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RELIGION LITURGY AND LIFE

Archive for the month “July, 2024”

27 Jul 2024

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the First Reading from the second book of kings   A man brings Elisha twenty loaves and grain. Despite his servant’s doubt, Elisha insists they feed a hundred people, assuring them that there will be leftovers, which indeed happens. In the Responsorial Psalm  All of God’s creations thank Him. God provides food in the right season, opening wide his hands to satisfy all  our desires. He is just and close to all who call upon Him with faith. In the Second Reading From  Ephesians we are called to  Live  our divine call with humility, gentleness, and patience, showing love and unity. as we are united under one Lord, faith, baptism, and Father. In the Gospel reading   we hear the story of the feeding of the five thousand.

The crowd is huge can you imagine five thousand people and all of them are hungry: for physical food in a deserted place and hungry for still more. They hunger to know that God is on their side, when the rest of the world considers them insignificant. How can their physical and spiritual hungers be fed . In their Roman- occupied world they are slaves. They are a long way from the seat of faith in Jerusalem and the religious elite, these Galileans were considered next to pagans; ignorant and a long way from God when in truth they were nearer to God than many of the so called righteous people of the day. Jesus wants to work the miracle of feeding a huge number of people who are hungry; but the miracle will not happen without someone to provide five barley loaves and two fish. In this story the food of the poor barley bread counts and it is not an insignificant gift. It’s given by a boy, it’s all he has, and he makes it available. We tend to measure the size of any problem that may arise and then back away, shrugging our shoulders, “What can I do about it?” The boy in this Gospel is a good example for us to follow  better to do something about the situation we are in than nothing at all.  

The end of this passage is important: “and all ate and were satisfied. And they took up what was left over, twelve baskets of broken pieces”. Jesus asked the disciples to ensure that nothing was wasted: nothing thrown out and nothing was!   The people in this story realize that Jesus had something to offer them in the deserted and lonely places in their lives. Jesus wasn’t just filling their stomachs he was also nourishing their souls. They weren’t rich, famous, educated or powerful; they were the afflicted and marginalized people that Jesus went out of his way to find.  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 of life would be fulfilled. The Gospel account of the multiplication of the loaves gives us  food for thought and prayer as we think about life with all its ups and downs with all its happy and sad times. When Jesus fed the crowds he taught them about God’s unconditional love. The only prerequisite they had to have to receive the food was their hunger.

The first Christians when they heard John’s story of the feeding of the five thousand , would have been reminded that they were to serve the physical and spiritual hunger of those in need. We too are called today to do the same for the people around us where we are in our own time and place.

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20 Jul 2024

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

This weekend we celebrate the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time and we listen to the story of the good shepherd. The first reading from the prophet Jeremiah talks about the shepherds that do not look after the flock and what will happen them for their misdeeds. The response to the psalm is the Lords my Shepherd there is nothing I shall want. That tells us that we shall want for nothing with the Lord as our shepherd as goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives as we dwell in the lords own house. In the Second Reading from Ephesians; Christ has made us one by His sacrifice, breaking down barriers and granting us all access to the Father, ensuring peace among us. 

In the Gospel story we listen to Jesus as he tells the apostles ‘You must come away all by yourselves and rest for a while’. He first planned to give his Apostles a well-earned rest. They had evidently worked hard while out on their mission and a few days rest would restore their lost energy. He himself, too, must have been hard pressed, preaching and dealing with the crowds. In the absence of the Apostles he had no one to help him he too needed a rest. He, therefore, planned that they should go to a quiet corner of Galilee where there was no village and where they would not be disturbed. As we all know sometimes the best laid plans go astray as the people got to the quiet spot first. He could have sent them away, but again his human compassion took over. They were like sheep without a shepherd and seeing the people of Galilee so anxious to hear about God and his mercy, he let them stay and began to preach the good news of forgiveness and hope to them.  Jesus cares for us and all those who need rest and spiritual nourishment as he did his apostles and the crowd in the Gospel!

We have only to listen to Jesus speaking within our hearts to hear where we will find him. In addition to that blessing, we all know people who mirror the Lord’s unselfish care for others. Often we are the recipient of that care and attention. We might take those people for granted whether they are in our families, communities, work places  or parishes. The widespread problems of so many are symptoms of deep unsatisfied longings to be loved and to love. Can we be a little more caring towards the lost and lonely people we know? And will we let Jesus say to us: ‘I was a stranger and you made me welcome, lacking clothes and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me? Jesus has clearly identified himself with people in physical, emotional and spiritual need.  To meet them is to meet him especially these days where so many have little or almost nothing and the few have so much. Jesus has the answers to our questions; and they all come down to living a life deeply in harmony with God.  And he not only tells us but shows us the way. He talks the talk but he also walks the walk with us.

And the walk eventually takes him to Jerusalem and up the hill to Golgotha where he gave his life for us so that we may have life. Jesus meets us,right where we are as a shepherd king, with genuine concern for us – not as a warrior king with threats and punishments.  All those who really encounter Jesus and his message have an anchor in their lives. The anchor is the care and concern of the Good Shepherd for all of us. This is what we believe and we are called to share the love of Christ that we have received with others  where we are today.

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13 Jul 2024

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time

On the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time our  readings focus on God’s call and mission. We see how God chooses ordinary people to carry out His work. In the First ReadingAmaziah orders Amos to leave Bethel and prophesy elsewhere. Amos responds he was called by God from his life as a shepherd to prophesy to Israel and that was were he stayed. In the Second Reading from  Ephesians we are told that we are blessed in Christ with spiritual riches, chosen to be holy, redeemed by his sacrifice, and sealed with the Holy Spirit, fulfilling God’s plan in the church for unity and glory.

The Gospel reading is all about Mission. Jesus summons the twelve apostles and sends them out on a missionary tour.  The chosen followers of Jesus have to carry the word of God as a challenge to others. In that mission the apostles have the authority and the power of Jesus. They have to travel on that.  They are not to rely on their own resources but on the authority that has been given to them and the hospitality that will be offered them. With no bread and no money, they have to depend on the kindness of others: that vulnerability makes their message their real resource. If they have bread to eat, it also means that people are not only hospitable they are also listening to the word they preach. If they are not accepted, they have no option but to move on. And when a town rejects their message, the apostles are to shake the dust from their feet – a symbolic act performed by Jews returning to Palestine after journeying abroad. The Twelve went out and preached that God would adopt humanity, making its members which include you and me “sons” and “daughters” of the Father. This was Good News then just as it is now!  I think we need to be like the twelve who were sent out with the message of Jesus but with one difference we need to seek out those who do not want to hear the message instead of shaking the dust off our feet we really need to let our feet get dirty.  We have to have carry the word of God and see it as a challenge to ourselves and to others. In telling us about the beginning of the church in so dramatic a fashion, Mark, wants to be certain that disciples in his church and in the church  of our time will be mindful of some important implications. We, like the first disciples, are inadequate for the task; yet Christ’s mission for God’s kingdom is given to us.  If we labor under the illusion that we can bring about God’s reign on our own, we will be advancing something other than God’s kingdom on earth. Paul refers to his experience of preaching the gospel as foolishness. He relishes saying “we are fools for Christ’s sake?   Because he understands that it is because of his weakness that the power of Christ can dwell in him .       

The message of hope from today’s Gospel is that we don’t have to spend years of study before we can explain what Christ means; we can do it quite easily using actions and words we all understand. The crucial point in the Gospel is that by doing things Jesus’ way the Apostles get close to the people, they understand their concerns and they share their life. We are called to do the same today as we try to do things Jesus way by helping the people to get close to Jesus and what he teaches all of us.

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06 Jul 2024

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The readings for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time are a call to listen to God and follow Him even when those around us do not. These readings make us think of how we can persist as disciples in times of adversity and how to handle rejection. In the First Reading God empowers Ezekiel to speak to rebellious Israel, ensuring that whether or not they listen, they will recognize the presence of a prophet among them. In the Second Reading Paul embraces his weaknesses and hardships, seeing them as opportunities for Christ’s power to shine, affirming that divine strength is perfected through human weakness. This Sundays  Gospel sees Jesus going back home to Nazareth. This is not a social visit like everyone else in the other towns in Galilee, Nazareth and its people have to hear the Good News of the kingdom. When Jesus teaches in the local synagogue, many of the townspeople are astonished at the things he is saying. They wonder at the origin of Jesus’ teaching and the nature of his wisdom, as well as the miracles that are done through him.

From the unanswered questions about Jesus’ wisdom, the neighbours move to more familiar territory and focus on what they do know about Jesus. Whatever their wonder, they are not going to allow the wisdom of Jesus  to interfere with their memories of him as the son of Joesph the carpenter. Prior to this section in Mark’s gospel, Jesus has been doing some extraordinary things. His baptism by John in the river Jordan was accompanied by an affirming voice of the Father from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son. On you my favor rests.” After his desert testing Jesus called his first disciples, cured the man in the synagogue with the unclean spirit and the paralytic in Capernaum; expelled the legion of devils from the Gerasene man, you may remember last week Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus and then cured the woman with hemorrhage, Jesus is doing wonderful things in what he says and what he does as he proclaims the coming of the reign of God. Though he did all the wonderful things the people still had little faith which also seems to be the case these days for so many in our own time.

The people wanted the powerful signs of God’s final coming with a strong right arm to rescue them. But when Jesus spoke about the signs of the kingdom’s presence, he spoke of scattered seeds and, to emphasize the kingdoms small beginnings, he compared it to a mustard seed, “the smallest of all of the seeds of the earth” Where was God’s show of power and mighty arm in a tiny mustard seed? Mark sums up their reaction, “And they took offense at him. And so it is today as many take offense at the values of Christianity and the good it makes for all of us in our world. A world which in many respects is so faithless with many  people taking offense at Jesus and his teaching. Jesus revealed God’s presence to the people of Nazareth as a different kind of power: the power used only to help others, not ourselves; a gentle power that does not force or coerce people to do our will; the power of compassion and gentleness, when others are expecting force. All of us know from our own experience that when we admit our failures and limitations, that honesty can mark the beginning of a new understanding. If our Lord and God can take failure in his stride, we might even end up boasting about God’s fantastic message!

What is the fantastic message of the wisdom of Jesus? Jesus message is really about using whatever power that we might have in a positive way to help others and the greater our weakness the more powerful we will be that is powerful with the power of compassion and gentleness that we are called to show to everyone around us as we go forward at this time.

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