27th Sunday of the Year 2016

27^th. Sunday, Year (C) 

(Habakkuk 1:2-3, 2:2-4; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10)

My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, our first reading from the prophet Habakkuk contained one of the most famous phrases in Scripture:

                The just shall live by his faith.

This phrase has been repeated directly and indirectly time and again in the New Testament:

For in it (the Gospel) is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith, as it is written: The just shall live by faith.  (Romans 1:17) 

That no one is justified before God by the Law is clear, for the just man shall live by faith.  (Galatians 3:11) 

Now My just one shall live by faith; but if he draws back, I take no pleasure in him.(Hebrews 10:38)  

As you can see faith was a central and an essential point of Christian teaching for St. Paul. Why is faith so important?  Well, just recall the Gospel reading.

The Apostles -- perhaps after the failure of nine of them to heal an epileptic boy brought to them, a failure, Jesus had said, due to their lack of faith; and also, perhaps, after the other three, Peter, James, and John, had felt themselves so totally overwhelmed on the Mount of Transfiguration where they heard the voice of the Father speaking from the cloud and had witnessed  Jesus conversing with Moses and Elijah – the Apostles, all twelve of them, had come to recognize their need, above all, to grow in faith; and they turned to Jesus and besought Him, saying:

                Increase our faith.

How those recent experiences seem to have affected them, for they had felt compelled to put a very simple and childlike request before Jesus, a request that made it evident that they were indeed in the process of being formed as children of God!

However, a childlike spirit should never be allowed to become childish, and so the Lord replied:

If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

A mustard seed is the smallest of seeds in the lands of the Bible as St. Mark tells us:

A mustard seed, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth (4:31).

That you may have a clearer idea of the significance of Jesus' parable, let me now give you a short description of the mulberry tree which could top 35’ (Barnes' notes):

Look, now, at this tree: its ample girth, its wide-spread arms branching off from the parent trunk only a few feet from the ground.  Next, examine its enormous roots: as thick, as numerous, and as wide-spread into the deep soil below as the branches extend into the air above.  What power on earth can pluck up such a tree? Heaven's thunderbolt may strike it down, the wild tornado may tear it to fragments, but, surely, nothing short of miraculous power could pluck it up by the roots."

The Apostles were only beginning to understand the treasure which was theirs.   In true spiritual childhood they had asked for greater faith to be given them, but they could not be allowed to childishly think that only God’s giving was involved … they had to grow in understanding and realize that all gifts of God require our co-operation if we are to appreciate them aright and profit from them.  They wanted an increase of faith, a greater amount of faith to put it more concretely, and they were told that, even if their faith was no bigger than the proverbial mustard seed, if they really believed, they could even uproot a mulberry tree and throw it into the sea.

St. Paul did understand this unimaginable power of faith after the Resurrection of Jesus, for in a letter to the Christians at Ephesus (1:18-21) he says:

May the eyes of (your) hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to His call, what are the riches of glory in His inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power for us who believe, in accordance with the exercise of His great might, which He worked in Christ, raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens,  far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come.

That is the full understanding of the wondrous power and final purpose of faith: through our faith, the power of God which raised Jesus from the dead unto the right hand of the Father in glory can be at work in us too.

It is not the quantity of faith we may have but its quality: having received the initial gift of faith, it is not a matter of our asking for more to be given us by God so much as our co-operating more closely and whole-heartedly with what we have already been given; it is a matter of whether we allow faith to work freely in us, to guide and even determine our lives, or whether we put all sorts of worldly considerations in the way as obstacles to its development, whether we allow personal timidity and self-centeredness to constrict our heart and inhibit our commitment.

The Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Even if your faith be like a mustard seed, allow it to work freely and fully in you and it will prove to be an ever-increasing and ultimately irresistible force in your life until it brings you to fulfilment.

We are told that throughout His earthly life Jesus was being perfected, as a man, until He was totally committed with the fullness of His humanity – at every level and to the fullest extent of all His human powers and potentialities – to His heavenly Father and to us:

Son though He was, He learned obedience from what He suffered.  And when He was made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him. (Hebrews 5:8-9)

There was so much He could not appreciate and embrace as a child … only as full-grown man, for example, could He appreciate the loving obedience of suffering and embrace the sacrificial commitment of death … and only when having become absolutely perfect in His humanity, could that humanity serve as the source of our eternal salvation.

Throughout creation life engenders life, life alone nourishes life …. What has never been alive can never serve to nourish and sustain the living.  Our Blessed Lord brought new life for mankind; He is the unique source of that life able to promote the fullness of humanity and share in the goodness of divinity.  That is why we are not ashamed to say that we eat the Body and drink the Blood of Christ:

Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you.    Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.  For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in him.  (John 6:53-56)

Jesus’ humanity was irrevocably perfected throughout His life on earth because He was, from beginning to end, the only-begotten Son of the eternal Father being led by the Holy Spirit; and a like process of perfecting cannot begin in us until we become children of God through faith in Jesus.  It is our faith which sets that process going; you can say faith is that power of perfection in our life which leads, under the guidance and power of Jesus’ gift of the Spirit, to eternal glory in heaven.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us not only treasure, but let us also understand the nature of, our faith: it is a vital power of personal communion, becoming more and more fulfilling as we let it take ever greater control of our lives; it is not an inert parcel of something which can be given and received in bigger or smaller portions and which -- remaining the same as when originally given -- might cause us to ask: ‘Give us more, please.’  No, our faith is a living process of dialogue, appreciation and commitment, which of its very nature goes on and on (if indeed we let it and follow it) until we reach the perfection of our being and the fulfilment of our personal identity.  Although nothing can resist it -- it could uproot even a mulberry tree, transfer a mountain into the sea -- we ourselves, however, can slow it down; indeed, we can even stop the process of its growth by our indifference, ignorance, worldliness and sinfulness. 

Let us turn to St. Paul again, as you heard him speak in the second reading:

Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit Who dwells within us.

Paul urges us to co-operate with the leading and protecting power of God’s Holy Spirit and learn to delight in and work with our treasure trove of ‘faith and love in Christ Jesus’:

Therefore I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the laying on of my hands.  For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather of power, love, and self-control.  So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for His sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.

We are not to repeat the failure of those in the time of the prophet Habakkuk who in the weakness and hopelessness of unredeemed humanity cried out:

Why do You let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife and clamorous discord, yet You do not listen, You do not intervene.

The time of rest, the time for rejoicing over the ultimate conquest of evil is not yet.  Jesus Himself is indeed in heavenly glory, but we His disciples still have work, much work, to do for Him -- for His Body, the Church – here on earth:

Prepare something for My supper, and gird yourself and serve Me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink.

It is for that purpose we have been gifted with "the faith and love that is in Christ Jesus"; let us then aspire, with sure confidence and firm hope, to the fulfilment of His promise:

Blessed are those servants whom the Master, when He comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that He will gird Himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.  (Luke 12:37-38)

26th Sunday of the Year (C) 2016

 26^th Sunday Year (C)

(Amos 6:1, 4-7; 1^st. Timothy 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31)

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s readings present us with some strong word-pictures made all the more striking by their resemblance to modern-day excesses in our Western society.  The words of the prophet Amos transport us directly into the revelries of the debauchees of his time and of all times addressing them directly with a warning in the name of God which he leaves hovering menacingly over them:

Woe to the complacent in Zion!  Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, they eat lambs taken from the flock, and calves from the stall! Improvising to the music of the harp, like David, they devise their own accompaniment, drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the best oils.

St. Paul had that sort of life-style in mind when, earlier in the letter from which our second reading was taken, he taught his converts:

Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and a trap, and into many foolish and harmful desires which plunge them into ruin and destruction; for the love of money is the root of all evils.  But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness; fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called. 

The same theme was taken up again in our Gospel reading, where Jesus, in His parable of a luxuriantly rich man with a poor beggar at his gate, names the poor man Lazarus but gives no name to the rich man, almost as if He was too disgusted to dignify with an honourable name one leading such a life:

There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day, and lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores which the dogs used to come and lick.

Jesus brought His parable to its climax after both the rich man (traditionally referred to as ‘Dives’ from the Latin word meaning ‘rich’) and Lazarus had died, thereby revealing to us where such revelling in luxury and pleasure ultimately leads:

The rich man cried out: ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me.  Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am suffering torment in these flames.'  Abraham replied, 'My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime, while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here whereas you are tormented.’

Why did Jesus give a parable with Abraham as the heavenly figure?  Perhaps, because He was, at that time, speaking to some Pharisees; for earlier we are told:

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, derided Jesus. (Luke 16:14)

It would seem that Jesus was saying to them: ‘You who trust in your descent from Abraham and yet love money so much, it is not I who will ultimately condemn your behaviour.  No, it will be Abraham -- in whom you trust and boast -- whom you will find both unwilling and unable to help you when you come to reap your retribution of punishment for pleasure and humiliation for pride.’  For Jesus has Abraham answer Lazarus’ appeal on behalf of his brothers, with the words:

                They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them,

just as, in another confrontational encounter with certain Pharisees, He had earlier invoked Moses in much the same way as today He mentions Abraham:

Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you -- Moses, in whom you trust, for he wrote about me. (John 5:45)

So, attacking His pharisaic adversaries root and branch – proud descendants of Abraham and dedicated adherents to the Law of Moses – all who heard Jesus speak were left in no doubt that those who chose to give their lives over to pride, pleasure, and plenty, would ultimately pay the price, no matter who they might be or how satisfied they might at this moment seem to be.

Does the proclamation of Mother Church in these our days convey that same awareness and understanding, or does she in fact only dare to openly declare emotional words of comfort and sympathy for some, presumed likely to be repentant, sinners?

Moreover, notice how, in the parable, Abraham explained the situation to the rich man:

My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime, while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here whereas you are tormented.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, those words are full of meaning for us too.  The God we worship is holy and just, and the gifts He gives us are -- all of them -- good, they are all blessings: strength or beauty, intellectual or physical capabilities, attractive personality or strength of character, a sensitive and understanding nature or an independent and courageous spirit.  But if, in the course of our earthly life, we choose to put these good things to sinful use -- be it by totally luxuriating in our personal enjoyment of them as did our rich man (why should we name him?) who never even noticed Lazarus lying at his gate in abject poverty, or by diverting them from their original and primal purpose of giving glory to God and service to society into instruments for personal aggrandizement and individual advantage, then such misuse will meet with sure punishment after death.  Strength is debased by the bully and the thug, beauty is sullied by the siren or the tart; intelligence is abused by the criminal and personal charm betrayed by the fraudster.

Mother Church and our society have suffered long from the gentle-Jesus people – more humanitarians than Christians -- who make our Catholic faith at times seem spineless, toothless, and totally unable to inspire or challenge anyone.  And yet, just as, in the Old Testament there was no way back for Esau who sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage, though he pleaded with many tears to his father Isaac; so too, in Jesus' New Testament parable, there is no repeal for the rich man in hell, not even a hearing for his prayer on behalf of his brothers.  For, just as we strengthen the humble and repentant with hope for the future when we remind them of the merciful goodness of God, so we best serve the proud and self-indulgent who despise and ignore proclamations of divine mercy, by warning them in no uncertain terms of the promise of dread punishment for all unrepentant and contumacious sinners.

Money, of itself, is not evil, but it is as Jesus said, ‘a tainted thing’.  Jesus spoke of money in that way because, for the most part, the making of much money comes from dishonest practices and leads to sinful indulgence.  But for an age such as ours, where ideals are so low and worldly goods seem so attractive, we should perhaps pass by as much as we can and condemn only what it totally unacceptable.   Therefore let me simply repeat the Christian and Catholic teaching: money and money-making are not intrinsically evil; indeed, honest making of money can bring the great blessing of employment for others, while money personally possessed can be used to benefit others in need, as Jesus Himself had just said:

Make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. (Luke 16:9)

Nevertheless, we Catholics should not allow ourselves to be deceived neither should we deceive ourselves: a life spent trying to get, enjoy, and pile up money, is a wasted life, and ultimately, an evil life. Some there are who -- vaguely recognizing this in the vestiges of their conscience -- try, by special token actions and publicised words and gestures that proclaim more the cunning of their minds than the sincerity of their hearts, to deceive both themselves and others.  There are others, less devious perhaps, but more pathetic, who like to think there is safety in numbers, and who, clinging to that gentle-Jesus sort of attitude I mentioned before, cloud their minds with such thoughts as: "Surely all those other people can't be condemned!"  The answer is, of course, that we do not know who or how many will be condemned, but we do know for certain that Jesus once said:

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

We are a people whose relatively recent Catholic development is marked out clearly by the changes in our appreciation and understanding of the Latin word "caritas” which was originally translated as “charity".  That "charity" meant heavenly love; it was God-given and was inimitable.  The translation was then changed to "love", and it’s meaning was understood, first of all, as noble human love, the love of friendship  and married love; then, because a downward slope easily becomes slippery, the word ‘love’ in popular usage gradually came to signify the sexual expression of all sorts of human relationships, even the most aberrant and abhorrent. Finally today, it is used to designate any and every emotional exuberance: be it that of parents who ‘let their children decide for themselves’ in all things; or of the abortionists ever willing to indulge any weeping prospective-mother by encouraging her to let the child she is carrying pay for her ‘mistakes’; or of those promoting the right to assisted death for the sick and elderly regardless of the threat such a ‘right’ could easily become for others selfishly considered ‘old and useless’.  For all such people the words discipline, self-control, self-sacrifice, patience, trust, and supremely, faithfulness, are almost dirty words, said to be unsympathetic and inhuman, certainly inadmissible and unacceptable, as descriptions of a modern way of life. 

You justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

People of God, we should try to appreciate our Faith -- in the integrity of its truth and beauty, its strength and sheer goodness -- ever more and more.  We should try to appreciate it better in order that we might come to love it more, indeed with our whole mind, heart, soul, and strength, so that we might allow it free and full expression in our lives by refusing to accommodate ourselves to that pervading shallow-mindedness of modern society which, for so many, smothers and distorts like thick smog the true light of faith and the real beauty of love, just as it enervates the sure strength of self-discipline and the deep joy of self-sacrifice.   And Jesus Himself has given us the most sublime help and encouragement in this by His parting Gift to all who would love Him enough to keep His commandments:

I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  (John 14:16-17)

The world loves to see – and seeks to share in -- the joys and pleasures of the rich, the successful, the winners, the happy-go-lucky ones, indeed of all those fully satisfied with their earthly lot and the pleasures it affords them.  But the world cannot see any reason for our Christian joy and Catholic hope, it cannot see the Person of our God, neither can it measure, calculate, check, or confirm Him or His Presence … therefore the world at the very best can only be an uncomprehending and largely unsympathetic neighbour, needing our help indeed but rarely willing to admit to any such need or accept any relevant help.

However, our God is for us, dear People of God, one Who dwells with us in Mother Church, ever guiding, strengthening, and enlightening her for our good, our nourishment and our salvation, and in each and every one of us, that we might strive to serve our Blessed Lord Jesus in all the details of our daily life and experience.  But He is, most wonderfully of all, in us as the bond of Love and Truth between Father and Son that He might draw us personally to come to love God Personally.  He is now in us as Jesus’ Gift seeking to bond us into/in the intimacy of the family of God, living by and sharing -- as adopted children -- in His infinite Love and Beatitude, Holiness and Peace:  a God for us still here on our pilgrim way to be listened to and obeyed indeed, but also One to be ever more amazingly wondered-at and ecstatically delighted-in as the only Holy One, supremely wise and beautiful, sublimely good and true, eternal and omnipotent, the very Foundation and Fulfilment of our whole being, of all our hopes and ultimate aspirations