Just a little sermon

[oldcanadice]

A renewal of preaching can offer believers, as well as the lukewarm and the non-practising,new joy in the faith and fruitfulness in the work of evangelization. The heart of its message willalways be the same: the God who revealed his immense love in the crucified and risen Christ.God constantly renews his faithful ones, whatever their age: “They shall mount up with wings likeeagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint” (Is 40:31). Christ is the“eternal Gospel” (Rev 14:6); he “is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8), yet hisriches and beauty are inexhaustible. He is for ever young and a constant source of newness. TheChurch never fails to be amazed at “the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God”(Rom 11:33). Saint John of the Cross says that “the thicket of God’s wisdom and knowledge is sodeep and so broad that the soul, however much it has come to know of it, can always penetratedeeper within it”.[7] Or as Saint Irenaeus writes: “By his coming, Christ brought with him allnewness”.[8] With this newness he is always able to renew our lives and our communities, andeven if the Christian message has known periods of darkness and ecclesial weakness, it will nevergrow old. Jesus can also break through the dull categories with which we would enclose him andhe constantly amazes us by his divine creativity. Whenever we make the effort to return to thesource and to recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new avenues arise, new paths ofcreativity open up, with different forms of expression, more eloquent signs and words with newmeaning for today’s world. Every form of authentic evangelization is always “new”.

Guess who said that.

[Blackwater]

Bits and pieces ring a bell, but I don't have a clue.

[oldcanadice]

How about a little more?

The new Jerusalem, the holy city (cf. Rev 21:2-4), is the goal towards which all of humanity is moving. It is curious that God’s revelation tells us that the fullness of humanity and of history is realized in a city. We need to look at our cities with a contemplative gaze, a gaze of faith which sees God dwelling in their homes, in their streets and squares. God’s presence accompanies the sincere efforts of individuals and groups to find encouragement and meaning in their lives. He dwells among them, fostering solidarity, fraternity, and the desire for goodness, truth and justice.This presence must not be contrived but found, uncovered. God does not hide himself from those who seek him with a sincere heart, even though they do so tentatively, in a vague and haphazard manner.

[Blackwater]

Still no vision, but you really pique my interest and curiosity. Who is it?

Was it one of the Founders?

[oldcanadice]

It is the current Pope Francis of the Catholic church in a formal document addressed to the bishops around the world. Not quite what most non-catholics expect, is it.

[Blackwater]

Ah! Not that surprising, actually. He's said a lot of very good things. Many have a problem with a very few things he's said, and I'm one of them, but he's clearly good to go on the religious angle. It's his lack of understanding of politics that most have a problem with. But that's certainly not unusual, for a pope or anyone else. Interesting. Thanks. You really had me stumpted.

[oldcanadice]

Pretty neat when a duffer stumps a master. God bless.

[Blackwater]

Duffer!?!???? We're ALL duffers! Every last one of us. And each of us has some talent in all this, and a definite place. We just have to find the best place for ourselves, and that's a continuing journey for all of us. Maybe that's whey God created this world as he did? So that we'd be exposed to so many, many things and people, and have opportunities to learn from each of them?

The older I get, the greater and more awesome I realize God truly is. Having more time to think about this helps, surely, but reviewing one's own experiences helps, too, if we let it. We've all missed so very, very much in our haste to "get on with it" in life, but thinking back, it's pretty easy to see all the missed opportunities we really didn't see or heed in our time. And yes, there's some regret in that, but if we'd done that, we'd probably not have had time for much else, like making a living, having a family and friends and a church to attend to, etc., etc., etc. As the old saying goes, "Too soon old, too late smart." I resemble that one heavily! But there's another: "Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then if he just keeps rooting." If that's not me in a nutshell, I don't know what could be! Sometimes, I'm just amazed that I've learned anything at all, as blind and willful I've been so much of the time. All I really did was just keep asking questions, and kept my eyes open and observed what was there, often at least, to BE seen. How could a man not learn a little if he simply does that? We're not THAT dull, are we?

And there's always SO much left to learn and know. I've managed to learn some things, but it's really a spotty kind of learning. I've managed to put together a few puzzles, but there are plenty of them left, and always will be. And that'll always keep me busy! Being possessed of a strong innate curiosity is a burden, but not one that's altogether unpleasant at times. The thrill and joy of victory when something comes together is real and humbling. "How did I not see that all along?" is the most frequent question I find myself asking .... a lot!