One of my hobbies is baking and
cooking. Parishioners are pleasantly surprised when I tell them this. They are
even more surprised to eat what I make. It is a very satisfying experience to
have someone eat – and enjoy -what you make them. In the course of conversing with
people about it, inevitably the subject turns to comparing recipes. People’s
tastes and preferences differ, e.g. using butter as opposed to margarine or
oil, for example. Still, baking in particular requires the same basic
ingredients or recipe. At first a recipe appears difficult and challenging. But
with practice and witht a few personal touches and adjustments, satisfaction is
the result.
Is there a recipe for salvation?
A usual for those who know me I
like to summariser things by acronyms or abbreviations. So the latest one in
fact, is ‘ RECIPE’.
All of the following 6
ingredients make for the authentically lived Christian life.
R is for Repentance
This is first and foremost. It is
the first word uttered by the Lord Jesus in the Gospel according to Mark. It means
a change of direction, attitude and way of life, a renunciation form sinful
habits and tendencies, a recognition that we have gone astray and, like the
Prodigal Son, ‘come to our senses’ and change. This is hard and slow, especially
with ingrained, resistant compulsive habits, but it is possible, and above all,
necessary for our salvation.
In his letter to the Ephesians in this Sunday’s
reading, for example, there are 5 types of behaviour that are completely
incompatible with the Christian life. They have to do with the area of anger – ‘no
more bitterness; shouting (raised voices); no more name-calling or insults; bad
temper, or anger – every kind of malice must be removed from you.’ (Eph 5:31). Instead
our lives must be marked by generosity, sympathy, and ready forgiveness. (5:32)
E is for Eucharist
To receive the Eucharist worthily
we must ‘leave our sacrifice at the altar, and go and be reconciled with [our]
brother first. That is why reconciliation must precede the second ingredient. Then
we can offer a sacrifice pleasing to God. That is why we have the sign of peace
at Mass before receiving the Lord in Holy Communion.’
The Eucharist is ‘the source and
summit of the Christian life’, the Church tells us.
It has been the theme of these
Sundays at Mass in John chapter 6. We read this Sunday: ‘I am the living bread
that has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.’ (John
6:51)
C is for Charity
As the Eucharistic Congress in
Dublin reminded us – ‘communion with Christ, communion with one another.’ The
Eucharist is the sacrament of unity. It pre-supposes unity of mind and heart. We
must build up unity. It is the sacrament of Christ’s love. A priest I knew once
said that he dismissed the congregation
at the Mass with the words ‘go in peace to love and serve the Lord and to love
and serve each other.’ The Mass must be
lived out in the same sacrificial and self-abnegating love of Christ for us on
the cross. We are called to be charitable in thought, word and deed, beginning
at home and the workplace, and then, extending to others in the community,
through charitable donations as well as participation in works of service.
I is for Intercession –
This is also an apt reminder that
we belong – inextricably - to others, and they to us, in the Body of Christ, in
the communion we call the Church. In prayer we are linked by a bond of love and
this acts as a consolation as well as a strength – a mutual bond that
strengthens our resolve and confidence that we pray for and are prayed (and
therefore cared) for. Intercession pushes me beyond my own cares and worries to
a selfless commitment to persevere even when - maybe especially when - prayer
becomes dry and difficult. There are others less well off materially and spiritually
- lacking these resources and strength in times of trial and temptation. My prayers
can help them.
P is for Penance
This is to be done in moderation
and yet it is God’s will. Think of the children of Fatima asked by Our Lady – ‘are
you willing to offer up all the sacrifices God may send you’? When they replied
in the affirmative, Our Lady instructed them: ‘You will have much to suffer but
the grace of God will be your comfort.’ St Paul reminds us not to give up when
trials come. Penance begins with the proper lived out commitment and not shirking
from the sacrifices my daily duty requires. Frank Duff, in ‘Can we be saints’
went so far as to say that these daily tasks must be met even when religious
devotions beckon. He said it in these or similar words: ‘Stay at home and do the
dishes rather than be running off to Benediction.’ Penance comes in many forms
in outing up with others, forgiving them, being silent when we would rather
have the last word, and so on. It can even be the weather and the traffic going
against us. ‘Make everything you can a sacrifice’, the angel at Fatima advised
the children regarding its efficacy.
E is for Evangelisation
This begins with the example we
set in speech and behaviour. We must never underestimate the power of good example.
People are always watching us believers for the level of consistency in what we
profess in belief and how we act out that belief – in conversation – i.e. our
verbal treatment of others as well as our physical treatment of them.
Then we are called to evangelise –
and I recommend the Legion of Mary as the chief ready means by which we can
enter into the Lord’s mission to ‘spread the Good news of salvation to every creature’.
We received a call to mission at
baptism. The Church is by its very nature, missionary (Vatican II). That means that
every member must have a universal global understanding of the Church’s
mission, and continue to ‘think globally, act locally’,
This is my proposed recipe!
While there are basic ingredients
for bread – and without any one of them the bread made for example, is not
satisfying tasty or nutritious, there is more to a successful outcome. There
are certain external factors the like shape and depth of container, the type of
oven you prefer and the length of time for baking etc. but without the proper
ingredients there will be no chance of a successful outcome.
Each of us, likewise, has the recipe but each
of us is a different vessel within which to live out the Christian recipe. The fire
of the Holy Spirit comes down upon us and gives us life and causes our
spiritual lives to grow. ‘The Holy Spirit comes to us in our weakness when we
do not know how to pray as we ought’. And the fire that is the love of Christ,
urges us on.
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