Fullerton T

25th Sunday In Ordinary Time

In this weekend’s gospel story  we hear about the Labourers in the vineyard. As unskilled workers, they lived day to day at a subsistence level, just above the homeless and destitute. In areas where such workers can got employment, they got   together in a common area known to employers. (In the time of Jesus, the marketplace acted as their gathering area). The employers sought the workers out, hired them only for the day, and paid them the same night . Day laborers in the vineyard objected to the amount of pay the owner gave them as the first was paid exactly the same as the last one denarius. This tense image rode against the popular view of the Kingdom as a peaceful feast of the faithful in paradise. Jesus told this story to emphasize how the Kingdom differed from people’s  ideas and expectations what people expected and the actual kingdom of God were two very different things. According to Jesus, the faithful, even those who practiced faith all life long, did not earn the Kingdom. The Father gave his children the Kingdom as a gift. The pay issue scandalized Jesus’ followers the most, however. Imagine the most dedicated and hard working were paid the same as the others. And they were paid last! Beyond the question of money lie the question of social treatment. The owner treated those who worked for only an hour as he would treat his own family. Those hired at dawn were treated as mere workers. The owner gave greater honor to those who worked the least by paying them well and paying them first. The owner belittled those who worked all day long by paying them so little and paying them last. And, when the workers grumbled, the owner rebuked them in public. No wonder they gave him the “evil eye.” [20:11-15]

If our  ways of thinking and judging are truly far from the Lord’s way, then we have some adjusting to do! Perhaps we  need to work harder in the areas of forgiveness, mercy, and generosity, to mention a few To think as God thinks requires openness and a broad vision, free of self-pity and selfish brooding. It takes a habit of gratitude. It means sitting down and reflecting, “What does God want me to do in this  or that situation?” It takes courage and humility and grace to act this way. It helps if we just ask ourselves a simple question: What would Jesus do we will act in the right way.

The parable of the  workers in the vineyard is the Lord’s call to all of us  who have received Him in word and sacrament to share generously with all people  what we  have received and that means sharing our resources and our time. All of us share equally in the task, whether called early in the morning or late in the evening of the day, we are called  to build up the kingdom of God in this  unjust and often times hard world. When we focus upon the needs of others, even if they encroach upon our rights, we give  ourselves for the Kingdom. Our work  becomes more honest and our leadership will then lead others to Christ. Ultimately, service means sacrifice. What are we willing to give up for the Kingdom of God as we proclaim the good news in word and deed?

EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS

This weekend we celebrate the feast of the exaltation of the cross. The cross can be seen an instrument of torture and death as well as being a sign of great hope and joy. What does the cross of Christ say to you? For me it is a sign of contradiction because it is an implement of death and yet in the spiritual sense it gives life, Jesus went to the cross so that we would have life and have it in its fullness. There are so many people in our world who are asked to take up a cross of one sort or another perhaps ill health or whatever. I know a family that is having a wedding this Saturday without the mother of the house being with them. This particular lady died of Cancer a year or so ago and that is a cross the extended family circle will find particularly hard this weekend. We all have a cross that we are asked to carry with us at various times and we get the strength to carry on by prayer and the knowledge that we won’t be asked to carry a cross that we can’t handle.

The cross reminds us that God is in charge and has a plan for our ultimate well-being. We trust God who has made a promise to be faithful to us, and through the cross, he guarantees to see that promise come to completion. We sign ourselves with the cross as we enter and leave church and as we begin and end our prayers. Each time we do that we remember the God of the Promise the god who was who is and will be the one who will always be part of our journey. Signing ourselves with the cross also “reminds” God of God’s promise to be faithful to us.

Many people find the various crosses that they carry a very heavy weight. Over the years I have come across so many who have carried their cross which were very heavy burdens. Jesus carried all our crosses on his shoulders on that first Good Friday and no matter how hard life may seem we should remember this. In so doing, we will find healing, often a sense of joy, and a new ability to love ourselves and others and gain  greater strength to carry our crosses big and small.

6TH SUNDAY OF EASTER

This weekend we celebrate the 6^th Sunday of Easter. It seems no time since we began Holy Week on Palm Sunday and now we are heading into Ascension and then Pentecost Sundays and then we resume  the Sundays of Ordinary Time. The readings this Sunday contain many comparisons of those “in the world” and those who have life “in the Spirit”.  The truth is that we all live in the world and are constantly influenced by other people, places, and events good and bad.   In this Sundays  Gospel Jesus promises us that “I will not leave you orphaned; I will come back to you and you will have life.” Our faith, nurtured in this great paschal season, tells us that God-made-flesh is God-with-us, never abandoning us and always filling us with life.Today many live without belief in the existence of truth. Some use the word without understanding its authentic meaning, as if it can denote only a personal opinion, a thing that is “true” only for the individual who holds that idea. This widespread relativism, has crept with increasing power like an infection into the body of the Church.

The members of Christ’s Body are ever affected by the same forces and currents as is every human person. For the Catholic Christian, however, there can never be any confusion as to the existence of truth. There can be no Catholic faith without truth, for Christ founded the Church for the purpose of teaching the truth, endowing her with the gift of the Holy Spirit by which the truth is taught infallibly in matters of faith and morals in every age. Reverence the Lord in your hearts,” Peter tells us in today’s reading. If God is not revered as sacred nothing is sacred anymore. This is so true in many aspects of today’s culture Maybe this accounts for the growing break-down in families and many other things as well. And in a timely warning to those of us  engaged in religious debate, Peter urges them  and ultimately you and me to make our arguments “with courtesy and respect.” Peter makes deep moral demands on us. As a Christian how fitted am I to give an account of my faith? Is my understanding of the Christian message a few’ do’s and don’ts’ and some scraps of information remembered from school?

Do I appreciate there is a Christian manner of action? Am I conscious of how others are persecuted for their beliefs, or feel a sense of solidarity with Christians who suffer elsewhere? As a member of a body which was born in persecution and whose head suffered on the cross, am I sensitive to the pain of all who are oppressed, and seek to alleviate their persecution? Is a document such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights something that I consider should interest me as a Christian? Do I support those who support human rights? Painful questions, but can we be true to our origin if we shy away from them? May we go forward in faith with one another and more importantly with God realising that god is with us through all that life throws at us.

3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER 2014

We gather this weekend in the joy of the gospel after the solemn celebration of Easter and Divine Mercy Sundays, we also thank God for the canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II. we thank God for their leadership of the Church over the years. We also remember that the celebration of Easter continues until the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday and then Easter Time ends and the paschal candle is placed near the baptismal font.

After his Resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples several times.  This Sunday’s gospel recounts the apparition of Jesus on the evening of Easter to two disciples who were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  Now, however, their life with Jesus has all come to an abrupt end.  For in these past few days Jesus, their beloved Leader and Teacher, has been arrested, tried, sentenced, tortured and killed. Now they are feeling that without his presence, his inspiration and guidance, his support and encouragement, they simply cannot go on. So disappointed and so disillusioned are they about Jesus in fact, that they have even decided to leave the Church, the community of his followers.  This is just what they are doing when we catch up with them today. Slowly but surely they are walking away from it all.

Slowly but surely they are putting Jerusalem and the other disciples behind them. They are heading for the village of Emmaus, some seven miles away, to start a new and different way of life. The Emmaus story is the story of the church it is the story of you and me the two disciples represent all of us who claim that we are Christians with all our doubts and disagreements.

We come together in our churches each Sunday in answer to a call, often a quiet murmur from the recesses of our hearts which calls out to us saying come to me you who are weary and overburdened and I will give you rest.  We’re searching just as the companions on the road to Emmaus  were and they were weary from all that had happened to them.  The people of God come together for a purpose and that is to seek God. We work together for God’s kingdom since the kingdom provides unending meaning and purpose: we worship together so we’ll not miss seeing God with us.  God comes to us in the Scriptures handed down throughout the ages.  The experiences of our faith ancestors in those scriptures give substance and meaning to our lives.  In these we find explanation and understanding of events and relationships which have shaped the faith of so many for many years. Our faith is lived out in the real world, the world of family, of work, of recreation, of politics and economics. We don’t live in two separate worlds one spiritual and the other secular.  

Those who would have us believe that we can separate our lives into two compartments are mistaken as history has shown.  The fellowship we share helps us ask the questions of faith.  It is the application of scriptures to the events of our own times that reveal that God is walking with us and maybe even working through us. But it is in the breaking of bread that we recognize the Christ who is already among us on our journey. It is in the sharing of the Bread and the Cup that we are made one with each other and with Christ.  Our faith grows and our relationship with God and his called-together-people unites us in bond of love.  We are formed into one Body, the Body of Christ.  The trip to Emmaus is the journey we make as faithful people of god.  We are on this journey in fellowship with one another  being led by Jesus who calls out to us to follow him from the Cross of Good Friday as well as from the empty tomb of Easter Sunday. 

 As we grow in faith, we are led to understand those past events as experienced yet again in our time and place.  It is in the breaking of bread, in the hospitality of Jesus, that we recognize Jesus as God’s Son.   The Risen Lord uses so much gentleness with us! He doesn’t oblige us to ‘believe’ but He offers us the instruments that enable us to judge based on the measure of our own hearts. As St Augustine extraordinarily wrote in the opening of his Confessions ‘our heart is restless until it rests in you’

(St. Augustine, Conf. 1,1,1:PL32,659-661)

There is still one more detail that calls for our attention and raises many questions: why did the eyes of the disciples open to recognize Jesus whilst they were at table with Him? The Eucharistic context of the Emmaus story is undeniable. The disciples are at table, the Lord is with them; He took the bread and saying the prayer of benediction, broke it. It was during the last action of the breaking of the bread that the companions recognised Jesus. It was not only the action in itself but finally as his friends could see, with their own eyes, and we too see the breaking of the bread with our eyes and hear the word of god and yet so many are slow to believe in the great joy that so many people have in the present as so many had in the past.  Pope Francis tells us in the Joy of the Gospel his recent letter to the Church, let us go forth to offer everyone the life of Jesus Christ… If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life… At our door people are starving and Jesus does not tire of saying to us: “Give them something to eat” (Mt 14,16; Mk 6:37; Lk 9,13). Pope Francis Apostolic Exhortation « The Joy of the Gospel »

As we recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread may we be joyful agents of conversion of one another and to those who are around us. Bringing the joy of the Gospel and its message to everyone without exception and be the caring face of the Church those who need us wherever they may be.

The Baptism Of The Lord

This Sunday we celebrate the baptism of the Lord, when Jesus was baptised in the river Jordan by John. None of us remember when we were baptised when we were infants but that said we may have known and Adult who was baptised.  It may seem strange, but this is a Christmas Feast. Not if we think of Christmas only in terms of the Baby in Bethlehem, but if we have followed the ideas of the Feasts of Holy Family and especially Epiphany, and have seen the Season in terms of the growing manifestation or appearing of the Son of God: first to the shepherds and then to the wise men from the East. Now in the River Jordan, Jesus, Son of Mary, is revealed to all and everyone as the fullness of all God’s promises: “This is my Son, the Beloved“. 

Just as Jesus entered the Jordan to be baptized, so he enters our scene of darkness and confinement in our lives today. He is the one promised us in the prophet Isaiah, the one who will “bring out prisoners from their prisons.” He comes to those hidden places that keep us locked up. He goes to the imprisoned areas of our lives and our restricted ways of behaving which we sometimes excuse by saying, “That’s just the way I am.” Rather than be a cheerleader on the sidelines, Jesus comes down into the dark places where we are. He helps us face the shadows and hidden places and leads us out – just as God promised God would do for us through the prophet Isaiah. Jesus’ baptism reminds us today that, through our own baptism, we are united to him. Most of us rarely, if ever, think about our baptism. Through our baptism we died with Christ and thus have been reborn into a whole new life ( Romans 6). We, the baptized, are incorporated into the body of Christ. We are called and enabled to imitate Jesus, whom Paul says, “went about doing good.” We don’t need a detailed rule book in order to know how we should act in each situation of our lives, for in baptism, we have the companionship of the Spirit of Jesus who is our wisdom, impulse and help to do good.

 Some treat Baptism as a private family event only. They even insist on a baptismal ritual separate from the ones celebrated at Sunday Mass or on Sunday afternoon. They don’t appreciate that Baptism is not a private, but a public affair. Jesus didn’t insist that John baptize him further up the Jordan River with only his mother and a few family members and friends present. Jesus’ baptism was public – and so should each Christian’s be – a public ritual for people who are called to live their Christian vocation in public ways. There is little that is private about our vocation to follow Christ Our role as baptised Christians has some of the characteristics of St. John the Baptist in that we also are to prepare the way for Christ, not only in our own lives, but in that of others. We do this by the example of how we live our own lives and by teaching informally when the occasion arises. If we are doing this, we can ask ourselves, “Does this role bring us joy as it did St. John the BaptistIn a world that celebrates life achievements mostly for celebrities, the church rejoices at the baptism of a person into the church as well as into their own unique relationship with Jesus, as they are sealed and marked as Christ’s own forever. Take a moment now and reflect on where your baptismal journey has brought you. What have you done as a result of your life in Christ? How has Jesus led you to use your talents and gifts for righteous actions? What has been joyful for you on this journey? Then look around at your sisters and brothers, and give thanks that together we  can celebrate our life in Christ and look forward to further adventures in the life of faith.

30th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C

The Tax Collector and the Pharisee

It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of October with the schools in our locality having the midterm break for Halloween next week. It is also hard to believe that next Friday we celebrate the feast of All Saints closely followed by all souls the next day but that as the saying goes is for later. The readings in our Liturgy for this weekend are all about the HUMBLE person of faith that God calls all of us to be in our own time and place. That means that we shouldn’t lose the run of ourselves when dealing with people and the situations that we might find ourselves. What does the Gospel Reading about the tax collector and the Pharisee say to you and I, what do the words of the Pharisee who thinks that he is better than everyone else say. Also and I think more importantly what about the words of the Tax Collector when he said in a simple humble way  God be merciful to me a sinner what do these words  say to you and me? I think that the Tax Collector despised by the people possibly because of the job he does (nobody likes the tax man even now) is saying to us that we need to have the humility to be humble before God who knows that we are sinners even before we say it and we also have to be humble with other people dealing with them with real humility.

To have a person showing real humility is to be true to yourself in word and deed:  humility is the truth and often times we don’t like to hear the truth about ourselves or any situations we might find ourselves in.  The person who is truly humble will always see pride in him or herself as a bad thing.  The person who is humble believes himself to have nothing, when in fact he has God, for him and in him!  The person who knows  himself to be dependent on God humbles himself so much,  putting himself in his proper place before his Creator, that God cannot  leave him in this state:  the Lord lifts him up to his own Glory in order to make him his adopted child.  In a word, he who humbles himself, God justifies! The more someone belittles himself before God, the more the Lord is pleased to come and live in him and to make him shine with his divine light. 

In our modern world, Pride which was very strong in the words the Pharisee spoke dominates the world, and it is this pride which often leads many people the world over down a long lonely path. The old saying rings true that pride comes before a fall and in so many places and situations we might find ourselves or perhaps we have seen other people in. Today, the same as  every  other Sunday, we shall receive within us Jesus in the sacrament of the Eucharist.  We shall approach the altar of the Lord.  This approach testifies at once to our humility and to our grandeur.  It testifies to our humility, for we humble ourselves in believing that what we see as bread is not bread but rather the Body of Christ.  It testifies to our grandeur, for, in communion, we truly become the Body of Christ, adoptive sons in the only Son of God!  May this approach be our justification, for the salvation of the world! I finish with these words from Micah which sum up the gospel reading for this Sunday and what does the Lord require of you? To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? The Lord requires us in the same way to be just, kind and to walk humbly with our god so let us go forth into the world with true humility in our hearts and minds.

Twelfth Sunday of the year

TAKE UP YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW ME

In our Gospel Reading for this Sunday we hear the immortal words of Jesus when he asks the disciples WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?  That is a very good question to ask ourselves during the year of faith who do we say that Christ is. Peter put it very well when he said: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Mt. 16:16) This profession of faith belongs to the heritage of the Church: Peter said it once and for all of us and as a result of his words from that time, and for all time entered into the history of the Church, the mystical Body of Christ!  Like a living body, a body which is always growing, whose members live forever in God even when they have ceased to live on earth? We also see that Jesus tells us that we must take up our cross every day and follow Jesus. During Sunday Masses, we may be tempted to “turn off” when we hear the Gospel especially when the message that Jesus tell us says, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” Many people do not want to deny themselves in our world where so few have so much and so many have little or nothing at all Yet, Jesus insists on this qualification for being His follower. As experience of living teaches us over and over, “biting the bullet” and facing the hard things that come our way has rich rewards from the point of view of faith. Enduring pain from illness, accident, or loss can transform us to a richer level of living. How can we possibly measure up to this kind of living? We know the answer very well. It’s our decision (inspired by prayer and God’s grace) to love God more and more.

 All of us want to be followers of Jesus, but many refuse to pay the price of discipleship we cannot forget Good Friday and the Cross the greatest example of love and discipleship that Jesus gave us. We won’t go through the Calvary that Jesus went through and there is no consolation at all in being a half-hearted disciple. There is no freedom in that. Even though we all want to live  a pain- and trouble-free existence and I don’t think anyone anywhere really gets to live in a a pain- and trouble-free existence. Religion is a two-sided coin. On the one hand, it comforts us with the security of God’s love and protection. On the other hand, it makes demands of us that are frightening in their consequences. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, represents a combination of the two aspects of religion. “I give my life for my sheep, ” . Those of us who follow Jesus must rely on God’s protection and must “endure many sufferings.” We must care for God’s people  our brothers and sisters and many people have given their lives for them over many years. So in this year dedicated to the Faith let us remember the words of Jesus “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Let us follow the Lord by taking up the crosses that he places before us so that we may grow in faith and be able to say in answer to the question that Jesus asks us who do you say I am You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Pentecost Sunday

Last Sunday we celebrated the Ascension when Jesus ascended to the Father  and in ordinary terms returned home. This Sunday we celebrate the feast of Pentecost which was the start of the Church. We arrive at the fiftieth day ‑ the completion of the Easter Season, and the completion of the Paschal Mystery: the Lord has died, is risen, has ascended to heaven and now gives birth to his Church, by sending the Spirit upon the apostles. This feast of the gift of the Spirit is so significant for us, because it marks the handing on of Jesus’ ministry to the Church ‑ in the Church we are guaranteed the presence of the Lord, in his sacraments  in his ministers, in the Blessed Sacrament and in his Celebrated Word. It also marks the fulfilment of our thoughts about baptism throughout this season: the gift of the Spirit which we receive in Confirmation is the `seal’ of our baptism, guaranteeing and confirming all that baptism achieves.

 The gospel reading for the feast of Pentecost has already been read, in a more extended form, on the Second Sunday of Easter. It was read then to include Jesus’ encounter with Thomas ‘eight days later’. On the feast of Pentecost we have the opportunity to focus on the earlier verses, in which Jesus brings the gift of peace and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The account of the day of Pentecost is found in our first reading, from the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Fifty days after the resurrection there was a spectacular manifestation of the power of the Spirit. Jews and proselytes, gathered from the nations for the Jewish feast of Pentecost, witness the power of the Spirit and hear the preaching of the apostles each in his own tongue. This event launches the mission to the whole world.

Our gospel teaches that the Holy Spirit was also given by the risen Christ before the events of Pentecost. This is a quieter and more intimate demonstration of the power of the Spirit. It is related to the preaching of forgiveness and the possibility of new life for those who ask for it. The disciples are empowered to bring the forgiveness of Christ, but it is possible for people to reject this forgiveness. This seems to be the sense of the final verse, that some have their sins retained. This is the final day of the Easter period. The Lord who died on the cross has shown himself in his risen body. He has taken our humanity into the presence of the Father. He is no longer visibly present, but his Spirit is with us to remind us of Jesus and to lead us into all truth. That Spirit, as St Paul writes to the Corinthians, bestows gifts in abundance for the benefit of the whole Church.

 The apostles used the gifts of the Holy Spirit as they encouraged people to turn away from sin and as they transformed the world so that the kingdom of God could emerge in people’s lives. Although in earlier days they had deserted Jesus, most of them were eventually martyred because of their later faithfulness to his teaching. Pentecost was certainly a turning point in their lives. Applying this truth to ourselves, the sacrament of confirmation is our personal Pentecost event. It is the great sacrament of transformation. In confirmation we are ‘filled’ with the Holy Spirit and we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Our lives are transformed so that, like the apostles, we can be courageous witnesses for Christ. But also like them, we must choose daily to welcome and accept the Spirit.When we are responsive to the Holy Spirit in our lives, we joyfully proclaim the truth of God’s word in every situation whatever the consequences.

Every Pentecost is an exultant celebration of the gift and presence of the third person of the Blessed Trinity and a deep invitation to live out his guidance and purpose in every area of our lives. Pentecost reminds us that we are called and emboldened by the Holy Spirit to bring him into each moment of our lives and every interaction with others. The Holy Spirit gives us his gifts to dwell in and his fruits to bear to the world. In Acts 2 we read that people from every nation were gathered, yet with the coming of the Holy Spirit they all heard each other in their own language. How the Holy Spirit enabled the apostles to do this is a mystery – and yet, in a real way we are also called to “speak” to the world with a similarly unifying language as we share our faith: the language of love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, gentleness, wisdom, understanding, wonder, awe, right judgement  knowledge, courage and reverence. We remain committed to the Church as the guardian and teacher of the faith. We turn away from sin. By doing so, we begin to transform the world so that God’s presence is always glorified and many of the effects of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (what we call the fruits of the Holy Spirit) become evident in our lives. Among these effects are charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity. Pentecost emphasises the continuous outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church and the Church’s worldwide mission. It also reminds us about the sacrament of confirmation and the personal transformation that is possible in our lives if we are open to the promptings and guidance of the Spirit. So now let us continue our faith Journey along the roads that lead to God during this year of Faith.