HOLY SATURDAY - Good News About The Church

"And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised" - Matthew 27:51f.

This Holy Week, no one can have missed the sensational headlines concerning scandals committed by churchmen and the alleged failure of some Church leaders. Headlines are punchy one-liners, designed to catch our attention. At their best, they invite us to read the article they herald and maybe discover whatever truth it contains. At their worst, they are misleading and we can wrongly think they capture the truth in a nutshell, so that we don't need to consider the issue any further. It's fair to say that most of the media headlines which have captured the world's attention this Lent have been of the latter kind, and people have thus been led to form a kangaroo court, and to judge the Church of Jesus Christ, and to jeer at her. One need only peruse the hateful and intemperate comment boxes of the media or various blogs for evidence of this. And so, once again Jesus Christ, truly present as the Head of His Mystical Body, the Church, is scourged and lashed for the sins of his people and his ministers.

As the Victim of those sins, Jesus identifies Himself with all those who have been victims, and so the Church, who is always first and foremost the Mystical Body of Christ, truly identifies with their pain and trauma; the victims' pain and anger is also the Church's anguish and distress. Christ then mounts the Cross to redeem sinners and endure an agonizing death with suffering humanity. But even as He hangs there in love, those who do not know what they are doing mock and jeer at Him. Hence, the entire Church is summarily condemned, derided, and dismissed; all her members are found to be naively deluded, at best, and at worst, guilty and complicit in a cover-up.

In contrast, what is the headline that we should concentrate on as we pass from Holy Week into Eastertide? It begins tonight at the Easter Vigil: Alleluia!

That exclamation of Easter joy invites us to consider the truth and reality of what the Church is about. The Church of Jesus Christ is about good news, and her headlines fill the Gospels. So, let us always turn to them and read them! St Matthew's gospel, cited above, leaves us with his punchy attention-grabbing headlines to tell us what the death of Christ effected, and they are so much more sensational than the media's. Christ's death was accompanied by cosmic phenomena, so that as St Ignatius of Antioch said, Jesus "was truly crucified and died, with those in heaven and on the earth and under the earth looking on". Thus, creation itself proclaimed the headlines and sensationally told the good news. And this is news of health, life, peace, reconciliation and goodness to all humanity because of the love of God for all people, shown definitively on the Cross. The gospels proclaim that death is not the end, that sin is ultimately defeated, and that the grave has no hold over us. Rather, we will be raised with Jesus Christ. This is the essence of the good news that the Church proclaims day after day.

St Justin Martyr said that on Holy Saturday, the Lord "remembered his dead ... and He went down unto them to preach to them the good news of His salvation". The Lord still does that today! In every situation where people are dead through sin, or because they have been the victims of sin and evil, the Lord Jesus continues to preach salvation to His beloved people. And He does this primarily in the sacramental actions of His Body, the Church. Many tonight will see and experience the grace of baptism, which joins the forgiven sinner with Jesus Christ so that he or she becomes a child of God, and shares in divine life itself. This is good news! Christ also preaches salvation in the lives and deeds of countless Christians, for raised to new life by His grace and prompted by His Spirit, these members of the Church witness to God's love, compassion and goodness in their lives and extend these to others. This is good news! And finally, in the speech, writing, and art of Christians, Christ's message of salvation is proclaimed. So, Melito of Sardis, in the earliest extant Easter homily, said: "It is He who drew close to you, who cared for the suffering in your midst, and raised the dead". This is good news!

As such, it would be a diabolical tragedy if anyone should refuse to hear the good news and only considers bad news in the Church. It is true and should be acknowledged that this is a reason why any scandal in the Church is so very terrible and evil: as trust has been shattered, it is extremely hard to put one's faith in Christ and His holy Church again. However, we can also become so distracted by the sins and failings of some Christians that we fail to look at Christ himself and at the saving work he has wrought for all of sinful humanity. Thus, we might allow sin to dim the light of faith in our hearts, scandal to extinguish our hope, and outrage to cool our charity. We can be so allured by the glamour of evil and human sinfulness that we seem to revel in bad news. As Easter people, though, let us be taught by the Cross, enraptured by the love of God, enthralled by the beauty of holiness, and glory in His good news. On Holy Saturday, let us imitate Christ and preach salvation to the dead, beginning with the sin that resides in our own hearts, and then, rising with Him, let us share the love and mercy that we have received with others. For such is good news, such is what the Church is about, and such is the 'headline' that we pray will draw the world's attention.

GOOD FRIDAY - The Message of Jesus' Sufferings

Readings: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1:19:42

Any path of spiritual growth, any way of healing and maturing, any wisdom which is worth anything, will have something to say of suffering. We can go further: it will have something to say about the meaning, message, and even value of suffering. This is a difficult one to get right but it is central to the mystery of following Jesus and it can easily be misunderstood. The Christian way at its best is not interested in pain, suffering, and death in ways that are perverted, queer, or odd. Of course it is not always at its best.

The growing pains of adolescence end when our bodies are fully grown. But we continue to grow in our spirits and in our hearts, in our souls and personalities. At least we are called to continue to grow in understanding, compassion, faith, and love. There is no limit to the growth of these things in us. We can refuse to grow and shut down our hearts in cynicism, bitterness or disappointment. That brings its own kind of pain. Or we can respond positively to the call to grow in love and understanding. And that brings pain with it too.

Little surprise then if, on the way of Jesus, we experience 'growing pains', a peculiarly human kind of suffering as we try to find our way through many limitations and difficulties, within and without. We can think of a seedling finding its way through the darkness and many obstacles before breaking through to the light of day. Jesus himself used this image: only if a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies can it bear fruit (John 12:24). And Paul reminds us that we must all negotiate many difficulties before we can enter the kingdom of heaven (Acts 14:22).

The cross never comes in the way we anticipate. If it did, it would not be the cross. So we really suffer deeply because we do not see the point of suffering in this way or in that, or because we do not see the point of it going on so long. Suffering never comes in the way we would have chosen for ourselves. It often attacks precisely those aspects and qualities that we most value. Suffering easily arouses our anger and dismay, fear and disgust. The suffering of others, especially children, makes us especially angry.

Jesus suffered for us and left an example for us to follow the way he took. That way led him through the valley of darkness - Gethsemane and Golgotha - before it took him to Easter and Pentecost. Those who follow him listen for his voice. And his authentic voice speaks, not in the first place of suffering, but in the first place of love. But love also necessarily means suffering. To love is to become tender and vulnerable, to open to the presence of another, to share the burdens and difficulties of another. To love means to open oneself to the possibility (the likelihood, the inevitability) of suffering. Those who love truth suffer for the truth. Those who love justice suffer for justice. Those who love peace suffer for peace. Those who love others suffer for others.

To understand Jesus' sufferings we must speak not only of love but also of sin. The career of Jesus takes the road of suffering not just because it is love but because it is love in a sinful world. It has always happened so. It continues to happen so. The biblical authors speak of how the wise and just person excites envy, hatred, and violence in a sinful world. The person of principle excites envy, distrust, and opposition in a society of compromise.

In the difficulties and challenges of life we will be tested to the depths of our being. We can resist the challenge and become stuck on the road. We can turn away and fill our lives with distractions and comforts. Or, with God's grace, we can follow the way of Jesus, hearken to the voice of his love, and throw our human story (sinful and compromised as it is) in with his, so that all might have life and have it to the full.

This is the message of Jesus' sufferings - out of love he gave his flesh for the life of this sinful world. To see this is to know that any share in the mystery of his sacrificial love is a privilege and a strange joy. Christian hope, far from removing us from the reality of sin, suffering and death, enables us to face those enemies of the human race with clarity of mind and confidence of heart.

MAUNDY THURSDAY - As One Who Serves

Readings: Exodus 12:1-8,11-14; Ps 116; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15

There are many ways of communicating with each other. Of course, the obvious way is through speech. But sometimes what we want to say seems to be difficult to capture in words, perhaps because the words are commonly misused, or trivialised. I suppose one of those words is the word 'love'. It's a word that is used very freely, and very seldom seems to be associated with anything more than emotions. One minute we can talk of loving someone or something, and then after some time speak in terms of dislike or even hatred. For the use of the word 'love' to be credible, it must be backed up by something else - by acting consistently well towards a person, to care for their well-being, and so on.

It is noticeable that Jesus doesn't say anything at the beginning of today's Gospel. He simply prepares himself to wash the disciples' feet. Even when Peter kicks up a fuss, he doesn't provide an explanation of what he is about to do. He uses a few words to steady him, then he carries out his task. It is only afterwards that he explains that this was an action of service, of love, from the one who is their Master, their Lord. And this is something that they are to imitate in their leadership of others. It is to be leadership through service.

In Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians we see a similar model of service. Paul doesn't instruct the Corinthian Church with his own ways. He gives them something which he received from the Lord. He recognises that his oversight of the Corinthian Church is not about imposing his own will, but about pointing them in the way of the Lord. He wants them to do what Jesus asked them, and indeed asks the whole Church, to do: to celebrate the Eucharist, and to partake of his body and blood.

In Jesus then, we have an example of how to lead. His example shows us that leadership is about service of others. As soon as that gives way to manipulation, control or domination, it becomes a distortion. It becomes emptied of love. At a time when those who exercise ministry in the Church is under greater scrutiny than ever, it is important to return to these foundational principles. In the midst of the scandals and difficulties, it is clear that the call to conversion and a closer following of Christ's service of others is louder than ever. As Christians, we are reminded that we are closest to God when we are doing what Jesus taught us to do. It is in this kind of service, and in gathering to receive strength from his body and blood that we can be a sign to the world of God's love and mercy

Wednesday of Holy Week-The Eleventh Station of the Cross

Br. Nicholas Crowe gives a reflection on the Eleventh Station of the Cross - Jesus is Nailed to the Cross - in a video specially pre-recorded for Godzdogz.

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Stations of the Cross

During Holy Week, the Dominican students at Blackfriars, Oxford have been leading the Stations of the Cross. Videos of the reflections preached during this devotion are now available on Godzdogz. In addition, this year an ecumenical Stations of the Cross was celebrated under the auspices of Churches Together in Central Oxford, and the prior, fr John O'Connor OP, led the service. Below are photos from these events:

Tuesday of Holy Week - The Sixth Station of the Cross

Br. David Barrins OP gives a reflection on the Sixth Station of the Cross - Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus - in a video specially pre-recorded for Godzdogz.

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Monday of Holy Week - The First Station of the Cross

Br. Robert Verrill OP gives a reflection on the First Station of the Cross - Jesus is Condemned to Death - in a video specially pre-recorded for Godzdogz.

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Lent Retreat - PALM SUNDAY

Readings: Luke 19: 28-40; Isaiah 50: 4-7; Psalm 21 (22); Philippians 2: 6-11; Luke 22: 14 - 23: 56

Sometimes following Christ can seem fairly easy: things are going OK in our lives, and there isn’t anything or anyone really challenging our faith. We happily go to Mass on Sundays, and say, like the crowd of disciples following Jesus into Jerusalem, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ Often, perhaps, we don’t really think about what we’re saying, but when it’s what everyone’s doing, it’s natural and easy to join in.

The Church’s liturgy for today, though, reminds us that things are not always like that. After hearing St Luke’s description of the entry into Jerusalem, we go into the church in a joyful procession, only to be confronted with his account of our Lord’s Passion. The crowds that eagerly welcomed Jesus are now shouting not, ‘Hosanna!’ but ‘Crucify him!’ Jesus is mocked and beaten and finally put to an agonising death. Suddenly following Jesus doesn’t seem quite so easy: it involves following him in his suffering, too, both physical, perhaps, and mental. It involves following him when everyone around us rejects him, when people ridicule our faith, or are openly hostile to it.

This, of course, is a common experience. Often our faith will challenge us and force us to make difficult choices, ones which won’t make our life any easier, as far as we can see. Some, of course, experience greater suffering in this regard than others – some are called upon, for example, to bear witness to the faith through martyrdom, while others might have to put up with being laughed at at work, but, if we do it for Jesus’ sake, it is all nonetheless a sharing in his sufferings.

And that’s the point: it is in uniting ourselves to Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, both by living our lives, in joy and in suffering, in Christ, and also by sharing in the sacrament of his Body and Blood which makes his sacrifice present to us, that we become his true followers, and can be led by him through suffering and death to the resurrection life he has won for us. And so, during this Holy Week when we call to mind our Lord’s suffering and death, and their place in the mystery of our salvation, let us seek to unite ourselves more closely with Jesus in his suffering so that finally, we may be part of that crowd which follows him into the heavenly Jerusalem, singing together with the angels, ‘Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’

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Lent Retreat - Week 5, Saturday

Readings: Ezek 37:21-28; Jer 31:10-12; John 11:45-56

Some things which occur in the Church are rightly called scandals, which is to say, that they are stumbling blocks for one's faith. This Lent, the scandalous acts of certain churchmen have been exposed once more to the public gaze, and we are rightly ashamed and aghast. As the prophet Ezekiel puts it in today's First Reading, these men of God have "defiled themselves... with their idols and their detestable things [and with] their transgressions" (Ezek 37:23). The scandal of clerical sex abuse is a betrayal on so many levels. It breaks faith with God, with those of God's beloved people who had been entrusted to the pastoral care of the Church, and with all the baptised who are members of the one Body of the Church. As St Paul said, "if one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together" (1 Cor 12:26). For the suffering of the victims is shared by all the baptised, and the shame incurred by the perpetrator of abuse is shared by all of us too. Moreover, these scandalous acts are not only a betrayal, but above all, deeply sinful. And as sin, they bring many evils in their wake, including trauma, pain, division. Thus, these sinful acts are a scandal, an obstacle to faith, for sin always divides us from one another and from God.

However, as Holy Week approaches, we are challenged once again to make an act of faith. We are called to look not at the sins of these churchmen, or even at our own sins, but on the One who takes on our sins and, in pain and suffering, dies for all "the children of God who are scattered abroad" (Jn 11:52). Indeed Christ is the Victim who dies for all victims, and particularly fallen humanity, who are the victims of sin. As St Paul puts it so strikingly: "For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor 5:21). Therefore, Christ suffered for all of us and by his death on the Cross he conquered sin and death, and healed the wounds and divisions of sin. So, through his love shown on the Cross, he gathered all God's people, who had been scattered by sin, into one, as Ezekiel prophesied.

As such, we are called to exchange the scandals of sin that divide us for another scandal, a "stumbling block" that unites us if we have faith, and so it becomes the cornerstone of our faith. And this is, as St Irenaeus calls it, the scandal of the Incarnation. For it speaks of a God who loves all sinful humanity so very much that he became Man and even "became sin". We cannot explore that theologically challenging phrase from St Paul now, but we can say that Christ was born "for us and for our salvation", which means that the Incarnation is oriented towards the Cross. The Cross, which is our focus this Passiontide and which culminates on Good Friday, is that scandal of God's love made visible to the whole world. St Paul says that "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8), which means that Christ's Cross embraces all sinners, no matter how unloveable they may be, or how detestable their sins are. At the hour of his Passion, Jesus said: "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (John 12:31f). This suggests that we sinners are not just let off, but we are judged by love, and all of us will be found wanting. So, we're all together, under the Cross and we all need God to "save [us] from all the backslidings in which [we] have sinned, and [to] cleanse [us]" (Ezek 37:23). Therefore, the Cross unites all of us in the purifying love of God, and casts out sin, division, hatred, enmity, and hard-heartedness, which belong to the ruler of this world and not to Christ.

This is hard for us to fathom, and even harder to accept when the crimes that some people commit are so grievous and harm others (or us) so deeply. And yet, that is the challenge of the Cross: we are united as sinners, albeit not all equal in gravity, but nevertheless we are united in our need for Christ's healing love; we are called to focus on what the Cross accomplishes for humanity, and not on the failings of humanity which keep us from Christ and His Body, the holy Church. None of this absolves the failure of judgement shown by certain leaders of the Church, nor the evils perpetrated by some churchmen, but it does remind us that Jesus Christ alone is the Head of his Church, and we receive grace flowing from the Head to us in the Body of the Church. So, although we are scandalized by the sins of some churchmen, we should not let that keep us from Christ and his Church. For it is in this same Body that we approach the Crucified One, whom St Paul called "a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Greeks" (1 Cor 1:23). If any scandal should draw our attention this Holy Week, let it be the scandal of the Cross and of God's prodigal love for all sinful men and women.

Stations of the Cross 2010

Join us this Holy Week in Oxford for Stations of the Cross with meditations given by members of the Godzdogz team.

Lent Retreat - Week 5, Friday

Readings: Jeremiah 20:10-13; John 10:31-42

The opening line of today’s Gospel reading plunges us directly into the midst of a heated debate between Jesus and his Jewish hearers. But to understand its opening we must look to the wider context of Chapter 10 of John. Throughout this chapter we see the allusions to Jesus’ divine status being emphasised more and more emphatically, that the eyes of the people may be opened and that in following him they may be set free. But, as we can read in Luke, the hearing is often not a favourable one - 'And he said: Amen I say to you, that no prophet is accepted in his own country' (Luke 4:24). Finally, the people ask him plainly to reveal his identity and Jesus replies 'the Father and I are one'. For his Jewish hearers, as for many people today, it really is too much and 'they pick up rocks to stone him'. Though many of his hearers witnessed the good works Jesus performed, this statement of fact is denounced as blasphemous but, far from retreating, Jesus continues to defend his position.

By quoting from Psalm 82:6, 'I said you are gods', Jesus does not water down his claim by simply suggesting that others have been given the title of ‘god’ before him – such a claim would not have infuriated his hearers to such a degree. No, in this crucial exchange Jesus identifies himself as encapsulating the whole heavenly court in his person, a claim too far for some. This powerful use of scripture and argument from Jesus reminds us that we, through faith, can be co-heirs with Christ, and thus participants in the life of the Trinity and as such we can understand why Jesus is so passionate in this encounter. What lies at stake is something of the greatest magnitude – the salvation of humankind! The message is hard to assimilate but if we have faith, if we believe in his word of truth, then through his abundant love we will be given all the grace we need to share in his divinity. Some of his hearers were willing to do so, and if we also keep faith by acknowledging Christ as the Son of God, we can be set free and walk with him on the path toward the Heavenly Kingdom.

In a week's time we shall witness the very way in which our salvation was wrought by Christ’s bloody death and resurrection and to prepare we must open our hearts and minds fully to him. Let us not be hard of heart but instead see in Christ’s words and deeds the very truth for which we ultimately long, and allow ourselves to be united with him in his Passion for the salvation of our souls.

The Annunciation

Readings: Isaiah: 7:10-14, 8:10; Psalm 39; Hebrews 10:4-10; Luke 1:26-38

On the first Sunday of Lent we heard how Jesus prepared for his active ministry by fasting in the desert for forty days and nights, and in a limited sense we try to replicate this desert experience in our own lives via our Lenten penances.

The desert is barren and sterile. There is no water, and hence there is no life. Yet throughout history men and women have escaped to the wilderness, to deserts, to mountains, in order to become closer to God. The harsh environment forced them to confront the fragility of human existence. They were forced to recognise and accept the complete sovereignty of God over their lives, and their utter dependence on his grace. In this recognition and acceptance they gained a certain sensitivity to the presence of God and his activity in their lives, and it is this awareness that we aim to foster by our Lenten devotions.

Yet we can hope for more than simply to endure the desert in the knowledge that God is with us. Isaiah prohesized that the 'desert will rejoice and bloom' (35:1). In the Gospel of John, Christ tells us that he has come in order that we may have life and life to the full (10:10), and he promised us living water that will well up to eternal life (4:10-14).

The love of God is fertile, it is generative, it is creative. Grace perfects our humanity, makes us more human, more alive. Grace brings life to the places where humanly speaking, there is only death and sterility. Today we celebrate the solemnity of the Annunciation. We celebrate the day when, by the grace of God, a virgin conceived. In nine months time we will celebrate the birth of this child. In a few weeks we will celebrate his resurrection. For today we are reminded that like the pregnant Mother of God, we bear the new life of Christ inside of us. It is a new life that has the power to transfigure us.

Lent Retreat - Week 5, Wednesday

Readings: Daniel 3:14-20, 24-25, 28; John 8:31-42

The readings today speak of following the Lord whatever the cost. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are willing to suffer and to die rather than betray their Lord and God by worshipping false idols. Lent is a time for recognising the idols that we often prefer to worship and doing our best to wean ourselves off them. If we claim to place God above all other loves and concerns in our lives then we must back this statement up by actions that speak louder than words. When we love someone then we want to spent a lot of time with them, so how can we say that we love God if we hardly ever make time to pray? Part of the point of self-denial is that by uncluttering our lives we free up time and energy that can be used to come to know and love God more perfectly. We never know when me might be called upon to give witness to our faith, probably never in as dramatic a fashion as the three boys in the furnace, but the very real possibility still remains that we may be called to risk ridicule, rejection and worldly failure in order to be true to the Gospel. The training that we undergo in Lent helps us to be ready to face these dangers. Once we have become accustomed to putting the Lord's will first, we have grown in virtue and will thus find it easier to do the right thing should the challenge ever come.

Lent Retreat - Week 5, Tuesday

Readings: Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 101; John 8:21-30

It is quite likely that sometimes we forget how dramatic and powerful the image of the cross is. During Passiontide, the last two weeks of Lent, it is traditional for all crucifixes and other religious images to be covered with veils until Good Friday. During this period when we can't look at images of our suffering Lord, it seems appropriate to think of other images which might still point to the symbolism of the cross.

In today's reading we hear about the Israelites complaining in the wilderness and of the fiery serpents who went among them as punishment. Realising they have sinned, they ask Moses to pray to the Lord to take the serpents away. The Lord responds by telling Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, so that everyone who is bitten can look at the bronze serpent and live. It is a powerful reversal of roles. What was once seen as a great enemy becomes the source of salvation. When we are living sinful lives, God can be seen as an enemy and this sorry state of affairs is only possible because human nature has been poisoned. The Israelites needed a striking image to bring them back to their senses, a reminder that they were sinners and dependent on God's loving mercy.


An awareness of our sinfulness can be discouraging and depressing, but it's not something we can just ignore. Jesus reminds us that sin can be deadly. We need healing and Jesus is our healer. All we have to do is come to Him with an open heart and confess our sins. Although this may sound daunting, what is asked of us is relatively small in comparison to all that Jesus has done for us.

Lent Retreat - Week 5, Monday

Readings: Daniel 13: 1-9. 15-17. 19-30. 33-62; Psalm 22; John 8: 12-20

In today’s reading from the book of Daniel, we hear the tale of the two judges who attempt to seduce Susanna; they think that they are so important, and carry such authority among the people, that they can get away with their sin, because Susanna’s side of the story will never be believed. Led on by lust, they abuse their position of power: they ‘turn away their eyes from looking to heaven’ (Dan 13: 9), where alone they can find a guide to right judgement. These men, then, are an example of hypocrisy, judging others as their profession, but not applying right judgement to themselves (and, indeed, trying to use the law to cover their wrongdoing).

In every sin there is a turning away from heaven, the source of our right judgement, which is why it can be said that pride, failing to recognise a truth beyond “my truth”, lies at the root of sin. How can we avoid this, though? The tradition of the Church opposes pride to the virtue of humility – of being capable of looking beyond ourselves and our own interests, because of an awareness of the truth about ourselves in relation to other people and to God. The season of Lent helps us to cultivate this virtue by our works of penance and it provides us with the greatest example of it in the passion and death of Jesus. As our celebration of Holy Week draws nearer, then, let us seek to grow in humility, in imitation of him who ‘humbled himself and became obedient unto death’ (Philippians 2: 8).

Lent Retreat - FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT

Readings: Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11

One of the great mysteries of today’s Gospel is what did Jesus write in the dust? The Fathers of the Church have proposed numerous theories. Some have suggested that Our Lord was writing the Law, others have suggested that he was writing the sins of the mob. It has even been suggested that he was doodling to show his contempt for the actions of the the scribes and Pharisees. Some have suggested that Jesus’ writing is a foreshadowing of the Book of Life, the allegorical book in which God records the names and lives of the righteous. Judgement certainly is one of the main themes running through this passage.

Today’s Gospel has often been misused by groups and individuals both outside and within the church to justify actions and lifestyles opposed to the teaching of the Church. However I always find that citing this passage and using the phrase “what would Jesus do?” is a bit of a cop out. To say that Jesus did not judge the women is not true. He does judge the woman. He acknowledges her sin but he does not endorse her actions. In fact he tells her not to sin again!

Nevertheless there is a stark comparison between Jesus’ judgement and the judgement of the Pharisees. The Pharisees are not only quick to condemn this woman but they are also perversely using her and the Law as a means to an end, an opportunity to trick and trap Our Lord.

On the other hand Jesus simply does not condemn the woman. He challenges her. He challenges her to a life without sin. He challenges her to strive to live in holiness. Unlike the Pharisees Jesus confronts a bad life, not with the exclusionary condemnation which is always tempting for those who consider themselves pure and holy. Instead, he confronts it with the challenge of a good life in Him.

Jesus gave the woman a choice: she could return to her sins, or she could embark on a life in the holiness of those liberated through God's grace. Jesus challenged her to have a new life in union with Him. This is the challenge that Christ puts before each and everyone of us every moment of the day.

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Lent Retreat - Week 4, Saturday

Readings: Jeremiah 11:18-20; John 7:40-52

'Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee': so today's gospel reading ends. Another translation puts it this way: 'go into the matter, and see for yourself; prophets do not come out of Galilee'. So that's that then. Here are people who know where God is allowed to show Himself and where He is not allowed to show Himself.

Of the different levels of conversion to which we are called intellectual conversion is perhaps the most difficult. The Greek term for conversion is metanoia which means 'change of mind'. It is not unknown for people to change their minds but if they have committed themselves to some position, and invested heavily in its being correct, then it can be very difficult for them to do so. It is like trying to move a mountain. Many intellectual convictions become so ingrained and precious to people that it becomes difficult to distinguish such convictions from prejudices, judgments that will not give a hearing to anything new. Donald Nicholl wrote of how Aquinas associates the beatitude of mourning with the gift of knowledge: it is the beatitude for intellectuals according to Aquinas. This is, says Nicholl, because

... whenever our minds yearn towards some new truth then we become afflicted with pain, because our whole being wishes to protect the balance of inertia and comfort which we have established for ourselves; and the pain is a symptom of our distress at its disturbance. Moreover, we experience a sort of bereavement when those formulations, images and symbols through which we had in the past appropriated truth have now to be abandoned. For those formulations, images and symbols have over the years become part of us. To lose them feels like losing part of ourselves. And we mourn that loss as we would the loss of a limb (The Tablet, 26 May 1990, p.662).

Lent offers us the possibility of thinking again about the new thing God has done through the prophet from a town in Galilee (where we do not expect God to reveal Himself) called Nazareth (can anything good come from there?!). It calls us to think again about our cherished convictions that may now be nothing more than prejudices protecting our balance of inertia and comfort.

Lenten Retreat - Week Four, Feast Of St. Joseph

It's interesting that St. Joseph is a saint to whom many have a great devotion, but little is know about him. It's true that there are many saints about whom history is largely silent, but this silence is all the more strange in Joseph's case, because of his special role as Jesus' foster father. However, it would be a great mistake to equate this silence with dullness or weakness of character on Joseph's part. Indeed it is quite the opposite. It is the silence of a man who had to listen to God to discover his vocation. And his vocation was very special indeed. Firstly, he had to accept the vocation of Mary, who was to bear the Son of God. Then he had to accept the task to form and protect Jesus, his most precious charge. And it was the silence that allowed Joseph to care for Jesus and help him to flourish.

In current times the world is so information dependent, and we are bombarded from every side by words and noise. Yet we rarely have the time or the space - or even the silence - inwardly to digest all that is thrown at us. And this of course is just as true in a religious setting such as the local Church or a religious community. St Joseph reminds us of the need for silence to make sense of the world, to make sense of God. And the silence of St Joseph is a silence of strength, and of virtue. It is often easy to keep God at arm's length by a barrage of noise, but it is more difficult to remove the sources of noise and stay silent and still. Nevertheless, we need to be silent from time to time so that we can learn something from God, to discover something new, something that might change us and help us to grow.

Lent Retreat - Week 4, Thursday

Readings: Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 106; John 5:31-47

God is the source of all being, and so all creation is good because he made it and continually holds all things in being. So creation testifies to God’s goodness and, when it is properly ordered, it points to God’s beauty, truth and goodness. However, every good thing can be misused, misdirected and abused. Worse still, we can become so enamoured by created things that we love them for their own sake and fail to acknowledge and love the creator of all that is good.

The idolatry of the Israelites in today’s First Reading is not an isolated past event, but the lure of idolatry is ever present whenever we turn from God and place our hope in created goods, whatever they may be. During Lent, we forsake certain goods by fasting, alms-giving and prayer so as to focus our attention on the greatest good, God himself. And we give up certain things - whether it is chocolate, or alcohol, or money, or sex, or work, or the internet, and so on - not because they are bad in themselves, but precisely because they are good gifts from God, and the pleasure they bring us should not be an end in itself but should stir love and gratitude in us for God himself. The aim of Lenten penance and abstinence is to liberate us from our enslavement to the pleasure of created goods, so that we can properly use them to redirect our hearts to God alone, who is the source of all good.

So, in today’s Gospel, the Lord reminds us that even such great goods as the study of Scripture, or the testimony of his cousin, the Baptizer, or the law of Moses, are subordinated to the greatest good and point to him. Thus, we are called to move beyond all the good things given us by God, and to put our faith in Christ who alone can satisfy our deepest desires and who is infinitely good.

Lent Retreat - Week 4, Wednesday, St Patrick's Day

Readings: 1 Peter 4:7-11; Psalm 95:1-3. 7-8; Luke 5:1-11

The Gospel from Luke for this St Patrick’s Day places before us the call of Jesus to his first disciples. After preaching from the boat of Simon Peter, Jesus offers the fishermen a daring invitation that will call them to far greater horizons than they could ever imagine. “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4). Christian discipleship is indeed a journey into deep water. Like Simon Peter, Jesus calls each of us to move beyond the shallow waters of life to explore the immeasurable depths of God’s love and mercy, to journey deep within ourselves to discover the truth of what God has done in us by calling us into existence, by shaping us to be the unique and wonderful people each of us is and to discover and celebrate this same dignity and wonder in each other.

If we seek to discover the mystery of God and the boundless ocean of his love then we must begin with looking within ourselves. In coming to know and love ourselves as God created us to be, we also discover the loving presence of God who dwells in our depths and speaks to our hearts. As Saint Augustine said, “God is closer to us than we are to ourselves”. Only when we have taken this risk and begun to find God in the deep water of our inner life can we be truly convincing disciples of Christ and bring him to others in the world who seek this perfect love of God so much.

St Patrick discovered this in his life. Afraid and enslaved, it was while herding sheep on a lonely Irish mountain that he turned to prayer and discovered the inner strength that comes from that deep relationship with God. It was this relationship that spurred him on to preach and teach the Christian faith for the rest of his life and to convert an island nation. This Lent we can begin to take more time aside each day in silence and prayer so that we too might discover in the deep waters of our own being this God who loves us and speaks to us in the very depths of our being. “O unchanging God, let me know myself; let me know you. That is my prayer” (St Augustine).