Seeking Our Attention

Bishop Robert Barron gives a most accurate yet troubling assessment of the condition of religious faith in this our age - in a word, "ignoring" God.  Here is the ...... LINK ......!

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Fifthteenth Sunday

You may have heard the report recently of the televangelist who asked his followers to buy him a 54-million-dollar private jet airplane. He already his three planes but he said God told him that he needed a much faster, more efficient plane to carry the gospel around the world. He said, “If Jesus was physically on the Earth today, he wouldn't be riding a donkey, He'd be in an airplane preaching the Gospel all over the world.” Apparently, he must have missed this passage of scripture which is today’s gospel. Of course, this is the preaching of the “prosperity gospel” – believe, pray, and pay, and God will make you prosperous in material ways. Last Sunday I spoke about our common vocation with all Catholic believers to engage in the Church’s mission to evangelize, and how we may feel wholly inadequate for such a calling, being neither theologians or scripture scholars. In today's gospel, Jesus is sending out the first evangelist striped down to just a tunic and the sandals on their feet. Clearly, the gospel of Jesus is not a prosperity gospel but a gospel of salvation for all who are of humble heart and true poverty of spirit; directing us to detach our hearts from worldly possessions so we may embrace the true blessings of heaven. Jesus does not want his evangelists to use just words, he wants them to "resemble" what they preach – not only a gospel to be heard but a gospel to be seen – the beatitudes on display in real persons. In Advent 2017, bishop Crosby gave us priest a copy of a book containing a collection of addresses Pope Francis had given to bishops and priest, entitled: With The Smell Of The Sheep. As ministers of the gospel, preachers must be seen among the people, must be among them, knowing them, loving them, and like any shepherd they will necessarily smell like them. As Catholics in today's secular society, we face the view that religion with its beliefs and practices should remain a private matter, confined to its own space, lest it interfere or offend others in what is deemed a pluralistic society. But as evangelists we must first be seen if we are to be heard. Peter tells us: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” 1 Peter 3:15 . But if they do not see the virtues of a faith fulfilled in a truly holy life, there in their midst, how will they ever know to ask? And to those who are offended by our witness, Peter concludes the verse with, “… keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil." Vs. 16-17 So let us put on our sandals and get out there and be seen.

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Fourteenth Sunday - 2018

Let us focus for a moment on the 2nd Reading of today's Liturgy of the Word. Paul is writing to the Church in Corinth, and he is defending his reputation as a preacher of the gospel, which is being challenged. He said in the previous chapter 11, verse 5; “I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.” 2 Cor 11:5. Some preachers have come to Corinth who are very skilled and persuasive preachers – which Paul admits he himself is not. Paul is not questioning their silver tongues but the accuracy of their message. “For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough.” Chp 11:4 In his defence, Paul points to the profound revelations he has been given. But he lays claim not to these but his weaknesses, to his imitation of the Cross of Jesus. And one weakness above all others is Paul’s personal “thorn in the flesh.” So what exactly was this “thorn in the flesh” that Paul suffered? There is no clear consensus among scripture scholars to exactly what Paul is referring to. Perhaps it is something physical or something spiritual; perhaps a person, a nagging adversary. Given the context of preaching here, maybe it was some kind speech impediment. “Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Chp. 12:8 This is a most powerful lesson for each of us to grasp, a lesson for our generation. The church has been calling the faithful to be active evangelist in today’s secularist society. Secular humanism is casting a grave dark shadow over the message of the gospel today. But we say, what could I possibly say or do that might have the slightest value for such evangelization? Here, Paul shows us that evangelization is not about “silver tongues” it’s about witnessing. It is about “knowing Jesus, personally, and living a truly holy life in imitation of Christ. Every good work, every work of mercy we manifest in this world speaks volumes. When this generation sees real, living examples of the message of the gospel which Jesus taught, the work of evangelization is accomplished. Let none of us say I are not qualified to be an evangelist, little weak thing that I am, let us remember these words of Paul:  "For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 1 Cor 1:26-31

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Seeing God

God is like an Inaccessible Rock The feelings that come to a man who stands on a high mountain peak and looks down onto some immense sea are the same feelings that come to me when I look out from the high mountain peak of the Lord’s words into the incomprehensible depths of his thoughts. When you look at mountains that stand next to the sea, you will often find that they seem to have been cut in half, so that on the side nearest the sea there is a sheer drop and something dropped from the summit will fall straight into the depths. Someone who looks down from such a peak will become dizzy, and so too I become dizzy when I look down from the high peak of these words of the Lord: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. These words offer the sight of God to those whose hearts have been purified and purged. But look: St John says No-one has seen God. The Apostle Paul’s sublime mind goes further still: What no man has seen and no man can see. This is the slippery and crumbling rock that seems to give the mind no support in the heights. Even the teaching of Moses declared God to be a rock that was so inaccessible that our minds could not even approach it: No-one can see the Lord and live. To see God is to have eternal life – and yet the pillars of our faith, John and Paul and Moses, say that God cannot be seen. Can you understand the dizziness of a soul that contemplates their words? If God is life, whoever does not see God does not see life. If the prophets and the Apostle, inspired by the Holy Spirit, attest that God cannot be seen, does this not wreck all the hopes of man? It is the Lord who sustains our floundering hope, just as he sustained Peter when he was floundering in the water, and made the waters firm beneath his feet. If the hand of the Word stretches out to us as well, and sets us firm in a new understanding when these speculations have made us lose our balance, we shall be safe from fear, held safe in the guiding hand of the Word. Blessed, he says, are those who possess a pure heart, for they shall see God. A homily on the Beatitudes by St Gregory of Nyssa (Office of Readings)