August 2^nd 2015.  Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL John 6:24-35

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

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

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL John 6:24-35

When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs
but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.
Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life,
the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal’

Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.’ So they said, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’

Jesus answered:

‘I tell you most solemnly, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven,
it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread;
for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.’

‘Sir,’ they said ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered:

‘I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me will never be hungry;
he who believes in me will never thirst.’

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

Kieran’s summary . . . Don Fabio tells us how the history of the relationship between God and humanity is the story of a people (us) who attach themselves to God to the extent that their appetites are satisfied. The people in the Old Testament have faith in God for as long as he rains manna from heaven. The people in the New Testament are happy as long as Jesus multiplies loaves and fishes. But Jesus asks the people to go beyond this way of relating to God. He asks them not to prioritize the bread that perishes. This “bread that perishes” is really our faith that wavers whenever God does not do what we want him to do. We will never learn to live mature and healthy lives until we learn to go beyond our sensations and appetites and develop a relationship with God on a different level. For as long as our lives are dominated by our efforts to gratify the senses, we cannot develop a fully authentic relationship with God. At times when we are hungry, at times when our appetites are not being gratified, at times when things are not going our way – these are the moments when we must learn to go beyond the senses and place our trust in the One the Father has sent, the true bread from heaven that gives life to the world.

In the Old Testament, the people had faith as long as their bellies were full. The people in the Gospel story similarly place a priority on the satisfaction of their appetites. This is the “bread” that they long for, but Jesus wants them to strive after a different bread.

In all of Scripture there is only one occasion when an act of faith is made in someone who is not the God of Israel. After the Passover we are told that the people believed in God and believed in Moses. There is a sense of this in the background to Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus wishes to get away from the people after the multiplication of the loaves and fishes because they want to take him and make him king by force. He crosses the lake but the people follow him. Jesus addresses them by getting to the very heart of the issue: “The only reason you are following me is because you had all the bread you wanted to eat. You did not appreciate that this was a sign that that points to something beyond merely physical satisfaction. Food of this sort does not endure but you are in pursuit of something that is ultimately transitory.” All of this discourse about a food that endures to eternal life is lost on the people and they ask him to explain how they can do what God requires of them. In any case, their bellies are full and they see little need to seek anything further. Jesus replies that they must believe in him who the Father has sent. The Gospel then begins to evoke the Old Testament passage regarding the Passover in which the people placed their faith not only in God but also in Moses. The people ask Jesus, “What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert.” The people, in other words, consider bread to be their main priority. They cannot see what Jesus is complaining about. After all, the ancient people of Israel had manna to eat in the desert, and now their more modern counterparts simply want something of a similar sort.

The history of the relationship between God and humanity is the history of a people (us) who attach ourselves to God to the extent that he helps us to satisfy our appetites. If our appetites are left unsatisfied, our faith wavers quickly

The first reading tells of the first occasion when the people were given manna to eat. It all arose because the people were complaining about their situation. They had lost faith in Moses, despite their act of faith in him after the Passover. They moan that it would have been better for them to die in Egypt than to be hungry in the desert. John’s Gospel passage takes us back to precisely this kind of situation. The people vacillate between complaining to God and placing their faith in him. They submit to God, but not fully. They see the extraordinary power of God being manifested, yet immediately afterwards they become unsure. Often we think of this Gospel passage from John as holding up the contrast between different kinds of bread, but the “bread that doesn’t last” referred to in the Gospel is our faith that fails quickly. When all is going well, I believe. When things go against me, I am quick to lose heart. Children behave in exactly this way. They do not have the logical capacity to comprehend the extension of time. Everything is in the present. As long as I am contented in the present moment, then all is well. But if the immediate source of my contentment is taken away from me, perhaps for safety reasons, then it becomes an absolute tragedy. But if I am distracted by a new source of contentment then my previous state of dissatisfaction disappears as if it were never there in the first place. This is “the food that does not last” – the satisfaction of the appetites. For as long as I am satisfied I believe; if I become dissatisfied then I cease to believe.

We cannot live mature, healthy and robust lives until we learn to detach ourselves from our sensations and place our faith in God regardless of whether our appetites are satisfied in this moment or not. It is when we are hungry, when we are not being affirmed or gratified that we must learn to place our trust in God, the food that endures to eternal life.

It is not possible for the Father to sow something stable, worthwhile, and good in us if we cannot learn to detach ourselves from our sensations. Our appetites must cease to be absolutes. The human being is more than his appetites and it is essential that we come to open ourselves to something greater. We have the capacity to enter into a relationship with God himself, and it is here that we come to fulfilment as persons. Moses had to live with this discontinuous relationship between God and the people, a covenant that was continually being broken and betrayed because the people made an absolute out of the present moment. The Son of God then becomes incarnate and demands that the people, we, go beyond the food that perishes. How can God be the God of our lives and complete his works in us if we do not begin to submit ourselves at the very moment when we are hungry, at moments when we do not have the solutions we crave for? This is the time to show faith! The previous day, Jesus had multiplied the loaves, but today he does not intend to do so. He considers his discourse to the people to be more important than another multiplication of loaves and fishes. But the people just want more bread; they don’t seem interested in interior growth or a continuous faith relationship with God. It is not possible for us to develop mature, beautiful and healthy lives unless we can make this leap beyond the immediate “bread” of instant gratification. How can we truly think of others or give real nutrition to others if our stomachs are an absolute, if our own wellbeing is our priority. We live in an epoch that had made itself a slave to comfort and personal wellbeing. We must learn to disobey this common logic if we are to enter into an authentic relationship with God.

July 26^th 2015. Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Gospel: John 6:1-15

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

_____________________________________________________________

　

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL                                  John 6:1-15

Jesus went off to the other side of the Sea of Galilee or of Tiberias and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by curing the sick. Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples. It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.

Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’ He only said this to test Philip; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do. Philip answered, ‘Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, ‘There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Make the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting ready; he then did the same with the fish, giving out as much as was wanted. When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, ‘Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted.’ So they picked them up, and filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves. The people, seeing this sign that he had given, said, ‘This really is the prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, who could see they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, escaped back to the hills by himself.
THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . John’s Gospel reveals that this story of the multiplication of the loaves and fish contains within it the very secret of Easter! The story of Easter is the story of salvation, a series of events in which God manifests his power in situations where humanity comes up against a brick wall. How often do we say things like: “I have done what I can, but it’s no use. I can’t go any further. The situation is lost. The relationship is doomed. We’ve done our part, now all we can do is wash our hands of the situation.” But if we look at life properly, we see that it is a series of situations in which God’s paternal providence is powerfully at work, in small things as well as in large. It is the surprises of God that make life meaningful and beautiful! And it is a fundamental axiom of the Christian life that God wishes to make use of our meagre contribution in order to manifest his plentiful bounty. This is the perennial mystery of Easter at work in our lives. From this Easter point of view, the desperation of the situation is not a reason for despair. Five loaves and two fishes are not a motive for resignation to defeat; they are the perfect opportunity for the loving providence of God to be manifested. If my life is merely the collection of the logistics and means that I have at my disposal, then I am indeed in a desperate situation! But if I take the meagre five loaves and two fishes that I am able to contribute and offer them willingly to the Lord, then he will manifest his providence and bring them to great fruit.

John heralds the fact that there is something in this story of the multiplication of loaves that is key to the mystery of Easter? Just what is this connection with Easter?

There is an evident parallel between the first reading and the Gospel this Sunday. In both texts a similar phrase is used in response to the same problem. In John’s Gospel, the Apostles are confronted with the question of how to feed the multitude of people who have been following to Jesus. Andrew points to the five loaves and two fishes and says, “What is this among so many people?” Similarly, in the first reading (which recounts the multiplication of bread by the prophet Elisha), the servant refers to the loaves that they have in their possession and remarks, “How can this be sufficient for one hundred men?” How often in the challenges of Christian life do we discover that our resources are insufficient! We regularly find ourselves in circumstances where there seems to be no human solution. And the significance of this Gospel story for our lives in general is heralded by a key phrase towards the beginning of the passage: “It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover”. John wants us to know that there is something in this story that holds the key to Easter itself; that Easter, in fact, is a manifestation of God, a passage from the human dimension to the divine dimension. From the time that the Lord led Israel out of Egypt, the Passover experience is a reminder that God can bring about that which is absolutely impossible for humans alone. The story of salvation is a series of interventions by God in which he manifests his power.

How often we fail to invoke the transcendent! We approach problems from the perspective of our own capabilities and capacities. If the problem cannot be resolved in this way, we tend to give up, wash our hands of it, resign ourselves to failure.

We have the tendency to try to keep our lives contained within that which is controllable and manageable. The challenges that we undertake are measured to fit us. We should not be surprised therefore if many people lose the faith and fail to maintain a sense of the extraordinary. There is a tendency on our part to invoke the power of Easter only when the situation is desperate. No one will deny that it is important in life to be reasonable, prudent and realistic. These qualities are fundamental to a human way of behaviour. But salvation and the manifestation of God are always beyond that which we are capable of thinking or doing. If we rewrite this text so that it no longer reflects the mystery of Easter, it can be quite revealing for the way that we commonly approach problems. Let us imagine that Jesus looks at the crowd and doesn’t do the Easter thing, but says instead, “These people want food but we have no bread. Maybe we should send them away. It would be better if we didn’t take their problems upon ourselves. What do you think Philip?” Philip shrugs his shoulders and admits that they do not have sufficient money to procure food for such a crowd. Andrew is in agreement, pointing to the fact that they have only five loaves and two fishes. “Okay!” Jesus announces loudly. “It’s time to head home everybody! It’s time to go and look after yourselves! We can only do so much. Now you are on your own!” Isn’t this exactly our attitude when we are confronted with so many situations in life? We will go so far, but no further. We do what we are able but do not invoke the transcendent. We do not have faith in the surprises of God.

Life is actually made up of incidences of the surprising providence of God, if we could learn to appreciate it properly. From the point of view of the providence of the Lord, five loaves and two fishes are not a reason for despair but a perfect opportunity for a fruitful cooperation between humanity and God. The very meagreness of our capacities becomes a manifestation of the provident nature of God.

But life is actually made up of these surprises, if we learn to look at it properly, and it is the surprises of God that make life beautiful! In small things and in large things we have the opportunity to experience the paternity of God, his providence, his surprising action in our lives. In the real Gospel story, Jesus does not think like a son of man but like the Son of God. Five loaves and two fish are a good point of departure. It is a fundamental axiom of Christian action that God makes use of our meagre contribution in order to manifest his plenty. God always operates in this fashion; Easter is always of this sort. We cannot reduce our lives to a collection of logistics – we must open ourselves constantly to the power and the providence of God which often surpasses all measurement. How can a man and woman marry each other if they do not believe in the “extra” that God supplies to the relation? The purely human basis of such relations is always lacking. How can a man or woman consecrate their lives to God if they do not focus continually on this transcendent aspect? How can a couple bring a child into this threatening world if they do not have faith in something that goes beyond their capacities to provide and protect? How can we attempt to build the church if we do not believe in the surprising providence of God? All that we have in our pockets is our meagre contribution of the five loaves and two fish. But let us give it willingly, and from our modest input God will bring his fruit in plenty.

July 19^th 2015.  Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL Mark 6:30-34

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

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

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL Mark 6:30-34

The apostles re-joined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while', for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat. So they went off in a boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But people saw them going, and many could guess where; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length.

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

Kieran’s summary . . . Don Fabio focusses on the compassion shown by Jesus in this passage from the Gospel. Sometimes we think we have power or influence in the world, but the only worthwhile power we have is the power to serve and to give our lives for others. It is acts of compassion for others that make the world a beautiful place. If we only did what we were obliged to do towards others, or if others only respected our rights and nothing more, then the world would become a very banal and unbearable place. The pastors that are condemned by Jeremiah in the first reading probably did exactly what they were obliged to do. Yet their failure to go beyond the rules destroyed and scattered the people. If the members of a family all acted only out of obligation, then the family would be a miserable place. Compassion takes us beyond mere adherence to rights and expectations. It is love, mercy and patience that holds relationships and society together. None of us could stand before God if it were not for his mercy!

Salvation is not just between God and me, it is something we participate in as a community. We mediate salvation to each other and we do so by service and self-sacrifice. If we obstruct the transmission of the love of God to others then the world can become a terrible place.

The first reading from Jeremiah consists in a prophecy against the pastors of the people. Not only have they failed to shepherd their flock: they have allowed the people to be destroyed and scattered. The issue at stake here is the manner in which God saves us. We are not redeemed in an individual or vertical way directly by the Lord. God saves us through the mediation of others. The world is a wonderful place, made so that we might love each other and go to God together. But when we obstruct the love of God and fail to mediate that love amongst each other, we make the world into a terrible place, a veritable torture chamber. The Church is a place where people minister the salvation of God; they do not have ownership over redemption. None of us has even a crumb of true authority if it is not given to us by the Lord and is not administered in his name. We tend to think we have power, but the only thing we are truly able to do is to be of service and to give our lives for others. If our work in the Church becomes something else then it does not come from God. In fact, often what we do becomes reduced to something extremely repugnant.

It is acting from compassion that is the mark of a true follower of Jesus. As long as we limit ourselves to fulfilling our obligations, then we exclude and drive away others.

The disciples come back from their mission and tell Jesus what they have done. Jesus wants them to rest and takes them away in the boat. Rest is necessary for all of us. We have an obligation to get away every now and then in order to rest and be recharged. The disciples and Jesus head for a lonely place but when they disembark they discover that the crowd has followed them there. Here we discover what was lacking in the shepherds described in the first reading from Jeremiah, and it is often missing in our choices and actions too - Jesus has compassion on them. Here we are not merely talking about human compassion. What is referred to here is something that comes from the very interior of God, and is reflected in an inadequate way in our acts of compassion. The compassion of Jesus is something that prompts him to live and move for others. It is something that goes beyond rights and obligations. As long as we are fixated with rights and obligations we exist on a level of banality that is incompatible with love. If we only do that which is expected of us, we become exactly like those pastors spoken of by Jeremiah. This is true of priests, but also of the baptized, and also of men and women in general. For as long as we limit ourselves to doing only that which we are obliged to do, we exclude and drive away others. In a diocesan meeting in Rome, Pope Francis warned about the parochial house becoming a sort of parish customs house in which rules are used to exclude people who are looking for a simple word of salvation. If we cannot get beyond regulations and bureaucracy, then everything becomes ugly and devoid of love.

It is compassion and mercy that keeps families and societies together, not regulations and protocol

If the family became a place in which we merely counted expectations, obligations and rights then it would lose its humanity. It is compassion and mercy that drives the healthy family. Let us prepare ourselves for the Year of Mercy by focusing on the one thing that resolves all problems! It is not precision, regulations or perfect proportionality that keeps things moving along in life. What makes situations productive is patience and compassion. In the Western world there is the myth of the ideal world in which the person does everything according to protocol, respecting all his obligations and having all of his rights respected. But no human being has ever been capable of being obedient to all laws to the very letter. Laws are cold, it is only the heart that truly motivates.

All of us are utterly dependent on the mercy of Christ. Without it, who among us could stand before the Lord? We too must become mediators of that compassion.

Jesus goes beyond rights and obligations. He and his disciples had the right to rest themselves. For the salvation of the family, for the salvation of the parish, for the salvation of the Christian community, for the salvation of ordinary friendships, we must all go beyond rights, and it is only compassion that enables us to do it. If any of us were to place ourselves before God according to our own merit, then who among us would not be shamed? All of us live by the mercy and compassion of Christ.

July 12^th 2015. Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Mark 6:7-13

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

_______________________________________________________

　

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL                                  Mark 6:7-13

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits. And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic.’ And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district. And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, as you walk away shake off the dust from under your feet as a sign to them.’ So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.

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

Kieran’s summary . . . Just as the prophet Amos called for conversion of hearts, so too the disciples of Jesus are sent to preach a pure Gospel that will transform people’s hearts. Jesus gives the disciples a very well-defined power: the authority over impure spirits. What does this refer to? Something that is impure is something that contains within it a mixture of good and bad elements. The most powerful forms of deception often contains elements of truth or goodness in them. How often we try to sweeten the Gospel, compromising it so that it fits in with our self-interested plans! Woe to the Church if it does not preach true conversion to the pure message of the Gospel! Jesus tells the disciples that if people reject the Gospel, then they are to shake the clay of that town from their feet. Is this a condemnation of those people? No, it is a statement of the purity of the Gospel and a way of testifying to that town that they are being called to embrace the pure ground of the Gospel. It is a way of saying: “The ground of our faith cannot be mixed or compromised with the ground of the way of life that you lead, so I shake that ground from my feet as a message to you that the Gospel must be accepted in its purity”. This Gospel also calls each one of us to conversion. We are called to allow ourselves to be cultivated and pruned by the Lord so that we too are converted to a pure observance of the Gospel.

The Gospel purifies in the sense that it is not compatible with a mixture of good and evil

The theme of Sunday’s Gospel is the acceptance and the rejection of the evangelizing mission of the disciples. The first reading contains the celebrated passage in which the prophet Amos is banished by the king for preaching conversion. But first let us consider the Gospel. Jesus calls the twelve to himself and sends them out two by two. This is a sign of communion; no one goes out by himself; the disciples must know how to cooperate with another and not insist on working in a purely individualistic way. It is communion, after all, that brings salvation to the world. Jesus gives the disciples a very precise power: the authority over unclean spirits.  The heart of the human being is very prone to allowing itself to be confused. An impure spirit is one that lacks discernment and confounds good with evil, mixing them in an illegitimate and deceptive way.

The Gospel must be delivered in a simple and pure way, not for profit or with a concern for material gain. We must not “wear other hats” when we preach the Gospel.

The disciples are to carry only a walking stick, no bread, no haversack and no money. The Church, thus, is expected to carry out its mission without foraging for profit, without being weighed down with material baggage, money or structures. Evangelizing is a business that requires constant journeying from the Father towards humanity. We must engage in this movement from within, not in a self-referential way. The order to bring only one change of clothes refers to the point that we must only seek to be that which the Father sends us to be; we must not try to take on or usurp other roles.

What does it mean “to shake the dust of that town from one’s sandals”?

The evangelizer must go into people’s homes, to the places where people eke out their existence. And the preacher will discover that people know how to welcome God. Humanity knows how to open its heart wide to salvation. The Gospel passage, in fact, recounts the success of the mission of the disciples. They receive a great welcome and manage to heal people’s infirmities. The word of God is something that can be well received. It can also be refused, and in this case Jesus instructs the disciples to shake the dust of that town from their feet as a testimony to them. Shaking the dust off of the feet is a sign that there is no relationship between the disciples and the people of that town. There is no happy interchange between us; you and I are not of the same ground; I come from one land and you from another. There is a temptation when we preach the Gospel to seek a compromise with those to whom we preach. Common ground is all too often not the ground of conversion but the ground of banality. It is important to state clearly that I come from a different sort of land. If you do not welcome me, then your ground remains yours; it does not become mine. This shaking off of the dust is not a condemnation onto death; it is a genuine witness to those townspeople that is directed towards illuminating them of the pure nature of the Gospel.

The true prophet teaches a hard message of conversion but leads the people to life and joy

It is in this vein that the prophet Amos speaks. He does not react with condemnation to the order of banishment from the prophet Amaziah. Instead he says, “I was not a prophet nor the son of a prophet. I was a shepherd and a cultivator of sycamores”. This work of tending sycamores consisted in piercing the fruit of the tree and allowing some of their juice to escape so that they would develop correctly and become edible.  In other words, Amos did not come from a school of prophets; he had no great theological formation; his only talents consisted in tending sheep and piercing sycamores. He knew how to improve the fruit of the tree and how to lead the flock to water and grass. Instead of condemning Amaziah, Amos is saying that his skills are these and he has come to apply them here in this other context.

We must allow ourselves to be pruned by God so that we develop an authentic relationship with him. Then we are in a position to call others to conversion. And we must call them to conversion instead of compromising what we believe or “sweetening” the Gospel to make it more palatable to others

What must the person who wishes to receive the Gospel be prepared to accept? He must be prepared to be pierced, to be made to bleed a little, but also to be led to life. We must be willing to allow God to cultivate us, to plant us, to prune us (as John 15 tells us); we must be ready to accept the challenge so that the ground of God becomes our ground. These two grounds must become one. In the Incarnation, the man made of clay becomes a divine being. This involves welcoming the prophetic spirit, allowing ourselves to be corrected and to be led into true pastures. How many people look to pasture only themselves, becoming the focus and centre of their own lives. We must recognize that we need to be led by God. The twelve disciples who are sent out are characterized by their relationship with God, calling others to obedience and conversion. Woe to us if we are a Church that does not call to conversion but instead agrees and compromises with everything. How blessed we are if we become signs of this relationship, not having other roles or outfits that we wear, focusing instead on calling people to the ground of God, calling them to be transformed and transfigured by the good news of Jesus.

July 5^th 2015. Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Gospel: Mark 6:1-6

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

______________________________________________________________________________

　

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL                                  Mark 6:1-6

Jesus went to his home town and his disciples accompanied him. With the coming of the sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue and most of them were astonished when they heard him. They said, ‘Where did the man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him? This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here with us?’ And they would not accept him. And Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised- in his own country among his own relations and in his own house'; and he could work no miracle there, though he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.

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

Kieran’s summary . . . This Gospel reveals the shocking power of human incredulity to bring the work of God to a standstill. Don Fabio challenges us to be shaken by this text, and to take seriously the way in which our prejudices towards matters of faith can impede the work of God in our lives. The human being must never be reduced to his family background, occupation or social status. Our unbelief is one of the most fearful powers of the human being. It can completely frustrate the power of God. St Augustine said: "God who created you without your cooperation cannot save you without your cooperation" People who are poor and desperate are less likely to have a lack of faith. When we are weak or sick and aware of our misery, then we are more open to being touched by the healing hands of Christ. But when we consider ourselves to be autonomous and self-determining, the hardness of our hearts can be stupefying! We look around us at the state of the world and think that we have comprehended God and his nature totally! But who can comprehend the action of God! Even the greatest of the saints continued to be surprised by God right up to the last moment of their lives. We do not know the Lord Jesus completely and we must wait for him to reveal himself to us. Let us never think that we know the Lord Jesus! He is always something other. He is not simply the son of his mother, the cousin of his cousins, the labourer in his particular workshop. He is the Son of God active in our lives, and this defies all of our categories.

The human being must never be reduced to his family background, occupation or social status

The Gospel recounts the visit of Jesus to his hometown of Nazareth, where, on the Sabbath, he teaches in the Synagogue. At the beginning of the passage we discover that his listeners are astounded at the fact that he stands up to teach them. At the end of the passage it is Jesus who is astounded at them because of their incredulity. We tend to find it hard to believe in the work of God, to accept that a person might be something more than a child of his parents, to imagine that a man could be something other than his occupation. The human being naturally sees everything in very predictable and boring terms. "You are what you are. Don't come here putting on a big show. We know who you are and where you've come from, and that's all there is to you". Many people turn away from the faith because it doesn't fit in with their way of looking at things, but faith should never be limited to our way of looking at things! And through the eyes of faith a person should never be limited to his work, his occupation, or his family connections. The human being is something more than all of these things. Jesus is dumbfounded when he is confronted by this attempt to limit him and categorize him. He knew of the greatness, power and love of God. He knew the Father and was stunned by the hardness of his listeners' hearts.

Unbelief is one of the most fearful powers of the human being. It can completely frustrate the power of God

This situation means that Jesus is unable to exercise his power in the usual way and is only able to heal a few of the sick. It is interesting to note that in these conditions one can only accept the grace of Christ if one is in a desperate condition. When one is rich in spirit one cannot receive the Kingdom of God. How blessed are the poor in Spirit! One has to be sick and aware of one's sickness before one can be touched by the healing hands of Christ. The incredulity of the human being is one of the most terrible powers that he possesses. God is omnipotent, but he must stop in front of the closed door of human unbelief. St Augustine said, "God who created you without your cooperation cannot save you without your cooperation". Human assent is absolutely fundamental for the work of God to be successful. Human openness towards God is the essential condition for the work of God to be efficient in us. Part of our greatness and nobility resides in the fact that we can genuinely say no to God. We have the capacity to frustrate and sadden the Holy Spirit.

Sin is rooted in a lack of openness to the work of God in us

This extraordinary mystery is the mystery of sin, for sin is always an act of rejection of God. All sin is the refusal of the work of God in us, a refusal of his law, a refusal of his word. It involves a rejection of the truth that is apparent to us in the workings of our conscience. We reject that truth and say "This is what I believe, and this is how things are, full stop". We have a liberty that God cannot force. Even if we say yes to God once, God continues to respect that liberty. On the next occasion, we will have to exercise our liberty all over again in order to say yes to God once again. But once we say yes to evil, the next yes to evil can become automatic. As the Gospel of John tells us, he who commits sin becomes a slave of sin.

We must retain a complete openness to Jesus, never thinking that we know him fully, refraining from labelling him, or labelling any aspect of the life of the church, or our own past. Jesus gives new sense and meaning to everything.

Jesus is unable to work miracles in Nazareth because of the hardness of people's hearts. Why was there such hardness of heart? Because the people there thought they already knew Jesus through and through. Jesus was put in a box and labelled, and this prejudice impeded the power of God. This text thus reveals something to us that ought to shake us to the core! God can be frustrated by our attitudes! We can be in the presence of that which leads into paradise and yet never enjoy it! And why not? Because we are locked in prejudiced ways of looking at things that prompt us to say, "I know you already. You have nothing of interest to say to me".

The hardness of the human heart is stupefying. We cast a cold eye on the work of God and think that we have comprehended it totally! But who can comprehend the action of God! Even the greatest of the saints continued to be surprised by God right up to the last moment of their lives. We do not know the Lord Jesus completely and we must wait for him to reveal himself to us. Let us not put labels on the work of God, on the life of the church, on the sacraments, nor even on the events of our own past. Jesus will give new meaning and sense to everything. Let us never think that we know the Lord Jesus! He is always something other. He is not simply the son of his mother, the cousin of his cousins, the laborer in his particular workshop. He is the Son of God, and this defies all of our categories.