Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2013

JULY 21st 2013. SIXTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
Gospel: Luke 10:38-42
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio
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Don Fabio's homily follows the Gospel.
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GOSPEL:                                     Luke 10: 38-42

Jesus came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord's feet and listened to him speaking. Now Martha who was distracted with all the serving said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.' But the Lord answered: 'Martha, Martha,' he said 'you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part; it is not to be taken from her.'

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: PRAISE TO YOU LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Kieran's summary . . . This Gospel presents us with two radically different ways of living out our Christian vocation. One is the right way, and the other is a way that appears right but is far from it. Mary places herself at the feet of Jesus and listens to him. This is the perfect attitude of a disciple. It is not what we can do for Christ but what he can do for us that matters. Once we have listened to him and received his love, then we are in a position for fruitful activity and our Christian mission. Martha, by contrast, engages in a flurry of activity without ever trying to discern what it is that Jesus wants to accomplish in her. This frenzy of activity is too often the way of many Christians who talk a lot about God but rarely talk to God. How many Christians consume themselves in commendable projects but fail to devote themselves to the task that Jesus wants them to devote themselves to, such as their children, their spouses or their parishes! This is the classic strategy of the tempter: not to make us opt for evil, but to distract us from the good that had been entrusted to us with other good projects that are not ours to do at all. Mary chooses the better part, which is to put her relationship with Jesus first. The good activity that will flow from this relationship will be a thousand times more fruitful than the good things we try to accomplish on our own without placing ourselves first at the Lord's feet. 

Sometimes it is the doing of good things that prevents us from doing the greater good.

This Gospel passage presents us with the problem of the anxieties and preoccupations that oppress us on a daily basis. What is the root cause of the fact that we allow these things to weigh on our souls? In the passage, Martha is like Atlas who has taken the weight of the world on his shoulders. She has become completely distracted with the business of welcoming Jesus. What is it that is causing anxiety in the heart of Martha? It is interesting to note that it is not something evil in itself. Sometimes we think the world can be divided into good and evil, and if someone is doing something that is not evil then (we mistakenly think) it should not create an obstacle to his relationship with Jesus. Martha is doing something that seems highly commendable. She is engaging in acts of service for Jesus. But very often it is acts such as these, that seems highly commendable in themselves, that cut us off from the greater good. Jesus says, "Martha, you worry about many things, but few are needed, indeed only one". It is not possible to do everything that we might want to do. It is not possible to be in more than one place at the same time.  There are many good things that we can do, but only a single present moment in which to do them. And usually there is only one single thing that I as an individual am called to do in that moment. When we embrace a vocation, it is not simply because that vocation involves doing a particular thing that is good. There are many goods that can be done and many vocations that can be followed. The reason that I pursue my vocation is because it is mine. It is the road that I have been called to follow.

We have been entrusted with a mission to realize a particular good. The strategy of temptation is often to distract us from that good with the frenzied attempt to achieve other goods.

Martha is someone who has been overtaken by the demands of the present moment and has lost sight of her priorities. She has allowed the immediate demands of the situation to have a greater urgency than the things that have been entrusted to her as a person. Her priority should be to try to discern her own unique role among things, instead of allowing anxious events to dictate that role to her. The fundamental strategy of temptation is to take the human being away from what is good, and that is not such a difficult thing to achieve. It is sufficient to distract the person with another good. When a person is doing something constructive, that does no harm to anyone, then he tends to think that he has resolved the problem of the meaning of his existence. All of us fall into this trap regularly. But just because we are doing something that is not bad does not mean that we are doing what is truly ours to do! As Jesus says in the Gospel, "Only one thing is needed".

Mary sits at Jesus feet and listens. This is the classic position of the disciple. Martha takes up another position with respect to Jesus, and it is not the position of discipleship.

The text does not go into details, but Martha is probably doing various acts of service for Jesus. Mary, instead, places herself at the feet of Jesus and listens. This is the classic position of the disciple. Martha takes another stance towards Jesus which, whilst not being wrong in itself, is nevertheless not the correct attitude of the disciple. This scenario allows us to elucidate a principle that is extremely important. When Jesus is around, we must not be preoccupied with what we can do for Jesus, but with what he can do for us! Activity and mission come later. First of all we must place ourselves at the source and fountain of activity and mission. Between Jesus and me there is a relationship of master and disciple, of Lord and the devoted subject who belongs to him. He is my Lord and there can be no other relationship between us. Anything that I do for him must derive from this relationship. 

Our lives are often in disarray because we prioritize the wrong goods. Often we consume ourselves with commendable projects whilst neglecting our spouses, our children, our flock!

Very often our lives are in disarray because we place ourselves in the wrong position with respect to life. We assume roles and activities that are not ours. In general, the people on this earth who are in the places that they ought to be and are doing the things that they ought to be doing are relatively few. These are the people who have chosen the better part, the part that will never be taken from them. Most of us take a thousand parts that are not the part of the disciple and that will be stripped away from us in a thousand ways. The battle that confronts us every day is the challenge to remain steadfastly in our places. When we stay in our proper place we are accompanied by grace. When we start to go our own way then we are on our own; we are doing that which has no permanent value and which will be taken away from us. And this is true even for those in church ministry. Lots of people want to do various good projects, but it is not the good that has been entrusted to them. How many men and women are engrossed in commendable projects but fail to look after their own children adequately! Our priority is to learn to live in our own shoes, be ourselves in the presence of God, and appropriate the part that is ours alone.

Acts that spring from authentic discipleship are of a different sort than acts undertaken on our own initiative

This text is a wonderful key to open the secret of how we ought to live our mission. We have a duty to nurture our interior spiritual lives. How many people are unable to rest without doing or worrying about a million different things! This summer presents us with a perfect opportunity for placing ourselves in silence at the feet of Jesus. Too many people are overly active and pray hardly at all. Too many people have a multitude of contacts but virtually no contact with the Lord. Many people talk a lot about God but fail to take the time to talk to God. There is a sacred uselessness about Mary, a holy inactivity that will become the fountain of authentic action springing from the fact of being loved by Jesus. Many acts of service fail to spring from love, fail to spring from having sat in front of Jesus. Acts that arise from this relationship with Jesus are of a different sort altogether. They are solid, based on a genuine foundation, and are directed towards a sure end. The Lord gives us a stark warning in the words that he addresses to Martha. 'You worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one." It is vital that we extract ourselves from the many good things that weigh on our souls and choose instead the better part, the single thing that is essential for our salvation: placing ourselves as disciples at the feet of Jesus.

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Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2013

JULY 14TH 2013. FIFTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Luke 10:25-37

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

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Don Fabio's homily follows the Gospel.

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GOSPEL:                                Luke 10: 25-37

There was a lawyer who, to disconcert Jesus, stood up and said to him, 'Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' He said to him, 'What is written in the Law? What do you read there?' He replied, 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself'. 'You have answered right,' said Jesus 'do this and life is yours.'

But the man was anxious to justify himself and said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbour?' Jesus replied, 'A man was once on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of brigands; they took all he had, beat him and then made off, leaving him half dead. Now a priest happened to be travelling down the same road, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite who came to the place saw him, and passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan traveller who came upon him was moved with compassion when he saw him. He went up and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He then lifted him on to his own mount, carried him to the inn and looked after him. Next day, he took out two denarii and handed them to the innkeeper. "Look after him," he said "and on my way back I will make good any extra expense you have." Which of these three, do you think, proved himself a neighbour to the man who fell into the brigands` hands?' 'The one who took pity on him' he replied. Jesus said to him, 'Go, and do the same yourself'.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: PRAISE TO YOU LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Kieran's summary . . . We sometimes read this parable as if the intention were merely to highlight the meanness and selfishness of the priest and the Levite. But the intention of the parable is more profound. Jesus directs the story at a doctor of the Law, someone who would have appreciated perfectly that the Law had placed an absolute prohibition on priests (and Levites) from approaching a man who was already half-dead. The Samaritan is someone whose action towards others is not constrained by rules and preconceptions. Often we abide by a worldview or a philosophy that effectively prevents us from following Jesus. Our habitual actions and mental schemes can prevent us from loving others in a genuine way. The parable should prompt us to examine the barriers we erect around ourselves that stop us from following the way of the Lord. The stricken man was "untouchable" for the priest and the Levite. What is "untouchable" for me? The Samaritan used his oil, wine and money to help the man. In the same way, the Lord is calling all of us to reevaluate how we use our worldly goods. Like the Samaritan we must go beyond the Law; we must go beyond what we usually consider to be the purpose of our worldly possessions. We must consume what we have in the service of others.

This parable is not so much interested in revealing who my neighbour is as it is in showing what it is to BE a good neighbour.

Jesus gives a clear reply to the doctor of the law who asks what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. One must simply love God and neighbour. The doctor, however, wants to complicate matters. He seeks a way of avoiding the crystal clear obligations that have been placed before him.  So he asks, "Who is my neighbour?" Jesus replies by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan. The real problem, however, is not trying to understood who our neighbour is. The real problem confronting the doctor of the law is that he has not made a serious effort to follow the will of God. The parable of the Good Samaritan is not so much directed to revealing who my neighbour is as it is a parable designed to show that it is following the will of God that matters.

The priest and Levite represent the way that we "love" our neighbour when we remain within our preconceived schemes and habitual way of doing things.

It is important that we not read the parable in over simplistic or sentimental terms. A man is robbed and beaten up on the road to Jericho. As he lies half-dead on the side of the road, a priest passes him by without stopping to help. A Levite does the same thing. This prompts us to ask why they refused to come to the man's aid. We are inclined to react by saying, "How mean and selfish they were!" But a more mature reading of the parable takes into account the cultural context in which the story is set. Priests and Levites were absolutely forbidden by the Law to touch the dead. Death was considered incompatible with God. When Ezekiel wished to emphasize the shocking way in which the temple had been profaned, he merely had to say that he saw corpses in  the sanctuary. The Books of Exodus and Leviticus state that whoever is of God must have nothing to do with death. Sin led to death, so death was an expression of our distance from God. The priest represented the reconciliation of God and man and had the duty of offering sacrifices. The Levite's job was to serve the priest. The Law therefore was very clear in prohibiting the priest and Levite from approaching a man that appeared to be dead or dying. It is too simplistic to read this parable and dismiss them as being "mean" or "selfish". They were firmly bound by their obligations to the Law.  The Law can do nothing other that state what is the case. It can say "What you did is wrong", but it cannot bring about salvation in itself. Remember, Jesus is telling this story to a doctor of the Law. This doctor would have been well aware of what the Law stipulated, but Jesus is telling him that he must go beyond the Law if he wishes to be saved.

In order to love we must go beyond our preconceptions, our comfort zone, our fear of the "untouchable"

The Samaritan is then introduced into the story. The Samaritans, for the Jews, were heretics. They were those who had distorted the Law. We are told that this Samaritan was a "traveller". He is someone who is on a journey and has a definite destination. The Samaritan sees the stricken man and is filled with compassion. He approaches him and pours oil and wine on his wounds. These elements are highly significant. Oil is the symbol of blessing and consecration in the Old Testament. Wine is at the centre of the Paschal liturgy. These holy things should not be placed in contact with death, according to the attitude of the Law, but here they are applied to the wounds of a half-dead man. And this is the point. The Samaritan goes beyond the stipulations of the Law. It is not possible to love within the parameters of the Law. It is not possible to care for humanity within the parameters of the Law. It is Jesus, ultimately who is the true Good Samaritan. He is the one who thinks differently and defies all expectations placed on him from the perspective of the Law. The Samaritan uses the things that he possesses, oil, wine and money, to bring about good, to effect salvation. This is what Jesus wishes to teach us with this parable: that we must go beyond the Law, that we must shatter our customary worldview, that we must give of ourselves in order to love. Is it ever possible to love truly without going beyond our own comfort zones? Is it ever possible to do an act of genuine compassion without infringing on something that we once considered to be untouchable?

My preconceived ideas and rules of behaviour prevent me from following Jesus, they prevent me from following the way of love.

This is not to say that rules are of no use; it is simply to recognize that there is a rule that transcends all other rules: the rule of compassion. This rule, in fact, gives senses to all other rules. The fulfilment of the Law, after all, is love. In order to love another person, we cannot be bound by taboos, by schemes, by stipulations. Very often the rules that I subscribe to prevent me from loving; they prevent me from following the Lord Jesus. Very often the rules that I follow in order to give myself a sense of self-security become prison walls that prevent me from being able to love.

The parable reveals that our worldly goods are destined to be used in acts of love.

This Gospel encourages us to enter into the very logic of salvation. The Samaritan discovers why he has oil in his possession: to give relief to the stricken. He discovers why he has wine: not to drink but to disinfect the wounds of the afflicted. Why do I have worldly goods? Why do I have money? In order to love. This is the surprise of this parable. It challenges us to go beyond our preconceptions. I believed that my worldly goods were destined for another purpose, but now I know what the Lord intends me to do with them! Let us be transported by this Samaritan to a new way of thinking about things; to a new way of using the things that we possess. The Samaritan shows us that the things we believe we knew must in reality be learned from scratch.

Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

July 7th 2013. Gospel: Luke 10:1-12; 17-20

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

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Don Fabio's homily is not available yet for translation. What follows (after the Gospel) is a homily he gave a couple of years ago on the same theme.

GOSPEL:                                Luke 10:1-12. 17-20 

The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself was to visit. He said to them, 'The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest. Start off now, but remember, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road. Whatever house you go into, let your first words be, "Peace to this house!" And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you. Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house. Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is set before you. Cure those in it who are sick, and say, "The kingdom of God is very near to you". But whenever you enter a town and they do not make you welcome, go out into its streets and say, . "We wipe off the very dust of your town that clings to our feet, and leave it with you. Yet be sure of this: the kingdom of God is very near." I tell you, on that day it will not go as hard with Sodom as with that town.

The seventy-two came back rejoicing. 'Lord,' they said 'even the devils submit to us when we use your name.' He said to them, 'I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.'

THIS IS THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.

SUMMARY OF THE HOMILY

This Gospel contains a manifesto for Christian missionary activity. By virtue of our baptism we have all been given a particular mission by Christ, and this mission includes every word that we say and every action that we undertake. Before embarking on any course of action, we must ask if it derives from my relationship with Christ, or if it comes solely from me. The Gospel contains detailed instructions on how we are to carry out our mission:

1. Our actions must be grounded in Christ; 

2. They must be carried out in communion with the Church;

3. They give us power over the one who seeks to destroy communion and tries to sow divisions/compromises/ambiguities within each of us;

4 To be missionaries we must simply be missionaries - no equipment or resources are essential; 

5 We must wear the single garment that is our Christian identity and never exchange it for any other garment.

The homily now follows . . . 

All of our actions must be measured against a simple standard: Do they originate in our relationship with Christ

Sunday's Gospel passage recounts how Jesus sent his disciples out on mission. We shouldn't read this text as if it were just an interesting description of the mission of the apostles. Mission is an intrinsic part of the life of every baptized person, and this text must be read as if it were spoken directly to each of us.

 The first important point to be drawn from the text is that Jesus calls the disciples to himself and then sends them out on mission. Mission is something that has its source in Christ, not in us. Many of the things that we do, originate in our own designs, plans, or instincts. And the things that come purely from us also finish with us. But things that derive from our relationship with Christ have influence that goes far beyond the immediacy of what we do or say. We should be extremely fearful of things that do not originate solidly in our relationship with Christ. Everything that we do or say, or omit to do, must be evaluated against that standard.

 How can we know if our actions truly have their origin in Christ? The first thing is simply to ask ourselves each time we do or say anything: "Does this originate in my relationship with Jesus?" This simple habit provokes the kind of self-awareness that leads to wisdom, enabling the person to distinguish between acts that stem from Jesus or simply from us. But if one does not even bother to ask this question then one will never attain the capacity for discernment. 

Christian missionary activity is not individualistic. It must be done in communion with the Church and others

Jesus calls the disciples to himself and sends them out in twos. Christian mission generally does not involve solitude. There are many reasons why it is better to go on mission in twos, and these have been highlighted by the fathers of the church and others. But the principle reason is that of communion. "Where two or three are gathered together, there am I in the midst of them". To work in twos means to avoid the self-deception of being autonomous. It means to work in a context in which each one is encouraged, constrained and measured by another.

Working in communion with others gives power over the devil, who seeks to destroy communion

Working in pairs in this way, according to the text, gives the disciples power over unclean spirits. What does this mean? It means that this communion of discipleship gives power over that which seeks to destroy communion. The Holy Spirit is the one who creates communion and the devil is the one who destroys it. In fact, the word "diabolic" originally means "he who divides". The one who is in communion has power over that which seeks to destroy our communion with God and with our neighbour; namely, the spirit of impurity, that leads us to ambiguities and compromises within ourselves. Discipleship, then, involves communion with the church and with others, and gives the power to confront the personal principle of evil in the world.

 The mission of the church is not just some activity that gives us consolation or meaning. It is a project against the origin of evil itself. Our baptismal calling involves a communion with Christ that entails engaging in a battle against that which leads to unhappiness in the world. The Gospel passage then goes on to give some important instructions about how we should embark on this mission.

To be a good missionary, a person must simply be grounded in Christ. Material resources, techniques and structures are secondary

The missionary is not to take purse, haversack or sandals. These objects represent all of the supports that we have in this world. In order to complete our mission none of these things are essential. This instruction of Jesus is striking! Often when we embark on pastoral projects the first thing we think of is monetary and material resources. According to our modern criteria, Jesus would have been a hopeless organiser of pastoral initiatives! When Jesus sent people on mission he asked simply that they be missionaries, not that they be furnished with the materials "necessary" for mission. This is a very important point. In order to be a good father or mother, the essential thing is to be a good father or mother, not merely to have all of the material things that are useful for parenting. To exercise the priestly ministry well, similarly, one must simply be a good priest. The structures and techniques that complement good parenthood, or good priestly ministry, are important, but one must first have the essential characteristic that gives value to everything else.

Reception and rejection of the Gospel

What a marvellous text with which to contemplate the nature of our mission as Christians! We are told to stay in a house in a given district until our work is finished in that area. This refers to the fact that our missionary work should not lead us to have transitory or fleeting relationships with people, but we should remain in communication with people for as long as the Lord decrees is necessary. Sometimes, even pastorally, we jump from one relationship to another without ever really engaging in serious communication with people.

 The Gospel passage also deals with the theme of the rejection of the Gospel. When someone rejects the Gospel then this is something that must be acknowledged and accepted. The shaking off of the dust from one's feet is not an act that needs to be physically carried out. It is a symbolic act whereby we acknowledge that the Gospel has been rejected and we move on.

A Christian who accepts his mission can bring about conversion and change of heart. The various orders that Jesus gives in this passage are a veritable course of formation in Christian mission. What a beautiful mandate from Jesus! By following these instructions we are given authority over unclean spirits and attain the power to heal humanity of the illnesses that obstruct our conformity to Christ. What great things we are called to do as part of our wonderful faith!

30 June 2013. Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Luke 9:51-62

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

Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

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GOSPEL:        Luke 9:51-62

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JUNE 23^rd 2013. TWELFTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Luke 9:18-24

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

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

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GOSPEL                   Luke 9:18-24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  

The starting point for following Jesus is to stop following ourselves

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JUNE 16^th 2013. ELEVENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Luke 7:36-50

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

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

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GOSPEL:                            Luke 7:36-50        

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JUNE 9^th 2013. TENTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Luke 7:11-17

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

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

GOSPEL                   Luke 7:11-17

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

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

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

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

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

  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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