23rd Sunday of the Year

I remember facilitating a gathering of religious where we had invited a young many to share with us. He was deaf. He spoke of his work in the church and how often deaf people are not noticed or listened to.  He said that if a pill was available to cure his deafness, he would refuse it. He had always been deaf and lived in a community and culture where he was at home. As I remember this young man, I wonder what people who are living with deafness feel when today’s gospel proclaimed. Do they feel they may be damaged or abnormal in need of repair? I wonder if the call is for us to be open and listen to the thoughts and feelings of people who are deaf.

22^nd Sunday of the Year

The readings challenge us to demonstrate our faith by the breadth of our love and not external observances. The reading from Deuteronomy has a strong message for us about our treatment of vulnerable people. We include the negligence in Australia of our treatment of vulnerable people. The recent rhetoric from our political leaders speaks of failure to vaccinate First Nations peoples, the failure to bring people home from overseas for the last 18 months, the failure go beyond a failed immigration policy that continues to traumatise people in our midst and now the failure to bring to safety people escaping Afghanistan.

21^st Sunday of the Year

Our call is to be in relationship – to encounter the God who is at the heart of the universe through Jesus. This relationship involves being in solidarity with God's chosen ones: the least among the people. When we choose God we also choose those who are precious to God. This can be difficult when we witness or even experience situations of cruel violence and the destruction of innocent life. The choice involves an ongoing recommitment to the God who has and continues to liberate and be a source of life for us as we deal with seemingly endless situations of injustice.