Fullerton T

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.

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.”