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| Liturgical Season | Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat |
| 28th Week of Ordinary Time in Yr A | ● | ● | |||||
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Solemnities and Feasts that will occur during this Liturgical
Period:
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| Date | Solemnity or Feast |
| 18th October | Feast of St Luke, Evangelist ● |
| 28th October | Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles ● |
|
Second-last Sun in October |
World Mission Sunday ● |
Friday of the twenty eighth week in Ordinary Time II
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Scripture today:
Ephesians 1: 11-14; Psalm 32; Luke 12: 1-7
Meanwhile, when a
crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on
one another, Jesus began to speak first to
his
disciples, saying: Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees,
which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be
disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in
the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in
the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. I tell
you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after
that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him
who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell.
Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?
Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your
head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many
sparrows.
(Luke 12: 1-7)
Human
respect
I suppose we could say that two of the most fundamental emotions driving the
life of man are love and fear. Man loves certain things and persons, and this
leads him to faith and to hope. He fears other things and persons and this
affects the course of his life accordingly. 
In our Gospel passage today our Lord speaks, among other things, of fear. He is
thronged by the crowds, and yet the ominous influence of the Pharisees hangs
about like a dark cloud. They oppose him, undermine his status in the eyes of
others, attack him publicly, and yet all the while holding a position of
influence among the people. Our Lord tells the crowds to be on their guard
against the yeast of the Pharisees: the ingredients which they put into the
flour of God’s people. What the Pharisees whisper about him will be proclaimed
from the roofs and then the judgment of God will be faced. So, our Lord says,
fear only God. Do not fear those “who kill the body and after that can do no
more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing
of the body, has power to throw you into hell.” This is a point relevant for
every man and woman of every age in every place. Ultimately, the harm to be
feared is the loss of God and an eternity in hell following his judgment on our
deeds. Our Lord is telling his listeners, both those who may be influenced by
the whisperings and slander of the Pharisees and the Pharisees themselves, that
they must keep the Judgment of God in mind. How important this is! There have
been great and famous conversions in history and many of them have been prompted
by the thought of death and the judgment of God that follows it. Not all
conversions have been of this kind. St Paul’s was not: his conversion was
brought about by his meeting with the risen Jesus on the way to Damascus. But
very many have occurred as a result of thinking of the Judgment of God on sin.
What is it even to lose one’s life as a result of refusing to sin? Everything
is lost, though, if due to sin one is condemned to Hell.
Our Lord continues by telling us the true character and attitude of the One we should fear. He loves us. “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 12: 1‑7). God loves us and cares for us and knows us to the depths. Every hair of our head he has numbered, for he holds us constantly in being due to his love for us. What a terrible thing it is, then, to defy God’s will for fear of some temporal loss be it of status, the good opinion of others, possessions or even life itself. We ought not be afraid of such losses, for God cares for us and loves us. So do not be afraid, our Lord says. Fear only offending such a good, loving and powerful God. So then, we need to live in the presence of God continually, constantly purifying our intention to do all things in a way that pleases him. Every lay Christian ought bring this understanding to his daily life in the world. I remember years ago the priest in charge of formation of first year seminarians insisted time and again on the danger of human respect. He was referring to the underlying fear of what people would think, and the fault of allowing this fear to lead one away from duty. What must govern our behaviour, he insisted, was, not what others think, but what God thinks. It is the same point that our Lord is making in our passage today. But what puzzled many at the time was his labouring of this point so much. The reason for his constant stress of this was that human respect is a profoundly pervasive danger in all walks of life. In daily life, the world can insidiously bear down on a person’s values and convictions. It is in the practice of work and the professions that we must serve God with purity of intention and in this way bring the world to God. It is the greatest service possible that we can bring to the world of everyday life. We ought fear God rather than man, and by word and example induce others to do the same.
Let us begin every day with a sincere prayer of self‑offering to God. O God, I offer you all the prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day to you. I wish to do your will. I wish to serve you in my service of man. Help me never to place the good opinion of man ahead of pleasing you above all things.
(E.J.Tyler)
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You ask me why I always recommend, with such insistence, the daily use of holy water. I could give you many reasons. But none better than that of the Saint of Avila: 'From nothing do evil spirits flee more, never to return, than from holy water.'
(The Way, no.572)
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Saturday of the twenty eighth week in Ordinary Time A/I
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Scripture today: Romans 4: 13.16-18;
Psalm 104; Luke 12: 8-12
Jesus said to his disciples, I tell
you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also
acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns
me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. And everyone who
speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who
blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When you are
brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how
you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will
teach you at that time what you should say. (Luke
12: 8-12)
Bearing witness
It is a strange thing, but for a long time in the modern era, Christian
witness was thought to be the work of the “professional” in religion, and
not of the “layman.” Christ was to be spoken of by clergy and not by the
laity. But the plainest reading of the Gospel shows how this is contrary to
the intention of Christ.
In our Gospel passage today, “Jesus said to his disciples, I tell you,
whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him
before the angels of God.” Our Lord is speaking to “his disciples” in
general. In fact, the context of this statement is our Lord’s speaking to
the multitudes (12:1, muriadoon tou ochlou). He is not speaking
simply to the Twelve. In particular, he addresses his “friends” (12:4,
philois). That is to say, our Lord’s requirement that we acknowledge
him before men applies to all his disciples, including those who do not have
a special office in the life of his Church. Many scholars place the
eventual triumph of the Christian religion in Roman civilization at the feet
of the Christian laity who bore witness to Christ in the pagan culture of
their everyday life. At the time of the great Arian heresy in the fourth
century, it was especially the lay faithful and the ordinary parochial
clergy that saved the day against the new doctrine. At the time of Henry
VIII’s Reformation in England, an especially luminous witness was given by a
layperson — Thomas More (1478‑1535). Consider More — his formal profession
was civil law. He was the first lawyer in the kingdom. A great boost in
interest in Thomas More came with the movie of Robert Bolt’s play, A Man
for All Seasons. What was striking about the layman Thomas More was
his great learning in matters of the Catholic Faith. Beginning with his
love for the humanities and classics, he acquired an excellent knowledge of
Latin and Greek. This in turn led him to read deeply in Scripture and in
the early Christian Fathers, such as Augustine. There came to be three
burning concerns in his life: disunion and enmity among the Christian
nations of Europe, the threat to the Church from the rise of the Lutheran
and Protestant opinions, and the danger arising from the great matter of
King Henry VIII’s marriage.
Thomas More proved to be an admirable Catholic layman. He contributed to the peace of Europe by engineering the Peace of Cambrai between Spain and France. He bore witness against Henry’s right to divorce without a proper declaration of nullity by the Holy See. Finally, he wrote profusely and trenchantly against the new heresies. He defended obedience to the Holy See in these words: “I am moved to obedience to that holy See not only by what learned and holy men have written, but by this fact especially, that we shall find that, on the one hand every enemy of the Christian faith makes war on that See, and that on the other hand, no one has ever declared himself an enemy of that See who has not shortly after shown most evidently that he was an enemy of the Christian religion” (E.E. Reynolds, St Thomas More (London 1953), p. 166). At his trial, from which he went to his death, he declared that not only could supremacy in the Church not belong to a layman, but that “it rightfully belonged to the See of Rome, as granted personally by Our Lord when on earth to St Peter and his successors” (T.E. Bridgett, Life and Writings of Sir Thomas More (London 1891), p.424). He knew that were he to go against his conscience, properly informed and enlightened as he had ensured it to be, he would be offending God (Dame Bede Foord (ed.), Conscience Decides: Sir Thomas More’s Letters and Prayers from Prison (London 1971), p.45). The point I am making here is that at a critical juncture in the history of England and of all Europe, when large populations turned away from the old Faith, a layman whom all regarded as admirable stood his ground in witnessing to Christ’s teaching on the Church. He died for the doctrine on the papacy, even though the particular popes of the time were far from admirable. He is an outstanding historical instance of one who acknowledged Christ and his teaching before men. In him, the will of Christ that his disciples bear witness to him before the world, was exemplified. It is entirely appropriate that an impressive statue of him stands now in the Parliament of New South Wales.
We need the example of witnesses to the faith to show us the way to bear similar witness ourselves. In countless tiny ways we can bear witness to Jesus Christ in everyday life in a secular society. If having a meal in a restaurant before the gaze of others, why hesitate before saying grace before the meal, and beginning grace with a sign of the cross? If passing a church where there is the Blessed Sacrament, why not make the sign of the cross? Does human respect prevent you bearing such witness? Let us be strong in giving our witness in a world that casts God from sight.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Twenty ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time A
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Scripture today: Isaiah 45: 1.4-6; Psalm 95; 1
Thessalonians 1: 1-5; Matthew 22: 15-21
Then the Pharisees went out and laid
plans to trap Jesus in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with
the Herodians.
Teacher,
they said, we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God
in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no
attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to
pay taxes to Caesar or not? But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, You
hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the
tax. They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, Whose portrait is this? And
whose inscription? Caesar's, they replied. Then he said to them, Give to Caesar
what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.
(Matthew 22: 15-21)
God and
Caesar
Many things could be said about the dialogue between our Lord and his
hypocritical and scheming enemies in our Gospel passage today. They were trying
to trap him with a politically charged question, all the while posing as sincere
enquirers who were coming to Jesus as to one who was upright and uninfluenced by
human respect.
They intended to flatter him so as to draw him into incautious remarks. It is a
reminder of the utter sincerity with which we ought always approach our Lord and
live in his presence. That said, let us consider the reply our Lord gave to
their question about the morality of paying taxes to Caesar. He said, Give to
Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. There are numerous
implications of this reply, but I would suggest that, for us in our day and in
our secular democratic society, it obviously directs us to be deeply religious,
deeply Catholic and at the same time excellent citizens. In the precincts of
the State Parliament of New South Wales there is a statue of Saint Thomas More.
He is seated holding a book and a pair of beads. He is dressed in lawyer’s
garb. He is one of the great examples of a profoundly Catholic judicial
magistrate who rose to the position of highest citizen in the land under the
king himself and served England with great distinction in that capacity. He was
the Chancellor of England and a model Catholic layman. He also had a remarkable
understanding of the Catholic Faith and was a published opponent of Luther at
the time of the Protestant Reformation. He entered into bitter controversy with
Luther and also wrote spiritual works that have become classics. That is to say
he served his sovereign and his society admirably, and likewise served God and
the Church admirably. The test came when the sovereign turned his back on the
laws of the Church on marriage and then proceeded to arrogate to himself the
authority of the Pope over the Church itself. When the servile Parliament,
which included the Bishops, agreed to these royal demands, Thomas More resigned
his position. He refused obedience to the sovereign on this precise point. He
went to his martyrdom a shining embodiment of what our Lord teaches in today’s
Gospel passage (Matthew 22: 15‑21).
A good way of considering our Lord’s words is to do so with a few models in mind, such as St Thomas More. The cause for canonization has been introduced of the Emperor Charles of Austria, who was the sovereign of Austria during the First World War. There are other instances in history of great citizens who were truly holy Catholics, rendering to the state what duly belongs to the state, and to God what belongs to him. When holding civil authority they exercised it as a service, respecting fundamental human rights and a proper hierarchy of values. They sought the interests of the community before their own and their decisions were inspired by revealed truth about God, man and the world, as the Church teaches it. When themselves subject to authority, they respected those in authority and their right to obedience. They offered their loyal collaboration for the right functioning of public and social life. This included love and service and defence of their homeland, the payment of taxes, and at the same time they exercised constructive criticism even if it involved a cost. They knew that a citizen is obliged in conscience not to obey the laws of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order. As the Apostles said to the Sanhedrin in the Acts of the Apostles (5:29), “We must obey God rather than men” when the one conflicts directly with the other. Some years back — I think it was in Belgium — the Parliament of the country passed a law allowing abortion. The King would not sign it as a point of conscience. So he abdicated and the law was passed. He was then reinstated as King by the Parliament because of his high standing. He would not sign into law an act of Parliament that legalized abortion. Nor would St Thomas More, had he been alive today. There is a great need for dedicated Catholics and other Christians to pursue careers that will serve and shape society according to the mind of God as revealed by Christ.
Our Lord’s response to the Pharisees and Herodians ought be remembered and thought about by every lay member of Christ’s faithful. The lay Christian is called by God to be immersed in the world and to attain holiness there, drawing daily on his or her active membership in the Church and the Church’s spiritual treasures of grace and truth. Through the lay person the Church is present in the world, which is to say that Christ is present in the world. The lay faithful have a mission, and our Lord sums it up: render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.2234-2246
(Authority in civil society)
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Who told you that it is not manly to make novenas? These devotions are manly, when it is a man who performs them in a spirit of prayer and penance.
(The Way, no.574)
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Monday of the twenty ninth week in Ordinary Time II
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Scripture today: Ephesians 2: 1-10; Psalm 99; Luke 12: 13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,
Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. Jesus replied, Man,
who appointed me a
judge or an arbiter between you? Then he said to them, Watch
out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist
in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them this parable: The ground
of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I
do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I
will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my
grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, You have plenty of good things laid
up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.' But God said to
him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who
will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with
anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.
(Luke 12: 13-21)
Greed
Watch a bee going from flower to flower gathering its provisions. Watch a
bird flying past with food in its beak making its way back to its nest. It
is gathering what it needs to protect itself and its young. So too with
mankind. We gather what we need from the world around us to make provision
for our security and our requirements. 
We need to gain possession of things or at least make provision for a secure
use of them. The danger is that we can gradually think of little else and
spend our lives gaining temporal goods, with the result that we are left
poor in goods that are needed for eternity. I often refer to something I
noticed years ago. When I was young our family had a dog. A relative of
ours paid us a visit bringing her own dog, and we placed the two dogs
together. Our dog was jealous — with another dog now present it was no
longer the only dog on the scene commanding attention and affection. So
what did it do? It went around the yard and dug up all the bones it had
kept in different locations and placed them together. They were large bones
and it knew exactly where they had been buried. With all those bones
together it stood over them watching the other dog which was greatly
frustrated. The other dog could only stand at some distance helplessly
barking at our dog standing over all the bones. Our dog was making its
point to the other, that it was the top dog because of all the bones it
had. It had status before the other dog, and a form of security in the
thought of the bones it possessed. How like that dog we can be in our
attitude to material possessions! We can so easily think that our status,
our worth and our security lie in our temporal possessions. So many people
set out in life with one of their principal goals being to gain all the
wealth they can. At times they are successful and at times not, but that is
where they see their security to lie. The sad fact is that either during
life or at the end of life, all possessions will fail them. Ultimately
temporal possessions cannot provide security.
In our Gospel passage today (Luke 12: 13‑21) a man in the crowd suddenly asks our Lord to adjudicate in his favour between him and his brother in a dispute over property. Our Lord uses the occasion to warn against all forms of greed. Let us take to heart our Lord’s warning. We can be greedy for material wealth, but also for other kinds of wealth, such as the good opinion of many people, power over others in one’s family or workplace, or whatever. Of course, temporal goods are needed if we are to do our work in life and to fulfil our responsibilities. That is to say, we need the goods of this world to fulfil our calling to the love and service of God and others. But the danger is that our own self‑interest can gradually lead us to desire these temporal goods for merely self‑centred purposes. Thus we become greedy, wanting more and more for our own personal enhancement. Our own life is increasingly seen not as consisting in love and service, but as consisting in the abundance of our possessions. Our Lord makes the general observation that “a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” So he told his story of the man who had a tremendous crop, so big that he had to build new barns to store it. He thought he was secure and able to have a good time. That is what his life consisted in: the abundance of his possessions and little more. The foundation of his security consisted in possessions rather than in the love of God and the service of others in union with God. God said to him that he was a fool, for that night his life would suddenly end and he would be left with nothing. A man’s life must consist in pleasing God and in thus gaining the wealth that consists not in temporal possessions but in union with him. What we must do, then, is to recognize the profound tendency we have of being attached to the things of this world and thus neglecting the things of God. Let us then strive to love God with all our heart and other things only in relation to his good pleasure.
What to do? Of course we must have or at least use material goods. But we must strive to be detached from them and attached to God. We shall be helped in keeping free from the snare of greed by doing without what is entirely unnecessary, while giving more and more to the poor. We must act against greed. We must take for granted that greed lies deep within us, and we must try to watch it narrowly with a view to eradicating it. Greed will undermine our love for God. God must become the love of our life and other things must be seen within the framework of his love.
(E.J.Tyler)
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There are some who pass through life as through a tunnel, without ever understanding the splendour, the security and the warmth of the sun of faith.
(The Way, no.575)
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Tuesday of the twenty ninth week in Ordinary Time II
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Scripture today: Ephesians 2: 12-22; Psalm 84; Luke 12: 35-38
Jesus
said to his disciples, Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning,
like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when
he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good
for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you
the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table
and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master
finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.
(Luke 12: 35-38)
Be
ready
At times when we remember vividly important experiences of the past, we can
be caught up in wonder that this past, which we remember so well, has all
gone. It has gone with the wind. The present is constantly fleeting by
and, as soon as it has come, it is gone.
The future is ahead — say, the morrow — and in no time it has arrived and in
no time it is gone forever. It is a source of fascination that the reality
of our experience changes so rapidly, for if something exists, then why
ought it not continue to exist as it is? Existence in its essential idea
does not contain a principle of change: it simply is. So inasmuch as we
change, our own existence and the existence of things around us cannot be
said to be simply existing. We exist, but that is not all that must be said
about our existence. Our existence is qualified and limited by the
potential to change and pass away. Now, if we do not simply exist — which
is to say that if we need not exist — while nevertheless existing — then our
existence is radically contingent. We just happen to exist because of
Another who simply and necessarily exists, and whose existence is simply
existence without any qualification. Our present is constantly passing out
of existence into the past, and this all-too obvious fact reminds us that
our own existence is radically contingent. It can come to an end at any
point without the slightest warning. We ought live ever conscious of this
fact. Ordinary reflection on the nature of our existence indicates to us
that it is part and parcel of living successfully always to be prepared for
a sudden end. The fact is, though, we are prone to forget this fundamental
fact, even though we have constant reminders in the loss of life going on
around us always. But now, over and above what ordinary reflections
suggests, our Lord warns us to be ever ready because two things are certain:
our end will come, and yet its date is unknown.
What does it mean to be on the watch, always ready, or, to put it in the terms of our Gospel passage today, to be always dressed for service? Let us listen to our Lord’s words of warning. “keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him” (Luke 12: 35‑38). We ought so live as constantly to be ready at a moment’s notice to welcome the Master when he returns. We must be ready to open the door and welcome him. The master should constantly be the love of our hearts. No other interest ought constitute a fundamental and radical distraction from the One who is coming. We shall only be able to do this if throughout life, day by day, we are welcoming him in all his calls and arrivals. These calls are expressed in our daily duties and summonses to further generosity. If we are always ready to open the door to Christ when he comes in all these daily occasions of duty and grace, then we shall be ready for him when he comes at the end, even if suddenly. Our hearts will not be found to be distracted and sluggish in respect to the one thing necessary. However well we might feel physically, however well we might appear to others and even to the doctor, life can suddenly end. All around us we have testimony to this fact. If a young person in the prime of life can suddenly have that life snatched from him for any one of a number of reasons, then why not me? Perhaps we can think of occasions in the past when we seem to have been preserved from a sudden death. It was a mercy afforded us. Were my life to be suddenly taken from me, would I go to my Judge prepared? Would I go to him at least contrite or would there be very many sins that I would be found still to be clinging to, unrepentant? The best way to prepare for a sudden end to life is to live the present really well. Today, I must live as if this is the only day I have, with God’s judgment to come at its end.
A lot of time is taken up in life thinking of the past (especially its hurts) and preparing for future joys such as career, retirement, or whatever. But how much time do we spend preparing for our real future, which is the Hereafter? The fact is that this eternal Hereafter can come suddenly without warning. The real tragedy is not that we die, nor that we die suddenly, but that we die unprepared. We can die without being ready. We must stand ready, and we do so by trying every day to hear the word and the will of God and to put it into practice.
(E.J.Tyler)
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With what infamous lucidity does Satan storm against our Catholic faith!
But, let us tell him always, without stopping to argue: I am a son of the Church.
(The Way, no.576)
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Wednesday of the twenty ninth week in Ordinary Time II
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Scripture today:
Ephesians 3: 2-12; Psalm Isaiah 12; Luke 12: 39-48
Jesus said to his
disciples, But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at
what hour the thief was coming, he would not
have let
his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of
Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. Peter asked, Lord,
are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone? The Lord answered,
Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in
charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper
time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so
when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all
his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, 'My master is
taking a long time in coming,' and he then begins to beat the
menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. The
master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him
and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign
him a place with the unbelievers. That servant who knows his master's
will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will
be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does
things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From
everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the
one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12: 39-48)
Being on
the job
I have often thought that many in the academic world place little value on
simplicity and clarity of expression. Time and again there is in academic
writing a use of terms and sentence constructions that is very far from ordinary
usage. While displaying some intelligence this tendency results in unnecessary
obscurity of expression.
In academic work considerable intellectual effort ought be put precisely into
attempting to be understood by the non professional, though educated, reader.
Such expression is itself a sign of great intellectual ability. One of the
glories of Cicero is that he managed to write on philosophical subjects so
successfully and clearly in the Latin language, a language rarely used till his
time for such subjects. I do think that in that respect Cicero remains an
example for the ages. In many respects we could say the same thing of St Thomas
Aquinas too, and Cardinal Newman. They were outstanding, utterly different as
writers and thinkers, but they did aim at simplicity of expression. Whatever be
our discipline or interest, we ought endeavour to express ourselves with
success, inventiveness and beauty in language which approaches the ordinary. Be
all that as it may, one of the notable things about the Gospels, and about our
Lord’s teaching in particular, is its simplicity of expression. Our Lord’s
teaching is, by and large, expressed simply and clearly. While it has borne
fruit in a vast ocean of Christian thought and teaching of immense depth, the
source of this great tradition of thought is the simple and clear teaching of
Christ. Of course, to say it is simple and clear is not to say that it can be
comprehended easily and in its entirety. It contains the greatest of mysteries,
such as our Lord’s simple teaching that the Father and I are one, or that he who
sees me sees the Father. But the terms our Lord uses approach ordinary terms
and expressions, and so they make for clarity. Because of this our Lord
precisely in his teaching as it comes to us in the Scriptures and the Church’s
Tradition remains perennially accessible to the ordinary Christian.
In our Gospel passage today our Lord puts before us in simple terms a simple message, but one which is absolutely fundamental for our eternal salvation. He draws a simple parallel from ordinary life: “ If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.” That is obvious and is within the experience of all. On that basis, the basis of something the ordinary person knows well, our Lord takes us to what we would not have otherwise known, that he, the Son of Man, may come upon us as our Judge at any point of time. At any point in life we must stand ready for his coming. What does it mean thus to stand ready? Our Lord says, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of” (Luke 12: 39‑48). It means being always on the job, the job being that which God has entrusted us to do at any particular point of life. Every person has, by virtue of his situation and God‑given capacities, certain responsibilities. The elderly person being cared for in a nursing home has the responsibility to be a good presence and influence where he or she is. The sick person likewise has the responsibility to be a Christ‑like presence there where he is, offering up his sickness in union with Christ for the good of the world. Wherever we are, whatever be our situation or capacities, God wants us to be at his work, on the job as it were, and if every day this is the case, we shall be ready for him when he comes.
Let us take this simple point our Lord makes and endeavour to live it. Let us live this day as if he were coming this very day to ask of us an account of our work for him. Let us do each task well and for him and his glory, as if it were to be the only task he has given us to do. Let us make of everything we do a holy offering to God, one into which we invest all our love for him.
(E.J.Tyler)
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You feel a gigantic faith. He who gives you that faith, will give you the means.
(The Way, no.577)
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Thursday of the twenty ninth week in Ordinary Time II
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
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Scripture today:
Ephesians 3:14-21; Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 11-12, 18-19; Luke 12:49-53
Jesus
said to his disciples, I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it
were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am
until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell
you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against
each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided,
father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter
against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law
against mother-in-law. (Luke 12:49-53)
The
great fire
It is clear from the Gospels that no prophet before him saw himself as having
such world significance as did Jesus Christ. He had come not just to renew his
people, the chosen people of God, but to change the world. We gain a hint of
this in the first words of our Gospel passage today.
“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already
kindled!” The image of fire conjures up many associated images. Perhaps we in
our day immediately think of its great power. It can, for instance, destroy:
house fires, bush and forest fires, the fires of deliberate or accidental
explosions. In our Lord’s day the image of fire would have evoked similar
images: the fire ignited by invading armies to consume cities and towns, or the
fire of burning ships. Used thus, fire may be said to evoke the image of
awesome power. There are other associations of a more consoling kind. Fire
brings warmth to those who are bereft of shelter and adequate clothing. It also
provides the wherewithal for preparing meals: food is cooked on fire, and people
would go looking for wood so as to prepare their fires. Without their fire they
would lack warmth and nourishment. Fire used thus is a great gift. These are
some obvious images that our Lord’s expression immediately evokes. But more to
the point, John the Baptist predicted that the Messiah who was coming would
baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He would winnow, sifting the chaff
from the grain. So by means of fire he would sift, sort and purify the good
from the bad. It would test, and we speak of gold being tested by fire. He
would purify the earth of sin, and indeed John said of Jesus that he was the
Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. We also remember the
great occasion in the Old Testament when Elijah confronted the four hundred
prophets of Baal, and how, their sacrifice to Baal having failed, God at a
stroke sent fire to the earth and consumed the sacrifice of Elijah. Fire was a
sign of God’s presence and sanctifying action. Christ had come to set fire to
the earth (Luke 12:49‑53), which is to say,
to inaugurate the redeeming and sanctifying work of God.
John the Baptist’s prediction connects the fire of the Messiah with the Holy Spirit. While he, John, baptized with water, the Messiah would baptize with far more effect and his own baptism would be nothing in comparison. The Messiah, whom he said was none other than Jesus, would pour out over people the gift of the Holy Spirit and that would bring fire, a fire that purified, a fire that consumed, a fire that sacrificed. It would make a profound difference. After our Lord had risen from the dead, he told his disciples to go to Jerusalem and there to await what he had promised. The promised Gift was soon to come and it came in the form of fire. At Pentecost, from heaven our Lord cast fire on the earth, and it appeared as tongues of fire on the heads of the infant Church gathered around the Apostles, with Mary the mother of Christ in the midst of them. In the first instance the fire which our Lord had come to cast on the earth was the fire of the Holy Spirit, a fire that was awesome in power, a fire that nourished and protected, that would sort, sift and purify, a fire that would convict and punish, and above all a fire that would make of the world a worthy sacrifice for God. We may perhaps view the sacrifice prepared by Elijah as a portent of what would eventually come. Just as the fire of God fell and consumed it, making of it an offering acceptable to him, so at Christ’s Ascension the fire of God, which is the Spirit of the Father and the Son, fell on the earth and has been making of it an offering acceptable to him. The fire of God which Christ had come to cast on the earth is blazing already in the life, the preaching, the ministry and the sacraments of the Church. That fire is the grace of the Holy Spirit that redeems and sanctifies the world and unites it to the person of Jesus. It is the goal of life to see that grace kindled in the hearts of all men, and then to have it blazing. The blaze is holiness of life, a holiness that is a share in the life of Jesus, which itself is a share in the life of the Father. It is a share in the divine life of the Holy Trinity, a share in eternal life here and then hereafter.
Jesus knew that there was one way in which this fire would be cast on the earth and made to blaze. It would happen only through his Passion, his Death and his Resurrection. Let us unite ourselves to Jesus in his suffering and death so as to contribute to the divine blaze which God means to see spreading across the face of the earth. The fire of Christ is the gift and the life of the Holy Spirit. This fire comes to each through faith and baptism. The Church, being the body of Christ, is the bearer of this fire that comes from heaven. Let us so live that this marvellous divine fire will become an unending blaze and make of the world a worthy offering to God.
(E.J.Tyler)
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It is Saint Paul who tells you, apostolic soul: 'The just man lives by faith'.
How is it that you are letting your fire die out?
(The Way, no.578)
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Friday of the twenty ninth week in Ordinary Time II
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Scripture today:
Ephesians 4: 1-6; Psalm 23; Luke 12: 54-59
Jesus said to the crowds, "When you see
a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it
does. And when the
south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is.
Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky.
How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time? "Why don't you
judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the
magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you
off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer
throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the
last penny." (Luke 12: 54-59)
The will
Our Lord once told a parable of a steward who was reported to his employer for
having administered badly his master’s affairs. So the steward received notice
of termination of employment. He set about secretly preparing for life after
employment, and this time he did so by what we might call a form of bribery.
He secretly reduced portions of debts owed by various persons to his master,
reasoning that by doing this he would have friends who would help him when he
was gone. They would feel beholden to him when he was in need. And so it was.
Our Lord’s point was expressed in the words of the master, after the master
discovered what had happened. The master could not but be impressed by the
steward’s shrewdness in action. And so it is, our Lord continued, that the
children of this world — those who think only of this world’s gains — are
smarter in their own line than those who have the light of Christ. A similar
point is made in our Gospel passage today. “Jesus said to the crowds, “When you
see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and
it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it
is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the
sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?” (Luke
12: 54‑59). Our Lord is saying that we can tell from the clouds that rain is
coming, and from certain winds that it will be hot, but they have before them
the person of Christ, his teaching and his miracles, and yet they cannot tell
what is coming. They cannot see that the Kingdom of God has arrived in the
person of Jesus. Our Lord calls them “hypocrites!” — which would seem to imply
that in their heart of hearts they could divine that God was present and
offering his rule. But under the cloak of seeming sincerity they were
professing to see nothing — or, rather, they were blind. They could not see
because they did not want to see. Their hypocrisy was founded on a disposition
of the will.
Our Lord’s words are a reminder that at root what we are able to see depends on what we want to see. If I am looking in a certain direction while my thoughts and interests are elsewhere, I shall not “see” what I am looking at. There is a great deal that I shall not notice. If I am studying or researching a point with my focus in a very precise direction, I probably will not notice other things that are there that someone with a different focus will easily detect. Again, if I am positively unwilling to search intently for something, I will probably miss it even if I am looking for it. All these examples from ordinary life point to something far more serious. If we are to find God and the things of God we must truly want God and the things of God. Our Lord alludes to this in one of his Beatitudes: Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God. The state of the heart will determine what we are able to see. That is to say, what our will is inclined to at the core of our being, in large measure will determine what our mind will grasp. If we do not like what God is offering, to a fair degree that will determine our capacity to see and accept it. In the Prologue of his Gospel, St John writes that the Word of God came unto his own and his own would not receive him. The world treated him as a stranger — because their deeds were evil. This is then revealed in the narration of the Gospel. Our Lord makes it clear that the reason the world hated him is because its deeds were evil. We must be properly disposed. We must be good soil if the seed is to produce good fruit. What then to do? We must pray for the grace progressively to see ourselves as God sees us, and for the grace then to change. Cardinal Newman once wrote that where we are coming from, our true starting points, are often beyond our sight. We need the grace of God to see them, and more than anything, we need the grace of God to change them. Only God can change our hearts, and our hearts have to be changed if we are to receive him as he wishes.
Let us resolve to take our stand with Jesus. We must take time to contemplate him and his teaching, resolving to live in his company and to follow after him in the ordinary duties of our everyday life. More than anything, we must live a religion of the heart, a religion in which our hearts are given to Christ and are being moulded into the likeness of his.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Faith — It is a
pity to see how abundantly many Christians have it on their lips, and how
sparingly they put it into their actions.
One would think it a virtue to be preached only, and not one to be practised.
(The Way, no.579)
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Saturday of the twenty ninth week in Ordinary Time II
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Scripture today:
Ephesians 4: 7-16; Psalm 121; Luke 13: 1-9
Now there were some present at that time
who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their
sacrifices. Jesus
answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse
sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you,
no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died
when the tower in Siloam fell on them — do you think they were more guilty than
all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you
too will all perish." Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree growing
in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he
said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been
coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down!
Why should it use up the soil?' " 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for
one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next
year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' " (Luke
13: 1-9)
Sin and
affliction
It has often been noted that among religious societies — societies that believe
in God or the gods — there is commonly the view that affliction is a
punishment. Of course, society punishes with some form of affliction those who
transgress its laws.
Accustomed to this pattern in society, many have accounted for the affliction
that has manifestly not come from society by attributing it to the gods. The
gods must be punishing the one thus afflicted, for transgressing their laws.
The revealed religion of the Hebrews made it abundantly clear that God did
indeed punish those who transgressed his holy will, and the entire story of the
chosen people as portrayed in the Old Testament and especially by the prophets,
gives expression to this. Sin is punished and will be punished. As St Paul
writes in his Letter to the Romans, the wages of sin are death. St Paul also
writes that sin entered the world through one man and through sin death, and
death has spread to the whole human race. So affliction is the upshot of sin.
God did not create man to suffer and to die. It is the result of man’s sin and
is its punishment. So not only does religious man tend naturally to think that
affliction is a punishment for transgressing the divine will, but divine
revelation confirms this in a general sense. But what we tend to do is to
attribute to the sins of the individual himself, the full cause of his own
afflictions. This, however, is a non-sequitur — it does not follow.
Just because the individual is being afflicted because of sin does not mean that
he is being afflicted because of, or in proportion to, his own sin. He could be
suffering because of, or to a degree because of, the sins of others. For
instance, numerous persons suffered to an incalculable degree during World War
II because of the wickedness of certain persons. To a certain extent — known
only to God — they may have suffered because of their own sins, but we must
allow that their sufferings were primarily due to the sins of others. Why God
allows this is a mystery to us. But the point being made here is that while
affliction is ultimately the upshot of sin, it is not necessarily the upshot of
the sins of the one being afflicted.
Ordinary human reflection in the main will indicate this. Our Lord in our Gospel passage today confirms it. “Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no!” And he repeats his point: “Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no!” (Luke 13: 1‑9). Our Lord is not saying that they did not sin. He is saying that their affliction, being greater than that of so many others, is not an indication that their sins were greater than others. Nor is he denying that their greater affliction was due, ultimately, to sin. But he is denying that the sin which was the immediate or ultimate cause of their affliction was wholly theirs. There is original sin and the sin of the world, all of which play their part in generating afflictions. We may take the point further and observe that in the case of our Lord himself, of course, there was no sin at all and yet his affliction was greater than that of all others. Though innocent, he would be burdened with the sins of all mankind. But what our Lord does say is that if we do not repent from sin then we will indeed be afflicted with punishment. The wages of sin are death: “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.” So then, the sight of affliction ought remind us of the seriousness of sin. It ought not suggest to us that the one being afflicted in a way greater than anything we or many others have experienced, is suffering thus because of his own sins. It ought, rather, remind us that sin brings harm and affliction, and if we do not repent of our own sins we will suffer. The wages of sin are death. We will be judged. We must, therefore, repent. The mystery of evil and suffering in the world ought not just leave us mystified. It ought lead us to repent of our sins, for sin will bring punishment and death.
God gives us time in life — how much time we cannot tell. This time is a mercy. It is a chance to turn away from sin and live for God. Our Gospel passage today stresses this with the brief parable of the man who owned the barren fig tree in the vineyard. The farmer pleaded for more time. But if nothing was forthcoming, it would be cut down. Let us then resolve to engraft ourselves on to Christ by faith and live daily in obedience to him. If we do this we shall produce fruit, fruit that will last.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Humbly ask God to increase your faith. And then, with new lights, you will fully appreciate the difference between the paths of the world and your way as an apostle.
(The Way, no.580)
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Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time A
Prayers
this week:
Let hearts
rejoice who search for the Lord. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek
always the face of the Lord.
(Psalm 104: 3-4)
Almighty and ever-living God, strengthen our faith, hope, and love. May we do
with loving hearts what you ask of us and come to share the life you promise. We
ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today: Exodus 22: 20-26; Psalm 17; 1
Thessalonians 1: 5-10; Matthew 22: 34-40
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the
Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested
him with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And
the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the
Prophets hang on these two commandments."
(Matthew 22: 34-40)
In
everything, love
The lives of most people are guided by a variety of motives and expectations.
What parents expect of the child and youth, what his peers expect of him, and
what he expects of himself will have a profound effect on his actions. The
husband is influenced by the expectations
that
his spouse has of him, and vice versa — if that were not the case, there would
be something wrong with the marriage. The employee is expected to do things by
his employer, and vice versa. A person’s own expectations of himself will shape
his life. These expectations involve love, ambition, and various other
motives. So it is that the whole of mankind is caught up in a vast hive of
activity. Now, whatever be the facts of an individual case, the primary
expectation that should shape our life is that which God our Creator has of us.
So the question arises, what does God expect of mankind and of each individual?
The individual who recognizes the authority of God will ask, whatever be my own
or others’ expectations, what does God expect of me? For instance, does he
expect more work of me? God may indeed be expecting more work of me, for I may
be wasting my time with excessive recreation and ease. Most serious‑minded
people, because they have responsibilities that are crucial to their happiness
such as maintaining a family and holding down a job, are probably working as
much as they can reasonably be expected to. God may be expecting more, but not
a great deal more activity from them. But what God does expect, and expect much
more of, is that they love him far more in whatever be their proper activity in
life. He wants love for him to inform every aspect of what they do to meet the
responsibilities which in his providence he has given to them. When a person
comes to see that obedience to and service of God should characterize his life,
it will not usually mean a change in life’s responsibilities. Rather, it will
mean a profoundly new and all‑pervasive motive for meeting those
responsibilities, and for meeting them well. Instead of a variety of motives
and expectations driving all that they do, there is one great and transforming
motive. It is a motive that sanctifies everything. It is love for God and his
greater glory.
In our Gospel passage today a lawyer asks our Lord a fundamental question that could be phrased in a variety of ways. He asks, What is the greatest of God’s commandments? As already explained, Does he expect that I do more than I am doing? He may, but probably not if I am fulfilling my responsibilities according to proper expectations. So then, what is the first and greatest expectation God has of me? What, indeed, is his principal command which, if I fulfil it, will make me pleasing to him? Our Lord gives the answer to this in our passage today: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22: 34‑40). We must, then, begin with and work at the first and greatest thing, which is love. That is the principal change to be made to our lives. We must strive to ensure that in all that we do we are loving God and placing his glory at the forefront of everything. If we love God then, of course, we will want to keep his commandments, for our Lord said, if you love me you will keep my commandments. This may then mean a change in what I actually do, but what I am already doing may well be what God wants me to do. He will want me to work hard at my profession, be a good husband and father, a good student. But we may be doing all this for mixed and imperfect motives. God will want me to do it more and more simply for his glory. He will want my work of each day to be the expression of and the instrument of a greater and greater love for him. In all my thoughts, words and actions he will want love for him, and in him love for neighbour, to be growing in my heart. This love is a gift that is implanted in my heart and soul at the moment of my baptism. It is a divine gift, a grace, which by the help of the Holy Spirit and my own exercise of it, can grow and become the ruling element of my life. The love of Christ ought be leading the Christian to be a Christ‑like spouse and parent, a Christ‑like worker in the workplace, a Christ‑like friend and collaborator of others in daily life.
This love for God and for others is, as St Paul writes in his Letter to the Colossians “the bond of perfection” (3:14). It is the foundation of the other virtues to which it gives life, inspiration, and order. Without charity “I am nothing” and “I gain nothing”, as St Paul writes (1 Corinthians 13:1‑3). Charity is Christ’s new commandment and it is, as our Lord explains in today’s Gospel, the fullness of God’s Law. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. The Catechism asks, why did God make us? God made us to know, love and serve him here on earth so as to see and enjoy him forever in heaven. So every day we ought aim to know, love and serve God in all we do, say and think. St Ignatius of Loyola coined a famous expression: For the greater glory of God. If by the grace of God this is the motive driving our life, the principal expectation, it will take us to sanctity and to heaven.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.
1822-1829
(Charity)
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How humbly and
simply the Gospels relate incidents that show up the weak and wavering faith of
the apostles!
So that you and I won't lose hope of some day achieving the strong unshakable faith those first few afterwards had.
(The Way, no.581)
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Monday of the thirtieth week in Ordinary Time II
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Scripture today: Ephesians 4:32
― 5:8; Psalm 1; Luke 13: 10-17
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one
of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for
eighteen years.
She
was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called
her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." Then
he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to
the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days,
not on the Sabbath." The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you
on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it
water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept
bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound
her?" When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were
delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
(Luke 13: 10-17)
Christ’s
charity Once again, our Lord reveals his great-hearted
charity in our Gospel passage today. It is the Sabbath day, the Lord’s
day. The people are gathered in one of the synagogues and Jesus is
teaching. It is clear from the Gospels that the Sabbath was a privileged
time for our Lord’s ministry.
The people had stopped work, they were gathered to pray and hear the word of
God, and Jesus took advantage of this circumstance to teach them.
Contemplate the wonder of Christ thus teaching! Imagine being in the
synagogue, and God the Son made man is speaking and instructing! In gazing
on that man we are gazing on God, visible in his human nature. In hearing
his teaching, we are hearing the greatest and most sure teaching in the
history of the world. It is teaching that takes us to eternal life.
Ultimately it is teaching about his very person and what it means to live in
union with him. Because it is this, it is teaching which if followed leads
to salvation. How privileged were the people of our Lord’s time and place!
For this reason our Lord once said to his disciples that they were blessed.
Prophets and kings had longed to see what they were seeing and had not seen
it. They had longed to hear what they were hearing and had not heard it.
Now, this same Jesus lives still. He is living, risen from the dead and
speaks to us still. He speaks to us in his word in the inspired Scriptures
and in the great Tradition which is the living word and life of the Church.
We do not see him in visible form, but he is there and speaking to us in his
body the Church of which he is the living Head. So there he is in the
synagogue, and while he is teaching, or perhaps when he finishes, he sees a
poor woman who had been crippled for some eighteen years, all bent over. It
is intriguing that Luke reports the number of years she had been in this
condition. It suggests that his source was an eye‑witness who was quite
knowledgeable as to the situation. Full of compassion, our Lord, without
being asked, proceeds to call her forth from the crowd. At a word, he cures
her.
Let us notice that he does not call her from the crowd to cast out a demon. There are other cures he effects in which he casts out demons. He speaks of casting out a dumb spirit, or a spirit that causes fits, and so forth. But this time he simply calls the woman out and cures her of her “infirmity.” But in his sharp and overwhelming reply to the synagogue official he makes it clear that Satan did have some hand in it. Satan did not cause her condition as an upshot of some form of possession but he actively assisted in maintaining, indirectly or otherwise, the condition. Our Lord speaks of Satan as holding her bound in a way parallel to the donkey being held tethered in the stall. It reminds us that the evils and sufferings of the world came about not as a result of God’s creative act, but as a result of man’s fall in which Satan had a hand. Satan still delights in being the great Spoiler. As our Lord says elsewhere, he is a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Well then, the Son of God cures the woman and silences the objecting synagogue official. His whole action reveals the love and power of God. He comes to the aid of the one who is suffering and defenceless. We too ought bring all our tribulations before him in our prayer. Who knows what he might do as part of the divine plan. Time and again during the Gospels he reveals by his numerous miracles that he is almighty, and that his might is manifested in his mercy. The divine power shows itself in mercy towards those in need. This might be said to be distinctive of the Christian religion. God is revealed as not just a great power, but an almighty power that is entirely at the service of love for those in need and misery. The event in our Gospel scene today (Luke 13: 10‑17) is a sign of greater things to come. The greatest act of divine power was, firstly, God becoming man, and secondly God taking on himself the sins of mankind and expiating for them all. The Incarnation and the Atonement is the great revelation of the power, the mercy and the love of God.
Let us in prayer draw near to the person of Jesus. He smiles with love on us as we take our stand with him. He is full of strength and that strength is shown in his deeds of compassion and love. His greatest such deed is his giving himself up for our salvation. Let us take our stand with him. But very importantly, let us pray for the grace to follow him closely in our everyday lives as he makes his way to Calvary. We are called to renounce ourselves and to take up our cross, following in his footsteps.
(E.J.Tyler)
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How beautiful is our Catholic faith! It provides a solution for all our anxieties, calms our minds and fills our hearts with hope.
(The Way, no.582)
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Tuesday of the thirtieth week in Ordinary Time II
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Scripture today: Romans 8:
18-25; Psalm 125; Luke
13: 18-21
Jesus
asked, What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is
like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and
became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches. Again he
asked, What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a
woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all
through the dough. (Luke 13: 18-21)
It
grows
Later in life John Henry Newman expressed amazement at the changes he had
seen in the society and culture of his time. He was a man of the nineteenth
century, a century of great changes indeed. He himself was thinking
especially of the advance of religious agnosticism and practical atheism in
Western culture, as exemplified in England.
Thinking of that remark, we could think of other great changes that have
occurred in history — indeed of an opposite character. I have in mind
especially, say, the change from paganism to Christianity in the Roman
Empire, and the change from the Arianism and mixed paganism of the invading
barbarians to Catholic Europe of the late Dark and early Middle Ages. The
first millennium following the birth of Christ is the story of the amazing
growth of the Christian religion. Up to the accession of Constantine early
in the fourth century, Christianity had suffered numerous pulverizing
attacks by the Empire. But it could not be pulverized. It could not be
stamped out, and the more ferocious the thrusts at it, the more did it
mysteriously grow. By the arrival of Constantine, the Church stood bloodied
and bruised, but joyful and advancing. It seemed to possess an
indestructible principle of growth amid difficulty. In the fourth century
it was declared the winner of the contest, with paganism losing its status
as the religion of the Empire. The following century saw the arrival of the
barbarians, harassing at the borders. The great St Augustine died as the
Vandals were bearing down upon his own region. He had published one of his
greatest works, The City of God, grappling with the mystery of a
crumbling Christian civilization — driven to its knees by the hoards. Rome
fell, and the Visigoths, the Vandals and others took their respective
seats. Subsequently, the Vikings came across the seas and down the great
rivers, bringing fire and sword and spear. But amid all of the mayhem of
the Dark Ages, what was happening? The Christian missionaries were
conquering the conquerors. Catholic Europe was appearing on the horizon.
The Christian religion seemed possessed of a principle of indestructible
growth amid difficulty. It was like a seed that just had to grow.
Of course, this point cannot be pressed too far. There have been and will continue to be various reversals. In the fourth and fifth centuries the Near East was the centre of Christianity in terms of population, ideas, controversies and councils. By overwhelming force of arms it was overrun by the religion of Mahomet, and for much more than a millennium has been the home of the Islamic successor — Christianity being regarded on sufferance as a minor guest. But the point I am making here is that the Christian religion as borne along by Christ’s Church has in it an indestructible principle of growth amid difficulty. It grows. It fact, it can and does grow everywhere. It is not the religion of a particular civilization, but can strike root anywhere. It is catholic, and this distinctive feature manifested itself on the day of Pentecost. Peter, with the eleven apostles by his side, addressed the crowd that was drawn from all parts of the world. About three thousand souls were won for the Lord (Acts 2: 41) on that day of the Church’s birth. Its divine Founder had been pulverized, but from that sprang forth new growth. The growth was due to the divine Presence therein. The risen Jesus was at the head, and the power was coming from the Spirit. The Church’s members were being sanctified, and non-believers were being converted to the Lord. All these patterns from the past deliver a consoling lesson for today and the future. Christ does not depend on favourable circumstances nor on worldly talent. He depends on faith, hope and love in his disciples, and the willingness to follow him amid difficulty. He asks that his disciples take up their cross every day and follow in his footsteps. On this basis, the Church his body grows amid difficulty. In our Gospel today, our Lord describes the inner dynamics of the Kingdom he was to establish and place in the keeping of his Church. The Kingdom — which is union with his Person — “is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches.” Or again, it is “like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Luke 13: 18‑21).
Whatever be the historical growth or otherwise of the Kingdom of God in this or that locality, region, country or continent, each Christian can be sure that it can grow in his own life. The Kingdom grows in a person’s heart to the extent that the knowledge and love of Christ grows there. The pressing and truly important thing is that each of us give our whole mind, heart, soul and strength to Jesus Christ, and live out this self-donation by a life of obedience to his will. If we do this we shall be good soil, suitable for the seed that comes from God to produce its harvest.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Wednesday of the thirtieth week in Ordinary Time II
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Scripture today:
Ephesians 6: 1-9; Psalm 145:10-14; Luke 13: 22-30
Jesus went through the towns and
villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, "Lord,
are only a few people
going
to be saved?" He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow
door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once
the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside
knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' "But he will answer, 'I
don't know you or where you come from.' "Then you will say, 'We ate and drank
with you, and you taught in our streets.' "But he will reply, 'I don't know you
or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!' "There will be weeping
there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the
prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come
from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast
in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first,
and first who will be last." (Luke 13: 22-30)
Last
Things
I remember that at one university where I happened to be studying, my supervisor
described the God of the Old Testament as a God of wrath and punishment and the
God of the New as a God of love and mercy. That has been a widespread cliché
but I am sure those who adhere to the Jewish faith would object to it.
The Christian ought know that while in Christ the love of God is most fully and
definitively revealed, this same love of God is revealed in the Old Testament.
The prophets abound in passages that speak of the tender love of Yahweh for his
people. At the same time Christ himself speaks very frequently about the
punishment of Hell. While the Old Testament speaks of the punishment and wrath
of God, more often than not this wrath and punishment is depicted as being
played out in this life. Our Lord, though, speaks of God’s punishment in far
more definitive terms. Our Lord speaks of Hell far more often than any prophet
before him and he reveals its nature much more clearly. Our Gospel passage
today is but one of many that could be cited as describing the judgment and the
punishment of unrepentant sinners by God. God is love, and this is the great
teaching of the New Testament. It was because God so loved the world that he
sent his only‑begotten Son, but he did this because of the terrible consequences
of sin. Because of man’s sin, death — eternal death — would have come to
mankind were it not for God’s great initiative in sending his Son. Our Lord
must have spoken repeatedly of the consequences of sin because in their very
question to him his disciples ask, “Lord, are only a few people going to be
saved?” In his reply our Lord ignored their question as to numbers and stressed
rather the efforts they must make. “Make every effort to enter through the
narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able
to” (Luke 13: 22‑30).
What this means is that the Christian must take account of what we might call the Last Things. Time passes quickly. Most things in life are to a greater or lesser extent uncertain. But there are a few things that are absolutely inevitable. The first is that we shall die and that following our death, God will judge us for what we have done. Our deeds, embracing all our deliberate thoughts, words and actions, the entire exercise of our freedom, will be subject to the definitive scrutiny of God. All this is inevitable because Christ has revealed it. So we must prepare for it and make every effort, as our Lord says, to enter by the narrow door, the door of earnest application to the one sure end of our life. For following God’s judgment there will be either heaven or hell. Our Lord puts it in terms of a parable: “Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’“ What a terrible thing it will be to hear the words of Christ our Judge, were he to say to us when that time comes, “I do not know where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!” Christ adds a further warning. We must not take for granted that, because we have been long familiar with him and his words, we shall for that simple fact be acceptable to him. He is looking for true faith and for deeds that are consistent with this faith. For this reason, those who are first may be found to be last and those who come to him late and indeed last, may be found to be first. “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”
All this sounds sombre, but there is no alternative but to think about it and to live in the light of it. We have the gift of life. Life offers immense opportunities and serious consequences, and both the one and the other issue from the exercise of freedom. Life is a gift and it is a responsibility. It is a gift because it gives us the opportunity of knowing, loving and serving God here and forever hereafter. But it is a responsibility. We shall be held responsible for the use we have made of this gift.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Stir up that
fire of faith. Christ is not a figure that has passed. He is not a memory that
is lost in history.
He lives! 'Jesus Christus heri et hodie, ipse et in saecula', says Saint Paul. — 'Jesus Christ is the same to-day as he was yesterday and as he will be for ever'.
(The Way, no.584)
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Thursday of the thirtieth week in Ordinary Time II
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Scripture today: Ephesians 6: 10-20; Psalm
144:1b, 2, 9-10; Luke 13:31-35
At that time some Pharisees came to
Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to
kill you." He
replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will keep on driving out demons and
healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.'
In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no
prophet can die outside Jerusalem! "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the
prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your
children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not
willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see
me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'
(Luke 13:31-35)
Judge and Friend
How serious it would be to be judged adversely by Jesus! In our Gospel
today some Pharisees come to Jesus and urge him to leave because Herod was
seeking to kill him. Our Lord appears to have been in Herod’s territory and
perhaps Herod had craftily let it be known to the Pharisees
that he was after Jesus, in the hope that Jesus would leave his territory.
Perhaps. In any case, he earns the withering description from our Lord of
being a “fox.” In other contexts the Pharisees themselves drew from our Lord
the description of being “hypocrites.” They were whitewashed sepulchres. On
one Sabbath day when our Lord was before a person who had a withered hand
and the scribes and Pharisees were watching what he would do, he asked them
if it was lawful to do good on a Sabbath, or evil. They stubbornly remained
silent. We read that our Lord looked around on them all with anger, and in
their presence forthwith cured the man. As we think of these incidents, and
in particular of our Lord’s words in today’s passage describing Herod as a
fox, let us think of the judgment of Christ on man’s actions and state of
heart. He, the living risen Jesus, Son of God and Saviour, into whose hands
all authority in heaven and on earth have been placed, observes all that
goes on in our hearts. He judges now, and will judge us when our time
comes. Let us then live in the light of our future judgment. But while he
is our Judge, he is also our Friend. His heart, while full of truth, is
also full of love. We see this too in our Gospel passage today in his
lament over Jerusalem: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and
stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children
together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not
willing” (Luke 13:31‑35). Christ wishes
to protect us, to gather each of us under his sheltering hand. He is, as he
makes clear elsewhere in the Gospel, our Good Shepherd who gives his life
for us his sheep.
In our Gospel passage our Lord also alludes to the supreme purpose of his life. Yes, he is healing the sick and casting out devils, but his supreme work is yet to come. “At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!” So then, “on the third day I will reach my goal.” His goal was to lay down his life in witness to the truth about himself and his mission. It would be the supreme act of obedience to the will of his heavenly Father and the supreme moment in which he would save the world. Jesus was very conscious that he had come to redeem the entire world. All mankind, though it did not realize it, was dependent for its very life on him and on his coming sacrifice. His goal was Jerusalem and the witness to the truth he would bear before his enemies who wished to destroy him. He would bear this witness in obedience to the divine plan of salvation, and it would involve a Passion and Death which would make up for all the sins of mankind. Let us ponder on the remarkable character of the divine plan. As we look out on this wonderful world, as we look out on the universe and its incalculable size and richness, we cannot but marvel at the wonder of God’s creative plan. To think that such a universe comes forth from the hand of one only God! And this is to say nothing of the unseen Angelic world, the world of Angels and Saints who stand in the presence of God and serve him night and day. But a greater cause of wonder is God’s redemptive plan. Not only has God created this world and each of us but he has taken the astounding initiative of sending his divine Son, himself this same one God though distinct from the Father and the Spirit, to become one of us and by his death to redeem man from his sin. As we think of our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel, let us be filled with gratitude for all that God has done for us his children.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem!” our Lord cried out. We can hear the feeling in his voice, and sense the love that filled his heart. This man is the Man of the ages, the glory of mankind, the keystone of all reality. He is the true Conqueror of evil, the hero for every man and woman. This world has come from him and its redemption from sin has also come from him. No other figure in the history of mankind ranks with him, and our eternity consists in friendship with him. So then, let us take our stand with him and ask for the grace to follow him closely, yes, even as he makes his way to Jerusalem.
(E.J.Tyler)
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If your faith were the size of a mustard seed!
What promises are contained in this exclamation of the Master!
(The Way, no.585)
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Friday of the thirtieth week in Ordinary Time II
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
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Scripture today:
Philippians 1: 1-11; Psalm Ps 111:1-6; Luke 14: 1-6
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in
the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in
front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. Jesus asked
the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or
not?" But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and
sent him on his way. Then he asked them, "If one of you has a child or an ox
that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it
out?" And they had nothing to say. (Luke 14:
1-6)
Christ
our light
Our scene today occurs on a Sabbath. Perhaps the synagogue service was over,
and presumably our Lord had spoken at length to the assembled congregation. We
read elsewhere in the Gospels that on the Sabbaths, our Lord spoke in the
synagogue of the town were he usually was, and so it would have been on this
day.
The Sabbath was also a time of rest and appropriate celebration, and so our Lord
was invited to the house of a leading Pharisee. Others, Pharisees and experts
in the law, were also present and one would imagine that they were keen to know
our Lord up close, to converse with him themselves and to watch how he
performed. We are told in the Gospel of St John that Jesus had no need of
anyone to tell him what was in a man, for he could read their hearts. And so
our Lord was perfectly aware of the suspicious and critical attitude of his
hosts and yet he cordially accepted the invitation. It shows our Lord’s
cordiality, his openness to all, his calm fearlessness before critics who would,
he knew, become implacable in their hostility to him. So he went to dine in the
house of the leading Pharisee who had with him several of his set. Behold the
Son of God made man, reclining at table, eating in the midst of this company!
He is the perfect embodiment of holiness, indeed, he is its Source. And there
in front of him a man with a serious swelling of the body presented himself,
asking to be cured. Our Lord knew his company was watching him to see what he
would do on the Sabbath. Perhaps they had even indirectly encouraged the sick
person to present himself, or at least placed no obstacle before him. So our
Lord asked them all if it was lawful to heal someone on the Sabbath. They dared
not answer him — none of them at all. They were silent, for they knew that
no-one had ever bettered Jesus in religious debate. So he proceed to cure the
man of his ailment and sent him off. Our Lord then turned to them all and gave
his example of a child or an ox being rescued from difficulty on the Sabbath.
Again, they were silent. Our Lord dominated the entire situation.
All of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are inspired by God and so are to be regarded as the most incomparable of all writings penned by man. Penned by man the Scriptures were, but authored ultimately by the Holy Spirit. Granted all this, nevertheless some parts of the Scriptures are of greater import than others, and the most important parts of the Scriptures are the Gospels because they directly present the person, the words, the teaching and the actions of the Redeemer, God the Son become man. He is the fulfilment of all the Scriptures. In the Gospels the reader can contemplate the person of Jesus and thus come to know him and to love him. And so it is today. We contemplate the person of Jesus in our Gospel scene reclining at the meal in the house of the leading Pharisee and calmly entering into dialogue with his many critics present there. For the one who has discovered the person of Christ, it is somewhat of a mystery how he, goodness itself, evoked such hostility and suspicion. It is the mystery of sin. Christ is there, and in his miracle on behalf of the sick man manifests his divine power so effortlessly exercised, and by means of that power reveals his love that responds to human need. The power of God shows itself in deeds of mercy. The teaching of the Old Testament that God is rich in mercy is manifested and fulfilled in the person of Jesus. Christ shows himself in his dialogue with the Pharisee to be engaging, refined, far superior in intellect to his enemies and critics, and all the while charitable to all. In a word, he is perfect, the perfect man. There is naturally a reluctance to consider anyone perfect because, despite our anti‑dogmatic culture in all things religious, we implicitly accept that man is profoundly flawed. We implicitly accept the doctrine of original sin in some form. But in the case of Jesus Christ, there we have the perfect man. On one occasion our Lord instructed his disciples to be perfect, for their heavenly Father was perfect. He was placing before them what was to be their constant ideal, and he was the embodiment of it.
Our scene today has Christ in the centre (Luke 14: 1‑6). On one side are those who are not with him. On the other, though here unmentioned, are those who are with him, his disciples. That is the choice, to be with him or not to be with him. Let us make our choice to be with him, and let us renew that every day, living it out with all our hearts. Let us make Christ our love and, filled more and more with this love, let us live our daily lives accordingly.
(E.J.Tyler)
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God is the same
as always. It is men of faith that are needed: and then, there will be a renewal
of the wonders we read of in the Gospel.
Ecce non est abbreviata manus Domini, God's arm, his power, has not grown weaker!
(The Way, no.586)
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Feast of St Luke, evangelist (October 18)
(October 18) St.
Luke
Luke wrote one of the major portions of the New
Testament, a two-volume work comprising the third Gospel and the Acts
of the Apostles. In the two books he shows the parallel between the
life of Christ and that of the Church. He is the only Gentile Christian
among the Gospel writers. Tradition holds him to be a native of
Antioch, and Paul calls him "our beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14).
His Gospel was probably written between A.D. 70 and 85. Luke appears in
Acts during Paul’s second journey, remains at Philippi for several
years until Paul returns from his third journey, accompanies Paul to
Jerusalem and remains near him when he is imprisoned in Caesarea.
During these two years, Luke had time to seek information and interview
persons who had known Jesus. He accompanied Paul on the dangerous
journey to Rome where he was a faithful companion. "Only Luke is with
me," Paul writes (2 Timothy 4:11). Luke wrote as a Gentile for Gentile
Christians. This Gospel reveals Luke's expertise in classic Greek style
as well as his knowledge of Jewish sources.
The character of Luke may best be seen by the
emphases of his Gospel, which has been given a number of subtitles: (1)
The Gospel of Mercy: Luke emphasizes Jesus' compassion and patience
with the sinners and the suffering. He has a broadminded openness to
all, showing concern for Samaritans, lepers, publicans, soldiers,
public sinners, unlettered shepherds, the poor. Luke alone records the
stories of the sinful woman, the lost sheep and coin, the prodigal son,
the good thief. (2) The Gospel of Universal Salvation: Jesus died for
all. He is the son of Adam, not just of David, and Gentiles are his
friends too. (3) The Gospel of the Poor: "Little people" are
prominent—Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, shepherds, Simeon
and the elderly widow, Anna. He is also concerned with what we now call
"evangelical poverty." (4) The Gospel of Absolute Renunciation: He
stresses the need for total dedication to Christ. (5) The Gospel of
Prayer and the Holy Spirit: He shows Jesus at prayer before every
important step of his ministry. The Spirit is bringing the Church to
its final perfection. (6) The Gospel of Joy: Luke succeeds in
portraying the joy of salvation that permeated the primitive Church.
"Then [Jesus] led them [out] as far as Bethany, raised his
hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was
taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem
with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God"
(Luke 24:50-53). (AmericanCatholic.org)
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today:
2 Timothy 4:10-17b; Psalm 145;
Luke 10:1-9
The Lord Jesus appointed seventy-two
disciples whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he
intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the
labourers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out
labourers
for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among
wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the
way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If
a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it
will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered
to you, for the labourer deserves payment. Do not move about from one house
to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set
before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The Kingdom of God is at
hand for you.’” (Luke 10:1-9)
Witnessing to God
It is very clear that in revealed religion — the religion of the Old and New
Testaments — God has revealed himself as Father. He is the Father, the
Origin and the Lord of all. Together with this, one of the most notable
features of revealed religion is, of course, its monotheism.
It teaches that there is one only God, whereas in the history of mankind,
people more usually have worshipped many gods. Revealed religion has made
great advances and, as a result, a great portion of mankind is now
monotheist. But the absolutely distinct feature of the Christian religion
is that this one God is in three distinct persons, each of whom is this one
only God. Judaism will not allow this, and Islam which professes to accept
the religion of Abraham and the prophets — and even to recognize Christ as a
prophet — will not allow this either, thinking it to be polytheism. Let us
bear in mind these fundamental matters as we consider our Gospel passage
today for the feast of St Luke the Evangelist. Our Lord sends the
seventy-two out to prepare the way for him, and to announce the kingdom of
God. We are also reminded of our Lord’s solemn warning elsewhere to bear
witness to him: “I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of
Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns
me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.” If we acknowledge
Jesus Christ as Lord then he will acknowledge us before the angels of God.
We acknowledge Christ in a variety of ways, by our way of life, by our
speech and words, by our defence of his teaching. It means acknowledging
him as the Lord of lords, as the one to whom all authority in heaven and on
earth has been granted. The entire life of the Christian ought be an act of
witness to this truth, and this was the work of Luke the Evangelist. Our
Lord also goes on to say that the one who speaks a word against him, if
repentant, can be forgiven. This is a consolation to the one who fails by
his life to acknowledge Christ as Lord.
St Luke in his Gospel, and especially in the Acts of the Apostles, writes of another divine Person, the Holy Spirit. Him Christ loves and exalts. We remember our Lord saying on one occasion that “everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” Let us not here determine the precise meaning of our Lord’s reference to a word or act of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that cannot be forgiven. It appears to refer to some deliberate refusal to accept the light seen and known to be coming from God, a refusal that includes the light that has been granted to repent. Be that as it may, what is abundantly clear is that our Lord is referring to a divine Person. In referring to a “blasphemy” against the Holy Spirit he is using a term applicable to an offence against God. Moreover, Christ speaks of the Holy Spirit with the utmost reverence as he would of his heavenly Father. Our Lord exalts the Holy Spirit and asks of his hearers that they exalt him in like manner. The Holy Spirit is not just a divine energy, a divine force. He is a Person. Moreover, our Lord goes on to speak of the Holy Spirit’s action on behalf of himself. “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say” (Luke 12: 8‑12). If our vindication before the court of heaven will depend on our acknowledging Jesus as Lord — as our Lord makes clear it will — then we can count on the assistance of the Holy Spirit in this. He will help us to bear witness to Jesus before rulers and authorities and all that is difficult. The Holy Spirit is God who can be blasphemed against, and he is our Help in bearing witness to Jesus.
On the feast of St Luke the Evangelist, let us resolve to live a life that acknowledges Jesus as Lord. To him has been granted all authority in heaven and on earth. Our help and stay in this will be the Holy Spirit, who is the Lord and Giver of life. Together with the Father and the Son he is to be adored and glorified. It is the mystery of mysteries, that the one only God is three divine Persons, each of whom is the one only God. Our vocation is to participate in their divine life and this we do by faith and baptism. Let us resolve to live accordingly.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Thank you, my God, for that love for the Pope you have placed in my heart.
(The Way, no.573)
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Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles
(October 28) Simon
and Jude, Apostles
Jude is so
named by Luke and Acts. Matthew and Mark call him Thaddeus. He is not mentioned
elsewhere in the Gospels, except, of course, where all the apostles are referred
to. Scholars hold that he is not the author of the Letter of Jude. Actually,
Jude had the same name as Judas Iscariot. Evidently because of the disgrace of
that name, it was shortened to "Jude" in English. Simon is mentioned on all four
lists of the apostles. On two of them he is called "the Zealot." The Zealots
were a Jewish sect that represented an extreme of Jewish nationalism. For them,
the messianic promise of the Old Testament meant that the Jews were to be a free
and independent nation. God alone was their king, and any payment of taxes to
the Romans—the very domination of the Romans—was a blasphemy against God. No
doubt some of the Zealots were the spiritual heirs of the Maccabees, carrying on
their ideals of religion and independence. But many were the counterparts of
modern terrorists. They raided and killed, attacking both foreigners and
"collaborating" Jews. They were chiefly responsible for the rebellion against
Rome which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
As in the case of
all the apostles except for Peter, James and John, we are faced with men who are
really unknown, and we are struck by the fact that their holiness is simply
taken to be a gift of Christ. He chose some unlikely people: a former Zealot, a
former (crooked) tax collector, an impetuous fisherman, two "sons of thunder"
and a man named Judas Iscariot. It is a reminder that we cannot receive too
often. Holiness does not depend on human merit, culture, personality, effort or
achievement. It is entirely God's creation and gift. God needs no Zealots to
bring about the kingdom by force. Jude, like all the saints, is the saint of the
impossible: only God can create his divine life in human beings. And God wills
to do so, for all of us.
"Just as Christ was
sent by the Father, so also he sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit.
This he did so that, by preaching the gospel to every creature (cf. Mark 16:15),
they might proclaim that the Son of God, by his death and resurrection, had
freed us from the power of Satan (cf. Acts 26:18) and from death, and brought us
into the kingdom of his Father" (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today: Ephesians 2:19-22; Responsorial Psalm 19:2-3, 4-5; Luke 6:12-16
One of those days Jesus went
up to the mountain to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning
came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also
designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James,
John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon
who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became
a traitor. (Luke 6:12-16)
The essence
Over the past century or more, one area of theological reflection has
revolved around the question of the essence of Christianity. In the
face of such a plethora of Christian communions and such a variety of
Christian structures and beliefs, various thinkers have set themselves
the goal of determining what is the fundamental nature of the Christian
religion.
For instance, some have considered that hearing the word of God and
putting it into practice is of the essence. “Who is my brother and
sister?” we read our Lord asking. “Anyone who does the will of my
Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.” Such persons
will go on to propose that wherever there is a person or community that
sincerely hears, studies and accepts the word of God as given to us by
Christ, and then puts it into practice, that person and that community
are instances of true Christianity. Other examples could be given of
answers to the question of the essence of Christianity. But the
perennial danger of such a question and of many of the answers to it is
that other essential elements are forgotten, with immense ramifications
for the Christian religion itself. No one should doubt that hearing the
word of God and putting it into practice is indeed of the essence of the
Christian religion, but there are other essential elements too. These
other elements can be lost sight of. One is, how has Christ structured
and organized the religion he has revealed? Did Christ intend that his
disciples in their life of hearing his word and putting it into practice
be members of a visible, structured body? Did he intend that the
kingdom he was establishing be a divinely organized one here on earth,
or was he leaving to the inclination and judgment of his future
disciples the question of how they wished to organize themselves? We
surely gain an indication of the answer to this from our Gospel passage
today. Christ built the religion he revealed on an apostolic
foundation. It was not just a movement, but was founded on the
Apostles.
In our Gospel today our Lord, accompanied by his disciples, spends the whole night in prayer to his Father on the mountain. We read that “when morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor” (Luke 6:12‑16). Christ did not just give his teaching, work his miracles, effect the world’s redemption by his death and resurrection, and then leave to the discretion of his disciples the business of bringing the redemption to the world. By that I mean that he did not just leave it to his disciples to do all this in whatever way they saw fit. No. He established a Church with a definite structure, and he expected his disciples to be members of this, his Church. He foresaw that many of his disciples in the course of time would depart from the Church he established, or would themselves be children and descendants of those who had thus departed. This was not Christ’s intention. His intention was to establish a Church with its own divinely intended structure. That is to say, the essence of the Christian religion includes many things, and included among them is the divine structure Christ gave to it. Now, we have the beginning of this step in our Gospel passage today. We read that he summoned his disciples and chose from among them the Twelve. These he called Apostles. This word, “Apostle,” (apostolos, envoy, ambassador) we might note, did not become a term exclusive to the Twelve. St Paul insisted that he was a divinely appointed Apostle, but he was never one of the Twelve. On the Twelve Christ established his Church, and the true Church of Christ is that Church which is built on the Twelve and not just on this or that of Christ’s disciples. The Gospels give us more information about the Twelve in the plan of Christ, such as that Simon was their head and their rock and that on this rock Christ was building his Church. The point for today, though, is that the Christian religion is founded on the Twelve. It has an apostolic structure.
It is important that we do not have a simplistic understanding of the Christian religion, for if we do we shall fail to appropriate many of the treasures and graces Christ left for those who wish to be his disciples. The fullness of the Christian religion as Christ revealed it is to be found where he intended it to be found. It is found where he abides, for it consists in him and in union with him. He is found in his fullness in his Church, in the Church he founded on the Apostles. It is of this that we are reminded in our Gospel today.(E.J.Tyler)
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I'm not one for miracles. I have told you that in the holy Gospel I can find more than enough to confirm my faith. — But I can't help pitying those Christians — pious people, 'apostles' many of them — who smile at the idea of extraordinary ways, of supernatural events. I feel the urge to tell them: Yes, this is still the age of miracles: we too would work them if we had faith!
(The Way, no.583)
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World Mission Sunday (2nd last Sunday of October) Matthew 28: 16-20
Gospel:
Matthew 28: 16-20
The
eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them
to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus
came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given
to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to
the very end of the age. (Matthew 28: 16-20)
The
propagation of the Faith
I remember when I was working as a missionary in Peru, in the small town of
Huancarama high up in the Andes mountains, I was sitting in the town plaza.
A little Indian child was walking nearby chewing some gum. He looked at me,
slowly walked towards me, stopped in front of me, put
his hand into his mouth, pulled out the gum he had been chewing, and offered
it to me for me to eat. He was a little child of about three. That simple
action showed the affection he and so many had for the priest. They
realised that they depended on the priest for their spiritual sustenance,
for the sacraments and for the word of God. The priest brought them to
God. Let us often think of the mission of the Church — in which all the
baptized share — which is to bring Christ to all mankind. We have a mission
to live in union with Christ ourselves, and to bring Christ to the members
of our own family, to our friends, and to all in our immediate community.
There are many in each parish who, in a variety of ways, endeavour to do
this. But we also share in the universal mission of the Church. When our
Lord was about to ascend into heaven, he said to his disciples, go and make
disciples of all the nations, baptising them and teaching them to observe
all that I have commanded you. And behold, I shall be with you to the end
of the world. By our baptism and confirmation we are called to play
whatever part we can in this great world‑wide undertaking. Pope John Paul
II wrote an important encyclical on the Church’s mission to all the peoples
of the world. In it he says that this mission is very far from being
completed, and that in fact it is only beginning, and we must commit
ourselves wholeheartedly to its service. He reminds us of the words of St
Paul, who wrote, “For if I preach the Gospel, that gives me no ground for
boasting. Rather, it is a duty. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel.”
One of the greatest topics of conversation within the life of the Church over the past decades has been the Second Vatican Council and its teaching. That Council stressed the Church’s missionary character, and pointed out that it has its origin in the mission of the Blessed Trinity itself. The Father initiated the divine mission to save the world, sending his Son to fulfill it. The Holy Spirit was then sent by both Father and Son to bring Christ’s redeeming work to the world, and by his power the Father and the Son dwell within us and enable us to live in God. The Church shares in this mission to the world, and we are members of the Church. Pope Pius XII decades ago stressed that being apostolic and missionary is of the essence of being a good and practising Catholic. Let each member of the Church ask himself or herself the famous questions St Ignatius asks in his Spiritual Exercises: what have I done for Christ? What am I doing for him? What will I do for him? The Popes have often pointed out that one’s faith is strengthened when it is given to others. This means that if one is regularly engaged in doing something designed to bring the faith, the Church, and Christ to others, accordingly one’s faith will grow and be strengthened. Every parish, and all members of it, should aspire to be distinguished by love for Jesus and for a desire to bring Jesus to others both in the surrounding community and all over the world. Early in the first half of the nineteenth century, a young woman in France, Pauline‑Marie Jaricot by name, felt the sense of urgency in doing just this. So in 1822 in Lyons, France, she began an association, of people who would contribute what they could of their modest earnings and savings, so as to support the work of the Church and priests in the foreign missions. Her association grew and grew, consisting of little yet regular givers, and it eventually became the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Contributing to this pontifical society has always been an excellent practical way to engage in a world‑wide missionary effort. One can pray for the foreign missions and make a financial contribution also. That financial contribution is then administered by the Pope through this body for the support of missionary priests and religious and other necessities of the foreign missions.
The pope has written that missionary activity appears to be waning. Let it not wane! Let each baptized person, each member of Christ’s Church enkindle in himself or herself the flame of the apostolate, and do all that is possible to bring Christ to the world. The world needs Christ, and Christ yearns for the world. We are his instruments, members of his body and sharers in his mission. Ah then! Now I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
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