Scripture Reflections Seeking Understanding

This Sunday the church celebrates the commemoration of All Souls. For one day we set aside the green vestments and altar frontals and replace them with purple.  If we look at the other two times in the liturgical year that purple is used, it will help us to understand what this commemoration is all about.  The first is Lent, which has a penitential character. Lent is a time of self-examination, of seeking to realign our lives with the Gospel. The other is Advent, a time of joyful expectation and hope.  And these two reflect the approach that we take towards All Souls Day.  The Church teaches that all those who are in a state of grace and friendship with God at the end of their lives are assured of salvation. It also explains that before we reach the fullness of joy in heaven, we need to be cleansed of the imperfections of our sins.  The more vivid term that the Church sometimes uses is that we are purged of our sins - hence the name purgatory.  And so, on t...

Only a couple of weeks ago that the acclaimed British actress Patricia Routledge passed away. Though she was an accomplished stage and screen performer, an award-winning opera singer, and a Dame Commander of the British Empire, she is perhaps best remembered for her portrayal of Hyacinth Bucket ( which she insisted was pronounced Bouquet ), a working-class girl married to a middle-class husband, desperate to gain social standing and be accepted into the ' better class '.  The life of Hyacinth Bucket-Bouquet was a told in a series of farcical tales that continually brought her back down to earth, despite her best efforts at Keeping Up Appearances .  It is this character that comes to mind when I read this Sunday's Gospel about the two men that came to pray in the temple - the Pharisee who makes a show of giving thanks to God for making him such a paragon of virtue, and the humble tax collector who asks God's mercy for his sins.  Jesus uses this parable to challenge the p...

 This Sunday's Gospel begins with an unusual statement from the author of Luke's Gospel telling us exactly what the forthcoming parable is about.  "Jesus told his disciples a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart."  But I'm struggling with this.  The first reading is a bloodthirsty account of the battle between the people of God and the army of Amalek. As it is told, the success of God's people depends completely on Moses remaining in a posture of prayer, arms raised to God. When he lowers his arms, the battle turns against them. But when Moses' companions eventually come to hold his arms up for him, they prevail - their enemies are cut down before them.  Can this really be what God wants? An ageing patriarch keeping his hands in the air for things to go their way?  Then in the Gospel we hear the story of the widow that comes again and again to the merciless judge, also seeking to overcome an enemy. In the end the judge is not mov...

 In this Sunday's readings we are presented with two stories of healing. In the first we hear of Naaman, the leader of the armies of Syria, who came to Israel seeking to be cured of leprosy. Following the instructions of the prophet Elisha he is cured and declares that the god of Israel is the one true God.  The psalm that follows rejoices in the power of the Lord to bring justice and salvation for the world. And in doing so it forms a bridge between the first reading and Luke's Gospel.  Luke tells us the story of Jesus healing not one, but ten lepers. The majority of whom are Jewish, as evidenced by Jesus sending them to the priests of the Temple. Once their healing is confirmed they will be restored to the fulness of life in the faith community. But one of them is not.  As this brief story unfolds the one Samaritan among the ten returns, praising God and giving thanks to  Jesus   for restoring him to health. As a Samaritan he is an outcast among the outca...

This Sunday the Scripture readings begin with a lament from the prophet Habakkuk, one of the shortest books of the Old Testament and not one that we hear often, but one that it's important we do.  In this passage Habakkuk is openly complaining that God seems to be allowing God's people to suffer and not doing anything about it. Why is there injustice, he asks. Why do tyranny, outrage, and violence flourish in the world? And more particularly, why is it happening to me?  First of all, let's consider what Habakkuk is doing here. He is engaging in a frank and open dialogue with God. He is not reciting prayers, but he is praying. He is opening his heart, baring his soul, and setting his troubles before God.  And God answers Habakkuk, but not perhaps in the way that he expects. There is no promise of better times, no assurance that God will rescue the people. Instead, God acknowledges the people's suffering, and promises to walk through it with them.  At times we have a t...