Most of the time, the Gospel tells us of the miracles that Jesus has performed or the parables that he has told a particular group of people: His disciples, the Pharisees or a crowd. Today’s Gospel is different, Jesus is walking along the road and encounters different people who engage Him in conversation. We get an interesting insight into His daily activities. We learn that Jesus has resolved to go to Jerusalem, a place controlled by His enemies; He knows these people want to put an end to Him. This is why Luke writes: “Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem”. This is a compelling detail, even today. When we find ourselves faced with a difficult situation, the temptation is strong to flee rather than face the situation. On the road to Jerusalem, Jesus must pass through Samaria, a country that is inhospitable towards Him because He is a Jew. The disciples want to ask God to punish the Samaritans in retaliation for their lack of hospitality. But Jesus refuses any retribution and reprimands the disciples for thinking that way. Here we see that Jesus is very tolerant, and if the Son of God is tolerant, it is because God is also forgiving. This begs the question: If I declare myself to be a disciple of Christ, am I tolerant and forgiving? Not only in my actions, but in my thoughts and in my words?
Lastly, we hear of someone approaching Jesus and declaring that he wants to be one of His disciples- except he has other priorities to tend to beforehand. Jesus replies with the statement: “Let the dead bury the dead and stop looking back!” These hard words are shocking coming from the one who advises us to love one another! How do we come to terms with these words today? Sometimes the groups we belong to, including our own families, aren’t what they are meant to be. These groups can end up being more of a prison than a place of refuge, a weight to bear rather than a place to unwind. The same goes for the rules that we follow and the principles on which we base our lives; they can easily imprison us in a soulless routine. A prison with walls of gold is still a prison and slavery even with the best of intentions, remains slavery. In Jesus’ eyes, the only thing that truly matters is the building of God’s Kingdom, and He has given us the freedom to build it. Choose to live freely and follow our heart’s true desire, for He created our hearts. Amen.
Homily June
19, 2022 Lk 9: 11-17 The Body and Blood of
Christ
On that day, somewhere in Palestine, a big crowd was gathered to listen to a preacher proclaiming the Good News. There were many preachers at the time in the Roman Empire and Jesus was one of them. In those days, the preaching would start early in the morning and stop at mid-afternoon to allow people to go back home. On that occasion, though, the day was drawing to a close, but the people were still there, probably because, as the Gospel says, Jesus was healing people. When you are in need of healing, time does not count. The disciples, aware of the situation, warn Jesus about it and push Him to send the people away. After all, they tell Him, they can go into the surrounding villages to eat and lodge. But the Lord had other plans in mind. “You give them something to eat”, He tells the disciples. A totally unexpected answer and at first sight an irresponsible one. They had only five loaves and two fishes for five thousand people. But Jesus insists. “Make the people sit down”. And it worked. There is something to think about in today’s story. Jesus never does anything for His own glory and never boasts about His power. And He seems to find His joy in what he does for others as, on that day, when He fed not only the bodies of his fellowmen and women, but also their minds and souls. And He keeps on doing this through the Eucharist every Sunday. Sometimes we suffer from a lack of recognition from people we have been helping for years. Like those five thousand people of the Gospel whom Jesus fed and who do not appear to have thanked Him for it. But the recognition we are looking for is already there in the deep joy that we experience in doing it and in the fact that, through faith, we know that God knows and will reward us for it. Amen.
Homily June
12, 2022 Jn 16:12-15 Trinity Sunday
Our Christian faith is based upon historical fact: a man by the name of Jesus, a common name in his time, was born in Nazareth, a city of Palestine, some 2000 years ago. As every man, he grew up to become a child and an adult. As an adult he worked as a carpenter. Then he had a call. He left his job and home to become a popular preacher, something not unheard of in his time and country. On the whole then, a normal life. Hence for his fellow country men and even for his own disciples, the difficulty to see him as the Son of God. It is only after his death and resurrection that they started wondering about him. What kind of a man deserves to be risen? In their minds then started a slow process of remembering what he had said. For instance, they remembered that he used to speak of God as His Father. And as his death was nearing, that he started speaking more and more often about the Spirit he would send them after his death. Hence their gradual understanding that God’s life was not like that of a single person but rather like the life of a family. And that, as his disciples, they had to act accordingly. We too then are invited to adopt God’s lifestyle. That is to give and develop life in every possible way and whoever we may be: single, married, man or woman. To acknowledge our debt to others for our education for nobody is his own Father. We all have been given much more than we think. And finally, that each one of us has to become a source of inspiration for others in our behaviour. This is a challenging mission but it shows the high esteem into which God keeps us. In God’s mind, human beings are destined to nothing less than greatness. Amen.
Homily June
5, 2022 Jn20:19-23 Pentecost Sunday
We do not know what is going on in the minds and hearts of other people unless they let it show through their words and deeds. It is only through their conversation and doings that we can infer what they think, what they care for and who they are.
In today’s readings, the disciples receive the Holy Spirit. Who is the Spirit? What does He do? Here too, we can answer this question only through what the disciples said and did after the Spirit’s coming. The first and main sign of the Spirit’s presence in their lives is the radical change of their attitudes. Until the Spirit came, they were speechless and hiding for fear of the authorities. They now come out in the open and preach boldly. They were filled with doubt; they are now assertive. And most of them will choose to die rather than change their minds, just like Jesus.
The Spirit may do something similar in our lives. He may change our approach to the world and to the people. Instead of being afraid of the world’s evolution, we see it as a place of possibilities and creativity. Instead of seeing people as potential enemies, we see them as possible friends. Instead of focusing on our differences, we are invited to rediscover what we have in common. A new awareness which will bring us not only to become friends, instead of remaining strangers or even enemies, but brothers and sisters. Who among us, does not have in mind a person whose acceptance has been or still is particularly difficult? A person we do our very best to avoid? In faith, we know that nothing happens for nothing and that God acts in mysterious ways. Keeping that in mind, let us commit ourselves to do our best. Amen.
Homily May 29, 2022 Lk 24:46-53 Ascension Sunday
Today's readings are about the return of our Lord in heaven where from He had come into the flesh to be with us and for us. What will the disciples do when the Lord will be gone? For when He was here, they could hide behind His skirts, so to speak, let Him do the work and when the discussion would end and the miracle happen, appear at the right time at His side and get the applause. But now, they are left alone.
This is the point: they won't be left alone. Jesus will send them the Holy Spirit who will give them a new insight on people and on situations, a burning desire to be with people to help and the strength to accomplish what they wish for.
This will be the way that our Lord will deal with us. Wherever we live or go, whatever we do or say, our Lord's spirit will be there with us. As you are with your loved ones at their bedside in the hospital; as you are with your sick child sleeping peacefully while you hold their hand.
Our faith tells us that, despite appearances, our world is a wonderful place entrusted to us to make of it what it was intended to be at its very beginning: a haven of peace, friendship and mutual respect. And if we open our eyes and look carefully, we will be able to see that the world God wanted for us is already there in the lives of our family members, neighbours and friends. The world is of our making but God will always be with us to make of it what it was intended to be at the very beginning. Amen
Homily May 22, 2022 Jn 14:23-29
In the Jewish religion of Jesus’ time, nothing was more important than circumcision. First because God Himself had given it; also, because without it, nobody could enter into God’s kingdom. The first meaning of this belief is that no one can enter into God’s home on his own. We need something else and something which comes from God. Christians have denied the importance of circumcision but replaced it with love, as today’s Gospel says. That there be something man cannot do by himself is a pretty rough assertion to admit for the modern man who is so proud of the development of science and technology. With all those discoveries and new technologies, we have come to believe that we could manage without any outside help. But Christian faith is very clear on this: no ritual nor technique, however sophisticated they may be, can save us. Only God can. But He needs us to do something. And this something that we have to do is love. Love of God and love of our neighbour. And not extraordinary nor exceptional manifestations of love. Just a prayer a day to God and a service a day to our neighbours. A prayer can be short or long, vocal or silent, performed at home or at Church, and a service can be small or big. It does not matter. For in our daily life, and, as unbelievable as it may appear, God our Father, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit, are present and rejoice at any little steps in that direction. Such assertions may appear to be pure fancy but we believe them to be true. Truer anyway than the promises of winning a million at Loto and much more important than the Stanley Cup. Amen.
Homily May
15, 2022 Jn 13:31-35
Business, Social and Cultural groups all have a booklet of regulations that their members have to go by. Regulations which are intended to ensure the implementation of the group’s goals. The same with religions: Jews have the Torah, Muslims have the Koran and Christians have the Catechism. What about Jesus? Like Moses and Muhammad, He started with a group of disciples that He entrusted with a mission: to spread His Good News to the world.
Strangely though, He did not bother with establishing a set of rules to obey and regulations to go by. The only thing He did before leaving was to take a meal with them and ask them to repeat it after He was gone. And to this meal He attached the only rule He ever bothered to impose: love one another. He did not even specify how He would like them to do that. He left it to them. That is why, all along history, we Christians have tried different ways to implement that rule. Did we succeed? In fact, Christianity has done a lot for the welfare of humanity: it has made legislation more humane, developed services for the poor, created masterpieces in every field of fine arts. In one word, it created Europe. On the other hand, it made a lot of mistakes. Hence the question: Is Christianity still relevant today? The answer to this question lies in our community here in Huntingdon. As long as volunteers will keep on taking people to the hospitals, as long as poor and sick people will be visited and taken care of, as long as activities will be organized for the young and the elders, food and solace brought to people in need, as long as we welcome newcomers and help them to become members of our community, then Christianity will be relevant. When Christianity started more than 2,000 years ago, it’s first members were considered gentle dreamers. Now, over 2,000 years later, one can see the difference they made in history. Let us keep hope and remember that any loving gesture, even the smallest one, is never fruitless. Amen.
Homily
May 8, 2022 Jn10:27-30
When we speak about the ones in charge in Christian Churches, we use the word Father, Pastor or shepherd. Beautiful words meaning to take care of. With the passing of time though, the growing number of faithful, the building of huge churches and the administrative responsibilities attached to it, have transformed the Catholic Church into a big multinational organization in need of specialized management and bureaucracy; thus, taking those in charge further and further away from their people. But Jesus’ intention was wider than that and Pope Francis is very aware of it, as it shows in his speeches and deeds. Our Lord wanted pastors to be close to their sheep; He wanted them to take time to listen, to help, to support them- in one word- to be present, to be there- when needed. He wanted us, all of us and not only priests, to be close to one another. He was dreaming of a Church where mutual relationship was made of humility, patience, understanding and tenderness towards one another and towards outsiders. He wanted us to be people who believe more in forgiveness than in feeding grudges, who believe in the light more than in the darkness. “My sheep will never perish” says Jesus. This commitment of His does not apply only to the after life. But also, and mainly to our daily life, where we are invited to live in joy and peace, in trust and hope, and to do all that we can to establish a peaceful and respectful environment. Life was given to us as a gift to be nurtured carefully. Let us not destroy it with grudges and endless feuds. Amen