23rd Sunday of the Year A

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 because the responsibility to repent lies squarely at others’ feet.

This 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 Year A

This week in 1939 - 75 years ago – on Sept 1^st in fact, Germany invaded Poland, and on 3^rd of September, England declared war in Germany. It was a dark time in 1939 and in 1940 when Churchill took up the mantle and became Prime Minister of Britain. But he was able to inspire people through his rhetoric and memorable speeches and one-liners. Today we would call them sound-bites. One of his many earlier speeches as people tuned in on the radio, the most immediate and popular and effective means of communication, was his line – ‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat’.

These words became a rallying cry, for the Government and the people in their darkest hour.

Jesus’ call to discipleship is a rallying cry to lay aside selfishness and to act for the good of others –just as British people found unexpected reserves of courage and comfort in Churchill’s words, we too can find a kind of heroism in daily life. Jesus offers us a reward to those who struggle with him along the way of the cross and self-forgetfulness

The Cross involves the following – ‘The performance of duty even if others seem to shirk theirs’ (St Josemaria Escriva) - to know your role.

To take up the cross, to deny oneself means putting others and the Lord's considerations above your own.

We are accountable and there can be no reward without effort, without a personal cost to ourselves – duty, sacrifice, facing up to our responsibilities, putting away the toys. It is a dying to self.

We need to start again to take up the mantle and once more after another lapse to deny what is particular to ourselves in terms of preference tastes or conveniences

Penance, self denial, and fasting or abstinence can be beneficial to help us forego in essentials and what really matters and to appreciate the gifts that are given to us, but what the Lord asks for most of all is from each person the faithful performance of daily duty in a spirit of sacrifice

There is a tendency in all of us to running away and the temptation of avoidance and procrastination to delay what ought to be done today due to bad habits of laziness and sloth and excessive love of comfort can be an injustice even paying bills and the like...things that can wait we think...and the preference of suiting ourselves ahead of others...

How can I better fulfil my tasks to which I am called in my particular state in life? How can I be more faithful than I have already been? And how can I avoid slacking off and sitting on my laurels?

This is in fact the time of year of a return in many people’s lives to the banality and drudgery as we see the end of school holidays and the return to work for students and teachers and the challenges of early morning traffic and child minding for grandparents are duties so that children can make ends meet.

But for many there are the unheralded ongoing duties to sick family members or those in a family circle the call to duty to do our fair share. There is the duty of charity - the duty to give more generously to others in need in less well off environments even the homeless and the poor in our own society.

True Christianity is not worthy of the name without the Cross, without the voluntary aspect i.e. the will to take to up, a free decision to continue on and to persevere again like the Stations Of The Cross of getting up again whatever the weary repeated falls have been ...

It is dying to selfish preferences and prioritisation to God, duty and others. It is selfless but it is character building and making us people of integrity and faithful.

If we can be trusted in small things we will be entrusted with greater. We become people that others will rely on and people that others turn to, we become the best version of ourselves. And in forgetting ourselves we actually mysteriously find the person we are called to become. 

The greatest and the most inescapable cross that all must bear lies deep within us. Throughout a lifetime we learn that our ways are not always God’s, our thoughts not always his. To accept this truth about ourselves is to die with Christ, to let go of self so as to be raised up in the mind of Christ Jesus.

It begins with daily dying to self. In the words of St Ignatius,a prayer in fact we can make our own.

Teach me, Lord

To give and not to count the cost

To fight and not to heed the wounds

To labour and not to seek reward

To toil and not to seek for rest

Save that we are doing your will O Lord’.

And as we are reminded in the words of the prayer attributed to St Francis: ‘It is in dying (to self) that we are born to eternal life.’

21st Sunday of Year A

21^st 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.

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Nowhere is this more crucial than our knowledge of Jesus. What is our thinking of our image of God?

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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.’

 

20th Sunday of the Year A

The value of persistent prayer

Have you ever been at your wit’s end looking for a miracle? Have you ever been so desperate, that you will try anything, novenas, extra rosaries, pilgrimages, fasts, penances, ‘extra stuff’, promised money to St Anthony to get a favour of a petition granted?

We all pray to the Our Lady and saints such as St Anthony or St Jude, even a deceased family member, and a holy person we knew, and so on. Because the Lord seems to be ‘taking His time’ answering a deeply felt need we feel the need to go to an intermediary. At exam time and this week I know without fail I will be asked to pray and or say Mass for someone anticipating their Leaving Cert. results and or their getting the place in third level that they will have enough points to get what they want.

Maybe it shows up the shallowness of our faith if the only time we are on our knees is when we are looking for something. Maybe the Lord is trying to strengthen our resolve and purify our motives in prayer by not granting us instant answers. What will our prayer be next week or in 6 months time?

On the other hand have we taken the time to acknowledge answered prayer? Do we take time to notice the quiet ways in which God has answered our most desperate prayers?

The story of the Gospel this Sunday is about faith tested and faith answered - involving a woman who doesn’t seem to have a chance to have her case heard– she is a woman in a male-dominated society and a pagan among Jews, what hope has she in being heard when even an Israelite Jewish woman wouldn’t dare approach a rabbi in public? A rabbi couldn’t even greet his mother in the street as it was frowned upon.

Yet it her all at once, desperate, persistent, persevering, patience pleading, her determination, directness, frankness, simplicity, selflessness, trust, and faith even in Jesus as the Son of David, and her appeal to his mercy and finally her human wit that wins Jesus over.

A mother will stop at nothing when the well-being of her child is at stake. Something changed in that woman, whether it was seconds, minutes or hours - in the woman’s disposition and faith. From calling Jesus simply ‘Sir’ and from a distance, she calls Him ‘Lord’, on her knees close to Him.

Maybe these are the qualities of prayer that we lack sometimes in prayer. We might give up too easily or lack pure motives. Do we have deep faith, do we appeal to Jesus’ mercy? Irrespective of her social standing and nationality Jesus looks at her heart. She is rewarded.

We also have to ask ourselves ‘why the delay?’ is God, as a loving Father, trying to teach me something as any parent teaches a child that we can’t have our way in everything and instantly, that, yes, He is attentive but we haven’t fully surrendered ourselves completely to His will for us? The woman shouts from a distance and when her prayer isn’t heard she annoys the disciples, and the finally she draws closer on her knees.

The unnamed woman is the first pagan to have her prayer answered – she will be the first of many – hence while Jesus alludes to the bread and feeding the people of Israel first, she responds with an image of breadcrumbs. She is seemingly jumping the gun, but she knows that ultimately those outside Israel can benefit from Jesus’ mission.

The Good News of salvation is for everyone, therefore, with the qualities of faith this unnamed woman displayed. How deep is our faith? And how readily can we - as Christians - say to God: Your will be done!?

Nineteenth Sunday of the Year A

This is the story of two men looking for God amidst the darkness and storms of life

Elijah cannot look God in the face because it was a commonly held belief on the Old Testament that no one was worthy to see Him – no one could look at the face of God and live

Both incidents occur after prayer – Elijah and Jesus both spend the night in prayer, Elijah looks for God, and He is revealed in a still voice. Jesus searches for Peter and the disciples

Both God and Jesus His Son control the forces of nature

Peter and Elijah both hear the gentle voice of God amidst the storms of life, one at a mountain the other at a lake

Peter throws caution to the wind and Peter literally jumps in a lake

 And he will do it again after the Resurrection when Jesus cooks breakfast

In Jesus, we see God’s face – he allowed Himself to be seen, He revealed Himself. But we also hear His voice whispering our name.

Jesus, for once does not call Simon Peter by name, as if to direct his reply and reproach to all men and women of every generation, man of little faith, why did you doubt? As if to say too, why did you doubt me? Jesus extends His hand to Peter who knows His need of God, or he will perish. It is a good prayer, especially when we are at a low ebb, feeling discouraged, at a loss, in a hole with no getting out, at our wits end, at rock bottom  to say save me Lord, or I perish? Like the first step of AA – we came to believe in a power higher than ourselves.

Timing is everything in the Gospel  - the incident takes place in the dead of night – if you ever had a sleepless night, the silence and the darkness and isolation rocking a child, or watching by a bedside of a sick child jealous that they and all the world is asleep.

The fourth watch of the night is the darkest and the last before the dawn

The light of dawn could be very well have been emerging around them as they made their collective cry of enlightened faith – ‘you are the Son of God’.

What does this say to you and to Me?

Have we had the experience where there was no-one else or perhaps there was just one person in the darkness? What darkness have we experienced? Loneliness, rejection, isolation, desperation, meaninglessness? To whom or to what did we turn for relief? What helped? What didn’t? Or what storms – perhaps stormy  relationships have we encountered? How did we cope?

Have we experienced the dark night of faith? Have we made an act of faith, leaving all attachments behind, with our eyes fixed on Jesus?

What storms do we or have we encountered? And where did we turn to look for help? His long did it take us to turn to Christ in heartfelt prayer of surrender? have we jumped overboard from security in a complete act of faith and somehow turned back to safety and security of what is familiar, or are we prepared to meet Christ and make a leap of faith?

It is when we take our eyes off Him that the alternate voice, the inner voice of discouragement, the nagging voice of doubt and negativity saying ‘you can’t do it’ that must be forcefully ignored. It is in silence that we must strain once again to hear what God might be saying personally to us today. How desperate are we to hear Him?