From the Pastor

III Sunday of Lent “A” – March 15, 2020

Frackville, From the Pastor /

The prophet Hosea described God’s continuing love for the chosen people, despite their unfaithfulness to the covenant, as like that of husband still in love with his unfaithful wife, always trying to win her back.

Although they worshiped the same God, Jews despised Samaritans, in large part because the Samaritans believed that Mount Gerizim, rather than the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, was the correct place of worship the Lord. Many Jews avoided travelling through Samaria. Jesus felt impelled to go there. Jacob’s well was deep, as wells are in that region, and it was the hottest hour of the day. What a perfect setting for the story of God’s burning love for us and of our deep need for God. One can imagine the travel-weary Jesus asking humbly for hospitality wherever He went. No doubt He often encountered people at wells. We hear echoes of such conversation in today’s Gospel. The Samaritan woman in our story evidently had a colorful past, which Jesus was quick to recognize. The meeting with Jesus turned out to be no brief encounter, but a love that would never die.

The woman’s request of Jesus, “give me some of that water,” can be our prayer too. It is easy to be seduced by worldly attractions. Just as the woman kept having to go back to the well, some people find the happiness the world promises illusory and short-lived. Jesus offers us himself as the true source of life and joy. Whatever our past story, God longs to win us back. This Holy Mass is an invitation to enter into deeper communion. Do you want it? He is waiting for each one of us at the well.

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I Sunday of Lent “A” – March 1, 2020

Frackville, From the Pastor /

Going to church is not about enjoying ourselves, but at the same time it is not meant to be a chore, something we have to do, to make amends with God. That is not what worship means. We worship to be happy; we are meant to enjoy God, enjoyment is a Christian word. So in today’s Gospel Christ refuses to worship the devil, to change stones to bread, to do anything at all which will take Him away from the joyous worship of God, His Father.

We go to church to be inspired, and this means we depend on the power of the Holy Spirit. The great writers on prayer warns us that prayer doesn’t always generate a great deal of feeling. The power of the Holy Spirit penetrates the whole human being, and there is more to a human being than feeling. Yet we seek peace in prayer and worship. We follow our Lord in the desert, to trust in God alone, to live by God’s word. We should remember that Jesus also sang hymns at the Last Supper before He went to Gethsemane. Good music is a part of the worship of God, and the Psalms are fundamentally songs. The singing doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be sincere. Above all, we should remember how important worship is. In the story of Christ’s temptations in the wilderness, which we heard as today’s Gospel, the devil was trying to disrupt Jesus’ worship. It speaks volume that the devil saw worship as the most important thing to disrupt in human life. The devil wanted to be worshiped, not for its own sake, but because idolatry is the best way to stop people worshiping God.

We are called to take worship seriously. A life without worship is a life without meaning. If someone says that he or she is unhappy, we could start by asking, how does that person worship? The Sunday Eucharist is the beginning and the end of Christian life. It takes all that we have done of any value and makes it part of the sacrifice of Christ, and so it is the end of our week. It also gives us food and drink for the week to come so that what we do, we do in Christ. This makes it the beginning of the Christian week. Christ in the desert explains the meaning of worship: it is the love for the best that there is; it is a willingness to let God our Father show himself to us and the world, and to it is to stop being afraid of joy. Christ leads us to the desert; the desert isn’t our final home, but the way to the new Jerusalem.

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Sexagesima Sunday in Ordinary Time “A” – February 16, 2020

From the Pastor /

In today’s Gospel, from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus brings us back to the basics of our faith: love of God and love of neighbor. He is opposed to the legalistic type of religion the scribes and Pharisees have built, full of petty rules which have little to do with God’s Law. “If your virtue goes no deeper than that of scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven,” He warns. Jesus healed on the sabbath, which was against the Law. He spoke to woman in public, which was taboo. Jesus says that the Pharisees had defined the Law in their own terms and that they missed the point. And so He begins to expound the Law as it pertains to six subjects: murder, adultery, divorce, oath-taking, retaliation, and love for one’s enemy. Instead of a litany of more commandments, Jesus looks to the spirit of the Law. We are called to love like God loves. It is the challenge presented by the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ life is the kind of life we are called to live.

Being a Christian is more than following the rules, including simply attending liturgies. Jesus is getting us free to make choices that support, sustain, grow and nurture life for ourselves and one another. We choose life when we care for those who are poor, respect the dignity of every human being and protect God’s creation. We choose life when we are generous with our time, compassion, money and resources. Would anyone looking at us and listening to us know that God is at the centre of our lives? Jesus says we should love others as God does. We are to be compassionate and passionate – not lukewarm people. The Beatitudes call us to humility, simple living and peace, which often oppose prevailing values in the world. Our human lives are capable of transformation when we reflect something of God’s glory and love in our daily lives.

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Presentation of the Lord “A” – February 2, 2020

Frackville, From the Pastor /

In our tradition today marks the end of Christmastide: indeed the continental custom of leaving the crib in the church until this feast day is becoming more widespread. The Church reinforces the message of today’s Solemnity by using the prophet Malachi to help us see the significance of Jesus entering the Temple, and the letter to the Hebrews prepares our minds for the ultimate sacrifice, culminating in the passion and death which is the destiny of this child.

One way in which this Solemnity can come alive for us personally and as community of faith is to focus on Simeon and Anna, aged people who were in right place at the right time by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Simeon is exemplar of someone who has learnt to be patient, living in the hope that God will fulfill the ancient promises. Anna passes by at the key moment, like Simeon, prompted by the Spirit. They seized the opportunity to proclaim the truth and they point us in the direction of God’s saving presence among us. Like Simeon and Anna we can learn to be patient and attentive and wait for the promptings of the Spirit. We live in the wake of the 1st coming of Christ and continue to wait for His 2nd coming. Meanwhile, there is surely enough going on in our lives and the world around us for us to be able to recognize that, in the midst of all the pain and confusion, God continues to make God’s presence felt.

The theme of light has always been at the heart of today’s Solemnity, which is why from time immemorial Christians have celebrated it by processing with candles; hence its other title, Candlemass. Our parents and godparents were entrusted with a candle and the hope that we would: “keep the flame of faith alive.” Jesus reminded us, His followers, that we too are to be the light of the world! It will be sufficient if you and I, like Simeon and Anna, be attentive to be the promptings of the Spirit, recognizing the signs of God’s abiding presence and gently pointing these out to others.

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Third Sunday in Ordinary Time “A” – January 26, 2020

From the Pastor /

The scriptures use the contrast between darkness and light to describe our relationship with God. “The people that walked in darkness” were the people of Israel, who, on account of their infidelity to God, found themselves in exile in Babylon, longing to return to their own land, their homes and their religious practices. The future was dark for them until the prophet Isaiah started to shine the light of hope. Their exile did come to an end. They did return to their own land. Their Temple was rebuilt and religious practice was restored, but they were still in the dark. By the time of Jesus, it was the Romans keeping the Jewish people as a subject nation, and they did so with the collaboration of the puppet king, Herod, and greedy self-serving tax collectors. St. Matthew describes the coming of Jesus in these same prophetic terms, “The people that lived in darkness has seen a great light.” The darkness is not the darkness of oppression. It is the whole of humanity. Jesus is the light of the world. The revolutionary project that Jesus starts is far from a political revolt. It involves a real change of heart and it starts with faith: faith in God, but, first of all, faith in ourselves. Do I really believe that God loves me and has called me into a relationship of love? This is the project of Jesus, to change the world by changing one person at a time. In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus at the beginning of His project to bring this new light, this new revelation, into the world. With small group, which gradually increases to 12, Jesus goes around proclaiming the Good News, teaching and healing. Their mission is to capture the hearts and minds of people.

This is still the mission of the disciples of Jesus, to help all people to discover that their true destiny is to live in love with God and with each other. The challenge for us today is to recognize the real darkness. Many of us believe that human success and fulfillment lie in the acquisition of wealth and knowledge. Our life project will be very different if we start from our self-awareness: who do I think I am? If I really believe that I am beloved son or daughter of God, then I must start by asking, “What does God want me to be?” When Jesus is the light in my life, I am going to see myself and the world I live in very differently. Let us take up the invitation to follow Jesus. Let us ask for eyes that see as He sees, and for the courage to respond to the needs of our world with His love and compassion.

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Holy Family Solemnity “A” – January 5, 2020

From the Pastor /

Today’s Gospel provides two accounts of important journeys.

The Holy Family flee for their lives to Egypt because of the persecution of king Herod who is about to slaughter the Holy Innocents. Joseph shows his trust in God when he listens to the angel who appears to him in a dream and takes action to protect his family. Mary and Joseph with Jesus, head south by the coastal road towards Gaza, the desert and Egypt. Parents will be able to imagine the fear of Mary for her child. Their future is unknown and they can depend only on each other and God. Their example serves to encourage and strengthen families who flee for their lives.

Later they travel back to Nazareth, the home town of Mary. Life is to be more stable and Joseph as carpenter will work as a carpenter. He would be like so many of the people in the Church who have traveled to find work in the building trade and on construction sites.

The flight into Egypt is a reminder that Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers and found a new life in the kingdom of the Pharaohs. Although this Joseph was a victim of betrayal in his family, God protected him and later reunited his family around him. We, as baptized, are called into God’s family and to serve, love and build our families in faith and prayer.

Today’s Solemnity is an invitation to give thanks to God for the gift of our families, especially when the family is scattered by distance and circumstance. God is working in our families to help us grow in faith. The family is the first school of love. Such love can be difficult when children are to be looked after, elderly parents cared for, and events bring tragedy into family life. The example of the first Joseph promises the hope of reconciliation when there is betrayal or division. The Holy Family can inspire our actions. We entrust our families to the care of the Holy Family.

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Fourth Sunday of Advent “A” – December 22, 2019

From the Pastor /

Each individual, and perhaps each generation, faces the same question that Ahaz and Joseph faced: whom do I trust? On what foundations do I build my life? The fundamental promise that God makes – to Ahaz, to Joseph and to us – is: “I am with you.” And the choice  each of us then has to make is: do I trust God? Do I live my life based on the belief that through all the challenges and difficulties of life, God is with me, with us as a community? As we face our own threats and challenges in life – both as individuals and as Church – we can, like Ahaz, choose to place our trust in the false gods of our own time: materialism (money, possessions) or power (using people for our own ends, putting popularity, status and success before principle, and truth). Or, like Joseph, we can listen to the still, quiet voice of the God who speaks to our better self in the silence of our dreams and our hopes – the God who quietly yet persistently invites us to live our lives in hope and confidence, rather than insecurity and fear. To genuinely trust God – to believe that God is with us – has the most profound consequence for our lives and for our community.

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Third Sunday of Advent “A” – December 15, 2019

Frackville, From the Pastor /

On the 3rd Sunday of Advent each year, St. John the Baptist features in the Gospel; only in Year A do we encounter John in prison, near the end of his life. John knows his life is likely to end very soon on the command of Herod, so he wants to make sure he has not been mistaken in identifying Jesus as the awaited Messiah. He sends a disciple to find out.

Those who go back to John will need to do more than tell what they have seen and heard.

The question arises, how well do we recognize the signs that the kingdom of God is among us today? Few of us have the power to do many things literally, but we do have power to do so in a spiritual sense. We must recognize Jesus in His coming and in each person we encounter. So many people are voiceless in today’s world, but we can help their voices be heard; our own lives proclaim the Good News of Jesus when we are concerned for others’ well being.

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Second Sunday of Advent “A” – December 8, 2019

Frackville, From the Pastor /

The word ‘mission’ has had different meanings in the history of the Church. Today in can refer  to the outreach asked of each of us as Christians to those who are not of our faith.

Some would see division as being the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  In the OT the picture of God is that of an angry judge, in the NT the picture is that of a loving Savior. Our readings today undermine the simplicity of such a view. In our reading from Isaiah we are offered a vision of peace, even among those who are naturally enemies. In our Gospel reading you feel John the Baptist would be perfectly at home in one of those old-style parish missions.

Jesus chooses to be the victim of violence rather than invoke His mighty powers to bring home the truth of His message. By doing this He reveals the nature of God. He also seems to have become fairly exasperated by the obtuseness of His disciples at times, in their case referring more sadly to their lack of faith and their likely weakness under attack. His main concern is to find a way of communicating that gets through to His listeners.

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First Sunday of Advent “A” – December 1, 2019

From the Pastor /

Every moment of our lives, we are choosing for or against heaven. It is always a matter of life and death. An accountant’s job is to measure the value of the company, a charity, or some other association involving money. The value we are concerned with is worth in the eyes of God. The accountancy of life is measured in love. Love and law are not opposites, but good law is the fuel of love.

All you have to do is pay attention. When we get bored with life, it is because we don’t take the trouble to understand its meaning. Every moment of our life we are making decisions about how to live: the most important of all is the decision to look for God’s purpose in every moment of our lives, or the decision to ignore God. Life goes on. We are warned against looking for signs of the Lord’s return. Then again, it would be foolish to think that anything on this earth lasts forever. So Jesus is telling us to concentrate on the ordinary things of life, and to be at peace with our neighbor. He will come again; but He will come in His own good time.

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