30 June 2013. Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Luke 9:51-62

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

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

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GOSPEL:        Luke 9:51-62

As the time drew near for him to be taken up to heaven, he resolutely took the road for Jerusalem and sent messengers ahead of him. These set out, and they went into a Samaritan village to make preparations for him, but the people would not receive him because he was making for Jerusalem. Seeing this, the disciples James and John said, 'Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?' But he turned and rebuked them, and they went off to another village.

As they travelled along they met a man on the road who said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go'. Jesus answered, 'Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head'.

Another to whom he said, 'Follow me', replied, 'Let me go and bury my father first'. But he answered, 'Leave the dead to bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God'.

Another said, 'I will follow you, sir, but first let me go and say good-bye to my people at home'. Jesus said to him, 'Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God'.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The key to interpreting this text, according to Don Fabio, is the simple resolution with which we must follow the call of God. Often we get caught up doing a thousand things that seem good in themselves; working for justice; burying the dead; resolutely “being a Christian”. We follow so many “goods” that we often neglect the real good that the Lord is calling me to do here and now. The primary and elementary things that each of us is called to do are modest and few in number. If we concentrate on doing these things, then Jesus will bring them to great fruition. But if we distract ourselves doing other “greater” goods, whilst neglecting our primary mission, these “goods” will accomplish nothing. How much “good” is done in the world that leads nowhere! When we make Jesus the centre, instead of our own action or volition, and do the things that he is calling us to do, then these things will truly bring salvation.

The call of God must be answered with resolution, not with hesitation!

Jesus resolutely sets out for Jerusalem and sends his messengers before him. He knows that he will suffer and die in Jerusalem, and yet he makes for the city with resolve and determination. This is how all of us must behave in the face of the things that God asks of us: do them willingly and courageously, instead of asking ourselves a hundred times if we will do them at all or not! So Jesus sets out, and his departure is accompanied by a series of episodes that are well articulated in the text.

James and John are focused on the wrong thing. Jesus rebukes them, insisting that they maintain their focus on their primary mission

First of all, a Samaritan town refuses to give hospitality to Jesus because the inhabitants know that he is heading to Jerusalem, and they have a long-standing antipathy to Jerusalem. James and John are indignant and want to call fire down on the city, as happened long ago to Sodom and Gomorrah when these towns similarly refused to offer hospitality. James and John want revenge, but Jesus rebukes them. His primary intention is not to deal out retribution to those who oppose him. His singular desire is to continue his journey to Jerusalem and fulfill his mission there. Here we discover the key to the entire text. Sometimes there are things that we feel are right and proper to do, and we expend great energy in doing them, but these things are often mere distractions from our primary mission. Three other cases are then presented to us in this Gospel.

Following Jesus is not simply a matter of choosing between good and evil. It involves choosing between the primary good and secondary goods, between the real good and the apparent good.

A man meets them on the road and declares to Jesus that he will follow the Lord wherever he goes. Here the emphasis is on the tenacity and fidelity of the man’s following of Jesus. The man is focused on himself and what a wonderful and loyal disciple he can be. A second man tells Jesus that he will follow him, but that he has to go and bury his father first. Still another man expresses his desire to follow Jesus but wishes to say goodbye to his family first. All of these are expressions of sentiments that are good in themselves and that are held up as virtuous elsewhere in the Bible. The first man wishes to follow the Lord tenaciously; the second expresses the desire to bury the dead with dignity; the third wants to salute his family properly before severing ties completely. What this brings home to us is that following Jesus is not simply about choosing between good and evil. Sometimes it involves choosing between the primary good and secondary goods, between what is really good and what seems to be good. Burying the dead, for example, was of central importance in the Hebrew tradition, as we see in the book of Tobias. But this Gospel emphasizes that all of these goods must take second place to what is primary in life. What is primary in life, by definition, is one only. There cannot be two things that are primary! And what is primary is to do the will of God as it has been revealed in our lives. James and John primarily wanted justice to be done to that Samaritan town. The first man primarily wanted to exercise his volition and determination in being a disciple. But Jesus allowed none of these urgent desires to take precedence over the business of resolutely following the path the Father was calling him to follow.

There is a risk that we might not do some of the good things that we ought to do, but there is a GREATER risk that we will distract ourselves doing “good” things, whilst overlooking the accomplishment of our real mission

This business of resolutely following the path of the Lord is not the business of walking along blindly without understanding where one is going. This is an internal journey; the journey of interior simplification; the journey towards personal truth. The problem often is that we wish to keep everyone happy and solve everyone’s problems. But the problems that most of us are capable of resolving are very few. The things that we are capable of accomplishing are relatively trivial. There is a risk of overlooking the good things that we ought to do, but there is a much greater risk of doing good things that should not have been priorities for us at all, whilst overlooking our own mission. We regularly see people with a vocation who are doing one thousand different things, whilst failing to do the basic things that should be primary for that vocation. Sometimes, in order to comply with evil, it is sufficient to do good things that are secondary, and as a result omit to do those very things that I ought to have done. In every vocation there are the elementary Christian things that we are called upon to accomplish. Instead we busy ourselves doing apparently “great” things that we were not called to do at all.

Following Jesus is a dynamic way of life that must be centered on Him. If we focus on ourselves, even in holy things, then we end up corrupting those things

We end up answering to emergencies that seem to be sacrosanct, and at the same time failing to respond to the emergencies that are truly ours. This results in the complete dispersion of our energies and the negligence of our authentic mission. Jesus does not have time to dole out justice to the towns that do not welcome him. Jesus is not in the business of creating a “den” or “nest” for those who say they want to follow him. In fact the home of Jesus is not a place but an experience. In John’s Gospel the disciples ask Jesus where he lives. He responds, “Come and see”. His home is not a dwelling but a way of life. Following Jesus is a dynamic thing, not a static thing! The man who declares that he will follow Jesus wherever he goes is focused on his own tenacious act of the will. The focus is not on Jesus! Whenever the focus is on ourselves, even in matters that are holy in themselves, we end up corrupting those things. It is not me who is the priest. The Lord calls me and it is He who must act in me. It is not me who follows the Lord wherever He goes. It is the Lord who opens the road to me in His great mercy and enables me to follow Him.

Without Jesus we can do nothing. The “goods” we do without Him are nothing. The modest good that we do with Him brings salvation

There are “priorities” in our lives that are not priorities at all. There are “emergencies” that do not need to be responded to. Sometimes we need to learn how to abandon a great good for a greater good. It is not enough for something to be merely good in order for us to follow it. It must, rather, be something that is essential to our following of Christ. It must be something that is relevant to our relationship with Him. In Chapter 15 of John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Without me you can do nothing”. How true this is! How much “good” is done in the world that leads nowhere in the end! We must search out the more modest and authentic good that we have been called by Jesus to do. This is the good that truly brings salvation.

JUNE 23^rd 2013. TWELFTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Luke 9:18-24

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

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

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GOSPEL                   Luke 9:18-24

One day when Jesus was praying alone in the presence of his disciples he put this question to them, 'Who do the crowds say I am?' And they answered, 'John the Baptist; others Elijah; and others say one of the ancient prophets come back to life'. 'But you,' he said 'who do you say I am?' It was Peter who spoke up. 'The Christ of God' he said. But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this.

'The Son of Man' he said 'is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.'

Then to all he said, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it.

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

Kieran's summary . . . Does the notion of renouncing yourself depress you? Does the news that you must lose your life in order to save it sound like bad news? When understood properly, this is the best news imaginable! The Gospel for Sunday begins with Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ, but Jesus orders the disciples to keep His identity secret. Why does He do that? Because Jesus does not want us to be content merely with recognizing who He is; He wants us to follow Him. Even the demons recognize that Jesus is Lord, but they certainly don’t make Him Lord of their lives! And how are we to follow Him? How are we to make Him Lord? By refraining from following ourselves. By refraining from making ourselves the measure of our own existence. Why are we inclined to think that self-renunciation is such a chore? It is the affirmation of self that is the ultimate chore! We are fixated with ourselves; with our image in the eyes of others; with things that are limited and mortal and full of deception. It is only when we renounce ourselves and make Christ the centre of our lives that we start to live fully. It is only then that our lives are renewed, restored and redeemed. Taking up the cross is not a dour chore; it is the daily rhythm of one who is heading for the resurrection; who has displaced himself from the centre of his life, and has made Jesus the focus.

How do we make sense of the different parts of this Gospel?

This Gospel seems to be composed of disparate parts. First, Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do the crowds say I am?” Then He asks the disciples who they think He is. Peter makes his confession and Jesus orders them to keep His identity a secret. Then Jesus foretells His suffering, declaring that anyone who wishes to follow Him must renounce himself and take up the cross. How are all of these various parts connected together?

Why does Jesus order the disciples to keep His identity a secret? Because He wants them to stay focussed on FOLLOWING Him, not just recognizing his identity

Who is Jesus? It is very important for each of us to be able to answer this question and it is essential that the Church be able to express who He is. Peter describes him as the “Christ of God”. This identifies Jesus with the Messiah, the One who is the fulfilment of the promises of God in the Old Testament. Peter makes his confession openly, in response to Jesus’ question, but then Jesus demands that His identity be kept a secret! Why is this? Because Jesus wants his disciples to keep focused on following Him, and not to remain at the stage merely of recognizing who he is. In today’s world we are inundated with information, chatter, and gossip. We know the most intimate and private details of other people’s lives. Many of us devote much time to reading and absorbing information. We run the very same risk as the disciples in the Gospel story: staying on the level of information and never making the leap to action. It is interesting to note that in the accounts of exorcisms in the Gospel, the demons always make a profession of faith in Jesus. They always recognize that He is the Christ, and Jesus always tells them to be quiet, just as he tells the disciples to stay quiet about his identity in this week’s Gospel! The demons may well profess the name of Jesus but they certainly do not follow him. The problem is not to recognize who Jesus is; the difficulty, once we have recognized him, is to follow him; to live by following in his steps, no longer simply accepting him in theory, but conforming ourselves to his person.

  

The starting point for following Jesus is to stop following ourselves

What is the starting-point for following Jesus? The Gospel tells us that the first thing we must do is renounce ourselves, take up our cross every day and follow Him. The renunciation of self is not something that is done one time for all. It is something that must be done continually. It is something that is a state of being and a rhythm of being of the person who journeys towards the resurrection, of the one who has found real life, of the one who loses that which deserves to be lost and saves that which deserves to be saved. It is important that we learn to discern that which merits being protected and chosen in our lives. We continually run the risk of being caught up in that which does not bring salvation at all.

Following Christ entails rejecting a life that is focussed on my own interests. It is not enough to recognize who Jesus is whilst living our lives within the parameters of our own egos.

Why do I have to lose my life in order to save it? Because there is a genuine risk that I might indeed recognize who Christ is, but then decide to hold on to my own way of doing things instead of following Him. There is a grave danger for Christians of acknowledging who Jesus is, accepting that He is the fulfilment of the promises of the Father, but then staying fundamentally attached to our own egos, remaining dependent on our own capacities, and not moving one centimetre beyond ourselves. We can fail to arrive at the fullness of life because we “follow” Christ only insofar as He is reduced to being an extension of ourselves and our own interests. We diminish Christ and make Him fit in with our ways of understanding things, our sentiments, our expectations. Insofar as we diminish Jesus in this way, we also diminish what He can accomplish in us.

It is sometimes thought that the goal of Christianity is to make Jesus known. But the real goal is to make him Lord of our lives.

The theme of this Gospel reading is certainly about following Jesus. It is a striking reading, intended to shake us from our lethargy. It emphasizes that the business of following Jesus only begins at what we are erroneously inclined to think is the final destination of the journey of the Christian: the recognition that He is the Christ. This error is commonplace. Many systems of thought hold that when man has understood his problems, then his problems are solved. This is not true. The true resolution of humanity’s problems is not just the diagnosis. but the cure. It is not enough just to recognize that Jesus is Lord, we must make Him Lord of our lives. In order to do this we must remove ourselves from the centre of our lives. Every Christian must “renounce himself, take up his cross every day and follow me”.

Renunciation of ourselves also includes renouncing self-criticism and negative preoccupations with ourselves.

The notion of renunciation is interesting. It implies that something that was previously affirmed must later be negated. It asserts that something that was once believed in must now be rejected. Each one of us must become that which has been rejected. And this is proper order! Long before we get to the stage of saying to Jesus, “You are the Christ”, how many times have we professed faith in ourselves! How many titles and names have we tried to attribute to ourselves! And sometimes some of these professions we have made to ourselves are entirely negative in character. The renunciation of ourselves is not just the renunciation of self-aggrandisement; it is also the renunciation of the negative thoughts we have towards ourselves. It is often even more difficult to renounce our negative self-opinions than it is to reject our pride. It is not just pride that Jesus asks us to renounce. Rather, we must reject all focus on ourselves, whether it be self-critical or self-acclaiming. A self-critical focus on ourselves still signifies that it is ourselves that we are following. Christ must become the focus of our lives. We must learn to live in an imbalanced way, making someone else the centre of gravity in our lives, finally oriented towards His resurrection, His beauty, His capacity to bring something new to our lives.

Renunciation of self is not depressing news. It is wonderful news! Non-adherence to ourselves permits us to attain the fullness of life when it is accompanied by the redemptive adherence to Christ

Does the notion of “losing our lives” really seem like such depressing news? I don’t think so. My life when centred on myself is nothing compared to what it can be when it is centred on Jesus. I should not fear the prospect of losing my life, but I should be terrorized at the prospect of “keeping” it, remaining fixated with it. My life is mortal, limited and full of self-deception. My real fear ought to be the risk of not coming to the fullness of life, life restored and renewed by the redemption. We should view this text as wonderful news! It shows us how to escape from the anguished captivity of our egoistic selves and arrive at the “you” of Christ.

JUNE 16^th 2013. ELEVENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Luke 7:36-50

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

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

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GOSPEL:                            Luke 7:36-50        

One of the Pharisees invited Jesus to a meal. When he arrived at the Pharisee's house and took his place at table, a woman came in, who had a bad name in the town. She had heard he was dining with the Pharisee and had brought with her an alabaster jar of ointment. She waited behind him at his feet, weeping, and her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them away with her hair; then she covered his feet with kisses and anointed them with the ointment.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, 'If this man were a prophet, he would know who this woman is that is touching him and what a bad name she has'. Then Jesus took him up and said, 'Simon, I have something to say to you'. 'Speak, Master' was the reply. 'There was once a creditor who had two men in his debt; one owed him five hundred denarii, the other fifty. They were unable to pay, so he pardoned them both. Which of them will love him more?' 'The one who was pardoned more, I suppose' answered Simon. Jesus said, 'You are right'. Then he turned to the woman. 'Simon,' he said 'you see this woman? I came into your house, and you poured no water over my feet, but she has poured out her tears over my feet and wiped them away with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but she has been covering my feet with kisses ever since I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. For this reason I tell you that her sins, her many sins, must have been forgiven her, or she would not have shown such great love. It is the man who is forgiven little who shows little love.' Then he said to her, 'Your sins are forgiven'. Those who were with him at table began to say to themselves, 'Who is this man, that he even forgives sins?' But he said to the woman, 'Your faith has saved you; go in peace'.

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

Kieran's summary . . . This Gospel presents us with two ways of relating to the Lord. We can relate to him as the Pharisees did, coldly fulfilling our religious obligations. Or we can relate to the Lord as the sinful woman did, not caring how we look in the eyes of others, responding wholeheartedly and spontaneously to the love of Jesus for us. The Pharisee was not aware of how much God values us and pardons us, but the sinful woman was fully aware. She loved much because she knew that she had been pardoned much, whilst the Pharisee loved little because he was not aware at all of the reality of what the Lord had done for him. The woman used her hair to dry the Lord’s feet, not caring how unkempt this would make her look. In the same way, we must offer our beauty, our image in the eyes of the others, to the Lord. We must seek to be beautiful only in His eyes. These are the two options that we must recall every morning when we wake up. Am I to love Jesus little or much? It is only by placing ourselves humbly at His feet, weeping as the woman has done, recognizing what He has done for us, that we can begin to respond to him with the spontaneous love of the sinful woman. Otherwise our “love” will be the cold religious observations and ablutions of the Pharisee. What is my choice? To “love” in a measured way, or to love without counting the cost?

This woman gives an example that all of us must follow. The only way to relate to Jesus is to place ourselves with humility and weeping before Him

This Sunday we have a wonderful Gospel to listen to!  A sinner enters the house of a Pharisee and makes a series of over-the-top gestures. She weeps profusely, showing her great sorrow for the things she has done. She places herself at Jesus’ feet - a gesture of great intimacy in the Hebrew world. This woman, we imagine, has placed herself at the feet of other men, asking life from them, but all she has received is humiliation. But now, finally, she finds herself at the feet of Jesus and what does she give? She gives everything! And what about us? Should we do any differently? Why shouldn’t we imitate this woman, weeping for the poverty that is within us and placing ourselves with humility at his feet? We shouldn’t we weep for the sins we have committed? For the poverty that is within us? Why shouldn’t we weep with surprise and joy to encounter someone who accepts us as we are and loves us, who has forgiven all of our sins? The tears of this woman show us the best way of entering into relationship with Jesus, and that is to be ourselves! To place myself  before Him as I am, poor and miserable, but at the same time capable of recognizing who He is for me, and how much He loves me.

The woman is so consumed with her love for Jesus that she has no regard for what others think of her. We too must renounce our image in the eyes of the world and offer our beauty to Christ.

The woman wets Jesus’ feet with her tears and then she wipes them with her hair. A woman’s hair is often an expression of her beauty, but this woman will have ruined her hair by using it as a towel for the feet! How many women in history have renounced their beauty for the love of Jesus! Countless women have given their femininity in gratitude and joy for a relationship of love with the Lord. In the end, we are all called to offer our beauty to the Lord. But what do we do instead? We offer our beauty to the deceptive and empty idols of this world! We use our beauty to advance our careers, to create a particular image in the eyes of others. Let us instead offer it to the Lord! This woman becomes dishevelled and “ugly” in the eyes of the world in order to be beautiful in the eyes of Christ. She offers her beauty and the expensive ointment to the Lord. We instead cling to these very things in order to win the shallow esteem of others; becoming obsessed and fixated with our public image, the mask we hold up to the world.

How can we be free of our fixation with our self-image? By placing ourselves in humility at the feet of Jesus.

It is a great liberation to be free from this self-obsession. And how can we become free? By placing ourselves at the feet of the One who alone deserves to be the true source of our self-esteem. It is beautiful to be in relationship with Jesus, to weep with Him, to be poor in His presence. If we have sinned, then let us place ourselves at His feet, accepting His love, offering him our perfume and our beauty. Whatever we offer Him will always be little in comparison to what He offers us.

The contrast between a person who loves Jesus freely and a person who “loves” Jesus according to the rules

In this Gospel there is a contrast between the love of this woman and the welcome given to Jesus by the Pharisee. Jesus highlights this by telling a short parable: once there was a man who was owed fifty denarii by one man, and five hundred by another. Neither was able to pay, so the man pardoned them both. Which of them will love him more? Simon (the Pharisee) answers, “The one who was pardoned more, I suppose”. Here we have the central message of this Gospel. Jesus contrasts the actions of the sinful woman with those of the Pharisee. “I came into your house, and you poured no water over my feet, but she has poured her tears over my feet and wiped them away with her hair. You are someone who follows protocol very well. You welcome someone as if it were a duty, and the sooner it is over, the better for everyone. You gave me no kiss. What do you know about true welcome, true adoration! You do not appreciate the connection that there is between you and me, but this woman knows what a real relationship is! She humbles herself before me, but you only do the things that you are obliged to do”.

The woman loves much because she knows that she has been forgiven much. Do I love little? Am I not aware of how much Jesus loves and pardons me?

Jesus finishes with a frightening phrase: “He who has been forgiven little, loves little”. This Gospel should fill us with terror. Is it the case that I love little? All of us, to some extent, love little. All of us are cold and distant in relation to the Lord. We only become passionate when we lose our temper, or when we are worked up over some self-centred project, not for love of Jesus. How many people fret about formalities, wondering if things are being done according to accepted procedure. What we ought to be asking is if there is love in my heart. This is the central question that we should ask ourselves every morning. And the answer is that the love I have in my heart is always too little; it is never enough. We must learn to love more and more, giving to the Lord hair, perfume, beauty, tears, everything. Jesus gave everything for us: hair, tears, His body, His hands and feet nailed to the cross, His side pierced, His shoulders crushed by an overwhelming burden. And why? Because He loves us! Because He values us! Because He pardons us!

We have two options: We can love like a Pharisee, measuring our love according to the established norms. Or we can love without measure, without counting the cost.

Let us enter wholeheartedly into this  relationship and renounce the coldness of the Pharisaic way of relating to God. How often we are constrained by norms that hamper us from spontaneously relating to the Lord on the level of the heart. What coldness and greyness and wastefulness there is in the world! How many people fail to be themselves; fail to emulate this woman in the Gospel who is so completely herself. And we fail to be ourselves because we do not open to the One who allows us to be ourselves. The Lord calls us and enables us to become the people that he created us to be. This Gospel calls us to the illogical and courageous acts of the true follower of Christ. Every Christian has Christ to love, and this must be done without counting the cost.

JUNE 9^th 2013. TENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Luke 7:11-17

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

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

GOSPEL                   Luke 7:11-17

Jesus went to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a great number of people. When he was near the gate of the town it happened that a dead man was being carried out for burial, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a considerable number of the townspeople were with her. When the Lord saw her he felt sorry for her. 'Do not cry' he said. Then he went up and put his hand on the bier and the bearers stood still, and he said, 'Young man, I tell you to get up'. And the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Everyone was filled with awe and praised God saying, 'A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people'. And this opinion of him spread throughout Judaea and all over the countryside.

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

Kieran’s summary . . . Don Fabio sees in this Gospel the dramatic story of the apparent futility and senselessness of human endeavour. The cortege of Jesus meets the cortege of the widow’s son at the gates of Nain. Nain represents our world. Its gate stands for the passing from this world to death. Humanity has deep sadness and grief at its core because of a feeling that everything that we value comes to an end. We expend vast amounts of energy on entertainment and activity in an effort to distract ourselves from the anguish we feel at the transitory nature of our lives. The frantic funeral procession that is human life meets the procession of Jesus at the gates of the city. The first thing Jesus does is to say, “Do not cry! Your grief is misplaced! The ultimate end of things is not death and despair!” Then he touches the corpse. This corpse represents all of us, dead, putrid and impotent as we are. Jesus wants to touch us, speak to us and restore us to life. Just as the young man is given new life, so the Church gives new life to us, its members, through our life-giving encounters with Jesus in the sacraments. Grant, Lord, that each of us may listen to the words of Jesus and be restored from death to life.

Two corteges meet each other at the gates of Nain: the cortege of life led by Jesus; and the cortege of the widow’s only son. This funeral cortege represents the grief of humanity and its attachment to that which is passing away.

This beautiful story of the restoration to life of a young man is full of significant details. Jesus enters Nain, a place-name that refers to the beauty and cheerfulness of that city. Accompanying Jesus is a crowd of followers. This cortege encounters another cortege of a very different sort at the gate of the city: the funeral procession of a young man. The city of Nain represents our world, and the gate represents the place where one exits this world of human affairs. The young man who has died is the only son of a widowed mother. This heart-rending story is the story of humanity in general who must, sooner or later, arrive at that gate; it is the story of a human race that generates children who will one day die. All of our relationships and projects will eventually meet the same fate. The weeping of the widow of Nain is the continuous lament that is present in humanity for that which passes away. The lives that we lead in this world, our accomplishments and plans, already have the principle of their own corruption inherent in them. All of the beautiful things that we value will one day enter their twilight, and this is a source of great sadness for all of us.

  

The world engages in a hive of activity and entertainment to distract itself from its grief. Christianity has a message of life for this frenzied cortege of death that characterises our world.

The two corteges meet at the gate of Nain. The funeral cortege represents humanity’s steady progression towards eventual grief and the tomb. The cortege of Jesus, by contrast, is joyful and happy, and wishes to touch the first cortege. Christianity in general is a movement of people who wish to encounter other people. It is characterised by the desire to speak words of life to those in despair. To accomplish this, Christians must first of all be compassionate of heart. In this Gospel we see the compassionate heart of Jesus, and we see that the fundamental thing is not to prolong life but to love. Jesus takes the sadness of others into his own heart. The translation merely says “Jesus felt sorry for her”, but the original expression signifies that Jesus was moved internally by pity; his very insides were affected by his compassion for her. The cortege of life has its origin in the intimate interior of God that is moved by compassion for all of the living. “Do not cry”, Jesus says to the widow. Much of human culture arises from a desperate drive to avoid weeping; to distract ourselves from the reality of death. Our thirst for entertainment, for inebriation, for physical wellbeing are all directed to divert us from the sadness and grief that lies at the heart of our mode of existence. The sadness of humanity gives rise, on an industrial scale, to a frenzy of activity that tries to help us to flee from the gloomy reality prophesized in the Book of Ecclesiastes: “Everything is vanity and a chasing after wind”.

Jesus announces that life is not merely a procession towards the tomb. Our grief arises from for our mistaken perspective on what is essential in life. Jesus demands a new perspective and says “There is no need to cry!”

Jesus, however, announces to the widow that it is time to extract oneself from the cycle of grief that besets humanity. “Do not cry!” Life is not just a procession towards the tomb. The action of God is present and it can transform reality. It is essential, however, that we lift our gaze and lose our fixation with grieving for what is passing. We think we know everything about the world, and this can lead to cynicism and despair. But we must be open to God’s surprising action in our lives that can radically change the character of what we experience. “Stop crying for what is passing!” This is the first step.

Jesus reaches out and touches the dead. He does this for all of us, dead, putrid and impotent as we are.

Then Jesus touches the corpse. The bearers stand still in surprise, because it was not permitted in Jewish society to touch a corpse. According to Jewish tradition, it was forbidden for a person in state of holiness to place his hand on the dead.  Only the coffin bearers were dispensed from this stipulation. What a surprise! Jesus, the holy one, touches a corpse! The living one reaches out to the dead. There is a fundamental lesson here for all of us. The dead is incapable of reaching out to the living. It is never the case that we approach God by our own initiative. It is never the case that we can resolve our own problems by ourselves. We must allow ourselves to be touched by the compassion of Christ. Jesus comes and he touches us, putrid, naked, impotent though we may be. Jesus touches the corpse and says, “Young man, I tell you to get up”. The word of God is capable of transforming our condition.

The young man of Nain represents all of us. Like him, we must hear the transforming words of Jesus and begin life again with youth and vigour.

This young man represents all of us. He is a youth, strong and full of energy. We think we know who we are, but we continually forget that God has a plan for us. As a result we have a concept of our own identity that is mistaken. We are all youths, children of God, and the Lord wishes to speak to us. We think that we can manage our own lives, be the centres of our own identities, but we are all youths in the sight of God. We are not merely children of this mother who weeps, but called to be children of God himself, called to be brothers and sisters of the Lord Jesus who says to us, “Rise! Rise!” How often we are consumed by a spirit of sadness and grief. But these words of Jesus challenge us to try to discern who we are in God’s eyes. In God’s eyes I am always a person who can begin his life again; I am always a child. There is a line in the Easter liturgy that refers to “the renewed youthfulness of the spirit”. When the cortege of the Lord encounters our cortege, everything must be renewed to the core; everything must begin again from the start. Death is not the final word. God is the Alpha and the Omega and it is He who has the final word.

When Jesus says to the young man of Nain “Rise!” he is speaking directly to a person. Jesus is not promoting a philosophy or abstract system of ideas. The young man sits up and begins to speak. Everything happens in stages. First he is empowered to sit up by Jesus, then he speaks. The fact that he speaks indicates that what we are talking about here is a relationship. Jesus then restores him to his mother. This is a summary of the experience of the Church. The Church is vested in human frailty and weakness, yet it generates sons and daughters of God who are enabled to start from zero and begin life again. That the Lord may grant us through this Gospel to hear the restoring words of Jesus, contemplate his power, and become full of life again.