17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The conclusion of the Gospel passage today is one which has been on my mind as I look to embark on a parish strategy of evangelization. I have heard many testimonies recently from people about their experience of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says: "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the holy Spirit to those who ask him!" (Lk 11: 13) The key phrase to my mind is not what God is for we know from the Lord's Prayer that he is our Father. What is most striking is that we need to ask him! God does not force the Holy Spirit upon us. We need to make space in our lives and our prayer for the Holy Spirit and explicitly, trustingly and humbly ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is that God will respond and so many people can testify to that. I challenge all parishioners to open their heart and indeed the whole of the being to the Holy Spirit and to make an act of faith in the same Spirit that descended upon the disciples at Pentecost. 

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The story of Mary and Martha, I propose, should not be over spiritualized. Martha welcomes Jesus into her house (Lk 10: 38) but is then: "distracted by her many tasks." (Lk 10: 40) Instead of listening to Jesus and being responsive to his needs she acts out her compulsion to "get things done." Even worse, she wants the Lord to rebuke her sister for not following her example: "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." (Lk 10: 40) Jesus does not tell Martha not to do her work but he does identify Mary's desire to be an attentive disciple as being the better part for she: "... sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying." (Lk (10: 39) How many of us, as lifelong Catholics would long to sit at the Lord's feet in person and listen to him! That is what you would think. Yet, how many of us Catholics find ourselves so overwhelmed with taking children to sport, visiting ageing parents, cleaning the house, doing the shopping, cooking Sunday lunch, etc that we fail to attend to the Lord's Word at Mass or, even worse, do not get to Mass at all. Sunday Mass is the source and summit of the liturgy and the foundation of our life of faith. It is the pledge of divine help in the present and of a share in God's life in the future. It is, indeed, the better part.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I get irritated when, in the media, an individual who saves someone else who is a stranger to him is described as a "good Samaritan." This is because in these cases the rescuer has no animus or prejudice against the one saved. Likewise, Christian faith is diminished, if not mocked, when people speak of the naming of a boat or some other object as a "christening." We must always be alert to any attempt to tame the Gospel. Jesus is radical and confrontational: "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends his rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?" (Mtt 5: 44-46) His Gospel challenges human assumptions and overturns our sinful value systems: "The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him. So he said to them, 'You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God'." (Lk 16: 14-15) The Gospel today demands more of us that to be "good people." It challenges us to be truly holy and in the hardest possible way - the forgiveness of our enemies. 

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today we hear that: "The seventy returned with joy..." (Lk 10: 17). The experience of joy is what we feel when we share the Gospel and others come to know and love our Lord Jesus Christ and  desire to be Church with us. The imperative of evangelization is a duty that pertains to all the baptized. We do this because we want to have others experience the forgiveness and love that we have known in Christ: "For the love of Christ urges us on." (2 Cor 5: 14) Pope Francis, in his Message for the World Mission Day 2019 writes: "This missionary mandate touches us personally: I am a mission, always; you are a mission, always; every baptized man and woman is a mission. People in love never stand still: they are drawn out of themselves; they are attracted and attract others in turn; they give themselves to others and build relationships that are life-giving. As far as God's love is concerned, no one is useless or insignificant. Each of us is a mission to the world, for each of us is the fruit of God's love. Even if parents can betray their love by lies, hatred and infidelity, God never takes back his gift of love. From eternity he has destined each of his children to share in his divine and eternal life" (cf. Eph 1: 3-6)." The challenge, for each of us, is to re-kindle the love of Christ in our hearts so that we are open to the joy that comes from sharing faith in a society coarsened by self-indulgence and afflicted by doubt and despair.

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, along with that of Divine Mercy which we celebrate on the Second Sunday of Easter, is the ideal antidote to the pessimistic, impersonal and lonely Universe envisaged by materialistic atheists and stern faced double predestination Puritans. Despite unfortunately mawkish and kitsch representations of the Sacred Heart that abound in homes and churches the love of Christ that burns for humanity reminds us of both the Incarnation and the humanity of Christ. His love, which is available especially for the down trodden, poor and the lowly, is one that we can identify with on a personal level. It is not a distant and isolated God o the Deists but a entry into our human condition not only in suffering but also in love. This has the consequence of drawing us into gratitude such that we find it easier to love others and forgive offences when they occur.

 

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the Second Reading today St Paul admonishes the Galatians: "For freedom Christ has set you free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Gal 5: 1) The rabbis of the time spoke of the "yoke of the law" so St Paul is speaking not so much on this occasion about the practice of slavery in the Roman Empire but rather the way in which we live out our spiritual and private lives. Nevertheless, we are fortunate to live in an age and a society where slavery, as formal institution, is illegal although sadly individuals are still trafficked and exploited by unscrupulous criminals. Applying the reading to ourselves we need to be alert to the unseen yoke of sin and compulsions that rob us of our freedom and bring us despair rather than joy and life.. This occurs regardless of social or financial status. People can be slaves to greed, ambition, sensuality and hate as well as alcohol, narcotics and gambling. What is the cure? I suggest it is an attitude of service towards others, inspired by the example of Christ: "just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mtt 20: 28) This attitude transforms our hearts so we act, even in the small tasks of daily life, out of love rather than resentment or compulsion: "Render service with enthusiasm, as to the Lord and not to men and women, knowing that what good we do, we will receive again from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free." (Eph 6: 7-8)

The Body and Blood of Christ

It pays to look at all of the readings for this week to get an entree into the great mystery which is the Blessed Sacrament. The First Reading speaks of Abraham and Melchizedek. This calls to mind the part of the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I) which states: "Be pleased to look upon these offerings with a serene and kindly countenance, and to accept them, as once you were pleased to accept the gits of your servant Abel the just, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek, a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim...". In these few words the roots of the Eucharist from the beginning of the human story in Genesis through the trials of the Old Testament are manifest. The Second Reading, with the institution narrative, handed on by St Paul: "I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you..." (1 Cor 11: 23), testifies to the liturgical acceptance and appreciation of the earliest Christians as they obeyed the command "Do this in remembrance of me." (1 Cor. 11: 24) The miraculous multiplication of food from the Gospel, as relate by St Luke, reminds us of the Exodus story and how the Israelites were not only saved by the blood of lambs, smeared on their lintels, but were also nourished with manna until they reached the Promised Land. Christ, the new Moses, leads his people through the exodus of death to the Resurrection through the gift of the manna which is his own Body and Blood. The Early Christians, in The Didache picked up on this in one of the earliest recorded Eucharistic Prayers: "Just as the broken loaf was scattered over the hills as grain, and, having been gathered together, became one; in like fashion, may your church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into your kingdom." (Ch. 9: 4) In this way we can get some idea of how our Sunday Eucharist contains within it the whole mystery of Christ and the story of salvation.