Tuesday, November 18, 2003

 
I was reading a bit of Gospel, a week ago, and read the passage about Christ cursing the fig tree in Matthew 11:12-14, 20-25. Christ explains the effectiveness of the curse in these words: Jesus answered, 'Have faith in God. I tell you solemnly, if anyone says to this mountain, "Get up and throw yourself into the sea", with no hesitation in his heart but believing that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. I tell you therefore: everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours.' [Mt 11:20-24] Well, I thought, therein lies my difficulty. I can't quite bring myself to have the absolute confidence that what I pray for is going to happen. Why not? Well, I've been taught that God is omniscient and that He knows far better than we do what is best for us. Therefore, He will grant our prayers, but not necessarily in the way we want or expect. Thus, the prayer that 'Thy will be done', in the Lord's prayer. God knows what we need and if we ask for something that is, ultimately, wrong for us, He will not give that to us... just as we would not give our children something dangerous to play with, however much they wanted it. So how can we square this with praying confidently and believing that what we ask for will be given us? I puzzled over this as I walked to Mass and had determined to corner my parish priest and discuss it with him. Then I had an inspiration: this is clearly where the Holy Spirit fits in. If we are truly open to God; if we live our lives for Him and through Him, then it would not be possible for us to ask for something that was not in accordance with His will. Saints and Apostles who performed great miracles in God's name did this because they were completely in tune with the Divine Will, so much so that they were perfect vessels for God to work through. So, before we start trying to pray with confident expectation that our requests will be granted (and we should remember that supplication is only one of the reasons for prayer, but I suppose it's the starting point for most of us), we really need to pray to the Holy Spirit to come into our lives and make us open to God, so that we can live and think in complete accordance with His Will. Then, if we can truly become vessels of God, we can turn to Him with the confident knowledge that what we ask is part of the Divine Plan. It's like the last two Joyful Mysteries. In the Presentation of Our Lord, Simeon and Anna were so in tune with God that they knew the Messiah was coming and He granted them the time to see His Son and know Him. In the Finding of Christ in the Temple, Jesus shows us that, however difficult, we should always be doing our Father's work. If we can live our lives so that we always put God's purpose first, then we will truly be in perfect harmony with Him. Easy to write. Not at all easy to do. But this prayer I can make with absolute confidence of it being granted me: 'O Holy Spirit, come to me and show me how to live my life according to Your will.' Now I just need to be open enough to hear the response...
Posted By Claire | 11/18/2003 10:42:00 am

Wednesday, September 03, 2003

 
God speaks to us all of the time. Sometimes, if you are very lucky, you actually hear Him. When that happens you feel incredibly privileged and a little shaken! This morning was a case in question. I woke with the certainty that I had to do something today. A little later, as I got up I had the growing conviction that I was supposed to go to daily Mass. I had actually been thinking about this recently because it is the only one of the five pebbles offered by the Virgin Mary through Medjugorje (pebbles to fight the modern-day Goliath of sin in our world) that I have been unable to fit into my life, so far. Anyway, feeling this growing need I checked the Mass times and prepared myself to go. Not even a last minute nappy change prevented me (although I had to walk quite fast to be on time) and I arrived with a few minutes to spare. On arriving at the Church and finding I had a few minutes before the Mass began, having found a pew and said a prayer, I then took my daughter (who is now 19 months old) up towards the chapel of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She can say, and recognise, "Jesus", and I wanted to start explaining to her who Mary was. Having pointed out the images of the Virgin, I made my way back to the pew with her, pausing to look at the stained glass windows and statues. The first window I came to was that of Saint Gregory the Great. Gregory was a Pope in the sixth century and his writings were very influential in the Middle Ages and I have read many extracts from his works. I paused, therefore, and it occurred to me to ask the saint to pray for his namesake, a cousin I hold very dear, who was recently engaged and is to be married next year, but who also embarks now upon the resitting of his final year of his medical degree. Having offered up the prayer, I returned to our pew, pointing out the other windows and statues on the way. We had been seated a couple of minutes when the priest came in and Mass started. Among his first words were an announcement of the patron saint of the day, of which I had previously been unaware: Saint Gregory the Great. Upon returning to write this, I now read that Saint Gregory the Great is also the patron saint of teachers: both my parents belonging to this profession I see another reason for my call to Mass this morning.
Posted By Claire | 9/03/2003 11:25:00 am

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

 
Today is the feast day of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux - the monk depicted kneeling to the left of Our Lord in the icon to the right of this blog. As I mentioned before, I have spent a fair amount of time studying this Doctor of the Church. For students of the Middle Ages, his name crops up constantly. He was a Cistercian monk who was soon made abbot of Clairvaux. His influence was wide-reaching: he was a regular correspondant with the papacy and became involved in many debates on various issues of the time. He was one of the founders of Clairvaux and from that Motherhouse a number of other monasteries were founded, including Rievaulx in Yorkshire. A wide body of writings survive, including his Sermons on the Song of Songs, which are an eye-opening vision on a particularly difficult book of the Bible. As with all saints, his example is a good one for us to follow, and even for those of us living very different lifestyles, not called to take Holy Orders at this time, his words are well-worth reading as an avenue for the deepening of our own understanding and knowledge of Christ, Our Lord.
Posted By Claire | 8/20/2003 09:15:00 am

Friday, July 11, 2003

 
I'd like to share a few thoughts I had a few years ago on the sign of the cross. Now this is, according to my understanding, an essentially Catholic prayer and symbol, but if we examine the significance that underlies it, I think it is a prayer and meditation that is very appropriate to all members of the Christian Faith. Let us start, then, with the sign itself. The right hand moves from the head down to the heart, and then across the shoulders from the left to the right, making a cross. The cross reminds us of the fact that Our Saviour died on a cross to redeem our sins. The cross reminds us that Our God sent His Only Son to suffer death, willingly, so that Heaven might be open to us. His sacrifice was the ultimate and perfect sacrifice by which Death was conquered once and for all. The cross is very important to Catholics. It is important to all Christians, but particularly to Catholics. While we revere the feast of Christ's Resurrection above all others, this forms part of a tridium comprising the celebration of the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. The fact of His death, and the great suffering that He underwent for the love of us, is what gives meaning to the Resurrection. Without death, there would be no rising from the dead. The cross, therefore, reminds us that Jesus suffered, died and rose again, and all because God loves us. It is a love too great for us to comprehend but even the small portion that we can contemplate is overwhelmingly wonderful and we cannot meditate on this often enough. Let us move now to the wording of the prayer: 'In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.' The prayer itself dedicates our thoughts, actions, lives, to God's purpose. What we are doing is in His Name. This is a great responsibility, and we are weak and flawed but if we can try to keep this aim in mind, perhaps our efforts will be greater and we will come closer to that longed-for perfection. The wording itself is significant, in that the noun, 'name' is in the singular. Grammatically, were we to follow the noun 'name' with three persons we would expect it to take a plural. The fact that this noun remains in the singular represents the core belief in the Holy Trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three Persons in one God. Not three Gods, but one. Perhaps one of the greatest Mysteries of our Faith and one that is hard, if not impossible, to completely comprehend, but in this simple prayer we sum up one of the core tenets of our belief. We have meditated upon the action of this prayer, upon its symbolism, and upon the meaning and teaching contained in the wording. Let us now put the two together and move into some deeper meanings. In the Name of the Father... With these words we place our hand upon our forehead. God the Father, seated on high, with the Son and the Spirit. Up high goes our hand, reminding us of God's supremacy. The forehead covers our brain. This is the seat of our knowledge and wisdom. The Old Testament represents a time of learning and preparation for the revelations of Christ. Wisdom was revealed to the Prophets by God the Father. By touching our forehead, we pray that we too might be empowered with His wisdom and understanding. The Father also represents discipline and law. The knowledge He has revealed includes the Commandments that we are to follow. We should keep these in our minds always. ...and of the Son... With these words we place our hand over our heart. We move now into the coming of Christ, the teachings of the Gospel. Jesus is not a Father, He is a Brother and as such He came to teach us about Love. When asked about the greatest Commandment, Jesus replied, ''The most important one is this: 'Listen Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second most important commandment is this: 'Love your neighbour as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment more important than these two.'' [Mark 12:29-31] Jesus' message, therefore, was the importance of Love. If we truly love God and each other, then keeping God's commandments will be easy because we will not want to do anything that goes against His teaching. The heart is associated with love and so it is appropriate that we place our hand here when we speak of God the Son. As we touch our heart, we should remember what Jesus taught us about love and vow to try to love God and our neighbours more. ...and of the Holy Spirit. With these words we complete the sign of the cross, touching our shoulders. The Holy Spirit moves throughout the Bible, but most clearly in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Letters of the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is sent by Jesus to His followers after His Ascension. He has many forms, that of a dove [Luke 3:22], of tongues of fire [Acts 2:3]. He gives the Apostles the gift of speech [Acts 2:4]. It is His strength that comes upon us, particular for Catholics, at our Confirmation, the moment when we decide that this is our Faith, that we choose it for ourselves, independently of our parents or guardians. It is the Holy Spirit who gave Stephen strength to face his martyrdom and to forgive his killers [Acts 7:55-60]. Traditionally, the Spirit gives us seven gifts: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear. With these graces we can accomplish the tasks that God sets us, however hard they seem. With the gift of fortitude in particular, we, like Stephen and the other martyrs, can share in this strength and courage. How appropriate, therefore, that the Holy Spirit be invoked as we touch our shoulders, the symbol of strength and endurance. With these three body-parts we therefore pray to God for all our needs: to God the Father for the wisdom and understanding to know His Law and His Commandments and how to keep the Faith; to God the Son for the Love to accomplish this and to God the Spirit to take up the burden of our own Cross for the greater glory of God. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. From this simple prayer, we have extracted layer after layer of meaning, showing how meditation on something so simple, something so short, can give us a greater understanding of our Faith and love of God. This is a starting point: meditating upon these ideas can perhaps lead us to a place where we are truly ready to listen to the message that God has for each of us, personally. Amen.
Posted By Claire | 7/11/2003 09:32:00 am

Wednesday, July 09, 2003

 
My husband suggested that I blog the following story as an argument against euthanasia. I am not convinced that this is the best example to support such an argument but it is never a bad time to make this case and so for the benefit of readers who have not spoken to me on this matter or who are unclear about their own views or who are (God, literally, forbid) pro-Euthanasia, let me state my views. I'll be brief. My arguments are fairly simple, really. I* believe that life is sacred. I believe that only God has the right to give or take life. This is because only He has the omniscience to know when a life's purpose has been accomplished. We cannot make an informed decision about somebody's quality of life because we cannot possess all the facts. Only God can do this. Let me simplify this further. God said, 'Thou Shalt Not Kill.' [Ex 20:13, cf. Deut 5:17] This was not followed by, 'except...' If you need me to spell it out, euthanasia is wrong. If you need a more detailed argument, either to convince you or to use yourself to support your own views then I strongly recommend that you read this (particularly paragraphs 2276-2279). There is, of course, a difference between active and passive euthanasia. The latter is acceptable if it is as defined in paragraphs 2278 and 2279 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. [* Some time ago, somebody I was debating with took issue over the fact that when discussing my beliefs I prefaced everything with 'We believe' rather than 'I believe'. Substitute whichever you prefer, the result is the same. My beliefs are those that the Catholic Church teaches. Without exception. The 'We' is really rather important: it is a universal Church and I am a part of it.]
Posted By Claire | 7/09/2003 08:35:00 pm

Sunday, July 06, 2003

 
A lovely thing happened at Mass today. My little daughter, who is 17 months' old, was sat with me and her uncle at the start of Mass. I pointed to the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was near our bench, and asked her if she could see the statue of Jesus. Immediately, she reached for my neckline and the crucifix and chain that I wear. Pulling it into view, she pointed to the crucifix and said, clearly, "Jesus!" I know she's too young to understand properly who God is, but it is special to me that the child who is only beginning to be able to say "Maman" with any clarity, is already able to say Our Lord's name.
Posted By Claire | 7/06/2003 07:38:00 pm