26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Today's gospel reminds us of the importance of John the Baptist and therefore of his message of personal conversion. In Matthew's gospel, John the Baptist appears in the wilderness saying: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near" (Mt 3: 2) while Mark has Jesus, coming in from the wilderness, preaching: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news." (Mk 1: 15) Jesus' proclamation gives further urgency: "the time is fulfilled." Many people, regarded as sinners and treated as outcasts, responded to this call and changed their lives. The Pharisees and Sadducees, watching critically, rather than change their conduct, sought ways to question John's legitimacy: "They (the Pharisees) asked him, 'Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah nor the prophet?' " (Jn 1: 20) Yet they were unable to answer Jesus' question as to the origins of John's ministry (Mt 21: 27) Applying this text to ourselves, we are challenged to see what fruit the Gospel has yielded in our lives. Do we sit on the sidelines analyzing the Church and finding fault in others? Or do we respond with humility by recognizing our own faults and asking for forgiveness? After all, Jesus points out: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners." (Mt 9: 12-13) 

A Different Take on the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

 Recently we heard the parable of the Unforgiving Servant at Mass. This parable is clearly about the need to forgive but often I do not think it is taken seriously in its details. Consequently, I have an opinion on how we can look at this parable that potentially makes it land even more powerfully than ever.

We need to notice, first of all, that we are dealing with a king. The king wishes to run his kingdom through using the services of senior slaves. Now and again, the king wants to do an audit to ensure that no one is cheating him. To this end he begins the audit by calling forward the one who owes him the most. In this case it is a man who owes ten thousand talents which is an enormous sum. Obviously, this man was originally owed the money for a reason. One might surmise that this individual is the effectively the reserve banker for the kingdom. It is his job, therefore, to lend out money to the subjects of the king to keep the economy functioning. The banker will charge interest, take his commission, and pass the profit on to the king.

The king is in a ruthless mood and looks to imprison the slave when he is unable to pay him back the money. The banker slave, who has been taken by surprise with the sudden audit, admits that he cannot pay the stupendous sum because the money has all been loaned out. That is why he thinks that with sufficient time he will be able to call in all of the loans and pay the king: "Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything." (Mt 18: 26) The change of heart by the king is amazing. He does not even need to have the money paid back but forgives the debt. This action potentially makes the banker slave stupendously rich since he can still call in the loans and then take all of the money for himself. The ten thousand talents is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

With this in mind, we can see how the banker immediately begins to enforce the loans by throttling, in the presence of other slaves, a debtor slave who owes hundreds of dollars. he does this in public because all the other slaves also owe him. He throttles this slave: "Pour encourager les autres" (to encourage the others). They will be next. Instead of giving the debtor time to pay the banker, who is now stupendously rich, throw him into prison with no mercy. The other slaves, seeing they will be in line for the same treatment, go to the king to tell him of the story.

The king, who from the outset was aware of the greed and ruthlessness of the banker, who happens to the be the loan shark of the kingdom, then has a pretext to act as he wished from the beginning. He recalls the banker, reimposes the debt and sends him to prison. The change here, however, is that this time around: "... his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay the entire debt." (Mt 18: 34) What a horrifying thought that the banker would have to wait for all the loans to come due and be paid back while being tortured to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars!

What is the application? I can see in this a parable about purgatory. If I do not forgive people, while alive, when I have been forgiven so much by the Lord, then I will experience the pains of purgatory until all effects of my own sin have been satisfied: "So my heavenly father will also do to every one of you, of you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart." (Mt 18: 35) That is a hideous thought! All the more to prompt me to forgive in this life while the mercy of God is offered to me.

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Today's gospel is an excellent one for teaching us about missionary discipleship. We all remain disciples under the one Master. No one generation, socio-economic group, ethnicity or other description of social organization has complete ownership of the Church. This includes how long we have been Catholic or lived in a particular parish. We are called to serve in the mission given us by the Lord. The danger is that we settle in our comfort zone and become self-serving. In the parable the workers with the sharpest elbows, who managed to get to the front of the queue to obtain work for the day, seem oblivious to the fact that other workers may have had bills to pay and families to feed. Their focus is on themselves, "Or are you envious because I am generous?" (Mt 20: 15) Elsewhere the Lord the gospel tells us: "So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, so, 'We are worthless slaves, we have done only what we ought to have done'." (Lk 17: 10) The words of St Paul to the Philippians is relevant to us today: "Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind in the faith of the gospel." (Phil 1: 27)

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

  We hear in the First Reading: "Anger and wrath. these are abominations, yet a sinner holds on to them." (Sir 27: 30) St Paul tells us elsewhere: "Be angry but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil." (Eph 4: 26-27) The emotion of anger is not sinful. The choice to hold onto anger, fostering bitterness and hatred, is. Each one of us has a royal prerogative of pardon. Our heavenly King has forgiven us; we are obliged by him to forgive others. We say: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" every time we pray the Our Father. In this we acknowledge that we belong to the Lord and his righteousness not to the ways of the world: "If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live of whether we die, we are the Lord's." (Rm 14: 8) Thus, the measure of our mercy comes from God whose love is unlimited and mercy is super-abundant: "I forgave that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?" (Mt 18: 32-33) 

Listening for God's Voice

 Request from a group for women, “The Well,” in the parish: We would like to read out your testimony on how you learnt to hear and discern God’s voice for yourself and your advice for women starting to seek God’s voice.

Hi everyone

I do not think a personal testimony or narrative would be helpful as everything is 20/20 in hindsight. Much of what happens is chaotic and random but only makes sense when, like the prodigal son I, “come to myself.” (Lk 15: 17) The risk of testimonies is that they often understate the timeline in which individuals wrestle, fail, fail and struggle while highlighting the Transfiguration moment. If you want to hear a personal testimony, I am happy to appear in person and answer questions. For the moment, I will simply give a few pointers that I feel may be useful to learning how to hear the voice of God in your life:

The first step, as I see it, is as St Augustine would term it “holy desire.” I need to desire God and want to be holy. This means reorienting my desire away from lesser goods and shallow desires. The ultimate good is God. The source of desire is the heart. So, my heart needs a posture that searches for God: “Ask and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened.” (Mt 7: 7-8)

Having done this the mind and heart need to be cleared of distractions and interference so as to prepare the heart for God. Acknowledging sin, hurts and areas of unforgiveness is important. By bringing these to light we are not controlled by them. When I realize that my actions can be triggered by emotional wounds or subconscious flight or fight reactions, I can expose them to the light of God’s truth since: “… but sin is not reckoned when there is no law.” (Rm 5: 13) My sinful condition means that: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.” (Rm 7: 19-20) Having arrived at the point where I realize my helplessness in the presence of my own sin, I am open to receiving God’s mercy for what it really is: “Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rm 7: 24-25)

Coming to God’s mercy through the sacrament of penance is only the start. If the house is clean but left empty the demons will return worse than ever: “Then it (the unclean spirit) goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of the person is worse than the first.” (Lk 11: 25-26) The house needs to be filled with prayer. The structures of prayer, especially as the start of the day and the end help us to be mindful of what we intend to do and what has actually happened. This process is could the “conscience examen” in the Ignatian tradition.

As I pray and monitor the movements of my heart throughout the day and week, I can learn more about myself. As I clear the static in my mind from useless distractions and petty addictions, I begin to see things differently. In the movements of my heart, I want to please the Lord and to follow him. In this way desire leads to action. As I listen to my heart I am attentive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. The questions is – how do I know that the prompting is from God and not my sinful and self-indulgent desires?: “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.” (Jas 4: 4-5) I would give the following advice on this score:

1.         Begin by pledging yourself to serve God and his mission.

2.      Ask the Holy Spirit or Our Lady to guide you as you go about your daily life. Be alert to the movement of you heart as you work, play and rest.

3.      Accept that the answer on occasion will be “No”: “Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness’.” (2 Cor 12: 8-9)

4.      Understand that when God prompts you, the prompt will not come from you and you will most often be surprized or have objections: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Lk 1: 34)

5.      You will not know what the end result will be of the action you are asked to undertake. God gives you a guide and not a map: “… for we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor 5: 7)

6.      Do not be discouraged by periods of frustration or rebuff: “When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so, passing Myasia, they went down to Troas.” (Acts 16: 7-8)

7.      The prompt will be gentle but insistent, if it is of the Holy Spirit, while prompts from Our Lady will tend to be directive and even demanding: “Do whatever he tells you.” (Jn 2: 5)

8.      If it is of God. When you act, the object of your activity will say to you: “How did you know?” or other doors will immediately be opened leading to further opportunities: “When they arrived, they called the church together and related all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith for the Gentiles.” (Acts 14: 27)

9.      As you grow in trust and obedience you will be attacked by doubts and misgivings which originate from the evil spirit: “And we do this so that we may not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs.” (2 Cor 2: 11)

1         Returning to prayer and spiritual direction will help you to deal with the efforts of the evil spirit to thwart God’s work in you: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you…” (Jas 4: 7-8)

The Ignatian discernment of spirits can be a helpful and practical guide to listening to God’s voice. The fundamental principle is: when I am doing good, I cannot be doing bad. The consolations of the good spirit are enduring whiles the desolations of the good spirit make me sad for my sins and lead me back to God. The consolations of the evil spirit are short lived, while the desolations of the evil spirit lead to despair, brokenness and self-condemnation. If I feel desolation while I am doing something holy, such as saying the rosary or attending Mass, I know that the desolation is of the evil spirit. In such cases, I will be making progress in holiness, so I need to double the prayer or devotion to advance further in faith and confound the evil one.

In listening to God, I have to put my trust in Him. The doctrine of St Catherine of Siena regarding the “mystical marriage” is helpful in this regard. I look to meet the needs of the heavenly bridegroom while forgetting my own, since I trust implicitly that he will meet my needs. St John the Baptist puts it this way: “he must increase, but I must decrease.” (Jn 3: 30) St Paul writes: “Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own (the resurrection), but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3: 13-14)

The result will be that by listening to God others will come to know and love Him on their own account and our testimony recedes in importance as we all rejoice in the presence of the one who has saved us: “They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the saviour of the world’." (Jn 4: 42) For ourselves we come to know that Christ who loved us and gave himself for us is the motivation to live and understand the meaning of existence through the lens of God’s saving love: “For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore, all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.” (2 Cor 5: 14-15)

 

Further reflections on priest as icon of Christ

 When considering the posture of the priest in the Eucharist it occurs to me that he must be seen in the context of the other symbols of Christ within the space. The following reflection is not rigorously academic as I have not bothered with footnotes. Readers will however recognize many of the references from Vatican II and elsewhere.

The starting point is the presences of Christ in the liturgy. Jesus is present in the Word, the priest, the Blessed Sacrament and the people as well as in the sacrament. It is Christ who baptizes, confirms, forgives sins, office the sacrifice, etc. It is a given, therefore, that the priest does not act in his own name or for his own purposes, He is obedient to the law by enacting the liturgy according to the texts and actions given him by the Church. His personal sanctity is not relevant for the validity of the sacramental action, although his sinfulness can impede the effectiveness of the sacrament due to scandal. Hence the formulation ex opere operato which prevents us from lapsing into the heresy of Donatism, as condemned by St Augustine. 

Acting in persona Christi capitis, in the person of Christ the head, the priest represents the person of Christ in the liturgy which is different not just in degree but in essence. The reality of the People of God is given expression in the images of the Mystical Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ. Therefore, he is not seen in isolation just as the head is part of the body and the bride is inextricably joined to the groom. The priest should therefore celebrate the Mass at least one member of the faithful present. This would have been the case in the pre-conciliar liturgy as the server would always be present to respond to the prayers on behalf of the people. 

When we consider the Holy Eucharist we also need to note that it has three aspects, according to Pope St John Paul II, those of: sacrifice-sacrament, presence-sacrament and communion-sacrament. I think these aspects coincide with crucifix, tabernacle and altar. In the traditional arrangement of churches, even after Vatican II, these symbols relate to each other with the altar in front with the crucifix on the wall behind it and the tabernacle located beneath or near to it. This is not a juxtaposition of symbols - it happens to be one symbol. The priest is then located, during the Eucharistic Prayer in the midst of these.

In addition to the crucifix on the wall there is for some an altar crucifix which faces towards the priest as he presides at Mass. Some see this as purely "devotional." I disagree, as I see the altar crucifix sending a message to both the priest and the congregation that the people and the priest are both facing liturgical east which is towards the Cross. We also need to be mindful that the Eucharistic Prayer is prayed to the Father and not to the congregation. The Mass goers are joined with the priest -they are not prayed to and they are not praying to him!

Having mentioned all of this, we can then look at the priest as he celebrates the Eucharistic Prayer with arms extended. To me there are two relevant postures. the first is the classic orans position with arms directed slightly forward, elbows bent, with hands separated and palms almost facing upwards. This is the classic Jewish stance of prayer. It can also be used to gesture towards the people inviting their participation in the prayer. The second position is with arms lifted to the side of the priest, elbows bent with wrists and palms facing the people. This is the image of a man crucified with his wrists attached to the cross beam, yet there is no cross.

The image of the crucifix is the image of Christ crucified but the image of the priest standing with arms in the crucifixion position is that of the Risen Christ, victor over sin and death: "Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered..." (Rev 5: 6). We can also think of Moses holding out his arms in battle against the Amalekites: "Aaron and Hur held up his (Moses') hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the sun had set," (Ex 17: 12) We can see in this image, with the crucifix as the backdrop, an image of the risen Christ leading his people using the person of the priest. In some ways it can be seen as an Ascension moment because the people will, after the conclusion of the eucharistic action, dismissed to continue the work of the Master: "While he (Jesus) was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? The Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven'." (Acts 1: 10-11) The sacrament of the Eucharist is indeed sacrifice, presence and communion but also within the action of the Mass, ascension.

As a result, the priest ensures that the presence of Christ is the Eucharist is, in fact, a dynamic one. We are not stranded on Good Friday, rather we look forward also to the Second Coming of our Lord that fills us with expectation and hope, while we endure this "valley of tears." We can hear this in the embolism prayer after the Our Father: "Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ." As a pilgrim people the congregation has before their eyes the image of victory over sin and death to draw them closer to the heavenly Father.

 

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Jesus tells his disciples: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." (Mt 18: 20) It is clear from his ministry that Jesus liked small numbers. He sent out the Twelve (Mk 6: 7) and later other disciples (Lk 10: 1) in pairs to proclaim the Kingdom. Jesus takes three apostles, Peter James and John with him on two occasions, the Transfiguration (Mt 17: 1) and in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mt 26: 37). The promise of the resurrected Lord is: "And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Mt 28: 20). The Lord is not absent. He is with them in their mission: "And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it." (Mk 16: 20) In the Book of Acts Peter heals not in his own name but in the name of Jesus: "I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk." (Acts 3: 6) As it was for the first disciples, so it is for us. When we gather in the Lord's name and obedient to his will, we can be assured that he will guide us through the Holy Spirit to continue the mission of the Kingdom and ultimately receive its reward.