23rd Sunday Ordinary Time B 8 September 2024 Sermon

23^rd Sunday Ordinary Time B  8 September 2024  Salvation

Every problem has its solution. If we are thirsty here is a drink, tired here is a bed, lost at sea here is a helicopter etc

Every problem has its answer and that answer could be called a form of salvation. We are saved from the problem when we find and apply the solution.

(One could refuse to take the solution which means the problem remains. It also means that one problem compounds with another and what a tangle that can be.)

Saviour is one title we have for Jesus as He comes among us. He is a walking solution. Everything about Him is good and serves to make things better than they were before.

He wanted to lead people to an understanding of what they most needed in life. It was not just bread, nor physical healing, but to be reconciled with God, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit; so they would be people who once walked in darkness, but now in the light (Is 9,2).

In Jesus we find the solution to each problem, and the whole big problems of where we are heading, the meaning of life, the fulfilment of our potential as children of God.

Jesus came to save us, and demonstrated His power and His general intention by working miracles; whereby people would sense that there is a better way altogether than they have been living.

So Jesus heals the blind, meaning that we can see more clearly what is good and what is not.

He heals the deaf, meaning that we can hear God's word and come to a deeper understanding of what it means for us.

He sets free from demons, meaning that we can be free from sin in all its forms. Set free to live a better life.

The biggest problem we can have is not to know God. There are people who need saving  but they may not know it;  or if they do know it they will put it off for another day.

We have to grasp the urgency of the situation, just as we would if we were in physical danger. We do not have the luxury of time; we need to be right with the Saviour around about Now!

It is not that difficult to take the spiritual relief  once we get a taste of what is available.

We can learn from the way others have responded to the offer of salvation.

We see the joy of instant conversion when someone realizes both his need and the fulfilment of that need in the one moment.

Cf  St Matthew, Zacchaeus – both tax collectors, St Paul, the Good Thief, the one leper who came back, Mary Magdalene - set free from seven demons. And others in every age.

These people could see something that can escape others. They could see the essential goodness of God, His desirability, His lovableness.

They could see the green fields instead of the usual desert (first reading, Is 35,4-7a).

We cannot rely just on human goodwill, but if we take hold of God's grace we can rise to a higher level.

Otherwise we keep floundering and despair of any improvement.

We aim for the bigger solution while we make use of smaller ones. For example, drive safely, eat the right foods, keep out of the sun etc - but most of all be a person who needs to know God.

One day within your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere (Ps 84 (83), 10). Lord, where else can we go?(Jn 6,68)

Heaven is not just a paradise full of good things, but a place to dwell for people who have seen the overall solution, that all their being is fulfilled in God.

22nd Sunday Ordinary Time B 1 September 2024 Sermon

22^nd Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 1 September 2024 Life to the full

Jesus said once: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn 14,6).

And He also said: I am the Bread of life (Jn 6,35).

He does not say: I have life, but I am life. God is life, and there is no trace of death or decay in Him. He does not grow old or tired; He does not  wear out with time. He is beyond time and has no beginning or end.

Out of this great abundance God came among us that we might have life and have it to the full (Jn 10,10). He invites us to Him at every possible chance and draw life from Him.

We draw life from Him through prayer and sacraments, and living a good life – spiritually and morally good.

We do have a beginning, at conception, but no end. Our souls are immortal and cannot die. What we call death is when the body stops functioning and the soul leaves the body.

We then live on in the soul; we are aware of what is happening.

We will live on in the soul until the Last Day, when the bodies of all the dead will rise again. If we are saved our bodies will be glorious and reunited with our souls from that time on.

We can become more alive through making progress in the spiritual life. When Jesus said, ‘life to the full’ He meant spiritual life. Physical life decays but spiritual life can get better and better.

Finally when all sin and imperfection have been cleared away we are ready for the glory of heavenly life.

We see that God is solicitous for the spiritual progress of each person. He is not remote, as many think, but right in our midst, guiding and correcting us in various ways.

He wants us to participate intelligently in all His workings with us. He arranges matters such that we can help bring each other to a greater degree of life. We do this by sharing in His creation of new life (children), then by evangelism, catechesis, and trying to retrieve the lost.

Can we measure how alive we are? It is what is inside us that tells.

It might be fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride and folly  (today’s Gospel Mk 7, 21-22) OR love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5, 22-23).

We can decide what we have inside us by going to the source of all goodness and life, and drawing the good qualities from there.

We can pray these things for others too, and it will benefit us and them when we do that.

On Fathers Day we think of those who have brought us to life, physically and spiritually.

Fathers are meant to continue their role through instructing the child into the right ways.

There comes a time when our fathers grow weak and they need our support as once we needed theirs.

We are grateful for what they did for us; now we do something for them.

For the fathers who have died we make special prayer, drawing from the infinite depths of the Sacred Heart to forgive their sins and lead them to final glory.

Thus we help them to attain life in all its fulness.

God can impart life, and create and re-create. In spite of how it sometimes looks, life is much stronger than death, and all traces of death will be removed from us.

May the Lord of life, bring us to our eternal home.