6th Sunday in Oridinary: Homily / Sermon

How happy are you who are poor: yours is the kingdom of God.
Happy you who are hungry now: you shall be satisfied.
Happy you who weep now: you shall laugh. (Luke 16:20-21)

People may sometimes challenge us with the tough question: If God is a loving God why does he allow people to suffer?

It is a tough question, because for all our reasoning, faith begins with the movement of the heart, and when we witness suffering, our heart is troubled.

And in that insight is the answer to this question.

First, we say Yes! Exactly. Suffering troubles us, upsets us, disturbs us. Why? Because we feel for those who suffer, we care about those in difficulty, we are moved by the pain of others, even if they live on the other side of the world. This is true for all human beings, but especially for people of faith.
That is how God has made us. He has made us to care. To be loving and compassionate. To feel the pain of others.

So, secondly, ask yourselves this question:
Which are the first organisations of the scene of natural disasters? Many if not most of them are inspired by religious people - Oxfam, Cafod, Christian Aid and many more.
Which non-governmental organisation runs more hospitals and schools than any other in the world? (The Catholic Church)
Why do you think female nurses are still called “sisters:? Why is a chief nurse called “Matron”?
Which are amongst the first organisations to collect funds for those in need?
And which groups are still - even in our very non-religious society - still the largest group of volunteers which help those in need.
Think of the food banks, soup kitchens, adoption services, groups for the elderly - they include many people from many different backgrounds, yet more often than not.

Yes, it may trouble us to explain why there is pain and suffering and evil in the world. But we might just as well ask why there is compassion and empathy and self-sacrifice? Why are people prepared to give their lives in caring for others? Why are people altruistic, to point of risking their own lives, if God has not made us this way?

And thirdly, this brings us to ask what it means to say we have a loving God.
God gives us, in himself, in the Word made Flesh, the example of perfect humanity. God is love, because he cares for us to point of sharing our suffering.
What is the most obvious, most recognised, most visible symbol of the Christian faith? It is the Cross. The crucifix. Actually, much more than a symbol - it is a portrayal of an event of suffering, a moment of sorrow and suffering.

To say “God is love” is only a problem
if we think he is loving in spite of suffering:
but that is not the the case
God is Love because of suffering.

God is not the cause for suffering,
but the remedy for it
And the proof of that is in his love.

And finally, we need to recognise that Life is a struggle.
In our world and society, especially for us with material comforts, pleasure and leisure, long lives and excellent health care, we see suffering, ill-health, evil as an aberration some unusual, a sort of failure of how things are supposed to be.
But this is wrong: Life (as we soon realise when we think about it) is a battle: for good, against suffering, against sorrow, against evil. Love’s victory does not come easy, but it is hard. Love, Truth, Goodness IS how things are supposed to be - but there is also a negative power which frustrates at ever step.

And it is faith, God, his love, which provides the hope and the remedy.

And we see this again and again.

It may be hard to answer these most difficult questions in words and ideas, but if you believe there is no answer, no remedy, then there his no hope.

We know this. We see this with our own eyes.
I remember 9/11 - nearly 20 years ago now - when we opened the Church in the evening, and people just came in to light a candle, sit in silence, and perhaps even to pray.
And then years later, when the Tsunami hit Indonesia, and people came from all over the city to give donations for our church to pass on to the aid agencies working to repair and heal after such devastation.

When people are sick, or bereaved, or anxious they frequently find some comfort in music and candles and readings and prayers, even if religious faith is something unfamiliar or unusual to them.

Happy you who weep now: Jesus says you shall laugh.
Not laugh because there is no pain. Not laugh because there are no questions.

But Laugh because there is a hope, and a comfort, and a purpose to life. And that is what Love means. And that is what God means.

 

 

 

 

 

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.