Fr John’s Reflection for Sunday 27 July 2025

Unconditional Love

We live in a world where we are accustomed to making contracts with one another for specific goods and services. They have three essential elements: an agreement on what is to be exchanged, the time when it will be exchanged, and the method in which it will be exchanged. The difficulty with this way of living is that we can focus more on the exchange rather than the person we are called to be in relationship with. The utility of the transaction can overflow into the way we relate to each other.

When Jesus teaches his disciples the Our Father, he emphasises the personal nature of holiness, which draws us towards prioritising relationship —that is, to desire God’s realm to be at the heart of our lives. This notices how we are called to be people who are nourished, forgiven and healed daily in our relationships with each other. Often, it seems that there are things that pull us away from being present to the needs of others and focus solely on our own wants.

This is where, in seeking good things, there is a persistence to ask, to seek and to desire the goods of God. At the heart of our prayer is the seeking not just a particular good or outcome but a relationship that can discern what is good. This moves us toward the heart of God, which seeks to be in an unconditional relationship with us, shaping how we reach out to God and to each other.

Fr. John Armstrong

DE COLORES!

“The intellectual quest is exquisite, like pearls and coral. But it is not the same as the spiritual quest. The spiritual quest is on another level altogether. Spiritual wine has a subtler taste. The intellect and the senses investigate cause and effect. The spiritual seeker surrenders to wonder.” (Rumi Wisdom; trans. Timothy Freke)