21st Sunday Year A, 2023

(Isaiah 22:19-23; Romans 11:33-36; Matthew 16:13-20) 

 

Simon Peter, speaking in the name of all the Apostles had answered Jesus’ question, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ by a characteristic, and categorical, statement:

            You are the Christ the Son of the living God.

Now Nathanael from Galilee had earlier been quite decisive when Philip told him about Jesus, by saying, ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’; and when -- on meeting Nathanael -- Jesus Himself had showed no hesitation in saying most decisively, ‘Here is a true Israelite.  There is no duplicity in him.’

Nevertheless, when, at that their very first meeting, Nathanael then went on to say to Jesus:

            Rabbi, you are the son of God, you are the King of Israel,

 Jesus did not think Nathanael had been inspired by His Father even though his words were very much like the words Peter would subsequently use.  Indeed, Jesus would seem to have thought that Nathanael believed too much, too easily; for He somewhat casually said, ‘You will see greater things than this’.

Perhaps I can say that Jesus ’saw’ Nathanael (Bartholomew) with the eyes of Jesus of Nazareth, but at the critical junction of Peter’s ‘confession’, Jesus saw and recognized Peter with the eyes of the Incarnate Son of God, instantly and supremely aware of, and responsive to, His Father.

Jesus, immediately recognizing a revelation by His Heavenly Father behind Peter’s typically enthusiastic and decisive words, therefore most solemnly declared:

And so, (because of My Father’s revelation to you) I say to you, you are Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

People of God, the ‘rock’ supporting Jesus’ Church is Peter-confessing-Jesus-as Son-of- God and that is Peter’s supreme function in Mother Church, as leader of Jesus’ chosen Apostles:  to proclaim Jesus.  Nothing must be allowed to detract from, or overshadow, that function for which Peter was chosen by the Father and confirmed by Jesus as leader for His future Church: to confess and proclaim Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God and Saviour of mankind, to all the world.

The Pope is not meant to be a model for, or the chief of, do-gooders, nor is he meant to be afraid of, or succumb-to, the modern ‘woke’ people who, though they have no need of God in the ‘simplicity of their hearts’, nevertheless pretend to do such good for our world: a ‘good’ tailored to give the majority status and enjoyment … ‘enjoyment’ is so very necessary for appreciation in their set-up!

‘Do-gooders’, new-age ‘woke-ones’, proclaim their version of goodness for our world today; Peter – the model for all Popes -- proclaimed Jesus, Who in turn proclaimed His Father’s will for the world, as the only sublime and saving goodness for mankind.

Our Pope is meant to be Peter for the Church today, not an acclaimed ‘do gooder’, but rather a hated (‘if they hated Me they will hate you also’) witness to Him sent by His Father to  save mankind from its servitude to sin; to decisively proclaim Jesus as the Son of God and promote the rule of His Spirit in the hearts of men as did Peter in his own unique way.

The history of Eliakim shows what could hinder any Pope’s fulfilment of his office.  Eliakim’s elevation brought honour for his family; we are told the Lord said:

            I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honour for his family.

It was then that the trouble began:

On him shall hang all the glory of his family: descendants and offspring, all the little dishes, from bowls to jugs.

The family began to take over the man: relatives of all sorts came to him with their requests and needs and, in that way, the family began to gradually smother the public servant authorised by God:

On that day, says the Lord of hosts, the peg fixed in a sure spot shall give way, break off and fall, and the weight that hung on it shall be done away with; for the Lord has spoken.

The Old Testament examples of Shebna and Eliakim thus enable us to espy something of the wisdom of God of which St. Paul spoke in the second reading, a wisdom that never ceased to astound him the more he considered the wonders of God's saving Providence:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgments and how unsearchable His ways!

For, despite the vagaries and duplicities of, the hidden and dark corners to be found in, the human mind and heart, the Gospel shows us a new ingredient, so to speak, which will transform the peg of the Old Testament into the Rock of the New Testament: that is, Jesus’ Personal choice of Peter and promise of the Spirit to His future Church, made in totally loving and obedient response to His Father.

The new, transforming, ingredient is to be found in the fact that Peter was given authority ‘in the name of Jesus’: since Peter -- inspired (in-Spirited) by the Father -- had proclaimed his faith in Jesus as Messiah and Son of the Living God, Jesus would build His Church on that Rock of His Father’s inspiration of Peter’s faith and confession.    Jesus and the Father are thus to be seen behind Peter and the Spirit with him.

Therefore, People of God, our readings today help us see clearly just who is the supreme head and ultimate leader of the Church: it is the heavenly Jesus.  True, Peter is the head of the Church on earth, he is the visible head called to proclaim Jesus as Son of God and Saviour, and called also to strengthen his fellow apostles in their proclamation of the Gospel, thus making Jesus’ Church truly one on earth; but Peter is only able to be that visible head, because Jesus is the heavenly, ultimate, Head Who prays unceasingly for Peter that he may – despite some bad Middle Ages and Renaissance popes -- continue through time to fulfil the rock-like function of prime proclaimer of Jesus on earth.

As proclaimer of Jesus as Son of God and Saviour the Pope is not called to be a specialist in liturgy, or one given to philosophical considerations concerning the Gospel, he is not necessarily an ethicist responding to mankind’s moral dilemmas and errors as he sees best.  No, although great Popes may and indeed have been thus talented over the centuries, their essential Petrine calling supersedes all such talents.  Our Gospel passage shows with supreme clarity that Peter -- every Pope -- should strive to be, first and foremost, a proclaimer of the Person, the truth and the beauty, the inspirational glory and power, the saving love and compassion, of Jesus.  Any failing in the desired fulfilment of that unique vocation, even when done sincerely for love of another aspect of service in the name of Jesus, can open the way for, even bring, dissension and doubt into the Church.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, dear People of God, let us therefore today whole-heartedly pray for our present Pope Francis that in all his many needs and great trials, but also in his deepest personal aspirations, he may seek and prove to be the man of Jesus’ choice for His Church’s needs today.

20th Sunday Year A, 2023

 

(Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Romans 11:13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28)

 

People of God, today’s Gospel reading is provocative in that it can move us to face up to, and appreciate anew, our own Catholic awareness of, and attitude to, God; and to be more aware  of the role of religious belief in the context of today’s proudly pagan and indulgent, disbelieving and spiritually indolent, society.  Moreover, it offers us an opportunity to learn and appreciate more deeply the Personality of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus.

The Gospel told us that Jesus had left Israel and was walking with His disciples through a Gentile region where, even today we hear, religious men and women in conservative areas  do not talk  to strangers of the opposite sex; indeed, rabbis do not even talk to female members of their own families in public.  Consequently, there was nothing strange in Jesus’ ignoring the cries of the Syrophoenician woman.

And yet, here at the very beginning of our consideration of today’s Gospel reading, the story has already, quite possibly, begun to reveal some of us to ourselves because,  very many people today would strongly assert that it was not ‘nice’ of Jesus to ignore that woman thus; after all, they would explain, is not religion supposed to be about ‘being nice, doing good, to people’?

The woman herself was well aware of the barrier of social propriety between her – a woman and a Gentile – thus publicly addressing Jesus, a man and a Jew, for she put on a smattering of Jewishness by calling out to Jesus as would a Jewish believer:

            Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!

As she became more troublesome, however, His disciples said to Jesus:

            Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.

Jesus’ reply shows us just how far the contemporary opinion, that religion is about being nice and doing ‘good’ to people, is from Jesus’ own Personal attitude:

            He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Notice, Jesus was concerned only with doing the will of Him Who had sent Him:

            I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

At this juncture I want you to recall how Jesus responded to His mother Mary’s surprising behaviour at the marriage feast in Cana when she told the servants, ‘Do whatever He tells you.’  Jesus was not thinking about doing anything at that moment; Mary’s behaviour had been rather unusual and had made things somewhat awkward for Jesus.  The Syrophoenician women was doing something like that here:

            (She) came and did Him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”

Thus far, Jesus had adverted to the woman only by rejecting His disciples’ call for Him to do something about her.  However, that request by His disciples seems to have given the woman herself confidence enough to come forward quickly and throw herself at Jesus' feet asking for a miraculous cure for her daughter, and Jesus did then give her His own Personal attention by saying:

It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.

It is important for us to understand the mind of Jesus here.  St. John tells us (6:38) that Jesus once explained that He had not just come here on earth, He had been sent by His  Father, and He was here only to do His Father's will:

I have come down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of Him Who sent Me.

Notice also, People of God, Jesus did not say He had come among us to do good; He came to do His Father's will, and that was His whole purpose of His life on earth, because the Father alone is good, as Jesus once said:

Why do you call Me good? NO ONE IS GOOD EXCEPT GOD ALONE. (Mark 10:18)

There we have the key to most of our world's sufferings today.  There are so many people, often called do-gooders, the ‘woke’ ones who -- in society as a whole, in the government, in the European Union, at the European Court of Justice, the United Nations -- say they seek to do good, and probably not a few of them think they are sincere; but the good they seek is the good that they themselves approve of, in other words, their own idea of what is good for mankind.   Jesus, on the other hand, did not seek to do good as even He saw it; He sought to do the only real and true good for men-and-women-made-by-God-in-His- own-likeness, that is, the will of God, His Father's will for them.

So here, at this stage in our Gospel reading, we can recognize Jesus seeking to find what qualifications, so to speak, this woman had from His Father; for His Father had not sent Him to serve the pagan peoples around but only 'the lost sheep of the house of Israel'.  Therefore, He said to the woman:

It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.

How many women today would have stormed off in an upsurge of self-righteous indignation after words of that sort!!  This woman was not like that, however, and this is where we must start to learn about ourselves from her example, because she was deeply aware of the holiness both of Jesus and of the God from whom she was seeking a miracle; she was in no way preoccupied with any presumed worth or ‘rights’ of her own.  So many of those who decry or ignore God and the Church today are filled with imaginations of that sort: their human rights and their own social dignity and worth, while having little or no awareness of God and certainly no reverence or awe in their appreciation of His dignity.

The woman in the Gospel, answered Jesus in humility and truth, and speaking with a wisdom that was not her own she said:

Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.

Unknown to herself she had, with those unstudied words, produced her credentials: for Jesus recognized at once that such wisdom could only have been given her by His Father.  And so, without further ado, He said:

O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.

St. Matthew, recounting that event, was showing his converts, both Jewish and pagan -- and also telling us -- that in Jesus' estimation a miraculous cure -- like that of the daughter of the Canaanite woman -- is nothing more than a few crumbs in comparison with the heavenly banquet prepared in heaven for His disciples and for all those who will subsequently become children of God the Father through faith in Jesus.  We who are present at Mass, who offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice and share in the Eucharistic food, must recognize and appreciate that we are thereby sharing in and partaking of a treasure incomparably more stupendous and awe-inspiring than any miraculous cure!

We would, indeed, be thrilled if a miracle were to take place here in our midst. Why, therefore, are we not much more thrilled by the heavenly realities taking place in our Catholic worship. and at the beginnings of heavenly transformation being afforded us, as individual disciples of Jesus and children of God, through our faithful Christian and Catholic devotion to and love for Jesus, and our commitment to and service of His Church and His people! 

The reason is that we can only come to such an appreciation by an active faith: not just  mere believing, which accepts words without seeking to be caught up by, or involved in, their deeper meaning.   Dear People of God, an active faith, a burning, longing, and loving faith is essential for our Catholic growth and fulfilment; a faith which tries sincerely to appreciate and respond to God’s teaching and Jesus’ actions, a faith such as that of the Canaanite woman, of whom Jesus most approvingly said:

            O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.

By nature we are sensitive, responsive, to physical blessings and worldly wonders.  By faith we must endeavour, strive, to make ourselves more aware of and responsive to the immeasurably more wonderful blessings and miracles of grace being offered to us in the sacramental and prayer life of Mother Church.  This, I believe, is the essential work incumbent upon us as Catholics today: we need to learn to live to the utmost of our human capabilities and potential, not only on the natural level but also on the spiritual, supernatural level, under the guidance of Christian teaching and Catholic faith, and by the power of the Spirit Jesus has given to Mother Church for our formation.  The Canaanite woman appreciated and loved her daughter by nature.  She had come to appreciate Jesus first of all from what she had heard of Him.  But then she did all she could to draw closer to Him, approaching Him above all with humility, aware of His majesty and her own need; she did not approach Him bloated with self-awareness and self-appreciation.  And yet, although she was so humble, she would not allow herself to be put-off from her desire to meet and speak personally with Jesus, neither would she allow herself to be drowned by her own self-pity on hearing words whose real purpose and meaning she could in no way understand.

People of God, we, each and every one of us, have to try to develop such a faith within us: a humble seeking, a persevering longing for God; and an ever more grateful and responsive faith in His Spirit at work in us who are children of Mother Church.  If not, at the very best, we will only be able to digest scraps from the table of the Lord; and that would indeed be tragic, because we have been called to the fullness of faith in Mother Church and are being prepared to participate in a banquet of heavenly proportions.  It is up to us.  We have been invited; Mother Church will not fail us on the way; and God’s most Holy Spirit guarantees us strength, comfort, and guidance for the journey; so let us commit ourselves and try to help each other, for, as St. Paul told us:

The ^ gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

19th Sunday Year A, 2023

 

(1^st Kings 19:9, 11-13; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33)

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, about half-way through Jesus’ public ministry Jesus and His disciples had been caught in a storm while crossing the Sea of Galilee.  Jesus Himself had been asleep in the stern of the boat and His disciples -- in great alarm -- awakened Him most urgently.  He calmed both squally winds and foaming waves by calm words of authority and a gesture of peace.  The disciples had been amazed and said to one another:

 

            Who then is this?  Even the wind and the sea obey Him!   (Mark 4:41)

    

Shortly afterwards, however, as recorded in today’s Gospel reading, another such dangerous situation for Jesus’ disciples on the treacherous waters of Galilee took place while the Lord was praying alone on the mountain near where Jesus had miraculously fed some 5,000 men earlier that very day.  After that miracle Jesus had told His disciples to go by boat to the other side of the lake while He Himself would dismiss the crowds around.

 

His disciples obeyed Jesus, but they were still unclear about Him – Who is this? – even after having picked up 12 baskets full of broken bread and fish left over after the crowd had eaten their fill.  Aent squall hit the boat on their way to Gennesaret, and when they saw Jesus walking on the raging waters towards them in the fourth watch of the night -- which is from 3am.- 6am. -- they thought they were seeing a ghost!   Instead of taking comfort at the sight of Jesus coming towards them, some of them were even more frightened by the pseudo-ghost than they were of the storm itself.  All of them, however, were at a loss; all that is, except Peter, whose particular love for and commitment to Jesus, together with his own native courage and instinctive qualities of leadership, lead him to say:

 

            Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water! 

 

As yet, though, Peter’s spiritual qualities were not up to the impetuosity of his  native  courage and instinctive leadership; and though he had leapt overboard towards Jesus unhesitatingly, nevertheless, feeling the full force of the raging sea and his growing awareness of its threat as the waters mounted over his feet and up his legs, his words changed, and his nascent love for and commitment to Jesus could only enable him to cry out:

 

Lord, SAVE ME!

 

Truly Christian words indeed; but not, as yet, words up to the purposes Jesus had in mind for Peter and indeed for the other disciples who were still clinging to their boat and screaming more or less incoherently as the boat was being tossed uncontrollably by  the tumultuous power of the roaring wind and raging waters.

 

Now, dear People of God, what purposes or plans, hopes or desires, did Jesus have in mind for His disciples when, as we are told:

 

            He made the disciples get into a boat and precede Him to the other side?

 

It was already dark when He told His disciples to embark without Him.  He knew the force of the winds coming down from the hills around those narrow north-Galilean waters; He knew how unpredictable were such sudden violent storms.  Of course,  He knew full well that He could rescue them in whatever need they found themselves; but why, WHY, did He make:

 

            the disciples get into a boat and precede Him to the other side?

 

As chosen disciples of Jesus, they had been exultant, and ‘confirmed’ in their discipleship, at Jesus’ feeding of the five-thousand; but then, very shortly afterwards, they found themselves dreading a Jesus-like ghost; or allowed themselves to become  terrified at their present perils-on-the-sea, despite their previous experience of a  storm on Galilea with Jesus, and the fact of Jesus’ ‘apparent’ presence with them at this very moment?

 

Obviously, the disciples had much to learn about themselves and their relationship with Jesus.  Nevertheless, they had surely been confirmed in their relationship with, and acceptance of, Peter as their leader; for, although they had seen him openly break down before the threat into which his impetuosity had led him, nevertheless, Peter had shown himself to be much further advanced than they themselves were in his initial readiness to embrace threat and face sacrifice for love of Jesus:

 

             Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water!

 

Dear friends in Christ it would seem that at times Jesus does, can, and perhaps will once more, allow events, persons, trials of whatever sort, to disturb the relative tranquillity of our lives for our direct betterment, or that we might, at least, learn something we need to know about ourselves.

As for the disciples, Peter was taught the need for, and beauty of, perseverance in  giving to Jesus … he had not trusted-to-the-end the Spirit that had urged him towards Jesus.   As for the other disciples there, they were now no longer hesitant as they had, culpably(?) been before

 

            Who then is this (Whom) even the wind and the sea obey?

 

For, as Jesus got into the now-calm boat bringing Peter along with Him, they ‘impetuously’ followed the example of their now humbled leader by saying unanimously:

 

            Truly, You are the Son of God!

 

Surely, dear People of God, Peter and all the other Apostles had learnt lessons for life and salvation!   We should rejoice with them and pray for ourselves that, should Jesus and His Spirit come into our lives to test, teach, and uplift us as children of God called to share at the heavenly banquet of the Father of us all, we too may learn and whole-heartedly embrace the lessons God wants to teach us.

Transfiguration of Our Lord, Year A, 2023

 

(Daniel 7:9-10; 2 Peter 1:16-19; Matthew 17:1-9)

When a dog looks at the world around it sees all the objects that are naturally visible to our eyes, but only as objects; it cannot appreciate -- what for us is, often enough, the most wonderful aspect of the world around us -- its beauty, its majesty, its mystery.

Scripture speaks on one occasion of scales falling or being taken from someone’s eyes:

Immediately there fell from (Saul’s) eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. (Acts 9:18)

We might therefore be permitted to say that a dogs’ eyes are ‘scaled’ from recognizing the  wonder that we can see around us.

Our Blessed Lord frequently came across human beings of whom the prophet Isaiah had prophetically  spoken, people of whom we can now, perhaps, say that they had ‘scaled’ minds: hearing simple, engaging, words of deep meaning, yet sensing, appreciating, little or nothing of the love motivating them, and thereby making themselves deaf  to the saving truth those words contained:

The Lord said, "Go, and tell this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'   "Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and return and be healed."  (Isaiah 6:9-10)

On the Mount of Transfiguration the Father opened up a new experience of-life-and-being to Jesus’ chosen disciples Peter, James, and John; an experience they were only able to sustain and attempt to appreciate thanks to the fact that it was Jesus -- their Lord, their hope, and their Saviour -- Who was the subject and focus of all that was going on around them, and being mysteriously revealed to them.

When Jesus came, sent by His Father, the world had long known something of God,  but even the Chosen People had not come to appreciate Him;

O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know You, but I do.   (John 17:25)

Moses, thousands of years ago, after having spoken with God on Mount Sinai and coming down to the people, found it necessary to:

Put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory (on it), even though it was destined to fade away.  (2 Corinthians 3:13)

People of God, how many veils need to be lifted before men can ‘face’ the beauty of the world around us and recognize, love, and praise God its creator as they aught?   How many, many, scales need to fall from our eyes if we are to more fittingly appreciate and truly love what God has given to and for us in the supreme wonder of all creation, Jesus of Nazareth, His very own Son-made-flesh, the promised Christ of Israel, the Lord, God, and Saviour of all mankind??

As regards today’s feast, it is usual to think that Jesus -- having just spoken of His coming death to His disciples for the first time -- decided to lead them up the Mount of Transfiguration for their comforting and strengthening in Him, by letting them see something of His glory.  I do not think that is a satisfactory appreciation of the event.

So very often little notice is taken of the Father’s solicitude for creation, and love for His Son-made-flesh.

Just as -- I believe -- He, the Father, moved Jesus to leave His home in Nazareth and make His way to John baptizing contrite sinners in the Jordan near Jerusalem, for the fulfilment of His, the Father’s, own purpose to reveal, prepare, and glorify His Son for His public mission.  So it was here:  the Father drew Jesus to that mountain-top for Jesus’ Own Personal comforting and strengthening with regard to His impending Passion and Death; and also, with regard to those chosen Apostles, that they might learn sufficient understanding and perseverance, and receive necessary wisdom and strength, for their future establishment of Jesus’,  world-wide, Catholic, Church, by their authentic and authoritative proclamation of His Gospel.

The Father’s solicitude and care is so wonderful in the Scriptures and so very little of it is recognized, admired, and loved.

Jesus had learnt, as man, to know Israel’s God to be His very own Father.  That He had learnt from His sublimely Personal knowledge of, and acquaintance with, Israel’s God as taught Him at home from infancy; from His own more adult experience of Jewish obedience and worship;  and from  His Own Personal reading and understanding of the Scriptures given to the Chosen People.   And, of course, having learnt, as man, to know His Father in all truth, He also learnt of Himself and His own destiny-and-purpose, as God-man on earth:

Just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I will lay down My life for the sheep. (John 10:15)

Notice those words most carefully, dear People of God; because Jesus knew and loved His Father so sublimely that, appreciating His Father’s love for that creation He had originally made in HIS OWN IMAGE AND LIKENESS, Jesus decided:   I will lay down My life for those sheep.

That is why now, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father sent both Moses and Elijah to assure Jesus, as man, that He had most certainly learnt aright about God as His Father, and about  Himself as Son and Saviour from Israel’s Law and her Prophets.

If you had believed Moses you would have believed Me, because he wrote about Me. 

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”   

 He (Jesus) said to them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” (John 5:46; 1:45; Luke 24:44)

St. Paul faithfully proclaimed this truth in his Roman captivity: (Acts 28:23; Romans 3:21)

They arranged a day with Paul and came to his lodgings in great numbers. From early morning until evening, he expounded his position to them, bearing witness to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets, (saying) ‘Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets.’    

And so it was that Jesus -- fully aware that the world was demanding His horrendous Roman Passion and Death -- could descend the Mount with calm preparedness and unshakeable resolution to face His own impending Personal destiny, with a sure and confident trust that His Father had just most clearly shown His Personal love for His beloved Son, and His caring will and wise preparation for the future establishment of His Church among men.

O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know You sent Me.  (John 17:25)

That calm assurance was to be the hallmark of the Transfiguration for He solemnly advised His three Apostles on their approach to their brethren and the people:

            Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.

Dear Catholic people living in a truly adulterous world, may this glorious day enrich you with a like calm and confident trust in God’s most Holy Spirit -- given us at Pentecost and renewed this very day-- sent to guide and sustain us in Mother Church along the ways of Jesus to that salvation prepared for all those sons and daughters, children of God in Jesus, in the Kingdom of His and our heavenly Father.

17th Sunday Year A, 2023

 

(1 Kings 3:5, 7-12; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52)

 

Our readings this week, my dear People of God, give us great cause for gratitude and hope.  Just think of those words of St. Paul that you heard in the second reading:

Those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brothers; and those He predestined He also called; and those He called He also justified; and those He justified He also glorified.

That means that God foreknew each one of you baptized Catholics here present, and He predestined you to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.  How do we know that?  Because God the Father called you to faith in Jesus and, through the waters of baptism, washed you clean of all sin, to become a member of Jesus’ Body, the Church, where you are endowed with the Gift of God’s Holy Spirit.  Thus justified, you are also being glorified, for that outpouring of the Spirit of Christ into your soul is the beginning of a life-long process of glorification and sanctification whereby the Spirit of Jesus will lead you ever further along the way of Jesus to the Father.  Every time you receive Jesus in Holy Communion and open yourself up to Him in loving gratitude and prayer, that glory -- which is the presence of His Spirit in you -- will shine ever more brightly for love of the Father.  You and I, each and every one of us, known and loved by God the Father before time in His Son, are thus destined for eternal glory, IF -- by the Spirit of sanctification -- we persevere faithfully in Jesus and His Church!

What degree of glory will be ours?  That we do not know; but we do know that Mary, a girl from Nazareth, is now Queen of Heaven above all the Angels, Principalities, and Powers because she became the most loving and beautiful mother of God’s own Son-in- human-flesh.  Our own degree of eternal glory will likewise depend on our relationship with Him and His Father’s plan for us; notice that, dear People of God, egalitarianism is not on God’s agenda!

His universal goodness, however, is absolutely essential to that agenda for He loves each and every one of us, in our individuality; and that means that though there are and will be distinctions or differences, there will  be no discrimination whatsoever, because our own degree of eternal glory will also depend, of course, on our personal commitment to His Person (love) and His will (obedience) during our time on earth.

Our glorification has already begun; that we know because we love Jesus Who is in heaven and we hope for, look forward to, His heavenly promises; with the result that, although we are still subject to temptation here on earth, we are not ruled by the earthly lusts of our flesh, nor do we allow ourselves to be dominated by that earthly pride which would drive us to seek earthly success, power, and prestige above all else.

As yet, however, we cannot see the final result of our struggles, or the fullness of our on-going glorification, but St. John (1 John 3:2) does assure us that:

Beloved, now we are children of God; it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  

What we have to do, therefore, throughout our life on earth, is to remain faithful to Jesus.

That will most certainly demand effort at times, because we have to be tested, formed, and found worthy of God’s gifts and promises, as you heard earlier:

We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.

Surely, dear friends in Christ, we should regard ourselves as having found a treasure, a pearl of great price, indeed, the delight of our life, and we should carefully listen to and try to gratefully appreciate, Jesus’ parables in today’s Gospel reading:

The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Now, all of us here are in a similar position, for Jesus is the Father’s sublime treasure, His  pearl beyond compare, and He has been revealed to us by the Father:

No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  (John 6:44)

Why has the Father drawn us to Jesus?

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.   (John 3:16)

Yes, Jesus is indeed the treasure, the pearl of great price, and each of us knows where He is to be found for our ever-greater delight and growth: in the life and sacraments of Mother Church; above all, in the Eucharist and the Scriptures.  Only the Spirit of Jesus, given in fullness to Mother Church, can reveal to us -- in and through her worship and teaching -- the wonder of Jesus' saving  life and love; only the Spirit of Jesus can enable us to share in the life of Jesus through her Holy Scriptures and  the sacraments given to Mother Church as sources of divine life and conduits of saving grace for us, her children; only the Spirit can gradually fill and transfigure the thoughts of our mind and the aspirations of our heart through our communion with Him: as we watch and listen for, and courageously obey, His secret guidance, leading each of us along the way of Jesus.

One can indeed find treasures of wisdom and pearls of beauty in the various religions and traditions whereby men and women have sought and served God throughout human history.  However, the one supreme treasure, the one pearl precious beyond all compare  is Jesus of Nazareth -- God's supreme revelation of His very own Being as the God-of- universal-love, in His only begotten Son-made-man, by His Gift of the Spirit of them Both  -- Who is to be found uniquely in the Eucharist and in the Scriptures of the Universal Catholic and Christian Church which is His Body, and which is unfailingly sustained and infallibly guided by God’s Holy Spirit into all truth about eternal life and salvation.

The question now is: what are you doing about that treasure, what efforts are you willing to make to ensure that that pearl offered you may indeed become yours for all eternity? Pope St. Gregory the Great tells a story which goes something like this: imagine someone going on, let us say, a journey on the Orient Express, travelling in luxury towards some wonderful destination, let us imagine, Venice.  It is a long journey; deliberately so, because the trip is meant to embrace many places of great interest along the way: places of beauty such as mountain villages and places of curious attraction, such as ancient bazaars.  Let us further imagine that the train stops at some of these places and, on one particular day, allows passengers to alight in order to visit a bazaar, a most famous one, during a two-hour stop by the Orient Express.  One passenger goes from stall to stall, into one bar or boutique after another; he haggles here and there for bargains to take back, and in this delightful process forgets all about the destination for which he had set out on this long, expensive, journey!  He forgets about Venice, the uniquely situated and wonderfully adorned city of history, culture and beauty, and loses himself in that smelly bazaar, distracted by little trinkets peddled by the hawkers there, and forgets all about, the train.  What a fool! 

People of God, so many Christians, so many Church members, are like that foolish traveller, allowing themselves to be distracted from seeking the Lord, by the pleasures and cares of life.  Others there are, who once were true servants of the Lord, but who -- over time – disastrously allowed themselves to lose their fervour and finally their faith.  We saw that in the life of King Solomon -- beloved of God -- as we heard in the first reading:

In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask something of Me and I will give it to you.”  Solomon answered: “O LORD, my God, Give Your servant, an understanding heart to judge Your people and to distinguish right from wrong.   For who is able to govern this vast people of Yours?”

The LORD was pleased that Solomon made such a request.  However, King Solomon did not persevere in following the Lord’s statutes and commandments, becoming distracted from God by his success, by the loves of his life, and by the praises lavished on him:

When Solomon was old his wives turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not entirely with the LORD his God, as the heart of his father David had been.  

People of God, the gospel-treasure hidden in the Scriptures, the pearl at the centre of Church life, the delight of our Catholic conscience, is Jesus, the Word of God, now become our Saviour and our Glory, and Who ultimately will be our sublimely rich reward:

I rejoice in Your Word like one who discovers a great treasure. (Ps. 119:162 NLT)

It is for us to persevere as the prophet Micah (6:8) advises:

You have been told, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.

Finally, dear Catholic and Christian people, notice something that is in every one of our Sunday readings and which it is absolutely essential for us to know and avert to today; namely, the existence, the importance, and indeed the ultimately decisive reality of divinely distinguished GOOD as distinct from BAD, of RIGHT as distinct from WRONG:

O Lord my God, give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to distinguish right from wrong.

The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea.  When it is full, they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets, what is bad they throw away.  Thus it will be at the end of the age.  The angels will separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Let us not, therefore, be put off by having to make decisions for what is right and good, against what is wrong and evil, for that which is good is an essential part of our Christian life and witness to Our Lord Jesus Christ in today’s adulterous world.  In Jesus we are being led on a journey of sanctification, and our destination is eternal glory as children of God. That is the hall-mark of a true Catholic and Christian.  But, if the Spirit is no longer able to move us in Jesus towards the Father, then we might end up like those nominal Catholics mentioned in our third parable today, bad fish not fit to be in the Church’s net.