another new month

Aug 1, 2010

Today is the first day of August. A new month. A new beginning. I blogged about the gift of the new month as a new beginning on the first day of July.

Today is not only a new month but also Sunday, the beginning of a new week with God. We celebrate this new start every week as we gather to celebrate “the Lord’s day” with the Mass.

If we are to live the biblical ‘three score and ten years’ (ie score = 20), then our earthly life is made up of 840 months. I did some more maths and realised that I have used up 588 of my allocated months.

You are probably now trying to work out how much of your allocation you have used! Some of you will be in overtime! That is pure gift from God.

Wherever we are, we know that there is no reason to fear. Perhaps a little anxiety is natural, but we can allow this to pass quickly as we remember that much more than we embrace and welcome our struggling children and grandchildren, nephews and nieces, how much more will God embrace and welcome us.

We all have regrets about aspects of our past. We all carry some shame and guilt about our sin. However this is not a problem for God and therefore not need be a problem for us. That is why we have the sacraments – in these encounters God comes ‘down’ to us, and lifts us up.

One of the first things we teach students of theology is the “now” and the “not yet” dimensions of the kingdom of God. Yes, we are invited to be a part of the fullness of happiness and health with GOd for eternity, but the knowledge of this gift also affects the way that I live today.

In the knowledge of the future life of God offered to us as gift for our accepting, the struggles and anxieties of today fall into perspective.

This is the gift of the new beginning of the new month. This is the gift of every new week begun with God at Mass.







0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Posts

Ascension

Ascension

Most people think of the Ascension of Jesus as being a ‘departure’ moment. Jesus was here and now he is gone. We imagine Jesus going up into the clouds and the disciples waving farewell from below.
This is an unhelpful image.
It is essential that we understand what does happen and what does not happen in the Ascension event.
It would be easy to wrongly think that in his ministry showed us how to build the city of God on earth, and now he has gone and the mission is left to us.

touching the sacred

touching the sacred

A few years ago I was on Rēkohu Chatham Islands for what has become one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most sacred days, the ANZAC day of remembrance in gratitude for those who gave their lives, their health, their youth, their service that we may live in peace.
The art above was produced by one of the students at the local Te One school.

every which way

every which way

A good number of Food For Faith readers have discovered one of the more recent FFF initiatives, the weekly Homily Studio.
The recording of this half-hour podcast is one of the highlights of my week.

in the room

in the room

Today’s reflection marks the end of the FFF Lent-to-Easter daily email posts. Thank you for your company on this journey.  While these daily posts (for those who have signed up for the Lent / Advent reflections at this link) will take a break until Advent, those who have signed up to receive every post or regular posts at this link.  You might take a moment now to visit this page now to check your email preferences.

During retreat this week I found myself pondering just how difficult it is to accept that God, in Jesus, is really with me today.

disciplined discipleship

disciplined discipleship

As I write I’m nearing the end of retreat days with a group of fifty priests from across the USA.  As I mentioned a couple of days ago the diversity and youth of the group is remarkable with the majority being aged under 40 and a good number ordained for fewer than five years.