This Sunday our Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The Gospel is John 3: 13 – 17.
The television programme “The Repair Shop” screens on TVNZ1 on a Friday evening.
During the programme some of Britain’s most skilled restoration experts breathe new life into much-cherished family heirlooms that are dropped off by members of the public, who reveal the personal stories behind the items.
Items can include silverware, ceramics, leather goods and wood items.
Amanda Middleditch and Julie Tatchell are known on the programme as “the Teddy Bear ladies” and are renown as teddy bear and soft toy restorers.
A couple of weeks ago, the “Teddy Bear ladies” met with quite an elderly woman who had brought with her a quite damaged doll. The exact details elude me; however, the gist of her story was that she had been given the doll at a young age by her father.
The doll was now missing a finger and a couple of toes; the doll’s eyes no longer blinked, and a portion of the stuffing had been knocked out of the doll.
It was the comment that the elderly lady made about the doll as she handed her doll over for repair that brought me to attention. She commented, of the doll, “it has been damaged by love!”
Wow!
What a wonderful description of the mystery of Redemption which we celebrate with the feast known as “The Exaltation of the Cross”.
Today, I suggest, if you are able, to spend five minutes sitting, kneeling or in a physical posture comfortable for you, in front of a Crucifix and in rhythm with your inhaling and exhaling breath recite quietly, “damaged by love.”
The image is by the Ukrainian realist painter, Nikolai Ge. Titled ‘Le Calvaire’ it is part of the collection of art works at the Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
My secondary schooling took place at St Patrick’s College, Wellington.
The college sat on the corner of Cambridge Terrace and Buckle St.
Just across from the cricket ground known as the Basin Reserve.
At the end of the college, there sat what was known as the “Buckle St Soup Kitchen”.
Managed by the Sisters of Compassion, this soup kitchen provided food for the less fortunate people of Wellington city.
And, as a Young Vinnie, one of my tasks was to assist the Sisters and staff at meal time.
It was awful; dishevelled, unkempt, smelly men would turn up. Many reeking of cheap alcohol, some with a bottle of meths hanging from their coat pocket.
They would gobble down their food and leave hurriedly to find the best spot across the road at the Basin Reserve to doss down for the night.
I said, a paragraph ago, ‘it was awful’. It was awful because I had not experienced a Church like this.
Church was always neat and tidy. Outside, the lawns were neatly mown, the edges trimmed. Inside, the pews always were aligned correctly, books stacked neatly, flowers rested in bright brass flower stands. There was a lingering smell of incense and candlewax.
As a family we dressed in our ‘Sunday best!’ Persons were well behaved and spoke with consideration for one another.
The words of Jesus from today’s Gospel (Lk. 17:13 – 14) hit somewhere around the solar plexus
“When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
The key word here, for myself anyway, is the word “invite”. My dictionary tells me that the word ‘invite’ means to ask somebody formally to go somewhere or do something.
The initiative lies with the host.
Consider for a moment how many of our Church buildings ‘invite’ the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind?
Our Church architecture presumes you are fit and able. Many of our Churches have steps into the building and steps to and around the sanctuary.
How many of our Churches provide sign language as a regular option?
To receive Holy Communion, most churches require the recipient to walk to the front!
When designing or remodelling a church building ask the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind, and the deaf!
Consider how many of our faith communities ‘invite’ the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind?
Are you finding it awkward, perhaps even difficult to read the Bible these days? Especially texts taken from the Old Testament as our First Readings.
Vivid images and accompanying stories from area called Gaza make for difficult reconciliation for me.
I need to admit that I am becoming increasingly despondent when I am invited to read and reflect on these texts.
Kieran O’Mahony OSA, is an Augustinian friar and biblical scholar, living in St John’s Priory, Dublin
Kieran offers us this reflection centred around our First Reading from the prophet Isaiah (66: 18 -21)
“It is hard not to overstate what is happening in Gaza: the destruction of the territory, the starvation and attempted genocide of the people. All this is done in the name of biblically inspired “nationalism”.
As such, it has made many people very, very uncomfortable with overt nationalist passages in the readings from the Bible. This causes the Bible to be frowned upon by those who fight for freedom, equality, and fraternity.
To people perhaps not so familiar with the Bible, today’s first reading from Isaiah must come as something of a surprise. It offers a vision of all nations coming to worship the one, true God.
The reading comes from the last part of Isaiah, usually called Third Isaiah, written after the return from the great Exile in Babylon. In spite of that setting, the reading breathes a broader, more universal air.
This slightly exotic text is a reminder that in the Bible there are not one but two narratives of salvation.
The first one, perhaps more familiar, is unapologetically nationalist, often harshly expressed. It is the story of the ancient Israelites, later the Jewish people. The second one, perhaps less apparent, offers a different story, the story of all the nations and their inclusion in God’s plan of salvation.”
Reading and reflecting on today’s text from Isaiah I was reminded of my visit to the United Nations building in New York City.
The building itself is substantial, rising some 39 floors into the Manhattan skyline; however, the image fixed in my memory is that of flags.
The United Nations Headquarters displays the flags of its member and observer states. These flags are arranged in English alphabetical order, representing the 193 member states and the two observer states (Holy See and the State of Palestine).
The flags are raised in the morning and lowered in the afternoon on weekdays.
Fluttering in the afternoon breeze they shouted out, “Look at us! We dance together!”
No one flag dominates; they are raised to the same height; the same breeze energizes each flag simultaneously.
Together they flutter as a unified palette of colour.
Then I read with hope the words of the prophet Isaiah, “Knowing their works and thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages; they will come and see my glory.” (Is 66:1
