Easter ~ Life always prevails

It is Mary Magdalene who discovers the empty tomb while it ‘was still dark’. The stone of the tomb is a symbol of all that is dark in this world and all those things which keep us from being free. An empty tomb is a powerful symbol, so impossible to explain that it really is a matter of faith. You can accept it or struggle with it or dismiss it entirely. Until you experience resurrection, none of it makes any sense. We can relate to the moments of resurrection in our own lives today remembering a time when we thought our world had ended because of a broken relationship or a tragedy. When we come through such experiences we can begin to understand something of resurrection. There is new life after the hardship has passed, even though we couldn’t see it at the time. Just as Jesus spent his earthly ministry breaking down barriers between people he has shown us that there is always hope in the darkest of situations. Nothing is impossible.

“There are wars and rumours of war, poverty and plague, hunger and pain. Still, the sap is rising, again there is the resurrection of spring, and God's continuing promise to us that He is with us always, with His comfort and joy, if we will only ask." Dorothy Day.

Palm Sunday 2013

This Sunday we read Luke’s account of Jesus’ Passion and we may find ourselves asking, “Where do I stand?” Yes it is the long Gospel but try not to miss the journey that this offers us. Spend time with this gospel during Holy Week.

Simon of Cyrene is an interesting character (Luke 23:26-32) as he is someone who, through no fault of his own, is suddenly caught up in the immense suffering of politics and power. Cyrene is modern day Libya so perhaps Simon had made the pilgrimage from there to Jerusalem for the festival. He may have thought a parade was in progress and then the closer he came to the commotion realised what was happening. He is suddenly ‘seized’ by the soldiers, the cross is thrust upon him and he is forced to walk the path with Jesus. Simon did not choose this path and he has to find God in a suffering he did not expect. Simon is representative of all those caught up in wars and unexpected disasters, those left destitute, those who are bereaved.
Simon’s view then changes as he is not fully participative in Christ’s suffering, he shares in it to a point and then becomes a bystander. In that sense he is representative of people who share in someone’s suffering for a moment, are touched by it and then move on. Perhaps they are powerless to do anything or maybe they simply change the channel on their TV. We know how the story ends, but for now we stay with the brokenness.

Throwing Stones....

It is interesting that although it takes two people to commit adultery, there is no mention of the man in this story. A conspiracy is afoot here. Nevertheless the importance of the event lies in Jesus not condemning this woman to the death penalty as was demanded by Old Testament law (the man would have been subject to the same law by the way!) Once again the Pharisees are trying to trick Jesus. We may wonder what Jesus was writing on the ground as they continued to question him but he delivers a winning punch-line in this debate and the condemners are forced to leave one by one. I presume they had to think about it for a while before admitting defeat.
We live in a stone throwing society that cares little for circumstances that cause people to make wrong choices. We want someone to blame and the sooner the better. We only have to look at our economic situation in Ireland to see the blame game in progress daily. Those who accuse others often do so from a lack of self-knowledge and laziness, because it is very easy to be negative. We all need forgiveness and as we approach Easter we see more clearly what Jesus has done for us by freeing us from all these burdens. We make mistakes but we can always start again. When we relate compassionately to those who are in difficulty we can rediscover our common humanity.
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Break for the Border (4th Sunday of Lent ~ The Lost Son)

The problem with some stories is that we are so familiar with them we tend to switch off after the first few sentences and that would be a shame, especially when this is one of the great blockbuster parables. The Pharisees were a group obsessed with ritual purity and Jesus’ parables of things lost and found is his response to these barriers which excluded people from community and from God. The real challenge in this parable is what happens after the lost son returns. We can probably see more of the elder brother in ourselves than the younger brother. This loyal son deserves the best, he has worked hard, he has never asked for anything in return and would like to see some justice.
God forgives us even after our most stupid mistakes yet we often behave like the elder son: holding grudges, not willing or able to forgive one another. The hard part for the elder brother, for the Pharisees and for us, is recognising that when people seem to be outside of what we think is ‘right’ we need to reach out to them and forget our own petty judgements. God returns the lost to the community, regardless of the boundaries that we have put in place. Luke tells the story well as we are left wondering whether the elder brother joined the celebrations or stayed sulking in the corner.

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and realise that the prisoner was you” ~ Lewis B. Smedes

Figs Anyone ~ Third Sunday of Lent 2013

The people in the Gospel today are wondering if the Galileans who were killed by Pilate had died because they deserved to. We can empathise with them as we know too well of accidents and tragedies of all kinds where we might ask the same question. Jesus insists that they have not done anything wrong. Their sudden death challenges those still alive to live to the full and to bear much fruit because life can end suddenly, life is fragile, no one is indestructible. The Galileans died because of Pilate, but the greater ‘sin’ here becomes inactivity. Jesus is calling us to action.


The image of the fruitless tree is a call to take a look at our lives and allow our comfortable lives be disturbed by the Gospel message. When the man comes looking for fruit on the fig tree what will he find? The call to follow Jesus is not an easy one. We need to look at ways to bring peace, hope, love, and justice into our communities every day. We use the gift of Lent as an opportunity to identify areas where we can produce more fruit. How are we living? What can we do to make the changes during this Lenten season and beyond?