22nd Sunday Year A, 2023

 

(Jeremiah 20:7-9; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27)

 

Today’s Gospel revealed how ‘deadly’ serious Our Blessed Lord was when calling upon His disciples, then and now, to take up the Cross and follow Him.     So serious is that Gospel message that, in order to help us appreciate something more of it, I propose to re-order today’s short reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, putting first what was last, and what was last, first, changing the word order slightly, but not the meaning, nor any of the words.

 

I urge you brothers, by the mercies of God, do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect; (thus, may you be able) to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.

 

We can thus appreciate more clearly the nature of our spiritual worship of God.  It is TRULY CHRISTIAN: that is, it is both human and divine.  Human, by our endeavour to renew our minds by discerning and doing the will of God in our physical pilgrimage through life; and divine, in so far as, having thus been perfected by the Spirit of Jesus, we have become able to offer the living-and-dying sacrifice of ourselves in the truly spiritual worship of loving commitment to, and total trust in, God.   Oh! dear People of God, how utterly important it is for us to thus:

 

Be transformed by the renewal of our mind, that we may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.

 

Our ‘good life’ is not to be a mere living-out of generally accepted, popularly approved, morals and manners … so many non-believers today pride themselves on doing that!!   No, we Catholic Christians are called to know (through our Catholic Faith and the Scriptures) and love (whole-heartedly by the grace of God’s most Holy Spirit) the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ; and in Him, to learn how to know and love God the-Father-Who-sent-Him as our own Father, now calling us to walk in Jesus as His adopted children.

 

Our Christian faith is, indeed, a call to personal love of God, and how ironical it is that the adulterous and evil world of today likes to understand its boasted faithlessness likewise as a gateway to ‘modern expressions of emotional commitment’ – promiscuous, of course, to benefit all its votaries dedicated to  adventures and discoveries along the highways and byways of such ‘loving’ – so much better adapted to modern ‘man’, they claim, than the Christian vocation of love which -- being divine -- is able to embrace and ultimately totally transfigure what is human and temporal, into what is divine and eternally fulfilling; in one word, into something Christ-like, through a discipline that requires but obedience and humility from man!!

 

Be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God.

 

Just recall Our Blessed Lord in last Sunday’s Gospel.  Having previously heard Bartholomew (Nathanael) call Him ‘Son of God’ and ‘King of Israel’, He had regarded such words as being too much based on too little; on the other hand, however, when He heard Peter declare ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’ He immediately, without the slightest hesitation, recognized His Father speaking in and through Peter, and totally committed His own life-and-future- death’s work in obedient response to His Father’s recognized involvement.

 

That, dear People of God, is a sublime example of St. Paul’s inspiring exhortation today, ‘Be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God’.   As Jesus Himself said:

 

Father, the world has not known You; but I have known You!

 

And Jesus’ whole desire and prayer is that we -- though weak and ignorant human beings of ourselves -- may, as His true disciples come, in His Church and by His Spirit,  to that humble ‘discernment’ which St. Paul had in mind.

 

How we are to be thus transformed, and how our mind is to be thus renewed, can only be learnt by humble discipleship from the font of traditional wisdom contained in the teachings of Catholic spirituality.  It is not something we can do of ourselves, for it is a precious gift of God; but it is something for which we can dispose ourselves to receive from the goodness of God, by entering upon the ways of traditional spirituality distilled for us over two thousand years.

 

Thanks to the liturgical wisdom of Mother Church -- using old treasure to reveal what is new and sublime -- we are given the essential elements for such spiritual renewal in today’s responsorial psalm (63):

 

            My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God!          SEEK, LONG FOR. GOD.

            Your kindness is greater than life; my lips shall glorify You.   THANK HIM.

            You are my help, and in the shadow of Your wings    ASK FOR GOD’S HELP.

               I shout for joy.                                                                  and REJOICE IN HIM.

            My soul clings fast to You.           PERSEVERE, BE PATIENT and FAITHFUL.

               Your right hand upholds me.                                  and CALMLY CONFIDENT.

 

Dear People of God, you have there, in that one psalm reading, a compendium of spiritual guidance fit for a saint or a soldier of Christ: one, that is, chosen by the Father to give Him grateful thanks by witnessing to the holiness, or fighting for the glory, of His Son’s Name among men. 

 

21st Sunday Year A, 2023

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

 

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

            You are the Christ the Son of the living God.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was then that the trouble began:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

20th Sunday Year A, 2023

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

            Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The ^ gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

19th Sunday Year A, 2023

 

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

 

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

 

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

    

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Lord, SAVE ME!

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

            Truly, You are the Son of God!

 

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