June 30^th 2019.  Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL  Luke 9, 51-62

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL  Luke 9:51-62

When the days for Jesus' being taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?"
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.

As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."

And to another he said, "Follow me."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plough
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . In Sunday’s Gospel we see how Jesus’ gaze is fixed firmly on his destination of Jerusalem. In other words, his whole intention is directed to the passion, death and resurrection that he will undergo out of love for us. Various people then come up to Jesus and tell them that they intend following him. Jesus’ reaction to these various individuals underlines the radical nature of Christian discipleship. First of all we note that Jesus is on an unwavering path of love towards his passion. We too are called to follow this path of love. Jesus is not a new age guru who helps us to achieve personal wellbeing! We too must follow his way of love, and this entails being ready to accept rejection and refusal. One of the bystanders says, “I will follow you wherever you go”. Jesus makes clear that following him does not bring earthly comfort or prosperity. “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head”. The love we are called to is not a love that hopes for earthly reward. Other bystanders say that they must bury their family members or say goodbye before they can follow him. Jesus, in response, encourages us to keep our eyes focussed on the Kingdom. Family issues will always be there looking for resolution. We must make the following of the Lord our priority.

Jesus is radically oriented towards others. If we follow him, then we must become likewise. The new age fashion of making Jesus a guru of our own individual wellbeing is pure deception

In the nineties, the new age movement made Jesus into a kind of guru who improves our lot in this life and helps us achieve our goals. This is pure deception. It makes our world an absolute in itself. The focus is on my wellbeing and my ego. In reality, the only true absolute is love, not just any love, but true love – a love that asks us to decentralize ourselves. In this Sunday's Gospel we follow Jesus who is definitely heading towards Jerusalem. In other words, he is heading towards his Passion, Death and Resurrection. His orientation is simply that of love, for the salvation of everyone. If we follow him on this path, then we can understand better the meaning of this passage.

If we are to follow Jesus in loving others, then we must be ready to meet rejection

First he is met by rejection - the Samaritans do not welcome him. In response the disciples ask that they be punished. Jesus can only reproach this attitude, because love demands nothing in return and cannot be forced on anyone. It is not an imposition. If our love is not accepted, then we must willingly accept the refusal of the other. Whoever does not know how to accept a refusal does not know how to love! On a daily basis, God accepts our “no”, our indifference, our distraction, but he continues to love us. Love is not discouraged by refusal. As we see, Jesus continues to walk towards Jerusalem.

If we are to follow Jeus, it must not be with secret hopes of earthly rewards or prosperity. We are called to love without calculating returns

A bystander says to Jesus: "I will follow you wherever you go". This might seem a good sentiment, but Jesus makes clear that his destination is not a place on this earth. A Christian act is not really such if it does not have an eschatological dimension, an orientation towards the Kingdom of Heaven. Saint Paul says: "If our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are to be pitied more than all men" (1Cor 15:19). All those who think that the following of Christ will bring benefits on this earth are very wrong. We must realize that this world is only a prelude to true fullness in heaven. Otherwise we are deceiving ourselves and many disappointments will come. As Jesus says, "The foxes have their dens and the birds of the sky their nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." Anyone who claims to love in order to win a “den” or a “nest” is just a utilitarian. The love we are called to by Jesus is a love which does not make calculations.

We must not look back at the things of this life that cannot be resolved. Instead we must keep our gaze fixed firmly on the things of heaven.

A second person asks Jesus to go and bury his father before following him. Jesus gives a terrifying answer: "Let the dead bury their dead; you instead go and announce the kingdom of God”. Burying the dead is an act of mercy, but what Jesus is referring to is the fact that resolving our paternal and parental relationships can be an endless act. This becomes clearer in the case of the third person who asks to be allowed to say farewell to his family. All of us have issues with our childhood that can never be resolved completely. In a sense, you can never finish burying your father. You can never cut your ties completely with home. Either the chapter of childhood is left serenely behind or it remains there to impede our development. There is always something to fix or be clarified! And this can prevent us from becoming adults, like one who ploughs a field looking backwards. He won't do a good job. We too must keep our eyes fixed on the Kingdom.

June 23rd 2019.  Feast of Corpus Christi
GOSPEL   Luke 9:11B-17
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio
Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL   Luke 9:11B-17
Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God,
and he healed those who needed to be cured.
As the day was drawing to a close,
the Twelve approached him and said,
"Dismiss the crowd
so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms
and find lodging and provisions;
for we are in a deserted place here."
He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves."
They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have,
unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people."
Now the men there numbered about five thousand.
Then he said to his disciples,
"Have them sit down in groups of about fifty."
They did so and made them all sit down.
Then taking the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing over them, broke them,
and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
They all ate and were satisfied.
And when the leftover fragments were picked up,
they filled twelve wicker baskets.
THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . .  The feast of Corpus Christi is an opportunity to discover that the love of God for us is not something abstract, but something tangible. Jesus asks the disciples what to do regarding the hunger of the people, and they give the blandest of replies – “Send them away!” Jesus asks us to assist him in helping to satisfy the hunger of others, but the funny thing is that we then discover that we too are filled when we move to help others. It is when we take the little we have and give  it over to God, that a great abundance results, for us and for others. Jesus then looks to heaven and blesses the bread. We too must look to our relationship with the Father as the source of everything we do. If we try to rely on ourselves, then the results will be mediocre. But if we turn to the Lord in our times of trouble, then a moment of oppression becomes an oasis in which we meet the Lord and he can transform our desert into abundant fruit for ourselves and others.

God’s relationship with us is not something abstract but rather very tangible
The feast of the Lord's Body and Blood celebrates our relationship with God, which is not made up of abstractions, but of concrete realities, such as the food that nourishes us. This Sunday's Gospel reading starts with Christ’s announcement of the Kingdom of God and his healing of the crowd. What follows afterwards will serve to manifest tangibly what He has preached and done.

It is in satisfying the needs of others that our own hunger is satisfied
We are at the end of the day, the evening is approaching and a need is looming: these people, who have listened all day, will have to eat something . . . In every relationship, sooner or later, comes the time when the needs of the other person emerge. What ought I do at this point? We have a tendency to shy away from this kind of situation. In fact, the attitude of the disciples is exactly that: "Let the crowd go to the villages of the surrounding area to find food and a place to stay".  Jesus' strategy is totally different. He, moreover, does not solve the problem alone, but involves his reluctant disciples in the effective solution. He needs their input of loaves to solve this crisis. What a curious thing! We are hungry ourselves but instead He calls us to satisfy the hunger of others. And it is precisely in satisfying the needs of others that our own hunger is truly satiated. We think: "If I had enough, I would give to others as well, but not having enough, I certainly cannot deal with their problems . . ." – it seems obvious, but things with God do not work like this! With Jesus it is not a matter of having enough, but it is rather a matter, little or much, to give him whatever I do or have. He will be able to multiply that "little", but he needs to start from being able to dispose of it.

When we are confronted by problems, the key is not to rely on our own solutions but to rely steadfastly on God
Man, under pressure from various issues, uses his intelligence and his skills to devise solutions. However, experience shows that sometimes solutions are worse than the problems. If, in fact, anxiety is the driving force of our lives, we will end up in self-destruction or mediocrity. The solution proposed by the disciples, in fact, is characterised by mediocrity. The crucial step – here as in any other situation – is not to have great resources at your finger tips to solve problems; no, what matters is that we make the leap beyond ourselves and enter into a relationship with God. How often it happens that the last thing we think about is that it is all a matter of handing over to God what little we have!

Times of stress become an opportunity for growth if we find God in them and turn to him. Our problems then become oases where we find the Lord
For us Christians, every problem is played out on the level of the relationship with the Father. There we discover continually that times of stress or oppression are an opportunity for growth. They are a place where we have the possibility of entering into a relationship with His providence. The hunger of the crowd is a chance for the disciples to experience the Kingdom of God, which Jesus spoke of all day. The power of God does not eliminate our fragility, but it makes our precariousness the place where we find peace in him. Jesus himself raises his eyes to heaven before blessing the bread and distributing it to the disciples. He too, in order to solve the problem of hunger in the masses, takes this step of passage through Heaven; he relies on his relationship with the Father; then comes abundance.

June 16^th 2019. TRINITY SUNDAY

GOSPEL: John 16:12-15

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL: John 16:12-15

Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . We are inclined to think that the truth is a body of knowledge or information. Maybe we think that truth is something that can be diffused through the world with a sufficiently good internet service. However Jesus teaches us that truth is not information, but the relationship of love that is the life of God. This love is the source of all that exists. Jesus tells us that we cannot comprehend this truth using our own capacities. We must be led gradually into the truth by the Holy Spirit. How does he lead us into the truth? Is it like doing a university course? No! How do I learn who my child is? By studying or reading books? I learn who my child is by living with him in a relationship of love. Similarly it is one thing to “know” who Christ is by studying theology, but an entirely different matter to know Jesus from the point of view of a person who has been saved by him. It is significant that the Holy Spirit is described as the one “who does not speak about himself”. This is the fundamental characteristic of love, focus on the other instead of upon oneself.  Further on in this Gospel passage, Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will “announce the things to come”. Is this a reference to prophecies about the future? No, this rather is the way in which the authentic Christian, possessed by the Holy Spirit, trusts implicitly in the providence of God to look after everything in the future. A person who does not trust in the providence of God might have a very anxious or deceptive view of the future. Christians are called upon to develop an attitude in which we permit the Holy Spirit to announce to us the things that are to come. In other words, when we are led by the Spirit, we trust implicitly in the designs of a loving God. We know what our future is: intimate union with God.

Jesus tells us that we enter into the truth in a gradual way

“I still have many things to tell you, but for the moment you are not able to carry the weight of it ". There is a gradualness in the spiritual life. It is analogous to the biological one in that for both there exists a birth, a childhood and a maturity. We start from a first light on the truth, with a good orientation towards it. Then we begin to live more and more in the truth and go towards fulfillment. It is a gradual process and the ultimate goal is beyond this earthly existence. We are inclined to think that someone either knows the truth or they do not. In reality, we enter into the truth slowly. It takes a lifetime to open up to it. At some point in our lives we discover that she was always there waiting for us before that we finally started to see better and allow ourselves to be changed by it.

How do we enter into the truth?

"When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will lead you into all truth." The truth is not something that we conquer by our own efforts. Rather, we are led to it. Letting myself be guided to the truth is not easy, because it implies renouncing my own inclinations, calling into question the things that I consider to be certain. The truth is greater than us and we know that we will always remain disciples of the truth, never the owners. But just what is truth? Is it an abstraction? A concept to understand? A doctrine? "The Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth because he will not speak of himself." The Master of truth is humble. He does not focus on himself. He does not deliver the truth as some sort of body of information, but as something that arises from a relationship. For example, I could learn about the nature of childhood by attending an academic course, but it is another thing entirely to be a father or a mother! Similarly, it is one thing to talk about Christ from the point of view of one who has studied theology, but a different thing altogether to talk about Jesus as one who has been saved by him! In the second case we do not speak simply about ourselves, or the abstract contents of our minds, but of the Lord as my personal saviour. In this case, the Holy Spirit is no longer an idea or a rule but a lived experience.

Our future is in the intimate life of God

The Holy Spirit, from the very heart of God, "will say all that he has heard". He will repeat what he himself has heard, and he will also do other things: "he will announce the things to come". We might think that this refers to prophecies regarding the future, but it is something else: if our heart is open to the interior guidance of the Holy Spirit, it will slowly be brought to the whole truth, which is God himself, that is, to the intimate life of Lord Jesus and his Father. And knowing "all that the Father possesses", we will then know the love, generosity and mercy that is in him. We may not realize it, but we are in a relationship with the future. We are shaped by our way of thinking about what is to come. If I believe that my future is a black sky without stars, I live with an oppressed frame of mind and everything can become distressing. If I believe that my tomorrow is in the hands of a good Father who provides for me, then I already know what is coming towards me: the designs of loving Providence are unfolding before me; I know where my path leads and who is guiding my life. We need to learn the art of allowing the Holy Spirit to announce the future to us, rather than being led by our deceptive or anxious projections. I know my future, I know where my life is heading: towards the Father.

June 9th 2019. Pentecost Sunday

GOSPEL: John 20: 19 - 23

From a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Check us out on Facebook - Sunday Gospel Reflection

Gospel: John 20:19-23

On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, "Peace be with you."
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
"Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus

Kieran’s summary. . . The Holy Spirit respects our freedom. We are not puppets in his hands. He wishes us to enter into a personal relationship and adhere to him in the depths of our being. Jesus tells us that the Spirit takes up residence in us. The deepest part of us - our hearts - becomes his temple. And if someone is living with you on this deep level, then you acquire his habits. But what are these habits? Do we start doing extraordinary things? No. We start to do the ordinary things in an extraordinary way. And he guides the development of our minds and hearts so that we have a natural love for what is good, clean and simple. By contrast, those who do not have intimacy with the Spirit, have a fascination for what is ambiguous, scandalous and perverse.

The Holy Spirit respects our freedom. He wants us to adhere to him in freedom

The Greek term "Paraclite" corresponds to the Latin ad-vocatus and literally means "one who is called neighbour". It ancient times, the defence lawyer did not speak in place of the defendant, but stood by him and advised him on how to defend himself.
The Holy Spirit does not do things for us but advises us what to do. We can accept or neglect his inspirations. Our freedom is precious in the eyes of the Lord and the Holy Spirit does not abuse our freedom, but triggers an adult personal relationship. With him, one walks in free adherence, not by force or constraint. Sometimes, in our spiritual immaturity, we want to be managed like slaves, asking for orders and indications to get out of difficult situations, but faith does not work like that.
Instead, obligation and compulsion characterize temptation, as is evident when a vice dominates a person's life: then one is a slave, not a free person.

If we open the door to the Holy Spirit, then we will have intimacy with God. This intimacy involves having the Lord dwelling in us. This is not about some extraordinary experience, but living ordinary experiences in extraordinary ways.
The Holy Spirit by nature inspires, touches inwardly. And if the door is opened to him by us, then it leads to intimacy with God. The Gospel uses a remarkable expression to speak of this intimacy: "We will take up residence with him". In the Old Testament, the dwelling place of God was the Temple. The new temple of God is the heart of man, the deepest part of his being. We note well: "taking up residence" is the opposite of a casual or transient relationship. Living at home with someone naturally leads to the development of habits. While some think that the Christian life is the fulfillment of a series of external duties, in reality it is a matter of living with good habits, in a stable, continuous relationship. It is not about living the exceptional but the ordinary, this is abiding. It is not about doing a beautiful thing, but about doing everything according to beauty. It is not about doing something extraordinary, but doing the ordinary in an extraordinary way.

The Holy Spirit does not guide us like puppets. He speaks to us in the depths of our hearts. He teaches us and leads us to a sense of the good and an aversion for evil.

On the feast of Pentecost it is right to ask what it means to be guided by the Holy Spirit. You can think of an external guide, a sort of navigator that moment by moment says whether to turn right or left. But if the Holy Spirit were like that, we would be puppets, not people. The Holy Spirit speaks instead in the depths, where he teaches and remembers, making the heart grow, familiarizing us with the good and developing our instinct for what is simple and clear. Consequently we feel at ease in love, tenderness and care, and strangeness for what is turbid and perverse.
On the other hand those who have the spirit of the world have sympathy for the ambiguous and the mischievous, are intrigued by speaking ill, are amused by transgression, seek satisfaction and pleasure at every moment, dislike simple and linear things. Evil seduces, good respects. It does not impose itself. They do not play the same game. Whoever has the Holy Spirit has learned the difference.