Month: December 2023

Today we meet the scary character of John the Baptist, just the sort of person you’d cross the road to avoid, especially if you happened to be a Pharisee! John’s tough and direct message of preparation is one of faithful humility; it is a prophetic and uncompromising call for repentance and forgiveness. He reminds us that we are not readying ourselves to change the world alone; rather we are preparing to witness, and cooperate with, the grace and love of Jesus that alone can transform our world. Any change we want to effect begins with us.

But if we rely only on ourselves, each day is encumbered with myriad “winding roads” and “rough ways”: a teacher struggles with managing an unruly class with diverse needs; a parent faces redundancy; a spouse is worried about the health of The Loved One. As much as we try to tackle these obstacles individually, it is imperative that we have the wisdom to recognize our own limited humanity. The job is impossible, and we are inadequate.  The season of Advent is driven by this essential truth of our humanity: we are deeply, indeed completely, dependent on God and the sooner we recognize this the easier life and its trials become. We need God’s grace, His help.

The beauty of Christian discipleship, and of Advent, lies not only in Jesus’ saving grace, but also in Jesus’ invitation. We are not passive spectators of Christ’s mighty works. Jesus wants us co-piloting the craft with Him. This season we do not only witness the salvation of God, but Jesus calls us to join in his mission. Our call is not, by ourselves, to straighten the winding roads nor make smooth the rough ways of our broken world or to solve our own personal crisis or even to bear the burden of our personal struggles alone. That job is for a love and a manner of ‘being’ much deeper than our hearts can comprehend. In Advent, rather, we prepare to join in the work of Christ with zeal and compassion, to witness and share the vibrant kinship and radical hospitality of Jesus. Indeed, what could be a more profound preparation this Advent than opening ourselves more willingly to participate in the saving mission of Jesus for our own good and the good of all the world? It’s not an easy thing to begin to do because it involves a change and there a precious few of us who are good at grasping that nettle. I find that as I slog my way through mid-life ‘change’ becomes harder. I also recognize that it is becoming more necessary.

If there are struggles that you are having to shoulder, have you brought them to prayer? Have you offered them during Mass? Have you been to Confession to receive more grace to help you? Have you asked me or another parishioner to pray with you, not just for you? What have you to lose? Nowt, that’s what!

Last Laugh: Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read. Groucho Marx

And so we enter Advent once again. I’m almost breathless at how quickly we seem to have arrived at this point. Not alone does it seem two minutes since I was moving into St Paul’s Presbytery on a hot summer’s day in August (one of the few!), but it doesn’t seem two minutes since I was negotiating the overt celebrations that attend a Californian Christmas!

Recently, I revisited one of my favourite films of all time, Dead Poet’s Society, starring the late, great Robin Williams. If you haven’t seen it, you must. Somehow, its story seems to suit this time of year. In a very quirky introduction to the study of English literature, Mr Keating (played by Williams) has his students (a class of teenage boys) read the opening lines of Robert Herrick’s poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”. They read: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; and this same flower which flowers today tomorrow will be dying. Now admittedly, Herrick is giving blunt advice to 16th century maidens about the need to get themselves a fella, and quick. In the film, Mr Keating broadens the theme with the aphorism Carpe Diem (seize the day) and this become the central premise of the film. The film demonstrates the need to ‘seize the day’ and that whilst a great price may have to be paid in the act of seizing, a much deadlier one (of a living death) is paid by not taking those important decisions/risks & gambles/opportunities that come our way. Some of us already know what that feels like.

Holy Mother Church, in fidelity to Her Saviour, invites Her children to do the same again and again throughout the year, but it seems most keen at this time of the year as we begin anew the liturgical cycle. Our ‘carpe diem’ isn’t the rash grasping of a teenager, though; rather, it’s the steady reflection on the past and a determined moving forward – even if that makes us anxious – all the while confident that Christ moves along with us at each step. Whilst we can do this as a community, we must also acknowledge that our community determination is a collective reflection of our individual determination; and this is secured for us Catholics through the reception of the grace of the sacraments, especially the sacrament of reconciliation (Confession). If we’re not prepared to embolden our Faith by the power of Christ’s forgiveness, then we cannot move forward. And if we deprive ourselves of that power then we deprive the wider community and our families of its power too. Charity begins at home, the say. It does, it begins with you and the Lord looking under your own stairs first. Do not be afraid. CARPE DIEM!

Last laugh: The plumber asked the lady: “So where’s the drip?” She replied, “He’s in the bathroom trying to fix the leak.” Tommy Cooper.