Sacred Heart Catholic Parish, Teddington

A Talk by Father John Deehan

Holy Week 2007

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Homily

Homily: Lent 5c

We have just listened to a story about a violent mob, its victim, and the divine person who breaks the violence.   It could just as easily have been a story about a gang of youths on a sink estate attacking a peer who showed disrespect.     It could have been the story of a disgruntled football manager on TV whipping up national hatred against a referee after losing a football match.   It might just as easily have been about a group of parents writing off a school or members of a school staff through gossip, or it could have been anyone who blames the ills of society on foreign workers who take away our jobs.

The story is a mirror for  individuals and groups of every ethnic or social background, and is blind to whether they profess a religious faith or not.   It does however have something particular to say to religious people, because religion is part of this story, and religion, by its nature, should  be a bonding force, not such a divisive force for our world that we prefer to shunt it out of the public sphere.

The story goes deeper however than religiosity.   It’s about a certain kind of human desire, and the conflict, rivalry and tension that follow from it.    It is rooted in us from early childhood.   It is the desire that says, ‘You and I want the same thing’ or ‘I want something because you want it’.      I remember once doing a holiday job in Harrods during the sales, and I witnessed two very smartly dressed, apparently urbane men, pillars of our society,  suddenly coming to blows, literally, over a suit – a suit which even in the sales was priced beyond my dreams.   We see it when very young children get jealous when another child takes up a toy that previously they had no interest in.   We see it at work when slightly older children suddenly stop being friends.    And teenage anger at perceived infidelity can make adult anger look laid back.

When desire turns ugly we solve the problem by finding  someone, or a group of people, to blame, or vent our frustrations on, just as Hitler did with the Jews when all was not going right in Germany.   We call it scapegoating.     The ugly form is to be a member of a gang picking on a victim and beating them within an inch of their life..    The nice form is to become part of a group of gossipers and practice verbal violence against someone who is a bit vulnerable or a bit out of the loop.  Everyone does it –except me of course.   We are so prone to it that often we don’t even realise we are doing it.   But we love it, because we want to be part of a community, to feel reassured and safe and have our place, even it that community turns out to be a bogus one.

The gospel story is about a particularly brutal act of scapegoating.     The woman, as the weaker person, is made the scapegoat, not the man who steals her from her husband.     But the witnesses in the story must have gone to tremendous lengths of  sexual prurience to catch the woman in the very act of adultery.     Then, as often happens in scapegoating, they try to justify their action by invoking some kind of religious authority, and at the same time making Jesus also a potential victim.   If he says she should not die, he appears to treat Moses with contempt.    If he says she should die, he may be in trouble with the Romans.

So what does Jesus do?    At first he does nothing.  Often that’s the best thing to do.   Say or do nothing.    Don’t fuel up the violence.

When he did speak, he spoke that famous one-liner, ‘Let he who is without guilt cast the first stone’.   In other words, he says to them, ‘ this is more about the dark side of your own unfulfilled desire than about the morality of the woman’.    What he did was to take the violence of the mob that was directed outwards and redirect it inwards, in an attempt to provoke sorrow and contrition.     In this way not only might  peace be restored, but the cycle of violence might be broken too..    Otherwise, in our self-righteousness we just go from one scapegoating incident to another.   By making everyone focus not on the woman’s problem but on their own problem or dysfunctionality, Jesus breaks up this unholy, phoney community that is based solely on jealousy, antagonism and violence..

Interestingly enough, even some of the saints of the early church had problems with this gospel.     There was a sense of, ‘isn’t this going too far?.   Won’t women be able to do what they like?’   But in this gospel Jesus is not functioning as a moralist but getting us to look at our own motivations.   What Jesus does in this gospel could transform us and our world as we know it, if people would let him.    It is this ‘new thing’ that Isaiah speaks about in the First Reading.   If we could, with his help, accept our own dark side, we would  be people of peace and we would have peace, because we could have the forgiveness God offers us already.    ‘Don’t form gangs, build bridges’, says Jesus.

When we deny our sin we are telling a deep lie about ourselves.    We are saying that the bridge between us and God is closed, that God does not love us as we are, and that we can never love others as they are.   Sadly, all we can do then is to join the mob and search for another scapegoat, and never know what it is to live in peace.

Newsletter

Homily

Lent 4 C 2007

We are all very familiar with the story of the Prodigal Son, so familiar that maybe we don’t really hear it any more, so let’s begin by going back to our Old Testament reading, which may not be quite as familiar to us.    It’s a story, appropriately for Lent, about endings and beginnings, about making a fresh start.  .The long arduous journey of the Israelites through the wilderness is over.   They have crossed over the river Jordan and entered the land that God had promised them they would reach provided they remained faithful on the journey.

Although they suffered terrible privations on the journey, they never actually lacked sustenance.    Because God mysteriously provided the manna for them, day after day without fail.    True, just having a diet of manna was boring, and some of the travellers longed to give up God’s plat du jour and return to the a la carte of Egypt, but the manna had kept them going, and now they have arrived.

But things will be different for them now.    They will now have to work the ground and till the soil and grow the grain and harvest it, if they are to enjoy their daily bread.     The days of wonderful miracles are over, and the Israelites must settle down to a more workaday existence.

The first thing they do on arriving at their destination is to celebrate the Passover, that ritual meal in which they  remembered  together the wonderful works of God in the past, because workaday existence requires faith, and trust just as much, or even more than the excitement and the hardship and the danger  of life on the desert road.    The same qualities that sustained them on their desert road will be required if they are to make the most, or indeed make anything of the land.    If they forget the lessons of the desert, they may exist in the promised land, but they will live as if they are back in slavery in Egypt.

Every Sunday, as we begin another working week, we gather together to listen to the wonderful works of God, to remember, and to eat the unleavened bread.    We do so to commemorate an even greater liberation than the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt, we gather to remember that transformation in human nature itself that was brought about by Jesus.   We gather to remember that Jesus has delivered us from sin, reconciled us to God, and given us the possibility of rising above our earthly frailty and reaching to heaven.

St Paul tells us that God made the sinless one into sin for our sake.   What might he have meant by that?   Our idea of liberation from sin is often about escaping from other.    We escape to the suburbs, we escape to the best schools, we escape our difficult neighbours to a detached house, preferably with acres of land if we can afford it, we escape to our country house or the South of France, we escape into work, we escape into technology, and the internet,  we escape into alcohol or drugs, we escape from relationships.    We escape into so called gated communities, and make a point of not knowing our neighbours..   The more affluent we become, the more our lives seem geared to escape.   And the more adept we become at escaping, it seems, the less happy we are.

Jesus, the sinless one, lived not by trying to escape but by solidarity.    So he did not try to escape  from the leper but risked touching them, and picking up the contagion.    He did not try to escape from those considered sinners, but invited himself into their homes.    He did try to escape from those he might well have felt uncomfortable with but engaged them.    The sinless one did not remain sinless by escaping from sin, but by entering into where sin was, embracing those who were caught up in sin, and he told us the parable of the Prodigal Father who refused to write off his prodigal son, but waited until he could graciously and lovingly invite him home once more.     Madness, or the wonderful work of God?    

And today he calls on us to risk and do the same, to be his ambassadors, to become not escapees but bearers of the goodness and the graciousness and the compassion of God and work miracles in our everyday lives.

Open the Doors

OPEN THE DOORS!

SATURDAY 30 JUNE AND SUNDAY 1 JULY 2007

What's this about?

Some weeks ago we were told at all Masses about 'Open the Doors' - an exciting opportunity to celebrate the life of our parish and to reach out to our neighbours, regardless of their beliefs - or absence of them. This idea grew out of a suggestion from Cardinal Cormac that all parishes in the diocese should arrange an event during 2006 and open their doors to the community.

What's being planned?

A small group of parishioners has been working on a plan for the weekend of 30 June/ 1 July, trying to get the right mix of spiritual and social events - things which would appeal to a broad range of people, whether Catholic or other Christian, other faiths, or none. We have a basic plan, but there is still time to add your own views and ideas.

before the event	plan, design, print and distribute a leaflet about the weekend, to go out to all homes in Teddington and Hampton Wick
Saturday, 30 June	prayer and meditation opportunities guided visits displays, including displays by CAFOD, the Passage, Catholic Children's Society, APF, etc gospel meditations schools projects and activities by the school opportunities to talk to people about our faith teas/ coffees, plus a barbecue Space for children to play Saturday's events will end in time for the 6.30pm Mass
Sunday, 1 July	Morning Masses as usual teas / coffees and a barbecue visits / information for visitors Sacred Heart's 'Songs of Praise' Sunday's events will finish by around 6.00pm

What Now?

Now we need your help. We need volunteers for specific roles and we hope that as many of you as are able will become involved in one way or another. Here is a breakdown of the range of volunteers we need:

Pre-event – by the end of May

Opportunity Number 1:

Getting the message across – current contact: Theresa Read

One of the first things we will need to get started on is letting all our neighbours - regardless of their beliefs - or absence of them - know what is going on.

As far as possible, we plan to leaflet every home in the parish, both to let them know about Sacred Heart Church and what we offer week in and week out, and also to invite them to come and visit us during the Open the Doors weekend. As well as this, there will be posters for all the local churches, plus in as many local community organisations and businesses as we can persuade to display them.

This part of the programme will entail planning and designing the leaflet itself, and then printing and delivering all of them  - some 7000 or so!

Who We Need And What We Need To Do

1 co-ordinator plus 3-5 people to:

• design a poster and a leaflet,
• arrange the printing of around 7000 leaflets and 30 posters

1 co-ordinator plus around 40-60 volunteers to:

• deliver the 7000 leaflets and 30 posters to every home in our parish.

Leaflets need to be delivered by the early part of June. So everything needs to be completed by third week in May, ready for the meeting of Churches Together in Teddington on May 22.

Opportunity Number 2:

Housekeeping – current contact:   Ivan Lowe

Who We Need And What We Need To Do

1 co-ordinator plus 10-15 people to:

• plan the design and layout of the building for the event
• put up new interior and exterior notice board
• paint the outside doors
• clean windows at front
• organise the supply and layout of literature for the event

For the event itself

Opportunity Number 3:

Catering and Refreshments – current contact: Nancie Alleyne

Who We Need And What We Need To Do

1 co-ordinator and 4-5 people to:

• plan and organise the supply of small refreshments – biscuits/snacks and liquids (not alcohol) – throughout the two days
• plan and organise the supply of related articles such as plates, cups, utensils, etc.

1 co-ordinator and 15-20 people to:

• organise and provide refreshments to the public throughout the two days
• generally keep the place tidy and hazard-free

1 co-ordinator and 7-10 people to:

• organise the supply and provision of the barbeque and related tools and utensils
• organise and “do” the BBQ throughout the two days – this is not a continuous task like the small refreshments, but a good couple of hours each day.
• generally keep the place tidy and hazard-free

Opportunity Number 4:

Provision of Music – current contact:  Maria O’Brien

Who We Need And What We Need To Do

1 co-ordinator and 3-5 people to:

• liaise with Sacred Heart School with the aim of the children providing 2 singing slots on the Saturday
• liaise with the teenagers of our church with the aim of them getting involved.
• choose music to be performed throughout the weekend
• create a timetable of music events and ensure piped and live music available
• manage and oversee the musical equipment and keep hazard-free
• liaise with other churches re: what music they’d like to do on the Sunday and finding out what they need in terms of space/equipment
• produce an information sheet about the music at Sacred Heart and how you can join either of the current groups
• check who in the current groups are available for the weekend

Please note that the above jobs do need volunteers extra to those who currently are in the choirs and music group.

Opportunity Number 5:

Organisation of Displays and Presentations – current contact: Jim McLean

Who We Need And What We Need To Do

1 co-ordinator and 6-8 people to:

• obtain/collect display boards for use during the event
• liaise with charities and organisations we have contact with to provide display materials
• arrange and display relevant material from our Church, School and Community along the theme of our event
• organise and manage the other displays – e.g. rolling/looping video and PowerPoint presentations, including obtaining the equipment and ensuring sufficient power sockets are available
• oversee displays and presentations during the event to ensure protection of equipment and to ensure areas are hazard-free.

NB – none of the above requires much technical or professional expertise in itself, mainly organising and overseeing.

Opportunity Number 6:

People to act as general guides and welcomers (no requirement to discuss Faith or Theology – just to welcome people, talk to them, show them around) – current contacts: Fr. John / Theresa Read

Who We Need And What We Need To Do

1 co-ordinator and 15-20 people to:

• organise, on a rota basis, sufficient numbers of welcomers to be around throughout the event
• show visitors around, make them welcome, sign a guestbook/comments book
• talk about the various displays
• be able to show and guide to WCs, refreshments, children’s area, etc.

Opportunity Number 7:

Organisation and management of the children’s (toddlers') play/respite area:

current contact: Jim McLean

Who We Need And What We Need To Do

1 co-ordinator and 15-20 people to:

• develop an area where there are facilities for toddlers / baby changing.
• arrange basic activities as creative or as basic as you want, but indoor activities
• oversee, on a rota basis, and prevent hazards.

NB – we are NOT asking you to operate a “crèche” in any form.

Opportunity Number 8:

Volunteers willing to discuss / reflect on our faith – current contact: Fr. John

Who We Need And What We Need To Do

1 co-ordinator and 10-20 people to:

• organise and run sessional groups for Gospel reflection at various points throughout the two days
• organise and run/participate in sessional prayer and meditation activity throughout various points in the two days
• organise and manage - on a rota basis - sufficient numbers of volunteers who are willing to be available throughout the two days discuss their faith with visitors, or talk about why the Church is important to them

NB – Again, this does NOT require you to be an expert in theology or the Catholic Faith.

Opportunity Number 9:

Sacred Heart School link – current contact: Fr. John

Who We Need And What We Need To Do

1 co-ordinator and 4-6 people to:

• look into the possibility of pupils from Sacred Heart being able to contribute to the event
• liaise with the school to look at practicalities
• give time to work with the pupils to prepare a presentation – drama, artwork or music, or variety
• arrange and manage a morning and afternoon presentation by the children.

Church Community Rooms

Homily

Lent 3 C
The meeting with God is a call to freedom, a call to go on a journey and a call to repent—to be changed and to bear fruit.

Exodus 3:1-8.13-15, 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 and Luke13: 1-9

Conflict: Who said ‘Meeting that person changed my life’? These words could have part of a TV add to attract people into the teaching profession. They could have been spoken by a criminal made to confront his victim under a restorative justice scheme.  Most of us have had a meeting, an encounter, with at least one other person which altered the course of everything else that happened. And it didn’t only impact on me but on so many others in my life. But the more I got to know that person the more I realised how little I really knew him or her. It is easy to sum up someone you don’t really know. But when you really encounter a self, another ‘I’, then you encounter a mystery that can never be fully fathomed. Even people who have known and loved each other for most of a lifetime often find each other more mysterious. 
Complication: In the story of the burning bush Moses encountered God in the desert and that meeting changed the direction of his life utterly, making him into a leader who would bring his people on a journey that would liberate them from oppression and lead them into freedom: I have seen the miserable state of my people in Egypt. I have heard their appeal to be free of their slave-drivers... I mean to deliver them … and bring them … to a land where milk and honey flow.
The voice from the burning bush is a symbol of mystery: and when Moses is asked the name behind the voice that calls the people to freedom, he is told to say: ‘I AM’ has sent me to you.
And this story has been an inspiration for countless liberation movements down the centuries: Go down Moses way down in Egypt land. Tell ole Pharaoh to let my people go.
When Israel was in Egypt land--Let my people go!--Oppressed so hard they could not stand--Let my people go!
The meeting with God is a call to freedom, a call to go on a journey—and journeys change people. Paul refers to the story of Moses journey to freedom through the desert and finds in it parallels with the Christian life: I want to remind you… how our fathers were all guided by a cloud above them and how they all passed through the sea. They were all baptised into Moses in this cloud and in this sea; all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, since they all drank from the spiritual rock that followed them as they went, and that rock was Christ.
Sudden Shift: But the call to freedom is a call to go on a journey, a call to repent—to be changed; all this happened to them as a warning, and it was written down to be a lesson for us who are living at the end of the age. The person who thinks he is safe must be careful that he does not fall.
Gospel: In today’s gospel Jesus reminds us that none of us is safe. Accidents happen, and when they do they don’t always happen to particularly wicked people: 'Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem?
When we hear of plane crashes and suicide bombings they serve to remind us that our life is frail. But the most important issue is not whether we are safe from accident or murder. The sad truth is that we are not—none of us are here for ever. The most important question is whether we are right with God. Jesus tells his listeners; ‘unless you repent you will all perish as they did.’
The good news is that we have time to get it right. The owner of the vineyard says, “Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?" "Sir," the man replied "leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down." 
Application: The parable of the fig tree is about God’s judgement on our failure to bear fruit in our lives. And God’s judgement is not just on us as individuals but also as communities; as a church as a nation.  Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none.
The sacrament of reconciliation is a meeting with God that is a call to freedom, a call to go on a journey, a call to repent—to be changed and to bear fruit--not just to ask whether we have behaved badly but to ask what fruit there is in our lives. Once we have asked that question of ourselves as individuals we can go on to ask how we can engage with renewing the church so that it can be ‘fit for purpose’ to bear fruit by bringing those outside  to Christ and to working for peace and justice in our world.

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