Weekly Reflection: Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B

Reading References:

1st Reading: Kings 4:42-44
Psalm: Ps 144:10-11.15-18, R v 16
2nd Reading: Ephesians 4:1-6
Gospel: John 6:1-15

In our readings today we are called to trust our God – to trust unreservedly. How difficult this can be for us. We allow our fears of failure, our fear of making a mistake, our fear of how we might be perceived by others, our fear ridicule, and our fear of looking like an idiot etc to dominate our lives. This fear can retard the possibility of so much good.

In our gospel the disciples must have felt a great awkwardness as Jesus entertained the thought of feeding so many people with what seemed virtually nothing. They must have wanted to say to him: are you blind, can’t you see that what you are planning is simply not possible? But however they may have felt they stayed with Jesus in a situation that logically seemed impossible. How must the disciples felt and what would they have thought as they were picking up the baskets of bread left over?

We can reject so much in our lives because of fear. If we look at our lives and see where perhaps we have embraced the fear we may have felt and then see how much growth and good came from this decision to move beyond the fear then surely we too will be amazed. But we must take that initial step to move beyond our fears.

How many times have we had an idea or thought and rejected it because it seemed like it was impossible. We can think of people like Pope John XXIII who had the courage and vision to implement the Second Vatican Council in the face of great opposition and surprise. He saw the need for reform and he trusted God.

We think of all the people who have stood up against the common opinion in order to be faithful to a truth. There have been many great theologians and political leaders who endured the wrath of church and state leadership when they dared to speak out and put forward a truth that was counter to popular belief.

So many of these people who took the risk and went beyond their fears broke open a deeper truth that enlightened our human hearts. Their courage fed the hearts of the multitudes beyond imagining. All the great reforms in our human history were brought about by people who never gave into their fears and took risks regardless of how this risk would impact on them personally.

Jesus invites all who believe in him to work with him and feed the hearts and souls of those around us. When we are faithful to love and all that love entails then what seems impossible will become possible – what seems like scarcity will become abundance. But we must trust our God. We make a mistake though if we look for this abundance in our life time. Many of the great reformers in human history went through enormous horrors and suffering and even death (look at Jesus and many others) before the abundance was known. The challenge for us is to keep loving – to keep trusting.

There are many who fear for the future of the church at this point in our history. Many are walking away from what they call a sinking ship. These people are not looking at Jesus. They do not believe that out of this scarcity will come abundance. One of the greatest mistakes the church leadership has made over the centuries was to become entirely clerical in its authority – the people of God were merely onlookers – onlookers upon what they were not – holy. It is a shameful system and a system which is in the midst of breaking down – and break down it must if new life is to emerge within the Church.

We stress about the lack of clerical vocations. We stress about the drop off of numbers at Sunday Eucharist. We run the few remaining priests we have into the ground by placing greater demands on them in all sorts of areas. We try and import priests from cultures that are totally different to our own. We amalgamate parishes to keep accommodating the clerical system and it goes on. Our focus is being kept on a clerical system that is dying in its present form – we are not seeing the reality before us. We are a bit like Philip when he asks “Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat? Or we are a bit like Andrew when he says: “There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?” We are acting out these questions: There isn’t anywhere to buy bread and what we have isn’t enough anyway. We are not looking at Jesus – we are not trusting Jesus. We are locked into our closed world and our own limitations with rigid arrogance.

What we must do is let go of the power, let go of the fear – we must begin to trust the Spirit that is leading us and then perhaps we will learn to be amazed instead of being driven to despair by our own blindness. Can we dare to imagine that something else may be possible and do we dare to trust (as John XXIII did and a multitude of others) the Spirit to lead us into the abundance and surprise that awaits all of us?

Weekly Reflection: Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B

Reading References

1st Reading: Jeremiah 231-6
Psalm: Ps 22 R v 2
2nd Reading: Ephesians 2:13-18
Gospel: Mark 6:30-34

Today’s readings are filled with promise – a promise that will be fulfilled if we keep our eyes on Jesus and our hearts open to Jesus. We are promised that Jesus will always shepherd us. We are promised that through the cross peace will be restored.

Our gospel shows the energy present in the disciples as they had gone out and preached what Jesus was teaching them. But Jesus knew this energy needed to be nurtured – he knew that he was the one to nurture them and makes it very clear that they needed time to reflect upon what had happened to them and those around them on this journey of mission. This journey of mission brought them back to Jesus.

But in the midst of all this we see the attraction that this small group of people had mustered. People “hurried” to follow them. There is a sense of desperation present on the part of the people – they do not want to lose this opportunity and they drop everything to get a glimpse of the mystery before them.

Jesus also senses this and even though he had planned to spend time with his disciples he responds with great compassion to the crowd. He sees their desperation – he sees that they are lost – re recognizes they have no one to lead them to what their hearts are longing for.

How do we read all this today?

The disciples believed in Jesus even though they continually failed and didn’t yet understand what was before them. It was their belief that kept bringing them back to Jesus. Where is this belief present in our world today? Our world needs desperately people who believe in Jesus – every Christian person is called to be a disciple of Christ.

Yet we have world leaders that proclaim a belief in Jesus while at the same time they are the ones who continue to crucify love – they are crucifying Jesus over and over again in the name of seeking democracy and peace. We have a world that has over one billion people proclaiming to be believe in Jesus and yet this collective voice is deafeningly silent in the name of love.

Where are the shepherds today?

Even the church leadership while it has pockets of people in leadership that dare to speak out about the atrocities our world currently faces, there are many who remain silent. This silence is a total abdication of the shepherding role our church and political leaders are called to give. It is nothing short of shameful.

But the shamefulness of it cannot end there. Every person who proclaims a belief in Jesus has a responsibility to name evil for what it is and to do all in their lives to act against it. This call to discipleship will leave us at times with an enormous sense of powerlessness and helplessness but none the less we must keep on loving. It is these people who can truly love in their lives that will shepherd us.

It was this loving that was so deeply attractive to those who truly followed Jesus and it is this loving that brings hope to our world today – but it is the responsibility of every person who proclaims a belief in Jesus.

In a world that has become so subjective and dependent on self reliance this call can seem impossible. And of course it is impossible if we do not keep our focus on Jesus. This is why the world needs people who truly believe in Jesus because they will help us see what is truly possible when we do believe - they are our shepherds along with Jesus.

When we become so consumed with ourselves we will almost certainly lose sight of the vision Jesus lived and showed us. When ever we lose the vision we can be assured we are in deep trouble. This lost vision is present in all parts of our world including the church.

We all must reclaim this vision. The longer we sit on our hands and silence our hearts we will continue to spiral out of control – and we will continue to be bewildered by a world that seems to have gone mad.

Let us pray in the coming week that we will have the courage to “hurry” to see Jesus so that the shepherds will be more visible in our world and our hearts then will open the hearts of the world to see what it is to live out our belief in Jesus.

Weekly Reflection: 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B

Reading References

1st Reading: Amos 7:12-15
Psalm: Ps 84:9-14. R. v. 8
2nd Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14
Gospel: Mark 6:7-13

Who really wants to hear the word of God? How many among us already think we know what God is saying and shut our minds and hearts to God’s word? Are we like Amaziah in our first reading who just wants Amos to go back where he came from and is closed to hearing the word?

God speaks to us in our every day lives through various events but particularly through others. Too often we think if we follow formulas and laws (such as Amaziah) then that is what God is asking of us. When we do this we become static and faith in Jesus is anything but static.

We can follow all the right formulas and laws and at the same time behave appallingly towards each other and we often don’t seem to make the connection.

And yet in spite of our broken behaviour and our blindness our God continues to love us and to have mercy on us – God “chose us in Christ” and continues choosing us every moment of every day. Isn’t this truly extraordinary?

Jesus is our key. It is Jesus who sends us out to each other. It is Jesus who calls us to mission. It is Jesus in whom we must trust. It is Jesus who is our prayer.

In our Gospel today we hear those universally known words: “shake the dust from under your feet as a sign to them.” I suspect that this statement is somewhat misunderstood in our modern world. Love that is real and true will never force itself upon another, but at the same time it will never stop loving. But in today’s world we can twist it to mean things such as the following: if a relationship breaks down such as a marriage or a friendship or a working relationship etc then we often hear the words said: I wiped the dust off my feet. But at the same time our behaviour and attitudes are filled with bitterness and often revenge and a whole cycle of hurt and resentment is kept alive.

Sometimes there are circumstances in relationships where it is important to walk away for many reasons. But so often when we do walk away we walk away with bitterness in our hearts and we act out that bitterness. We set out to hurt the other person/s by whatever means possible. We want to hurt them because they have hurt us. We can engage in the most dreadful behaviour because we are consumed with revenge and retaliation.

But this is not what this phrase is saying to us today. It is saying to walk away when it is necessary but to keep loving. To not let our hearts be poisoned by what has happened. Now anyone who has been very hurt or rejected will know just how difficult this can be, but this is what is being asked of us today. It is saying do not let any of the contamination of the breakdown of the relationship stay with you – leave it all behind. But the pain can be so intense and it is here where we must turn to Jesus because we simply cannot do it on our own.

The world in which we live gives great evidence to this. A world that is consumed with the self and its own self importance and self reliance. We so openly accept the attitude of revenge “get even” and it breeds further contempt and now we see it all around us. This surely alerts us to a world that has lost its way. It has stopped listening to the prophets in its midst and it certainly isn’t listening to Jesus.

Who of us has the courage to break this destructive cycle? We must begin with our own hearts and we must turn to Jesus. With many of us there will be a great struggle but if we truly listen to our hearts we will be carried through it. We may think all sorts of negative thoughts but if we let Jesus walk with us we will not act upon these negative thoughts and feelings. It is not the thoughts that do the damage it is the acting upon them that creates havoc.

It is these people who have learned to listen to their hearts that are the prophets in our midst. Do we want to hear them? Do we really want to listen to Jesus?

This is the healing Jesus invites us to be part of today. Jesus makes it very clear that we will have to trust him and that we will have to let go of all that we have relied on or held onto in the past. We are entering into mysterious territory that goes way beyond our own knowledge or understanding – this is the place where all we can do is trust in Jesus. But to trust him we must let our hearts know him and listen to him – do we want such a journey?

In the coming week let us pray for the grace to truly believe in Jesus and all that is being offered to us today.

Weekly Reflection: Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Reading References:

First Reading: Ezekiel 2:2-5
Psalm: Ps 122. R. v. 2
Second Reading: 2Cor.12:7-10
Gospel: Mark 6:1-6

In last weeks gospel we saw the faith of two people (the synagogue official and the woman with the hemorrhage) and how this faith brought them to life in one form or another.

This week we see God sending Ezekiel to tell the rebelling Israelites, the chosen people whom God has a Covenant relationship with, that there is a prophet amongst them.

The Psalmist (and the community) cries out for mercy as they keep their gaze fixed on God.

Paul finds the strength of God within his own “weakness” after hearing God’s words: “My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness” and then Paul’s prayer became “For it is when I am weak that I am strong.”

Then Jesus in his home town is rejected. Those in the synagogue were astonished by his teaching and the wisdom granted him and the miracles that were worked through him, but they would not accept him because he was too familiar to them. Then we hear that Jesus “was amazed at their lack of faith.”

What does all this say to us today?

Paul will help us answer this question. Who amongst us wants to feel weak, afraid, insulted, confused, persecuted etc? The right assumption would be: very, very few of us. So we spend a lot of our lives trying to ensure that this doesn’t happen. We don’t rock the boat with our thoughts because we don’t want to be rejected... We go against what we hear our heart saying so as to protect ourselves from ridicule. We tow the party line so as to feel safe. We spend much of our lives and we put a lot of time and energy into playing it safe. We do this to keep our own egos intact and well inflated.

Perhaps it is not until our egos take a bit of a hammering that we might understand what Paul is saying to us. Paul was persecuting the Christians with a passion. He wanted them destroyed. But he kept being confronted with the beauty and courage of these Christian people until he could no longer resist what his heart was saying to him. He then had the courage to LOOK AT JESUS and he had a powerful conversion experience.

This turned everything he believed upside down. His ego would have been shattered. He was then treated with suspicion by the Christian community that he had been so openly persecuting. He would have been rejected by the Pharisees of which he was one prior to this profound experience. The only person that could sustain him through this suffering was Jesus. It was here that he learned to trust Jesus and let go of his own ego.

So often when we hit a crisis in our lives, when we are struck by our own weaknesses or our own powerlessness we can be taken to new depths of faith if we have the courage to allow ourselves to be taken into this mysterious journey.

But for those in our Gospel today who rejected Jesus, they could not dare this journey. They couldn’t dare face the implications of what it meant to have “God” in their midst. This would have demanded all sorts of changes that they refused to face.

We must ask ourselves if we see and recognize Jesus in our midst. When we do recognize Jesus, our lives will change – they must change. If they do not change then we can be assured that we have not recognized Jesus in our midst – we have probably recognized something that has done little more than boost our own egos even further. We are not talking about feeling good about ourselves – this purely individualistic relationship between me and God. Many who think they have experienced Jesus speak of the “feeling” of being loved by Jesus and “feeling” so happy, and “feeling” so alive in a “me and God” sense... But unless these “feelings” have brought us to a deeper faith and a deeper communion with Jesus and with humanity and a diminishing of our own egos, then we have in all likelihood miss read the experience.

Many of the Pentecostal churches today preach what a good thing it is to acquire personal wealth - Jesus wants us to be comfortable – Jesus wants us to achieve – Jesus wants us to be happy – Jesus wants us to ambitious etc. How do we preach this Jesus to the multitudes who are dying of starvation in our world? How do we preach this Jesus to the millions who are held in refugee camps and have been there for years? How do we preach this Jesus to those living with poverty and who are oppressed by the wealthy and comfortable? How do we preach this Jesus to our indigenous communities world wide that battle with oppression and racism and all its ugly offshoots? If we believe in a theology that puts one persons well being above that of another then we too have rejected Jesus.

In the coming week we need to examine our lives to see where “we play it safe” – where we put our energies into protecting our egos – where we perhaps reject Jesus. Let us pray that when we do meet Jesus and our own blindness is revealed to us, that we will have the courage of Paul and be able to pray along with him “For it is when I am weak that I am strong.”