33rd Sunday Year C 2022

 

33^rd. Sunday (Year C)

(Malachi 3:19-20; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19)

 

 The prophet Malachi heard the Lord declare:

The day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch.  But for you who fear My name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.

Though terrible events be taking place all around them, the People of God will not be afraid, neither will they allow themselves to be disturbed in any way because, “fearing the name of the Lord" in spirit and in truth, leads them to fear naught else.

Malachi’s picture of a people thus set apart from all others agrees with St. Peter's description of the true disciples of Jesus:

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, (the Lord’s) own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light. (1 Peter 2:9)

God’s children, say both the prophet Malachi and the Apostle Peter, are meant to be -- as we hear in the canon of the Mass -- "a chosen generation, a people set apart".

In what respect are they set apart from others?  Surely, not because they are aloof from, or indifferent to, others, for charity is the essence of the great commandment that rules their way of life; while the Lord they worship and follow, Himself gives the supreme teaching and example of fraternal love.  Nor are individual Christians to set themselves apart by any flamboyance or exuberance; on the contrary, St. Paul tells us that Christians ought to be quiet in their lifestyle:

We command and exhort (you) in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in a quiet fashion and eat (your) own bread.

So, we realize that Christians are to be "different" from others, above all, by their strength of character: fearing the name of the Lord, they will fear no other, naught else; always and only -- in the power of the Spirit and by their moral discipline -- bearing witness to the love of Christ in all circumstances and before all peoples.

If we now turn our attention to Jesus, we can see how He Personally formed the character of His foremost disciples along those lines:

As some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and donations, (Jesus) said, “These things which you see -- the days will come in which not one stone shall be left upon another that shall not be thrown down."

Here He would seem to be weaning them from such false supports as national pride, or vain-glorious human enthusiasm, sparked off by external circumstances such as the magnificent Temple recently built by King Herod in Jerusalem:

Take heed that you not be deceived. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am He', and 'The time has drawn near.'   Do not go after them!

"Take heed not to be deceived", even though many others be misled; "do not go after" the crowd, to join in the comfort of communal emotion.  There Jesus is clearly seeking to form in His disciples a characteristic attitude that will distinguish them in the future: they will not be afraid to walk alone with their Lord; for His sake, to stand apart from other men when necessary, overcoming every desire to hide in, or run with, the crowd.  

That was not to be all, however, for Jesus went on to warn of yet greater trials:

When you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately.

Mature Christians must be able to stand resolute amidst widespread anxiety and contagious panic: the only fear they acknowledge being a heartfelt and reverential fear of the Lord they will have sufficient spiritual courage and moral discipline to wait for, and confidently trust in, Him; though everything else, be it even the very heavens, might seem to be falling apart:

There will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.

Fear is instilled above all by imminent and urgent threat to self: to one's life, one's reputation, one's family; and only the supernatural Christian fear of the Lord can overcome the effect that such natural and fundamental fears can trigger off.  Here we should appreciate, People of God, that Christian fear of the Lord is no ordinary gift from God, but such a sign of His blessing that, according to the prophet Isaiah (11:1-3), the Messiah Himself would take special delight in it:

Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.  And He will delight in the fear of the Lord.

Fear of the Lord, therefore, is indeed a supernatural gift from God which we ourselves are called upon to co-operate with and develop as part of our character; but, much more than that, it is a supreme sign of God’s love and favour, meant to be our special delight and ultimate defence against anything this world can throw up against us or the devil devise to ensnare us.

And that is just the final situation which Jesus puts before His disciples now:

They will seize and persecute you; they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons; and they will have you led before kings and governors, because of My name.

Then indeed, fear of the Lord and trust in His mercy and power, must be seen to be the disciple’s great delight and sure shield.  Jesus insists they then look neither to men, nor rely on themselves; but, rather, turn to Him and:

So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand how to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.

People of God, recognize what Jesus is looking for in His disciples, appreciate the sort of character He wishes us to have, for today many have an idea of holiness that is not only sugar-coated but also largely conformed to worldly standards, set up for worldly acceptance.

True holiness, however, is not worldly, but Christian and personal, being God’s gift, by the Spirit, to the committed disciple of Jesus. Therefore, we should appreciate that Paul’s teaching -- though it does indeed reflect his own character and his personal appreciation of Christ – is, nevertheless, the teaching of one who was most particularly chosen by the Risen Lord Jesus Himself, and most specially endowed by God for his role as teacher of the nations.  Paul was supremely one with, and committed to, the Risen Lord: as witnessed by his incomparable sufferings for Christ and the glowing eloquence of his witness and testimony to the Gospel.  And we – ordinary mortals with our feet still muddied by the filth of the world -- should in no way presume to suspect, let alone criticize, the intentions of one who had been raised up to the third heaven, when he chooses to write in the name of his Lord and Saviour words such as:

If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.

Our true Christian duty and privilege should be to learn to appreciate them truly, and to live them aright, for St. Paul was following the example and purpose of Jesus Himself by preparing and promoting in his converts, as best he could, that moral discipline and spiritual strength essential for disciples who would, inevitably, have to carry the Cross with their Lord for God's glory and mankind's salvation; and such strength is never acquired through indulgence, nor is mere encouragement or comforting exhortation able to promote it.

Today we find similar weaknesses, similar desires for quick, sugar-coated, easily seen, and popularly appreciated, holiness still preventing the wholesome teaching of the Scriptures and Mother Church from finding practical acceptance: how many parents, for example, today, “don’t like” to correct, let alone discipline, their children; with the result that the children suffer many and more serious difficulties and dangers resulting from their emotional indiscipline and moral ignorance.  Likewise, how often is the Gospel watered down for public approval rather than proclaimed with apostolic integrity; how publicly is discipline laughed at, mocked, while sin, and at times even depravity, is passively condoned.

And today indeed, in these our own ‘latter days’, there are some former Catholics and even presumed Christian leaders, who find themselves ‘so deeply sorrowful’ for having hurt the feelings of so many of their fellow human-beings  -- I also am very sorry to say I cannot find any teardrop type!! -- by holding teachings that they are now willing to drop as they desert Jesus and the Church He founded on the bed-rock of Apostolic faith, and profess a new, supposedly superior, not Christianity, but ‘Christ-insanity’, where pseudo-love of neighbour – whatever the neighbour’s faith or practice – is to be supreme, and the only blameworthy act is whatever disturbs the all-embracing harmony of people freely living and promoting their own version of life, so long as that version does not prevent  or impinge harmfully on the rights of others to do the same.  Thus, they become a ‘body’ of humanity without any bone structure, just a formless ‘blob’, going nowhere -- for it has no future vision other than ever-present indulgence – nowhere that is, except to its own destruction and disgrace.

Jesus’ final words in the Gospel reading have special significance for all those called to be witnesses to Him.  They are not soft words to coax, for He wants all who are thus called and will aspire to become His disciples to be strong enough, in Him, to glorify the Father by the power of the Spirit, and to this end He chooses to help them, and us ourselves, surely, with clear words of strength and inspiration:

You will even be handed over by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and some of you will be put to death.   You will be hated by all for My name's sake, but not a hair on your head will be lost.  By your perseverance you will secure your lives.                                                

32nd Sunday Year C 2022

 

32^nd Sunday of Year (C)

(2^nd Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; 2^nd.Thessalonians 2:16 – 3:5; Luke 20:27-38)

 

Our readings this Sunday are very topical and timely because we hear much about ‘family’ these days, not so much as the basic Christian institution consisting of father, mother -- husband and wife -- and their rightly born or adopted children, but about modern, floating, ‘family-type’ relationships, concerning only one acknowledged parent, or two: complementary in their sexuality, or both of the same sex. And then there is another modern consideration, a ‘woke’ secular society and government, trying to loudly promote itself, by whittling down parental rights, authority and responsibility, in order to help -- so they say -- children of whatever parentage and in whatever need; all of which brings about the danger that even some simple Christian people may begin to think that marriage and parentage of itself is a merely natural matter.

We who are Christians and Catholics, however, whilst we are grateful for any real help given to strengthen the Christian institution of married life, confess and profess that marriage is a God-gifted institution, established by Him for a spiritual and heavenly purpose, and bringing personal and social benefits essential for human progress in true peace and right prosperity (Matthew 19:4–5):

Jesus said, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  

God’s purpose for marriage calls for life-long, mutual and exclusive love, leading to personal -- not merely sexual -- fulfilment for the spouses; and stability, confidence, and growth for the family and indeed society as a whole; while ultimately preparing for the eternal happiness and heavenly blessedness of all who dedicated their married lives to Christ, and tried to live them in the power and promise of His Spirit.

The Second Vatican Council taught us that God Himself is the author of marriage when it declared:  The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by Him with its own proper laws.

Our Faith also tells us that human beings are created in the image and likeness of God Whose Love is the ultimate, absolute, and unfailing power which finds mankind good, very good, in all its powers and possibilities, as the intention of His Creator’s thought;  and that this divine love is intended to be recognized and embraced by mankind, thus enabling them, in turn, to bear fruit and find fulfilment in the work of presiding over creation:

            Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.

Man and woman themselves were originally created for one another, they are divinely complementary; and Jesus showed that Christian marriage -- requiring a sacred, and lovingly-unbreakable union of husband and wife -- eminently manifests this divine intention, when He authoritatively recalled that in the beginning the Creator’s plan had been:

            That they are no longer two, but one flesh.

Sin however, entered into the world; and now, especially in our modern times of Western betrayal, everyone experiences evil all around, openly portrayed and promoted by the media; and also from within his or her own life-experience.  But nevertheless, the order of creation persists, even though men and women now know life as seriously disturbed and disturbing.  To heal the wounds of sin, man and woman need anew, and so very urgently, the help of grace that God in His infinite mercy will never refuse them.  However, it is a grace originally won and supremely exemplified by Jesus Christ Who was willing to suffer Personally in order that His love might triumph in our sinful world, and without a like willingness to embrace suffering that His love might triumph in us and through us in our experience of life and living-together, men and women cannot fully achieve that union of their lives for which God created them in the beginning.

Jesus had a great respect for the institution of marriage as we see from the fact that, on the threshold of His public ministry He performed His first miracle – at His mother’s request – during, and for the success of, a wedding feast.  In the course of that ministry, Jesus taught unequivocally the original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning: the matrimonial union is indissoluble: God Himself has determined it:

            What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.

No matter what the trendy press may print, no matter what public figures may do, no matter how much off-course human rights activists may agitate against it, marriage is a Christian institution for man and woman only and exclusively, and it cannot be terminated or broken by any civil authority.  From these two principles we should begin to see something of the seriousness of marriage and the dignity both of the marriage bond itself and of the man and woman who together enter into that bond.

Let us now, in the light of Jesus’ teaching in the Church, have a short glance at today’s readings.  Let us begin with the Gospel reading.  You can see how the stiff-necked people whose hearts were hard, and who had forced Moses to wrongly allow them to divorce, came to regard matrimony; for the attitude of the Sadducees with their story of the seven brothers who died and the one wife who survived them all, shows neither reverence for what is holy, nor awareness of what is spiritual.  For them marriage was carnal and functional, nothing more.

However, Jesus’ answer to the Sadducees gives us guidance with regard to another and more modern error.  Marriage is not an end in itself nor is it eternal.  Marriage is, however, a pre-eminent means God has established and uses for the sanctification of people here on earth; and those who live their married life aright are thereby helped to become worthy, as Jesus said: of a place in the other world as children of the resurrection and sons of God.

However, an overly sentimental and predominantly emotional view of married love can very easily lead the partners to expect too much from it and demand too much from each other; and, quite tragically, become unforgiving in their attitude to each other.

Finally, let us have a short look at the first reading, for here is an example and a teaching which is certainly much needed today.   What a wonderful woman was shown us in that reading!  She did indeed live the role marriage had brought her: she taught her sons, she disciplined her sons, by the very love she had for them.  Let me just recall for you how she disciplined, by love, her youngest son:

In derision of the cruel tyrant, she leaned over close to her son and said in their native language: “Son, have pity on me, who carried you in my womb for nine months, nursed you for three years, brought you up, educated and supported you to your present age. I beg you, child, to look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them; then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things; and in the same way the human race came into existence.   Do not be afraid of this executioner, but be worthy of your brothers and accept death, so that in the time of mercy I may receive you again with them.” 

You who are mothers should recognize that YOU have, from God, the key to your children’s hearts, and that you and your husband have also God-given authority over and for your children.  Use those gifts with humility, prayer, and confidence.  Do not let your children do whatever they may want, but guide them, comfort, and, when necessary, discipline them, with love.  Realize that your children are gifts to you from God and bring them up as children of His whom He has entrusted to you; do not leave them to guide themselves or follow the example of those who have neither faith nor morals.

Parents and children are meant to thank God eternally for each other:

mothers, teach your children to respect their father;

fathers, teach your children to love their mother.

Parents both, don’t fail in your responsibility before God, because you are meant to be the first and surest teachers and exemplars about God for your children ... don’t lose that heavenly glory which will most surely be yours by loving and respecting each other, and together, serving, calmly loving and trusting God, in all the joys and vicissitudes of life.            

31st. Sunday Year C 2022

 

 

 Thirty-First Sunday (Year C)

(Wisdom 11:22 – 12:2;  2 Thessalonians 1:11 – 2:2;  Gospel of St. Luke 19:1-10)

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Dear People of God, some scholars (e.g. J.D.M. Derrett) tell us that according to the Law, Jews were not allowed to even handle money belonging -- if one can rightly use that word! -- to a publican, because it was considered to be money extorted by fraud or force, ultimately at the behest of the occupying power of Rome.   Since Zacchaeus (= ‘the Righteous’) was a chief tax(toll?)-gatherer, it was therefore presumed by his Jewish compatriots, that he himself used force and threats to exact money from sub-collectors under his control; and that those sub-collectors, in their turn, applied pressure on the poor – a fact well-known from common experience – to get the money required first of all by the Roman occupying authorities, plus what they had to pay ‘in commission’ to Zacchaeus and his ‘ilk’, and then, finally, to make whatever profit they might want or could get for themselves.  Wicked?  Yes, most wicked; but that is the way things were done in Palestine at the time of Our Lord’s public ministry, and that is why the tax-, toll-, MONEY collectors were hated in Israel.

Not only the strict and zealous observers of the Law of Moses, but also the great majority of  Israelites, in those days shared that attitude of strong hostility towards publicans: avoiding contact with them -- ostracizing them -- as best they could.  Hence Zacchaeus in today’s Gospel, being unable to get through the large and unaccommodating crowd standing along the roadside where Jesus would pass by, could not -- because of them and as a result of his own short stature -- see Him making His way through the town.  A tree, however, offered Zacchaeus a way out of his difficulty, although it would not be without the dilemma of having to clamber up it and risk exposing himself to the mockery of those observing his attempt to do so.

 Zacchaeus, though heartily despised as a publican ‘quisling’, was yet able to be in the vicinity of, even though not actually among, the crowd awaiting Jesus’ passing by.   It would appear that despite the fact of his being despised,  he was not in any direct personal danger; perhaps, because he was a chief  tax-collector who did not personally ‘grab’ the money demanded by the hated Roman occupying forces.   Soon he would be able to say to Jesus, ‘Lord, if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over’; as a top official, that is, although he could not guarantee his subordinate’s behaviour, nevertheless, he himself had not practiced extortion so far as he could remember.  He would therefore seem to have been a man of some personal integrity and consequently allowed a greater measure of tolerance by his fellow citizens of Jericho.

Zacchaeus -- a Hebrew name -- was obviously at odds with the contemporary religious authorities in Israel since he had chosen to make his career as a prominent publican.  Nevertheless, he was not dead to the traditional faith of his people, because the reputation of Jesus was such that, news of His coming to Jericho -- even if only passing through on His way to Jerusalem -- was of great interest and possible importance to Zacchaeus: for, although Jesus proclaimed the faith of the fathers, nevertheless He was not part of the current Sadducee, Scribes and Pharisees, religious ‘set up’.  Indeed, Jesus was known to be coming with a call to repentance for all believers, religiously prominent or not, obedient to God’s Law and Israel’s covenant or not; a renewal which offered the possibility for those willing to accept His teaching to become part of, enter into, what He called the ‘Kingdom of God’.   Zacchaeus realized that -- at whatever cost – he had  to see such a man!

 To do that, however, he realized that he would have to throw away his dignity and dress -- his only title to some measure of respect in Jericho -- by scrambling up that dusty, dirty tree in order to catch a glimpse of Jesus walking along the road under his somewhat perilous perch!  

Remember St. Paul’s words:

I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ.  (Philippians 3:8)

 

In Zacchaeus’ case those words could be, ‘I consider myself, my dignity and my bearing, as so much rubbish, that I may catch a glimpse of this Jesus of Whom I hear so much.’

Therefore, as Jesus was walking silently along the street, He recognized His Father’s grace at work in a man awkwardly straddled up a tree a few yards ahead of Him.   Looking up quite deliberately at the man, and taking calm and loving notice of him, Jesus changed His mind about passing straight through the town, and called out:

             Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house.

 Zacchaeus having thus – eventually -- not only caught sight of Jesus, but even, and most amazingly of all, caught His attention, had now been publicly called to receive Him as a guest in his own house!

 However, Zacchaeus was, all of a sudden, deeply troubled at that call: for this Jesus was – Zacchaeus knew it immediately – a truly holy and mysteriously powerful man; and Zacchaeus also knew -- now most surely -- that he himself was not holy.  Oh! how honoured he felt himself to be by Jesus’ wish to stay at his house; but he did not want this wonderful Man to be ill-spoken of because of himself: he did not want Jesus to be tarred with his own, Zacchaeus’, brush! 

Therefore, as a surprisingly humble and sensitive person as well as a truly intelligent man, Zacchaeus resolved to protect Jesus by speaking out -- making full and accurate use of his own intimate knowledge of both Jewish Law and Roman practices – in such a way that Jesus’ coming into the house of a publican might not cause any disrespect for His Person or bring about any diminution of His reputation in Israel.

 And so there followed a wonderfully delicate display of mutual respect, awareness, and appreciation, which served to bring about the healing embrace of two apparently diametrically opposed people and attitudes that day:

             Zacchaeus received with joy, Him -- of Whom it was said -- ‘He has gone to stay             at the house of a sinner.’

Jesus, recognizing Zacchaeus as one sent to Him by His Father, patiently followed the publican whose heart was open to Him, though his house was as yet still closed; and Zacchaeus, for his part, even before Jesus could enter his house:

 

Stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over.’

  

Those words were loudly spoken, not because Zacchaeus was boasting before the Lord or whoever of the crowd might have followed them, but because he wanted it clearly understand by all, that Jesus would not be incurring any legal fault whatsoever by entering his house.   Jesus, likewise, wanted to use this His-Father-sent-opportunity to help all around, and indeed the whole people of Israel, understand the true nature of His salvific coming by addressing words of divine wisdom, goodness, and clarity to them:

Today, salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.  For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.

 

Love and respect (remember St. Paul speaking of the relationship between Jesus and the Church, between husband and wife?), love and respect had met!  Divine Love and deep human respect (comprising sincere humility and reverential awe) had overcome any and all division.  Jesus could – even according to the Law – accept Zacchaeus' joyful hospitality and give His own gifts to His host in return.

 And how did this most beautiful scenario of divine compassion and deep human joy, of most sensitively accommodating holiness and humble self-surrender, arise?  Because Jesus, passing through Jericho, had suddenly become aware of His Father drawing His attention to one being sent to Him: one making something of a fool of himself at that very moment, being well dressed and yet perched most uncomfortably up a tree, and suffering the mockery and probably coarse jibes of the unfriendly crowd beneath.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ there is much said about Zacchaeus among scholars who are not sure who he was!!  For us, however, he is undoubtedly a source of inspiration in our relations with Jesus, and perhaps he now actually rejoices in himself being one being so greatly privileged as to bring to our notice something of the hidden beauty of Jesus our Lord and Saviour.   Let us now, therefore, allow Zacchaeus – for love of Jesus – to help us in our service of and love for the Lord, for the lessons he can teach us are of supreme importance.

Having shown total disregard for his own personal standing,  and having made himself to look like a ‘nutter up a tree’ in order to catch just a glimpse of Jesus, does Zacchaeus not shame many Catholics who cling so tenaciously to their own self-love and obsessive solicitude for their own reputation in the eyes of others, fears perhaps greatly harming their own peace before God or even leading them to hide behind silence when the words of Jesus and the teaching of Mother Church are subject to opposition or ridicule?  Surely, Zacchaeus’ great, indeed overriding, concern for the good name of Jesus confounds the half-hearted devotion and spineless commitment of many soft-centered Catholics today.

Oh, dear People of God, you have ‘seen’ Zacchaeus yielding himself totally to the heavenly beauty of Jesus among men, and the wonder of Jesus’ own treasuring of His Father’s gift by so patiently understanding and sympathetically encouraging Zacchaeus.  Remember, all who are true disciples of Jesus are likewise gifts to Him from the Father, gifts being treasured now -- if we allow Him -- and to be treasured by Him throughout our lives for the Father.

I can do no better now than to close this address and leave you with your own memories of a most beautiful Gospel episode, and the grace of God it enshrines for all who love and will learn from it.            

 

 

30th Sunday Year C 2022

 

                30^th. Sunday, Year (C)

(Ecclesiasticus 35:12-14, 16-19; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14)

 

 

Jesus spoke this parable, Saint Luke tells us, to some who were:

Convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

However, He spoke this parable not so much to attack anyone but rather to offer healing to all; and to that end He portrayed two characters, both of them caricatures: a Pharisee praying as if he thought ALL MEN (even his fellow Pharisees!) were greedy, dishonest and adulterous … an opinion to which no one could give credence; and, on the other hand, an Israelite tax-collector working for the hated Romans who expected him to get the standard of living he desired from making surcharges which the Romans themselves did not demand, and yet apparently praying with the utmost devotion and obvious sincerity in the Temple soon to be destroyed by those Romans.

Two caricatures because Jesus wanted to make perfectly clear a teaching which He needed to impress upon them because of its absolutely essential importance for any man’s relationship with God: a teaching that offered hope to those near despair and demanded humility from those whose apparent sincerity and devotion, though highly regarded by many was actually being eaten away by a voracious pride in their party’s much over-valued human traditions.   For such healing to be effective it was necessary for the wrong to be recognized and for the medication to be rightly applied.

Jesus would seem to have addressed the parable to Pharisees who were, indeed, wanting to be righteous before God, because the whole point of the parable is show that they are not actually achieving what they wanted:

I tell you this man (the tax collector) went down to his house justified (that is accepted by, acceptable to, God) rather than the other.

Jesus, Who was recognized as a Rabbi, that is, a teacher, was saying, in other words, if you want to be acceptable to, righteous before, God, you are going about it the wrong way; have a good look at look at the tax-collector here with you in the Temple, and learn this from Me:

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

So, what was the great fault – according to Jesus’ parable – that the Pharisee’s were committing?  Jesus made it ludicrously clear: 

God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- greedy, dishonest, adulterers.

No doubt some of the Pharisee’s contemporaries were well-known money lovers, unjust (pseudo-religious) people, and some, maybe, adulterers; others may, at times in the past, have been guilty of such behaviour; nevertheless, he could in no way claim that ALL his contemporaries, especially his fellow pharisees, were like that.  If he had simply said ‘that I am not like some other men’, or even perhaps ‘many other men’, he might have been speaking truly.  But Jesus’ whole purpose was underline as much as possible – and mockery was a most effective weapon with which to deflate those so proud of their religious practices and public esteem – and so His caricature has the Pharisee praying those ludicrous words:

            My God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity.   

As regards the tax collector, he was indeed reckoned among the worst of extortioners: exacting often-excessive taxes on behalf of the hated occupying Roman power; he was also unjust beyond-the-pale, so to speak, knowing and caring nothing of the Law of Moses, the great pride of Israel and deeply respected though not always obeyed by most Jews of those days, especially in face of the Romans.  How could a practicing tax-collector behave in such way: he was openly and, most humbly, praying in the manner of a pious Jew, in the Temple: in that regard, although his dress bespoke a tax-collector, his actions were those of a deeply religious man.  Our Pharisee, of course, saw nothing other than the clothes of one he despised above all.

That would seem to have been the characteristic trait of the Pharisees in general at that time against which Jesus was wanting to warn them and offer healing: regarding all others with potential disdain, especially tax-collectors, extortioners, adulterers, and all those unjust before the Law!

It is really quite amazing to think that serious and sincerely religious men could have such a blanket attitude!  What was at the back of it all?  Well, Jesus would seem to be emphasizing, highlighting, in order to bring into the open, an attitude that was, to a large extent, endemic in the Pharisaic observance of the Law:

I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.

This pharisaic (sic!) tendency presents a perennial danger, People of God, for committed individuals of all persuasions; and in early Christianity, we find Paul seeking to root it out when it began to show its head in the Corinthian church he had founded (1 Cor. 4:7):

Who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive?  If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

God’s gifts are given, generally speaking, to be used to further God’s purposes in the world around.  They are also given to draw the recipient closer to God: gratitude felt should be expressed to God, Personally; and, in that way, should lead to closer personal relationship with God, to a deeper appreciation of, and responsiveness to, Him.

When, however, religious practice becomes merely the external observance of certain precepts and ordinances rather than a personal commitment and response to God known and loved, then, gifts received can be personally appropriated and used to exalt the recipient’s pride and imagined superiority over others, instead of establishing his humility and bolstering his gratitude to God.  Moreover, when religion thus becomes cold and impersonal, even good deeds, being done not out of love for the all Holy One, but as claims to personal holiness, become quite worthless before God, nothing but further additions to a sum total of personal achievement and pride.

That was the state of the Pharisee in Our Lord’s parable: and nothing could better recall him to true religion than the sight of a repentant tax-collector dead to all but God in the Temple.

There is only one sure proof of holiness: love for Jesus, and in Him, for the Father, by the Spirit.  Holiness is not, in its essence, proven by miracles performed, nor by good deeds done, prayers said, pilgrimages made, money given, or indulgences gained; and of course, worldly reputation, the approval of authorities, or popularity among peers, have no true relevance here.  All of these can indeed, under the right conditions, be indications of some measure of holiness; but love alone is the authentic and certain criterion of that God-given holiness which is charity.

This teaching is sublimely expressed by St. Paul, again writing to his church community in Corinth: 

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 Cor. 13:1-4):

Let us now listen to Our Lord answering the question once put to Him in the Gospel by a Scribe of pharisaic persuasion (Mark 12: 28-33):

        “Which is the first commandment of all?"  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the                          commandments is:  Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love           the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all              your strength.'  This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall                  love your neighbour as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

And let us turn back to our readings for today and see how St. Paul himself manifested that very spirit so badly distorted by the Pharisee in the Gospel parable:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.

At that point one might think that Paul was dangerously close to being like the Pharisee counting up personal items of merit.  But notice how he continues, for Paul was not one to think his righteousness to be his own, personal, achievement; nor that he was alone among men in his endeavours and in his success:

There is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have longed for His appearance.

Finally, hear and admire his total humility and childlike trust before God when, fully aware of his imminent execution, he refers to his life’s achievements as having been done, in him and through him, by God (2 Tim. 4:17-18):                                                               

The Lord stood by me and lent me strength, so that I might be His instrument in making the full proclamation of the gospel for the whole pagan world to hear; and thus, I was rescued from the lion’s jaws.  The Lord will rescue me from every attempt to do me harm, and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom.  Glory to Him for ever and ever!  Amen.    

 

29th Sunday Year C 2022

 

 29^th. Sunday, Year (C)

(Exodus 17:8-13; 2 Timothy 3:14 – 4:2; Luke 18:1-8)

 

 

As Moses was guiding Israel to the Promised Land, we heard that:

            Amalek came and attacked Israel at Rephidim.)

Now, it is important that we notice what followed, for Moses said to Joshua:

Pick men for us and march out tomorrow to fight against Amalek; and I shall stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.

Moses was not a bloodthirsty man, in fact, Scripture tells us (Numbers 12:3-4) that:

Moses was very humble, more so than any man on the face of the earth;  

and yet, as you heard, he went -- as leader, with the staff of God in his hand -- to intercede for the army of Israel fighting in battle at his behest.

Whenever Moses raised his hands Israel had the advantage, and when he lowered his hands, the advantage passed to Amalek. 

Ultimately, it was thanks to Moses' intercession that:

      Joshua defeated Amalek and put its people to the sword. 

And so, despite being the humblest of men, Moses led his people into war believing it to be in accordance with the will of the Lord.

Moses was also the holiest of men, for again, Scripture (Exodus 33:11) tells us that:

The Lord used to speak with Moses, face to face, as one man speaks to another.

The full significance of this is explained to us in the following words of the Lord:

If he were a prophet and nothing more, I would make Myself known to him in a vision, I would speak with him in a dream.  But My servant Moses is not such a prophet; of all My house he alone is faithful.  With him I speak face to face, openly and not in riddles.  He sees the very form of the Lord. (Numbers 12:6-8)

Because Moses was totally dedicated to God in his holiness and his humility, he could not be directly involved in the bloody struggle against Amalek taking place in the valley below him; nevertheless, for the sake of God's People, he would share in the battle, in the manner best suited to his particular calling and personal character, that is, by his prayers.  From this we can see that war is not, of itself, evil; but it can only become an acceptable weapon for the People of God, when used for a purpose, and exercised in a manner, acceptable to God.

Timothy was a man totally dedicated to God in his life, but, as with Moses, that did not mean that he could not, should not, fight.  His ministry was indeed to be a fight, and the words of St. Paul in the second reading were preparing and encouraging him to be a fighter in the best Christian sense, for God’s glory and for men's salvation:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.  Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

That is not at all like much modern use of Scripture to console, ‘cuddle and comfort’, souls!!

Worldly weapons of destruction are, almost inevitably, backed by worldly passions; and too often they result in hatred, violence, and ruthlessness being directed against our fellow men.   St. Paul, on the other hand, explains that the Christian fight is against the devil:

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Moreover, the Christian must learn to fight not only against evil in principalities and powers but also against the evil and malice, lust and luxuriousness, weakness and  ignorance, ensconced within many of society’s preferences, and in his very own heart and mind; and for such a campaign -- one that has to be faced-up to and fought throughout life -- only faith and prayer can enable him to endure and ultimately win the promised crown:

Take up the armour of God.  Stand fast; fasten on the belt of truth, for a breastplate put on integrity; let the shoes on your feet be the gospel of peace, to give you firm footing.  And with all these, take up the great shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the burning arrows of the evil one.  Accept the sword which the Spirit gives you, the word of God.   Constantly ask God’s help, praying always in power of the Spirit.   (Ephesians 6:13-18)

In armed conflicts emotions naturally arise in the combatants; and being instinctive, they can easily develop, becoming so powerful and imperious as to be indeed, passions: forces we do not simply use, but which rather use us, and from which we suffer greatly: impulses blinding us to such an extent that they overwhelm our judgment and override our conscience.  From such indulged passions there can directly arise not only human tragedies and great suffering, but also retaliatory crimes of passion, spreading human misery over an ever-longer time and wider field.

The virtue of faith, on the other hand, can never become an overwhelming passion since it is a supernatural gift of God which only develops through our deliberate and persevering faithfulness and humility before God; moreover, faith exercises its power against all that provokes and promotes passions and their excesses, that is, against the multitude of irritations and antagonisms, injuries and vanities, lusts and longings -- not to mention anxieties and fears -- that can so easily fill the lives and vex the hearts and minds of men and women today. 

Therefore, our Gospel passage ended on a very sombre note:

When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?

Many Christian men and women still lead lives basically dedicated to God; but being involved in the world and living partly for worldly ends, their Christian faith can, at times, be weakened by the difficulties and trials they inevitably encounter, for there is no doubt that our Western civilization is that of a post-Christian era, indeed a post-religion era; and    although there still remain remnants of Christian teachings, examples of Christian attitudes and values, these are only very rarely able to tug at public heart-strings.  Moreover, since many of our contemporaries have thrown off all direct contact with the living Church, morals have not only deteriorated but, indeed, are no longer recognized in our society where individual freedom and personal preference triumph over all save criminal law.  In other words, sins are no longer admitted, only crimes punished.   Even ‘glorious’ reason and rationality itself, which might seem, as judged from our technological advances, to have been so wonderfully encouraged and empowered, has, in fact, been dreadfully distorted.  Originally given as a unique blessing to enable mankind to recognize and appreciate something of the glory of God in the wonder of creation, and find, in a rightly ordered human society, the way to true human fulfilment and happiness, the human intellect has increasingly been used by men to glorify themselves whilst seeking to deny any divine power over creation or divine influence in human affairs. 

And yet, because humankind is made for God, many continue to feel a need to be justified, to be at one with the ‘other’, who, if it not the transcendent God, must then be society itself.  And today, the solution of individual problems and general moral issues is so often sought exclusively at the bar of public opinion and common practice: whatever is popular must be right and acceptable, so that we regularly hear such phrases as: “I’m only doing what lots of others are doing”.  And there are yet others for whom it is sufficient to feel at one with their presumed personal fate, and these will frequently explain and excuse themselves by such words as, ‘There was no other option open to us; we could not have done otherwise.’.

When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?

To that end that Jesus told the parable in today’s Gospel to encourage us to pray continually and never lose heart.   Why, even a most unjust judge could be overcome by the very weakest of opponents – an elderly widow -- by her persistence:

While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me, I shall deliver a just decision for her.

Will Jesus, when He comes again, find some persistent few still willing to seek a silence, a peace, within and without themselves, that they might listen for His voice, hear and willingly answer His call?  And if so, will He find among those chosen ones any prepared -- in accordance with His word -- to sacrifice themselves with Him, for His purposes, and for the glory of the God Who created us and the Father Who loves us?       

So, let us once more imbibe confidence from St. Paul’s personal experience of the truth and trustworthiness of Jesus’ words (Romans 8:38 – 9:1):

I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, not any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And let us always remember that God alone is merciful, essentially merciful and true. Therefore, Divine Mercy cannot be separated from His commands: for His commands – infallibly known to us through Mother Church’s traditional teaching – are, as Jesus Himself said, eternal life, always deliberately willed as supreme expressions of God’s mercy towards weak and sinful human beings aspiring to walk, perseveringly, in the ways of His Son, as His own children.  

 

28th Sunday Year C 2022

 

28th. Sunday, Year (C)

(2 Kings 5:14-17; 2^nd. Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19)

 

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today’s Gospel reading gives us important guidance concerning our spiritual life.   All true disciples of Jesus want to become fervent ones who sincerely love the Lord, and who, indeed, might possibly become worthy of a truly personal relationship with Him; and, in our recent Sunday Gospel readings, we have heard advice from Jesus on how we can achieve that desire.  Just last week we were told by the Lord that we must not look for quick, earthly, rewards since here on earth we are servants whose job it is to work for the Lord, not to look for personal comforts and satisfactions.

Today, we have another piece of essential advice for our spiritual growth … and by that, I mean our growth as children of God before our Father in heaven, not as persons approved by the vociferous, ever trendy, society around us, for ‘That which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God’ (Luke 16:15) is Jesus’ opinion of such social aspirations.

As Jesus continued His journey to Jerusalem He travelled through Samaria and Galilee. Entering a certain village, ten lepers met Him; they stood at a distance from Him and raised their voices saying, “Jesus, Master!  Have pity on us!”

When He saw them, Jesus said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that, as they were on their way to the priests, they were cleansed.   One of them -- when he saw that he was healed – returned, glorifying God with a loud voice, and fell down at the feet of Jesus giving Him thanks.  Now, he was a Samaritan.  So, Jesus said:

Ten were cleansed were they not? Where are the other nine?  Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?

It is well-nigh impossible to imagine that instant when those erstwhile lepers first realized, almost incredulously, what had happened to them!  That horrible, flesh-devouring process, that cursed disease which had cut them off from all familiar contact with family, loved ones, friends, indeed, from all healthy human society, had gone … IT was no more!!   IT had simply disappeared, and they were no longer ugly and repulsive; now, they were normal like everyone else, and they would soon be able to meet with others in homely and familiar surroundings, doing ordinary, every-day things, so lovingly remembered and so deeply missed!

But, what else do you think they might well, indeed aught to, have felt?  Surely, at the centre of that volcanic upsurge of joy and relief, they should have felt burning gratitude too?  We know for a fact that at least one of them did: for he had to return to Jesus without any delay to thank Him.  The others were, perhaps, so excited at their recovery of health that they simply forgot all else; or else it might be that some were so desirous of getting the priests to officiously witness their new-found cleanliness -- which was necessary before they could officially be allowed to join ordinary people once again -- that they did not feel able to show their gratitude until after they had been certified as clean; Yet others may have felt they had first of all to visit family and friends and begin picking up the threads of their previous lives once again.   Nevertheless, in all those ‘other’ cases, failure to respond immediately to the grace of God cost them the opportunity to express their gratitude to Jesus P/personally, for He had gone on His way, saddened by their failure to return to Him.

Now, that is something of the utmost importance in the spiritual life, People of God.  We are indeed blessed if we feel in our heart gratitude to God for whatever blessing it may be: appreciation for the children of a loving marriage, or the gift of true friendship, experiencing moments of clear awareness of the beauty of God’s creation, being awe-struck at manifestations of His power, being astounded at His wisdom in the Scriptures, and at His supreme goodness and love in the gift of His beloved, only-begotten, Son for our salvation.  There are, indeed, countless ways in which God and His grace can touch our hearts at any given time, and every one of them is a priceless blessing if we respond immediately:

One of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell the feet of Jesus and thanked Him.   He was a Samaritan.

You notice that only one, a Samaritan, responded immediately to the Holy Spirit at work in his heart and went back to first of all give grateful thanks to Jesus, and he was not considered to be a religious man as were the other nine, all of them Israelites; according, that is, to the common Jewish appreciation in those times.  But of course, for very many people, the practice of religion was then -- as it still is today for very many -- all about performing duties and obligations in order to save their religious standing as persons supposedly acceptable to God, rather than as a practice enabling them to experience true communion of mind and heart with the Lord Who died to save them and the Father Who had called them through His Son, to Himself.

It is a noble ambition, dear People of God, an admirable desire, to be a true Christian.  It is, of course, the vocation of all Catholics, and one which has touched the hearts of many disciples of Jesus at some time or other; but sadly, those who respond whole-heartedly to such a calling and perseveringly seek to fulfil its demands are no more numerous than the one out of ten cleansed lepers: Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed were they not? Where are the other nine?  Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” There, that word ‘foreigner’ expresses not disdain for a Samaritan, but Jesus’ Personal and deep Israelite sorrow, at what was a grievous failure for those whom His Father had called to be His Chosen People.  

One of the great causes of would-be-disciples losing their way is thus pointed out to us by the Lord today: count it a blessing to experience and to recognize, the mysterious working of the Spirit of God in your heart, but you must try to respond immediately, for that is a supremely important step on the way to closer intimacy with the Lord.

There is further instruction for us on this matter in our first reading today where, as you will recall, Naaman, the Syrian army commander, having bathed in the Jordan at Elisha’s command found himself miraculously cured of his disease. His heart was not just touched by the grace of God, it was truly moved, and being humbled with consuming gratitude, he forgot all about his own dignity as a royal representative with imperious royal duties, and he immediately:

Returned, with his whole retinue, to the man of God.

On his arrival Naaman stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.  Please accept a gift from your servant.”  “As the LORD lives Whom I serve I will not take it” Elisha replied. And despite Naaman’s urging, he still refused.

Why did Elisha so bluntly, even so vehemently, refuse Naaman’s grateful gift?    Let us turn back the pages of our Bible and read Genesis 14:23:

Abram replied to the King of Sodom, “I have sworn to the LORD, the Creator of heaven and earth, that I would not take so much as a thread or a sandal strap from anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 

Elisha, under God’s guidance and in imitation of Abraham, refused to accept Naaman’s gift – a gift offered in sincerity of heart – lest Naaman should then have thought that he had settled his debt with Elisha’s God, indeed, settled it with generosity.  God was choosing Naaman for purposes unknown to him, with the result that being unable to pay his debt to the man of God as he would have liked, Naaman’s sense of honour (heightened by God’s grace) would not allow him to forget what had been done for him in the land of Israel by a prophet of Israel’s God. Therefore, he requested of Elisha earth from Israel in order to pray acceptably, as he thought, to the God Who had restored his flesh, through the prophet’s intercession and by his own washing in the Jordan.  

Personal prayer of worship and thanksgiving to the God of Israel Who, through His prophet, had cleansed him ...where would that lead Naaman?  What were God’s plans for him??

            Go in peace – Elisha actually said; ‘such faith will save you’, we might well add!

Once more we are being taught about gratitude before God; and the example of Naaman is of the utmost significance, for Naaman did not only say ‘Thank you’ to Elisha immediately, he also took serious measures to make sure that henceforth he would remember and be able to offer acceptable signs of gratitude to the God of Elisha, the God of Israel, even when he had returned to pagan Syria to continue his work in the service of Syria’s ruler. 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, God is divine and so good that He wills to share His divine blessedness with us; we … as we know full well … are human and indeed sinful; consequently, we needs must open up to Him the best of our human capacities for our renewal and refashioning in Jesus by His most Holy Spirit: and that must, most surely, include an attentive and humble mind able to recognize one’s failings before God, and a heart and will committed to gratefully cherishing the remembrance of God’s resultant great goodness to us personally and to all those of good will.