Fullerton T

20TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY

In the gospel for this Sunday Jesus says, “I have come to set the world on fire and how I wish it were already blazing.” Jesus is ready and willing to face the hardships that lie ahead. Jesus’ words must have unsettled the people who heard them the first time. It doesn’t sound like Jesus meant that the practice of our faith should make us comfortable, guarantee harmony or tranquillity. Indeed, as he predicted, belief in him would cause the most severe conflict, even in the close-knit-family world of his Mediterranean followers and this inter-religious conflict continues today in many places throughout the world especially in the Holy Land. Jesus is zealous about his mission; He has a task to complete and will follow it through, despite the threats to his personal safety. Jesus refers to his fate as “a baptism with which I must be baptized.”

He sees his passion as a baptism which he will accept and which will set a fire upon the earth. Remember when John the Baptist spoke of Jesus he linked baptism and fire, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”. When our lives get difficult, for any reason perhaps running low on the resources of spirit, mind and psyche at critical moments, we are tempted to think that the Holy One is asleep behind a closed door. We feel very much on the outside. At these times it’s important to remember that Jesus the mercy of God is with us throughout the turmoil we may have as a result of the hurts and hardship that life throws out to all of us on many occasions. Making decisions on the journey of life is a natural process for us; we make many of them each day. Our senses take in all kinds of information some of which we accept, some we discard and much, we are not aware of. Our minds move us to a yes or no that is what the will does. So our imaginations can present data to our minds for a choice as well. So a faith based decision to walk the ways of Jesus needs some information which Jesus gives his disciples, that information  is handed down to us in a special way through the scriptures the word of God.

But some information has to be provided by memory and imagination and in so many cases memory and imagination are not always good at telling the truth of the matters under discussion at any particular moment. The faith that Jesus the face of the father’s mercy calls us his followers to is a faith that leads us to live lives which reflect the life of Jesus the mercy of God. It is much easier to follow from a safe distance and not let our lives be challenged and changed by faith in God. It is very easy to let the bitterness of others take us over but at the end of it all Jesus went to the Cross to overcome all the hatred and bitterness that we see around and about us. Today we are invited to lead lives less dominated by greed possessiveness and hatred or whatever is the opposite to the love and mercy of Jesus. Remember that the words of Jesus are there to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted those who are in any need.

Faith was not easy at the beginning of the Church and isn’t easy now the martyrs of the faith throughout history right up until our present time bear witness to this and I  include Fr. Hamel the 84 year old priest who was killed in France recently while celebrating Mass in this. Deciding to follow Jesus in Faith is not easy and we will have to work at it for anything that is worth doing or being part off will never be easy.  At the end of it all in simple terms we are called to follow were God leads us and he will do the rest for nothing is impossible to God who is rich in mercy.

19TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

This Sundays Gospel begins with some of the most beautiful of Jesus’ words: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. “What love, what tenderness in these few words Fear not, little flock! “. These particular words fear not little flock are so full of meaning especially in these days when there is so much fear and distrust around with so many people promoting fear and distrust in many different spheres of life. The words of our Lord should make us all sit up and take notice. He has taken us into his household. He has made us his “little flock.” We are invited guests in his home, the Church, rather than just being mere servants. Jesus also warns us that we must always be busy about our vocation and there are many vocations in life religious priesthood marriage or whatever. We also remember the reason why he invited us into his home. We are Christians, we are members of his Church, God, through Christ’s Incarnation, has put us on the road to heaven. He is always helping us on the way. We don’t know in advance what God may do with us and our own often times selfish plans a friend of mine always told me that Man proposes and God disposes in other words the will of God will happen no matter what you or I might want.

To those who have faith, all things are possible the old saying that faith moves mountains but we should keep on climbing is certainly true. Faith helps us to rely on the limitless power and mercy of God, not on our own limited power. The gospel also points out; we should live in this world as strangers who are on the way home. People who move from one place to another get rid of all they can from their old house and focus on furnishing the new house. They joyfully give away what they once cherished we have to be the same getting rid of the baggage that stops us from being the people we are called to be by our heavenly Father. We don’t know when personal illness, bereavement or some other trying experience will put us to the test. But we do know that our life will be a success if we set our hearts and minds on values that go beyond all the transitory goods of this world. Our faith, is leading us onward, always pointing to something still to come, and at the end of our pilgrimage on this earth we will find where our true treasure is and we will simply discover that where our heart is there our treasure is as well. In these days of uncertainty these words of the gospel fear not little flock are a call for us to place our trust in God and he will do the rest for us and help us along when we come to the trials and tribulations of our lives.

5th Sunday of Easter

In this Sundays Gospel Jesus calls us to a new way of living when he tells us to love one another as I have loved you.  At one level this is a simple call to love, at another it is a big challenge for us to be Christ like  to others in this sometimes horrible world. This means that we should love as Jesus loves, in order to be the face and heart of Christ the face of the fathers mercy to a wounded and hurting world. It seems to me that our faith should constantly challenge us to live lives of love, love of God and love of one another and this ideal is so very hard to achieve. The love Jesus speaks of seems to be narrow and restrictive. He is addressing his disciples when he says, “love one another.” This love may seem insular and applicable just to an inner circle of his followers. Is he telling us that the sacrificial love he calls us to applies only to those around us in the Church? No, of course he is not saying that because we know from other parts of John’s gospel that Jesus’ mission of love includes an outreach to the world (John 10:16 I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.)  That outreach in our modern times must include all those who have left the Church for many reasons we should not leave them behind as many people might want to do.

Jesus wants us to be united with him and one another in love. A loving and caring community has a great effect on others bringing those who might be doubtful with it. What more articulate proclamation of the gospel can there be than a group of diverse people drawn together, not by similarities in education, economic status, neighborhood, citizenship, race, etc, but by the love that God has for them and their bringing that love for one another to other people? A community such as this couldn’t help but draw others into it and to one who is the source of their universal love. We are called to be that community of love showing the love of God to those around us especially during this year of Mercy and at all other times as well.

4th SUNDAY OF EASTER Good Shepherd Sunday

This weekend we celebrate the 4^th Sunday of Easter which is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. The idea of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is a lovely thought because it is a well known fact that the shepherd never leaves his sheep outside the sheepfold. If any are outside the sheepfold the shepherd will seek the lost sheep at all costs until they are found.  The wandering figure of the shepherd, anxiously tending his sheep to the point where he is willing to surrender his life for them, is the image Jesus uses about himself in this Gospel Reading. That mixture of tenderness and toughness, care and self-sacrifice, is one that summarises his own practice of leadership. It is not a leadership of detachment and defensiveness; rather, it is a leadership of physical involvement and self-sacrificial love. In the good shepherd’s foolish extravagant love, his own life matters less than that of his sheep as we know Jesus gave up his life for us on the cross Good Friday. 

The good shepherd is not an image of religious authority that is involved with its own importance, blind to the useless pain it causes in those it leads. The authority of the shepherd costs the shepherd, not the sheep. The image of the shepherd cannot be separated from how the shepherd actually cares for his own sheep. When we see how Jesus actually behaves as a leader, we see his tenderness and courage.   The parable of the Good Shepherd has many consoling truths and promises for people of every century, including ourselves in the twenty first. The good shepherd challenges our own way of leaving people for lost: remember that Jesus also said “I have come to seek out and save the lost.” All of us know people who have wandered away from the Church, who have lost their sense of belonging, who feel they have no community to belong to. How will they know they are welcome back if no one tells them? How will they be helped back if no one offers to make the journey with them?

This as we know is the Year of Mercy a year of return a year of journeying with those who want to return to God as well as those who believe. Turning our gaze to God the merciful Father, and to our brothers and sisters in need of mercy, means focusing our attention on the essential contents of the Gospel: As we celebrate the Jubilee Year of Mercy we are asked to place Jesus Christ, the face of the all merciful Father, at the centre of our personal life and that of our communities. As people of mercy we are asked to journey with those who are trying to return to the sheepfold as well as journeying along with our friends who are still there.

3rd SUNDAY OF EASTER

This Weekend we celebrate the third Sunday of Easter it seems strange that we have come so far from the ashes of Ash Wednesday right through to Easter and Jesus resurrection but time waits for no one. In Jesus resurrection we are given the possibility of forgiveness, of being forgiven and of forgiving each other. That new possibility and its radical mercy should never be understated or forgotten as we celebrate the joy of Easter. We celebrate the resurrection of the one who affirms for us that our God has walked on our streets, confronted the evil we confront and suffered for us, even though we celebrate Easter Joy the craziness of some people is still there.

The resurrection assures us that life can come out of death and good can overcome evil and it does. It doesn’t always seem that way these days but for people of faith that is people who have faith in God and Faith in each other nothing is impossible. Of recent times we are being harangued by unyielding ideologues that say I am right even though they are inherently wrong. After a tragedy like Paris, Brussels, or whatever there is a strong response of self-sacrifice and compassion from everyone to help the victims and those affected by the violence.

Then with the passage of time we go back to where we were before the crisis, preoccupied by our concerns and yet through all of this bad stuff God is with us remember at Christmas we sing about Jesus, Emanuel and that means as we all know that God with us. After the earth shattering events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday Peter and the others were ready to put the events of those days behind them and return home to what they did before they came across Jesus. But Jesus won’t let them go. In our Gospel Story for this Sunday he comes to the shore fishing for them. He gets their attention, as he did when he first called them, with a large catch of fish. He prepares breakfast for them and invites them to eat, “Come, and have breakfast.”

After the meal Jesus asks Peter three times about the reality of his love. Insisting on love is something of a mark with Jesus. Three times Peter affirms his love, as three times Jesus insists on it. And when Peter professes his love Jesus commissions him to care for his flock when he says feed my sheep. And that is what Peter does – as we hear in Sunday’s first reading. In his ministry of preaching and healing Peter gets through to many people, and the authorities become nervous at the ability of Peter and the apostles to work in the name of Jesus. In spite of the opposition Peter will continue insisting on his love for Jesus and this insistence will take him to martyrdom in Rome.

No matter whether the believer is new or old, a pew sitter or a leader of people, the call of Christ is the same: “Follow me.” Following Christ means life in the community where we are. Are we, like Peter, spreading the net for new believers and professing a true love for our Savior? Or are we on the sidelines watching others doing the work when we should really be out there doing the work with them? At the end of the day whatever happens we remember that God is with us and wants us to be with him now and in the future, He is with us in good and bad times so let us take courage this Easter to go forward in faith.

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

This weekend we hear another of the great gospel stories of mercy as we continue our journey of mercy. Following on from the parable of the prodigal Son we hear the story of the woman caught in adultery. Jesus did not deny the Scribes and Pharisees the right to carry out this prescription of the Law, but he insisted on one condition, namely, that they have no sin on their consciences.”Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” So many of us today are like the Pharisees in that we are prepared to lift the stone and be the first person to throw it despite our own shortcomings. This story is about so much more that throwing the stones it is really about God’s mercy to the woman and by association God’s mercy to us. When Jesus and the woman were left alone, he looked up and said, “Woman, where are they?” Ironically, the self-righteous observers of the Law, so eager to throw stones, could not measure up to the requirement that Jesus had laid down and all of them had left.

After they had gone, Jesus lifted up his eyes to the woman looking at her with the eyes of gentleness; he asks her, ‘Has no one condemned you?’ She replies, ‘No one, Lord.’ And he says, ‘Neither do I condemn you. What does this say to you and me today as so many of us are prepared to throw stones of condemnation at so many people and of course there are also people who would throw stones at us as well.   If we remember what Jesus tells us when he says let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw the stone then we won’t go far wrong. The simple truth whether we like it or not is that all of us are sinners and none of us are in a position to throw the stone!! As we continue our celebration of the Year of Mercy let us ask the Lord to show us his mercy especially as we head towards Palm Sunday and Holy Week.

3rd SUNDAY OF ADVENT

THE FIRST SUNDAY IN THE YEAR OF MERCY

This weekend we celebrate Gaudete Sunday which translates as rejoicing Sunday and we light the pink candle on the Advent Wreath. During last week  the beginning of the Year of Mercy took place on the feast of the Immaculate Conception on Tuesday. Pope Francis opened the holy door into St. Peter’s basilica and at the Mass for the feast day during his homily he said:  ‘ To pass through the Holy Door means to rediscover the infinite mercy of the Father who welcomes everyone and goes out personally to encounter each of them.  It is he who seeks us!  It is he who comes to encounter us!  This will be a year in which we grow ever more convinced of God’s mercy.  How much wrong we do to God and his grace when we speak of sins being punished by his judgment before we speak of their being forgiven by his mercy (cf. Saint Augustine, De Praedestinatione Sanctorum, 12, 24)! 

But that is the truth.  We have to put mercy before judgement, and in any event God’s judgment will always be in the light of his mercy. In passing through the Holy Door, then, may we feel that we ourselves are part of this mystery of love, of tenderness.  Let us set aside all fear and dread, for these do not befit men and women who are loved.  Instead, let us experience the joy of encountering that grace which transforms all things.

In our Gospel reading we this weekend we hear John the Baptist John spoke to people in words they could grasp. Here was a man who cared nothing for comfort, money or fame, who could not be bought, and who could speak the truth without fear. John makes such a deep impression on people that word goes around that he might be the Christ. Again, that expectancy is a measure of John’s effect on people. John doesn’t claim to know who the Messiah is; all he knows is that he is not. That role is for someone else, someone greater and more powerful than John. And as we know that person was Jesus the Son of the Father who is the face of the Father’s mercy, the face of mercy that we should always contemplate.

These words might well sum up the mystery of the Christian faith. Mercy has become living and visible in Jesus of Nazareth, reaching its culmination in him. Jesus of Nazareth, by his words, his actions, and his entire person reveals the mercy of God. We need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy. It is a wellspring of joy, serenity, and peace. Our salvation depends on it. Mercy: the word reveals the very mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Mercy: the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us. Mercy: the fundamental law that dwells in the heart of every person who looks sincerely into the eyes of his brothers and sisters on the path of life.

Mercy: the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness. During the Year of Mercy we will have many opportunities to celebrate the Mercy of the Father as we begin the year we recall the corporal and spiritual works of mercy:

The Corporal Works of Mercy call us to:

• feed the hungry
• give drink to the thirsty
• clothe the naked
• shelter the homeless
• visit the sick
• visit the imprisoned
• bury the dead

 The Spiritual Works of Mercy call us to

• counsel the doubtful
• instruct the ignorant
• admonish sinners
• comfort the afflicted
• forgive offenses
• bear wrongs patiently
• pray for the living and the dead

While we remember these works of mercy we also think about what we as individuals and community are supposed to be and that is merciful like the Father which is the theme for the year of mercy. There will be time for pilgrimage and prayer there will be time for conversion of heart in the tribunal of Mercy that is confession. It takes imagination to be merciful, to seek out occasions of mercy, all of the time to take the initiative, not merely await the mercy of the Father but work to bring it about through the acts of mercy listed above. I often  remember the words of Shakespeare when he said “The quality of mercy is not strained” this does not mean that we must not strain ourselves, it means that true mercy does not recognize any limit, holds nothing back, and gives all.

Our Father in heaven gave us so much in Jesus his Son he continues to give us much in our own time let us not be afraid to be people of mercy that are a reflection of the Merciful Father. So in our Joyful liturgy this weekend we have the double celebration as we rejoice at the beginning of the year of mercy and we rejoice with John the Baptist as we look forward to the coming of Jesus the face of the Fathers mercy at Christmas. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. The Lord is near.

2ND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

This weekend we light the second purple candle on the Advent Wreath and our readings are all about preparing the way for the Lord. In our readings we hear four voices encouraging people to imagine the good future that God has in store for them. The readings invite all of us to imagine the best and then act accordingly. In the first reading the prophet Baruch asks the people to change their wardrobe – to throw away the dress of sorrow and distress and wrap the cloak of God’s integrity around them. Things are going to look up, they should be dressed appropriately and have courage again in the future. So, too, the psalmist asks people to imagine a time when they will no longer be in bondage, sowing in tears, but will return full of joy carrying a harvest of good things.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul takes a similar line. He compliments the people for helping him in his work, tells them how much he loves them, and invites them to prepare for that day “when you will reach… perfect goodness”.

Finally, John the Baptist in the Gospel story is travelling around the Jordan district announcing to anyone within earshot the great day to come when “all mankind shall see the salvation of God”. John the Baptist is one the central figures whom we meet over and over again in the Scripture texts chosen for use in the Advent liturgy. He stands at the threshold between the Old & New Testaments, a bridge linking the two. In John we see the culmination of centuries of prophecy, anticipation, and preparation.  John’s message did not die with him. The need for repentance and conversion of heart remains constant among God’s people even now. John’s words have continued to resound in Christian ears throughout the centuries. In a few days time on December the 8^th we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception it is also the day when we begin the Holy Year of Mercy with the opening of the Holy Door in St. Peters in Rome the theme of the year will be Merciful like the Father.

The Advent liturgy vibrates with the challenge of the Baptists cry, “Reform your lives!” May we take John’s call to heart the Holy Year which is in our midst!

MISSION SUNDAY 29TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

This Sunday we celebrate the international missionary effort of the Church throughout the world. Today we celebrate World  Mission Sunday. Here in Ireland for many centuries there have so many Irishmen and women  who have gone to foreign lands to bring the faith of our fathers to those who might not have got the faith otherwise. There have also been many people like Saint Patrick who in their turn have brought the faith to Ireland as missionaries. This Sunday celebrates the great missionary spirit that has brought the faith to all corners of the world over so many years.

In today’s Gospel two brothers James and John the sons of Zebedee are asking Jesus for a big favour to ensure their privileged seating arrangements when they come to meet Jesus in glory. The favour they want from Jesus is simply favouritism. They want to sit, one at Jesus’ right hand and the other at his left. While they don’t specify which of them should sit at Jesus’ right  no doubt that problem would have emerged later  they imagine themselves in a cosy triumvirate of their own devising. Of course Jesus blows this notion out of the water when he tells the two brothers that they don’t know what they are asking. Their request is to share Jesus’ power when he comes into glory, so timing their appointment to begin when the suffering is done but this is not the way of things.

Jesus  has already spoken about how he will be handed over to the religious authorities, who will condemn him to death and hand him over to those who will mock him and scourge him and put him to death remember Good Friday. The two disciples mention nothing of all this but Jesus reminds them.  Jesus brings the conversation back to what happens before the glory which is all about suffering not about the glory the glory comes as a result of the suffering. Jesus’ kingdom is not about who wears the crown, but who bears the cross. So he asks the brothers as he asks us today: “Can you drink the cup that I must drink, or be baptised with the baptism with which I must be baptised?” They boast that they can. Jesus tells them that they will have a share in his sufferings, but it isn’t for him to assign who sits where in the kingdom. The message is clear: there is no shortcut to God’s favour.

]Jesus does what he asks others and that includes you and me to do: that is to serve, not to be served; to give love freely, not to exact everyone’s worship; to reach out to those in need, not to wait for adoring approval. Christian discipleship and missionary endeavour which we celebrate today are a service industry and there is much work out there for everyone to do. This type of service should continue in the Church when that happens we will be a serving missionary people. To be servants in the way that Jesus was servant means to live in complete trust that God loves us in the way that God loved Jesus during his earthly life.

 Jesus was not  a servant out of fear of a tyrant Father, but as beloved Son, who in turn loved as he was loved. It is a free service of love, not of fear. When the Apostle Paul was cured of his blindness, he was able to say in a letter to the Christians of Ephesus: “… be imitators of God … and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over as a sacrificial offering to God …” (Ephesians 5: 1–2)

]Mission Sunday  gives us the opportunity to thank god for the faith that we have as well as thanking god for and acknowledging all those faithful missionary men and women who left everything in order to bring the faith to the far corners of the world. We pray that the Lord of the harvest will continue to inspire many people to join the missionary orders and we also pray for vocations in general to the priesthood and religious life.

Few of us go through life without joining some kind of group or club. Joining a particular group, religious, political or social, can enlarge our world and introduce us to new people and new possibilities. It can help us to move within a relatively secure network of relationships. That sense of belonging is important to our identity: membership is proof of how others accept and recognise how we see ourselves. Rejection is a clear signal of disapproval and this is what the Gospel reading is all about this Sunday; Rejection of those who are not of our religious belief or whatever. The exorcist in the Gospel is put before us this weekend as the example of someone who was rejected and the gospel then goes on to tell us about the acceptance that Jesus has for those people such who were rejected. Don’t forget that Jesus suffered the ultimate rejection on the Cross of Good Friday.

The disciples consider Jesus their own personal treasure and they want him for themselves. They seemed to have been an ambitious group last Sunday we heard them arguing over who was the greatest among them. This Sunday they complain that they saw someone who was not part of their group performing a healing in Jesus’ name.

If there had been laws  concerning  copyright way back then I think the Apostles would have copyrighted Jesus name and the power that went along with it. I can just imagine them licensing the use of Jesus’s name and then asking “How many times do you want to use Jesus’s name that will cost so much. How many times do you want to cure someone in his name that will be so much more”. They felt they were privy to Jesus that is to say he was the apostles and no one else’s.. It’s as if Jesus is a rock star and they are his agents, with exclusive rights over what he does and says. What they really wanted was a tidy little religious box, clearly in their control but they hadn’t factored in Jesus and what he had been sent into the world to do. They forgot the size of his heart, remember it had no limits. They forgot how big his compassion was, remember it never ran out and wasn’t limited to the few who under the law had the proper credentials or disposition to receive it.

There was plenty for everyone in terms of faith then as there is now. Jesus is the visible face of the God that we can’t see and yet we believe; we believe in the God who wants to speak words of love and joy to all, not just a few; who wants to reach out and touch all those broken of limb, and broken of spirit, not just those who belong to our club or carry the right credentials.

After they see Jesus crushed on the cross and later, when he rises from the dead, the apostles finally get the message and understand what had happened to them as a result of their involvement with Jesus. Then they would do exactly what we’re doing right now, retell the stories about Jesus as they set out to continue the story without restrictions or limits of any kind; When they did all of this they would have been speaking and acting in Jesus’ name, not just for a select few, but for everyone they met, or came to them in any need. In Jesus’ name they opened the eyes of the blind, cured the cripples, and even raised the dead. At first they got it wrong, but then they learned what it meant to speak and act in Jesus’ name everything was possible for them.

In our world today we often forget that our faith is not about the select few but our faith is for everyone. We need to remember that we don’t always get it right and remember that everything is possible to those who have faith in the name and person of Jesus Christ the Son of God.