Scripture Reflections Seeking Understanding

 This Sunday we are presented with Matthew's account of the Beatitudes. Tradition tells us that Jesus taught the disciples and the crowds from the top of a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee. An image that remembers Moses offering the guide for living a good life that would be expanded into the covenant with God's people. When Matthew tells us that Jesus went up the hill, he is positioning the New Covenant in this context. And just like the commandments that Moses delivered these Beatitudes tell us in no uncertain terms that, if what we desire is to be at rights with God, we must be people that actively seek to set the world to rights too.  I'm really not sure if the Beatitudes were given in the form we have them today. At the very least we know that Luke's account differs from Matthew's - abandoning the imagery of Moses and tempering the language of suffering borrowed from the Old Testament. But as we read Matthew's version this Sunday it is the differences th...

The preparations for World Youth Day '08 in Sydney now seem like a lifetime ago, though there are moments about it that I recall very clearly. One of them was the journey of the Cross and Icon that travels the world, inviting young people to become pilgrims gathered for this celebration of faith, life and communion.  The lead up was filled with meetings planning the logistics; risk assessments covering everything from where the truck carrying the cross would park to how many local police and witches hats would be needed to divert traffic, and negotiations over which of the local parish priests would lead the angelus, and where the bishop would vest for the adoration of the cross and blessed sacrament. Details that typified the old adage about the urgent crowding out the important.  As a result, when the cross arrived it didn't feel like a very prayerful experience for me. That is, until the moment a primary class stepped up to present the Gospel in front of more than a thousan...