Fr Hughes posed us many questions during his talk, among them these: “What on earth is our life about?” and “For whom does the church exist?”

Fr Hughes asked us to look at our reactions to other religions and other faiths, in the light of the Gospels. Why do we have a certain attitude to those with differing beliefs and to those of no faith at all? The Church has to be an effective sign of the reality of God and as God is One, so unity should be at the essence of our relationships. God is a unifying force not a dividing one therefore the Church must be all inclusive

For whom does the church exist? It exists for the sake of the world, all of the world. In the Parable of the wedding feast many of the guests don’t turn up, so the King says “bring all of them in” he invites the lame, the blind and the wicked, he excluded no-one. The Spirit of God is at work in people of other religions, other faiths and in those of no religion at all. We have to think about this. God is in all things, no one and nothing is excluded.

In ecumenism it is a good idea to always focus on what we have in common rather than on our differences. Whatever our beliefs we are all interconnected in ways that we are only gradually now beginning to understand. Everything in existence is inter connected, we are so interconnected that in some way what we do to each other, we are also, in some way, doing to ourselves. So do to one another what you would have them do to you. God is nearer to us than we are to ourselves, we must not banish God from our material life here, this is where we will meet God. Look back at the last 24 hours, take time to think about the day, look at the things that have happened and reflect.

God is the giver of all gifts and every good thing that you experience is in fact a token given to you by God. A token of God wanting to give his very self to you in the ordinary things that you enjoy. Take time to enjoy them, thank God for them. We are created to appreciate and value Gods creation.

The only way we can find God is in and through the things we experience. A Jewish writer once put it this way “at the final judgement God is going to have one question and one question only, ‘did you enjoy my creation?” what if our answer is “certainly not, I was far too busy on ecumenism, or being a loyal Catholic or a loyal Anglican”.

Creation is a sacrament of God and is an effective sign of Gods presence. God is not just in the things I enjoy. He is in all my experiences. We could pray to ask God to see him even in unpleasant things. We do not need to judge ourselves but we can look at the things in the day and ask God to enlighten us.

What is Gods will for us?
Gods will is that we should discover what we really want in the depths of our hearts. In our religious upbringing how often was desire mentioned in a negative light yet desire is the most important spring of life in us, we are not used to that, but it is. So the question is what is it that I most desire?
If we look back on the events of the day, thanking God at the end of the day, looking at our moods and feelings, if we do this often, it starts to change our perception, the way we see things, and it makes life a lot more enjoyable. If we thank God and ask for enlightenment it helps us to become more aware and understand why we are acting the way we are. Are we acting for our kingdom or for God’s?

As a general principle, God “draws” or attracts, a destructive spirit “drives” or “compels” you, or forces you. When God is at work there is a freedom and he always brings at some level of our being, strength, peace and tranquillity. We should always ask “What would Jesus have done?” and do likewise.

Fr Gerard Hughes’ latest book “God in All Things” covers the whole area of ecumenism and our approach to other faith systems.