This date marks the 1st Anniversary of the publication of Verbum Domini - on the place of Sacred Scripture in the life of the Church - by Pope Benedict XVI.
The following are extracts where the Holy Father alludes to the life and role of St Jerome. They have relevance in how seriously we are all called to take the place of the Word of God in our lives.
Extracts from Verbum Domini
Saint Jerome speaks of the way we ought to approach both the Eucharist and the word of God: “We are reading the sacred Scriptures. For me, the Gospel is the Body of Christ; for me, the holy Scriptures are his teaching. And when he says: whoever does not eat my flesh and drink my blood (Jn 6:53), even though these words can also be understood of the [Eucharistic] Mystery, Christ’s body and blood are really the word of Scripture, God’s teaching. When we approach the [Eucharistic] Mystery, if a crumb falls to the ground we are troubled. Yet when we are listening to the word of God, and God’s Word and Christ’s flesh and blood are being poured into our ears yet we pay no heed, what great peril should we not feel?”...
As Saint Jerome reminds us, preaching needs to be accompanied by the witness of a good life: “Your actions should not contradict your words, lest when you preach in Church, someone may begin to think: ‘So why don’t you yourself act that way?’ … In the priest of Christ, thought and word must be in agreement”...
Saint Jerome, in his great love for the word of God, often wondered: “How could one live without the knowledge of Scripture, by which we come to know Christ himself, who is the life of believers?”. He knew well that the Bible is the means “by which God speaks daily to believers”. His advice to the Roman matron Leta about raising her daughter was this: “Be sure that she studies a passage of Scripture each day… Prayer should follow reading, and reading follow prayer… so that in the place of jewellery and silk, she may love the divine books”. Jerome’s counsel to the priest Nepotian can also be applied to us: “Read the divine Scriptures frequently; indeed, the sacred book should never be out of your hands. Learn there what you must teach”...
Saint Jerome is likewise firmly convinced that “we cannot come to an understanding of Scripture without the assistance of the Holy Spirit who inspired it”.
Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on 30 September, the Memorial of Saint Jerome, in the year 2010, the sixth of my Pontificate.
26th Sunday of the Year A
I have often thought how difficult it must be for parents to encourage and instill obedience in their children as they grow into puberty and adolescence. Rebellion and independent thinking can often be a knee-jerk reaction, or saying 'yes' to a request and then dodging the bullet as it were afterwards are two common responses in teenage children. Nagging and disagreements may follow.
The parable of the two sons who do their own thing correspond to Jesus listeners at the time, law-abiding Jews and sinners among them. Now 2000 years later, the parable is extended to us.
The second son
There were among the Jews, priest and elders who had heard John the Baptist’s call to repentance and refused to change, even after hearing him. Are we the Pharisees? Are we the proud and disdainful, arrogant Pharisees, casting aspersions, looking down on others, complacent? If so, then we are then in great danger of being overtaken and surpassed on the road to heaven by the very people we dismiss, those who in their humility avail of God’s mercy, turn aside from sin in the past, readily admit to past wrongs in confession, and are prepared to atone and make reparation for them, trusting in the mercy of God, and experienced a complete change of life through God’s grace and mercy.
Have you or I, like the second son, ever resolved to do something and then change your mind afterwards?
The second son who said he was going to do something yet did not do it was only fooling himself that the father would not find him out. What is lacking is the right motivation and perspective.
We all know and can label people like the second son for their double-speak, hypocrisy, contradictions, insincerity and unreliability and untrustworthiness. People who ‘talk the talk’, but won’t ‘walk the walk’. Their reputation quickly spreads before them by word of mouth.
The second son who said he was going to do something yet did not do it was only fooling himself that the father would not find him out.
We all know and can label people like the second son for their double-speak, hypocrisy, contradictions, insincerity and unreliability and untrustworthiness. People who ‘talk the talk’, but won’t ‘walk the walk’. Their reputation quickly spreads before them by word of mouth.
The first son
The first son who undergoes a mature thought process, who thought better of his refusal to listen to his father and changed his mind to work in the vineyard, corresponds to the great public notorious sinners of the day, tax collectors (Matthew among them) and prostitutes, whose sins were so grave, numerous and scandalous that they were written off by the Jews as beyond hope. Yet they are the ones praised by Jesus for ‘making their way’ to the Kingdom.
These latter people underwent a dramatic conversion, accepting and hearing the words of John the Baptist. They underwent a complete transformation a turnaround and dramatic transformation in attitude and action in lifestyle in concrete changes.
Have you or I ever, like the first son, ever resolved NOT to do something and then thought better of it? What is going on? Maybe your conscience was pricked, and some higher value came to mind? There can sometimes be temptations in all of our lives to laziness and comfort, things that distract us and allure us away from doing the right thing - from vigilance to chastity, honesty, sobriety, charity in speech. The temptation is too great it seem to have a cut off someone in gossip, in jest. We let ourselves down and scold ourselves afterwards for having given into temptation, whatever our weakness is, for the joy of a fleeting moment. If we succeed in resisting the temptation at the first instance, in thought, we are rewarded and even feel a certain satisfaction that on this occasion at least, we have overcome temptation even though we can readily recall times we have not been so vigilant.
We can accomplish a great deal in a short time by resisting temptation and go on to great good when we see through the smokescreen that the devil or our weakened will of repeated bad habits due to Original Sin, put up as barriers to virtue, and go on to do what seems at first repugnant to us.
It can be something simple as going to Mass on a rainy morning like this, by not turning over in bed in the morning and grabbing an extra few winks! It may be an unpleasant chore, like a letter or phone call or payment of a bill or returning others’ property we have been putting off, a necessary apology, a visit to a sick relative in hospital some distance away, anything that interferes it seems in our schedule, unpleasant housework, smiling at a colleague we do not easily get in with, having a conversation with someone we strive to avoid, going to the dentist, or even an overdue visit to confession, a fast or abstinence.
We can all recall times when, like the first son, we balked at the performance of an unpleasant duty – whether it was through fear, hesitancy, discomfort, putting ourselves out, inconveniences, or the sense of valuable time taken from us.
But afterwards, have you noticed the consolation and joy and satisfaction as well as a sense of achievement in carrying out what we would rather not do?
Are we sinners who have experienced God’s mercy and are here today because we have had an experience of God’s forgiveness? Are we, however, still in need? Do we trust God that he will have mercy on us? That our sins are not too great and too awful and too embarrassing to be forgiven?
What is never mentioned in the parable is the distinct possibility that the father may later check up on the sons – and to his surprise will see the unexpected – the son who repented and acted, not the son who made the verbal commitment, at work in the vineyard.
We are also called in the First Reading from Ezekiel, to take responsibility for our actions, and those actions and our attitudes, have eternal consequences. The door of God’s mercy is open to us.
Every saint had a past, every sinner has a future. We are nit the first nor will we be the last, to struggle with moral precepts. The history of the Church is filled with saints who were reformed sinners – St Matthew, St Mary Magdalene, St Augustine who fathered a child outside marriage, St Margaret of Cortona who converted after the death of her lover, a married man, Matt Talbot who turned to sobriety, and many more..
Who, then, will make it heaven, and who will be pleasing in God’s eyes – the self-righteous who perform lip-service only, or the sinner who repents and proves himself or herself in actions?
Which one am I? Which one are you?
The parable of the two sons who do their own thing correspond to Jesus listeners at the time, law-abiding Jews and sinners among them. Now 2000 years later, the parable is extended to us.
The second son
There were among the Jews, priest and elders who had heard John the Baptist’s call to repentance and refused to change, even after hearing him. Are we the Pharisees? Are we the proud and disdainful, arrogant Pharisees, casting aspersions, looking down on others, complacent? If so, then we are then in great danger of being overtaken and surpassed on the road to heaven by the very people we dismiss, those who in their humility avail of God’s mercy, turn aside from sin in the past, readily admit to past wrongs in confession, and are prepared to atone and make reparation for them, trusting in the mercy of God, and experienced a complete change of life through God’s grace and mercy.
Have you or I, like the second son, ever resolved to do something and then change your mind afterwards?
The second son who said he was going to do something yet did not do it was only fooling himself that the father would not find him out. What is lacking is the right motivation and perspective.
We all know and can label people like the second son for their double-speak, hypocrisy, contradictions, insincerity and unreliability and untrustworthiness. People who ‘talk the talk’, but won’t ‘walk the walk’. Their reputation quickly spreads before them by word of mouth.
The second son who said he was going to do something yet did not do it was only fooling himself that the father would not find him out.
We all know and can label people like the second son for their double-speak, hypocrisy, contradictions, insincerity and unreliability and untrustworthiness. People who ‘talk the talk’, but won’t ‘walk the walk’. Their reputation quickly spreads before them by word of mouth.
The first son
The first son who undergoes a mature thought process, who thought better of his refusal to listen to his father and changed his mind to work in the vineyard, corresponds to the great public notorious sinners of the day, tax collectors (Matthew among them) and prostitutes, whose sins were so grave, numerous and scandalous that they were written off by the Jews as beyond hope. Yet they are the ones praised by Jesus for ‘making their way’ to the Kingdom.
These latter people underwent a dramatic conversion, accepting and hearing the words of John the Baptist. They underwent a complete transformation a turnaround and dramatic transformation in attitude and action in lifestyle in concrete changes.
Have you or I ever, like the first son, ever resolved NOT to do something and then thought better of it? What is going on? Maybe your conscience was pricked, and some higher value came to mind? There can sometimes be temptations in all of our lives to laziness and comfort, things that distract us and allure us away from doing the right thing - from vigilance to chastity, honesty, sobriety, charity in speech. The temptation is too great it seem to have a cut off someone in gossip, in jest. We let ourselves down and scold ourselves afterwards for having given into temptation, whatever our weakness is, for the joy of a fleeting moment. If we succeed in resisting the temptation at the first instance, in thought, we are rewarded and even feel a certain satisfaction that on this occasion at least, we have overcome temptation even though we can readily recall times we have not been so vigilant.
We can accomplish a great deal in a short time by resisting temptation and go on to great good when we see through the smokescreen that the devil or our weakened will of repeated bad habits due to Original Sin, put up as barriers to virtue, and go on to do what seems at first repugnant to us.
It can be something simple as going to Mass on a rainy morning like this, by not turning over in bed in the morning and grabbing an extra few winks! It may be an unpleasant chore, like a letter or phone call or payment of a bill or returning others’ property we have been putting off, a necessary apology, a visit to a sick relative in hospital some distance away, anything that interferes it seems in our schedule, unpleasant housework, smiling at a colleague we do not easily get in with, having a conversation with someone we strive to avoid, going to the dentist, or even an overdue visit to confession, a fast or abstinence.
We can all recall times when, like the first son, we balked at the performance of an unpleasant duty – whether it was through fear, hesitancy, discomfort, putting ourselves out, inconveniences, or the sense of valuable time taken from us.
But afterwards, have you noticed the consolation and joy and satisfaction as well as a sense of achievement in carrying out what we would rather not do?
Are we sinners who have experienced God’s mercy and are here today because we have had an experience of God’s forgiveness? Are we, however, still in need? Do we trust God that he will have mercy on us? That our sins are not too great and too awful and too embarrassing to be forgiven?
What is never mentioned in the parable is the distinct possibility that the father may later check up on the sons – and to his surprise will see the unexpected – the son who repented and acted, not the son who made the verbal commitment, at work in the vineyard.
We are also called in the First Reading from Ezekiel, to take responsibility for our actions, and those actions and our attitudes, have eternal consequences. The door of God’s mercy is open to us.
Every saint had a past, every sinner has a future. We are nit the first nor will we be the last, to struggle with moral precepts. The history of the Church is filled with saints who were reformed sinners – St Matthew, St Mary Magdalene, St Augustine who fathered a child outside marriage, St Margaret of Cortona who converted after the death of her lover, a married man, Matt Talbot who turned to sobriety, and many more..
Who, then, will make it heaven, and who will be pleasing in God’s eyes – the self-righteous who perform lip-service only, or the sinner who repents and proves himself or herself in actions?
Which one am I? Which one are you?
25th Sunday of the Year A
IF YOU HAVE EVER WORKED OUTDOORS IN THE SUN IN A FOREIGN CLIMATE, YOU KNOW HOW RELENTLESS HEAT AND HUMIDITY CAN WEAR YOU DOWN. WITH MONOTONOUS TEDIOUS WORK, YOUR THOUGHTS INEVITABLY WANDER AND DRIFT. RECURRING THOUGHTS OF A WATER BREAK, THE END OF THE DAY, HOW MUCH THE WORK IS WORTH – HOW MUCH YOU EARN PER HOUR, AND WHAT YOU WILL DO WITH THE MONEY EARNED.
SO AT THE END OF THE DAY, ESPECIALLY WORKING IN A VINEYARD OR ORCHARD, OR IN MY CASE PAINTING HOUSES IN THE SUBURBIA OF CHICAGO, THE THOUGHT OF OTHERS EARNING AT A HIGHER RATE IS BOUND TO FILL YOU WITH THOUGHTS OF RESENTMENT AND ALL THE EXTRA HOURS SPENT TOILING FOR THE SAME PAY AS SOMEONE WHO WORKED ONLY ONE HOUR.
THIS WOULD NOT WORK IN THE ‘REAL WORLD’ OF TRADE UNIONS AND EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE BROKERED PAY AGREEMENTS.
SO IT IS A VERY CHALLENGING PARABLE, BECAUSE IT DESCRIBES WHAT APPEARS TO BE A VERY UNREASONABLE, INEQUITABLE AND UNWORKABLE OVERALL ARRANGEMENT.
THIS MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING AND DISTURBING OF PARABLES POINTS TO A HIGHER TRUTH – THAT OF GOD’S GENEROUS MERCY – TO DO AND SEE AS HE SEES FIT – OR AS IN THE WORDS OF THE FIRST READING FROM ISAIAH – ‘MY WAYS ARE NOT YOUR WAYS’.
THE LANDLORD IS FAIR INSOFAR AS HE PAYS THE AGREED RATE WITH EACH PERSON, BUT GENEROUS TO A FAULT IN GIVING LATE-COMERS A BETTER RATE PER HOUR.
TO THE JEWISH AND EARLY CHRISTIAN DISCIPLES THE PARABLE POINTS TO THE SALVATION OFFERED TO THE JEWS – WHOSE RELIGION AND HISTORY DATES BACK 1200 YEARS TO ABRAHAM AND 600 YEARS TO MOSES. NOW, WITH THE COMING OF CHRIST, SALVATION IS OFFERED TO PAGANS, GENTILES –AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR. JEWISH FAITHFULNESS ALL ALONG SEEMS TO AVAIL LITTLE, IF ANY, ADVANTAGE.
IT REMINDS US OF THE RESENTMENT AND THE ENVY OF THE OLDER BROTHER AS WELL AS THE UNDUE PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT OFFERED TO THE YOUNGER WAYWARD BROTHER IN THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON. THERE THE FATHER REJOICES THAT HIS SON HAS RETURNED, WHILE THE OLDER BROTHER COMPLAINS THAT THERE SEEMS TO BE LITTLE MERIT IN HIS STAYING AT HOME FAITHFUL TO HIS DUTY.
THE LESSON IS THAT GOD’S MERCY (REPRESENTED BY THE CURRENCY OF THE TIME – A DENARIUS) IS INFINITE AND WAY BEYOND OUR STANDARDS OF WHO DESERVES WHAT. GOD’S MERCY IS FOR ALL WHO WOULD TURN TO HIM AND LISTEN TO HIS INVITATION TO REPENT AND TURN AWAY FROM SIN, EVEN AT THE 11TH HOUR.
WE IN TURN, HAVING BEEN THE RECIPIENTS OF MERCY, ARE ALSO CALLED TO A GREATER SENSE OF MERCY OURSELVES – IN THOUGHT WORD AND ACTION, TO THOSE IN OUR LIVES WHO WE CONSIDER UNDESERVING – TO THINK ‘OUTSIDE THE BOX’ AS IT WERE. ARE THERE PEOPLE I NEED TO MAKE THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS RECONCILIATION? WE MUST ALSO MEDITATE OFTEN ON THE EXTENT TO WHICH WE HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN BY GOD OUR MANY FAULTS AS WELL AS PONDERING WHERE IN MY OWN LIFE I MUST SEEK THE FORGIVENESS OF OTHERS.
GOD WRITES NO-ONE OFF, AND NEITHER SHOULD WE.
SO AT THE END OF THE DAY, ESPECIALLY WORKING IN A VINEYARD OR ORCHARD, OR IN MY CASE PAINTING HOUSES IN THE SUBURBIA OF CHICAGO, THE THOUGHT OF OTHERS EARNING AT A HIGHER RATE IS BOUND TO FILL YOU WITH THOUGHTS OF RESENTMENT AND ALL THE EXTRA HOURS SPENT TOILING FOR THE SAME PAY AS SOMEONE WHO WORKED ONLY ONE HOUR.
THIS WOULD NOT WORK IN THE ‘REAL WORLD’ OF TRADE UNIONS AND EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE BROKERED PAY AGREEMENTS.
SO IT IS A VERY CHALLENGING PARABLE, BECAUSE IT DESCRIBES WHAT APPEARS TO BE A VERY UNREASONABLE, INEQUITABLE AND UNWORKABLE OVERALL ARRANGEMENT.
THIS MOST THOUGHT-PROVOKING AND DISTURBING OF PARABLES POINTS TO A HIGHER TRUTH – THAT OF GOD’S GENEROUS MERCY – TO DO AND SEE AS HE SEES FIT – OR AS IN THE WORDS OF THE FIRST READING FROM ISAIAH – ‘MY WAYS ARE NOT YOUR WAYS’.
THE LANDLORD IS FAIR INSOFAR AS HE PAYS THE AGREED RATE WITH EACH PERSON, BUT GENEROUS TO A FAULT IN GIVING LATE-COMERS A BETTER RATE PER HOUR.
TO THE JEWISH AND EARLY CHRISTIAN DISCIPLES THE PARABLE POINTS TO THE SALVATION OFFERED TO THE JEWS – WHOSE RELIGION AND HISTORY DATES BACK 1200 YEARS TO ABRAHAM AND 600 YEARS TO MOSES. NOW, WITH THE COMING OF CHRIST, SALVATION IS OFFERED TO PAGANS, GENTILES –AT THE ELEVENTH HOUR. JEWISH FAITHFULNESS ALL ALONG SEEMS TO AVAIL LITTLE, IF ANY, ADVANTAGE.
IT REMINDS US OF THE RESENTMENT AND THE ENVY OF THE OLDER BROTHER AS WELL AS THE UNDUE PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT OFFERED TO THE YOUNGER WAYWARD BROTHER IN THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON. THERE THE FATHER REJOICES THAT HIS SON HAS RETURNED, WHILE THE OLDER BROTHER COMPLAINS THAT THERE SEEMS TO BE LITTLE MERIT IN HIS STAYING AT HOME FAITHFUL TO HIS DUTY.
THE LESSON IS THAT GOD’S MERCY (REPRESENTED BY THE CURRENCY OF THE TIME – A DENARIUS) IS INFINITE AND WAY BEYOND OUR STANDARDS OF WHO DESERVES WHAT. GOD’S MERCY IS FOR ALL WHO WOULD TURN TO HIM AND LISTEN TO HIS INVITATION TO REPENT AND TURN AWAY FROM SIN, EVEN AT THE 11TH HOUR.
WE IN TURN, HAVING BEEN THE RECIPIENTS OF MERCY, ARE ALSO CALLED TO A GREATER SENSE OF MERCY OURSELVES – IN THOUGHT WORD AND ACTION, TO THOSE IN OUR LIVES WHO WE CONSIDER UNDESERVING – TO THINK ‘OUTSIDE THE BOX’ AS IT WERE. ARE THERE PEOPLE I NEED TO MAKE THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS RECONCILIATION? WE MUST ALSO MEDITATE OFTEN ON THE EXTENT TO WHICH WE HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN BY GOD OUR MANY FAULTS AS WELL AS PONDERING WHERE IN MY OWN LIFE I MUST SEEK THE FORGIVENESS OF OTHERS.
GOD WRITES NO-ONE OFF, AND NEITHER SHOULD WE.
23rd Sunday of the Year A
The Sign of Peace at Mass is not always the most popular part in certain quarters. While Irish people are shy about the sign of peace. Some people in my parish go to great lengths to avoid sitting near others to avoid it. One lady even leaves the church and re-enters as The Lamb of God is being recited or sung. One year on a pilgrimage to Fatima, one day after Mass my Dad said: ‘I’m coming back here’. When my Mum and I asked him why he said: ‘at the sign of peace I got a kiss on both cheeks from a beautiful Portuguese girl!’
According to the first reading from Ezekiel, as a sentinel, a sentry would be remiss in his role and failing in his duty as a preacher of God’s word if he neglected the call to repentance for all people. This applies to all preachers, and I must include myself among the sinners in need of hearing God’s word when I preach God’s message. What is worse I would be punished for failure to preach. I am not however guilty if people fail to repent. Repentance ultimately means being at rights with God.
St Paul makes it clear that this entails fidelity to God’s commandments in love. To be a Christian is a new way of life. If we truly love, we will not hurt. And therefore love is the answer to all questions of morality.
Reconciliation with one’s brother (neighbour) is also a crucial part of faithful discipleship and a pre-condition for true prayer and worship. Where there is harmony in the community and in the Church, the more pleasing we are to God and the more effective will be our prayer.
Can you think of anyone you are at odds with - a family member or a work colleague, a relative with whom you are not on speaking terms or where there is a long-standing grievance? It is time to reconcile as best you can. If you have made every effort to restore the relationship and they still refuse to speak or forgive, you have done your best. Keep praying and keep the lines of communication open. Then you can come before the Lord in prayer in confidence and with a clear conscience.
Jesus is our Brother too and He wants us to be reconciled with Him. We need to be reconciled with one another and Him. In marriage, misunderstandings and disagreement are part and parcel of life, but a good line of Scripture says: ‘we should never let the sun go down on our anger’.
If I have any hatred, animosity, lack of forgiveness, anger, resentment – these must be weeded out and healed in my life – in my strained relations with others, if my prayer is to be heard – i.e. to be on speaking terms with others is a necessary quality in my life if I am trying to be on speaking terms with God in prayer! I must be honest and humble and admit wrong for my part.
If we are at peace with one another we will be at peace with God and enjoy the peace that the world cannot give. Jesus says ‘I leave you peace, my own peace I give you.’
22nd Sunday of the Year A
The letter D
I have always been a reader of, and remain fascinated by words. Have you ever noticed the power of words, and how a word can sum up how we are feeling?
How many negative mood states we can have - and how many of these begin particularly with the letter D?
We can be depressed, disappointed, disillusioned, disaffected, despondent, dismayed, in disarray, debilitated, defeated, deflated, dejected, in dread and doubt.
These are just a sample and I am sure you could think of more!
These negative states may be due to marital, domestic, financial, employment circumstances, ill health, bereavement, as well as the continuing downturn in the economy, the drip feed of bad news in the media, as well as the undeniable crisis conditions in the Church.
We must not rule out entirely the other D source - the demonic, diabolical, deranged, devil who wants us in fact - who has an agenda for us - to be deterred, discouraged, and distracted as we strive to remain in our important D role as self-denying Disciples of Jesus Christ – the demon who ultimately wants us to give into the most awful d words of all - to despair and be damned in eternal darkness!
Jeremiah, the prophet in today’s First Reading, experienced what might be called ‘the threshold of despair.’ It was a pivotal crisis of faith moment for him so beautifully and poignantly recorded and worth reading often. Perhaps he had many more of these in his past and after he reflected here in this passage on them. We know we do have these moments. We too are called to be prophetic by virtue of our baptism. And like Jeremiah we experience derision, criticism and hostility when we speak up for the truth and when our statements or way of life (not modelled on the behaviour of the world that we read about in the Epistle) are scrutinised and found to be a sign of contradiction. St Paul speaks elsewhere of ‘hardships worries, insults and persecutions for Christ’s sake’. To be a prophet is to suffer the fear of isolation when comfort, popularity and acceptance are overriding attractive alternatives.
Yet for all that, there was for Jeremiah as there is within us the unmistakeable, immovable abiding presence of the spark of the divine. God has left in all of us a desire for Him that no earthly happiness can match because we are body and spirit. Ultimately all our desires, be they natural or sinful inordinate desires, point to our desire for Him who is the source of all ultimate happiness. Jeremiah‘s hesitation and thoughts of giving up his call are momentary. The love of God within him is too great and outweighs any fleeting happiness to be gained by a life of fashionable conformity to worldliness. The fire of the love of God burning in his heart could not be quenched. He perseveres.
These are sentiments also beautifully reflected in the Psalm at today’s Mass:
O God you are my God for you I long
For you my soul is thirsting
My body pines for you like a dry weary land without water...
God alone can satisfy our longings. We cannot deny his Presence in ourselves because we are made in His image and likeness. But the source of strength and determination as we once more lift up our heads, and our crosses, is in Christ’s Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. The psalmist is prophetic when he continues:
So I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory...your right hand holds me fast.
How often we can gain comfort in church in time spent before the Real Presence of Christ and the lit red sanctuary lamp reminding us of this ‘living flame of love’ as St John of the Cross puts it.
There is a stirring line in the Divine Office – in the Office of Readings for the Dead (!) which I love to recall often:
‘Anything that happens in our lives without Christ is mere emptiness’.
21st Sunday of the year A
Have you ever been surprised by an impression that has been created in your mind of someone by others only to have that impression unexpectedly and surprisingly shattered by actually meeting that person face-to-face? We can be introduced to someone after having heard so much about them, maybe in a positive or negative way. Our own experience and encounter may be so radically and positively different and surprisingly so. I certainly have learned that I must be open and receptive to being pleasantly surprised – as it is so easy to pigeon-hole other people with labels and tags. I must try to open to what they have to say, rather than believe hype and distortions, and prejudices though gossip, and ignorance.
There is therefore a difference between knowing ABOUT SOMEONE through what you have heard about them, or seeing them from a distance and getting to KNOW THEM first hand.
There can also be a public impression created of someone that is totally the opposite of our own experience of that person.
Just as we should never act on second hand information, we would be wrong to form a conclusive impression of someone or act on that weak knowledge simply on the basis of others’ impressions of them without having been in conversation or having spent some time with them. We ourselves would not like to be dismissed or labelled unfairly, neither should we harbour that attitude to others.
================================================================================
Nowhere is this more crucial than our knowledge of Jesus. What is our thinking of our image of God?
============================================================================
Today Jesus asks of the disciples what PUBLIC OPINION of Him is, and then asks the disciples what THEY actually think of Him and who they think He is. We see that public opinion, with all its contrary judgments, is wrong!
Who do others say that I am?
We have been taught about God by parents and religion teachers and have formed ideas of God solely as judge, as one to be feared, as a policeman, as a ready punisher of evil, as an accountant tabulating our offences and sins, as a distant indifferent bemused patriarchal type of heavenly figure on a cloud who is nevertheless ready to pounce and strike lightning bolts on us if we sin. We have to shed false images of Him through our own fears and upbringing. Now rather is truth that God is judge and punisher of sin, but what about love and mercy? As Jesus said to St Catherine of Siena ‘I want you to fly to heaven on both wings’ - justice and mercy.
Who do you say that I am?
What is your own experience? There is no more important question of all the 200 questions Jesus asks of His followers and enquirers in the 4 Gospel accounts.
It is a question He puts to you and to me continuously. Who do you say that I am?
We might ask ourselves ‘why does it matter so much?’ Because it is a matter of faith, and relationship. And maybe too because we are going to meet Him some day! Faith is not just knowing about Jesus intellectually that He is the Son of God and Saviour of the world, second Person of the Blessed Trinity, and the tenets of the Creed but that He is your and my Saviour and my God as well as everyone else’s.
It is a sign of MATURE personal faith that we can be here as adults and stand up and be counted, that I am here not on account of others simply, but because I believe it, I believe in Jesus as My Lord and Saviour.
So it is one thing to ask or to be asked ‘Who is Jesus Christ?’ but quite another and far more significant to be asked the question – ‘Who is Jesus Christ for you?’
Peter’s faith and interior inspiration is the strongest, and so he is the rock on which Christ builds His Church. While Peter the first Pope was a weak individual at many levels, yet his faith and love for Christ were unshakeable. The Church’s faith is built upon Peter and the Apostles and therefore our faith in and knowledge of Christ is strengthened and fortified on this foundation. We have a duty to study our faith as adults, in order to deepen and copper-fasten our faith as well as leading to a more authentic love of Christ. I recommend the Catechism of the Catholic Church, available for €10 in the Cathedral bookshop, as constant reading besides the Bible. It tells us who Christ is and the implications of that faith – in our personal prayer, in public worship, in our individual and collective moral behaviour, and all the other aspects of our faith.
You might be surprised too to learn exactly what the Church teaches compared to the false impressions created by others.
Which brings us back to the original question of what influences our thinking, the truth of false representations of the truth, particularly about others.
What does Jesus say about Himself? And what may Jesus be saying once more to you and to me today?
Jesus Himself tells us that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, ands ‘no-one can come to the Father except through Me.’ ‘I am the light of the world, anyone who follows me will not be walking in darkness..’. Come follow me.
The Feast (or Solemnity) of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady
As an uncle to 17 nieces and nephews I have occasionally been able to babysit and read bedtime stories. It is amazing how the same formulas ‘Once upon a time’ and ‘they all lived happily ever after’ is a perennial favourite with children.
I suppose we as adults lose sight of our once childish imagination of mythical lands and kingdoms far away, and need to ‘put away the things of childhood’ as St Paul put it, yet we are still called to be childlike, although not childish, if we are to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
We continue as adults to love drama and stories, and I suppose their enduring appeal is that they allow us to escape from the humdrum of life. If you like reading as I do then there is no end to the stories we engage in literature of fiction. Movies and TV soaps likewise are a huge source of commercial profit and provide an endless source of income for writers. A recent writers’ strike in the US showed how dependent TV channels and the viewing public depend on the creative output of writers.
Yet the greatest drama of all is our own life and our place in the world and in God’s loving plan of salvation.
The life of Mary which we honour and commemorate today, as well as the lives of the saints, allow us to see in what ways we too can respond to God’s plan in our lives. While Mary was given insights to her future by the angel Gabriel and by Simeon yet she is the one who is blessed by all generations for her faith. Faith means believing in what as yet remains unseen to us. Mary is the ‘Mother of all believers’ according to the Catechism, and so she is a model of trust and hope in what lies ahead in our lives - to trust that God knows what He is doing!
We commemorate in a particular way in the Feast of the Assumption, Mary’s ‘happily ever after’. She is in heaven. She ‘made it’ across the finishing line of what St Paul calls ‘the race’ which is our Christian life.
We mistakenly think that Mary had it easy and could see her way ahead clearly. She had daily tasks and chores in her married and family life, in the household and in her immediate neighbourhood community. The haste with which Mary went to see her cousin Elizabeth, the three months stay which clearly implies she was present for John the Baptist’s birth, and her foresight and attentiveness at Cana, all reveal to us a woman of compassion who responded to real life situations and crises as they arose unexpectedly, in a charitable and selfless manner.
Mary’s selflessness challenges us to confront the three Cs in our lives that constantly draw us back into our own little ivory towers. These are the
C of control where I do my own will instead of consulting God in the matter and seek Him above all else.
And the Cs of comfort and convenience that I must overcome in true love of neighbour.
Mary’s overcoming of the C of control is evident at the Annunciation – ‘behold the handmaid of the Lord; and ‘do whatever He tells you’, and ‘pondering these things in her heart’ at the birth of Jesus and at the Presentation..
And her overcoming the Cs of convenience and comfort is implied as mentioned in her joyful haste to meet and look after Elizabeth, as well as the many sacrifices she made as wife and mother in the household. Her comfort and convenience were also shattered by the many sorrows of exile and prophecy, of bereavements and loneliness and much interior suffering during Jesus’ Passion and death.
Mary’s ‘happily ever after’ was costly, yet worth it. Our salvation likewise is not easy but we see it as attainable with God’s grace, and Mary’s intercession in this ‘valley of tears’. We are in the thick of our own story, with our own unique attributes, personalities and tasks, but God the author is in control and who requires our free co-operation. Like Mary, we can say: ‘the Lord has done great things for me, holy is His name’. Where Mary has gone, we hope to follow. Then too with Mary we can live ‘happily ever after’.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)