26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

For Catholics is it ever too late? Often we have people die on us or situations which deteriorate beyond our reach. Time is like a river and flows on. Nevertheless, I can be left with the heartache for what could have been. Thanks to the Mass we know that it is never "too late." Offered both for the living and the dead the sacrifice of the Mass is there for all including those who have gone on ahead of us. The Gospel today tells us that God does not give up on us and likewise we should not give up on him. What it takes is for us to respond in faith and accept the offer of his grace. St Paul tells us: "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regards others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others." (Phil 2: 4-5) It is pride which gets in the road of genuine conversion even when I think that somehow my sins are so heinous that they cannot be forgiven! We need to trust that for God, to whom everyone is alive, it is never too late for healing and salvation as we await the Final Judgment. Let us not succumb to the temptation to give up. Rather let us always turn to God and acknowledge his mercy and love for the marvel it really is: "Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die." (Ezek 18: 28)

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

One can imagine what it may have been like in the 1st Century for day-labourers, anxious to get enough money to feed their families, to compete for jobs in a limited market. How they must have jostled and shoved to get in position for the attention of the landowner! The landowner, the Lord, on this occasion agrees for the first workers to pay what is just, the usual daily wage, while he offers to pay the rest: "whatever is right." (Mtt 20: 4) The workers, many of whom are starving, take up the offer not knowing what that will mean. Even the last workers, who have waited for the whole of the day, are prepared to work any time in the hope of getting something. The landowner, in paying them all the same, gives them all enough for their families regardless of time worked. This is the opposite to the concept of "survival of the fittest' deployed by Darwin. It is the compassion and mercy of a loving God who sees our needs and loves us even when we have not responded to him until late in the day. On the other hand we should not, in hardness of heart, resent that others find mercy, likewise, who have come to the Lord in the eleventh hour. Heaven forbid that I would hear the reproach: "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous." (Mtt 20: 15) 

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

What is my attitude to life? And, necessarily at the same time, what is my attitude to death? St Paul says: "For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me...". (Phil 1: 21-22) This is consistent with what he wrote to the Corinthians: "Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him." (2 Cor 5: 8-9) Rather than removing him from the world Paul's Christian faith motivated him and carried him through much adversity: "Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night adrift at sea..." (2 Cor 11: 24-25). Do I use my faith to carry me through? We are aware that we do not rely on our resources alone. It is Christ Jesus and the hope he gives us that infuses our life with joy and the ability to endure come what may: "So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor 12: 9-10)

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The first reading this week from the Book of Sirach, called elsewhere Ecclesiasticus, is especially powerful: "Anger and wrath, these are abominations, yet a sinner holds on to them." (Sirach 27: 30) Notice that the sin lies not in anger or wrath themselves but in the holding on to them. Anger, in itself, is an emotion and is not morally culpable but what I do with it is another matter. Sin is always a choice. It is tempting, for anyone, to hold onto victimhood and offense. Our society sees value in grievances. The danger is that we forget mercy and love that call us to "turn the other cheek" (Mtt 5: 39) and "go also the second mile" (Mtt 5: 41). Our Lord practised this on the cross when he said: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." (Lk 23: 34) How can we put our anger into persepective without turning it in on ourselves? The same reading from Sirach gives us the remedy: remember the end of your life; remember corruption and death; remember the commandments; remember the covenant of the Most High. If we do this before we give vent to our anger we will be less likely to cause enduring hurt, damage relationships or poison our own soul.

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Have you ever tried to resolve a difficulty with someone as the Lord teaches? What I find is that I usually do it in reverse order! I tell the world how I am aggrieved and then a small group of people and then finally, after a long period of complaining and self-righteousness, I get around to talking to the person him or herself. Then I find that the person was either unaware of the offense or was sincerely sorry for anything that had caused unhappiness. In the meantime I have spread poison throughout the community and even possible damaged the standing of the individual in the eyes of others. Another speciality I indulge in is to keep quiet and stew over the grievance. The anger gradually works through my system and ends us coming out in surprising and bitter ways sometimes to the person but also it can be inflicted on others who have no idea of where this petulance has come from. Dealing with conflict is not easy. It requires honesty, empathy and compassion as well as a dose of humility. I need to think of the other person as well as the rest of the community ahead of my own needs. When I try to articulate the offence I can also find that I either provoked the incident or I misunderstood it all along. Perhaps, to set aside my own outrage is an example, from last week's Gospel, of losing my life so that it might be saved.