17th Sunday ordinary time year b - 30th July, 2006

Bread and Dignity

 

This weekend’s gospel is again a reminder of the crontrast between God’s power and our concept of possibility.

 

In human eyes, we often can’t imagine how God could intend and achieve the good news for all people……    we humans, who are naturally finite in our physical form… and are all too well aware of our limitiations, and the limitations of resources, money, food, energy, ability……  struggle to imagine how God might be able to achieve the things that are so desirable in the good news….

 

But Jesus, in the gospel reminds us that God makes use of our finite and limited offerings and transforms them into things that can be used by God to achieve things beyond our wildest imagination……..  God doesn’t even ask us to comprehend it…… (if that is possible)  Jesus just asks us to keep offering what we have so that God can transform it…

 

Echoing this gospel……  every Sunday we come forward with simple gifts of bread and wine………   and ask them to transform them into the presence if God for our strength and nourishment……. and God does…..

 

So too….  do we go out from here… offering ourselves… and our skills and talents to God…  asking God to transform these into tools for the establishment of God’s good news in the daily events and places of our lives……

 

and God does that too…

 

There is another really beautiful thing, that again shows that Jesus never stops at half measures………    jesus miracle with the loaves and the fishes is amazing……..    but how he distributes it is PROFOUNDLY important…….   Jesus could have had this huge and plentiful supply given out by saying….  “okay… everyone…  line up….  we’ll hand this out….”  handing it out like beggars…. who recipients of charity……..   grabbing and clutching at the food….but no…….. Jesus respects each person’s dignity… he asks that everyone sit down….  probably in groups …. little communities??...... the food is brought to the people and they eat it, with dignity… as humans and equals……….    truly a second miracle has occurred………. and an equally needed one…..   yes we have people who are in phscial need…..   and we also have people in our society…  crying out for a sense of dignity…  equality… who don’t want to be treated just like a number….but need human and respectful interaction and community…

 

jesus, God, gives us both and asks us to do the same,….

and so….in a little while……  we bring forward our humble gifts of bread and wine.. and with them, ourselves…….   we come as humble, graced and sinful people….   asking God to transform us and our gifts into the gracious things that God will use to change the world to be a place of generosity and respect…..  let us come to the table of life…… and be fed….

 

(some ideas taken from Gustavo Gutierrez, “sharing the word through the liturgical year.” )

HOMILY 15TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR B. 16/7/06

HOMILY 15^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B. 16/7/06

 

I was reading a reflection on this gospel, by the Jesuit writer Mark Link…  and he used a comparison of this gospel with and example from the Civil war General and US President Ulysses Grant ….

 

Whilst Jesus gospel was about peace…    Jesus also wanted his disciples to be single minded in their goal………..  and in terms of the clarity of focus….  In achieving one’s goal…………It is hard to ignore the similarity between Jesus instruction… and the way famous civil war general conducted himself in a major battle……

 

An observer of the time, in describing General Grant wrote this…

 

 

“All depended upon the quickness of the movement… It was important that grant should be unencumbered with as little baggage as possible…. He took with him no assistant, nor an overcoat, not even a clean shirt .. His entire baggage for the six days – I was with him at the time-the birographer writes, was a toothbrush….. He fared like the commonest soldiers..sleeping on the ground, with no covering, except the canopy of heaven…”

 

 

 

Jesus is asking his followers to be detached from ‘things’ because they can clutter, obstruct and weigh us down in achieving our goal of proclaiming his gospel in action and word….. 

 

Jesus wanted his disciples to ‘travel light’ so to be free to live his good news….

 

He also wanted the disciples to rely entirely and trust entirely in the providence of God and not spend their time collecting and storing things in case of what might be….  

 

Someone once said that “half the confusion in the world comes from not knowing just how little we really need…..”

 

If that is true… and I believe it is….. then the question is….. in this day and age where consumerism is accelerating…….   Where we have learnt all too well the meaning of words such as “manufacturing desire…..”…..     “creating demand”… (that is, in some ways the ‘creed’ of the advertising industry… its not that you need it… its not that you started out wanting it…  its that, now we have suggested it to you…   maybe you now do want it and need it…….” 

 

So, if its harder than ever for us to know how little we need…  (and how little some others actually have)……   perhaps the problem in our modern culture at the moment is that there is an alarming (and ever growing gap) between what we want…. And what we really need…….

 

Here is a question….   One that bears a little bit of thinking……   if an angel appeared to you or me tomorrow and said to us…..   God has authorized me to grant one of these two prayers….

 

You can either ask for a win on Gold lotto (tonight/ next Saturday night)…… and the jackpot is eg…  $30 million….  But you can only spend it on yourself……   //  or   you can ask that in life you will always have only enough to meet your needs (and everyone else will also have only enough to meet their true needs)…. (and “true needs” are those “as determined by God; and not our own judgement)…………     which one would we be tempted to choose… and which would we choose…..

 

Because I have this rather uneasy feeling that for most of us…. One of those prayers has already been granted…….

The Mysterious Three

TRINITY SUNDAY

There is an amazing form of artwork called icon painting….. and, in fact, its more than art….. the way an icon is painted is actually a special act of prayer……

The painter studies the topic for a long time (often months or years) …….., prays, fasts, reflects on the symbolism of the elements…… and then……..paints….. so, the icon is really a religious prayerful reflection on the topic portrayed…… prayer in pictures….

One of my favourites of all time is the Icon by 12^th century icon painter andrey Rublev… its called “The Trinity.” Its also known as the three angels visiting Abraham… since in that incident… God visited Abraham under the appearance of three people…three angels…… so, with the later eyes of Christians, that has been seen as a pre-figurement of the revelation of the Trinity… one God, being three persons, but one divine nature…..

I love this icon, because it sums up something about the nature of God.. what God’s inner life is like………and the image of God that Jesus spent a lot of time and effort preaching about….. If this is what the Trinity is really like… no wonder Jesus spent his life sharing meals with anyone who could sit down with him….. even outcasts and sinners…..

God is a perfect community…so God… by nature is a social and sharing being….. God cannot be otherwise…. (someone said once, the smallest community one can have is really three… two is company.. three is a community…..)

God has distinct and unique facets.. but always works together in perfect mutuality, harmony and equality….

God’s life is like a heavenly banquet… and there is always room for one more person at the table……(as you can see… the table is opening out to the viewer…) we are all invited in …….to share in God’s life……. So, since God is (by nature sharing), that love overflows outwards into creation and to us…. Wanting to give life and share this love…

And the beautiful relationship between the three……. I imagine the three are going….. would you like to have something to eat?…. yes please…. But after you,….. oh no, I insist…. You first… thank you….. and now your turn…. Please…… why thank you, I will……

And the perfect respect that the three have for each other and their distinct roles… we know Jesus says to the father… you are the pre-eminent one… you are the source of all … I do nothing unless you do it…….and the father replies… thank you.. in return I put all things into your hands….. …. What you are doing is what would do……. and the spirit participates in all this and transforms and flows out to share this with everyone///……. In this picture…. The son and the spirit are glancing up to the father, ready to take their cues from him… and in return, the father is ready to share and initiate at their request…. So its power and even hierarchy.. with out inequality, without domination…. Its truly a relationship….. a totally different vision of power and authority from the one the world has…….. one’s authority takes nothing away from the other…. But gives and empowers….

I have heard people occasionally saying about the trinity…so what…. How is the nature of God as “three” relevant to me in my life… its just a theological or academic construction,….

But ……that kind of thinking gives me the horrors… because … to me… it matters very much… the nature of God as Trinity…. has the very real potential to change the way we think and act….

The trinity can be the model for how we relate to ourselves and to each other… how we model community and how we understand the nature of authority and mutuality and equality…… life becomes about sharing…. About inclusion….. people with different roles, even some with positions of precedence.. can exercise that in a way that respects and yet takes nothing away from the others…. People can live with a concept of authority that takes nothing away from them and leaves them free to be everything and do everything they need…… since there are no hang ups… no hidden agendas…. No issues of false pride or resistance…..

If God is always ready for “yet one more” at the table… we too live in the readiness to open our hearts and communities to ‘yet one more”……..

To me… to say someone is gracious… is not a mere compliment… to be a person who is gracious, hospitable committed to working in mutuality and equality of respect for each other and their distinct role… That, is a reflection of the divine life of the trinity….. and this is not a merely an idealized picture of how the world could be… this is how God lives..and who God is…. And I have seen it working in different people and places in my life journey…

I am sure you have seen it at work in many places… in many people’s lives….. it can really work in families…… it’s a joy if its happening in the workplaces we find ourselves in………. yes it means self-sacrifice……. No it doesn’t mean false politeness……. But it can and happen in any place…… The life of the trinity draws us in!

Fr Paul

Greetings

Hi everyone,

this is the new format for sharing the Sunday homily, also known as a sermon, from the St Mary's Catholic Parish.
Cheers,


Fr Paul