More

Genesis 2:7-9,3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11 Read Sunday of Week 1 of Lent (Year A) »

More

This Sunday, which can fall either before Lent or after the Easter season, is often not celebrated.

Readings
Deuteronomy 11:18.26-28
Romans 3:21-25.28
Matthew 7:21-27

IT HELPS IN OUR UNDERSTANDING of the gospel text today to realise that it forms the conclusion of Matthew’s first great discourse, the Sermon on the Mount.  So the references to hearing followed by doing are highly relevant to all that has gone before in the preceding three chapters.

Qualities of a disciple
The whole of the Sermon on the Mount has been about the essential qualities to be found in the disciple of Jesus.  He or she is not to be measured simply by what they do and say, however religious or "holy" they seem to be.  It is not enough, for instance, to keep saying "Lord, Lord…"  That by itself will not bring a person under the kingship of God.  Translating that into contemporary terms, it means that just spending a lot of time in church, being regularly at Sunday Mass, going on pilgrimages, joining in novenas, saying rosaries does not necessarily make one the kind of disciple that Jesus is looking for.  Church-going and discipleship are not synonymous.

    It will not be enough even to be able to perform wonders like exorcisms of demons, preaching brilliant sermons before huge crowds or working other miracles, even if these are all done in the name of Jesus.

    Something more is required of the true disciple.  He or she is someone who is totally united to God in heart, soul and mind.  We can say a lot of prayers and be very busy doing the Lord’s work and yet not be such a person.  The problem is that such persons do not really have "the mind of Christ", they do not think like Christ nor have they totally submitted themselves to his way of seeing and doing things.  They are not really in touch with his will because they are so busy talking (even to him) and doing that they have never really listened.  So much so that at the end of time when they come face to face with the Lord he will not recognise them.  "You did your (holy) thing but you were not doing mine."

A listening ear
The true disciple, Jesus tells us, is one who listens to Jesus’ words and carries them out.  What do we mean by "listening" to Jesus?  I suggest that it includes four interacting qualities, all of which must be present:

    First, we have to hear what Jesus is saying.  We can only do that by being in touch with the Word of God which we find above all in the scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments but especially the latter.  Many Christians, sadly many of them Catholics, have a very scant knowledge of God’s Word in the Bible.  They seldom, if ever, open the book, that is, if they have one at all.  They may feel that the "catechism" they were taught in school is all they need.  What they carry away consists mainly of various "truths" to be held and moral obligations to be observed.  Even otherwise highly educated people have only the scantiest awareness of the dynamics of the Gospel message.

    Secondly, we need to understand what we hear and read in the Word of God.  It is very possible to hear (e.g. during the Mass readings) or read (privately) and not understand the inner meaning.  This understanding does not come without some effort.  It is dangerous to read and interpret the Bible without guidance.  The Word of God has come to us through two millennia from a time and culture very different from our own.  Without someone to guide us, it is difficult for us to access the fuller meaning of what we are being told.  It is very easy to distort the meaning or to make the text say something it never intended. 
    There are now plenty of books and courses available to guide us and open the scriptures for us.  At the same time it must be emphasised that the scriptures provide a depth of meaning which is never exhausted.  A lifetime of reading and reflecting constantly reveals new insights.  It was what makes the Bible such an exciting book.

    Thirdly, we need to accept fully and to assimilate into our very being what we have come to understand.  It is possible to hear well, to understand clearly but not to accept or assimilate.  Children and teenagers do that all the time!  We have not reached full discipleship until the thinking of Christ becomes our own.  It was put marvellously by Paul when he said, "I live, no, it is not I, but Christ lives in me."  At the beginning of the Letter to the Philippians he also said, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain."  If he were to die, it would mean instant and total union with his beloved Lord; if he were to live on, he could continue sharing his experience of Christ with his brothers and sisters.

    Fourthly, when, like Paul, we have fully assimilated as part of our own thinking what we have heard and understood, we will naturally act accordingly.  It will not be possible to act otherwise.  His will and mine totally coincide; his vision and mine are exactly the same.  So, contrary to what many people feel, being a Christian and following the Gospel is not as difficult as it sometimes seems.  It is not a question of will power.  It is a question of seeing things in the same way as the Gospel.  As Fr Tony de Mello used to say, “It is all a question of attitude.”  When we see life and relationships the way the Gospel does, our behaviour is likely to follow quite naturally.  It is only when all this becomes a reality in our lives that we can say we are truly disciples of Jesus and, as he says, that is the only sure foundation on which to build our lives. 

Blessing and curse
The First Reading presents our choice as a blessing and a curse.  In the light of the New Covenant, we need to be aware that the "commandments" are not just the Ten Commandments of Mount Sinai.  Rather what we need to obey is the way of life, built on truth, justice and love, built on the inseparable link of love between God and those around us, which God in Jesus has presented to us. 
And the "blessing" and the "curse" are not simply divine decrees.  They follow out naturally from our response to Jesus’ call.  To hear and do brings built into it the happiness and peace that we long for; to refuse to hear and do is to bring anxiety and disharmony into our lives.  "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you" (St Augustine).

A message for all
Paul in the Second Reading from the letter to the Romans raises another important element.  What was originally given to the Israelites through the Law and the Prophets is now extended to everyone without exception as a gift of love through the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ.  Under the old Law, it was believed that salvation came through one’s keeping of the Law’s requirements.  Under the New Law, we have all been saved through Christ who won reconciliation with God for us through his life, death and resurrection. 

    We become right with God by our total commitment in faith to Jesus Christ and not by our own efforts.  The good that we do is done only through God’s loving gift.  As one of the Weekday Prefaces puts it: "You have no need of our praise, yet our desire to thank you is itself your gift.  Our prayer of thanksgiving adds nothing to your greatness, but makes us grow in your grace through Jesus Christ our Lord."  Or, as Paul puts it today, "one is justified [that is, made right with God] by faith and trust in him and not by doing something the Law tells him to do".

    It is important for us to understand this in the context of today’s Gospel reading.  When we become disciples of Christ and live the life he calls us to, we do that, not on the basis of our own efforts, but in response to his coming into our lives.  All we do, we do "through him, with him and in him".

Sand or rock
To live a Christian life only on the surface, that is, only with words and externally conforming behaviour, is like building a house on sand.  Once we come under attack, we will collapse because we have no deep foundation inside.  We see that happening frequently when people who have lived in an outwardly Christian environment move to a purely secular situation.  They fall away very quickly.

    So let us be like that sensible man who builds his house on rock.  The Rock is the firm foundation that is Christ, together with the vision of Christ which becomes also the vision that guides our own life, a life built on truth and love.

+++
The word ‘faith’ translates the Greek word pistis which essentially implies trust or confidence in another person.  In the Church it carries also the meaning of accepting as true from God something we cannot verify by any human evidence. 
    Faith, in fact, is a reality of our daily lives.  We accept as true many things we have no way of verifying.  How often have we categorically made statements on the basis that "we saw it in the newspaper"? 
    At the time of the Reformation, the Reformers tended to emphasise the first meaning while what was to become the "Catholic" Church stressed the second.  In fact, both meanings are important and, in general, I would say that Paul is thinking more of the first meaning.  Faith is not just an act of belief that something is true but includes, as an essential element, total commitment to what that truth involves and especially to the Person who communicates it.

More

This Sunday, which can fall either before Lent or after the Easter season, is not often celebrated.

Readings
Isaiah 49:14-15
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6:24-34

THE GOSPEL IS A STRONG CHALLENGE to the lifestyle that prevails in most of our cities in the so-called developed world and in many parts of the developing world too.  Jesus puts it very bluntly: "You cannot at the same time be the slave of God and money (and this includes all the things that equate to money, like property, cars, clothes, foreign holidays, etc.)"  As such, he does not criticise the having of things.  What is in question is our attitude towards them, our being in thrall to them, having our lives controlled by them and, above all, being unable to share them with those in real need.  Also in question is the false illusion that, if we have money and power, we have control of our lives.  We are secure.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  So ultimately Jesus is teaching us that our only real security is total trust in God’s love for us.

    Money primarily is a means of exchange by which we can provide for the needs of our life, whatever those needs are at any given time.  The problem begins when money and the pursuit of money becomes an end in itself, "I want to be rich."  Which soon becomes "I have to be rich".  And, when I am rich, when I have lots of things, I will go to any length to hold on to them.  It is amazing how very rich people keep being driven to make more till they have more than they could possible spend.  There was the case of a dollar billionaire in an Asian country who went to jail for insider trading on the stock exchange in order to make even more than he already had.  And, after he came out of jail, he was worth more than twice than when he went in.  When a very rich man died, someone asked how much he had left.  "Every red cent," was the answer.  "You can’t take it with you," as the cliche‚ goes. 

What will we bring with us?
And, in a way, that is what Jesus is asking us to consider.  When we come to the end of our lives what do we want to bring with us and what do we want to leave behind?  Would you want to die alone and desperately lonely and unlamented like billionaires Getty and Howard Hughes or be like a Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi who just kept giving themselves to others and were mourned by millions? 

    Jesus is asking us today to reflect on what are our most basic values in life.  Is it just what we want to have or is it what we most want to be?  What is life about?  Is it a matter of getting what we have not got or sharing with others what we have, however little it may seem to be?  Is to be rich the only thing I want?  Or are there other values, other more precious qualities which no bank can evaluate?  What about things like happiness, peace, freedom, contentment, wonderful friends, a supportive family?  Does having money guarantee us these things?  Are they not available even to those who have little or no money?

Conflicting goals
We have to make a choice between the God’s vision of life and a preoccupation with money and possessions.  They are not compatible.  They involve conflicting goals in life and different visions of what is most important in life.  The truly materialistic person may have a veneer of Christian practice but cannot be a really committed Christian. 
 
    By definition, to be rich is to have more, a lot more than others.  To continue to live this way when in the same society there are many poor, that is, people who do not have enough cannot be equated with a following of the Christian Way.

    Jesus preaches something like what St Ignatius Loyola calls ‘indifference’ to material things.  Obviously some material things — like food and clothing and shelter — are necessary to daily living and everyone has a right to have these things.  At different times other things will be necessary too, such as basic medical care, education…
      The attitude of ‘indifference’ in this sense is not that one does not care; on the contrary, one cares very much.  But one cares to have things and to use things only in so far as they are needed to love and serve God and others for his sake.  This involves a very high level of inner freedom — the ability to say ‘Yes’ only to what I need.

Trust in God
Linked to our attitude to material things, Jesus further urges greater trust and confidence in God’s care for us.  Isaiah in the First Reading speaks of Israel as feeling abandoned and forgotten by God in its times of trial.  The response comes in one of the tenderest passages in the whole of the Bible: "Does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the son of her womb?  Yet even if these forget, I will never forget you."

    For his part, Jesus points to nature.  Nature lives always in the present.  It never shows any anxiety about the future. Yet it is covered with a staggering beauty.  Solomon in all his glory cannot match the lilies of the field.  But, if God lavishes such beauty on things which quickly wither away, how much care will he not lavish on his own children?

    Jesus urges us to liberate ourselves from worry and anxiety about our body and material things such as food and clothing.  To be concerned about food because right now I am very hungry and do not have anything to eat is very different from worrying whether I will have food next month; to be anxious about what is happening when I am in intensive care is very different from wondering how long my health will hold up in the coming years; to be fretting because I have no money to pay my rent with the landlord knocking at the door is very different from wondering whether I will ever be rich.    Worry and anxiety about the future are a waste of time and energy yet we indulge in them so much.  They are a waste of time and energy because they are about things which do not exist and very possibly may never exist.  As Fr Tony de Mello used to say, quoting a Buddhist axiom: “Why worry?  If you don’t worry, you die; if you do worry, you die.  So, why worry?”    So we are invited to look at the birds of the air and the flowers in the field.  They do nothing except be themselves and God takes care of them.  And how beautiful they are!  When their time comes they pass away.  We are often so busy regretting the past or worrying about the future that we never get to enjoy life in the here and now.

Stewards
Paul in today’s Second Reading gives us another reason for not being obsessed with our future security.  Here in the present, we simply have too much to do.  We are, he says, Christ’s servants.  And as such, responsibilities have been entrusted to us, mainly to build up the Body of Christ in our Christian communities and to spread the Gospel message of God’s love far and wide.  "What is expected of stewards is that each one should be found worthy of [God’s] trust."  In other words, we are not being trustworthy stewards if, like the man in the parable, we take the gift that God has given us and bury it in the ground for fear it should be lost.  No.  If large sums of money or goods come our way, we are not to store them away.  Our gifts are to used here and now and every day.  We should simply be too busy doing God’s work to have time to worry about the non-existent future.  As the saying goes, "Let go and let God".

Be here
To be fully alive, Fr Tony de Mello also used to advise: "Be yourself.  Be here.  Be now."  Enjoyment and happiness are only in the present.  Nowhere else.  If we keep looking forward or looking back we will never find happiness.  It is right here in our grasp at every moment of every day.  Again as Fr Tony used to say, "You have everything you need right now to be happy." 

    Do we believe that?  How our lives would be transformed if only we could really believe it!  Jesus puts the same thing today in different words, "Do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself."  God is only to be found in the here and now; he is always available.

More

Frank Doyle SJ 1931 – 2011

Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

Daniel 12:3

The author of the Living Space commentaries, Frank Doyle, an Irish Jesuit priest of the Chinese Province, died on Saint Patrick’s Day 2011. After some years working in Ireland, Frank had returned to Asia in 2010, undertaking work as a spiritual director in Manila. His requiem took place in Saint Ignatius Oratory, Loyola House of Studies, Manila on 22 March. Ar dheis Dé go raibh sé. May he be on God’s righthand side.

Funeral homily

The text of the homily delivered at his funeral can be read here, courtesy of Mark Raper SJ, President of the Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific.

The vocation of every human being, most especially of every Christian, is to reproduce the image of the Son of God, to be ‘conformed to the image of his Son’, who is to be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. This is the heart of the prophetic experience of being a religious. This is the life that Frank Doyle lived as a religious, a life of spirituality, a life of community and a life of mission. Read the full homily

On Christian death

We recall Frank’s commentary on Christian death, offered on Wisdom 2:23-3:9 – Tuesday of week 32 of Ordinary Time – First Reading:

In practice, when people die – even good people – it does not, on the surface, look like that. “To the unenlightened they appeared to die, their departure was regarded as a disaster, their leaving us like an annihilation”. Even when good and saintly people leave us, it is regarded as a tragedy and a blow not only to us but to them. “What did they do to be taken away like this?” But, where the truly good are concerned, the reality is quite different. In fact, in death “they are at peace.” It is not only that all negative elements have been removed from their life but that they are in a state of security and total happiness under the protection of and in their intimacy with God. As the Third Eucharistic Prayer reads in speaking of the dead: “There we hope to share in your glory when every tear will be wiped away. On that day we shall see you, our God, as you are.” Their death seemed like a form of punishment, the denial of the gift of life but, in fact, “their hope was rich with immortality”. For a Christian, faith is coupled with hope, a confident hope of being one day reunited forever with Christ our Lord. That hope is for immortality (in the Greek, athanasia).

Messages

The messages of appreciation below are testimonies to the help that Frank’s writings have been to so many. These comments were offered on the occasion of Frank’s stroke in February 2011.

We are glad to continue to make Living Space commentaries available on this part of Sacred Space, remembering the generosity with which Frank offered them.

More

Commentary on Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12 Read Sunday of Week 2 of Advent (Year A) »

More

Commentary on Isaiah 35:1-6; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11 Read Sunday of Week 3 of Advent (Year A) »

More

Commentary on Isaiah 7:10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24 Read Sunday of Week 4 of Advent (Year A) »

More

Commentary on Luke 7:24-30

Today’s Gospel is a continuation of yesterday’s. Jesus had been asked by disciples of John the Baptist whether he was the One who was expected. And Jesus had given an indirect, but very clear answer in the affirmative. He was indeed the One. After the messengers of John had left, Jesus then began to comment about John to the people around him.

What, Jesus asked them, had they gone out to the desert to see? “A reed shaken by the wind?” Someone who shifted his position with every passing fashion, someone who just said what people wanted to hear? No. People went out to hear someone who spoke the truth without fear or favour, who was not afraid to say what needed to be said, even if people were not too happy with what they heard, even when it pointed directly at them.

Did they go out to see “a man clothed in fine garments”? Someone who was rich and famous, who lived in the lap of luxury? No, “those who are gorgeously apparelled and live in luxury are in kings’ courts”. They went out to see a prophet and, indeed, more than a prophet. A prophet is someone called to convey to the people a message from God. A prophet is someone who has a deeper insight into the way people should live their lives. His or her role is both to announce and denounce and call people back to their senses and to right living.

But, John is even more than that. His special role is to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way before your.” Among the long line of prophets his is a unique privilege. “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John.”

And yet – “he who is the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he”. Jesus is the one who inaugurates the Reign of God among us in his own person and in all those who accept his Word as their way of life. This was a privilege that John was never to know.

But with privilege comes responsibility. Our fellowship with Christ is something for which to praise and thank God. It is humbling to think that we are, in a way, more privileged than John, who knew Jesus personally. This privilege also carries with it expectations and challenges touching on all our lives.

We can ask ourselves that when people look as us, do they see a reed shaking and bending with every breeze of fashion? Do they see people who set great store by status, luxury and an obsession with the material things of this world? Or, do they see people who fearlessly and consistently proclaim the Way of Christ in all they say and do?

More

Commentary on Isaiah 54:1-10

This is our last reading from the ‘Book of Consolation’.

“Shout for joy, you barren women, who bore no children!” Words addressed to Jerusalem (representing Israel), especially during the exile. The Israelites, in exile, are apparently abandoned by their ‘husband’ God. Humanly speaking, they seem to have no future as a people. In the Near East, barrenness was considered a terrible disgrace. Now, however, they can shout for joy. They are going to be fertile again.

The passage brings a message of comfort to the Israelites in exile with the promise of Jerusalem’s restoration. The people are called on to prepare for great changes, changes for the better. Israel, personified in the feminine figure of its capital, Jerusalem, which had remained desolate and uninhabited during the exile, will soon overflow with a burgeoning population.

The people are called on to enlarge their tents to accommodate greater numbers of God’s people.

You will burst out to right and left. Your race will take possession of the nations and people the abandoned cities.

A promise that they are going to go back to their homeland and fill their cities and towns again with their people. The past can be left behind.

You will forget the shame of your youth and no longer remember the curse of your widowhood.

In describing the sufferings the Israelites have been through, the prophet uses traditional images – the barren wife who becomes fertile, the repudiated wife who is taken back. It is a more positive message than that found in some of the other prophets who often see only more punishments in store.

There is now no need to be afraid. God is a faithful spouse who will not abandon his people for ever. They can now forget the “shame of your youth”, a shame brought on by their exile, they can forget “the curse of their widowhood”, when God seemed to have abandoned them.

Your creator will be your husband, his name, the Lord of hosts.

God will be their new husband and the source of a new fruitfulness. “Like a forsaken wife” they are now being called back. This was no separation, only a brief estrangement.

I did forsake you for a brief moment, but with great love will I take you back. In excess of anger, for a moment I hid my face from you.

Was it God who had abandoned his people, or was it they who had, by their faithlessness, distanced themselves from him? For he has never been far from them.

With everlasting love I have taken compassion on you, says the Lord, your redeemer.

This is God’s unchanging and unchangeable love, the love of a good father for his children or of a loving husband for his wife. A love freely and unconditionally poured out as a free gift.

The promises made after the Flood in the time of Noah are recalled:

When I swore that Noah’s waters should never flood the world again.

Now, God repeats his promises and reminds his people of his unchanging love for them:

…for the mountains may depart, the hills be shaken, but my love you will never leave you and my covenant of peace with you will never be shaken.

The Israelites have attributed their sufferings to the anger of the Lord, but God is never angry. Their sufferings have been brought on themselves by their failure to remain faithful to the covenant God had made with them. In the Exile, they have paid the price, but now is coming a time of reconciliation with their return to the homeland they have so bitterly missed for so many years.

As we approach Christmas, we see the same covenant with our God renewed in the coming of the Incarnate Son of God in our midst. On the one hand, it is an occasion for us to leave behind our self-centred ways. In Jesus, we are given in the clearest possible terms, the Way our lives are to follow if we are to be truly one with our loving Lord and Creator.

Here we have the story of God’s love for us: the total love of God, our infidelity, our sin. The Bible describes the mistakes of men, and then the infidelity of the people loved by God. But the prophets announce the New Jerusalem, Yahweh’s bride which will never again be abandoned. We know that the Church is this new People united to God in an eternal covenant.

It is quite true there are wrinkles on the face of the Church: dull parishes, existing but not really alive; institutions where one would look in vain for the Spirit of Jesus; and leaders of the Church subservient to the powerful [including the powerful in the Church!]. Somehow the New Jerusalem is in the church of Christ, but it is also true that we continue to look for it. Therefore, we are open to hearing and meditating upon this proclamation of the merciful love of God. (Christian Community Bible, loc. cit.)

More

Commentary on Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans 15:4-9, Matthew 3:1-12 Read Sunday of Week 2 of Advent (Year A) »