Fullerton T

4TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2014

This weekend we celebrate the 4^th Sunday of Advent and we hear the story of the Angel Gabriel coming to tell Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus. But as we hear this story we should stop and step aside from all the ongoing activities of this time of year to think about how Mary felt when she got this news that she was to have a child. Luke tells , ” she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.” The angel has to reassure her, “Do not fear Mary.” – she must have been afraid. In that uneasy world of Galilee, a place of conflict and struggle, Mary’s personal response showed confusion and doubt. Still, Mary did not get a roadmap of the future – neither do we. All her questions weren’t answered – nor are ours. Gabriel announced the conception and birth of royalty. Mary’s child would be “great” (as unique and history changing, like Alexander the “Great”). He would be Son of the “Most High” (a title for the greatest God, the highest concept of divinity one could have. As we discussed last week, the title “Son of” indicated a unique, intimate relationship with this highest God and a sharing in this God’s power). He would have the Davidic throne of Israel forever. [1:32]

Mary made room for God in her life. She and the saints are more like us than the arts or literature about them show. They are amazingly human that is like you and me and it is among them, in all their human limitations, that God wants to dwell – among people who despite struggle and doubt, can say “Yes” to God. Scripture suggests God wants to enter more fully into our lives; our not-so-neat and orderly lives but our messy lives with all the good and bad and all the happy and sad times that are part and parcel of our lives. Mary accepted, even proclaimed, God’s will in her life. She placed her future in the hands of the Father so should we. Her example should inspire us to stand firm as Christians in today’s ever-changing fads and fancies and especially as we face up to the secular razzmatazz in the run up to Christmas. Remember, the words of others may sting, but the Spirit of God burns within. The divine fire can withstand the darts others fling toward us.

19TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

At the beginning of this week we had the centenary of the start of the First World War which was called the war to end all wars. As we know all too well the great war of 1914 did not  stop the world going to war many times after it ended in 1918. We only have to look at the modern world that we live in  to see so many places at war and Syria, Israel and Gaza, and the Ukraine all come to mind this weekend. We pray for those who have died or are being persecuted and we pray for peace.

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 and faith 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  as well as  the problems of the day to God.  God, through Jesus, is not a distant Father 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. In the days ahead when we flounder and start to sink Jesus will be  there for us, reaching out with his saving hand ready to raise us up.

18TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Well here we are at the beginning of August its seems no time since the schools closed for the long summer break at the end of June and yet here we are halfway through the holidays!! It will be no time until the new uniforms etc will have to be bought and the schools will reopen at the beginning of September and the summer holidays for 2014 will be a distant but hopefully a  good memory.

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. Notice how he handled the food with reverence, the same reverence he felt for the crowd whom he knew were the beloved of God. 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 and bad and happy and sad things that are part and parcel  of our daily life.

17TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Well here we are at the last weekend of July and the summer holidays are now at the half way stage for our local children. I’m sure there are many parents out there wondering when will the long holidays end but that said it will be no time until the beginning of the new school term in September. Despite all of our own worries and preoccupations we see the ongoing war with the Israelis and the Palestinians and the war between Russia and Ukraine. Not forgetting the ongoing Syrian conflict. Whilst many people will debate the rights and the wrongs of what is going on we have to remember that we have to constantly pray for peace. last Sunday 20th July, Pope Francis called on all the faithful to pray for Christians fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul, and to “persevere in prayer for those situations of tension and conflict that continue in different parts of the world, especially in the Middle East and in the Ukraine” The only way that anything positive will happen in all of this will be when the opposing sides of the conflicts sit down face to face and talk. Our experience of the past 20 years in Northern Ireland certainly bears this out. We have an imperfect peace process but after a long time we have seen opposing sides talking with a view of trying to sort the problems out and it continues to be a work in progress.

This week we also stop to pray for all those who perished in the downing of the plane over Ukraine. We pray  in a special way for the families of those who died from so many different countries that they may find peace of heart and mind and that their loved ones will rest in peace.

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. The kingdom of heaven is also like a net that collects all sorts of fish. Just as the useless fish are eventually thrown away, at the end of the age the wicked will be rejected. To possess the Kingdom means to share our knowledge of it with others. To truly believe in Christ means leading other people to the same knowledge; 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 life all kinds of treasures to share with our neighbours.

But these treasures are not physical things like clocks and pearls but attitudes spiritual and otherwise that is 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 become treasure for 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 hear the reading  from the first section from Chapter 23 of St. Matthews gospel, the story is the parable of the darnel in the field the seed and the weeds.  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.

Looking back over the  notable events of the Twentieth Century we are reminded  that evil takes root even in the greatest good. National powers have fought two World Wars and several regional conflicts to protect the innocent. Yet, the death and destruction those struggles have produced staggers the imagination. Fighting evil seems, in a perverse way, to promote evil. It is difficult to listen to the daily stories about Syria, Israel and Gaza these days where so many innocent people are losing their lives. We are tempted to become very angry with one side or the other, or to turn away in despair. Seeing others argue and struggle can tire our hearts  and minds so that we might become cynical or unkind to those around us but if we are true to ourfaith we shouldn’t hurt the people around us even though we might be tired and want to be cynical.

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.  We are called to be the body of Christ the Church which is a church of Saints and sinners a Church of Seeds and Weeds a church in which very little is black and white but that is the life we live as faith filled people of God. As people of faith  we have to constantly ask ourselves  3 questions :  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.

Jesus used parables to challenge his audience to think and he uses the parables in our world of today to  challenge you and me and make us think as well. The images and symbols in the stories allowed for various interpretations, depending upon the audience and their circumstances. Interpreting symbolic stories in this way is called allegory. To help relieve anxiety among his persecuted followers, Jesus told this parable as an allegory of good and evil. Obviously, Jesus recognized good and evil lived together in his time as we recognize the same today. But, when Jesus made that co-existence part of God’s Kingdom, he must have shocked his own followers. How could God allow such evil in the world? Shouldn’t God act to save his people? Why did he delay? These are questions that were asked in the time of Jesus and we still ask ourselves even in these days of rational so called clear minded thinking.

In authentic 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 to be good or bad.God ‘s perfect love for us shows itself in the gift of our free will. We have the power to freely choose Him or to reject Him. Choose the Lord and His law that you may have life and live it to the full. Earlier I mentioned briefly the two world wars, in the next few weeks we remember the beginning of the First World War 100 years ago, it was known as the war to end all wars even though it was one of many and these days we think of the ongoing conflicts in many parts of the world. May we redouble of efforts to promote and pray for peace in our world, our hearts and in our minds.

May we see the seeds of the Kingdom of Heaven grow and flourish in our midst. Let us notice too that which is not fruitful or good.  But with and in all Let us bring everything and everyone to God, in prayer and reflective action – trusting that God who is good will care for us and for all he  has created.  Our calling then  is to participate as best we can in building up a world where God is King! God will decide on its membership, not us and he will guide us along the roads that lead to Salvation and he will help us to be the seeds that flourish.

15th Sunday of ordinary Time

THE SOWER IN THE FIELD

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 July holidays. 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 as it is today some will follow him  and others will leave it all behind and go their own way.

He is realistic as he seems to randomly cast his words out upon the crowd. What he says 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  in 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 and in faith. 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 on God’s behalf 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.