17th Sunday of Year B

The next 5 Sundays at Mass deal with the most important chapter outside of the PASSION – the only miracle mentioned  in all 4 – that is , the miraculous feeding of the 5000.

The readings taken together today remind us of the important lesson that God provides those who have complete trust - once we do our best, but we must play our own part in that Providence.  The necessary condition for Divine Providence is total trust – provided we have played our part without worry. This is the meaning of ‘give us this day our daily bread’.

In the first Reading and the Gospel we see the miraculous provision of bread. The seemingly insurmountable impossible task of feeding of a crowd of 100 people in the Old Testament account is magnified in the Gospel  50-fold.  The plea of the disciples meets with the compassion and concern of Christ, who first says ‘Give them something to eat yourselves.’

These words prick our ears and consciences when we think of famine and the threat of mass starvation, as well as local needs and concerns, that raise their ugly head from time to time.

The role and example of the little boy –‘ there is a little boy here’ – reminds us of the seemingly little WE have to offer, and yet it is his TOTAL offering that is accepted and will be miraculously transformed. The total offering of the boy reminds us of Jesus’ words elsewhere of the child-like requirement of all who would wish to become members of God’s kingdom –‘ to such as these does the Kingdom of God belong’.

Jesus takes the bread (and fish), blesses it, distributes it to the disciples who in turn distribute it to the crowd, and there is no waste.

This miracle has two implications for us.

At one level there is the attitude to food, the needy, hunger of the crowd, the problem of feeding so many, the total offering of the boy and the resources available, the desire for food, the compassion and the question of just distribution

At a deeper level, Mass-goers will recognise in the words and phrases used today the Eucharistic action of Jesus - the taking, blessing, distribution for feeding, and collection of bread. These point to the actions of priests - by the grace of ordination - with the unleavened bread at the Presentation of the Gifts, the Consecration, and the distribution of the Eucharist, as well as the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle. These actions are repeated ½ a million times every weekday and over a million times this Sunday throughout the world – with people gathered at Mass from every nation. The Mass is pre-figured in the action of Jesus in the Gospel. The Mass is truly a world event.

So as we set out on our journey over these 5 Sundays on John chapter 6, the first lesson of the Eucharist from John chapter 6 is the ‘humanitarian’ aspect, as it were, of the Mass – that the reality, the supernatural reality of the transformation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ calls us to be ‘Eucharistic’ in our lives. The theme of the Dublin Eucharistic Congress was ‘communion with Christ, communion with one another’. How can we be ‘eucharistic’ with regard to food and others’ provision? How can we live out the prayer ‘give us this day our daily bread?’

The Christian response to food and its just distribution in an unjust world - and therefore to the real and concrete ongoing problem of world hunger - can be summed up in 4 A words that feature in today’s readings that I wish to leave you with:

Awareness of others’ need,

Action to alleviate others’ need,

Attitude of gratitude for food,

Avoidance of waste.

Finally...God WILL provide...but so must we!

16th Sunday Year B

Have you ever been inconvenienced by journey’s length – having been diverted due to road works or weather conditions? A couple of years ago my luck ran out one night when I wanted to take the car ferry from Passage to Carrigaloe. Due to dense fog I had to return through Cork to make it back to Cobh – and I did say my luck ran out...the Jack Lynch Tunnel was closed for the night! And I can now tell you –because I measured it – and I hope you never have to measure it for yourselves  - it’s a 19 mile trip – I appreciate the ferry all the more ever since! I was anxious to get home and so I just had to put up with the inconvenience!

This Sunday’s Gospel is the story of two journeys – and both lead to Christ. The first is the journey of the apostles, worn out and weary from their missionary wanderings around Israel.

The second is that of the people who have been enthused and energised who make their way to Jesus also in the light of what they have seen and heard.

Both sets of people – the 12 apostles and the ordinary people who have heard the Gospel of repentance preached to them – seek Jesus.

Let’s look at the journey of the people first. They are so anxious, desperate, even spiritually hungry – that they are prepared to make the long way around the Sea of Galilee. There is no short cut for them, and their perseverance is rewarded because Jesus sets out to teach them at some length for Himself. They are prepared to go to great lengths themselves. The trip across the Sea of Galilee measures 4 miles, whereas the walk around it to where Jesus and the Apostles landed is a 10 mile stretch – in the heat of the desert that would be good perhaps 3- 4 hour journey in a crowd. The time, trouble and yes, inconvenience, is worth it because of their sense of hope and expectation – they are not deterred easily. To catch sight of and even to be healed by Jesus is worth the trouble to them.

Jesus take pity on them because they are like sheep without a shepherd – rudderless as it were, wandering, unsure of themselves, lacking any clear direction in life, confused, and uncertain about what to do next and where life is taking them, burdened with worries and anxieties. Jesus’ teaching is what they need – and also a personal meeting or encounter with Him.

What the people needed is what we need. We share their sense of confusion and wandering. At times life seems so hard. We lack clear goals and in these days clear moral and spiritual leadership. We crave for people who will lead us in a sure footing, where we can have confidence and assurance that everything will be alright. It sometimes seems we are without clear political and religious leaders. We do not want to be lest to ourselves.

The apostles are in a sense victims of their own success. Now in contrast to their small beginnings – the mission that we heard about last Sunday - the followers of Jesus number in the hundreds and thousands. There is no time for them even to eat – not something we can complain about too often ourselves.The apostles – the first bishops - seem incapable and beyond the ability of providing what the people want, at least by their own efforts.

Jesus says very little in today’s Gospel – in fact He only utters 16 words, yet they are also meant for you and me: ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’.

Let us – you and me – find some lonely place, away from noise and distractions and mobile phones – I recommend Mt Melleray in Co Waterford – and the high cross about a mile behind the monastery – what peace – there, or some similar place,  in the silence Jesus speaks and we can listen. Jesus, we will find, is the answer to all our questions.

The word COME is used a number of times by Jesus in the Gospels – ‘Come and see’, ‘Come to me all you who labour and over-burdened and I will refresh you’, and today: ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’.

There in some lonely place we might find that the word COME might just be an abbreviation for: ‘Christ Offers Me Everything’; Christ Offers Me Eternal life, or finally, ‘Christ Open My Eyes’ – to the needs of those around us.

The important is to listen and respond to Jesus invitation extended to you and to me today – ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’.

Jesus Christ is the answer to all your questions and searching.

15th Sunday of the Year

Things that weigh us down

A lamb may as well be a sheep if you have to carry it for the long road -Is e caora an t-uan i bhfad

In this season of travelling and planning foreign trips – packing even for a journey of a weekend can be tricky. Who does the packing at home? Packing liquids and toiletries and saving money rather than paying out for baggage and hidden extras.

We all have stories to relate regarding packing for a journey. We might remember that there were things that are vital, and that we have forgotten. Things too we might have brought and wish we hadn’t, and the things that we always need.

What is today’s Gospel about for us? At first glance it is the address of Jesus to His disciples who are on the first Christian mission. There are detailed ‘terms and conditions’ that can be summed up in three simple words: ‘God will provide’.

What does that mean now today for us?

Even the smallest hand-held luggage becomes cumbersome and dead weight if you are held up, transferred, unduly delayed for a long period - or any such inconvenience in your travel - at airports as at this time of year.

You may even wonder: why did I pack that? – I never wore it/used it/needed it. It became a nuisance, even a hindrance or of no use whatsoever. Did you ever return home with something that you had packed and never even used? It was deadweight.

Jesus teaches us the same with material possessions on life’s missionary journey – material possessions and concerns and worries and anxieties which after all we cannot bring with us in any case.

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND FREEDOM FROM WORRY ARE THE TWO POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES OF JETTISONING THE BAGGAGE AND OUR CLUTTER. OUR CARES BECOME PRIMARILY FOCUSSED ON THE FACT THAT OUR JOURNEY IS NOT SO MUCH ABOUT WHAT WE CAN TAKE WITH US ALONG THE WAY, BUT WHO WE ENCOUNTER, WHAT WE HAVE TO SHARE WITH THEM and they with us AND WHO IT IS HAS SENT US IN THE FIRST PLACE. THE PURPOSE OF OUR JOURNEY THEREFORE IS ONE OF A DIVINE COMMISSION – THE JOURNEY IS IN ITSELF THE MEANS BY WHICH WE CARRY ON OUR LIFE’S WORK AND THE VERY MEANING OF WHY WE ARE HERE AT ALL – TO CARRY OUT A TASK, A MISSION, OUR JOINT VOCATION.

By focusing on what is in our carry-on luggage we are not only burdened but distracted, and hence not free. Our concerns weigh us down, concerns that are not as pressing as what God wants us to focus our attention in the first place.

Time spent distracted and consumed with earthly concerns alone means that we are doing the Lord a disservice BECAUSE time THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER UTILISED in proclaiming the Gospel is now lost forever.

We are ‘distracted’ and are caught up in worldly cares and concerns of our own, and hence sucked dry of resolve and our true purpose.

Hence religious take a vow of purpose which has the effect of ‘lightening the load’. God – through us laity – will take care of the rest.

Our chief concern must be God’s Kingdom and His righteousness evidenced in our own attitudes, speech and behavior, and ‘betraying’ as it were where our priorities should lie in the first place: simply to know love and serve God and to make Him further known, loved and served; to preach to others and to provide evidence in our behavior that ‘there is a difference that Jesus makes’.

This should be evident in our disposition and our concern for Christ-in-our-neighbour, rather than perilous, time-consuming and time-wasting on passing fancies which are not our chief care and pressing concern, and therefore we can thereby help to point out to others that these are not to be of ultimate - but relative - significance in all our lives.

WHAT IS SIGNIFICANT ALSO IS THAT WE DO NOT TRAVEL ALONE IN THIS TASK, AND IN THE CHURCH WE FIND THE MUTUAL SUPORT AND COMPLERMENTARITY AND UNITY OF PURPOSE DESPITE OUR DIFFERENT ROLES IN God’s plan for you and me.

The urgency of the message is stressed and effectively preached because the Lord Himself provides all the necessary but secondary requirements of the disciples.

In fact it is a challenge to the rest of us who are not at the coal-face to consider how we can be the providers for the Gospel-carriers (MISSIONARIES) to carry out their mission effectively and lighten their work-load through prayer and financial support, to provide for all the things that the disciples themaselves are to deprive themselves of, so that the Lord can work through us to be the providers and co-operators in God’s Mission Plan by being fellow providers with the Providence of God - and so ally ourselves in the spreading the Gospel Message as far as our domestic arrangement, duties, state in life and financial resources allow.

Our prayers and sacrifices are necessary and ‘duly noted’ by the Father of all – who will never leave us short-changed because we have been generous.

To what extent therefore am I aware or conscious of my responsibility to build up God’s Kingdom – even with the basic raw materials?

Just as missionaries are called to detachment so to more effectively attach themselves to what really matters – so that God’s concern for souls and that the Good News of salvation be offered to all, I must recall that the whole Church - all its members, including you and me – are similarly called to be disposed to the spreading of the Kingdom.

THEREFORE IT FOLLOWS THAT I TOO AM CHALLENGED, CALLED AND MUST CONSIDER IMPORTANT QUESTIONS LIKE - CAN I DO WITHOUT? WHAT THINGS CAN I DO WITHOUT to spread God’s message of love, hope, and the joy that comes of repentance?

To what extent do I trust God to provide, provided I have taken those immediately around me into consideration so that I may not be committing an injustice by depriving the disciple missionaries AND THE POOR– and those under their care too - of their basic resources and life’s basic necessities?

We are all part of the plan.

Detachment is therefore a Gospel necessity and a virtue so that my possessions are just that and that they do not possess me instead.

My voluntary deprivation of some material things means that others who have no choice in the matter in this materially inequitable/unequal can be provided for from my and our surplus.

We can teach others thereby the importance of trust in His Providence and that makes our mission our message and its content all the more credible and therefore make others receptive - they are convinced because we have conviction and integrity of purpose.

All this stems from the renewed sense of urgency we feel and the efficacy of a greater propagation of the Gospel message in the shortest possible time allocated before the coming of the Lord Himself in person ‘to judge the living and the dead’.

We are not called, therefore, to be ‘baggage handlers’ concerned with weight restrictions and dimensions and what is allowable or not. We are to jettison all excess baggage – it comes now with a price tag after all (!) – we are better off without it –and we more readily trim down to what we will definitely need for the journey. The Lord will provide. Let our concerns for others be aligned to His CONCERN – and our trust in His will. All else will follow in due course. It is a matter of first things first.

THESE WET DAYS CAN GIVE US AN OPPORTNUITY TO DE-CLUTTER WHAT WE HAVE NOT USED IN THE LAST TWO YEARS THAT ARE NOT USEFUL OR BEAUTIFUL. THERE IS NO BETTER ANTIDOTE TO BUYING THAN HAVING AND KNOWING THE PROSPECT OF MOVING HOUSE.

THERE IS A GREAT SENSE OF FREEDOM AND RELEASE IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT WE HAVE DE-CLUTTERED OURSELVES OF CLOTHES, GADGETS, ORNAMENTS, BOOKS AND ITEMS WE HAVE NOT USED IN THE LAST TWO YEARS. A SENSE OF SPACE, AND EVEN A MENTAL CONDITION OF RELIEF IN SPACE AND MOBILITY AND LESS TO WORRY ABOUT –RELIEF THINGS BOUGHT ON IMPULSE, BUT ALSO THINGS LIKE CLOTHES THAT NO LONGER FIT AND ARE THEREFORE ARE NO LONGER NEEDED.

THIS WEEK, DECLUTTER - GIVE TO CHARITY SHOPS, BUT DO NOT FILL IN THE SPACE THAT YOU ACQUIRE BY RESORTING TO OLD HABITS OF PURCHASING IRRESPONSIBLY – YOU WILL GET OVER IT SOON ENOUGH. AND YOU WILL BE FREER – TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN WHAT WE WANT AND WHAT WE TRULY NEED.

THE REAL PURPOSE OF THIS EMPHASIS ON BEING THUS ’LIGHT-WEIGHT’ IS THAT THE DISCIPLES OF THE KINGDOM ARE TO BE FREE OF FINANCIAL AND OTHER WORLDLY MATERIAL BURDENS AND CONSIDERATIONS IN ORDER TO RELIEVE OTHERS OF THEIR CRIPPLING SPIRITUAL BURDENS – ESPECIALLY IN THEIR CALL TO RELIEVE PEOPLE OF THE FOLLOWING

1. THE BURDENS OF SHAME, GUILT, AND COMPULSIONS ASSOCIATED WITH SIN

2. THE BURDENS OF EVIL AND OBSESSION WITH IT

3. THE BURDEN OF SICKNESS AND ITS ILL-EFFECTS

THESE ARE THE SIGNS THAT THE KINGDOM OF SATAN, TEMPORARILY ESTABLISHED BY THE COMMITTING OF ORGINAL SIN AND ITS EFFECTS, IS BEING OVERTHROWN BY THE REVERSAL FIRST OF ITS BITTER FRUITS (MORAL DEGENERATION, SICKNESS, AND DEATH), AND THEN ITS BEING UPROOTED ALTOGETHER BY CHRIST’S DEATH AND RESURRECTION

THE EFFECTS OF THE ORIGINAL SIN AFFECT EVERY GENERATION OF BELIEVERS AND THUS THE MISSIONARY CALL – OF REPENTANCE AND RENEWAL - AND THE CONDITIONS OF MISSIONARY DISCIPLEHIP - MUST BE TAKEN UP ANEW BY EVERY GENERATION OF THE CHURCH.

TO WHAT AM I BEING CALLED TODAY?

• GREATER TRUST IN THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD

• GREATER GENEROSITY TO THOSE IN NEED

• RELIEF OF SIN THROUGH REPENTANCE

• RELIEF OF CLUTTER IN MY LIFE - AND THEREFORE SIMPLICITY OF LIFE

• GOD WISHES to RELIEVE ME OF MY BURDENS AND TO TAKE PART IN THE GOSPEL MISSION OF RELIEVING OTHERS OF THEIRS

• GENEROSITY AND KINDNESS TO THE STRANGER IN OUR MIDST