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Commentary on Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2

On Ash Wednesday, we reflect that the readings for Lent are taken from a wide variety of texts in both the Old and New Testaments. They can be seen as a preparation for the honouring of the Lord’s Passion and the celebration of his Resurrection. One can profitably take one or both readings on each day of Lent for prayerful reflection in order to make a personal preparation for the observation of Holy Week and Easter.

Today, the First Reading is from the prophet Joel, of whom very little is known. His name is shared with about a dozen other Old Testament figures. Evidence would seem to indicate that he lived in Judah during the Persian period of Jewish history (539-331 BC). The majority of historical references in his book, in which there is no mention of Assyria or Babylonia, would point to a period between 400 and 350 BC.

Joel is regarded as a ‘cultic’ prophet, that is, he exercised his ministry within the life of the Temple. Today’s reading comes from the earlier part of the book, in which Joel sees a plague of locusts that ravaged the country as a sign of God’s judgement on his people.

Fasting, weeping, mourning
The passage today is an eloquent and beautiful call to repentance. Fasting was required once a year on the Day of Atonement, but also in times of calamity (as with the plague of locusts already mentioned). It was a sign of penitence and submission to God by a sinful people.

Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
rend your hearts and not your clothing.

Why? Because Yahweh:

…is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,
and relenting from punishment.

This contrasts with the prophet Jonah, who early on in his mission complained that God was too easy on sinners, especially gentile sinners.

The passage is a solemn call to repentance. Repentance here is not just sorrow for the past, but a call to a complete change of life (in Greek, metanoia). The emphasis is on inner change, not outward observance. Says the prophet:

…rend your hearts and not your clothing.

For us, too, Lent is better observed by an inner change in our way of life, rather than merely the external ‘giving up’ of minor pleasures. We seek a change that will continue well beyond Lent and become a consistent pattern of our living. It is certainly not a time for fear. Our God is a loving God:

…he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love,
and relenting from punishment.

This is a chorus that echoes throughout the Old Testament, telling us that we can approach God with the greatest of confidence.

But repentance in the Scriptures is not just feeling bad about the past and looking for forgiveness. It is about choosing to adopt a complete change of thinking—a new way of seeing our lives and moving forward on a different track. As mentioned, this metanoia involves a radical change in the way we see our life and the direction in which it ought to go.

How to benefit from the goodness of the Lord?

Blow the trumpet in Zion;
consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly; gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children,
even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride her canopy…

Let the priests,
the ministers of the Lord, weep.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and do not make your heritage a mockery,
a byword among the nations”.

All are called together for a common show of repentance: people from their homes, newlyweds from their bedchambers, even the priests offering sacrifice in the Temple. It is a time for everyone to leave their sinful ways—from priests to children—and to repent with deepest sorrow. Through this repentance, God is reminded that they are his people.

Why should it be said among the nations?
In difficult times, those on the outside are driven to ask: “Where is their God?” This is the question that people often ask when disasters strike—Where was God when his people died by the millions in the Nazi concentration camps? Where was God when man-made evil struck and killed so many, or when natural disasters occurred, or when a close relative or the innocent victim of a driving accident died? Where was God when a young person, full of life, unexpectedly died?

Then the Lord became jealous for his land
and had pity on his people.

In Joel’s case, the Lord did reply. The prayer is answered; the plague ceases. Yahweh, jealous of his own people, takes pity on them. Let us pray that this Lenten season will help us to see the world, and to see life, as God sees it. The wonderful Scripture readings of Lent will help us to do this.

Now is an acceptable time
The Second Reading is a powerful appeal from Paul to the Christians of Corinth, which fits in perfectly with the beginning of the Lenten season. First, he reminds us that we are “ambassadors for Christ”. It is through us, through our words and actions, that God is seen by the rest of the world. That is a tremendous responsibility and something to reflect on seriously, especially during this Lenten season.

Second, Paul points out that, for our sakes, God made Jesus, who was altogether without sin, “to be sin”. What Paul means is that Jesus, the altogether sinless One, willingly endured the effects of sin and evil, especially through his suffering and death on the Cross. His purpose in doing so was:

…so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

In other words, we too are called to walk the same Way that Jesus did, to be ready to suffer and die as he did. In this, more than by any other thing we might say or do, we truly become ambassadors for Jesus Christ. So Paul begs the Corinthians (and us) that this tremendous act of God’s love enacted through his Son, Jesus, not be in vain.

Lent is a time for us to contemplate deeply the meaning of Jesus’ life, suffering and death for each one of us, and to reflect what changes it calls for in the way we live our lives of discipleship now.

…now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation!

For the Christian, the time of conversion and change is always now, and never more so than during the great season of Lent.

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Commentary on Mark 11:1-10; Isaiah 50:4-7; Philippians 2:6-11; Mark 14:1-15:47

(Note: The First and Second Readings are the same every year, but the entrance Gospel and the Passion account are taken from a different Gospel: Year A, Matthew; Year B, Mark; Year C, Luke. The Passion from John’s Gospel is read on Good Friday.)

We should see this week as a single unit, summed up under the phrase “Paschal Mystery”. It includes the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, as well as his ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit. In fact, all these elements can actually be seen present on the cross on Good Friday.

Triumph and tragedy
The two Gospel readings present contrasting pictures of a day encompassing both triumph and tragedy. From the first Gospel reading, we see the joy of Jesus entering Jerusalem and getting an enthusiastic welcome from the crowds:

Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!

These are words we continue to sing during the Eucharistic Prayer at every Mass. But the picture very soon changes to darkness, to suffering and death.

Having the mind of Christ
Our key to understanding this week is in today’s Second Reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…[He] emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…

Though Jesus was in the form of God, he went down to the lowest depths of degradation and humiliation, dying naked and as a convicted criminal.

God’s love for us
This is the measure of his love for us – laying down his life for his friends – an expression of God’s love. And because of the intensity of the love he showed, he is swept up into the glory of God. This is so that we, too, may follow.

But on the way, we also have to be ready to empty ourselves in love for him and to be totally at the service of our brothers and sisters. As Adam was created in the divine image and likeness, so Jesus was ‘in the form of God’. Yet unlike Adam, he did not grasp at Godhead; he resisted the urgings of the catechesis of evil. He did not sin.

He freely chose to enter into the condition of the sinful human being, to go to the very bedrock of human destitution which comes as a result of ‘grasping’- the great emblems of which are slavery and death. Where this happens to the sinful, grasping human being as a result of sin, Jesus freely chose to take upon himself a disfigurement which he had in no way merited.

He did this in obedience to a divine plan, a plan which would have him go to the depths of human destitution so that God might transform the destitution and lead the human being back to the Garden [of Eden]. Jesus appeared in the form of the sinful human being. He appeared as a slave, choosing the powerlessness of the one who has no will of his own.

The depth of Jesus’ love
Jesus went more deeply still into human destitution: he who was son became not only a slave, but also a corpse. In words that describe Jesus, the prophet Isiah says:

I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.

Jesus chose to enter into an utter powerlessness, and in accepting the most ignominious death known to the ancient world, he went to the bedrock of the destitution and disfigurement caused by sin.

And it was there that he was met by a God whom he could see as he entered the darkness. He was met by a God who moved as power in the utter powerlessness of the Crucified. He was met by a God who was power enough to lead Jesus (and with him humanity) back to the Garden; a God who gave him his true name; a God who restored to him the lordship proper to the human being (Gen 1:28); a God who restored him to the glory which was always the Creator’s intention, the glory which in no way contends with the glory of God (as the catechesis of evil had claimed, either God’s glory or your glory), but a glory which redounds to the glory of God the Father.

Paul will put this more enigmatically:

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(2 Cor 5:21)

The question here is what Paul means by ‘righteousness’. To be made righteous is to be restored to that right relationship which is the essence of the life of Eden.

Life outside the Garden is a life of wrong relationship – between God and the human being, between human beings, between human beings and creation. Life in the Garden is the life of right relationship, with the human being finding his or her right place within the scheme of things in a way that Adam and Eve did not.

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Commentary on Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33

We are just one week away from Holy Week and our celebration of God’s love for us in Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. Today we look at the meaning of what Jesus did for us. Jesus is the fulfilment of the New Covenant that Jeremiah prophesied about in the First Reading.

In today’s Gospel, some Greeks, probably converts to Judaism, approach Philip (whose name is Greek), saying:

Sir, we wish to see Jesus.

Philip tells Andrew (also a Greek name) and they both go with the request to Jesus. We are not told if those men ever did see Jesus, but we do know what seems at first sight the rather strange response that Jesus gave to his disciples:

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.

The grain, of course, does not actually die, but is totally transformed into something completely new: roots, leaves and fruit. Similarly, a caterpillar lets go of being a caterpillar to become transformed into something altogether different and often much more beautiful – a moth or butterfly.

Seeing Jesus
To see Jesus is not just to look at him, which is what those Greeks presumably wanted (recall the curiosity of the tax collector, Zacchaeus, who climbed a sycamore tree to get a better look at Jesus as he passed by underneath.) To see Jesus is to enter totally into his way of thinking, to understand why he had to suffer and die and rise again.

Like the grain of wheat, Jesus has to let go of everything, including his own life, in order to bring new life to himself and those who believe in him. In the process, both he and we will be transformed. If we cannot see this as the core of Jesus’ life, we have not really seen him.

But Jesus goes further and says we must have the same way of thinking:

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

And, if we want to be close to Jesus, we have to walk his Way:

Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

It means walking with Jesus and with Mary all the way to Calvary, wherever that happens to be for each of us.

Ready to let go and let God
Are we ready for that? Are we afraid to let everything go? Is Jesus asking too much? Let us have no doubt, Jesus himself was afraid, deeply afraid:

Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: ‘Father, save me from this hour’?

It is clear that is the prayer Jesus would like to pray. The Second Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews puts it graphically:

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death…

Letting go did not come any more easily to Jesus than it does to us. But, after his prayer, when he sweat blood in fear and trembling, he was able to say “yes” because:

Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…

As Jesus himself says at the end of today’s Gospel:

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

“Lifted up” refers to the cross:

He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

But “lifted up” also refers to the glory of the Father where we are invited to follow.

So today, let us learn to see Jesus, the Jesus of the Gospel. The Jesus who let go of everything for us and who invites us to be with him all the way. Let us pray for his courage and his trust in his Father, that the life and happiness and fulfilment we all long for is in that letting go and letting God.

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Commentary on 2 Chronicles 36:14-16,19-23; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 3:14-21

At first sight, one might wonder at the choice of the First Reading and what its relevance might be to Lent, let alone the Gospel. There is usually some link between the First Reading and the Gospel.

Because of the sins of the Jewish people, from the priests down, because of idolatry and other shameful and sacrilegious practices, and after God sent them messenger after messenger who were not listened to, a terrible punishment fell on the whole people. This is how the sacred writer understands the destruction of the Temple and the whole city of Jerusalem and the survivors being carried off to Babylon and exile by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia.

Many years later, Cyrus, the king of Persia, became the agent of God by which God’s people were once more able to return to Jerusalem and begin to rebuild their traditions and a new Temple.

Jesus, an agent of God
The Gospel has a parallel theme but on a much higher level. Jesus, the Son of God, becomes the agent of God’s salvation, not just for one sinful people but for the sinfulness of the whole world. On this Fourth Sunday of Lent we are coming closer to the celebration of how that salvation was brought about.

The Gospel makes a comparison with Moses, who was also an agent of God and a saviour of God’s people. The Israelites in the desert had been complaining bitterly about their conditions, so they were punished by a plague of serpents and many died. At God’s instructions, Moses raised up a bronze serpent on a pole:

…and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live. (Num 21:9)

John sees here a foretype of Jesus being lifted up. For John, Jesus’ being “lifted up” includes both his being raised up on a cross and being raised up to be with his Father in glory. In the process we were saved, healed and made whole. All those who look up to Jesus in faith will be saved, will be given “eternal life”, a life that never can be taken away.

And all of this is a sign of God’s own love. God sacrificed his only Son so that we might have that eternal life. John emphasises that God sent his Son to save and not to judge or condemn. In fact, no one who puts their whole self in God’s hands through faith can be condemned. And it is never too late to take that step of faith.

Darkness of chosen evil
On the other hand, whoever refuses to believe is already condemned. This is not at all directed at those who sincerely follow another faith, another religion, another vision of life. Judgment and condemnation happen where people prefer darkness to light, as indicated by lives of evil and immoral behaviour: hate instead of love; vengeance instead of forgiveness; greed instead of sharing; taking instead of giving life.

It is not a loving God who condemns; rather people choose to alienate themselves from his love. John says that all those who do wrong deliberately hate the light and choose darkness. A person who lives by truth and integrity is not afraid of the light. Such a person has nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of.

Such persons are like the salt of the earth, like a city on a hill, like a candle on a lamp stand. People can see their goodness and so be led by them to Jesus and to God.

Fear of being judged
However, there is another kind of darkness in which people live. It is the darkness of shame, when there is something in their lives which they would like to share, but are not able to bring out into the open. The reason is their fear of judgment, rejection or ridicule by others. One thinks of the young girl who finds herself pregnant, but has no one to turn to, least of all members of her own family, or sometimes even members of the Church. Or one thinks of the ‘good Christian’ who professes to follow Jesus’ command to “love one another,” but whose family vehemently opposes efforts to welcome and resettle immigrants fleeing war-torn countries.

These are just two examples. In these cases the agents of darkness are those who sit in judgment. They themselves are living in the darkness of prejudice and hate, usually the symptoms of an inner fear and insecurity.

But as the Second Reading reminds us today:

…by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no one may boast.

Our goodness, such as it is, is his goodness shining through us.

Let us then look at Jesus lifted up on the cross and in glory. Let us see the colossal love of God for us shown there. Let us open our hearts to that love and let it flow right through us to bring life and hope to others.

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Commentary on Exodus 20:1-17; 1 Corinthians 1:22-25; John 2:13-25

The Gospel presents a dramatic scene where Jesus shows himself as Lord of the Temple. It does not seem in character to see Jesus with a small whip of cords physically driving out the traders in cattle, sheep and pigeons (animals to be used in sacrifices) and the money-changers. They were needed because only Jewish money could be offered in the Temple. Roman coins had the image of Divus Augustus (the ‘divine Augustus’) and so were regarded as idolatrous; they had to be exchanged for Jewish coinage.

Jesus objected not to the trade as such, which was quite legitimate, but to its being done in the Temple precincts, “my Father’s house”:

Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!

Such business should have been carried on just outside the Temple precincts, but we know that in our own time hawkers try to get as close to the action as possible, especially if they have competition. It is also not at all impossible that the Temple authorities connived at the practice and may even have benefited if the traders had to “rent” spaces in the Temple to do their business.

This would explain the priests’ anger at what Jesus was doing:

The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”

Jesus replies:

Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

And the Temple Priests come back at him:

This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?

This was indeed true and, in fact, the building had not yet been fully completed at this time.

But Jesus was speaking about another sanctuary, another ‘Temple’ where God lived – his own body. Through this event we are reminded during Lent of what we are preparing to remember and celebrate – the death and resurrection of Jesus.

A hard saying
It is the very heart of our faith. But, as Paul explains, writing to the Christians of Corinth, Jesus’ death was:

…a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles…

It was a scandal, an insurmountable obstacle. It was impossible for them to accept that the Messiah, their Saviour and King, could suffer such an ignominious death at the hands, not only of Israel’s enemies, but even more, of his own people. That just could not be; God could not allow it.

To the Gentiles, the pagans, it was meaningless. Power and domination and influence were what counted in their world. The idea that someone executed like and with common criminals should be worshipped as Lord was nonsense. It was something to be ignored and laughed at and rubbished – as it still is by many in our own society today.

God’s wisdom
But to those who have been called and who answer the call – be they Jews or Gentiles, men or women, slave or free – it is the power and wisdom of God. The death of Jesus to any objective observer seems like utter failure, to believe in such a Lord seems stupid, but those with the eyes of faith can see the power of love in that death.

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Commentary on Genesis 22:1-2,9-13,15-18; Romans 8:31-34; Mark 9:2-10

The strange experience of the Transfiguration described in the Gospel took place very soon after Jesus had been recognised by his disciples as the Messiah. This acknowledgment on their part was a wonderful breakthrough and discovery in their relationship with their Teacher and Master.

This had been immediately followed by Jesus’ telling them he would be rejected by their political and religious leaders, and made to suffer and die before rising on the third day. It is clear that this came as a terrible shock to the disciples. Their vision of the Messiah was of a glorious, victorious king defeating all the enemies of Israel.

The idea that the Messiah would be rejected, made to suffer and die at the hands of his own people was simply unthinkable. It was a total contradiction of the whole concept of the Messiah as Saviour King.

Now it seems that this special experience is being given to balance out the picture. Only a small inner circle is chosen for the experience. It seems that these three disciples, including the leader Peter, are given a glimpse of the “real” Jesus to help them through the dark days ahead.

Full of biblical images
It is a scene full of biblical images. The disciples are brought by Jesus up a solitary mountain. Tradition identifies the mountain as Tabor, but it does not really matter. In the Bible, mountains are traditionally places where God is to be found. Moses delivered God’s Law from the summit of Mount Sinai. Jesus, the new Moses, delivered the New Law (the Sermon on the Mount) from a mountain. There was also Mount Carmel linked with the prophet Elijah and the mountain in today’s First Reading where Abraham took his son Isaac to be sacrificed.

Jesus is transformed with the dazzling light of God’s glory. We remember how Moses on Mount Sinai could not look on the face of God. With Jesus appear Moses and Elijah. Moses represents the Law and Elijah the prophets. Together they represent the whole tradition of God’s people. In being seen talking with Jesus, it is understood that they are endorsing fully all that Jesus says and does as being a continuation of the tradition they represent.

Peter’s reaction
Then, we have Peter’s impetuous reaction. He is totally overcome by what he realises is a uniquely privileged experience:

Rabbi, it is good for us to be here…

He suggests that three shrines be set up in honour of Jesus, Moses and Elijah to commemorate the vision. The Gospel comments that he did not know what he was talking about.

We are loved
In the Second Reading, Paul reflects on the love God has for us. His Son, Jesus, not only died for us, he:

…was raised…is at the right hand of God…[and] also intercedes for us.

Despite our sinfulness, Jesus continues to intercede for us. Let us remember that Jesus needs no shrine except for the one that resides in the hearts of his followers.

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Commentary on Genesis 9:8-15; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15 Read Sunday of Week 1 of Lent (Year B) »

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Commentary on Isaiah 43:18-19,21-22,24-25; 2 Corinthians 1:18-22; Mark 2:1-12

Read Sunday of week 7 of Ordinary Time (B) »

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Commentary on Leviticus 13:1-2,44-46; 1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1; Mark 1:40-45 Read Sunday of Week 6 of Ordinary Time (Year B) »

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Commentary on Job 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 Corinthians 9:16-19,22-23; Mark 1:29-39

There is a huge contrast between the First Reading and the Gospel in today’s Mass. The Book of Job was written a very long time ago, between 500 and 700 years before Christ, but today’s passage could have appeared in an agony column in one of our tabloid newspapers.

It is the voice of someone who is terribly depressed and can find no meaning whatever in life:

Do not human beings have a hard service on earth,
and are not their days like the days of a laborer?

How often have we heard people speak like that? Perhaps we have felt like that ourselves sometimes. Fed up with life, bored with our work.

Such a person is:

Like a slave who longs for the shadow,
and like laborers who look for their wages…

How many people do we know who get no enjoyment or satisfaction whatever out of their work? “I just do it for the money.” How sad! At the same time, in the modern industrial world, so much of the work really is tedious and repetitive; one is just a cog in a huge machine. Many years ago, this was so well described in Charlie Chaplin’s classic film “Modern Times”. Maybe we should be grateful that the computer is now taking over so much of this dreary production line work.

How slow evening comes!
Job goes on:

I am allotted months of emptiness,
and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I rise?’
But the night is long,
and I am full of tossing until dawn.

Day after day, night after night drags on. The days crawl by. I become just a clock-watcher, waiting for the lunch break or the end of the day when I can escape to some place (like a pub) and forget about life. The nights are worse when sleep is broken by anxiety and tension.

What kind of a life is that? Where is it going? Where is the value? Where is the meaning? At the same time:

My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle
and come to their end without hope.

Individual days drag by but, before I realise it, my whole life has gone by. And what have I to show for it?

Before I know it, it is too late:

Remember that my life is a breath;
my eye will never again see good.

Is that a picture of my life? If not, do you know people who live(?) like that? My life can never be lived over again. I have just got one chance. Maybe today is the time for us to get our act together. As they say, “Today is the first day of the rest of my life.”

A day – and night – in the life of Jesus
Let us now look at the Gospel, where there is a very different picture altogether. It is a description of part of a typical day in the life of Jesus. The day had begun with Jesus going into the synagogue of Capernaum because it was a Sabbath day (this is not included in today’s passage). There he made a tremendous impression by his teaching, which had a unique air of authority missing from most teachers of the Law (recall we spoke about that last Sunday). While still in the synagogue, a possessed man burst in and made a great scene. Jesus overpowered the evil spirit and cured the man (and we also spoke about that last week).

Then Jesus left the synagogue (where today’s Gospel begins) and, because it was still the Sabbath, when work and travel were forbidden, Jesus and his disciples went to Simon Peter’s house, where Peter’s mother-in-law was confined to bed with a fever.

Jesus immediately healed her and lifted her to her feet. What did the good lady do? Did she slump into a chair and wait for sympathy to be poured out on her? No, she immediately began to serve the needs of those in the house with her. She did this not because that was the duty of a woman, but because it is the duty of every Christian to serve. The restoration of her health meant that she could once more take care, according to her gifts, of the community.

No moaning or groaning
Then, after sunset, when the Sabbath was over, the people brought along those who were sick and in the power of evil spirits (some of these may have been psychologically ill) and he healed them all.

What a difference here from the Book of Job! No moaning or groaning here. No feeling sorry for oneself. Jesus is totally occupied in putting himself at the service of people and bringing healing and wholeness back into their lives.

And this is what brings meaning, fulfilment, satisfaction and happiness into people’s lives – when I am making my unique contribution to the well-being of my society and of those around me. I am not watching the clock for the next chance to escape. I am not just thinking of the pay packet.

The life of Jesus is telling us that life is for service, for giving, for sharing. And, if we all did that, how enriched we all would be! The more we all give, the more we all get.

But we live in a very individualistic, me-me-me society. If we cannot grab things for ourselves, then we think we will be losers. It’s everyone for himself or herself. Some make it and some don’t. And if you can’t make it, don’t expect anyone to help you.

This is a pure recipe for us to end up like the man in the First Reading. And we see many doing so. Just walk around the streets of many cities and you can see for yourself. People who have fallen through the cracks. We pity them, perhaps despise them, but feel no responsibility for their being like that or for doing something to integrate them into an active mutually serving community (because that hardly exists?). It is their own fault, their own choice for being unemployed and unemployable, for being alcoholics, drug addicts, wastrels, a burden on the hard-working taxpayer.

Recharging batteries
And then at the end of the day, what does Jesus do? Put his feet up, slump in front of the TV with a beer in his hand? Go down to the pub for some craic? No, he goes off to a lonely place to pray. He needed this. He had given away so much of himself that day that he now needed to be by himself, to recharge his batteries and, above all, to get in touch with his Father, the source of all his energy, and to restore wholeness and peace. He will come away from this experience truly energised and ready to share and serve.

There is a need in all of us for rest, but rest that refreshes and rebuilds, as opposed to pure escapist or dissipating activity. We rest in order to come back to a life of service, not in order to get away from it.

On the other hand, while many are escapists, others are compulsive helpers; they need to be needed. What they do looks like service, but it is really satisfying an inner fear of being passed over unnoticed. Such people need to learn how to say ‘no’ without feeling guilty, as Jesus does in today’s Gospel. Otherwise they face burnout and breakdown. As in all things, balance is the secret, a balance between the needs of others and our own.