21st Sunday Ordinary Time B 25 August 2024 Sermon

21^st Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) 25 August 2024 Loyalty

To test their love, Jesus challenges the crowd to leave, and many do: they should have stayed with him.

They should have said, with Peter: To whom shall we go? There are many other religions but they are not based on truth.

Other gods cannot save - whether we mean the carved idols of biblical times, or the false gods of our time, such as money and pleasure.

The real God may be mysterious but He is not beyond our reach. We can know certain things about Him, and we can know enough for our salvation.

We follow Joshua’s example (first reading) and resolve to remember always the goodness of God; and let that memory affect all future actions.

Remembering what God has done is very important. If we stop remembering we will stop other things too, such as believing in Him, or obeying Him. Or worshipping Him.

If we do not remember we will forget, and that means we drift away from God. From where we will be further tempted to despair, as we think about all our troubles and forget to call on God who can do all things necessary.

There are many difficulties but God is far greater than all of them put together.

He is far higher than us: Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? For from him and through him and for him are all things. (cf Rm 1, 33-36).

If we submit to His wisdom we will come through triumphantly.

To be in right relationship with God is always the main point. If united already, we can increase that union, and that is our goal in this life and the next. That is really what salvation means – that we are, at this moment, in union with God.

Our trust in God will increase too and what we found difficult before will suddenly seem a lot easier.

The second reading speaks of married couples. We would expect a married couple to love each other on their wedding day, but even more so at later times.

This will certainly be the case for the Church as Bride to Jesus as Bridegroom. The more we know about God the more we like Him. The more we accumulate memories of His goodness to us, the more faith we have for new challenges.

Unless we are clear about our worship of the one true God we will be allowing different types of falsehood into our lives.

We may be Catholic but that does not mean we are free to throw in other ideas, such as found in New Age practices. (cf as is said of Haiti “70% Catholic, 30% Protestant, and 100% Vodou”.)

There is abroad the hazy notion that all religion is much the same and there is no harm in a little blending of one religion with another.

One God, many gods? What’s the difference, people ask. It is for the same reason that you can have one spouse, but only one.

More than one god is spiritual adultery, certainly not the faithfulness to Christ the Bridegroom, which is so necessary.

There is abroad also a false humility whereby Catholics try not to appear as though they know anything more than their neighbours.

It is good to be humble but not at the expense of revealed truth.

Real humility will help us keep our focus on the one God who actually has helped us, and promises us a lot more to come.

Lord, to whom shall we go?

20th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 18 August 2024 Sermon

20^th Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) 18 August 2024   First Communion

This Gospel passage (Jn 6,51-58) is one of the most explicit in teaching us that the Eucharist is actually the body of Christ. We are eating His body and drinking His blood. The Eucharist is not just a symbol; Our Lord is physically present there.

God dwells where the bread was, and now it is He who is present instead of the bread.

In coming to us in this form Jesus does not lose anything of His own reality, but gives more reality to what He has created.

Bread and wine are called for duty in making this Sacrament possible. We treat the presence of Jesus with great reverence, so we take it carefully and thankfully.

If we honour the Lord in this way He will honour us with His abundant grace, and many good effects will follow.

Today we have several children receiving their first Holy Communion. We welcome them and surround them with our prayer.

It is the first time for them, but for some of us it would be in the hundreds or thousands of times.

As it has been put: We should take each Communion as if it were our first and our last. First, insofar as there is excitement and expectation there. Last, as when comes our time to die we want to be in the best company possible, and that would be Jesus Christ.

We give the sacrament as much time as we can to take effect within us.

St Thomas Aquinas gives us some idea of the many good effects Communion can bring us: Let this Holy Communion be to me an Armor of faith and a shield of good will, a cleansing of all vices, and a rooting out of all evil desires. May it increase love and patience, humility and obedience, and all virtues. May it be a firm defence against the evil designs of all my visible and invisible enemies, a perfect quieting of all the desires of soul and body. May this Holy Communion bring about a perfect union with You, the one true God, and at last enable me to reach eternal bliss when You will call me. I pray that You bring me, a sinner, to the indescribable Feast (which is Heaven).

In short, through the Eucharist Jesus can make us a new person, generous, merciful, humble, searching for justice, able to endure persecution, and much more.

He can do more for us, and in us, if we invite Him in - which is what we are expressing by coming for the sacrament.

When we say Amen it packs a punch. Implicitly it expresses a desire to deepen our union with Him, which could land us in trouble (cf apostles, martyrs) but it is more than worth it.

What about frequency? The general idea is that we receive once a week.

Like food it has to be repeated and often.

Many think they do not need it, but this is just lack of understanding as to what Our Lord can do for us, and what He is asking of us.

It is like bringing a glass to the ocean. We can fill the glass but it will not last long before we need a refill. We can take in only so much each time. This is why we have to repeat Holy Communion. There is so much going on we cannot express it all on one occasion.

It does help if we prepare, and if we resolve to live what we express here.

With practice, with prayer, with learning from past faults, we come to see beyond appearances, and then the deeper truth will appear.

Even in Heaven we will not have exhausted all the ways in which we can know God.

Our first Communion is one step; there are many more to go.

Bread of Life, be the beginning, the middle and the end of all that lies ahead, until we reach our true home with Thee.

 

 

19th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 11 August 2024 Sermon

19^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 11 August 2024 Vocations

Every person in the world is called to be a disciple of Christ.

Come, follow Me… imagine how compelling that could be if addressed to us.

Our Lord does say this to us, in whatever place or time. It may not be as dramatic as the beach scene with the apostles, but it will be just as real.

For life-time Catholics it might be just a progression from one step to the next, at certain times new insights coming and a deeper commitment requested.

Everyone receives the general call from God, or at least it is there in potential.

When we are called there are then other more specific callings to do certain things as the Lord directs.

Some are called to harder things than others. For example, being Pope, or  a missionary martyr. These are big callings, and we can be assured that those so called will receive extra grace for the task.

Everyone is called to holiness of life, whether we are high or low in the workings of things.

Each of us has certain gifts, and not others. This forces us to see our mutual dependence on God’s grace. We are formed into a team, or a body, and that is good for us spiritually.

Of course, in the rough and tumble of life we face many different situations and we can be more than one thing at a time. One time a prophet, another time a helper, another time a leader etc.

If we are basically holy God can work through us.

God know the spiritual status of each person. He draws us to Himself, by the force of His goodness. He helps us to realize that to be with Him is the best place to be.

We see with greater clarity how we can serve Him.

Under His guidance we can change things about our lives as required.

When we make wrong turnings and act against the plans of Our Lord, then He is ready to show mercy and repair any damage done. The basic call remains in place.

If we are doing well then God will ‘prune’ us like branches on a tree (Jn 15,2), and He will get the best out of us, probably involving suffering, but we will not mind by that stage!

We can learn to relish the challenge. As in the parable of the talents, the more we do the more we get to do! Give the wasted talents to one who will use them well (cf Mt 25,28).

It would be a lot easier for Jesus if everyone just signed on with no questions or arguments etc.

But humans are not good at keeping quiet as a rule, so we have to work our way to a humble understanding of God's ways.

Today we are referring especially to the call to discipleship which leads to priestly and religious vocations. Harder tasks requires more prayer. We pray for conversion, growth, response.

We do our best to prepare the soil to make acceptance of the call more likely. We move to help wherever in the body the need is felt.

For example, we pray for the Pope and Bishop everyday because their job is harder.

We pray for vocations because they are less likely to happen. So we make it more likely.

We pray for the response to the general call and then for the next stage of greater responsibility.

It is not necessarily the more outstandingly talented who are called to religious life. God knows what each can do, or what He can do with them. There must be no pride or jealousy between disciples of Christ. We are glad to serve in whatever way He decides. Our main desire is to help advance His plans for the world and all within it.

18th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 4 August 2024 Sermon

18^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 4 August 2024  Aiming high

Jesus is saying one thing and the people are taking him at a different level. They are thinking only of the physical benefits of the miraculous bread while He is talking about higher matters, eternal concerns.

Many would regard the religious dimension as an unnecessary intervention. They like to receive good results, but do not want to get involved any more than ‘necessary’.

But God is not a machine that can be activated by the touch of a button.

He will bless us, yes, and more than we expect ([He]who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Eph 3,20). But it will be on His terms not ours.

He wants most of all to win our hearts and minds to submission to Him. This is a blessing for us, though it may not seem so at first glance.

Jesus tells the crowd He is giving them more than they presently realize. They came because of the earthly bread, but He is offering them the living bread (Himself).

He gave them food to eat, but gave them also the ability to see what that food symbolises – God in their midst. He wanted them, and us, to relate to Him at a deeper level of our being.

We do have to concern ourselves with economic matters, and they are important. But not as important as the spiritual life where we seek conformity with God's will.

He helps us to organise our lives around His holy will.

He wants us to reach a point where we do not call on Him only when we need something, (like a Mr Fixit) but anytime and all the time.

Implied in all prayer is a searching for God. Lord, deliver me from this or that problem but most of all help me find Thee. It may not always be at the front of our minds or the first thing we would say, but it is there, at the root of all else.

‘Do you love God?’ is the most important question we can be asked.

We want to say,  Yes, but how do we love God? Put Him first!

We can love other people and other things, but God first.

Exposure to the love of God, coupled with experiencing His mercy, will awaken love in us, and we are then developing as His children.

It is easy to stop too soon on this trail. To stop at having enough to eat and to wear, and to live comfortably, with a few friends and some spare time etc.

Why go further than that? Because God wants us to know, love and serve Him, and whatever is needed to get to that point.

We reach the point that we prefer God's will to our own, even if it presents difficulties.

All of Jesus’ miracles have this deeper level. It is great to be able to see, hear and walk, if we could not before; but great for the rest of us too, as we learn to seek spiritual sight, hearing and motivation – simply to love God more than we ever have before.

Whatever we do or whatever is done to us, it can all be negotiated, as we draw upon God's closeness to us.

This is the ‘spiritual revolution of our minds’ referred to in the second reading. (Ep 4,23).

Our Lord has been appealing to every generation for the last two thousand years – all who eat this bread will live forever. It will be real life, eternal life.

17th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 28 July 2024 Sermon

17^th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 28 July 2024  Miracles

This was an extraordinary miracle, the feeding of the five thousand. It was a real miracle, with the bread being actually multiplied. It was not just that everybody started sharing their lunch, as some interpret this event.

The miracle shows God's desire and ability to feed His people, to give them what they need, beginning with food, but going beyond to any miracle or any level. This miracle clearly foreshadows the Eucharist.

Jesus makes it look easy. His miracles always seemed effortless. Sometimes He would sigh or show vexation, but that was at the difficulty of getting through to hard hearts, rather than any difficulty in working the miracle. He has command of all creation. Even the wind and the sea obey Him (Mt 8,27).  So do bread and fish obey Him!

The supply of bread miraculously continued. There was always more to come. God does not run out of  power. He will give us what we need when we need it – our ‘daily bread’.

He can do things by natural or supernatural means. He makes the natural and supernatural work together fluently. It is all one to Him.

We should not seek miraculous intervention to do what we could do ourselves. eg chores, obligations. We understand that Jesus most of the time operated on normal natural laws. For example, He would walk for miles and get tired, when He could have just moved Himself miraculously.

However, there is nothing wrong with asking for a miracle if there is a serious need and there is no other obvious solution. We can work at both levels, natural and supernatural, doing what we can while asking God to intervene.

Miracles are not always obvious. It could be just something that appears natural, like a chance meeting or some twist of circumstances. We get a few of those probably and may not be sure if it was a miracle or not, but we keep asking anyway.

eg praying to St Anthony for lost objects. Or to avert trouble eg for a safe trip. Natural or Supernatural it is all under God’s providence.

We can call directly on Almighty God, or Our Lady, or any angel or saint. The lesser beings will take our prayers to higher regions. It all goes to God eventually.

Nor should we see miracles as just a novelty (like Herod on Good Friday Lk 23,7-15)

Through miracles God shows us what He is like, how much power He has, and how much desire to help us.

Sometimes we need a miracle but it cannot be attained all at once, due to the level of difficulty involved. For example, praying for the conversion of a sinner. Or world peace. We have to chip away at the big issues. Every prayer helps.

God makes it clear that we can influence what happens. We do not believe in an immovable fate. The future is flexible. We can make it go one way rather than another.

We have access to the throne of grace, a treasury of grace and mercy.

There is much to pray for, if we are to turn this earth into the visible kingdom of God, to heal the disorder caused by sin.

We are not telling God what to do, as it may seem. We are doing what Our Lady did at Cana: a simple statement of the need, and the rest is trust in God.

He will know what to do, and whether or not our prayer fits in with His plans.

There was enough left over to feed others. That detail is for our benefit. We can feed ourselves and others with this inexhaustible supply of good.