5th Sunday of the Year (C) : Homily / Sermon

‘They were completely overcome by the catch they had made’ (Luke 5:9)

This miracle story is also a parable of life.

When things go wrong, we fail to achieve the results we want, when a project falls flat on its face, we suppose that what we need to do - all we need to do - is to try harder, to increase activity, to put in extra activity, to multiply ideas or initiatives. After all, isn’t this what teachers always wrote on school reports when they couldn’t think of anything else? “Must try harder”?

And so it is for apostles. Peter, James and John are toiling in the boat, and to no avail. Try as they might, struggling as they do, nothing seems to go right. Surely, if they try harder, work longer, just cast their nets one more time they will get that catch which they need, which their hard work deserves.

That’s life. We can work hard. Be proud of our own efforts. Feel we deserve great rewards, yet it doesn’t seem to work out.

And so, like us, dejected, the fishermen hit the shore. With a sense of failure.

And what does Jesus say? Well it isn’t “try harder”. It isn’t “try new ideas” or “fresh initiatives”. No. Jesus says: yes, you can do it - just cast out your nets.

But they are not so sure. We’ve tried that, they say. But he doesn’t ask for extra effort. He doesn’t ask them to try harder. He doesn’t say you’ve been doing it wrong. He just asks them to trust him. Trust harder. And when they trust him - then they are amazed. Not even a normal catch - they were ‘completely overcome’.

And so too, it can be for us. While hard graft and effort may end in frustration, great successes and achievements often take us by surprise: the great idea, the act of kindness, the work of art, the moment of vision or inspiration, the talent for music or sport or human compassion. They don’t just happen - but they seem to be so much more than the effort which we put in. We become amazed, not by what we can do - but by what God can do through us.

This is grace. The free gift of God. The nets bursting with blessings.

Not because we weren’t trying before, but because now we have trusted.

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) : Homily / Sermon

The Love that knows no end (1 Corinthians 13:8)

In today’s Gospel Jesus’ own people turn against him. They reject his ministry and his miracles. Not for the first - and indeed not for the last time - the response to Jesus is not love or admiration or worship, but violence and a thirst for destruction.
What is going on here?
On the face of it, it seems that is just an illustration of the old saying “familiarity breeds contempt”. Come, on - they say - who is this great preacher and wonder-worker we’ve been hearing about? He’s no one special! He grew up with us. He went to school with us. He worked with us. He’s only the Son of Joseph!
But those very words tell us that there is something more far reaching, much deeper going on here. When we, the reader about hear about Jesus escaping death, our thoughts are turned to his death and his suffering and indeed his resurrection. And when we, the reader hear those words “Son of Joseph” we are immediately reminded of the story just a few paragraphs earlier of the conception and birth of Christ of a virgin.
The name “Son of Joseph” sets Jesus clearly amongst his people and his home community: but knowing that he is Son of Mary indicates far more.

First, he is greater than kith and kin, greater than blood and race, greater than family and ethnic relationships. Christ is recognised by the people of foreign and far-off lands, by the widow of Zarephath, and by Namaan the Syrian. He comes for all people of all languages, all races, all locations. He is a human son, but as Son of God he is also King of all people. Deeply rooted in the faith and scriptures and soil of his people, but in no way bound or limited by them. As St Paul says, in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. In him there is no black or white, no rich or poor, no citizen or refugee.

And second, to understand Christ is not so much a matter of knowledge - of his parentage, his home, his family and his language: no, it is a matter, more than anything of faith and of love. It is not about puzzling over this Son of Joseph, whom we know, but worshipping this Son of Mary, whom we trust. To turn to Christ, is to live in love - to go beyond the questioning and jealousies of the mind, to embrace him with the heart;
to live the Love which is always patient and kind;
never jealous; never boastful nor conceited; never rude nor selfish;
To live the love that does not take offence, nor is ever resentful.
To live the love that takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; the love which is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes. (1 Corinthians 13)

This Love - as Paul says - does not come to an end.
Christ avoids the fury of the crowd, just as he will rise from the dead. Because he loves us. And we are called to live that love.

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (C) : Homily / Sermon

He sent me to bring the good news to the poor ... (Luke 4:18)

What is News?

Many years ago and an old chap told me how he, as a child, had heard the news of the end of the First World War - they didn’t get the news on the 11th November, via a telephone message to the house of the Squire, but almost a week later, via a telegraph to the local railway station.

No hourly news bulletins, or rolling news in those days!
When we think about "news" perhaps we think of something which is instant: votes live from parliament or earthquakes and tsunamis from the other side of the world - these are instantly before us.

But actually, the most important thing about news isn’t
So perhaps its a bit of a surprise that they had "news" in the ancient world. No papers, no radio or tv or internet, no mobile phones, no iPads - how could it be?

But let's go back to what “News" actually is.
Because news can be so instant, we generally think news is something which has just happened.

The way we get new these days has changed greatly - because of the technology around us. It is or can be indeed instant, if that is what we want. But the technology also means that we tend not to consume news (just receive it) but choose news - to select the news we want - not just the subjects we want, but that attitudes we prefer to. This was always true to a certain extent, but now it has come to shape the news itself. And this has given rise to what is called “fake” news - stories which are false, but which are designed to attract, excite, and even titilate.

So, Often the things which make the news - things which amaze or annoy us - happened well in the past: scandals about things which took place decades ago and have only just come to light, comments posted on the internet by famous people when they were much younger, crimes which were not solved at the time, but which now, many years later, are coming under scrutiny because of DNA and other techniques. And it is not only these big and serious matters which become news long after they occurred - films, music, literature is often “rediscovered” sometimes long after their creators had died. People who were virtually unknown in their lifetime are now celebrated for their significance - like Alan Turing, the mathematician, for example, or Matthew Flinders, the man who gave Australia its name, whose grave was recently discovered in London.

So - News often isn’t actually new at all, but is something which provokes a reaction - an event, a happening, a change. It is something out of the ordinary, beyond the run of the mill, which departs from the usual, which disrupts the routine. It excites our emotions, moves our hearts, stirs us with anticipation. The reactions it produces might be positive or negative. It might make us weep; it might foster hateful or lustful thoughts and feelings; that is news. But if it leaves us cold and disinterested and unmoved, then it is not news.

So It is not its immediacy which makes it News, but its ability to provoke. And even old news, is still news, if it can continue to create a reaction. And the story of Christ is news beyond news.

At the birth of Christ, the angels cry Lo! Behold! and the shepherds rush from the fields to Bethlehem.
Herod hears the news of the birth of the child and reacts with fear and anger.
John the Baptist tells his followers - Behold the Lamb of God, and they turn to Jesus.
In today's Gospel, Jesus proclaims the news of his coming in Nazareth, and the hearers are outraged.
And the apostles will tell the extraordinary news of his teaching and miracles, of his betrayal and his arrest, of his death and his resurrection, and people are inspired to join them and follow him, or arrest and imprison them.

This News, is Good News, the greatest news story ever. The scoop beyond all scoops. News that moves hearts -by word of mouth, by journeys and by letters, by speeches given in market places and in the courtrooms, by charity and by martyrdom.

And to our day, this is News which moves the heart and saves the soul.
Which is why we call it Good news!