My Sheep Hear my Voice and they follow me

 

 

Anyone who takes their faith and the Christian mission seriously will ultimately face some form of conflict or persecution and find themselves in need of God’s guidance. Whilst I believe He always finds a way it’s a good policy to develop the practice of listening for the voice of God by entering into adoration or some form of meditation or silent prayer so when the crisis comes, which it will, your ears will be trained to hear. 

A few years ago my brother was in the Adoration Chapel at his local church, kneeling before the monstrance, earnestly seeking God’s guidance in his predicament. Just then his phone beeped. It was a message which read “time to break out the blue paint” followed by a photograph of Hamish, a character from the movie Brave Heart with an orange beard, a blue face, and a large sharpened Axe. 

I know this because I sent the text message. I was 12,000 miles away in the Philippines having read the account of what was happening in his life and was pondering the situation myself in prayer when I felt prompted to send the text. It’s one of our favourite movies and I knew he would understand the meaning easily. It was necessary to resist and fight this particular corner. 

I had faced similar treatment from an employer 20 years before, so I could see the trajectory and the gas lighting techniques designed to wear people down into submission and resignation. That he worked for a Catholic charity made it more surprising (and a rather dreadful betrayal; they even employed an outside ‘consultant’ to orchestrate the assassination so as not to have blood on their hands). But I knew the architect of the scheme; a deceitful man seemingly hell bent on ruining 20 years of good work; many enemies of the church have infiltrated Catholic organisations with this in mind in similar fashion. 

The battle would ultimately seem to be lost; as was mine years before. But a sacrifice for what is right and proper, even if it costs you everything, is always worthwhile. There is no better place to stand than with God; as we stand with Him now, later He will stand with us at the victory parade in Heaven.

Gratitude, Thanksgiving (and favour)

 

Some time ago a guest Priest at our parish gave a homily about Thanksgiving and instructed us to make it a habit by thanking God for all He does for us each day and to continue for some months to establish the habit. I embarked on this journey the next day and kept a list at the back of my diary which I would add to each day, week and month. 

I started with the basic necessities of life; the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, shelter, clothes, jobs and income and then added things I identified as blessings as they were given. I noticed two things as time went on. Firstly that they were often of themselves rather ordinary; I remarked to my wife that most of them related to food that I particularly enjoyed ! The second thing I noticed was that I began to feel noticeably happier each day and much more observant of things which displayed the hand of God, behind the scenes, and wondered expectantly what would be next. The experiment of noting things down as they occurred made for a more intimate, personal daily experience of God. In a way it was like re-wiring the brain to focus on what is there rather than what is absent. The latter tends to produce the opposite fruits of a feeling of lack, impatience, abandonment and misery. 

Often it seemed that blessings arose through impeccable timing. Just last week I went to pay the electricity bill which presents little opportunity for a happy ending. Added to this as I arrived the payment centre was full, 30 people and only 2 cashiers. Here in the Philippines there is a pecking order. If you are over 60 you get your own cashier and a Priority number so generally it’s a bit quicker to get served. On this day I was the only over 60 and was served immediately ahead of the other 30 people although I arrived last (Matt 20:16) I was so delighted I could have moon-walked out at the end although I didn’t want to rub it in for the youngsters still in the queue! Favour seems a bit unfair. 

One other thing I did become aware of though was just how much of a back-log I have accrued in thanksgiving. The many years (decades really) where I was receiving far greater numbers of blessings and not even acknowledging them at all as coming from God. Worse I put any success down to my own efforts or merit which does not concur with the reality. So my next project is one of repentance for being ungrateful and to make a new list, a much longer one, for all the gifts I have received in advance of recognising them as such. And this too will increase my joy I know. Better late than never.