Fullerton T

17TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

In this unusual time in our lives, it is difficult to hold on to, the familiar line from the Letter to the Romans that states “We know that all things work for good for those who love God.” We Christians believe this, way down deep. Who among us though would honestly ask God for the “understanding heart” as did Solomon as our one request, during this pandemic? But as we get back to the normality of our lives and daily living we need to have understanding heart’s and minds as so many things will change and are changing in our lives and the lives of our families friends and those around us. We have to understand that in the words from the liturgy  life as we know it has changed but it has not ended.

In this Sundays Gospel we hear the story of the treasure hidden in the field. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field or a pearl of great price. When its great value is recognized, one gladly does all that is necessary to obtain it. Jesus teaches us that the most important and the most urgent thing in life is to find out just what God wants of us, and to do it. This is what he means when he urges us to be as single-minded, as focused, and as dedicated, as someone who digs up a treasure in a field, re-buries it, and hurries off to buy that field, so that he can have that treasure all to himself. Jesus makes the same point about priorities when he urges us to be as single-minded, as focused, and as dedicated, as a collector of jewelry, who comes across the finest pearl in the world, and sells all personal possessions in order to acquire it.

To possess the Kingdom means that we should share our knowledge of the kingdom with others. To truly believe in Christ means leading other people to the same belief; for secret faith is no faith at all. We need to be like the householder, mentioned at the end of our Gospel reading for this Sunday, who brings out of his house things both new and old. We should be happy to bring out of the house that is our faith all kinds of treasures to share with our family friends and  neighbors.   But these treasures are not physical things like clocks and pearls but attitudes spiritual and otherwise that are virtues like love and justice and truth and hope and so on. What we bring out from our treasure store are the values of the Kingdom, the attitudes of Jesus and the knowledge of the one true God. God loves us just the way we are, but He refuses to leave us that way. He wants us to become just like Him. He wants us to pass on our treasure to other people so that they can discover the faith which is the pearl of great price the treasure hidden in the fields of our hearts.

16th SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

This weekend we continue opening our local churches  for worship as we emerge from the COVID19 pandemic and continue to move forward into the new normal with all the changes it will bring .

This Sunday we hear the reading from Chapter 23 of St. Matthews gospel, the story is the parable of the seed and the weeds and the darnel in the field. In the parable of the wheat and weeds, Jesus recognized good’s co-existence with evil. He also held out the hope that the Kingdom would right all wrongs. I think that there is the potential in each of us to be either wheat or darnel that is good and bad. We often say ‘wouldn’t life be easier if everything were black and white’ as if there are ‘totally good people’ and ‘totally evil people’. Of course life is never that simple. If we are really honest nothing is ever that straightforward to be black and white. We need to ask ourselves Who are we called to be in a world where weeds and seeds grow side by side and we often find it hard to distinguish the difference between them.

As people of faith we have to constantly ask ourselves : Should we hide from the messiness and make religion a privatized personal relationship with God? Should we insulate ourselves – sharing with those we think are worthy of our love, deciding who is worthy? Where is God in all this concern, worry and judgment? If we pray about these three questions and our problems and those of others we will see god is there in the middle of everything and his hand will guide us and as a result we will be the seeds that flourish and not the weeds that die. Jesus used parables to challenge his audience to think and he uses the parables in our world of today to challenge all of us to make us think as well. In truth and charity we must speak to others and teach them about the great responsibility they have to choose either Life or Death to be weeds or seeds .All of us have the power to freely choose Him or to reject Him. May we see the seeds of the Kingdom of Heaven grow and flourish in our midst .

God will guide all of  us along the roads that lead to Salvation and he will help us to be the seeds that flourish in the rich soil of faith and be the examples to the people around us .

15th Sunday of ordinary Time

This weekend we arrive at the fifteenth Sunday of ordinary time. Lent and Easter are but a distant memory and we are now gearing up for the opening of our Churches for Sunday services and hopefully some holidays after the COVID19 lockdown.

This Sunday we hear the Gospel story of the sower who went out to sow the seed. For me the story  is really about the seed of faith with Jesus the sower and you and me as the soil on which the seed that is the word of God lands. The context of today’s parable provides some insight into its interpretation and application The parable is located between stories of confrontation and rejection. As the early church faced opposition and a seeming lack of success, the parable must have given encouragement to the first preachers and members of the early church a promise of fruit not yet visible to them. Jesus is speaking to a large crowd.

They may be listening to what he says, but some will follow him  and others will leave and go their own way. He is realistic as he seems to randomly cast his words out upon the crowd. What he says to them will not seem to bear fruit – not straight away. Often that wee seed of faith may take root many years after it has been planted and today we see many people returning to the faith or coming to the faith for the first time after someone or some event in their lives planted that first seed with others helping nourishing the seed and helping it to grow. What is striking about the parable is the amount of waste I’m sure those who are reading this who are recyclers will be horrified. The bulk of the details are about wasted effort and lost seed. Why wasn’t the sower more careful, after all farmers were poor and the seed was precious? Sometimes, we wonder if all our efforts and words are worth it when things are falling down around us. But if we stop for a moment and think about it anything done for God in faith is never lost.  

Very often things that are happening  our lives don’t seem to be the way we might want  them to be but when we look at the problems with eyes of faith we see that things around us are the way they are meant to be for the good of all. We also  get the strength to  deal with the problems that go on through. Nobody really knows what’s beneath the surface of the soil we cast the seed of the word of god upon. Who knows the potential of the good soil? Do good and poor soil both exist in the same person I think that it most probably does much in the same way that a person can do good or be bad. Is there something we might say that will land on the interior good soil in a person and bear the “hundredfold, or sixty or thirtyfold” Jesus promises? who knows only God knows. While the gospel parable begins with and spends time on hardships and failure it ends in surprise and abundance. What was the source of this abundance? We look to what Isaiah told us today in the reading about the fertile, life-giving nature of God’s Word.

Our God is a God of surprises and our faith is also filled with so many surprises as well. Despite any discouragement we might feel because our efforts in many things seem futile and draining, we put our trust in the one who speaks to us a living word who sows the seed. The message of Jesus may not always be welcome especially in our modern world were faith and religion are constantly under assault by those who oppose the Christian faith based outlook on life. That said we still have to sow the seed of faith by what we do and say and then we leave the rest up to God our efforts are never futile and we don’t always see the fruit of the seed that’s sown. Let us remember that tall oaks from little acorns grow and Our God is a God of surprises and our faith is also has many surprises as well especially during these days.

14TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Well here we are trying to get  into the holiday mood as the corona virus lockdown is easing. While many people will be taking the time to get away as things ease we spare a thought for all those who may not get away for a break this year .

One of the most wonderful things about the person of Jesus has been and continues to be, his special love for ordinary people ­ like us with all our faults and failings. This love is seen in a particular way within the two statements that he makes in this Sundays Gospel reading. The first is in his prayer to God: ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.’ The second is in his Invitation to all of us: ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest.’  Why did he say this? The answer comes across very clearly so many times in the gospels, and may be summed up in just one word – COMPASSION. For example: – The plight and tears of the widow of Nain touches his heart to the core: ‘Don’t cry,’ he says to her, before bringing her son back to life.

 He is moved with compassion at the plight of a leper begging for help (Mk 4:41), for two blind men sitting at the side of a road and pleading for mercy (Mt 20:29-34), and for a crowd of people with nothing to eat (Mk 8:2). In each case he responds to their sufferings with the power, love, compassion and care of God. To be a Christian and to have the light of faith to guide our steps in the neo-pagan darkness of today’s world, is a gift, and a blessing from God, for which we can never thank Him enough.  So, in the here and now of our daily lives  the big question for each of us has to be whose side are we on? Are we  on the side of Jesus, that is the side of compassion, kindness, help, healing, and mercy? Or on the side of the scribes and Pharisees who are  amongst us even today  and they are – fierce, fault-finding, heartless, and critical, people without much compassion. Will we take our cue from their cruel, harsh, and insensitive judgments and actions? Or will we take our inspiration from what we see in Jesus, and from his touching  compassionate outreach to the poor and the broken when he said ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest’. This, then, is a clear invitation for us to slow down.

Let us resist the temptation to join the mad rush in this world’s rat race especially these days when we are coming out from the darkness of the COVID19 lockdown and getting back to a new sort of normal. There is more to life than speed.  As the saying goes, “The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese”. This time of return to normal is also an invitation for us to move to a life of simplicity. Happiness does not consist in having more, but in being contented with what we have. Jesus invites us, “Come to me!” And He waits for us so let us take up our rest .Over these past four months of lockdown I have found many people taking up the opportunity to take the rest that Jesus talks about and many have found their true selves within the quietness despite the pandemic madness that is around. Let us remember the words of Jesus as we go back out into the world with all its problems and opportunities ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest.’