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31st July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Matthew 13:44-46): ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field’.

Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 13:44-46He sells everything he owns and buys the field.

Jesus said to the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.’

Gospel (USA)Matthew 13:44-46He sells all he has and buys that field.

Jesus said to his disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”

Reflections (10)

(i) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

The two short parables that Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading have a number of differences, but a fundamental similarity. In the first parable, the scenario is that of a poor day labourer who unexpectedly comes upon a box of treasures hidden in a field that he had been hired to dig. In the second parable the scenario is that of a rich merchant who finds a pearl of great value, the kind of pearl he had been actively searching for all his working life. A poor man stumbles upon a treasure he could never have dreamt of; a rich man finds a treasure he always knew was out there and had been searching for. What the parables have in common is that both men, having found a wonderful treasure were so overjoyed that they were prepared to sell everything they possessed to gain it. Their find was worth everything to them. Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven/God is like both of these scenarios. Jesus is the embodiment of the kingdom of God. He is the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price. Like the day labourer, some people might stumble upon him without having looked for him; he comes to them. Others, like the rich merchant, will have found him after much searching. Perhaps both apply to all of us. The Lord came to us, when our parents brought us to the church for baptism. We didn’t look for him. Yet, in the course of our lives we can become seekers of the Lord, hoping to come to know and love him better. We grow to appreciate the treasure we have been given, our relationship with the Lord and his with us, and we want to explore it more fully. Hopefully, like the day labourer and the merchant, we will come to value this treasure, this pearl of great price, above everything else in our lives.

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(ii) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

This morning’s gospel reading from Matthew puts before us two parables. The second parable is the story of a seeker. A merchant has given his life over to searching for fine pearls and when he when he finds this one pearl of great value he sells everything he owns and buys it. Jesus offers this parable as an image of the kingdom of God. A little earlier in Matthew’s gospel, in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had already said, ‘Seek first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you as well’. Jesus was saying there that everything else we seek in life is to be secondary to that primary search for God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness. We can understand God’s righteousness as God’s will for our lives, God’s way of doing things. Because that is to be our primary search in life, Jesus places it as the first petition in the prayer he gave to his disciples, the Lord’s prayer, ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’. The kingdom of God makes itself present on earth when God’s will is done. According to this morning’s gospel reading, the coming of God’s kingdom, the doing of God’s will is pearl of great price that is worth searching for and sacrificing everything for.

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(iii) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the two short parables in today’s gospel reading, two people find something valuable, a box of treasure in the first parable and a pearl of great price in the second. Yet, the way that the two people come upon these two valuable objects is quite different. The person in the first parable comes across the treasure by accident. He wasn’t looking for it; he was a day labourer digging in someone else’s field. The last thing he expected to find was a box of treasures buried in the field. In the second parable the merchant was actively searching for fine pearls and, eventually, as a result of his persistent searching, he came across one pearl of great value which stood out from all the rest. Both parables are images of the kingdom of God. Both suggest that our relationship with God through Jesus is a treasure greater than any earthly treasure. The first parable suggests that this treasured relationship comes to us as a grace. We can be surprised by God’s gracious initiative towards us; God is with us, hidden beneath the surface of our lives, and can break through to us when we are least expecting it. The second parable highlights the importance of the human search in coming to know God. It is those who seek who will find; it is those who knock who will have the door opened. We can be, and will be, surprised by Lord’s initiative towards us, and, yet, we are also called to seek the Lord with all our hearts and minds and souls.

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(iv) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

The two parables in this morning’s gospel reading have much in common and yet they are quite distinct. In the first parable a day labourer unexpectedly comes upon treasure hidden in a field. In the second parable a wealthy merchant finds a precious pearl after much searching. These are two very different scenarios. Yet what both the farm labourer and the wealthy merchant have in common is the experience of joyful discovery and the resulting freedom to take the necessary steps to acquire what they have discovered. Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is like that. The gospel of Jesus is a treasure; it is a precious pearl. Some people discover it after much searching like the wealthy merchant; others stumble upon it when they are not explicitly looking for it like the day labourer. The key is, ‘What happens then?’ Are we prepared to take the decisive steps to hold on to what we have discovered? Like the two men in the parable, are we ready to sell everything to acquire this treasure? The gospel reading seems to suggest that once we have tasted the treasure of the kingdom, of the person of Jesus, we will never be the same again; it will change us forever. We will do all we can to preserve that treasure, that pearl of great price. The beauty and wonder of the gospel give us the freedom to live it, even though it may mean letting go of lesser treasures.

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(v) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Sometimes we can have the experience of stumbling upon something of great value even though we have not been looking for anything. A precious gift comes our way unexpectedly, without our having done anything to make it happen. It might be someone who crosses our path and has a huge impact for good on our lives. It might be an important insight that suddenly comes into our mind when we are sitting back relaxing and thinking about nothing in particular. In a sense, that was the experience of the poor day labourer in the first parable of today’s gospel reading. He was being paid to dig up someone’s field when suddenly he hit upon buried treasure. He sold the little he had to buy the field and gain that unexpected treasure. There is a different kind of experience where we find something very valuable after a great deal of searching for it. We keep on looking, and, eventually, after a lot of effort we find what we have been looking for. That was the experience of the wealthy merchant in the second parable who kept searching for the finest pearl of all, until, finally, he found it and, then, sold everything to purchase it. Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is like both of those human experiences. There are times when the Lord suddenly blesses us at a moment in life when we are least expecting it. The Lord is always taking some gracious initiative towards us if we eyes to see and ears to hear; he seeks us out. When it comes to the Lord, there is also a seeking involved on our part. Jesus calls on us to keep on seeking, to keep on asking, to keep on knocking, like the rich merchant in the second parable. When we are graced by the Lord, because of his initiative towards us and our searching for him, then, like the two men in the parables, we must be ready to give up whatever is necessary to hold on to that gift of the Lord, the gift of the kingdom.

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(vi) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

I sometimes watch the programme called the Antiques Roadshow on BBC1. I love watching people’s faces when they discover that some object they have had on a sideboard or wherever for years is worth thousands of pounds. On one such programme, a man was interviewed who had been digging in his garden. He found a ring which turned out to be a medieval love ring with a ruby stone in the centre that was worth about £20,000. Sometimes people can hit upon something of great value, a true treasure, purely by accident. I was reminded of that by the first parable in today’s gospel reading. The scene is that of a poor labourer working in someone’s field; out of the blue he hits upon this great treasure. It comes his way as a gift. Shrewd man that he is, he scrapes together his few possessions and buys the field off the man he was working for, to hold onto this unexpected grace. When Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like this man’s experience, he may be saying that a great deal of value in life comes to us as a gift, without our having to work for it. So much in life has come to us as gift, such as the relationships we value, the beauty of God’s creation. The Lord himself comes to us as a gift. Our faith in him in a gift. Most of us were brought to the Lord without our having to look for him. The treasure of the Lord and his gospel has been put into our lap. We have been greatly graced by the Lord. As the first chapter of John’s gospel declares, ‘from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace’. The appropriate response to being graced is to give thanks, which is why Paul in one of his letters says simply, ‘Give thanks in all circ*mstances’.

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(vii) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

There is often a gap between finding something of value to us and actually possessing it. In both of the two short parables in today’s gospel reading, someone finds a treasure, but having found it does not yet possess it. The man in the first parable, probably a poor day labourer, finds treasure in a field that he wasn’t looking for. The man in the second parable, probably a wealthy merchant, finds a pearl of great value that he had been looking for over many years. What these two people from opposite ends of the social spectrum have in common is that having found this wonderful treasure, they have the freedom to sell everything so as to purchase and possess it. The few resources the poor day labourer had and the many resources the wealthy merchant had seemed of little value compared to the treasure they had found. Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is like both of those scenarios. The dynamic gift that Jesus brings to us from God is like the treasure hidden in the field and like the pearl of great price. The fullness of this gift from God is in the future, beyond this earthly life, but we can begin to savour it here and now. To the extent that we find and appreciate this wonderful gift for the treasure it is, we will be happy to sacrifice everything else to possess it. We will hold our various possessions lightly and have the freedom to let them go for the sake of this rich gift that Jesus has come to bring us, which is a sharing in his own relationship with God and the way of life it inspires. In his letter to the Philippians, Saint Paul lists all that he once treasured and then he goes on to say, ‘I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’. Christ was his treasure in the field, his pearl of great price, before whom, all else seemed so much loss. The same risen Lord and all he offers us is our treasure, our precious pearl, too, before whose surpassing value all else pales.

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(viii) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

People have often stumbled upon a treasure hidden in a field or a bog. Some of the prized possessions in our National Museum have been discovered in that way. The Ardagh Chalice, along with a hoard of metalwork from the eighth and ninth centuries, was found in a potato field in Ardagh in 1868 by two young local boys named Jim Quinn and Paddy Flanagan. In the time of Jesus, when there were no bank vaults, people often kept some treasure safe by burying it in the ground. If the person subsequently died or forgot where the treasure was buried, someone else could stumble upon it and the law of finders-keepers applied. Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like that phenomenon of someone suddenly finding a treasure in a field. In what sense? Perhaps Jesus is saying that whereas some people find God after a long search, a little bit like the merchant in the other parable who found a pearl of great price after a life time searching, for other people it is more a case of God finding them. The day labourer in the first parable, digging someone’s field for a day’s pay, wasn’t looking for treasure. In a sense, the treasure found him. We are all a little like the merchant in the second parable, searching of something of value, for goodness, beauty, truth, God. We are also like the day labourer in the first parable in that we can stumble upon something of value without looking for it. The Lord can meet us, out of the blue, completely unexpectedly. We have an profound experience of God’s generosity, without having done anything to make it happen. Jesus assures us that such moments will come. The Lord will touch our lives deeply, even though he may be far from our minds and hearts. At such times, like the day labourer, we need to respond with energy and joy.

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(ix) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Farmers working away on their land or in a local bog have often stumbled upon some great treasure. Looking for treasure was the furthest thing from their mind. They were just going about their daily work. However, out of the blue, they hit upon something which turned out to be a very precious object. Many of the treasures in our national museum were found in that way. This is the kind of situation we find in the first parable that Jesus speaks. Probably a day labourer working in someone’s field finds an unexpected treasure and in his joy he sells everything he owns to buy the field with its treasure. Jesus is saying that we can sometimes stumble upon the treasure of the kingdom of heaven in this way. We are going about our daily lives, without thinking of the Lord at all, and, suddenly, we have a sense of the Lord’s presence. The Lord touches our lives out of the blue in a way that leaves us feeling we have been blessed with a great treasure. The Lord can break through to us even when we are not looking for him. The second parable is a little different. The rich merchant was looking for a particular treasure, a pearl of great value. Eventually, after much searching he found it and he sells all he owns to buy it. The one who searched eventually found. Through this parable the Lord is saying to us that if we keep seeking him we will find him. As Jesus says elsewhere in the gospels, ‘Seek and you will find’. We need to keep seeking the Lord, but the first parable reminds us that the Lord is always seeking us and, sometimes, he will find us, touch our lives, at a time when he is far from our mind and heart. There is always a greater search going on than our search of the Lord and that is the Lord’s search of us.

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(x) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading Jesus declares that the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field or a pearl of great price that is worth selling all for. That kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God was present in a unique way in the person and ministry of Jesus himself. To that extent, Jesus himself is the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price. This was a discovery that Saint Paul made on the road to Damascus. Up until then, he would have considered the Jewish Law to be his greatest treasure, because it revealed God’s will for our lives. However, having allowed himself to be found by the risen Lord as he travelled to Damascus while persecuting the church, he could write some years later, in his letter to the Philippians, ‘I regarded everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’. What he once valued in the Jewish Law, all its fine pearls, he now saw as of little value compared to the pearl of great price, Christ Jesus his Lord. Paul considered his relationship with the Lord his greatest treasure. It gave meaning and direction to his life. His faith in the Lord filled him with hope and empowered him to love others with the love of Christ. Today’s gospel reading invites us to keep treasuring the gift of our faith, our relationship with the Lord, and the community of those who share our faith, the church. In the language of the gospel reading, it is worth selling all to hold on to this treasure, it is worth making sacrifices for. It is a treasure not only to be held on to, but to be shared with others. In a sense, we keep the treasure of the faith by giving it away, by witnessing to our faith in the Lord through all we think, say and do.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

30th July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Tuesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Matthew 13:36-43): ‘The virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father’.

Tuesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 13:36-43As the darnel is gathered up and burnt, so it will be at the end of time.

Leaving the crowds, Jesus went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us.’ He said in reply, ‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears!’

Gospel (USA)Matthew 13:36-43Just as the weeds are collected now and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.

Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Reflections (6)

(i) Tuesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel reading of the interpretation of the parable of the wheat and the darnel acknowledges that all is not well with the world. We don’t need reminding that there is much evil in our world. However, it is not a case that the church is a field of goodness and all beyond it is a field of evil. This gospel of Matthew readily acknowledges that sin is to be found in the community of believers. Peter’s question, unique to Matthew, was a very relevant one for Matthew’s community, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ (Mt 18:21). In recent times, we have been made only two well aware of how the sins of some of the church’s most trusted members have been a source of enormous scandal for believers. We can easily make our own as a community of faith the words of Jeremiah in today’s first reading, ‘Lord, we do confess our wickedness… we have indeed sinned against you’. Yet, we can also make our own the words Jeremiah goes on to speak, ‘O our God, you are our hope’. The existence of evil, even in the holiest of places, is not a cause for disillusionment or despair. The Lord remains faithful to his flawed church and to his broken world. He continues to work among us to recreate us in his image through the power of the Holy Spirit. As Paul expresses it so succinctly in his letter to the Romans, ‘where sin increased, grace abounded all the more’ (Rom 5:20). There is a great onus on us all to co-operate with the Lord who is always striving to bring the good work he has begun in us to completion.

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(ii) Tuesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel reading speaks of Jesus as the ‘sower of good seed’ who sows that good seed throughout the world. Those who allow that good seed to take root in their hearts are ‘the subjects of the kingdom’; they already belong to God’s kingdom on earth. Whenever people respond to the Lord’s call, they form a ‘beach head’ of the kingdom of God on earth. This is what the Lord desires for us all. The community of his disciples, the church, is to be that beach head of the kingdom of God on earth; it is to be the earthly expression of the goodness of the kingdom of heaven. Yet, the gospel reading also acknowledges another reality that is to be found in our world, what it terms ‘darnel’ or ‘weeds’, which is sown by the devil. The Lord’s good work in the world is opposed by evil forces. The gospels suggest that Jesus took the reality of evil in the world very seriously. He was also aware that it could infect his followers, the community of those who believed in him, which is why he taught us to pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’. We shouldn’t need much convincing about the reality and power of evil in our world and, indeed, in the church and in our own lives. However, the gospel reading declares that evil will not ultimately have the last word. God will eradicate evil fully, but only at the end of time, when God’s kingdom fully comes. In the meantime, the Lord wishes to work in and through each of us to confront evil in all its forms, so that something of that final triumph of good over evil can become a reality in the here and now. In the words of Paul’s letter to the Romans, ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’.

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(iii) Tuesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time.

The explanation of the parable of the wheat and darnel in today’s gospel reading suggests that, within our world, good will always sit alongside evil until the end of time. It is only beyond this present age that, in the words of the gospel reading, ‘the virtuous will shine like the sun’, with no darkness to obscure the light of their goodness. We are only too well aware of the presence of evil in our world, and, indeed, within the church and in our own hearts. Various religious movements have attempted to create a perfect society, an oasis of goodness in an evil world. Such movements can end up doing more harm than good to the people who get involved; they can easily project the darkness that is within themselves onto the world outside the movement. However, matters are never that black and white. The church is not a cult. In the language of the Second Vatican Council, we are a pilgrim people. We are on a journey towards that glorious virtuous state spoken of in the gospel reading. In this earthly life, we never reach the end of that journey. At every step of the journey we can make our own the confession of the first reading from the prophet Jeremiah, ‘Lord, we do confess our wickedness and our father’s guilt: we have indeed sinned against you’. Such a recognition of the lack of goodness in our lives does not discourage us because we are confident that in the words of today’s responsorial psalm, the Lord’s compassion hastens to meet us. Indeed, our realization and recognition that we are still on the way creates a space in our lives for the Lord to bring to completion the good work that he has begun in us. The gospels suggest that Jesus found it much easier to engage with those who were aware of their need of God’s mercy than with those who thought of themselves as morally superior to others.

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(iv) Tuesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

The question ‘Who is God?’ has intrigued curious people down through the centuries. Many different answers have been given to that question. Perhaps one of the most attractive answers from the Jewish Scriptures is to be found in today’s first reading. It declares God to be a ‘God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness’. This is the God revealed by Jesus in his teaching, his whole way of life, his death and his resurrection. The words used to speak of God there are thought provoking and reassuring, ‘tenderness, compassion, kindness, faithfulness’. When we encounter these qualities in someone we meet, we consider ourselves blest to be in their company. These are the people who are spoken of in the gospel reading as ‘the subjects of the kingdom’. They bring something of the kingdom of God to earth. The gospel reading realistically identifies a different kind of presence in our world, namely, ‘the subjects of the evil one’. We are only too well aware of the evil that is being constantly perpetuated by some people, and the painful consequences of such evil for others. We recognize clearly that the kingdom of God has not yet fully come into our world. Indeed, we know that it has not yet fully come into our own lives either. We often fall short of revealing in our lives those divine qualities of tenderness, compassion, kindness and faithfulness. Yet, because these are the qualities of the Lord and he has poured his Spirit into our hearts, we can confidently reach towards these wonderful life-giving qualities, knowing that they are attainable because of the help the Lord gives us. When we give expression to them in our lives, the kingdom of God draws near.

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(v) Tuesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s first reading from the Prophet Jeremiah reflects the darker side of human existence. There is death in the countryside and hunger in the city. The religious leaders, prophets and priests, are at their wit’s end. Anguished questions rise up to God, ‘Why have you struck us down with no hope of cure?’ People’s legitimate hopes have been dashed, ‘We were hoping for peace, no good came of it! For the moment of cure, nothing but terror!’ Yet in the midst of such devastation and darkness of spirit, people have not lost hope in God, ‘O our God, you are our hope’. It can be difficult to keep hopeful faith in God when there seems no human reason for hope. Yet, so often the Scriptures inspire us to keep hoping and trusting in God even when, especially when, ‘we are in the depths of distress’, in the words of today’s responsorial psalm. In the gospel reading, Jesus acknowledges that all will not always be right with the world. What Jesus calls ‘the enemy’, those opposed to God’s good purposes, will sow darnel, seeking to kill off the good seed. Yet, Jesus assures us that in the end God’s good purposes will win out, ‘the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father’. God is working and will continue to work through the glorious Son of Man to overcome the forces of evil and ensure the coming of God’s kingdom. Saint Paul expressed this conviction very succinctly, ‘where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more’. This is the basis of our hope. Hope is rooted not in anything human but in God’s life giving power, which, in the words of Paul, ‘is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine’.

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(vi) Tuesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

There is a very striking statement in today’s first reading, ‘The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend’. It anticipates the words of Jesus, God in human form, to his disciples in the gospel of John, ‘I no longer call you servants. I call you friends’. Jesus was the clearest possible revelation of God’s desire to befriend all of humanity. According to the first reading, God has the qualities we long for in a good friend, tenderness, compassion, slowness to anger, kindness, faithfulness and a readiness to forgive. Jesus revealed these qualities of God fully and clearly. God, through Jesus, has befriended us and he waits for us to befriend him in return. When we open our lives to God’s love present in Jesus, when we remain in that love and then love others as we have been loved, we become what the gospel reading calls ‘good seed’ in the world. A community of beloved and loving disciples is a beachhead of the kingdom of heaven. It is the beginning of the answer to our prayer, ‘Thy kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven’. Yet, the gospel reading also acknowledges that, alongside the good seed, there is ‘darnel’ in the world, sown by the evil one. We don’t need to be reminded of this reality. It easily becomes news, to such an extent that we can end up being quite discouraged. Yet, if we open our eyes we can also see the presence of all the good seed, those expressions in human form of the God of tenderness and compassion who has sent his Son to befriend us. The gospel reading assures that it is this reality that will win out in the end; evil will not ultimately prevail.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

29th July >> Fr. Martin's Reflection on Toda's Mass Readings for Feast of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus (Inc. John 11:19-27) ‘I am the resurrection and the life’.

Feast of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus

Gospel (Except USA)John 11:19-27I am the resurrection and the life.

Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to sympathise with them over their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.’ ‘Your brother’ said Jesus to her ‘will rise again.’ Martha said, ‘I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said:

‘I am the resurrection and the life.If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live,and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.Do you believe this?’

‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’

Gospel (USA)John 11:19-27I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.

Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother [Lazarus, who had died]. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”

Reflections (7)

(i) Feast of Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus

We don’t often have the feast of two sisters and a brother. John’s gospel suggests that Jesus had a warm, friendly, relationship with this family. Earlier in the chapter from which our gospel reading is taken, the evangelist tells us that ‘Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus’. When the sisters sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was ill, their message was, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill’. Later on in this same chapter, when Jesus saw Mary weeping because her brother Lazarus had died, it is said that, ‘Jesus began to weep’, and those present said, ‘See how he loved him’. Martha, Mary and Lazarus are beloved disciples of Jesus. To that extent they represent us all. What Jesus said to his disciples at the last supper in John’s gospel is said to us all, ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love’. Beloved disciples, like Martha, Mary and Lazarus, are not spared the trauma of profound loss in the face of physical death. Jesus himself, the beloved Son of God, experienced the cruellest of deaths on a Roman cross. Yet, Jesus’ words to Martha in today’s gospel reading assures her, and all beloved disciples, that the bond which his love for us and our faith in him creates will not be broken by death. Rather, that bond will be deepened as we come to share in his own risen life. ‘If anyone believes in me, even though they die they will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die’. Yes, the Lord’s beloved disciples will die, as he did, but beyond death they will live, and, therefore, they will never die in the ultimate sense. According to our first reading, the essence of God is love, and God’s love for us was revealed when ‘God sent into the world his only Son so that we could have life through him’. This is the hope which the feast of this beloved family gives us.

And/Or

(ii) Feast of Saint Martha

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Martha. She appears in two of the four gospels, Luke and John, in each case in the company of her sister Mary. In one of the two gospel readings for today’s feast, the one from John, Martha is portrayed as a woman in grief, because of the death of her brother Lazarus. Martha, her sister Mary and her brother Lazarus are referred to as loved by Jesus, as friends of Jesus. This is a family of disciples who have experienced the love of God present in Jesus and have responded to that love. Martha’s grief at the death of her brother Lazarus is the grief of a disciple, of a believer. Her opening words to Jesus on his arrival seem to express her disappointment at Jesus’ absence at the time of her brother’s death, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died’. She symbolizes every believer who struggles to come to terms with the apparent absence of the Lord in the face of the stark reality of the death of a loved one. Yet, her grief does not leave her hopeless, as is evident from her subsequent words to Jesus, ‘I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you’. To the grieving, yet hopeful, Martha, Jesus reveals himself as the resurrection and the life and he then makes a wonderful promise that has spoken to grieving believers down through the centuries. The promise declares that all who believe in Jesus already share in Jesus’ risen life, and that the moment of physical death will not break that life-giving communion with Jesus. The question Jesus addresses to Martha, ‘Do you believe this?’ is addressed to every believer, and we are all asked to make our own Martha’s response to Jesus’ question. ‘Yes, Lord, I believe...’.

And/Or

(iii) Feast of Saint Martha

Martha was the sister of Mary, according to today’s gospel reading from Luke. It might strike us as strange that we have a feast of Saint Martha but no feast of Saint Mary, Martha’s sister. This is all the more strange when we consider that on hearing that gospel reading most people think that Martha comes off worse than Mary. After all, according to Jesus, it is Mary who ‘has chosen the better part’. Yet, Jesus addresses Martha in a very striking way in that gospel reading as ‘Martha, Martha’. It is very rare that Jesus addresses someone by their personal name twice in the gospels. Jesus calls Martha by her name twice. In doing so, he reveals his love for her or, as the first reading expresses it, God’s love for her revealed in himself. ‘God’s love for us was revealed when God sent into the world his only Son’. There is clearly a great goodness to Martha. She seems like a woman who puts her heart into everything, just as she was putting her heart into providing hospitality for Jesus. Yet, there was something no quite right in her life. Jesus addresses her as a woman who worries and frets about so many things. She is consumed with anxiety when there is no need for it. For all her goodness, she has something to learn from her sister Mary with whom she is clearly angry. She can learn from her sister than sometimes being is more important than doing and listening to others can be a greater form of service than providing for them. Martha is a really good woman who hasn’t quite got the balance right in her life. In that way she can be an encouragement to us all. There can be great goodness in us, even though we are far from perfect. There can be much in our lives for the Lord to admire, even though we still have a journey to travel. We are all on the way, just as Martha is on the way in today’s gospel reading. The important thing is to value the good that is in all of us and to invite the Lord to bring his good work in our lives to completion.

And/Or

(iv) Feast of Saint Martha

The gospels give the impression that Jesus was very close to the family of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. He often found a welcome in their home. They were among his friends. We can forget that because Jesus was fully human he had the same need for human friendship as every other human being. There is an intimacy to the scene in today’s gospel reading that we associate with a gathering of friends. Jesus is welcomed by Martha into her home. She gives expression to her friendship of Jesus by preparing a meal for him. She is evidently a good and generous host. Mary, Martha’s sister, expresses her friendship for Jesus in a different way. She sits at Jesus’ feet and listens to him speaking. Hospitality and friendship can take more than one form. We can be very active on friends’ behalf, such as by preparing a fine meal for them, or we can simply be present to them and listen to them. The gospel reading suggests that Martha did not appreciate the way that Mary was giving expression to her friendship of Jesus. She wanted Jesus to put pressure on Mary to help her in preparing the meal. It is an example of the tensions that can emerge in all close relationships. Jesus shows his love for Martha by addressing her twice by her own name, ‘Martha, Martha’. However, he does not comply with Martha’s request but declares that on this occasion Mary has chosen the better part. Jesus seems to have wanted someone to listen to him more than someone to feed him. The Book of Qoheleth declares that there is a time for everything under the sun. In the light of today’s gospel reading, we might say that ‘there is a time to be still and a time to be busy’. When Jesus entered their home, it was Mary who recognized that it was a time to be still. There are times in our lives when all the Lord wants from us is that we be still in his presence and listen to his word.

And/Or

(v) Feast of Saint Martha

One of the most profound statements ever made about God is present in today’s first reading, from the first letter of Saint John, ‘God is love’. Those three words express the fullest possible insight into God. At this point in his letter, the author wants to stress not, what he calls, ‘our love for God’, but, as he says, ‘God’s love for us’. He also states that God revealed his identity as ‘Love’, his love for us by sending his Son into the world so that we could have life through him. All authentic love, all self-giving love, is always life-giving for others. This is supremely true of God’s love for us. It is a love that is life-giving in the sense that it brings us into a sharing in God’s own life, what we call eternal life. This is the promise that Jesus makes to Martha in today’s gospel reading, in the wake of the death of her brother Lazarus. It is a promise that has given hope to believers ever since in the face of death, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though they die they will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die’. Jesus acknowledges there the reality of physical death those who believe in him, ‘even though they die’. Yet, he affirms that our life-giving communion with him which our faith creates will not be broken by death. Rather, our communion with the Lord will be deepened beyond the moment of physical death and, so, we will come to share more fully in his risen life. Martha, the woman of faith, whose feast we celebrate today, was the recipient of that great promise of Jesus on behalf of us all. In speaking to her, the Lord was speaking to each of us. Her question to her is addressed to each one of us, ‘Do you believe this?’ Today’s feast of Saint Martha is an appropriate moment to make our own her response to Jesus’ question, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who has come into this world’. To Martha’s answer we can add, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the resurrection and the life’.

And/Or

(vi) Feast of Saint Martha

This feast has a certain significance for me because it is the anniversary of my father’s death. I was aware that he had a devotion to Saint Martha. There was a novena to Saint Martha over nine Tuesdays, with a candle lit on each Tuesday. A section of the novena prayer read, ‘Comfort me in all my difficulties, and through the great favour you enjoyed when the Saviour was lodged in your house, intercede for my family that we be provided for in our necessities’. I can see how that prayer would have appealed to my father, and indeed to any parent. The gospel reading from John for today's feast is often chosen for a funeral Mass, and it was the gospel reading for my father’s funeral Mass. We can sympathize with Martha’s gentle rebuke of Jesus, ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died’. There was a recognition there of Jesus’ healing power, but also an expression of disappointment that he did not come sooner. We can all feel a little let down by the Lord when a loved one dies. The timing of death rarely seems right to us. Jesus’ response to Mary’s disappointment and grief has spoken to believers ever since as they struggle to let go of a loved one from this life, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though they die the will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die’. Jesus is declaring that our present communion with him, which his love for us and our faith in him creates, will not be broken by death. In virtue of that communion, we already live with his risen life, over which death has no power. The question Jesus then addresses to Martha is addressed to us all, ‘Do you believe this?’ On this her feast day we are invited to make her response to Jesus’ question our own, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe…’

And/Or

(vii) Feast of Saint Martha, Mary and Lazarus

In February 2021 Pope Francis approved a decree changing the liturgical feast of Saint Martha to include her sister, Mary, and her brother, Lazarus. The decree states that, ‘In the household of Bethany, the Lord Jesus experienced the family spirit and friendship of Martha, Mary and Lazarus’. The change to the name of the feast recognizes that Jesus was befriended by a family. We all have individual friends, but it is a special blessing when a whole family befriends us. We come to share in the life journey of the family members, sharing in their joys and sorrows, their significant celebrations and their times of struggle. Jesus had a close relationship with this family of two sisters and a brother. They welcomed him into their home. Jesus’ relationship with this family is described in two of the four gospels. According to John’s gospel, when Lazarus was seriously ill, Jesus was immediately contacted by the two sisters. Although Lazarus died before Jesus arrived, Jesus brought Lazarus back from death to life and spoke a wonderful word of hope to Martha that has consoled believers ever since as they grieve the death of a loved one, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though they die they will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die’. In Luke’s gospel, both sisters showed Jesus hospitality when he visited them. Martha’s hospitality took the form of active serving, preparing a meal for Jesus. Mary’s hospitality took the form of sitting at his feet and listening to him speaking. Martha did not appreciate Mary’s way of showing hospitality, judging her to be inconsiderate towards herself. Jesus did appreciate Mary’s way of showing hospitality. He was of the view that Martha had something to learn from Mary. Perhaps Jesus had something important to say and he needed a listening ear more than an elaborate meal. In our dealings with others, there is a time to sit and listen to them and a time to get busy serving them. There is a wisdom in knowing which form of hospitality is being called for at any given time. In our relationship with the Lord too, there is a time to sit and listen to him in prayer, and there is a time to become one of his labourers, by bringing his loving presence in practical ways to those we meet.

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Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA)John 11:19-27I am the resurrection and the life.

Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to sympathise with them over their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.’ ‘Your brother’ said Jesus to her ‘will rise again.’ Martha said, ‘I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said:

‘I am the resurrection and the life.If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live,and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.Do you believe this?’

‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’

Gospel (Except USA)John 11:19-27I am the resurrection and the life.

Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to sympathise with them over their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.’ ‘Your brother’ said Jesus to her ‘will rise again.’ Martha said, ‘I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said:

‘I am the resurrection and the life.If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live,and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.Do you believe this?’

‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’

Reflections (6)

(i) Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Sometimes we may feel that our good efforts at something are bearing very little fruit. We can get into a frame of mind that says, ‘What good have I been doing with my life?’ We can feel that we have precious little to show for our endeavours. Yet, we can be doing a lot of good without realizing it or recognizing it. We can sometimes forget that even a little can go a long way. The little efforts we make, the little good we do, can have an impact for the better beyond our imagining. That seems to be the message of the two parables that Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading. The mustard seed is tiny and yet it grows into a very large shrub. What looks completely insignificant takes on a life of its own and develops in a way that is out of proportion to the small beginning. Sometimes in our own lives, the little we do can go on to become something that we had never envisaged, and might never even get to see. The little bit of yeast that a woman places in a large batch of dough has a huge impact on that large batch. Again, in our own lives, the little good we do can impact on those around us in ways that would surprise us. Jesus says, that is what the kingdom of God is like. What is small and seemingly insignificant can turn out to be powerful and beneficial for many.

And/Or

(ii) Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

The two parables Jesus speaks in this morning’s gospel reading are an image of his own ministry. His work in Galilee is like the mustard seed and the leaven; it is very small scale and to outsiders would have looked somewhat unpromising. Jesus has not been sweeping all before him. He has been going about his work quietly, without fanfare. Yet, the parables suggests that these small beginnings are the promise of something wonderful to come, just as the mustard seed becomes a tree where the birds of the air build their nests and the tiny leaven has a huge impact on three measures of flower. Humble beginnings can have an extraordinary outcome when the work in question is God’s work. There is an encouragement to us all to keep doing the little bit of good we are able to do. It may not seem much in our own eyes or in the eyes of others, yet God can work powerfully through whatever little good we do, in ways that will surprise us. We can all plant the equivalent of the mustard seed; we can all be the equivalent of the leaven. The little initiative, the small gesture, the offer of help, can all bear fruit in ways that we could never have imagined at the time. The Lord can work powerfully through our smallest efforts if they are done out of love for him. Our calling is often to plant some good seed and to trust that the Lord will do the rest.

And/Or

(iii) Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

It is likely that Jesus spoke the two parables we have just heard as a word of encouragement to his disciples. God’s kingdom was not coming through the ministry of Jesus as quickly and as powerfully as many of Jesus’ followers might have expected. Indeed, the longer Jesus’ ministry went on, the more opposition and hostility he encountered, especially from those in powerful positions. In this setting of growing hostility, Jesus reassures his disciples that, in spite of the small and insignificant progress being made, God’s good work would come to pass, and God’s kingdom would come in all its fullness. The seed, small as it was, had been sown, and its growth is assured. Similarly, just as a small amount of yeast has a significant impact on a large amount of flour, Jesus’ ministry will eventually have an enormous impact for good. Jesus’ words of encouragement are as necessary for disciples today as they were for those original disciples. We can get discouraged by how things are with the church today and with our world, and even with our own lives as the Lord’s disciples. Today’s gospel reading assures us that a seed has been sown by the Lord and its growth is assured, a power for good has been released, the power of the Spirit, and its impact for good is not in doubt. There is no room for complacency, but there is also no room for despondency. As Saint Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians, God’s ‘power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine’.

And/Or

(iv) Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus speaks two parables, one which features a man and the other a woman, a farmer who sows mustard seed and a woman who bakes bread. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus again speaks two parables that feature a man and a woman, a shepherd who looks for his lost sheep and a woman who searches for her lost coin. The experience of men and women were important to Jesus; both sets of experiences could speak to him about the ways of God in the world. In both of today’s parables there is a focus on the power of something very small. A tiny mustard seed can produce a large shrub in which birds can make their nest. A tiny piece of leaven when mixed in with three measures of flower can produce enough bread, it has been estimated, to feed a hundred people. Jesus may have been saying to his disciples that his own ministry might seem very small and limited. Galilee was a tiny region of the vast Roman Empire. Jesus had access to only a relatively small proportion of the people of Galilee itself. Even among those he had access to, he was already beginning to encounter opposition. Such beginnings could seem very unpromising. Yet, Jesus assures his disciples that such small beginnings will bring forth something wonderful that will leave huge numbers blessed, as we can all vouch for. The two parables also speak to our own small efforts to do what is right and good. Jesus is reminding us that if we allow the Lord to work through us in even the smallest of ways, we will be surprised at the great good that will come from such small beginnings.

And/Or

(v) Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

In both parables in today’s gospel reading, Jesus draws a contrast between the tiny beginnings and the large scale of the final result. The mustard seed is the smallest of the seeds but within a year it has grown into a shrub large enough to provide a place for birds to nest. A tiny piece of yeast can leaven a huge amount of flour, three measures, enough to feed a hundred people. The yeast is not only tiny but it is powerful. It goes about its work silently and unobtrusively until it produces a result out of proportion to its size. The same could be said of the ministry of Jesus. He goes about his work as someone who is humble and gentle of heart, quietly and unobtrusively, and, yet, the final outcome of his work will be out of proportion to those humble beginnings. The same can be true of our own lives. The good work we do, quietly and unobtrusively, can bear fruit in a way that will surprise us. The Lord can work powerfully through our good efforts, even though they may seem of little significance to us. There is some good we can all do, no matter how small, that no one else can do, and that can make a difference for the better in the lives of others. Saint John Henry Newman wrote, ‘God hascreated me to do himsome definite service. Hehascommittedsomework to me which Hehasnot committed to another’.

Regardless of where we are on our life’s journey, the Lord can work powerfully through even the smallest service we render to one another.

And/Or

(vi) Monday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

This morning we celebrate the first holy communion of Adam. We are all delighted to share this special day with him. We had the first holy communion of Harriet on Saturday and I mentioned then that I made my own first holy communion in Saint Peter’s Church, Phibsboro, because I went to St. Peter’s National School which is very close to that lovely church. The first reading today is the reading we would usually have for the First Holy Communion Mass. It is the earliest account of the last supper that has come down to us, from Saint Paul. At that supper, Jesus gave himself, his body and blood, under the form of bread and wine, to his disciples. On the night before he died, he gave them the most precious gift he could give them, the gift of himself. At that supper, Jesus also told his disciples to ‘do this in memory of me’. In every generation, his disciples were to repeat what Jesus said and did at the last supper, so that he could continue to give himself to his followers as Bread of Life. This morning, for the first time, Jesus is giving himself to Adam as Bread of Life. Just as parents brought their children to Jesus, according to the gospels, Adam’s parents and grandparents have been bringing Adam to Jesus in various ways since she was born. The first significant moment when they brought her to Jesus was on the day of his baptism. When they taught him to pray, they were bringing her to Jesus. In the language of today’s gospel reading, they have been sowing the mustard seed of the faith in his life. That seed has been growing in his young life and will continue to grow. Because, Adam has been brought to Jesus in various ways, Jesus was been meeting with him, blessing him with his presence. This morning, Jesus is meeting with Adam in a very special way, and blessing him in a way he has never blessed him before. He is coming to Adam in a very personal way as the Bread of Life. He is saying to Adam what he said to his disciples at the last supper, ‘Take and eat’. The Lord wants to come close to Adam, so that Adam can come close to him. His relationship, his friendship, with Jesus will deepen because of what is happening today. Adam’s first holy communion reminds us of how precious the gift of the Eucharist is for all of us. We have all received the Lord in Holy Communion many times, but we need to treasure each time we receive Jesus as the Bread of Life, as if it was our first time. Adam, this morning, you are helping us to appreciate this great gift of the Eucharist, the gift of Jesus, the Bread of Life, that we have all been given. On this special day in your life, we will be praying for you in a special way.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

28th July >> Fr. Martin's Homilies / Reflections on Today's Mass Readings for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) (Inc. John 6:1-15): ‘Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all’.

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Gospel (Except USA)John 6:1-15The feeding of the five thousand.

Jesus went off to the other side of the Sea of Galilee– or of Tiberias– and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by curing the sick. Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples. It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’ He only said this to test Philip; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do. Philip answered, ‘Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, ‘There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Make the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting ready; he then did the same with the fish, giving out as much as was wanted. When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, ‘Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted.’ So they picked them up, and filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves. The people, seeing this sign that he had given, said, ‘This really is the prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, who could see they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, escaped back to the hills by himself.

Gospel (USA)John 6:1–15He distributed as much as they wanted to those who were reclining.

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

Homilies (6)

(i) Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sometimes when I sit down with a family to choose the readings for the funeral Mass of a loved one, they will chose the story of the raising of Lazarus as the gospel reading because the character of Lazarus reminds them of their loved one. They might say to me, ‘My mother was known as Lazarus in recent years because she came back from the brink of death so many times’. Believers have often identified with one or other of the characters in the gospels. It is one way of inserting ourselves into the gospel story.

Many of the gospel characters, like Lazarus, have names, but some are not given a name. Perhaps in some cases the gospel writers do not give a name to someone as an invitation to us who read the gospel to give the character our own name. In today’s gospel reading, there are four individual characters, three of whom have names, Jesus, Philip and Andrew. The fourth character is the small boy who isn’t named. Perhaps we are being invited to identify with him. There are good reasons why the gospel writer may have wanted us to identify with this small boy because he has something to teach us. When faced with a very large crowd who were hungry, the response of Philip and Andrew to this challenging situation of the hungry crowd was a bit defeatist. Philip calculated that they simply didn’t have enough money to buy food for so many. Andrew was aware of a small boy who had a small amount of food but concluded it could serve no purpose other than feed his own family. However, the small boy’s five barley loaves and two fish ended up in the hands of Jesus. The boy was prepared to part with his little parcel of food and give it to Jesus. He gave the little he had to the Lord, and the Lord worked powerfully through this boy’s small fare. As a result of the boy’s generosity, the Lord was able to feed the hunger of the crowd and to do so abundantly, as is clear from the twelve baskets of scraps that were left over. This was clearly a feast, with everyone eating as much as they wanted.

It was the Lord who fed the crowd, but he needed the small boy’s five barley loaves and two fish to do it. If we are being invited to identify with this small boy, what might the gospel reading be saying to us? There are times in all our lives when the resources that we have seem so insignificant before the situation we face, whether that is our material resources, or our physical resources, or our mental and emotional resources. We can easily find ourselves asking a version of Andrew’s question, ‘What is that between so many?’ It is the kind of question that can drag us down and disempower us. The small boy just gave away what he had and something wonderful happened. We may feel that we have little to give, that our resources are few, but if we give generously of the little we have we too can discover that something wonderful can happen. If we do the little that we are capable of doing, the Lord can work through us in ways that can surprise us. It is never all down to us, but our contribution, small as it may seem, can be vital. There are many times in the gospels when Jesus highlights the value of what is small and seemingly insignificant. He once said that whoever gives just a cup of cold water to one of his disciples will not lose their reward. He drew his disciples’ attention to the widow who put a tiny amount of money into the Temple treasurer. He spoke of the transformative power of a tiny piece of leaven in a large batch of dough, and of the giant shrub that grows from the tiny mustard seed. The small boy was the leaven, the mustard seed, in the crowd. Jesus could do great things with his gift.

The nameless boy in the gospel reading stands in for all those who are prepared to offer their small resources to the Lord by placing them at the service of others. The action of one generous boy was the beginning of a great work. In this life we may never become aware of how our little acts of generous service were the beginnings of some great work. We may not have the time or energy or resources to do great things, but if we do the little we can do, the Lord can accomplish great things through us. In the verses that immediately precede our second reading, Paul gives glory to God whose ‘power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine’. The Lord is at work among us in ways that we could never imagine and it is our small acts of generosity and kindness that create the space for the Lord to work in these ways. When the boy shared his five barley loaves and two fish with Jesus, there was a great deal left over. Sometimes, we only discover how much we have left over when we share the little we have, because, as Jesus says elsewhere in the gospels, ‘Give and it will be given to you’.

And/Or

(ii) Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

From time to time we can find ourselves facing into situations that seem beyond our resources to manage. It might be the onset of a serious illness in our own lives or in the lives of someone we love. We wonder how we will get through the challenging times that lie ahead. It might be the sudden death of a family member or a close friend. We wonder how we will ever be able to keep going without the person who has meant so much to us. It might be the case that our lives have taken a turning we very much regret. We have failed to do something we should have done or we have done something we should not have done. We wonder how we will ever get beyond this lapse and make a fresh start. In all kinds of ways we can find ourselves facing a future that seems uninviting.

In this morning’s gospel reading we find Jesus and his disciples facing a situation that seemed beyond their resources to cope with. They were faced with a hungry crowd and little or no means of feeding them. In this situation different people reacted in different ways. Philip made a calculation: on the basis of the number of people and the amount of money available to buy food, and decided that nothing could be done. You could say that this was the reaction of the realist. The facts are the facts, and on the basis of the facts, these people cannot be helped. We can all find ourselves reacting in that way to demanding situations. We conclude that the numbers do not add up and we resign ourselves to doing nothing. Andrew has another reaction to the situation. He recognized that one of the crowd had a small amount of food but he dismissed this small resource as of no value. This is the reaction of the person who belittles the resources that are there and the efforts that could be made to address the challenging situation. You could say it is the reaction of the cynic, and again we can all be prone to that kind of reaction.

There were two other reactions in the story that the gospel tells. There is the reaction of the small boy who willing gave to Jesus the few pieces of food that he had. This is the reaction of the generous person, of the one who is prepared to give all he or she has, even though it appears to be far less than what is needed. Such people are wonderful to have around when challenging times come our way. They do not allow the demanding situation to disempower them. They give all they have to give. Then there is the reaction of Jesus himself. He took the few resources that the young boy was generous enough to part with and, having prayed the prayer of thanksgiving to God over these small pieces of food, he somehow fed the enormous crowd. As a result, everyone had more than enough to eat and there was even some food left over.

St Paul once made the great discovery that God’s power can be made perfect in weakness. God can work powerfully in and through very weak instruments like Paul himself. In the Gospel reading, Jesus works powerfully in and through what were, from a merely human point of view, very weak resources indeed, five barley loaves and two fish. Jesus took the resources that were given to him and with them he fed the hunger of the crowd. The realist, Philip, and the cynic, Andrew, and all the other disciples, discovered that the impossible became possible in the power and prayer of Jesus.

The Lord needs our resources of generosity and giftedness today as much as he needed the five barley loaves and the two fish of that young boy, if he is to continue to do his work in the world, if he is to continue to feed those who hunger for food, for love, for God. In responding to all those hungers of his people today, the Lord will not bypass our own resources. They may seem very inadequate to us, but to the Lord they are vital. He asks us to give ourselves and our resources generously to him, to place ourselves, all that we have and all that we are, at his disposal. If we do that, we can never underestimate what the Lord can do in our own lives and in the lives of others through us.

Today’s second reading is from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians. Immediately before that reading, St. Paul declared that God’s power ‘at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine’. We can be surprised at what the Lord’s power can accomplish within us and through us if we give of ourselves generously to him. Often our faith is not expectant enough. We can fail to appreciate how powerfully the risen Lord can work through generous lives.

If we believe in a Lord whose power at work within us can do immeasurable more than all we ask or image, we will always remain people of hope, no matter how hopeless things may seem from a merely human perspective. Paul reminds us in that second reading that we are all called into one and the same hope. As Christians we are not disposed to writing off any situation, or any person, as hopeless. We never despair before the enormity of the task that lies before us, whether that task relates to our own situation or the situation of those in greater need than ourselves. We continue to give generously of the little we have, even when the mountain ahead seems beyond reach, because we know how powerfully the Lord can work through our generous efforts.

And/Or

(iii) Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

We all have our hopes and our dreams. One of the tasks of life is to keep our hopes and our dreams alive. That can sometimes be difficult. Our hopes and dreams are not always well received by others. We can be told that we are unrealistic, that we should settle for less. Yet, we need our hopes and dreams; they can energize us to move much further than we might otherwise move. We might not always reach the goal of our hopes and dreams, but in reaching for that goal we grow as human beings. In many ways, we are defined more by what we aim for than by what we actually do. It is our hopes, dreams and goals that shape us. There is a sense in which hopes, dreams and goals will always be unrealistic; they invite us to look beyond reality as it is and to move towards something better and fuller.

In the gospel reading, Jesus looks out on a very large hungry crowd. His dream, his hope, was that they could be fed, even though the place was remote. His question to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’ could be understood as a way of testing the nature and quality of Philip’s own dreams and hopes for these people. Philip’s response suggests that he did not really share Jesus’ hopes and dreams, for this crowd that had come out to him, ‘Two hundred denarii would only but enough to give them a small piece each’. Philip saw the issue in financial terms, and quickly concluded that there was no viable financial solution to the problem that faced them. Philip was being realistic, but Jesus was teasing him to have bigger dreams and better hopes for these people. We can sometimes too easily allow financial considerations to kill off our hopes and dreams. A great deal can be accomplished and great good can be done even in the absence of money. The most precious gifts we have to offer others are not financial ones, but gifts of friendship, love, understanding, acceptance, and forgiveness, the gifts of time and of a listening ear, the gift of a compassionate heart. These are the gifts that work little miracles. Even when our financial resources are very low, we can enrich the lives of others in significant ways. We can never underestimate the resources we have within us and among us to enhance the lives of others. If Philip thought purely in financial terms, the other disciple in the gospel reading, Andrew, recognized that there were some resources among the crowd who needed feeding, but he considered them hopelessly inadequate, ‘There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?’ Even though he was beginning to look in the right direction, he could not allow himself to share Jesus’ dreams and hopes that this crowd could be fed in this remote place.

The question of Andrew, ‘What is that between so many?’ is one that may find an echo in our own lives. We can have our hopes and dreams for ourselves and others, but we wonder where we are going to get the means to accomplish all that seems good and necessary. The equivalent of the five barley loaves and two fish at our disposal can seem so inadequate to meet the need and to accomplish the task. Then the nagging question can begin to eat away at us, ‘Is there any purpose in our hopes when they are sure to be frustrated?’ The temptation can be to compromise our hopes and to settle for something that is second best. We begin to think that we should really be whittling down our hopes and dreams to what is often termed ‘reality’. Reality, of course, cannot be ignored. The question of Andrew ‘What is that between so many?’ was a realistic question. It needed to be asked, but it did not settle the matter; his question was not the last word. In this situation, the last word was not determined by Andrew’s realism but by the generous hopes and dreams that Jesus had for this crowd. We cannot be sure what exactly happened on that day in the wilderness, but the evangelist would have us believe that Jesus’ hopes and desires for the crowd came to pass, in spite of the enormity of the challenge and the limited nature of the resources. Jesus worked powerfully through the meagre resources that were given to him and, as a result, the seemingly impossible came to pass. The comment of Philip and the question of Andrew, both of which suggested that nothing could be done, gave way before the powerful word and actions of Jesus.

The Lord can continue to work powerfully today in situations that seem hopeless and lacking in promise. The Lord continues to have hopes and dreams for all of us who are searching for wholeness and nourishment and life. He invites us to keeping entering into his hopes and dreams for ourselves and others, rather than allow ourselves to become bitter and pessimistic because the situation seems so daunting. The Lord also calls on us to trust that, even when our resources seem meagre and the situation facing us seems to overwhelm us, his power at work in and through us can accomplish far more than we could imagine or hope for.

And/Or

(iv) Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

We can sometimes find ourselves before a situation which seems beyond our abilities to deal with. The gap between the resources we have at our disposal and the issue that is crying out to be dealt with seems too great. We feel a sense of helplessness which drains us of the energy to tackle the problem. The challenge seems too great, in comparison to the resources we have at our disposal.

In this morning’s gospel reading we have an example of that kind of powerlessness before a daunting task. Jesus and the disciples are faced with a very large crowd of hungry people in a deserted place. They need to be fed and the resources to feed them don’t appear to be there. The sense of being overwhelmed by the task that needs doing is audible in the comments that Jesus’ disciples make. Philip states, ‘Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each’. Andrew comments that there is a small boy present with five barley loaves and two fish, but he asks rather despairingly, ‘What is that between so many?’ I am sure that people who work for aid agencies like Trocaire, Concern, Goal and Gorta often found themselves in a similar situation in those parts of the world ravaged by conflict and famine. The huge need outstrips the available resources. Yet, in that situation such workers always do whatever they can with whatever resources they have at their disposal. They don’t despair; they tackle the situation as best as they can.

In the gospel reading, Jesus was just as aware as his disciples of the enormity of the task and the apparent lack of resources. However, he did not share their sense of defeatism. He saw that in some way the small boy with the five barley loaves and two fish was the key to feeding the vast crowd. We cannot be certain what exactly happened on that day in the wilderness but it seems certain that the small boy with his few barley loaves and fish played a very important role. There was only enough food there for a simple meal for a poor family. Yet, he was willing to part with his barley loaves and fish; he handed them over to Jesus and, in some mysterious way, Jesus was able to work with the young boy’s generous gift to feed everyone. One generous boy was the beginning of the feeding of the multitude. The boy’s generosity gave Jesus the opening that he needed. In and through this small boy’s simple gift, Jesus worked powerfully.

This is one of the very few stories about Jesus that is to be found in all four gospels. It clearly spoke very powerfully to the early church. Perhaps in and through this story the early believers came to appreciate that the Lord can use our tiniest efforts to perform his greatest works. As Paul declared in his letter to the church in Corinth that God’s power is often made perfect in our weakness. The Lord can work powerfully in and through the very little that we possess, if we are generous with that little. The small boy is our teacher in that regard. He gave over his few barley loaves and fish, and the Lord did the rest. So often the spontaneous generosity of children can have a great deal to teach us. In giving away the little we have we leave ourselves very vulnerable. Yet, the gospel reading suggests that the Lord can work powerfully in and through that very vulnerability which is the fruit of our generosity. The Lord needs us to be generous with what we have, even though it can seem very small and very inadequate in our eyes. The Lord does not work in a vacuum; he needs us to create an opening for him to work. Without the presence of Jesus, the crowd would not have been fed. Without the presence of the small boy and his few resources the crowd would not have been fed either. The Lord needs us to be generous with what we have today if he is to continue to feed the various hungers of today’s crowd, whether it is the basic hunger for food, or the hunger for shelter, for a home, for friendship, for community, for acceptance or the deeper spiritual hunger for God. The gospel reading this morning teaches us never to underestimate the significance of even the tiniest efforts we make to be generous with the resources we have at our disposal, whether it is resources of money, or time or some ability or other.

All four evangelists saw a connection between what happened in the wilderness on that day and what happened at the Last Supper and what happens at every Eucharist. Just as Jesus transformed the small boy’s simple gifts of five barley loaves and two fish into a feast for thousands, so he transforms our simple gifts of bread and wine into a spiritual feast for all, the bread of life and the cup of salvation. The way the Lord works in the Eucharist is how he works in the rest of our lives. He takes the little we offer to him and by means of it, in the words of Saint Paul, he is ‘able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine’.

And/Or

(v) Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

During school term time I pay a weekly visit to Belgrove junior girls’ school, for a short prayer service. The teachers gather together the children from the three classes in the year group in one of the classrooms for the time of prayer. I am always struck by how open the children are to prayer, both in word and in song. Children seem receptive to the world of faith in a way that we adults often aren’t to the same extent. Children have their own way of bringing us to the Lord. Jesus himself seems to have recognized this quality of children. On one occasion, parents were trying to bring children to Jesus for him to bless them, and Jesus’ disciples, of all people, were preventing the parents from doing this. According to the gospel passage, Jesus was indignant with his disciples. It is the only time that indignation is ascribed to Jesus in all four gospels. In his indignation, he says to his disciples, ‘whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it’. Jesus was saying that when it comes to receiving the gift that Jesus has come to give us from God, we have a lot to learn from children. We often see ourselves as children’s teachers, but when it comes to our relationship with the Lord, we can learn a lot from them.

Children do not feature too often in the gospel story, but when they too they tend to appear in a very positive light. You may have noticed that a child features in today’s gospel reading. I was at a prayer meeting some time ago where this gospel reading was the focus of our prayer. As we reflected on this gospel story together, after our time of silent prayer, one person remarked that prior to this they hadn’t really paid much attention to the presence of the small boy in this story. We tend to focus on Jesus and his disciples, and on the hungry crowd. Yet, the small boy with his five barley loaves and two fish is, in many ways, the key to what happens. In today’s gospel reading, he is referred to by Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, but in a way which suggests the boy’s relative insignificance, ‘There is a small boy here with five loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?’ In the culture of that time and place, children were rarely the centre of attention as they can be today. They tended to get overlooked; they were valued more as adults in waiting than for who they were in themselves. However, unlike Andrew, Jesus does not consider the presence of this small boy with his meagre resources to be insignificant. He knows that if the boy is prepared to part with his precious little store, great things can happen. Indeed, according to the gospel reading, Jesus goes on to satisfy the hunger of the crowd with the five loaves and two fish of this small boy. Perhaps we can never know what exactly happened on that day, but the gospel reading is suggesting that the Lord can work powerfully through very insignificant resources, such as a small boy and his few loaves and fish. Our human resources, inadequate though they may be, matter a great deal to the Lord. If we offer our own meagre resources to the Lord, if we place them at his service, he can work through them beyond all our expectations. All the Lord asks is that we are generous with what we have, little as that may be, and he will work with our generosity in ways that will surprise us. The Lord’s way of working is different to how the world works. As Saint Paul came to realize, the Lord’s power is often made perfect in weakness. On this occasion, the Lord worked powerfully in the service of a large crowd through the weakness of a small boy with his meagre resources.

In these times when we aware of the declining influence of the church in the culture, it can be good to remind ourselves that the Lord can work powerfully through weakness. We can easily become defeatist. Andrew’s question was defeatist in tone, ‘What is that between so many?’ as was Philip’s comment, ‘Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each’. However, once Jesus heard about the small boy with the five barley loaves and two fish, he swung into action, and the action included prayer. He instructed his disciples to get the crowds to sit down, he prayed aloud to God over the small boy’s few resources, and he then fed the large crowd. Defeatism, despondency was never an option for Jesus, and it cannot be for us, his followers, either. The Lord sees strength in weakness, and in these times, we need that inspirational vision of the Lord. It is significant that once the crowd was fed, they immediately wanted Jesus to be strong in the way the world understands strength. They wanted to take him by force and make him king. In response, Jesus escaped into the hills of Galilee. We are followers of a Lord whose kingdom is not of this world, and whose ways of working are not of this world, and, therein lies our hope.

And/Or

(vi) Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Many of us may have found ourselves in situations where we felt that the resources at our disposal were not at all adequate to meet the demands that would be made on them. We look at what we have and we look at what we are facing into and the two simply do not match. Sometimes the prudent decision to make in those situations is not to proceed with what we are planning or what is being asked of us. There are times, however, when, faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, the right thing to do is to stay the course, even though reasonable arguments can be made for not doing so.

This is the kind of situation that we find in today’s gospel reading. Faced with a hungry crowd in a lonely place, far from the nearest town, the disciples see no way of feeding them. Philip declares that money alone could not address the problem. Even the equivalent of six months wages for a day labourer, two hundred denarii, would only buy a small piece of food for each person. Andrew at least draws attention to the presence of a small boy with five barley loaves and two fish, but he asks somewhat despairingly, ‘What is that between so many?’ Five loaves and two fish are hardly enough to meet the need. Yet, Jesus saw that he could do a great deal with those few resources, provided the small boy was prepared to part with them. He evidently was, because Jesus went on to feed the hunger of the crowd with the boy’s five loaves and two fish. On that day the disciples discovered that if even one person is generous with the little he or she has, the Lord can work powerfully through that little to serve those in need. The Lord can work powerfully through small gestures. Such small gestures can be the beginning of something great. Even if we only have a little to give, the Lord can work powerfully through that little. Out of very little, if offered generously to the Lord, great things can happen. We all have gifts we can present to the Lord; nothing is too insignificant to be placed in the Lord’s hands. When we share even the little we have with the Lord, we can be surprised at what comes to pass. The small boy is often overlooked in this gospel story. Yet, it was his willingness to give away his few resources that allowed Jesus to work in a way that surpassed the expectations of everyone. Children can be spontaneous in their giving. They often part more freely with what is theirs than adults do. Perhaps that is why the risen Lord today can sometimes work more powerfully through children than through adults to touch the lives of others. The little boy in the story stands in for all who are prepared to offer their own sometimes meagre resources to the Lord, allowing him to enhance them beyond all expectations.

The Lord worked powerfully through what seemed like very insignificant resources, a small boy’s small meal. As St Paul discovered in his own life, the Lord’s power is often made perfect in weakness. At the heart of the church’s life is the Eucharist and this is an instance of the Lord’s power made perfect in weakness. The humblest of gifts, bread and wine, are placed on the altar and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they are given back to us as the body and blood of Christ. The evangelist, John, in today’s gospel reading clearly understood that what Jesus did in the wilderness for that huge crowd of people pointed ahead to what he did at the Last Supper for the disciples and, through them, for all of us. Jesus’ actions with the bread in the gospel reading remind us of his actions at the last supper. ‘He took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all’. On both occasions, in the wilderness of Galilee and in the upper room in Jerusalem, what was given to Jesus was insignificant compared to what he gave back. This was especially so at the Last Supper and, indeed, at every Eucharist. We offer what is of little value, simple bread and very ordinary wine, and we are given back what is of infinite value, the Lord’s body and blood. In the wilderness, the Lord worked powerfully through very insignificant resources to feed the physical hunger of the people. At the Eucharist, the Lord works powerfully through similarly insignificant resources to satisfy the deeper, spiritual, hunger of the human heart, the hunger and thirst for a love that is faithful unto death.

Even though Jesus worked to satisfy the physical hunger of the crowd and would soon go on to declare that he could satisfy their spiritual hunger, he was not prepared to satisfy their hunger for power. When, in response to what he had done, people wanted to take him by force and make him king, Jesus escaped into the hills by himself. As he would go on to say to Pilate, if he is a king, his kingdom is not of this world. He exercises his kingship by feeding the hungry in body and spirit. This remains the work of the risen Lord today, and he looks to us all to share in this vital work.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

27th July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Saturday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Matthew 13:24-30): ‘Let them both grow till the harvest’.

Saturday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 13:24-30Let them both grow till the harvest.

Jesus put another parable before the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner’s servants went to him and said, “Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?” “Some enemy has done this” he answered. And the servants said, “Do you want us to go and weed it out?” But he said, “No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.”’

Gospel (USA)Matthew 13:24-30Let them grow together until harvest.

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

Reflections (5)

(i) Saturday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

We are all familiar with weeds in our gardens. We have a tendency to root them out immediately. However, sometimes the weeds are so close to the shrub or flower that to take out the weed risks disturbing the plant. We sometimes have to let the weeds be for the sake of the plant. We are also aware in recent times that the flowers which weeds generate can be great pollinators for our bees. We are now being told not to be rooting out our dandelions so quickly and ruthlessly. Weeds are making a comeback! In the parable that Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading, the servants of the landowner wanted to pull up the weeds that had appeared among the wheat. However, the landowner himself was a more patient man. He was aware that pulling up the weeds could pull up some wheat as well and he advised letting both weed and wheat grow until harvest time, and then they could be separated. There is always a deeper meaning to Jesus’ parables. He wasn’t primarily talking about gardens or fields of wheat. After all, he began the parable with the words, ‘the kingdom of God may be compared to…’. Jesus was really talking about God and how God relates to us. He is suggesting that God can be patient with our weaknesses because God recognises that they are often closely aligned with our strengths. An angry person may have a passion for justice; a lazy person may be a great listener; an overly anxious person may be very dutiful and conscientious. God recognizes that we are all a mixture of wheat and weed, of good and evil, of strength and weakness and he is patient with our mixture. We need to be patient too, with ourselves and with others. In striving after a perfect garden, a gardener risks doing harm as well as good. In striving too hard to make ourselves perfect or, more worryingly still, to make others perfect, we risk doing as much harm as good. We need to learn to live with the mixture we and others are, while celebrating and working to enhance all that is good there.

And/Or

(ii) Saturday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

There is something of a contrast in this morning’s gospel reading between the farmer who sowed wheat seed in a field and his servants. When weeds started to appear among the wheat, the instinct of the servants was to dig up the weeds so as to have a field of pure wheat. The farmer’s instinct was different. He was more tolerant of the weeds. He suggested letting both wheat and weeds grow together until the harvest time, and then they can be separated. He was a patient man; he knew he would get his wheat without the weeds eventually. However, in the meantime, he could live with the weeds. He didn’t have the zeal of his servants to purify his field immediately, without waiting. In this parable Jesus was saying something about the kingdom of God and, more particularly, about the sign of that kingdom in our world, the community of his disciples, what we call the church. Jesus recognizes that the church will be a mixture of the good and the not-so-good up until the end of time, when all that is not of God will disappear. As individual disciples we too will remain a mixture of light and shade until we are fully conformed to the image of God’s Son in the next life. We are all the time trying to grow more fully into God’s Son. Yet, we have to accept that sin will always be part of our lives, this side of eternity. Like the farmer in the parable, the Lord is patient with us. We need to be patient with ourselves and with each other. This is not complacency; it is simply the realistic recognition that we are all a work in progress. God has begun a good work in our lives, and even if will never be completed in this life, God will bring that good work to completion in eternity. In the meantime, we try to create a space for God to work in our own lives and in the lives of others.

And/Or

(iii) Saturday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus in today’s parable was warning us against a premature separation of wheat from weed, of the good from the bad. He was saying that this kind of separation is really God’s work, not our work, and that it will happen at the end of time rather than in the course of time. Just as the servants in the parable would have been unable to distinguish the wheat from the weeds if they had been let loose, we do not always have the necessary insight to distinguish who is good and who is evil. We can get it terribly wrong; we only have to think of those innocent people who have been wrongly imprisoned. How often in our own personal lives have we judged someone harshly only to discover in time that we were very wide of the mark. The church itself has not always heeded the warning of Jesus about the dangers of premature separation. The inquisition was not in the spirit of the parable that Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading. Too great a zeal to purify the wheat field risks doing more harm than good. A weed-free garden may be highly desirable, but the gospel today suggests that we may have to learn to live with weeds. We need to be patient with imperfection, in ourselves and in others. As we know only too well, life is not tidy. It is not like a well-manicured garden, in which order and harmony prevail. Each of us is a mixture of wheat and weed; we are each tainted by sin and yet touched by grace. Our calling is to grow in grace before God and others, as Jesus did. We look to him to help us to keep on turning from sin and growing in grace.

And/Or

(iv) Saturday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

It has often been said that our weaknesses are the shadow side of our strengths. The line between the good and the not-so-good in our lives can be very subtle. If we are over zealous in trying to root out what is not so good in someone’s life, or, indeed, in our own, we might damage what is good there too. In the parable Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading, the owner’s servants wanted to root out the weeds that had appeared among the wheat. The owner had to restrain them. This was not the time for such separation; it is not always easy to distinguish wheat from weeds at an early stage of growth, and both can be closely intertwined. The separation would come at harvest time. In the meantime, patience is needed with the weeds. Jesus may have been warning against a kind of religious zeal that is too eager to identify weeds, what is considered worthless, and to separate it out from wheat, what is considered good. Saint Paul showed some of this kind of religious zeal before he encountered Christ on the road to Damascus. He saw the followers of Jesus as weeds in the field of Judaism; they had to be identified and rooted out. He was blind to the presence of God among them. Sometimes, there is no mistaking evil and evil people. However, we can also get it terrible wrong and misjudge others. There are times when we may need to live with the weaknesses of others for the sake of their great strengths. We are all a mixture of wheat and weed. The Lord’s good work is ongoing in our lives, and yet it is always hindered by the presence of sin. Only beyond this earthly life will we be fully conformed to image of God’s Son. In the meantime, we need a certain amount of patience with ourselves and others, while seeking to grow more fully into the person of Christ and helping each other to do so.

And/Or

(v) Saturday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

This morning we celebrate the first holy communion of Harriet. We are all delighted to share this special day with her. I made my own first holy communion in Saint Peter’s Church, Phibsboro, because I went to St. Peter’s National School which is very close to that lovely church. The first reading today is the reading we would usually have for the First Holy Communion Mass. It is the earliest account of the last supper that has come down to us, from Saint Paul. At that supper, Jesus gave himself, his body and blood, under the form of bread and wine, to his disciples. On the night before he died, he gave them the most precious gift he could give them, the gift of himself. At that supper, Jesus also told his disciples to ‘do this in memory of me’. In every generation, his disciples were to repeat what Jesus said and did at the last supper, so that he could continue to give himself to his followers as Bread of Life. This morning, for the first time, Jesus is giving himself to Harriet as Bread of Life. Just as parents brought their children to Jesus, according to the gospels, Harriet’s parents and grandparents have been bringing Harriet to Jesus since she was born. The first significant moment when they brought her to Jesus was on the day of her baptism. When they taught her to pray, when they brought her to the church for Mass or just to visit, they were bringing her to Jesus. In the language of today’s gospel reading, they have been sowing the good seed of the faith in her life. Because, Harriet has been brought to Jesus in all these ways, Jesus was been meeting with her, blessing her with his presence. This morning, Jesus is meeting with Harriet in a very special way. He is blessing her in a way he has never blessed her before. He is coming to her in a very personal way as the Bread of Life. He wants to come close to her, so that she can come close to him. Her relationship, her friendship, with Jesus will deepen because of what is happening today. Harriet’s first holy communion reminds us of how precious the gift of the Eucharist is for all of us. We have all received the Lord in Holy Communion many times, but we can treasure each time we receive Jesus as the Bread of Life, as if it was our first time. Harriet, this morning, you are helping us to appreciate the gift of Jesus, the Bread of Life, that we have all been given. On this special day in your life, we will be praying for you in a special way.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

26th July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for:

Friday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Matthew 13:18-23)

And

Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary(Inc. Matthew 13:16-17)

Friday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 13:18-23The man who hears the word and understands it yields a rich harvest.

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You are to hear the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path. The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy. But he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls away at once. The one who received the seed in thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing. And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.’

Gospel (USA)Matthew 13:18-23The one who hears the word and understands it will bear much fruit.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Hear the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom without understanding it, and the Evil One comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

Reflections (6)

(i) Friday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The gospel reading places an interpretation of the parable of the sower on the lips of Jesus. It is likely that this way of interpreting the parable reflects the experience of the members of the early church. The seed of faith that is sown in our hearts has the potential to enrich our lives and the lives of those we meet. Yet, the parable acknowledges that, as we go through life, the growth of the seed, the development and deepening of our faith, can encounter many challenges. We may not come to understand our faith sufficiently; it doesn’t make sense to us as we get older. As a result, our faith, our relationship with the Lord, is vulnerable to being swept away by those who seek to undermine it. Our faith in the Lord may not be deeply rooted enough to hold firm when our faith proves to be costly to us in some way. We can allow our faith to be choked, swamped, by the anxieties and cares of life or by the attraction of other paths that promise more immediate gain for us. Yet, alongside the threats to our faith, the parable concludes with the promise that if we keep receiving the Lord into our lives, if we keep trying to hear his word and live by it, then our lives will bear rich fruit. We will be fully alive ourselves and we will help to bring life to others. The Lord is always at work in our lives to make this happen. The Lord not only calls us to a certain way of life but he works within us through his Spirit to enable us to travel this way, As Saint Paul says at the end of his first letter to the Thessalonians, ‘The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this’.

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(ii) Friday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel reading presents a realistic picture of the various obstacles that can hinder us from hearing the word of the Lord in a way that bears fruit in our lives. The first obstacle mentioned is lack of understanding. We do need some understanding of the word that we hear. We don’t necessarily need to do all kinds of courses, but we need some sense of who Jesus is if we are to hear his word with appreciation. The second obstacle mentioned is the lack of roots. Sometimes we do not allow the word we hear to enter into us deeply enough. We have a superficial acquaintance with the word, but we don’t ponder it sufficiently for it to take real root in us. What isn’t rooted in us can easily be abandoned when it begins to cost us something. The third obstacle is referred to in a double way as the worries of this world and the lure of riches; they can be understood together as worry over worldly success and wealth. We cannot serve God and Mammon; if we try to serve Mammon, the Lord’s word gets choked. The gospel reading suggests that hearing the Lord’s word in a way that bears fruit in our lives won’t happen automatically. There is a struggle involved; there are obstacles to be overcome. That is why Jesus taught us to pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’. However, the Lord is stronger than any obstacle we might face, and if we open our hearts to his Spirit, to his grace, we will conquer the obstacles and our lives will be fruitful in the way that God desires for us.

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(iii) Friday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The parable of the sower is one of the better known parables in the gospels. In this morning’s gospel reading we are given not the parable itself but Jesus’ interpretation of the parable. The different kinds of soil are interpreted as different kinds of human response to Jesus’ presence and his word. We are being reminded that although the word of Jesus is powerful it needs to meet with some response from us if it is to be effective. We have to open ourselves to the word if it is to bear fruit. The parable identifies certain blocks to our opening ourselves to the Lord’s word. One is the lack of understanding; we need some understanding of who Jesus is and what he has done and said if we are to respond to him. Another block is our tendency to keep the Lord at arm’s length, so that his word never takes really deep root in us. A third block is our becoming too immersed in both the anxieties and the pleasures of life so that they become our primary reality. In his interpretation of the parable of the sower Jesus shows a realistic grasp of the obstacles within and around us to his presence and to his word, obstacles which he himself has to somehow overcome. However, that realistic picture should not lead us to discouragement. The message of the gospels as a whole is that the Lord’s persistence is stronger than those obstacles. When on one occasion Jesus’ disciples asked him the rather despairing question, ‘Who can be saved?’, Jesus replied, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible’.

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(iv) Friday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus was very observant of ordinary, everyday, life in Galilee. His parables all reflect what he sees and hears all around him. The parable of the sower reflects the practice in Galilee of the farmer scattering seed liberally in a fairly casual fashion. It follows that not all of the seed will land on good soil. A lot of the seed could land in the three situations mentioned in the parable, on the edge of the path, on patches of rock and among thorns. This would have been quite normal. What is extraordinary is the huge yield given by the seed that falls on good soil. A hundredfold, in particular, is an almost unimaginable yield. Jesus sows or scatters the word of God’s kingdom in the same almost casual, indiscriminate, way as the former scatters his seed. The gospel is not for a selective few; it is offered to all. Because it is offered to all, the word of the gospel will encounter the same kinds of obstacles as the seed sown by the farmer encounters. In the interpretation of the parable that Jesus give, which is today’s gospel reading, the three unproductive terrains, the path, the rocky soil, the thorns, become images of why many do not respond to the gospel message. Jesus highlights three obstacles to receiving his word, a lack of understanding of the faith, an unwillingness to remain faithful to the word when it becomes costly and allowing oneself to be overtaken by the worries and the riches of life. These all remain obstacles to the Lord’s working in our lives today. Yet, they need not remain insurmountable obstacles. Any one of us can become good soil at any time, with the Lord’s help. The Lord does not give up on us. He continues to sow his word in our hearts and he continues to support us in our response to his word. If there is any even openness in us towards him, we can say with Saint Paul, ‘his grace towards me has not been in vain’.

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(v) Friday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

There has been wonderful growth in recent weeks and months. Gardens and parks are looking lovely. However, every farmer and gardener knows that not everything that is sown or planted grows to maturity. That was just as true of Galilee in the time of Jesus as of our own place and time. Similarly, Jesus was aware that not everyone who heard his message would receive it fully. The seed of his word would not grow to maturity in everyone. The interpretation of the parable of the sower, which we find in today’s gospel reading, mentions some of the obstacles to the full maturing of God’s word in our lives, such as, a lack of understanding of God’s word, a failure to allow God’s word to take deep root in our lives with the result that it fails to endure when living the word becomes costly, and, then, the pressures arising from the worries of life and from the attraction of worldly goods and riches. Those same obstacles remain a reality for us today, and more could be listed, such as a sense of God’s absence, unanswered prayer, the failure of church leaders to live up to their calling. Allowing the word of God to make a home in our hearts and to bear fruit in our lives won’t always come easy to us. There is always an element of struggle in keeping the faith and living it to the full. It is clear from today’s gospel reading and from elsewhere in the gospels that Jesus was very aware that his followers would struggle to be faithful to him. That is why he taught us to pray, ‘lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’. Yet, we are not alone in this struggle. As Saint Paul reminds us, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. Also, the word that we have heard and responded to, our faith, has its own inherent power. As Isaiah the prophet says, God’s word does not return to him empty. The Lord is always doing his good work in our lives, and the obstacles to our faith need not have the last word. We believe that they will not ultimately have the last word, because as Saint Paul says elsewhere, nothing can come between us and the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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(vi) Friday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus’ interpretation of the parable of the sower in today’s gospel reading reveals some of the obstacles to our faith in him. The first obstacle is a lack of understanding of the word that is proclaimed. We can grow in our understanding of many areas of life as we get older, but our understanding of the faith can fail to develop beyond the understanding we had when we were children. This leaves our faith vulnerable to the critical questions of reason that we will inevitably encounter as we get older. Reason need not be an enemy of faith, but it can be experienced as such if our understanding of our faith does not grow with age. A second obstacle to our faith is a failure to allow our faith to take deep roots in our lives. Our faith may be sustained by social compliance or the desire to please others, rather than coming from a deep place in our hearts. As a result, when the living of our faith becomes costly, we can be tempted to turn away from it. In our present age, especially, our faith needs to be sustained by a deeply personal conviction, a freely chosen decision to take the path the Lord calls us to take because we recognise it to be the path of life. A third obstacle to our faith lies in the rival claims on our heart that life invariably throws up, what the gospel reading refers to as the worries and cares of the world and the lure of riches. We may have a deep conviction about the value of our faith, but the demands and pleasures of life absorb us and our faith dies back for lack of attention. We neglect our faith and it shrinks. Today’s gospel reading is a salutary reminder that, although our faith is a gift from the Lord and the Lord remains faithful to us, we have to be vigilant if we are to keep our relationship with the Lord alive and central to our lives. Yet, to use another image, even if the flame of our faith dies back, for whatever reason, the Lord is always there to fan it afresh into a living flame if we give him the smallest opening.

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Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 13:16-17Prophets and holy men longed to hear what you hear.

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear! I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.’

Gospel (USA)Matthew 13:16-17Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

Reflections (2)

(i) Memorial of Saint Joachim and Anne

These are the names traditionally given to the mother and faith of the Blessed Virgin Mary by a tradition that dates back to the second century. One of the early fathers of the church addressed Joachim and Anne in the following way: ‘O blessed couple. All creation is in your debt, for through you is presented the noblest of gifts to the creator, namely a spotless mother who alone was worthy for the creator’. It was because of Joachim and Anne’s own faith that Mary was able to make her great response of faith to God’s call to her through the angel Gabriel. The parents of Mary were the grandparents of Jesus. They helped to create that environment of faith in which he would grow in wisdom and in stature before others and God. Today’s feast encourages us to remember the people of faith who went before us, from whom we have descended. We might remember our own grandparents and the faith by which they lived and which helped to light the flame of faith in our own lives. In the gospel reading, Jesus proclaims blessed the eyes that see and the ears that hear. He is referring there to the eyes and ears of faith, all those among his own contemporaries who recognized God’s powerful presence in his own ministry. Jesus declares that many of the prophets and holy people of the past longed to see and hear what his contemporaries had the privilege of seeing and hearing. We share in that same privilege. We give thanks for all we have been allowed to see and hear of God’s presence in Jesus and for all those people of faith who preceded us and have made it possible for us to see and hear with the eyes and ears of faith.

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(ii) Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne

Joachim and Anne are the names traditionally given to the mother and father of Our Lady since the second century. One of the early fathers of the church addressed Joachim and Anne in the following way: ‘O blessed couple. All creation is in your debt, for through you is presented the noblest of gifts to the creator, namely a spotless mother who alone was worthy for the creator’. It was because of Joachim and Anne’s own faith that Mary was able to make her great response of faith to God’s call to her through the angel Gabriel. The parents of Mary were the grandparents of Jesus. They helped to create that environment of faith in which he would grow in wisdom and in stature before others and God. Today’s feast encourages us to remember the people of faith who supported us on our own faith journey. We might remember especially our own grandparents and the faith by which they lived and which helped to light the flame of faith in our own lives. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus makes reference to all the forces that can prevent the seed of faith from growing to its full potential. There is the presence of the evil one, the great tempter. There are our own personal weaknesses, our tendency to turn from the Lord when trials come, our capacity to allow the worries and the pleasures of life to undermine our faith. Yet, Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans that nothing need come between us the love of God. The Lord works to overcome those forces that separate us from him and he does so above all through other people of faith, through the community of faith. We call that community of faith the church. Within the church, there are smaller communities of faith that help to nurture the seed of faith in our own lives. Jesus’ parents and grandparents were such a small community of faith in his life. We are all called in our own way to help form such small communities of faith, and in that way to help each other to grow towards the Lord. In this regard, Joachim and Anne can be our inspiration.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

25th July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass for the Feast of Saint James, Apostle (Inc. Matthew 20:20-28): ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’

Feast of Saint James, Apostle

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 20:20-28'Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?'

The mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons to make a request of him, and bowed low; and he said to her, ‘What is it you want?’ She said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right hand and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ ‘You do not know what you are asking’ Jesus answered. ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They replied, ‘We can.’ ‘Very well,’ he said ‘you shall drink my cup, but as for seats at my right hand and my left, these are not mine to grant; they belong to those to whom they have been allotted by my Father.’When the other ten heard this they were indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that among the pagans the rulers lord it over them, and their great men make their authority felt. This is not to happen among you. No; anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’

Gospel (USA)Matthew 20:20-28You will drink my chalice.

The mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your Kingdom.” Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.” He replied, “My chalice you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Reflections (6)

(i) Feast of Saint James, Apostle

It may seem strange that the gospel reading chosen for the feast of Saint James, brother of John and son of Zebedee, is one that doesn’t reflect too well on him. Himself and John approach Jesus through their mother (in Mark’s gospel, they approach him directly) asking Jesus for the most honourable seats in Jesus’ kingdom, one on his right and the other on his left. The request reveals a failure to understand that the kingdom of God which came to proclaim bears no relationship to any earthly kingdom. As Jesus goes on to say to the other ten disciples, in earthly pagan kingdoms their rulers lord it over their subjects, making their authority felt. This is not how it is to be in the kingdom of God, nor in the community of Jesus’ disciples, the church, which is to be a beachhead for the kingdom. In God’s kingdom and its earthly revelation, greatness consists not in honourable status expressing itself in oppressive rule but in self-giving service of God and God’s people, after the example of Jesus who came not to be served but to serve. Such self-giving service will often entail drinking the cup of suffering that Jesus had to drink. At this point in the gospel, Jesus is still struggling to convey his vision of leadership to the twelve, including James and John. Yet, perhaps the reason this gospel reading is chosen for the feast of Saint James is because he did go on to drink the cup that Jesus drank, in the service of God and God’s people. According to the Acts of the Apostles, ‘King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword’ (12:1-2). The story of James shows us that our past failings do not define our relationship with the Lord. With his help we can grow in our relationship with him. We can keep moving from living towards ourselves to living towards him, so that, eventually, in the words of today’s first reading, ‘the life of Jesus may always be seen in our body’.

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(ii) Feast of Saint James, Apostle

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint James the Apostle. According to the gospels James and his brother John, along with Peter and his brother Andrew, were the first to be called by Jesus to follow him. All four were fishermen, and the father of James and John, Zebedee, seems to have had a thriving fishing business because the gospels refer to him as having hired men working for him. James and John were among the twelve that Jesus chose from his wider group of disciples. According to the gospels, Jesus took Peter, James and John up the Mount of Transfiguration and he brought the same three with him into the garden of Gethsemane. So, James was one of three disciples who had privileged access to Jesus. Yet, according to this morning’s gospel reading, working through their mother, James and his brother John approach Jesus looking for the best seats in the kingdom! For all their special access to Jesus, neither of them seemed to have grasped that following Jesus had nothing to do with seats of honour and everything to do with being ready to drink the cup that Jesus had to drink, the cup of suffering. James went on to drink that cup of suffering. According to the Acts of the Apostles, King Herod Agrippa persecuted the church in Judea and had James killed with a sword. He was the first member of the twelve to die for his faith in the Lord. According to an ancient tradition his bones were brought from Jerusalem to Compostella in North West Spain, as a result of which Compostela has been a place of pilgrimage for the past thousand years or more. The gospel reading this morning suggests that James initially struggled to grasp what was at the heart of Jesus’ message and life; his request of Jesus for the best seats in Jesus’ kingdom was full of self. Yet, James went on to empty himself for Jesus and to bear powerful witness to the values of the gospel by his life and his death. He is an encouragement to us all; he shows us that even if we do not get it right initially, we can come good in the end.

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(iii) Feast of Saint James, Apostle

In today’s gospel reading for the feast of Saint James, we find one of several clashes between Jesus and his disciples in the gospels, as they make their way to Jerusalem, the city where Jesus will be crucified. Jesus and his disciples are clearly on different wavelengths. The difference between them finds expression in the very different questions they ask of each other. The question the two disciples, James and John, ask Jesus through their mother focuses on glory, honour, status. The question that Jesus asks James and John focuses on the experience of rejection and suffering that he is about to face into, ‘Can you drink the cup that I must drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I must be baptized?’ Jesus was referring to the cup of suffering and the baptism of fire. The question of James and John showed their interest in self-promotion. The question of Jesus showed that his priority was self-giving. At the heart of being his disciple is self-giving love, becoming the servant of others, and this will often mean taking the way of the cross, as Jesus knew from his own experience. James and John, and all of us, are being called to follow the one who did not come to be served but to serve, whose purpose in life was not to promote himself but to empty himself for others. It is only in following this way that we will receive that share in Jesus’ glory that was the focus of James and John’s request. In the end, James drank the cup of suffering that Jesus had to drink. According to the Acts of the Apostles, King Herod Agrippa had James killed with a sword. He was the first member of the twelve to die for his faith in the Lord. According to an ancient tradition his bones were brought from Jerusalem to Compostella in North West Spain, as a result of which Compostela has been a place of pilgrimage for the past thousand years or more.

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(iv) Feast of Saint James, apostle

According to the gospels, Jesus called two sets of brothers who were fishermen, Peter and Andrew and James and John. Today we celebrate the feast of Saint James, the brother of John and the son of Zebedee. Their father, Zebedee, seems to have had a flourishing fishing business by the shore of the Sea of Galilee. According to Mark’s gospel, he had ‘hired men’ working for him. In today’s gospel reading, it is the mother of James and John who is to the fore. Like any mother, she wants what is best for her sons. If they are going to leave a flourishing fishing business to follow this carpenter from Nazareth, he better have something just as good in store for them. Hearing Jesus proclaim the coming of a kingdom, she wants her sons to have the places of honour in that kingdom, one at Jesus’ right hand and the other at his left. Her request, well-meaning as it is, is one that Jesus cannot grant, in the way she imagines. If the mother of James and John wants something from Jesus for her sons, Jesus wants something very different from them, ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ At the last supper, Jesus would hand them the cup he drank from. He needed them to be ready to share his cup of suffering, to follow him even if it would cost them not less than everything. On this occasion the two sons display a willingness to drink Jesus’ cup, ‘We can’. Yet, when the hour of Jesus’ passion arrived, they would abandon him with the other disciples. However, we know from the Acts of the Apostles that James did indeed drink Jesus’ cup beyond the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection. He was put to death by Herod Agrippa, about the year 44, and was the first of the apostles to die for Christ. Every time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, the Lord asks us, ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ In coming to the Eucharist we are dedicating ourselves to following in the Lord’s way, even though it may cost us a great deal. If we strive to follow in the Lord’s way and to live by his truth, we can be confident that, in the words of Paul in today’s first reading, ‘he who raised the Lord Jesus to life will raise us with Jesus in our turn’.

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(v) Feast of Saint James, Apostle

According to the gospels, James and his brother John were among the first disciples that Jesus called to follow him. Their father, Zebedee, seems to have had a successful fishing business by the Sea of Galilee as he had ‘hired men’ working for him alongside his two sons. James and his brother were present at key events of the public ministry of Jesus, such as his raising of the daughter of Jairus, his transfiguration on the mountain and his distraught prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. According to the Acts of the Apostles, in the year 44 CE King Herod Agrippa ‘had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword’ (Acts 12:2). He was the first member of the group of the twelve apostles to be put to death for their faith. According to an ancient tradition James’ bones were brought from Jerusalem to Compostella in North West Spain. His shrine there has been a place of pilgrimage for the past thousand years or more. Of all the passages in the New Testament where James features, today’s gospel reading shows him in the least favourable light. The mother of James and John, speaking on their behalf, ask Jesus for seats on his right and left in his kingdom for her two sons. The brothers’ preoccupation with worldly honour draws forth Jesus’ powerful teaching on what constitutes true honour in his kingdom, ‘anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant’. James went on to be a great servant of the church and of the Lord, even to the point of drinking the cup of suffering that Jesus drank. At this point in the gospel story, however, James was still a work in progress. Yet, God had begun a good work in him and would bring it to completion. James is an encouragement to us all. Sometimes, like James in today’s gospel reading, we can display a side to ourselves that falls short of what the Lord desires for us. Yet, such failures need not hold us back from continuing to take the path the Lord is calling us to take or becoming the faithful servant the Lord desires us to be. The Lord knows, in the words of Paul in today’s first reading that we are like earthenware jars holding the precious treasure of the gospel. Like such jars, we are prone to breaking. Yet, as Paul reminds us in that reading, the overwhelming power to live our baptism to the full comes from God and not from us. The Lord’s power is always at work in our weakness.

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(vi) Feast of Saint James, Apostle

Today’s gospel reading for the feast of Saint James shows that he and his brother John were very much inclined to look for power, prominence and honour. It seems that the other members of the ten were not free of this tendency either, as they were indignant with the two brothers’ attempt to get favoured treatment ahead of them. Even those in whom Jesus had invested the most show themselves to be far from the mind-set of Jesus himself. As Paul declares at the beginning of today’s first reading, ‘we are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure’. We have been given the treasure of the gospel, but, like earthenware jars, we are fragile and brittle. We do not always think or act in ways that are in keeping with the treasure we have been given, but often allow our self-serving tendencies to come to the fore. Yet, even though today’s gospel reading portrays James as humanly flawed, we, nonetheless, celebrate his feast as an apostle and martyr. He went on to drink the cup that Jesus drank. According to the Acts of the Apostles, he was the first member of the twelve to die for Christ, being executed by Herod Antipas. At this point in the ministry of Jesus, James was a work in progress. We are all a work in progress. The Lord has begun a good work in us but he has yet to bring it to completion. He is always at work in our lives to form us in the image of himself, who came not to be served but to serve. Whereas in earthly kingdoms, power often consists in the oppressive domination of others, Jesus shows us that the power of the kingdom of God is the power of loving service of others. If the love of power characterized earthly kingdoms, the power of love is what distinguishes God’s kingdom. When we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come’, we are committing ourselves to this path of self-emptying love of the Lord and of others, a path Saint James eventually travelled to the full.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

24th July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Wednesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary (Inc. Matthew 13:1-9) ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow’.

Wednesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 13:1-9A sower went out to sow.

Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside, but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach, and he told them many things in parables.He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!’

Gospel (USA)Matthew 13:1-9The seed produced grain a hundredfold.

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Reflections (6)

(i) Wednesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s first reading is one of the great call stories in the Jewish Scriptures. When Jeremiah hears the call to be the Lord’s prophet to the nations, he becomes aware of his own inadequacy, the many obstacles in his life that could hinder his response to the Lord’s call, especially his youth. However, the Lord assures him that if his heart is open to the call, then he will be with Jeremiah to protect him, even placing his words in Jeremiah’s mouth. In the parable in today’s gospel reading, there are many obstacles to the growth of the seed that the sower sows with such abandon. Yet, in spite of those obstacles, some of the seed falls on soil that is receptive and the harvest from that soil is beyond all reasonable expectations, even a hundred fold. The Lord continues to scatter the seed of his word today. He does so with abandon, so that it reaches as many people as possible. There will be great obstacles in the lives of many that will prevent the word from taking root in their hearts and bearing fruit in their lives. Yet, if the Lord finds some hearts that are receptive to his word, as the heart of Jeremiah was, he will be able to work through them for the good of others in ways that go beyond all expectations. In the words of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, his ‘power at work within us’ will be able ‘to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). We need never get discouraged by the failure of so many to hear the word, including our own failure to hear and receive it fully, because of all the good that the Lord can do through those who do hear his word and take it to their hearts.

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(ii) Wednesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

We are used to hearing this parable of the sower with its application which follows in the gospels, whereby the various types of soil are identified with various types of people. The parable on its own seems more open ended. It teases us into thought. What might Jesus be saying here? Jesus’ original hearers would have been familiar with the scene his parable paints. The farmers tended to sow their seed liberally. Much of it landed in unpromising places and was wasted. Some of the seed, however, landed in good soil and that was often enough to produce a harvest, which ensured sowing for the following year. Because the land was ultimately God’s gift, any harvest was also recognized as God’s work and gift. The parable acknowledges the hardships that any sower has to contend with, the hungry birds of the air, the presence of rock near the surface, the bushes and thorns that grew willy-nilly. Yet, it also celebrates the abundance in the midst of such hardships that can come from the hand of God. Every human life has its own hardships. So much of our good effort can seem wasted. The forces working against us can threaten to grind us down and undermine our resolve. Yet, Jesus is assuring us, that there is more to life than our hardships and obstacles. The Lord of life is always at work even in the midst of the most unpromising of situations. If we wait in joyful hope, we will not ultimately be disappointed.

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(iii) Wednesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

When Jesus saw the farmer going out to sow seeds, it reminded him of the way God was at work in his ministry. Jesus noticed that the farmer scattered the seed with abandon, almost recklessly, not knowing what kind of soil it would fall on. Inevitably, a great deal of the seed that was scattered was lost; it never germinated. Yet, some of the seed fell on good soil and produced an extraordinary harvest. In what way would this scene have spoken to Jesus about his ministry? God was scattering the seed of his life-giving word through Jesus’ ministry. Through Jesus, God wanted to touch the lives of everyone, regardless of how they were perceived by others or even by themselves. God gave the most unlikely places the opportunity of receiving the life-giving seed of his word. There was nothing selective about Jesus’ company. Jesus once spoke of God as making his sun to rise on the evil and on the good. This was the God that Jesus revealed in his own ministry. As with the farmer in the parable, much of what Jesus scattered was lost; it met with little or no response. Indeed, his gracious word often met with hostility. Yet, Jesus knew that some people were receiving the seed of his word, and that would be enough to bring about the harvest of God’s kingdom. Jesus may have been speaking a word of encouragement to his disciples, saying to them, ‘Despite all the setbacks, the opposition and hostility, God is at work and that work will lead to something wonderful’. In other words, ‘the seed is good and powerful. Whatever the odds against us, we must keep sowing’.

And/Or

(iv) Wednesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus noticed that the farmer scattered the seed with abandon, almost recklessly, not knowing what kind of soil it would fall on. Inevitably, a great deal of the seed that was scattered was lost; it never germinated. Yet, some of the seed fell on good soil and produced an extraordinary harvest. God was scattering the seed of his life-giving word through Jesus’ ministry. God’s favour was being scattered abroad in an almost reckless manner. Through Jesus, God wanted to touch the lives of everyone, regardless of how they were perceived by others or by themselves. God gave the most unlikely places the opportunity of receiving the life-giving seed of his word. There was nothing selective about Jesus’ ministry. As with the farmer in the parable, much of what Jesus scattered was lost. Yet, Jesus knew that some people were receiving his word, and that would be enough to bring about the harvest of God’s kingdom. In speaking this parable, Jesus may have been encouraging his disciples, saying to them, ‘Despite all the setbacks, God is working to bring about something wonderful’. We are as much in need of Jesus’ encouraging word today as the disciples were. We can be very aware of the obstacles to the growth of the gospel in our world, in our church, and, in our own lives. Yet, the parable assures us that these obstacles will not ultimately hold back God’s continuing work of filling our lives and our world with his bountiful presence. God is willing to be reckless and wasteful in our regard with his gracious favour because he knows that there is always good soil out there somewhere.

And/Or

(v) Wednesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

There is a lot of failure in the parable of today’s gospel reading. Much of the farmer’s work seems wasted. Much of the good seed that he generously scattered fell on unpromising soil and came to nothing. Yet, at the end of the day, enough seed fell on good soil for the harvest to be bountiful. Jesus is suggesting that the experience of failure is never the end of the road. Jesus’ public ministry, during which he liberally scattered the seed of God’s loving reign, met with a great deal of failure. Indeed, Jesus’ crucifixion was the ultimate expression of failure. Yet, Jesus was not discouraged by his experience of failure. He continued to do God’s work, confident that God would ensure that, in the end, the harvest would be plentiful, for Jesus and for all who believe in him. Some of the seed Jesus scattered fell on good soil; his presence and ministry met with a generous, even if flawed, response on the part of some. They would become the nucleus of a new community beyond his death. God even worked powerfully through the ultimate failure of crucifixion, raising his Son from the dead and pouring out the Spirit of his risen Son on all who believe in the gospel preached by the disciples. The harvest turned out to be great, even if the labourers, at times, were few. The parable is a statement of hope, of confidence in the power of God to work in the midst of failure. It encourages us to live with our own experiences of failure, trusting that our failure need never be the end of the road for us, but that God can work powerfully in and through us, in spite of failure.

And/Or

(vi) Wednesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the Galilee of Jesus’ day, the farmer sowed the seed in a fairly casual fashion. He threw it on all sorts of ground in the hope that at least some seed would fall on good soil. Some of it was likely to fall in places where it could not germinate, such as on paths, on rocks or among thorns. Yet, the yield that came from the seed that fell on good soil was likely to compensate for the loss of seed on soil that was not suitable. Jesus recognized something of his own ministry in the way the farmer sowed his seed. He preached the good news of the kingdom of God liberally, without discrimination. All sorts would get to hear this good news, and see it in action in the ministry of Jesus, from the religiously orthodox to those considered sinners, from those who were well-to-do to those who had just about enough to live on. Much of Jesus’ preaching and ministry met with resistance and the seed of the kingdom of God did not take root in people’s hearts. However, others responded generously to the preaching and activity of Jesus. The seed of the kingdom took root in their hearts and was bearing rich fruit. This is the group whom Jesus had just spoken of as his brothers, sisters and mother. Very often, it was not ‘the wise and the intelligent’ who belonged to this group but ‘infants’, those judged to be weak and unimpressive in the eyes of the world. Jesus was reassuring his disciples by means of this parable that in spite of many setbacks, God’ work of ushering in the kingdom of God through Jesus was coming to pass. When it comes to the spread of the gospel, we are called to be people of hopeful faith. The response to the gospel can seem to be limited and unpromising. Yet, if we continue to proclaim the word, to sow the seed, by our words and deeds, the Lord will see to it that it will bear fruit in the hearts of some, very often in ways that will amaze us. As the God of Israel says, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, ‘my word that goes out from my mouth… shall not return to me empty, but it will accomplish that for which I purpose’.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

23rd July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for

The Feast of St Brigid of Sweden, Patroness of Europe (Inc. John 15:1-8): ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’.

And For

Tuesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time(Inc. Matthew 12:46-50).

Feast of St Brigid of Sweden, Patroness of Europe

Gospel (Except USA)John 15:1-8I am the vine, you are the branches.

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I am the true vine,and my Father is the vinedresser.Every branch in me that bears no fruithe cuts away,and every branch that does bear fruithe prunes to make it bear even more.You are pruned already,by means of the word that I have spoken to you.Make your home in me, as I make mine in you.As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself,but must remain part of the vine,neither can you unless you remain in me.I am the vine,you are the branches.Whoever remains in me, with me in him,bears fruit in plenty;for cut off from me you can do nothing.Anyone who does not remain in meis like a branch that has been thrown away– he withers;these branches are collected and thrown on the fire,and they are burnt.If you remain in meand my words remain in you,you may ask what you willand you shall get it.It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit,and then you will be my disciples.’

Gospel (USA)John 15:1-8Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.

Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

Reflections (6)

(i) Feast of Saint Brigid of Sweden, Patroness of Europe

St. Bridget of Sweden was a mystic, a woman of deep prayer. She married when she was fourteen, and bore eight children, four daughters and four sons. Bridget’s saintly and charitable life soon made her known far and wide. After her husband died, she became a member of the Third Order of St. Francis and devoted herself wholly to a life of prayer and caring for the sick. She was inspired to form the religious community called the Order of the Most Holy Saviour, or the Brigittines. One distinctive feature of the houses of her order was that they were ‘double’ monasteries, with both men and women forming a joint community, though with separate cloisters. In 1350 she went to Rome, accompanied by her daughter and a small party of disciples. She wanted to obtain from the Pope authorization for her new order. This was during the time of the Great Schism in the church. Along with Catherine of Siena, she worked hard to get Pope Clement VI to return from Avignon to Rome. Bridget became known in Rome for her kindness and good works. While in Rome, she went on many pilgrimages to Italy and also made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She remained in Rome until her death on 23rd July, 1373. Her remains were returned to Sweden. She was canonized in 1391, eighteen years after she died. She exemplified what it is to be a contemplative in action. Through a deep prayer life, she made her home in the Lord and allowed the Lord to make his home in her, in the language of the gospel reading. As a result, her life bore rich fruit, the fruit of a love that reflected the Lord’s love for us. As branches on the vine who is Jesus, we are all called to remain in him and to allow him to remain in us, so that our lives too can show forth the self-emptying servant love of the Lord in our own time and place.

And/Or

(ii) Feast of Saint Brigid of Sweden, Patroness of Europe

Bridget was born in the year 1303. She was the daughter of a wealthy governor in Sweden. She married a well to do man and they had eight children. She went on to serve as the principal lady in waiting to the queen of Sweden. She had a reputation as a woman of great prayer. After her husband died she became a member of the third order of Saint Francis. She then founded a monastery for sixty nuns and twenty-five monks who lived in separate enclosures but shared the same church. She journeyed to Rome in 1349 to obtain papal approval for the order, known as the Bridgettines. She never returned to Sweden from Rome. She spent the rest of her life in Italy or on various pilgrimages, including one to the Holy Land. She impressed with her simplicity of life and her devotion to pilgrims, to the poor and the sick. She experienced visions of various kinds; some of them were of the passion of Christ. She died in Rome in 1373. She was canonized not for her visions but for her virtue. The gospel reading for her feast is Jesus’ wonderful image of the vine and branches. By means of this image Jesus shows how much he wants to be in communion with us and wants us to be in communion with him. It is that communion with him, through prayer, through the Eucharist, which enables our lives to bear fruit in plenty, the rich fruit of the Holy Spirit which so characterized the life of Bridget. The gospel reading strongly suggests that if we are to be channels of God’s goodness to others, we need to keep in communion with God’s Son.

And/Or

(iii) Feast of Saint Brigid of Sweden, Patroness of Europe

Bridget was born in the year 1303. She was the daughter of a wealthy governor in Sweden. She wanted to enter a convent, but when she was thirteen she was married off to a wealthy man. They lived happily together for twenty-eight years and had eight children, four sons and four daughters. She went on to serve as the principal lady in waiting to the queen of Sweden. She had a reputation as a woman of great prayer. After her husband’s death, Bridget became a member of theThird Order of St. Francisand devoted herself wholly to a life of prayer and caring for the poor and the sick. Around this time, she sensed Christ calling her to found a new religious order. She founded a monastery for sixty nuns and twenty-five monks who lived in separate enclosures but shared the same church. She journeyed to Rome in 1349, with her daughter Katerina, to obtain papal approval for her order. She never returned to Sweden. She spent much of the remainder of her life on pilgrimage in Italy. She also made a pilgrimage with her daughter and son to the Holy Land. Along with Catherine of Siena, she worked hard to get Pope Clement VI to return from Avignon to Rome. She impressed with her simplicity of life and her devotion to pilgrims, to the poor and the sick. She experienced visions of various kinds; some of them were of the passion of Christ. She died in her house in Piazza Farnese in Rome in 1373. She was canonized in 1391, less than twenty years after her death. In 1999, Pope John Paul II made her a co-patroness of Europe, alongside Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa Benedicta. In the gospel reading for her feast, Jesus declares to his disciples, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’. It is very difficult to distinguish between the vine and its branches. Where does the vine end and the branches begin? Surely the branches are themselves the vine. There is certainly a very close relationship between the vine and its branches. The image Jesus uses of the vine and the branches expresses the very intimate relationship that he desires between himself and ourselves, his disciples. It was this intimate relationship with Jesus that characterized the life of Brigid. The Lord is intimately involved with all the members of his church. He is in communion with us. That is a given. What Jesus calls for in the gospel reading is that we be in communion with him, that we make our home in him. The image of the vine and the branches Jesus uses also expresses our dependence on him. We need to be in a deeply personal communion with Jesus so as to live off the divine sap that reaches us from him. We need to live close contact with Jesus, if we, the church, are to be fruitful in the way he wants us to be. It is only in and through our communion with Jesus that we can bear his fruit, the fruit of the Spirit. The primary fruit of the Spirit is love, a love that brings life to others, just as Jesus’s love has brought life to us all.

And/Or

(iv) Feast of Saint Brigid of Sweden, Patroness of Europe

Today’s gospel reading for the feast of Saint Bridget of Sweden is taken from John’s account of what Jesus said to his disciples on the night before he died. Jesus is taking his leave of his disciples but, before doing so, he wants to assure them that beyond his death and resurrection he will remain in communion with them. The image of the vine and the branches expresses the depth of the communion he desires to have with his disciples, with all of us. The Lord wants to be in communion with all of us, but for that to happen we must seek to remain in communion him by allowing his words to remain in us, by allowing his words to shape our lives. We can slip out of our communion with him; we can cut ourselves off from the Lord. However, his invitation is always there to return to him and to remain with him or in him. It is in returning to him, in remaining in him, in allowing his words to remain in us, that our lives bear rich fruit, what Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit. According to the last verse of our gospel reading, it is lives rich in the fruit of the Spirit that give glory to God. According to Saint Irenaeus, it is the human person fully alive - alive with the fruit of the Spirit - that gives glory to God. The fourteen century saint, Bridget of Sweden, was such a person fully alive. As a wife and mother of six children, she was noted for her works of charity towards those in greatest need, particularly unwed mothers and their children. After the death of her husband, she became a member of the third order of Saint Francis, and devoted herself to a life of prayer and caring for the poor and sick. She went on to found a religious community which became known as the Bridgettines. Her life is a living witness to the words of Jesus in today’s gospel reading, ‘Whoever remains in me… bears fruit in plenty’.

And/Or

(v) Feast of Saint Brigid of Sweden, Patroness of Europe

Bridget was born in the year 1303. She was the daughter of a wealthy governor in Sweden. She married a well to do man and they had eight children. She went on to serve as the principal lady in waiting to the queen of Sweden. She had a reputation as a woman of great prayer. After her husband died she founded a monastery for sixty nuns and twenty-five monks who lived in separate enclosures but shared the same church. She journeyed to Rome in 1349 to obtain papal approval for the order, known as the Bridgettines. She never returned to Sweden from Rome. She spent the rest of her life in Italy or on various pilgrimages. She impressed with her simplicity of life and her devotion to pilgrims, to the poor and the sick. She died in Rome in 1373. Brigid had a deep prayer life which overflowed in a life of extraordinary service of others. The gospel reading of the vine and the branches is very appropriate for her feast day. Jesus’ image of the vine is an image of the intimate relationship between himself and his disciples. He has created this intimate relationship through his life, death, resurrection and sending of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the entire vine, root, stem and branches and his disciples are the branches. It is difficult to say where the vine ends and the branches begin, because the branches are part of the vine. Saint Paul expresses this profound relationship between the Lord and the baptized in different language, declaring that we are members of his body, that he is in us and we are in him. The fundamental call of Jesus in the gospel reading is ‘Make your home in me’ or ‘Remain in me’. Jesus has united us to himself in the most wonderful way, and now we have to preserve that unity, that deep relationship with him. Saint Brigid shows us that one of the ways we cultivate the relationship Jesus has formed with us is through prayer. Such remaining in the Lord ‘will bear fruit in plenty’, what Saint Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit, which is the fruit of love. Brigid shows us one shape of such a loving life. If we nurture our relationship with the Lord, our lives will bear that same rich fruit of love, whereas, in contrast, as Jesus says in the gospel reading, ‘cut off from me you can do nothing’.

And/Or

(vi) Feast of Saint Brigid of Sweden, Patroness of Europe

Bridget was born in the year 1303. She was the daughter of a wealthy governor in Sweden. When she was thirteen she was married off to a wealthy man. They lived happily together for twenty-eight years and had eight children, four sons and four daughters. She went on to serve as the principal lady in waiting to the queen of Sweden. She had a reputation as a woman of great prayer. After her husband’s death, Bridget became a member of theThird Order of St. Francisand devoted herself to a life of prayer and caring for the poor and the sick. She sensed Christ calling her to found a new religious order. She founded a monastery for sixty nuns and twenty-five monks who lived in separate enclosures but shared the same church. She journeyed to Rome in 1349, with her daughter Katerina, to obtain papal approval for her order. She never returned to Sweden. She spent much of the remainder of her life on pilgrimage in Italy. She also made a pilgrimage with her daughter and son to the Holy Land. Along with Catherine of Siena, she worked hard to get Pope Clement VI to return from Avignon to Rome. She was admired for her simplicity of life and her devotion to pilgrims, to the poor and the sick. She experienced visions of various kinds; some of them were of the passion of Christ. She died in her house in Piazza Farnese in Rome in 1373. She was canonized in 1391, less than twenty years after her death. In 1999, Pope John Paul II made her a co-patroness of Europe, alongside Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. In the gospel reading for the feast of Saint Brigid, Jesus, our risen Lord, declares himself to be the vine. ‘I am the vine, you are the branches’. It is difficult to distinguish between the vine and its branches. Where does the vine end and the branches begin? When Jesus refers to himself as the vine and to us as the branches, he is giving us an image of the very intimate relationship that he desires to have with us, his disciples. The Lord is intimately involved with his church. He is in communion with us. That is a given. What Jesus calls for in the gospel reading is that we be in communion with him, that we make our home in him, after the example of Saint Brigid. The image of the vine and the branches also expresses our dependence on the Lord. We need to be in a deeply personal communion with Jesus so as to live off the sap that reaches us from him. We need to live in close contact with him, if we are to be fruitful in the way he wants us to be, in the way Saint Brigid was. It is only in and through our communion with Jesus that we can bear his fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, which is love. We need to nurture a vital contact with him, to ensure that we are a truly life-giving and life-enhancing presence in our world, as Brigid was in the world of her time.

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Tuesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 12:46-50My mother and my brothers are anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven.

Jesus was speaking to the crowds when his mother and his brothers appeared; they were standing outside and were anxious to have a word with him. But to the man who told him this Jesus replied, ‘Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?’ And stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.’

Gospel (USA)Matthew 12:46-50Stretching out his hands toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers.”

While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Reflections ()

(i) Tuesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

We all value our families. As we get older we might not see them as often as we once did, but they still matter a great deal to us. They say blood is thicker than water. When a family member is in difficulty, we will generally gather around him or her to give support. The gospels don’t tell us a great deal really about Jesus’ family. Yet, when the gospel writers do mention his family, they give the impression that there was often tension between Jesus and his blood family. In this morning’s gospel, Jesus’ family, including his mother, were standing outside where Jesus was speaking, anxious to have a word with him. They were trying to get his attention, perhaps even trying to get him home, away from the crowds that were always pursuing him. However, on this occasion Jesus stood his ground; he didn’t go with his family. Rather, he redefined who his family really were. He identifies his disciples as his family, and declares that all those who do the will of his heavenly Father are now his family. As disciples we are all brothers and sisters of the Lord, and of each other, and sons and daughters of God. This is the new family that Jesus came to form, and what distinguishes this family is the desire to do the will of God as Jesus has revealed it to us by his words and by his life. That is why, together, as members of the Lord’s family, Jesus invites us to pray the prayer he often prayed, ‘Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’.

And/Or

(ii) Tuesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Blood ties are very important to us. We greatly appreciate the members of our family, our brothers and sisters, our mothers and fathers, our other relatives. In the gospel reading, Jesus points to a group of people who are even more important to him than the members of his earthly family. Pointing to his disciples, to all of us, he says, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers and my sisters’. He defines his disciples as those who do the will of his Father in heaven, as Jesus himself has revealed it to us by his teaching and by his life, death and resurrection. Earlier in Matthew’s gospel Jesus in the beatitudes declared, ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness’, in other words, ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst to do God’s will’. We may not succeed in doing God’s will all the time, but if we hunger and thirst to do it, if our deepest desire is to do what God wants, then we are truly the Lord’s disciples, and, in virtue of that, his brothers and sisters, and, even, his mother. Jesus calls us to be members of his new family, the family of his disciples. This is a family that is held together not by ties of blood but by the Holy Spirit. In hungering and thirsting to do God’s will, we open ourselves to the coming of the Holy Spirit, and that Spirit makes us brothers and sisters of Jesus and of each other, and sons and daughters of God.

And/Or

(iii) Tuesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus’ response to his mother and brothers in today’s gospel reading seems a little uncaring. They were anxious to see him, presumably out of concern for his well-being. However, when this message was passed through to Jesus, his focus was not on his blood family but on the disciples around him whom he immediately identified as his new family, mother, brothers, and sisters. This gospel gives us a little insight into the struggle of Jesus’ family, and of Jesus’ mother in particular, to let him go to a much larger family, a family not defined by blood but by a willingness to follow in the way of Jesus. Luke’s gospel suggests that this struggle to let Jesus go was experienced by Mary (and Joseph) when Jesus was only twelve years of age. On that occasion, Jesus identified his Father as God rather than Joseph and declared to his anxious and perplexed parents that his primary concern was God his Father’s business rather than his parents’ business. Jesus had to move on from his blood family to do the work God sent him to do, which involved the forming of a new family of disciples who would become known as the church, a family of which we are all members in virtue of our baptism. In this family we can look to Jesus as a brother, to God as our Father, and to Mary as a mother. It is often the way that we too have to move on from something or someone very significant for us so as to do the work God is asking us to do. Such moving on will often be painful both for ourselves and for the people from whom we are moving on. However, if we can make this move, this exodus, in the imagery of the first reading, it will often be the necessary step to some important work that the Lord wants to do through us.

And/Or

(iv) Tuesday, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel reading is the first mention of Jesus’ mother in Matthew’s gospel since the story of Jesus’ infancy in the first two chapters of this gospel. The last we heard of Jesus’ mother, Mary, and of his father, Joseph, was in the setting of the family’s escape to Egypt from the murderous intentions of King Herod and their return to Israel after the death of Herod. Joseph then made his home, with Mary and Jesus, in Nazareth. In the following chapter to the one from which we are reading today, when Jesus returns to Nazareth for the first time since his baptism the townspeople will ask, ‘Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary?’ In today’s gospel reading, Jesus makes clear that he has moved on from his blood family and is in the process of starting a new family of his disciples. The wish of Mary and other members of Jesus’ family to speak to Jesus is the opportunity for Jesus to declare who his true family now is, his true mother, brothers and sisters. This must have been a difficult reality for Mary to come to terms with. She had to let Jesus go to God’s greater purpose for his life. One of the great challenges of love is having the freedom to let go of the beloved when that is called for. We can assume that Mary had that freedom. Genuine love for another, the love inspired by the Holy Spirit, is always a love that surrenders to God’s purpose for the life of the loved one. Mary’s love for Jesus was no less when he moved on from his blood family to form a new family of disciples. As members of Jesus’ new family, we are called to love others in the same selfless way that Mary loved Jesus.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

22nd July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene (Inc. John 20:1-2, 11-18): ‘Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord’.

Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

Gospel (Except USA)John 20:1-2,11-18'Mary, go and find the brothers and tell them'.

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’Meanwhile Mary stayed outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, still weeping, she stooped to look inside, and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. They said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away’ she replied ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ As she said this she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognise him. Jesus said, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him.’ Jesus said, ‘Mary!’ She knew him then and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbuni!’– which means Master. Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and find the brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ So Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her.

Gospel (USA)John 20:1-2, 11-18Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the Body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and then reported what he told her.

Reflections (7)

(i) Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

Saint Paul has a way of expressing very succinctly what is at the core of our faith. We find one such expression in today’s alternative first reading where he declares that ‘Christ died for all’, so that those who live might ‘live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them’. In today’s gospel reading, Mary Magdalen is only aware that Jesus has died; she does not yet know that he has been raised to life. Not only has Jesus been cruelly put to death, she assumes from the empty tomb that his body has been stolen. Immersed in grief, she is not yet capable of living for him who died and was raised to life. It was only when the risen Lord appeared to her that she could begin to live for him again, as she had done before he died. Like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, however, Mary failed to recognise Jesus when she first saw him and entered into conversation with him. Their moment of recognition was when the stranger broke bread at their table. Mary’s moment of recognition was when the stranger spoke her name, like the good shepherd who knows his own by name. She was now ready to live for Jesus crucified and risen. She would become a ‘new creation’, in the words of Paul in our first reading. Commissioned by the risen Lord, she became his messenger to the other disciples, declaring to them that she had seen the Lord. The risen Lord, our good shepherd, continues to call us by name. Having died and rose from the dead for us, he calls on us to live not for ourselves but for him, by witnessing to our faith in him as risen Lord. Living for the Lord gives value to all that we say and do. Like Mary Magdalene, we become a new creation.

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(ii) Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

In the long tradition of the church, including its artistic tradition, Mary Magdalene has generally been portrayed as the repentant sinner. This is largely due to her being mistakenly identified with the sinful woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and dried them with her hair. There is no evidence to suggest in the gospels that she was any more a sinner than the other disciples of Jesus. The gospel reading for her feast which we have just read portrays her as a woman whose devotion to Jesus brought her to the tomb early on that first Sunday morning. Her heartfelt devotion to Jesus also left her outside the tomb weeping tears of loss when she discovered that the body of Jesus was not there. She sought the Lord but could not find him. However, the Lord came seeking her and found her when he called her by her name, ‘Mary’. Like Mary Magdalene, we too seek the Lord, and, like her, we are also the object of the Lord’s search. Indeed, the Lord’s search for us is prior to our search for him. Even if we struggle to make our way to the Lord, like Mary, the Lord always makes his way to us and calls us by our name. He is the Good Shepherd who, having laid down his life for us, now calls us by name. In calling us to himself by name, the Lord also sends us out, as he sent out Mary Magdalene, to bring the good news of his Easter presence to those we meet. The Lord who calls us by name also asks us to be his messengers to others. Mary Magdalene, the apostle to the disciples, can be our inspiration as we take up this task.

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(iii) Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

One of the titles of Mary Magdalene in the early church is ‘apostle to the apostles’. That title is based on the gospel reading we have just heard. In the gospel of John, Mary Magdalene is person to whom the risen Lord appears and the first person to proclaim the gospel of Easter, and she does so to the disciples of Jesus. Before she made that outer, geographical, journey of bringing the gospel to others, today’s gospel reading suggests that she first had to undergo an inner journey. She begins still in the darkness of Good Friday. Not only has Jesus died but his body appears to have been stolen. Her dismay and grief finds expression in her tears. Gradually she is led out of this darkness of spirit by the risen Lord. When Jesus came to her, she did not recognize him initially. However, when he spoke her name, her eyes were opened and she saw. Even then, she still had an inner journey to travel. She held on to him as if Jesus had returned to the life he once lived. Yet, Jesus had been transformed through his resurrection from the dead and his relationship with Mary and his other disciples had been transformed. He would now relate to them through the Holy Spirit whom he would send from God the Father, his Father and our Father. It was only when Mary could let go of the relationship she and other disciples once had with Jesus and was open to this new kind of relationship with him that she could out to proclaim the Easter gospel to the disciples. There is always some inner journey we need to undergo before we can go out to others in the Lord’s name. The Lord keeps calling us by name, inviting us to turn towards him more fully, and calling on us not to cling to whatever may be coming between us and him. This inner journey is the journey of a lifetime. We cannot wait for it to be complete before going out to witness to the Lord, because it isn’t complete this side of eternity. All the Lord asks is that we remain faithful to this inner journey of growing in our relationship with him.

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(iv) Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

Mary Magdalene speaks to the seeker in all of us. In the gospel reading for her feast, the risen Lord asks her two questions, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?’ Mary was weeping because she could not find Jesus whom she was seeking. In the words of the first reading, ‘I sought but did not find him’. Some of the sadness in our lives comes from a sense of loss, an awareness of unfulfilled longing. We have probably all known that particular form of sadness. We long for something or someone, and because that longing goes unfulfilled, we experience a sense of deep sadness. In the gospel reading, Mary’s longing for Jesus was satisfied. When the risen Lord spoke her name, she recognized the true identity of the one she thought was the gardener and her sadness was banished. Yet, even in that moment of great joy, she had to learn to let go of Jesus as she had known him. Jesus had to call on her not to cling to him. Because Jesus was returning to the Father, from now on he would relate to her and to all of his disciples in a new way. He would be as close to her and his disciples as he ever was, indeed even closer, but in a different way. The gospel reading assures us that, even if many of our longings go unsatisfied, our longing for the Lord, which is our deepest longing, will always be satisfied. The Lord speaks our name as he spoke Mary’s name. Because of his death and resurrection, his Father is now our Father and his God is now our God. In journeying from this world to the Father, the Lord draws us into his own intimate relationship with God, thereby making us his brothers and sisters, and brothers and sisters of each other. If we keep searching for him, like Mary Magdalene, we will come to experience him as the good shepherd who calls his own by name.

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(v) Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

According to John’s gospel, the new tomb in which Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus buried Jesus was located in a garden, close to the place where Jesus was crucified. In today’s gospel reading, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb in the garden. When the risen Lord appeared to her and spoke to her, she presumed that the person before her was the gardener. The risen Lord was living with a very different kind of life to the life he had before he was crucified. Yet, he seemed to Mary Magdalene to be the gardener. It is interesting to think of the risen Lord as a gardener. A gardener works to nurture the life of nature; gardeners make God’s good creation bloom and blossom. The risen Lord also works to nurture life; he came that we may have life and have it to the full. Fullness of life is a sharing in the Lord’s own risen life. Whenever we nurture life, in whatever form, be it human life or the life of our created world, the risen Lord is working through us. It was only when the risen Lord addressed Mary by name that she realized the person before her was Jesus whom she had been following and who had been crucified. The Lord calls each of us by name, but we don’t always allow ourselves to hear him speak our name. If we seek after the Lord, in the way Mary Magdalene is portrayed as doing in the gospel reading, we will hear the Lord speak our name in love. After the risen Lord spoke Mary’s name, he sends her out as his messenger to the other disciples. She becomes the apostle to the disciples. The Lord who calls us by name sends us out in the same way. The Living One who calls us by name sends us out into the world as life givers, to protect, sustain and nurture life in all its forms.

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(vi) Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

According to the gospels, Mary Magdalene was one of the women disciples who followed Jesus in Galilee. She stood with the other women looking on as Jesus was crucified. She witnessed the burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea. She went to the tomb with other women early on the first day of the week. It is the gospel of John that highlights the role of Mary Magdalene on Easter Sunday. The portrayal of Mary Magdalene standing outside the tomb of Jesus weeping, in today’s gospel reading, is true to the experience of all who have suffered a painful loss. As a priest, I have witnessed many a person weeping at a graveside. The tears we shed at a graveside flow from our love for the person who has died. We have a profound sense of loss and we are heart broken. When we love someone deeply, sooner or later our heart will be broken. On that first Easter Sunday, Mary seems to have been alone weeping outside the tomb. Yet, she was not really alone. The one for whom she wept was present to her, even though she did not recognize him, ‘she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognize him’. She thought she was seeing the gardener. The rise Lord is always present to us in our moments of sadness and grief, in our times of struggle and distress. Like Mary Magdalene, we don’t always recognize the Lord’s presence. We can be so absorbed by our grief or by our plight that we struggle to see beyond it. At such times, we often need to find a quiet moment to become aware of the risen Lord’s presence, and to hear him speak our name, as he spoke Mary’s name to her. It was when the stranger spoke her name that she recognized him as the risen Lord. As Jesus, the risen Lord, said to Mary Magdalene, he has ascended to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God, but he is also present among us and present to each one of us personally, especially in times of loss and struggle. The feast day of Mary Magdalene invites us to allow ourselves to become more aware of the risen Lord’s presence and to become attuned to his calling us by name.

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(vii) Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene

The first reading from the Song of Songs is a striking commentary on the state of mind and heart of Mary Magdalene, as she is portrayed in the gospel reading, ‘I will seek him whom my heart loves. I sought but did not find him’. Mary Magdalene, according to the gospel of John, was one of the women who stood by the cross as Jesus was dying. She belonged in that little community of faithful disciples at the foot of the cross, consisting of herself, Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and the beloved disciple. In this gospel of John, the disciples are those who have welcomed the faithful love of Jesus into their lives, his greater love unto death, and who responded by loving him faithfully and loving others in the way that he has loved them. It is Mary Magdalene, the faithful disciple, whom we meet in today’s gospel reading. Having witnessed his death, she now comes to the tomb, as the loved ones of those who have died often do. She seeks the body of Jesus but cannot find it, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb but we don’t know where they have put him’. Little does she realize that the body of Jesus is nowhere to be found, because something more wonderful is waiting to be found, the Lord himself in all his risen glory. However, it is the Lord who seeks out and finds Mary Magdalene, calling her by her name, ‘Mary’. Having lifted her out of her grief, he sends her to proclaim the Easter gospel. She becomes the first person to preach the Easter gospel. The portrayal of Mary Magdalen in the gospel reading reminds us that the Lord whom we are seeking is always seeking us first. Even if our seeking him seems to be leading nowhere, the Lord’s searching love will always find us, if we are in some way open to his coming. Having found us, having allowed ourselves to be found by him, he will empower us, as he did Mary Magdalene, to become messengers of Easter hope and joy to all whom we meet.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

21st July >> Fr. Martin's Homilies / Reflections on Today's Mass Readings for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B (Inc. Mark 6:30-34): ‘They were like sheep without a shepherd’.

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

Gospel (Except USA)Mark 6:30-34They were like sheep without a shepherd.

The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’; for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat. So they went off in a boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But people saw them going, and many could guess where; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.

Gospel (USA)Mark 6:30–34They were like sheep without a shepherd.

The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them.When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

Homilies (6)

(i) Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The last time I travelled to the city of Belfast was a few years. I took one of those city tour buses you find in most big cities nowadays. I hadn’t been to Belfast for a while and what struck me this time was the barriers or walls that divided the unionist and nationalist communities in certain parts of the city. It saddened me to see it. It is called the peace wall and, yet, the very existence of the wall suggests the absence of peace. Where there is peace and harmony there is no need for walls to separate people from each other.

I was reminded of that experience by today’s second reading. There the making of peace is associated with the breaking down of barriers that had kept people apart. The barrier in question there is the Jewish Law which had kept Jews apart from pagans. According to Saint Paul, Jesus broke down that barrier and brought together Jews and pagans into a single Body, the church. Jesus was now the way to God, not the Jewish Law, and he was inviting all people to come to God through him, regardless of their religious background. According to Paul in that reading, Jesus came to kill the hostility between peoples. Hostility between people, especially the kind that needs the erecting of walls, often leads to people killing each other, as we know only too well today. However, Jesus came to kill such hostility between people, by bringing them together under God the Father, in the one Holy Spirit. We are all called to share in this peace-making, reconciling, work of the Lord.

According to the first reading from the prophet Jeremiah, a good leader or shepherd is one who brings people together in unity. A poor leader or shepherd is one who divides people, allowing them to be scattered. God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, says to the political leaders of the day, ‘You have let my flock be scattered and go wandering and have not taken care of them’. Taking care of people is associated there with bringing them together in unity, rather than allowing them to be scattered and divided among themselves. In response to the failure of the leaders to gather people together, God himself promises to do what they have failed to do, ‘the remnant of the flock, I myself will gather… I will bring them back to their pastures’. It was above all Jesus, God’s beloved Son, who fulfilled that promise of God to gather those who have been scattered and to bring together in unity those who were divided. That was the core of Jesus’ work. He once declared that when he is lifted up from the earth, in death and in glory, he would draw all people to himself. His desire was that there would be one flock and one shepherd. He died and rose to new life to gather together the scattered children of God. He entrusted that unifying, peace-making, reconciling work to his followers, to all of us. The Lord wants to continue that work through each one of us. Whenever we bring together those who would normally be hostile to one another, we are doing God’s work, the risen Lord’s work. It remains a vitally important work today, because there are still so many creators of division among us, creating barriers and walls to keep people apart. Each of us has a role to play in doing the Lord’s work of overcoming the hostility between people, so that walls and barriers cease to be necessary.

Maybe the attitude we need most of all to engage in the Lord’s reconciling work is one of paying attention to people, especially to those who are different from us and may even seem strange to us. The gospels suggest that Jesus was good at paying attention to others, even when they were hostile to him. When his opponents, the experts in the Jewish Law, criticized him for eating with all sorts of people, including those they would have classified as sinners, Jesus didn’t turn on them or drive them away. He spoke parables to them, the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost sons, inviting them to rethink their hostility to him. He was calling on them to see God not so much as one who separates out, who divides and excludes, but as one who works to gather all people together at one table, including those who had taken wrong turns. Jesus was attentive to his opponents, not dismissive of them. In today’s gospel reading, he is attentive to his disciples. He notices how busy they have been and, so, he arranges to take them away to a lonely place. However, when they arrive there, the lonely place had become a crowded place. Jesus who had been attentive to his disciples is now equally attentive to the crowd standing unexpectedly before him. He recognizes that they are like sheep without a shepherd, scattered and lost, and, so, he sets himself to teach them at some length. The risen Lord is equally attentive to each one of us. If we open ourselves up to his attentiveness to us, he will work through us to attend to others in ways that break down barriers between them and bring them together in one Spirit.

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(ii) Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

You hear a lot of talk about the importance of planning nowadays. Businesses, schools, state agencies make mention of a two year plan or a five year plan or a ten year plan. We are also aware that as individuals we need to plan. At a certain moment on our life’s journey the need to plan can be felt more strongly. In particular, when we reach something of a crossroads in our lives, we tend to take stock and plan for our future. Such planning for the future comes easier to some that to others. There are personality types that are always planning. When they go on holidays, for example, they try to cover every base before they set off. There are other personality types who are not really into planning. They have some idea of the next step they will take in life, but they don’t look much beyond that. They live more in the present than in the future. When they go on holidays, they know where they will be staying the first night or two, but are quite happy to leave everything open after that.

In the gospel reading, we find Jesus with a very clear plan for himself and his disciples. The disciples had been away on a missionary journey. The pace of life had been hectic; the demands of work had been exhausting. The gospel reading says that ‘the apostles had no time even to eat’. Jesus planned to take them away to some lonely place all by themselves so that they could rest awhile. Jesus appreciated the value of regular rest and re-creation. He recognised that there was more to life than work. Yes, the harvest is plentiful and the labourers are few. There is always work to be done. Yet, Jesus would not allow his disciples to be taken over by work or by other people. That value of stepping back, of seeking out quiet places away from the demanding crowds, is one we try to give expression to in this holiday season. The pace of life is different for many people in these summer months, and that is good and healthy. Stepping back can help to give balance to our lives, can bring home to us that we are more than what we do.

Yet, although Jesus had a plan for himself and his disciples, that plan was frustrated by unexpected circ*mstances. As he stepped ashore with his disciples to what he thought would be a quiet place, there was a crowd waiting for them. The hoped for deserted place had become a village. So much for the plan and for the value that the plan expressed! Jesus responded, not by getting annoyed, or making a speech about his need for privacy, but by showing compassion for the crowd, and by setting himself to feed their spiritual hunger by teaching them at length. By his action he showed that people were more important than plans, and that plans were ultimately at the service of people and not vice-versa. Although Jesus’ plans were frustrated, what eventually transpired, which was not planned for, was something truly memorable. Having fed the hungry crowd with his word, he went on to feed them with some bread and some fish, which is next Sunday’s gospel reading.

We can all point to plans, hopes and aspirations that were important to us and, yet, that eventually came to nothing. We can be quite troubled when our plans do not work out. Especially if we have put a lot of time and energy into some plan or other, and it does not transpire, we can feel depressed and angry. Yet, today’s gospel reading reminds us that the failure of our plans can create a space for something really worthwhile to happen that we had not planned for at all. The failure of our plan can create an unexpected opportunity. When something does not work out as we had planned, it can be good to step back and to ask ourselves, ‘What new possibility might now be emerging from the failure of this plan?’ What appears initially to be a set back can in the end turn out to be a blessing.

We believe that, above and beyond our own plans and purposes, there is a higher purpose, God’s purpose. That purpose of God is driven by his compassion, the compassion Jesus displayed in the gospel reading when he saw the crowds like sheep without a shepherd. The readings today speak about the purpose of God in a variety of ways. According to the first reading, God’s purpose is to gather together his scattered people; according to the responsorial psalm, it is to guide us along the right path, to lead us near restful waters; according to the second reading, God’s purpose is to break down the barriers that separate us from each other and from God.

God is constantly taking new initiatives to bring that compassionate purpose of his to pass. The death of Jesus on Calvary shows that God can work powerfully to fulfil his purpose even in the most unpromising of situations. Golgotha was not something that the disciples had planned for. We believe that God’s purpose for our lives continues to work itself out even when our own purposes and plans come to nothing. Indeed, it appears that God can sometimes work more powerfully in the seeming chaos that can flow from our plans not working out than in the order that would have been created if our plans had worked out. Today’s readings invite us to hold our plans lightly, and to trust that even when they fail, God’s purpose for our lives prevails. Whether our plans work out or not, God remains the good shepherd who continues to guide us along the right path.

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(iii) Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Many people at this time of the year have just come back from holidays or are about to go on holidays or are presently on holidays. We all look forward to our holidays. They are a break from the routine. They provide an opportunity for much needed rest and relaxation. Such restful times enable us to be present to family or friends in a fuller way. Time together on holidays is quality time for family members and friends. They can give themselves to each other in ways that are not always possible when life is busy.

In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus affirms that value of finding a restful time with those who are significant for us. The apostles had been out on mission; it was the first time they had been sent out on their own, without Jesus being with them. They came back full of enthusiasm, wanting to share all they had done and taught. Yet, Jesus knew they needed to rest – as Mark says in that gospel reading, ‘there were so many coming and going that they had no time even to eat’. Jesus intended to take them off to a lonely place where they could be by themselves, with just Jesus for company. This would have been an opportunity to reflect on what had been going on and to recharge the batteries. The words of Jesus, ‘you must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest awhile’ affirms the value of rest, the value of finding space amid the business of life, the value of slowing down and finding a different, less hectic, rhythm. The pressures of modern living can work against these values, as we know. There are times when we need to be more than to do. It can be good to find a space and a time when we have no targets, no goals, to reach. Jesus and his disciples worked hard, but Jesus understood that work, not even the work of the Lord, was an absolute value. There comes a time when it must give way to other values, the value of rest, relaxation, quietness, reflection.

Yet, according to the gospel reading, the values of rest, relaxation, quietness and reflection that Jesus was trying to promote for his disciples did not materialize on this particular occasion. The lonely place where Jesus had intended taking his disciples turned out to be a very crowded place. The work that Jesus was trying to take his disciples away from arrived in the lonely place ahead of them, in the form of a needy crowd of people. The plans Jesus had for himself and his disciples did not materialize. The situation Mark describes in the gospel reading is not an unusual human experience. We have all had similar experiences. Something pleasant we had planned is suddenly blown out of the water for one reason or another. The urgent need of others can cut across our own need for rest and quietness. The temptation in such situations is to react with irritation and annoyance and to respond to the need of the other that has suddenly come before us with a degree of bad grace. That was not the reaction of Jesus. Mark says of him, ‘As he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length’. Jesus’ response was shaped by compassion rather than by irritation. The value of rest gave way before the higher value of serving the needy, feeding the hungry. That second part of the gospel reading tells us something about Jesus, about the kind of person he was. A little later in Mark’s gospel Jesus would go on to speak of himself as the Son of Man who ‘came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’. Jesus came to serve others, and he turned down no opportunity to do so, even at times when the demands of others would probably be considered unreasonable by most people, as in the case of today’s gospel reading.

Jesus gave everything in the service of others, including his life. Saint Paul says of Jesus that he emptied himself taking the form of a servant, a slave. Paul goes on to say that, having taken the form of a servant, Jesus was given the title Lord by God the Father. Therein lies the paradox, one of the many paradoxes, of Jesus. He is Lord but he exercises his lordship by becoming a servant. The risen Lord continues to exercise his Lordship today by becoming our servant. He lives forever to serve us. He is the Shepherd who continues to serve the flock; he serves us by giving us his teaching, just as he taught the crowds in the gospel reading; he serves us by giving us his body and blood. He feeds us with his word and with the Eucharist. The Lord does not have times when he is at our service and times when he is not. The gospel reading indicates that he is there to serve us whenever we go looking for him. The Lord is not less available to us at some times than at others. That realization gives us the confidence to seek the Lord, regardless of the hour or of the circ*mstances of our lives.

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(iv) Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

We are very much in the middle of holiday time. Many people are about to go on holidays or have just come back from holidays or are away on holidays. We all need a break from our routine, whatever that routine might be. Most of the time we go on holidays with somebody, or we go away to stay with somebody. Most of us like to be with others when we are away from our routine. In the gospel reading we find Jesus taking his disciples away together for a period of rest and quiet. They have had a busy time of mission; they were full of all they had done and taught and wanted to share it all with Jesus. He reacted by suggesting a change of pace and of location. He intended to take them away to a lonely place, a desert place, where they could rest. This was to be a time of reflection in the company of Jesus, a time when they did nothing except be present to each other and to the Lord.

In our own faith life we all need such desert moments, times when we try to be present to the Lord and to each other. We have a prayer group in the parish that meets on a Monday night; it is a desert moment, a short period of about 30 minutes when people sit in silence having listened to a short talk. We have another prayer group that meets on a Tuesday evening, when a group of people gather around the gospel reading for the following Sunday, and listen to it in silence for about 40 minutes and then share a little on how it has spoken to them. These are times when people are present to the Lord and to each other in a more intense way than is usually the case. They are little desert moments that people can share together, times when we can come away to rest for a while in the Lord’s presence and in the presence of other believers. Our church here is open every day until about 6.00 pm. Our church is that sort of desert space in the middle of our community here in Clontarf. It is a place to which people can come away and rest for a while, in the words of the gospel reading. The silence can be an opportunity to share with the Lord what has been going on in our lives, just as in the gospel reading the disciples shared with Jesus all they had been doing and teaching. Other people can have that desert moment as they walk along the sea front here in Clontarf or down to the statue of Our Lady at the end of the bull wall. As we walk we can become aware of the Lord and his presence to us, and we can become more aware of people in our lives, even though we may be walking alone. However we do it, as believers, as followers of the Lord, we all need to come away to some lonely place all by ourselves and rest for a while so that as to allow the Lord to be in a deeper communion with us.

If the first part of the gospel reading proclaims that value of coming away to be present to the Lord, the second part of the gospel reading proclaims another value. In the gospel reading, the lonely place suddenly became a crowded place, even before Jesus and his disciples had reached the place. Jesus and his disciples stepped out of the boat not into quietness and peace but into human need and demand. We are all familiar with that kind of experience, aren’t we? We plan something and it doesn’t work out. We go somewhere expecting something and the opposite transpires. We want to be alone and we are inundated with people. Jesus and his disciples experienced a major interruption to what they were intending. Interruptions are part of all our lives, and as one writer put it, God is often to be found in the interruptions. Jesus responded to the interruption by become completely present to it. He did not try to avoid the crowd or to send them away; he became fully present to them. In the words of the gospel reading, ‘he took pity on them’, ‘he had compassion for them’. That is very much at the heart of our own calling as the Lord’s followers, to be present to others, even when they turn up unexpectedly and interrupt what we had carefully planned. It is so easy to get worked up and irritated when something happens that is not part of the script we had in our head. We can be so fixed on that script that we can look on people as nuisances instead of being present to them with the compassion of Jesus. Jesus had the habit of spending time alone with God; it was those times of presence to God in prayer that enabled him to be present to others, no matter who they were or how they turned up. Our own coming away to be with the Lord will help us too to be present to those who come into our lives. Our contemplative moments, our desert times, help us to be contemplative, attentive, in our way of relating to those who cross our path in life.

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(v) Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

This is the day when Lydia and Etain make their first holy communion. They have been waiting for it for over a year. We can probably all look back to special days in our lives. One of the special days in my life was the day of my ordination. When priests are ordained, they often produce little cards to distribute which contain a favourite passage from the Scriptures that speaks to them. At my own ordination, I placed a verse from the gospel of John on my ordination card, because it spoke strongly to me at the time, and ever since. It was the verse where Jesus says to his disciples, ‘apart from me, you can do nothing’. It spoke to me of my need to depend on the Lord if my ministry as a priest was to bear any worthwhile fruit. I realized that I wouldn’t be able to go it alone; I would need to keep relying on the Lord. Time has only confirmed for me the truth of Jesus’ saying all the more. That verse can speak to us all. It reminds us that everything we do needs to be rooted in a living relationship with the Lord. ‘Apart from me, you can do nothing’. Today is a special day for Etain and Lydia. It is a day when their relationship with the Lord is deepened as they receive him as the Bread of Life for the first time.

I was reminded again of that saying of Jesus, ‘Apart from me you can do nothing’, by today’s gospel reading. The apostles had just come back from the mission that Jesus had earlier sent them on. They couldn’t wait to tell Jesus about all they had been doing. However, Jesus saw that they now needed a rest. According to the gospel reading, ‘there were so many coming and going’ that they ‘had no time even to eat’. So, he took them off in a boat to what he hoped would be a lonely place. He didn’t want them to do any more, even though there was so much more to be done. He just wanted them to be in his company for a while. According to the gospels, Jesus himself often went off to a lonely place, in spite of the great demand on him to do more and more of his life-giving work. He knew that every so often doing had to give way to just being before God his Father in prayer. I am sure, Jesus would have said to God his Father, ‘apart from you, I can do nothing’. What we find Jesus trying to do for his disciples in today’s gospel reading, taking them off to a lonely place to rest, to be in his presence and in God’s presence, is what Jesus himself did from time to time.

There are times in all of our lives when doing needs to give way just to being. In the context of our own human relationships, when we are close to someone, we enjoy doing different things with them. Yet, there comes a time when we feel the need just to be with them, without having to do anything. The same is true of our relationship with the Lord. Yes, we try to live as the Lord desires us to live, and to do what he wants us to do. Yet, just being with the Lord is also central to our relationship with him. When Jesus said, ‘apart from me, you can do nothing’, he was talking to his disciples and we are all the Lord’s disciples in virtue of our baptism. He is saying to all of us that if our lives are to bear the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of love, we need to take time to be with him, to rest in his presence. This is one of the ways we understand prayer, a resting in the Lord’s presence, attending to him. Prayer can be like those ‘restful waters’ referred to in today’s responsorial psalm, where the Lord revives our drooping spirit, where he renews our own human spirit with his own Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The celebration of Mass is a unique opportunity to prayerfully rest in the Lord’s presence. This morning, Etain and Lydia will be resting in the Lord’s presence in a special way. The Lord will be present to them, present in them, as the Bread of Life for the first time, and he invites them to be present to him, to rest in his presence.

In the gospel reading, when Jesus reached the lonely place with his disciples by boat, crowds of people had arrived there on foot, ahead of the boat. When Jesus looked out upon the crowd, far from being annoyed at this interruption to his plan, he was filled with compassion for them. He realized that they needed to be in his presence just as much as his disciples did. As a result, the little retreat Jesus planned for his disciples, became a retreat for a large crowd. Jesus sat down to teach the crowd at some length. We are all invited to belong in that crowd. We all need to be present to the Lord from time to time and allow him to feed us with his presence, with the power of life-giving word.

And/Or

(vi) Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The last time my sister who lives in southern California came home to visit the family was Christmas 2019, before the Corona Virus had made its presence felt here. On one of the days in early January, I took her to Belfast by train. When we got there, we went on one of those city tour buses you find in most big cities nowadays. I hadn’t been to Belfast for a while and what struck me this time was the barriers or walls that divided the unionist and nationalist communities in certain parts of the city. It saddened me to see it. It is called the peace wall and, yet, the very existence of the wall suggests the absence of peace. Where there is peace there is no need for walls. I was reminded of that experience by today’s second reading. There the making of peace is associated with the breaking down of barriers that had kept people apart. The barrier in question is the Jewish Law which had kept Jews apart from pagans. According to Saint Paul, Jesus broke down that barrier and brought together Jews and pagans into a single Body, the church. Jesus was now the way to God, not the Jewish Law, and he was inviting all people to come to him, regardless of their background. According to Paul in that reading, Jesus came to kill the hostility between peoples. Hostility between people, especially the kind that needs the erecting of walls, often leads to people killing each other. However, Jesus came to kill hostility, by bringing people together under God the Father and in one Holy Spirit.

According to the first reading from the prophet Jeremiah, a good leader or shepherd is one who brings people together in unity. A poor leader or shepherd is one who divides people, allowing them to be scattered. God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, says to the political leaders of the day, ‘You have let my flock be scattered and go wandering and have not taken care of them’. Taking care of people is associated with bringing them together in unity, rather than allowing them to be scattered and divided. In response to the failure of the leaders to gather people together, God himself promises to do what they have failed to do, ‘the remnant of the flock, I myself will gather… I will bring them back to their pastures’. It was above all Jesus, God’s beloved Son, who fulfilled that promise of God to gather those who have been scattered and to bring together in unity those who were divided. That was the core of Jesus’ work. He declared that when he was lifted up from the earth, he would draw all people to himself. He prayed that there would be one flock and one shepherd. He died and rose to new life to gather together the scattered children of God. He entrusted that unifying, peace-making, reconciling work to his followers, to all of us. The Lord wants to continue that work through all of us, each one of us. Whenever we bring together those who would normally be hostile to one another, we are doing God’s work, the risen Lord’s work. It remains a vitally important work today, because there are still so many barriers and walls keeping people apart who are hostile to one another or fearful of one another. Each of us has a role to play in doing the Lord’s work of killing the hostility between people, so that walls and barriers cease to be necessary.

Maybe the attitude we need most of all to engage in that work is one of paying attention to people, especially to those who are different from us and for whom we might have a natural aversion. The gospels suggest that Jesus had that ability to attend to others, even when they were hostile to him. When his opponents, the experts in the Jewish Law, criticized him for eating with all sorts of people, including those they would have classified as sinners, Jesus didn’t turn on his critics. He spoke parables to them, the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost sons, which invited them to rethink their hostility to him. He was calling on them to see God not so much as one who separates out, who divides and excludes, but as one who works to gather all people together at one table. Jesus was attentive to his opponents, not dismissive of them. In today’s gospel reading, we find Jesus attentive to his disciples. He notices how busy they have been, so busy they hadn’t time to eat, and, so, he arranges to take them away to a lonely place. However, when they arrive, the lonely place has become a crowded place. Jesus who had been attentive to his disciples is now equally attentive to the crowd that stand before him. He recognizes that they are like sheep without a shepherd, scattered and lost, and, so, he sets himself to teach them at some length. The risen Lord is equally attentive to each one of us. He is especially attentive to Etain and Lydia who are making their First Holy Communion this morning. If we become aware of his attentiveness to us, he will help us to attend to others in ways that break down barriers between them and bring them together in one Spirit.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

20th July Fr. Martin's Reflections /Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Saturday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Matthew 12:14-21) ‘Here is my servant whom I have chosen’.

Saturday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 12:14-21He cured them all but warned them not to make him known.

The Pharisees went out and began to plot against Jesus, discussing how to destroy him.Jesus knew this and withdrew from the district. Many followed him and he cured them all, but warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah:

Here is my servant whom I have chosen,my beloved, the favourite of my soul.I will endow him with my spirit,and he will proclaim the true faith to the nations.He will not brawl or shout,nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.He will not break the crushed reed,nor put out the smouldering wicktill he has led the truth to victory:in his name the nations will put their hope.

Gospel (USA)Matthew 12:14-21He warned them not to make him known to fulfill what had been spoken.

The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many people followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet:

Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,my beloved in whom I delight;I shall place my Spirit upon him,and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.He will not contend or cry out,nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.A bruised reed he will not break,a smoldering wick he will not quench,until he brings justice to victory.And in his name the Gentiles will hope.

Reflections (6)

(i) Saturday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s first reading, God, speaking through the prophet Micah, issues dire warnings against ‘those who plot evil, who lie in bed planning mischief!’ In the gospel reading, the Pharisees plot evil against Jesus, ‘discussing how to destroy him’. We will always have the planners of mischief and the plotters of evil among us. We have seen evidence of it in our city in recent days. Thankfully, we also have among us those who give themselves over to doing good. According to the gospel reading, whereas the Pharisees plot evil against Jesus, Jesus himself is the beloved servant of God who will not break the crushed reed, nor put out the smouldering wick, until he has led the truth to victory’. Jesus confronted evil and was very attentive to and careful of the crushed reeds and smouldering wicks of his time and place. His heart was moved by the most vulnerable. He sought to protect those most at risk from the plotting of others. What the psalmist says to God in today’s responsorial psalm can be said of Jesus, ‘The helpless trusts himself to you; for you are the helper of the orphan’. At those moments in our own lives when we feel ourselves to be like crushed reeds and smouldering wicks, we can entrust ourselves to the risen Lord, drawing his strength into our weakness. The Lord also wishes to work through each one of us to strengthen the weary and bring hope to the discouraged. The Lord’s life-giving love expressed in our lives will ensure that the plotters of evil do not have the last word.

And/Or

(ii) Saturday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

There is a sharp contrast between the opening line of this morning’s gospel reading which refers to a group of Pharisees who began to plot against Jesus, discussing how to destroy him, and the description of Jesus provided by the quotation from the prophet Isaiah which refers to Jesus as someone who will not brawl or shout, and who will not break the crushed reed nor put out the smouldering wick. It is really a contrast between a kind of power that damages the innocent and a very different kind of power that protects and nurtures what is vulnerable. This second kind of power is the power of the Spirit; it is the power which filled the life of Jesus and which is to fill all our lives. In the course of our lives we all encounter crushed reeds and smouldering wicks. Indeed we ourselves at times can be the crushed reed and the smouldering wick. When we are at our weakest and most vulnerable, we need a power that can nurture, sustain and encourage us. Such is the power of the risen Lord in all our lives, the power of the Spirit, and our calling is to be the channels of that life-giving power of the Lord to each other.

And/Or

(iii) Saturday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

There is a sharp contrast in this morning’s gospel reading between those who plot against Jesus in order to destroy him and Jesus himself who has not come to destroy but to cure and to heal. From early on in his ministry, many were out to bring death to Jesus, whereas Jesus himself was always in the business of bringing life to others, a share in God’s own life. This is why Matthew the evangelist applies to Jesus a text about God’s servant in the book of Isaiah which says, ‘he will not break the bruised reed, nor put out the smouldering wick’. The bruised reed and the smouldering wick refer to those who are broken in body and depressed in spirit. It is very easy to break a bruised reed and put out a smouldering wick. Those who are broken in body or depressed in spirit tend to be very vulnerable. The gospel reading presents Jesus as one who is sensitive to those who are vulnerable. He can recreate the bruised reed and fan into a living flame the smouldering wick. There are times when we need to come before the Lord in our brokenness and vulnerability and ask him to renew and strengthen us. That prayer to the Lord could take the form of that wonderful prayer to the Holy Spirit we say on Pentecost Sunday, ‘Come thou Father of the poor… Heal our wounds, our strength renew, on our dryness pour thy dew’. When we are touched by the power of the Life-giver we in turn can then become life-givers for others.

And/Or

(iv) Saturday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel reading begins on a very ominous note. ‘The Pharisees went out and began to plot against him, discussing how to destroy him’. Jesus had just healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, and this was their reaction. Because Jesus worked on the Sabbath, he was considered to be acting contrary to God’s Law. To protect the integrity of God’s Law, they decided that Jesus needed to be destroyed. There are certain forms of religious zeal which can be quite destructive of others, as we know only too well from our own times. Jesus was also zealous to do God’s will. In John’s gospel, he declares that his food is to do the will of the one who sent him. Yet, Jesus’ religious zeal always brought life and healing to others, never death. In response to his opponents’ deadly plotting against him, the gospel reading says that Jesus withdrew from the district and cured many of those who followed him. There would come a time when Jesus would face his enemies and suffer the consequences, but this was not the time. He still had God’s life-giving work to do. Sometimes, the right response to hostility is a dignified withdrawal. The evangelist Matthew interprets this life-giving ministry of Jesus through the long quotation from the prophet Isaiah that he inserts into his gospel at this point. This quotation depicts someone whom God has chosen as his servant. There is a gentle quality to this servant; ‘he will not brawl or shout’. His primary concern is for those who are afflicted and vulnerable, the ‘crushed reeds’ and the ‘smouldering wicks’ of this world. Matthew sees Jesus as the embodiment of this servant figure. Jesus had spoken of himself as ‘gentle and humble of heart’ and his primary ministry is to those in greatest need, both physically and spiritually. Jesus is the human face of God’s zeal for us, a zeal that works to bring a greater fullness of life to all. It is a zeal that embraces us all and which we are all called to give expression to in our dealings with others.

And/Or

(v) Saturday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The first reading from the prophet Micah refers to ‘those who plot evil’, and in the gospel reading the Pharisees begin to plot against Jesus and, as a result, he withdraws from the district where he had been. Jesus is not in the business of plotting against anybody. His ministry is one of merciful love. The gospel reading goes on to interpret Jesus’ ministry in the light of one of a quotation from the prophet Isaiah. Jesus had spoken about himself as ‘gentle and humble in heart’ (11:29). Such a person does not ‘brawl or shout’ in the language of the quotation. The primary focus of Jesus’ mission were those plotted against in various ways, the afflicted crowds, the ‘crushed reeds’ and ‘smouldering wicks’, in the language of the quotation from Isaiah. Pope Francis often speaks about the need for tenderness in our relationship with others. The quotation from Isaiah evokes Jesus’ tender love towards the broken and vulnerable. Jesus could be angry when anger was called for, towards his opponents and even towards his own disciples. Towards the most vulnerable, however, he showed tender loving care. Rather than breaking the crushed reed, he helped to mend it. Rather than putting out the smouldering wick, he fanned it into a living flame. Such tender love was the visible expression of the presence of the Holy Spirit in his life. In the words of the quotation from Isaiah, Jesus is the servant whom God has endowed with his Spirit. The risen Lord has poured that same Spirit into all our hearts so that we can become servants in the mould of Jesus, giving expression to his tender love for the weak and vulnerable among us. Like him, we are to care and provide for the crushed reeds and smouldering wicks, those who have lost their vibrancy and whose light has almost gone out.

And/Or

(vi) Saturday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Half of this morning’s gospel reading is taken up with a quotation from the prophet Isaiah. It is a long quotation in comparison to other quotations from the Jewish Scriptures in the gospels. The evangelist, Matthew, clearly regarded this text from Isaiah as speaking powerfully about the person of Jesus and the nature of his mission. In the quotation from Isaiah, God addresses someone whom he describes as his chosen servant, whom he has endowed with his spirit. Jesus was certainly God’s chosen servant, on whom the Holy Spirit had come down at the time of his baptism. It is said of this servant in the quotation that he will neither brawl nor shout. That reflects Jesus’ reference to himself as ‘gentle and humble in heart’. It is also said in that quotation from Isaiah that the servant will ‘not break the crushed reed, nor put out the smouldering wick’. This reflects the portrayal of Jesus in the gospel as one who is attentive and sensitive to the weakest and most vulnerable, who calls out to the burdened to come to him and find rest, refreshment. A reed that is crushed is easily broken; a wick that is smouldering is easily put out. Jesus had a special care for those who were frail and weak, all who were just hanging on by the skin of their teeth, as we often say. The risen Lord has the same loving concern for us when we are at our most vulnerable, when, in the imagery of Saint Paul, we are aware of ourselves as earthen vessels, prone to being broken. At such times, the Lord is present to us as strength in our weakness, as sustenance in our frailty. He not only comes to us as strength in our weakness, but, having done so, he wants to come through us as strength in the weakness of others. He looks to us to be as attentive to the crushed reeds and the smouldering wicks as he was.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

19th July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Friday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time (B) (Inc. Matthew 12:1-8): ‘What I want is mercy, not sacrifice’.

Friday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Reflections (8)

(i) Friday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

People of faith often struggle to know what God wants for them. They ask, ‘What is God’s will for my life?’ Jesus had the most intimate relationship with God and, so, he was clear as to what God wants. In today’s gospel reading, he quotes the word of God from the prophet Hosea, ‘What I want is mercy, not sacrifice’. Jesus knew that what matters to God is relating to others in a spirit of loving mercy. In today’s gospel reading, the disciples were satisfying their hunger by picking ears of corn to eat as they walked through the cornfields, something which was allowed by law at the time. By criticizing Jesus’ disciples for doing this, the Pharisees were showing that they lacked this loving mercy towards others that God wants. They failed to recognize that in God’s eyes even something as sacred as the Sabbath Law had to give way before human need, such as hunger. What God wants above all is the care of those in need. We may have all sorts of flaws and failings, but if we show loving mercy, kindness and generosity towards others in need, God will delight in us. It is above all Jesus who shows us what such a life of loving mercy looks like. When we look at him, we see what God wants.

And/Or

(ii) Friday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The Temple Mount is the huge platform built by Herod the Great on which the magnificent temple that he had built rested. In its day that temple was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the world. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus says to the Pharisees, ‘here, I tell you, is something greater than the Temple’. When he spoke those words, he was, no doubt, pointing to himself. He was claiming to be greater than even the magnificent temple that Herod had built. That temple, in particular the Holy of Holies at the heart of the temple, was considered to be the place where God was present on earth. In the gospel reading Jesus is claiming that he is now the one where God is present on earth. God is no longer present in a building but in a person, the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is Emmanuel, God-with-us. Where Jesus is present, God is present. For us as Christians, where the risen Lord is present, God is present. We believe that the risen Lord is present with us in a special way in the Eucharist; in venerating the Eucharist, we are venerating Emmanuel, God with us. The risen Lord is also present in each one of us, in the members of his body, the church. Indeed, he is present in some sense in every human being who is suffering. In honouring and respecting each other, we honour the Lord.

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(iii) Friday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Herod’s temple was one of the great wonders of the world at the time. Yet, in this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus declares, ‘Now here, I tell you, is something greater than the temple’. Jesus declares himself to be greater than the magnificent temple in Jerusalem. The Temple was understood to be the house of God, where God was present in the world in a unique way. In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus declares himself to be the place where God is present; it is in and through his ministry that God’s reign is powerfully present. Herod’s temple was a place where sacrifices were offered to God. In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus declares that what characterises his ministry is not sacrifice but mercy. He quotes the word of God from the prophet Hosea, ‘What I want is mercy, not sacrifice’. Jesus embodies the mercy of God. The sacrifices in the Temple were a human effort to reach God. However, in Jesus, God’s mercy reaches us. If God’s mercy touches us through Jesus, we are called to allow that mercy to reach others through us. Although Jesus is the supreme channel of God’s mercy, we are all called to be channels of God’s mercy. We are to be slow to judge, unlike the Pharisees in this morning’s gospel reading who judged Jesus’ disciples because they ate corn on the Sabbath to satisfy their hunger. Jesus’ response to the Pharisees shows that mercy requires that human need takes priority over human law.

And/Or

(iv) Friday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading Jesus says to his disciples, ‘Here I tell you is something greater than the Temple’. In those days it would have been difficult to conceive of anything greater than the Temple. Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem was considered to be one of the wonders of the world. It was revered as the focal point of God’s presence. Yet Jesus claims to be greater than the Temple because he is the new focal point of God’s presence. God was present no longer in a building but through a person, through Jesus, whose other name is Emmanuel, God with us. It is because he is Emmanuel that Jesus speaks of himself in our gospel reading as Lord of the Sabbath. He is not just Lord of the Sabbath, but Lord of all, Lord of the church, Lord of our lives. Because he is Lord of our lives, we are called to submit to his word so that his priorities become our priorities. In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus shows his priorities, declares that feeding the hungry takes priority over a certain narrow understanding of the Sabbath Law. His hungry disciples are entitled to pick ears of corn to satisfy their hunger, even on the Sabbath. Jesus’ word, and his whole life, helps us to sort out what is really important from what is not so important.

And/Or

(v) Friday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading, Jesus accuses his critics among the Pharisees of condemning the blameless. They condemned Jesus’ disciples for plucking corn on the Sabbath to satisfy their hunger. They would have regarded such ‘work’ as a form of reaping, which was forbidden on the Sabbath. However, Jesus in his response to their criticism reminds them that if they were as attuned to their own religious tradition as they claim to be they would not have condemned the ‘blameless’. He reminds them that the overriding value in the Jewish tradition is ‘mercy’ and points out that are precedents in the Jewish Scriptures for what his disciples are doing. The Sabbath rest was an important value. However, ‘mercy’ is a greater value in God’s eyes. The actions of others need to be viewed with the eyes of mercy, eyes which seek to understand why people are doing what they are doing, eyes which recognize that basic human needs take priority over the keeping of religious law. The failure to look upon others with eyes of mercy often results in the condemnation of the blameless. The temptation to condemn the blameless is always with us. It is a temptation we can resist to the extent that something of God’s merciful vision has taken flesh in our lives.

And/Or

(vi) Friday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading, the Pharisees criticize Jesus’ disciples for satisfying their hunger in a way they considered inappropriate on the Sabbath, by eating some of the grain as they walk through a cornfield. However, Jesus defends what his disciples are doing. He gives priority to human need over a strict interpretation of a religious law, even a law as important as the Sabbath law. This exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees shows us something of Jesus’ priorities. He was concerned for human well-being. He wanted the hungry to be fed, the thirsty to have clean water, the homeless to be housed, the sick to be cared for, the rejected to be welcomed. These were the values that he lived by and religious law was at the service of those values. Jesus lived by these values because he knew that they were God’s values. This is why he goes on to quote from the prophet Hosea, ‘What I want is mercy, not sacrifice’. God gives greater priority to people showing mercy to others than to people offering him sacrifice in the Temple. Showing mercy to others entails providing for people’s basic needs, such as ensuring that the hungry are fed. Jesus could speak as God’s representative. As he says in the gospel reading, ‘here, I tell you, is something greater than the Temple’. The Temple was traditionally understood to be the privileged place of God’s presence in the world. Jesus, however, is now the privileged place of God’s presence in the world. He speaks and acts as God would speak and act. Jesus shows that God’s highest value is mercy, the loving care of others in their need. Jesus wants us, his followers, to make God’s highest value our own in the way we relate to others.

And/Or

(vii) Friday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

One of the questions we can all find ourselves asking from time to time is, ‘What does God want?’ We may not always manage to do what God wants, but we seek to know what God wants, nonetheless. We believe that it is Jesus who has shown us what God wants, more than any human being who ever lived. In today’s gospel reading, he quotes from the prophet Hosea to show us what God wants, ‘What I want is mercy, not sacrifice’. According to Jesus, God places a higher value on merciful love towards others than on offering sacrifice in the Temple. Jesus spoke those words from Hosea to the Pharisees who were criticizing Jesus’ disciples for satisfying their hunger on the Sabbath by picking ears of corn and eating them. They considered this a form of work that was forbidden on the Sabbath. There was a lack of mercy on their part towards the hungry disciples. They allowed their strict interpretation of the Sabbath law to make them judgemental of others. They needed to be reminded that what God wanted above all was ‘mercy’, a willingness to make allowances for human weakness, in this case the weakness of the body, the need to satisfy hunger, even on the Sabbath. It is a reminder we all need from time to time. We can all be tempted to judge people unfairly and unnecessarily, not making allowances for human weakness, the same human weakness that is in ourselves. Jesus revealed God to be a God of mercy, which is why he shared table with those considered sinners at the time, people who broke the Jewish Law in various ways, including the Sabbath Law. It led people like the Pharisees to ask, ‘What does this man eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ Because we are made in the image of God, Jesus reminds us in today’s gospel reading that God wants us to be merciful as God is merciful. If we have received merciful love from God, who are we to refuse it to others?

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(viii) Friday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

When Jesus quotes the Jewish Scriptures, it is often because he finds there a message or a word that corresponds to his own message and vision. At the end of today’s gospel reading, he quotes from the prophet Hosea, ‘What I want is mercy, not sacrifice’. For Hosea and for Jesus, what matters more to God than all the sacrifices that were offered in the Temple in Jerusalem was this attitude of mercy. How was mercy understood? In the parable of the good Samaritan, it was mercy that the Samaritan showed to the broken traveller on the roadside. Those who were broken in body and spirit often came up to Jesus with the prayer, ‘Have mercy on me’. When Jesus brought life to the dying, healing to the sick, forgiveness to sinners, loving acceptance to the excluded, he was showing mercy. To show mercy is to recognize the need of others and to respond to it with a generous spirit. In the beginning of today’s gospel reading, Jesus’ disciples were in need of food; they were hungry. They picked ears of grain from a grain field to satisfy their hunger, which was perfectly legitimate at the time. When the Pharisees noticed this, they judged the disciples, saying that they were doing work on the Sabbath, breaking the Sabbath law of rest. The Pharisees lacked mercy, failing to understand the need of the disciples for food. They were judgemental rather than merciful. Jesus revealed the merciful love of God for all, and he called on us to show something of God’s merciful love to others. As he says, quoting Hosea, this is what God wants. Jesus was closer to God than any human being; he was the Son of God. As a result, he knew better than anyone else what God wants. God wants to find among his people, among us all, a compassionate, understanding and merciful heart.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

18th July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Thursday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Matthew 11:28-30): ‘I will give you rest’.

Thursday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA)

Matthew 11:28-30

My yoke is easy and my burden light.

Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 11:28-30

I am meek and humble of heart.

Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Reflections (7)

(i) Thursday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The human longing for God is eloquently expressed in today’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah, ‘At night my soul longs for you and my spirit in me seeks for you… Distressed, we search for you, Lord’. It is often in times of distress that the deep longing in our hearts for God comes to the surface of our lives. In the gospel reading, Jesus responds to our longing for God, calling out to the distressed, to those who labour and are overburdened, to come to him, to learn from him. It is a very personal invitation, ‘Come to me’. Jesus speaks here as Emmanuel, God with us. He alone can begin to satisfy our deep longing for God. In the setting of the ministry of Jesus, those who labour and are overburdened are bulk of the people who have been burdened by the over rigorous interpretation of the Jewish Law of the religious experts, the theologians of the day, ‘They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them’ (Mt 23:9). The one who is ‘gentle and humble in heart’ is not in the business of burdening an already burdened people. Those who respond to his invitation to come to him will experience the ‘rest’ for which our restless hearts are longing. Saint Augustine declared that our hearts are restless until they rest in God. We will only enter upon this rest to the full in the kingdom of heaven. However, here and now, in and through the Lord’s personal relationship with each of us as members of the community of disciples, we will begin to taste something of this ‘rest’, this fullness of life which alone can satisfy our human longing for God.

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(ii) Thursday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

On one occasion in the gospels Jesus criticized the religious leaders of his day for burdening people by imposing unnecessary demands on them. They made the Jewish Law more demanding than it needed to be. In this morning’s gospel reading, in contrast, Jesus calls out to those who feel burdened by all sorts of demands that have been made on them and he promises them rest. Jesus calls them into a personal relationship with himself, ‘Come to me... learn from me’, he says. Rather than giving them a new set of laws, he offers them a life-giving relationship with himself. At the heart of the Christian faith is not so much a moral code or a set of religious laws but, rather, a person, the person of Jesus Christ who is Emmanuel, God-with-us. We are called to come to him, as he has come to us, to relate to him in love, as he has given himself for us in love. In coming to him we discover him to be, not an impersonal taskmaster, but, rather, someone who is gentle and humble in heart. The living out of our relationship with him will be demanding; walking in his way often requires saying ‘no’ to other, seemingly more attractive, ways. However, his demands are the demands of love; the path he puts before us is life-giving rather than oppressive and overburdening. His loving relationship with us and ours with him empowers us to take that path, to walk in his way.

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(iii) Thursday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading, Jesus addresses himself to those who were burdened. We can all find ourselves burdened for many reasons. We may feel overworked; some relationship in our lives may have become a burden over time; we may struggle with ill health occasionally. We can be left feeling burdened for all kinds of reasons. In the gospel reading, Jesus addresses his words to those who felt burdened by the demands of the Jewish Law. These were demands they struggled to meet, and in failing to meet them they felt themselves to be religious outcasts. To such people, Jesus does not offer a new law. Rather, he offers them himself; he calls them and all of us into a personal relationship with himself. ‘Come to me’, he says, ‘learn from me’. We are to come to him and learn from him; he is a teacher whose teaching is visible in his person, in who he is and how he lives. To learn from someone, we need to be around them over time. In saying, ‘Come’, Jesus is really saying, ‘Come and remain’. We are called into an ongoing relationship with the Lord. It is in and through that relationship that we learn to live as he calls us to live, as he wants us to live. We live out of our relationship with him, or more fundamentally, out of his relationship with us, because it is he who initiates that relationship, it is he who keeps on saying to us ‘Come’. He promises us that if we come to him and remain with him, we will discover that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Yes, his way of life is demanding, but his relationship with us and ours with him makes it much less demanding than it would otherwise be. As Saint Paul says in one of his letters, ‘his power at work within us is able to accomplish immeasurably far more than all we can ask or imagine’. It is by remaining in Jesus, as branches in the vine that our lives will bear much fruit.

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(iv) Thursday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

When Jesus declares in today’s gospel reading, ‘my yoke is easy and my burden light’, he is saying that his teaching, his understanding of God’s will, is not something burdensome. Rather, his teaching is liberating and life-enhancing. If his teaching is received and lived, it lightens the burden of oppression; it brings joy. That is not to say that Jesus’ teaching is not demanding. We only have to listen to the Sermon on the Mount to realize that Jesus’ teaching is in many ways more demanding than the teaching of the Jewish Law. If the Law prohibits murder, Jesus prohibits the kind of anger that can lead to murder. If the Law says, ‘an eye for an eye’, Jesus says ‘love your enemy’. His teaching is demanding but not burdensome. That is because Jesus does not ask us to live his teaching out our own strength alone. He empowers us to live out his teaching. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus does not say, ‘Come to my teaching’, but ‘Come to me’. He does not say, ‘learn my teaching’, but ‘learn from me’. He calls us into a personal relationship with himself. It is in coming to him that we receive his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and so are empowered to live his teaching and, thereby, to become fully alive as human beings. Jesus promises that here and now we will experience something of that rest that awaits us in eternity if we come to him and allow him to empower us to live his teaching in our daily lives.

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(v) Thursday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel reading has spoken very personally to believers of every generation. There is something about that invitation of Jesus, ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened’, that makes us feel it is addressed to each one of us personally. In its original setting, Jesus was addressing himself to those who had come to feel overburdened by the very strict interpretation of the Jewish Law that the religious authorities were attempting to impose on them. However, that invitation of Jesus speaks to us all whenever we feel burdened for whatever reason. As we hear Jesus’ invitation, ‘Come to me’, and respond to it, we also hear the promise that he makes to us, ‘I will give you rest’. When we hear the word ‘rest’ the experience of sleep might come to mind, or, at least, inactivity. However, on the lips of Jesus, the word ‘rest’ would suggest the experience of suddenly coming upon an oasis of refreshment, having travelled through a desert terrain. It is the experience that is referred to in the Psalm, ‘the Lord is my Shepherd’, ‘near restful waters he leads me to revive my drooping spirit’. The Lord is promising that if we come to him, we will experience a renewal of our spirits, a greater fullness of life, which is a foretaste of that fullness of life, that eternal rest, that awaits us beyond this earthly life. Jesus speaks of himself as gentle and humble in heart, qualities that will prove truly refreshing and life-giving for those who labour and are overburdened. Of course, Jesus’ way of life is demanding, but Jesus is suggesting that it is not burdensome because he travels this way with us. He calls us to walk in his way out of the strength we receive from the deeply personal relationship he desires to have with each one of us.

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(vi) Thursday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

This short gospel reading is one that has spoken powerfully to believers over the centuries. The personal nature of Jesus’ invitation is very striking. He does not say, ‘Come to my teaching’ or ‘learn from all I say and do’, but, rather, ‘Come to me’ and ‘learn from me’. He calls us into an intimate and personal relationship with himself as one who is ‘gentle and humble in heart’. In the next chapter of his gospel, Matthew identifies Jesus with the servant of God who ‘will not break a bruised reed or quench a smouldering wick’. He is gentle and humble in the sense of knowing how to receive people in their weakness and vulnerability. He encourages us to turn towards him when we feel crushed or overburdened by life’s demands. When Jesus issues an invitation in the gospels, it is often accompanied by a promise. His invitation to come to him is accompanied by a promise of rest. ‘Rest’ is not simply the absence of activity or work. It suggests the ‘restful waters’ of Psalm 23, to which the Lord leads us to revive our drooping spirits. The Sabbath rest was a time when people were given the opportunity to be renewed in body, mind and spirit. It was a time of refreshment and restoration at all levels of one’s being. When the Jews looked forward to the age of the Messiah, they thought of it as a time of rest in that Sabbath sense. The rest Jesus offers is a fullness of life which is associated with life in God’s kingdom. Although fully experienced beyond this earthly life, Jesus offers an anticipation of this rest in the here and now. He promises that those who come to him and learn from him and walk in his way will find what the fourth gospel calls a joy the world cannot give, a deeply satisfying sense of refreshment.

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(vii) Thursday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s first reading reveals a God who is intimately bound up with the sufferings and struggles of his people, ‘I have visited you and seen all that the Egyptians are doing to you. And so I have resolved to bring you up out of Egypt’. Here is a God who is not isolated in his heavens but is deeply immersed in the suffering of the oppressed. This is the God whom Jesus fully reveals. Jesus, God-with-us, reveals a God who suffers with those who suffer, who is deeply moved by those who are burdened. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus calls out to the burdened, especially those who have been burdened by the rigorous interpretation of God’s Law by the religious leaders. Later on in this gospel or Matthew, Jesus will say of the scribes and Pharisees, ‘They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them’. In paradoxical language, Jesus declares that his burden is ‘light’. It is not that his teaching is less demanding that the teaching of the Jewish Law. Indeed, in this gospel of Matthew, Jesus calls for a virtue that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. However, this virtue is to be lived out of a personal relationship of love with himself. Jesus doesn’t just give a teaching; he gives himself as a supportive companion and an inner resource. In the gospel reading, Jesus does not say, ‘Come to my teaching’, but, ‘Come to me’. We are invited into a intimate relationship with one who is ‘gentle and humble in heart’. Our loving relationship with the Lord will not be experienced as burdensome but as ‘rest’, as a source of refreshment, such as thirsty travellers in the wilderness would find at an oasis. The Lord’s invitation to ‘Come to me’ is always prior to his call to live in a certain way. In and through our communion with one who loves us deeply, we are empowered to take the path of life he sets before us.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

17th July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Wednesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Matthew 11:25-27) ‘No one knows the Father except the Son’.

Wednesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 11:25-27You have hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to little children.

Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’

Gospel (USA)Matthew 11:25-27Although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.

At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

Reflections (8)

(i) Wednesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the first reading, the Lord, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, critiques the arrogance of the ruler of the empire of Assyria. Failing to recognize his role in God’s greater purpose, he puts his military successes down to his own strength and intelligence. It is as if the axe were to claim more credit than the one who uses it. In the gospel reading, Jesus refers to ‘the learned and the clever’, by which is meant those religious experts who are so sure of their interpretation of God’s law that they reject Jesus’ revelation of God through his words and deeds. However, although the learned and the clever may be rejecting Jesus’ revelation of God, the ‘little ones’ are welcoming it. Those who are aware of their own poverty and need before God have come to recognize the intimate relationship between the Father and the Son. They have welcomed God’s coming to them through the words and deeds of Jesus. What is hidden to the learned and the clever is clear to the little ones. There is a sense in which we have to bend very low if we are to receive the revelation of God that Jesus came to give us. As Jesus says in the opening beatitude, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’. As Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, God often choses ‘what is foolish in the world to shame the wise… what is weak in the world to shame the strong’. There is a self-emptying that is needed on our part if we are to open ourselves up to all God wants to give us through his crucified and risen Son.

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(ii) Wednesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Occasionally the gospels give us a glimpse into the prayer life of Jesus. From time to time, they allow us to observe the content of Jesus’ prayers. This morning’s gospel reading is one example of that. We are familiar with Jesus’ prayer of petition in the Garden of Gethsemane, ‘Father, take this cup from me’. The prayer of Jesus in this morning’s gospel reading is a prayer of praise, beginning, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth’. Jesus praises God for the mysterious ways that God works, ways that seem paradoxical to human observation. Jesus blesses God for hiding message of Jesus from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. It is not the religious experts, the teachers of the Jewish Law, who are coming to know God as Jesus is revealing him. Rather, it is those who would have been considered religiously and theologically illiterate who are coming to know God in and through Jesus’ ministry. Those who claim to know are learning nothing about God from Jesus; those who are aware that they know little or nothing are receiving the revelation of God that Jesus brings. The gospel reading reminds us that it is those who are aware of their own need, their own poverty before God, who will be open to whatever God wants to communicate to us through his Son.

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(iii) Wednesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

If we were to list what we consider to be of value in our lives, we would probably discover that relationships would come towards the top of our list. We value relationships, friendships. We could not get through life without the people who are important to us. In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks about the relationship which is most important to him, his relationship with his heavenly Father. He speaks of this relationship in terms of a mutual knowing, ‘no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son’. There is a very profound and unique intimacy to this relationship. Yet, there is nothing closed about this special relationship; it is open to others. Jesus speaks of himself as choosing to reveal the Father to others and he speaks of the Father as revealing these things to children. Jesus reveals the Father to us and the Father reveals his Son to us; to that extent they seek to draw us all into their mutual relationship. As God drew Moses to himself through the burning bush, the Father and the Son seek to draw us into their mutual love, so that we can reflect that love to others. For this to happen, the gospel reading suggests that we need the openness and receptivity of the child, rather than the self-assurance of the learned.

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(iv) Wednesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading, Jesus draws a sharp distinction between what he calls ‘the learned and the clever’ and ‘mere children’. The term ‘children’ or ‘little ones’ is probably a reference to Jesus’ disciples who would not have been considered learned and clever at the time. The learned and the clever were the experts in the Jewish Law, those who considered themselves to have a clear understanding of God and God’s will. Many of Jesus’ disciples were anything but experts in the Jewish Law but would have been considered ‘sinners’, breakers of the law, by the religious experts. Yet, it was these people who were open to Jesus’ revelation of God, whereas the learned and clever rejected Jesus’ revelation of God. When it comes to matters of faith, we need to keep acknowledging how little we know, and how far we have yet to travel in coming to know God with our mind and our heart. This is what Jesus refers to elsewhere in Matthew’s gospel as poverty of spirit. It is to the poor in spirit that the kingdom of God belongs. It is the awareness of our own poverty of spirit, mind and heart, that disposes us to receive God’s gift of his Son. Jesus assures us in the gospel reading that when we receive the Lord out of our poverty, we will be enriched, because we will be taken up into Jesus’ own intimate relationship with God his Father.

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(v) Wednesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s first reading from Isaiah, the emperor of Assyria is portrayed as full of self-importance and pride. He proclaims the power of his own strength, intelligence and understanding. He boasts of picking up the whole earth as people pick up deserted eggs. He fails to recognize his place within God’s greater purpose. This is the attitude that lays behind those whom Jesus refers to as ‘the learned and the clever’ in today’s gospel reading. They are so full of their own intelligence and understanding that they are closed to the great wisdom from God that Jesus has come to reveal. It is those whom Jesus refers to in the gospel reading as ‘children’ who are open to receiving this wonderful revelation that Jesus brings from God. Jesus is referring here to his disciples, those whom he asked to become like little children so as to enter the kingdom of heaven. They know their dependence on God, their need of God, their poverty before God; they are poor in spirit. Insofar as we imbibe this fundamental attitude, Jesus will be able to reveal to us everything that has been entrusted to him by God the Father. Jesus wants to draw us into his own relationship with God the Father. He wants us to know the Father as intimately as he knows the Father and as the Father knows him. The relationship between Jesus and his Father is not a closed relationship. Jesus wants to open it up to all of us, but we need something of the openness of children towards him if this great grace of sharing in Jesus’ relationship with God is to come to pass for us.

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(vi) Wednesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

At a critical time in Matthew’s gospel when Jesus finds his ministry largely rejected in Galilee, he, nevertheless, praises his Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Even as Jesus was experiencing rejection from many of the towns of Galilee, he knew there was much to give thanks and praise to God for. There are times in our own lives when nothing seems to be going well for us. We feel disappointment and hurt at how others are relating to us. However, even in such moments, there is always something for which we can give thanks and praise to God. If we look at our situation with the eyes of faith, we will always find some sign of God’s grace and favour for which we can give thanks. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul says, ‘Give thanks in all circ*mstances’. He doesn’t say give thanks for all circ*mstances but in all circ*mstances. Paul is reminding us that even when our faith in God is being put to the test and we find life a struggle, there is always something for which we can give thanks. In the face of opposition and hostility, Jesus gives thanks to God because in his mysterious plan it is the ‘babes’ in the field of religion, the poor, the tax collectors, the sinners, rather than the experts in the Law, who are open and receptive to God’s revelation of himself through Jesus. It is they who had the poverty of spirit to receive what God is offering. Sometimes, the trials and struggles of life can help us to become more like children, in the sense of opening us up more fully to all the blessings and graces that God continues to shower upon us through Jesus. This is something for which we can certainly give thanks.

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(vii) Wednesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the first reading, Moses is portrayed as having a very strong sense of God’s presence and call as he went about his daily choses as a shepherd, looking after the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. It was while Peter, Andrew, James and John were going about their daily chores as fishermen by the Sea of Galilee that they heard God’s call through the person of Jesus. We don’t have to be at prayer in a formal sense for the Lord to touch our lives in a transformative way. We need to be open to the possibility that the Lord may have something important to say to us even as we are absorbed in our day to day tasks. The equivalent of the blazing bush through which God spoke to Moses can be present in all our lives at any time and place. Moses discovered that the wilderness where he has herding his flock was, in reality, holy ground, a place of encounter between God and himself. We may associate holy ground with holy places like churches. Yet, any place can become holy ground because the Lord can meet us wherever we are, if we are open to that possibility. We can find ourselves prayerfully communing with the Lord at the heart of our daily activities. God touched the life of Moses in the wilderness for the sake of others. God wanted Moses to go to God’s oppressed people and bring them God’s liberation from slavery. When God touches our lives in prayer it is always with a view to others. The gospel reading gives us an insight into a moment of Jesus’ prayerful communion with God. Immediately after this moment of prayer, Jesus turns to the burdened and invites them to come to him for rest (tomorrow’s gospel reading). The Lord touches our lives in prayer so that we can bring his liberating and life-giving love to all who need it most, and he can touch our lives in this way even when we are lest expecting it.

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(viii) Wednesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the first reading, the Lord, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, critiques the arrogance of the ruler of the empire of Assyria. Failing to recognize his role in God’s greater purpose, he puts his military successes down to his own strength and intelligence. It is as if the axe were to claim more credit than the one who uses it. In the gospel reading, Jesus refers to ‘the learned and the clever’, by which is meant those religious experts who are so sure of their interpretation of God’s law as to reject Jesus’ revelation of God through his words and deeds. However, although the learned and the clever may be rejecting Jesus’ revelation of God, the ‘little ones’ are welcoming it. Those who are aware of their own poverty and need before God have come to recognize the intimate relationship between the Father and the Son. They have welcomed God’s coming to them through the words and deeds of Jesus. What is hidden to the learned and the clever is clear to the little ones. There is a sense in which we have to bend very low if we are to receive the revelation of God that Jesus came to give us. As Jesus says in the opening beatitude, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’. As Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, God often choses ‘what is foolish in the world to shame the wise… what is weak in the world to shame the strong’. There is a self-emptying that is needed on our part if God’s purpose for our lives is to come to pass.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

16th July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Tuesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Matthew 11:20-24) ‘They refused to repent’.

Tuesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 11:20-24It will not go as hard with Sodom on Judgement Day as with you.

Jesus began to reproach the towns in which most of his miracles had been worked, because they refused to repent.‘Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard on Judgement day with Tyre and Sidon as with you. And as for you, Capernaum, did you want to be exalted as high as heaven? You shall be thrown down to hell. For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have been standing yet. And still, I tell you that it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom on Judgement day as with you.’

Gospel (USA)Matthew 11:20-24It will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon and for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.

Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum:

Will you be exalted to heaven?You will go down to the netherworld.

For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

Reflections (7)

(i) Tuesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

According to today’s first reading at a time of national crisis, the Lord, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, says to the king of Judah, ‘If you do not stand by me, you will not stand at all’. Faced with a coalition of enemy nations, Ahaz was tempted to seek refuge by relying on one of the great empires of the day. The message of Isaiah to him was that he needed to rely on the Lord, rather than on any human power, if he and the people were to remain secure. The preaching of Jesus to the towns of Galilee called on them to rely on God, present and active in the ministry of Jesus. According to the gospel reading, the towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum failed to do so. In spite of the ways God was powerfully at work through the ministry of Jesus, they didn’t respond to him in a trusting, faithful, way. Behind Jesus’ oracle of judgement addressed to these towns lies a heart that is broken at their failure to respond to his life-giving message. In Luke’s gospel Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because of their failure to recognize the time of God’s visitation through Jesus. Today’s readings invite us to ask ourselves, ‘To whom or what do we turn and on whom or on what do we rely?’ In the words of today’s responsorial psalm, ‘God… has shown himself its stronghold’. Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us, offers himself to us as the stronghold of our lives, the rock on which we can build our lives, the one on whom we can rely when all else fails. Our calling is to keep turning towards him who is always turned towards us.

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(ii) Tuesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

We sometimes like to think of ourselves as being in control, as having everything under control. Yet, the reality is that in so many ways we are not in control. So much happens to us over which we have no control. Among other things, we cannot control how people respond tto us. We can offer someone the gift of friendship, for example, but we have no control over whether or not they receive that gift. Even Jesus had no control over how other people responded to him. He brought people the gift of God’s presence but not everyone received that gift, not everyone recognized Jesus as God visiting his people. In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus laments the fact that the towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum did not respond to his presence, in spite of the miracles that were done in their midst. He suggests that the pagan cities of Tyre and Sodom would have been much more responsive to his presence. The fact that people were graced by the Lord did not necessarily mean that they responded to that grace. We have been graced by the Lord in many ways. We have the gift of the Lord’s presence in his word, in the sacraments, in each other. We spend our lives learning to respond to the many graces the Lord is always offering us.

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(iii) Tuesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The words of Jesus against the Galilean towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum seem harsh to our ears. Behind the harsh woes lie the anguish of a love that is frustrated. His rejection by many in these towns foreshadows a great rejection that lies ahead by the people of Jerusalem. Jesus has given much to these Galilean towns. Miracles have been done in their midst. Yet, the response has been at best indifferent and at worst hostile. Are all the efforts Jesus made to make present the kingdom of God among them wasted? Jesus had spared nothing on their behalf and, yet, the return has been minimal. Such an experience could have left Jesus disheartened. Yet, in the passage immediately following Jesus gives thanks to God for all those who have responded to his message and work. Jesus understood that in spite of some many setbacks and disappointments, God was at work in and through him. Much of the seed he scattered appeared to bear no fruit, yet some of the seed would bear a rich harvest. As people of faith we can get very discouraged by the indifference or even hostility to the gospel message. Yet, we can be sure that the Lord continues to work in our midst, even when the signs are unpromising. Like Jesus in the gospel reading, we can get distressed and troubled by the gospel’s lack of progress but, like him, we need never get discouraged. There always remains much to give God thanks for, because God’s work is not ultimately thwarted by human resistance.

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(iv) Tuesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

We are all very aware of how, from time to time, we can fail to respond to certain situations in the most appropriate way. We might realize very shortly afterwards that our response left a lot to be desired. Hopefully, we can learn from such experiences. The Lord speaks to us through our failings as much as through our virtue. Both of today’s readings put before us examples of an inappropriate response to situations. In the first reading, Moses saw an Egyptian strike a Hebrew, one of his countrymen. He responded by killing the Egyptian and burying his body in the sand. As a result, he had to flee to a different country, leaving what was familiar to him for the unknown. In the gospel reading, Jesus complains about three towns in Galilee who responded with indifference to the mighty works that he performed among them. One of those towns, Capernaum, is known to us from the gospels as a focal point for Jesus’ teaching and deeds. Moses’ response was one of violence to an act of violence. The response of these towns was one of indifference to many life-giving acts on behalf of others. The Lord calls out to us from every situation in life, both those that proclaim death and those that proclaim life. In each and every situation, we need to ‘seek the Lord’ in the words of the response to today’s psalm. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we try to discern what the Lord is saying to me in and through this situation and how he is calling on me to respond.

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(v) Tuesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The last line of today’s first reading is very thought-provoking, ‘if you do not stand by me, you will not stand at all’. The prophet was addressing, Ahaz, the king of Judah, at a time of national crisis, because Ahaz was attempting to address the crisis without reference to the Lord. The words of Isaiah to Ahaz are echoed in the words of Psalm 127, ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain’. In a similar vein, Jesus declares in John’s gospel, ‘apart from me you can do nothing’. We can all be tempted to go it alone, failing to recognize our dependence on the Lord for everything. The words of Jesus in today’s gospel reading express his frustration at three of the towns of Galilee for their failure to acknowledge their dependence on what Jesus had come to offer them, ‘Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida… And as for you, Capernaum…’. Jesus’ words addressed to these towns may seem harsh to our ears, but they express the anguish of the shepherd who sees his flock turn away from the green pastures they need. In spite of all the mighty works Jesus had done among them, they refused to repent. The Lord wishes to stand by us, but he needs us to stand by him, if we are to flourish in the way he desires for us. There will be times in our lives when we will stand apart from the Lord, but the Lord never ceases to call us to stand by him, to rely on him, so as to allow him to do the work in our lives which only he can do.

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(vi) Tuesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the previous chapter of Matthew’s gospel to today’s gospel reading, Jesus had said, ‘You received without charge, give without charge’. When the Lord gives to us, he looks to us to give to others from what we have received from him. When the Lord gives, we need firstly to receive from what he gives, and then to give to others from what we have received. That first step of receiving what the Lord gives is vital. We can be slow to receive what the Lord wants to give us. We have to keep learning to receive from him. As Jesus says elsewhere, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus bemoans the fact that the inhabitants of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum were unwilling to receive what Jesus was offering them. God had worked powerfully through Jesus in these towns, and, yet, their inhabitants failed to receive Jesus. God was gifting them through Jesus and, yet, they did not welcome God’s gifts through Jesus, God’s gift of Jesus. Today’s gospel invites us to ask ourselves, ‘How well do we receive all that God is offering us through his Son?’ The opening chapter of John’s gospel declares that Jesus came among us full of grace and truth and from his fullness we have all received. Because the Lord is full of God’s love for us, there is no limit to how much we can receive from him. There is always more to receive, and more that we can give from what we have received.

And/Or

(vii) Tuesday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel reading reveals the distress of Jesus before the refusal of some of the towns of Galilee to welcome him and his message, the towns of Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazin. According to John’s gospel, Simon Peter, Andrew and Philip were from Bethsaida and according to the other gospels Capernaum was the home of Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus’ threat of judgement on these towns reveals his anguish at their refusal to accept his preaching of the kingdom of God’s loving mercy. We tend to have the strongest feelings towards those we love the most, and, sometimes, that can include the feeling of anger. We often have a sense of helplessness when those we deeply care about take a path that we know will not serve them well. We try to persuade them otherwise out of our love for them, but our words fall on deaf ears. We have to let them go, even though our heart breaks at the path they are taking. This is akin to the experience of Jesus before those towns of Galilee that mattered deeply to him. However, because Jesus’ love is infinitely deeper than ours, his feeling of anguish at his love being rejected is also much greater than ours. Jesus too remains helpless before the refusal of others to take the path of life he is offering them. Yet, he never gives up on those who reject him, continuing to call out to them in his love. After his death and resurrection, the risen Lord continued to preach the gospel to the towns of Galilee through his disciples, and the Acts of the Apostles suggests that many of the Galilean towns heard the gospel. ‘Meanwhile the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up’ (Acts 9:31). The Lord never gives up on us but he looks to us to seek him and, if we do so, we will not be disappointed. In the words of the responsorial psalm, ‘Seek the Lord, you who are poor, and your hearts will revive’.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

15th July >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Monday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Matthew 10:34 -11:1) ‘Anyone who welcomes you, welcomes me’.

Monday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA)Matthew 10:34-11:1It is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword.

Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth: it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be those of his own household.‘Anyone who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.‘Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me; and those who welcome me welcome the one who sent me.‘Anyone who welcomes a prophet will have a prophet’s reward; and anyone who welcomes a holy man will have a holy man’s reward.‘If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward.’When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples he moved on from there to teach and preach in their towns.

Gospel (USA)Matthew 10:34-11:1I have come to bring not peace, but the sword.

Jesus said to his Apostles: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set

a man against his father,a daughter against her mother,and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;and one’s enemies will be those of his household.

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple– amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”When Jesus finished giving these commands to his Twelve disciples, he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.

Reflections (7)

(i) Monday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading Jesus speaks of the value of giving a cup of cold water to one of his disciples. Giving a cup of cold water to someone who needs it is not going to make headlines. Most likely, only the giver and the receiver will be aware of it. Yet, Jesus holds up this small act of kindness as having immense value. Even the simplest acts in which we lose ourselves for others have eternal significance. The giving of a cup of cold water can stand for any number of small acts of kindness which give life to others. Pope Francis in a homily some years ago spoke of how love can find expression in simple ways. He refers to the encouragement of simple love, ‘like a blessing before we go to bed, or a hug after we return from a hard day’s work’. ‘Love’, he says, ‘is shown by little things, by attention to small daily signs which make us feel at home’. In the gospel reading Jesus is trying to teach us the value of what we might be inclined to dismiss as of very little significance. In all sorts of ways throughout this parish, this city, people are giving the equivalent of a cup of cold water to those who need it. Parents are doing it for their children every day of the week. Jesus also indicates in that reading that when we give the equivalent of the cup of cold water to someone, there is more going on than we might realize at the time. ‘Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me; and those who welcome me welcome the one who sent me’. The way we relate to each other is an expression of how we are relating to Jesus and to God the Father, whether we are aware of that or not. In our dealings with each other, we are dealing with the divine. We are standing on holy ground all the time.

And/Or

(ii) Monday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The opening saying of Jesus in this morning’s gospel reading might strike us as strange, ‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth; it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword’. Jesus recognizes that his presence on earth will be divisive; some will welcome him and others will reject him and those who reject him will persecute those who welcome him. He goes on to elaborate on how we can welcome him. He says to those he sends out as his ambassadors, ‘anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and those who welcome me welcome the one who sent me’. All of us who have been baptized are always being sent out by Jesus as his ambassadors. In welcoming each other, we are welcoming Jesus, and in welcoming Jesus we are welcoming God the Father. Jesus identifies himself very closely with each one of his followers, to such an extent that how we relate to each other determines how we relate to him. Even the smallest act of kindness to another disciple of Jesus, such as the giving of a cup of cold water, will not go unnoticed by the Lord. The Lord whom we are to prefer more than even our closest family members nonetheless comes to us in and through each other. The ground which we share with our fellow pilgrims is holy ground, sacred space, where the Lord is present.

And/Or

(iii) Monday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

It is often the case that people who take a stand for what is right and good can find themselves at odds with their own group. There have been many examples of whistle-blowers who are ostracized because they brought to light some inappropriate behaviour that others would have preferred to keep hidden. It is against such a background that Jesus’ sayings at the beginning of today’s gospel reading could be understand. He declares that he has come not to bring peace but a sword and to set members of families against each other. Jesus recognized that those who followed in his way would often find themselves at odds with their own family members who had not embraced the way of Jesus. Earlier in Matthew’s gospel Jesus declared blessed those who are persecuted for what is right. Now he acknowledges that such persecution could come even from within one’s own family. That is why Jesus goes on to declare in this gospel reading that those who chose to follow him will have to keep preferring him even to their family members, when that is called for. To be excluded from one’s family, or one’s peer group, for the sake of Jesus and his values, entails a huge loss. Yet, Jesus declares that those who lose their life for his sake will find it. The gospel calls on us to risk everything, even our most significant relationships, for the sake of Jesus and all he stands for. It is a call that remains as challenging today as it did when Jesus first uttered it.

And/Or

(iv) Monday, Fifteenth week in Ordinary Time

Jesus declares in the gospel reading that whoever gives a cup of cold water to someone thirsty will most certainly not lose his or her reward. The reward Jesus refers to there is an eternal reward. At one level, the giving of a cup of cold water to someone can seem like a very small act of kindness. Yet, Jesus declares that such an act has eternal significance. There is more going on there than meets the eye. Small acts of kindness and generosity, like the giving of a cup of cold water, can reveal a bigness of heart and spirit, the heart of Jesus. The Lord’s love is often is often revealed in our lives in little ways, by attention to the little details that make people feel at home. It is such acts of kindness towards others, no matter how small, that create openings for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth. Through our acts of kindness, the Lord of life comes to others. Also, such acts of kindness and hospitality lead us to encounter the Lord in those we serve. Earlier in today’s gospel reading, Jesus had said to his disciples, ‘anyone who welcomes you, welcome me, and those who welcome me welcome not me but the one who sent me’. When we welcome another in need, no matter in how small a way, not only are we helping to make the Lord present, but we are meeting the Lord and God, his Father and our Father, in those we serve. Wherever there is kindness, care and hospitality shown, there the Lord is present in various ways. Such encounters have a real sacramental quality to them. They help to make the Lord present in the world.

And/Or

(v) Monday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

We have been having very warm weather in recent weeks. In Ireland we are not used to such a prolonged spell of warm weather. At such times we feel the need to drink more than we usually do. A cup of cold water becomes more of a luxury when the heat makes us thirsty. In the time and place of Jesus, where the weather is generally a lot warmer than in Ireland and for longer periods, a cup of cold water can be highly prized. It is against that background that Jesus declares in today’s gospel reading, ‘if anyone gives as much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then, I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward’. The reference by Jesus to his disciples as ‘little ones’ may point ahead to a later saying of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew, according to which, unless disciples become like children, they will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Disciples are to live out of an awareness of their dependence on God for all that is needful. According to the first beatitude, it is to such ‘poor in spirit’ that the kingdom of God belongs. Jesus declares in our gospel reading that the smallest acts of kindness towards one of his followers, ‘one of these little ones’, such as the giving of a cup of cold water, will not go unrewarded. Within the family of disciples, the church, we need to be attentive to each other. Small acts of kindness can be as valuable as the heroic deed in the eyes of God the Father, of whom Jesus said that no even a sparrow falls to the ground without him knowing it.

And/Or

(vi) Monday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The Lord, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, in today’s first reading makes a very powerful statement. He declares that all the worship of the Temple in Jerusalem is unacceptable to him if it is not accompanied by a search for justice and by a readiness to help the oppressed and the most vulnerable. This message is very much in keeping with the two basic commandments of the Jewish Law, which are inseparable one from the other, the commandment to love God with all one’s being and to love our neighbour as ourselves, especially our vulnerable neighbour. We give expression to our love of God by worshipping God and by loving those whom God loves. The life of Jesus is in complete harmony with that teaching of the Jewish Scriptures. Jesus was a person of deep prayer and also a person who sought justice for others, who befriended the most vulnerable. In the gospel reading, Jesus says that we are to love him above everyone else; we are to prefer him more even than those for whom we have the strongest natural affection, such as our parents. The Lord is to be our first love. Yet, Jesus goes on to identify himself with his disciples declaring, ‘anyone who welcomes you, welcomes me’, and saying that ‘anyone who gives so much as a cup of cold water’ to his disciples will not lose their reward. The Lord comes to us through his followers, especially through those he calls the ‘little ones’ among his disciples, those most likely to be dismissed as unimportant. Later in Matthew’s gospel he declares that he comes to us through the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the stranger, the sick, the imprisoned, whether they are his disciples or not. We love the Lord through loving others. We are to worship the Lord in prayer and with our lives. Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans speaks of our ‘spiritual worship’, which consists in presenting our bodies, our whole selves ‘as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God’. This kind of worship will always find expression both in prayer and in the loving service of others.

And/Or

(vii) Monday, Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

I am often struck by Jesus’ reference to a ‘cup of cold water’ in today’s gospel reading. ‘If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones…’ A cup of cold water may seem very little, but on a baking hot day in the middle east it would be seen as a very precious gift. Jesus is saying that the giving of as little as a cup of cold water to someone in need of it will have an eternal reward. He is reminding us of the significance of small gestures. People of earlier generations were very aware that a little can go a long way. Because they had little, they were able to make it go a long way. It is also true that the little we give to someone can go a long way, in the sense that it can have an impact for good beyond what we might think. In one of his parables, Jesus speaks of the mustard seed which becomes the largest shrub of all in which birds of the air nest. When we scatter even the smallest seed of goodness and generosity, the Lord can work powerfully through it. We don’t always have the resources or the energy or the health to undertake big projects, especially as we get older. Yet, like the widow in the gospel story who put two small coins into the Temple treasury and in doing so gave her all, the smallest gestures of loving kindness can reveal a large-hearted generosity. We can never underestimate the potential of the little good we might manage to do. There are many equivalents to the cup of cold water. The Lord delights in them all and promises that they will bring a great reward.

Fr. Martin Hogan.