11th. Sunday of Year B
(Ezekiel 17:22-24; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10;
Mark 4:26-34)
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In our reading from the
prophet Ezekiel – copying perhaps the Assyrian emperors so keen to boast of their
military prowess -- there was a beautiful metaphor of one climbing right to the
very crest of a choice cedar and finally stretching with his fingers to
separate out and pluck a most delicate and promising growth:
I will take from the crest of the cedar, from its topmost branches crop
off, a tender shoot.
Thus, the prophet pictured
God’s sublime millennia-long nourishment and formation of Israel, the cedar of
His planting, with the Blessed Virgin Mary of Nazareth as its crest – the summit
of Israel’s response to such divine nurturing – finally taking to Himself and
making His very Own that unique Shoot which only she could bear.
Concerning that Shoot of the Virgin, Ezekiel goes on to say:
The tender shoot shall put forth branches and bear fruit and become a
magnificent cedar. Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it in the
shade of its boughs.
And our Blessed Lord’s own
parable confirms those prophetic words, speaking this time of the Kingdom of
God which He inaugurated in His very own Self, and using the same imagery of
fruitful maturity, unobservable to human scrutiny, yet ultimately giving
shelter and succour to those in need:
It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the
smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and
becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the
birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.
And so, dear People of God,
after a series of feasts and solemnities, each emphasizing a distinct and
striking aspect of the beauty of Catholic doctrine, it is most ‘homely’ and
satisfying to celebrate an ‘ordinary’ Sunday which puts before us, with items
chosen from her Scriptures ‘old and new’, something of the wholesome unity of
Mother Church, and something of the calm strength and beauty of
‘ordinary’ Catholicism: a Catholicism to quietly savour and admire as one
appreciates a daily companion, cherishes a constant hope, and finds strength
and peaceful joy in what is normal, everyday, and fundamental.
Today, people are not
sufficiently aware, I believe, that a very large proportion of mankind’s
troubles, be they criminal or personal, arise from sinful humanity’s unwillingness
to appreciate and accept, let alone find peaceful fulfillment in, the
‘ordinary’. The young hate boredom and crave the excitement of
‘highs’. Those of middle-age need distractions, interests of any sort,
conversations with all and sundry – even broad and wide over the media -- to
occupy their minds and prevent self-introspection, lest the time on their hands
brings back memories of past sins, trials and missed opportunities, stirs
embers of regret or traces of old antipathies and dislikes, or, allows
apparently long-forgotten memories -- silenced for some time but not healed -- come
close to the surface once again: memories of friends, or responsibilities, failed
due to our fault. Too many of those who are old, however, just worry:
about the past, the present, and the future; or else while-away the time still
allotted them in passing interests of no moment, in reveries about days of old no
longer available to them.
People of God, there is no real,
true, happiness or fulfilment without an appreciation of and gratitude for, the
ordinary in life: especially for us Catholics and Christians who proclaim the
enduring, daily, goodness of God in all that He ordains for our gradual development
into children of His; children destined to partake of the wedding feast He is
preparing for all those His beloved Self-sacrificing Son brings with Him.
And what could be more
ordinary and homely concerning the spiritual life of all devout Catholics than
those words of St. Paul in our second reading:
Therefore, we aspire to please Him, whether we are at home or away?
We aspire to please Him,
that is, even though we are not yet at home with the Lord in heaven, even
though we walk by faith, not by sight.
We aspire to please Him: how simple that sounds! Just right for an ‘ordinary’ Sunday
reading and homily … no burdensome thinking required, no great obligations to
be accepted, we are encouraged to simply try to please Him, Jesus our Lord and
Saviour, or as Jesus Himself would insist, we try to please Him Who is our loving
Father, Who wants to be our beloved Father. Such simplicity
does not in any way threaten the richness of your Sunday spiritual food; because
in order to ‘please Him’ we need to know Him, know what He wills, or even what
He prefers for our good …. Just as you take pride in knowing the likings and
possible preferences of your family and the guests who may be gathered around
your Sunday table.
We walk by faith, not by
sight: how clear that
sounds also, not frightening in any way! And yet by walking in that
way we are dying to ourselves for love of Him! There is no greater spirituality
than that!!
People of God, thank you
for listening to, reading, following, me carefully. Please, try to enjoy
your Sunday, and ask God to help you appreciate His daily, ordinary, gifts …
not forgetting His gift of everyday time … for they all ultimately express the
same undying love for you that led Him to give up His Son – to death alone on
the Cross for you -- so as to be able to lift up with Him all who walk by faith
in Him.
