The Assumption of Our Lady

The Assumption of Our Lady 

 (Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10; 1 Corinthians 15:20-27; Luke 1: 39-56)  

Let us hear first of all the official, dogmatic, teaching of Mother Church about Our Lady’s Assumption which we joyfully celebrate today.  The dogma proclaimed by Pope Pius XII in 1950 is quoted in our modern Catholic Catechism and reads as follows:

The Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.

The Catechism goes on to explain:

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians.

That means that Mary’s Assumption was not achieved of her own power neither was it due to her own merits: it was a gift, a unique share in the power of Jesus’ Resurrection, given her thanks to the merits of Jesus Who -- though human in body and soul -- was divine in His Person, the very Son of God made flesh, Who alone could win the victory over sin and death for the whole of mankind.  Having won that victory in the flesh and blood He received from Mary, the Assumption is the expression of Mary’s unique participation in her Son’s triumph and her unique sharing in the Redemption He won for all mankind. 

The Assumption is supremely significant because Mary, though the Mother of God, totally unique in her persoanl relationship with Jesus and in her participation in His redeeming work, nevertheless, remained one with us, one of us, totally human in her body, soul, and personality: Mary of Nazareth our glory indeed, but also our sister.  And consequently, being thus our full sister, her Assumption is a sign of hope for all of us, a sign that we too might aspire, in the Spirit, to share with her in Jesus’ redemptive Resurrection.

Jesus wanted very much to underline the oneness between us and Mary, His Mother, as we can learn from His somewhat startling response to her on a very public occasion:

His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him.  And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You."  But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?"  And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother." (Mark 3:31-35)

Evidently, He willed to make it clear for subsequent generations that Mary was no goddess, nor was she ever to be thought of as being other than one of us.  And yet, as St. John tells us, Jesus -- with what were almost His very last words as He hung, dying, on the Cross -- chose to give supreme emphasis to the reverence and love that all who would be His disciples should have for her:

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.  When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!"  Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" (John 19:25-27)

Therefore, when Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory, it was not simply for Mary herself; for she is our sister whom we might hope to follow, and much more, she is, indeed, our very mother, whom – being given to us by Jesus as His ultimate bequest from the Cross -- we can be sure will be a most constant advocate and ever-watchful help to us who have been handed over to her spiritual solicitude and maternal care.  In that way we are most surely encouraged to have sure confidence and firm hope that if we prove to be faithful disciples of Jesus to the end, we can and will eventually follow Our Lord heavenward and share in His glory, just as she, our dear sister and revered mother, has already done.

The dogma of the Assumption was, as I said, promulgated in 1950 by Pope Pius XII.  It was nothing new; it had been loved, meditated and celebrated in the Church from the earliest times.  It was at the beginning of the 5^thC. that what had been traditionally celebrated as her Dormition or sleeping in earthly death, became rather the celebration of her “birthday”: her birth into heavenly life, that is, her Assumption.  There are apocryphal stories written early in the history of the Church telling of the death of Mary, how her body was buried under the tree of life, and how she was translated into heaven.  Some scholars think these stories arose after the feast started to be celebrated; others, however, think the first of the apocryphal tales go back to the earliest times, and that there was probably an immemorial veneration of the tomb of Mary in Jerusalem by early Jewish converts to Christianity.

Such stories however, although picturesque, sometimes moving, or even instructive, are not the basis of our present faith which rests securely on the ancient devotion and approved worship of the Church, in accordance with the teaching of the Scriptures and under the perennial guidance of the Spirit.

Whenever the body of a disciple of Jesus and child of the Church is brought into church the night before burial we read the Gospel passage which goes:

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:1-2)

There, at the Last Supper, Jesus was speaking to His sorrowing disciples in order to comfort them in their distress at the thought of His imminent Passion and Death.  Think how Jesus must have willed above all to comfort His Mother in her distress: surely, first and foremost, He would want and will to prepare a place for her!

And where would that place be?  The disciples were distressed that Jesus was going to be taken from them, and so Jesus promised:

If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14:3)

Who more than Mary longed to be where Jesus was?  Who had cherished Him so dearly, nurtured Him so carefully, supported Him so selflessly; who had followed Him so faithfully and with such sympathy throughout His whole public ministry; who like Mary had shared the opprobrium heaped upon Him by so many, and who like Mary had experienced and appreciated His loneliness and abandonment standing below and beside Him as he died on the Cross?

Again, Jesus prayed most solemnly at the Last Supper:

Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24)

Now who, conceivably, could long to see the glory of her Son more than His Mother; and, indeed, who deserve more fittingly than her, to share it?

However, all such considerations are included in, and embraced by, these other words of Jesus:

If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour. (John 12:26)

Mary’s whole life with her Son was, indeed, a life of total and whole-hearted love and service, given directly and personally to Jesus from the moment of His conception.  And yet, even that, is not the sum total of Mary’s commitment to and sharing with Jesus throughout her life on earth, for, just as St. Peter, writing (1 Peter 4:14) to the early Christians threatened with persecution by the Roman State, said:

If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you;

so too, we are told of Mary that she was blessed with the Spirit of glory and of God resting on her from the beginning of her motherhood, that is, she was blessed with the ability, and called to embrace the opportunity, to share with her Son in all His endeavours and sufferings.

This was made clear to her in the Temple at Jerusalem, when, together with St. Joseph -- and with her heart surely filled with ecstatic joy and gratitude to God – she was presenting her Son to the Lord, a Temple priest, Simeon by name, approached them, and, we are told :

Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." (Luke 2:34-35)

Yes, Mary would follow her Son unswervingly to the end, until He died, before her very eyes on the Cross; and even then, her sufferings for Him were not over, since she was further called to participate most intimately in the early trials and turmoil of His nascent Church.

The fact is that Jesus, in all that He did, carried with Him and worked in and through, the flesh and blood that Mary had uniquely given Him.  She was so intimately one with Him in all that He did, in and through His sacred humanity; and that is why she alone has been so uniquely honoured by the Father that she is now where Jesus is, in heaven!.  Jesus, bearing Mary’s flesh, died, was buried, and rose again; therefore, Mary too, in her flesh died, was buried, and then -- thanks to her Son’s Personal holiness and Divine majesty -- knowing no corruption just as she had known no sin, was raised to share with Him His heavenly glory.

People of God, let us, therefore, rejoice on the occasion of this solemn feast, and repeat with heartfelt joy the words of Mary herself:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; for He has looked with favour on His lowly servant.  From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. (Luke 1:46-49)

Having praised God in the first outpouring of her soul, Mary then spoke words of ultimate comfort of her children, words which afford us both confidence and courage as we strive to serve and follow Jesus our Lord and Saviour:

He has mercy on those who fear Him in every generation.

The Assumption of Mary is still for us, in this the third millennium, a source of inspiration and of hope; for the arm of the Lord is not shortened, His mercy and love are eternal.  What was given to Mary was given her uniquely indeed, but not exclusively, for it was intended also for us, ‘those who fear Him from generation to generation’.  Let us, therefore, as her children, treasure and take to heart the words Elizabeth used to characterize our mother:

Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfilment of those things which were told her from the Lord.                                                          

                                                                

19th Sunday in Ordinary time (Year B)

Nineteenth Sunday (Year B)

             (1^st. Kings 19:4-8; Ephesians 4:30 - 5:2; John 6:41-51)

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.   It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from Him comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.   Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

Those words indicate to us why, today, our Christian faith is unacceptable to many who are liberal-minded, because they speak of our having to listen humbly to One above and beyond us, One Who is totally outside of our control or supervision; and, what is not only unacceptable but also most objectionable, they even presume to speak of our responsibility before that mysterious One, to hear Him and respond appropriately:

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draw him; everyone who listens to my Father and learns from Him come to Me.

Let us, however, who, as disciples of Jesus are fully aware of and, hopefully, responsive to the sublime mystery of divine holiness and love, reverently and gratefully consider the great blessing all of us, gathered here in love for worship, have received.

Today, you and I have come to Jesus: and Jesus tells us that -- in one way or another -- we have come because the Father Himself has drawn us; which means that, in the depths of our being, each of us has heard the Father, heard Him speaking to us personally; and, having learnt from what He said to us in the secret depths of our being, have come, at His behest, to Jesus.

            Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to Me.

Of course, someone could, especially in the old days, come to Church because of social pressures of one sort or another.  Even then, it could be said that the Father was behind it all, and that such was the one way He, in His wisdom, saw to be the best for us at that time and in our situation.  In such a case, however, we would not have fully learned from the Father, nor would we truly have come to Jesus, until we had progressed further and attained to personal faith, as Jesus says:

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

That is the first lesson for us today: coming to Church is only really meaningful and truly fulfilling in so far as we come with personal faith in and commitment to Jesus as our Lord and our Saviour; and if we have come to Church and to Jesus in that way then, Jesus Himself assures us, we have eternal life:

            Whoever believes has eternal life.

However, that is not everything; because eternal life, just like natural life, needs nourishment.  No normal mother and father, having given life to their child, would leave it without nourishment, because the life they have given has to develop, must grow.  Similarly, the eternal life given to us through faith in Jesus needs to grow, must develop, for such is the very nature of life: it has an innate drive towards fulfilment and perfection, and the only nourishment for such further development of eternal life within us is indicated by Jesus’ words:

I am the bread of life.

And yet, what does He really mean with those words?  Does He not bestow, can we not receive, blessings from Him whenever we pray to Him, study the Scriptures, or, perhaps, share in silent meditation, like many modern Christian groups who do not have the Eucharist?

Of course, when we do such things there can be no doubt that He does bestow on us many and rich blessings.  Nevertheless, He meant something more than that: for He spoke of eating the bread that He would give; eating in the way the Israelites ate manna in the desert when they had to go out to collect the manna before putting it on their plates, so to speak:

Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread  that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.

Praying, reading and studying, God’s word, are all part, aspects, of our life of faith; and Jesus said that even those who come to Him with faith need also to eat His bread:

I am the bread of life.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.

So, we live by faith, and to help our faith grow and produce its fruit we need to eat this living bread which Jesus gives.

We might well notice here a subtle change in the new translation of Mass: at Communion, instead of the words, ‘May the Body/Blood of Christ bring me to everlasting life’, we have, ‘May the Body/Blood of Christ keep me safe for eternal life’. There can be no doubt; the Eucharist is not to be imagined as some magical bolt from the blue in its effect on our life, but as a sublime and mutual commitment of life and love for the protection, nourishment, and development of eternal life and love in us.

 What, then, does “eating” mean here?  It means -- first of all and quite literally -- eating and chewing, because the word He uses is the normal word for those actions; and, of course, the Israelites in the desert did actually eat the manna:

Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert; whoever eats this bread, will live forever.

Now, we all know that there is a difference between eating and just receiving into our mouth; indeed, even food taken into our stomach has not really been eaten if we do not digest it and find nourishment from it.  So it is with this Bread of Jesus: we need to prepare before eating, so as to eat It with dispositions that will enable us to receive fullest nourishment from It, for this is that food of which the prophet Isaiah spoke:

The Lord of Hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain, a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine.  And on this mountain He will swallow up death for all time … and it will be said in that day, ‘Behold, this is the Lord for Whom we have waited that He might save us, let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.’  (Isaiah 25:6-9)

This is food not just to be received, but to be lovingly savoured, to be religiously chewed, and spiritually digested.  What then are those dispositions?

This Jesus makes clear when He tells us that His gift of Bread will actually be His Flesh, given up, offered, to His Father, for a special purpose:

            The bread that I will give is My flesh for the life of the world.

The Eucharistic Flesh of Jesus we approach in Holy Communion is given, He tells us, “for the life of the world”; given, that is, in sacrifice for the life of the world, to save mankind from sin.  Surely, therefore, we can now begin to understand more clearly what should be our attitude of mind and heart as we approach the Lord in Holy Communion.

First of all, we must approach in all humility, knowing that we are not bestowing any favour upon Him when we draw near to receive Him; for we need to be freed, cleansed, by Him, from our past sins and enduring weakness, protected from surrounding dangers and possibly imminent trials; moreover, loving Him as yet imperfectly, we also want and indeed need – so desperately -- to love Him more.  Wherefore, our second attitude of mind and heart should be one of longing, longing to give ourselves, with Him, in sacrifice, and one of trust, that, by His Spirit we might be able to walk faithfully and perseveringly in His ways: seeking to do what pleases Him in all things, while carefully avoiding sin and firmly rejecting self.  Only with such dispositions can we approach and receive fruitfully Him Who said:

I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh for the life of the world.

Those lessons, learnt from today’s Gospel, are confirmed by St. Paul who told us in the second reading that we are called to:

Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma.

That we might walk humbly along Christ’s way, offering ourselves for sacrifice with Him, is precisely why the Eucharistic Food is given us: for, as you heard in the first reading, this Bread is given to enable us to make a journey which far exceeds our own native powers:

The angel of the LORD came back the second time, and touched him and said, "Arise, and eat, because the journey is too great for you." So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.

Horeb was the mountain of God’s self-revelation to Moses and the People of Israel in the desert.  Now, our journey, too, is one corresponding to forty days and forty nights of struggle and endeavour leading to the sublime height where God is to be seen face to face in all His heavenly glory; however, it corresponds not so much to the journey of Elijah, as to the forty days and forty nights Jesus Our Lord spent in the desert confounding the words and rejecting the person of Satan.  After that epic conflict Satan retired temporarily while Jesus proclaimed the Good News of the Gospel and laid the foundations of His Church.  Then, apparently contesting the definitive nature of Jesus’ previous victory, Satan once more entered the lists for an ultimate struggle with Jesus where he pitted his dire threat of earthly suffering and death against Jesus’ supreme promise of eternal life.  Jesus took up Satan’s gauntlet, and, by rising from the suffering and death of the Cross in the power of the Holy Spirit, He totally destroyed the Devil’s earthly power, before finally ascending in bodily glory to heaven in manifest fulfilment and vindication of His promise and firmly establishing the foundations of God’s Kingdom here on earth through the subsequent Gift of His Spirit to all His faithful disciples.

So, our journey in the strength of Jesus’ Eucharistic food is meant to lead us, in the power of His most Holy Spirit, to triumph over sin and suffering in our lives, before passing -- with Jesus -- through death to our final triumph over Satan.  Thereupon, we will be guided to the heavenly home where God the Father has prepared a festal gathering for His Son, and where Jesus -- having prepared many rooms -- gives welcome and rest to all who will have persevered in His Name.  Ultimately, He will lead all His faithful and triumphant disciples into the glorious Presence of Him Who will embrace us as His true children in Jesus and show Himself to be the One true Father of us all and Supreme Source of all that is good by inviting us to take our place at His heavenly banquet celebrating the ultimate and most sublime Eucharist: by the Spirit, sharing in and partaking of Jesus’ eternal happiness and glorious beatitude before the Father.                                                                      

           

16th Sunday of Year (B)

Sixteenth Sunday of Year (B) 

  (Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ephesians 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34)

Hopefully you will remember that last week in our readings, Jesus had sent out the Twelve on a mission, and told them that, if any town or village refused to hear them, they should shake the dust of that place from off their feet, in testimony against it.  Well, this week-end we are told of the Apostles’ return:

The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught.  He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat.   So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. 

There we have a lovely example of the special care Jesus exercised with and for His Apostles: ‘Come, get away from this endless activity and constant distraction and let us go to some “deserted place” where we will be alone, and where you will be able to find refreshment for your souls, light and understanding for your minds, peace and joy for you hearts.’ 

The Apostles had put Jesus at the centre of their lives, and it was necessary for them to return to Him -- to Him alone -- at times, in order that they might be able to continue to proclaim Him, Him alone, in their preaching and teaching.  Otherwise, they would inevitably descend to preaching either themselves or whatever people might want to hear: reacting to the wishes and serving and priorities of surrounding society before ultimately adopting the worldly attitudes and aspirations of those to whom they had originally been sent as guides in the ways of Jesus.  Thereby they would merit a share the condemnation of the pastors mentioned in our first reading:

Thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who shepherd My people: You have scattered My sheep, and driven them away.  You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.   I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble; and none shall be missing, says the LORD.

This, People of God, is of great importance for our modern society where Church attendance is falling markedly.  The words “scattered My flock and driven them away” do not refer to the people falling off through indifference so much as to the pastors driving the flock away from Jesus, by offering them all sorts of substitute food rather than the true nourishment offered them by Jesus:      

I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die.  (John 6:48-50)

Jesus alone is the bread of life and He comes to us in two ways.  First of all, through His word:

He answered and said, "It is written, ‘man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"   (Matthew 4:4)

Secondly in the Eucharist:

I am the living bread which came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world

That composite bread, the Word of God and the Eucharist, is what we pray for to our heavenly Father every day:

            Give us this day our daily bread.

What then if God’s People, coming to Church on a Sunday, are not given the bread God Himself is calling them into His presence to receive?  That is the real meaning of those words:

Thus says the LORD God of Israel against the shepherds who shepherd My people: You have scattered My sheep, and driven them away.  You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.  

This type of thing is done when, instead of the Gospel message and the Church’s teaching, political correctness is preached; when current fancies and prejudices are allowed to obscure Catholic teaching; or when the sins of the people are passed over in silence or even excused in order to avoid trouble or court popularity:   

'This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me.  And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'   For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men.  All too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition.  (Mark 7:7-9)

In this regard we should remember that ‘holding on to the tradition of men’ can refer not only to old-fashioned traditions, which, in these days, many people love to decry, but also to modern, current customs or practices, which far too many people are afraid to withstand. It is relatively easy to spearhead the rejection of certain traditions in the Church -- venerable by reason of their antiquity, saintly observance and undisputed approval -- under the popular aegis of pseudo-inapropriateness for modern times, but few dare to resist the clamour and enthusiasm of the crowd which frequently praises and energetically seeks to promote trendy opinions and easy options devoid of religious significance and having little or no Christian spiritual content.

To continue with our Gospel passage, we are told that the people followed Jesus and His Apostles, with the result that:

When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd, His heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd, and He began to teach them many things.

Do please, People of God, notice the form Jesus’ compassion took:

He began to teach them many things.         

That is what must happen today in our society.  Jesus alone can heal us:

Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.   For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:28- 30)

Therefore Jesus has to be preached, His teaching has to be given, in season and out of season.  This is, indeed, done at times, though only partially, when, for example, such  words as those I have just quoted  “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” are repeatedly acknowledged and commented on because they are beautiful words, easily recognized and admired by all.  But Jesus continues, as you heard: “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me”, and there, some so-called teachers and many of their hearers stop.  The so-called teachers stop because they want to present religion and faith – not to speak of themselves -- in a popular light, while the hearers stop because they do not want to hear talk of a yoke, let alone feel themselves in any way obliged to assume one.

And so, all too often the teaching is omitted, whilst the seeds of consolation such as those words “Come to Me all you who labour” are carelessly thrown on the soil of souls already overgrown with worldly and even devilish weeds.  The result is that the word of God is choked and a pseudo-religiosity takes hold :  “God is good, He rejects none (there is good seed) --- there is no need to go to Church to find Him, to be accepted by Him (that is the rejection of any yoke) --- there is no need for sacraments, especially confession, just say an occasional prayer if you have time and God’s goodness will do the rest for you” (there you have the worldly, devilish weeds that choke spiritual life).

St. Paul told us in the second reading that Jesus:

Reconcile(d) (us) with God through the cross (that is the yoke) and He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near (that is the teaching), (and) through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Through Jesus -- the Jesus who died on the Cross and whose yoke we must take upon ourselves -- through that Jesus we have access to the Father, in the Spirit Who brings to our mind all that Jesus taught and, at the same time, enables us to keep all of His commandments.  Through that Jesus alone we have access to the Father.  Today however, that Jesus is not infrequently sacrificed anew in favour of a figure with the same name but who is without a cross or any other sort of yoke, a Jesus whose teaching is manipulated so that it appears not to demand that we be reformed or renewed by His Spirit of Holiness.  This pseudo-Jesus is prepared -- so modern people like to hear and want to believe – He is prepared to accept us just as we are: after all, are there not apparently serious and godly-minded people to tell us that we do not really intend the evil lurking in the harm we do, and therefore, though we may, indeed, have some faults and failings, nevertheless, these are not really sins, and, consequently, they can easily be overlooked.  With some such self-justifying thoughts there are sinners who – over long years -- find themselves undisturbed by their now calcified conscience; and who further deceive themselves by imagining a comforting prospect of heaven being approached by a broad, well-lit, road that is not only smooth, but which also allows for many places of pleasant refreshment on either hand, to keep those travelling along it both happy and hopeful on their worldly pilgrimage.

People of God, be innocent not foolish; be wisely ignorant of the ways of the world and truly wise in the ways of God; try to do what Jesus wants: 

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. (Matthew 7:13)

We can only do that if we listen to the teaching of Mother Church, for she alone knows Jesus: and she knows Him because He is with her, as He promised to be, to the end of time; she knows Him because He Himself bequeathed His own Most Holy Spirit to her that He might guide her into all truth.

On their return from proclaiming the Good News Jesus called the apostles aside from the crowd to a desert place where they could be alone with Him.  After a week of Christian witness in the world He still calls His disciples aside – apart from the world -- to be with Him, every Sunday at Holy Mass.  In our troubled world some Catholics allow those troubles to influence and poison their time at Church.  Like the apostles in our Gospel passage, we are meant to be one with Jesus in our Sunday gathering.  ‘One with Him’ can then mean two things: all one in faith before Him as living members of His Mystical Body, and all – individually and personally -- alone with Him in the devout attention of our minds and the pious love in our hearts.  All the difficulties, quarrels, with the Church proclaimed by not a few Catholics are due, in one way or another, to the failure of such Catholics to come to the Sunday gathering with minds and hearts fixed on their oneness in and with Jesus, exclusively.

That Church oneness of faith in Jesus realized at Sunday Mass is proclaimed by the beloved disciple John when he says:

Every child of God overcomes the world. Now, the victory by which the world is overcome is our faith, for who is victor over the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?     (1 John 5:4-5)

And that personal oneness of loving commitment to Jesus, realized most sublimely at Holy Communion during our Sunday Mass, is urged upon us by Jesus Himself:

Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 16:24-26)

People of God, Sunday Mass is that unique occasion when our faith compels us to leave all behind and come together as one and be alone with Jesus; and surely, thinking on these things we cannot but be grateful to God for His goodness to us, and heartily agree that the Eucharist in which we are now participating is well named the Eucharist, our Thanksgiving.

15th Sunday of Year B

Fifteenth Sunday of Year (B) 

(Amos 7:12-15; Ephesians 1:3-10; Mark 6:7-13)

This sending out by the Lord of the twelve disciples had a twofold purpose: salvation was being preached and offered, first of all, to the Chosen People; and, at the same time, the apostles were thereby being prepared for the commission Jesus would give them after His Resurrection to go out and preach the Good News to all mankind.

Let us look at this preparation of the Apostles.  Above all they needed to gain confidence in the Lord who was sending them out on this their first mission, because this present mission to the Jewish people – who, though stiff-necked and rebellious, had, nevertheless, been gradually formed and prepared over 2000 years by God to hear the word of the Lord -- would be much easier than their future mission to the sophisticated pagans of the Roman Empire and to the relative ignorance and extreme violence of the uncivilized world beyond.  However, Jesus made this mission to the People of Israel more difficult by His injunction that they were to:

Take nothing for the journey but a walking stick -- no food, no sack, no money in their belts.  They were, however, to wear sandals, but not a second tunic.

On their return from ‘mission accomplished’ (Luke 22:35) Jesus asked them:

“When I sent you out without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?"  So they said, "Nothing."

Evidently, their experience on this first mission to the People of Israel was such as to give them confidence that the Lord would be with them whatever their future needs.

Being sent out without bread, bag, or money in their belt, with only sandals on their feet, and, according to Matthew and Luke, without even taking a staff with them, would call to the minds of the apostles that they were on a most sacred journey, because, according to the Rabbis, people should not enter the Temple precincts with staff, shoes (notice, sandals were permitted) or with a money belt.  The disciples were being sent out on God’s holy work, and nothing else was to fill their minds and hearts.  They were to enter upon their proclamation of the Good News of salvation with the same dispositions of mind and heart as they would have on entering the Temple: seeking to worship God and give glory to His holy name; and for that their trust and confidence had to be secured by both faith in the Person, and confidence in the sure promises, of the Lord Jesus.

Today the Catholic, Universal, Church, continues the mission of the Apostles and the work is still the same: a supremely holy work to be done in the name of Jesus, and trusting in His Spirit; a work for the glory of the Father and in fulfilment of His plan for the salvation of mankind.

The response of men and women of our times and indeed, of all times, can be set out as Jesus put it before the Twelve.  First of all, He was sending them out:

As lambs among wolves. (Luke 10:3),          

With such a warning the Apostles should not have been surprised at anything.  However, Jesus, in our Gospel reading today, deals first of all with the disciples’ response to those who would apparently welcome them:

Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave.

Matthew (10:11-13) adds a few more details:

Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out.   And when you go into a household, greet it.  If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.   

They were to enquire, literally “question carefully”, about who might be “worthy” enough to give them hospitality.  The fact of giving hospitality would not, of itself, be sufficient: for, on entering the house they were, indeed, to give it their greeting and blessing; but if the house, that is, the people within it, proved to be unworthy, that blessing of peace would return to them.   Jesus would personally guarantee the blessing of His Apostles, but it was not to be pronounced lightly nor given unconditionally: for the offer -- even the actual gift -- of hospitality was not enough, it had to be made, given, in the right spirit:

If (the house) is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

People of God, there we have something which people today, even modern Catholic people, might find remarkable, indeed, somewhat unpalatable, for it is quite obvious that, for Jesus -- and He wanted His disciples to have the same attitude as Himself -- those who received the apostles sent in His name, were the ones receiving a blessing, and they were the ones who would, and should, ultimately be grateful.  Not that the Apostles should not feel or express gratitude for hospitality received, but that they were in no way to feel beholden to their hosts: for those hosts would be rewarded, superabundantly, by the Lord Himself, not only by the blessing of the Apostles given in return for whatever kindness and assistance had been provided.

This appreciation is confirmed for us when Jesus goes on to tell His Apostles:

Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.     

The symbolic gesture of shaking off the dust from their feet in testimony against that place and the people living there would serve as an indication that the ban of the Lord was resting upon that place.  In the legislation of the book of Deuteronomy, the people of Israel were instructed (13:17):

Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand.

The Rabbis’ teaching explained that anything of this sort, clinging to a person, was metaphorically called “the dust”: for example “the dust of an evil tongue”, “the dust of usury”.  With such a background we can understand the significance and awesome threat implied in the Lord’s command to His Apostles:

Shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.

Who would, however, be so foolish as to incur the ban of the Lord?   Our first reading taken from the book of the prophet Amos showed us: for Bethel was the royal sanctuary of the Northern Kingdom of Israel which had separated from Judah, and the Lord had sent Amos to warn the Israelites of the dangers threatening them.  However, when Amos proclaimed the word of the Lord, Amaziah, the priest at Bethel, told him to pack off back to Judah saying:

Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah! There earn your bread by prophesying, but never again prophesy in Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and a royal temple. 

Amaziah, however, even though he was the chief priest of the royal and national sanctuary was only one priest.   Was he really typical of the Israelites: what were the people as a whole like?  Listen to Amos speaking (Amos 3:15) in the name of the Lord about others in the Northern Kingdom:

I will destroy the winter house along with the summer house; the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end. 

Obviously, many Israelites of the North Kingdom ignored the word of the Lord because they were engrossed with their enjoyment of the ‘dolce vita’: winter and summer houses as splendid as if they were made all of ivory; and just listen how they lived it up!

Woe to you who lie on beds of ivory, stretch out on your couches, eat lambs  from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall; who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, and invent for yourselves musical instruments like David; who drink wine from bowls, and anoint yourselves with the best ointments, but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.  (Amos 6:4-7)

Now, there are many such people in our modern and prosperous Western society who are replete with and delight in possessions and pleasures, power and prestige, but have no concern for the ruin of the Church; anxiously seeking the approval of men and fullness of their earthly life, they have little time or use for the Word of the Lord.  Will the ban of the Lord be on them?  Was it on the luxurious Israelites in Samaria?   Hear the prophet’s words:

(They) are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph, therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives, and those who recline at banquets shall be removed. (Amos 6:6-7)

Listen again to the prophet Amos (7:17) speaking this time directly to Amaziah the priest in charge of the royal sanctuary:

Thus says the LORD: 'Your wife shall be a harlot in the city; your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword; your land shall be divided by survey line; you shall die in a defiled land; and Israel shall surely be led away captive from his own land.' 

That, People of God, is the background to Our Lord’s words to His Apostles:

Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.

What is, what can be, the modern significance of such threats against those who similarly reject, disdain, the known Gospel?  Should the Gospel be proclaimed using words of doom and destruction?  No, the Scriptures are for our guidance, comfort, and understanding, not for a weapon to brandish against our brethren; nevertheless, they are not empty, nor should we be ashamed of them.  

Today, God is widely held to be bound, even stifled, by our human rights … He cannot punish, He actions must always be patient of our appreciation and approval, He must be always kind in our way, never causing suffering of any sort …  whereas the Scriptures show what God has in fact done, and allowed to be done in His name.  His unsearchable wisdom and goodness, His incomparable knowledge and understanding of the creature He has made, His boundless appreciation of human possibilities in the destiny He is preparing for them along with His unerring awareness of what would be the ultimate results of humankind’s indulged selfishness and pride, above all His divine Love and enduring mercy guarantee the ultimate righteousness, beauty, and saving truth of all that He has done and will do.

Such examples, such warnings, are for us, for the modern apostles, that we may have true awareness of the vital importance and pressing urgency of the gospel proclamation for the salvation of souls; it is a gospel not to be watered-down for lukewarm conformity with modern humanistic thinking.  Centuries ago the French revolution first opened up the paths of our present-day exaltation of man and rejection of God, and one of its supreme leaders and logicians was Robespierre who has merited a modern biography entitled ‘Fatal purity’ of which one prominent reviewer was able to say that it proved there are monsters of virtue as well as monsters of vice!  How much fatal purity is being pedalled today, how many monsters of virtue are basking in the sun of human approval and praise!!

But what are the promises of the Lord?  What are the blessings he wants to bestow on us; the blessings reserved in heaven for those who embrace His Gospel and live through love in Him?  Listen to our second reading again:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before Him.  In love He destined us for adoption to Himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favour of His will, for the praise of the glory of His grace that He granted us in the Beloved.  In Him we have redemption by His blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, in accord with the riches of His grace that He lavished upon us.  In Him you also who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the first instalment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession, to the praise of His glory. 

Elsewhere Paul -- finding himself quite unable to express the wonder of our calling and the blessings that await us -- simply contents himself with quoting the Old Testament prophet Isaiah:

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.  (1 Corinthians 2:9)

My brothers and sisters in Christ, may those promises be fulfilled, those blessings be bestowed, upon you who are now listening to the Word of the Lord with faith and will later go out from this gathering with love and trust enough in your hearts to try to live it in your daily lives.

                                                 

                                               

           

Fourteenth Sunday of the Year (B)

                14^th. Sunday (Year B)                 

 (Ezekiel 2:2-5; 2^nd. Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-6)

We have just heard how Jesus went with His disciples to His home town and was amazed at the lack of faith He discovered there: His townspeople were unwilling to accept either His teaching -- which they understood well enough as to recognize its wisdom -- or His miracles, which they had seen for themselves or concerning which they had received unimpeachable evidence from others who had been witnesses.  And this rejection of Himself was motivated simply by the fact that they thought they knew Him, His family, and His origins.

Why did Jesus find that amazing … after all, He had been living among these people all His life; and He was, most certainly, wise enough to have come to a true appreciation of human nature in general?

Nevertheless, we are told that He did, indeed, marvel at their unbelief, and,  moreover, time seems only to have deepened that amazement and sorrow, for, later on, the experiences of His public ministry led Him to say (Luke 18:8):

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

In the Gospels, we are told that Jesus marvelled on only two occasions: one, as you heard, at the unbelief of His home townspeople; and secondly at the faith of the Roman centurion whose servant Jesus cured:

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. (Matt. 8:10)

The fact that Jesus is only said to have ‘been amazed’ on these two occasions involving faith or lack of it, seems to indicate that it is ‘faith’ which is the most personal and decisive act and attitude of which a human being is capable.

Why is faith so extraordinary?  Because it is a personal gift from God the Father; because it is the gift on which God’s plan for the redemption and exaltation of humankind depends. Human eyes might, indeed, have enabled men and women to see the wonders that Jesus did, and by their ears they could have heard the words of wisdom that came from His lips; but the transcendent reality at work behind those words and deeds could only be first of all intuited, then gradually appreciated and recognized before being finally embraced, by a humble and loving acceptance of and cooperation with God’s gift of faith:

I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.  Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.  For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.             (John 17: 6-9)

Jesus’ later questioning whether the Son of Man will find faith on earth when He returns, becomes, therefore, more understandable when we consider that faith is such a wonderfully decisive quality in a human being because it is supernatural both in its origin and its ultimate destiny, capable of raising a weak and sinful creature to the level of a child of God – and which, being so sublime, can only be rightly received with corresponding humility.  Did not Our Blessed Lady herself proclaim:

My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; for He has looked upon His servant in her lowliness?  (Luke 1:46-48)

Now, where faith is weak, and when -- perhaps under extreme pressure -- it might seem non-existent, Jesus, indeed, is disappointed and hurt; but He is never said to marvel at that: after all, He knows our human weakness.   We can see this, for example, when the disciples were in a storm on the lake of Galilee:

Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save             me!"  And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to             him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14:29-32)

Why, therefore, did Jesus marvel, why was He, indeed, so amazed, at the Nazarene’s lack of faith, their unbelief, when He was so understanding of native human weakness? 

Here we encounter something of the mystery of Jesus, something of the wonder of His Person and the beauty of His character.   He came from the Father and had lived the early years of his life on earth in the home of Mary and Joseph, so that, under their guidance and in response to His heavenly Father, He was seen to be constantly “growing in favour with God and men”.  You will remember that when seriously preparing for the approaching stage of His Jewish adulthood He had been so fascinated with the opportunity to talk deeply with the Scribes in the Temple -- learned in the Scriptures and the things of God -- that He forgot all about returning home with His earthly parents, Mary and Joseph, in the caravan.  And now, in His home synagogue at Nazareth, He was likewise rejoicing to speak again of the things of His heavenly Father with those in whose midst He had grown up, with those He intimately knew and specially loved, with those who were all members of God’s Chosen People and devout hearers of the Scriptures and followers of the Law:

It is written …, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.   (John 6:45)

However, He was truly amazed to discover how little reverence for, and appreciation of, His heavenly Father they had.  He had spoken to them of what He had learned from His Father, He had done the works His Father had given Him to do, and they had both heard and seen His words and His works as they themselves testified:

What wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands?

And yet they could not respond to His Father because they refused to recognize and acknowledge Himself!

The Nazarenes were not subject to a storm terrorizing their human weakness as were the disciples on the lake of Galilee; having heard His words, and either seen His miracles for themselves, or having heard of them from the accounts of friends and witnesses, it was impossible for them to deny that Jesus did speak such wisdom and had performed such works.  Their great difficulty, however, was that they were in no way prepared to allow one who had grown up apparently like any other child in their midst to appear better than, or different from, themselves or their own.  Failure through fear as experienced by His disciples during the storm on the Sea of Galilee was human; refusal from pride as shown by His townspeople here in Nazareth was devilish!  Who, indeed, did He think He was?

Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honour except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house." So He was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying His hands on them.  And He marvelled at their lack of faith.

He marvelled because they refused to marvel at God’s goodness to one they considered to be like themselves.  Somehow, here in Nazareth, human kind had fallen so low as to despise itself. The Nazarenes were very proud -- you will remember how they had been willing to throw Jesus down from the hill their town was built on because they thought He had insulted them -- but they would not accept God’s secret choice of one of their own, because He was – to all outward appearances – no better than, just like, them.   Thus they condemned themselves. 

Here we touch upon a nerve situation for many sincerely pious people -- especially young priests -- who are truly seeking to serve God’s people and mother Church, Jesus their Saviour, and in all that, to glorify God.  They can be downcast and secretly troubled on encountering people, such as those Jesus encountered at Nazareth, who -- for reasons of no greater importance than personal pride or popular appreciation – refuse or are reluctant to recognize or accept them.  In such circumstances it is so easy and tempting for them to seek to make themselves first of all appreciated by men in order to serve God, even though thereby they start to divert somewhat, before finally departing totally, from their original simplicity and sincerity before God.  Their words, gestures, and attitudes become designed to -- gradually at first -- conform to, before finally completely identifying with, the popular idea of Jesus; and thus they seek refuge in fulfilling people’s expectations, rather than peace in the trustful pursuit of God’s calling and obedient response to Mother Church’s teaching. 

St. Paul now tells us how -- from his constant practice of prayer and his everyday experience of human life and society— he learnt to best serve God:

Therefore, that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.  Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.   I am content, then, with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Faith, as the Gospel tells us, is a sublime gift of God for the glory of a human being, and for that very reason it can only be accepted and embraced in a spirit of deep humility, for, through faith, the very power of God is at our disposal, for His glory alone, however, not for our own.   And being conceived in humility, faith can only be nurtured and cherished by the constant practice of trust, for the worries and false solicitudes of the world would choke it, as Jesus lovingly warns:

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?  And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.  For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. (Luke 12:27-33)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, you who have all been personally chosen and called by the Father to become disciples of Jesus and His witnesses before the world:  avoid worries and solicitude which sap away the strength of faith; above all, never indulge either doubt which destroys faith or yield to deceit which would disguise self-service as a response to God’s call.   If you suspect, fear, your faith is too weak, then betake yourself with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane; humble yourself, gladly, before God with St. Paul.  Would you, however, aspire, to the crown of faith?  Then cherish, nurture, protect your faith not yourself; seek to please God for Himself alone, ever serve men by helping them find their true selves in God.

In all things and at all times, give yourself in commitment, sincere and total, to God in prayer, to Jesus in the Eucharist, and to the Gospel proclaimed in Mother Church, and may those words of Jesus be your final benediction:

            Go in peace, your faith has saved you.