17—18 May Fifth Sunday of Easter (C)

WE COULD BE SO MUCH MORE

‘Disenchancement’ was a description given to our times by journalist, author, television presenter and Wiradjuri man Stann Grant. He made the comment on Tuesday evening in his reflective and thought-provoking ‘Marian Lecture’. The latter is an annual occurrence sponsored by the Marist Brothers. Drawing on his own experience (he returned recently from writing a novel in the English countryside) and philosophy (cf. the ‘death of God’ movement), literature (T.S Eliot and Dostoevsky amongst others) and theology (with particular reference to Mary) he made a compelling case for the contemporary reduction of meaning and purpose to the claims of the individual, science and reason. He affirmed the great value of each, but not at the expense of our true individual and communal good and the greater mystery of which we are all a part.

On Thursday evening, parents of children preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation next month gathered online to reflect on the significance of the sacrament they will soon celebrate with their child. In part inspired by Grant’s talk, I shared that the first of the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit received in Confirmation are Wonder and Awe. Grant spoke of observing young people getting up
before dawn to experience the magic of a sunrise. Life is a gift to be marvelled at.
Maths and science reflect our discovery of order, not our creation of it.
We are part of ‘something more’. Indeed, time is how we presume to situate ourselves in the presence of God, who self-describes as: “I Am who I Am” (Gen 3:14). Revelation is in time and place and to that extent our understanding is limited. As we draw to the end of the Easter Season, our First Reading today reminds us that it was not until Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called ‘Christians’. Jesus was a Jew; he would not have had any concept of being a ‘Christian’. Christians initially understood themselves as akin to a sect within Judaism (cf. governance structure that Paul and Barnabas established). Only later did they break away. However, both Jews and Christians are waiting: Jews for the promised Messiah, Christians for his return. We look forward as ‘pilgrims of hope’. In our Second Reading from the last book of the bible, we see an appreciation of the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies of Ezekiel and Isaiah in wedding imagery and that of a new Jerusalem, affirming the passing of the old order in Christ. As we move to celebrate the birth of the Church at Pentecost, we see Jesus in today’s Gospel not as a distant figurehead but as present amongst his disciples in the love they have for one another. Michael Leunig points out that there is either openness in love or withdrawal in fear.
The one is ground for enchantment, the other anything but: There are only two feelings.

Love and fear.
There are only two languages.
Love and fear.
There are only two activities.
Love and fear.
There are only two motives, two procedures, two frameworks, two results.
Love and fear.
Love and fear.

 Fr John

South Belconnen Parish Priest