27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 The answer to the request: "Increase our faith!" (Lk 17: 5) is "be humble." Jesus tells his disciples: "So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves, we have done only what we were asked to do'." (Lk 17: 10) This is reinforced in the First Reading which admonishes us: "Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith." (Hab 2: 4) Pride is toxic to faith. The Evil One is described by Job in this way: "It (Leviathan) surveys everything that is lofty; it is king over all that are proud." (Job 41: 54) On the other hand, those who trust in God are raised up.  Our Lady in the Magnificat proclaims: "... for he has looked on the lowliness of his servant,,, for the Mighty One has done great things for me... he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts, he has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly." (Lk 1: 48, 51-52.) Despite all of the achievements of human beings in science and technology we are all subject to God's ultimate judgment and grace: "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? ' 'Or who has given him a gift to receive a gift in return?'" (Rm 11: 33-35) Let us therefore seek to humble ourselves in the presence of God and pray with trusting hearts at Mass today.

Feast of the Archangels - Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

 This feast is helpful in a number of ways. First, it reminds us that there are spiritual beings created by God to serve his purposes and it is in that function that we know each of them. Second, these incorporeal beings are not all alike. There is a hierarchy of angels who are distinct from each other. Third, the principle or arch angels are known and located in Scripture. Michael, as we hear today, in the Book of Revelation, Raphael in the Book of Tobit and Gabriel in the Gospel of Luke. Fourth, there is an ongoing battle against evil which is orchestrated by those spirits who refused to serve God and set up a counter hierarchy of demons: "In my vision war broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven." (Rev 12: 7-8) These beings continue to have a presence and influence in the Church. We know this because at Mass we acknowledge that we pray with them in the Confiteor and in the preface to the Eucharistic Prayer. The preface for this feast concludes: "Through him (Christ the Lord) the multitude of Angels extols your majesty, and we are united with them in exultant adoration, ass with one voice of praise we acclaim..." (Preface of the Archangels, Roman Missal) Let us, every time we are at Mass be mindful of the exultant praise of heaven and earth as we recite or sing the Holy, holy.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 One astonishing thing about this parable is that Dives (the rich man), even though he is in Hell, still thinks that Lazarus can be put at his disposal: "... send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue..." (Lk 16: 24). He not only thinks that he can relate to Abraham as a peer, but he also knows Lazarus by name even though when he was alive, he would not give him a morsel that would fall from his sumptuous table! Unfortunately for him, he is now not "the rich man" but: "... The man who had been rich" (Lk 16: 27). Furthermore, after the initial rebuff, his tone changes: "Then, father, I beg you to send Lazarus to my father's house" (Lk 16: 27). He is reduced to begging. This does not help him. There is a fatalism here as if his brothers will not listen to Moses and the prophets they will not be convinced "... even if someone rises from the dead." (Lk 16: 31) The continuity between Jesus and the Scriptures is thus indicated and the ultimate rejection of him by rabbinical Judaism. The challenge for each of us lies in whether we are behaving as Dives. It will be too late to change once we have died. Let us therefore respond to the Gospel now while we still have a chance to live according to the commands of the risen Lord who, as we hear in the Second Reading: "... is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords." (1 Tim 6: 15) 

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 The parable for today speaks of "dishonest wealth," the literal translation is "the mammon of wickedness," and contrasts it with "true riches." (Lk 16: 11) Mammon has two meanings - money or wealth, and the demon of greed. St Paul, in his writings, points out: "... greed (which is idolatry)." (Col 3: 5) Idolatry is when I place somethings ahead of God in my life as the ultimate good. How many people in our society sacrifice true happiness in pursuit of money? Our passage for today concludes: "No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." (Lk 16: 13) The Second Reading tells us: "For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2: 5) Money does not mediate the eternal or the divine.  Hopefully we know already, through observing the lives of others, that money cannot buy eternal life or indeed happiness in this life. I like the quip: "Money cannot buy you friends but it does buy you a better class of enemy." Material possessions are given to us so we may use them wisely for their true purpose which is arrived at through listening to the wisdom of the Gospel and discerning the greater good for ourselves and others. We are advised in the Book of Proverbs: "Better is a little with righteousness than large income with injustice." (Prov 16: 8)

Feast of the Triumph of the Cross

 The Triumph of the Holy Cross is the ultimate reversal of the earthly order of things. This is characteristic of God's activity in the world. Our Lady in the Magnificat proclaims: "He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty." (Lk 1: 52-53) Just as the font brings the baptized from entering a tomb to emerging from a womb, so the Cross goes from being an instrument of humiliation and torture to being the only true cause for boasting. St Paul tells the Galatians: "May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Gal 6: 14) The ostensible victory of the Devil becomes a cataclysmic, cosmic and eternal defeat that vindicates God's love for us: "But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Rm 5: 8) Jesus is revealed as the one who conquers sin and death by means of the cross and brings about true peace which the world cannot give. This has the consequence of the forgiveness of sins: "God made you alive together with him, when he forgave all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it." (Col 2: 13-15) Thus, Jesus' triumph, through the cross, becomes our triumph too if we stay but loyal to him and true to his commands: "If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself." (2 Tim 2: 11-13)   

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 The Church gives us three parables to contemplate which reply to the allegation made by the scribes and Pharisees against Jesus that: "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." (Lk 15: 2) The first two portray the divine as active: "... go after the one that is lost until he finds it" (Lk 15: 4) and "search carefully until she finds it." (Lk 15: 8) The third parable, by contrast, has the father of the Prodigal patiently waiting for his son to return. It is only when he comes into sight that: "... his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran put his arms around him and kissed him." (Lk 15: 20) This gives us pause for thought regarding grace in our own lives. For, it is at Mass today that Jesus welcomes us sinners, which we acknowledge in praying the Confiteor, and gives us to eat and drink of the Holy Eucharist. How is it that I am still practicing my faith, despite all the vicissitudes of life and the secularization of society? Did I choose God or did God choose me? Did I find God or did God find me? Ultimately, it is all grace, and this is from God who loved me and sent his Son to die for me even while I was still a sinner. Jesus explains: "You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another." (Jn 15: 16-17)