19th Sunday of Year C 2013

 19^th Sunday, Year (C)

(Wisdom 18:6-9; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-12; Luke12:32-48)

Today's readings afford us both encouragement and warning: but the warning is only given to help us hold fast to the hope we are encouraged to treasure:

Do not be afraid, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

We know that the Father has indeed chosen to give us the kingdom because He has called us to become disciples of Jesus:

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. (Jn. 6:44);

and we actually become disciples of Jesus through faith and baptism:

Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are now justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; (Romans 3:23)

Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5)

What about the warning I spoke of?  It was contained in those words of Our Lord:

Be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.

Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit, like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.

He warns us further that, for anyone who becomes negligent, then:

The master will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will assign him a place with the unbelievers.

So we can gather that Our Lord is telling us to be watchful and ready in our faith, because those who fail to do this will be "assigned a place with the unbelievers", "sent to the same fate as the unfaithful".

What then is this gift of faith that we have been given?  In the second reading we heard:

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

How can we have a faith-conviction about things not seen?  Because God has solemnly promised these blessings will be ours.   Therefore we can see that faith is very, very, important, because it is, in fact, an acknowledgment of God's truthfulness and utter reliability.  To refuse to have faith in His promise is the same as saying He is a liar, or at the very least, that His promises are untrustworthy.

Faith is not only a witness to God, it is an opportunity for us: an opportunity to achieve something wonderful; indeed, as many unbelievers themselves will and do say frequently, an opportunity to experience and live something "out of this world".   Jesus Himself told us something of the wonder of faith:

If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’, and it would obey you.           (Luke 17:6)

All things are possible to him who believes. (Mark 9:23)

The Scriptures give us examples of the countless men and women who have trusted God and lived by faith.  In the first reading we heard of the hitherto enslaved Israelites, how:

With sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, Your People (took) courage (and) awaited the salvation of the just and the destruction of their foes.

Their faith was not misplaced, God did indeed bring them to arrive at, and take possession of, the Promised Land.

In the second reading we heard of Abraham "our father in faith" as we hear at Mass:

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, prepared to offer up Isaac his only begotten son. Because of such faith, Abraham was given the fulfilment promised by God -- descendants as numerous as the grains of sand on the sea-shore -- through Isaac, whom he had been  willing to offer to God.

There was a practical illustration of this power of faith in the Gospel.  After Jesus had miraculously fed the five thousand He remained behind in prayer; meanwhile, the disciples, crossing the Sea of Galilee alone in their boat, found themselves in distress when a hard storm blew up.  Jesus then came walking on the rough waters to the help of His struggling disciples:

Peter said to Him, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."  And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!"  Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"   (Matthew 14:28-31)

At another time:

As they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger.  They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm.  And He said to them, "Where is your faith?"   (Luke 8:23-25)

On those two occasions, the disciples of Jesus -- becoming frightened by what was happening around them -- began to doubt the Lord; and too many Christians, even Catholics, show the same weakness today.  They quickly lose faith because they want to see, experience, blessings now, while they are young enough to enjoy them, they will say; whereas faith requires, indeed demands, hope.  Many Christians, basically, want and will what this world has to offer, as a result of which the promises of God mean less and less to them the more they indulge themselves in worldly satisfactions.  This selfishness even leads some, in their search for present comfort and well-being, to renege on the most solemn commitments and break the closest bonds of love and trust; indeed they even come close to destroying their own humanity by stumbling around in miasmas of drug-addiction.  Such people -- imagining that this world is all we can aspire to, that this world alone can fulfil all our longings and desires -- will never accept the offer of faith.

An even closer likeness with the Twelve is shown in the attitudes of certain apparently religious people today who fear just as the disciples' feared, not indeed under the threat of the Galilee’s swelling waters, but at the thought of possible waves of criticism, opposition, and mockery from the world around.  Many desert the Faith in the face of such prospects; whilst others try to change their faith in such a way that it will fit in with whatever is  acceptable to and approved by the world around.

If, however, there is that in you which makes you yearn for something ‘better’ and more ‘fulfilling’ than the satisfactions of this world; a longing that lifts you up from, and thereby makes you somewhat independent of, this world, then there is for you the option of faith; because, as St. Paul tells us (Timothy 2:4):

     God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

True humanity -- that humanity which knows itself to be more than the surrounding things of this world be they ever so beautiful and majestic -- is ever able to lift up its perhaps drooping head afresh, and even today one can find some young people experiencing and expressing the desire to give themselves wholly to some supremely worthwhile cause, purpose, or person.  Such young (at least in spirit) people are the hope for our Christian civilization because they are capable of appreciating God's gift of faith.

For them and for all of us there is the example of Jesus Our Lord. Who has won for all humankind the possibility of life, eternal and full beyond all measure.  He, indeed, is the author of our faith, and:

it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings.     (Hebrews 2:10)

He went to the sufferings of death for our sake, trusting entirely in His Father; and we who have faith in Him must, like Him, trust God the Father totally, we must, like Jesus, have unshakeable faith in His promise of the Kingdom:

Do not be afraid, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

However, our faith is not meant to be a stoic refusal to yield to whatever trials may come our way, it should not involve cultivating a stiff upper lip and a ramrod back whereby we might able to hold on to God no matter what the threats, mockery or criticism of those around us, for God Himself has told us:

I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6)

The Father is pleased, has chosen gladly, to give us the kingdom and we must likewise take up that promise with rejoicing: our response of faith must not only be firm but filled  with gratitude, on fire with love, and sure in knowledge of the truth.  In this Our Blessed Lord is indeed the example, for we are told in the Letter to the Hebrews (12:2):

(Let us) fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We too, like Him, should find such joy in what the Father has promised us, in what He is already giving us in Jesus, that we not only endure the sufferings that come our way in this world, we not only positively despise them as nothing in comparison with what awaits us in heaven, but we even learn to embrace them and rejoice in them because of the wondrous new fellowship with Jesus they bring us.  This was the attitude of St. Paul who tells:

I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:8)

The practice of faith, the living of faith, can be the supreme joy of our lives because it is the supreme love of which a human being is capable, in Jesus.  There are, as I mentioned, some young people today, and there always will be some, who are not only able, for all humans beings are able, but also are longing and yearning to give themselves whole-heartedly to what is immeasurably greater than themselves.  Human beings, however, do not remain young for long, and as youth declines so, all too easily, can our longing for beauty, truth, and love gradually diminish.  It is so easy, almost inevitable, indeed, for an elderly person to become more selfish with the years and to begin to hanker after that which, in their youth, they had generously set aside.  Therefore we have to listen Our Lord's warning today.  We have to work on our faith, so to speak.  We first embraced it with love, and we have to try to love it more and more as the years come and go:

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We need to recognize that our faith is indeed a treasure: it will bring us greater joy, peace, love, fellowship and fulfilment, than the human mind can conceive of or imagine.  Our future happiness and glory will be a share in Jesus' own beatitude with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the heavenly kingdom where, fulfilled by divine beauty, holiness, life and love, we will find our ultimate selves:

According to God’s own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.  

18th Sunday of Year C 2013

 18^th. Sunday of Year (C)

(Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23; Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21)

Take care!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

Jesus’ words are in close accord with the modern scientific attitude which requires us to know the nature, the type, and the quality of whatever we might be using if we are to get the best working results from it.   Today we are constantly bombarded by governmental warnings about the dangers of smoking and ‘binge’ drinking, and recommendations concerning healthy eating and physical exercise, to mention only the least controversial items of advice for suitable personal living.  Jesus, therefore, in His advice to us today, is indeed up to date in His approach but far, far, deeper in His thought and understanding which are absolutely fundamental:  think about life if you want to get the most out of it; learn from the experience of mankind in general, don’t just let immediate personal pleasure or advantage blind you; above all, seek out and learn from the Giver of the gift that:

      Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

Notice, in passing, that Jesus, in replying to the man who called out to Him from the crowd, does not try to explain, publicly, what is a false appreciation of man’s life on earth and what is the real truth about its purpose and possibilities.  Jesus is answering a man whose mind and heart are centred on money, and the Old Testament (Proverbs 28:22) tells us clearly:

A man with an evil eye hastens after riches, and does not consider that poverty will come upon him.

And so Jesus does not attempt to reveal -- either by explanation or persuasion -- what is holy, to one with an evil eye.  He simply gives a warning:

Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.

That should have helped the man to stop, think, and hopefully reconsider and revise his attitude; for, only after having done that could he be in a position to appreciate the difference between passing satisfaction and abiding fulfilment, and then to fruitfully proceed to inquire about what is truly good and worth-while.  Here the words of St. Paul in our second reading are most pertinent:

Put on the new self, which is being renewed for knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Only one renewed by faith in Christ and endowed with the guiding Spirit of Christ is able to see and appreciate the ultimate beauty, truth, and love behind our experience of life in a world afflicted and at times ravaged by the effects of human sin.  Until that change had taken place within him, however, the evil man will continue to run after riches totally unaware of the fact that ultimate poverty was hastening in his direction, eager to meet him.

However, Jesus did -- as the Gospel account reports -- go on to explain further to His disciples what could not be given to those with ears that would not hear and eyes that did not see; and Mother Church does likewise for us today in so far as she puts today’s Gospel passage together with readings from Ecclesiastes and St. Paul as we have heard.

What is life?  What -- if we are humble, devout and attentive enough -- can we learn about it that will enable us to use it rightly and wisely?

First of all, the passage quoted from the book of Ecclesiastes makes a supremely important fact about life abundantly clear:

Here is one who has laboured with wisdom and knowledge and skill; and yet, to another who has not laboured over it, he must leave his property. This is vanity and a great misfortune.

In other words, our hold on life is uncertain; the number of our years is unknown; and we cannot take our possessions with us when we leave, no matter what they may mean to us, nor how much time, care, and effort we may have bestowed on them.

The second reading from St. Paul then told us that, when our time on earth is ended, life does not come to an end, for we have a heavenly destiny, a heavenly fulfilment, to attain or to lose:

Set your mind on things above … for your (real) life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory.

Do those words ‘set your mind on things above’ mean that we should seek to build up a treasure in heaven instead of one on earth?  After all didn’t Jesus say:

Provide yourselves a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also?    (Luke 12:33-34)

Jesus did indeed mean and say precisely that; and thereby hangs a tale, so to speak, a tale of confrontation and conflict which has helped to divide, but also, let us pray, might ultimately serve to guide and prosper, Western Christendom. 

In order to understand those words of Jesus we have to remember that He had said immediately before:

Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:32)

Therefore, our good works of whatever sort, will be ‘a treasure’ for us in heaven, and also a gift from God: a treasure, indeed, but not exclusively ours; for our glory, yes, but not a treasure enabling us to buy our way into heaven, to save ourselves.  On the contrary, our heavenly treasure will be found to bear an eternal witness to the Father’s goodness to us, in Jesus, by the Spirit, throughout our life:

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. (John 14:12)

The old Protestant battle-cry of ‘sola fides’, trusting in the Scriptures of Christ that alone can obtain for us the grace of justification, was based on, or rather provoked by, a misunderstanding of the Catholic attitude, a misunderstanding induced, we must admit, by massive personal and institutional scandals, together with a scholarly over-emphasis on the powers of reason at the expense of biblical sensitivity and personal responsiveness.

Today we are very familiar with debate about the need for people to have pensions to help their needs in old age; and many, indeed probably most people, regard retirement as a time to relax and enjoy the fruits which the nest-egg they have built up over the years will enable them to experience.  They have provided for themselves, all is well!  That is how ‘good works’ appeared to Luther in the Church of his times: ‘good works’ acquired by gifts of money, works of penance, pilgrimages etc. apparently could guarantee salvation for people who were otherwise independent of Christ, certainly not living for Him, loving Him, and hoping totally on His Spirit.  This false attitude is not absent even today.  Of course, there is less emphasis on the buying and selling of indulgences, but there can still be excessive and unwarranted trust in occasional contributions or passing devotions in no way backed up by faithful Church observance and Catholic obedience.  There are far too many Catholics, even today, who follow teachings, practice spiritualities and devotions of various sorts, without giving serious attention to building up a personal relationship with Jesus to be found in the Scriptures and encountered in the Sacraments and teaching of the Church.   Indeed, the greatest sacrament of all, the Eucharist itself, is far too frequently ‘used’ in an impersonal manner: with no return of personal commitment to Him Who sacrificed Himself for us, and no deep response of personal love to Him Who loved us to the end.

And yet, there is only one infallible sign and expression of Catholic holiness: it is not works, it is not faith, it is love:

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

And what love is being spoken of by the Apostle there?  Love of God: seen darkly indeed here on earth, but, nevertheless, experienced most surely in Jesus:

When that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.  Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.  And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.         (1 Corinthians 13:10-14:1)

Why is such love of God the greatest?   Not simply because it is love for God, Whom we shall see clearly, face to face; Whom we shall then know as He now knows us; not even simply because it was said by Jesus to be the fulfilment of the first and greatest commandment:

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  (Mark 12:30)

The Love of God of which we speak is the greatest, above and beyond all other virtues and excellences, because it is divine charity, that is, a sharing in Jesus’ own love for the Father, and it is that – essentially, though as yet initially -- even here on earth.   It is not a human emotional love, neither is it an intellectual attraction or fascination, it is a sharing in the Holy Spirit of Jesus:

Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)

And, People of God, as we look back on the life and death of Jesus our Lord we recognise that that Spirit of love which drove Jesus to such lengths for His Father and for us cannot remain inactive in us: if the love of God is truly in us, then He -- the Spirit of Love and Truth -- will be at work in us and through us in some way or other.  And our good works, thus accomplished in Jesus and by His Spirit, will indeed be a treasure for us in heaven; and yet, they will in no way be a cause for personal pride, for they will humble us every bit as much as they delight us: being eternal reminders of God’s wondrous mercy and goodness to us in Jesus throughout our life on earth; and, by the Spirit, an eternal inspiration to gratitude and provocation to praise before the Father Who worked such things through His Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, dwelling in us.