Seventeenth Sunday of the Year

Christianity is a religion of attention. Whom do we notice? What do we notice? Is it a person on the street or a person with a lot of social status?  This relates to the image, a few weeks ago, where Jesus self-described as meek and how that may be reflected in our worship spaces might; what appears in parish bulletins; books we read; the training we offer for youth and religious leaders; how ‘little ones’ are listened to as privileged interpreters of God’s message. What verses and scenes do we hold in our hearts? What images direct our attention to the God of love? The parables suggest that God’s Reign is not only found in places such as monasteries or in the demands and rewards of human religion but in the ordinary, daily, in your face, reality.

Sixteenth Sunday of the Year

The gospel continually calls us to seek to do relationships differently. To do that means we need to question how we classify people and situations. In the face of evil and people hurting others by unkindness, lack of care and malice, the gospel whilst acknowledging the negative invites us to hope. The parables turn traditional values upside down. Jesus reverses our understanding by insisting that there is wheat among the weeds, not weeds among the wheat. The word is that God is present amid evil, destruction, inadequacy, and insignificance. God is not limited by human weakness or failure. Evil, brokenness, pain, and sin are realities in our world but do not have the last say. God is patient. It comes from love and unlimited concern for all creatures. This is the soil from which God can work. Positive fruitfulness can be found in the messy field. Clearly, the Church is not meant to be a sect of perfect people. We are asked to check our assumptions about what we classify as ‘weeds.’ Might we be mistaken? Might we judge things to be harmful when they are not? Jesus’ teachings about peace and liberation were viewed as a weed that needed to be removed. What was viewed as a weed as with the mustard seed, was actually a lifegiving tree.

Fifteenth Sunday of the Year

When Jesus is with people something always important is happening. He uses their language to communicate something about God and about ourselves. Jesus refers to the openness of heart to the message of God’s reign with various descriptions of soil. Jesus’ hearers expected God’s kingdom to be the restoration of Israel to great political and economic power; the Messiah would be a great warrior-king who would lead Israel to this triumph.  Jesus’ parables subtly and delicately led people, without crushing or disillusioning them, to rethink their concept of the Reign of God. The parable of the Sower teaches that the fruitfulness of the seed (God's word) depends on the soil being open (the human heart’s willingness to embrace it).

Fourteenth Sunday of the Year

Today’s readings capture the spirit and thoughts of Pope Francis in Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti that point out the unity of all creation and humankind. All celebrate unequivocal peace as opposed to war and disregard for and destruction of Mother Earth.  In the first reading, God is described as completely opposed to war where the chariots from Ephraim and warhorses from Jerusalem need to be banished and the warrior’s bow (weapons) will be banished from all nations, not just Jerusalem. The responsorial psalm speaks of God’s mercy and compassion for all creatures and not to just one race or nation.

Thirteenth Sunday of the Year

The Word of God today challenges us to broaden our minds, widen our horizons, enlarge our hearts, and stretch our capacity to love. We need to be alert and open to God’s presence even in the most unlikely places and people. Jesus today wants to shake the disciples into asking themselves if they are ready for what he is asking. Jesus clearly stated, "You must take up your cross and follow me" and watching him would have indicated what he meant.  His approach was to see with the eyes of a prophet, to see from God’s perspective. He saw the gaps between the reality of the present moment and what could be despite the cost.