September 4th Luke 14:25-33 ‘Counting The Cost’

Today’s Gospel is troubling. Does Jesus really expect us to hate our families, friends and even ourselves in order to be his followers? Jesus is making a point here about how we attach ourselves to things and to people, even to images of ourselves. Attachment can cause all sorts of suffering in our lives. If we are to grow, we move on from the comfortable, we let go of the familiar and that can often be painful. Today we can ask ourselves: ‘What is it that I need to let go of?’

The two parables in this story remind us to think things through and weigh up the cost involved. This Kingdom of God journey involves sacrifice and sometimes it feels like ‘20,000 against 10,000’. A disciple of Jesus must be ready to carry the burden not only of tensions with one’s family but even the burden of legal consequences. This was the experience of Luke’s community and it is still the experience of many Christians in the world today. So this passage is a call to conversion and we read it from the various forms of discipleship that we are in: parenting, advocacy, political life, social work, friendships, community building...

Jesus ‘turned to them’, he is speaking from experience. Jesus’ words are harsh, but spend time with this text today, his words can be interpreted as passionate, urgent, focused and can even offer us a great freedom and encouragement in whatever journey of discipleship we are on. 

June 26th 2016 Gospel: Luke 9:51-62 ‘Not a straight path’

The Gospel text today begins a new section of Luke’s Gospel, one where there are many ups and downs for Jesus and the disciples as he ‘set his face towards Jerusalem’. This journey to Jerusalem will not be a straight path for them. It will be filled with many banquets and opportunities for teaching but also filled with moments of rejection and struggle; and so it is for the Christian journey, it is not a straight path.

Why do the Samaritans reject him? There was no love lost between Jews and Samaritans and the disciples want to punish them. But perhaps the Samaritans were fearful of the consequences of associating with ‘heretics’ who were on their way to Jerusalem to challenge a particular system that held power over them. It is interesting how Jesus deals with the disciples who want to rain down fire on the Samaritans, he rebukes them and not long after this he will tell the parable of the Good Samaritan in which the Samaritan becomes the hero of the story. This has much to say to Christians today about the right kind of attitude towards those we consider to be ‘heretics’ or who differ in opinion from ourselves. Jesus respects their position and moves on to the next village.

The second part of the Gospel is harsh but reminds us that His call is one that radically uproots people and it is a difficult walk that should deeply challenge us if we are really living the message of the Gospel. 

Sunday 19th June @ Luke 9:18-24 ‘What kind of Messiah?’

To declare Jesus the Messiah was not only a challenge to the religious authorities of the time but it was also a political statement. As Messiah, Jesus is the Anointed One, The King of Israel, and immediately becomes a threat to Herod and the Roman Empire. It is no wonder Jesus ordered the disciples to keep quiet for fear of early opposition from the authorities.

A deeper reflection of may conclude that Jesus did not want the wrong sort of success. He gives the disciples a new title in today’s Gospel: ‘Son of Man’ and a new definition of Messiahship. Jesus does not want to be a leader of a violent revolt against an establishment. He has rejected that sort of power earlier in the Gospel. Jesus leads in a different way, the least are the greatest and the poor own the Kingdom. The message of His way is of a great reversal and this forces his followers to re-examine what ‘Messiah’ (and disciple) actually mean. There can be no violence, no hunger for power, yet it is also not a passive way. Jesus still opposes suffering and evil. His leadership is one of solidarity with those who suffer and who are oppressed and that way is not an easy journey.

“Jesus did the ultimate violence to violence: he laid it bare, and still did not succumb to it…. People like Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, by having violence turn against them, they unmask it and thereby begin to undo it. It is to this costly alternative that Jesus is inviting his disciples both in ancient times and today.” (Justo Gonzalez)

June 12th 2016 ~ Luke 7:36-8:3 “Celebrate Mercy”

In today’s Gospel Jesus is invited to Simon the Pharisee’s house for dinner when an ‘unwanted’ guest arrives. This woman has a bad reputation in the town; we are told nothing of her past except that she was a sinner and that she is carrying something that she wants to be free from. There are many things to say about the text but perhaps today we can focus on her celebration. The woman is able to receive God’s grace in contrast to the Pharisee who is unable to grasp what has happened. Those present find it difficult to comprehend a God who accepts sinners and they are also finding it difficult to accept someone who celebrates forgiveness so joyfully and extravagantly as this woman does.

Often when we receive forgiveness from others we are unable to forgive ourselves, unable to free ourselves from our own mistakes. We can take a good example from the woman in today’s Gospel who celebrates abundantly when she is freed from whatever it was that she was carrying. 

The last lines of the Gospel remind us of the prominent role of ‘many’ women who covered the expenses of Jesus and the twelve and journeyed with them.

“God's mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones... Let us be renewed by God's mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too; and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth.” (Pope Francis)

June 5th 2016 ~ Luke 7:11-17 “Restoration”

In this section of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus speaks through his actions and today we hear about a miracle of resurrection. This widow has nothing left, her security and her loved ones are gone. Jesus reaches out to her, crossing cultural boundaries, as to come in contact with a dead body according to the laws of the time would make one ‘unclean’. The crowd must have been shocked as Jesus moved towards the bier. No one approached Jesus or asked him to intervene in this situation. He acts out of deep sympathy and compassion for the woman who has lost her only son.

Often we can give up on people, those who suffer addiction, refugees, prisoners, people who endure one tragedy after another. In today’s Gospel we see an example of Jesus restoring someone to life. He reaches through the social, moral and cultural stigmas of the time and performs the ultimate miracle. We can ask ‘did he really do this?’; ‘is this possible?’ but one clear  interpretation of the passage for us today is that Jesus restores people; He restores life to the man; He restores the son to his mother; He restores the crowd’s faith through his deep compassion. Through Jesus the crowd experience God’s presence among them in a time of total despair. Today we might recall moments where God reached into our desperate situations and restored life.

“Our task is not to protest the world into a certain moral conformity, but to attract the world to the saving beauty of Christ.” Brian Zahnd

April 24th 2016 John 13:31-35

In today’s Gospel Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment – to love one another. When we truly love one another, we are experiencing something of the divine as love comes from God, love is God and God is love.  Surely Jesus’s command to love one another was nothing new for the disciples and those of their time; the commandment is well known in the Old Testament. But the love Jesus asks of the disciples here (and of us) is to love as he has loved, and that is a controversial love for some.  It is controversial because Jesus’s love is without restrictions and without exclusion. It is a  love of those we may not like, a love of those it is hard to love. This love was too radical for some of the religious leaders of Jesus’s time and ultimately led to his death. This radically inclusive love is sometimes too much for Christians today also, to love the sinner, to love those on the extreme margins of our society, to love those who have hurt us, to welcome back those who have done wrong, to include all at the table. Let us hear those words of the Gospel more clearly today: “love one another, just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.” We can dream and work towards a world where this is a reality.

“Let the Church always be a place of mercy and hope, where everyone is welcome, loved and forgiven” (Pope Francis)

April 17th 2016: Fourth Sunday of Easter ~ John 10:27-30

“I know them and they follow me”

During this Easter season we are celebrating the presence of the Risen Jesus in our lives and in our world. Jesus tells us that he knows his flock and because of this ‘knowing’, they follow him.

As Christians, we are called towards ‘knowing’ God more intimately and more deeply. Each of us, on our own journeys and paths, vocations and ministries, are part of this ‘flock’ because of the deep desire to ‘know’ God more deeply. It is a very special thing. No matter what our role is in our community, parish, church and so on, it is important to remember what it is that brings us together  – the desire to know God, to know God’s love and to share that love and ‘knowledge’ with others, especially those who are lost and at the margins.

Very often, those most ‘lost’ in our communities do not experience the presence of the Christian community as they should; they can be cast aside and excluded. Jesus tells us here, no one can snatch them out of His hand.  

This week can you try to recognise that deep desire within you to know God more fully? What does that mean for you? What does that mean for those you meet in your day to day life?

“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound with mine, then let us go together” (Aboriginal Woman, anonymous). 

"Come and have breakfast" ~ Reflection for Sunday 10th April 2016

During these Easter weeks we read from St. John’s Gospel. The passages are very deep and in today’s text (Jn 21:1-19) there are many things going on. Perhaps we might focus on Peter and the journey he has made:

We all have experience of friendships and relationships that break down. When that happens it feels like a death - we grieve, we get angry, we have regrets, we wonder ‘what if..?’ Three times Peter denied Jesus and today we hear Peter express his love for Jesus three times. Jesus welcomes Peter back into community with him. Peter experiences resurrection; he is given new life. There is no situation, no matter how terrible, that Jesus cannot transform, forgive, welcome back, restore. Peter says to Jesus – ‘Lord you know everything’ and we too must remember that Jesus knows our hearts, He knew Peter’s heart. The questioning here is perhaps so that Peter can hear it for himself. The relationship is restored and we, like Peter, are once more invited in to “Follow me!”

“Lord, we thank you for people who have forgiven us, not a mean, calculating forgiveness, not harping on the ways in which we wronged them, but forgiving with the forgiveness of Jesus, so that it was like coming back from a hard night’s work, and seeing some bread there and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it and the very person we had hurt saying, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ And we not having to ask any questions because we knew that everything was forgiven.” (Michel de Verteuil)

Shalom ~ Reflection for April 3rd 2016

In today’s Gospel we hear that the disciples are locked away, afraid, closed off from the world. It is a dark situation to be in and they are most likely quite frightened. When Jesus is present with them, their hearts are opened again, they rejoice. “Peace” (Shalom) is more than a wish for a good evening or peaceful day. It expresses the desire that the person receiving the blessing might be whole in body, mind and spirit. The Risen Jesus brings a peace that is life-giving. 

They must have been so excited to tell Thomas this news: “We have seen the Lord”. Sometimes, when we try to share something of our faith experience with others, we can meet similar responses – doubting, cynicism - we can even be made fun of. In today’s world, none of this is easy. Then why do it? The risen Jesus in today’s Gospel moves the disciples from total fear and despair to ‘rejoicing’. The same risen Jesus is active in all our lives and in the world around us, but we must be careful not to close ourselves off or let fear take over.

John tells us that he writes these things so that we may come to believe and have life; reminding us of the importance of the Word of God for our lives. Through the Word we come to know Jesus more deeply. Even in the darkest of times and the most hopeless of situations, this Risen Jesus can bring peace and wholeness if we unlock the doors of our hearts. 

Fifth Sunday of Lent 2016: John 8:1-11

Jesus never condemns sinners. In today’s Gospel he refuses to condemn the woman, caught in adultery, to the death penalty as was demanded by Old Testament law (the man would have been subject to the same law by the way!). Once again the Pharisees are trying to trick Jesus. We may wonder what Jesus was writing on the ground as they continued to question him, but he delivers the winning statement in this debate and the condemners are forced to leave one by one.

We live in a stone-throwing society which cares little for the circumstances that cause people to make wrong choices. We want someone to blame, and the sooner the better. Those who accuse others often do so from a lack of self-knowledge and laziness, because it is very easy to be negative. We have all had a part to play in creating climate injustice, but the blame game won’t solve the issue. We need to be proactive and challenge complacency on this issue wherever we see it. We make mistakes but we can always start again. When we relate compassionately to those who are in difficulty we can rediscover our common humanity.

"Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning … No system can completely suppress our openness to what is good, true and beautiful, or our God-given ability to respond to his grace at work deep in our hearts. I appeal to everyone throughout the world not to forget this dignity which is ours. No one has the right to take it from us. Laudato Si’, 205

Fourth Sunday of Lent: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

 Sometimes we can be so familiar with a particular Gospel passage we tend to switch off after the first few sentences. That would be a shame, especially when this is one of the great blockbuster parables. The Pharisees were a group obsessed with ritual purity and Jesus’ parables of things lost and found is his response to these barriers which excluded people from community and from God. The real challenge in this parable is what happens after the lost son returns. The elder brother has ‘worked like a slave’ all those years and is understandably upset. But the point the Father makes is that his outreach to the younger brother will not change his inheritance. It will cost him nothing to reach out. He has nothing to lose by welcoming home the lost. The Father’s behaviour towards the younger son would have been considered extremely foolish by those around him. But the message is clear: no matter how far we wander from home, God is still a loving God. The elder brother has a choice, to come to the party or to sulk in the corner. Luke, being the excellent storyteller that he is, leaves the reader to decide the outcome.

Today, we can try to place ourselves somewhere in this parable. Where do you stand? We might even think of the thousands of refugees who are displaced around the world. Can we open our hearts and our communities to them? Today’s parables shows us that God returns the lost to the community, regardless of the boundaries that we have put in place, and teaches a lesson in radical hospitality.

"God of love, show us our place in this world as channels of your love for all the creatures of this earth, for not one of them is forgotten in your sight. Enlighten those who possess power and money that they may avoid the sin of indifference, that they may love the common good, advance the weak, and care for this world in which we live". Laudato Si’, 246

Third Sunday of Lent 2016 ~ Luke 13:1-9 “Bear Fruit”

The people in the Gospel today are wondering if the Galileans who were killed by Pilate had died because they deserved to. We can empathise with them as we know too well of accidents and tragedies of all kinds where we might ask the same question. Jesus insists that they have not done anything wrong. Their sudden death challenges those still alive to live to the full and to bear much fruit because life can end suddenly, life is fragile, no one is indestructible. 

Climate Change affects us all. Climate injustice occurs when people who have done little or nothing to cause climate change are suffering the most from its effects. It is the greatest injustice of our time as it is the world’s poorest countries who suffer the most from the changes in our weather systems. In Ireland we recall the devastating storms of 2013 which caused so much destruction along our West Coast. We have the resources to cope, for now. In countries like Kenya and Malawi, these resources are simply not there and the effects of storms and droughts are catastrophic. Let us pray today that we hear the call of the Gospel to bear fruit, not to be inactive, not to be complacent when it comes to reducing our carbon footprint. The Galileans died because of Pilate, but the greater ‘sin’ here becomes inactivity.

“Common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning… Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace”. (Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 207). 

Second Sunday of Lent 2016: Luke 9:28-36, (37-43) “Called to transformation”

Jesus takes the disciples up to the mountain top in today’s Gospel. In that space, they have a profound experience and are invited to see Jesus for who He really is. One can empathise with the disciples in this story as they do not want to leave that space. We all have had experiences that we want to last forever and are hugely disappointed when they are over. However, commitment to any cause very often involves a long and painful journey. Like the disciples in the Gospel today, there is a ‘hook’ moment, when Jesus or any leader shows us something different, a vision, a dream, something that is so wonderful and hope-filled that we commit there and then to making it happen. Then we realise that there is much work to be done and the path will not be so easy. Obstacles will arise, people will fall away, enthusiasm will waver, there will be set backs and disappointments. We are being called to commitment today, to the more difficult path. We are being called to open our ears and eyes to the Gospel message of transfiguration, of transformation.

Per capita, Ireland is one of the highest polluters in Europe. This is not a statistic to be proud of. We know we can do better. Coming down from the mountain, like the disciples, means making changes in our lifestyles that lower each of our carbon footprints. We start with ourselves.

 “We require a new and universal solidarity… All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own cultures, experience, involvements and talents.’ (Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 14)

First Sunday of Lent 2016

14^th February 2016 ~ Luke 4:1-13 “Trust the wilderness”

The temptations are not just an embarrassing episode in the life of Jesus but are an integral part of his mission. Jesus is tempted to eat when he is not supposed to eat, to take the easy route of power through exploitation, when that is not His way. Ultimately, God is in control here; this wilderness is ‘Spirit’ led. And so it is for us. When it comes down to it, each of the temptations are about the same thing, our ability to trust in God. This should not direct us towards complacency but to listening.

We listen to God’s Word and this year’s Trocaire campaign is urging us to listen to what God is saying through the Book of Creation; to trust in those signals and signs. Listening to the story of Teresina this year, we hear of an effect of climate change that is often overlooked: a family forced apart because of dry land. This past year we have seen large movements of refugees around the world. We know that the next generation of refugees will be climate refugees. It does not have to be this way. As we enter the ‘wilderness’ of Lent, let us spend time with the temptations in the Gospel today and hear the call to ‘trust’. Trust what God is trying to tell us through the Book of Creation. It is in the wasteland that we find the signs of God’s renewal.

‘I urgently appeal for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all’. Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 1, 14

February 7th Reflection 2016

7^th February Luke 5:1-11 “Put out into the deep”

Jesus is preaching at Lake Gennesaret (the Sea of Galilee) in today’s Gospel. This is Luke’s account of the calling of the First Disciples which takes place in the context of a miraculous catch of fish. Jesus is using Simon’s boat as a sort of platform from which to address the crowds who had gathered around him. Already Jesus is gaining popularity and the crowds are ‘pressing’ near to him. Clearly they see something in Jesus that is attractive and fulfilling.

Simon is most likely being polite when he agrees to try again for a catch, possibly thinking that Jesus should leave the fishing to the professionals. Simon obeys, takes the risk, lets go of his pride, and the result is an overwhelming catch of fish. It can be hard to trust others at times; it can be difficult to let go of what is familiar to us. We are constantly being challenged to do this. The big challenge is to trust that God knows what God is doing and is constantly urging us to pull away from the shore.

“A boat is safe in the harbour; but this is not the purpose of a boat” ~ Paulo Coelho

Sunday 24th January '16 ~ Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21

The prologue to Luke’s Gospel is almost like the opening credits of a major blockbuster movie, there’s something exciting about it. We don’t really know who Theophplis was, possibly a patron of Luke’s, but his name also means ‘Lover of God’ and in that sense this Gospel is addressed to all ‘lovers of God’.

In the synagogue, Jesus is handed the scroll from Isaiah. It is one of the most powerful passages in the New Testament as Jesus sets out his mission, his manifesto. The uncomfortable truths contained within the passage cause the crowd to reject him. We know that in our world today good news has still to reach the afflicted, captives still await liberation, the oppressed are not free. So this is not a passage read in the past, it is very much alive, very much a vision for all to have and to work towards. Just as the scriptures are fulfilled in Jesus, they are also fulfilled in each of our lives. There are many causes we can be involved in, the refugee crisis, climate justice, homelessness, neighbourliness, community involvement. Wherever we are, in our own small ways, we can strive to make this dream a reality.

“Lord of the universe, look in love upon your people. Pour the healing oil of your compassion on a world that is wounded and dying. Send us out in search of the lost, to comfort the afflicted, to bind up the broken, and to free those trapped under the rubble of their fallen dream.” (Sheila Cassidy)

World Day of Migrants & Refugees ~ Sunday 17th January 2016

During this past year we have watched, in almost disbelief, as hundreds of thousands of people flee their homes in Syria and other parts of the world.  The image of three year old Aylan Kurdi, washed up on a beach last August, as his family attempted to reach safety, caused complete outrage around the world. For a while we reacted and acted and called for an immediate response from our governments. Not since WWII have so many people been forced from their homes. So much can be said today about this crisis and we must continue to ask ourselves: how can we respond?

We must always be ready to welcome the refugee and migrant. Our faith is one of hospitality, compassion and mercy. In the Gospel today, Mary urges the disciples to ‘do whatever He tells you’ and we see Jesus perform a sign that shows he has come for the transformation of that which causes barriers to God’s Kingdom. 

The refugee crisis may challenge us but as people of the Gospel of Mercy, we must respond: “Mercy nourishes and strengthens solidarity towards others as a necessary response to God’s gracious love…Each of us is responsible for his or her neighbour: we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they live.  Concern for fostering good relationships with others and the ability to overcome prejudice and fear are essential ingredients for promoting the culture of encounter, in which we are not only prepared to give, but also to receive from others.  Hospitality, in fact, grows from both giving and receiving.” (Pope Francis)

 

Hundreds gather on Sandymount strand, Dublin last year to spell out 'Refugees Welcome' #solidarity

Sunday 10th January ~ Baptism of our Lord

In Luke’s account of the baptism of Jesus we hear that Jesus was at prayer after his baptism, when the heaven opened and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove. This is main focus of Luke’s account of this story, he is the only Gospel who says that Jesus was at prayer before ‘heaven opened’ and God’s voice was heard. A call to do God’s work can often be preceeeded by a deep prayerful experience of God. Luke’s focus is on the experience of Jesus in this account but we are also called to see the revelation of God in ourselves and in others. Perhaps you can recall when you suddenly saw a divine spark in someone you know or noticed a change in yourself because of a deep experience.

We can recall moments in our own lives when we experienced God tenderly and lovlingly saying to us, ‘you are my son/daughter’; ‘you are my beloved’; ‘my favour rests on you’. Very often experiences such as these are simple events. They can also call us to a greater commitment to our faith and our relationship with God.

“The descent into the waters of our spirit, is a journey into the presence of divinity…all human beings are children of God but not all live in the awareness that there is ‘that of God’ within them” (W.L. Wallace)

January 6th ~ The Feast of the Epiphany

Whether they were philosophers or astrologers, the Wise Men were certainly ‘seekers’. Looking to the skies for signs and guidance, with their hearts and minds set on finding God, the Wise Men embark on an amazing journey, determined. The thought of some new religious insight, a change or even a threat, forces Herod to call together all those considered to have authority on religious matters.  All are concerned with their own power and afraid of how the new could affect their traditions and structures; the possibility of a new King is too much for them. In contrast to this, the Wise Men are humbled before the leaders and genuinely seek to learn from them. We are told that the sight of the star ‘filled them with delight’.

This story has so much to say to us today, we are all on a similar journey, striving for the same goal: ‘going into the house the saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage’. This scene describes a moment of great joy, of grace and is in total contrast to the scene of Herod frantically calling the religious leaders together: God is found in the simple spaces. The Wise Men represent all peoples, all cultures, a clear message that God is for all regardless of nationality, culture and even faith. Today we might think about our own journeys to moments of epiphany. What ‘star’ had brought us there? What gifts did we leave there? What gifts were we given there?

Sunday 3rd January ~ In the beginning was the Word...

There is a very deep teaching in today’s reading, taken from the opening of St. John’s Gospel. There is so much depth here and much to reflect on. God is described as the Word and as Light. The Word is that divine energy, Creator of the universe, Being, God, Father and Mother of all things.  John tells us that no one has ever seen God, but through Jesus, God has been made known. There are wonderful lines in the passage, written for all of us, to convey the message that God lives among us yet even though God created the world, the world still does not know him. God is involved in humanity; God is not somewhere out in the universe watching; God is involved with us. Today can you spend some time reflecting on the deep words of this passage? Perhaps reflect on where have you seen God in the world around you? Where is God present for you? Invite God more deeply into your life.

‘Lord, humanity today wants to live independently of you, and even Christian speak as if you created the world and then left it to its own devices. We thank you for the teaching of St. John reminding us that all things come to be only because you speak a Word, and that every single thing that exists today has its being because that Word continues to be spoken in it, and the only way that anything which has come to be has life today is because your Word lives within it.’ (Michel de Verteuil)