November 30^th 2014.  First Sunday of Advent

Gospel: Mark 13:33-37

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

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

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GOSPEL Mark 13:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come.

It is like a man travelling abroad: he has gone from home, and left his servants in charge, each with his own task; and he has told the doorkeeper to stay awake.

So stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming, evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn;

if he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep.

And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!’

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

Kieran’s summary . . . The Gospel warns us to be watchful for the coming of the Lord. Does this mean that we have to be super-alert and in a constant state of tension? No, the watchfulness that the Lord wishes of us is of a different kind. Advent is a time to be vigilant in the sense that I desperately need the Lord to visit my house. When I try to run my house by myself, then I make my house – my body and my life – into a den of thieves. John Paul II said that the tragedies, wars and concentration camps of the twentieth century all came from the fact that humanity exalted its own autonomy and did not allow the Lord to be in command of its house. The same is true for you and me. The first reading tells us that without the Lord we are like people unclean, like withered leaves that blow away in the wind. But when we welcome the Lord, we become the clay in the hands of the master potter who forms us into objects of great beauty. This is the watchfulness that we need in Advent! It is not a time to fear the coming of the Lord in the way that a criminal might fear the arrival of the police! It is a time to be vigilant in the sense of doing everything we can to allow the Lord to enter our lives, filling them with meaning and joy.

Advent is about being watchful? But what kind of watchfulness do we need? Like someone who is super-alert and saturated with caffeine, or a different sort of watchfulness?

Advent is the time of preparation for the coming of the Lord. As we say in the Creed, the Lord will come definitively at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. Sunday’s Gospel warns us to pay attention and stay awake, for we do not know when the master of the house will return. This warning puts us under a certain amount of tension and stress. During life, there are often moments when the Lord shakes us up and makes his presence felt, when changes come and the Lord visits us. A superficial reading of this text leads us to conclude that the message is one of being watchful. Like someone who is saturated with caffeine and refuses to allow the minimum detail to escape his attention! But what is the motive for this watchfulness? What is the manner of the Lord’s coming come at the end of time? Why in Advent do we orient ourselves towards the end times?

The first reading from Isaiah tells us exactly the kind of watchfulness that is needed in Advent!

The first reading from the last part of the book of Isaiah gives us a beautiful key for approaching this Gospel. It speaks of a cry that arises from the people of God. They have returned to Israel after the Exile. Even though they have reacquired their lands, they are destitute and in a precarious situation, a small weak group surrounded by more powerful kingdoms. The prophet cries out, “You, Lord, yourself are our Father, Our Redeemer is your ancient name.
 . . . No ear has heard, no eye has seen any god but you act like this for those who trust him. You guide those who act with integrity and keep your ways in mind. You were angry when we were sinners; we had long been rebels against you. We were all like men unclean, all that integrity of ours like filthy clothing. We have all withered like leaves and our sins blew us away like the  wind. No one invoked your name or roused himself to catch hold of you. For you hid your face from us and gave us up to the sower of our sins. And yet, Yahweh, you are our Father; we the clay, you the potter, we are all the work of your hand.” This passage contains the key to the kind of watchfulness that is needed in Advent! We desperately need the Lord’s visitation. His coming is not like the arrival of the police or army at your house. He is not a robber who comes and takes unexpectedly. He is our dear master who protects and nourishes us! He is the only one who governs our house well.

The twentieth century shows us what humanity is like when God is not made welcome in its house

Without the Lord, what are we? What is the human being when he is not watchful for the presence of the Lord, when he considers the visit of the Lord to be an intrusion or imposition on his freedom and autonomy? St John Paul the Great, at the beginning of the new millennium, spoke of the state of humanity during the 20^th century. It was the epoch in which the human person exalted his own autonomy to extent of gravely dehumanising entire populations, a century stained by torture, displacement, the horrors of the concentration camps. During this period of loss of beauty and the humiliation of the human person, we continued to pursue ideals of autonomy and progress, but everything revolved around the human being detached from his maker. Today humanity continues to experience tragedies of this kind.

When I try to make my house my own, I turn it into a den of thieves. But when I welcome the Lord into my house and put him in command, then my life is transformed into something beautiful

What does all of this mean? Quite simply that we need God! We need him to be in command of our lives! Isaiah says, “Why, Yahweh, do you leave us to stray from your ways and harden our hearts against fearing you? Return, for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance. Oh that you would tear the heavens open and some down - at your Presence, such as no one has ever heard of before.”  The importance of Advent is that it is a time to allow ourselves to be visited by God, to be “rediscovered” by God. He wants to erupt into our lives and we need to throw open wide the doors of our existence to him. Come Lord Jesus, my house is yours! When I try to make it my own, I destroy it and turn it into a den of thieves. I make it into a place without direction or beauty. When you return to my house, I discover my mission of service and the meaning of my life. When you come, all is well again. Let us open ourselves this Advent and read the Gospel in all of its positivity. What is more beautiful than the arrival of a welcome guest, the return of someone that we love?

November 23^rd 2014.  Feast of Christ the King

Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46

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

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

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GOSPEL Matthew 25:31-46

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”

Next he will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink; I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.” Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?” Then he will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me.” And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.’

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

Kieran’s summary . . . In the first reading, the Lord criticizes the leaders of the people for not shepherding his flock. God himself must become the shepherd, seeking out the lost one, bandaging the wounded, rescuing them in times of danger. In the Gospel, we encounter a different message. All of us are called to be shepherds for the needy, and when we care for the needy we are caring for Christ himself. There is no doubt that each one of us is called to take care of others, but sometimes we pursue grand projects and neglect the very people around us that the Lord wishes us to serve! Using simple discernment, all of us can identify the people in our lives that we are called to take care of. What kind of service does Jesus expect of us? Does he want us to exercise philanthropic charity, serving others according to human categories of justice, merit, etc.? No! As the Gospel makes clear, Jesus wants us to refrain from judging people according to merely human principles. If we use human parameters then our service would be much more limited. We would say, “This person is ungrateful and doesn’t deserve my care,” or “This person did great harm to me and I cannot be expected to return evil with good,” or “This life is unviable and it is pointless prolonging it further”. We must cease to think of the other in merely human terms and instead see in them the face of Christ. “As long as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me”. And let us never forget what Jesus has done for me! When I was imprisoned in the slavery and imprisonment of my own making, he released me and showed me what true freedom was like. When I suffered from hidden spiritual illnesses that I was not even aware of, he healed me and taught me how to live a wholesome life. When I hungered for life and truth, he did not leave me without sustenance.

The first reading speaks of the Lord who must become a shepherd for the needy because no one else will do it. The Gospel speaks of us all becomes shepherds for the Lord when we look after the needy

It is interesting to compare the Gospel for Sunday with the first reading. Indeed, one reading turns the perspective of the other on its head! The prophet Ezekiel makes his famous diatribe on behalf of the God of Israel against the leaders who are supposed to shepherd the people. The Lord says that he himself will look after the flock, seeing that no one else would do it. “I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered during the mist and darkness . . . I myself will show them where to rest – it is the Lord who speaks. I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them.” The people of Israel have not taken care of their brothers and sisters, so the Lord himself will do it for them. The Gospel, instead, turns this perspective upside down. A shepherd king appears at the end of time and divides the flock into sheep on one side and goats on the other. But what is the principle of discernment that dictates who should go on either side? “I was hungry and you gave me to eat, thirsty and you gave me to drink, naked and you clothed me, in prison and you visited me.” In the first reading it was the Lord himself who took care of the needy because there was a lack of charity among the people, but in the Gospel we see that it is people of a certain sort who are rewarded for taking care of him. The Gospel in fact calls all of us to be pastors, to take care of others.

We are all called to take care of particular people in our lives. Who are they?

Each one of us has someone that we are called to take care of. Sometimes we busy ourselves striving to accomplish great works, but these works are often extraneous to the nitty-gritty of our daily lives. We are called, rather, to be attentive to the particular context in which the Lord has placed us, to the things that he has given us to do. It would be wrong if we became completely taken up with some grand project, whilst neglecting the primary needs of the people that surround us. Using simple discernment we can recognize who the Lord has placed before us in our particular ministry or situation or condition. There cannot be any shadow of a doubt that the Lord has given us someone to take care of. Each one of us is called to the service of others. No woman or man can survive without being in a state of reciprocal service with others. All of us have need to be shepherded and we too need to shepherd others.

Philanthropy is the love of humans according to human parameters. Christian charity is the love of others according to the parameters of Christ, and these parameters go far beyond human categories

It is interesting to see how the Gospel overturns the perspective of the first reading. When we serve others, we are taking care of Christ. Neither the good people nor the bad people in the Gospel recognize this fact. The good say, “When did we see you hungry and feed you?” The bad ones say, “When did we see you hungry and not feed you?” The shepherd king reveals that he was hidden in the needy people that surrounded them; “Every time you did it to the least of these, you did it to me”. This highlights the distinction between simple philanthropy and Christianity. Philanthropy is the love of human beings according to certain principles of justice and solidarity. These principles are all good up to a point. But Christian charity is different insofar as it is a relation with Christ. Philanthropic love of others is limited by the principles on which it is based. It has certain concepts of merit, justice, etc., which remain human parameters. Christian charity goes beyond human parameters because it is based on a relationship with Christ and it finds its model in what Christ has done for us. Justice takes on a different meaning in this perspective. We no longer do charitable acts only for those who deserve it. We do it for those who are completely undeserving and ungrateful because Jesus did exactly that for us. The category of Christian charity includes love for enemies, which is ultra-human as far as philanthropy is concerned. Christian love derives from the Holy Spirit, not from the human spirit. We do not simply strive to do our deeds with great exertion of the will because those deeds are good; we strive to replicate, to participate, in that which has been done for us by Christ. In doing so, we end up loving Him who has loved us so much. It no longer matters whether or not the poor person is deserving of the good deed. That poor person participates in a triangular relationship with me and Christ.

Let us bear in mind the way that Christ has visited me, the way he has healed me from illnesses that I was not even aware that I had, the way he has liberated me from prisons of my own making

When I was imprisoned in my slavery to sin, Christ visited me and freed me; he had endless patience with me; when I was hungry for those profound things that my spirit lacked, he did not leave me without sustenance; when I was afflicted with my interior, invisible illnesses, he took me by the hand and revealed those illnesses to me. He has taught me how to live the healthy life that comes from him. It is from our relationship with Christ that our acts of mercy find their proper point of departure. Otherwise those acts are limited by the parameters of our rationality which are small and mediocre.

November 16^th 2014.  Thirty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time

Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­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 Matthew 25:14-30

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
"A man going on a journey
called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them.
To one he gave five talents; to another, two; to a third, one--
to each according to his ability.
Then he went away.
Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded with them,
and made another five.
Likewise, the one who received two made another two.
But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground
and buried his master's money.
After a long time
the master of those servants came back
and settled accounts with them.
The one who had received five talents came forward
bringing the additional five.
He said, 'Master, you gave me five talents.
See, I have made five more.’
His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master's joy.’
Then the one who had received two talents also came forward and said,
'Master, you gave me two talents.
See, I have made two more.'
His master said to him, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.
Since you were faithful in small matters,
I will give you great responsibilities.
Come, share your master's joy.’
Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said,
'Master, I knew you were a demanding person,
harvesting where you did not plant
and gathering where you did not scatter;
so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.
Here it is back.'
His master said to him in reply, 'You wicked, lazy servant!
So you knew that I harvest where I did not plant
and gather where I did not scatter?
Should you not then have put my money in the bank
so that I could have got it back with interest on my return?
Now then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten.
For to everyone who has,
more will be given and he will grow rich;
but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.
And throw this useless servant into the darkness outside,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.'"

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

Kieran’s summary . . . It is important not to turn the Parable of the Talents into an opportunity for moralising. All too often we use the parable to emphasize our duty and obligation to use our talents. The key to the story is the trust that the master shows to his servants. He distributes eight talents among them. A talent was worth thirty-four kilos of gold, an enormous amount of wealth. The master, thus, is entrusting his entire possessions to his servants. When the first two servants repay that trust, the master’s response is to entrust them with even more. The third servant, by contrast, buries the talent. He does not take possession of it at all because he has a negative view of the master and of his possessions. All too often we have a negative view of God and we fail to appreciate the blessings that he has entrusted us with! We behave like the third servant, ignoring or burying the blessings and opportunities that the Lord has placed before us. It is essential that we contemplate the goodness of the Lord and learn to appreciate the graces and occasions that he sends our way! Once we learn to contemplate his goodness, once we begin to make the Lord the first thing in our lives, then we learn to put those blessings and capacities to use joyfully. We end up being fruitful and a blessing to others. There is a big difference between a moralising interpretation of this parable and an approach that sees it as an encouragement to take possession of the good things that the Lord has entrusted to us. The moralising approach sees the will of God in a negative light, as an onerous duty that foils our natural inclinations to go our own way. The positive approach sees God’s will as a blessing, a call to take possession of the master’s goods and use them in the service of everyone.

The first reading praise a woman for her fruitfulness. From where does this fruitfulness derive? From the fact that she places God first in her life

The first reading provides us with a key for understanding the parable of the talents found in Sunday’s Gospel. The woman described in the first reading is formidable and worth more than any pearls. What makes this woman so wonderful? How does she manage to bring happiness to those around her all the days of her life? The passage does not laud the woman for her beauty or seductive powers. Instead it speaks of her works, of her creative capacities and her service to the poor. The end of the passage tells us that charm and beauty are empty. What counts is to fear God. The reading thus connects the fear of God and being fruitful with the work of one’s hands. The Gospel for Sunday expresses the same theme in a different way.

The key to this Gospel is the faith shown by the master in his servants

In the Gospel the master shows faith in his servants. This faith is fundamental. What the servants are given by the master is not something insignificant. A single talent represented enormous wealth, approximately thirty-four kilos of gold. The master gives to each servant according to his capacities, eight talents in total. Thus he is entrusting nothing less than his entire wealth to his servants. We must be careful not to interpret this parable in moralistic terms, emphasizing the notions of obligation and duty. No. What we have here is a reflection on the faith that is shown by the master in each one of us. The master is incredibly generous! He entrusts the servants with his possessions, and when they repay that trust, his response is to entrust them even more! God entrusts us with things to achieve. Life should not be a constant search for moments of recreation. In the degenerate society in which we live, life is conceived of as the constant quest for entertainment. Work is seen as something that tends to impede this quest. People who are unemployed know that this is not the case. They appreciate that constant idleness is dehumanising, whilst work is something very important. But many people who have work consider their jobs to be a boring interval between one weekend and the next. What is important is to get work finished, have fun, rest ourselves.

This Gospel is not trying to scold us for the little that we do with our talents. It is encouraging us to launch ourselves with enthusiasm into the blessings that the Lord has given us – big difference!

It is important to appreciate the fact that each one of us has been given something important to achieve. It is essential that all of us launch ourselves with enthusiasm into the blessings and talents that the Lord has given us. The goods that our master has entrusted to us are incredible! Some of the gifts are natural and some are supernatural, like the sacraments and the word of God, things that each of us can appropriate in our own way. It is beautiful to be alive! It is beautiful to work! It is beautiful to use one’s life in this way!

The third servant is someone who does not embrace the gift that God gives him. He thinks negatively of God and of the graces of God. He ignores or buries the blessing of God and the blessing bears no fruit whatsoever.

What does the case of the third servant represent? This man does absolutely nothing. He takes the talent that has been given him and buries it under the ground. When the servant tries to justify his behaviour, he says, “Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground. Here it is back.” This servant never took possession at all of that which had been entrusted to him. He said to the master, “Here is what is yours”. It is fundamental that we take possession of the graces that have been given to us! God has bestowed great graces on all of us and it is up to us to accept them! God does not force us to do so. He does not compel us to make use of the opportunities that have been presented to us. It is up to us to seize what has been offered. The third servant does not take possession of what as given to him because he had a negative opinion of his master. “Master, I knew you were a hard person . . .” But the truth is that our master is not a negative figure in the slightest. He is incredibly generous and all he wishes for is that we would respond in like manner for our own good. The notion that he would “harvest where he did not plant and gather where he did not scatter” is derived from a false and negative image of God. There is a common notion abroad that God is severe and demanding? But this belief has no basis at all!

Let us think positively of our great Lord and embrace the blessings that he has given us. Once we do so then our lives will become fruitful and a blessing for others

In the first reading we are told that the woman who places God first in her life is exceptionally fruitful in the work of her hands. There is a connection between fearing God (where the “fear” of God implies placing him first, contemplating him and holding him precious) and the fruitfulness of our lives. The will of God is not a trap but a gift! The will of God is a beautiful occasion which we have for bearing fruit. The parable this Sunday encourages us to take possession of the trust that the Lord has shown in us. Let us cease thinking that we live under a tyrannical God. The Lord is generous! He gives us the privilege of a mission to accomplish. He entrusts us with works to be carried out so that we can experience his generosity. Let us open our hearts to think positively of God and to welcome the occasions that he puts before us.

November 9^th 2014. THE FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF ST JOHN LATERAN

Gospel: John 2:13-22

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

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GOSPEL:                                  John 2:13-22

Just before the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market’. Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up’. The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.

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

Kieran’s summary . . . This Sunday we celebrate the dedication of St John Lateran, the Cathedral of Rome. The cathedra represents the teaching authority of the bishop, and the Bishop of Rome presides over all the Catholic Church. It is important that each of us play our particular role in the ecclesial body that is the Church. The first reading speaks of a fountain of water that comes out of the Temple and gives life to the entire world, animals, plants and fish. We, as the Church, are also called to give life to the world. The feast this week highlights the unique position of the Cathedral of Rome at the heart of the Church, and the readings focus very appropriately on the zeal of Jesus to purify the Church. Whatever our role may be, the Church will not function well as a stream of life-giving water for the world unless the water that issues from her is clean. Jesus drives the money changers and sellers out of the Temple because the house of God must not be compromised with worldly things. There is always a temptation to make mundane things central and to marginalize the sacred things that ought to be our absolute priority! We also are temples of God. We must allow Jesus to enter our hearts and purify us so that we will becomes springs of water for the world. The money changers and sellers that exist in our hearts, the constant tendencies to make worldly things central, these must be driven out of us by Jesus. We must be constantly purified so that we become worthy temples of the Holy Spirit, carrying life-giving water to the world.

The cathedra represents the teaching mission of the bishop of the diocese

This Sunday we celebrate the dedication of a church, the Lateran Basilica, the Cathedral of Rome. St Peter’s might appear to be more important, but the cathedral of a diocese is the place of the cathedra or seat of the bishop of the diocese. When the bishop sits in his chair, this act symbolizes his fundamental teaching role. In the apse of St John Lateran there is a marble chair on which no one else can sit except the Holy Father, the Bishop of Rome. A chair can symbolize the office of master or judge, and in the case of the cathedra of every diocese, it symbolizes the magisterium or teaching authority of the bishop. A bishop, of course, doesn’t just exercise his magisterium whilst sitting on that chair. He does so wherever he goes and in various different ways.

Every part of a body has is particular role, and the role of the Bishop of Rome is to preside in charity over the rest of the body

The Church is not an abstract entity but the communion of all the faithful, the body of Christ. The parts of a body have different functions, but they all operate together for the good of a single person. There is also the role of government. If the body is not united under a single decision making component - the mind - and if the various parts do not operate according to their particular design, then problems result. A cell that does not develop in the way that respects its role in the overall plan is called cancerous. The role of the bishop is the teaching of the faith, and he is assisted in this by priests. It is important that there be unity in the teaching of the faith. The Church of Rome presides in charity over the magisterium of the Church. The Catholic Church recognizes in the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, this special and unique role as successor of Peter.

The Church is a fountain of water that gives life to the world, but the waters must be purified.

With all of this we are already very familiar. The dedication of the Lateran Basilica, insofar as it is the dedication of the cathedra of the Bishop of Rome, the bishop who presides over the entire Catholic Church, involves the consecration of a physical place. Through these concrete objects - this Chair, this basilica - we grow in awareness of who we are ourselves. The Church is a temple that is purified by Jesus. The first reading speaks of a stream that issues from the Temple. It becomes a marvellous river giving life to all of creation, animals, plants and fish. In the same way, the Church gives life to the world. At the heart of the Church, the body of Christ, is the assembly of the people of God, a concrete entity that gives life to others. It is not a self-sufficient entity that exists for its own sake. It is something, rather, from which abundant waters flow for the benefit of the entire world. But in order for abundant waters to flow, it is essential that the Church be built upon a pure source. A stream can be polluted in the valley or in the mountains through which it flows. For this reason Jesus goes to the heart of the Temple to purify it.

There is a constant temptation to make the temple impure by allowing worldly things to take pride of place

The Temple of the Old Testament is symbolic of the Church, and it is also symbolic of every individual Christian. The Temple is the holy place of God, where God speaks to his people and where people make contact with God. In this place sacrifices and liturgies made heaven and earth touch each other. The transformation of the Temple into a market place represented an abuse of sacred things. The money changers and the sellers of doves were not completely alien to the place, but they were an abuse of the necessities of the cult. The maintenance of the Temple as a place worthy of the cult required the offering of a very particular coin. The Jews that came from various parts of the world to worship in Jerusalem had need of the money changers in order to be able to offer that coin, but the problem was that this secondary kind of activity had taken central place. There is a constant temptation with the sacred to allow secondary things to dominate our attention. That which should be at the heart of our worship becomes a servant of these secondary things. The purification of the Temple is Jesus’ priority. In the Gospel we are told that he is filled with zeal for his Father’s house.

This Sunday let us renew our commitment to drive the money changers and sellers from our hearts, to cease to make worldly things our priority, to allow ourselves to become pure temples of the Spirit, places where the loving paternity of God is contemplated constantly,

We, as an ecclesial community and as individuals, as temples of the Spirit of God, have need of order and purification. We are not purified once and for all. We exist in a perpetual state of being purified. Our houses don’t get cleaned just once a year, they are in need of regular cleaning. Our bodies need constant cleaning and care, and in the same way our souls need constant care. Our souls must cease to be a market place, where our overriding preoccupation is with acquisition, gain, the satisfaction of what we can attain. We must allow our souls to be transformed by Jesus into the house of the Father, the place where we cultivate always the memory of the loving paternity of God. This Sunday presents a wonderful opportunity to restore our discipline, to tenaciously focus only on that which is necessary so that the fountain within us becomes pure and clean.

November 2^nd 2014. Feast of All Souls

Gospel: John 6:37-40

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Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast of Vatican Radio

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Gospel JN 6:37-40

Jesus said to the crowds:
“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.
And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,
but that I should raise it on the last day.
For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.”

Kieran’s summary . . . The Feast of All Souls is not a sad feast that looks back in time. It is a Feast of hope in the resurrection. Our loved ones are not behind us in history, but ahead of us. They have crossed the threshold to the true destination of our lives. But what is our hope of the resurrection based upon? Is it founded on our own merits, on the capacities of the human flesh? No! Our hope in eternal life is utterly based on the paternal love of the Father who has the power to raise us in the same way that he raised Jesus from the tomb. On this feast of All Souls, we contemplate the choice that God has placed before us. He gave us life and wants us to have eternal life. But he cannot compel us to follow him and have life. True love doesn’t compel! The choice is ours! But it is not a choice that is focussed merely on the future. It is the choice to accept God as my Father today. Once we begin to live this daily relationship with God, trusting in his paternal life-giving nature, then we look towards the future with hope. And we become confident that we will see our dear departed in the future. God loves each of his creatures and he will hold them in the palm of his hand until we meet them again.

Our dear departed are not behind us in history but ahead of us. They have taken a step forward and await us at our true destination

The words of Jesus in the Gospel come from his wonderful discourse at Capernaum where he describes himself as the Bread of Life. In the passage we read on Sunday, Jesus tells us that the Father’s plan for everyone is the resurrection. The Book of Job tells the story of an afflicted man who looks towards death and towards that which comes after death. He sees his Redeemer who is beyond the flesh, beyond the limits of the human body, which, as Job experiences it, is already undergoing decay. The Feast of All Souls, similarly, is not a sad event but a proclamation of our faith in the resurrection. On this feast, we feel grief for the loved ones that we miss, the dear ones that we cannot embrace or speak with at this time, but we are consoled by the good news that we are headed towards the resurrection. Our loved ones are not behind us in history, but ahead of us. They have made a leap forward. Death is the threshold of something new, not a wall where our existence is wiped out. Once we cross the threshold of death we arrive at our true destination.

Is our faith in eternal life based upon ourselves?

On what is our faith in the resurrection based? The human longing for a life that never ends can be based on many things. Different religions have different ways of expressing their understanding of how we can go beyond the limit of death. However, if the answer is based on ourselves; if we look within the human condition for the solution of how we can live forever, then our hope will be something very precarious because it is evident that we are limited and vulnerable. Our lives can be destroyed in an instant. It is easy to make us suffer or to lose our lives altogether. But our hope is not based on ourselves! Job says, “I know that my redeemer lives!” As Christians we know that the one who saves us is very much alive. I do not base my faith in the resurrection on myself or on my merits. I can produce nothing of myself that is capable of cancelling the limits imposed by death.

Our hope in the resurrection is based on the omnipotent paternity of God

In the Gospel Jesus says it even more clearly. “And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day”. This is God’s plan for humanity, and we are invited to believe in this plan and open ourselves to it. God is life and his plan for us is a plan of life. Our hope in the resurrection is ultimately based on the omnipotence of God, on the power of the heavenly Father who raises his only begotten Son from the tomb and extends this possibility to me. It is the contemplation on the paternity of God, the capacity of God to generate me and give me life, that dissolves my desperation in front of the despair of death. My redeemer lives! My heavenly Father has a single plan for me, and that is life. God is not someone who does things half-heartedly. He began this life that is within me and he doesn’t intend to lose it!

God offers me life, but he cannot compel me to accept it

The only limit that exists in God’s love is that he cannot do otherwise except allow us to be free. I can accept his offer of life or reject it. If God’s love imposed itself and gave us no option except life, then I would be something akin to a video game in the hands of God, a fleeting entity whose movements are determined by another. But I am a real person, someone who can accept or reject God’s offer of life. On this Feast day we contemplate the fact that saying “yes” to God’s plan brings salvation and eternal life.

Our hope in future life is grounded in the present. The relationship I live today with the Lord is a relationship of trust that constantly contemplates his paternal life-giving nature

Belief in God’s salvific plan of life is not simply a focus on the future, on what comes “after”. It always involves an acceptance in this moment of a relationship with God that guarantees what will come after. If today I experience that God is a paternal being who generates life in me, who stands always on my side and recreates constantly, then I will naturally gaze towards the future with hope, confident that my dear departed are not lost but are waiting for me. They are in the hands of God, and God does not allow his dear creatures to fall through his hands easily.