22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Well here we are at the last weekend of August and the youngsters are going back to school. Time is flying by for all of us both young and old as we move into the new school year. This year going back to school is very different with the COVID19 pandemic and all of the ongoing changes and concerns it has raised for all of us. From the Lockdown to the reopening from the abnormality of the last 5 months  to getting back to a sort of normal much has changed and a lot has remained the same. The question that I ask myself is how have I changed and how have we as a community changed these are not easy questions to answer. I get the sense that we are a more caring and sharing society as a result of this pandemic.

In our Gospel Reading this weekend we see Jesus starting to prepare his Apostles for the journey he must make to Jerusalem which ends up with Jesus on the Cross. In foretelling his sufferings and death, which took place some months later, Christ intended to prepare his disciples and other followers for  the severe crisis of faith that would hit them after the crucifixion. He also took the occasion to remind his disciples, and all the others of what their attitude to suffering and death should be. He told them, and us too, that we must be ever ready to accept sufferings in this life, and even an untimely death if that should be demanded of us, rather than deny our Christian faith. Peter is appalled at this prospect and tries to deflect Jesus from the path that lies ahead and yet it was peter who was crucified as well. After having declared Jesus to be the Christ, a title associated with victory and glory, Peter now denies that Jesus must suffer. Peter wants to banish suffering from the agenda; Jesus brings the subject to the forefront of the conversation. Jesus faced suffering which could only be conquered if it was accepted If the suffering was to pass, it had to be endured. He faced rejection which could be transformed only if he assented to it. He told them “For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it”. The way of the cross which Jesus followed in Jerusalem was one which passed through streets and markets, by houses and palaces, by windows and doors.

While it happened people went about their business not giving the procession to calvary a second thought. Suffering must run the course of the familiar as it does for us especially these days. As Christians we live in the assurance that our way of the cross does not go unnoticed. We are asked like Jesus to carry our crosses through streets and markets, by houses and palaces, by windows and open doors. Jesus notices what we are going through and he is our companion along the way he is our strength and our shield; his power is mighty in our weakness. If the cross we carry is the price to be paid for love, then carrying it is love in action. For Jesus, that was enough it is also enough for us to know that our sufferings large or small were nailed to the Cross on that first Good Friday through the love that God the Father had to send us his Son to be with us for all time.

21ST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

These days we are preparing for the re opening of the local schools and the return of the pupils. The children and parents out there are wondering what will happen and how things will go. I am sure  it is the same for the teachers returning into these new circumstances where much remains the same but so much more has changed. There is a lot of nervousness around this week as we prepare for the safe return to school. We keep our teachers and our school going members of our communities and their families in our prayers in the days ahead as we return to School.

This Sunday in our gospel reading Jesus asks the apostles “who do you say the Son of Man is?” Jesus was in Caesarea Philippi in the north eastern corner of Palestine. There no one would not look for Him. He had much to teach the twelve before He could leave them this was quality teaching time. So, He put the question to them that went to the heart of the matter, “Who do you say I am?” Peter acting as spokesman for the others told Him He was “the Son of the living God” Peter confesses the deep mystery of Jesus, who is the Christ and the Son of God.

In the light of this inspired confession, Peter is chosen to be the rock on which the Church is built. When Jesus told him “ you are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church” Peter received the gift of being the leader of the Church. Peter was first among the apostles, first among those who were called to proclaim the Kingdom of God on earth. Peter took the leadership of the Church at Pentecost. After he, the apostles and Mary, received the Holy Spirit, Peter led everyone out to the Temple and began preaching the good news to the people. After Saul became Paul, after the persecutor of the primitive Church accepted Jesus Christ, Paul spent three years in the desert reflecting on his experience of the Lord on the Road to Damascus. He then went to Jerusalem to receive Peter’s blessing and commission to bring the Good News of the Gospel to the world.  We do not know how Peter got to Rome. We know that he was there, though. We know that Peter died in Rome, crucified head down. The excavations under the Basilica of St. Peter revealed a tomb with the words, Here Lies Peter. We also know that when Peter died, the charism he was given to lead the Church remained active in Rome. The ones who took his place, St. Linus, and those who followed him, St. Cletus, St. Clement in the Apostolic succession right through the centuries up until Pope Francis in our present time.

.All of them are recognized as having received the  same charism that the Lord gave to Peter to lead the Church and this has passed down through the centuries. As time went on, these bishops of Rome would be given the title, Pope, Papa, Holy Father, leader of the Church. Through our baptism, all Christians have received a share in the power of the keys to heaven. With that power goes responsibility to witness to the Gospel. So who do you and I say Jesus is in light of this Sundays Gospel reading and what it teaches us today?

20TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

 

 

Well here we are at the middle of August, with just two weeks to go before the schools reopen after the long COVID 19 closure.  When you stop to think about it time just seems to be passing by as it doesn’t seem nearly 5 months since the lockdown began. We also spare a thought for all the teachers out there who will go back into the schools in the days ahead to prepare for the reopening of the schools.

Our Gospel reading for this Sunday is all about the  Canaanite woman whose daughter was being tormented by a devil, but when you read the story we realize it is really about  the great faith that she has and it was that faith in Jesus that cured her daughter even though she had to be persistent in dealing with the Lord. The woman in today’s Gospel story is not satisfied with just tears though.  Her daughter “is tormented by a demon.”   Parents among us know what that might feel like and how fiercely we would spring into action if a “cure” was before us for our own sick child.   She cries out and asks Jesus for help … and perseveres even when the disciples try to send her away and Jesus Himself rebuffs her!  Jesus relents because great is her faith.

In the same story we see much about ourselves and our own faith.  Over a number of years I have been involved with many people who have been praying for this or that or for or a member of their families and very often they have said to me that the prayers have not been heard let alone answered. I have always told them to hang in there to persist and not give up in the prayers because they are always heard and this has been the case with so many people throughout history. In the same way as the Canaanite woman  pestered Jesus  we should never give up though we mightn’t have our requests granted when WE want them they will be granted when we really need the things that we are praying for. A friend of mine is constantly praying for her son and thankfully her prayers are being answered but sometimes as happens in all families the road can be a bit rocky along the way but we have to keep on going. The message of today’s readings is all about FAITH life can be a bit of a pickle with good and bad things within it, but a life lived with faith will see all the various obstacles being removed. Would our faith be as persistent as the faith of the woman in this Sundays Gospel? Only you can answer that one and I hope that your faith is persistent like the Canaanite woman whose daughter Jesus Cured because faith moves mountains !!

19TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

This week we in Ireland and especially in Northern Ireland we said goodbye to John Hume who died at the beginning of the week. He was the man who took risks for peace when he began the Hume Adams dialogue in the 1980’s which in turn led to the IRA and their political wing Sein Fein leaving violence behind. This engagement eventually  led to the 1998 Good Friday agreement which gave us the imperfect peace that we have today that continues to be a work in progress. We thank god for John Hume and his life in which he was a man of peace who took risks that paid great dividends for all of us who live in Northern Ireland today as we live in a society that is more peaceful. We also pray for the people of Lebanon and Beirut in particular as they begin the recovery from the explosion at the docks.

The gospel reading this weekend is all about  Jesus  walking on water but if you look beyond the walking on water this story is really about trust in God. We have no problem identifying with Peter he is so like ourselves . He is confident one moment and then, when things get difficult and he has bitten off more than he can chew, he falls apart. By then it is too late and he needs help. Life is like that, we start at something like a new job, college, marriage, or a project to help others, but then it gets complex and beyond what we are capable of. We didn’t realize it was going to require so much time and effort! We are sinking, we are drowning. Not an uncommon experience in so many situations of life and in the way we deal with them. God doesn’t always give us an immediate cure or a fast solution when we bring ourselves in prayer for others as well as  the problems of the day to God. God, through Jesus, is not a distant God aloof from our problems. Jesus shows us that when he reaches out a hand to Peter and to us he is companion with us in the storms of life.  At times we may well be floundering, like Peter, but Jesus reaches out to help us, to rescue us. What better image of salvation could there be than Jesus reaching out to Peter to save him from drowning. What better analogy could there be of our own lives and relationship with Jesus. We live messy lives, we doubt and we lack faith but nevertheless we are still moving towards the Lord.

For us, too, there is a necessary lesson in this incident. It is that we must continue to trust in Christ and his loving Father, even when God seems to have deserted us. Most of the troubles and trials of our lives are caused by the injustice and lack of charity of our fellowmen. The remainder can be attributed to our own defects and sins or to some weakness in our mental and bodily make-up. But God foresees all these misfortunes, and can prevent them. Instead he lets them take their course, because they can and should be the means of educating us in our knowledge of life’s true meaning and they should draw us closer to him.

Christ foresaw the storm and the grave risk His Apostles would run when He sent them off across the lake. But that trial and the grave danger they ran was for their own good, because they learned to realise that Jesus was from God and they could always trust Him. Our trials and our earthly ailments are also foreseen by God and permitted by him so that they will draw us closer to Him and help us on the road to heaven.

When we find ourselves breaking into a cold sweat over the latest storm we find ourselves in we should remember when Christ comes, the storm becomes calm, the tumult becomes peace, and we pass the breaking point and we do not break this is what trust in Jesus really means it means that he will be with us through all the storms of life no matter how big they are.

 

18TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

 

Well here we are at the beginning of August It will be no time until the new uniforms etc will have to be bought and the schools will reopen  hopefully at the beginning of September after the covid19 lockdown.

In our Gospel story for this Sunday we hear about the feeding of the five thousand. The gestures and words of Jesus in the Gospel bring to mind the Last Supper The Gospel writer is making clear references in this miracle story to the Eucharist. The people in this story are a crowd that realize Jesus had something to offer them in their “deserted places.” Jesus wasn’t just filling their stomachs. They were not the rich, the famous, the educated or the powerful; they were the afflicted and the marginalized people that Jesus went out of his way to seek out.  Life may have passed them by, but Jesus didn’t.  He took note of them, and they in turn saw in him a place to be nourished, a place where deep hungers and longings would be fulfilled. The physical bread of the miracle story was of temporary value. It could not satisfy deeper spiritual hungers, but it was a sign that Jesus can and that his heart is moved with pity for us.

In this version of the story, there is no boy to provide the loaves and fishes for this miracle. The people are weary looking for hope, for consolation after the death of John, looking for a leader to inspire them, and they  discovered Jesus.  The disciples have the food. Was it their own food for the trip? Is Jesus asking them to share out of their supplies? Is he asking them to risk it all, to take a chance at extravagant generosity? And they do—maybe this too is the miracle; the change in the disciples who now have learned that whatever they have, it will be more than enough in collaboration with Christ. They are learning to cast their lots with him, to risk what they have in his service. As we heard last week, the person who discovers the treasure in the field goes out and sells everything to buy the field and have the treasure.

The sign for us today  is that we too are the beloved of God and we will not be left hungry or alone for God is with us in the good, bad, happy and sad things that are part and parcel  of our daily life.