As much as we like to ponder matters, as humans, at times we need the concrete to learn or really grasp a point. The Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament speak of God’s love for us. At Christmas, we celebrate the Incarnation: God-with-us/Emmanuel – love made flesh. This is the concrete example that we humans need. This is what love looks like. Jesus and Mary live out what love looks like. They live out the unique and precious ways that Love can guide and shape us.

Gathering at Christmas with our family and friends, let us give thanks for the love that we share which binds us. This same love that can help us to lift the veil from our eyes and see that we are all one. This precious Christmas gift needs to be savoured each and every day.

Wishing you and yours a blessed Christmas!
Patrick

Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. (Mark 13:33)

We arrive again at Advent. We anticipate Christmas. This might cause excitement, anxiety…or a little of both. This passage shows an awareness of human nature. We can be so busy making plans that we forget to live in this moment. We fail to ask: what’s going on? In so doing we can miss the joy and pain of our fellow human beings – the stuff of life. If we pay even closer attention, this is where God is at work – the Love weaving the tapestry of the universe.

So our task, for ourselves and the young people in our care, is to learn to be awake and aware. Aware of God at work in our lives: through prayer, through life’s events, through the love of family and friends. Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Incarnation but like a spiritual Big Bang, the Love continues to saturate us with its radiance. In the words of Michael Leunig: ‘love is always born’.

Have a great week!
Patrick

Grace upon grace

Rain down on us

Or come onto our path

Day after day

The gift of sharing

A laugh

Or another’s joy

Or sorrow

The absence of pain

Or fear

Or guilt

Or worry

A sense of belonging

Being at home

Feeling appreciated

Loved

The revelation

That lies within

Our feelings

The wonder in each

Of our senses

The grace to see

The nuance of another

Beautiful sunrise

Or sunset

The shaft

Or glow

Or gleam

Of sunlight

The gobsmacking wonder

Of plants,

Animals,

Our world

May we have

The eyes to see

And appreciate

Our blessings

Every day

Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy times seven. (Matt 18:21-22)

The Gospels do not portray Peter as always getting it right. Then, as now, forgiveness can be an issue. Peter has heard Jesus and so knows the importance of forgiving. His answer? The ‘perfect’ number of 7 (numerology was a big deal at the time). Jesus blows that away with an open-hearted forgiveness unlike anything the apostles have witnessed.

A life lesson to share with the young people in our care is the importance of forgiveness to the one doing the forgiving. If we hold on to past hurts they can be like lead weights on our being and can affect us both spiritually and physically. The open-hearted forgiveness of which Jesus speaks liberates everyone and allows each of us to grow because Love has the space to do its work – turning our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.

Have a great week!
Patrick

Memory
Blessing
…and curse
Its tendrils
Are coaxed
By a smell
Or a cast of light
A time of year
Or a ritual.
Without warning
You’re there
And then

Christmas with loved ones
And
The pain of separation.
Patterson’s poetry
Read with passion
I can feel
Almost 50 years later.
Travelling overseas.
Waling at night
In summer
Growing up.

But don’t get stuck.
Savour
This moment
Whether it is
The warmth of the sun
A laugh with a friend
Or a hug
From your special someone.
To know
You’re home
Here and now

Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. (Exodus 34:29)

One way of describing prayer is ’talking to God’. Few of us can claim to have done so in the immanent way that Moses did. One way of seeing this passage is that being closely connected to God means that all is right with us – and it shows. In what is essentially a reflection on John 10:10, St Irenaeus said that ‘the glory of God is the human being fully alive’. There are many ways in which we can shine as God intends.

Owning and using the goodness that is in each of us is a significant way that we become fully alive and appreciating other’s giftedness also builds community. Realising God’s closeness in prayer is a primary way to be whole. As contemplatives like Richard Rohr (www.cac.org) teach us, it is about seeing our continuous connection with God and others. This wondrous river of Love holds us, supports us and feeds us if we have the eyes to see. My glimpses leave me thirsting for more…

Have a great week!
Patrick

Bathed
In
Golden sunshine
At 6.15am
Is a
Wondrous gift
To start my day
It beats the heck
Out of the
Cold and dark
And ensuing
Existential questions

Summer is almost
Upon us
With its promise
Of sunshine
And warmth
May my heart
Remain open

always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. (2 Cor 4:10)

Standing up for those in need, for integrity, for truth, can be a hazardous business. We have seen this in people such as Oscar Romero and Dorothy Day. In smaller ways in our own lives we know that there can be a physical, emotional and psychological cost for being true to our faith. Also, it is more than what I endure, the body also refers to the Christian and Catholic community. ’The life of Jesus’ is one of faith, hope, healing compassion and love. Such a life builds community.

This is not easy to live. There are strong societal forces that emphasise the individual as well as personal freedom. Freedom like happiness can be misconstrued. Those societal forces can define freedom in terms of being free to consume. Rather ’the life of Jesus’ promotes community and happiness for the individual as they contribute to ’something bigger than themselves’.

Have a great week!
Patrick

Discern
Weigh up
Words and actions

It comes back
To integrity
Without it
There’s just more
White noise
With it
A person’s truth
Shines
Rings true

But there are
So many distractions
Attractions
Fears
Addictions

The world is blessed
By those who
Stay the course
Of integrity

Sitting in a shopping centre

Whiling away some time

I saw something

Small

Something so

Everyday

That would pass

Without notice

Without comment

But the love that lay

Underneath that gesture

Floored me

Siblings in strollers

Side by side

One pushed by mum

The other by dad

While the siblings held hands

Looking at each other, eyes shining

Love is to be expressed

But true love

Can be so plain

As to go unnoticed

Love shines every day

May we have the eyes to see it

And appreciate its beauty

Wherever it is