Reflections from Fr Kieran

This month, Kieran leads us through a reflection on the idea of tribes and tribalism. We are mostly familiar, in one way or another, with our own idea of tribes and tribalism. Maybe it is American Indian tribes so familiar to us from the great western movies of times past (they don’t seem to make them any more!), perhaps we think of present day tribal groups in, say, the South American jungles or in the countries of Africa.

For sure, these are tribes, and, in a way, Kieran draws some of his ideas from these examples of tribes and tribalism. But he takes us a little further on this journey, away from these stereotypical images and look at the ideas through the lens of the life that we each live, our lives in our families, the places we live, our country. Having set the scene, he then invites us to consider how these tribal instincts (our DNA?) affect how we live, what we think, and what we do.

At the end, Kieran brings us back to the Gospel, to the person of Jesus and His message to us, who encourages us – challenges us – to step outside the direction of our human flawed genes and truly live in accord with his greatest command, to love one another.

For our reflection this month, Fr Kieran draws inspiration from the writings of St Paul, especially in his letter to the Ephesians, and using St Paul as his example, Kieran takes us into the land of metaphors.

Our normal discourse might be seen as somewhat bland if we did not resort to metaphors from time to time. And it isn’t just in our everyday speech. Can anyone say that she or he is unfamiliar with Elvis Presley’s hit: “You Ain’t Nothing but a Hound Dog.” And it might be argued that literature too, would be too plain with recourse to metaphors. Even the title and first line of Emily Dickinson’s poem is metaphor: ““Hope” is the thing with feathers.”

And so, Kieran explores this idea and reaches into the Gospel stories, illustrating his reflection with metaphors and their first cousins, mixed metaphors, to give us an insight into how St Paul uses them to draw us ever closer to Christ.

In this month’s reflection, Fr Kieran considers what it means when we speak of acting in accordance with our consciences. As Kieran writes, we are quick to recognise the principle that we cannot be the judge in our own case!

He then guides us to what St Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians. St Paul speaks of the importance of conscience and then goes on to point out that: “True, my conscience does not reproach me at all, but that does not prove that I am acquitted.” Why does he say this? In the following words, he writes: “The Lord alone is my judge.”

We can all to easily point to acting in accordance with our conscience, as if it is infallible. But is that true? Can our conscience be in error?

And so to our role and responsibility as Christians, doing our best to follow and live the Gospel. Kieran writes of the need, not just to act in accordance with our conscience but to recognise the importance for an informed conscience. Our presence at Mass, listening actively to the Word of God, is one part of informing our consciences and thus, making decisions that reflect the Gospel values that are core to our baptismal promises.

In his reflection, Fr Kieran asks us to consider the twin ideas of discovery and revelation. In both cases, we learn something new, something that was previously unknown to us and if we didn’t think too much about it, we might not pay much attention to the difference. But as Kieran points out, there are fundamental differences.

As with so much of our language, we can find the roots of the words we use every day in Latin (or Greek). In the case of “reveal” and, “discover” a quick look at their Latin roots tells its own story. “Discover” comes from the Latin “dis,” a negative, and “cooperio,” to hide; that is, it means an unhiding of something. On the other hand, “reveal” is from “re,” meaning back, and “velum,” meaning a veil; that is, something is seen when the veil is withdrawn. In both cases, something that was unseen is now seen but there is a difference, isn’t there? Discovery implies some conscious action whereas revelation suggests that what is unhidden is separate to any act of the one looking.

Kieran reflects on this difference, illustrating his point as always through Scripture and brings us inexorably to the conclusion that as Christians, it is revelation that will change our lives!

Very many of us are familiar with the name Helen Keller. Helen was permanently deaf and blind as a result of an illness she contracted at just 19 months old.

In something she wrote, she said: “Blindness separates us from things, but deafness separates us from people.”

Fr Kieran’s reflection this week bring those words to mind. Kieran takes as the theme of his reflection the story of the apostle Thomas, or as the world often knows him, “Doubting Thomas” as told in St John’s Gospel (Jn 20:24-29). In the Gospel story, there is much about “seeing” – whether Thomas’s doubt on hearing that the other apostles have “seen” the Lord or even, the words of Jesus himself after his encounter with Thomas when He says to him: “You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

However, Kieran asks us to turn our minds to another one of our senses, that of hearing. In our lives, we are called to the presence of Jesus via our hearing, “in scripture, in prayer, and in the suffering of creation, to name the primary sources of revelation.” It seems that when speaking of our encounters with the Lord, Helen Keller and Kieran are on the same page!

In his reflection, Fr Kieran encourages us to look deeper at who is my enemy, and who is my friend.

In our day to day lives, we can react badly to those who challenge us, who call out the error of our ways. We can be like King Ahab in the reading from the first book of the Kings that Kieran takes for his theme. Our instinct can be to see those who challenge us as our enemy and all too often, we don’t wish to either see them nor hear them! But are we too quick to see ‘enemy’ when we might be looking at ‘friend?’

When we read or listen to Scripture, all too often we can find ourselves challenged, asked to account for our thoughts and actions. But surely we would never see those words as coming from the ‘enemy’ but instead see beyond the human reaction to go further, to see the error of our ways, and to change; to be transformed.

Some proverbs are universally known, understood, and accepted for a depth of insight that their brevity belies! And surely this phrase, “your health is your wealth” qualifies as being in this category.

In his reflection, Fr Kieran is not thinking so much about health in the ordinarily understood sense of that phrase, i.e., our physical and mental wellbeing. No. He takes this to another critical area of our lives, or more importantly, our lives in God, when he takes us through a reflection on spiritual health.

Most of us tend to care for our physical and mental health but do we think enough (and do enough) for our spiritual health? We spend thousands on physical health, whether in healthy living, staying fit, dieting, etc. Why – because it is important and we want to live long.

But what about our spiritual health? Don’t we want to live with God for all eternity?

Read Kieran’s reflection on this key topic!

In these days of equality of the sexes, one might assume that, as we celebrate the feast of Our Lady as “Mother of the Church” then so too, should we have a feast day of “Father of the Church?”

At least, that is the question that underpins Fr Kieran’s reflection. However, while it is not a question that we have heard asked, Kieran posits the question so as to encourage us to reflect on God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. With the impending feast of Trinity Sunday around the corner, it is probably no coincidence that we should be thinking about it at this time.

As Catholics, we know that the Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one – is one of the mysteries of our faith. As Kieran says, there was a time when the Holy Spirit was the ‘forgotten’ one of the Trinity but that has changed. Is it now the case that in fact, it is God the Father who may be the forgotten one of the Trinity?

While Kieran therefore suggests that a feast for Father of the Church would not be completely out of place, perhaps it is we who can sometimes forget the God the Father that was ever-present in the words of Jesus.

Albert Camus was a French philosopher (and many other things). He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, being the second-youngest recipient in the history of the prize. He wrote, on friendship: “Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow, don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Walk beside me, just be my friend.”

“Friend” and, “friendship” are words that we use freely. Facebook commoditised the word such that, now we can all now have hundreds (maybe even thousands!) of “friends” and not even know most of them!

Albert Camus understood friendship in a very different way to Mark Zuckerberg and implies an equality that is central to what it is to be a friend. Fr Kieran, in his reflection that has been inspired by the Gospel on Good Shepherd Sunday, looks at the vocation of friendship, the call to be a friend. It is more than knowing, it is something intimate in its depth. Indeed, Aristotle said: “What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” And Jesus told his disciples that, “No longer do I call you servants … but I have called you friends.“

In his earlier reflection, Kieran wrote of how there is a difference between what we are called to do and who we are called to be and it is in the latter that we find vocation. How true indeed, therefore, is it that friendship must be called a vocation?