Fr Boniface

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The gospel reading of today encourages us not to get discouraged when our prayers are not instantly answered, but rather to continue seeking help from God, till our prayer’s intentions are met. The Canaanite woman in the gospel of today has little in common with the Jews, and yet she knows Jesus as the Messiah, the Saviour of the world. She knows through faith in Him, Jesus shall heal her daughter who was sick.

Jesus, to test the depth of faith in her, first seems not to pay attention to her plea to heal her sick daughter. Secondly, he categorically tells her he was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel, referring to the Israelites, but the woman, determined to get what she wants from Jesus, challenges him "even dogs eat the scraps of food that fall from the master's table", and because of this strong faith she showed, Jesus granted her, her heart's desire.

Have you been praying for something and have not received it yet - a job, a stable family, justice to be done to you, immigration challenges, a brighter future and so on, continue. With faith in God, you shall get the answers to your prayers at the appropriate time, do not be discouraged by those who don't believe in the goodness of God.

POPE FRANCIS

ON THE TRANSFIGURATION.

Brothers and sisters, this Gospel traces a path for us too. … In fact, it is by staying with [Jesus] that we learn to recognize on his face the luminous beauty of love he gives us, even when it bears the marks of the cross. And it is in his school that we learn to glimpse the same beauty on the faces of the people who walk beside us every day — family, friends, colleagues who take care of us in the most varied ways. How many bright faces, how many smiles, how many wrinkles, how many tears and scars reveal love around us! Let us learn to recognize them and to fill our hearts with them. And then let us set out in order to bring the light we have received to others as well, through concrete acts of love (cf1 Jn 3:18), diving into our daily affairs more generously, loving, serving, and forgiving with greater earnestness and willingness. The contemplation of God’s wonders, the contemplation of God’s face, of the Lord’s face, must move us to the service of others. 

POPE FRANCIS

The Kingdom of Heaven is the opposite of the superfluous things that the world offers; it is the opposite of a dull life: it is a treasure that renews life every day and leads it to expand towards wider horizons. Indeed, those who have found this treasure have a creative and inquisitive heart which does not repeat but rather invents, tracing and setting out on new paths which lead us to love God, to love others, and to truly love ourselves. The sign of those who walk this path of the Kingdom is creativity, always seeking more. And creativity is what takes life and gives life, and gives, and gives, and gives. ... It always looks for many different ways to give life.
Jesus, who is the hidden treasure and the pearl of great value, cannot but inspire joy, all the joy of the world: the joy of discovering a meaning for one’s life, the joy of feeling committed to the adventure of holiness.

Jesus spoke to the people in parables because they are timeless.  Whether in the time of Christ or today, the parables are always fresh and always new.  We reflect and every generation will find something relevant.  Today is no different but in the three parables there are some eternal truths.  Evil is a fact of life and there are people who work hard at being evil.  Maybe not me, but do I contribute my bit even if little? Because God is tolerant, he lets good and bad travel side by side.  Obviously, we need to try to eradicate the bad.  The church had small beginnings but it should be growing. We are all called to do our bit.  Again, for many of us, do you seriously teach your children and those you meet?  Finally, the church should be making a difference in society, being the leaven and helping people to rise up and have a better quality of life.

As a farmer's son, today's parable speaks volumes to me. In November you ploughed the land, spread fertilizer, later on ploughed again, harrowed, rotavated and then you were ready to plant six months later. Beautiful soil well broken and land fertilised to receive the golden grain.  My father would lift it up and let it flow through his hand like dry sand blowing in the wind. Beautiful. In Ireland with rain and sun you could look forward to a good harvest.  Still more work to be done with spraying and keeping the birds away with scarecrows. Most of the work was done in preparing the land.  No preparation and the planting was a waste of time and certainly no harvest.  Do you understand me?  Are you hearing me?  If we do not prepare for our mass/readings then even the greatest of preachers are wasting their time.  Yes, many people will say great sermon, Fr Jack, but by the time they get home the cares of the world take over.

Read the readings again and make them their own.

NO PREPARATION, NO RESULTS

Fr Jack

Paul in the second reading makes what I think is a massive assumption.  "Our interests are only in spiritual things."  May be true for some people but not all.  If we were all interested in the spiritual things only we would be living in a different world.  Yes I believe it is possible.  "Jesus says his yoke is light."  Yes, anything we grasp with both hands and put our heart into is light and easy and very possible. But for many their faith is routine, tired and boring and I agree, because our heart is not in it.  We need to appreciate what God has done for us and is still doing.  The times he has protected and brought us through.  I remember several times when God positively intervened in my life. And yes I believe he has even greater things in store for me and all of us.  Make sure you enjoy the journey by sorting out your priorities.

Those of us who are baptised should consider ourselves dead to sin and alive with the life of Christ.  Jesus talks about giving a person a cup of water. Seems simple enough in our western world where water is available at the turn of a tap.  But for three quarters of the world's population water is like gold.  As Pope Francis says:- "Access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights. Our world has a grave social debt towards the poor who lack access to drinking water, because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity. This debt can be paid partly by an increase in funding to provide clean water and sanitary services among the poor.

We are worth more than many sparrows. Might seem like an insult at first but when we read the whole thing in context it is clear that Jesus, God is crazy about us.  But Jesus wants us to respond to him, in that way we become more responsive to him.   And in becoming more responsive we become more aware.  Our whole problem is the limitation of our mind and heart.  We lack a God language to help us appreciate.  We fail to look around our world and appreciate the beauty of what God is doing for us.  People say they want signs, open your eyes and there are signs everywhere.  All the bad signs and things you see or hear are man-made.  And sadly, often we blame God.

Today's Gospel is a very touching story about Jesus. "He felt sorry for them."  He passionately cares for each one of us.  An awesome thought.  God caring for me. They were harassed and dejected.  A man came to see me as I am writing this.  He's got food and he has got a house, a job, a family but he was harassed and dejected. Life is tough, he said.  And yes, it is tough for many people.  Increased prices and bills, fraught relationships, lack of appreciation by partner, employer, family and friends.  Boredom and routine, no light at the end of the tunnel.  I was/am in total sympathy. Then Jesus goes on to talk about a few labourers.  And a great harvest.   For far too long I think many people have seen this to refer to priests. I would like to reduce today's gospel to one sentence.  "TALK TO AND SUPPORT EACH OTHER."

"God loved the world so much that "Do this in memory of me."  How often did I hear at a funeral,  "we will never forget them."   Yet within a few days Granny is totally forgotten. "At the going down of the sun, we will remember them." and as we are saying it we are bombing the hell out of people in another corner of the world. We surely have a short memory.  So Jesus, totally aware of our inability to remember, told us to;- "Do this in memory of me." Keep the memory alive, Jesus says, never forget how good I have been to you and how much I love you.  Thank God billions of people and priests have gathered together around the world to keep the Memory alive.   Here in St James we do it nine times a week and the same world-wide. The memory of Jesus still lives on. Long may it continue.  But for the above to be real and true we must keep loving people as much as he did. Visiting the sick. Visiting those in prison. Feeding the hungry. Giving drink to the thirsty.  YES, AND WELCOMING THE STRANGER.  

"God loved the world so much that He gave us his only son." What a beautiful statement from the mouth of Jesus himself. May all of us, but especially parents be faithful to receiving that great gift every week in the sacrament of Holy Communion and helping their children to appreciate it. It is frightening how callous we can sometimes be in the face of Jesus. Please receive often and never become casual. We are talking about God himself.

We may think the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles was like a bit of magic but they worked hard at it 

Two very important things 

1. They stayed together
2. They were discussing the scriptures.

Staying together is so important.   That is the church.  We stay together and the more we support each other the more powerful we/the church will be. Remembering we are the church. People often ask me will I retire. Living without the church/my family/YOU I think I could lose my faith. We need each other. Thanks for being there for me and each another. Long may it last. The better it is, the greater the presence of the spirit among us. Our own Pentecost.

How is your prayer life doing?  I am sure we all worry about our ability to pray from time to time and we worry about our own sincerity, I know I do.  Chapter 14,15,16,17 of John's Gospel is known as the Priestly Prayer of Jesus. Jesus’s prayer for the world before He goes to the Father.  Looks very straight forward, factual and is Jesus sharing with his Father what He wants. He is more or less telling God that he came and did what He requested. So now you keep your side of the bargain and take me back to heaven. I love it. Read it again and let it help you in your prayer life.

Do you enjoy mass every week, some weeks or never.  Why do you come?  A dangerous question but one worth reflecting on. Challenge yourself.  What does your faith mean to you?  If you were accused of being a Christian. Would you have enough evidence to prove, yes, I am a Christian.  Jesus gives us fairly simple answers.  "If you love me, keep my commandments."  Keeping the commandments can seem very boring, but they are all an attempt to get to know Christ better. Boring, OK but positive. Good for our health, wellbeing and peace of mind.  It proves I love Christ and that is far from boring.  You are not an orphan.  I am truly a son/daughter of the Father all wrapped up in a divine love. What a claim. I now await the coming of the Holy Spirit. to convince me more of who I truly am.

I love the first reading from Acts. The apostles were faced with a very real problem of taking care of everything. So they called a meeting of all the elders and agreed to elect seven people to take care of other jobs.

A great sign of the church in action.

Thank God here in our own parish we have a great band of people taking care of so much,

Readers,

choirs/band/singers

Eucharistic ministers/sick/housebound

servers

cleaners

flowers

finance

health and safety

hospitality

safeguarding

catechetical work of many kinds

Liturgy groups

SVP/poor

Legion/lonely

School/s

Secretarial

The one I forgot - We have got our own parish co-ordinating council who decides what we need to do here in our own parish. Why don't you write to them with suggestions of what you may feel we need to do here in our own parish. Would like to offer your services to any of the above groups for an hour or two a week?

YOUR PARISH NEEDS YOU.

Today's gospel shows Jesus as an absolutely caring shepherd.  No hint of cheating or callousness.  But the true shepherd who cares for all his sheep. Minding the sheep as they come and go and always leading them to pastures new. This is Jesus and also our Heavenly Father, continually watching over each one of us with a fatherly affection.  We in turn should express that love in our care for each other.  I hope in some small way my own love shines through as a reflection of the love of God.  As individuals and as parish we need to be continually showing forth the love of God. This is where vocation comes in, going beyond the call of duty, giving without counting the cost. loving as we have been loved.  Would I do it all over again?  An impossible question to answer, but what I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed my 50 years and am very happy with my decision.  I would encourage any young person with a big heart to check it out.

I love this story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  Let us assume for now that they are husband and wife.  Having a good chat about all the goings on in Jerusalem over the last few days. In their discussion I like to think they enlightened each other.   Wherever two or three are gathered in my name I am there in their midst.   The Gospel puts it very graphically and says Jesus walked with them.   Nothing surprising there.  So whenever two or three of you gather in your house to prepare the Sunday reading, Jesus is there with you.  This sort of preparation can make Christ very real for you and your children who have a great imagination, it is a fantastic faith builder and form of prayer.  God is in his word and it is only when we break the word that we find Christ. "I live now, not I but Christ lives in me."

When Jesus rose from the dead, he met Mary Magdalene who clung to his feet.

She is obviously delighted to see Jesus again and it seems a reasonable thing to do, however, Jesus seems very abrupt and tells her not to cling to him but to go back to Jerusalem and tell the brothers.

Here Jesus is being adamant that He has opened the gates of heaven and we should not cling to him but get on with preaching the Good News.

Same idea on the Mount of Trans-figuration  when Peter wants to build three tents and stay on the mountain.  

Jesus is adamant that they must go down and preach the Good News.

Today we see Jesus breathing on the apostles and telling them to receive the Holy Spirit, your sins are forgiven, we are free so get on with telling others what Jesus has done for you. As you read this you can reflect on what Jesus has done/means  for you?  Is it worth telling others?

When Jesus rose from the dead, he met Mary Magdalene who clung to his feet.

She is obviously delighted to see Jesus again and it seems a reasonable thing to do, however, Jesus seems very abrupt and tells her not to cling to him but to go back to Jerusalem and tell the brothers.

Here Jesus is being adamant that He has opened the gates of heaven and we should not cling to him but get on with preaching the Good News.

Same idea on the Mount of Trans-figuration  when Peter wants to build three tents and stay on the mountain.  

Jesus is adamant that they must go down and preach the Good News.

Today we see Jesus breathing on the apostles and telling them to receive the Holy Spirit, your sins are forgiven, we are free so get on with telling others what Jesus has done for you. As you read this you can reflect on what Jesus has done/means  for you?  Is it worth telling others?

Today has changed the course of history forever, and you and I are the proud knowers of this mystery. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. The cross is empty and the tomb is empty.  We are free. Not even death to worry about. Christ has been there before us. This is the news that has impacted billions of lives.  Do I feel truly free, do I experience the real freedom that Christ brought by his resurrection? Because the cross where Jesus died is empty and the tomb where He was buried is vacant, you really can experience true freedom. His resurrection is really good news. It's news that has impacted billions of lives across millennia in some incredible ways. And it's relevant to you, here and now.If we look around the world and see the suffering, the hunger, the oppression by corrupt governments, we must truly look and see how blessed we truly are.  As some would say we should never get off our knees from thanking God. 

Christ has died.

Christ is risen.

Christ will come again.

It is not the suffering of Christ that pleases the father but his willingness.