#i need to value more on tumblr than twitter fr

[cornflakeeeee]

brazil moots who were on twt and have an account here, if you find this pls tell me if you're alive and well, thank you :3 💚

[souvercine]

hey y’all ! i’m jia and i’m super excited for opening; i have two super clingy cats in case any of you ever need a visual pick-me-up, i’m a uni student in canada and a big skincare and dark chocolate junkie, more than likely gonna be typing replies while indulging in either jsyk !

tried to keep it short since i’m a rambly bitch, but xan’s basic stats and a proper wc page will be up soon as i just got home from grocery shopping and we open in an hour as of typing this, the theme as a whole will get a refresh eventually and i’ll be posting a little tracklist for her playlist later ! and if tumblr ims are as much of a nuisance for you as they can be for me, you can add me on d*scord at genuinely sick of this shit#2030 if you’d like to plot ! anyways, without further ado:

( samantha logan , cis female , she/her, twenty-four ) omg ! i was walking yonge street downtown , and you’ll never guess who i saw . xanthe lowe ! i just saw a post about them on sixsecrets ! i think it said something like “ when they go high, she goes lowe ! xan spotted leaving a gala with her former friend’s ex, after last week’s reportedly tense exchange between the girls ” . isn’t that wild ? i guess it makes sense through , since they’re apparently merciless and imperious . but i’ve heard they’re also conspicuous and astute ! i’ll just stick to giving them the benefit of the doubt . i mean , it’s not like i know them personally — they’re a famous socialite ! you know , i’ve actually heard rumors that redacted , but they’re just rumors … i think . i dunno . if you happen to run into them , tell them i’m their biggest fan !

tw: drug mention

when i tell you that i have so many muse posts i’m holding back on for this bitch —

which, btw, will all slowly see the light of day soon enough bc god knows i can’t articulate my muses’ personalities as well as i’d like so that shit makes up for it fdgslk

her parents’ eldest child together, xanthe’s also the oldest out of her and her siblings

also, never call her xanthe. friend or otherwise, don’t take the risk dklgsjdlk

grew up with a silver spoon, her dad being a wall street giant and her mother being an entrepreneur with a love for art ( so much so that her two partners after separating from xan’s dad were artists themselves sdlkgj )

thus she split her time between toronto and manhattan even before her parents’ divorce, she merely spent more time jetting back and forth for special occasions and vacations compared to when her parents were still together

mind you, she was probably still in the single digits when that became a new normal for the brat

basically could’ve been a main character on gossip girl with her reckless antics and partying as a teenager…. and now, even sgdlkf

drk how to elaborate on that, aside from stressing that from her teen years onward she’s presented her own take of a rich bitch, and is a socialite/fashion week regular type if i were to describe where she stands rn

i think a good mix of references would be nicky hilton meets the delevingne sisters meets blair waldorf and sabrina pemberton’s lovechild

she attended an ivy league at the behest of her father so he had at least one child who could take a senior position in his company simply to keep it in the family

.. before he realized what a Mistake™ it would be to put that responsibility on xan and now has her slightly older cousin as a backup instead GDSLFJKS but nonetheless !

isn’t the most studious person, but she somehow wound up graduating with a major in communications and a marketing minor

she reasoned that, with her reputation in the gta and nyc, she’d need the bit of knowledge in how to clean up her messes. even if she wasn’t the one who had that responsibility

though.. the entire time has been spent sleeping with some of her rich friends, drinking and smoking pot, with the occasional hit of whatever clean enough drug that one of her friends had on them

as of now, she’s pissing off her neighbours with her house parties wherever she might be at a given time, staying in the good graces of the media as a budding, fun yet classy heiress — despite doing dumb shit the second she’s inside of a gala or club

uhhh ik i had something else to add but a quick break for dinner messed that up, rip LKGFSJD

personality and shit

her little blurb on my indie is: refined party girl still set in her ways with her future left uncompromised; detached and pretentious, she soaks up the attention that continues to roll in

which. we’ve basically been over already lkdfsg but still

if i were to use a label to describe her, she’d be the sovereign

she’s messy as hell, but puts on the façade of a poised woman who has some fun because she knows it bodes well

she’s not a complete dick per se, but she can be snide and boastful

big superiority complex, independent and lives lavishly with reckless abandon

probably jets back and forth between nyc and the gta as it’s her version of normal, so ig she hates the environment if it means not having things go her way !

non-committal as all hell and will abandon girl code if she drops you fgkljfs

.. fr, she’ll fuck an ex-friend’s ex if she technically saw them first, so being spiteful and resolving some past attraction ?? right up her alley !

hence the choice of headline gdfslkj

keeps her true inner circle small, but gets off on attention and likes to stay cordial with some people, so she’s got quite a few friends all the same

she’ll fight tooth and nail to protect her image and won’t hesitate to throw anyone under the bus to do so/in retaliation if they screw her over

which happens to mean that her family is to be protected as well. fuck with any of her sisters ?? you’re done ! try to call out one of her brothers on twitter ? she’ll quote it with a single clown emoji as a warning

there really isn’t much to expand on tbh, though i will say that her emboldened nature and need for a good time however she can get it comes out more than her uglier side ( except her vanity. that’ll never go away ksfdg )

some quick plot ideas

a childhood friend or two that she made in either of her main hubs or through events she attended when she was young, whether they’re still friends or not for x reasons can be discussed of course

could carry over into a trio type of thing depending on where she stands with either of them, or they’re a different couple of pals she’s made in the last few years

enemies are always fun ! probably rooted in a competitive streak more than anything else but i’m all ears for a more complex reason

ex-hookup(s), current hookup(s), throw it all at me klgfjd

a hateship/ewb would be fun with her too, oh my god sfdgklj

it should go without saying that they are all relatively wealthy or well-connected kids here, but that doesn’t mean that someone who’s using her for their fifteen seconds of fame, or just to get some perks out of their friendship, is necessarily a write-off — not that she cares too much about fake friends, face value hype and knowing they need her more than she needs them gives her too much satisfaction fkskgls

an ex-something, open to anyone. either someone her parents forced on her to straighten her out that she wound up liking…. after a good period of her telling them to fuck off sdglk or someone she’d been seeing for a while at her own accord. would’ve ended the same way: with her calling it off because she didn’t want to settle down, not even for a relationship ( and perhaps bc she’s scared of commitment with her cracked family dynamic that’s been a thing since age two, but that’s another story jsdfkg )

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

31st July >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections /Homilies on Matthew 13:44-46 for  Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘He sells everything he owns, and buys it’.

Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 13:44-46

He sells everything he owns and buys the field

Jesus said to the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.

‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 13:44-46

He sells all he has and buys that field.

Jesus said to his disciples: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

We sometimes use the word ‘radiant’ with reference to people. We might refer to a bride on her wedding day as ‘radiant’. It is a word that suggests some kind of a glow, not primarily in a physical sense but in a deeper sense. It is said of Moses in today’s first reading that after he came down the mountain, having communed with God, ‘the skin of his face was radiant’. Indeed, the reading says that his skin ‘shone so much’ that the people of Israel ‘would not venture near him’. We are put in mind of that moment when Jesus’ face ‘shone like the sun’, having gone up the mountain to be in communion with God, which we refer to as the transfiguration. When we open ourselves to God’s presence in life and in prayer, we too can become radiant in a similar way. Our inner spirit comes more alive and the light of God’s presence shines through us more clearly. Moses and Jesus sought after God on the mountain of prayer. We too need to be seekers in that sense. We seek the Lord whose face, according to Saint Paul, reflects fully the light of the glory of God. The parables that Jesus speaks in our gospel reading portray that seeking spirit. The day labourer seeks the treasure he found buried in the field and joyfully sells all he owns to buy it. The merchant had been seeking the pearl of great value that he came upon and he gladly sells everything he owns to buy it. The Lord who spoke those parables is, himself, the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price. He is worth seeking with all our heart, soul and mind. We seek him in our day to day lives, and, in a more focused way, we seek him in prayer. When we seek him in prayer, we open ourselves to the radiant light of his presence, and he empowers us to reflect to others something of his radiance, as Moses does in our first reading.

And/Or

(ii) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

This morning’s gospel reading from Matthew puts before us two parables. The second parable is the story of a seeker. A merchant has given his life over to searching for fine pearls and when he when he finds one of great value he sells everything he owns and buys it. Jesus offers this parable as an image of the kingdom of God. A little earlier in Matthew’s gospel, in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had already said, ‘Seek first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you as well’. Jesus was saying there that everything else we seek in life is to be secondary to that primary search for God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness. We can understand God’s righteousness as God’s will for our lives, God’s way of doing things. Because that is to be our primary search in life, Jesus places it as the first petition in the prayer he gave to his disciples, the Lord’s prayer, ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’. The kingdom of God makes itself present on earth when God’s will is done. According to this morning’s gospel reading, the coming of God’s kingdom, the doing of God’s will is pearl of great price that is worth searching for and sacrificing everything for. 

And/Or

(iii) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the two short parables in today’s gospel reading, two people find something valuable, a box of treasure in the first parable and a pearl of great price in the second. Yet, the way that the two people come upon these two valuable objects is quite different. The person in the first parable comes across the treasure by accident. He wasn’t looking for it; he was a day labourer digging in someone else’s field. The last thing he expected to find was a box of treasures buried in the field. In the second parable the merchant was actively searching for fine pearls and, eventually, as a result of his persistent searching, he came across one pearl of great value which stood out from all the rest. Both parables are images of the kingdom of God. Both suggest that our relationship with God through Jesus is a treasure greater than any earthly treasure. The first parable suggests that this treasured  relationship comes to us as a grace. We can be surprised by God’s gracious initiative towards us; God is with us, hidden beneath the surface of our lives, and can break through to us when we are least expecting it. The second parable highlights the importance of the human search in coming to know God. It is those who seek who will find; it is those who knock who will have the door opened. We can be, and will be, surprised by Lord’s initiative towards us, and, yet, we are also called to seek the Lord with all our hearts and minds and souls.

And/Or

(iv) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

The two parables in this morning’s gospel reading have much in common and yet they are quite distinct. In the first parable a day labourer unexpectedly comes upon treasure hidden in a field. In the second parable a wealthy merchant finds a precious pearl after much searching. These are two very different scenarios. Yet what both the farm labourer and the wealthy merchant have in common is the experience of joyful discovery and the resulting freedom to take the necessary steps to acquire what they have discovered. Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is like that. The gospel of Jesus is a treasure; it is a precious pearl. Some people discover it after much searching like the wealthy merchant; others stumble upon it when they are not explicitly looking for it like the day labourer. The key is, ‘What happens then?’ Are we prepared to take the decisive steps to hold on to what we have discovered? Like the two men in the parable, are we ready to sell everything to acquire this treasure? The gospel reading seems to suggest that once we have tasted the treasure of the kingdom, of the person of Jesus, we will never be the same again; it will change us forever. We will do all we can to preserve that treasure, that pearl of great price. The beauty and wonder of the gospel give us the freedom to live it, even though it may mean letting go of lesser treasures.

And/Or

(v) Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Sometimes we can have the experience of stumbling upon something of great value even though we have not been looking for anything. A precious gift comes our way unexpectedly, without our having done anything to make it happen. It might be someone who crosses our path and has a huge impact for good on our lives. It might be an important insight that suddenly comes into our mind when we are sitting back relaxing and thinking about nothing in particular. In a sense, that was the experience of the poor day labourer in the first parable of today’s gospel reading. He was being paid to dig up someone’s field when suddenly he hit upon buried treasure. He sold the little he had to buy the field and gain that unexpected treasure. There is a different kind of experience where we find something very valuable after a great deal of searching for it. We keep on looking, and, eventually, after a lot of effort we find what we have been looking for. That was the experience of the wealthy merchant in the second parable who kept searching for the finest pearl of all, until, finally, he found it and, then, sold everything to purchase it. Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is like both of those human experiences. There are times when God graces us out of the blue. The Lord suddenly blesses us at a moment in life when we are least expecting it, as happened to the poor day labourer. The Lord is always taking some gracious initiative towards us if we eyes to see and ears to hear; he seeks us out. When it comes to the Lord, there is also a seeking involved on our part. Jesus calls on us to keep on seeking, to keep on asking, to keep on knocking, like the rich merchant in the second parable. When we are graced by the Lord, because of his initiative towards us and our searching for him, then, like the two men in the parables, we must be ready to give up whatever is necessary to hold on to that grace, that gift of the Lord, the gift of the kingdom. 

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  revmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[romancatholicreflections]

8th March >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 9:14-15 for Friday after Ash Wednesday: ‘The time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away.’

Friday after Ash Wednesday

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 9:14-15

When the bridegroom is taken from them, then they will fast

John’s disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?’ Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then they will fast.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 9:14-15

When the bridegroom is taken from them, then they will fast.

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Friday after Ash Wednesday

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus affirms the value of the Jewish practice of fasting for his followers. ‘The time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then they will fast’, he says. Jesus is looking ahead to the time after his death and resurrection. He declares that beyond that time fasting will be appropriate for his disciples, but not during his public ministry which is equivalent to the joy of a wedding feast. In today’s first reading, Isaiah declares that fasting must be in the service of just relationships with others. He speaks of a fast that breaks unjust fetters, that leads to sharing our bread with the hungry and sheltering the homeless poor. Fasting can seem like something negative, a saying ‘no’ to something that can be good in itself, but, the prophet reminds us that this ‘no’ is always in the service of a more generous ‘yes’ to the Lord and his people, especially his most vulnerable people. We deny ourselves so that others can live more fully. We have become more aware in recent times that we need to say ‘no’ to others, to fast, so that our natural environment can also live more fully. Pope Francis reminds us of our responsibility to our environment in his wonderful encyclical ‘Laudato Sii’. We deny ourselves not only for the sake of others but for the sake of our natural environment. The Pope expresses this bond we have with all of creation very beautifully in that encyclical, ‘Everything is related, and we human beings are united as brothers and sisters on a wonderful pilgrimage, woven together by the love God has for each of his creatures, and which also unites us in fond affection with brother sun, sister moon, brother river and mother earth’

And/Or

(ii) Friday after Ash Wednesday

Both readings this morning speak of fasting, one of the traditional Lenten practices. We tend to think of fasting in relation to food. To fast is to deprive ourselves of certain foods for a period of time. In the first reading, however, Isaiah defines fasting much more broadly than that. He understands it as fasting from all those ways of relating to people that damage and oppress them and replacing such ways of relating with working for justice on behalf of those in greatest need. Isaiah seems to be saying that fasting can never be separated from that other Jewish practice that we associate with Lent, almsgiving, the sharing of our resources with others. On Ash Wednesday the gospel reading put before us the three great Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Isaiah reminds us this morning that all three stand or fall together. They are three expressions of one way of life. We cannot focus on any one to the detriment of the other two. Fasting is saying ‘no’ to something. Isaiah reminds us that such saying ‘no’ is always with a view to saying ‘yes’, a ‘yes’ that finds expression in greater service of our neighbour. Such service of others makes our prayer more acceptable to God. In the words of our first reading, ‘Cry, and the Lord will answer; call and he will say, “I am here”’.

And/Or

(iii) Friday after Ash Wednesday

In the first reading Isaiah makes a strong connection between fasting and almsgiving and working for justice. The kind of fasting that pleases God, according to Isaiah, is one finds expression in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, letting the oppressed go free. We fast so as to be freer to give ourselves in the service of others. In the gospel reading Jesus affirms the value of fasting for the period after his death and resurrection. He too linked fasting and almsgiving closely together and he linked both with prayer, as was clear from the gospel reading that we read for Ash Wednesday. Within the Christian vision, fasting or abstaining is not about losing weight. Rather it is about become free of what is not essential so as to be able to give ourselves more fully in love to God and to our neighbour. We all have something to fast from; it may not necessarily be food or drink. We all have something to let go off so that we can be more available to the Lord for his work in the world. There may be something that absorbs us too much and that blocks our relationship with God and with others, especially those who need us most. Lent is a time when we ask for the grace to fast and step away from whatever that is holding us back, and hindering us from being all that God is calling us to be.

And/Or

(iv) Friday after Ash Wednesday

Jesus’ words in the gospel reading suggest that there is a time to fast and a time not to fast. He speaks of himself as the bridegroom, suggesting that his ministry is like a joyful wedding feast, when the divine bridegroom reaches out in love through Jesus to his bride, God’s people. There is no place for fasting at a wedding feast. There is no need for the bridegroom’s attendants, his disciples, to fast. However, alluding to his forthcoming death, he declares that the bridegroom will be taken away from his attendants and that will be an appropriate time to fast. In the words of Qoheleth in the Jewish Scriptures, ‘there is a time for every matter under heaven’, and we could add to his list, ‘a time to fast and a time not to fast’. Lent has traditionally been understood as a time to fast. It is a time when we identify with Jesus on his way to Jerusalem, the city of his passion and death, the city where he was taken away from his disciples. The first reading from Isaiah reminds us that our fasting is always to be linked to one of the other traditional Lenten practices, almsgiving or service of the needy. According to that reading, our fasting is in the service of letting the oppressed go free, feeding the hungry, sheltering the hungry and clothing the naked. We die to ourselves so as to give to others. We deprive ourselves so as to become more sensitive to those who are deprived and to serve them from our resources.

And/Or

(v) Friday after Ash Wednesday

The gospels suggest that people often asked Jesus the question, ‘Why?’ In particular, the religious leaders asked him why he was doing this or that or not doing this or that. There was clearly something new and different about the ministry of Jesus which gave rise to this repeated question, ‘Why?’ In this morning’s gospel reading, it is the disciples of John the Baptist who ask the question ‘Why?’ They wonder why Jesus and his disciples do not follow the fasting practices of the disciples of John the Baptist and of the Pharisees. In the gospel reading for Ash Wednesday, Jesus affirmed the value of the key Jewish practices of fasting, prayer and almsgiving, provided they are not done to attract attention. In this morning’s gospel reading, he indicates that the celebratory aspect of his ministry means that fasting cannot have the same significance as it does for the disciples of the Pharisees and John the Baptist. Jesus’ ministry is more like a wedding feast than a funeral, with himself as the bridegroom and his disciples as the bride. Jesus goes on to say that this celebratory element of his ministry does not exclude fasting. However, it does give it a different tone and focus. That celebratory element of the Lord’s ministry continues today in the church. The risen Lord wants his joy to be in our lives, a joy the world cannot give. Our fasting is with a view to entering more fully into the Lord’s joy; it is in the service of deepening our loving relationship with the Lord so that the joy of his Spirit may be in our lives. As Isaiah in the first reading reminds us, and as Jesus would confirm, our fasting is also in the service of a more loving relationship with others, especially those in greatest need.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[queertheology]

Practical next steps on your Christian journey

So you’re a Christian? Now what?

For the past month at Queer Theology, we’ve been taking a look at the fundamentals of Christianity — and of what it means to be an LGBTQ+ person of faith. We’ve sorted through everything from myths and misconceptions to downright toxic theology and we’ve tried to get at the heart of what it means to be a Christian.

Here’s what we’ve covered so far:

Back to the (queer Christian) basics

What do we do with the Bible?

The Exodus didn’t happen. The Exodus is true.

What does it mean to be a Christian?

The generosity of God

Building a Bible-based faith (that isn’t terrible)

a live webinar on the basics of Christianity (you can get access to it, and our entire webinar archive, in Sanctuary Collective)

But so what? What do you do with all this knowledge?

My junior high youth group director Dave used to tell us, “If you really believe in Jesus, that can’t help but change your life.”

Here are some practical next steps as you continue to pursue a (queer) Christian faith.

Not everyone has to believe the same as you.

Some conservative branches of Christianity are keen on making sure that everyone believes the same thing. There is one way to interpret each and every Bible passage. There is one correct way to relate to Jesus, one correct way to understand salvation, one correct everything.

The math-science nerd in me understands this: there is one law for gravity, 1 plus 1 does equal 2, human reproduction happens in a certain, observable way.

But, even in science, there is so much we don’t know. And so much that varies from person to person, experience to experience. You might work best alone in an office while your neighbor might work best from a crowded coffeeshop. You might be motivated by comfort while your friend might be motivated by fame.

We each experience and understand the world in different ways, and that’s a beautiful thing.

Sometimes it’s helpful to ask “what is right” as best we can know. Sometimes we can look to science for answers (vaccines really will protect your child, comprehensive sexual education really does help keep teenagers safe, the earth really does revolve around the sun).

But sometimes, when it comes to matters of faith or of the heart, “is it right?” doesn’t always have a clear answer (even if it feels so clear to you or me!). In those cases, “is it helpful?” is often a good question to ask. When that is the question, it’s possible to answer “yes” to lots of different questions. They can compliment each other, rather than compete with one another.

When it comes to the nature of God, the resurrection, and even what-happens-after-you-die, Fr. Shay and I often believe differently. But we can look at each of our beliefs, ask “Is it helpful?,” and see that the answer is yes.

Jesus models this in Scripture when he tells his followers to judge the tree of a theology by its fruits. Good theology bears good fruits.

If your theology — or someone else’s theology — is bearing bad fruit … that may be a reason to speak out or act up. But if it’s just different than yours? That’s ok.

Not every problem you face is a spiritual one

We believe in the power of God. A God that parts seas to set oppressed people freeand who defeats death. We believe that the divine dwells in you, too. And that you are capable of remarkable things.

It’s also important that we recognize that not every problem you face is a spiritual one — sometimes you need secular solutions.

Too often we receive messages from folks who have been told that their gender dysphoria is a result of their sin or that their depression or suicidal thoughts can be cured with prayer.

God works through doctors and therapists and nutritionists just as much as God works through priests and pastors.

Sometimes you need a doctor. Or a therapist. Or a nutritionist. You might need medicine or light therapy or daily exercise.

If you come from a conservative religious background, working with a therapist to unpack that experience and develop healthier, more productive ways of moving through the world can be hugely helpful. I cannot recommend it enough. If you think you can’t afford therapy, talk with your local LGBT center… they may be able to connect you with some low- or no-cost options. Also, check out this Twitter thread for options and alternatives.

It’s important that you think through how your faith and beliefs will affect your actions

It’s all well and good to have beliefs but how do those beliefs affect your life—your choices and your actions (and your inactions)? James 2:17 even says, pointedly, “faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity.”

We see throughout the scriptures — and in the example of believers throughout the ages — the importance of putting your faith into action. God asked Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. The divine became incarnate in Jesus and then walked, talked, ate, touched (and led direct action protests).

If we take Jesus at his word that he came to “preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed,” and if we understand that he asked those around him to follow him … then what will faithful actions look like in our lives?

Here are some questions for you think about:

what will I do with my money?

how will I take care of others?

in what ways can I speak truth to powers and principalities that they would take care of their people?

how will I treat others?

where will I worship?

where will I live? (and with whom?)

how will I spend my time?

what will I think about myself?

what will I think about others?

If your Christian faith is important to you, take the time and energy to grow in it

As Christians, we don’t get to download everything that we need to know from The Matrix and be instant experts, even Jesus studied at the temple.

If the Christian faith is important to you, set aside the time and energy to grow in it. Read books, listen to talks, audit classes, speak with experts. You don’t need a seminary degree to be a faithful Christian, of course, but there is something to be said about really studying the theology around your faith if that faith is important to you. (Need somewhere to get started? We have a whole class on how to read the Bible)

I’m a big fan of 1 Thessalonians 5:21 — “test everything; hold fast to that which is good” — it was instrumental in allowing me to question what I’d been taught about “homosexuality and the Bible” … but it doesn’t end there. Test everything. Your beliefs about God, prayer, salvation, about the outsider and the other, about hell, sin, grace, and more. (we take a robust look at 26 different topics over 13 issues of Spit & Spirit — you get a subscription to the magazine with Sanctuary Collective)

Find a community

Where two are more are gathered, there God is (Matthew 18:20). Something divine happens in community: here’s enough to eat (Matthew 14), there are no needy (Acts 2).

Whether your community is online or IRL, it’s important to get connected with a community of folks who believe like you and share your values.

To find community in real life:

GayChurch.org maintains a list of LGBTQ-affirming churches

Connect with the LGBTQ+ organization for a specific denomination for suggestions on where to worship. Those are

More Light Presbyterians

Reconciling Ministries Network

Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists

Dignity (Roman Catholic)

Integrity (Episcopalian)

Affirmation (Latter Day Saints)

Reconciling Works

Room for All (Reform Church of America)

To find community online:

Connect on the #FaithfullyLGBT and #QueerTheology hashtags on Twitter

Search for “gay Christian” on Tumblr or track the gay christian hashtag

Join Sanctuary Collective, an online community of LGBTQ+ Christians and straight, cisngeder supporters from around the world and across denominations (including some seekers and skeptics)

It’s ok to not be a Christian

It’s also possible that you’ll take a hard look at what it means to be a Christian and decide it’s not for you. That you don’t align with its values, that its beliefs are too different from your own, that you don’t want to be associated with the label, or that its caused you too much trauma and it’s just not safe for you. That’s ok.

It is OK to not be a Christian.

You can be a good, righteous, moral person and not be a Christian.

You can love God and not be a Christian (it’s also OK if you’re angry at God! or don’t believe in God).

And as Christian leaders, we’re here to tell you that God doesn’t think any less of you if you never step foot in a church begin because it’s triggering, if you don’t feel God’s presence, if you have major doubts, if you don’t believe.

We find Christianity to be a liberating and life-giving faith and we believe God wants you to be liberated and saved. If you find that somewhere, go with gusto!

What are some ways that you’ve put your faith into action? Reply or reblog!

[fr-martin-gospel-reflections]

12th February - 'I say this to you', Reflection on today's gospel reading (Mt. 5:17-37)

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time We often remark that what is visible is only the top of the iceberg. We can be very aware that what is hidden is more significant that what is visible. We may find it difficult to understand why someone behaves in a certain way. Our perplexity can spring from our ignorance of the deeper, invisible, issues that are at the root of the visible behaviour. We can sometimes even be startled at our own behaviour. We can find ourselves wondering why we did what we did or said what we said. With the help of another we can sometimes begin to fathom what was really going on within us at the time, as we become more aware of the deeper forces that shape our behaviour. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus calls on us to look beyond the level of our external behaviour to the deeper level of our emotions and our motivations. He calls for a virtue that goes deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees. He invites us to a way of life that embraces both our inner life and our outer action. At the beginning of that gospel reading, Jesus takes two forms of behaviour that are clearly in conflict with the Ten Commandments, murder and adultery. He then focuses on what he considers to be the deeper roots of such behaviour, anger in the case of murder and lust in the case of adultery, and he asks us to attend carefully to those powerful emotions. Our deep emotions and feelings are neither good nor bad in themselves; they arise spontaneously within us. However, once they surface we have choices to make. We can either take some control of our emotions, submitting them to the values of the gospel, or we can allow those emotions to take control of us. In the gospels Jesus is sometimes portrayed as angry. Yet, he always allowed his anger to be shaped by his basic commitment which was the proclamation of God’s kingdom. His anger was always at the service of those values of God’s kingdom for which he lived and died. Because of that, his actions were always life-giving, even when their energy was the energy of anger. He exemplifies that deeper virtue that he calls all of us towards in today’s gospel reading. In that reading Jesus is declaring that what is of paramount importance is what is going on in our depths, our inner life. He invites us to ask, ‘What is it that drives us?’ Are we driven by emotions over which we have little or no control or are our lives shaped by our deeper commitments, our core values? In the gospel reading Jesus is calling on us to attend to our inner life, the wellsprings of our action, those hidden depths which reveal themselves in how we behave and how we relate to others. Paul, in today’s second reading, makes reference to the inner life of God. These hidden depths of God can only be revealed to us, according to Paul, ‘through the Spirit’ who alone can reach ‘even the depths of God’. The Holy Spirit, who reaches the depths of God, also reaches our own hidden depths, because, as Paul says in that reading, ‘the Spirit can reach the depths of everything’. Whenever we succeed in looking into our depths, what we will find there will certainly not be all bad, because the Spirit of God is always there. Something of what Paul calls ‘the depths of God’ reside within our own human depths, through the Spirit. In some sense, the deeper we enter into ourselves, the closer we come to the Lord who is at the core of our being. That is why we are always capable of great good. As the first reading reminds us, ‘to behave faithfully is within your power’. Yet, we know from experience that, at times, we act out of places within ourselves that have not been opened fully to the Lord’s presence. We can be aware of strong forces deep within us that can lead us to behave in ways that are not in keeping with our baptismal identity. We know that some of our actions can be driven by forces within our hidden depths that have not been fully redeemed. As a result, in the imagery of today’s first reading, when we act sometimes we grasp death rather than life. We need to keep on asking the Lord to renew our depths, as in that great prayer to the Holy Spirit from our own Catholic tradition, ‘Come Holy Spirit, fill my heart and enkindle in me the fire of your love’. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus first quotes from the Jewish law, and then he gives his own teaching. In that teaching he calls us to something that the law cannot reach, to a certain disposition of the heart. It is as if he is saying, ‘Don’t be complacent just because you have kept the rules. I am calling you to something deeper’. What the Lord really calls us to is to have a heart like his, to have something of his mindset, to have emotions, thoughts, attitudes that are thoroughly shaped by his Spirit. Then the choices we make will correspond to the Lord’s will for our lives, and the way we live will be life-giving, both for ourselves and for those to whom we relate. Fr Martin Hogan Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, Ireland Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie Join us via our webcam Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

13th August >> Fr, Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14 for Tuesday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘Anyone who welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me’.

Tuesday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 18:1-5,10,12-14

Anyone who welcomes a little child in my name welcomes me

The disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ So he called a little child to him and set the child in front of them. Then he said, ‘I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

‘Anyone who welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.

‘See that you never despise any of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven are continually in the presence of my Father in heaven.

‘Tell me. Suppose a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays; will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go in search of the stray? I tell you solemnly, if he finds it, it gives him more joy than do the ninety-nine that did not stray at all. Similarly, it is never the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14

See that you do not despise one of these little ones.

The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father. What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”

Reflections (4)

(i) Tuesday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Sometimes the kinds of questions people ask reveal their values, their priorities, what they think important. The question that the disciples put to Jesus in this morning’s gospel reading, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ suggests a certain interest on their part in status and standing. In response to their question, Jesus both did something and said something. He first of all called a child over and placed the child in front of them; he then informed them that they needed to become like that child just to enter the kingdom of heaven, never mind become the greatest in the kingdom. Jesus was calling on his disciples to become child-like not childish, child-like in the sense of having child-like trust in a loving Father, a trust that awaits everything from God and grabs at nothing, including status and standing. Greatness comes to those who make themselves as dependent on God as children are dependent on adults for their existence and well-being. Jesus’ response to the question of his disciples is a kind of a commentary on the first beatitude which he had spoken earlier in Matthew’s gospel, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’.

And/Or

(ii) Tuesday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The question the disciples ask Jesus, ‘who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ reveals a preoccupation with status and honour. In his response, Jesus cuts across this preoccupation, which is far removed from his own concerns. He does not answer the question directly but declares that disciples will not even enter the kingdom of God unless they become like little children. In that culture, children, although loved by their parents, were considered to have no rights, no status, no honour. They are completely dependent on others for everything. In calling on all of his disciples to become like little children, he is calling on us to cast off all notions of status and honour and to recognize our complete dependence on God for everything, our poverty before God. As Jesus says elsewhere, it is those who humble themselves who will be exalted (by God). Humility is not about putting oneself down but about being grounded or earthed (‘humus’ is Latin for ‘earth’) in the reality of our creaturely status. The humble are those who recognize the truth of their reality as beggars before God, dependent upon God for all that is good. As a result, the humble will not promote themselves over others but recognize the common humanity that they share with all people. They will recognize and welcome the Lord in the weakest, those without status or position, such as the child. The conclusion of the gospel reading suggests they will go further and set off in search of such ‘little ones’ when they stray.

 And/Or

(iii) Tuesday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The gospels are full of questions. Some of the questions are asked by Jesus; others are asked by his opponents and some are asked by his disciples. In this morning’s gospel reading a question is asked by one of Jesus’ disciples, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ It is a question that reveals something about our human nature, an interest in status and position and prestige. Behind that question of the disciples perhaps stood another question, ‘How do we get to become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ The answer of Jesus to his disciples’ question gave them, and gives us, much to ponder. Jesus in his answer speaks about something more basic than becoming the greatest in the kingdom. He says that in order just to enter the kingdom, his disciples have to change and become like little children. Children in those days had no rights; they had no status in law. They were completely dependent on others for everything, especially on their parents. Jesus is recommending a child-like trust in a loving Father, a trust which awaits everything from God and grabs at nothing. Jesus is making a sharp challenge to the will for power and status that exists in every human community, including the community of disciples. Rather than seeking to exalt ourselves we entrust ourselves to God who exalts the humble.

 And/Or

(iv) Tuesday, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading this morning Jesus’ disciples ask him, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ In response to their question, Jesus does not say the greatest are the most successful, the strongest, those who outdo others in skill and power. Rather, he took a child, one of the least significant in the culture of the time, and declared that children are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Those who, in Jesus’ time, had no status or power or influence or expertise or skill are the greatest in the kingdom of God. What makes them great in God’s kingdom is their openness to receive God’s presence in Jesus. Today we can still recognize that openness to the Lord in children. Jesus then goes on to call on his disciples and on all of us to become like little children, and declares that unless we do so we will not enter the kingdom of God. Children can be our teachers. As adults we need to be as open to the Lord’s presence as children are. Then we will be great in the kingdom of God.

  Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  revmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

12th July >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on  Matthew 10:16-23 for Friday, Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘I am sending you out like sheep among wolves’.

Friday, Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 10:16-23

The Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you

Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘Remember, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be cunning as serpents and yet as harmless as doves.

‘Beware of men: they will hand you over to sanhedrins and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the pagans. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes; because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you. ‘Brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all men on account of my name; but the man who stands firm to the end will be saved. If they persecute you in one town, take refuge in the next; and if they persecute you in that, take refuge in another. I tell you solemnly, you will not have gone the round of the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 10:16-23

For it will not be you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Jesus said to his Apostles: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”

Reflections (3)

(i) Friday, Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus paints a stark picture of the hostility that his followers can expect from the surrounding society. They will be dragged before both Jewish and pagan authorities; some of them will be betrayed to those authorities by members of their own families. This was the stark reality of life for many of Jesus’ followers in the early decades, indeed the first two centuries, of the church’s existence. The sombre picture Jesus paints in that gospel reading may seem very far from our own experience today. Yet, in every age, in every generation, there are Christians who are experiencing the kind of hostility that Jesus describes in the gospel reading. There are several regimes in today’s world which will not tolerate a vibrant church that witnesses to the vision that Jesus had for human living. Even in our own tolerant, pluralist, society, those of us who believe in all that Jesus said and did and who try to give expression to that belief in our way of life can find ourselves somewhat isolated and, even, barely tolerated at times. There will always be some tension between the values of the gospel and the values of the culture in which we try to live the gospel. We have become much more aware of that tension in Ireland in recent decades. This gospel reading continues to speak to us today. In the words of that reading, Jesus calls on us to stand firm to the end. In other words, we are to be courageous in our living of our faith in him. The less supportive the culture is of our faith and the way of life it inspires, the more courageous we need to be. In the gospel reading, Jesus assures his disciples that in the difficult days to come, the Holy Spirit, what Jesus calls ‘the Spirit of your Father’, will be available to them. That same Holy Spirit remains our resource today. It is above all when our faith is put to the test by the culture we inhabit that we need to make our own that lovely prayer in today’s responsorial psalm, ‘Do not cast me away from your presence, nor deprive me of your holy spirit’.

And/Or

(ii) Friday, Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The gospel reading this morning is very realistic about the kind of reception that the disciples of Jesus are likely to get from the world in which they are called to bear witness. The reception will be predominantly hostile, and some of that hostility will even come from within their own families. Yet, Jesus reassures them that they will not have to face into this hostile world on their own. The Holy Spirit will be given to them as a resource and will inspire their witness. It could be argued that the society in which we are living is not as hostile to the faith as the society into which Jesus sent the first disciples. Yet, we know that the values of the gospel are not always well regarded by the culture in which we live; many see those gospel values as a threat, especially a threat to a certain understanding of human freedom. We are just as much in need of the Holy Spirit today, as the first disciples were, if we are to bear witness to the Lord and all he stands for. We still need the Holy Spirit to inspire our witness to the Lord. The church is as dependant on the Holy Spirit today as it ever was. The good news is that the Holy Spirit is just as available to us today as he was in the earliest days of the church, because the Lord needs our witness today as much as he did then. Earlier in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus had urged his disciples, ‘Ask (keep on asking) and it will be given you’.

 And/Or

(iii) Friday, Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The gospel reading this morning has a contemporary ring to it as we reflect on those Christians who are being persecuted for their faith in various parts of the world, especially in the Middle East. The ‘wolves’ that Jesus speaks about are still at large. They take different forms at different times in history and in different places. Even those of us who are not being overtly persecuted for our faith can encounter hostility. What would have been considered the normal practice of the faith in the recent past can now be perceived to be excessively religious behaviour. Young people in particular can be up against enormous peer pressure that works against their living of their faith. Many, even in our Catholic ethos schools, can be nervous about acknowledging that they go to Mass on Sunday or that they see a value in the church’s teaching on sexual morality. Even those of an older generation can have equivalent experiences. The temptation in such times can be to keep our head down. However, that is not the message of today’s gospel reading. Jesus calls on us to ‘stand firm to the end’. This is not simply a call to be stoically resistant to pressure. The source of our standing firm lies not in ourselves. Rather, Jesus tells us that it is the ‘Spirit of your Father’, the Holy Spirit, who will empower us to be faithful, speaking through us when we may be at a loss for our own words. We have been entrusted with the great treasure of the gospel. Now, more than ever, is the time to witness courageously to this treasure in the power of the Spirit.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

16th March >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 5:43-48 for Saturday, First Week of Lent: ‘You must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect’.

Saturday, First Week of Lent  

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 5:43-48

Pray for those who persecute you

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 5:43-48

Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Jesus said to his disciples: “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Saturday, First Week of Lent

Occasionally we come across people who have taken Jesus’ teaching in today’s gospel reading to heart and have lived it out. They have suffered at the hands of their enemies, those who hate them and reject all they stand for. Yet, they appear to hold no bitterness towards those who have persecuted them. They have no desire to inflict on their enemy what their enemy has inflicted on them. They wish their enemy well and pray to God for their enemy’s present and ultimate well-being. Whenever we come across such people, we feel a profound respect and admiration for them. We know that there is something remarkable about their attitude. We sense that it demonstrates what is best in human nature. We feel ennobled and empowered by such people. The teaching of Jesus in the gospel reading to love our enemy and pray for them can seem very unrealistic, but, when we see the Lord’s teaching take flesh in a human life, we recognize its value, we sense its attractiveness. It has been said that if we can learn to love our enemy, then no one is beyond our love. Jesus identifies the love that he calls for as a divine love. If you love like this, Jesus says, you will be like your Father in heaven. Saint Paul says that God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The cross reveals God’s love even for his enemies. If something of this divine love can be in our lives, through the power of the Spirit, then we will indeed show ourselves to be sons and daughters of God.

And/Or

(ii)  Saturday, First Week of Lent

This morning’s extract from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is very challenging and very stark. We never become completely comfortable with Jesus’ command to love your enemies. It seems to go against every human instinct. We can be tempted to dismiss it as unreasonable and impractical. Jesus was envisaging a situation where his own followers would be persecuted and would have many enemies. He was teaching them in advance how they are to relate to their enemies, those who would inflict suffering on them because of who they were. Saint Paul echoes this teaching of Jesus in his letter to the Romans, when he calls on the members of the church in the capital of the Empire, ‘Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought of what is noble in the sight of all... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’. That last exhortation of Paul captures the essence of Jesus’ teaching in our gospel reading. If your enemy does evil to you, do not add to the store of evil in the world by responding in kind. Rather, love your enemy, pray for those who persecute you. Overcome evil with good. Jesus wants this to be the way of his followers, because it is his way and it is God’s way. ‘Be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect’. God is constantly at work to overcome evil with good. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection were God’s supreme effort to overcome evil with good. In calling on us to be God-like, some might say that Jesus is asking too much of us. Yet, it could also be said that Jesus is taking us seriously as people made in the image of God. He knows the good of which we are capable with God’s help, even against all the odds and in the face of great provocation.

And/Or

(iii) Saturday, First week of Lent

The call of the gospel can be very challenging. This morning’s gospel reading is probably one of the most challenging passages in all of the gospels. Jesus calls on his disciples not only to love our neighbour, which is a call or command to be found in the Old Testament. He also calls on them, on us, to love our enemy, which goes beyond anything to be found in the Old Testament. Many of us might be hard pushed to think of someone who could be described as our enemy. We might struggle to identify an enemy. Yet, we may be able to think of people who have hurt us or who damaged us in some way. We are not likely to have warm feelings towards such people. When Jesus calls on his disciples to love their enemy, he is not talking about warm feelings or feelings of any kind. Jesus is talking about the will rather than feelings. At the very least, Jesus is calling on his disciples to wish their enemies well, all that is good. In the gospel reading, Jesus identifies one expression of such love as prayer, praying for our enemy, praying for those who have hurt us and who have given us good reason to dislike them. ‘Love your enemy and pray...’ Jesus suggests that to pray for those who persecute us is to do something that has a divine quality to it. It is to give expression to the love of God which goes out to all, even to those who least deserve it.

And/Or

(iv) Saturday, First Week of Lent

If we hear that such and such a person is a perfectionist, it can conjure up in our minds someone who is very demanding and rather fussy about getting everything right down to the last detail. When Jesus says at the end of today’s gospel reading, ‘Be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect’, that is not what he means. The corresponding passage in Luke’s gospel is almost word for word the same as the passage from Matthew, which we have just heard. Yet, it is striking that in Luke the gospel passage ends with Jesus saying, ‘Be compassionate as your heavenly Father is compassionate’. Luke has captured there what Jesus meant by ‘Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect’. In this morning’s gospel reading, being perfect is identified with being loving to an extraordinary degree, loving our enemy, praying for those who persecute us, who make life difficult for us. Being perfect consists in loving in the way that God loves, which is with a love that doesn’t discriminate on the basis of how people relate to us. This is the pinnacle of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. The fact that Jesus calls on us to love as God loves shows that he does not consider this call unrealistic. We may not be able to love in this divine way on our own, but we can do so with God’s help. As Jesus will say to his disciples later on in Matthew’s gospel, ‘for God, all things are possible’.

And/Or

(v) Saturday, First Week of Lent

We tend to use the terms ‘perfect’, ‘perfection’ and ‘perfectionist’ in a very particular way. When we say of someone that he or she is a ‘perfectionist’ we mean that they want everything to be right in every respect. There must be no room for mistake or error of any kind. We tend to think that perfectionists can be difficult to live with or work with because they are so demanding of themselves and of others. When Jesus uses the term ‘perfect’ in today’s gospel reading, he uses it in a rather different sense. When Jesus says to his disciples ‘be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect’ he is using the term ‘perfect’ in a different way to how we tend to use it. Sometimes there is more than one version of a saying of Jesus in the gospels. Today’s gospel reading is from Matthew, but Luke’s version of that saying of Jesus goes as follows, ‘be merciful, just as your Father is merciful’. God’s perfection consists in his merciful love. To be perfect as God is perfect is to be merciful in the way that God is merciful. A merciful person has a different connotation for us to a perfectionist. The merciful love that Jesus calls for is a love without limits. It is an inclusive love to the point of including those who are our enemies, those who wish us ill, who seek to damage us. Jesus declares that this is nothing less than a divine love. We might ask, ‘How could Jesus ask humans to love in a divine way?’ We need a divine resource to love in a divine way and that divine resource is the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of God’s love. It is only the Spirit who can empower us to love as God loves, to be merciful as God is merciful.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[romancatholicreflections]

13th February >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Mark 7:14-23 for Wednesday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time:  ‘All these evil things come from within’.

Wednesday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time  

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Mark 7:14-23

It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean

Jesus called the people to him and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean. If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen to this.’

When he had gone back into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, ‘Do you not understand either? Can you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot make him unclean, because it does not go into his heart but through his stomach and passes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he pronounced all foods clean.) And he went on, ‘It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.’

Gospel (USA)

Mark 7:14-23

What comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.

Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”

Reflections (3)

(i) Wednesday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading Jesus is responding to those who pay too much attention to external ritual, external observance, and not enough attention to what is going on within, in their heart, their inner core. Jesus declares that it is from within, from people’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge. Our inner core, what the gospel calls our ‘heart’, can be a reservoir for good, but it can also be a reservoir for evil. Jesus seems to have been very aware that we are capable of great evil as well as great good. He wanted people to have hearts that were the wellspring of all that is good, wholesome and life-giving. You may recall one of the beatitudes he spoke, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’. He was declaring blessed those whose heart is in the right place, as we might say today, those whose heart is fixed on God, whose intention is centred on what God wants, on God’s will, God’s desire for our lives and our world. It is from such a heart that great good comes. Only harm can come from a heart that is fixed on self, centred on its own comfort and pleasure. We need to keep calling on the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts, so that we are as pure in heart as Jesus was, as focused on God’s will for our lives as he was.

And/Or

(ii) Wednesday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel Jesus speaks about the human heart. The image of the human heart is very much to the fore around Saint Valentine’s day. It is the traditional symbol of love, especially of romantic love, at this time of the year. In the gospel reading Jesus takes a somewhat more sanguine view of the human heart. He declares it to be the seat of evil intentions that are damaging and destructive of others. The heart is the inner core of the person and we know that our inner core can have both its light and its shade; it can be a reservoir for good and for harm. One of the great traditional images of our faith in the past has been the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Many of us may have grown up with an image of the Sacred Heart in our homes. It was an image which declared that at God’s inner core was a totally selfless love, a love that was revealed fully in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. This greater love was powerfully creative and life-giving. Our calling is to have hearts that in some sense reflect the Sacred Heart, to have an inner core that partakes in some way of God’s inner core. This grand vision of our fundamental calling is well captured in that simple but profound prayer that many of us will have learned at some time, ‘Come Holy Spirit, fill my heart, and kindle in me the fire of your love’.

And/Or

(iii) Wednesday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading Jesus makes a distinction between what is on the outside of a person and what is within. The religious experts of the time were very concerned about certain external rituals that needed to be performed if a person was to be right with God. Jesus declares that what is much more important in God’s eyes is what is within the heart of the person, because what is within a person determines a person’s moral behaviour, how they speak and how they act. This is what matters to God rather than various ritual washings of one kind or another or what people eat or don’t eat. As in yesterday’s gospel reading, Jesus is saying that the religious experts of the time are not getting their priorities right. Their priorities are not God’s priorities. The most important part of a tree is its roots, which are invisible because they go down deep into the earth. Jesus is suggesting God wants us to look deeply into ourselves with a view to getting our depths right. Our inner life will determine the quality of our outer, observable life. Our underlying attitudes and values are what really matters. We need to keep working on our inner core, or, rather, allow the Lord to keep working on it, asking him to keep on renewing our heart so that it corresponds more to his heart.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[romancatholicreflections]

7th March >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 9:22-25 for Thursday after Ash Wednesday: ‘Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it’.

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 9:22-25

Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘The Son of Man 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. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?’

Gospel (USA)

Luke 9:22-25

Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

Jesus said to his disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”

Reflections (5)

(i) Thursday after Ash Wednesday

There wasn’t a strong belief in the afterlife during most of the period when the Jewish Scriptures were written. As a result, it was very important to live in a way that enhanced one’s earthly life. The question was, ‘how do we live in such a way that we become fully alive as human beings here and now?’ That is the thrust of today’s first reading from the Book of Deuteronomy. The author puts before the people two ways, the way that leads to death and the way that leads to fullness of life in the present. The call of the reading, as of much of the Jewish Scriptures, is ‘Choose life’. In the mind-set of those Scriptures, and of the first reading, choosing life amounts to choosing God, loving the Lord your God and following God’s ways, God’s commandments and laws. Because we are made in the image of God and belong to God, the path of life is the path that God sets before us in his commandments. Jesus understood himself to be the path that God sets before us. If God’s path was to be found in the laws and commandments of the Jewish Scriptures, it is to be found more fully in his life and teaching. Choosing life now means following Jesus, taking him as our way and our truth, and, thereby, finding life, both in the here and now and beyond this earthly life. That is the message of today’s gospel reading. Jesus declares that those who follow him will gain life; they will preserve their very self. If the first reading calls on us to love God by keeping his commandments, the gospel reading calls on us to love Jesus by following him. In that gospel reading, Jesus recognizes that following him, loving him faithfully, will often mean renouncing ourselves, which to some can look like renouncing life. However, he assures us that those who renounce themselves out of love for him, will find life in the here and now and, more completely, in eternity.

And/Or

(ii) Thursday after Ash Wednesday

In the gospel reading this morning Jesus says that if we want to be his followers we have to be ready to renounce ourselves. Lent is traditionally a time when we renounce ourselves. We ask ourselves what it is we need to let go of, to give up to follow the Lord more closely. We all have something we need to let go of; it might be some excessive attachment that is holding us back, or some habit that is not serving us well. Self renunciation is more difficult today than in the past because we live in a culture which encourages us to indulge ourselves. We can easily think of self-renunciation as something negative. Yet, the giving up, the letting go, is always with a view to choosing more fully the life that the Lord is always holding out to us. The first reading puts it very positively, ‘Choose life’. Jesus says in the gospel reading that those who renounce themselves for his sake will not be at a loss but will gain their lives. Each day of Lent we can ask ourselves, ‘What does it mean for me to choose life today?’ ‘What do I need to renounce to follow the Lord more closely along the path to true life?’

And/Or

(iii) Thursday after Ash Wednesday

In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus speaks about the need for us to renounce ourselves. The language of self-renunciation is not really in vogue in the times in which we live. We are more likely to hear about the need to fulfil ourselves and to realize ourselves. Self-renunciation is often seen as something negative and contrary to the value of self-realization. Yet, Jesus does not advocate self-renunciation as an end in itself. In the gospel reading, Jesus’ primary call is to follow him, which is something completely positive. He goes on to declare that following him will often require a willingness to renounce ourselves. ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day’. In other words, if we are to say a wholehearted ‘yes’ to the way of Jesus, to his values and attitudes, this will often entail saying ‘no’ to other options that are not compatible with his way. Jesus himself had to do this. In the Garden of Gethsemane, his saying ‘yes’ to the mission that God had given him required his saying ‘no’ to the very strong temptation to preserve his own life at that moment. Jesus was a realist. He recognized that following in his way, saying ‘yes’ to all that he said ‘yes’ to, would sometimes require us to renounce our own convenience and comfort, and, maybe, even our own personal well-being. He also assures us in that gospel reading that this saying ‘no’ in the service of following him faithfully is the way to life and the way of life for both ourselves and others.

And/Or

(iv) Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Jesus asks many thought provoking questions across the four gospels. One of them is to be found at the end of today’s gospel reading, ‘What gain is it for a person to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?’ Jesus seems to be saying that it is possible to gain a great deal of what the world often considers important but in the process to lose something that is even more important, namely our true selves, our deepest selves, the self that is made in the image and likeness of God. Jesus also implies in that gospel reading that the way to preserve our true selves is by following him, by walking in his way. Jesus acknowledges that following in his way will often entail travelling the way of the cross. As we try to be faithful to the Lord’s mindset, we will often have to die to what the world considers important. In that sense, walking in the Lord’s way will often entail a loss. Yet, Jesus assures us that what we may lose at a more superficial level is more than compensated for by what is gained at a deeper level. As Jesus says, if we lose our life for his sake, we will gain our life. There is a dying to be undergone which is in the service of life. Every day we are to die to the superficial desires of the self so as to gain the life that fulfils our deepest longings.

And/Or

(v) Thursday after Ash Wednesday

There are two little words in today’s gospel reading that often strike me ‘every day’. Jesus says, ‘if anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me’. Jesus is saying that following him is something we need to do ‘every day’, and ‘every day’ this will involve some form of renunciation and taking up the cross, some saying ‘no’ to what may often seem an easier path, all in the service of saying ‘yes’ to Jesus’ call to follow him. It is as if Jesus is saying that we never take a holiday from trying to follow him more closely. There are no days off. It is something we need to do every day. Every day, the Lord calls us to follow him, to take the path he has shown us by his life and his teaching, and, indeed, by his death, and every day we try to respond to that call. It is because the following of the Lord is daily that Jesus teaches us to ask the Father, ‘give us this day our daily bread’. We daily need the resources only God can provide if we are to be faithful to the Lord every day. Of course, we all have our off days. We recognize at the end of some days that we were not at our best. Yet, we just begin again the next day. Each day the Lord says to us what Moses says to the people in the gospel reading, ‘choose life’. Jesus assures us in the gospel reading that in seeking to follow him every day we are choosing life, we are saving our lives.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[romancatholicreflections]

2nd January >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on John 1:19-28 for the 2nd January: ‘Who are you?’

2nd January

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

John 1:19-28

'One is coming after me who existed before me'

This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ.’ ‘Well then,’ they asked ‘are you Elijah?’ ‘I am not’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’ So John said, ‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied:

a voice that cries in the wilderness:

Make a straight way for the Lord.’

Now these men had been sent by the Pharisees, and they put this further question to him, ‘Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?’ John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you – the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap.’ This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.

Gospel (USA)

John 1:19-28

There is one who is coming after me.

This is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him to ask him, “Who are you?” He admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Christ.” So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Reflections (4)

(i) 2nd January

At the end of today’s gospel reading, John the Baptist declares to those who question him, ‘There stands among you, unknown to you, the one who is coming after me’. Jesus, God’s Son, the Word made flesh, was standing among them, but they were unaware of his significance. John knew who Jesus really was. He could see more deeply than those who were questioning him. He wanted to open the eyes of his contemporaries so that they could see Jesus as he saw him and come to know him as he knew him. Jesus was close to them, standing among them. Yet, he was also remote from them, because they were blind to who he was. God was present to them through Jesus, but they were unaware of it. John the Baptist could use the same phrase with reference to us today, ‘there stands among you, unknown to you’. Jesus, now risen Lord, stands among us. He is as present to us as he was to his contemporaries. Yet, he often stands among us, unknown to us. We do not always recognize his presence. We fail to appreciate the significance of his presence to us. We can sometimes live our lives as if he was not standing among us. We often need a John the Baptist figure to help us to see the Lord who is at the heart of our lives. We all need the guidance of others who see more deeply than we do. Others can help us to see the Lord who stands among us, but we can also help ourselves. We can learn to become more attentive to the Lord standing among us. We can become more responsive to the Lord’s daily invitation to ‘come and see’.

And/Or

(ii) 2nd January

From now until the end of the week, our gospel reading is taken from the first chapter of John’s gospel. Beginning at v. 19, which is where this morning’s gospel begins, we read through the chapter continuously until we reach the end of the chapter at v. 51. This morning, John the Baptist is asked one of the really important questions of life, ‘Who are you?’ We can spend most of our lives trying to answer the question, ‘Who am I?’ It is not a question that lends itself to a quick and easy answer. There is a sense in which we never really come to know ourselves fully. A first step in knowing ourselves is knowing who we are not, so that we don’t try to be someone we are not. John the Baptist comes across in the gospel reading this morning as knowing who he is not. He is not the Messiah, he is not Elijah, and he is not the prophet. John does not claim to be someone he is not. He not only knows who he is not, he knows who he is – the voice crying in the wilderness preparing people for the Lord’s coming. He is the witness, the person who points to Jesus and leads others to him. In a very real sense, that is what we are all called to be. Even though we might have difficulty fully answering the question, ‘Who are you?’ we can all give the answer, ‘I am a witness’. That is our calling, to point towards the Lord and to lead others to him by our lives.

And/Or

(iii) 2nd January

The question asked of John the Baptist in this morning’s gospel reading, ‘Who are you?’ is one of the great questions of life. We can struggle to answer the question, ‘Who am I?’ We can easily give an answer at a certain level to that question by telling people what we do, ‘I am an accountant’ or ‘I am a carpenter’. However, going below what we do to who we are in our core can be much more difficult. Also, our answer to that deeper question can change as we go through life. How we answer that question at this moment in our lives is not how we would have answered it earlier in our lives. For those of us who are people of Christian faith, our answer to that question will be deeply influenced by our relationship with Jesus, because that relationship, if it is alive and active, will touch us at a very deep level, at our core. Saint Paul is the great example of that truth. If he were asked, ‘Who are you?’ he might have answered along the lives of his statement in his letter to the Galatians, ‘it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me’. His identity had become a Christ identity. When John the Baptist was asked that question in today’s gospel reading, he answered that he was ‘a voice that cries in the wilderness’. His identity was shaped by his relationship with Jesus. He is the voice who witnesses to the Word that has become flesh. Our human identity will also be shaped by our relationship with Jesus, by our baptismal identity. Our own baptismal calling is to keep on growing into Christ so that our personal identity is more and more shaped by our relationship with him and we too can come to say with Saint Paul, ‘It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me’. The more we grow into Christ, the more we become more fully ourselves.

And/Or

(iv) 2nd January

This morning, John the Baptist is asked one of the really important questions of life, ‘Who are you?’ We can spend most of our lives trying to answer the question, ‘Who am I?’ It is not a question that lends itself to a quick and easy answer, because it is a probing question that enquires after what our values are, what is really important to us, what shapes how we live, what are gifts and limitations are. There is a sense in which we never fully answer the question, ‘Who are you?’ An important step in knowing ourselves is knowing who we are not, so that we don’t try to be someone we are not. John the Baptist comes across in the gospel reading this morning as knowing who he is not. He is not the Messiah, he is not Elijah, and he is not the prophet. He might have liked to be all of these people, but he knew in his heart of hearts he wasn’t. He does not claim to be someone he is not. He not only knows who he is not, he knows who he is. He is the voice crying in the wilderness calling on people to make a way for the Lord’s coming. He is the witness, the person who points to Jesus and leads others to him. In a very real sense, he is what we are all called to be. He embodies our Christian identity. Even though we might have difficulty fully answering the question, ‘Who am I?’ as followers of Jesus, we can all give the answer, ‘I am a witness’. That is our calling, to be the voice that leads others to the Word who became flesh and lives among us.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[romancatholicreflections]

30th October >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on  Luke 13:18-21 for Tuesday, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘What is the kingdom of God like?’

Tuesday, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time.

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 13:18-21

The kingdom of God is like the yeast that leavened three measures of flour

Jesus said, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.’    Another thing he said, ‘What shall I compare the kingdom of God with? It is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through.’

Gospel (USA)

Luke 13:18-21

When it was fully grown, it became a large bush.

Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”    Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Tuesday, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

The two parables of Jesus we have just heard suggest that the kingdom of God can come to pass in and through what is small, insignificant and almost invisible. The mustard seed is tiny and when sown in a garden becomes invisible, and, yet, it goes on to become a tree that provides shelter for the birds of the air. A woman uses a tiny amount of yeast and when placed in three measures of flour it remains invisible, and, yet, it helps to make enough bread to feed a large number of people. Jesus was often alert to what would have been considered small and insignificant, and invisible to most people. The poor widow who puts two copper coins into the Temple treasury comes to mind. Here was a tiny gesture that would have gone unnoticed by many, and, yet, Jesus saw in her a sign of his own self-giving love for all. He recognized the presence of the kingdom of God in her seemingly insignificant gesture. On another occasion, he spoke of the significance of giving a cup of cold water to someone. We all have opportunities every day to do the little things in a loving way. Something of God’s kingdom can grace our world through our own small and often hidden acts of love. Such acts will often be invisible to others and will never make the news, and, yet, they help to make one of the petitions in the Lord’s Prayer to become more of a reality, ‘your kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven’.

And/Or

(ii) Tuesday, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel Jesus takes an image from the world of men and the world of women in that culture, a man who takes a mustard seed and throws it in his garden and a woman who takes some yeast and mixes it in with three measures of flour. In each case the small gesture produces significant results. The mustard seed becomes a tree where the birds find shelter; the yeast mixing with the flour produces bread which satisfies human hunger. These are images, Jesus declares, of the kingdom of God. Jesus seems to be saying that the coming of God’s kingdom is not always about grand gestures. The coming of God’s kingdom, the doing of God’s will on earth as in heaven, is often to be found in what to an outside observer seems small and insignificant. Jesus is suggesting that God can work powerfully through the smallest gestures, when they reflect something of God’s Spirit. God is present in our world in and through our small acts of kindness, through our largely unnoticed actions of caring for one another. Jesus would say that even the giving of a cup of cold water has significance beyond our imagining. The eternal can be present in the simplest of gestures. Our daily efforts to be faithful to the gospel in small ways can have consequences that would surprise us. The miraculous is all around us, working through our smallest efforts at goodness, if we have eyes to see.

And/Or

(iii) Tuesday, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

The two parables that Jesus speaks in this morning’s gospel reading, one parable involving a man and the other involving a woman, have a similar focus. In both cases a contrast is drawn between something very small and the very significant impact it goes on to have. A tiny mustard seed produces a tree which becomes a home for the birds of the air. A tiny piece of leaven transforms a significant amount of flour. In each case, Jesus says that the kingdom of God is like that. Jesus seems to be saying that in the realm of God what is very small can turn out to be very significant. Even our smallest acts of kindness can have an impact for good beyond anything we might imagine. Small initiatives taken in the service of the Lord can create an opening for the Lord to work powerfully. We can be tempted to think that unless some event within the church is big and impressive in the eyes of the world it does not count for much. Yet, the parables in today’s gospel suggest that it is the small actions, the tiny initiatives, what goes unnoticed by most people, that can become the bearers of the kingdom of God.

And/Or

(iv) Tuesday, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

In using the image of the mustard seed in the soil and of the leaven in three measures of flour for the kingdom of God, Jesus is suggesting that the kingdom of God, the goodness of God, can often be present in small and insignificant ways in people’s lives. Those looking at soil might never suspect that a mustard seed is hidden there; those looking at three measures of flour might never suspect that leaven is hidden there. Yet, the mustard seed in the soil can transform the garden and the leaven in the flour can transform the dough. We can miss the little signs of God’s presence, of God’s goodness in ourselves and in others. Deep within our nature God has planted the seed of God’s life that can grow in surprising ways; deep within our hearts God has placed the yeast of grace that has the potential to transform us into the image of Jesus. We need to keep reminding ourselves of this good news, especially in times of failure, when we may not be living as the Lord is calling us to live. Even at those times when we look unpromising to ourselves and others, we still carry deep inside us a divine treasure whose power at work within us, as Paul reminds us, can do immeasurably more than all we might imagine.

And/Or

(v) Tuesday, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus speaks two parables, one featuring a man and the other featuring a woman. Both suggest that something very small can produce effects far beyond what might have been expected. The farmer threw a mustard seed into his garden and from it grew a tree whose branches provide shelter for the birds of the air. A woman places a small piece of yeast in a batch of dough and the result is a leavened batch of bread which feeds several people. Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is like that. God can work powerfully through the smallest of gestures. The little good that we do can have consequences far beyond our imagining. The small initiatives we take in the service of another can bear fruit that we could never have intended. The small step to reach out in love towards someone can launch a movement of love that we never anticipated. In the course of his ministry the Lord did not usher in the kingdom of God in a blaze of glory. Rather in his day to day encounters with ordinary people he sowed seeds of the kingdom and eventually those seeds went on to produce a wonderful harvest. We are all called to sow seeds of the kingdom in the day to day circumstances of our lives; we are called to act out of the values of the kingdom in our daily encounters with others. In so doing we are sowing the seeds of a harvest beyond our imagining.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[romancatholicreflections]

28th November >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 21:12-19 for Wednesday, Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘Your endurance will win you your lives’.

Wednesday, Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time  

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 21:12-19

Your endurance will win you your lives

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Men will seize you and persecute you; they will hand you over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and bring you before kings and governors because of my name – and that will be your opportunity to bear witness. Keep this carefully in mind: you are not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death. You will be hated by all men on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.’

Gospel (USA)

Luke 21:12-19

You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.

Jesus said to the crowd: “They will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Wednesday, Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

There are times in our lives when what we perceive to be great setbacks can turn out to be great opportunities. What is initially experienced as a very negative event can bring us some unexpected blessing. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus paints a stark picture of the future for his disciples. They will be seized, persecuted, imprisoned and some will even be put to death. Yet, Jesus declares that this dark experience will also be a great opportunity. It will be an opportunity for his disciples to bear witness to their faith in Jesus. Saint Paul writing to the church in Philippi from his prison declared to them that ‘what has happened to me has actually helped to spread the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my imprisonment is for Christ’. This was Paul’s opportunity to bear witness. The dark experience that Jesus predicts for his disciples will be an opportunity in another sense too. Their vulnerability at this time will be an opportunity for the Lord to work powerfully in and through them, ‘I will give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict’. In a similar way, Paul in that same letter tells the church in Philippians, ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me’. Difficult time for the church, times of hostility and opposition, can be great opportunities. It is an opportunity for us to be courageous in our witness to our faith, and an opportunity for the Lord to show that he is capable of working powerfully in and through our frailty and weakness.

And/Or

(ii) Wednesday, Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

It was Mother Teresa who said that, in calling us to share in his work, the Lord does not ask us to be successful but to be faithful. In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus paints a bleak picture of what lies ahead for his disciples, as they set out to bear witness to him. The story he tells of what is to come is anything but a success story. He speaks of persecution, imprisonment, betrayal, hatred from others. What the Lord looks for in all of these negative experiences is mentioned in the last line of the gospel reading – endurance or perseverance. The Lord wants us to be faithful in the midst of apparent failure. It is tempting to lose faith when our relationship with the Lord, - our efforts to serve him - seems to bring us more grief than joy. We can identify easily with the seed that fell on rocky soil, those who endure only for a while; then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. It is the Lord who makes possible our endurance to the end, rather than just for a while. Jesus promises his disciples and us in today’s gospel reading, ‘I myself will give you eloquence and wisdom’. In times of struggle and failure we are invited to rely on the resources the Lord gives us, so that we may endure to the end, and not just for a while.

And/Or

(iii) Wednesday, Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

The gospel reading this morning reflects the reality of life for many Christians at the time that the gospels were written. Bearing witness to Jesus and to his values in that culture meant being put on trial by religious and political authorities, leading to imprisonment and, sometimes, to death. It often meant the experience of betrayal by family members and closest friends. It was bearing witness to one’s faith publicly which generated all this hostility. It was possible for believers to keep their faith private in those times, and to live a reasonably undisturbed life. Yet, authentic faith is always public. Our relationship with the Lord may be very personal to each of us, but it can never be relegated to a purely private sphere. Our relationship with the Lord is to be the most important relationship in our lives. If that is so, it will impact publicly on all our other relationships, on everything we say and do. We don’t just keep the faith in some kind of private space; we live the faith in a public way. That will never be easy, in any culture. Yet, the Lord assures us in today’s gospel reading that he will give us the resources we need to enable us to witness to our faith when it is difficult to do so. His enduring presence to us will make it possible for us to endure.

And/Or

(iv) Wednesday, Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus paints a very dark picture of the future for his disciples. He speaks of persecution, betrayal, hatred and, even, death. That was the reality for many of the earliest Christians. We only have to think of the persecution of the church in Rome by Nero in the year 64 arising from the great fire in the city that year. Yet Jesus inserts a great light into the midst of that dark picture. He promises to give his disciples the resources they need to withstand the hostility they will experience. As a result, not a hair of their head will be lost. That same promise is made to all of us. When our following of the Lord, our response to the Lord’s call, brings us into difficult and threatening territory, the Lord will always be there with us. In the darkness of the struggle, he will always be our light. He will always provide the resources we need to remain faithful, or in the language of the gospel reading, to endure. Faithfulness, endurance, is what the Lord asks of us, and it is his resourceful faithfulness to us in difficult times that will make our faithfulness possible.

And/Or

(v) Wednesday, Thirty-Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel reading is set shortly before Jesus enters into his passion. In this setting Jesus speaks to his disciples about their own passion. He tells them that they will be seized and persecuted, handed over to the authorities and to imprisonment, all because they bear the name of Jesus. Those words of Jesus have come to pass throughout the history of the church. Indeed, people are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus today in huge numbers. Although, we are not being persecuted for our faith here at home, it is more difficult to be a believer in today’s world than in the more recent past. The social support is much less. In a sense, every Christian generation has its problems and difficulties. In the gospel reading, Jesus assures us that he himself will be with us when we find ourselves facing opposition and hostility and are tempted to discouragement. ‘I myself will give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist’. At such times we are not left to our own strength. Moreover, because the Lord is with us to support us, the trials and tribulations that come our way because of our faith are an opportunity for us to bear witness to our faith. Jesus declares ‘that will be your opportunity to bear witness’. We witness not in our own strength but in the strength the Lord gives us. Jesus goes on in that gospel reading to make a wonderful promise to all who are faithful to him during difficult times, ‘your endurance will win you your lives’.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

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[romancatholicreflections]

8th November >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 15:1-10 for Thursday, Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time: ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them’.

Thursday, Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time  

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 15:1-10

There will be rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:

‘What man among you with a hundred sheep, losing one, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the missing one till he found it? And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours? “Rejoice with me,” he would say “I have found my sheep that was lost.” In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance.

‘Or again, what woman with ten drachmas would not, if she lost one, light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she found it? And then, when she had found it, call together her friends and neighbours? “Rejoice with me,” she would say “I have found the drachma I lost.” In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner.’

Gospel (USA)

Luke 15:1-10

There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus addressed this parable to them. “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’ In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Reflections (3)

(i) Thursday, Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time

The joy of the gospel has been a very strong theme of the preaching and writing of Pope Francis. His recent letter on the call to holiness in today’s world was entitled ‘Rejoice and Be Glad’. The note of joy is very strong in today’s gospel reading. When the shepherd finds his lost sheep, he ‘joyfully’ takes it on his shoulders and when he gets home he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me!’ When the woman who lost her coin finds it, she too calls together her friends and neighbours together and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me!’ The shepherd and the woman are both images of Jesus. He is seeking out the lost, as they did, and gathering them together into a new community. As he does so, he says to all, ‘Rejoice with me’. ‘Rejoice at God’s good work’. However, there were those who, far from rejoicing with Jesus, took offense at what he was doing, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them’. On another occasion, Jesus compares such people to children who refuse to dance when other children play the pipes. Their sullen response to what God was doing through Jesus was in sharp contrast to the rejoicing in heaven. Jesus wanted some of that heavenly joy to be reflected among those who witnessed what he was doing. God’s good work continues today through the risen Lord and the Holy Spirit, even in the midst of these difficult times for the church. There is something here to rejoice in. The Lord continues to say to us, ‘Rejoice with me’. In the words of Paul in the first reading, we all possess what he calls ‘the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’. We know that the Christ Jesus our Lord is at work within us and among us and that is reason for joy.

And/Or

(ii) Thursday, Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time

We spend a certain amount of our time looking for something, and that is certainly true if you are as prone to loosing things as often as I am. We also find ourselves looking for people in various ways. Parents look for their children if they ramble off. Men and women look for someone they can share their lives with. We all look for friends, people with whom we can journey and who want to journey with us. Underneath all this searching and longing is a more fundamental search for God who alone can satisfy the deepest longings in our hearts. Saint Augustine wrote that our hearts are restless until they rest in God. Even more fundamental than our search for God is God’s search for us. God’s search for us took flesh in the person of Jesus. He said of himself that he came to seek and to save the lost; Jesus gave expression to God’s longing to be in communion with us. The shepherd who searches for his lost sheep and the woman who searches for her lost coin in this morning’s two parables are images of Jesus’ search for us, of God’s search for us in Jesus. God never ceases to seek us out because we are all lost in different ways. Our search for God is always in response to God’s search for us. In the words of the first letter of Saint John, ‘We love because God first loved us’. If we open our hearts to God’s searching love for us in Jesus then we will be moved to search for God.

And/Or

(iii) Thursday, Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time

At the beginning of today’s gospel reading Jesus is criticized by the experts in the Jewish Law for sharing table with sinners, those who were adjudged not to keep the Jewish Law, the Law of God. In reply to that criticism, Jesus speaks the two parables we have just heard, one which features a man and the other a woman. The actions of the two characters in the two stories seem a bit extravagant. Why would a shepherd abandon ninety nine sheep, leaving them at risk, to go in search of one sheep that has strayed? Having found that sheep and carried him home on his shoulders, it seems a little over the top to invite friends and neighbours to join in a celebratory meal? The same questions could be asked of the woman. Why spend the day searching for a lost coin that is of little value, and then entertain friends and neighbours to celebrate with her when she found it? The cost of entertaining was probably more than the value of the coin. If the actions of these characters seem a bit extravagant, it is because, in telling these stories, Jesus is really talking about the ways of God, which are extravagant by human standards. Jesus is saying that God’s love for us is so strong, God’s desire to be in communion with us is so great, that God seeks us out with great energy whenever we stray from him and end up lost. Then when we allow ourselves to be found by God, God’s joy knows no bounds. This is the God Jesus revealed in his style of eating, his way of life, and that he continues to reveal to us today.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

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[romancatholicreflections]

6th October >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 10:17-24 for Saturday, Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time: ‘I bless you Father, Lord of heaven and of earth'.

Saturday, Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time.

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 10:17-24

Rejoice that your names are written in heaven

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.’    It was then that, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, he said:    ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’    Then turning to his disciples he spoke to them in private, ‘Happy the eyes that see what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.’

Gospel (USA)

Luke 10:17-24

Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

The seventy-two disciples returned rejoicing and said to Jesus, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky. Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”    At that very moment he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”    Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

Reflections (4)

(i) Saturday, Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Every so often in the gospels we are given a little insight into the prayer of Jesus. It is as if we are being allowed to eavesdrop on the most intimate relationship in Jesus’ life, his relationship with God, his Father. Today’s gospel reading gives us such an insight into Jesus’ prayer, a joyful prayer of praise inspired by the Holy Spirit. ‘Filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, he said “I bless you Father, Lord of heaven and earth”’. The prayer of praise is the most selfless form of prayer there is. It is a movement towards God without any reference to ourselves. The prayer of petition is also a movement towards God but with a view to God moving towards us in our need. Jesus himself was no stranger to the prayer of petition; such was his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. On this occasion, however, Jesus praises God for who God is and for what God is doing. What is God doing, according to this prayer of Jesus? He is revealing something really important to those whom Jesus calls ‘mere children’. God the Father is revealing to children the intimate relationship that exists between Jesus and himself, a relationship of love which leads to mutual knowledge, ‘no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son’. Who are these children who are receiving this revelation? The reference is probably to those who have the openness of the child to God’s message spoken through Jesus, in other words, the disciples. It is to the disciples that Jesus goes on to say, ‘Happy the eyes that see what you see’. The disciples who are receptive to what God is showing them are contrasted to ‘the learned and the clever’, those who are so sure of what they know that are closed to what God is trying to reveal to them about the relationship between himself and Jesus. ‘Happy the eyes…’ There is a beatitude here that can potentially embrace us all, provided we have something of that child-like openness to what God wants to reveal to us through his Son and the Spirit.

And/Or

(ii) Saturday, Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

It is natural to take pride in our work, especially if we feel that we have done it well. That is what we find the disciples doing in this morning’s gospel reading. They return to Jesus from a period of successful mission. In their excitement they say to Jesus, ‘even the devils submit to us when we use your name’. Jesus acknowledges the success of their work, yet he focuses on something more fundamental. He tells them to rejoice not so much in the success of their work but in the fact that their names are written in heaven. It is their relationship with God which is to be the real source of their joy. It is that relationship which makes their work fruitful. That is why Jesus goes on to say to them, ‘Happy the eyes that see what you see’. The disciples had come to see and hear the presence of God in the person of Jesus; they have recognized Jesus’ special relationship with God his Father and they have allowed themselves to be drawn into that relationship. That is why they can rejoice. The gospel reading is reminding us that our own sharing in Jesus’ relationship with God is our real treasure, not so much the success or otherwise of what we do. It is that gift of sharing in Jesus’ relationship with God his Father that allows us to see and hear what many prophets and kings longed to see and hear, and is the real cause for joy and thanksgiving. Even when our work ceases, for whatever reason, be it age or poor health or lack of opportunity, that gift of sharing in Jesus’ own relationship with God endures.

And/Or

(iii) Saturday, Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

When we do a job well we are generally quite pleased with ourselves and we are happy to talk about it with others. In this morning’s gospel reading, the disciples were very pleased after a successful period of mission and they couldn’t wait to share their success with Jesus. Full of joy, they said to Jesus, ‘even the devils submit to us when we use your name’. Yet, Jesus immediately deflected their focus from the success of their mission to something even more important. They should really be rejoicing not so much in the success of their mission but in the fact that their names are written in heaven. It is their relationship with God and the future it promises that is the real source of joy. That is true for all of us. There will come a time when we won’t have the energy or the health to achieve a great deal. Our labours and the fruits of our labours can diminish at any stage of our lives. However what remains constant is God’s relationship with us through Jesus, and all it promises. We can always rejoice in that wonderful gift, even when all else fails. Jesus says to us what he says to his disciples in today’s gospel reading, ‘Happy the eyes that see what you see’. The Son has chosen to reveal his Father to us, and to draw us into his own relationship with God the Father. That is something to rejoice in not only for what it gives us in the present but also for what it promised beyond this life.

And/Or

(iv) Saturday, Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

We live in an age that values achievement and when we achieve something worthwhile we understandably experience a deep satisfaction and joy. At the beginning of today’s gospel reading, the disciples were full of joy at having achieved something worthwhile. Jesus had sent them out on mission and their mission had been successful, ‘even the devils submit to us when we use your name’. Jesus acknowledges their achievement, ‘I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven’ and he recognizes the joy that it brings his disciples. Yet, at this moment of successful mission, Jesus reminds them of something even more important that is a source of an even deeper joy. ‘Rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven’. It is their relationship with God and the eternal destiny that it promises which is to be the source of their joy. Their work will not always be successful, but their relationship with God will endure, if they want it to. Jesus is reminding us all that our work will pass, our various successes will pass, but God’s relationship with us and ours with him will not pass away. Jesus goes on in that gospel reading to state that our relationship with God is nothing less than a sharing in Jesus’ own intimate relationship with God. The Father and Son know and love each other intimately, and Jesus seeks to draw us into that intimate relationship with his Father. That is why he can declare to all of us, what he declares to his disciples at the end of the gospel reading, ‘Happy are the eyes that see what you see’. It is this intimate relationship with God that is primary and the cause of our joy, not the success or otherwise of our work. It is from this relationship that our sharing in the Lord’s work flows.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

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