Friday 17th Week Ordinary Time in Year A 

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Scripture today: Jeremiah 26: 1-9;     Psalm 68;      Matthew 13: 54-58

Coming to his home town, Jesus began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? they asked. Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things? And they took offence at him. But Jesus said to them, Only in his home town and in his own house is a prophet without honour. And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. (Matthew 13: 54-58)

Faith   In the history of religions there are many things the gods are portrayed as doing (as in, say, the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer ).  But even in eras when such religions were in possession, it was accepted by many that these divine activities were entirely mythical.  Those who were more educated — such as the Greek philosophers — progressively dismissed popular religion as being little more than the product of the imagination.  But in the most extraordinary doctrine of the Christians — that the one only God became a man — the Christian Church insisted that there was nothing whatever of mere myth.  It was a hard and sober fact.  It occurred at a precise date and in a very precise location.  It is indeed the most startling of assertions, and was made of a particular person in history.  In the modern era beginning with two thinkers of the French Enlightenment, Constantin‑François Chassebœuf, known as Volney, and Charles François Dupuis (in works published in the 1790s), some have gone to the length of denying the very existence of Jesus Christ.  But that is so far beyond a reasonable attitude to historical evidence that it does not warrant consideration.  More common, of course, has been the denial of the Christian claim about Jesus, that he is divine and that he is the Messiah.  Now, this denial seems plausible to some precisely because Jesus was so truly man.  If it was the divine plan that the eternal Word become flesh and dwell among us as man, then necessarily the Son of God made man was exposing himself to the risk of not being accepted for who he was.  The fact that his claim to be both Messiah and Son of God was rejected by many and even by most of his contemporaries, and by many from generation to generation ever since, shows how complete was the Incarnation.  The man Jesus was so obviously a man that many would not accept that he was the Messiah and God.  Our Gospel passage today is a case in point.  Jesus had grown up as a member of a very human family.  He had a human mother and many relatives.  The small town where he lived for so many years knew him intimately and had seen him at his work with Joseph his foster‑father.  It was as plain as the day that he was a man.  This fact is proof of the thorough‑going character of the Incarnation.

By taking the step he did for our salvation, God was exposing himself to rejection on the grand scale.  He became fully man, and we see the humanity of Jesus Christ acknowledged in the words of his townspeople in our Gospel today.  “Coming to his home town, Jesus began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed.  Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? they asked.  Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?  Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things? And they took offence at him” (Matthew 13: 54‑58).  As we gaze on the figure of Jesus of Nazareth in our mind’s eye, a figure so fully human, we ought wonder at the spectacle.  The infinite divine Being, pure Being as he is, and the ongoing source of all other beings whether visible or invisible, stands before us all as a mere man.  He was humble, meek, strong and totally good.  The infinite God had taken to himself a limited though sinless human nature and in this way made himself totally accessible and very vulnerable.  He could be insulted, rejected, attacked and beaten to death.  In fact, all this did happen to him, and yet he was God himself upon whom the entire universe constantly depended.  But there is more to this consideration.  In the divine plan, our salvation depends on the acceptance of Jesus Christ and his word.  Of course, Christ’s salvation reaches those who through no fault of their own do not know or believe in Jesus Christ and who strive to be good in God’s sight by sincerely following their conscience.  Their salvation is nevertheless Christ’s work.  That granted, still faith in Jesus Christ and the acceptance of his claims and teaching is the divinely established path to salvation.  The centrality of faith in Jesus is also hinted at in our Gospel of today.  We read that “Jesus said to them, Only in his home town and in his own house is a prophet without honour.  And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.” This difficult act of faith in Jesus is the path to heaven.

Yes, it is difficult for ordinary human reason and the ordinary human heart to believe that the man Jesus Christ is the Messiah and Son of the living God.  But it is through believing in his name that we are saved.  What then is the way ahead? It is to ask God for the gift of faith in Jesus because it is a gift of grace.  We shall not do it of ourselves.  But in that gift granted definitively at Baptism, we receive a divinely given readiness and ability to see and accept who our Lord really is.  Faith then becomes easy.  Life’s work will then be to nourish that faith and to live by it, following Christ closely.

                                                                     (E.J.Tyler)

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We go to Jesus — and we 'return' to him — through Mary.

                                                                   (The Way, no.495)
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Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Prayers this week: God, come to my help. Lord, quickly give me assistance. You are the one who helps me and sets me free: Lord, do not be long in coming. (Psalm 69: 2. 6)
                                                                                                                   
Father of everlasting goodness, our origin and guide, be close to us and hear the prayers of all who praise you. Forgive our sins and restore us to life. Keep us safe in  your love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

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Scripture today: Isaiah 55: 1-3;    Psalm 144;    Romans 8: 35.37-39;     Matthew 14: 13-21 

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so that they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish, they answered. Bring them here to me, he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14: 13-21)

The value of the individual   Every government has values and because of these values it seeks to achieve certain goals, but the danger is that these values and goals can lack a thoroughgoing critique.  Apart from governments,  majorities in societies also will have values and so will come to have goals.  Goals and values spread within societies and can be unthinkingly accepted by the people of those societies especially when those values are those of the mass media.  One of the great benefits of the gradual spread of democracy in the world is that the average man and woman has a chance to exert an influence on the goals of government, of majorities and of the media.  This is one reason why a democracy is so important.  In a democracy that is truly functioning as such, the values of governments or of societies or of the media can be subjected to critique from various quarters.  That critique ought have as its aim the attainment of the truth of the matter.  The abiding danger in a democracy is that the majority view — or the view of the dominant media — can be taken as being, in the nature of the case, the true view.  The voice of a society is unconsciously taken to be the voice of truth.  For instance, if a view prevails in a society that abortion is to be made liberally available, then without necessarily saying as much, that is often subconsciously regarded as objectively the true one.  Many simply accept as true the basic values of the majority around them.  A democracy offers the opportunity to maintain a critique of the view held by a Government that is in power or of a view held by a majority in a society or of a powerful media.  A minority who can see the truth of a matter has the opportunity to press for the acceptance in society of the truth.  Matters become serious when democratic opportunities are shut down by force or by manipulation.  Now, one truth which is so important in society is the supreme importance of the human person.  Each individual person must be respected in his basic and inalienable rights.  This, probably more than anything, is always in danger of being forgotten in society both by those in power and by the majority.  The temptation is to think that what is good and useful to the many is the supreme value even if it is at the expense of basic rights of the individual.

We are reminded of this in our Gospel passage today.  Our Lord “withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.  Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” Our Lord is filled with compassion for each person in need, and we read that “as evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late.  Send the crowds away, so that they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.  Jesus replied, They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat” (Matthew 14: 13‑21).  As we contemplate the scene, we are surely reminded by our Lord’s unfailing compassion for each and every person that it is precisely the individual who ought be at the centre of all human and social action.  The individual in his basic rights must not be set aside for the convenience of the majority, let alone for the convenience of the ones in power.  A person who holds Christ for his example, a person who wishes to put on the mind of Christ, holds as precious the least in need, the very least.  And we have powerful incentives for this.  Our Lord in describing the General Judgment of all the nations tells us (in Matthew 25) that the King will take his seat on his throne of glory.  He will then tell those on his right and his left that whatever they did to the least of his brothers they did to him.  That is to say, the least person even if unborn has an absolute value in that his basic and inalienable rights must be respected.  He must not, for instance, be harmed for the convenience of the many.  This is not just a matter for society at large to remember.  It is not just a principle for the critique of public and social policy.  It is a fundamental principle for each of us in our daily life and interaction with all others.  Whether we are at home, at work or wherever, we must orientate our lives towards the love and respect and consideration of each individual person, recognizing in that person one whom Christ loves and for whom he died. 

Christ died for each of us.  He did not simply die for a certain percentage of mankind, but for each individual person.  That alone shows how tremendously important is each person, no matter how little in the sight of the world.  Christ identifies with the least and he expects to be recognized in the least.  All this is to say that while the family and civic community are necessary for the flourishing of the human person, the human person is and ought to be the principle, the subject and the end of all social institutions.  It is central to the vocation and mission of the lay members of Christ’s faithful that they implant and embed this great truth in the soul of every society.
                                                   (E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1877-1882 (The communitarian character of the human vocation),
                                                                                          1890-1891 (The Human person needs life in society).

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Say to her: Mother, my Mother — yours, because you are hers on many counts — may your love bind me to your Son's Cross: may I not lack the Faith, nor the courage, nor the daring, to carry out the will of our Jesus.
                                               (The Way, no.497)

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Scripture today: Jeremiah 28: 1-17;     Psalm 118;     Matthew 14: 13-21

When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so that they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish, they answered. Bring them here to me, he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. (Matthew 14: 13-21)

Charity  If we think of the sweep of human history, it is obvious that religion is essential to the human story.  Historians, anthropologists and archaeologists who themselves might be agnostic or only minimally religious would readily allow that religion has played an important part in the shaping of civilizations, even if some reduce religion to some other function of human life.  As has often been said, while man is a rational animal, he is also a religious one.  This is to say that even an empirical study of man — an empirical study in the broadest sense — shows that he yearns for the divine, for the numinous, for the world beyond this one.  But there has been a persistent attack on religion coming from many who are not impressed by what they see as the result of the central place of religion in the life of man.  They see a yearning for the Above and with it a tragic forgetfulness of the Here and the Now.  They see prayers and ceremonies in the midst of material degradation.  They see monasteries with squalor in the immediate surrounds.  That is, they do not see anything like a sufficient concern for the welfare of man where they see the dominance of a concern for God.  This sort of objection has many forms and comes from many sources.  It was one reason for the anti‑religious and atheistic character of Marxist and Leninist and Maoist communism.  Or again, a person who does not observe the Sabbath Day at all criticises those who do.  He justifies his own non‑observance by saying that those who go to Church on Sundays live a life lacking in concern for and justice to others during the rest of the week.  Let us set aside the obvious answer that this objection ignores the striking material and social benefits that so many of those motivated by religion have actually brought to the poor and needy in society.  Let us admit that all too often many who are religious have not been sufficiently humane.  What are we to say about this assumed disregard for one’s brother? What should be the character of religion in relation to human need?

Our Gospel passage today (Matthew 14: 13‑21) gives us a very clear answer to this in the person of the Archetype of the religion of man.  The Christian position is that when we think of religion, we ought in the first instance think of the person of Jesus Christ.  We ought not think firstly of this or that indigenous religion, or of this or that great founder such as Zoroaster, Buddha, Mahomet or whoever.  We ought not think, in the first instance, of this or that religious period, or of this or that religious institution such as an order of monasteries, or a series of revivals such as the Evangelical Revival in eighteenth century England.  We ought think of the person of Jesus Christ.  He is the perfect Man in history and the exemplar of what it is to be religious.  What do we see in him? We see compassion for those in need and a great impulse to meet the need.  His mission was more than anything to answer the problem of sin which is the root of all man’s problems.  But in our passage today we see him filled with compassion.  We read that “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.  As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late.  Send the crowds away, so that they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.  Jesus replied, They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat.” Our Lord’s many miracles were precisely in answer to human need.  St James in his Letter speaks of religion “pure and undefiled” as being keeping oneself pure from sin and coming to the aid of those in need.  So great has been the commitment of the Christian religion to the practice of justice and charity, that in much of popular thinking to be a Christian simply means being truly benevolent.  The notion of the Christian religion in their minds has lost its central element which is the love of God because all they think they see is love of neighbour.  But it does show that in the mind of Christ, an absolutely central component of true religion is the service of neighbour. 

Scripture today: Jeremiah 31: 1-7;    Psalm Jeremiah 31;     Matthew 15: 21-28

Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession. Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us. He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. The woman came and knelt before him. Lord, help me! she said. He replied, It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs. Yes, Lord, she said, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table. Then Jesus answered, Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted. And her daughter was healed from that very hour. (Matthew 15: 21-28)

The pagan woman   As is the case with so many scenes of the Gospel, our passage today gives rise to many reflections especially on the central personage, our Lord Jesus Christ.  An immediate thing to be noticed is that, when pressed by his disciples to accede to the request of the importunate pagan woman so as to be rid of her, our Lord defines his mission.  The specific mission he had been given by his heavenly Father was “to the lost sheep of Israel.” We remember how, at the beginning of his public ministry and after he had been baptized by John, our Lord was tempted by Satan in the wilderness.  One of the temptations was to be lord of the world.  All these kingdoms I will give to you, Satan alluringly promised, if you but worship me.  The temptation was rejected out of hand, for the worship of Satan was utterly preposterous.  But that event, too, serves to remind us that our Lord’s specific mission was not to the kingdoms of the world but to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” All the nations would come then.  Just before his ascension into heaven he told his disciples that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to him.  So having entered into his glory, the man Jesus had been constituted Lord of the world.  They were to go, then, to the whole world and make disciples of all the nations.  Here in our scene today (Matthew 15: 21‑28), our Lord tells his disciples that his mission prior to his being glorified was to “the lost sheep of Israel.” But let us notice how our Lord formulates his mission to Israel.  It is especially to “the lost sheep” of Israel.  It is to man as having fallen that God has sent his divine Son.  He has come to save, to redeem, to raise up from the degradation and misery of sin, and his personal work was to begin with the house of Israel.  The assistance he extends to the pagan Canaanite woman is a pointer to what is to come after he had risen from the dead.  In that woman, so desperate for divine help, we are reminded of all mankind.  In assisting her, Christ is acting as Saviour of the world.

In portraying Christ responding to the prayer of the pagan woman, St Matthew is not only presenting Christ as Saviour of Israel and Saviour of the world, but he is presenting the example of the Canaanite woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon.  She did not know much about our Lord, but enough to know his famed title as Son of David and to know his holiness and power before God.  She knew little else, we must presume.  Yet she came to Christ and would not give up on her prayer.  She had faith in him and that faith is manifest in her persistence.  Her persistence in the face of silence and seeming rebuff, not only from the disciples but from our Lord himself, won the day.  She would not give up.  Our Lord did not tell her to be gone, he just remained silent.  He was obviously testing her.  Her faith was being tested by the silence of God.  Our own experience is often comparable to the experience of that pagan woman in her prayer.  It may seem that God is often, all too often, silent in the face of our entreaties.  But what do we do? Do we give up and go away, thinking that God is not there, or that he is uninterested, or that he is not able to help? Do we fail in our faith when God does not answer immediately or very soon after, or perhaps does not accede to the specifics we have asked of him? Is this what happens all too often in life? If so, we ought contemplate the example of the woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon.  She was rebuffed by our Lord’s disciples, and received no response from our Lord initially.  When I say she received no response from him, I mean that she saw no response.  But our Lord was indeed responding and was testing her faith so as to reward it.  It is clear that he was delighted with the persistent faith of the pagan woman and he rewarded it accordingly.  Let us do likewise.  Let our prayer be earnest and persistent, especially for those things that do matter in the sight of God, which is to say those things that will help us to be truly pleasing to God our Father.

Scripture today: Jeremiah 31: 31-34;    Psalm 50;    Matthew 16: 13-23

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man is? They replied, Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you? he asked. Who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Never, Lord! he said. This shall never happen to you! Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. (Matthew 16: 13-23)

The Rock and the Keys    By any standards this (Matthew 16: 13-23) must be regarded as a tremendous text of the Gospels.  There are twenty eight chapters in the Gospel of St Matthew and so we can regard this passage as being more or less at the heart of Matthew’s account.  Christ’s preaching was filled with references to the Kingdom of heaven and what is required in order to enter it.  Here, away from the crowds and alone with his disciples he begins with a critical question: who he himself is.  It implies that he himself is at the centre of the Kingdom of heaven and entry into this Kingdom is inextricably tied to one’s belief in and acknowledgment of him.  In fact, Christ himself is the embodiment of this Kingdom because the Kingdom is nothing other than the lordship and rule of God.  That rule is present in its fullness in Jesus.  Entry into the Kingdom is entry into union with him.  And so he elicits from Simon a magnificent profession of faith, that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of the living God, a profession which Christ not only accepts but states as having its origin in the action of the Father.  It was Christ’s own Father in heaven who revealed this to Simon.  Simon had received the gift of faith.  But now, our Lord introduces something new.  To this point he had been preaching and instructing about the promised Kingdom of God.  Now he speaks of his Church.  He has received Simon’s profession of faith, a profession he gives on behalf of the Apostles.  Our Lord now proceeds to formally lay the foundations of his Church and to indicate the connection between his Church and the Kingdom he had been preaching.  Simon receives the title of the Rock, Peter.  It is on this Rock which is Simon that Christ will build his Church and his Church will not be overcome by the forces of Hell.  There will be a new people built on and developed from the old.  The Apostles will be its twelve patriarchs with Simon Peter as their head.  Simon will be the visible rock and foundation of the building that Christ will create and it will be entirely secure despite the human failings and limitations, embodied even in Simon himself (Matthew 16: 13‑23).

There is more in this surprising revelation of Christ’s intentions.  The Kingdom that Christ has to this point been preaching will have an entry and keys to that entry.  Those keys would be entrusted to a specific person.  Christ says he will give to Simon the keys to the Kingdom of heaven — the action is future in tense and so it speaks of what Christ will do with Peter.  Simon Peter will have in his hands the keys to give access to the lordship and rule of God together with the blessings this contains.  The keys will be held by him.  So Simon will be the chief minister of the Kingdom, and Christ its King.  Simon will represent the King and will make his presence visible in his own limited and all‑too faulty person.  Simon will be Christ’s vicar and whatever he chooses to bind up or loosen will be ratified in heaven.  So Simon’s authority will be great.  Those seeking entry into the Kingdom of heaven, which is union with Jesus and all that this brings and requires, will have the singular advantage of knowing to whom they are to go.  A specific person is to be constituted by Christ to represent him, clearly after he has gone.  That person is Simon Peter, and the Twelve must live out their mission in communion with him.  Our Lord is pointing to his death and departure from the scene, and he is making permanent provision for this until he returns again at the end of the age.  That provision is contained in his Church which he is to build, at the head of which is his appointee, Simon Peter, who is to hold the keys.  Having announced his momentous step in the establishment of Church and the Kingdom, Christ speaks of his Passion, his Death and his Resurrection.  Immediately Simon, having been told of his exalted calling, shows his all‑too limited grasp and brings down on himself a sharp rebuke from Christ.  The way to glory and to the fullness of the Kingdom is through suffering and death.  This is to be, then, the way Simon and the Apostles must follow as must all who wish to be in Christ.

Scripture today: Nahum 2: 1.3; 3:1-3.6-7;     Deuteronomy 32;     Matthew 16: 24-28

Then Jesus said to his disciples, If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16: 24-28)

The cross   I have known people who, when they heard that a young person they knew wished to be a priest, thought the course being chosen was crazy.  It was a waste of a life.  That young person was foregoing marriage, a career in the world, success in life and a variety of other things besides.  But take this a step further.  Consider the person who hears the call of Christ to be his disciple — whatever may be the particular vocation in life as a disciple that is his or hers.  A careful reading of the Gospels about the Christian life reveal new demands that at first sight might seem crazy.  For instance, consider the young man in the Gospel who came in haste to our Lord and asked in all sincerity what he must do to inherit eternal life.  He had kept God’s commandments from his earliest years.  He wanted to know what further God was expecting of him.  Our Lord, we are told, looked on him and loved him.  He then took a risk.  He said to the young man that if he wanted to be perfect, he ought sell all he had and give it to the poor.  Then he ought come and follow him.  Our Lord was asking him to deny himself very radically.  A change came over the young man’s face.  It fell.  What our Lord just said to him seemed crazy and unnecessary, and he went away sad for he had many possessions.  In our Gospel passage today (Matthew 16: 24‑28) our Lord says to his disciples that if anyone would come after him he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow him.  It is a variation of what he told the rich young man, only this time it is even more general.  The Christian is to choose the path of self‑denial.  He is to take up his cross.  Let us notice our Lord’s specific mention of “the cross”.  In the previous passage Christ had made it plain to his disciples that his path was to be that of suffering and death, and he had sharply rebuked Simon for attempting to dissuade him from this path.  It had seemed crazy to Simon.  I suspect that the active choice by Christ of the path of suffering and death would basically seem meaningless to most of the non‑Christian religions of the world, including to Mahomet and Islam.

Christ foresaw his own death on the cross, but the point to notice here in our passage today is that our Lord uses the cross in reference to the following of him.  Just as his own path involved a denial of himself unto death, so too his disciple must deny himself and take up his cross.  With the Roman occupation, every Jew would be familiar with execution by crucifixion.  Criminals were crucified publicly and this was meant to serve as a powerful deterrent.  All would be familiar with the condemned person taking up his cross and being forced to make his way to the place of his death.  Our Lord uses this striking metaphor to describe the path of his disciples.  But there is also this.  The disciple must do this willingly for love of Jesus.  He is to “take up his cross” on his own initiative and not as something forced upon him.  So the acceptance and choice of the cross is part of a loving following of Jesus.  This may seem crazy even to many who count themselves as Christ’s disciples but who have not taken to heart these words in our Gospel today.  It is the choice of the path of self denial out of love for Jesus, precisely because Jesus chose that path.  What constitutes this cross? Well of course, there are the difficulties in doing God’s will.  There are all the difficulties that are allowed by the providence of God such as bad health, lack of opportunities in one’s career, the fact that others are better positioned and gain those opportunities, the lack of recognition by others that comes with very limited talents and capacities, one’s own mistakes that lead to various sufferings, and so it goes on.  Life brings many difficulties and these are allowed by God.  That constitutes a “cross” that ought be accepted for love of Jesus.  There is also the suffering that comes with injustices and humiliations perpetrated by others.  That “cross” is to be taken up.  But there is more still.  There is the active choice of things that will involve the denial of oneself, the choosing of the lower place, the choosing of a more mortified practice, the choosing to be more meek and humble of heart, the acceptance of humiliations, and all for love of Jesus. 

Saturday of the eighteenth week in Ordinary Time II

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Scripture today: Habakkuk 1:12-2:4;     Psalm 9;     Matthew 17: 14-20  

When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. Lord, have mercy on my son, he said. He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him. O unbelieving and perverse generation, Jesus replied, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me. Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, Why couldn't we drive it out? He replied, Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. (Matthew 17: 14-20)

Belief   Most people accept the importance of the study of history.  History is studied in schools and it is an important subject in Arts faculties at University level.  However, it is interesting to notice the fields of history that are given most emphasis.  Economic and political history is largely assumed to be of most importance, whereas a case could easily be made for an emphasis on other fields that often do not even get a look‑in.  I am thinking of, for instance, the history of ideas and especially the history of philosophy and perhaps too, the history of man’s religions.  I would suggest that just as religions are studied at secondary school level, so ought philosophy.  Be all that as it may, when it comes to the history of philosophy it is of value to notice what have been the concerns of philosophers.  Those concerns have been the nature of morality, the world of our experience, the nature of history, human knowledge, the existence and nature of God, and a host of other basic questions.  Within the Anglo‑Saxon philosophical world, human knowledge has been at the forefront of interest.  How can we be certain of anything and what are the means of attaining the truth, if there be any objective truth? Now, over the past couple of centuries the assumption has grown that the criterion of truth is its demonstrability.  That is to say, if a truth can be demonstrated mathematically or scientifically — meaning in the main, empirically — then it can be accepted as true.  Now, of course, if a truth can be demonstrated in this way, then it can be accepted as true.  The problem is that this is taken to be a total criterion of truth, which is to say that it is a test to be applied to all truths.  It is part of the naturalist assumption of much of modern thought: the only reality that can be admitted is that which lies within the boundaries of our sense‑experience.  Hence it is that there is a strong suspicion against any truths which rely for their apprehension and acceptance on an act of faith.  Typically we are not disposed to accept assertions which rely on faith in another.  That is our contemporary bias.  We need to come to grips with it if we find this bias in ourselves, because it will make us slow to accept immensely important truths that come from entirely reliable sources.

Let us take our Gospel passage today, for example.  Our Lord is presented with a boy who is in the grip of some form of demonic possession and he is told that his disciples are quite unable to cast out the demon from the boy.  At a word, our Lord expels the demon and in private, he is asked by his disciples why they were unable to cast it out.  Our Lord replied, “Because you have so little faith.  I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17: 14‑20).  Let us prescind from a detailed discussion of this particular case of the exercise of faith, to the general point that our Lord made the appeal for faith a cornerstone of his public ministry.  He was continually asking for faith.  When he returned to his home town and presented himself as the one foretold by the prophets, he received an entirely negative response.  We are told that our Lord did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.  Time and again when he was approached by those who were suffering from one ailment or another, he asked them if they believed that he could do this for them.  When he arrived in Bethany four days after his friend Lazarus had died, he was met by Martha.  Our Lord told her that he was the resurrection and the life and that anyone who believed in him would live even if he died.  Then he asked Martha if she believed this.  She told him that she did, that she believed that he was the Messiah, the Son of the living God.  He then proceeded to work his astounding miracle of raising Lazarus forthwith from the grave.  Faith in his person was the door to divine truth.  Our Lord did not ask people if, through their own independent tests, they had come to see that what he claimed and taught was true.  No, he asked them if they believed in him.  Faith in Jesus is the way to revealed truth.  When our Lord rose from the dead and was about to ascend to his Father, he gave his final commission to his disciples to go to the whole world, making disciples of all the nations.  Those who believed would be saved, while those who knowingly refused would not.

Let us take to heart our Lord’s constant call to believe.  Believing in Jesus the Son of God is the most reasonable thing we can do.  Our salvation depends on hearing the word of Christ and accepting it in faith.  We use our reason to examine and consider his person, but in the final analysis the act of faith will be necessary.  This faith, once given, must be maintained and helped to grow strong, and never be allowed to wane.  There are two wings taking us to truth, both reason and faith.  The truth they take us to is above all the divine truth that is the person of Christ.

                                                                  (E.J.Tyler)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mary's loneliness. Alone! She weeps, forsakenly.

You and I should keep our Lady company, and weep also, for Jesus has been fixed to the wood, with nails — our sins.
                                              (The Way, no.503)

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Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time A

Prayers this week:  Lord, be true to your covenant, forget not the life of your poor ones for ever. Rise up, O God, and defend your cause; do not ignore the shouts of your enemies. (Psalm 73: 20.19.22.23)
                                                                                                                   
Almighty and ever-living God, your Spirit made us your children, confident to call you Father. Increase your Spirit within us and bring us to our promised inheritance. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

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Scripture today: 1 Kings 19:9.11-13;    Psalm 84;    Romans 9:1-5;    Matthew 14: 22-33 

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost, they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid. Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water. Come, he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me! Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You of little faith, he said, why did you doubt? And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, Truly you are the Son of God. (Matthew 14: 22-33)

The Church’s faith   It is very clear that a principal lesson of our Gospel event today is that faith in Jesus is the great act God expects of us his children.  Jesus is the Son of God, as he demonstrated so clearly in the event portrayed in the Gospel.  He came walking to the disciples on the water and calmed the sea after he had joined them.  Courage, he said, it is I.  He said to Simon, why did you doubt? (Matthew 14: 22‑33) Our Lord is asking for full and complete faith in him and in his word.  The thought of Simon asking our Lord to bid him come to him across the water and then proceeding to do so at the invitation of Jesus, reminds us that we are called to stake everything on our faith in Christ.  He is to be the only true and certain basis of our life.  His word is what we follow and we obey his word because of our faith in him.  Simon took his first steps in this direction during the storm, but then at the sight of the storm his faith in our Lord faltered.  The most basic act of our lives, which serves as the foundation of all our other acts, should be our act of faith in Jesus.  Faith in Jesus is, in God’s intention, the foundation of our life and we ought strive to make it so every day from the first moment of rising.  However, there is an aspect of this which ought be clearly appreciated.  Yes, this act of faith, so basic in the life of the Christian, is a deeply personal thing.  It is the foundation of my personal relationship with God.  Yes, it is my act, my personal act of faith.  That having been said, we must immediately add that this is not just a personal act of mine.  That is to say, my faith in Jesus is the very faith that the entire Church shares in.  What I believe is what we all believe, all of us who make up Christ’s Church.  The Creed is not only my Creed but it is our Creed.  The Apostles’ Creed which is typically the Creed of each individual’s Baptism begins with the words, I believe.  At the same time, the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed — the Creed of the Church’s worship — is the Creed of all of us.  The faith of the individual Christian is a sharing in the faith of the Church which Christ founded.  The mission of the Church is to bring this one faith to the nations.

Therefore my act of faith in Jesus is not just something I have arrived at myself and which I determine for myself.  If we think of our faith in Jesus as a purely personal act we might instinctively imagine it as isolated from the faith of the Church, and that, being my own act of faith, it therefore is for me to determine just what I believe.  We might also be tempted to think that the Church, or rather a church, is simply a body of faithful who happen to have a faith that is similar to mine, because faith is very personal and is a matter between me and Jesus.  But no.  In the plan of God I have received my faith from the Church.  My faith is derived from the Church.  In this sense the Church is my mother, or rather our mother.  Being our mother from whom we have received the faith the Church is also my teacher, or rather our teacher.  The Church is mother and teacher not only to me but to all of us who believe.  So it is that while we say “I believe” at the start of the Apostles’ Creed in our private prayer, at Mass we all together say “I believe” at the start of the Nicene Creed.  The Nicene Creed was formulated by the Church in order to expose and exclude errors about Christ’s person, and in order to insist that the “I believe” uttered by each person be identical with the “We believe” uttered by the whole Church.  We are reminded of this by our Gospel scene today, in which all the disciples together arrived at, and professed faith in, Jesus as the Son of God.  That boat which received the presence of Jesus provides us with an image of the Church.  In it is Simon Peter with the others, and Christ is in their midst.  The faith of each in the boat is the faith of all, the faith of the incipient Church, and Christ is there with them.  So yes, the Christian nourishes his own faith in Jesus by daily prayer, assiduous reading of the Scriptures, by a devout reception of the Sacraments and by a good and holy daily life.  But he also constantly looks to the faith of the Church, that faith of those in the barque of Simon and the Twelve.  There, no matter how buffeted the boat may be, Jesus dwells in their midst.  This faith of the Church is the faith I receive and by which I am constantly guided.  I must never live my faith in Jesus in isolation from the Church Christ founded and in which he constantly abides, whatever be the storms that assail her.  My faith has come through the Church who is my mother and teacher of faith. 

In our Gospel scene today, our Lord — as he does on numerous other occasions in the Gospels — stresses the absolutely central place of faith in the life of his disciple.  Why did you doubt? We must not doubt him, neither must we must doubt his word and his teaching.  He and his word come to us in the ministry and life of the Church he founded, that Church where Simon is to be found.  Our very personal and individual faith, coming via the Church must be guided by the Church, which in the plan of God is our mother and teacher in faith.

                                                                           (E.J.Tyler)

Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 168-169 (“Look on the faith of your church.”)

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The holy Virgin Mary, Mother of Fair Love, will bring relief to your heart, when it makes you feel that it is of flesh, if you turn to her with confidence.
                                                                  (The Way, no.504)

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Monday of the nineteenth week in Ordinary Time II

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Scripture today: Ezechiel 1:2-5.24-28; Psalm 148; Matthew 17: 22-27 

When they came together in Galilee, Jesus said to his disciples, The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life. And the disciples were filled with grief. After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax? Yes, he does, he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. What do you think, Simon? he asked. From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes— from their own sons or from others? From others, Peter answered. Then the sons are exempt, Jesus said to him. But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours. (Matthew 17: 22-27)

The good citizen   The Gospels present our Lord as given over to his public ministry of announcing and establishing the Kingdom of God by his teaching, his miracles, his formation of the Apostles and other disciples, and finally by the greatest act of his life, his passion and death.  We are also given the occasional glimpse of another side of our Lord’s life, his being a citizen of his nation.  By that I am referring to his activities and rights and duties as a citizen.  As St John writes in the Prologue of his Gospel, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  This involved being a citizen of a particular society, the people of Israel.  This people was subject to the Empire of Rome which appointed or approved officials, administered taxes, and so forth.  At the very beginning of his life, Christ is seen to be subject to these political and social realities.  His parents, while he was still in the womb, had to travel to Bethlehem because of a decree of the emperor requiring a census to be taken.  Soon after his birth his parents take him to Jerusalem for his presentation in the Temple, and that was subject to religious and social regulations.  At the end of his life, Christ was brought before the Roman procurator.  The Son of God was subject to a pagan governor.  It was the result of his Incarnation.  In our Gospel today we see our Lord being asked if he paid the Temple tax: “After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two‑drachma tax came to Peter and asked, Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax? Yes, he does, he replied” (Matthew 17: 22‑27).  Peter’s reply shows that our Lord certainly paid the Temple tax.  We remember how our Lord was accosted by the scribes and Pharisees who wished to trap him and asked if it was lawful to pay the Roman tax.  Our Lord’s reply was that what was due to Caesar is to be given to him.  So we may presume that our Lord also paid whatever Roman tax was required of him.  Our Lord was a good citizen.  Were he living in our day, he would respect the laws of society and live as a good citizen, though his mission would not have been a secular one.

The direct implication of this is that the one who wishes to be Christ’s disciple must also strive to be a good citizen.  The great majority of Christ’s faithful are called by God to live directly in the world and in service of the world.  For the first thirty years of his life, this was our Lord’s own calling.  He was a carpenter with his foster‑father in the village of Nazareth.  He lived at home with his mother Mary and foster‑father Joseph, lived a daily round in the midst of his wider family of relations and among his acquaintances of the district.  He worked every day as a builder‑carpenter, earning money for the small family circle, giving some of it — and perhaps even a considerable portion of it — to the poor.  He went to the Synagogue every Sabbath and participated quietly in the life of the town.  He was the Messiah and within his ordinary life was already humbly engaged in the redemption of the world.  But then came the moment of what we might call his formal and public ordination for mission.  The Holy Spirit came upon him during his Baptism by John in the Jordan river, consecrating him to begin his public work as Messiah.  However, to that point he had lived as a simple citizen of his country as did his holy mother and his saintly foster‑father.  It is this which is the calling of most of Christ’s faithful.  They are called to live out their lives as citizens and to serve Christ and God by serving the world in which they find themselves, just as our Lord himself did for the first thirty years of his life, and just as Joseph his foster‑father did for the whole of his life.  The lay faithful are called to holiness of life in the fulfilment of their daily responsibilities to their family, to society and to the world around them.  They do this precisely as members of the Church and they find their daily spiritual sustenance in the life and ministry of the Church, in her Sacraments, in her preaching and in her ministry.  From the Church they receive their life in Christ and in that life they serve society and the world in which they live.  The redemption and sanctification of the world depends on a holy and deeply Christian laity. 

Let every lay member of Christ’s Faithful understand clearly that their presence in the world constitutes a most important vocation from Christ himself.  They belong to Christ by baptism and by the other Sacraments they have received.  Christ has placed the lay faithful in the world to serve him there.  They are to win the world to him by their being very good citizens and by their bearing witness to him before others.  This they do by their example, by their discrete and appropriate words, by their professional service, by their observance of the laws of society, and by a quiet and daily apostolate of drawing others to the person of Jesus.  Let them look to Jesus as he lived at Nazareth.  Let them look to the holy family of Nazareth.  Let them bear in mind our Gospel scene today.  Our Lord was a good citizen.  So too must the Christian be.

                                                             (E.J.Tyler)

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Love for our Lady is proof of good spirit, in organizations and in individuals.

Distrust the undertaking that lacks this characteristic.
                                                                         (The Way, no.505)

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Tuesday of the nineteenth week in Ordinary Time II

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Scripture today: Ezechiel 2:8-3:4;    Psalm 118;    Matthew 18:1-5.10.12-14

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost. (Matthew 18:1-5.10.12-14)

Greatness   I have a book entitled Among God’s Giants.  The book is a study of several very influential Christians during the last few centuries.  That word “Giants” intrigued me.  I could not help thinking — setting aside this particular book — that all too often we think of great Christians as “giants” when they are great in influence and notice among men.  In such a view, the greatest Christians are those who are most notable in the eyes of society and in their public influence.  Of course, this can be the case.  We can think of many truly holy Christians who have had a very public role to play and were famous in their influence in their lifetimes.  But it need not be the case at all.  There are persons who feature in the Scriptures who had little or no notoriety in their own lifetime.  Consider the Virgin Mary, mother of Christ.  She was addressed by the Angel as “full of grace”.  The Angel said that the Lord was with her.  Elizabeth her kinswoman, filled with the Holy Spirit, said that she was “blessed among women”.  Mary herself, in her inspired prayer which we usually call the Magnificat, said that the Lord had done great things for her and that all generations would call her blessed.  The Church has formally taught that she who was the Mother of God the Son made man was conceived without sin.  At the end of her life she was taken, body and soul, glorious, into heaven because no sin ever touched her.  She is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven, the giant of God’s giants, we might say, and yet she was hidden from notoriety in her own lifetime.  Let us take her husband, the holy Joseph.  What intimacy he enjoyed with Christ during those years at Nazareth! Holiness consists in union with Jesus.  How holy Joseph must have been then, and yet his life was shrouded in obscurity.  God’s “giants,” as we might call them, are to be found in every human situation be it public, be it hidden.  Every ordinary member of Christ’s faithful is called to holiness of life, and in that sense to be great before God.

It is one of the deepest cravings of man to be noticed and esteemed.  It springs from his very personhood as one who has an absolute value and who desires and deserves to be loved and respected.  The question is, how are we to satisfy this? Some seek to satisfy it by seeking the notice and honours of the world.  The Christian, finding his inspiration in Christ, understands well that mere honours of the world are in themselves little more than a mirage.  The love and esteem to be sought is above all that which comes from God, who knows us through and through.  Christ was meek and humble and his chosen path was that of opprobrium and rejection by those who mattered in society.  Out of love for him, the Christian should be ready to follow a similar path in which praise and notoriety are denied him.  He knows that mere praise and notoriety is not the path to true greatness.  What, then, does our Lord himself say about what it is to be great? In our Gospel passage today (Matthew 18:1‑5.10.12‑14) he tells us who is the greater (meizon).  “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who is the greater in the kingdom of heaven? He called a little child and had him stand among them.  And he said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greater (meizon) in the kingdom of heaven.” So then, whatever notoriety and esteem or lack of it may come our way in life, the one thing necessary for true greatness in the kingdom of heaven is humility.  One must seek to be humble, which is to say, the lower place — firstly in one’s own estimation, but also readily to accept the lower place in the estimation of others.  To be great in the kingdom of heaven one must be small in one’s own sight.  The path to greatness lies in following Christ in his humility.  This humbling oneself is perhaps the most difficult project of the Christian life because it goes contrary to our yearnings to be great before others, but it is the path to greatness. 

How to be humble?  To begin with, we must strive to be profoundly grateful to God.  Gratitude acknowledges that all comes from him and not just from ourselves.  Moreover, if we are placed in the lower place, it will hasten our progress in humility if for love of Christ we accept that lower place.  Again, where there is a true option, we will advance in humility if for love of Christ we choose the lower place rather than choosing the higher one.  The task in life is to grow in the spirit of humility, humbly accepting and preferring the truth about ourselves rather than honour coming from what is not the truth about ourselves.  Let us then have the ambition to be great in the kingdom of heaven by humbling ourselves, as our Lord directs us in today’s Gospel.

                                                              (E.J.Tyler)

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The Virgin of Sorrows. When you contemplate her, look into her Heart; she is a Mother with two sons, face to face: He... and you.
                                                       (The Way, no.506)

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Wednesday of the nineteenth week in Ordinary Time II

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Scripture today: Ezechiel 9:1-7;10:18-22;      Psalm 112;      Matthew 18: 15-20 

Jesus said to his disciples, If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. ((Matthew 18: 15-20)Matthew 18: 15-20)

Truth and error   One of the things that goes very much against the grain of modern man is any tendency to judge negatively of his religious and moral beliefs.  This is especially the case in areas of very personal morality.  The Church’s condemnation of artificial methods of birth control has long been unacceptable to much of modern society, as has the Church’s condemnation of various forms of sexual immorality.  Yet if there is to be a light in the world at all, it will necessarily mean the presence of condemnation of error.  The declaration of any truth will mean the rejection of its opposite.  In fact, when we look at the accounts in the Old Testament of the work and preaching of the prophets, we see that most of their teaching is taken up with the condemnation of error.  For instance, the book of Jonah tells the inspired tale of the prophet Jonah going to the great city of Nineveh and preaching repentance from sin, and the city repented from its sins.  His message was negative.  What was at stake was the life of the nation.  The prophets insisted that unless the people converted from their sins of idolatry, social injustice, and other moral and religious evils, destruction would descend upon them.  John the Baptist came announcing a wonderful good news, but it meant repentance on the part of the people.  He vigorously pointed out error, and called on the people to renounce their sins and prepare for the coming of God.  Our Lord came announcing a joyful good news, that the promised kingdom of God was very near.  But he called for repentance, and pointed out error and sin.  Unless you repent, he said on one occasion, you will all perish as they did.  All this is alluded to in our Gospel passage today, in which our Lord advises his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you.  If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.  But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector” (Matthew 18: 15‑20).

So it is that throughout the Church’s history, the unmasking of religious and moral error has been part and parcel of her service to humanity.  Very early there arose the question of error about the person of Jesus Christ.  So it was that in the early centuries of the Church several great ecumenical Councils were held and ratified by the Bishop of Rome.  The Council of Nicaea in 325 laid it down that Jesus was truly divine, and meant the rejection of the error of Arius.  This was followed by other councils rejecting errors about Christ and insisting on the faith of the Apostles.  As the history of the Church advanced, so did the Church’s battle with religious error.  In our Gospel passage today our Lord hints at the power of the Church to excommunicate.  “If he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector” (Matthew 18: 15‑20).  Popes decreed against various errors, and ecumenical Councils also gathered to clarify the truth.  The Council of Trent (over several sessions from 1548 to 1563) condemned what it taught to be various errors propounded by the Reformers, errors that spanned the gamut of Christian teaching.  But an important thing happened in this exercise of the Church’s magisterium.  In the ministry of pointing out doctrinal and moral error, the Church’s knowledge of revealed truth advanced.  Several decades ago, Pope Paul VI condemned artificial contraception in his famous Encyclical Humanae Vitae.  It provoked a world‑wide outcry of objection, but it was a service to the truth.  Its teaching prompted a new appreciation and exploration of the truth of conjugal love, which Pope John Paul II took up and developed.  The Church is in the line of the prophets, and her prophetic voice has to be raised in defence of the truth and in condemnation of error.  Such a mission runs counter to much of modern philosophy which is especially distinguished for its reluctance to admit of objective truth and the mind’s capacity to know the truth accurately.  Truth is perceived as being relative to the individual, and a Church that insists on objective truth and error is deemed by the world not worthy to be taken seriously. 

In considering the Church’s ministry on behalf of the truth we ought constantly bear in mind that the Church is Christ’s body and the bearer before the world of the person of Jesus.  It is Christ who speaks in and through her, and it is Christ who teaches the truth and condemns error in and through her teaching.  Let us then transcend our intellectual assumptions and listen with humility and readiness to the Church’s teaching.  As our Lord says to his disciples in today’s Gospel, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

                                                                           (E.J.Tyler)

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The humility of my holy Mother Mary! She is not to be seen amid the palms of Jerusalem, nor at the hour of the great miracles — except at that first one at Cana.

But she doesn't escape from the contempt at Golgotha; there she stands, juxta crucem Jesu, the Mother of Jesus, beside his Cross.
                                                            (The Way, no.507)

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Thursday of the nineteenth week in Ordinary Time II

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Scripture today: Ezechiel 12:1-12;     Psalm 77;     Matthew 18:21-19:1  

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow- servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. His fellow- servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow- servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart. When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. (Matthew 18:21-19:1)

Forgiveness    I am convinced that one of the most long‑lasting problems in the life of very many is the sense of personal injury.  It could be some incident — or many incidents — in one’s childhood.  It could be the memory of harshness and impatience on the part of one’s parents, teachers, superiors or colleagues.  It could be some injustice experienced at some point in one’s career.  This memory could well include the awareness that there was some justification for the harshness meted out, but nevertheless the effect is a legacy of bitterness.  That sense of injury remains and it can remain for the entirety of one’s life.  The memory lingers and never leaves.  It fuels anger and resentment and saps away at the residue of joy that life can normally contain.  The memories of injuries done can in large measure destroy a person’s prospects of happiness — that is, if the injuries remain unforgiven.  There is this further fact of life, that these memories tear away at the happiness of society too.  For decades upon decades northern Ireland was wracked with revolutionary activity.  Fuelling much of the murder and mayhem was the memory of injuries done in the past.  Consider the protracted and seemingly intractable strife in the Middle East, and in particular the Israeli‑Palestinian strife.  I am convinced that the memory on both sides of injury done is a principal cause of the ceaseless conflict.  Ordinary human experience and reflection indicate that, both at the individual level and at the level of society, there is no avoiding the necessity of forgiveness.  Somehow a way must be found by the individual and by society to come to the point of forgiving the one who is perceived as having caused the injury.  The failure to forgive, the unwillingness and refusal to forgive, is a fundamental human problem and a fundamental obstacle to happiness.  The question is, what is the way to attain a breakthrough to this marvellous virtue?

The first thing to remember is that like any virtue forgiveness comes only gradually and with repeated acts.  I become able to forgive only by repeatedly and perseveringly forgiving the injury that has been done to me.  Secondly, as is the case with any great difficulty that must be faced, I must ask the help of God.  By his grace he enlightens me as to a good to be done and inspires and strengthens my will for the doing of it.  But all too often the fundamental problem is that I simply do not want to forgive.  I must ask God to help me to change so that I want to forgive the one who has injured me.  As long as secretly I do not want to do this, I will never bring myself to do it.  What will help me greatly is the love of Christ.  If I love Christ and wish to follow him, his example and teaching on forgiveness from the heart will help me to forgive.  So then, let us consider what our Lord has to say about forgiveness in our Gospel passage today  (Matthew 18:21‑19:1).  To begin with, our Lord of course allows that we do indeed suffer injuries.  The servant, when he left the presence of his master, came across a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarii — a not inconsiderable sum.  It seems to have been equivalent to about fourteen weeks’ work.  It is understandable that he felt impatient and resentful.  But this sum was utterly insignificant in comparison with what the servant already owed his master.  What he owed his master was an immense sum, and his master out of pity for him had both forgiven him his debt and dispensed with his intention to sell him and his family into slavery in order to reclaim at least some of it.  How then are we to overcome our unwillingness to forgive? We ought think of our own far greater debt to God and the injustice of our sins before him, and of how God has forgiven us and continues to do so if we ask him to pardon us.  There is this further and most important consideration.  If we do not forgive and from the heart, God will judge us severely.  The thought of the divine judgment can help us to forgive our brother his offences.

Our Lord requires of us that we forgive our brother from the heart.  The prayer that the Lord taught his disciples lays special stress on our commitment to forgive.  We must want to forgive for love of God, and this is the basis of our prayer for Christ’s forgiveness of ourselves.  It ought be a life‑long ambition to come to the end of life having finally forgiven everyone.  What a beautiful death! If we leave this life having forgiven absolutely everyone, we can expect, Christ says, the forgiveness of God.

                                                                       (E.J.Tyler)

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Marvel at Mary's courage: at the foot of the Cross, with the greatest of human sorrows — there is no sorrow like her sorrow — filled with fortitude.

And ask her for that same strength, so that you too can remain beside the Cross.
                                                                             (The Way, no.508)

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Friday of the nineteenth week in Ordinary Time A/I

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Scripture today:    Joshua 24: 1-13;     Psalm 135;      Matthew 19: 3-12

Some Pharisees came to Jesus to test him. They asked, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason? Haven't you read, he replied, that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female', and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. Why then, they asked, did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away? Jesus replied, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife (marital unfaithfulness is a separate case), and marries another woman commits adultery. The disciples said to him, If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry. Jesus replied, Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For some are unmarried because they are not capable; others because of circumstances; and others have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it. (Matthew 19: 3-12)

High calling   One of the most magnificent things in the world is marriage.  Across virtually all cultures marriage is celebrated with special pomp, and it is seen as the normal fulfilment of the heart’s dreams.  A boy and a girl grow up, and they normally aspire to be married.  In principle, it brings to the couple some of the greatest joys of life.  If this hope of being married to a suitable spouse is foiled or frustrated, it can be one of life’s greatest disappointments.  I remember years ago listening to an interview with one wealthy and persistent contestant for the America’s Cup.  He was a very good man, and his principal hobby was to compete for the Cup.  He was asked what was the biggest disappointment in life for him, and his answer was that there had been two disappointments in life.  He had never won the America’s Cup, and he had not found a spouse in life.  It was a wonder that he had not found a spouse, because he was not only wealthy, but he had a good and attractive personality.  It is natural to wish to be married, and it is an institution which is surrounded by the laws of whatever society one is referring to.  The Australian Aborigines, present on the Australian continent for many thousands of years, had an elaborate set of rules that protected  marriage.  So important is it, that in any yearning for the divine, man would naturally wonder what was the intent of the deities in respect to it.  In the case of the Australian Aborigines, the violation of marriage rules carried religious sanctions.  It was a religious matter, as was so much else in Aboriginal society.  I mention this simply to illustrate its universal importance.  When we turn to historical Revelation — that Revelation granted to the chosen people of Israel — marriage is given a wondrous status.  Consider its mention in the first pages of the Bible.  “God created man in his image — in the divine image he created him: male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).  From the outset it is intimated that man as united to his spouse is reflecting the divine.  That is to say, marriage is a reflection the divine.  It ought, then, be lived as the Creator intended.

In our Gospel today our Lord re-iterates the teaching of the first chapters of Genesis.  The divine plan is that if there is a true marriage, then it is indissoluble.  The two spouses become one.  Not only is this divinely revealed, but the instincts of man generally point in this direction.  All know that marriage is the door to happiness, blessings and fruitfulness in life.  But of course, if this is to happen, the laws that are inscribed in marriage by the Creator must be observed.  To take a parallel, man finds his natural happiness in society, but if the natural laws of living in society are not observed, then it is unhappiness that will ensue.  Everything has its natural structure, and if it is to flourish, its structure must be respected and actively supported.  Society must protect the natural structure of marriage and surround it with a culture that holds it in veneration, otherwise it will bring not happiness but unhappiness.  Yes, marriage as God intends it is one of the most magnificent things in the world, and with good reason its prospect brings joy to individuals, families and to all.  But now, having set before his disciples the high and beautiful vocation of marriage, in our Gospel (Matthew 19: 3-12) our Lord presents them with something more lofty still: “others have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” For those so called, there is the path of renouncing even this for Jesus Christ and his reign.  God had described himself as the Bridegroom, the Husband.  His spouse was his chosen people — it is an expression that is at the forefront of some of the prophets.  Our Lord was described by John the Baptist as the Bridegroom, and he himself applied the same term to himself when approached by the disciples of John.  He is the Bridegroom.  In the long history of the Church, numerous members of Christ’s faithful have heard the call of God in their hearts to make Christ the Bridegroom of their souls.  By solemn promise they pledge their hearts directly to him and preserve their hearts for him alone.  This pledge is sanctioned by the Church.  The fruitfulness of their lives parallels that of Christ the Bridegroom of the Church.  It is a higher vocation from God because it involves the direct gift of one’s heart to him, a gift lived out with grateful fidelity throughout one’s life.      

The calls of Christ are multiform.  Each has his or her distinct call.  Marriage is a high call and is the path to holiness for those called to it.  In the teaching of the Church, there is a still nobler call, and that is the call to celibacy for the sake of Christ and his reign.  In it, the soul gives itself to Jesus, to belong to him exclusively.  In Him — in Jesus Christ as in its Spouse — the soul serves the Kingdom and thus assists all to attain the holiness intended by God.  Great are the ways of God!

                                                               (E.J.Tyler)

The Transfiguration of the Lord (August 6)

The Transfiguration     All three Synoptic Gospels tell the story of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-9; Luke 9:28-36). With remarkable agreement, all three place the event shortly after Peter’s confession of faith that Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus’ first prediction of his passion and death. Peter’s eagerness to erect tents or booths on the spot suggests it occurred during the Jewish weeklong, fall Feast of Booths. Tradition names Mt. Tabor as the site of the revelation. This feast became widespread in the West in the eleventh century and was introduced into the Roman calendar in 1457 to commemorate Christendom's victory over Islam in Belgrade in 1456. Before that, the Transfiguration of the Lord was already celebrated in the Syrian, Byzantine, and Coptic rites. The Transfiguration prefigures the glory of the Lord as God, foretells his ascension into heaven, and anticipates the glory of heaven, where we shall see God face to face. Through grace, we already share in the divine promise of eternal life.“At his Transfiguration Christ showed his disciples the splendour of his beauty, to which he will shape and colour those who are his: ‘He will reform our lowness configured to the body of his glory’” (Philippians 3:21) (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae).

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Scripture today:    Daniel 7: 9-10.13-14;     Psalm 96;     2 Peter 1: 16-19;       Matthew 17: 1-9 (A)

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters— one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him! When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. Get up, he said. Don't be afraid. When they looked up, they saw no-one except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead. (Matthew 17: 1-9)

Christ’s glory   Let us go back to the ministry of John the Baptist.  We read in the Gospel of St Matthew that John the Baptist came, preaching repentance in the wilderness of Judaea, announcing that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.  A new Kingdom was near, and therefore the Messiah — its King — was at hand.  All were to prepare.  Crowds went to John from Jerusalem, Judaea, the regions about Jordan, and from Galilee — including the as yet unknown Jesus of Nazareth, an obscure artisan.  He came to John for the baptism, and John immediately recognized him as uniquely holy, far beyond himself in goodness.  Then when Jesus was baptised in the Jordan, a revelation from heaven occurred.  The heavens opened, the Holy Spirit came upon him, and the Father spoke from the heavens, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Thus began our Lord’s public ministry.  John the Baptist thereupon threw his prophetic authority and prestige around Jesus, declaring him, at least to some of his disciples and to various others, to be the Messiah.  We read in the Gospel of St John that from the outset our Lord found disciples who accepted that he was the Messiah.  In due course these became members of the Twelve.  But their knowledge of Jesus’ messiahship and mission was meagre and clouded in misunderstanding.  They had little notion of his spiritual mission, no idea at all of the necessity of his suffering, and of course, no notion at all of his divinity.  This would come only gradually as they lived with him and as their minds received the grace of God.  A pivotal moment came when, during his public ministry, our Lord asked them who people were saying he was.  They were able to give him various answers, but then he asked who they themselves thought he was.  Simon Peter answered on behalf of them all: Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God.  Their path was a path of progressive enlightenment as to the person of Jesus.  He was no ordinary man.  He was God’s own Son.  Their notions were still poor — they, and Peter in particular, were shocked at his declaration that he would soon suffer.

That is to say, the story of their discipleship during our Lord’s public ministry was, on the one hand, of a growing knowledge of their Master, and on the other, of a great obscurity in this knowledge.  It had its moments of special grace admittedly, but they needed the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Little did they realize what was coming as Christ led them up the Mountain on the occasion of our Gospel today  (Matthew 17: 1-9).  Imagine his saying to the three, Come! Let us go up the Mountain to pray — and so they accompanied him.  We read that “There he was transfigured before them.  His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.  Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.  Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here.  If you wish, I will put up three shelters— one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.  Listen to him!” Never in the history of the world had there been anything like this, a sudden  transfiguration in glory of an individual and at such a scale.  Christ was shown in glory.  They had heard him, listened to him, watched him, come to see something of his glory.  We read in the Gospel of St John that at the wedding feast of Cana in Galilee, Christ worked the first of his signs, and manifested his glory — and the disciples believed in him (2:11).  His public ministry had been for them a revelation of his glory, and here on the Mount his glory was especially shown.  Whatever their ignorance, whatever their slowness of mind and heart, Peter, James and John were granted a singular grace of witnessing the glory of Jesus and the glow of the heavenly Kingdom being briefly manifest in their midst.  This was the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ on the Mount.  There is nothing to equal this in all of recorded history, nothing in all of sober fact, and the three disciples were privileged to witness it.  God pointed to this man of glory, his Son, and said all must listen to him. 

The central meaning of life is coming to know Jesus Christ.  Let us day by day contemplate the person and mission of Jesus Christ and strive to realize his glory.  Amid the sin and darkness of the world, there is One who is filled with glory, though he is unseen.  But we can come to know him and grow in this knowledge.  He shares this glory with his Father and with the Holy Spirit.  Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.  Let us so live that we too will share in the glory of the Son.

                                                                    (E.J.Tyler)

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“Let it not be supposed, because I say this, that I think that in the life-time of each one of us there is some clearly marked date at which he began to seek God, and from which he has served Him faithfully. This may be so in the case of this person or that, but it is far from being the rule. We may not so limit the mysterious work of the Holy Ghost. He condescends to plead with us continually, and what He cannot gain from us at one time, He gains at another. Repentance is a work carried on at diverse times, and but gradually and with many reverses perfected. Or rather, and without any change in the meaning of the word repentance, it is a work never complete, never entire—unfinished both in its inherent imperfection, and on account of the fresh and fresh occasions which arise for exercising it. We are ever sinning, we must ever be renewing our sorrow and our purpose of obedience, repeating our confessions and our prayers for pardon. No need to look back to the first beginnings of our repentance, should we be able to trace these, as something solitary and peculiar in our religious course; we are ever but beginning; the most perfect Christian is to himself but a beginner, a penitent prodigal, who has squandered God’s gifts, and comes to Him to be tried over again, not as a son, but as a hired servant.

                                        JHN, from the sermon ‘Christian Repentance’ (1831)

(Reference: John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons Vol 3 (1836) Sermon no. 7, p. 90-1)