October 27th 2024. Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL Mark 10:46-52

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

 

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

 
GOSPEL Mark 10:46-52

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more,
"Son of David, have pity on me."
Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
"Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you."
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"
The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."
Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.

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

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

 

1. This Gospel demonstrates the struggle involved in prayer

This Gospel recounts the final event before Jesus enters the holy city of Jerusalem. The first reading from Jeremiah speaks of the pathway that the people of God must follow before they return to their own land. The blind, the lame, those expecting children, will all return in great numbers and will not stumble on their way to being restored. Jesus too is following a pathway from the cursed city of the Old Testament (Jericho) to the holy city, where he will restore all things. As we shall see in this Gospel passage, it will be a blind man who will end up following Jesus along the way, just as Jeremiah had prophesised. Bartimaeus (which means the “son of Timaeus) calls upon the Son of David. Eventually he will be healed and will follow Jesus, but - in between - there is the struggle of prayer. He calls out to the Lord, but the crowd tells him to be quiet. All of us experience this struggle. Exterior voices of mundanity and internal voices of doubt all tell us that prayer is useless.

 

2. Bartimaeus’ prayer arises from his deepest desire to live in a more profound sense.

The great strength of Bartimaeus is that he is not content to remain on the margins of life earning a few coins to help him to survive. What gives us the power to pray is the desire to live in a fuller sense, the awareness of the deficiencies of life as we now live it. Bartimaeus overcomes these obstacles with his tenacity. Prayer must not solely be done out of obligation but must arise in the depths of our hearts. In the profundity of our hearts we want to live, to see again, to escape mediocrity.

 

3. Our hearts were made to encounter God. Let us discover the deepest desires of our hearts and bring them to prayer!

Jesus asks him what he wants. The power of prayer is to want those things that the Lord wishes us to ask for. Many of our desires are just for those few coins that help us to survive. It is important that we express the desires that are in the bottom of our hearts, for our hearts were made to encounter God. Our hearts were created to go to Jerusalem with Christ. It is interesting that when Bartimaeus receives his sight, he does not use it for little things. He looks upon Christ and begins to follow him. The point was not being healed for the sake of being healed but in order to follow Jesus. In the depths of all of our hearts there is this thirst for life. Prayer is not just a devotional obligation but the means by which we uncover this desire. Bartimaeus leaves behind his cloak, the symbol of his life as a beggar. In prayer, we are to leave behind our old lives in order to embrace the new. This Sunday may the Lord grant us the courage to plumb our hearts for their deepest desires, which are the soul of genuine prayer.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY . . . In Sunday’s Gospel the blind man, Bartimaeus, calls out insistently, “Jesus son of David, have mercy on me!” Prayer demands perseverance and resolve on our parts. But what is it that makes us persevere? When we are aware of our poverty and our desperation, then we call out most strongly to the Lord! Our weakness and our neediness is the powerhouse of our prayer! The people tell Bartimaeus to shut up. In my life too there are many forces that tell me to shut up, who insist that I desist from praying. The three classic enemies of prayer are the world, the flesh and the devil. The world tells me to solve my own problems with direct action, not with submission to the Lord. The flesh with its passions and impulses is not disposed to prayer. It makes me lazy and wilful, distracts me with other things. The devil tells me that God does not listen to my prayer so why bother? He tells me that I am of no importance before the Lord. All of these forces dissuade me from praying, but they demonstrate how important prayer truly is! In response to these negative voices I must become like Bartimaeus and cry to the Lord all the louder. Bartimaeus casts away his cloak and turns with insistence to Jesus. We too must cast away our “cloaks”, the things that conceal who we really are, the roles and expectations that we have. We must place ourselves before the Lord so that our prayer becomes a meeting of two desires, the desire of my heart and the desire of the Lord for my good. But how can I be sure that my prayer will be an expression of what is true and essential in my heart? If I persevere in prayer, then the combat of perseverance will purify my prayer so that it becomes a sincere expression of who I am before God and of my deepest needs. Then we can expect Jesus to reply, as he did to Bartimaeus, “Go, your faith has saved you!"

“In the Stars the Glory of His Eyes – Tales from an Irish Tour Guide in Rome”

FROM IGNATIUS PRESS

Tales of unexpected blessings, hilarious true stories, unique perspectives on the lives of the saints. An original, entertaining and orthodox presentation of the Catholic faith. You won’t be able to put it down!

"Captivating."

— Elizabeth Lev, Professor of Art History, Rome.

“Entertaining.”

— Cardinal Seán Brady, 

Ireland.

"I laughed out loud many times, and told the stories to others who laughed just as hard."

— Sally Read, Author.

"Enchanting."

— Bishop Brendan Leahy, Diocese of Limerick.

"Unique and insightful."

— Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly, Cashel and Emly.

   SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION

October 20th 2024. Twenty-ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL Mark 10:35-45

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

 

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

  

GOSPEL Mark 10:35-45

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus and said to him,
"Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you."
He replied, "What do you wish me to do for you?"
They answered him, "Grant that in your glory
we may sit one at your right and the other at your left."
Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the cup that I drink
or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
They said to him, "We can."
Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink,
and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give
but is for those for whom it has been prepared."
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.
Jesus summoned them and said to them,
"You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles
lord it over them,
and their great ones make their authority over them felt.
But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all.
For the Son of Man did not come to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."

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

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. The request of the brothers is selfish. Yet it is a form of prayer and Christ purifies it.

The first reading from the prophet Isaiah is an incredible prophecy of the sacrificial self-giving of Christ. It is very relevant for the Gospel. James and John ask Jesus for their glorification ahead of the other disciples. Though this request is objectionable, yet it is a form of prayer. When we pray, we are often asking God for something. We are often expressing mundane and carnal desires that arise from our fears and our fragility. These desires need to be visited by God’s grace. The request of the brothers to have positions of prominence is a very common craving of human beings. We have this anxiety to see ourselves being successful, to have importance and standing. We want to be someone, but what we really need is to allow God to work within us. In reply, Jesus asks the brothers if they are willing to drink the chalice that he must drink. At the Passion, this drinking of a chalice involves subjecting oneself in obedience, following God’s will, rather than pursuing one’s own inclinations. When the brothers assent, Jesus says, “Fine. You will drink the chalice. You will be baptised in my baptism, immersed in this new life”. In other words, Jesus accepts their unseemly request and makes something better of it.

 

2. Instead of focussing on own projects, we need to immerse ourselves in God’s will

The point is this. We can get up in the morning and seek to do something which brings us glory, but what we really need to do is to immerse ourselves in what God is going to send us today, drink the chalice that he sets before us. God has prepared something for me today and it is important that I be immersed in that. It is not important that my own desires and projects for today be realised.

 

3. At the end of our lives we will not ask ourselves what we have, but what we gave

The others are indignant. Why are they angry? Because they too wished to be the most prominent and are annoyed to be outflanked by the brothers! Jesus then tells them the secret of greatness. Real greatness lies, not in power, but in the capacity to serve and care for the life of others, the power to love which Jesus shows on the cross. The Son of Man came, not to be served, but to serve. Authentic life involves being open to the will of God, drink the chalice that he prepares for us, so that we can become the place where others find repose. What fulfilment and satisfaction we receive from giving life to others! How beautiful is the Christian life, to abandon oneself to the will of God so that we manifest his image, becoming founts of peace and forgiveness, of beauty and welcome. When we are at the end of our lives, we will not wonder if we were great or powerful. We will not ask ourselves how much we have, but rather how much we gave. Yes, we can drink the chalice that Christ drinks, we too can abandon ourselves into the hands of the Father, serve others and become sources of life.

 

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY . . . James and John ask Jesus to give them the most important positions of glory in the future kingdom. It might surprise us to read that Jesus does not chide or scold them. Instead he seeks to purify their desires and looks for what is good underneath their egoistic demands. Yes, they can indeed have the glory that they seek, but they must first be close to him in his sacrificial love. This is how it is for all of us. We all have disordered desires for self-advancement. Underneath these is the authentic desire for true life. If we wish to be close to Jesus in his glory, then we must be close to him in the way we love and serve others. This is true glory! The worst aspect of the demand made by James and John is that they sought to choose their own positions in the future kingdom. But it is God who chooses that. We must receive what he gives us and follow him. It is communion to which we are called, not individual self-aggrandisement. The other apostles become indignant when they hear that James and John have made such a request, but their indignation is really a form of competitiveness. Jesus then addresses himself to all of them. “Do all of you wish to be great? Do you all wish to have glory? That is good! It is not a bad desire in itself. But if you wish to have real glory, then put yourselves at the service of others. If you wish to be great, then become the slave of others. It is love and service that gives glory. It is self-transcendence that makes us great. It is the overcoming of our egos that makes us wonderful.” This authentic glory is buried within our disordered search for human glory. Let us allow ourselves to be annihilated by this authentic glory revealed in the Gospel for Sunday.

 October 13th 2024. Twenty-eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL Mark 10:17-30

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

 

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel.

 

GOSPEL                                    Mark 10:17-30

Jesus was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, ‘Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You must not kill; You must not commit adultery; You must not steal; You must not bring false witness; You must not defraud; Honour your father and mother.’ And he said to him, ‘Master, I have kept all these from my earliest days.’ Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him, and he said, ‘There is one thing you lack. Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!’ The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, ‘My children,’ he said to them, ‘how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were more astonished than ever. ‘In that case’ they said to one another ‘who can be saved?’ Jesus gazed at them. ‘For men’ he said ‘it is impossible, but not for God: because everything is possible for God.’

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

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. In order to love, we must leave aside all else

A rich young man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, to possess life to the fullest. It is interesting that Jesus begins by pointing to the commandments, to the fact that obedience to God is the first requisite. This requires forgetting one’s own mindset and submitting to the plan of salvation of God. Jesus then lists the commandments that are directed towards right relationship with one’s neighbour. The young man replies that he has kept all of these. Why has the observance of these laws not brought life to this man? Because he has observed the word of God without entering into relationship with God. In fact, Jesus looks at the young man with love and invites him to give up everything else in order to have the right attachment to Jesus. If a man wishes to love a woman, then he must place that love above everything else in his life. If a father wishes to love his children, then he must put everything else in second place. Money and possessions cannot be made the priority if we are to love authentically. We are unhappy failures if we put money before love. Possessions lead to slavery if they are not placed in the service of love.

 

2. The “eye of a needle” was a gate you entered on your knees without merchandise

The disciples begin to worry and ask Jesus how any of us can enter into life, because each one of us has many material attachments. Jesus then says, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”. Some scholars believe that the “eye of an needle” was the smallest gate of a city that was closed last in the evening after all the other gates were closed. This permitted people who arrived at the last minute to enter, but camels could only fit through it on their knees, with all of their merchandise unloaded. To pass through this door, a camel had to be carrying nothing. We too must carry nothing on our backs if we wish to enter the Kingdom! In order to enter into any relationship in a genuine way, we must leave other things aside. The reason the rich young man has not had life is because he has only observed the commandments; he has refused to leave the other things aside. Let us underline this: if we are to enter into life with Christ, we must put him in first place.

 

3. The emphasis of this Gospel is not on what we give up but what we receive in return

It is a mistake, however, to think that this Gospel focusses on renunciation. In reply to Peter, Jesus emphasizes that the central issue is not what the disciple has given up but the huge blessings he receives in return. When we allow ourselves to enter into a relationship with God, we receive much more than we give. This shedding of everything for the sake of the sake of the Lord seems difficult but everything is possible with God. Once we are with God, once we place ourselves in his presence, then we are able to freely detach ourselves. In fact, this freedom is in contrast to the sadness of the young man. We all have the same fear as this man of renouncing something, but in God we find the strength. Like the camel, let us shed our load and enter the city, for God is good, God is beautiful.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY . . . Jesus tells the rich young man that he can have life in the fullest sense if he keeps the commandments. The young man replies that he already keeps the commandments, thus showing that simple observance of rules has not given him life. This brings us to the crux of this Gospel: what kind of relationship must we have with God if that relationship is to bestow life in the fullest sense? Clearly, keeping commandments (as the young man has done) is not enough. The answer is provided by Jesus. Jesus looks at the young man with love and tells him to renounce his possessions and follow him. This is what Jesus wants from us: a relationship of love. If we love someone, then we do not say to them, “I love you to this extent only. There are certain things that I have that you cannot share. There are certain things to which I am attached, and I am not willing to give up these attachments for you”. The relationship with Jesus must be total if it is to be authentic. This is what Jesus is saying to the young man. The young man simply keeps the rules but is not attached to God. He is too attached to his possessions. If we do not serve God then we will serve something else. If we do not draw life from God then we will try to draw it from somewhere else. We are all attached to our physical well-being, our physical possessions, our esteem in the eyes of others. We try to draw life from these things and they are obstacles to our drawing life from God. Jesus looks at us with love and asks us to renounce all these lesser things, entering instead into a radical relationship of attachment to him

“In the Stars the Glory of His Eyes – Tales from an Irish Tour Guide in Rome”

FROM IGNATIUS PRESS

Tales of unexpected blessings, hilarious true stories, unique perspectives on the lives of the saints. An original, entertaining and orthodox presentation of the Catholic faith. You won’t be able to put it down!

"Captivating."

— Elizabeth Lev, Professor of Art History, Rome.

“Entertaining.”

— Cardinal Seán Brady, 

Ireland.

"I laughed out loud many times, and told the stories to others who laughed just as hard."

— Sally Read, Author.

"Enchanting."

— Bishop Brendan Leahy, Diocese of Limerick.

"Unique and insightful."

— Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly, Cashel and Emly.

October 6th 2024. Twenty-seventh Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL Mark 10:2-16

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

 

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

 
GOSPEL Mark 10:2-16

The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked,
"Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"
They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"
They replied,
"Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce
and dismiss her."
But Jesus told them,
"Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate."
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
He said to them,
"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery."
And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them,
but the disciples rebuked them.
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,
"Let the children come to me;
do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these.
Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it."
Then he embraced them and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.

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

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

 

1. This Gospel is for everyone because our nature is SPOUSAL.

The first reading from Genesis and the Gospel from Mark both speak of the call of married couples to indissoluble union. As always, the Gospel is not just relevant for one sector of humanity (married couples) but speaks to every person in every condition of life. Each one of us is challenged to deepen our understanding of our fundamentally spousal nature. St Paul tells us that the union of man and woman must be understood in the light of the relationship between Christ and the Church, which is all about the gift of oneself. In Italian, there is the expression, “You have not wed yourself to this plan”. Of course, you cannot marry an idea or a thing, but the expression refers to one’s self-involvement in a project. It is possible to live without ever entering into a spousal type of relationship. Some people have been married for decades without ever donating themselves to the other! On the other hand, there are single people who live lives of love, putting themselves entirely into the service of others. God issues a universal and radical call to do everything by giving ourselves, by offering ourselves, by uniting ourselves to others.

 

2. What stops us from true spousal behaviour? Hardness of heart

What opposes this universal call? The hardness of our hearts. At the very moment we need to be true to our call, we invent rules that permit us to be released from the bond. In moments of crisis, when it is hard to remain with the other person, our hearts harden and we return to the business of defending my own little space. Once we enter into marriage, we soon discover that reality is different to our dreams. The moment comes when we must transcend ourselves and enter into God’s plan for us, no longer being two separate people, but one flesh only, where we forget ourselves. We can go through life, selecting our relationships, uniting ourselves to others insofar as it suits us, rejecting the very things that we are called to do. The word “conjugal” has interesting origins. It means to have the same yoke (the instrument laid upon a beast of burden so that they will bear the weight of the load they are carrying). This requires that both walk at the same pace. If one beast of burden in a pair stops, then the other must stop also. Either the rhythm of my life is dictated by my own egotistical preoccupations or it is open to walking with others. How beautiful it is to do things together, to sing together, to do the little and large things of life together. This is the call of the Gospel.

 

3. We should have no fear of living in a spousal way; this is how Christ loves us

The passage ends with the disciples trying to stop people bringing children to Jesus. He rebukes them, saying, “To ones such as these belongs the Kingdom of Heaven”. What does he mean, that we take on attitudes that are infantile or immature? No. We are to welcome the Kingdom as a pure gift, without the tortuous suspicions of adults who wonder what God really wants from us. In fact, there is an ambiguity in the original Greek. It might mean, “to welcome the Kingdom as a child welcomes the Kingdom”, OR, “to welcome the Kingdom as you would welcome a child”. We should have no fear of the Kingdom, of God’s rule, no more than we fear a child. He calls us to live. The Gospel ends with Jesus embracing the children. Everything that Christ does is an echo of the love he receives from the Father, a love that he has brought to us so that we might love each other as Christ has loved us.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY . . . Would you try to climb the Himalayas with tennis shoes? No, but how often people in our world try to embark on the journey of marriage without being remotely equipped in the right way! In the Gospel this Sunday, the Scribes want to talk about how to escape from marriage once it has gone wrong. Jesus, instead, wants to return to the ultimate foundation of marriage, a matter of the heart. He takes a child, embraces it and places it in the centre of the discussion. We must first of all embrace Christ in a childlike way before we can embrace each other. The relationship with Jesus is the basis of the indissolubility of marriage and the eternity of all our other relationships. The problem is that we seek to undertake marriage on the basis of hormones or passions, but these come to an end all too quickly. If we try to found our relationships on the capabilities of our own flesh, then we will find that it is a very fragile foundation indeed. And if our marriage is in difficulty, then trying to straighten out some of its superficial features can only have very limited success. The solution to marriage problems is to return to the origin of marriage: God’s love for us, his forgiveness, and his call to us to love and forgive each other. This is the true source of the indissolubility of marriage

“In the Stars the Glory of His Eyes – Tales from an Irish Tour Guide in Rome”

FROM IGNATIUS PRESS

Tales of unexpected blessings, hilarious true stories, unique perspectives on the lives of the saints. An original, entertaining and orthodox presentation of the Catholic faith. You won’t be able to put it down!

"Captivating."

— Elizabeth Lev, Professor of Art History, Rome.

“Entertaining.”

— Cardinal Seán Brady, 

Ireland.

"I laughed out loud many times, and told the stories to others who laughed just as hard."

— Sally Read, Author.

"Enchanting."

— Bishop Brendan Leahy, Diocese of Limerick.

"Unique and insightful."

— Archbishop Kieran O'Reilly, Cashel and Emly.