Fullerton T

3RD SUNDAY OF LENT

Here we are at the third Sunday of Lent and I really cannot believe that we are at this point in our Lenten journey.  During this time there are  many recurring themes but the one we hear most about is repentance change and coming back.  A few years ago our local Bishop wrote a pastoral letter for Lent called Ashes for change and change is really what we are about during Lent. That change means  changing our hearts, our  minds and our way of going. In our Gospel reading for this Sunday Jesus urges those who are listening to him to use the time that is available for repentance. In the parable of the fig-tree it is stressed that the time will come for a last chance to bear fruit.  This parable is a wakeup call and it tells us that Lent  is a good time to make the changes we have been putting off and know we must do in order to make ourselves bear spiritual fruit.

The gardener in the Gospel asked the owner of the vineyard to give the barren fig tree another chance to produce fruit. He promised to dig around it and manure it, to give it one last chance to prove itself.

So it is with us God gives us this annual time of Lent to prove ourselves. We are called to use the 6 weeks of lent well as there are many things in our lives that we need to change. Do we bear good fruit? Do we flower and bring forth good works? It is a time for us to consider our way of living our lives and what it means. It is a time when the work of the Lord will lift us up and encourage us to blossom and bear spiritual fruit.

This Sunday we see that our lives are enriched and by sharing in the work and message of Jesus the beloved Son of God who is our saviour. When we get out there and share our time talents and resources we are sharing in the work of Jesus bringing his kingdom into the lives of those around us.  When we  die to sin and come to repentance for our sins we identify ourselves in a real and concrete way with the redemptive power of Christ who died on the cross and rose again from the dead for all of us. Our calling, then, is to be strong, giving witness to our faith in the days of Lent as we go forward to Holy Week and Easter  so that others will see what we believe in and as a result of our example they might even take up the challenge that Jesus gives to all of us to follow him.

Saint Patrick’S Day 2019

We begin by stopping to spare a thought for all those who have been affected by this week’s events in New Zealand. This weekend with all the Irish all over the world we celebrate the feast of Saint Patrick who was credited with bringing the faith to the Irish. I often wonder what St. Patrick who drove the snakes out of Ireland would do about the modern snakes that we have in Ireland today. I imagine he would look at what was going on around him and roll up his sleeves and get on with the job of proclaiming the Gospel and its values which are timeless.

In our Gospel Story for this Sunday we have the story of the tiny  mustard seed. The wee mustard seed represents  the faith that we have within us and  the story is really about how we nourish and cultivate our faith so that it becomes strong so that it will shelter us when times are hard and life is not so good. When saint Patrick came to Ireland he sowed the mustard seed of the faith in the Irish nation and over the years many have nourished and helped that wee seed to grow. But for many the faith is gone and the weeds and the darnel that the Gospel also talks about  have taken over and events in the Church here in Ireland and over the worldwide Church bear witness to this. Having said that we should also take courage here we are so many years after Saint Patrick thinking about his message and how we can put it into action in our own lives and there is much to value in that message.

The spirit of St Patrick affirms the worth of each human being. His Confession invites us all to personal conversion especially during Lent. His message was to draw people to follow Christ in the sharing spirit of the Gospel. This mission is still an urgent one especially in today’s Ireland were there are so many people who are experiencing a crisis of faith. Saint Paul in the words of this Sundays  second reading  tells us what we should be doing in very clear terms Before God and before Christ Jesus I put this duty to you, in the name of his Appearing and of his kingdom: proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Be careful always to choose the right course; be brave under trials; make the preaching of the Good News your life’s work, in thorough going service.

Saint Patrick who we celebrate this Sunday did just that  he proclaimed the message of salvation and he insisted on it and many years later we are the inheritors of the rich inheritance of faith born of him. Today there are many things that are wrong in terms of Faith there are many snakes out there looking to destroy what we all hold as being good it is up to us to us to choose the right course; to be brave under trials; and make the Good News our life’s work, in thorough going service as Saint Patrick did.

First Sunday of Lent

In every area of our lives there is an ongoing need for renewing and refocusing. Lent is our annual spring clean of our spiritual lives renewing our faith as a preparation for celebrating the events of Holy Week in which there are so many messages for us. In our Gospel story for this Sunday  we hear about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness  before Jesus set out to do his Fathers work he went out into the dessert for forty days of fasting and prayer and during this time he was tempted by the devil. The devil tempted him to use his power to take care of himself, prove his identity by performing astounding signs and make alliances with political and military powers to get himself and his message across and his response to the temptations of the devil was that you shall not put the lord your God to the test. Many of us put God to the test with the things that we do and say to one another and so many have completely left their faith behind them. As we begin Lent for this year we ask ourselves how do we face the temptations of life? When times get rough and we feel alone, do we still trust in God? When our life just seems empty, do we still believe in the Father who loves us?

Are we willing to risk everything for the sake of the Gospel, or do we settle for guarding our own security? Do we make our authority felt so that people are degraded, or is it a real service to others at times these are questions that all of us need to ask ourselves and Lent gives us the opportunity to do this.

Over the next 6 weeks we live our lives of faith to the full taking the opportunities to grow in the faith.  During the time of Lent We are invited to recommit ourselves fully to God and his ways  remembering that Jesus preaches “Metanoia”  that is Repentance or Coming back.  Coming back to God and returning requires change of heart, mind and Spirit.  There are many temptations in the life of the follower of Christ but our Father in heaven always welcomes back the repentant sinner the one who says Lord have mercy on me for I am a sinner. So on this first Sunday of Lent as we think about the temptation of Jesus in  the dessert  we think about how we may increase our Faith in preparation for Holy Week and the great feast of Easter. There will be many opportunities for renewing our spiritual selves through times of Prayer and courses of instruction and most importantly the chance to get daily Mass. As well as that there will be many chances to celebrate the sacrament of confession in which we celebrate metanoia or conversion of heart. Over the next few weeks may we make good use of our Lenten journey as the journey of faith continues so at the end of Lent we will be able to hear and understand the messages that Holy Week and Easter  have for us renewed in heart mind and spirit and then put them into action in our own lives in the times ahead.

ASH WEDNESDAY 2019

On Ash Wednesday  we begin our Lenten Journey when we place the ashes on our foreheads. During the season of Lent we take stock of where we are in our lives and where we really need to be as people who believe in God. As we continue our  Faith journey during the 40 days of Lent we are invited to recommit ourselves fully to God and his ways remembering that god’s ways are not our ways. Jesus preaches “Metanoia”  that is Repentance or Coming back.  Coming back to God and returning to the Church  requires change of heart, mind and Spirit. The six  weeks of Lent will be a time of refreshment, a time of repentance and also a time of renewal that prepare us for Holy Week and Easter.   Let us ask ourselves whether we are open to be really changed as gods people  so we will be able to enter more fully into the great ceremonies of Holy Week and Easter.

8th SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME

Next week we begin the season of Lent with the Ashes on Ash Wednesday and we begin again our annual  journey of repentance and conversion for 2019. We leave the Green of ordinary time behind  and we go to the Purple or violet of Lent. In our parishes we will have many opportunities to strengthen our spiritual lives over the 6 weeks of lent as we ponder what our faith really means to us as individuals and as a community of faith.

This Sunday in our Gospel Reading Jesus is coming to the end of what, in Luke, is called the “Sermon on the Plain”. He has instructed his disciples to love their enemies, turn the other cheek, treat others as they would want to be treated, not judge them, etc. Jesus is the wise person teaching his disciples a practical wisdom for their lives as disciples. Jesus says, in summary, a person’s words and actions will reveal their character. The Gospel tells us There is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit, nor again a rotten tree that produces sound fruit. For every tree can be told by its own fruit: people do not pick figs from thorns, nor gather grapes from brambles. A good man draws what is good from the store of goodness in his heart; a bad man draws what is bad from the store of badness. For a man’s words flow out of what fills his heart.’

God’s love is effective, it produces good fruit for the benefit of others. The good we do becomes a way to spread the faith to others. Jesus sends us to be witnesses to the faith we profess to practice what we teach and preach. Jesus words to us in this weekend’s gospel  show his concern for the integrity and quality of our lives. We cannot, he says, teach others if we ourselves are not witnesses to what we teach.

There are many people out there who were witnesses to the truth of the gospel who have turned away and betrayed the truth and become rotten fruit. In recent times we have seen the awful truth of abuse of young people in the Church throughout the world being brought into sharp focus with the recent Vatican summit and the dismissal of McCarrick and others from the priesthood we can only hope and pray that we can move forward. For all of us  that is what Lent is all about moving forward in a spirit of conversion and prayerful return the spirit of metanoia. During Lent we are provided with many opportunities for spiritual renewal but that will be for the weeks ahead. But for now let us stop and reflect on the good we do for others and how becomes a way to bringing the faith to them where they are. There are so many good things that so many people do and we remember all of them especially those who have been good to us in any way as we go forward with faith in God.

7TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Today the meeting about the scourge of clerical sexual abuse of minors  has concluded in the Vatican.  Once again the horrible nature of abuse has been brought into sharp focus and we pray for all those who have been hurt by those who should have known and done better. We are a Church of sinners but the betrayal of so many by the few is hard to take at any stage especially the abuse of the young by clergy and religious. There is so much negativity around at this time as a result of this we forget the good that is going on out there. I have been blessed by the examples of so many good priests over my lifetime who gave everything to serve the people of God and I have also come across those who turned out to be rotten to the core. It is right to condemn those like McCarrick who did wrong and caused so much damage and some of that damage will never be repaired. It is also right to remember the good that is going on quietly in our parishes and dioceses by the great body of good holy and loyal  priests and religious who have largely been forgotten as a result of the scandal of abuse in the Church .

This weekend we think about the things the Lord asks us to do in following Him, nothing is more difficult that the teaching  in this weekend’s  Gospel. “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you It is much easier to sacrifice our wants for the needs of others, then it is to avoid lashing out at someone but that is what Jesus is calling us to do.   And what does God do besides showing us extraordinary compassion, mercy and patience? What he does is love us. And his love for us is so immense that he makes the greatest of all sacrifices for us by giving for our salvation the life of his own dear Son.  What we are talking about then in today’s Gospel is not some ethical system for the good of society or for our own self-interest but something way beyond this. What Jesus gives us is the very principle behind the creation of the universe: God’s infinite love for us all. This is the extraordinary challenge that he lays before us: To love the people around us just as he loves us, just as he loves them. It is not easy and we won’t achieve it often but we know that this is what God wants from us and it is something that deep in our hearts we are glad to do. The way God treats us is to be the guideline for our life as Christians.

God is infinitely compassionate and merciful, he is extraordinarily patient with our many shortcomings and he puts up with all sorts of foolishness on our part.  It is our task as a true disciple to imitate our master, to imitate the behaviour of God himself. In the words of Micah this is what God asks of us: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with our God.

6TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

This weekend we pray for all those who have requested prayers for any reason. Last  Friday in Ireland we prayed prayers of atonement and lit candles to mark the day of atonement for the Churches lack of care when it comes to Abuse in all its forms that took place in Ireland. This weekend We also pray for the forth coming meeting in the Vatican concerning the response to the scandal of Abuse. I hope and pray that the meeting will be an agent for the continuing healing for the Church in the world as there are many people out there who have been so badly harmed by members of the of the clergy and religious of the Church.

This and next week’s gospels are from the “Sermon on the Plain,” – a parallel to Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount.” While similar, both evangelists are writing for different audiences and tailor their material accordingly.  Jesus speaks to his disciples, those who are already following him. How many of the crowd who heard him were attracted to the good news he was sharing? Did they become his disciples too? Did what he said affect their lives; change their notion of God? Has the Sermon had similar affects on us? After listing the four situations in life that make people blessed, Luke then lists their opposites, declaring the “woes.” The word for “blessed” is not a description of happiness as we know it; but is a gift bestowed by God. You don’t earn the blessings; you just need them and God notices. Those who have nothing – no material wealth, or food, who are weeping and hated, because of Jesus, will receive God’s favour.

St. Luke addressed his gospel to the downtrodden, the lowly. He sees a tremendous virtue that the poor have: Because they recognize that what they have comes from God, they are generous with others believing that God will provide for them if they give the little they have to those more needy then themselves. Blessed are you poor. St. Luke also quotes Jesus as saying, “Woe to the rich.” Jesus is not concerned with the amount of money a person has. He’s concerned with the false sense of security that money often gives people and we see that in todays world. Many people are tempted to trust in their possessions instead of trust in God.

We should aim to live our lives for others in accordance with the Gospel values and, in this way, we will acquire virtue and so become great in the eyes of God. If we live our lives in this way but then find ourselves experiencing some of those things that Jesus is talking about in the Beatitudes, such as periods of poverty or hunger or bereavement or persecution, we will not see these things in a negative way. We will see them rather as gifts from God which are intended to strengthen us.

We will realise that they have been given to us for our spiritual growth. Of course, we will still suffer privation and perhaps even extreme need but we will know that these outwardly negative things actually have a true and lasting spiritual value. What we should be attempting to achieve is true authenticity as human beings. What we should be striving for is to live real and genuine lives. What we should be cultivating is human warmth, generosity and goodness. We might not end up as people with fame or wealth but we will most definitely end up as people who are appreciated by others. We will most definitely end up as well-rounded human beings who are making a real and effective contribution to our families and to society at large. We will most definitely end up as people who have a real and deep spirituality and find ourselves being led into an ever-closer union with our loving Saviour.

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

This Sunday we celebrate the 5^th Sunday in Ordinary time and we remember and pray for all those who are sick as we celebrate the world day for the Sick on Monday 11^th February. We also pray for all those who are caring for our sick in any way Doctors nurses, care workers  and Family members to name just a few. We ask God through the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes to bless our sick and all those who look after them.

Our Gospel story for this Sunday recounts the story of the of Peter’s calling to be a fisher of men. After a fruitless night’s fishing, Peter obeys the word of Jesus and catches a huge number of fish. He feels unworthy before Jesus; but he is now called to be a fisher of men.  Peter recognises the hand of God in what has happened and at the same time realises his own sinfulness but Jesus comes to show us the mercy of his Father. Jesus did not come to be a hermit with an unreachable address in the desert; rather, his whole mission moves in the opposite direction, for he has come “to seek out and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). So Jesus travels into people’s lives, into our lives not away from them.

He entertains sinners he enters their homes, meets their families, eats at their table, listens to their stories, and calls them as well as ourselves to a new way of life when he says follow me. Throughout his life Jesus is never far from sinners he is not far from all of us as well for we in simple terms are also sinners. Jesus doesn’t write us off because we are sinners; Jesus has other plans because he believes that we sinners have a future, not just a past. Simon Peter received his call while he was doing his work. He said, “Yes,” and responded by changing his life. Every day, in the midst of our routine, at work, home, school or play, there are opportunities to respond to Jesus’ call to follow him. In innumerable ways our Christian vocation must guide what we say and how we act. In big decisions and small, we are asked to live what we profess as Jesus’ followers; to be attentive to what God may be asking of us at this moment of our lives. This may entail being faithful to the commitments we already have; responding to a need we see, or taking the opportunity to witness to what we believe. Of course such responses may seem small and insignificant. They may be small, but they are never insignificant! In addition, who knows where the next “Yes” we say to Christ may lead us? Let us not be afraid to take up the challenge of saying yes to Jesus and the faith in God the Father we have through him  and see where the road we take will lead us.

4th  SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

This weekend we celebrate the fourth Sunday of the year. Time is as always passing by and life goes on and sometimes life can be very cruel as the death of the four young men in Donegal (Ireland) last weekend shows and we pray for their families and friends at this sad time. We also pray for all those who need our prayers  and all of us know someone who needs a prayerful boost.                                                   

In the Gospel reading  Jesus’ preaching begins with affirmation from the hearers. “All who were present spoke favorably of him.” Almost immediately the mood changed. The use of the reading from Isaiah was welcomed. It is good news that the people have waited a long time to see fulfilled. But, somehow conveyed in the words was the suggestion that Jesus himself has a role to play in the inauguration of the eternal Jubilee and it is this that is not acceptable. The examples that follow indicate that Jesus was hinting that the word of God was spoken universally, not to one particular person or group of people. The stories of the prophets, Elijah and Elisha, show that God’s love and mercy are to be found wherever there is a need and the faith to receive it. The reaction from the group was swift and indignant. They rose up and wanted to throw him not only out of the synagogue but out of the town.

The hearers hardened their hearts to the word as many today harden their hearts to the word.. Why did the crowd rise up against Jesus? Because he stepped outside the box they had constructed for him. He was no longer the local boy who made good; he was a self-proclaimed prophet. And his signs were not for the edification of the mob, but for the glory of God. In these ways, he rejected the expectations of those in Nazareth, and, so, they rejected him. As a last sign to them, Jesus walked safely through them and, according to Scripture, he never returned to his hometown.

For all of us expectations are always really hard to fulfill as we hear from the readings of this weekend. But, faith is not based upon expectations, but on a relationship with God. We must recognize the difference between the two. And as we recognize that difference we place our expectations before God and he will help us to do what he asks of us. There is a great saying that was often quoted to me by a friend who passed on a few years ago she always pointed out that man proposes and God disposes meaning that god will see and do whatever is good for us whether it is what we want or not for sometimes what we think is for our good is in fact the opposite !!