Fullerton T

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 !!

SECOND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

This Weekend we hear the Gospel story of the Wedding Feast at Cana. The wedding at Cana which was the first time that Jesus worked a miracle when he changed the water into wine. We hear Mary telling Jesus that ‘they have no wine’ Jesus said ‘Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’  This Gospel is a story with many threads – the insight into the relationship between Mary and Jesus – the miracle of the wine itself – the fact that the miraculous wine is better than the original – the fact of Jesus honouring the young couple in this way . The bride and groom whose wedding is being celebrated are in the background because at the heart of this story we see Mary and Jesus. Mary, who asks for help when she tells Jesus “they have no wine”, Mary the faith filled disciple, has trust in divine providence. In the place of the divine spouse, stands Jesus Son of the Father. The care, concern and affection of God are manifest in the Son and it is the care and affection that re reflected through Mary his mother.

In her response at the wedding at Cana Mary shows herself a model disciple who trusts in God. She shows that trust with the words that are meant for all of us even now as we read them again “Do whatever he tells you.”  In the Rosary Basilica in Lourdes there is an icon over the main altar with the words To Jesus through Mary and that is another aspect of this story, Mary always points away from herself to Jesus. Mary is giving us the direction to do what Jesus asks us to do. She is not saying that we should do what she wants us to do instead she is showing us the way to Jesus the son of God. She is mother to us all and  also the first disciple of her son. She knows the way to live because she learned it by listening to her son and pondering in her heart what he did and said. We should listen closely to what she says as Mary is the one who “keeps all these things in her heart,.” Do whatever he tells you is Mary’s message for us even today.

What does Jesus ask us to do as we think about the wedding at Cana are we like Mary prepared to ponder these things in our hearts and trust the Father who can give us all things or are we prepared just to trundle along accepting the things that come along.Are we prepared to learn and understand the message that is given to us through Jesus whose mother points the way to him and asks us in the to ”do whatever he tells us to do.”

THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

This Sunday we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan by John. The beginning of the messianic work of Jesus is marked by the moment of his baptism in the Jordan. The sacrament of Baptism is the key to all the other sacraments; it is the foundational sacrament if you like for us today. Baptism has two essential results, firstly it wipes us clean from sin and secondly it makes us members of the Church. It also opens up the opportunity for us to receive the other sacraments, most particularly the Eucharist which is the sacrament that we most frequently experience and which is the main way that our souls are nourished by God’s grace. We remember that John foretold Jesus coming and he is acclaimed on earth by John and Jesus links himself to John by being baptized by him. Jesus is acclaimed from heaven by the voice of the Father and the presence of the Spirit.

Most of us rarely think about our own baptism, Through our baptism we died with Christ and have been reborn into a whole new life (Romans 6). We, the baptized, are made a part of the body of Christ. We are called 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, our help and our guide to do good, and enable us to do what is right in every situation we may find ourselves in.The baptism of Jesus is a moment of special grace in our story of salvation. Not only did the Son of God join us in our human condition but the Father and the Spirit were seen and heard to be present with him by the banks of the Jordan. The gospel for this Sunday uses the simple phrase that “the heavens were opened,” the voice of the Father was heard saying this is my Son and it is a powerful statement.

Feast of the Holy Family

This weekend we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. I struggle with the disparity between the holiness of the Holy Family as reflected in this Sunday’s readings and the reality of family life in the present day. In Luke’s gospel we listen to the story of boy Jesus stepping outside the family circle to engage elders in the temple. That had to be more exciting for Jesus than helping in the workshop or bringing in water from the well. When Mary and Joseph find him in the temple they discover him talking with the teachers of the law. In most families, Jesus would have received a tongue lashing and been grounded. The challenges for families today are as insistent and more intense than ever before in human history. The drumbeat of consumerism focuses us on things instead of relationships. Technology focuses us on how many “likes” we can collect as if those “likes” amounted to being loved and cared about which they really are not about. Cell phone technology removes the need to “listen” to one another. Individuals control their contacts. We quickly learn how to “unfriend.” Even though voices against history’s patriarchal past are loud and insistent, our world seems to be  moving towards authoritarian leadership fuelled by divisive rhetoric pitting race against race, gender against gender, truth against dishonesty.

On this celebration of the family we can only hope to find in the good news a way to transform our families. simply put the message is respect for the other, for listening to the other, and in loving the other. In Luke’s gospel, the return of Jesus with his parents and in his listening to them is a model for not only children but also parents. We should be listening with one’s heart and will. We need to listen to our children, to our spouses, to our extended families. If we listen we learn from them, share with them, and respect them in their personal struggles and in their accomplishments hopes and dreams. As we think about the Holy Family we recognize the sacrifice that Joseph and Mary  made for Jesus, in the same way as we recognize the many sacrifices our own parents made for us  and many more  are making for their children today in our I want what I want and  I get what I want world.

 Our families would find the disagreements, stressful relationships, and resentments that spoil the joy of family harmony so much easier to solve by trying to imitate the faith, love and trust of the Holy Family. “Lord Jesus, you came to restore us to unity with the Father in heaven. Where there is division, bring healing and pardon. May all people and families find peace, wholeness, and unity in you, the Prince of Peace.”

CHRISTMAS 2018

Well here we are it’s that time of the year again and here we are at the big event that all the preparation has been leading up to, but  the question to ask ourselves is this; has all our preparation been about tinsel and glitter without anything else especially the spiritual preparation that the Advent Season calls for. Preparing for Christmas is often a tense time with extra hours at work, standing for hours in the queues at the shops as the craziness goes on around us. Spending more time with families and friends at Christmas can also  be an endurance test in many ways to say the least!! During these days of  celebration we will often have occasion to sing as the angels did long ago, “Glory to God in the highest!” At this time when we celebrate the birth of “a saviour who has been born for us”, the One who is “Wonder- Counsellor and Prince of Peace,”

the One who is “a great light” we welcome an opportunity to put aside our cares and worries, in order to bask in the joy and generosity of the season, and sing out our “Glory to God in the highest as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. As we do this we cannot forget those who are less well off than we are, those who have little or nothing at all. We are mindful of all those organizations such as the Salvation Army and the St. Vincent DePaul who do so much good for so many at this time of year and throughout the whole year. None of us will travel to Bethlehem to behold the newborn infant lying in the manger in the way the original shepherds and the wise men did in. But all of us travel the road of daily life, Some of our Christmas customs seem to turn away from Christ. Or do they? The giving of gifts expresses love of the other person. Festive decorations set this season apart from all others. Santa Claus was originally St. Nicholas, who was bishop of Myra in Lycia which is now in Turkey he was remembered for his generosity. Every letter sent and received bears the stamp of this special season, tidings of good will, and a reminder that those who are far away are close to us in mind and heart.

The customs of this season direct all of us to one message: Christ is born for us. To remove the veil, to hear the good news, we gather together in our churches. There the message of Christmas speaks loud and clear. The Letter to the Hebrews says, “In times past, God spoke in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through his Son.” The customs of Christmas speak the message in partial ways, but God speaks the message clearly through his Son, who is born in our midst this Christmas day.

On this day the whole community of heaven joins with all believers of good will on earth in a jubilant song of praise for the good news proclaimed by the angels: Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people, for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:10-11). So with Mary and Joseph with the shepherds and Angels and the Arch Angels and the whole company of heaven    Let us take this story and the good news of great joy into our hearts and let the joy peace and mercy flourish.  Let us be thankful for this great light that is Christ the light of the world  we also thank God for all those who are involved in keeping the Light lit. Let us keep the light burning brightly in our hearts and in our lives.  Let us hold this simple story of Jesus birth in the Manger in our hearts throughout the year.

Come let us adore him Christ the Lord the reason for the season the face of the fathers love for mankind.

3rd SUNDAY OF ADVENT

This weekend we celebrate Gaudete Sunday which translates as rejoicing Sunday and we light the pink candle on the Advent Wreath also in some places the vestments may be a rose colour.  In the readings for this Sunday both John the Baptist and Paul share one belief: that the Lord is very near. God’s nearness didn’t act as a threat to them, but gave them a infectious source of joy that no one could takeaway  from them. Their joy in the closeness of God gave an edge to their preaching and teaching exhorting others  as well as ourselves to make ready the way for the lord; it also gave them a vision to see the far side of disaster; it moved them to draw others into that sense of joy. None of them was enclosed in his own joy each moved out going round in the hope his inner joy would be caught by the people of their time and place and many people were caught by the joy they had to pass on to them.

The picture of John the Baptist as a man of joy is not one you hear about very often. John is usually portrayed as a lonesome figure, with a weird wardrobe and weirder diet, who rants and raves at anyone with ears to hear. But John was a character who intrigued people and as a result they would seek him out and follow him. People don’t journey into the wilderness just to get insulted; people don’t become disciples for the wardrobe and diet. Here was a man who cared nothing at all for comfort, money or fame, who could not be bought, and who would speak the truth without fear. In John people could see something of God. John spoke to people in words the people could grasp when he told them exactly what they should be doing.  John made such a deep impression on people that word goes around that he might be the Christ. Again, that expectant feeling is a measure of John’s effect on people around him.

John did not  claim to know who the Messiah was going to be instead he tells the people that he is not that person. That role is for someone else, someone greater and more powerful than he was. And as we know that person was Jesus the Son of the Father. We are called to be joyful witnesses to Jesus but as we know with all that is going on around us these days that is not easy. There are bits and pieces in the Way’s of the World that continue to block the presence of the Lord within us as well as so many other people. Once again It’s time to clean our houses and prepare to welcome the Lord into our lives our hearts and our homes.  As we light the pink candle this weekend to celebrate our rejoicing are we prepared to open our hearts and minds to the fact that the Lord is near and pass on the joy of St. Paul and John the Baptist on to the people around us.