Her finner du et antall prekener. Guds ord er ‘levende og virksomt’ står det i Hebreerbrevet. Det vil ikke si at det lever et skjult organisk liv vi kan følge med mikroskop, som om det var et virus; men at det er inspirert, en bærer av Guds tidløse Ånd. Derfor ljomer det ennå med samme kraft det hadde da det først ble uttalt. Det har stadig noe nytt å si oss. Forkynnerens oppgave er å være lydhør for Ordet som på samme tid er urgammelt og nytt, for så å la sine egne, nødvendigvis begrensede ord bli dets redskaper. Jeg har ikke hatt mulighet til å oversette tekster som ble til på andre språk; men hvis du romsterer litt, finner du en god del materiale på norsk.
The first recorded instance of public preaching in the Catholic Church was thought by onlookers to be a display of drunkenness. It is a point worth thinking about.
Les videre We learn that from the outset of our faith, the Church has had to deal with infidelity; it has done so realistically, in faith, facing facts, sure that the Lord will provide. In our times, we have been reminded more than once that election to high ecclesiastical office is not in itself a guarantee of truthful living.
Les videre Few spiritual tendencies are deadlier, more barren, more boring than the desire just to do better than someone else, be it the monastery across the valley or the brother or sister next to me in choir. Any reform movement, be it the micro-enterprise of reforming my own life, must exercise caution in this respect.
Les videre The gloriousness of Christian existence was central to the thought of our father St Bernard, who spoke of it often, stressing all the while that it does not make for an easy life. For this glory, he once wrote, ‘is a secret glory, it lies hidden in tribulation’.
Les videre Inch by inch, discourse that supposes the existence, the mere possibility, of truth is pushed out of the public arena: ‘What is truth?’ Give us instead Barabbas, a fine fellow made of the same stuff as ourselves!
Les videre We live in times that are quick to anger, poor in steadfast love, that love to point the finger and accuse, whose mindset is litigious. God knows there is enough malfunction in the Church, in society; but what if, instead of declaring others’ guilt, we assumed a portion of its weight?
Les videre Let us note this: the liturgy does not explain the massacre of Bethlehem: How could it? Quite simply, the Church ascertains that, yes, this awful thing did happen.
Les videre Can the Gospel be trusted? Or is the Good News fake news?
Les videre The cry for pity will resound until the end of the world, when Christ returns with glory to judge the living and the dead, to ‘save those who are eagerly waiting for him’. Our great task as Christians is to position ourselves within this dynamic of expiation, intercession, and impending judgement.
Les videre One day, we, too, you and I, shall behold for the first time our life’s hidden guide. But do we attend to him now?
Les videre The prayer to St Michael the Archangel goes back to an instruction of 1886 by which Leo XIII exhorted all the bishops and religious superiors of the Church to ensure its daily recitation. The pope, we are reliably informed, had shortly before, while at prayer, gained an experiential sense of the abiding struggle of evil against good; he wished the Church to call as one upon the angelic hosts to assist it in keeping darkness at bay and to fight with it for light and truth.
Les videre Most of us, if we look closely, are likely to recognise something of ourselves some of the items on the Lord’s list: ‘fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly’.
Les videre I often think of Augustine on his deathbed in 430, when Hippo was surrounded by vandals and he had his room covered with hangings that bore inscriptions of the Penitential Psalms: he wished to keep these ever before his eyes. He was conscious of living at the end of an age, awaiting the beginning of another, yet he remained, as far as we can see, largely free of fear and full of hope.
Les videre Given the crises the Church has to negotiate right now, the Gospel's woe to hypocrites is not a vain statement. Hypocrites are people resigned to a discontinuity between what they say and what they do.
Les videre Som gutt sadlet adelsmannen Olav bukken for sin stefar Sigurd Syr; han var seg sin stand bevisst. Hans misjonsstrategi bar nok også preg av at han syntes en tro som var god nok for ham, jamen burde være det for hans undersåtter også.
Les videre When the Lord called the sons of Zebedee to follow him, they had no idea where he would lead them; they hardly knew who he was. They simply sensed that he knew where they needed to go, and that was enough.
Les videre We may worry today about the chaotic state of the Church and of the world. Still, compared to the turmoil of the 14th century, it doesn’t seem like much.
Les videre The religious and philosophical breakthrough of Judaism, whose grateful heirs we are, was to extend human thought sufficiently to conceive of a single God, a single absolute power, the source at once of life and truth. We must never forget what a revolutionary move this was, what intellectual and moral courage was required of the patriarchs.
Les videre By this great sacrament, Marie-Françoise will be made light and free, full of noble potential, equipped, through the power of Christ’s Paschal victory, to unmask every deception of evil, and to live beautifully. She will be made ‘a temple of God’s glory’.
Les videre Wer versucht hat, dem Herrn unbedingte Zuversicht zu zeigen, weiss welcher Kampf erfordert wird - wie Gott in Christus Mensch ward, muss der Geist in uns Fleisch werden. Das Gottvertrauen ist letztendlich eine Inkarnation: es geht um ‘Tat und Wahrheit’.
Les videre Try asking an Irishman who, on 17 March, appears with a shamrock why has has adorned himself with cattle food; try asking a veteran with a poppy in his buttonhole why he picked a weed from a railway line instead of getting himself a decent red carnation. Certain ordinary things take on extraordinary sense in given situations, at set times; we must be able to grasp that sense.
Les videre Your personal exodus journey has acquired a nobility and beauty all its own. Like the Israelites in the desert, you have learnt something precious about who God is, and about who you are yourself.
Les videre The Cistercian Fathers, so attentive and humane in their reading of God’s action in our lives, never tired of invoking a verse from the Song of Songs that, to them, summed up their experience of grace: ‘Ordinavit in me caritatem’; ‘He has set love in order in me’. If we let the holy angels roll away the heavy stone that blocks the way into our hearts, God enters to heal and recompose our disordered affections.
Les videre Reconciliation is never unilateral. It has to be two-sided, to be realised in dialogue.
Les videre Do we wish to be healed and made whole? Our answer must be Yes, yes or No, no: there’s no middle ground.
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