Casting Fire

As we come closer to Holy Week, Jesus declares that the hour he was preparing for, has indeed come. It is when the Greeks, the non-Jews come asking to see him, that Jesus declares his hour has come for him to be glorified. His glory is what he will reveal on the Cross. And it is a glory his disciples will share.

Suffering is something that seems to be an inevitable part of life. No one, good or bad, rich or poor, escapes suffering in their life. Hard as it might be, our experience of suffering becomes far more difficult due to two things: isolation and darkness. This is what the Apostles were entering into: and in their place of darkness, God reveals his light which changes everything. This is the light that God wants to cover us with, in our own time of prayer.

Mark's gospel presents the shortest account of the temptations of Jesus. It mentions the Holy Spirit, the Devil and even wild animals and angels but nothing of the content of the temptations themselves. But within this few, brilliantly crafted lines, we can see our own lives played out. And Christ comes as King battling forces far greater than ourselves, so we can have the victory.

We are confronted by the striking lament of Job in his suffering. In Job, all those who suffer, and suffer greatly can find a voice.Physical suffering can sometimes be relentless, leaving one with no rest and no joy. And the gospel seems to give God's verdict on this suffering - Jesus heals everyone. Does God really want to heal us? And does it happen today?

The book of Jonah is one of the most hilarious, yet completely profound books of Scripture. It has depths to plumb, all the way down to the deep! But in Jonah, we can find ourselves in our pain and our difficulties and a God who will go to the ends of the world to find us.

As we return from our own family gatherings, the Church offers us the icon of the family in the feast of the Holy Family. Our families can be the source of great joy and blessing - and also great pain and suffering. But this feast reveals the wonderful calling for our families. Jesus being born in a family means he can be born in ours too if we will ask God for this grace. Just as Christ redeemed the world being born in a family, he can redeem our world, through our families.

We continue to be confronted by the mysterious figure of John the Baptist, this third week. His actions are so puzzling that the high priests send priests and Levites to question him on what he is doing. This ominous confrontation goes to the heart of our own struggles, the challenges we face every day, in our own lives.

Advent is a season of hope, and comes with new grace to renew us in our hope. Without hope, we do not have direction in our lives; without hope, we die. The great symbol of this in the Scriptures is the figure of the Watchman. The Watchman can continue watching because he knows that finally, God is the one who watches over Israel - and when all else has failed, we can still stay awake because the One who watches over us never gives up.

Ten virgins wait for the coming of the bridegroom. In most things they are all alike; Augustine notes that they are all virgins, they have kept their hearts chaste for Christ, they have oil and light. The sleep is probably the final sleep of death. And after all their good works, only five go in. What did the foolish ones miss? And will we be caught out at Parousia?

Jesus puts the Pharisees on the stand this week and he exhorts his disciples against being called ‘Father’, ‘Teacher’ or ‘Master’, all of which we seem to routinely violate. Jesus’ words are harsh, but he is not attacking the Pharisees in anger. His Word can hurt, but it is like the surgeon’s knife which cuts only to heal. When we allow his Word to penetrate our hearts, we will also discover our own unique vocation to be father, teacher and servant-leader.

Our gospel this week brings us to the heart of Jesus' teaching: all of the Law and Prophets summed up in two commands, summing up even Jesus' own new law of the beatitudes. But how do we live this? We can often fall on one side or the other, but Jesus is uncompromising. To love this way, however is to love like Christ himself. And that is exactly what we see in the saints.

Our gospel this week brings us to the heart of Jesus' teaching: all of the Law and Prophets summed up in two commands, summing up even Jesus' own new law of the beatitudes. But how do we live this? We can often fall on one side or the other, but Jesus is uncompromising. To love this way, however is to love like Christ himself. And that is exactly what we see in the saints.

This Sunday begins a series of challenges Jesus faces with the religious authorities. Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not? To say yes would have marked Jesus as a traitor, a collaborator with Rome and to say no would have marked him as POI with the Romans. But Jesus takes neither. Instead, as usual, he asks them a question. It is a similar question God asks us in our own dilemmas. Answering that truly might mean we find a solution we didn't imagine possible.

We have another parable of judgment this Sunday. It seems full of exaggerations. The people refuse a king's invite and the king flies into a rage constantly - and why should a wedding garment matter so much? Does he represent a God who is capricious? Or is it all really Good News, which we can live by

As we come to the close of Matthew's gospel, the parables of Jesus become darker, highlighting what the religious elite will do to him very soon. All through salvation history and to our own times, we have always grasped at what God has given. Grasp too much and we would even kill the Son. But in our very sin, God reveals the face of his mercy in a way we could never have imagined.

We have this Sunday the beautiful hymn of the early Church, to Christ's divinity and his salvation, which Paul quotes to the Philippians. To a church which was in distress, Paul puts before them a crucified Messiah, who hasn't abandoned them. Two thousand years later, we are far from slavery, let alone Crucifixion, but their questions remain our own. Can this Messiah save? And how can we find him?

We meet Elijah, the greatest of Israel's prophets today exhausted after his battle with Baal's prophets. Strangely, after his most climactic victory, after winning the heart of Israel over from Baal, Elijah crashes, losing even the will to live. Why does he fail now? Is it inevitable that we will fail in this way? And where can we find the strength to get up when we fall?

The humdrum of 'Ordinary Time' is broken this week by the splendour of Light. We gaze on the glory emanating from Christ on the mountain. We neglect this feast to our own loss in the West, but the East give it its due - as it is one of the great feasts of our salvation. The experience of the apostles is meant to be a foundational experience of all Christians.

We are given three parables and an intriguing saying, the last of Matthew's collection this Sunday. But what does it mean to sell everything? Is the treasure truly worth all of it?

The parable of the Wheat and the Tares addresses one of the longstanding and most perplexing questions for people of faith. Whence, evil? Where does it come from and even more, what can we do about it? The answer given seems surprising, maybe even frustrating; but the Lord of the harvest sees all - and the Spirit who is in us takes up all our groans to the Father who knows our needs.

The Sower is the first parable Jesus gives in all the Synoptics. As the religious leaders become hostile to Jesus and the people fail to believe, Jesus gives them this parable. Maybe because it says something about our capacity to hear and bear fruit. Two thousand years later, this Word confronts us just as it did Jesus' first audience. Do your eyes see? Do your ears hear? And is your heart capable of being fruitful?

In what is possibly one of the most consoling verses of the NT, Jesus invites his sheep, wearied and overburdened to find rest in him. This rest is a lot more than what a good sleep or even a holiday would give - it is a state of profound flourishing, linked to shalom, the peace God gives. But is this even possible? And how does one find it? Today's gospel also gives the answer.

In the encounter of the Shunamite woman with Elisha lies a dynamic which unfolds each Sunday in the Eucharist. Just as the woman's generosity in opening her house to the prophet brings about her heart's desires, so will our hearts be fulfilled as we open ourselves in faith to the Word proclaimed.

The disciple is to expect persecutions much like the Master, yet every hair on his head has been numbered; he is to 'fear not' even as danger looms. What does it really mean that not a hair on our head will be lost, though we lose our lives? The Jewish Catholic St Edith Stein's life throws a light on our paradoxical gospel today.

On the feast of Corpus Christi, I wanted to reflect on the gift of the Precious Blood of Christ. Blood is something rarely given space to in our modern life, and unfortunately, even in our spiritual reflections. Yet it is one of the most complete symbols of what God has done for us, and what he has given us. The blood of Christ is life eternal for us, it is our forgiveness, it is our defence against the Evil One. Let us thank him for this incredible gift and receive it with joy on this great feast.

As Christians we confess three persons in One God, coequal in glory, coeternal in Majesty; but does this dogma make any more than a formula to be memorised? Does it enthuse us with love on Monday morning? Trinity Sunday invites us to approach this God again, in loving fear, to show us how this creed we memorise is meant to save us and transform us from glory to glory, all the way to eternity.

We hear today of the ministry of Philip the Evangelist, one of the most exciting characters in the book of Acts. No sooner does he preach than the Spirit manifests himself in power. But what gave his proclamation so much power? And is it even possible for us to experience this today? Yes it is. And as Pentecost approaches, let us allow the Spirit to renew the Church and world through us.

We find three wonderful profiles of the Church in our readings this Sunday each moving progressively deeper in spirit. We find the Church in its service of charity while having to deal with its own mismanagement; it's service in spirit to the world and its fellowship of love and finally, as mystically united, co-inhering with Christ, it's divine Bridegroom. Together, they make Christ present in the world, through it's very fallible members, you and me. 

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/05/06/5th-sunday-the-church-in-service-fellowship-and-mystical-union/

We have the very comforting image of the Good Shepherd given us in our gospel today. There is nothing excepted of the sheep except to trust the Shepherd. It is he who has to do everything. The Shepherd never leaves his sheep without his care, he knows them for himself. This was the ministry of Jesus then, it is the ministry of the Risen Jesus to us now. Wherever you might find yourself, turn to your shepherd. And experience his goodness today.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/04/30/4th-sunday-the-promise-of-safety/

We hear the first part of Peter's epic sermon after Pentecost. Something dramatic happens at Pentecost. The apostles who were afraid and cowardly, now start acting much like Jesus himself. The Spirit reproduces the pattern of Jesus' life in those who are his disciples. Peter shows the gathered crowds how this could be true for them - and he shows us how this can be true for us today.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/04/23/3rd-sunday-the-spirit-of-promise/

The apostles' experience of seeing the Crucified and Risen Christ is meant to be a fundamental experience for every Christian. Without this, the spiritual life remains a theory. It is in this experience of receiving Christ's overflowing Mercy that our hearts can be changed. We know that our Father is not distant, not angry, not uncaring, but close. In touching Christ we receive a Peace that goes beyond understanding and are sent out to be this Mercy in the world.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/04/15/low-sunday-marked-by-mercy/

The Cross is the strangest and most paradoxical event of God's revelation in our life. In the most unexpected way, God reveals to us his justice - in his forgiveness of our sins and a love which will never be exhausted. And this Love makes itself present today in our lives for those who will welcome it. In it we also find the Resurrection.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/04/07/good-friday-why-the-cross/

It is not without reason that some Biblical scholars have called the gospels simply Passion accounts with a long introduction. Here we see God's face unveiled for us. We can carry a lot of our fears, a lot of images which we project onto God. But here we find a Mercy which is ever-new, ever-flowing, and able to love us in our wretchedness. 

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/04/01/palm-sunday-the-face-of-god/

The raising of Lazarus completes the series of gospels starting with the Samaritan woman which show the increasing deadliness of sin and the equal victory of Christ over it. Like Lazarus there can be things dead and decomposing in our lives. Events we would rather not visit, places we would rather not go, stones we would rather not move. But if we believe, we will see God's glory, we will know the power of Christ's Resurrection.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/03/26/5th-sunday-raising-the-dead-things-in-our-lives/

The gospels take us on a journey of ever-increasing baptismal grace over these weeks. We heard of the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan Woman; in the process she comes alive in faith. Next week, we will hear the raising of Lazarus, an image of the Resurrection, the final fruit of baptism. God is the actor in these things: I cannot give myself faith, neither can I raise myself from the dead. Today we hear of the in-between, where I am called to walk by the light of faith given in baptism. By faith, I can walk with ever-greater assurance and joy, through the perplexing events of my life without stumbling and falling over and joyfully come to the glorious Resurrection.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/03/19/4th-sunday-the-light-of-faith/

We have the very powerful encounter of the Samaritan Woman with Jesus. She stands for those of us who find ourselves stuck in our life, where nothing we do ever seems to make a change. But not a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father's knowledge. And the Holy Spirit has an appointment for her with her divine bridegroom which changes everything. The Spirit invites us into this same encounter each week in the Eucharist.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/03/12/3rd-sunday-watering-the-arid-heart/

Every Christian knows of times when it all seems dark and God seems absent. Ironically, the event of the Transfiguration dazzles the disciples in just one such moment. Both Abraham and the disciples remain paradigms of our own journey where often enough, has more darkness than light.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/03/04/2nd-sunday-the-darkness-of-faith/

We begin our Lenten season as always with the testing of Jesus by the devil. It is the battle in which Adam failed, and in him, all his children. The devil continues to wage war against us and oppress us even today. But Jesus, the second Adam has defeated the enemy. Through his Church, Jesus continues to set us free from the attacks of the Evil One and gives us the life in fullness he promised his disciples.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/02/25/1st-sunday-the-works-of-the-enemy/

We get a sermon in itself in the gospel: Jesus gives a new Law and in doing so raises all kinds of paradoxes. If Israel was unable to keep the Old Law, as Paul argues, what chance do we have in keeping the new one, so much harder than the old? If not committing murder was the bar then, is it now possible to not be angry? The answer lies in Christ's own fulfilment of the Law, the work of the Spirit bringing it about in us - and a forgotten treasure of the Church: virtue.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/02/12/6th-sunday-the-virtue-of-law-and-the-law-of-virtue/

We moved the feast of Presenation in our parish! Luke, like his entire gospel, weaves an intricate web of theological mystery in a  very tiny event, the Presentation. Two people enter the stage: Simeon and Anna. They come only once, yet Luke describes them in detail. Why is it that these two identify the God-child whom everyone misses? And is there something they can tell us today?

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/02/04/presentation-finding-god-in-uncertain-times/

Jesus opens his teaching in Matthew, not given to the crowds, but only to the disciples. It is the strangest prescription for happiness. Like the first disciples, in every age, we will have to wrestle with it - and allow the Spirit to prove this promise to be true. That those whose hearts are transformed in this manner, will be truly happy.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/01/28/4th-sunday-to-be-happy/

As Jesus begins his ministry, he calls to himself those he wants: two brothers from two families, perhaps the only male heirs of the Father. We are not told what happens to the Father or the inner drama they face. This drama is what plays out in every 'vocation' be it to lay or clerical lives and functions.It is pressing, often unsettling, but ultimately fulfilling; because in answering the call, one finds oneself anew in Christ.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/01/22/3rd-sunday-answering-the-call/

As we open John's gospel, John, as the last prophet, sums up the prophecy of Israel to point out to the world Israel's greatest gift: the Messiah, Jesus. Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Spirit bearer and the one who baptises us in the Spirit. In encountering him, we can be freed of our guilt, in receiving the Spirit, we can know the love of our Father in heaven.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2023/01/15/2nd-sunday-the-baptiser-in-the-spirit/

Each year the magic of Christmas breaks into our lives. All society seems trasnformed by the seemingly fairy-tale like quality of Christmas. But Christmas is lot more than a fairy tale, or an event for children. It is where God's promise of our salvation broke through into our darkness. God saves us as a baby. If we let this child touch our hearts and lives, we will also meet him as Wonder-Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. His joy and peace will break into our darkness. And we will join in the song and joy of Mary this Christmas.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2022/12/24/christmas-the-child-who-saves-us/

The last week of Advent we are given the fascinating figure of St Joseph. In the few lines given to Joseph in the Scriptures, his virtues shine through. HIs justice is revealed in his humility and love, as he faces an impossible enigma. In him we find a model of docility to God's will and help in the dilemmas of our own lives.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2022/12/17/4th-week-of-advent-the-justice-of-joseph/

Isaiah promises that the desert will bloom and the frightful wilderness will become joyful because God comes to visit his people. Our lives can sometimes feel like a wilderness: I'm wandering in circles, without rest, without joy and nothing I do seems meaningful. Gaudete Sunday asks us to lift our eyes to God. He is doing a new thing right now. At his coming the desert will blossom. If we welcome him, we will find grace which will change our wilderness.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2022/12/11/3rd-week-advent-waiting-for-glory/

When kings had successively failed Israel and left them in the crisis of war, Isaiah prophesied a Messiah who will fulfil God's promises and usher in his peace. He will do that by the power of his seven-fold Spirit. This same Spirit is given to us in our Baptism. His gifts bring healing and hope in our brokenness and peace amidst our fears. But it is only when Jesus becomes our King, that they come into their own. Through his Spirit, God can change our lives and our world.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2022/12/04/the-seven-fold-spirit-of-the-king/

As Advent begins, we are presented with the magnificent vision of Isaiah, the Mountain of God rising in beauty. This was Israel's calling, her True North. When she went away from this, she fell apart. The Word confronts us with the same question. What is our True North, our raison d'être? Advent comes with the grace to orient us to our True North: Christ, the Mountain of God rising in beauty over the varied terrains of our life. In him, they can find their unity.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2022/11/26/1st-week-advent-what-is-your-true-north/

Christ the King presents us with a startling paradox. It is a decision which confronts us today as much as it did the Jews who stood beside the Cross. Can this God save? One who literally cannot move, his limbs being nailed - is he able to save me in my daily troubles let alone when I die? Two thieves ask the same question. One finds a surprising revelation in the process.

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://castingfire.wordpress.com/2022/11/20/christ-the-king-a-crucified-king/