THE HOLY NAME OF MARY
‘There is no other name on earth in heaven or in the underworld by which we can be saved, and that is the name of Jesus’, according to Scripture.
Yet Christians have always turned to Mary for help. We call on the Holy Name of Jesus for mercy, and on the Holy Name of Mary for help.
Indeed in the Rosary we call on the name of Mary 100 times as we pray Hail Mary and Holy Mary. Thus in the course of a given year if we recite the Rosary once a day, we utter Mary’s name 3,650 times. In three years that becomes over 10,000 times. Every decade of our lives, that becomes 36,500 times. We could go on, but that becomes 100,000 times every 10 years if you were to offer 15 decades each day. Of course the number really is hard to quantify because of the Angelus and the Memorare and other prayers we utter throughout our lives. And indeed we call on the name of Jesus our Lord at least 50 times in each rosary.
We know people ‘to see’ only and we know others by name only, but we really cannot get to know one another well unless we are introduced by name.
In Scripture calling someone by name denotes the formation of a relationship. God calls Abram ‘Abraham’, Sarai ‘Sarah’, and Jesus calls Simon Peter, and Saul becomes Paul.
Children learn Mummy and Daddy first by those simple pet names.
So we in fact strengthen our relationship of confidence in the intercessory role of Mary each time we utter her name. Let us try to become more conscious of this each time we mention her name in prayer. We strengthen the bond of love the more we call on her.
At the Annunciation Mary is referred to by name for the very first time: ‘and the virgin’s name was Mary. In praying to her in the words of the angel, ‘Hail Mary, full of grace’, we fulfill the prophecy of Our Lady herself when she said in her Magnificat: ‘from henceforth all generations will call me blessed’.
At Fatima at the Cova da Iria, there was an echo and the children would love to shout out ‘Maria’ and little did they know that Mary would come in person in response to their many childish utterances.
In recent times the Popes have emphasized Mary as ‘hearer of the WORD’. She is blessed because she ‘heard the word of God and kept it.’ She ‘pondered these things in her heart’ at Bethlehem and in the Temple. This is in contrast to the attitude of those described by St James in his letter comparing those who treat the word of God lightly to those who look at their reflection in a mirror and instantly forget it.
Now let us ask Mary to help us to hear the word of God and keep it as she did, as we utter the word, and the name of, Mary.
22nd Sunday of Year C
We all remember the country and Western song : ‘O Lord it’s
so hard to be humble, when you’re perfect
in every way!’
Today’s readings remind of us the importance of humility in
all things, and especially in our attitude towards God and others. I remember once entering a clerical setting,
asking if a seat was taken, being quoted the line from a now deceased bishop
(of another diocese): ‘We’re all equal here, form me right down to you’. Even
in clerical circles, places of seniority are still important to some.
The place settings at weddings are fraught with meticulous
planning and seating arrangements carefully stage managed so that people can
get along. So it less likely that the scenario in the Gospel might emerge.
Pope Francis is a great example of humility and consistently
amazes us at is simplicity and his humility, in paying the hotel bill where he
had stayed in the conclave, after becoming Pope, living in humbler
accommodation, in bowing his head and asking for OUR prayers and blessing
before he blessed us after his election, in his insistence on simpler and
humbler living for the clergy, in preparing his own meals and rarely if ever
eating out as a Cardinal, in riding in the bus with the other cardinals after
his election. He is a messenger from God in this setting of an example in our
times.
St Therese, the Little Flower, said that ‘Humility is truth
and the truth, humility.’
It is in other words the whole unvarnished truth about
oneself, with warts and imperfections, but also with unique strengths, gifts,
talents and abilities that are unique, irreplaceable and ready to be used and
perfected and perhaps even with some waiting to be discovered. We are called to
be the best version of ourselves.
Another definition of humility is ‘not to think less of
ourselves, but to think of ourselves less.’ Not to be the centre of attention or looking
for it when others have it. Also to give greater consideration to others’
feelings than our own in a given social situation.
It is recognising that we do have God-given talents, and when
successful with them to always remember precisely that, they are given by God
to be used and harnessed for the good of others and so that God may get some if
not all of the glory!
We all love the thrill of attention, fame, celebrity and
renown, but we can fall into its addictive nature or instead we find the
attention rather embarrassing. We see
how personalities and celebrities seek notice in outrageous ways, and there is
some truth in the Hollywood maxim, that ‘there is only one thing worse than
being talked about, and that is not being talked about!’
We must be careful with success and remember that it is
precarious and temporary. When Roman generals returned in triumph from battle
they rode in a single chariot, were accompanied by a slave who held the wreath
of victory over their heads, but who also whispered amidst the adulation of the
cheering crowds ‘remember you are but a
man’.
The greatest example of humility is our Lord Himself: ‘Christ
emptied himself...Christ was humbler yet, even to the point of accepting death,
death on a cross.’
And it is the way of the cross that we too must follow, but choosing
and accepting apparent failure and weakness in worldly terms that comes from
self-denial, accepting and living out our duties and accepting the crosses,
trials and disappointments in life in ‘this valley of tears’ leads ultimately to
eternal success.
‘Those who humble themselves will be exalted.’
21st Sunday of the Year C
Many who are first will be last, and the last shall be fist
Strive to enter by the narrow door
If you have ever queued up waiting to get through immigration
at an American airport to gain entry to the United States, you have plenty of
time to gaze at the faces and the demeanour of the various immigration officials.
Inevitably some look friendlier and
smile more than others and also seem faster to stamp the passports of the
people ahead. You hope you get a nice official!
On one occasion I flew into New York at Newark airport. I was
not in my clerics but the official asked me my profession. When I told him I
was a priest, he asked me ‘have you heard of San Giovanni Rotondo?’ When I mentioned that I knew of it and had in
fact been to the birthplace of Padre Pio he produced a prayer card of Padre Pio
from his short pocket and promptly stamped my passport and green immigration card.
Lucky for me I was awake! And Padre Pio had a chuckle!
The Gospel today is all about entry to heaven and who will
get there and how many. One priest answered that question with the reply: ‘I’m into
sales, not management!’
'Jesus here turns a hypothetical question about the number of
those who will be saved into an existential one which turns the responsibility
back on the hearer or reader to do what is necessary to be one of those who are
saved' (Luke T. Johnson).
So the key question we
have to ask ourselves is not so much: ‘will there many who are saved’ as to ‘will
I be among those who are to be saved?’
All are invited. But people
choose to be excluded by their actions in the here and now.
There is a story of a man going for a job interview, and when
instructed to arrive in good time for his interview he arrived an hour early.
There were 4 others ahead of him in the waiting room. The candidates for the
job were told that there was a strict embargo on the questions so no candidate
could leave through the door he went in. As each candidate left the waiting
room, the ice broke and those left behind started chatting to each other about
their background and their hopes. Finally only the man in question and one
other were left and they had a very open conversation. Finally he was left to
himself for awhile wondering what was going in the interview room.
When he was finally called he recognised the interview board
– they were all the others in the waiting room! Of course while a sneaky
procedure they got a clear picture of who they were dealing with. The story
goes that he was offered the job on the spot!
The verdict will be no shock or surprise to us at our particular Judgment.
What is required so
that we will get through this final test?
– Our particular judgment IS EVERY DAY as we determine our eternal
fate NOW AND EVERY DAY, by
·
our
prayer or lack of it,
·
by our keeping God’s commandments or our
failure to keep them,
·
our living charitably and generously of our
time and resources to those in need
·
our seeking God’s forgiveness in the sacrament
of Confession or our failure to
·
our witness as a Catholic or our failure to
witness by word and example
·
fidelity
to our spouse and family or not
·
honesty
or not
·
our
purity or impurity,
·
our
sobriety or our drunkenness,
·
our
resistance to the promptings of conscience or following a clearly informed conscience
faithful to the Church’s teaching on faith and morality,
· Our
following of the Golden Rule, to treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves
- our fidelity to the duties according to our state in life
Life and entry to eternal life therefore is not so much a
race but a marathon – this requires a different mentality – of perseverance -of
wanting to complete a marathon or a half-marathon. Unlike other sports, runners
pride themselves in completion rather than their placing.
Strive to enter by the arrow door –the Greek word for 'strive'
is ‘agonizesthi’ – from which we get the words ‘agony’ and ‘zest’ –therefore
it is by suffering and perseverance that
we enter the way that leads to the eternal life of heaven awaiting us.
See you there, please God!
20th Sunday of the Year C
First reading
Jeremiah
38:4-6,8-10
The leading men of Jerusalem spoke to
the king. ‘Let this man be put to death: he is unquestionably disheartening the
remaining soldiers in the city, and all the people too, by talking like this.
The fellow does not have the welfare of this people at heart so much as its
ruin.’ ‘He is in your hands as you know,’ King Zedekiah answered ‘for the king
is powerless against you.’ So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the well of
Prince Malchiah in the Court of the Guard, letting him down with ropes. There was
no water in the well, only mud, and into the mud Jeremiah sank.
Ebed-melech
came out from the palace and spoke to the king. ‘My lord king,’ he said ‘these
men have done a wicked thing by treating the prophet Jeremiah like this: they
have thrown him into the well where he will die.’ At this the king gave
Ebed-melech the Cushite the following order: ‘Take three men with you from here
and pull the prophet Jeremiah out of the well before he dies.’
____________________
Second reading
Hebrews 12:1-4
With so many witnesses in a great cloud
on every side of us, we too, then, should throw off everything that hinders us,
especially the sin that clings so easily, and keep running steadily in the race
we have started. Let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and
brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which was still in the future,
he endured the cross, disregarding the shamefulness of it, and from now on
has taken his place at the right of God’s throne. Think of the way he stood
such opposition from sinners and then you will not give up for want of courage.
In the fight against sin, you have not yet had to keep fighting to the point of
death.
____________________
Gospel
Luke 12:49-53
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have
come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There
is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is
over!
‘Do you suppose
that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.
For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two
against three; the father divided against the son, son against father, mother
against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against
daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
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‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it
were blazing already!
These are the words of
someone who is in love with us.
That Someone, Jesus
Christ our personal Lord and saviour, is
on fire in His Heart – in love with each and everyone.
The readings this
Sunday clearly point to Christ’s Passion and resurrection, prefigured by the
person of the prophet Jeremiah who underwent his own share of rejection among
his own people in his own time, who warned them to repent, and in today’s
episode is liberated from the well, symbolic of the Lord’s resurrection for the
tomb in the earth.
‘Let us not lose sight
of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake
of the joy which was still in the future, he endured the cross, disregarding
the shamefulness of it, and from now on has taken his place at the right
of God’s throne’ (St Paul)
Jesus disregarded the
public shame of the cross because it served a higher purpose that is, our
liberation from sin and the promise of eternal life to all who accept Him.
We share in his
passion in our baptism and benefit from it. But through baptism – the term that
Christ used for His Passion – a word in Greek that literally means ‘immersion’ we
too are called to partake in Christ’s prophetic role to the people of our own
time as witnesses of His saving action in our own lives, and our own felt
experience of Jesus’ liberating power through repeated confession and
forgiveness of our sins, as well as the love we have felt in moving experiences of prayer.
As John Paul put it, ‘no
one who has had a real encounter with Jesus Christ will keep it to themselves.’
It should be evident in our words and our works of service and charity to our neighbour.
There are, however,
painful consequences to our prophetic witnessing role in society, as there were
for Jeremiah and fulfilled in Christ’s rejection on the Cross – and that is
often felt within the family circle. This is the ‘division’ that Our Lord
refers to, a painful one that cuts through the most intimate bonds of family
life, that delineates and divides and has often led in the past to persecution
and even betrayal in divided loyalties. But more recently, how often people,
especially mothers, have tearfully approached me, concerned and disconsolate
about members of their family, and sometimes even their entire family who have
abandoned the practice of their faith. How often I have officiated at the
burial of a mother and I feel I have buried the last vestige of faith in that
family with her.
I often commend them
not only to intercession of our Blessed Lady and St Pio, but particularly to
the Divine Merciful heart of the Saviour and indeed to Jesus’ own revelatory
promise to St Faustina that even if only one member of a family be devoted to
His mercy then that entire family will be saved. ‘Let us not lose sight of Jesus’.
Faith in Him and His
promises requires patience and perseverance.
Let us be mindful, too,
of that promise when we say at the end of the rosary (and at the end of the Hail Holy Queen) to Our Lady Mother of
Mercy:
‘Pray for us O Holy
Mother of God, that we (and our loved ones) may be made worthy of the promises
of Christ.’
19th Sunday of the Year C
‘See that you are dressed
for action and have your lamps lit. Be ready for the Master’s return, vigilant’
None of us like to be caught out, caught napping, or caught unawares,
unprepared, not ready for a visitor with our house or kitchen in a state and perhaps
nothing for a visitor to eat. Equally none of us wish to be caught out when
there is an unanticipated inspection of our work, when we are being scrutinised,
and especially if we are unprepared.
None of us want to be stopped by the Gardaà at a checkpoint. Often
and we well know it by know where the Garda speed vans are – we know where to
slow down, and we might even be warned by oncoming traffic by flashing lights
in a 50km speed zone. But how much greater
the relief and satisfaction when and we breathe a sigh of relief when a squad
car is at the side of the road and we have kept to the speed limit.
We think of being on the watch also because there may have
been a burglar on the prowl. We think of someone who hasn’t made enough plans or
taken enough steps to guard their property or their valuables, of when we hear
of someone broken into. I will never forget the story of neighbours of mine at
home who came home from their annual holiday only to find that their house had
been broken into and a large kitchen knife found in a bedroom upstairs!
If we are that cautious and careful about our bodies and our
material welfare, the parables today challenge us to think: what of our souls
and our spiritual welfare, of our future, of our calling, of our ultimate
destiny? It is not that God wants to catch us out and pick His moment to when
we are at our weakest, to snatch us as it were from this life.
Today’s Gospel is therefore a call to a greater
attentiveness and vigilance as to what it means to be Christian, in thought,
in speech, in action and also in moments of trial and temptation.
We think of the example of the greatest Christian woman of
all, the Mother of Jesus, who was first and foremost a great listener and
observer, and we are given examples of her attentiveness, that is of her practical
living out of what she had heard. She went with haste to visit and attend to
her pregnant cousin Elizabeth and stayed until the birth of John the Baptist;
she was the first to notice that there was no wine at Cana – without her
watchful, loving and observant eye and concern, a wedding would have been
remembered for all the wrong reasons.
The sense of readiness is also well explained in the following
story
The story of the two
soldiers
A general turned up one
day in the trenches in World War One and asked a junior officer to pick two of
his best solders, only one of which would be chosen for a secret mission.
Two soldiers were sent
for – one was immaculately attired, rifle gleaming, shoes polished to a
reflective shine, down to the polished buttons and pressed suit the soldier’s
uniform was exemplary.
The other soldier was sent
for, his rifle too was perfect, but everything else about him was rough and
care-worn.
The general said ‘I’ll take
the second man, I commend a man ready for inspection, but what I want is a man
who gets the job done.’
Being ready therefore is the Master finding us at our employment,
of being trustworthy – that is literally being found worthy of the trust placed
in us.
Christ wants us to carry out His mission readily and with a
generous heart, not with one eye over our shoulder. With our sleeves rolled up:
“Christ has no body now but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on
this world.
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.
Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes,
you are his body.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
[Teresa of Avila]
18th Sunday of the Year C
From time to
time in a moment of frustration or tiredness, we might ask ourselves this
question: ‘what is it all for?’ or ‘what is life all about?’
It is good for us to sit back once in a while
to ask ourselves the ‘why’ of what we do, and not remain so focussed on ‘what’
we do. People may often ask us ‘what do you do?’ as a conversation opener, but
thankfully never ask us why we do it although from time to time people might
comment ‘I could never do that’. We must also be careful that our role in work
does not define us as persons, and that we are so caught up in our work that we
forget life’s real purpose – to get to heaven.
It is one of the few parables about a man on his own and
wanting to enjoy life and property and riches without reference to anyone else.
There was no relationship, of family, no children, no relations, no concern for
sharing with those in need, it was accumulation for its own sake, and therefore
greed. He had a talent for accumulating wealth but he was spiritually poor. He tried
to have a paradise without God. There was no heavenly wisdom in his actions.
For some people
the answer to the question of the meaning of life is: ‘Eat drink and be merry,
for tomorrow we die'. ‘It’s all about having and about enjoying yourself, because
time is short and you won’t be around forever so make the best of it.’ But living
a life without consequences, to believe that you can have who and whatever you
want is however to live a life of hedonism which is ultimately shallow and fails
to satisfy for very long. We see in some celebrities vain attempts at
immortality, careerism, profit, prestige, fame, notoriety, power, of
appearances, of glamour (through cosmetic surgery), of being talked about in
the tabloids. And yet their autobiographies are full of sadness and attempts at
escapism through abuse of food, drink, drugs, scandal and infidelity.How often, like the rich man, have we heard of heart breaking stories of money invested and gone, or projects completed and a person does in the stress of the effort? I remember there was a publican who spent over £200,000 (punts) in extending his pub, and he died soon afterwards, how the best laid plans in retirement fall through, how people sadly do not see their worldly dreams fulfilled, and die before enjoying retirement.
Such anecdotes make us stop and think about the shortness of
our own lives and to question our priorities in life as well as who will follow
after us.
The expression ‘you can’t take it with you’ is well captured
in the story of the Irish-born self-made millionaire in America who stipulated that
he buried in the land of his birth. On the crate carrying him home were stamped
the words: ‘of no commercial value’. The other expression there is no trailer after
a hearse reminds us of the stark reality of the saying ‘you can’t take it with
you’. So there is the question of creativity certainly but also of stewardship,
of the relative value of everything and the value to our relatives!
Desires, even disordered ones, all point to a sense of incompleteness,
of longing for completion, for fulfilment, for satisfaction, point to our restlessness,
of never seeming to have enough, of not being satisfied.
May we learn from the fictional character in the Gospel today
to re-evaluate our philosophy of life, what drives us, and what do we ultimately
desire.
May the parable invite us to look at our possessions as to
whether they possess us, to ask ourselves if we can say in all honesty: ‘I am happy
with what I have’ and that I can give to others readily.
May we ask ourselves, like in the first reading: ‘what is it
all for?’ and know that there is a positive answer that involves us but that
life is not all about us!
The way to heaven is summed up in the Beatitudes: the way of peace,
purity, poverty (detachment), persecution, mournfulness, meekness, mercy, and
hunger for what is right.
17th Sunday of Year C
If we stop to pause at the Our Father, many of us trip up
even at the thought and image of God as a loving 'Father' . That God the Father loves us, and that
the Father loves even me!
Somehow somewhere along the way in the Church we somehow got
into our heads the idea of a vengeful angry God wanting to trip up us up, who
counts our sins (and not our tears). This may well be due to
incidents in the Old Testament such as that of Sodom and Gomorrah and the ‘fire
and brimstone’ that fell from heaven to obliterate these cities of notoriety.
While the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is one that captures the
imagination of a God who is ready to punish the wicked there is yet a seeming reluctance
on the part of God – as reflected in the First Reading today - to do so. The sins
of Sodom were grave indeed and if we were to read more about the residents (in
Genesis 19) they are portrayed as depraved beyond belief, guilty of sexual desire
without any boundaries and any sense of moral consequence. They were stubborn
in their ways and recklessly abandoned any natural morality. As a consequence –
young and old were spiritually and morally dead. It is hard for us to imagine a
kind of existence without any moral frame of reference although as a society we
are certainly headed in that direction. Sodom was a society in self-destruct
mode.
The story of Abraham’s intercession on their behalf shows us
that God is ready to relent if there is some justice and uprightness in a
sinful society, that God withholds his just punishment if there are those whose
lives have gained God’s favour on behalf of their sinful brethren interceding
for them and making reparation for them. But there is a breaking point, an irretrievable
point at which God says ‘enough!’ – as if to say ‘no more sin, or punishment will
surely come upon you.’ This is rather frightening and does not sit well with
us, but it makes complete sense that if enough people break the natural moral
law, there are consequences on a grander societal scale.
In the twentieth century private revelations (subsequently
approved by the Church) show that things have not changed since Sodom and Gomorrah
– God’s threat of punishment is conditional on our response. At Fatima, we were
reminded that war is a punishment for sin and that we are invited to repent, or
great evils will come upon us. This is the mystery of sin, and our part in it
and our part in repentance and reparation for it through lives of spiritual and
moral purity. Our Lady told us through us that peace will come when a sufficient
number of people do as she asked. To the children she admonished us: ‘do not
offend God any more, He is already too much offended.’ At Rwanda in 1980 (approved) visions to at
least three people took place – where up to 10 young people were visited by Our
Lady and urged to proclaim national reconciliation and prayer, and if not a
river of blood would flow through their land. The people did not listen and a terrible
genocide of up to 1 million dead took place in 3 months in 1994. Again a
tremendous mystery. God appeals to us and we do not listen. God is patient and
wants us to avail of every opportunity to purify the intentions of our hearts. ‘there
are some demons that are visible and some that reside in men’s hearts’, one Rwandan
had said.
In the Gospel, Jesus gave us the perfect intercessory prayer in
the Our Father. The fact that God is OUR Father reminds us that we pray to Him
for one another.
There is a whole section in the Catechism on the prayer (CCC
nn2759-2864)
It is ultimately a prayer given out of love and for love of God and one another:
‘If we pray the Our Father sincerely we leave
all individualism behind, because the love we receive frees us from it…if we
are to say it truthfully, our divisions and oppositions have to be overcome…(CCC n2792)
…praying with and for all who do not yet know
Him’ (CCC n2793)
16th Sunday of Year C
Martha and Mary
All our
lives we will be compared one way or the other. We have to accept that and work
on our own uniqueness! One of my favourite books is ‘The temperament God gave
you’ and you learn to accept certain things about yourself and other’s points
of view or alternative ways of seeing things and acting. People will have to
accept us too!
Martha and
Mary are presented to us as different contrasting personalities. Martha is the
active, about -the-house type, expresses her opinions readily, complains, sees
all that there has to be done and stresses about it. Mary is silent,
recollected, seemingly passive, a listener. Martha complains that Mary should
be helping. Jesus rather, praises Mary for getting her priorities right, for
‘choosing the better part’. Martha, it seems, had lost sight of the bigger
picture. She focused more on the WHAT of life than the WHY. Martha had lists of
things to be done and would mentally cross them off, Mary had one thing on her
mind: ‘today the Lord and Master is coming to visit; I will listen and learn
and keep Him company’. Whereas Martha was concerned about short-term
soon-to-forgotten priorities and jobs to fill her day, Mary achieved more
because she has her eternal end in sight and acted on that perspective.
I have
always had one difficulty with this story though. It seems unfair! Martha was
trying to do her best after all! I remember growing up that if guests came to visit,
that we would all be expected to help out in the kitchen to get things ready or
set the table or clean around the house. We would be quickly reminded to help
out and to do our share of the work if we were seen to be slacking.
Maybe the
problem though is that Martha did not know when to stop. The unique opportunity of having
Jesus as her guest was lost sight of. She kept on working and would lose the
meaning of the present moment. How often we lose sight of what we are doing at
a given moment because we are too focused on ‘what’s next’? We need more
recollection and repose, like Mary, who chose the better part’.
We need more
interior life.
Fifteenth Sunday of the Year
The Good Samaritan
In recent weeks and days we have seen the importance of
decision making, the pain and the torture and the sleepless nights some people
in our Government and backbenches have experienced in coming to a final
decision, a decision that will affect countless thousands of women and their
unborn children in the years to come.
I do not wish to dwell
on the outcome of this week. That is for another day. But some of what follows could be applied now to how we address the topic of the unborn from now on.
What the readings for the Gospel tells us is the importance of coming to the right decision
and the part that flawed reasoning takes
that we can infer from the Levite and the priest on their way to worship.
As we might reflect on the decisions of various public
representatives, it is strangely appropriate that the parable presented to us
today is in fact about coming to a right way of thinking and acting out of that
conviction.
The stained glass
window on the left hand side of the cathedral or the north side, three windows
down, shows clearly in summary the Good Samaritan and behind him one turning to
the left and the other to the right, the priest and the Levite going their
separate ways.
The two baddies in the story were those who purportedly
worshipped God and were on their way to do so and as we know so well, ignored
the pressing urgent need before them that should have taken priority. Their
reasoning was based on human regulations of what was clean and unclean. They
categorised the person before them and turned away.
Their false sense of what was right, their narrow focus on
uncleanness and thereby were losing sight of the God they worshipped. They made
a deliberate decision by their body
language and movement – no words of theirs are recorded. Theirs was
silent inaction and avoidance of what and who was put before them. The poor
person who was violated has his dignity violated again by two acts of
deliberate avoidance. The Levite and
priest are so heavenly-minded that they are of no earthly use. They have
also sinned against themselves as well as giving dishonour to the esteem others
have accorded to their chosen profession /way of life. It must have been quite
shocking to Jesus’ hearers that He would have used the analogy without of
course naming and shaming any named individual or group before him.
In the course of our
day, certain unexpected situations will crop up – each challenging us to react and
decide, a phone call and the caller ID
makes us decide whether we are going to bother, the neighbour or fellow
parishioner who hasn’t spotted the fact that we have seen them first and we
dive into a shop or cross the road rather than face a tedious and time
consuming conversation, someone we want to avoid, in a coffee shop or
restaurant, we don’t want to be caught. Where we sit in a train or a bus or an
airplane, glad to avoid discomfort and avoiding someone we find boring or a
pain to listen to! Even, dare I say it, where we sit in church in order not to
be seen by others!? We can all think of a person who might take up our valuable
time and who never usually show any real interest in us, who are better at
talking than listening.
We are glad we avoided them and saved ourselves a tedious
situation
And how much they
might actually need someone to talk to and we have left the opportunity pass us
by?
We might purposely avoid that street corner or bridge in the
city where a beggar with a cup might be perched.
It can be hard when
people we know deliberately ignore us. And we are all guilty
of avoiding others. But rather than dwelling on my hurt, have I done the same
thing, where the first person to nab me as it were keeps me from meeting the
people I would prefer to meet?
I suppose we have to allow everyone a bad day now and again
and make allowances but we can really
hurt people by ignoring them – adding insult to injury to the poor man was beaten
up in the story was passed by and who could, we imagine, perhaps hear the
footsteps of potential help fade away in the distance.
Finally, it is also a case of procrastinating. Maybe the priest and Levite decided to wait and
return. Who knows? After all it is only a story but we are delving in to their
motives, because we can see times when we delayed to act. The Samaritan did
what he could, and did return a second time. His mercy was not a one off, but a
way of life.
Would it not be an indictment if we thought that there were
people in our lives awaiting a visit, a phone call, or who need an end to our silent
treatment, an end to a dispute and an argument and we are the ones holding back
from forgiveness and reconciliation with them, even though we think they
deserve our coldness?
The simple lessons of today therefore are
1.
Our
neighbour is not far away at all
2.
The three ways we fail to live up to what the parable
teaches us, i.e., in how we fail in relation to our neighbour (both born and unborn) are
A. Silence
B. Avoidance
C. Delay
3.
Knowing
we can’t do it all but that we can do what is within our grasp
The question asked at the beginning of the Gospel today was:
(the emphasis is on doing)
'what must I do to inherit eternal life?'
The answer in the words of Jesus in the Gospel is : 'Go and do likewise'
Or as in the commercial for the sports gear: 'Just do it'
Fourteenth Sunday of the Year
At this time of year, if we can afford to get away, go on holidays
and the anticipation of travel fill us with a renewed excitement. We get down
our baggage and start packing our suitcases, but are now ever vigilant and
aware of weight restrictions.
The disciples in today’s Gospel were on a trial run on their first journey away as it
were before they would be sent after Pentecost with the Holy Spirit and with
the anointing to forgive sins to baptise and to preach.
Funnily enough the disciples are called to go forth without any
spare ‘anything’! Why is this? This ensures a speedy and unhindered visitation
and area cover in the shortest time possible. The Lord will provide through
receptive and hospitable hearers on the first mission of the disciples. And the
disciples return comparing notes and stories at the wonderful signs that accompany
the message and the preliminary mission.
There must be in all of us at all times that message and that
confidence and trust that the Lord is ahead of us in all things and our
pilgrimage journey in this life. He knows what lies ahead and He will provide
for us. Wherever life brings us, He will be there waiting as well as with us
every step of the way. We are therefore to practice detachment form things that
can hinder effective witness.
But there is another kind of baggage we carry, and the term
‘emotional baggage’ is used for a person with mental or emotional problems.
Often a term that is employed of a disturbed person, often dismissively, is
that ‘they have issues’.
Who does not have issues today? Just under the surface there
is in all of us baggage we carry, the things that weigh us down, the heaviness
in our hearts, the stresses and strains of life, the financial burdens of so
many people, the uncertainties of life, the failure of our elected
representatives to truly represent us in areas of pressing concern, the
cynicism in the media, the relentless doom and gloom in the economy, and daily
we are drawn to the blaring headlines of crashes and disasters and terrorism
and other acts of violence. There is so much lack of hope in people’s hearts,
not knowing where to turn to for relief, solace or comfort. What can explain the
depression in young people, taking the ultimate dreaded step? There is in
society the lack of a hopeful vision of a clear and consistent moral as well as
spiritual leadership.
But any desired change in the world at large, or in society begins
with the individual decision-making process. Rather than be trapped in an ever downward
spiral, we must turn to Christ and form a relationship with Him in prayerful
trust.
We must recognise the baggage and weight we carry in our hearts.
The Bible refers to the burden that sin is, which with anger, shame,
self-loathing and guilt can be overwhelming. The burden of sin, and forgiveness
is described in the psalms as follows: ‘too much for us our offences but you
wipe them away’ (Psalm 44)
He took away our
offences for us
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” – Isaiah 1:18
‘Come to me, all you
that labour, and are burdened, and I will refresh you.’ (Mt 11:28)
We cannot give what we do not have. Pope John Paul – soon to
be saint – said that ‘those who have had a genuine encounter with Christ cannot
keep it to themselves.’ That is our experience too.
‘Blessed be the Lord
our God who has helped us and we too are called to help one another in their
time of need. Just as we share in God’ consolations, so we share in God’s great
help. (2 Cor 1:4).
To sum up therefore
we are called to ‘love one another as I have loved you’ (John). This love means
that we should ‘bear one
another’s burdens, not as a duty but gladly’. (1 Th 5:14). The fact that we
are unburdened (of sin in Confession) becomes a source of joy – the joy of
knowing and experiencing Christ’s ready forgiveness most of all, and therefore
we are called to forgive as well as be forgiven. This is the greatest challenge
of the call to love one another- to forgive one another in Christ. That is
truly ‘bearing one another’s burdens.
In effect the disciples were called to
carry no baggage in order to more effectively relieve people of theirs!
Let there be no baggage between us or overhead!
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