Part three of my Lenten book extracts. ‘Love Unknown’ by Sr Rachel Gregory OCD (Ruth Burrows)
Sr Rachel says: “True faith is soldered on to the living God alone, it relies not on signs and wonders, but on God’s truth, his reliability and steadfastness; the intent of his heart remains unchanged, an absolute intent to give himself to us completely for our perfect fulfilment.”
It is humbling to know that God’s heart is with each one of us. He knows us all by name since we are his children. To reach our perfect fulfilment in life, which is our common vocation to become Saints. We need to pray and ask for God’s continual grace to help us along the narrow path that leads us to our eternal reward. Fr Philip.
Part two of my Lenten book extracts. ‘Love Unknown’ by Sr Rachel Gregory OCD (Ruth Burrows)
Sr Rachel says: “Let us acknowledge our sins and expose them to the love of Jesus through our prayer. We must keep looking towards Jesus the pioneer and perfector of our faith. God offers himself in total love to each one of us. Our part is to open our hearts to receive this gift. God is an ocean of merciful love, longing to be released and to be poured into each one of us. However, our human pride, lack of faith and trust, becomes a barrier against it.”
LENT 2024. My Lenten book for this year is ‘Love Unknown’ by Sr Rachel Gregory OCD (Ruth Burrows) Throughout Lent, I’ll be posting a small extract from her book that stood out for me.
Sr Rachel says: “We delude ourselves if we think we can be Christian in isolation. We need the Church and everything the Church can give us: her Sacraments, the proclamation and exposition of the Word of God, mutual sharing of gifts and insights, mutual support, both material and spiritual. None of us can stand up alone against the forces of atheism and materialism within our society. What is more, a Christian is always as one ‘given’ committed to others, to a community.”
“We are not animals, not even simply rational animals: we are sons of God; and we learn in prayer to look at the world as God sees it. We are joined to Christ as branches to the vine, and we try to make our minds, and our lives, grow more like his.”
My Lenten book for this year is ‘Love Unknown’ by Ruth Burrows OCD, over the next few weeks I’ll be posting a small extract from her book that stood out for me.
Ruth says: “As Carmelite nuns, prayer is our life; prayer is our principal work for the Church and for the world. WE HAVE NOTHING ELSE! Think what it is for a Carmelite to feel such a failure at prayer, not just now and then, but day after day, year after year! I lived with this searing anxiety for many, many years.”
As a priest myself, I feel Ruth’s frustration and anxiety at the failure of daily prayer.
The joy of Advent shines forth with an inspiring message of hope and encouragement in today’s readings, urging us to rejoice and be happy because the Lord is near.
It tells us of our Christian vocation to radiate this joy, however, rejoicing is not normally the hallmark of being a Catholic. A lot of the time we associate the Gospel message of Jesus carrying His Cross and remembering His Passion of pain and suffering. However, what did Jesus say just before His Ascension into Heaven, ‘all these things I have spoken to you, that my joy might be in you, and your joy be complete.’
We were all created for happiness. It is why we spend our lives searching and striving to attain it. Sometimes this happiness seems to escape us as we go searching for it in the wrong places. Our greatest mistake is to look for it in material things, but all the money in the world cannot purchase happiness. Christian joy is something deeper and richer, it comes from an awareness that God is with us and produces a contentment of inner peace that cannot be taken from us. Friendship with God is the source of Christian joy. No trials can drown this joy since it is born of faith. On the first Christmas day when God came down in the flesh, Jesus filled the world with glad tidings of great joy. His life was geared towards God the Father in joy, prayer and thanksgiving. We can be caught up with all our daily problems and fail to reflect upon the joy of that marvellous truth that:
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‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son and whoever believes in him, might not die, but may have eternal life.’ (Jn 3:16)
In the Gospel today, John the Evangelist, introduces us to John the Baptist as a witness to the coming of Christ. We hear the delegation committee coming from Jerusalem to ask John who he is, in order to find out whether John is one of the end-times figures whom the Jews are expecting. They asked him, are you the Messiah? Are you Elijah? Are you a Prophet? John responds by saying ‘no’ to all three questions and replies back saying ‘I am the voice of the one crying out in the desert, make straight the way for the Lord.’
However, as we know, John the Baptist is described in the synoptic Gospels, from the lips of Jesus, who speaks about him as Elijah, in the sense of acting in the spirit and power of Elijah. Also, Jesus speaks about John the Baptist in Matthew’s Gospel, saying: ‘Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not been anyone greater than John the Baptist.’ (Matthew 11:11)
With John’s response of saying ‘no’, he is pointing towards the dignity of the one who is to come and the fact that he himself is not worthy to undo the strap of his sandals.
Charity is so important at this time, as there is no greater proof of love than to give ourselves to others who are in need. Christmas joy cannot be complete unless we show love and charity, especially to those who have nothing to give back to us in return.
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The happiest of people are those who are doing the most for others, and the day will arrive when they will be greeted by the Lord with these words: ‘Well done good and faithful servant, come and join in your master’s happiness.’
I would like to end with the words from one of our favourite comedians of our time, Ken Dodd. The tune that he ends all his shows on, by singing:
“Happiness, Happiness, the greatest gift that I possess, I thank the Lord that I’ve been blessed, with more than my share of happiness.”
Rev. Fr Philip Wrigley's Blog 