October 30th 2022. Thirty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Luke 19:1-10

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­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 19:1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and was going through the town when a man whose name was Zacchaeus made his appearance; he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man. He was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see him for the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke to him: ‘Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today.’ And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully.

They all complained when they saw what was happening. ‘He has gone to stay at a sinner’s house’ they said. But Zacchaeus stood his ground and said to the Lord, ‘Look, sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost’.

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

 

1. Zacchaeus is used to climbing on others to make himself important. Jesus calls him down so that he can discover his true importance.

For the thirty-first Sunday of the year, we read the splendid story of Zacchaeus, his call by Jesus, their sharing of a meal and his conversion. The Gospel is prepared by the first reading from Wisdom in which we hear that God does not disparage, or feel disgust for, anything that he has created. Often we disparage ourselves or others, which is a very damaging thing. Zacchaeus is short of stature and yet becomes the leader of the tax-collectors – a profession used by the Romans to exploit and oppress the people. In a sense, he is a man used to climbing above the heads of others. When Jesus sees him, he invites him to descend, to come down, to change the direction of his life. Zacchaeus welcomes Jesus into his house with joy, but the people begin to grumble. For everyone in the locality, Zacchaeus is nothing more than a sinner, someone to be despised. The tax-collector, however, promises to change his life and to compensate those he has defrauded. In response, Jesus says that salvation has come to this house, for this too is a son of Abraham. This is the point: for everyone else Zacchaeus is a sinner, but for Jesus he is a child of Abraham. God recognizes our beauty and our preciousness! God does not love us simply because he is good, but because we are fundamentally lovable! As the book of Wisdom says, it is not possible for something to exist unless the Lord willed it. Zacchaeus is not a mistake! Each of us needs to discover who he is in the eyes of God.

 

2. Satan wants us to disparage ourselves, not realise how much we are loved and valued by God.

If we had met Camillus de Lellis when he was living a life of great immorality, we would have disparaged him and excluded him, but we would have been excluding someone who would become a great saint, someone who would reform the care of the sick and become a pioneer in a certain sense of the modern hospital. If we had met Francis of Assisi as a boy, we may have disparaged him also, just as we disparage ourselves, forgetting that salvation can enter into our house. As John  the Baptist says, God can raise children of Abraham from stones. God can do great things with us, but Satan, who not by chance is called “the accuser”, makes us look negatively upon ourselves, accusing us day and night before God. He says that we count for nothing, but the cross of Christ reveals how precious we are in the sight of God.

 

3. May we come down from our trees, the structures by which we claim to be important, and discover our true importance – that we are loved, valued and saved by God.

The liturgy this week calls us to enter into salvation, into the light and joy experienced by Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus is searching for Jesus, but Jesus sees him first, just as he raises his glance towards us before we ever seek him. So many of us live in a state of constant self-sabotage, not knowing how precious and loved we are. Jesus did not die for us for no reason! We are worth it! God loves us because in each one of us there is something extremely beautiful. That each one of us might come down from our sycamores, descend from the structures by which we puff ourselves up in a vain effort to overcome our limits, pretending to be important in ways that do not matter. Instead, let us rest and celebrate with the One who truly values us, who  wants to be in our house and in our life.

 

Alterative homily

Zacchaeus is a tax-collector, someone who has become rich by the systematic exploitation of others. He appears to be beyond redemption. Why does Jesus visit his house? Because the Lord is looking for the precious gem that exists in the heart of Zacchaeus and in the hearts of you and me. As the first reading tells us, God created us and appreciates what is good and noble in us. Jesus is desperately seeking out the goodness and beauty that lies in the depths of each of us. And when we allow the Lord to visit us, then this beauty comes to the surface and we become the authentic person that the Lord created us to be. As soon as Jesus enters Zacchaeus’ house, the tax collector is transformed! He becomes joyful and promises to undo all of the wrongs that he has done to others. He discovers an incredible generosity inside of himself. If you or I wish to spread the Gospel, then we must do as Jesus did and seek out the child of God that exists within every person. Spreading the Gospel is not about spreading a system of moral rules or regulations! No-one embraces the Gospel because they are looking for an ethical system. We embrace the Gospel in order to be reborn, to become our true selves! God made us for relationship with him and others. Our hearts are restless until, like Zacchaeus, we allow Jesus to enter our hearts with his love. How many false and wayward relationships we engage in! Let us consider the extent that Jesus goes to in order to seek us out and enter into communion with us. Once Jesus enters our house then we become fully ourselves. We discover the generosity, joy, goodness and love that God planted in our hearts when he created us.

October 23rd 2022. Thirtieth Sunday of the Year

GOSPEL: Luke 18, 9-14

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

 

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

 

GOSPEL: Luke 18, 9-14

Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
"Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity --
greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.'
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.'
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

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

 

SUMMARY

In Sunday’s Gospel we hear of two men offering two kinds of prayers to God. The first man is a very upright and respectable man who exploits nobody, but his prayer does not reach heaven! The second man is a terrible sinner who lives a life exploiting others, but his prayer is heard by God! What is happening here? The difference is that the publican has a correct viewpoint of his own sinfulness in comparison to the holiness of God, and as a result he begs for mercy. By contrast, the Pharisee focusses on his own holiness in comparison to the sinfulness of others! We like to compare ourselves to others, especially those who are struggling. That is why crime sells and why gossip is so popular. But when we place ourselves before the crucified and risen Christ, contemplate his holiness and consider our own sinfulness, then we realise with the publican that the only thing we can do is ask for mercy.

 

1. Prayers that reach heaven, and prayers that are not prayers at all.

In today’s gospel we are presented with two different types of prayer. One prayer manages to reach heaven, but the other doesn’t. Firstly, though, let’s have a look at the two men who are doing the praying. One is a tax collector. Maybe, we have a sugar-coated idea of what tax collectors were like. The fact is that they were not good characters. They would rip off their own people on behalf of the Romans with exorbitant taxes that would actually ruin families. You could say that they were among the worst people around at the time. The second man was a Pharisee. Pharisees knew the Law of God and observed it. They were men of prayer, fasting and good deeds. As the Gospel recounts, both of these men go to the temple to pray. The Pharisee places himself at the front, standing there upright, looking up to heaven. The tax collector remains at the back, bent over with his eyes on the floor. The Pharisee’s mistake is to think of himself as worthy by despising others. That attitude does not go down well with Jesus! St Paul says, “If I had the gift…to…comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.”

 

2. The Pharisee measures his own righteousness in comparison with sinners.

The Pharisee is using a particular scale to measure his righteousness, and that scale is a comparison with thieves, prostitutes, and sinners (like the tax collector behind him). His prayer is not really a prayer at all. He is full of himself, ranking his own person first above everybody else. If you want to feel good about yourself, or so he thinks, you just have to think of those who are inferior to you. That’s why crime news sells so well and why gossip is so captivating! It makes us feel better about ourselves.

 

3. The tax collector measures himself in the light of God.

In complete contrast, the unit the tax collector measures himself with is God. Before God, we are all unworthy. Before God, we know that the only way we can be saved is through God’s mercy. The tax collector is acutely aware of this. We need to see ourselves in the light of God and with nothing else. This is what will open our eyes and show us that we are not here to compete with one another, but we are here to be redeemed and saved. That is the real truth of our situation.

October 16th 2022. Twenty-Ninth Sunday of the Year

GOSPEL: Luke 18, 1-8

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

 

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

 

GOSPEL: Luke 18, 1-8

Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.
He said, "There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being.
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.'
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being,
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.'"
The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night?
Will he be slow to answer them?
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

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

 

SUMMARY OF  HOMILY

Sometimes we think that prayer is something detached from life. We think

prayer takes place at set times and in special exclusive places. Prayer happens on the

“mountain”, we surmise, whereas real life takes place down on the “plain”. Sometimes

people challenge nuns in contemplative orders and say, “Why don’t you do something

useful instead of just praying?” This question arises out of ignorance. Without these nuns

the life of the Church would have no depth and would bear no fruit. In the same way,

prayer must be at the heart of all my daily activity if my life is to be fruitful. How essential

it is to be aware of the importance of prayer for authentic life! We must realize that we

cannot do anything worthwhile unless we have a life of prayer. The parable of the poor

widow and the lazy judge applies to each one of us personally. Within you and me, there

is the poor and noble widow who seeks meaning and justice, and there is also the lazy

judge who just wants to do the minimum. Our greatest enemy is mediocrity, a lazy

tendency to live superficially. It is essential that we pray to the Lord continually,

throughout the day, in everything that we do. When we pray, the noble spirit within

us perseveres like the widow, and in time it will bear fruit, overcoming the mediocre

and superficial judge within us.

 

Sometimes we think that prayer is something detached from life. Prayer takes place on the

“mountain” whereas real life happens down on the “plain”. But prayer must be at the heart

of all my daily activity if it is to be fruitful.

This Sunday's first reading tells of a battle involving the army of Israel down on the plains,

while Moses prays up on the mountain. When Moses raises his arms in prayer, Israel wins,

but as soon as his arms fall, Israel begins to lose. Often, we tend to think that prayer takes place

on the "mountain", while life is played out down on the "plain". When we are preoccupied

with life’s affairs, our relationship with God might seem distant, remote, useless. We feel that

are too many other things to think about! People of prayer, like consecrated women in

monasteries, are often asked questions such as: "Why are you here instead of doing useful

things in the world?" These questions come from ignorance. If the Church did not have these

sisters in prayer, it would be just one more NGO - as Pope Francis remarked years ago.

Every visible act has an invisible heart. If my ministry is to proclaim the Gospel, then, for

my ministry to be fruitful, I need a Church that is praying for me. It is this prayer that make

my evangelization the fruit of a communion between the visible and the invisible, between

prayer and works, between God and humanity. Without prayer, Christian acts lose their depth.

 

We must remain aware of the importance of prayer for authentic life. We must realize

that we cannot do anything worthwhile unless we have a life of prayer

In the same way, a married couple cannot live their daily life and its activity without the

secret of intimacy, without an "enclosure", without their personal dialogue, their coming

together, their acceptance of each other. If they neglect this hidden part of their relationship,

they will lose everything else. But neither can the couple persevere in intimate relationship

with each other if they lose sight of the bigger picture, the goal of their shared life together.

Similarly we will not persevere in prayer if we do not see it as being essential for authentic

life as a Christian. In the Gospel, the widow of the parable is tenacious: "Give me justice

against my adversary!" This woman knows two things: that she deserves justice and that

there is someone who opposes her right to justice. Prayer remains alive if we remember

that it is our duty to live authentically, to possess the Holy Spirit. We remain true to prayer

if we do not forget that we were born to have love in our hearts and do something worthwhile

with our lives.

 

Within us there is the poor and noble widow who seeks meaning and justice, but there is

also the lazy judge who just wants to get by. Our greatest enemy is mediocrity, a lazy tendency

to live superficially. It is essential that we pray continually, so that the noble spirit within

us can prevail over the mediocre.

On the night of World Youth Day 2000, St. John Paul II continued to repeat the phrase: "Don’t give up!” Don't give in to the banal. In fact, we have an enemy and its name is “mediocrity” – the art of surviving just to get by. The habit of not loving anyone. The story of the lazy judge and the persistent widow is the story of the interior struggle within each one of us. We are poor and vulnerable like the widow, but there is a noble spirit within us who knows that our existence is not a mistake, that we are profoundly significant. But we also have a superficial spirit, a lazy judge who just wants to get by. Within us there is a battle between the profound and the superficial, between the noble and the banal. We pray in order not to lose sight of our greatness. At the end of the Gospel passage, Jesus asks: "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" The Son of Man comes to visit us often, through graces and tribulations. When he comes, he will find faith in us if we do not yield to our true enemy, mediocrity. We were made for much more.

 OCTOBER 9th 2022. TWENTY-EIGHT SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

GOSPEL: Lk: 17:11-19
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio.
_____________________________________________________________________

Gospel: LK 17, 11-19
As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he travelled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
"Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!"
And when he saw them, he said,
"Go show yourselves to the priests."
As they were going they were cleansed. 
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. 
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
"Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine? 
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" 
Then he said to him, "Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you."
THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ
 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. We can witness miracles and receive healings, and yet not be changed in the way that really matters

In the Gospel, ten lepers are healed. We might think that the miraculous nature of the event is what matters here, but it is not. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians, one can have enough faith to move mountains, but if one does not have love, such miracles are worth nothing. Jesus tells the lepers to present themselves to the priest, but according to the rules laid down in Leviticus, a leper could only present himself to the priest after he had been healed, so that the priest could ratify the fact that he was now to be re-admitted to society. But Jesus tells them to go to the priest while they are still lepers! The fact that they go is a great act of obedience to Jesus, a display of trust in his power to heal. This already would give us enough content for a homily, but Luke’s account adds a detail that becomes the central point in the whole narrative. Only one of the lepers, - a Samaritan – returns, prostrates himself before Jesus and gives thanks. The Samaritan is an outsider. Often it is the outsiders – the tourists – who appreciate things that the locals take for granted. Jesus says, “Go, your faith has saved you”. It is important to note well this distinction: ten were healed but only one was saved. The miracle was not sufficient to bring the other nine to authentic faith in the Lord. We can receive healing, witness a miracle, and not be changed by one jot.

 

2. If the graces we receive are spectacular but do not lead to a more authentic relationship with God then they are worthless

The salvation of the Samaritan was not to be healed of leprosy, but to enter into a relationship of gratitude with the Lord, to recognize that God was present in Jesus. In fact, the Samaritan returns to glorify Jesus before going to the priest to get the required authentication. He knows what really matters. He realizes that he has encountered God. In the same way, the graces we receive, if they do not lead us to a more authentic relationship with God, then they are wasted, not matter how miraculous or spectacular they are. In the Book of Revelation, even the devil is able to do spectacular things. It is not miracles that convert the world, but faith and love. It is trust in the Lord and living as his children that demonstrates salvation to this world.

 

3. Illness and suffering can often be the road to salvation, whilst health and security lead nowhere.

Very often an illness or an experience of suffering can be the road to love. Being healed is of little use if it does not lead to salvation. Being healed and being saved are two different things! Health is not the primary thing! Salvation is what really counts, living the fullness of life. Arriving at the true depths of our existence is more important than being in good health or having all one’s problems resolved. There are people in perfect health that know nothing of love, whilst some people in great suffering have a marvellous love, who know how to forgive. This counts much more!

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

We are all lepers in the sense that we are distorted and incomplete. There is no such thing as a human being who feels completely whole or "normal". There are issues that eat away at each of us from within and cry out for resolution. There is a tendency for human beings to become preoccupied with their own particular problems. We tend to think that if this or that particular issue was resolved then we would be whole and complete. This is the trap that nine out of ten lepers fall into! Nine of the lepers are healed of their illness and then go on their way, thinking that all is hunky-dory. Only one of the lepers realizes that health is not everything. He wishes to praise his God and maintain a relationship with the Lord who saves him. Our lives instead are filled with the idolatrous tendency to believe that physical wellbeing is everything. We seek this wellbeing incessantly and end up developing a superficial attitude towards the things that really count in life. But health is not everything! It is better to be physically infirm with a heart that praises God than to be physically sound with a heart that has gone astray.