February 28 2022.  Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Luke 6:39-45

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

 

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

 

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GOSPEL   Luke 6:39-45

Jesus told his disciples a parable,
"Can a blind person guide a blind person?
Will not both fall into a pit?
No disciple is superior to the teacher;
but when fully trained,
every disciple will be like his teacher.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?
How can you say to your brother,
'Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,'
when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?
You hypocrite!  Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter in your brother's eye.
"A good tree does not bear rotten fruit,
nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.
For every tree is known by its own fruit.
For people do not pick figs from thorn bushes,
nor do they gather grapes from brambles.
A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good,
but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil;
for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks."

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

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. There are two connected parts to the Gospel. The first has the metaphor of the person who criticises the speck in another’s eye whilst ignoring the plank in his own. The second part reflects on how a tree is known by its fruits.

There are two principal parts to the Gospel reading. The first (the metaphor of the speck in another’s eye compared to the plank in one’s own) concerns the questions of presuming to correct the faults of others while one’s own issues are left unresolved. The second part of the Gospel (prepared in the first reading from Sirach) points out that the fruit reveals the way that the tree has been cultivated. We recognize a tree by its fruit. Jesus mentions a number of plants that have symbolic value. Figs and grapes were fruits that were synonymous with the Promised Land, whilst thorn bush and brambles were the result of the sin and being cast out from the Garden of Eden. It was humanity’s sin that made the world inhospitable and unfruitful. The point here is that it is the fruit that counts. We can work out wonderful plans, make eloquent and complicated arguments and discourses, but if the results of our efforts are sterile, then that shows that the tree is not a good tree.

 

2. Our words reveal the state of our hearts.

The Gospel ends by saying something that recalls the first reading from Sirach: “A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks". Here Jesus is asking us to examine the words that issue from us. Our words and our actions reveal something about our interior lives. Ultimately, they flow from our hearts. How often we encounter people who are committed to Christian projects and seem well-intentioned, but at the same time they murmur, criticize, spread poison with their comments, creating division and destroying fruitfulness. It is so important that we are vigilant about the state of our hearts! Our hearts can have many good impulses and characteristics, but this doesn’t excuse the many unacceptable elements that we permit to remain there. If these “planks” are allowed to remain there, they will overflow into negative and destructive actions and words, failing to produce fruit. For this reason, we must strive to take care of our inner purity of heart, rooting out bitterness and ambiguity. When we allow these infected roots to remain within us, they give rise to sterility and lack of fruitfulness of our actions.

 

3. Lent presents us with a timely opportunity to purify our hearts.

This Sunday, we have almost arrived at the gates of Lent. It is a good time to take care of our hearts. If we invest ourselves in taking care of our bodies, our life strategies and our work interests, but we do not take care of our hearts, then it will all be to no avail. If we do not exercise this “hygiene of the heart” then we will continue to give rise to all of the evil that is within us. The purification of the heart, the purification of our thoughts, is a long process. Thanks be to God that we have this period of Lent to undergo a good and healthy process of purification.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

In the Gospel, Jesus speaks of the blind man who has a beam in his own eye but is fixated with pointing out the splinter in his brother’s eye. The attitude of placing oneself as a disciplinarian over others is one that we all have at various times. Sometimes we think we need to give others a moral lecture in order to straighten up the world. But Jesus saved the world, not by giving lectures, but by giving his life for us! We too ought to be ready to die for a person before we launch into a lecture of a moral sort. Only love in action gives us the right to speak with love. For Christians, love and truth coincide. Truth spoken without love is prone to being contaminated by elements that have no truth in them. This Gospel passage also speaks of the fruits of our works. The question I must ask is what fruit do I produce? The people around me will be able to answer better than I can! When they approach me, do I produce a harvest of love and mercy? Or do I produce moralisms, hardness of heart, relational bureaucracy? If we are honest with ourselves, then we will be aware that we produce much fruit that is rotten. Let us stop pretending to be the teachers of others. Let us place ourselves before life and the Lord as children willing to learn, disciples willing to follow the Lord Jesus.

February 20th 2022.  Seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL  Luke 6:27-38

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

 

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

 

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GOSPEL  Luke 6:27-38

Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.” 

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

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. Jesus proclaims a way of life that can only be lived by someone who is rooted in the Father. From a purely human point of view, it is impossible to love enemies. It cannot be done by force of will. What Jesus is calling us to is not an ethical system but the life of God, the new life of baptism.

Last Sunday we heard Luke’s account of the sermon on the plain. Jesus proclaimed the Beatitudes and the woes that are the lot of anyone who does not receive Christ as he passes among us and offers us redemption. In this Sunday’s Gospel, we read of the kind of life that is lived by anyone who does receive him. The passage opens with words that are at the heart of the Christian life. “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” We are called upon to make concrete the fraternal love and mercy that is at the heart of the Gospel. However, these words can be distorted into something tortuous, an obligation, a coercive ethic. Instead of passing from legalism to grace, we turn Christianity into something that moves from grace to legalism. It is simply not possible to love my enemies by simple force of the will! In the first reading, David had the opportunity of killing his enemy, Saul, but he does not because he realizes that there is a truth greater than himself here: Saul is the anointed of God. Here, David becomes a model for us by operating according to God rather than a purely human way of behaving. The second reading (which usually we do not comment upon) from St Paul to the Corinthians says that the first Adam became a living being, but the last Adam, Christ, is a life-giving spirit. It is the life that Christ gives us that empowers us to love our enemies and treat well those who hate us. The new life of Christ is not our old life, adjusted and improved. The biological life that Adam gave us is a life that merely defends itself. It cannot give of itself as the life of Christ does. It seeks to preserve itself rather than act for the preservation of others. If we only do good to those who do good do us, what recompense will we have? Sinners do the same. What we are asked to do touches on the secret of our baptism, which is to live according to God.

 

2. The life of God cannot be mimicked. It comes by regeneration in Christ, through the sacraments, through baptism, through becoming identified with Christ in the Eucharist, by being renewed in our divine sonship by the Holy Spirit in Confirmation.

In fact, Jesus says, “love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High”. Then he asks us to be merciful as the Father is merciful. The issue here is being rooted in the Father. The scandalous love and mercy that is being spoken of here is the scandalous love of God. It is the incomprehensible love of Christ upon the cross who prays for those who are crucifying him. This is the love that is poured into our hearts as well. We are not speaking of an ethical system or a moral code, but the love of the Father demonstrated in the Lord Jesus and given to us through the Holy Spirit. This Gospel is a hymn to the work of the Holy Spirit in us. It is a description of the sort of life that is lived by the Father. It is a way of life that cannot be mimicked: it requires regeneration. Our participation in the Eucharist reconnects us to the body of Christ, making us part of his body, living in him as he lives in us. It is not about possessing him as we might possess other things, but about being identified with him completely. Our baptism bears witness to the divine sonship to which we are called, the wonders of which are strengthened and renewed at Confirmation.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

In the Gospel passage this week, Jesus talks about a kind of love that seems impossible. We are to love our enemies, pray for those who hate us, respond well to those who treat us badly, give freely to those who take from us. Is Jesus speaking in the abstract? Surely he doesn’t intend us to be able to love in that way? But, if we think about it, isn’t that exactly the kind of love that we seek in people around us? We want people to be patient with us, to not respond badly to our bad behaviour. Too often we make justice, not love, the basis of our actions. We seek justice for ourselves. We defend our space and our rights. We refuse to give something to someone unless he gives something similar to me. And if someone behaves badly towards us, we think we are justified in behaving badly in return. But a person who is fixated with justice in this way is not a pleasant person to be with. How can a mother raise her child if she seeks justice for every fault that the child commits? How can two spouses stay together all their lives if they are not willing to forgive and overlook each other’s faults? The love that Jesus is talking about is not an abstract, impossible love. Rather it is the very king of pardoning and forgiving love that we all need desperately every day. The person that defends his space and seeks justice will end up being isolated and alone. It is justice that is the abstract and impossible quantity in the end! It is forgiving love that creates real community. And Jesus is the one who shows us how to love in this way. He forgives us when we crucify him and abandon him. He returns our bad treatment with love. Let us make the way that Jesus treats us our model of how to treat others.

February 13th 2022.  Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Luke 6:17, 20-26

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

 

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

 

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GOSPEL   Luke 6:17, 20-26

Jesus came down with the twelve and stood on a stretch of level ground
with a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.
And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

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

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. Our culture centres itself on the “flesh” - on our own capacities, our own intelligence. Our hearts are distant from God.

The first reading from Jeremiah prepares us for the Gospel reading, which contains the contraposition of beatitudes and woes from St Luke’s account.  The Lord says to Jeremiah, ‘A curse on the man who puts his trust in man, who relies on things of flesh, whose heart turns from the Lord. He is like dry scrub in the wastelands: if good comes, he has no eyes for it’. This curse is not something that is inflicted by God upon humanity. Rather, it is an expression of divine wisdom: it points to what will inevitably happen if man puts his trust in “the flesh” (his own capacities, his own intelligence, distancing his heart from the Lord). The reference to the isolated “scrub” in the wasteland is relevant for the actual culture in which we live, in which man lives a life centred on himself, and does not recognize the good when it appears. This oracle from Jeremiah prepares us to read the beatitudes from Luke.

 

2. We tend to lose sight of salvation and grace whenever we are satisfied, rich and well-fed. Those who are suffering are more open to the visit of God’s grace.

In the first three beatitudes, Jesus speaks of the present moment: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.” This is contrasted with the woes: “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.” Why is there such an emphasis on now, the present moment? Because Jesus is with them but they do not recognize “the good that has come”, as the first reading said. The Lord is among them, the Messiah has come, but the only people who see him are the poor, the hungry, those who mourn, those who are persecuted. It is a fact of the human condition that whenever we are rich, satisfied or contented, we lose sight of grace, light and salvation. A life directed to the satisfaction of appetites and entertainment is a life of the fool. Often, it is our tears, our poverty and our hunger that turn us towards authentic salvation. Our happiness – when based on ourselves - is of short duration and deceptive. It is all about now and has no future. It is worthless vainglory. We mustn’t live for a satisfaction that is never enough, stupefied by entertainment.

 

3. Our sufferings and insufficiencies are the avenues by which God enters our lives.

In a society that is fixated by gratification, it is only the suffering who are open to the visit of the Lord. The Sunday liturgy opens the week for us, and this week it encourages us to open our eyes to the goodness that the Lord sends our way. The blessing of the Lord does not come for the rich but for the poor, does not manifest itself for the satisfied but for the hungry, is not felt by those who are stupefied by entertainment but by those who shed tears in grief. The Lord enriches us, feeds us and consoles us by means of our very insufficiencies. This Gospel is not asking us to go out and seek poverty, distress or persecution. The fact is that all of us are already insufficient in multifarious ways. These insufficiencies are the portal of entry for the work of God in us.

​

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus proclaims the Beatitudes. Why does Jesus say that the poor, the bereaved, the hungry and the persecuted are blessed, whilst the rich, the satisfied, the contented and those who are much-admired are not blessed? When we are rich, satisfied and admired by others, we tend to consider ourselves self-sufficient. We are distracted by our success and do not turn to the Lord. But the poor, the bereaved and the persecuted turn readily to the Lord and acknowledge their need of salvation. When we are successful, we tend to be less aware of our own mediocrity. In the Magnificat, Mary expresses the same sentiments – like mother, like son! Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit she sees that the rich and powerful do not turn to their merciful Father in heaven. In the spiritual life, our misery is actually our strength. It is the avenue by which our Redeemer can enter and save us. Here we are confronted by a radical inversion of the usual order of things by the Gospel. The happiness that derives from Christ is not available to the one who has his stomach full. The salvation that Jesus brings is not for the healthy, the well-off, the rich. The one who is satisfied, entertained, and compensated tends not to be aware of his desperate need for God. One of the psalms has the following sobering words: “Man in his prosperity has no comprehension; like the animals he perishes”. Preaching to the rich and powerful is often a waste of time. We must be humbly aware of our misery before we can embrace salvation.

February 6th 2022.  Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL   Lk 5:1-11

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

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

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GOSPEL   Lk 5:1-11

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."
Simon said in reply,
"Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets."
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men."
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.

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

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. It is natural to become aware of our own sinfulness when we experience the presence of God

On this fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we read Luke’s account of the miraculous catch of fish that corresponds with the call of Peter.  The first reading tells of the call of Isaiah and his sense of inadequacy before the holiness of God. He describes himself as a man of impure lips who dwells among a people of impure lips. How do we resolve this confrontation between the holiness of God and our sinfulness? The natural reaction when we experience the greatness, power and holiness of God, is to run away. Peter, in fact, says,  “Depart from me Lord for I am a sinful man”. In truth, no human being, once he has experienced the wonder and love of God, could consider himself to be worthy to stand in his presence. Let us consider, however, the various steps in this journey of discernment by Simon Peter as recounted in the narrative.

2. The call to mission only follows our reception and openness to the word of God

The first point is that Jesus has just spoken to the people from Peter’s boat. Thus Peter too has listened to the word of God. Every call to mission (which is what is just about to happen to Peter) only occurs after we have listened to God’s word. It does not originate in our own desires but only after we have been visited from without by the word of God in some form. Then Jesus makes a strange request: he asks Peter to go back to his own activity AFTER he has received this word. Peter admits that he had been fishing all night without result, but upon Jesus’ word he throws out the nets. This is typical of Peter. Despite his tiredness, despite failure, despite the apparent futility of the act, he still takes Christ at his word. Here we have a paradigmatic act of faith: to move from reliance on one’s own capacities and beliefs to reliance on the one in whom we place our trust. The resultant catch of fish is so great that they have to get help to bring it ashore. The fruit of faith is always expansive! Two boatloads are filled. The faith of one person can bear fruit for many others.

3. Once we trust God in the little stories of our lives, then we enter into the great story that he is inviting us to.

Peter had shown himself to be open to this activity of God, but once the great result happens, he immediately feels inadequate. Like the prophet Isaiah, and in common with all of us, once we realize that God is at work in our lives, we realize that this is something that we have not merited. But Jesus does not listen to Peter’s protest of insufficiency.  Rather,  he tells him that he will do things that are even greater; he will become a fisher of men. This Sunday, as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, we are reminded to conform ourselves to the word in order to become God’s word. We drink in God’s word, then we return to the things we usually do (as St Peter returned to fishing), but now basing ourselves on the Lord’s word, with the result that we live according to a much greater dimension of things. Our activity is transformed into greatness, into mission. This requires, however, that we listen to the word and are obedient to it. Without this step, nothing will happen. If Peter had said,  “Lord you have spoken well, but I know there are no fish out there”, then he would have remained as he was. But Peter enters into greatness and glory with a simple act of trust. The little acts of trust that the Lord asks of us are portals through which we enter into the great story of the mission he calls us to – little acts of faith in order to enter into a life according to the faith.

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

Jesus tells Peter to cast his nets. Peter says there is no point because he has fished all night without catching anything, but he obeys anyway and the result is a huge catch of fish. Then Peter falls on his knees before Jesus and says, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” This statement is accurate insofar as Peter is right about his own misery. But he is wrong to conclude that such misery entails that the Lord cannot do anything with him. How often we are inclined to think that our poverty rules us out of God’s kingdom. The opposite is the case! It is only when we realise our faults that the Lord is able to work effectively within us. Instead of our desolation being a minefield for the Lord, it is actually the fertile ground for him to do marvellous deeds. How many Christians do not hand the reins of their lives over to God because they are convinced that they can manage by themselves! For Simon Peter, Paul of Tarsus and countless others, the path to new life begins with the realisation of the inconsistencies of our old way of life. The Miserere (psalm 51) expresses this point well: “My sacrifice a contrite spirit, a humbled contrite heart you will not spurn”. New life is only possible for whoever allows the Holy Spirit to take the wheel because he is finally convinced that he cannot manage by himself. New life begins for me when I acknowledge that Jesus Christ, and not myself, is the Lord of my life.