27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Looking at the second readings from today and last Sunday we can detect that St Paul, writing from prison, senses that Timothy is struggling. As a younger man, looking to lead the churches given him, he was, at least in the mind of his mentor, vulnerable to giving up. St Paul writes to him: "Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made good confession in the presence of many witnesses" (1 Tim 6: 11-12) and "I remind you, Timothy, to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. (2 Tim 1: 6-7) All of us can be tempted to give up the faith and the struggle for virtue. It is easier to conform ourselves to the world where the precepts of the gospel and the Church, especially on abortion and marriage, are regarded as "extreme." jesus tells us: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there ar many who take it." (Mtt 7: 13) Like Timothy, who is later to be recognized as a saint by the Church, we need to rekindle the conversion experience and commitment so that we might have the zeal of missionary disciples and thus have the courage to share the joy of the Gospel both in season and out of season.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 A number of gospel readings given us by the Lectionary in the last few weeks have been about money. The parable of the unfinished tower talks of the impossibility of discipleship with possessions, the Prodigal Son story has jealousy over money at its heart, the dishonest manager uses money to ingratiate himself to rich friends and today we have the parable of Dives (Gk: rich man) and Lazarus. The latest is directed at those among the Pharisees who loved money. They were proud of their ritual purity and their observance of the law but were blind to their attachment to money. The rich man in the parable calls out: "Father Abraham" yet he remains in agony. Descent from Abraham is no guarantee of God's favour. Elsewhere Jesus states: "... for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." (Mtt 3: 9) The stern message for the rich is that their neglect of the poor will be held against them and that their belonging to the Chosen People by birth will not avail them. Their hardness of heart not only leads to the suffering of Lazarus but also an inability to believe in God's power to save. We all need to be alert to the danger that our money and possessions will blind us to the suffering of others and harden our hearts to faith in God.

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 In the second reading we are told that God our Saviour: "... desires everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim 2: 3-4) It is interesting that the expression "Saviour" is used here as it can also refer to Jesus as our Saviour. It is of the nature of the Saviour to save and not to condemn. Thus, as with the Gospel last week, where the Father runs to greet his lost son and restore his dignity, so to day the rich man praises the dishonest steward. Does this mean that we too can be dishonest? By no means! It is only God who can write straight using and trans forming the crooked line. saint Paul teaches: "What then are we to say? Should we continue to sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?" (Rm 6: 1-2) We should not commit the sin of presumption in thinking that God will save us regardless. His mercy is for those who recognize their sin and there need of mercy which means that we need to feel the sorrow and contrition that arises from a true appreciation of the wrongs we have done. It is only then that we can have suitable awe at God's graciousness: "But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Rm 5: 8) Like the dishonest steward we need to make every effort while we are alive to prepare for our eventual encounter with the God of mercy who will ask from us an accounting for all the love we have received.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 What do the lost sheep, the lost coin and the sons in today's gospel have in common? Easy, of course, they are all lost. What does it mean to be "lost"? I haven't looked it up anywhere for a definition but my intuition tells me that it means to be in the wrong place. Sometimes I am lost but I do not know it and at other times I am aware that as I strive to go to the right place I am, in fact, getting further and further away from it and therefore more and more lost.

The sheep and the coin are unaware. They are lost because their owners cannot find them. This induces the owner to make an effort to retrieve them from permanent separation from where they rightfully belong as part of the flock or the set of ten coins. The sons in the third parable are self aware but only one of them works out that he is lost. This only truly dawns on him when in the pig sty "he came to himself." (Lk 15: 17) He knows where he is but it is only through a realization of his relationship with the Father, that has been damaged through his own actions, that he realizes how lost he in fact is. Even then he has some learning to do. His remedy for the situation is to redefine the relationship: "I am no longer worthy to be called your son." (Lk 15: 21) The father's response is to relocate him back in his proper place as one of his sons: "... for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!" (Lk 15: 24) 

The older son is also lost but he does not know it yet. His relationship with the Father is tainted by jealousy and resentment such that everything he does for the Father makes him feel like he is a slave: "I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young a goat so that I might celebrate with my friends." (Lk 15: 29) It is clear that his relationship with the Father was just as damaged as that of his younger brother. The response of the Father, who is God, is to relocate him in his proper relationship by reminding him: " 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours'." (Lk 15: 31) Furthermore, this finding of relationship has implications for the relationship with the elder son's brother which also need to be restored: " 'But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found'." (Lk 15: 32)