33rd Sunday Yr B (Gospel: Mark 13:24-32) Christ will come again

At this time of the year before Advent begins, the readings always focus on the end of the world and the second coming of Christ.  We do this because it was one of the things that Jesus taught.  Jesus taught that he would come again, and that when he does come it will be for a time of judgement.  All people will be judged.  We say in the creed, ‘he will come again to judge the living and the dead’.

It is tempting for us to discard what we don’t understand, especially if it sounds a little silly.  The idea of Jesus appearing in glory and coming to judge the world may seem hard to swallow. However, it would be a great mistake on our part if we began to just take the parts of Jesus’ teaching that ‘make sense’ and leave the other ones.  I think it would be more humble of us to say we accept all his teachings, but we don’t understand many of them.  ‘I don’t understand, but I believe.’  That’s what faith is.

If the Lord is to come to judge the living and the dead, it implies two things.  First, that there must be a heaven and a hell.  Otherwise there would be no point in judging us if it were going to make no difference.  Heaven is the total happiness that being in the presence of God will bring.  This is something that we can not understand because we have no experience of it yet, but this will be the most complete happiness we could ever know and this is what God has planned for us; it’s what He wants for us. 

Then there is the total loss of God for those who reject him, and this is hell, the loss of everything that can bring happiness.  Jesus has taught us that this is real, otherwise it would make no sense that we have free will, the power to accept or reject God.

The second thing that the Lord’s coming implies is that we must make an account of our lives to God.  We will be held accountable for our actions.  I often think that when we hear about so many of these tribunals which show the wholesale corruption that goes on, it can be very frustrating, because the people who get away with the most never seem to have to pay, either because they are powerful enough, or because of the legal system, they get off the hook.  It’s wrong and it happens every day.  But if a young man steals something from Dunnes Stores, you can be sure he’ll be brought to court and he’ll pay for it.  But even the rich and powerful must remember that their power and wealth won’t be with them when they die.  They too will have to make an account of themselves to God.  And nothing is hidden from God.  I find this consoling, not because I wish evil on anyone, but because at least I know that in the end there will be justice.

Is this a reason for us to be afraid?  Not unless we are deliberately trying to fool God.  If we try to live as the Lord teaches us, then we have nothing to fear.  If we just get on with the day to day tasks that we are presented with and try to be honest before God, then we have nothing to worry about.  The fact is that we are all sinners, none of us ever get it exactly right, but God isn’t put off by this. The Lord sees the heart.  God knows when we are doing our best and trying to live as best we can.  He knows all the pressures that we’re under.  He knows how difficult it is to try and survive in the world.  The Lord looks at each of our hearts and judges us by what is in our heart.

It is even more important to remember that God is infinitely merciful, and mercy is something which is not deserved.  God’s justice and mercy go together.  Think of all the times that we see people in the paper convicted of some terrible crime, and we say, ‘I hope he gets life’, or ‘I hope they kill him…’  It’s just as well for our sake that God is more merciful with us than we are with each other, or none of us would stand a chance.  Another reason why we can never judge someone else is because we don’t know what’s in their heart.  We don’t know what has influenced another person’s actions, or what pressures they are under.  That’s why Jesus teaches us, ‘Do not judge and you will not be judged’.  Only God can judge, and only God will judge perfectly justly.

There is a lovely story of a young man who was in Napoleon’s army.  He deserted for whatever reason, but he was caught.  The punishment for desertion was death.  But his mother met with Napoleon and pleaded on her son’s behalf.  She explained that this man was her only son and all that she had in the world.  She asked Napoleon to show him some mercy, but Napoleon replied, ‘He doesn’t deserve mercy.’  The woman said to him, ‘If he deserved it, it wouldn’t be mercy.’  This is what we also try and remember about God.  God is infinitely merciful and so if we make an effort at all, we have nothing to be afraid of.

Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead, and it is something that we can rejoice in when it happens, because we belong to him, we are his children.

32nd Sunday, Year B (Gospel: Mark 12:38-44) The Lord provides

I heard a story about an old Dominican who died recently.  Maurice Fearan was his name.  He was giving a retreat in Kashmir (India) in a place called Shrinagar beside the Dall lake. It is 7000 feet above sea level and a big tourist attraction; very beautiful.  So many people came to the retreat that they could not give him accommodation where the retreat was being held.  Instead they put him on one of the tourist boats.  So each evening after the retreat he would go back to the tourist boat, have a light meal and sleep there. 

One evening when he was eating, a young lady from Argentina joined him.  While they were chatting a storm began to blow up on the lake and it started to come towards them.  Eventually there were flashes of lightening near them and they were both getting nervous, especially since they were on water.  Then she leaned towards him and said, ‘Father, I’d like to go to confession.  But before I go to confession I want to tell you something.’  And then she said, ‘Father  I don’t believe in hell.’  Maurice said, ‘Why don’t you?’  She said, ‘I am an only child and my father loves me completely and I know that no matter what I do, my father would never reject me.  Sometimes he may do things which embarrass me, but I could never do anything which would embarrass him.  No matter what I do he would never reject me.  And so I don’t believe God would ever reject me either.’  Isn’t that powerful?  I think that is the approach we should take too. 

I think we often ‘pray to small’ as you might say.  We are afraid that we can’t have the very best, or that God might frown on us if we expect too much.  And yet Jesus taught the very opposite.  ‘How many of you would give your child a snake if he asked for a fish; or a stone if he asked for bread?’  And then he said, ‘If you who are evil know how to give good things to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father look after you?’  It is a wonderful teaching and probably one that we should reflect on more.  The Father wants to give us everything.  He wants the very best for us always.

In the first reading, God is showing us never to be afraid, because if we trust in his word He will never let us down.  The woman had almost nothing left and the prophet Elijah asked her to share it.  She was afraid, but Elijah said, ‘Trust in the word of God and you will be alright.’  So she did trust him and she was alright.

God invites us to do the same.  We are so often afraid that we won’t be able to manage and yet the Lord keeps telling us, ‘Trust in me and I will look after your every need.’ And He does.  ‘Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these other things will be given to you as well.’

Something that the Lord has taught me as a priest is never to be afraid to give away money to people who need it.  I don’t just mean people who come to the door asking for money, but people I come across who I know are in trouble.  They are the ones who rarely ask, but the Lord often lets me see their need.  People often give me money as a priest and I just see it as part of my work to pass it on whenever the Lord shows me such need.  But I have always found that every time I have given away money, sometimes reluctantly as I feel maybe it’s too much or that I might be stuck, within 24 hours I will be given the money back by someone else and usually more.  This has happened to me so many times that I always believe it is God’s way of teaching me to trust him.  He looks after all our needs and He will never be outdone in generosity. 

In the Gospel today Jesus sees the poor woman putting in what seemed to be a very small amount.  But he knew it was everything she had.  God sees what we do and He constantly encourages us to be generous, especially with those who are in need.  Remember God will never be outdone in generosity.  If we are generous, God will be far more generous.  Our Father in heaven is the Lord of all the universe and He has lots of money, so let us never be afraid.

29th Sunday Year B (Gospel: Mark 10: 35-45) The Son of man came to serve…and to give his life as a ransom for many

We are living in a time when we are seeing a lot of religious extremism.  You could call it religion at its worst, when people do terrible things in the name of religion and of course it gives religion a bad name.  What it often amounts to is the weakness of human nature and how one group can decide that it is right while everyone else is wrong or that they have the right to force their ideas on others.  It can happen with any religion.  I suppose one thing it brings up is the question of what the purpose of religion is in the first place.

Why do we have a Church and what is its purpose?  We believe the Church is here because Jesus established it.  The reason Jesus established it was to pass on his teaching about God; so that all people might come to know God and what God has done for us. 

You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church and the gates of the underworld can never overpower it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Mt 16: 18-20).

The difficulty as always, is that the Church is made up of weak, sinful human beings.  In Jesus’ life-time on earth he was let down several times by the very people he chose to lead his Church and that problem continues to this day.  Because we are dealing with the weakness of the human condition, we are continually faced with similar problems.  People in charge forget what they are about, or get caught up in the need for power, or whatever it might be.  It has always been this way and probably always will.

It’s interesting what happens in today’s Gospel.  James and John ask for ‘power’ and recognition.  ‘Grant that we may have places at your right and left hand…’  And then Jesus tells them and us something interesting: 

You know that among the pagans their so-called rulers lord it over them… This is not to happen among you…  For the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The first reading also confirms this:

The Lord has been pleased to crush his servant with suffering. 

What God is saying to us is that his way is very different way to what we are used to.  It is not the way of power and might, but of littleness and of transformation through suffering.  This is something that is very hard for us to get our heads around.  We want our Church to be big and powerful.  We want everyone to be part of it and to see how ‘right’ we are.  But Jesus tells us that that is not how it works.  ‘The Son of man came to serve…and to give his life as a ransom for many.’  So the first thing is that we are not meant to be big and powerful.

So then what exactly is the mission or purpose of the Church?  Jesus’ coming among us had a twofold purpose.  He came among us to teach us about God; who God is and how He looks after us; about the reality of life after death; about the reason why we are here in the first place: to love and serve.

The second reason Jesus came among us was to die for us.  Think of the line in the mass where the priest prays over the chalice: ‘It will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.’  That is why Jesus came among us; so that our sins could be forgiven and that we would be able to reach the happiness that God created for us.  You could say that Jesus came among us for our happiness.  The mission of the Church is to make that known to all people.  If it is really true, as we believe it is, then all people have a right to know this.  They don’t have to believe it or accept it, but they do have a right to know about it and it is our mission to make that message known to everyone we can because Jesus asked us to.  Is this mission still being fulfilled today?  It certainly is.  Here am I in front of you 2000 years after Jesus walked on earth, proclaiming the same message.

In the news we continually read about all the terrible things that are done in the Church and in the name of religion and there are terrible things done.  But we don’t hear about the wonderful work that is continually done all over the world.  And we don’t hear about the fact that the Church continues to preach this message of Jesus—what we call the Good News or Gospel—all over the world.  I’m sure it will continue to be done in messy, inefficient ways, because we are dealing with human beings, but none the less it is being done.

How do we know that the Church is from God at all?  Well to me the greatest proof of this is the fact that it is still there at all.  When you think of all the great superpowers that have come and gone: the Roman Empire, the Chinese dynasties, the great European superpowers.  All were highly organised and efficient.  Yet the Church, in spite of bad example, scandals, bad preaching, etc., is still here.  How can that be?  Because it is the power of God working in and through it.  It is not dependent on human beings, but on the power of God.  And so we continually turn to the power of God and pray that we will continue to be the kind of messengers and servants that He calls us to be.

Jesus Christ is Lord, Son of God.  He was born of the Virgin Mary.  He taught us about God and he suffered and died for us.  Because of him we can have happiness with God when we die.  He is the one who makes sense of why we are here.  This is the message we believe in and this is the message we will continue to try and pass on to all peoples.

‘The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve

and to give his life as a ransom for many.’

27th Sunday Year B (Gospel: Mark 10:2-16) The call to marriage and religious life

One of the things that I did before I became a priest was to work in a jewellery store for a while as a salesman.  During that time I learnt an interesting thing about the way that precious stones like diamonds are polished.  The stones come in roughly cut and they are put into a container along with grit and shaken at high speed.  The grit and the stones rub off each other and they polish each other.  When the stones come out of the container at the end, they are sparkling and beautiful.  But while they are in that container they are just being thrashed about and having the corners knocked off of them.  I always think that this is a good analogy for what happens in married life, and indeed in any way of life well lived. 

Those of you who are married know better than I do that there is a lot of rubbing off each other, which can be difficult.  But all the time you are actually forming each other into better people, or you could say that God is forming you through each other.  The corners are knocked off us, and the trials that we go through are all the time helping us to become the best people that we can be.  That is God’s plan for us; that we reach our full potential.  At the time—just like in the container—we only see the endless trials and struggles that seem to come up.  But as time passes other people begin to notice that (hopefully) we are becoming more patient, tolerant and understanding.  Of course it doesn’t always work that way, but that is the idea.  It is true of any way of life, but I think it is particularly obvious in married life.

One of the things that can also happen after a time in married life and in religious life, is that all the sparkle seems to dry up.  Here I can talk more particularly about religious life, since that what I am most familiar with.  You begin to wonder why it seems so dull.  Did I make the wrong choice?  Should I change?  Would it have been better if I had gotten married?  I think it’s no harm to remind ourselves that this is a normal part of the growth stage in any vocation.  My partner is not as interesting or exciting as I thought they were initially.  Should I have married someone else?  This is also where the commitment is so important and that is why we take marriage vows and religious vows, to give us strength to keep going when things are not easy and to ask God to help us.  Hopefully, if we do manage to persevere we keep growing to a deeper level of commitment and love.  We are maturing and blossoming as people, but as you know it is not an easy path.  However, that doesn’t mean that it’s not worthwhile.

Now I know that it is not always as simple as that, and that a certain percentage of marriages don’t work out and the couple end up separating.  It is sad, but that is life.  The same happens with religious life; a certain number end up leaving for whatever reason.  In the Gospel today Jesus ends up addressing this same age-old question and as always it is interesting what the Son of God has to say to us.  ‘Yes Moses did allow you to divorce, but that was not the original plan.’  I think that this should tell us two things.  Firstly, that it is worth making a lot of effort to help marriages and religious life work, because that is God’s plan for us.  But also to recognise that things don’t always work out and so we should also do our best to help those for whom things have not worked out.  God always wants to help us and offers us a lot of help in every way of life.  That is why marriage is also a sacrament, something that invokes God’s help and blessing, because God knows well that we struggle.  The same is true with religious life.  The fact that marriage doesn’t always work out is no reason to abandon marriage, and the same goes for religious life.  Just because it doesn’t work for everyone is no reason to abandon it.  It is all the time a question of us trying to get the balance right, which is never easy and that is why we need to continually turn to God for his help. 

I think what is really important for us to remember is that God does want our life to work out; that his plans for us are good and that the Lord always continues to help us when things have not worked out.  We are never alone and we are never abandoned.  Our path to heaven does not depend on us getting it right, but rather in continually trying.

‘God saw all that He had made and indeed it was good.’

26th Sunday Year B (Gospel: Mark 9:38-43. 45. 47-48) Different paths to God

One of the things I was very blessed with as a young priest was getting to know a Baptist minister and his wife who worked in Galway; Kelly and Susan Curry.  He and his wife had come over from the States because they felt the Lord was calling them there and they set up a centre in Galway to encourage people to come back to their faith.  They weren’t trying to convert people to become Baptist, rather this centre was about encouraging people to take their faith more seriously and of course most of the people who came there were Catholic simply because there were more Catholics around than anyone else.  But the reason I feel very blessed to have come to know them is because it opened my mind to different ways of faith.  I got to know Kelly best.  He wasn’t Catholic, but he was obviously a man of God and filled with the Spirit.  Kelly has been a great source of encouragement and support to me as a priest.  As I got to know him it helped me to realise that God was working in and through him just as much as through any priest I knew.  Now maybe that should be obvious, but when you grow up in one particular way of faith, it is not always obvious and often we can be suspicious of people who don’t see things as we do.  But of course God works through many different people in many different ways.  Many people I know have been greatly helped by the work they do there in that centre.  It is called An Tobar Nua (The New Well).

I know that many parents and grandparents at this time are distressed as they see their children no longer practicing or going to church.  While it is a tragedy to us, it doesn’t mean that they have lost faith.  We believe God offers us an extraordinary treasure in the mass and through the different sacraments and of course we would like that for others, especially for our children.  But at this time many young people have become disillusioned with the Church and with official religion, and for very understandable reasons.  In many ways it is hard to blame them, they have probably more reasons than most to be turned off by it.  But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have faith, or that they are not searching for God.  People are always searching for God. It seems to be an almost instinctual need within us.  While they may find it difficult to relate to the Church at this time, that doesn’t mean that God is not reaching out to them, or guiding them.

Just as getting to know my Baptist friend helped me to realise that here are many ways God speaks to people, I think it is good for us to remember that God is still speaking to them and guiding them, perhaps in ways that we do not recognise or would never have imagined.  I am continually struck by the great goodness that I have met in so many people, often people who have no interest in the Church at all.  But they do their best to live good lives and help the people they meet, often with great generosity.  They do believe in God, but they don’t relate to God through the means that we are used to.

Having said all that, I also think it’s amazing how people are still being drawn to the Church and to religious life.  This year 5 young men joined us here in the Dominicans.  Last year 6 entered.  The year before 2 and the year before that 13.  So God is at work around us all the time and that is something that should help us to take heart.

The readings today are also about how God gives his Spirit to whomever He wishes, often in ways that we don’t expect.  The Apostles were surprised, just as the men in the time of Moses were surprised, when they found others teaching and healing in God’s name.  But Jesus said to them, ‘Don’t stop them…If they are not against us they are with us.’ 

There are many paths and ways to God.  We believe that the one God has revealed to us is an exceptionally rich one, with the most extraordinary gifts to help us: above all the Eucharist; the Word of God; the healing we receive through confession and many other things.  We hope and pray that others will discover these treasures too.  But God goes on reaching out to people all around us in so many ways that we will probably never know about.  I think part of what we are called to, is to pray for the people around us that they will discover God too.  We are blessed to have been given the gift of faith.  So now let us pray that God will help us to be sign-posts to him, by the way we live our faith.  Amen.

25th Sunday Year B (Gospel: Mark 9:30-37) Padre Pio: Trust and simplicity, like children

 

Today is the feast day of St. Pius of Pietrelcina, but better known to most people as Padre Pio.  However, since it falls on a Sunday we don't officially celebrate it since Sunday always takes precedence.  But I would like to share with you a few thoughts about Padre Pio which also tie in with today's Gospel.  

Padre Pio only died in 1968, the year before I was born, which fairly puts him in perspective.  He was a Capuchin Franciscan who lived in an obscure monastery in the East of Italy.  If you have doubts about the reality of the spiritual world, read a book on his life.  For fifty years of his life he had the stigmata, or wounds of Christ in his hands and feet and side, which bled continually.  They were examined by doctors several times but they couldn’t explain them.  He also had the gift of being able to read people’s hearts in confession, which meant that if someone made a simple confession keeping some things back he would be able to remind them about what they needed to confess.  Many of the Holy Souls are said to have come to him asking him for prayers.  But perhaps what was most striking for people who saw him was that he suffered the passion of Christ every time he celebrated the mass.  You can still get DVDs of him celebrating the mass and it is quite something to watch.  He was forbidden from preaching, because the Vatican were suspicious of the mystical gifts that he had, but he didn’t need to because just watching him celebrate the mass was enough.  Thousands of people came to be present as he celebrated the mass.  During his life he was one of the most photographed people in the world. 

Why were people drawn to this priest who lived in an obscure village in Italy?  It had to be more than just because he had these strange experiences and gifts.  The reason why people were drawn to him, is the same reason why people were drawn to people like Mother Teresa, a poor wrinkled old woman, or to John Paul II and many others.  It is because people experienced God through them in an extraordinary way.  God is attractive and that’s why people who are close to God, or holy, are attractive.  People want to be close to them, because we are instinctively drawn to God’s presence.  Holiness (being close to God) is often confused with piety (showing great devotion to holy things, or certain prayers), but the two are not the same.  People who are pious are not necessarily holy and people who are holy are not necessarily pious.  Padre Pio could apparently be quite gruff, but people were drawn to him all the same.

I remember reading a story about one woman who went to Pietrelcina to go to him for confession.  She had to wait several days to be heard, because there were so many people going to him at that time.  When she finally went to confession and confessed, he just closed the little door on her without saying anything.  She was furious and went back in a rage to the house where she was staying.  The owner of the house told her not to worry, but just to think for a few days and then go back.  As she began to calm down and reflect on what she had said, she realised that she had been quite insincere and had really only been going out of curiosity.  She then went back a few days later, made a more sincere confession and she said that he couldn’t have been kinder.  He obviously recognised that she was insincere the first time and this apparent rejection that she experienced was really what she needed.  It shocked her into reality.

One of the sayings that is often associated with Padre Pio is this: ‘Pray, hope and don’t worry.’  It is so simple and yet so wise.  Often the advice that holy people like Padre Pio gave was so simple and I think that is the key to growing in faith.  We cannot figure it out, and we will get ourselves in knots if we try, because what we believe in is totally beyond our understanding.

In the Old Testament there is the story of Naaman the leper who came from Damascus and went to the prophet Elisha in Israel to be healed.  Elisha told him to go and bathe in the Jordan seven times.  When he heard this he was furious because he thought that was so stupid.  He said, ‘Aren’t the waters in my own country better than here?’  But then his servants pushed him and said, ‘If the prophet had told you to do something really difficult wouldn’t you have done it?  So why not do this, even though it seems so simple?’  (See 2 kings 5).  So eventually he gave in and went to the river and he was healed.  God often leads us in ways that are so simple.

In the Gospel the Lord presents us with an interesting model.  When the disciples are arguing about who is the greatest, he presents them with a child.  What’s so special about a child?  Perhaps two things in particular: trust and simplicity.  Children show total trust, and children keep things simple, often in a very disarming way, as you know.  The more we respond to this draw that God plants inside of us, the more we begin to realise that it is very simple.  And people tell me, ‘Oh but father it is not so simple, it is really very complicated.’  No it’s not.  We make it complicated.  If God has given us a way to follow him it must be possible for everyone without exception.  And if it is possible for everyone without exception, then it must be very simple.  That is why several times, the Lord presented the disciples with the model of a child.  ‘Unless you become like little children you cannot enter the kingdom of God.’  He is saying, ‘Trust me, your God, as a child trusts its parents.’  The path is a simple one. 

22nd Sunday Yr B (Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23) We must love one another, but God first.

After mass one Sunday a young man said something interesting to me.  He said, ‘Father, I think that at the mass you should be talking about loving each other and not just talking about things from the bible which people don’t understand.’  It is an interesting point and I agreed with him partly.  A few years ago at a wedding a man said almost the exact same thing to me.  He said, ‘You should just be telling us to be good to each other.  There is no need for all these words from St. Paul to the Corinthians, etc.’ They are both absolutely right about the need to talk about loving each other, because that is one of the most important things that Jesus asked us to do, ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’  ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’  That is how Jesus told us that people would recognise us as Christians, by the way we love each other.  But there is another part to it which they are forgetting.

If we are to love one another, and that is what the Lord God asks us to do, where are we supposed to get the strength to do that?  How are you supposed to love people who drive you crazy, or who are unjust to you, or who do you wrong, or steal from you, who have cheated you out of money, or offended your family?  Since they are in the wrong, are we still expected to love them?  Yes we are.  ‘Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, bless those who curse you.’  It seems to be a lot to ask.  In fact it can seem quite unrealistic.  This is where we have to go back to the bible and see what else God said to us, to try and make sense of this.  And Jesus says, the two most important commandments are, first, ‘You must love the Lord your God above everything else’.  Then, ‘You must love your neighbour as yourself.’  This may not seem very important, but this is where the answer lies.

What God is telling us is that if we are rooted in him, if he is at the centre, and we become more and more filled with him and with his love, then and only then will we have the ability to love other people.  We get the strength to love people, especially those we find more difficult to love, from the love we experience from God in the first place.  The more our relationship with him grows, the more this is possible.

Let me give you one example. There is a woman called Sister Alvera, from Italy.  Several years ago she set up a community to help drug addicts recover.  She believed that what these people were missing more than anything else in their lives was the love of God, and that this was where their problem was really coming from.  So she set up a centre to help them recover, a place where they could experience the love of God first hand from other people.  They live like a religious community.  They have no TV, no radio and no newspapers.  They do a lot of physical work and they pray a lot together.  The interesting thing is that through this way of life (which is basically a monastic way of life – prayer and work) hundreds of men have overcome their drug addiction, but more importantly they have discovered faith, discovered the love of God for them and begun completely new lives.  Sr. Alvera now has 36 different centres all over the world.  And just a few years ago she opened one in Knock. It is called the Cenacolo community.

There are hundreds of people like Sr. Alvera and not all religious either.  Mother Teresa is another extraordinary one.  How do they do this kind of work?  Where do they get the strength to work with people who can be very difficult and very ungrateful?  The answer is simple.  They are completely rooted in God.  Their own personal relationship with God is where they get the strength and energy.

Now you might be saying, well that’s all fine for them, but I don’t have that kind of relationship with God, I just about get to mass on Sundays.  But what God is showing us is that our ability to love one another, to put up with and respect those we don’t like, or agree with, comes from our relationship with him.  The more we come to know God, the more we can love the people around us, starting with our own families, our spouse, whoever is closest to us.  As we come to know the Lord more, our ability to love others also grows.  So the key is in coming closer to God, nothing else.

How do we come closer to God?  First, through reading his words in the bible.  The Scriptures are like personal love letters to us from God.  They are written for us personally.  Also, through receiving Jesus in the Eucharist.  We cannot get any closer to God than that.  And also through repenting of sin, because God asks us to do that.  To say that we don’t have any sins or that we don’t need to repent of them is to call God a liar.  We are sinners, we continually need to repent.  We also deepen and live our relationship with God through prayer, which is simply communicating with God. 

All of these things help to bring about conversion of the heart, rediscovering God, coming closer to him.  Only then will we be able to love the people around us and only then will our society begin to improve.

‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.  You must love your neighbour as yourself.’