DECEMBER 30th. FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY

Gospel: Luke 2:41-52

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

Reflection on the Gospel follows the Scripture passage ...

GOSPEL              Luke 2:41-52

Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day's journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.

Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, 'My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.' 'Why were you looking for me?' he replied 'Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father's affairs?' But they did not understand what he meant.

He then went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority. His mother stored up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and men.

SUMMARY OF DON FABIO'S HOMILY ....

Mary loses Jesus and then finds him again three days later in the temple. She ponders this event in her heart for the rest of her life. Twenty years later, she loses Jesus for three days again, but then finds him risen. The Lord prepares us for our mission in life with events and signs that we must ponder continually in our hearts. His future action in our lives is prepared for by His past action in our lives. What are the things that God has wrought in my life that I need to ponder continually?

Don Fabio also asks us to use this Gospel to reflect on the fundamental spirit of obedience that characterizes the Holy family. Joseph, Mary and Jesus are  distinguished by their obedience to the will of the Father. In this passage, Jesus shows himself to be consumed with the desire to carry out his Father’s will. The key to a healthy family life is that the family members put obedience to the will of God first and foremost in their lives. Only then can we learn to be true fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters. 

Mary teaches us the importance of pondering the right things in our hearts

The key for understanding next Sunday’s Gospel is to be found in the phrase, “His mother pondered all these things in her heart.” The story that Luke recounts to us has something that is going to be of great importance to Mary later. Mary, the model of wisdom, is the archetype of how one should relate to God, and she teaches us the importance of holding things in our hearts. But what exactly should we conserve in our hearts? This particular Gospel passage holds up one thing in particular that deserves to be pondered continually.

Mary loses Jesus and finds him three days later in the temple. During the Passion she will lose him again and find him three days later.

At the age of twelve, every Jewish boy (to this day) is expected to undergo his “bar mitzvah,” a rite which marks the transition to adulthood. The boy is expected to be able to read the Scriptures and be able to respond to questions posed by his elders. From this point on, he can take his place in the religious assembly of the people of Israel.

        Jesus undergoes this transition in an indirect way during the family visit to Jerusalem. Mary ponders that moment for the rest of her life because it was the moment in which she lost him and then found him again three days later in the temple. She lost him because he was engaged in his Father’s business. Twenty years later Mary would remember this event when she lost Jesus again in Jerusalem because he was engaged in his Father’s business, and she would find him again alive after three days. God prepares us for our mission in life with signs and events that remain impressed in our memories. These are events that have a particular symbolic force, and we recount again and again during our lives. At the age of twelve, Jesus performs this prophetic act, and Mary must hold it in her heart. In order to understand the present ways of God in our lives we must ponder on his past ways. The wonderful things that are to come have already been announced in the things that have already happened. This is true for all of us. What are the significant things that have happened to us that we need to ponder in our lives?

The Holy Family is a model of obedience to the will of God

Liturgically, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family next Sunday. The three members of the Holy Family are fundamentally united at the core of their beings in their obedience to the Father. Joseph fulfils his role with regard to Jesus and Mary in complete obedience to the instructions of the angel and to the plan of the Father. Mary, in her obedience to the angel at the Annunciation, goes on to live out her wondrous mission of being the mother of Jesus. And Jesus, in this Gospel passage, is shown to be completely caught up with the desire to be obedient to this Father. He is on fire with the longing to be engaged in his Father’s business.

        Jesus, true God and true Man, reveals to us the meaning of our existence, which is to be obedient to the will of the Father. Like him at twelve years of age, we must immerse ourselves in the story of God, and develop hearts that have no other desire than to be occupied with the affairs of God, conforming themselves to His sacred will.

Healthy family life is based on the way the family members conform themselves to the will of God

This conformity with the will of God is what keeps our families together, heals our existence, and enables us to grow. This is what makes us genuine women and men, authentic adults. The only one who can transform us into responsible adults is the invisible Father. He is all-powerful yet loves us tenderly. It is only when we become faithful children of His, acting in conformity to His will, that we are enabled to become fathers and mothers in the truest sense, taking a proper place in our own family life and in our own destinies.

WHILE WE WERE WAITING FOR DON FABIO’S HOMILY TO APPEAR THIS WEEK, WE PUT UP TWO OTHER REFLECTIONS ON SUNDAY’S GOSPEL. THEY CAN BE FOUND BELOW. The first is part of an online homily given by Fr Munachi Ezeogu, cssp. The second comes from a film on the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

A little boy greets his father as he returns from work with a question: “Daddy, how much do you make an hour?” The father is surprised and says: “Look, son, not even your mother knows. Don’t bother me now, I’m tired.” “But Daddy, just tell me please! How much do you make an hour?” the boy insists. The father finally gives up and replies: “Twenty dollars.” “Okay, Daddy,” the boy continues, “Could you loan me ten dollars?” The father shouts at him: “So that was the reason you asked how much I earn, right? Now, go to sleep and don’t bother me anymore!” At night the father thinks over what he said and starts feeling guilty. Maybe his son needed to buy something. Finally, he goes to his son's room. “Are you asleep, son?” asks the father. “No, Daddy. Why?” replies the boy. “Here's the money you asked for earlier,” the father said. “Thanks, Daddy!” replies the boy and receives the money. Then he reaches under his pillow and brings out some more money. “Now I have enough!” says the boy to his father, “Daddy, could you sell me one hour of your time?” Today’s gospel has a message for this man and for all of us, and the message is that we need to invest more of our time in our family life.

The gospel shows us Jesus at the age of twelve. That was the age that every Jewish boy was expected to make his bar mitzvah and so become a responsible subject of the law. It was a ceremony of legal adulthood. From then on he was required to keep the law and make the annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem like any other Jewish man. One way teenagers celebrate their coming of age is to go out and do those things that the law had hitherto forbidden them to do. You know your boy is growing up when he stops asking where he came from and begins to not tell you where he is going. As we can see, Jesus was no exception. To celebrate his coming of age he attends the Temple Bible class without informing his parents. When his parents catch up with him after two days of searching for him everywhere, all he tells them is, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” (Luke 2:49). Even holy families do have their occasional tensions and misunderstandings.

The most puzzling part of the story, however, is the way it ends: “Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them” (v.51). The twelve-year old adult Jesus already knows that his mission is to be in his Father’s house and be about his Father’s business. From the test-run he did in Jerusalem earlier that day, it was clear that he was already capable of doing it very well, because “all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers” (v. 47). The puzzle then is this: If Jesus, already at the age of twelve, was ready to begin his public mission, and was evidently well prepared for it, why would he go down with his parents and spend the next eighteen years in the obscurity of a carpenter’s shed only to begin his public ministry at the age of thirty? Were those eighteen years wasted years? Certainly not! In a way that is hard for us to understand, Jesus’ hidden life in Nazareth was as much a part of his earthly mission as his public life. We are reminded that it was at this time that “Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour” (v.52). And when we reflect on the fact that for every one year of his public life Jesus spent ten years in family life, then we shall begin to understand the importance and priority he gave to family life.

We have two lives, a private or family life and a public or professional one. These two lives should be in harmony but very often they are in tension. Whereas Jesus resolved the tension by giving priority to his private life, we, unfortunately, often try to resolve it by giving priority to our professional life, leaving our family life to suffer. Rose Sands writes about the unhappy man who thought the only way he could prove his love for his family was to work hard. “To prove his love for her, he swam the deepest river, crossed the widest desert and climbed the highest mountain. She divorced him. He was never home.” The celebration today of the holy family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus reminds and challenges us to value and invest in our private life with our families before our professional life at the work place, even when our job is as important as saving the world.

The second reflection on Sunday’s Gospel comes from a film on the life of Jesus we saw last year in Italy. When Jesus is crucified, the disciples lock themselves indoors frightened and confused. Only Mary, the mother of Jesus, seems relatively calm, even though she too is grieving. One of the disciples asks her how she manages to stay so composed and she replies by telling him the story fo the finding of the boy Jesus in the Temple. She and Joseph had been distraught for three days, and then they found him in the Temple. In the same way, she has no doubt now that she will find Jesus in three days time “in the Temple.” In other words, his separation from her was because he had to do his Father’s business. And when that business is done, she will find him in a glorious way, restoring the temple of God that he himself embodies.

        The story of the finding in the Temple has something to say to all of us at times of grief, confusion, worry or despair. The three frantic days of worry represent any period of time in our lives when we feel frightened, lonely, lost, or depressed. And just as Mary and Joseph found Jesus when that terrible period was over, so we too will find great happiness when the “three days” have passed. If a woman loses a child, it will most likely be a long time before she meets that child again in paradise. But she can be sure that the day will come when she will find her loved one again “in the temple.” The same goes for any other burden that we are carrying. The time when come when the Lord’s saving presence will be felt and that burden will vanish. All that matters is that we hold steadfast to the Lord during these “three days” of trial, never losing hope in his saving and redeeming love.

December 23^rd. FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Gospel: Luke 1:39-45
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio
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Don Fabio tells us that the most distinctive thing about this passage is the attitude displayed by Mary. She went to visit her cousin with a zeal and with a commitment for the things of God that was exemplary. We too must learn to cultivate this attitude if we are to be life-giving in the way that Mary and Elizabeth were. Mary was a virgin and Elizabeth a sterile woman, but the Lord was able to make them life-giving in extraordinary ways. In our own lives, there is much sterility and apparent incapacity for productivity. The Lord can bring our lives to fruition in extraordinary ways, but only if we zealously care for our faith lives.

Mary visits Elizabeth with a very distinctive attitude

In this dynamic passage it is the attitude of Mary that stands out. The passage begins with the words, “In those days . . .” Which days is the text referring to? Immediately prior to this event, Mary had been visited by the Angel in the Annunciation. As soon as Mary is visited by the Angel, she springs into action. We are told that she went “in haste”. The original Greek word for “haste” refers to something that is done with great intention, great care, or zeal. It has nothing to do with the hurry or anxiety that we would usually associate with the term. In the original text, it refers to something that Mary did with great desire and self-application. Mary’s actions are even more significant when we consider that she had just conceived the only Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

            The early days of pregnancy cannot be an easy time. Many changes are taking place, and the future becomes a much more uncertain place. But none of this appears in the text. All we are made aware of is the eager attitude with which Mary visits her cousin.

Mary is filled with zeal and wishes to share with others her joy at God’s works

During the Annunciation, after the angel informs Mary that she is to bear a son, he goes on to tell that Elizabeth had conceived a child despite the fact that everyone thought she was sterile. Grace gives rise to grace. The first grace is the visit of the angel and Mary’s conception of the Son of God. The second grace is Mary’s visit to her cousin. The beautiful things that God announces to us must be shared with others. This is the origin of Mary’s eagerness to go to Elizabeth – to share together this moment of joy. This, in fact, is a text that is full of joy. The child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy when Mary’s greeting fills the house. Heaven never gives private graces to anyone. Any grace we receive is to be shared with everyone. The Lord visits us so that we may visit our neighbour. The nature of faith is that it involves interaction, the recounting of stories, the giving of testimony of what we have experienced. Mary’s visit, in fact, coincides with her incantation of the Magnificat, praising the Lord for his great works. How do I encounter the faith-story of others? By recounting the story of my own faith. This is how it is in the story of the visitation. Elizabeth begins by recounting the joyous effect that the salutation of Mary has had on the child within her womb. Mary responds with the Magnificat.

Too often we belittle our faith with the lack of care with which we live it

Let us return however to the theme of the eagerness or zeal with which Mary visits her cousin. Too often our faith is belittled by the mediocrity with which we live it. There is a beauty that does not come ready-made and pre-packaged, but requires cultivation, self-application, commitment, effort. This commitment does not come from a sense of obligation but from desire. When we are in possession of something precious, we do not throw it in a place where it might be damaged. We take care of it with eagerness. Too often, we live a life that lacks zeal, eagerness and commitment. When a visitor comes to our house, we clean the house so that it is presentable; we offer food that is good quality, and we use plates and utensils that are worthy of our guest. There is an attitude of care and eagerness with which we receive people into our home. To do things any other way is to belittle our guest. How do we cultivate and take care of our faith? In the case of the interaction between Mary and Elizabeth, we see the care and zeal that permeates every moment of the encounter. Even the greeting of Mary causes Elizabeth and her child to rejoice. In Greek, the word for “greeting” signifies to open oneself to others. The angel had previously saluted Mary, and in this way the heavens had opened themselves to her. Now she goes to Elizabeth and does the same thing herself. In this encounter, Mary and Elizabeth interact with each other with a spirit of openness in which their true beauty, the story of their faith journey and what the Lord has done for them, is revealed. In the attitudes that characterize this encounter we see the diametric opposite of jealousy, rivalry, and envy that can dominate relationships.

Mary and Elizabeth are full of care and zeal and they produce an incredible abundance of fruit. We too can produce fruit if we zealously care for our faith lives

Mary and Elizabeth share together the joy of their fertility and the life-giving work that the Lord is doing in them. We are all fertile in that all of us have the capacity to do things that are extraordinary. In Mary we have a virgin that becomes fertile, and in Elizabeth we have a sterile elderly woman who generates life. But our Christian existence is characterized by virginity and sterility that have the potential to give life. Our Christian lives have the potential to generate life where there is sterility, to bear fruit where the branches seem old and beyond productiveness. Without care, however, we cannot be life-giving for others. Without zeal and commitment, our lives will not bear fruit. Sometimes our churches seem merely like public places. We sit in church as if we were sitting on the public transport, not interacting with others and not really interested in what is going on around us. But the church is God’s house! We must enter there with an intuition for the beauty that lies beyond the senses, and with a care and zeal that can bring this beauty to life. Mary and Elizabeth are models of what the Christian should be, people who know that life and beauty can be generated from the most unlikely of circumstances, and who zealously cultivate that life.

December 16^th. THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT – GAUDETE SUNDAY
Gospel: Luke 3:10-18
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio
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John the Baptist announces a Good News that is disconcerting. The one who is to come is going to separate the wheat from the chaff and burn the chaff in an everlasting fire. But this is exactly the news that we need! If we are to fully experience the joy that is being celebrated on this Gaudete Sunday then the redundant and decadent things within us must be cleared away by Jesus. How is this to happen? How do we receive Jesus into our lives? We must start from humble beginnings. John the Baptist gives us practical advice on how to get ready to receive the Lord

What sort of “Good News” does humanity truly need?

What does the term “Good News” mean? Sometimes news can be consoling or comforting, but that is not to say that it is news that has saving power or that can help me to grow. Some “good” news is like a sedative that helps us feel better for the time being, but the human being has desperate need of the sort of good news that can resolve our existential problems comprehensively and permanently. News of this sort is what brings real joy to humanity. This Sunday is known as Gaudete Sunday, a day for rejoicing at the Good News of the Lord’s immanent coming. There are many false joys in the world associated with false “Good News”. We are being told constantly that whatever we feel like doing is acceptable, that the commodities and comforts of the present life are all we need, that everything will be alright if we align ourselves with the drift of contemporary culture. The news that life is simple and requires no serious commitment or self-application is false good news.

The Good News announced by John the Baptist is of the unexpected sort

John the Baptist announces the news of the coming of the one who will “clear the threshing floor” and who will “burn the chaff in a fire that will never go out”. We may be shocked by this announcement and ask ourselves how we are to be comforted by “Good News” of this sort. But the news that John brings is exactly what we need. There is much chaff in our lives, many areas of our existence that do not have life. The parts of ourselves that really count are buried and wrapped up in a superficial outer shell, and we make the superficial outer shell the focal point of our lives. John mentions the winnowing fan, an instrument that was used for lifting the grains of wheat into the air, so that the chaff would be carried away by the wind and the kernel of the grain would fall back on the floor. Jesus is the one who is capable of clearing away these redundant and decadent things from our lives and restoring us to life in the fullest and most essential sense of the term.

The real meaning of the expression “undo the sandal strap”

John says that he is unworthy to undo the strap of Jesus’ sandals. What does this expression mean? When we meet someone greater than ourselves, it wouldn’t occur to us to say “I am unworthy to untie his shoes”. But when John makes this statement, there is a whole cultural context behind the expression that would have made sense to any Jew at the time. In Jewish society there were clear conventions regarding who had the right to marry a particular woman in a given situation. For example, if a woman was widowed, there were rules stipulating which man was first in line to marry the woman if she wished to remarry. Sometimes it happened that a woman ended up marrying a man who was not first in line to marry her. Before this could take place, however, the new husband would have to publicly undo the strap of the sandals of the man who was first in line, and place his foot in the sandal. By undoing the strap and placing his foot in the sandal, the new husband was ritually taking the place of the man who was first in line. The man who was first in line, by allowing his sandal to be undone, was publicly relinquishing his right to marry the woman.

                When John the Baptist says that he is unworthy to undo the strap of Jesus’ sandal, he is not simply trying to find a way of saying that he inferior to Jesus. He is explicitly invoking this ritual, and by doing so he is stating that Jesus, and not himself, is the true spouse that is coming. John cannot undo the strap and take the place of the true spouse. This is the Good News! Jesus is that spouse and he has no intention of relinquishing his right upon us! He intends to clean the chaff away from within us and restore us to our true selves. He wishes to make us live according to a truth that is unimaginably beautiful. As our spouse he gives himself for us completely. We do not simply listen to him and learn from him; we become completely united to him.

John gives us practical advice on how we are to begin living this encounter with the Christ who is coming into our lives

When two people decide to get married, their story does not begin on their wedding day, but much earlier. Before they ever get married, they decide where they are going to live, how they are going to make ends meet. Every genuine relationship begins with small humble beginnings, whether it is a marriage, the living out of a vocation, or the encounter with Jesus Christ. This Sunday, John the Baptist indicates the ways in which we can make the humble beginnings of a real encounter with Christ, and he concentrates on what is practical. Before being given the grace to burn the chaff away from our lives and become united with Christ, we must do less dramatic things that are within our power to do. If we have two tunics, then we can share with the man who has none. We can begin to practice honesty and integrity in all of our dealings with others. To practice the cardinal virtue of justice, we must begin with things that can be done practically, not speak abstractly about great deeds that are outside of our capabilities. Similarly, in the spiritual life it is possible to eventually achieve a state of ecstasy where one feels the presence of the Lord very near. But it is not possible for a person who is new to the spiritual life to attain a state of ecstasy immediately. First of all, one might begin by praying for five minutes every morning; then for ten minutes, and then for half an hour. And then one begins to pray regularly at the most significant moments of the day. Eventually one begins to become more intimate with the word of God, to have a spiritual director, and maybe to join a movement within the church. One begins modestly and then progresses in stages. The Lord cannot come in the door unless there is a door! If I don’t take time to pray, then how can the Lord speak to me? If I don’t listen to the Word of God, then how am I to discover that the Lord Jesus is the fulfilment of the Scriptures? To be able to receive the Good News about the coming of our spouse, we must embark on a journey of what is possible, not impossible. The Christian faith is not an abstraction; it begins from what can be done practically. Instead of speaking abstractly about the church, about high moral principles, maybe it would be better if we focussed on doing what we are able to do in the present moment. When we start to act in the practical ways laid down by John the Baptist, we begin to concretely understand the nature of salvation better, and begin to taste its flavour at first hand.

December 9^th. SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT
Gospel: Luke 3:1-6
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio
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Luke gives us a list of the great and influential people at the time of Jesus, but then tells us that the word of God came to a man in the desert, far removed from the corridors of power. If we wish to hear the word of God this Advent, then we must enter into the desert, detaching ourselves from the busy centres of influence and activity that we normally find refuge in. We naturally flee from the silence and emptiness within us, filling our moments with noise and diversion. But God can only speak to us if we are listening, and listening requires detachment from our usual idols of distraction. The Lord is coming and brings salvation. Advent is a time of levelling the obstacles within us that obstruct his saving action.

Luke records the historic individuals who held power at the time of Jesus

Almost half of this week’s Gospel is devoted to a list of names, and one might ask, “What has this to do with the Word of God?” But this passage is extremely important for the story that Luke wishes to tell. The Gospel is not a fable, and neither is it a list of moral principles or abstract values of the sort that sometimes dominates our understanding of the faith. No, the Gospel is a concrete story that unfolds in the lives of historical individuals. As we go through this list of characters, we are being reminded that the Gospel is something tangibly concrete and real.

God’s word is not directed to the great or powerful, but to a man who is an outsider. Similarly, we sometimes expect to hear God’s word in a particular situation, whilst God is trying to speak to us in a different manner altogether.

Luke’s list begins with Tiberius Caesar, the Emperor of Rome, and Pontius Pilate, his governor in Judaea. Other rulers are also listed, whose kingdoms are not altogether pertinent to the story of Jesus. Then the religious leaders, Annas and Caiaphas, are mentioned. The point of the passage is to give a comprehensive chronicle of the structures of power that prevailed at the time. But then, after giving us the names of the great and powerful, we are told that the word of the Lord was making itself heard in another place entirely! None of the influential or powerful people, not even the religious leaders, were chosen by God to receive his word. The elected one in Scripture is often an outsider. John the Baptist was the son of a priest, so he was not exactly the last person in society, but he was completely extraneous to the corridors of religious and political power. It is on God’s initiative that his word is heard. In our daily lives, we sometimes expect to hear God’s word in various fixed places or situations, but we find that God speaks to us in a different, unexpected, manner altogether. This Advent, if we want to hear the voice of God, perhaps we are looking in the wrong place. Our expectations and ways of looking at the world are overly influenced by the idols of power and success. We tend to think that the popular and influential things in life are important. But the word of God is often not heard through the obvious channels of influence, but arises from the creativity of God. And the central issue is whether or not we are disposed towards listening to that word. If God wishes to speak to us, it is not of any consequence whether or not we are in the court of Tiberius Caesar. When God wishes to speak to us, what is important is that we are willing to listen.

In order to receive the word of God, I must detach myself from the distractions of life and enter into the desert

The Gospel speaks of the word of the Lord coming to John in the desert, and then it speaks of a voice crying in the desert, “Prepare a way for the Lord!” There are two phases here: listening to the word and proclaiming the word. If I am to listen to the Word of God then I must be silent. In order to be able to listen, I must be in the desert in this sense. To receive the Word of God, John the Baptist had to live this time of preparation in the desert, cut off from everything else. The meaning of the word “desert” is very interesting. In Latin it means to cut myself off from whatever holds me. One who is in the desert is one who is unfettered by things. For as long as we remain tied to things, it is impossible for Christ to announce to us his coming. To hear the word of God we must turn off the television, i-pod, and mobile phone. We lack the courage to do so because then we feel isolated from the things that we have made the centre of our world. What are those things? They are Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Annas and Caiaphas. The call to enter the desert is a call to detach ourselves from the influence of the things that normally command our attention and obedience. That is why, of all these people, it is John alone who hears the word of God.

The Lord is coming and he brings salvation. I raise many obstacles within myself that block the Lord’s path and close the way to salvation. Advent is a time for filling in the valleys and lowering the mountains that obstruct God’s saving action in our lives

If the first phase is the reception of the word of God in the desert, the second phase is the proclamation of the word of God from the desert. The desert is the great metaphor of desolation. The Hebrew word for desert - mibar - means “where no voice is heard.” The human being naturally flees from this emptiness and silence and tries to join himself to the usual centres of power, bustle and activity. Even when we try to go into this interior desert and detach ourselves from things, we discover that we have a “radio” and “mobile phone” inside of ourselves as well, making noise continually, a series of false havens, escape routes, inner refuges, all feverishly working so that we do not experience the emptiness and silence of our lives. These interior valleys and mountains make the way of the Lord difficult. God is coming to us, but we raise a series of obstacles to hinder his progress in our hearts! When all is said and done, it is salvation on his terms that we are unwilling to accept. The Gospel passage ends with the line, “All mankind shall see the salvation of God”. We flee from salvation because we prefer to be completely autonomous and self-sufficient. Our very talents and capacities become obstacles to the work of the Lord in us. Our disappointments and sadness are valleys that prevent us from allowing the Lord to enter in. In the end, the issue is this: God wishes to speak to the “poor one” inside of me. He wishes to speak to me personally, to that desert in me where I am alone and where only he can enter. I flee from this inner desert with many palliatives and distractions that prevent me from coming face to face with myself. God is the only one who knows how to enter the secret room in our hearts and speak authentically to us.

December 2^nd. FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Gospel: Luke 21:25-28, 34-36

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

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The Gospel tells us to avoid gluttony and self-indulgence and to be vigilant for the coming of the Lord. We might think that these words are directed to a few people who become regularly intoxicated with alcohol, but Don Fabio says that the words are directed to each one of us personally. We are all “drunkards” in that we are all fixated with our physical wellbeing. Advent is not just about the coming of the Lord at the end of time. We must allow the Lord to erupt in our lives right now by renouncing this preoccupation with our own physical wellbeing and focussing instead on matters of the heart, the things in our lives that have real beauty.

Advent doesn’t just ask us to prepare for Lord at the end of time, it asks us to allow the Lord to erupt in our lives and our behaviour right now.

In this Gospel that marks the beginning of Advent, Luke repeats the same sentiments regarding the end of the world that we heard two weeks ago in the Gospel of Mark. Advent encourages us to raise our eyes and be vigilant for the coming of the Lord. Part of this Gospel is dedicated explicitly to telling us how to behave so that we are prepared for the coming of Jesus. Jesus comes at the end of time, but it is crucial that he also erupt in our lives and in our behaviour right now. We are told by the Lord to pay attention to ourselves so that our hearts are not coarsened with self-indulgence, drunkenness and the cares of life. Being attentive to ourselves entails taking responsibility for who and what we are. We must guard our senses so they do not darken the brightness of our hearts. True life is lived from the heart, and our hearts must be in tune with God so that God can speak to our hearts. The heart should not be viewed simply as the seat of the affections. The heart is the centre of the person himself. When we say that something is “the heart of the matter” we mean that it is the very essence of the thing. This Gospel tells us that we can damage our hearts through self-indulgence and drunkenness.

The Gospel tells us to avoid drunkenness. This doesn’t just refer to being intoxicated with alcohol, but refers to the addiction all of us have to our physical wellbeing

This particular translation of the text, perhaps, does not bring home clearly the point that anxiety for my own physical wellbeing is destructive to the wellbeing of my heart. Nowadays there is a huge emphasis in society on the care of one’s own wellbeing. We might think that the “self-indulgence” or “dissipation” spoken of in the text refers only to full-blown debauchery or drunkenness. But it does not. The word “dissipation” means to ruin one’s true wealth by spending oneself on superficial things. We might think that Jesus in the Gospel is referring to that small minority of people who get drunk and over-indulge themselves excessively. But we are all drunks in that we all preoccupied with our own pleasure and wellbeing. Gluttony is not simply the fault of one who eats too much. We all share in this vice insofar as we are excessively preoccupied or fussy about what we eat. It is manifested even by people who eat little but who are overly anxious about what they eat. Anyone who puts their physical wellbeing before the wellbeing of their heart shares this fault of self-indulgence. Our physical wellbeing in the end is of little consequence. It is simply not true that health is the primary thing in life. The first thing in life is salvation! The first thing in life is the heart. The first thing in life is to know how to love. What use is a perfect body if I do not know how to love, do not know how to behave with wisdom, do not know how to serve others? I am constantly drunk, over-indulged, with things that concern only me. My stomach is filled with many things that are good to know, music that is good to listen to, witty saying that sound good when I repeat them to others. But a world constructed with self-indulgent things collapses completely when it is challenged at all. When the moment of crisis comes, one no longer has a heart, one no longer has a sense of the true value of things. In this sense, for people whose hearts have been dulled by self-indulgence, the coming of the Lord seems like the sudden closing shut of a trap. People who believed that they were doing something wholesome, caring attentively for their own physical wellbeing, then discover that they were on the road to personal ruination.

Controlling one’s appetites and fixations is an essential element of the spiritual life

There is an absolutely essential value in the Christian life and it is called “fasting”. This does not refer only to fasting from a meal, but to the virtue of sobriety and clear-mindedness. In order to ensure that we don’t become preoccupied with self-indulgent things that have no value, we need regular recourse to a kind of fasting that involves the governance of our senses. We must work to ensure that we do not become slaves to our appetites, our minds, to what we see and what we hear. We must be in a position to decide what we consume and what we refrain from consuming, and in this way become masters of our own lives. True freedom involves the capacity to determine the course of our own lives. If I am not able to say “no” to myself, then I am not free but am a slave to my own appetites. Evil in our times devours people with the minimal promise of pleasure. We neglect the well-being of our hearts in order to pursue self-indulgent things that have are worthless. In the Old Testament there is the striking image of Esau, the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham, who swaps his privileged position of being heir to God’s promise for a plate of porridge. Esau fills his stomach with the porridge but loses his entire future. Jacob, by contrast, fasts for a day so that God’s promise will rest on him. As a result Jacob (or “Israel”) becomes the most named person in Scripture, while the name of Esau is largely forgotten.

                The Son of Man is coming. We have a future and a destiny that awaits us, and it is time for us to begin governing our lives. Sooner or later, all approaches to the spiritual life must tackle the issue of bringing order into one’s existence. We must be sober, capable of making decisions that go against the satisfaction of our own needs. We must attain the freedom to determine the direction of our own lives. I must be able to decide when something begins and when it finishes, and not be a slave to the thing, carried along by it, powerless to say no to the unfolding of circumstances that are dictated by others.

During Advent we must wake up, renouncing the self-indulgent things that lead nowhere, and being ever-attentive to the things in our lives that have real beauty

The Gospel ends by telling us to be vigilant at all times, so that we will have the strength to survive what is going to happen, and we can stand with confidence before the Son of God. The choice is ours. Will we be found asleep, indulging ourselves, so that when the Son of Man comes it will be a  traumatic awakening for us? For each of us there is a doorway in our lives that leads to dissipation. It is important to be aware of these areas in our lives where we are inclined to indulge ourselves, becoming anxious for our own wellbeing and profit, losing sight of the real sense of things. Marriages, friendships, workplaces, parenthood are all ruined when one becomes preoccupied with selfish things that are of no consequence, becoming slaves to our own fixations and losing our freedom to do the right thing. The expression “Wake up!” is the perfect motto to accompany each of us on the journey of Advent. It tells us that we exist in an arena in which we must be constantly attentive to what is going on around us. Like a shepherd who is watchful for the wellbeing of his sheep, all of us must be constantly vigilant, ever-attentive to cultivating and promoting the true beauty in our lives.

NOVEMBER 25^th. FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING

Gospel: John 18:33-37

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

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In his interchange with Pilate, Jesus speaks about the nature of his Kingdom. We are all surrounded by various structures of power and influence. These “kingdoms” promise much, but are transitory, and always disappoint us in the end. Unlike the kingdoms of this world, the Kingdom of Jesus is not to be defended with aggression, force or intolerance. It is to be defended by listening to the voice of Jesus and putting his truth into practice in our daily lives. A married couple defends the Kingdom by listening to Jesus’ voice and following him in the living out of their matrimony. The truth inherent in the Kingdom of Jesus becomes self-evident once it is put into practice.

Pilate begins the interrogation with a surprising question

As the liturgical year draws to a close, let us bow before the only true King! In this passage, Pilate represents the Roman Empire and he is interrogating Christ. The interrogation begins, strangely, with the question, “Are you the King of the Jews?” What is striking about this question is that in the Gospel of John prior to this event no-one had ever used the term “King” in reference to Jesus. Pilate was a man who would have direct personal experience with the temporal powers of this world. He had come from Rome, and we can only imagine the power struggles he would have had to engage in to reach the prestigious position he now held. It is interesting that his first question to Jesus regards his kingship. Jesus notes the strangeness of the question and replies, “Are you asking this of your own accord, or have others spoken to you about me?” Jesus’ question puts Pilate in difficulty and the Roman procurator replies defensively, “Am I a Jew? It is your own people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me! What have you done?” The roles have been reversed and it is Jesus who is examining the heart of Pilate. Jesus, being Jesus, does not look at people in a distracted way but looks at them to the depths of their being. He is looking at Pilate now and knows that the Jewish leaders had only described him as being a trouble-maker, not a king. During his interrogation before the Jewish leaders, Jesus had refused to speak openly. Here before Pilate he reveals exactly who he is. “My Kingdom is not of this world,” he says, “If it were, my servants would have fought to prevent me from being arrested.” The Kingdom that Jesus is referring to is of a completely different type to the kingdoms that prevail on the earth.

Jesus’ Kingdom is not to be defended with violence, intolerance or aggression

It is not a kingdom that is to be defended with violence. At the beginning of the Passion, Peter takes out his sword and tries to defend Jesus by force. In doing so, Peter ceases to be a true disciple of Jesus, and, in fact, a short time later he will assert three times that he is not a follower of Jesus. In taking out his sword, Peter shows that he has completely misunderstood the nature of the man that he purports to defend. The servants of Jesus do not use force. Soon, the true disciples of Jesus will appear at the foot of the Cross, the Virgin Mary and the beloved disciple, John. Jesus entrusts one to the other. This communion of giving is the real Kingdom that Jesus has come to establish. The true servants of the Kingdom are not interested in power but in entering into the life of Jesus.

All of us, even Pilate, have an inner longing for the eternal Kingdom

While Jesus is saying these things, Pilate remarks, “So you are a King then.” Jesus replies, “It is you who say it.” This reply of Jesus is not just a figure of speech. Jesus is affirming that Pilate has realized that he is indeed a king. A number of times during the Passion, Pilate recognizes the true nature of Jesus. In the end he even does so in a written inscription hung on the Cross that asserts that this man is “King of the Jews”. How has Pilate managed to understand something of the nature of Jesus? Jesus goes on, “I am a King and I have come to bear testimony to the truth. He who is of the truth, listens to my voice.” The one who is listening to his voice at this moment is Pilate. Pilate has simply enquired as to the royal status of Jesus, has listened to Jesus’ reply, and has now recognized that he is indeed a king. Every man has an inner longing for a Kingdom that is not of this world, even a cynical man like Pilate, who has probably jostled his way to temporal power and cares little about the plight of those under his power.

What is the “truth” that Jesus makes a central aspect of his Kingdom? It is not an abstract thing but is manifested by living a life in conformity to Christ

All of us have had experience of various powers and kingdoms, and all of them have disappointed us. Only Christ brings the true Kingdom that does not delude or disappoint us. We must open ourselves to him and allow his voice to enter into us. That voice prompts us to ask, “What is it that matters in life? Where is the true Kingdom that deserves to be defended?” We must defend that which is authentic, that which is true, not that which is transitory. We are all caught up in the transitory kingdoms of this world, but we are called to live in the truth. It is important that this “truth” that Jesus speaks of is not understood in an abstract way. The truth of matrimony, for example, is that which is not transitory and which truly counts. When two spouses are united in Christ, God reproduces his very image in them. The God who is communion itself enables the couple to be fertile and establish a family. This is what truly counts in marriage, but how many other things interfere to obscure the nature of the union! This is the Kingdom that must be defended, and it defended by listening to Jesus’ voice and following him.

It is not necessary to be aggressive or forceful in defending the faith. We must just live it, and then its truth become evident by itself.

It is not necessary to be anxious in the defence of the faith. Jesus is the truth, and the truth is able to stand by itself without defence. We often witness antagonism and aggression within the Church that is incompatible with the Kingdom of Christ. We see people trying to impose their views on others in a forcible or intolerant way. But trying to change people’s hearts by force is fallacious from the beginning. What must be done instead is to listen to Jesus’ voice, a voice that penetrates the Roman Procurator and is capable of eliciting a response. Jesus is the truth. Everything else is transitory and will pass away. Jesus says to Marta that one thing only is necessary. To be in the Kingdom means to adhere to that one thing. The kingdoms of this world fight, kill and hate each other for things that do not matter at all. Their very violence stems from their fear of losing the things that they cling to. The goods of the Kingdom of Jesus, by contrast, cannot be taken away from us and we have no need of violence to defend them. That the Lord might grant us, at the end of the liturgical year, to become true subjects of this King! 

NOVEMBER 18^th. THIRTY-THIRD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Mark 13:24-32

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

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The Gospel speaks about the end of the world and seems catastrophic and negative in tone. As always, Don Fabio insists that I apply this Gospel to my life right now in this moment. Every day we are confronted with disappointments, little upheavals and small crises. These are signs that the points of reference that I base my existence on are illusory and are passing away. We must learn to read the signs of the times and see that the Lord is at the door, wishing to enter and become the only reference point of my existence. At various times in our lives, the Lord has already spoken to my heart. We must cherish these “words” and make them become the basis of an encounter with the Lord that stands firm in the face of any tribulation

The Gospel speaks about the upheaval of the end times, but it also speaks about an upheaval that must occur in my life today

This Sunday’s Gospel invites us to think about the end times. It is an apocalyptic text and describes the end of the world in catastrophic terms. On a superficial reading, the passage fills us with apprehension and negative feelings. Jesus speaks of a great tribulation, at the end of which Jerusalem and the rest of the world will be destroyed. These words do refer to the end times, but they also have great relevance for our daily lives right now. The moment has arrived, right now, when we must pass to a new quality of encounter with the Lord, when he must come powerfully into our lives. His Advent is already upon us, and we will celebrate this in the liturgical calendar shortly. The coming of the Lord is not a negative thing, but something positive, highly significant, wonderful. How does the Lord come? The coming of the Lord always has certain typical characteristics, the same characteristics in our daily existence today as it will have when he comes at the end of the world.

The sun and the moon are our great points of reference for telling the time. At the end of the world, they will pass away. Every time we encounter difficulty and disappointment, the points of reference in our lives are shaken. This is a sign that the Lord is near

When the Lord comes, the sun will be darkened and the moon will lose its brightness. What do the sun and moon represent? At the time of creation, the Lord created the sun to rule over the day and the moon to regulate the night. The movement of the sun and the moon are the basis for marking time in human terms. In olden times people could tell the time of day by looking at the sun, and the time of the year by looking at the moon and stars. The failure of the sun and the moon refers to a time in our lives when the old reference points do not function any longer. In the Gospel this failure happens after the period of tribulation. And that is exactly how it is in our daily lives. In times of tribulation we cease to find security in the usual reference points and we start to look elsewhere for meaning. Tribulations can be blessed moments that can help us to found our lives on true points of reference instead of illusory ones.

When everything else has collapsed, we begin to see that it is only our relationship with Jesus that has eternal value

The Gospel refers to the things of this world that shall pass away. The first things that the Lord created, the sun and the moon, will come to an end. When all of these things pass, what remains? The word of Christ remains. When we start to base our existence on a genuine relationship with Christ, then all other things start to fade away in relevance. What is the “word” of Jesus? A word is not something that exists by itself. It is something that is proclaimed and received. When Jesus says that everything will pass away and only his word will remain, he intends to say that the only thing that has eternal value is our relationship with him. The word of God spoken in our hearts is more important than the sun and the moon, more important than our busy fretfulness in this world, more important than the projects and schemes that we become totally embroiled in. We do not appreciate how temporary and trivial these things are. It requires tribulation and disaster to give us a true perspective on these matters.

Jesus challenges us to look at the signs of the time and recognize from these signs that He is near.

Jesus takes the example of the fig tree as a way of reading the signs of the times. We are able to see from its leaves when summer is near. In the same way, when we see that our usual reference points don’t function anymore, then we know that the Lord is near. When we are confronted daily by disappointments, the collapse of things that seemed secure, by the small and great agonies of this world, then we should appreciate that the Son of Man is coming. What is it to be confronted by tribulation, to come face to face with something that turns our lives upside down? As long as we remain bogged down in a sensual, carnal way of looking at things, then we see only the superficial aspect of things. The challenge is to lift our gaze above the wreckage of the crisis that is confronting us and see that someone is standing at the door waiting to come in, someone who comes closer to us by means of tribulations such as these. When the fragile framework of my existence is shaken, then I must look to the One who is above all of these things, the only One who remains standing when everything else collapses, the only One who can speak to my heart in a truly meaningful way.

The Lord has spoken to our hearts at various times during our lives. We must cherish these things, making them the point of reference that will enable us to endure any tribulation

The words of Jesus stand the test of time when everything else fails. This Gospel challenges us to keep the word of the Lord in our hearts at all times. We must listen and hold strongly to these eternal words, remembering all of the times that the Lord has spoken to us in an intimate way. There have been moments in all of our lives when the Lord has passed close to us and touched our very souls, placing something important within us. We must do like the Blessed Virgin, who stored these things in her heart and recalled them, enabling her to stand firmly at the foot of the Cross. In the same way, the Lord has spoken an eternal word to each one of us. This word is stronger than any tribulation and will never pass away.

NOVEMBER 11^th. THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Mark 12:38-44

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

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The Gospel presents us with two types of person: the Scribe who lives for the admiration of others; and the widow who has no public image to uphold, and lives by giving all she has to the Lord. Don Fabio tells us that we are all similar to the Scribe in that we base the meaning of our lives on the esteem of others, on shallow appearances instead of on who we really are. We “marry” ourselves to the world, sacrificing the things that genuinely matter on the altar of our image in eyes of others. But this futile commitment to the idols of this world will leave us “widowed”, because such things are of no value in the long run. We must strive to take on the attitude of the widow, who realizes full well that the things of this world leave us alone, empty and disinherited. All of us, at the end of the day, are as impoverished and miserable as this widow, but she alone is aware of that fact. She gives both of her coins to the Lord, not giving just one and holding the other back for herself. If we wish to have an authentic relationship with the Lord, then we must do likewise, offering ourselves completely, not half-heartedly giving a little and retaining an attachment to worldly sources of security.

The Gospel compares two types of person: one who lives for vanity, and one who lives by giving. Which one are you?

The Gospel passage for this Sunday comes at the end of the twelfth chapter of the Gospel of Mark. The thirteenth Chapter contains Jesus’ final discourse before the Passion, a discourse that focuses on the end times and the destruction of the Temple. So the Gospel this Sunday represents one of the final things that Jesus has to say in the Gospel of Mark, and it is intended to relate something of the highest importance. The passage presents us with two different types of person. On the one hand are the Scribes, who like to parade themselves publicly and take the places of honour in the Synagogue and at banquets. On the other hand, we have the image of a poor widow who throws all she has into the temple treasury. What is the contrast between these two types of person? Each one has their own priority in life, and this priority is manifested through their actions. The Scribe loves to dress in a certain way in order to show who he is, and this leads to him being greeted in the market-place and given the seats of honour in the synagogue and at banquets. The Scribe’s priority is to be seen and be admired by others. He lacks a solid foundation for his identity, and bases his own worth on vanity. He lives to be admired. If others fail to notice him or esteem him, then he feels that he is nothing. The day that his role and his public standing are taken away from him, he becomes worthless in his own eyes.

The Scribe is not a distant figure. He is each one of us.

What is our priority in life? Do we believe that this Scribe is a distant figure from us, and that we live according to different principles altogether? If we look closely at ourselves, we will see the Scribe in each one of us! Who among us does not love to be the centre of attention, to be given honour and praise by others? The fact is that we all yearn to be admired and recognized. We despise it when we are overlooked or neglected. But a life that is lived with the priority of being appreciated and recognized is a life of a very inferior sort. Such an approach to life sacrifices things that are genuinely valuable on the altar of public image. In our society today, we see the attitude of the Scribe in the general yearning for superficial beauty. People are unhappy with the way they look. They feel unacceptable to some extent in the eyes of others. Modern life is lived at the level of appearances. It has ceased to matter what we really are; what matters is how we appear. Life lived thus is full of self-deception and illusory ideals. We must regain possession of our lives and give it to the only One who knows how to restore it to us redeemed.

We are all the widow insofar as each of us only has two coins to offer to the Lord

At this point, another image is presented to us by the Gospel. This woman stands at the lowest level of human society because, not only is she a widow, she is also poor. The laws of the time ensured that only men could inherit, which meant that any widow who did not have resources of her own was forced to become a beggar. This lady has descended to the bottom rung of the social ladder, and being in such a state, she has become aware of what really matters in life. She has just two coins left. What is she to do with these two coins? If all of us look inside ourselves, we will find that we each have only two coins. Beneath the mask that we present to the public, what we have inside is indeed miserable. As soon as our health is affected, we find out very quickly the limits of our own strength and independence. But we continue to base our security, our notions of self-worth, on the illusory “goods” of this world. We think that with a healthy bank account and the positive esteem of others, we have a secure and meaningful life. But what do we have really? These “goods” can be lost in an instant. The fact is that each of us has only two coins and we are all widows in this sense, but we don’t realize it. This world has married us and abandoned us. We are all widows of the idols that we have committed ourselves to, and that have given us nothing. We have invested ourselves in projects, schemes, false images of ourselves, but all these come to nothing. In the end we are left with the two coins that make up what we really have inside of ourselves. Let us give these two coins to the Lord!

Why does the widow have an authentic relationship with God? Because she gives both coins, and does not keep one for herself.

This lady, in giving away all that she has, has found that which alone has value, the one inheritance that cannot be taken from her – an authentic relationship with God. When does one have a genuine relationship with God? When one invests oneself completely in that relationship. When, having just two coins, one does not give only one to the lord and keep the other for oneself. If one has only two coins, it seems logical to give just one away and keep the other. But the widow gives both to the Lord. Even if the “coins” we have seem worthless, the issue is not the quantity of that which we give, but the quality. The widow in her offering gives everything. Oh that in this week we might take the opportunity of investing ourselves completely in the Lord! He who has lived this “death to oneself” that come with entrusting oneself to God, lives the great life of the security of the love of God. When we give the little that we have, we come into the possession of incredible riches. That the Lord might grant each one of us at least one opportunity this week for shifting our centre of gravity a little away from ourselves and towards him!

This week, let us seek the small daily occasions to give our lives completely to the Lord

What stops us from giving ourselves completely to the Lord? What do we fear losing? So many people are frantically attached to the lives that they are currently leading, but what is there in these lives that is worthy of such attachment? It is only in God that life becomes truly beautiful. We can cling on to the things of this world, cling on tenaciously, but in the end we will lose them; that much is guaranteed. It is only in God that our lives find fulfilment. We were made to be completed by God and to find ourselves in the wonderful, beautiful, plan that he has for each of us. It is in the giving of ourselves that we finally come to the possession of ourselves. That the Lord might give us the occasion this week to give our lives over to him, holding nothing back for ourselves.

NOVEMBER 4th. THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Mark 12:28-34

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

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The greatest commandment exhorts us to love God with all of our hearts, souls, mind and strength. Don Fabio says that by reflection on this commandment we can discover the complexity and beauty of the human person. To love with all of our heart signifies to stop pursuing the small, futile things to which we dedicate our lives, and instead make God the centre of our existence. To love with all of our mind means to stop nourishing our thoughts with the trash, distorted images, consumerist philosophies and superficial values that have become the daily diet of our minds. Instead we must cultivate in our minds the beautiful and varied things that are worthy of God. The scribe in the Gospel understands Jesus words, but he does not take the step from understanding the Kingdom to entering the Kingdom. Help us Lord to cross the threshold between understanding and action! Help us to listen to you and dedicate our hearts to you, nourishing our minds and souls with things that are worthy of you, and to fill our days with humble acts of love.

Do we put God in first place every day in our lives?

A scribe approaches Jesus and poses the classic question, “Which is the greatest of all the commandments?” The answer would have fairly evident, since, as a Jew, the scribe would have repeated a number of times each day, “Listen Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord, and you must love him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.” We have heard these words many times, but do we ever really think about what they mean? This is presented to us as the greatest of the commandments, which means that whatever great achievements we think we might have accomplished in life, if we have not fulfilled this commandment then we have done nothing. If we do not put God in first place every day in our lives, then everything we do lacks substance.

The first step every day is to stop and listen to the Lord

The first words of the saying are crucially important, “Listen Israel!” The first thing that must be done is to turn our attention to the Lord. The word “obedience” is derived from the verb “to listen”. The first thing that we are asked to do in life is to fix our attention completely on the Lord. We think we are completely free, with the liberty to do what we please, but we are wrong. Before we ever act, we have already given our attention to something; our interest and our motivation are already being pulled in certain directions. That is why it is essential to take stock of where our interests and attention are fixed, and to turn them back decisively to the Lord.

                When people ask for help, the first thing we have to tell them often is to listen to the Lord. When marriages are in difficulty, when lives have gone down tortuous complicated paths, the first thing that must be done is to stop and turn our attention to God. If we continue to do things as we have always done them; if we continue to operate out of the same mentality, then things will remain exactly as they are. I must open myself to doings things in a new way. I must be ready to leave behind my system of doings things and be prepared to be surprised by God’s way of doing things. I might think that I can live for my own goals, using my own principles, taking my own paths. But living life without being rooted in God leads nowhere. Often, the first thing that we need to do is to stop and be silent. In situations of difficulty, the first step towards a resolution is to start listening, stop absolutizing the “word” that we have inside, and open oneself to accept a different word.

There is only one God. We must place him above the other small things that take the place of God in our lives

We must open ourselves to God, recognizing that he is one – the only one necessary. He is the only one that has ultimate meaning, and by recognizing this we start to get our priorities right. In our daily lives, we lose ourselves in the pursuit of many small things, but there is only one great thing that is ultimately significant. If we do not purse that one great thing, then of what value is the possession of all the smaller things? We are asked thus to listen, to reorder our priorities through listening, and to make God the most important focus in our lives.

Love with all your heart: This means to give God THE central place in our lives

The greatest of the commandments reveals to us that the fundamental thing that we are called to do in life is to love. The relationship with God is not to be one of obligation or slavery, but one of love. Once we focus on what this love consists in, then we embark on a journey of discovery of the beauty of the nature of the human being. Firstly, we are to love with all of our hearts. The heart represents the centre of our very essence, the principle of the unity of our being. To love God with all of our hearts means to be attached to him with all of our being. Love is the only authentic kind of relationship that exists. If the relationship between friends is not one of authentic love, if the relationship between parent and child is not one of genuine love, then what kind of relationship is it?  If colleagues at work do not have a relationship built on genuine love, then what does the relationship consist in? Convenience? Utility? At the centre of our being, in this place we call the “heart”, if there is not the joy of encounter with God, then unfortunately, something else must be there. Solitude, darkness, love of unworthy things. How many of us have love for the wrong things in our hearts! This Gospel calls each of us to heal these mistaken tendencies and announces clearly that our hearts can be healed and priorities in our lives restored.

Love with all your soul: this means to open our entire psychological and mental apparatus to God

In Greek the word for “soul” is “psyche”. If this Gospel calls us to the healing of our hearts, it also announces the healing of our entire mental apparatus. The tendencies nowadays is to analyse endlessly the causes and the blames for our psychological neuroses and fixations. What is needed, first and foremost, is to open our minds to love God. It is only in the encounter with God that many things are pardoned and healed.

Love with all your mind: this is a call to hygiene of the mind, nourishing our ways of thinking with words, images and ideas that are worthy of God, instead of the rubbish that has become the daily diet of our minds.

The greatest commandment asks us to love God with our ways of thinking, with all of our minds. There are ways of thinking that are right and good, and there are ways of thinking that are mistaken. How do we nourish our minds? We persist in nourishing our minds with the greatest rubbish imaginable! When we feed our children, we make sure that the food is clean and of the highest quality. We don’t give them food off the ground. Yet, on an everyday level, we continue to feed our minds with trashy images, with superficial and distorted visions of the nature of the person and of human existence. We continue to watch, listen and talk about things that have the minimum of reason or depth behind them, drinking in the propaganda of crass consumerist philosophies. In the last century, the human being nourished his mind with mistaken ideologies that painted a false picture of history and humanity, leading to unimaginable evil and the destruction of human life. We fill our minds with rubbish and we are urgently in need of hygiene of the mind, of the things we cultivate with our minds.

Love with all your strength: this means dedicating ourselves completely to developing and increasing our capacity to love

“Love the Lord your God with all of your strength.” The human being is remarkable in the way that he can apply himself with all of his strength to particular tasks, even if that task is virtually worthless! What are you applying yourself to these days? Some people are highly professional in work but completely illiterate when they return home to their families. There are people who are extremely talented in the things of this world, but incapable of performing a genuine act of love, unwilling to develop their capacities to accomplish that which lasts forever.

We understand this Gospel. Are we willing to take the final step and act on it?

How many beautiful things we are called to in life! The greatness and the resoluteness that we are called to have in our hearts! The healing that we are called to accomplish in our souls! The beautiful and worthy ways of thinking that we are asked to cultivate! The most important part of this Gospel passage has yet to come. The scribe agrees with what Jesus says about love of God and love of neighbour and replies, “It’s true. What you say is really true!” Jesus tells him that he is not far from the Kingdom of God. In a well-known children’s game, one of the children says “hotter!” or “colder!” when the other child approaches or moves away from a hidden object. Being “hotter” is of no use at all in this game if the object is not eventually found. Jesus says “hotter!” to the scribe, but the only thing that matters is to arrive at the final destination. To be one step away from the Kingdom but not to enter into the Kingdom signifies to understand but not to obey. We can understand the beautiful things that this Gospel places before us, but we can still refuse to enter in. It would almost be better not to know them at all if in the end one refuses to enter. That the Lord might grant us the grace to launch ourselves across that threshold between understanding and doing! All that matters, despite all of our internal contradictions, is to try in small ways to take that step. Help us Lord this week - in our hearts, our souls, our thoughts, our actions - to cultivate small, humble, acts of love towards God.

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