Homilies by Revd George Kingsnorth (Deacon)

The historical figure of Pontus Pilate.

Homily for Good Friday
7th April 2023
Little is known about the historical figure of Pontus Pilate, other than he was the Roman Prefect who served in Judea from A.D. 26 to 36. Some legends say he was born in Italy to an equestrian family, others say he was from a Scottish family. Philo of Alexandria, the Jewish philosopher, claimed in his writings in A.D. 50, that Pilate was not averse to “briberies, insults, robberies, outrages and wanton injuries, executions without trial”[i], and is extremely cruel. Though this was not an uncommon practice for Roman Rulers, it is noted that Pilate was “more ruthless than most”[ii].
Philo also writes about a time when Pilate allowed soldiers to bring military standards with an image of the emperor into Jerusalem. Many Jews travelled far and wide to surround Pilate’s palace and lay prostrate in protest “for five days until he relented”[iii] and had them removed.
The historical writer, Josephus, was born in Jerusalem at the end of Pilate’s time in Judea. He tells how Pilate robbed the Temple treasury to construct an aqueduct. Again, many in Jerusalem gathered in protest, but Pilate infiltrated the gathering with soldiers in plain clothes, who beat the protesters to death on his signal.
As long as Pilate kept Palestine quiet, Rome was content. If taxes were paid, the Roman authorities did not mind the Jews had a little self-rule.
Pilate lived, with his wife, Claudia, in Caesarea. Their marriage is claimed to be an arranged one to help “bolster Pilate’s political standing”[iv], because she “was the granddaughter of Emperor Augustus”[v], but was in exile with her mother, Julia, because of the latter’s promiscuous lifestyle.
Pilate wanted a quiet life and only travelled to Jerusalem during festivals when there was the potential for unrest. He had at his disposal three thousand troops. For Claudia to be with him during the Passover, was unusual as she needed her stepfather, Tiberius’s permission, which suggests she had genuine affection for Pilate.[vi]
When Jesus was presented to Pilate in court, he felt it was a waste of his time, as he did not see any political threat in this man. He wanted the Jewish leaders to sort the problem out themselves. It was more out of annoyance Pilate went inside to interrogate Jesus.
“Are you the King of the Jews? Pilate demanded. Jesus tells him his kingdom is not of this world.
“So you are a King?”
“Yes, I am a King,” replies Jesus. He then states that he had come into the world to bear witness to the truth.
“Truth. What is truth?” asks Pilate. He is not concerned about “truth, justice, [or] morality”[vii], he just needed to demonstrate “power, superior force and advantage”[viii]. To Pilate, Jesus was a joke with wishy, washy ideas and of no concern of his.
Going back to the Jews, he states there is no case against Jesus, and that under the Passover custom, he could release him as a goodwill gesture. But the Jews insisted on Barabbas being released instead. For a bit of a laugh, Pilate had Jesus scourged and dressed him as a king, hoping the crowd would be more sympathetic to this poor man, Jesus. But the mob wanted him crucified and would not relent.
Pilate’s plan backfired; the crowd were becoming more restless. He felt trapped. In the Gospel of Matthew we are told Claudia had also messaged him to have nothing to do with Jesus as he was an innocent man, having herself been tormented by a dream about him. She was the “only person who attempted to intervene on Jesus’s behalf”[ix].
Trying to reason with Jesus, who seemed to not respond, Pilate tells him he has the power to release him or crucify him. Jesus remarks that Pilate would have no power over him unless it had been given to him from above. Those who had brought Jesus to him were more guilty.
With the crowds baying for Jesus’s death, Pilate washes his hands of the murder but is unable to wash away his responsibility for not preventing it. At this point, Pilate demonstrates how weak he is. Jesus is led away and crucified. As Jesus hangs on the cross, Pilate orders a sign to hang with him. A statement of Pilate standing his ground, in claiming “Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews”[x]. He refused to relent at the Jew's request for the sign to be removed. Here, Pilate suddenly tells the truth, the Gospel truth.
 
References
[i] Klein, C. (2023). Why Did Pontius Pilate Have Jesus Executed?. [Online]. History.com A&E Television Networks, LLC.. Available at: https://www.history.com/news/why-pontius-pilate-executed-jesus [Accessed 7 April 2023].
[ii] Klein, 2023.
[iii] Klein, 2023.
[iv] Griffin, A. (2021). How Was Pontius Pilate's Wife Connected to Christ?. [Online]. . Available at: https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/how-was-pontius-pilates-wife-connected-to-christ.html [Accessed 7 April 2023].
[v] Griffin, 2021.
[vi] Griffin, 2021.
[vii] Edwards, P. Ed. (2009). Lost for Word?. Chawton: Redemptorist Publications. p.406
[viii] Edwards, 2021.
[ix] Griffin, 2021.
[x] John, 19:19

The shepherd will be struck down.

Homily for Palm Sunday
2nd April 2023
In the two Gospels today, we see a contrast between Jesus being welcomed into Jerusalem and six days later nearly everyone abandoning him, and not wanting to be associated with him due to their fears. At the Last Supper, Jesus knows he is betrayed and will be taken captive. He initiates the Eucharistic sacrament and shares this with his disciples. Psalms are sung and they leave for the Mount of Olives, where Jesus says the shepherd will be struck down and his flock scattered. Still, no one believes it. Yet only a short time later his words came true. Peter follows the guards taking Jesus at a distance. When others shout Peter is a follower of Jesus, he flatly denies this three times before the cock crows, only realising he had done what Jesus said he would do. Not long after, Judas full of remorse for his actions, cannot forgive himself and destroys another temple.  
Isaiah’s experience of following the Lord meant he was persecuted, beaten to being unrecognisable, yet offered no resistance. Echoed by Jesus’s journey towards dying on the cross. He becomes the Sacrificial Lamb, the only acceptable offering God will receive for our sins. An offering made once, for all time.
In our world, this week, many leaders in new technology, have themselves worried about advances in Artificial Intelligence and the potential to cause humanity harm. They urge research and development to be halted, so governments can determine how serious the damage could be to society, jobs and our way of life. Such leaders are becoming aware of their own poor judgments.
Many of us see ourselves as ‘good people’, yet we struggle to recognise where we go wrong, and what harm we cause others. It takes great courage to admit our faults, our weaknesses, and our frailties. Yet, God knows all our faults, all our sins. What he asks us to do is to confront them and be honest, especially to ourselves, and to accept that we, left to our own devices, will continue to get things wrong.
If we can be honest, and not let pride enter our hearts, not accept the influential whispers of Satan taint our thoughts, and turn back to God, to accept Jesus as our Saviour, he will take hold of our burdens and lighten our loads.
We have the gift of speech. We can turn our thoughts into words and express ourselves to others. There is a saying, “A problem shared is a problem halved”. In Galatians, Paul says: “God calls on Christians to disclose their problems to one another”. He also suggests each of us examine our own conduct and reminds us that we all have our own burdens to bear.
As I train to become a counsellor, I see the effects of clients talking about their burdens can have a positive effect physical.
This week, we come to the end of Lent. There is still time to share what burdens us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus is waiting for us all to return to him, especially if we can come to terms with our own failings and can be honest in admitting to ourselves what they are.
“Behold, your king is coming to you. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Amen.

Worried about advances in Artificial Intelligence.

Homily for Palm Sunday
2nd April 2023
In the two Gospels today, we see a contrast between Jesus being welcomed into Jerusalem and six days later nearly everyone abandoning him, and not wanting to be associated with him due to their fears. At the Last Supper, Jesus knows he is betrayed and will be taken captive. He initiates the Eucharistic sacrament and shares this with his disciples. Psalms are sung and they leave for the Mount of Olives, where Jesus says the shepherd will be struck down and his flock scattered. Still, no one believes it. Yet only a short time later his words came true. Peter follows the guards taking Jesus at a distance. When others shout Peter is a follower of Jesus, he flatly denies this three times before the cock crows, only realising he had done what Jesus said he would do. Not long after, Judas full of remorse for his actions, cannot forgive himself and destroys another temple.  
Isaiah’s experience of following the Lord meant he was persecuted, beaten to being unrecognisable, yet offered no resistance. Echoed by Jesus’s journey towards dying on the cross. He becomes the Sacrificial Lamb, the only acceptable offering God will receive for our sins. An offering made once, for all time.
In our world, this week, many leaders in new technology, have themselves worried about advances in Artificial Intelligence and the potential to cause humanity harm. They urge research and development to be halted, so governments can determine how serious the damage could be to society, jobs and our way of life. Such leaders are becoming aware of their own poor judgments.
Many of us see ourselves as ‘good people’, yet we struggle to recognise where we go wrong, and what harm we cause others. It takes great courage to admit our faults, our weaknesses, and our frailties. Yet, God knows all our faults, all our sins. What he asks us to do is to confront them and be honest, especially to ourselves, and to accept that we, left to our own devices, will continue to get things wrong.
If we can be honest, and not let pride enter our hearts, not accept the influential whispers of Satan taint our thoughts, and turn back to God, to accept Jesus as our Saviour, he will take hold of our burdens and lighten our loads.
We have the gift of speech. We can turn our thoughts into words and express ourselves to others. There is a saying, “A problem shared is a problem halved”. In Galatians, Paul says: “God calls on Christians to disclose their problems to one another”. He also suggests each of us examine our own conduct and reminds us that we all have our own burdens to bear.
As I train to become a counsellor, I see the effects of clients talking about their burdens can have a positive effect physical.
This week, we come to the end of Lent. There is still time to share what burdens us in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Jesus is waiting for us all to return to him, especially if we can come to terms with our own failings and can be honest in admitting to ourselves what they are.
“Behold, your king is coming to you. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Amen.

From dust we came and to dust we shall return.

 Homily for 5th Sunday of Lent
26th March 2023
When Lent began, we were reminded that all of us would return to dust through the ashes the priest placed on our forehead. From dust we came and to dust we shall return. Since I have been ordained a deacon, I have had the honour of being with families who have lost a loved one. What many people find surprising is how on losing someone their emotions play havoc with them. For what seems to be no apparent reason tears can stream down our cheeks and a deep sobbing wells up from deep inside us. For many they are embarrassed, often saying this is not how they are normally, but they are also confused and surprised by their human response to the loss.
Jesus, in today’s gospel, is also overwhelmed with grief at the loss of his friend Lazarus. On hearing of the news that Lazarus was ill, Jesus did not immediately go to his aid. Instead, he waited two more days before telling his disciples they would go to Judaea. His friends were worried about him because the people there had tried to stone him. He also said Lazarus was resting, so surely, he would get well. But Jesus said Lazarus was dead.
On arriving in Bethany, both sisters separately raced to see him. Martha reproaches him first saying Lazarus would have lived if Jesus had been there with him, but knew whatever Jesus asked of his Father would be granted. However, when Mary came up to him, she was in tears, full of emotion, Jesus’s human nature also gripped him. She had thrown herself at his feet again challenging him for not having come sooner. Jesus loved both sisters and their brother, Lazarus as though they were his siblings, and the heartache he felt gripped him also. He wept with his own grief.
To many, this might be surprising because he is also God. Jesus knew the purpose behind his actions was to bring Lazarus back to life, because, as he told Martha, he is the resurrection and the life, if we believe though we might die we will live, and we will never die. When Jesus, still crying, reached the tomb he ordered the stone across the cave entrance be removed. Though there were protests because of the expected smell, Jesus reminded them that if they believed they would see God’s Glory. When Jesus spoke to his Father, he said what he said for the people around him to believe. When Lazarus came out, he had to be unbound and set free.
Though Lazarus was raised from the dead on this occasion, the bondage of this world still had a grip on him, meaning he could still physically die again. His spirit had simply been returned to his original body. Ezekiel had reminded the Israelites of how God could open their graves, how he could rebuild their bodies from their bones, sow sinews together fibre by fibre to reconstruct their whole physical body, and then breathe his Holy Spirit into them to give them life again.
What Paul reminds us of is that if our focus is purely on materialist things, we will not please God. Material things are here today and gone tomorrow, they decay and fall apart. It is through sin that our bodies become dead. If we want to belong to Jesus and receive the Spirit of Christ, our focus should be in the spiritual, and the Spirit of God will find a home in us. This way, no matter if our body is dead, the Spirit will keep us alive.
Lazarus’s body was not yet resurrected, because his body could still die through sin. The spirit of God had rekindled life back into him. At the final resurrection, we will rise again into an incorruptible body, full of the Holy Spirit.
Until then, we will still be susceptible to death, both of our loved ones and ourselves. We will still succumb to the well of grief that comes with mourning, but we should remember that our tears are also a form of cleansing, a way of releasing the pain bound up within us. A way of refreshing our whole being. Jesus, Our Lord, and Saviour, who held the wisdom of God, still within his human nature felt the anxiety of the loss of his beloved friend, Lazarus. As we come close to the end of Lent, we still have the opportunity to repent of any sin that may keep us from being close to Jesus, and we can be reassured that he knows our pain because of his own human experiences.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

Guide us through the valley of darkness.

Homily.
4th Sunday of Lent
19th March 2023.
Part of the counselling process involves sitting down with a client, initially to listen to their story about the issue they have. To allow the client to do this the counsellor has to be non-judgmental, totally open and real towards the client, and show them empathy.  The difference between empathy and sympathy is with empathy the counsellor shows compassion and understanding towards the client, whereas sympathy is more about having pity towards the person and tends to be more about being grateful you don’t have the same problem.
As the client goes through their story, the counsellor relates back to what they had been told to gain a sense of whether they had picked up the story from the client correctly. On hearing the story related back, the client has the opportunity to see if the story is right but they also get to hear their story from another person’s perspective. As the process goes on, the client also gets to see where they have blind spots and are able to look at the problem from a different point of view. In many cases, it can be like a light bulb going on, a Eureka moment where something which had been hard for them to fathom suddenly becomes crystal clear.
Jesus sees the blind man. From birth, he has had no way of looking at the world but has had to use his other senses. His hearing would be more astute and the sense of smell and touch would be heightened to compensate for the loss of sight. The Pharisees are more interested in tripping Jesus up, their focus is on building up evidence against Jesus because they see him as a threat. They are more concerned with finding out who was more sinful, the blind man’s parents or the blind man, simply because for them someone had sinned to cause the affliction.
Still, Jesus’s focus was on how to relieve this man and restore him to full health. He was more concerned with how to help a person in need. When questioned, Jesus’s reply was simply that no one had sinned. The man’s blindness was a way of showing how Jesus had come into the world to do his Father’s will. While the night was not upon him, meaning the time left before his crucifixion, Jesus would work as he was the light of the world. So he made a paste in the dirt, rubbed it on the man’s eyes and told him to wash it off in the Pool of Siloam. As the man did this, light entered through the lenses of his eyes and an image was projected onto both his retinas. A signal would have been sent along his optic nerves to his brain to turn the image upside down so he could see things correctly. It may have taken him a moment of two to adjust to this new sensation. The flood of movement, colour and trying to identify what was happening before him, from the perspective of two eyes, allowed him to sense depth. All of this many of us simply take for granted as being normal. It might be like going to the cinema, the lights go out and we wait in anticipation for the images to explode onto the screen in from of us, so we can enjoy the thrills of a movie over several hours. Our senses through sights and sounds, would be excited by the experience.
However, the Pharisees are left a little like the bystanders outside who may feel the vibrations of audio but do not really understand what they mean and are completely in the dark about what is going on. They have no sense of context and meaning because they are standing in the dark.
Without Jesus, we are like those who remain outside the cinema, lost in the darkness. Jesus is the light of the world, and when the light is shone on us the darkness flees and everything about us is revealed, including the things we are ashamed of. And like the person in counselling who gets to see their blind spots, they now have the capability of looking for solutions to their issues. Yet, they can only do this if there is a light shining in the first place. If we accept Jesus into our lives, he will shine his light on us, he will help us to work through the problems we face, and reveal to us the solutions we are after. Jesus will make things clear for us to see so that we do not stumble and get hurt. He is the shepherd who will guide us through the valley of darkness, leading us towards all things that are good for us. If we push Jesus away, the light will go out and we will be left to blindly stagger in the dark.
Jesus loves us as we are and wants us to be in his presence. Without him, we can easily fall into the wrong path because of the darkness, but with him beside us, the path becomes clearly defined and we can take the right course. We are asked to wake up from our sleep, rise up from the dead and Christ will shine on us.

Do you judge a book by its cover?

Homily for 3rd Sunday of Lent
12th March 2023
Do you judge a book by its cover? Or go on first impressions? And if what you see initially is something you don’t like, where have those thoughts come from? On what principles or rules have you used to make these judgements? These can be tough to answer especially if the situation is a life and death one, and there is the potential for some kind of danger. However, what if the situation is a bit more ordinary and you still find yourself making such judgements?
It’s a hot day. The sun beats down. Most people have found the shade for a while, perhaps for a siesta. A woman makes her way to a well a mile and a half outside the town, to collect some water. She carries a pitcher, a heavy bucket, and a long rope, well over a hundred feet long, so the bucket can reach down to the water.
From her perspective there is no one there, so she is relieved. Then as she gets closer, there on the other side of the well sits a man. At first, she’s a bit panicked. In this day and age, men and women don’t gather together, not unaccompanied. She is hesitant, but it is hot, and she needs the water. It’s a long walk to the town in the heat to go back empty-handed. Plucking up courage she pushes on. She ties the bucket to the rope and throws the bucket down the well. There is a splash. The man turns round.
“Give me a drink.”
The young woman is startled.
“What? You are a Jew, and you ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink?”
At this moment, not only is there a man and a woman at the same well but he is Jewish and she is a Samaritan. Each is from a different group that normally does not associate with each other. So, we have several conflicts in play.
Yet, the conversation between this particular Jewish man and Samaritan woman is the longest recorded dialogue between Jesus and another person in the New Testament. Jesus had simply asked for some water but in the conversation, he is offering the Samaritan woman living water that once taken, a person would never thirst again.
We discover, that the Samaritan woman is not married but has had five previous husbands. The man she lives with she is not married to and she would have been considered an adulterer. In another, story Jesus is teaching in the temple, when a crowd interrupt him, to bring him a woman accused of adultery they claim should be stoned according to Mosaic Law. Jesus begins to write on the ground and when the men persisted as a way to test Jesus, he said to them,
“If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her”.
One by one they walk away. Jesus is not prepared to condemn her either but simply tells the adulterous woman not to sin anymore.
Likewise, the Samaritan woman, is truthful with him, when she tells him the current man is not her husband. As Jesus had revealed her inner secrets, the Samaritan woman recognised him to be a prophet but is confused because Jews and Samaritans worship in different places. Jesus tells her: “True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth”. She responds that the Messiah, Christ will reveal everything. Jesus says, “I am he.”
Realising Jesus has revealed everything about her, she eagerly races off to bring others to him and share in what she has learnt. She is confident that her story will convince others and many Samaritans come to Jesus to see and hear their saviour for themselves.
Jesus did not condemn either of the two women but simply gave them a chance to repent and be forgiven. In both situations, Jesus has shown true love to these women and forgiven them. Whereas, both women felt that the systems they lived under would rather seen than dead for the perceived wrong done. At every opportunity, in both the Old and New Testament, God seeks for us to return to him, and through love is prepared to forgive us our sins. So much so that His only begotten Son came into this world as a Man to die on the Cross, taking on all our sins, so we can be forgiven. Yet, once we have realised what our sin is, we must turn away from it. At times, we will fall, but if our desire is to be with Jesus he will be forgiving, as long as we are truthful.
It is only when we deliberately turn away and continue to do what we know is wrong, that we are the ones who reject what Jesus offers through his love. Especially, when we think we know best and judge others against our standards. Is this what Jesus wants?
He welcomed the Samaritan woman and would not condemn the adulterous woman, giving them both a chance to repent and be forgiven, by being truthful to themselves and through God’s love were given the opportunity to change, bringing them closer to Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
 
 

The transfiguration of Jesus

Homily
2nd Sunday of Lent
5th March 2023
Our focus today is on the transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor. No one knows when this festival first took place, but it has been celebrated in Jerusalem since the 7th century. The feast had been celebrated throughout most of the Byzantine Empire over the following two centuries.
Mount Tabor can be found close to the Sea of Galilee being roughly eleven miles away. Surprisingly, Mount Tabor is just six feet taller than Slieve Gullion, around about 18 hundred feet, so the view would be similar for someone standing on top of Slieve Gullion and looking towards Dundalk Bay, as it would be standing on top of Mount Tabor to look towards the Sea of Galilee. Only a bit warmer, and perhaps sunnier. The views from Slieve Gullion on a clear day are awe-inspiring.
I have been up Slieve Gullion many times, often with my camera. My wife often tells me off for not simply enjoying the view without peering down the barrel of a lens with an image framed in a rectangle. One eye is closed and the other one is mostly restricted to a small shape in the centre with everything else black. In the days of the horse-drawn cart, you would have said I was blinkered.
In many ways, today, we no longer look into a viewfinder because our cameras are our mobile phones, but everything else beyond the 5-centimetre by 10-centimetre frame may as well not be there because most of our lives are absorbed by the stills, texts or videos that are displayed there.
A friend of mine recently sent me an article with a photograph of a crowd of people behind a barrier at an event. All but one person held up their phones, capturing images. All but one saw the whole even through a narrow lens. The one without the camera, the caption said, had really experienced the event fully, through sight, sound and feeling because they were fully present in the moment, simply being there. Not worrying about having something for the future to look back on as a simple memory. They just wanted to soak up the experience using their own, in-built senses.
Jesus had taken three of his friends, Peter, James, and John up to the top of Mount Tabor. While they were all alone Jesus’s whole being was completely transformed into something most beautiful and spiritual, his face emitting so much light he shone like the sun and his clothes became as bright as white light. Beside Jesus suddenly stood Moses and Elijah talking with him. Peter was amazed to be there saying ‘it is wonderful for us to be here’. Then his mind, like so many of us got distracted and he started to think about the future. In his head, he was thinking through what he would need to build three tents in honour of each of these holy men.
If it had been us, how many of us would have pulled out of our pockets our mobiles to take a picture? Then finding the light was so bright all we were getting was a white image. No matter how much we fiddled with the menus to change the iris, shutter speed and ISO is would appear as though we had used a powerful flash gun and could only get bleached-out photos. And in that space of time, we would have missed what we should have experienced with our own senses.
When the bright cloud overshadowed us, the voice told us that Jesus is God’s son, his beloved, who enjoys God’s favour and we should listen to him. If we had attempted to record a video with audio the sound would have gone into the red, totally distorted, unplayable afterwards, and video like the photos would have been bleached out. So we would still have had nothing to show afterwards and we would have missed the moment to be experienced by our own senses.
Peter wanted to do something, but Jesus just wanted him to be in his presence and to experience this amazing gift of witnessing Jesus’s transfiguration, through the similarly amazing gifts we have been given in our senses, to see through our eyes, to hear through our ears, to feel through our skin, to smell through our noses and to taste with our tongue.
Our focus these days seems to be dominated by sights and sounds. Yet as I went outside early this morning, I could feel the difference in temperature from warmth to cold. My body shivered. I could smell the freshness of the air and the scent of kiln-dried wood being burnt in a wood fire. I could taste the moisture of the cold air. All my senses were active in that moment. I could see the mist on Slieve Gullion and hear the traffic passing on the road between Forkhill and Newry. Through my senses, I felt alive.
Jesus offers himself for us and wants to be in his presence. In his transfiguration, he reveals his Godness and humanity to Peter, James and John. He does not want us to be afraid. He is here to cleanse us of our faults and to sanctify us both in body and mind. Not through what we have done ourselves but through Christ Jesus’s grace, given to all from the beginning of time but revealed when Christ Jesus appeared, being our saviour.
The best way to record the experiences of our lives which may not be easy, is not always through an artificial device, such as our mobiles, but through the amazing gifts God has given us, our senses. He asks us to be present in the world, and we will be in his presence also.
Amen.
 

More light coming in through

Homily-2023-02-26
1st Sunday of Lent
We are coming to the end of Winter and soon Spring will be upon us. With more light coming in through the windows and the days getting longer, it is easy to see how much we have hoarded around us to give us comfort over the Winter months. The light shines into the shadows revealing what has been hidden. If we have the courage, we can start to dispose of the things gathered that may not have any real purpose or value. Most of what we buy comes well wrapped, and then wrapped again, so these items would be quite suitable for the party game of “Pass the Parcel”.
But once the game has finished and the small item inside is revealed, what is left about us is all the rubbish that needs to be tidied up and thrown in the bin. We may have had a little joy but then comes the pain of clearing away.
Our lives can be seen in a similar way. With Lent, we have the opportunity to see where in our lives we sin.[i] The light shines on us and we can see what there is dragging us down. The only question is, do we recognise what those sins are, or have we rationalised them away to make them more palatable?
Last Wednesday we were reminded that we come from dust and will return to dust. God modelled us out of the soil, shaped us and blew air into our nostrils so we could breathe. If you have ever seen a child being born, it is an amazing sight to see the baby take his or her first breath. For roughly 40 weeks the child has developed in the mother’s womb, surrounded by amniotic fluid. The oxygen and carbon dioxide flows through the mother’s placenta to the baby’s blood vessels, heart, and lungs helping with the child's breathing. So, although the child’s lungs are full of liquid at birth, it is only the drop in temperature that triggers the child’s system to suck in air inflating the lungs.[ii] Another miracle of life.
At the other end of life, at death physically we stop breathing, our heart stops, our temperature lowers and we become still. All that we have done or accumulated remains behind. The bonds of this world are broken. We return to dust.
Yet, as Christians, we do not believe this is the end of the journey. Our spirit lives on. However, that spirit is stained with sin. Sin is what caused death according to what Paul says in his letter to the Romans. In both Genesis and Matthew’s Gospel we are shown every human being is tempted by Satan. We are all tested.
Eve knew that taking the fruit from the tree of Knowledge would lead to death, yet she listened to the lie told to her by the serpent. Then Adam also went against what he had been told by God. Then their eyes were opened, both at the same time. And what they saw filled them with shame. When God came by, they hid in the shadows. Their actions made them not want to be in the presence of God.
We know, when Jesus was baptised, the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove, as John the Baptist witnessed. Then Jesus was led into the wilderness, for forty days and nights Satan attempted to do with Jesus what he had done with Adam and Eve, to drive him away from God the Father. But at every turn, no matter what the serpent suggested, Jesus, the Word of God, used scriptures as his defence. He wore the full armour of God, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword and prayers of the spirit.[iii] Jesus like us was being tested but did not sin. Yet, he was as human as we are.
Paul tells us every single human being there has ever been, is and will be, Satan will try and tempt them away from God’s salvation by using lies and deceptions, not necessarily in big things but more often in the small things, that seem less important to us.
You are in a shop; you buy some groceries handing over a ten-pound note. The cashier gives you your change and as you are about to get into the car you notice the note is ten pounds and not five pounds. It’s pouring with rain, you are cold and want to get home. Do you go back and get the correct change or drive on? I would imagine you would go back. But what if the goods cost fifty pence, you gave a pound and were accidentally given a pound back as part of the change, what would you do then? Remember it is in the small details the devil gets us.
We are tested every day, but it is not the test that causes the problem, but how we react to it. How our inner being is tempted to follow the deceptions before us. We may be forced to ‘do’ things against our will, but to ‘be’ what we should not be, means we are being led by our own hearts. This is where temptation comes from, from our inner being outwards, our motivation, what drives us to do things and be someone we should not be.[iv]
The way to salvation is through Our Lord Jesus Christ. We have forty days of Lent to look at what is in our lives driving us to sin. Perhaps it is not chocolate we need to give up but something else, deep within us that we need to repent. To pray for forgiveness. Use this time to ‘be’ what Jesus wants best for us so we can spend more time in his presence.
 
 
 
[i] Kadavil, T. (2023). Lent I (Feb 26th) Sunday homily. [Online]. Tony's Homilies. Last Updated: 18 February 2023. Available at: https://frtonyshomilies.com/2023/02/18/lent-i-feb-26th-sunday-homily/ [Accessed 24 February 2023].
[ii] Medicine Plus. (2022). Changes in the newborn at birth. [Online]. Medicine Plus. Available at: https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002395.htm#:~:text=The%20mother's%20placenta%20helps%20the,lung [Accessed 24 February 2023].
[iii] BibleInfo. (2023). Armor of God: What is it?. [Online]. BibleInfo. Available at: https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/armor-of-god [Accessed 24 February 2023].
[iv] (Kadavil, 2023)

Starting a conversation about Christianity.

Homily for 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time
19th February 2023
Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to chat with many people. Each with a different perspective on what is happening in the world and often different philosophies. I have friends who are atheists but they are often the ones who start the conversation about Christianity and are happy to chat knowing I am a believer. From my standpoint, I try to show how loving God is, even if it seems to be that there are horrible things going on in the world. I am asked, at times, “How can a loving God allow small children to die or be abused.” The thought horrifies me, especially as I am a father and grandfather. But is the answer so black and white? We do not know the full extent of the story, we only know the headlines that shout out at us. Designed to be emotive and get us angry. Our blood boils and we can see nothing else but a horrible statement.
Imagine standing around a warm fire near the city wall on a cold night. There have been rumours that a rebel leader has been arrested, a blasphemer corrupting the minds of many simple folks, the foolish ones, filling their heads with strange ideas. Thankfully the Pharisees have had him arrested and he’ll get his just reward by being crucified by the Romans.
Imagine another fire burning near the side of a bombed building, that was once the home to thirty families, now not knowing where their food is coming from and where they can escape. The roads have been cut off by the invading forces and the women are worried about how the enemy soldiers will treat them. The barbarians are mindless beasts. Subhuman according to the authorities. And that is just those coming from the East. On the Western side, the Americans and British have been bombing our cities and the SS have pulled out leaving us the defend ourselves. My friend died in the air raids last night and I feel as though I am going out of my mind.
How many of you thought I was initially talking about Ukrainians in the current war with Russia?
Sadly, these were the thoughts of a young German girl, aged about 15 at the time. Let’s call her Ingrid, not her real name, and the year is 1945. Her brother had been shot down in his Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter plane by an RAF Spitfire over Holland, two years before. Her father had been threatened by the Gestapo for helping Jews and basically told his family would suffer if he was caught again. Then he was sent far away from his family as a Luftwaffe Major, a squadron leader. Sadly, Ingrid, like her friends, had all been forced to join the Hitler Youth. She had seen some of her friends disappear or sent to concentration camps, because somewhere in their family genealogy there was a trace of Jewish ancestry.
On this night, Ingrid was so scared having been given a rifle and told to defend the town, that all she wanted to do was scream and run away.
We are told to love our enemies, not to resist them, but to pray for them. If we are asked for something, we are encouraged to give. If we are asked to go one mile, we should go two. If someone needs our coat, we should give them our sweater as well. Those who wish to destroy the temple will be destroyed by God. For each one of us is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, God knows our every thought, our every intention. Leviticus tells us that we must not bear hatred towards our brothers or sisters but to tell them of their offence, otherwise, we are just as guilty as they are. We are told to love our neighbour as we love ourselves.
Ingrid did run away from the situation she found herself in. She had also tried to commit suicide because of the death of her friend. Yet, family friends brought her back to her mother and sister. Their town was captured by the Allies. Ingrid and her family were put our of their homes and their clothes piled up in the street to be given to the Jews who had been liberated from the concentration camps. Ingrid told me she was glad they got her clothes. She was left with next to nothing but found a great use for the Swastika flag each family was forced to have. She turned her family’s one into underwear and use curtains to produce outer clothes.
After the war, Ingrid went on to become a nurse. Found herself working in England and came across the pilot who had shot down her brother. She forgave him. She met her husband, also an RAF pilot, and forgave him. In the late 1970s, Ingrid and her husband moved to Northern Ireland, where she continued to work as a nurse but also volunteered for the Samaritans until she died at the age of 89. She told me her story in an interview, shortly before she died.
Ingrid often had phone calls from people as a Samaritan, who refused to talk to her because of her German accent. She understood, and was forgiving, and never passed judgment. She continued to treat everyone as her neighbour and showed them her love.

Many Bible stories start with a very simple action.

HOMILY
The 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time
12th February 2023
Ecclesiasticus 15:16-21
Psalm 118(119):1-2,4-5,17-18,33-34
1 Corinthians 2:6-10
Matthew 5:17-37
In the long version of today's gospel, Jesus tells us that he has not come to abolish the law given in the Old Testament, but to bring it to fruition to make it complete. So even for Christians, the Ten Commandments given to Moses still stand. However, it is not simply a case of following the law to the letter. That is important because we can still outwardly follow the law, but inside, within our hearts still can be breaking it.
The example commandments given include not killing, not committing adultery, not divorcing, and not breaking an oath. In the first example, though, we may not have killed. We could still harm another by being angry. So are encouraged to make up with the one we are angry with before going to celebrate mass. The anger within us can effectively burn our hearts and destroy us, causing us to sin through the actions we take.
So it is better to release the pain caused by the anger and to address the situation with the person who has brought the anger upon us. We may have mistakenly misinterpreted what was being said or done because again, we did not have the full picture and jumped to conclusions resulting in us getting fired up. It is always better to resolve the issue before things go too far.
Many Bible stories start with a very simple action, a misunderstanding that ends up leading to whole nations fighting against one another, causing the death of thousands of people. Our world is no different. A small number of people get annoyed with a relative who happens to be the leader of another country. Massive conflicts erupt. Think of World War One.
Many of the monarchs were related and the tensions in the Balkans countries for years leading up to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand became an excuse for rival factions to destabilize all of Europe into a great war. The second example is about committing adultery. Jesus tells us that even looking at a woman or a man in a lustful way is enough to have sinned.
In this way, within our hearts. In the Book of Judges, a Levite's wife becomes angry with him and goes back to her father's house in Bethlehem. The Levite went to visit her father to reason with his wife to come back. While there, the wife's father delayed their return home for several days. And when they did leave, it was quite late.
These were dangerous times. The couple sought refuge in a Benjaminite town called Jibia and were taken in by an old man. Though he tried to protect them. The Levite wife was abused and killed by some men from the town. This led to a war between the whole of Israel seeking revenge against the tribe of Benjamin for the death of the Levites.
Why? Tens of thousands of men died on both sides before Israel won against the Benjaminite. Right, people. Again, this story highlights how a simple rift between husband and wife led to a lustful mob, killing one person and bringing about the deaths of tens of thousands more. Small things lead to big consequences. The third example relates to divorce.
When Jesus tells us that the divorced person becomes an adulterer if they were to marry again. In many ways, this connects to the fourth example about not breaking an oath because it is a promise being made to God. In the case of marriage, we are told in Genesis, that when a person leaves their parents, they join with their spouse to become one body.
Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew that God has united man and must not divide. This may seem harsh today when we see so many marriages falling apart, often because of the anger that has ended one partner's heart that leads to destruction and much pain to the injured party. Effectively killing the marriage is what the commandment not to kill is warning us against the fourth example about not breaking your oath.
Jesus is telling us not to swear, not to make a promise. Don't swear on your grandmother's grave or in God's holy name. He just wants us to be honest and truthful. When he means yes, say yes when we mean no. Say no. Keep it simple. Otherwise, you are being influenced by the evil one. By saying yes or no.
We are keeping things simple. And this truth comes from the heart. What is revealed through the spirit comes from the depths of our being straight from God. We can say yes or no. Ecclesiastical says, If we wish, we can keep the commandments to behave faithfully. God sets fire and water before us. We can say our preference yes or no.
We can choose life or death. We can say yes to one and no to the other. And God will honor our choice. God sees all our actions. If we choose him, we will be saying yes to life. He doesn't want us to sin. He does not permit this. But if we say yes to sin, he knows this will lead to death.
Time and time again, God will give us the opportunity to choose to say yes to Him because He does not want to lose any one of us. He is prepared to teach us his ways, and by doing so, we will be happy. If we wish to do so. What do you choose?