Fullerton T

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.

24TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

This week end in our gospel reading we hear Jesus asking Peter and the disciples the famous question “Who do you say I am?”  Jesus asks what outsiders and his disciples think about him. The guesses all lead us  to someone else, Elijah or John the Baptist or one of the prophets, figures who were celebrated for pointing forward to the Messiah. In contrast to what others think, Peter speaks on behalf of the disciples who have shared Jesus’ life intimately: he identifies Jesus as the Christ. Jesus is not numbered among those pointing to the Messiah; he is the Messiah. When Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus tells his disciples that his way to glory is only via suffering and the cross.  The first reading is one of the great poems of Isaiah on the theme of suffering. The servant of God is described in clear unambiguous terms. God gifts the disciple with a well-trained tongue. This is not an orator’s tongue, capable of delivering prize-winning speeches, but a tongue with the ability to rouse the weary from despair, the ability to bring comfort and compassion to the suffering. We know this response to the pain of the other does not require words but is an attitude of the heart.

Jesus in the Gospel speaks to us about himself using the figure of the Son of Man, the suffering servant who will be rejected and put to death. Not only must he suffer, but experience comfortless suffering in being rejected. That rejection robs the suffering one of his dignity. He has to face forsakenness and the loneliness of the cross. He will not die of natural causes, but be put to death. And this experience of dereliction will be answered by God who will raise him up on the third day.  Although the message given to the Disciples was only vaguely and dubiously grasped, Christ had forewarned his Apostles, in order to prepare them for the scandal and folly of the cross. While it did not really prepare them because they were still too worldly-minded, it did help to strengthen their faith once the facts of the empty tomb convinced them of the resurrection. When they realized that their beloved Master was more than Messiah, that he was in fact the Son of God, who freely accepted his humiliations and shameful death for their sakes and ours. The apostles gladly gave their lives to bringing the Good news of God’s great love for men to all the nations. From being a scandal the cross became the emblem and the proud standard of God’s love for mankind.

If Jesus was to stand beside us today and ask who do you say I am? What answer would we give would we answer the same way as Peter when he said you are Christ the son of God?

23RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

This weekend our readings are all about Jesus making the deaf hear and the blind see Isaiah says in the first reading that the signs of God’s faithfulness and presence with the people, are when “the eyes of the blind are opened, and the ears of the deaf are cleared.” The physical signs of deafness and blindness are powerful symbols of being closed to the action of God. These days there are so many people who have closed their eyes and ears to the action of god in their lives. The letter of James in the second reading offers a cautionary word about making distinctions between people and many people do this especially when it comes to those of us who have any disabilities or weaknesses. It’s easy for all of us to be caught up in the standards of the world of our time and as a result we might miss the friends of God who may be those with nothing to offer us or at least that what it might seem to be. God’s preference for those who are poor according to this world is seen clearly in today’s Gospel. Jesus comes face to face with a deaf man who has a speech impediment. The man is doubly afflicted: he is a Gentile, regarded by the Jews as unclean, and is also physically disabled. Jesus takes him aside, away from the crowd, and cures his deafness and his stutter. Mark emphasises the response of the crowd, who publish their judgement that Jesus has done all things well.  Thus the messianic prophecy of Isaiah heard in the first reading is seen to be fulfilled: “the ears of the deaf [are] unsealed… and the eyes of the blind are opened”.

Jesus’s love is available to everyone, without any conditions attached. He is not disconcerted by the disabled; neither is he prejudiced against those weren’t members of his own race or religion as we see with this man. The uniqueness of Jesus was not employed to lord it over others, but to be of service to them. In his presence there is no need to hide one’s disability, no one has to remain isolated in a godless world, and no one has to be rejected. Jesus’ acceptance and love open up new possibilities; for him, nothing is settled. Prejudice, on the other hand, tries to settle everything and in reality settles nothing and causes so much hurt and anxiety.

We are people of faith, but our spiritual focus is often based on what we want. Many times we struggle between our “real needs” where god works through us. These shortcomings can lead us to discouragement many say that the “church does not fulfill my needs anymore”. On the other hand those same shortcomings can be turned around into a challenge for us to grow.

Through growth in faith, we begin to listen and understand. Then, we can speak clearly.  Our ears are no longer blocked. Our tongue is no longer held bound. Despite our shortcomings and weaknesses and all of us have many shortcomings, Jesus will touch our lives and call out to us. Are we prepared to open our ears to the call of Jesus and open our eyes to see the needs of all those around us as we are asked to do, so that people around us may say that united to Jesus in faith we have done all things well.

22ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Well here we are at the last weekend of  August and the youngsters are going back to school. Time is flying by for all of us both young and old as we move into the new school year. I’m sure at this stage everyone will be happy to get back to the daily routine of school and home life instead of the frenetic activity of the summer.

Our Gospel reading for this Sunday deals with tradition it also deals with the opposition to Jesus which came from the Pharisees and the temple officials as a result of his challenge to their version of tradition. When it comes to the subject of tradition, people’s attitudes can vary dramatically. Some people have an affectionate loyalty to traditional ways of doing things they often say we’ve always done that this way. They feel secure when they adapt their own values and behaviour to received wisdom, reassured by the knowledge that they are following in the footsteps of many others. Problems occur if laws themselves become more important than the people whose lives they are designed to serve and protect . According to the written Law, ceremonial washing was required only of priests before they entered the sanctuary. By the time of Jesus, however, the ritual of hand-washing, before every meal and between each course, had been extended to include all pious Jews.As we all know Jesus interpreted the Jewish Law in a different way and as a result of his interpretation he clashed with the Pharisees.  The Pharisees were mainly concerned with the externals of faith and didn’t understand the message of Jesus that faith comes from the heart. In our Gospel reading Jesus teaches a central truth: it is what comes from within that determines whether we are clean or unclean, good or evil not the washing of our hands.  In our secular world, so many couldn’t care less about ritual observance or conversion of heart. When things are going well, there seems to be no need for God, much less religious observance. Conversion of the heart means that we have discovered that all our goodness comes from the love of God for us. This leads to genuine prayer of praise and gratitude as well as a real yearning to share this gift with others.

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Well here we are past the midpoint of August with the return to school for our youngsters looming in a few days time. Spare a thought for all the parents out there getting the bits and pieces needed for the kids return to school. I’m sure they are running round trying to bring it all together and I hope that it all goes well for the kids and their parents as September looms large on the horizion. This Sundays Gospel reading has a resonance with the modern world for me. In today’s Gospel, Jesus puts the choice to His apostles of following Him, or of leaving Him. Many of the Lord’s followers had left Him because of His teaching that He Himself is the Bread of Life. After hearing Jesus’ teaching on the bread of life, many of the people find Jesus’ language intolerable. As a result of this intolerable language some  of them choose to leave him. Today in a similar way so many people find the words of Jesus to be intolerable language as many Christians have got up and left their faith behind them and some may never return again.

No one who accepts Christ for what he is, the Son of God in human form, has any difficulty in believing that he left us himself in the Eucharist as a sacrifice and a sacrament This does not mean that we understand this gift of Christ in all its details I certainly don’t but it was an act of divine power and as such beyond full human comprehension.  We can understand enough about the actuality of the Eucharist because we accept the words of Christ, who “has the words of eternal life,” even though its innermost nature escapes us. In Galilee he promised to give his body and blood in the Eucharist—to be our spiritual nourishment — communion — and our means of offering an absolutely pleasing sacrifice to God every time his body and blood are made present by the words of the priest. He fulfilled that promise at the Last Supper. He gave to his Apostles and their successors the power to repeat this act of divine love when he said: “Do this in memory of me.”

When Simon Peter answered Christ’s challenge—”will you too go away?”—he spoke not only for his fellow-Apostles that day with: “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” but for all of us in our own time and place as well, people who really believe that Christ was the incarnate Son of God. Peter made his act of faith before he was fully convinced of the divinity of Christ, but he was already convinced that Christ was close to God and spoke nothing but the truth.

We have the proofs of Christ’s divinity which Peter and the Apostles later got. We have also the faith of two thousand years of the Christians whose belief in the Blessed Sacrament the bread of life as a sacrifice and sacrament was at the very center of their Christian lives. This belief was passed down to us through each generation. We have also the noble example of many martyrs who gladly gave their lives in defense of this truth. Our faith may never be put to such an extreme test, but should it be, God grant that we will not be found wanting. “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

18TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Here we are at the beginning of August and it seems a very short time since the summer holidays began and yet it will be no time until the schools go back at the start of September.

Our Gospel reading this weekend has as its focus Food that is food for the body that is bread and food for the soul that is the Bread of life. Jesus tells the people that they are only following him because they have enjoyed the food that physically satisfies them; they should work, he says, for the food that endures to eternal life. The one thing which earns this food is believing in the one God has sent. The Galileans promptly ask Jesus for a sign to aid their belief in him – a sign like the manna their fathers ate in the desert.

Jesus points out that it was God, not Moses, who supplied the manna, he compares himself to the God who now gives bread from heaven. Jesus declares that he himself is the bread of life, the bread come down from heaven. Whoever believes in him will never be hungry. Yet there are so many people in our world who suffer from hunger, physical hunger for so many do not even have a wee bit of bread to eat or water to drink. Also there is a great spiritual hunger, there are many people out there who have lost their faith and there are also many people searching for faith who have yet to find it. I think that in our day and age we need to be the bread of life for all those who are out there who have lost the faith or those who are searching. What does it mean for you and me to be the Bread of Life to others? It really means feeding the hungry through our donations to organisations that bring physical bread to the people who need it in the world. It also means being a light showing that God the Father has sent Jesus from heaven to be our food, our strength, our hope, and our joy in living. Nothing else in life can surpass this Bread of Life given freely and freely accepted by those who choose to accept this great gift of God. 

17TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Well here we are nearly at the end of July and for us here in Ireland the summer break is almost at the half way mark. I’m sure the kids have been enjoying their time off from school and by the same token I am sure their parents are pulling their hair out wondering what are we going to do next, these days family life is not easy!!!

In the Gospel reading for this Sunday we hear the story of the feeding of the five thousand. The crowd is huge can you imagine five thousand people and all of them are hungry: for physical food in a deserted place and hungry for still more. They are hungry to be acknowledged, to feel counted and recognized. Like those of us gathered for Eucharist each Sunday, they are also hungry for what Jesus had to say about God. They hunger to know that God is on their side, when the rest of the world considers them insignificant. How can their physical hungers be fed, there is no food around? How can their spiritual and human hungers be noticed, their need to feel important, and their hunger to know God be filled? In their Roman- occupied world they are slaves. In their religious world, a long way from the seat of their faith in Jerusalem and the religious elite, these Galileans were considered next to pagans;

ignorant and a long way from God when in truth they were nearer to God than many of the righteous people of the day. There is some food there, but almost nothing in the light of the numbers who are hungry. In this story the food of the poor barley bread counts and it is not an insignificant gift. It’s given by a boy, it’s all he has, and he makes it available.We tend to measure the size of any problem that may arise and then back away, shrugging our shoulders, “What can I do about such a big problem?” Well we in simple terms have to face the problems head on and the boy in this Gospel is a good example for us: better to do something about the situation we are in than nothing at all. The life implication of this gospel is simple: Jesus wants to work the miracle of feeding a huge number of people who are hungry; but the miracle will not happen without someone to provide five barley loaves and two fish. The end of this passage is important: “and all ate and were satisfied. And they took up what was left over, twelve baskets of broken pieces”. Jesus asked the disciples to ensure that nothing was wasted: nothing thrown out!

The people in this story realize that Jesus had something to offer them in the deserted and lonely places in their lives. Jesus wasn’t just filling their stomachs he was also nourishing their souls. They weren’t rich, famous, educated or powerful; they were the afflicted and 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 of life would be fulfilled. The Gospel account of the multiplication of the loaves proclaims who Jesus is and provides food for thought and prayer. This Gospel also proclaims who we are as people who are hungry for what Jesus the bread of life has to say to us about God.  Are we prepared to open our ears and listen to the message of Jesus in the Gospel so that we can pass that message on in what we say and do in our lives ?