems more designed to cause anxiety than anything else. It’s more likely to distract me than to help me discover the presence of God. Yet that is not why Jesus uses it in his conversation with his disciples. He’s pointing out these signs not to frighten them, but so that they can avoid being distracted and led astray.

He can’t give them the certainty they crave by telling them the date or time of the second coming, but he can give them a new awareness. He’s seeking to help them discern the signs of the time, to see beyond the drama and the turmoil to the hope he promises. He says to them:

“Take the fig tree as a parable: as soon as its twigs grow supple and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. So with you when you see these things happening: know that he is near, at the very gates.”

His words are a call to pay attention and prepare for the coming of Christ they’re also a call to discernment. They have a particular resonance in our challenging and unsettling times, when we can too easily fall into anxiety and hopelessness about so many areas of life and of the world. He calls us to stay focussed on him and his promise whatever is going on. As we come to the end of the Church’s year Jesus is calling us to be alert and ready for the signs of his presence with us whatever we are living through.

As we approach the last week of the liturgical year where is Christ calling you to be attentive to his presence?

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Challenged to love.

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Today I’m reflecting on the conversation between Jesus and one of the Scribes in the gospel. It’s not clear if the scribe is trying to catch Jesus out on this occasion, or if he is genuinely seeking understanding. Either way, Jesus decides to take the question at face value, treating it a genuine request for greater understanding. Having being asked by the scribe about the first of the commandments he replied:

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart…You must love your neighbour as yourself.”

It takes us back to the heart of the gospel and reminds us that love is the core of our faith. Today I’m also struck by the way Jesus demonstrates that love in his conversation with the scribe. Jesus puts aside the fact that the question comes from a group that often disagreed with even condemned him. It would have been so easy to respond with a put down or a sharp retort. Instead Jesus responds with love to the scribe’s question, answering sincerely and respectfully, and ending the conversation by saying:

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

It seems to me that this is a valuable example for us today. Our challenging times make it very easy to hear a criticism in every question and to respond with defensiveness or even aggression until the situation spirals downwards and relationships falter. Jesus shows us another way to respond. I can’t help wondering how our public and private conversations would be if we followed his example of responding with respect and love.

Where is Christ calling you to respond with love when your views are questioned?

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Recognising Christ

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If we were to look for a role model among the followers of Jesus, it’s unlikely that Bartimaeus would be the first person to spring to mind. His circumstances, disability and poverty seem to put him outside the circle of possible role models.

But, as always the ways of the Kingdom turn our human values on their heads. With reflection we can see that there’s much more to Bartimaeus than appearances suggest. When he calls out to Jesus he has a clear idea of who he believes Jesus to be and of his own need of salvation. He calls out:

“Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.”

His words show a man of faith, who knows his need of God, and is willing to take the risk of trusting that God. He is a man of courage and persistence, who refuses to allow himself to be silenced by the negative response from those around him. His persistence is rewarded when Jesus, ignoring the attempts to silence him, calls him over asking him:

“What do you want me to do for you?”

Jesus makes no assumptions or judgements about Bartimaeus or his circumstances, instead allowing him to speak freely and openly. When he does so Jesus recognises and names him as a man of faith saying:

“Go; your faith has saved you.”

Bartimaeus challenges us to ask ourselves where we recognise our need of Christ and if we have the courage, like him to cry out that need until Christ turns and sees us.

What helps you to recognise your need of Christ’s life changing presence in your life today?

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The Peace of Christ

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Today were celebrating the feast of St Luke, author of some of the best-known and most loved gospel stories. It’s not surprising then that today’s gospel focuses on the sending of the seventy-two to preach the Good News through the towns and villages.

Jesus gives them very specific instructions, telling them what to take and how to behave as they travel around the country. On their journey they are called to trust themselves completely to the providence of God and the kindness of strangers.

But he doesn’t send them out completely empty handed. He gives them a gift to pass on to the people they encounter:

“Whatever house you going to, let your first words be, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if people of peace live there, your peace will go and rest on them; if not it will come back to you.”

As we see communities torn apart by war and conflict across the world it’s hard to imagine a time when that peace has been more needed. This peace is no quick papering over of cracks. It requires that we do a certain amount of inner work to be able to receive it.

If we are to be people of peace, we have to allow our hearts to be changed. We need to risk letting the stories of the other change us. We have to be willing to let go let go of much that we cherish. We have to accept that we are not right about everything and to be willing to compromise.

Where is Christ calling you to change so that you can accept his peace today?

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Letting Go

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In today’s second reading St Paul tells us:

“The word of God is something alive and active: it cuts more keenly than any double edged sword…”

The truth of his words is borne out by the gospel

In conversation with a young man who asks how to inherit eternal life Jesus begins by taking him back to the basics of faith, telling him to keep the commandments. That’s not enough for the young man, he wants more. When he presses Jesus to say more he gets it. Jesus responds:

“There is one thing you lack. Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

His words are so challenging that the young man, who was very wealthy, walked away sad, unable to take that extra step. Jesus’ words also challenge us. As St Paul says they cut through the excesses and riches of our society to the heart of what is means to follow Jesus. Having more than we need, especially when others lack the necessities of life is not the way of the gospel. It’s not Good News for us or for anyone else.

Jesus’ words are as challenging for us as they are for the young man. Like him there’s much that we have to let go of, both materially and spiritually if we want to give ourselves completely to following Christ. It’s a call to put ourselves aside with all the sacrifice and denial that implies in order to be free to give ourselves completely to following Christ.


What do you need to let go of to be free to follow Christ wholeheartedly?

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Becoming childlike.

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In today’s gospel Jesus once again turns our ideas on their heads. In response to his disciples question about who is the greatest he challenges them to look at greatness in a new way. He doesn’t tell them to pay attention to the learned and the clever, the experts and politicians. Instead he tells them to look at little children and to model themselves on them:

“He said, ‘I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And so, those who make themselves as little as this little child are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

This must have surprised the disciples, they, like us would not have expected to model their behaviour on the children around them. The opposite would have been true, then as now. The gospel calls us to examine that view. It invites us ask what Jesus saw in the children that he didn’t find in those adults concerned with position and status, and to look at what we can learn from them.

Children are open and trusting. They are curious about others and willing to learn. When they are involved in some activity they give it their whole attention, it absorbs them completely. They have an innate sense of fairness and justice. These are qualities that we seem to lose as we grow older. To watch that is a delight and a challenge. Reflecting on today’s gospel it seems to me that Jesus is asking us to look at where we can rediscover these attributes in our lives.


Where is Christ calling you to be open and trusting today?

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Hearing the call

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From the archives for the feast of St Therese of Lisieux. Today we are celebrating the feast of St Therese of Lisieux. She’s often been presented with an overlay of sentimentality and sweetness that undermines her great spiritual wisdom and insight. She was a women of great faith, courage, determination and discernment. This morning we had a reading from her autobiography, where she describes some of her struggle with vocation and its resolution. Reflecting on St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians:

“Love, in fact is the vocation which includes all others; it is a universe of its own, comprising all time and space – its eternal… My vocation is love… I had discovered where it is that I belong in the Church, the niche God has appointed for me. To be nothing else than love… That’s to be everything at once.”

Her realisation is the result of a deep and honest personal reflection. To reach it she must have paid attention to her deepest discontent as well as her deepest desires, searching the Scriptures to discover how God was leading her through both to discover and respond to God’s call. To go through that process requires great honesty and courage, it’s something we’re all called to.

St Therese’s discernment takes us right back to the very heart of our Christian call, the call to love. It’s a call that seems obvious, straightforward and simple. But, as St Therese herself could tell us the ups and downs of life soon shows us that the call to love is also costly, challenging and painful.

How is God calling you to discover the niche God has appointed for you?

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Expanding the boundaries.

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We are communal beings, despite the individualistic tone of our society we flourish in relationship and in community. Although it has an intensely intimate aspect our faith is a communal one. As St Benedict reminds us we travel to Christ and eternal life “altogether”, not alone.

All this is profoundly life giving, but today’s gospel points out that it also has a downside that we need to be aware of. When it stops being all inclusive community can descend into tribalism. If shifts from being a space where all are welcome, and there is only “us” to being a separatist space divided into “us and them”.

In today’s gospel, the disciples fall into this tribal trap. Shocked by seeing an outsider casting out demons in Jesus’ name they try to stop him, and then complain to Jesus. His response is unexpected. Instead of anger he replies:

“You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.”

Unlike his disciples Jesus is able to be open and inclusive, trusting the good intentions of the man’s intentions. He is able to see a bigger picture than the disciples, and reaches out, not to criticise the man, but to enlarge the disciples understanding of community and belonging.

In our challenging times when tribalism is on the increase we too are challenged by Jesus to expand our ideal of community until there is no “them and us”, but just an all inclusive us, journeying together towards the God of love.

What boundaries is Christ challenging you to expand today?