29th Sunday of the Year 2013

29^th. Sunday of Year (C)

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

On looking at our three readings for today’s celebration the most striking passage for me is also the last, those mysterious words of Our Blessed Lord which, enigmatic as they are, can serve as the key to interpret all the rest:

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

Faith, that is, in Himself, the Son of God made man for our salvation: The Son of God Who, through the Immaculate Virgin and by the power of the Holy Spirit, willed to assume our flesh so that, as Son of Man, He might be able to take upon Himself the burden -- but not the guilt -- of our sins, making an atonement in which He would suffer and die on the Cross of Calvary before, on the third day, rising from the dead in bodily glory and ascending back to His Father in heaven for our salvation.

Jesus was surrounded by questioning voices on the occasion of our Gospel reading:

Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he said in reply, “The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed, and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.” (17:20-21)

The disciples said to Him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will gather.”  (17:37)

‘When?’, ‘where?’, also, no doubt, ‘how?’  How often was Our Lord tormented by a multitude of inquisitive and distracted observers, sardonic and critical opponents, as well as some few humble seekers, trusting followers, possibly committed disciples!  Now, somewhat wearied, Jesus simply says, almost sotto voce to Himself:

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

Let us now look at our readings to find out what help they can give us to appreciate, protect, and hopefully develop our faith in Jesus, our abiding Glory and sure Shield, on Whom are fixed all our hopes and aspirations, in Whom our complete trust and confidence rest secure.

In our first reading we heard that:

Moses, said to Joshua, “Pick out certain men, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”

The battle was long and hard, going now this way and next the other; and since Moses was old he became seriously tired, whereupon:

They put a rock in place for Moses to sit on, while Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

Looking at Moses we can see prayer losing its ease and probably some of its fervour, but, what we most certainly need to clearly recognize in Moses and re-discover for ourselves today, is his unflinching and unyielding appreciation of the absolute necessity and ultimate efficacy of the prayer to which he was committed.  At this crucial juncture Moses’ prayer was, indeed, far from easy, time was dragging on and pressing down hard upon him, but it was, as Moses could see, saving prayer.   Looking on the battle raging below him between the children of Israel under Joshua and the pagan tribe of Amalek he was forced to forget himself, to humble himself, and to trust God through ‘thick and thin’, as the prospect of victory switched again and again from one side to the other, from the marauding, pagan, nomads of the southern desert land to God’s ‘chosen people’ under Joshua. 

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

Yes -- Mother Church who has juxtaposed today’s readings assures us -- Jesus will find the faith He expects in all who will to pray like Moses, in all who are earnestly looking for, and are seriously willing to suffer for, the well-being of God’s People and the advancement of God’s purposes and glory, rather than supinely allow themselves to become alarmed at, or be dissuaded by, the opposition of others or the personal experience of difficulty or distress.

This understanding  is confirmed when we recall that St. Luke explicitly tells us, Jesus told His parable in today’s Gospel so that:

Men always ought to pray and not lose heart. (Luke 18:1 NKJV)

Was it because of the danger of such weariness overwhelming some – many? – of His disciples, then, now, and in the future, that Jesus went on to say:

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

Our Blessed Lord, therefore, told the parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow to encourage ‘men’ to pray, and to strengthen them for perseverance; and yet, immediately, so that it seems almost to be part of the parable, He says aloud, or ‘sotto voce’:

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

It would seem quite certain that Jesus was acutely aware of the threat to mankind’s redemption and salvation posed by worldly dissipation and distraction, self-love and faint-heartedness.

Our first two scriptural readings today certainly fit in with such an interpretation; for faith in Jesus as Son of God and Son of Man, conqueror of Death and Lord of Life, our Saviour, totally true, loving, and sure, proclaims and demands that despite whatever may threaten us from within our own selves or from without, we can never be forced, nor should ever allow ourselves, to yield to weariness or despair.

Let us now turn our attention to the second reading from Paul’s pastoral letter  to Timothy his protégé:

            Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed!

Those words can be regarded as another example of St. Paul’s remarkable fidelity, not only to Our Lord’s Gospel teaching but also to His Personal pre-occupations and desires.

Let us find out how Paul would back-up the teaching and encouragement of Jesus’ parable.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, proclaim the word; (because) all scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness.  (Be) persistent, whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand (and) encourage, through all patience and teaching.

‘Proclaim the Word’, that is, proclaim Jesus as the Christ of God in accordance with the Scriptures.  Too many ‘supporters’ of Jesus and even some, always too many, priests think that they have to make Jesus popular; and they aspire to do this ‘good’ by tampering with -- watering down – aspects of Gospel teaching labelled extreme, and the so-called inhuman rigidity and ‘objectivity’ of Catholic doctrine; and/or by trying to make themselves (especially priests, so closely aligned with Jesus) popular, in the hope that their personal popularity might brush off, so to speak, on Jesus.  Paul, however, had no sympathy with popularity polls of whatever sort, for he insists that Christ be authentically preached and proclaimed:

            persistently, whether it is convenient or inconvenient;

neither does he shrink from risking popular abuse and personal vilification by insisting that Timothy:

            convince (and) reprimand (as well as) encourage, 

in order to teach patiently, which means inevitably, perseveringly.

How many priests today are intimidated by the fear of appearing to teach!  Children, O.K., but teach adults who may like to think they already know!!

Yes, I repeat, Mother Church -- who has juxtaposed today’s readings -- assures us that Jesus will find the faith He expects in all those who, in accordance with Paul’s advice to his beloved Timothy treasure what has been handed down to them in Mother Church, will proclaim what they themselves have experienced, learned, and come to know in accordance with the Scriptures of Mother Church solely for love of Jesus and the ‘gospel-good’ of those who will hear them, without fear for themselves or pandering to popular opinion.  But always and in all things, with Christian patience and sincere humility.  

There is still one further aspect of Jesus’ final words (or thoughts) in our Gospel passage: namely that Jesus does not seem to expect what commonly concerns most Catholics, namely a desire for the Faith’s popularity.  The proclamation of the Gospel, love for others, does not require, does not even directly involve, personal popularity, but rather a concern for integrity and humility: integrity -- at the personal, institutional, and doctrinal levels -- in our proclamation, preaching and presentation of Jesus; humility in our response to and relations with those we personally  serve or encounter.

The implications of popularity are widespread and often they are most harmful to Mother Church, of which we have a quite recent and baleful manifestation.   We have a splendid Pope in Francis and a splendid pope-emeritus in Benedict, Francis a blessing from God because of the evangelical simplicity of his following of Jesus, and Benedict because of His inspiringly beautiful writings on the teaching and Person of Jesus.   Why do some people think that to praise Francis they must in some way denigrate Benedict??    

Dear People of God, let us endeavour to give thanks to God with wholehearted simplicity for His unfailing goodness and beauty, especially as we have just been allowed to appreciate something of the wondrous wisdom He has bestowed on Mother Church as has been evidenced for us in her choice of texts made to accompany the Gospel for our celebration today.

28th Sunday of Year C 2013

 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 guidance and perhaps a gentle warning concerning our spiritual life.   All disciples of Jesus want, or at some time did want, to become a fervent disciple, one who really loves the Lord, one who, indeed,  might be worthy of an intimate, personal, relationship with Him.  Recently 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; earlier, we were encouraged to treasure our faith and to have confidence in its power to raise us up with Christ; and yet earlier we might still remember being told to persevere in knocking, seeking, and asking.

Today, we have another piece of essential advice for our spiritual growth … and by that, of course, I mean our growth as children of God before our Father in heaven, not before human beings, whomsoever they may be, here on earth.

Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.  As He was entering a 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, He said, ‘Go show yourselves to the priests.’  As they were going they were cleansed.   And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked Him.  He was a Samaritan.  Jesus said in reply, ‘Ten were cleansed, were there not? Where are the other nine?  Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?

Jesus had healed the ten men, all lepers, in rather a strange way:

When He saw them He said, ‘Go show yourselves to the priests.’

All passed this test, obediently setting off to go to the priests as Jesus had commanded them to do; and then, on their way, they were cleansed!  Try to imagine that instant when they first realized, almost incredulously, what had happened to them!!  That horrible, flesh-devouring, corrupting, process, that cursed plague which had shut them off from all familiar contact with their loved ones, their family, even from all healthy human society, THAT … IT … was obliterated; it had simply disappeared and they found themselves well again, no longer ugly and repulsive; 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!

It is hard, indeed, perhaps impossible to imagine that moment of utter and stupendous joy and relief …. But, what else, do you think they might well have felt?  Surely, at the centre of that volcanic upsurge of joy and relief, they must have felt burning sense of gratitude too?  We know for a fact that at least one of them did.  Others perhaps were so excited at their recovery of health that they simply forgot all else.  And it might also be that some were so desirous of getting the priests to witness their new-found cleanliness -- which was necessary before they could officially be allowed to join ordinary people once again -- that they did not avert to any such  feeling of gratitude until after they had been certified clean by the priests and had first of all been to visit family and friends to begin picking up the threads of their previous lives once again.   In those cases, the grace of God may well have moved them to a certain measure of gratitude but – not having responded immediately -- they lost the supreme opportunity to give expression to it, for Jesus, saddened by their failure to return with their Samaritan companion, had gone on His way.

 

Now, that is something of the utmost importance in the spiritual life, People of God.  We are blessed if we feel in our hearts gratitude to God for whatever it may be … we are indeed blessed if we experience moments of clear awareness of the beauty of God’s creation, if for an instant we are awe-struck at manifestations of His power or with a sudden appreciation of His goodness to us, if we are astounded at His wisdom in the Scriptures and at His supreme goodness and love in the gift of His Son ….. there are countless ways in which God and His grace can move our hearts and every one of them is a priceless blessing if indeed we respond to that movement of grace and give ourselves to praising, thanking, loving, admiring Him as we are moved.

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks.   And he was a Samaritan.

You notice that only one, a Samaritan, responded immediately and came back gratefully to thank Jesus, and he was not considered to be a religious man as were the other nine, at least according to Jewish appreciation of those times.  But then, religion is -- for some people – impersonal, being centred upon the objective performance of various duties and fulfilment of certain obligations, while for others it is, quite the contrary, being totally, selfishly, fixated on personal salvation.   Too few appreciate it aright as the most intimate and personal relationship possible, being a sublime response to, and expression of, the human minds’ highest aspirations and the fulfilment of our heart’s deepest longings: communion with the One Eternal God, Who calls mankind to Himself, in and through His Only-Begotten Son Who, by His suffering, death, and Resurrection in our flesh, has won for us the abiding presence of His Most Holy Spirit in the Church He gave us.

It is a supremely noble ambition, a truly admirable desire, to become a faithful and committed disciple of Jesus.  It is, indeed, the calling of all Catholics, and one which has tugged at the hearts, so to speak, of many Christians at some time or other; but sadly, too few of those who hear that calling persevere in their search for what originally delighted their heart and enthused their mind, so many turn aside from the blessings which God, in His great goodness, had planned for them:

Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?  Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?’

And so, one of the great causes of Catholics and Christians thus losing their way has been shown us in today’s Gospel reading together with its remedy: count it a great blessing to ‘experience’, become aware of, the mysterious working of the Spirit of God in your heart, and respond immediately, for that is the supremely important first step on the way to intimacy with the Lord.

There is further instruction for us on this matter to be found in our first reading today where, as you will recall, Naaman, the Syrian army commander, had bathed in the Jordan at Elisha’s command and been miraculously cured of his leprosy.  Immediately (notice that!):                                                                      

Naaman returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he 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, chapter 14, verse 23:

Abram replied to the king of Sodom: “I have sworn to the LORD, God Most High, 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 made Abram rich.’           

Elisha, under God’s guidance and in imitation of Abraham, refused to accept Naaman’s gift – a gift offered in all simplicity and sincerity of heart – lest Naaman should have then thought that he had settled his debt to 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 as he would have liked, Naaman’s sense of honour would not allow him to just 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 washing in the Jordan.

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

             Go in peace – as Elisha said -- faith will save you.

Once more we are being taught about gratitude before God; and the example of Naaman is of the utmost importance, for Naaman did not only say ‘Thank you’ to Elisha, immediately; he took serious measures to make sure that he would henceforth remember, and be able, to offer acceptable gratitude to the God of Elisha, the God of Israel, even when he had returned to 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, however, are human and indeed sinful, and consequently must open up to Him something of the very best our humanity has to offer for our renewal and refashioning in Jesus by the Spirit: a grateful and needy heart, an attentive and humble mind, and a will committed to God in and with Mother Church.

27th Sunday Year C 2013

27^th. Sunday Year (C)

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

Why did the Apostles say to Jesus: Increase our faith?

Matthew’ version of our Gospel story tells us how the Apostles had just failed to cure an epileptic boy brought to them, a failure that Jesus said was due to their lack of faith. Luke does not give us any such information about the Apostles’ failure, but introduces Jesus’ words directly by that request of the Apostles:

            Lord, increase our faith!

What led St. Luke to do this we do not know; but it would seem that his pastoral experience guided him to try to bring the understanding of faith into sharper focus, and in this he was successful because the Apostles’ request highlights a certain ignorance which was not only theirs’ surely but the ignorance of the majority of Christians concerning the true nature of the gift of faith:

            Lord, increase our faith (give us a bit more of it, please!)

Jesus' answer is clearly intended to help them better understand the supernatural nature of God’s great spiritual gift and also to appreciate it’s wondrous power with regard to what is merely natural and worldly; thereby showing them the folly of their questioning God’s generosity instead of recognizing their own ignorance and inadequacy:

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.

Notice that Jesus did not call their faith into question; He didn’t say, ‘If you had faith’, but, ‘If you have faith as a mustard seed’.  So often in the Christian life, it is not that God’s gifts are insufficient for our needs, but rather that we fail to truly appreciate the wonder of what has already been given us, as St. Paul himself insinuated in the second reading:

            Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you.

Let me now give you a short description of the mulberry tree (Barnes' notes) and you will have a clearer idea of the significance of Jesus' parable.

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 still had Jesus with them, as the centre of their minds' attention and hearts' affection, and perhaps for that reason, they were not, as yet, able to appreciate the power of that gift of faith which had made already made them into disciples of Jesus; because they had not yet committed themselves to that faith; their eyes and ears were supplying all they wanted, all they thought they needed. And so, Jesus now goes on to hint at a time to come when He will no longer be with them and at their side.  He pictures a time when He Himself will be "resting", and they will be required to continue working, apparently alone, but, in reality, working on His behalf and by His Spirit:

Which of you, having a servant ploughing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and sit down to eat'?  But will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink'?

Speaking in this way Jesus opens up a further aspect of the apostles' incomprehension :  God does not bestow His spiritual gifts on us for us to possess them as children cling to, and at times boast of, presents they have received.  He endows us with blessings in order that thereby we may live in ever closer communion with Himself, and be empowered to co-operate in the spread, and promote the understanding, of His Good News among all peoples and throughout all time. Jesus, in short, wanted to counter any possessiveness on the part of the Apostles, to protect them from that innate tendency to selfishness and pride that would shortly incite them to argue amongst themselves about which of them was the greatest.   Jesus wanted to ward off the perennial threat to all those who are specially gifted, by warning His apostles -- and their successors -- against the pride and arrogance so commonly seen rampant in the abuse of power.  He spoke only a few words because the apostles were not yet ready for more, but the words He chose covered all that needed to be said; and, being simply expressed, certain aspects of them could be readily understood by the apostles, while the more hidden depths would subsequently be revealed to Mother Church -- who treasures all such words of Jesus in her heart – through all the ages of her mission here on earth:

So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.'

The selflessness which Jesus was teaching and praising there is something a worldly, proud, and unspiritual person cannot endure.   The prophet Habakkuk also spoke, as did Jesus, about the time for labour in this world, when rest is longed for but, though its promise be sure, its fulfilment has to be delayed:

Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.  The vision is yet for an appointed time; at the end it will speak, and will not lie.  Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

The sinner, the lover of this world, the proud, cannot abide such delay I say, for, as you heard, ‘his soul is not upright in him’; he cannot be reconciled to waiting in trust, neither can he humble himself in the service of a cause where success is not in some way readily apparent or tangible.  Such selfless devotion is only for those whom God has specially blessed, as the prophet's words make abundantly clear:

The just shall live by his faith.

St. Paul told us how God the Father has blessed all who are in Christ Jesus:

Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.  

We have been given, that is, two gifts in Jesus: the gift of faith to hold fast to ‘the pattern of sound words’ contained in his teaching and that of Mother Church, and that of love to seek and serve Jesus personally in our daily living of that teaching.  Now, with two such gifts, our call to selflessness does not mean a life of sheer endurance as we journey through a desert of aridity in the face of storms constantly exposing our weakness and provoking anxiety; rather is it a life which, being gradually emptied of self-love, is thereby made ever more capable of receiving the gifts of the Spirit, of being filled to overflowing with the peace, joy, and love which are to be found in Christ Jesus alone.

As Jesus told His disciples then and now, the gifts already given us are sufficient for all our needs:

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.

Indeed, they are even more than sufficient for all our desires!  For faith is a treasure, and love of Jesus is not only the fruit, beauty, and glory of that treasure, but also the tool whereby we can come to appreciate what He has given us ever more and more:

Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.  That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

The Apostles had to learn -- as must we -- that a disciple of Jesus must work not  only outside, in the mission field of daily life in the world, but also on the inside, in the secret depths of his or her own mind and heart.  The one, true, Faith is not merely a form of words to be believed and remembered, it is a treasure to be appreciated and quarried by our mind and in our heart.  When worked on in that way the treasure which is our Faith yields up and bestows a power indeed, but not one for self-aggrandisement, as the early apostles childishly imagined; but one, on the contrary, that, revealing to us the beauty of God's truth and the wonder of His love, thereby enables and inspires us to become ever more selfless and wholly other, to the extent that, as St. Paul puts it:

It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. (Galatians 2:20)

Christ, by the power of His Spirit in us, leads, guides, encourages and empowers us to work ever more at and with our treasure trove of faith’s love and truth:

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.  Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God.

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

Why do You make me see iniquity and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; strife exists and contention arises, yet You do not save.

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, have work still to do for Him 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.

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)

                                                    (2004; not given anywhere; modified 2013)