1st February >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for the (2024)

1st February >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for the

Feast of Saint Brigid (Inc. Luke 6:32-38) (Ireland)

and for

Thursday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Mark 6:7-13)

Feast of Saint Brigid, Abbess, Secondary Patron of Ireland

Gospel (Except USA)Luke 6:32-38Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate.Ps 106 (107):35-38, 41-42. R/. v. 1

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘If you love those who love you, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what thanks can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do good, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.’

Reflections (6)

(i) Feast of Saint Brigid

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(ii) Feast of Saint Brigid

Saint Brigid was born around 454. When she was young, her father wished to make a very suitable marriage for her, but she insisted on devoting her life completely to God. She received the veil and spiritual formation probably from Saint Mel and stayed for a period under his direction in Ardagh. Others followed her example and this led her to found a double monastery in Kildare with the assistance of Bishop Conleth. She died in 524 and her cult is widespread not only throughout Ireland but in several European lands. As well as being a person of deep prayer, she was renowned for her hospitality, her almsgiving and her care of the sick. That is why the church has chosen the reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans as an option for her feast day. The reading concludes by calling on us to ‘contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers’. Brigid did both. She served the members of the church, the saints, and she also showed hospitality to strangers, those who were not part of the church. In the language of that first reading, she discovered her gift, the particular grace given to her, and she placed that gift at the service of others. We have all been given some particular grace; our gifts will differ according to the grace that has been given to us. Our calling is to try and discern our own particular gifts, the unique way that the Holy Spirit has graced us, and to place those gifts at the service of the Lord, and of others, both those who are part of the church, the ‘saints’ and those who are not, ‘strangers’.

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(iii) Feast of Saint Brigid

We know very little about the life of Brigid. She was probably born around the middle of the fifth century and died at the beginning of the sixth century. At a young age she seems to have devoted her life completely to God. She founded a monastery of Kildare which contributed to the spread of Christianity in Ireland. The stories that have come down about her in her various Lives depict her as a woman of deep prayer and as someone whose life was characterized by great generosity and deep compassion, especially for the needy and the broken. In this morning’s first reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul mentions various gifts that can be expected to be found among the members of Christ’s body. Two in particular seem to fit the profile of Bridgid as it has come down to us in the literature about her, ‘let the almsgivers give freely... and those who do the works of mercy do them cheerfully’. It seems that Brigid gave alms freely and did many works of mercy cheerfully. That lovely reading concludes with ‘if any of the saints are in need you mist share with them, and you should make hospitality your special care’. Again Brigid shared with those in need and had a reputation for a very hospitable spirit. He cult extended beyond the shores of this island. I was only reading recently that in England there were at least nineteen ancient church dedications in her honour, the most famous being Saint Bride’s in Fleet Street. It is clear that her great love of the Lord which was nourished by a life of prayer found expression in a very practical love of others, especially of those in any need. She can continue to inspire us to live the gospel to the full and to find joy in doing so.

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(iv) Feast of Saint Brigid

Saint Brigid is the secondary patron of Ireland, after Saint Patrick. She was born around 454. When she was young her father wished to make a suitable marriage for her but she insisted that she wanted to consecrate herself to God. She received the veil and spiritual formation probably from Saint Mel and she stayed for a while under his direction in Ardagh. Others followed her example and this led to her founding a double monastery in Kildare, with a section for men and a section for women. Through Brigid’s reputation as a spiritual teacher, the monastery became a centre of pilgrimage. She died in 524 and she is venerated not only throughout Ireland but in several European lands. She was renowned for her hospitality, almsgiving and care of the sick. The gospel reading is very suited for her feast because it calls on us to be generous not only to those who are generous to us but even to our enemies. Jesus declares in that gospel reading, ‘Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap’. Jesus is saying there that if our focus is on giving, then we will discover that we receive more than we give. It could be said to the contrary that if our focus is on receiving then we will be ultimately disappointed. It is not the case that we give with a view to receiving. It is simply that we give in various ways, in accordance with our gifts, abilities and energies, and we discover along the way that we are actually receiving more than we are giving. Our giving creates an opening for the Lord to grace us. The most generous form of giving, according to the gospel reading, is to love those who do not love us and to give to those from whom we have no hope of receiving anything in return. This kind of giving, according to the gospel reading, has something of God about it, because God is just as kind to the ungrateful and the wicked as he is to those who are good. Such selfless giving opens up our hearts to receiving a great abundance from the Lord, what the gospel reading calls, a ‘full measure’.

And/Or

(v) Feast of Saint Brigid

Saint Brigid is the secondary patron of Ireland, after Saint Patrick. She was born around 454. When she was young her father wished to make a suitable marriage for her but she insisted that she wanted to consecrate herself to God. She received the veil and spiritual formation probably from Saint Mel and she stayed for a while under his direction in Ardagh. Others followed her example and this led to her founding a double monastery in Kildare, with a section for men and a section for women. Through Brigid’s reputation as a spiritual teacher, the monastery became a centre of pilgrimage. She died in 524 and she is venerated not only throughout Ireland but in several European lands. She was renowned for her hospitality, almsgiving and care of the sick. All of her service of others flowed from a rich interior spiritual life. The two readings for this feast express both the interior dimension of the Christian life and its outward expression of service. In the first reading, Saint Paul prays for the church in Ephesus, asking that their hidden self, their inner self, would grow strong, so that Christ may live in their hearts through faith. It is a wonderful way of speaking about the inner dimension of our lives as followers of the Lord. Christ wants to live in our hearts through our faith, so that our hidden self, or inner self, may grow strong. In that reading Paul goes on to identify our inner self growing strong with being filled with the utter fullness of God. When Christ lives deep within us, when we are filled with his fullness of God, then our inner self will grow strong. In the gospel reading, Jesus speaks of the outer life that flows from such an inner self. It is a life of generous self-giving love of others, including those who are hostile to us. It is a compassionate life that is slow to judge, slow to condemn and ready to forgive. As Jesus says, it is a life that befits sons and daughters of the Most High who is kind to ungrateful and the wicked. Saint Brigid embodied both that deep interior life that Paul speaks about in the first reading and the generous outer life that Jesus speaks about in the gospel reading. On this, her feast day, we look to her, asking her to help us to grow into the fully mature follower of the Lord that she was.

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(vi) Feast of Saint Brigid

Thursday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA)Mark 6:7-13'Take nothing with you'.

Jesus made a tour round the villages, teaching. Then he summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits. And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff– no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic.’ And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district. And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, as you walk away shake off the dust from under your feet as a sign to them.’ So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.

Gospel (USA)Mark 6:7-13Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out.

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick–no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” So they went off and preached repentance. The Twelve drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Reflections (7)

(i) Thursday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

The disciples whom Jesus had earlier called and who have been with him for some time are now ready to be sent out on mission. They are to travel light, so as to be open to what God will give them through those to whom they preach the gospel. They are not to be so self-sufficient that they feel they have everything they need and nothing to receive from those to whom they are sent. Yes, they have much to give to others, the richness of the gospel, the life-giving power of the Lord, but they also have something to receive from others. The Lord is reminding us that we are dependent on each other. This is especially the case within the realm of faith. The Lord wants to work through us for the building up of others in the Lord and the Lord also wants to work through others for our building up. We are to be generous enough to share what the Lord gives us with others and humble enough to receive from others what the Lord has given them. This is the essential nature of the church. Saint Paul expressed this nature of the church when he spoke of the church as the body of Christ in which no one was self-sufficient and everyone was needed. It is very much a vision of church for our time. All of the baptized are called to be both givers and receivers. As the Lord sent out the Twelve, the Lord sends each one of us to everyone else and is sending others to each one of us. We are always to be asking ourselves, ‘To whom is the Lord sending me?’ and ‘Whom is the Lord sending to me?’

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(ii) Thursday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

We tend to attach a lot of importance to preparing for every eventuality. We like to feel that we are in control and that if anything unexpected happens we will have the resources to deal with it. In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus sends out the twelve remarkably unprepared by today’s standards. They were to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They can wear sandals but they were not to bring a spare tunic. As he sent them out, they were certainly not in control; they were not self-sufficient. Rather, they were to depend on the generosity and hospitality of those who welcomed their ministry. Perhaps Jesus was trying to teach them that, in reality, they are not in control; God was ultimately in control and they would have to learn to trust in God more than in themselves. There is a message there that we all need to keep on learning. The reality is that we are not in control of our lives, not matter how well we prepare ourselves for unexpected eventualities. A brush with serious illness can bring that home to us. Suddenly, all our plans and preparations have to be put to one side. The realization that we are not in control of our lives, that we are not Lord of our lives, frees us to surrender ourselves more fully to God, the real Lord of our lives.

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(iii) Thursday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

When Jesus sends out the twelve to share in his mission in this morning’s gospel reading, he anticipates that not everyone will welcome their words or their works. Jesus had just been rejected by the people of Nazareth in the passage immediately preceding our gospel reading. His disciples can expect something similar at times. In the words of the gospel reading, Jesus anticipates that the disciples will enter places which do not welcome them and where people refuse to listen to them. Yet, that experience of failure is not to discourage them, just as it did not discourage Jesus. They are to be faithful to their calling to share in Jesus’ mission, in season and out of season, regardless of how they are received. In spite of the experience of failure and rejection, the disciples did great good, proclaiming the gospel and healing the sick. The Lord encourages us to keep being faithful to our baptismal calling, in spite of the setbacks along the way, whether they are failings in ourselves or failings in others. We are to be more attentive to the Lord’s call and promise than to the negative voices that come to us from others or from within ourselves.

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(iv) Thursday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

When Jesus chose a group of twelve from among the larger group of disciples, he chose the number twelve very deliberately, as an echo of the twelve tribes of Israel. He seems to have seen the group of twelve as the nucleus of a renewed Israel. They were to have a special role in Jesus’ mission of renewing God’s people. In this morning’s gospel reading, we have Mark’s account of Jesus sending out the twelve for the first time to share in his mission. It is noteworthy that Jesus sends them out in pairs. Rather than twelve individuals going off in twelve different directions, there are six groups of two going off in six different directions. Some might think that it would have been more effective to send out the twelve individually; in that way twice the area could have been covered. However, Jesus clearly saw a greater value in sending out the twelve in twos. No one was to work alone; each would have someone else to work alongside. As disciples of the Lord today, we still need to work together, rather than as individuals or loners. When we work together we learn to receive from and give to each other and, thereby, the Lord is more fully present to others. He did say that where two or three are gathered he would be there in their midst. Even Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, was very aware of the debt he owed to what he called his co-workers. The Lord needs us to work together if his work is to be done in today’s world. As members of the Lord’s body, we are interdependent. In the life of faith, we never go it alone.

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(v) Thursday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

In the instructions that Jesus gives to the twelve as he sends them out on mission, he takes it for granted that their message and ministry will not be well received everywhere. He makes reference to places that do not welcome them and to people who do not listen to them. In such situations, all they can do is walk away. Yet, the prospect of their message not being welcomed and listened to by some should not deter them. They are to preach the gospel and give expression to the gospel in their works of healing. Jesus himself knew that his message and mission would not be welcomed by everyone but would be rejected by some in the most violent way possible. The situation with regard to preaching the gospel today is not any different to how it was for Jesus and his first disciples. We are called to be people of faith in a context that is not always supportive of faith. When we come up against a lack of openness to faith, or indifference or even hostility, it can easily unsettle our own faith. Today, more than even, we need a faith that is not dependent on the approval of others. Ultimately, our faith needs to be rooted in the Lord; it is a response to his faith in us, his faithfulness to us. It is the Lord’s faithful presence to us that keeps us faithful, regardless of how are faith is received by others. One of the ways we experience the Lord’s faithful presence is in and through the community of faith, the family of his follower. The first reading speaks of the church is which everyone is a first born and a citizen of heaven. We need to belong there, to be grounded there, if we are to experience the Lord’s faithful presence to the full, so as to witness to our faith even in settings that have little appreciation for it.

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(vi) Thursday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

There comes a time in life when we need to let others do what we have been doing. We have to let go so that others can take on. None of us can keep doing what we have been doing forever. We need the wisdom to know when to entrust some of our responsibility, some of our work, to others. We find that happening in both of today’s readings. As David comes towards the end of his life, he passes on his role as king, his responsibilities to God’s people, to his son Solomon. In the gospel reading, Jesus entrusts the twelve whom he had earlier chosen with a share in his mission. They had spent time with him and now he is ready to send them out as his ambassadors to preach what he has been preaching and to engage in his healing ministry. This happened reasonably early on in Jesus’ public ministry. We might be tempted to think that, like David, Jesus would have waited until nearer the end of his life before entrusting a share in his mission to others. However, it seems, for Jesus, this task of entrusting to others a share in his work couldn’t wait any longer than was absolutely necessary. The Lord desperately needs us to share in his work today. As members of his body the church, we are his feet, his arms, his legs, his eyes, his ears, his mouth, his heart and mind. As the Lord once expressed himself through his physical body, he now expresses himself through all of us, his ecclesial body. The Lord needs us all if his work is to continue today, and just as he sent out the twelve in pairs, in six groups of two, he does sends us out not as individuals but with others. He can work through us most effectively when we work together, pooling our gifts and resources.

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(vii) Thursday, Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s first reading portrays in striking language the goal of our earthly journey. It speaks of ‘the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem… in which everyone is a ‘first born’ and a citizen of heaven’. In this heavenly city, the distinction between citizens and non-citizens will not apply. All will have equal access to God and to his Son. Jesus’ mission was to make something of this heavenly city a reality on earth. This is what he meant by proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand. He gathered people from all walks of life and backgrounds around himself, declaring that they could all be his brothers and sisters if they did the will of his heavenly Father, if they followed in the way of God’s Son. He taught his followers to pray to God his Father, ‘they kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’. He called others to help him in his work of creating an opening for the coming of God’s kingdom, the city of the living God. This is what we find Jesus doing in today’s gospel reading, as he sends out the twelve to share in his mission of word and deed. In the course of the gospels, he calls and sends out many more, men and women. He needs each one of us to share in his work of creating an opening for the coming of the city of the living God, a community where all are cherished equally as sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters of Christ. Our earthly cities fall far short at times of the city of the living God, but the Lord needs the goodness and the giftedness of us all if our earthly cities are to become more like the heavenly Jerusalem.

1st February >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for the (2024)