My dear brothers and sisters, St. Mark makes a surprising observation as he tells us about this encounter between Jesus and the rich young man.
After the young man explains that he has followed the commandments since his youth, St Mark tells us, "Jesus, looking at him, loved him." This love, my dear ones, is not a passive love, but a love that challenges and inspires us to be our best selves.
Imagine what that look was like. It was the look of the Creator directed towards his beloved creature. It was the look of an older brother directed towards a younger brother in need. It was the look of a father gazing upon a son striving to do all the right things.
But what may be even more surprising is what Jesus said to the young man after giving him this look of love. He tells him to go off and sell all his possessions – the things this young man is most attached to.
If Jesus really loved this young man, why would he ask him to give up what he valued most? If Jesus loved this young man, why would he be so demanding? Why would he make him so uncomfortable?
We all know the answer: love seeks what is best for the beloved. Love is demanding by its very nature; it will never settle for mediocrity. And this young man, because he was so attached to money, posses-sions, and worldly success, was in great danger of falling into a mediocre, stifling, and frustrated life.
And so Jesus, out of love, invites him to choose the path of wisdom instead of comfort, the path of following God's will instead of self-will.
The Lord is constantly doing the same for us: looking at us with deep, personal love, and inviting us to follow him more closely, even though it will mean leaving our comfort behind.
This love, my dear ones, is not a love that leaves us as we are, but a love that transforms us into the best versions of ourselves.
Coffee Mugs and the Seven Deadly Sins
Imagine that you are in a cafe holding a mug full of warm coffee. Now, you like coffee and are used to coffee, but in the back of your mind, you are convinced that something may satisfy your thirst better than coffee.
So, you bring your mug up to the counter and ask for a drink of something more satisfying.
The man at the counter says, "Sure! We have just the thing – a special brew. It tastes fantastic, fills you with energy, and lasts the whole day."
But when he reaches for your mug, you hesitate. You have never tried this special brew and are a little suspicious: What if it's not as good as the man says it is?
Maybe you should stick with what's familiar. You can't have both because you only have one mug. You would have to pour out the warm coffee to get the special brew.
That's the situation this young man finds himself in. His mug is full of wealth and possessions. Yet, Jesus is offering him true, lasting wisdom instead, promising that it will give him the satisfaction his money hasn't given him. There's a world of spiritual growth and fulfillment waiting for him, but he hesitates, afraid to take the risk.
It's an image that helps us understand the nature of sin. Sin is a choice, putting something in God's place, putting something that ought to be second place into first place, filling our mug with warm coffee when God gave us the mug so that we could drink his special brew.
The Seven Capital Sins identify the seven most common 'somethings' we tend to put in God's place: seven brands of warm coffee. These 'somethings' are good but become obstacles to our happiness when we give them first place. However, when we prioritize spiritual fulfillment, we open the door to a life of true happiness and contentment.
Unless we pour out the warm coffee, whichever brand it may be, we simply won't have room in our souls for the special brew that brings true satisfaction.
Giving Up What's Tying Us Down
In the case of this rich young man, the thing that was holding him back from the truly meaningful life he desired was his attachment to possessions, to money, to wealth. His struggle is one we can all relate to, as we too often find ourselves entangled in the web of material possessions.
Jesus explains this with a striking image: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God."
A camel was one of the giant animals known to the residents of Palestine at the time of Christ. The eye of a needle is one of the smallest passage-ways the unaided human eye can see through.
It's a powerful image when taken literally. However, some biblical scholars point out that the image may be taken differently. At the time, Jerusalem had a back door in the city walls, a small, short, narrow gate used chiefly by locals, who called it "the eye of the needle."
When big merchant caravans came to the city for business, they had to strip their camels bare – taking off all supply packs, saddles, and trade goods if they wanted to get in through this gate. Then, they could lead them through on foot.
We may be like those merchants. Maybe we are loaded with so many self-centered hopes, habits, and worries that we cannot enter into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.
Maybe we still think that the right house, job, promotion, spouse, bank account, or award will fill our hearts with the happiness we long for. But it won't: those things must take second place in our friendship with Jesus Christ; in him alone can we find the inner peace, meaning, and strength we so ardently desire.
As we continue with this Mass, let's consider what's hindering our progress along the path of wisdom. Let's take a moment for self-reflection and ask God, who is looking down on us with infinite love, to help us get rid of it.
Never will anyone who says his Rosary every day be led astray. This is a statement that I would gladly sign with my blood.
Saint Louis de Montfort
The story of our Lady of Rosary is an interesting one. In the 16th century, Pope Pius V was having trouble with the Ottoman Turks, who were a real danger to Christianity. After months of disagreements and arguments, he was able to unite Spain, Venice, and the States of the Church in a naval expedition to fight the Turks.
The two navies met in the Gulf of Lepanto in Greece on October 7, 1571. On the same day, the Rosary Con-fraternity of Rome was meeting at the Dominican headquarters there.
The group recited the Rosary for the special intention of the Christians at battle. The Christians defeated the Turks in a spectacular victory and believed it was the intercessory power of the Blessed Virgin that won the victory.
Pope Pius V dedicated the day as one of thanksgiving to Our Lady of Victory. Pope Gregory XIII later changed the name to the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Pope Clement XI extended the feast to the Universal Church in 1716. And in 1913, Saint Pius X established the date for the feast that we know today as October 7.
The story of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary focuses on the intercessory power of Mary. It shows that when Christians are in danger, they can go to Mary.
When an individual is in pain, discouraged, or having trouble accepting God's will, he or she can also go to Mary. She will pray to her Son for anyone who calls on her. Anyone who prays to Mary no longer feels alone because she prays with them and for them.
Mary encouraged praying the Rosary in her apparitions. At Lourdes when she appeared to Saint Bernadette, Mary had a Rosary. As Bernadette prayed it, Mary joined in on the Glory Be prayers.
At Fatima Mary exhorted the three children who saw her to pray the Rosary for peace.
The Rosary is a deep prayer because as we recite the Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and Glory Be, we meditate on the mysteries in the lives of Jesus and Mary. No wonder it pleases Our Lady when we pray the Rosary.
The liturgy places us in the school of Mary, the privileged disciple of the Lord Jesus. In the light of the Gospel of Luke, we learn to be "in awe", the ability to allow oneself to be in awe of God. She became a Mother even though she was a virgin. And Elizabeth, she was told, was already in her sixth month, even though she was elderly (Lk. 1:36). It was awe that allowed Mary to let God act. And this openness allowed the Awaited One of the Nations to take root within her.
On the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary, Mary's attitude teaches us today to trust in her intercession through the recitation of the Holy Rosary. What appears to be humanly impossible through our human efforts can be achieved through the grace Mary can obtain for all of life's battles, whether they be interior or exterior.
Mary teaches us today to turn our gaze upward, to trust, and to entrust ourselves to the Lord. In doing this, we recognize we cannot do it on our own, that we are not the authors of our destiny, that we need others, and that we are all together in need of God. The Lord never leaves us alone – he promised us this. But we must be the first to believe it by turning our gaze from the things of this earth and learning how to fix our gaze on heaven, from whence comes our help (cf. Ps 121).
The trust we show by praying the Holy Rosary is a sign through which we recognize that God works through us and around us and, through Mary's intercession, we can cultivate a "higher objective in life". To believe is actually to give credit to the One who can do all things, to accept His help, to recognize that we cannot do everything on our own, to entrust ourselves to Him even when His plans do not correspond to ours, to the point of offering ourselves with trust: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word".
The third lesson we can draw from this Gospel text is to learn from Mary and with Mary how to trust God's time. This time consists of silence, waiting, and patience. Mary teaches us how to live in this time. She teaches us to allow ourselves to stop the frenetic rhythm of life to discover how to savour the things of God.
INTRODUCTION
The Church's teaching on divorce and remarriage is not popular these days. That's understandable because today's culture is more about feelings than faithfulness, and since feelings come and go, why shouldn't marriages come and go, too?
A culture that values feelings over faithfulness will automatically cause pain, suffering, and tension in the institution of marriage. But it is helpful for us to remember that the Church's teaching on divorce and remarriage has always been unpopular.
In ancient Rome, divorce and remarriage were common and accepted. In ancient barbarian kingdoms, the same was true. In early medieval Europe, even Catholic rulers habitually resisted this Gospel command, which Jesus so clearly stated: "What God has joined together, no human being must separate."
It is almost always one of the most complex doctrines for missionaries to explain to people hearing the gospel for the first time – as it was with the first Catholic missionaries in North America.
For modern Catholics, a common misunderstanding about this difficult teaching has to do with the difference between divorce and annulment. Today's Gospel passage gives us a perfect opportunity to reflect on this issue and clarify some (but probably not all) essential concepts.
Part I: The Example of Tom and Paula
I want to begin by telling you about Tom and Paula. Tom and Paula lived together as husband and wife for over seventy years. Tom worked at the post office. He retired when he turned 75.
Paula worked as a bank teller. She planned on leaving her job as soon as they had their first child, but it turns out that they never had any children; it was one blessing that God didn't give them. Paula stopped working at the bank when she turned 75.
They led a simple life: they were never featured in the newspaper; they never got rich; they never took fancy vacations, but everyone on their street loved them. They were the neighborhood babysitters; they were the shoulders to cry on for young spouses having marriage troubles; they were the organizers of the yearly block party; their yard was more played in than any other on the street.
Their home exuded happiness and joy, just like their happy faces. Tom died in his sleep a few days before his ninety-first birthday. He seemed in perfect health, but his life had concluded.
Paula seemed in perfect health, too, and she appeared to withstand the loss reasonably well. For a couple of days, anyway. But after three days without Tom, she too passed away, unable, so it seemed, to let her husband get too far out of reach.
This story is true [the names have been altered], but it's not rare. It often happens that couples who share long and loving marriages die almost simultaneously, not for medical reasons but for spiritual ones.
The phenomenon eloquently illustrates something about marriage that you rarely hear people talk about – which is too bad because that "something" is the most important thing about marriage.
It's called "the marriage bond." Understanding what it is and where it comes from is the only way to under-stand Catholic teaching about divorce, remarriage, and annulment.
Part II: The Marriage Bond
When two people go into business together, they form a partnership. They agree to work together on a project that will benefit them; their bond is entirely practical, exterior, and contractual.
When two people get married, they do much, much more. They pledge their whole selves to one another unconditionally out of love. And in so doing, they become, as it were, one person, "one flesh," as today's Readings remind us.
They are bonded not by an external contract or agree-ment, like business partners, but by the mutual commitment to be one another's spouse. Not just friends, not just companions, but spouses. As spouses, their identity as individuals is enriched: Tom and Paula are no longer just Tom and Paula; they are now Tom the Husband and Paula the Wife.
Two separate individuals have come together and freely entered into a new, unified life in which the spouses live no longer for themselves but for each other. A new physical-spiritual reality has come into existence: a marriage, a unique, exclusive, permanent bond between husband and wife. That's marriage, as Jesus said in today's Gospel passage.
Even though you can't physically see this marriage bond, it's as objectively real as the child that naturally springs from it. That child, an objective, physical-spiritual reality that didn't exist before, is a living icon, a palpable expression of what the marriage itself is, by its very nature: an objective, physical-spiritual reality that didn't exist before.
And that's why a marriage can no more be "undone" – which is what divorce and remarriage claim to do, to "undo" a previous marriage – than the life of that child. You can dissolve a business agreement, but you can't dissolve a child – at least, not without committing murder. And you can't dissolve a marriage without the death of one of the spouses.
From that point of view, it's no wonder that Paula couldn't continue living without Tom. After seventy years of faithful marriage, her very life, body, and soul were fused, as it were, with her husband's.
(Of course, that doesn't happen every time one spouse dies; other factors are involved. Many widows and widowers survive long after their spouse's death and even marry again, even though their first love was deep and their first marriage valid.)
Part III: The Divorce Mentality
This understanding of marriage is not easy for many of us to accept. We have all been more or less infected by our society's divorce mentality. This mentality sees marriage as a mere social construct, like any business partnership—at the mercy of the partners' needs and whims.
We don't have to go far to discover the flaws in that point of view. We don't even have to go to the Bible or the Catechism. All we have to do is go to human experience.
Even though different societies have surrounded marriage with many other ceremonies, taboos, and external traditions, they have all had the institution of marriage.
Here is how one expert has explained it: [M]arriage is rooted so deeply in human nature that it is found in every age and culture. Anthropologists studying a culture do not ask whether its members marry but what unique characteristics marriage has in that society. In doing so, they refer to something recognizable in any society by its constant characteristics: [which are] the more or less stable heterosexual relationship recognized by society as the community in which it is appropriate for a man and a woman to engage regularly in sexual intercourse, and to beget and raise children." (Germain Grisez, "Living a Christian Life" Introduction to Chapter 9)
Human beings create business and legal partnerships, but we don't "create" marriage – instead, we enter into marriage just as we enter into friendship.
The institution of marriage is natural; it's an objective reality built into human nature by God himself, and it's what people do. It existed before legal and social codes and could not be essentially altered by them more than by human nature itself.
Jesus thinks so highly of this natural institution of marriage that he elevated it to a sacrament. For baptized Christians, the natural bond of marriage is reinforced with the strength of God's grace.
It is transformed into a supernatural reality, a way for the spouses to love not only each other and their children but also God and the Church.
Part IV: Blocking the Marriage Bond
So, scientists can tell us that marriage is a natural institution linked to human nature before it gets linked to laws and politics.
But common sense leads us to the same conclusion. When an average couple gets married, it's because they want to spend the rest of their lives together and they want to build a family. That's what marriage is, and they will answer if asked why they want to get married.
And if that's not their answer, if instead, their answer is something like, "We're looking for financial security," or "I need a spouse to advance in my career," or "She's pregnant, and she doesn't want to get an abortion, but we don't want to embarrass her."
Suppose those or other external, merely practical goals are the only real reasons for either one of the spouses. In that case, they may go through with some marriage ceremony and have a wedding, but they will not really consent to marriage. They will enter a glorified business partnership but not into a marriage bond.
Likewise, if one or both of the would-be spouses puts unnatural conditions on the marriage – for example, that they will purposely avoid having children so they can be free to travel, or that if they get a divorce, they will divide their property in such-and-such a way, or if the groom consciously intends to continue having extramarital affairs.
In cases like these, the formation of a valid marriage bond is blocked. The couple may be forming a legal, contractual relationship, but not the whole interper-sonal communion of spouses.
In other cases, even when the couple enters marriage in good faith and does everything, they believe is necessary for marriage, there may be an unconscious defect in their capacity to make the full consent necessary to form the marriage bond – a temporary or permanent psychological condition, for instance. In this case, too, no real marriage would be entered into.
Part V: The Role of Annulments
Because human nature is fallen and wounded by original sin, cases like these are not unheard of. And that's why the Church has what's called the process of marriage annulment.
Unlike divorce and remarriage, which claim to undo a marriage bond that existed, an annulment states that an apparent marriage never existed because a flaw in the consent of one or both parties blocked the formation of the marriage bond.
In that case, the parties involved are not married, and so they are free to get married. Sometimes, the cause of "failed" marriages can be traced back to these kinds of conscious or unconscious flaws in the original consent.
Each Catholic diocese assigns the complex and delicate task of discerning these cases to a marriage tribunal, which operates according to carefully prescribed procedures.
Sometimes severe difficulties in a marriage may require, for the good of the spouses or of the children, separation or even civil divorce (for example, in the case of physical abuse), and Catholics in these situations can still be in full communion with the Church.
Annulments and separations are always painful, which is one of the reasons why the Church encourages her children to prepare well for marriage.
Not only by attending marriage preparation classes – which are essential – but most importantly by living a life of virtue, prayer, and faith, and by ridding them-selves of the widespread "divorce mentality." There are times in every marriage when love is sorely tested.
The marriage will emerge more substantial and more profound if the test is met and overcome with fortitude, self-sacrifice, and maturity – virtues that need to be developed before the moment of crisis to be activated during the crisis.
Conclusion: A Mirror of God's Love
Husband and wife are no longer two but one flesh, one person, as it were; they exist no longer for themselves but for each other. That's how God designed it. And he created it for a reason: he wanted the love of husband and wife to mirror his love for us.
The New Testament speaks of the Church as Christ's spouse and Christ as the faithful bridegroom.
Let's thank God for patiently showing us the true meaning of marriage and pray for all Catholic marriages and families. Let's ask God to give them the grace they need to discover and fulfill their beautiful, powerful vocation of being mirrors of God's self-forgetful love in this self-centered world.
The name Jesus means "God saves." The name emphasises that Jesus is the one who has come to save all. Christ means "anointed." The name shows that God the Father has given Jesus a mission and endowed him with power to save and the power to heal. Jesus' whole life was aimed at saving people. His words and actions are the foundation of the saving grace we now received in the sacraments.
To support and strengthen those who are sick, the Church gathers to pray and anoint those who are ailing with the healing oil of the sick. This oil symbolises the presence of God at a time of great physical and emotional need and assures the recipient of God's love and healing presence to give strength and hope. According to the Letter of James 5:14-16, the people are to bring the sick to the priest so that they can be anointed and prayer can be offered on their behalf. Jesus showed great care for those who were sick and was concerned with their bodily and spiritual well-being. Because of this, the Church has developed a ritual to pray with and for those who are ill. It is our belief that through the Sacrament of the Sick, Christ strengthens those who are ill so that they might be at peace and have the courage to fight their illness.
The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick helps unite those who are suffering with Jesus' saving and healing power. Through this sacrament people receive forgiveness for their sins and comfort in their suffering; they are restored in spirit; and sometimes they even experience the return of physical health. Suffering is a part of life, but Jesus unites our suffering with his passion and death so that through our suffering we can participate in his saving and healing work. The sacrament also reminds us that God wants to give comfort to the suffering and wants us to relieve suffering where we can.
In the Church's Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, through the ministry of the priest, it is Jesus who touches the sick to heal them from sin – and sometimes even from physical ailment. His cures were signs of the arrival of the Kingdom of God. The core message of his healing tells us of his plan to conquer sin and death by his dying and rising.
Who may Receive the Anointing?
Does a person have to be dying to receive this sacrament? No. The Catechism says, "The Anointing of the Sick is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived" (CCC 1514). Any baptised Catholic who is seriously ill and has sufficient reason to be comforted by the Sacrament may receive it. The Sacrament may be repeated if the sick person recovers after the anointing but becomes ill once again, or if, during the same illness, the person's condition becomes more serious. A person should be anointed before surgery when a dangerous illness is the reason for the intervention. For those who are about to depart from this life, the Church offers the person Penance, Anointing of the Sick, and the Eucharist as Viaticum (food for the journey) given at the end of life. These are "the sacraments that prepare for our heavenly homeland" (cf. CCC, no. 1525).
At the heart of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick is the person of Jesus Christ. It is important to remember that suffering will always remain a mystery; but what we do know is that God always wants to come to us with His grace, to alleviate and aid us when we suffer. Our part is to always seek to be growing in our relationship with Jesus above everything else. As we pray for healing, and as we leave the "how" and "when" to Him, healing will come either now or, ultimately, in eternal life. It is important to remember that we don't want to wait too long to have a loved one anointed.(*)
St. James was one of the most practical of the Apostles. His Letter to all Christians, which we have been listening to for the last few Sundays, is direct and stark, not some kind of an abstract, pie-in-the-sky theological treatise. In today's passage, he puts before us two contrasting ways to live life, hoping to motivate us to renew our choice for the better way. Let's take a closer look at these two ways.
Part I: The Path of Wisdom
The first way is the way of wisdom. St James specifies that this wisdom is not just worldly wisdom, not just the street-smarts of a clever criminal or greedy business tycoon. No, this wisdom is "from above." It is a share in God's own vision of life. When we follow this vision, St James explains, we experience "righteous-ness and peace."
Righteousness means a right relationship with God, and peace means a right relationship with the world and the people around us. Those right relationships are what give our lives the meaning, the creativity, the fruitfulness, and the fulfillment that we all desire. St James is so convinced about this way of wisdom that he uses eight separate terms to try and describe it. Each one of them reveals a different aspect of the beauty and power of God's wisdom.
Part II: The Path of Passions
Those are only two of the worthy characteristics St James identifies with the way of wisdom. But what is the second way that he identifies? The second way is the way of "passions." What St James means by passions are self-centered desires - whether for pleasure, power, or popularity. And the result of letting these desires rule our life is the exact opposite of the result given by true wisdom. Instead of peace and fulfillment, it leads to "wars and battles," if we translate the Greek literally. And this makes perfect sense.
If our dominant desire is to make money, maximize our pleasure, or climb the ladder of success, we will necessarily see other people not as neighbors and fellow-travelers, or brothers and sisters in Christ, but instead as potential competitors or obstacles. And if we are slaves of selfish passions, we will not hesitate to eliminate any obstacle to their fulfillment.
The result? Back-stabbing, literally and figuratively; slander; deception; manipulation. Wars and battles. This is the atmosphere created when we allow ourselves to be enslaved by our self-centered desires.
Conclusion: More Than a Reminder
So today the Church is putting before us two ways: the way of wisdom, which leads to righteousness and peace, and the way of self-centered passion, which leads to passing pleasures accompanied by destruction, "disorder and every foul practice." But isn't this kind of a useless reminder? After all, we are here today because we all believe in Jesus Christ and are doing our best to follow him faithfully, to live by wisdom and not by passion, right?
St James didn't think so. He was writing to Mass going Catholics just like us, and yet, the Holy Spirit inspired him to deal with this uncomfortable topic head on. We are all still sinners, engaged in spiritual warfare, surrounded by temptations. We need reminders, even when they make us uncomfortable.
But in this Mass, and in every Mass and every sacrament, we are doubly blessed, because we don't just receive a reminder about the path we should be following in life; we also receive divine strength to stay on that path or get back onto it. In the celebration of the Eucharist, Christ himself, the very source of all "wisdom from above," comes anew into our presence, our lives, and our community.
As he does, let's welcome him with open, grateful hearts, and renew our commitment to be his faithful friends, promising to take whatever steps are necessary to build our lives on the wisdom from above.
You have failed to strengthen the weak, says the Lord. He is speaking to wicked shepherds, false shepherds, shepherds who seek their own concerns and not those of Christ. They enjoy the bounty of milk and wool, but they take no care at all of the sheep, and they make no effort to heal those who are ill. I think there is a difference between one who is weak (that is, not strong) and one who is ill, although we often say that the weak are also suffering from illness.
My brothers, when I try to make that distinction, perhaps I could do it better and with greater precision, or perhaps someone with more experience and insight could do so. But when it comes to the words of Scripture, I say what I think so that in the meantime you will not be deprived of all profit. In the case of the weak sheep, it is to be feared that the temptation, when it comes, may break him. The sick person, however, is already ill by reason of some illicit desire or other, and this is keeping him from entering God's path and submitting to Christ's yoke.
There are men who want to live a good life and have already decided to do so, but are not capable of bearing sufferings even though they are ready to do good. Now it is a part of the Christian's strength not only to do good works but also to endure evil. Weak men are those who appear to be zealous in doing good works but are unwilling or unable to endure the sufferings that threaten. Lovers of the world, however, who are kept from good works by some evil desire, lie sick and listless, and it is this sickness that deprives them of any strength to accomplish good works.
The paralytic was like that. When his bearers could not bring him in to the Lord, they opened the roof and lowered him down to the feet of Christ. Perhaps you wish to do this in spirit: to open the roof and to lower a paralytic soul down to the Lord. All its limbs are lifeless, it is empty of every good work, burdened with its sins, and weak from the illness brought on by its evil desires. Since all its limbs are helpless, and the paralysis is interior, you cannot come to the physician. But perhaps the physician is himself concealed within; for the true understanding of Scripture is hidden. Reveal therefore what is hidden, and thus you will open the roof and lower the paralytic to the feet of Christ.
As for those who fail to do this and those who are negligent, you have heard what was said to them: You have failed to heal the sick; you have failed to bind up what was broken. Of this we have already spoken. Man was broken by terrible temptations. But there is at hand a consolation that will bind what was broken: God is faithful. He does not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
My dear brothers and sisters, today's readings remind us of that hearing something and listening to it are two different things. Let's explore them further. In today's First Reading, part of Isaiah's prophecy of the Suffering Servant, Our Lord reminds us that sometimes he needs to open our ears, just like he did to Peter in the Gospel today.
Sometimes, we can take that for granted, and if we don't put it into action, we soon stop listening to God's Word in our lives, and instead, it becomes just more noise in our ears. The Suffering Servant takes the blows received for serving God, knowing that God is on his side and that his service has a more significant meaning.
He doesn't complain or give God a hard time about his suffering to fulfill his mission because he knows the Lord is at his side. Our Lord also teaches his disciples in the Gospel today that the prophecy of the Suffering Servant refers to him. Suffering is part of the Christian life, and suffering leads to salvation.
In today's Second Reading, St. James underscores the inseparable connection between faith and work. They demonstrate that we have not merely heard Our Lord's word but truly listened. The Word of God calls for repentance, baptism, and action. As St. James reiterates today, listening to God's Word propels us into action. If we remain passive, merely hearing God's word, our faith will remain weak and fail to transform our lives or the lives of others. When our works mirror our faith, it is a testament that we are truly listening.
In today's Gospel, Our Lord gives the disciples a pop quiz to test their level of active listening. Peter, known for his outspoken nature, promptly answers Jesus' question: you are the Christ. Peter has indeed listened to the first part of the message. The disciples have taken a step closer to Our Lord; they've been active and listening, drawing them closer. In contrast, the crowd, while present, hasn't made an effort to draw closer to Jesus. They've merely 'heard' things about him and are curious, but their level of active listening is lacking.
Jesus' disciples have passed the first test, and Our Lord opens his heart to them and explains how salvation will work. It was time for another lesson. Our Lord is the fulfillment of all the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah, and he reveals to his disciples something the Jews would never have imagined just by reading the Old Testament: the Messiah had to suffer and die to save the world.
St. Peter's response to this revelation stirs up our hearts to one degree or another when the Lord opens our ears, and we listen to him. Peter couldn't imagine that Jesus could do anything other than become a great military and political ruler. He was hearing but still needed to do a little more listening to Our Lord.
After Our Lord saw his disciples believe he was the Messiah, he opened his heart to them, and St. Peter spoke a little for all of them and said the Messiah didn't act like Jesus said he would. Therefore, the disciples failed the second test. God had opened their ears, like the Suffering Servant in the First Reading, but, unlike the First Reading, they were rebelling about what they were hearing. This failure to fully listen to Jesus led to their misunderstanding of his true mission and teachings.
Jesus knew that this lesson, the lesson of the cross, was the most crucial lesson of Christian life. It's an important lesson that Jesus says something shocking to Peter when he tries to convince him not to take the path of suffering and the cross. He tells him he thinks as men do, not as God does, and tells him he is like Satan: that little whisper in our ears that tells us that life should be lived without suffering, without crosses.
Jesus backs up his lesson about the cross with a promise: whoever loses their life for Him and the Gospel will save it. Everything we sacrifice in this world, big and small, will lead us to a fuller and more fulfilling life.
Hearing Is Different from Listening. Listen Up!
Listening and hearing are two different things. Hearing means something within earshot is buzzing in our ears. Listening means cocking our head, trying to get your ear a little closer, trying to understand what you're hearing. Hearing is something passive—the noise pops into your ears. Listening is something active—it requires a decision on our part. We've all received our faith as a gift—by revealing Himself to us, the Lord has opened our ears to hear and listen to His Word.
Our ears have been opened, too. When we listen, the blows of day-to-day life come, some big, some minor, but Our Lord teaches us how to face them. We must have the same attitude as Our Lord: We must not rebel or turn our backs on God or his will. We must continue to have faith and trust that he is at our side and asking us to take on these sufferings for the greater good.
Don't Nurse a Grudge, Foster a Reconciliation
Isaiah's prophecy in today's First Reading also serves as a gentle nudge, reminding us of the importance of forgiving our neighbor's injustices. If we allow ourselves to be consumed by sinful wrath, it will lead to our condemnation. We have all experienced the temptation to nurse a grudge against someone and to be too angry to forgive.
As we nurse a grudge, we stop listening to our better judgment or the counsel of friends and family who are not fuming. Our anger drowns out good advice. Let's not forget that Cain heard the Lord but stopped listening to him when he slew Abel (see Genesis 4:1-10).
Jesus chose 12 men to be apostles. After Jesus' ascension, the apostles had the critical mission of spreading the news about Jesus. The apostles then chose a new Church leader to be a witness to Jesus Christ and continue his work. The pope and bishops, esteemed successors to the apostles, have been called and decided to continue Jesus' work.
The Sacrament of Holy Orders stands apart as the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles is perpetuated in the Church until the end of time. It is a sacrament of apostolic ministry, unique in its role and significance. This sacred sacrament is structured into three distinct degrees: episcopate (bishop), presbyterate (priest), and diaconate (deacon).
While all members of the Church partake in the priesthood of all believers through Baptism, there exists a fundamental difference between this common priesthood and the ministerial priesthood. The ministerial priesthood, in its essence, bestows a sacred power for the service of the faithful, setting it apart from the common priesthood of the faithful.
However, some men are called to serve Jesus and the Church today by celebrating the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Through their leadership in the Church, they help continue Jesus' presence on earth in the tradition of the apostles. The ordained ministers exercise their service for the People of God by teaching (munus docendi), divine worship (munus liturgicum), and pastoral governance (munus regendi). (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #1592)
Those who are called to be priests are ordained through the Rite of Ordination. In celebrating this Rite, men receive a permanent spiritual mark, called a character, signifying that they represent Jesus' presence in the Church. There are three levels of participation in the Sacrament of Holy Orders: bishop, priest (from presbyter, which is Greek for "elder"), and deacon.
A bishop receives the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. He is the head or Ordinary of the local Church. The local area entrusted to him is called a diocese. A bishop is also a member of the episcopal college: all the bishops who, with the pope, guide the Church.
Priests serve the community in various ways. They may be called to serve in their dioceses or as religious order priests, carrying out the mission of a particular religious community. They preside at liturgies, preach, administer the sacraments, counsel people, serve as pastors, and teach.
Deacons help and serve bishops by serving the Church's needs, proclaiming the gospel, teaching and preaching, baptizing, witnessing marriages, and assisting the priest celebrant at liturgies. Deacons are ordained for service in the Church. Some are studying to become priests, and others, including married men, are called to remain deacons for life and serve the Church in this capacity, a testament to their unwavering dedication.
Priests receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders in the Rite of Ordination. The bishop lays his hands on the candidate's head and says a prayer, asking for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In one part of the Rite, the candidate lies before the altar while the Litany of the Saints is sung or recited. A priest's hands are anointed with chrism in another part of the Rite. The new bishop's head is anointed in the Rite for a bishop.
Ordination to the priesthood is always a call and a gift from God. Christ reminded his Apostles that they needed to ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest. Those seeking priesthood respond generously to God's call using the prophet's words, "Here I am, send me" (Is 6:8).
My dear brothers and sisters, one absolutely unique doctrine of our Catholic faith is the incarnation. The incarnation is the doctrine that God, in order to redeem the fallen world, became man. Jesus Christ is, as we profess every week in the Creed, true man, and also true God.
He is the son of Mary, and also the eternal Son of God. Before that amazing day two thousand years ago when the Archangel Gabriel visited the Blessed Virgin Mary and she conceived of the Holy Spirit, God was far away. He governed the universe and watched over the human family, but he did it from a distance, so to speak.
Certainly, he sent prophets to Israel and provided special guidance to his Chosen People of the Old Testament. But when the Second Person of the Holy Trinity became man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, a whole new era began. That's why we date human history according to two different standards: BC and AD. BC was before Christ; AD is "anno Domini," from the year of Our Lord, the year in which God came to dwell among us. God became actively present inside his own creation.
Even the old myths about gods interacting with men never conceived of the possibility that the one true God, Creator of all things, would love us so much that he would actually become incarnate, become one of us. That God would take a deaf-mute by the hand, lead him away from the crowds, touch him on the tongue and ears, and - in such a human, physical way - cure him, thus fulfilling the wonderful prophecies that we heard in the First Reading. That God himself would get dirty in order to make us clean: this is Christianity; this is a uniquely and marvellously Catholic view of God.
The Flowing Testimony of St. Januarius
The lives of the saints are full of similar signs, remarkable events that remind us of God's active, personal presence in the world and his active, personal interest in our lives. Later this month, we will celebrate the memorial of St Januarius, whose history gives a double reinforcement to this beautiful truth of our faith.
He was a bishop in southern Italy, in a city called Benevento, and was martyred along with seven companions in the year 302. The holy bishop risked his life to visit and encourage his fellow Christians who had been imprisoned for their faith at the start of the Emperor Diocletian's vast and violent persecution.
He was spotted, reported, and apprehended. He was interrogated, tortured, humiliated, and then thrown in prison with the rest. They were all condemned as enemies of the state (they wouldn't worship the Roman gods) and sentenced to be torn to pieces by wild beasts.
They accepted their sentence and stayed firm in their faith. When the animals were let into the arena, much to the shock and disappointment of the crowd who had gathered to enjoy the spectacle, the beasts sat calmly on their haunches, entirely uninterested in the free lunch. The guards were unable to stimulate their appetite; finally, the governor had to have the saints beheaded.
It seems that some of the bishop's blood was preserved as a relic by the local Christians. That very blood, still preserved in a coagulated state in a transparent reliquary, liquefies each year on his feast day. It has done so at least for the last 500 years (the recorded history of the miracle).
Januarius's faithfulness under fire was the first sign that God was with him, and the yearly liquefaction is, as it were, is an annual reminder of the supernatural source of his courage. It's as if God is determined not to let us forget about his tireless action in the world.
Renewing Our Hope
This is why we can be certain that discouragement never comes from the Holy Spirit: for the Catholic, hope is not a dream, but a reality. This is relevant to our lives especially in two ways. First, in regard to our own interior struggles.
Often, we seem to be stuck in our spiritual lives, unable to advance, incapable of overcoming certain defects or - sinful habits. Sometimes we allow this difficulty to morph into discouragement. That's exactly what the devil wants, because discouragement leads us to slack off in our efforts to follow Christ, to practice self-discipline, and to live a vibrant life of prayer.
That's when the devil can make a bold move on us, luring us into a sinful relationship or activity that actually obstructs the flow of God's grace in and through our lives. That's why when we hear discouragement knocking at the door, or when we seem to have reached a spiritual plateau, we need to let Christ take us "off by ourselves away from the crowd" to renew our interior hearing. This can mean going on retreat, or simply taking some extra -quiet time to be with the Lord.
Second, God's active and determined presence in the world gives us unbounded hope for others. No soul is too hardened to be transformed by Christ's love and forgiveness. The greatest sinners often make the greatest saints. Though someone appears deaf to the Word of Life and unable to respond to the invitations of the Holy Spirit, our confidence must never be shaken, for Jesus "makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."
As we continue with this Mass, let's renew our confidence in this incarnate God who is so active in the world, letting him touch our wounded hearts, and praying for those who no longer pray for themselves.
Sacred Scripture begins with the creation and union of man and woman and ends with "the wedding feast of the Lamb" (Rev 19:7, 9). Scripture often refers to marriage, its origin and purpose, the meaning God gave to it, and its renewal in the covenant made by Jesus with his Church. Man and woman were created for each other.
Sacred Scripture and the teaching of the Church confirm these truths about marriage and deepen them. Genesis 1:27 shows us that the human person's complementarity as male and female reflects the image of God. A man "leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh" (Gn 2:23). The man joyfully recognizes the woman as "bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh" (Gn 2:23). God blesses the man and woman and commands them to "be fertile and multiply" (Gn 1:28). Jesus echoes these teachings from Genesis when he stated: "…from the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female' and said, for this reason a man shall leave … and the two shall become one flesh" (Matt. 19: 4,5).
These Biblical passages help us to under- stand God's plan for marriage. Marriage is a basic way of giving and growing in love and together attaining salvation. We are not meant to live in isolation, but to find and fulfil ourselves through the love of others. (Gen 2:18, 21-25). The marriage covenant, through which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, is ordered to the good of the couple as well as to the generation and education of children.
Moreover, the Church, following the Apostle Paul, declares a valid marriage between baptized believers to be a sacrament — a saving reality and path to holiness. In Ephesians 5: 25-33, Paul teaches that Christ made marriage a sign of His love for the Church. This means that a sacramental marriage lets the world see, in human terms, something of the faithful, creative, self-emptying, abundantly life-giving love of our Lord. This Christian meaning confirms and strengthens the human value of a marital union. The sacrament of matrimony perfects the human love of spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life.
Marriage is based on the free consent of the man and the woman celebrating the sacrament. The parties entering into the covenant of matrimony must want to give themselves to each other, mutually and definitively, in order to live a covenant of faithful and fruitful love. The sacrament of Matrimony establishes the couple in a public state of life in the Church. Because of its public and ecclesial nature, it is fitting that the celebration of the sacrament be public and within the framework of a liturgical celebration, before a priest (or a witness authorised by the Church), the witnesses and the assembly of the faithful. Unity, indissolubility and openness to fertility are essential to marriage. By its very nature, marriage and married love is ordered to the procreation and education of the offspring. Spouses to whom God has not granted children can nevertheless have a married life full of meaning, in both human and Christian terms. The marriage of such couples can manifest the fruitfulness of hospitality and of sacrifice.
By their marriage, the couple witnesses Christ's spousal love for the Church. One of the Nuptial Blessings in the liturgical celebration of marriage refers to this in saying, "Father, you have made the union of man and wife so holy a mystery that it symbolizes the marriage of Christ and his Church."
The Sacrament of Marriage is a covenant, which is more than a contract. Covenant always expresses a relationship between persons. The marriage covenant refers to the relationship between the husband and wife, a permanent union of persons capable of knowing and loving each other and God.
My dear brothers and sisters, today we are presented with a profound, disturbing mystery. Through his Gospel St John tells us that our Lord's teaching about the Eucharist, which we have been following over the last few Sundays, was so difficult, so shocking, that "many of his disciples" simply refused to accept it. As a result, they stopped following Jesus and returned to "their former way of life."
Picture the scene. A large crowd of people surrounds our Lord in the synagogue of Capernaum. Many of them witnessed the incredible miracle of the multiplication of the loaves just the day before. And yet, when he tells them about the Eucharist, about his plan to become truly present under the appearances of bread and wine so that his divine life will become our nourishment, they turn their backs on him. God's creatures turn their backs on their Creator.
We can only imagine how painful that was for him. And so, he looks at his closest disciples, the Twelve, the ones he has chosen to become the foundation stones of his Church. He doesn't offer some kind of watered-down explanation of the Eucharist to convince them to stick around. He simply asks them: "Do you also want to leave?"
It was a moment of crisis. The Twelve didn't understand, rationally speaking, the mysterious doctrine of the Eucharist any more completely than everybody else. So why did they continue to follow the Lord? Because they trusted in him, in his person. They put more faith in the person of Jesus Christ, the Lord, than in their own limited ability to understand God.
And that was a wise thing to do. By consciously exercising their faith amid that crisis, and not just depending on their own limited, error-prone understanding, they lifted their spiritual maturity to a whole new level.
The Pact of Shechem
Testing doesn't always come in ways that we expect. We tend to think of difficulties, injustices, struggles, and suffering as the usual challenges to our faith. But sometimes success and prosperity can be equally challenging.
That's what happened to Joshua and the people of Israel in today's First Reading. This passage from the Book of Joshua is part of what is known as the Pact of Shechem. Shechem was centrally located in Palestine, and therefore a good meeting place for the different tribes. It also had religious significance. Abraham had built an altar there, and Jacob had bought land there and buried some left-over Mesopotamian idols there.
When Joshua called the tribes together at Shechem, therefore, it was an important event. It took place at the end of Joshua's long and successful career as Israel's leader. Joshua had taken over after the death of Moses, leading the people into the Promised Land and then masterminding their conquest of that land. Under his rule, Israel had experienced political, economic, and cultural prosperity and success.
And yet, as he feels death coming on, Joshua considers it necessary to call a gathering of all the tribes. And at that gathering he challenges them to consciously renew their commitment to God. He knows that prosperity can breed arrogance and laziness. He knows that the idol worship of the nations they had conquered, the nations they now inhabit, was still seductive. He recognizes that if the Israelites are going to keep their faith alive and strong in this new chapter of their history, they need to make a firm, conscious renewal of their most deeply held convictions.
In our lives too, when all is going well and smoothly, we need to make our own pact of Shechem, reaffirming our commitment to serve Christ, not just to seek success and comfort.
Getting to Know Christ Increases Our Faith
When faith grows in the heart of a Christian, a lot of other virtues start growing too: wisdom, courage, humility, hope, and Christ-like love. If we want to grow in these virtues, our faith must become more conscious, more mature. But how can we help that to happen?
The same way that Peter and the other Apostles did. This moment of crisis occurred after they had been living and traveling with Jesus for two years. During that time, they had gotten to know Jesus in a personal way. The Lord was not distant or abstract; the Lord was their companion, leader, and friend; they had a personal relationship with him. And so, when the moment of crisis came, the moment in which their faith was challenged, they were ready to respond. Even when they couldn't see the whole picture themselves, they believed that Jesus could, and they knew that Jesus, the good shepherd, the "Holy One of God," would guide them well.
Sooner or later, every Catholic faces a religious crisis, a situation in which our faith is challenged, in which we don't understand fully why God does what he does or asks what he asks. That is the moment when we can rise to a new level of spiritual maturity. But only if we have been nourishing our faith by getting to know Jesus Christ, the person, through a conscious life of prayer and sacramental life.
If our Catholic faith has been reduced to following a list of rules and routines, it will be much harder to survive and thrive in those moments of testing. Certainly, God will never give up on us, but unless we have a real relationship with him, we may end up giving up on him. And there is no greater tragedy in life than that.
In this Mass, our Lord is asking us what he asked the Twelve: "Do you also want to leave... as so many others have done?" We don't; we believe in the One who died for us; let's tell him so right now, and let's show him so all week long.
The prophets of the Old Testament foretold that God's Spirit would rest upon the Messiah to sustain his mission. Their prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus the Messiah was conceived by the Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus on the occasion of his baptism by John. Jesus' entire mission took place in communion with the Spirit. Before he died, Jesus promised that the Spirit would be given to the Apostles and to the entire Church. After his death, he was raised by the Father in the power of the Spirit.
Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem so that they could receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). When about 120 of Jesus' disciples were gathered the Holy Spirit came in the form of wind and fire. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples understood that God was anointing them for a special mission (Acts 2).
The early Christians made sure, then, that whenever they brought people into the Church, they would baptize them with water and then anoint them with oil. Why oil? Oil had been used in the Old Testaments to anoint priests, prophets, and kings. The early Christians realized that their community was "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Pet 2:9). Each new member was anointed with oil after being baptized with water.
In the early Church Baptism and Confirmation were celebrated in a single ceremony. It is still done this way in the churches of the East. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of the West, the two sacraments gradually separated. The Church in the West wanted the bishop to complete a person's initiation. As the Church grew and the bishops ministered over ever larger territories, the bishop could not be present for every Baptism. So began the custom of gathering groups of baptized Catholics together later so that the bishop could confirm them all at one time. In the process over time the reception of the Eucharist came before the celebration of Confirmation.
Confirmation is one of the sacraments of the Church. Together with Baptism and the Eucharist, it constitutes the set of "the sacraments of Christian initiation," that is, sacraments whose reception is necessary for the fullness of the grace we receive in Baptism. The sacrament of Confirmation unites the Church more intimately and enriches her with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Thus, those who receive it are obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed, as true witnesses of Christ.
Confirmation deepens our baptismal life that calls us to be missionary witnesses of Jesus Christ in our families, neighbourhoods, society, and the world. We receive the message of faith in a deeper and more intensive manner with great emphasis given to the person of Jesus Christ, who asked the Father to give the Holy Spirit to the Church for building up the community in loving service.
Receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation, The Christian becomes more closely united with Christ and the Christian's relationship with God is made stronger. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are strengthened: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. In this way the Christian is equipped to become a better witness to Christ in the world. With the strengthening of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit the Christian is able to accept new responsibilities for witnessing Jesus to the world.
A bishop is the usual celebrant of the Sacrament of Confirmation. During the celebration of Confirmation, the bishop extends his hands over those to be confirmed and calls upon God: "Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their helper and guide." Then each person to be confirmed is anointed with chrism on the forehead as the bishop says, "Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit."
Confirmation, like Baptism, imprints on the Christian's soul a spiritual sign or indelible character; this is why this sacrament can only be received once in a lifetime. (CCC, 1302-1305)
The East Hong Kong Deanery is scheduled to hold five performances of the 2024 Mission Festival musical evangelization play "Hope of Life" (in Cantonese) from October 18-20 at the Caritas Center Auditorium on Caine Road. This event aims to raise funds for the Diocese's church building and development foundation. Tickets will go on sale starting the fourth Sunday of this month. Please watch Bishop Ha Chi-shing's appeal below.
港島東總鐸區定於10月18-20日假堅道明愛中心禮堂舉行五場2024傳教節音樂福傳劇「生命的希望」，並藉此活動為教區籌募建堂及發展基金會籌募經費，將於本月第四個主日開始售票。以下請收看夏志誠主教的呼籲
The link for video download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ved10rJ2gHFlzAaAlOI9lpwpzLsnzeuj/view?usp=drive_link
Introduction
My dear brothers and sisters, we just heard a passage from the Gospel of John, which is strange, in a sense. It's strange because this year is the second year of the three-year cycle of liturgical readings - Year B. As you know, ever since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has been following this three-year cycle of Sunday readings. Before the Council, the Church followed a one-year cycle.
The three-year cycle was designed to give us more exposure to the vast riches contained in the sacred scriptures. During each of the three years, the Sunday Gospels focus on one evangelist. Year A gives us readings from St. Matthew's Gospel, Year C gives us readings from St Luke, and Year B, this year, gives us readings from St Mark. But this week we have begun making our way through the sixth chapter of St John's Gospel - why is that? The reason is pretty simple. St Mark's Gospel is the shortest of the four Gospels.
So, we needed to fill in some weeks to make it all the way through the long season of Ordinary Time. And since St John's Gospel doesn't have its own year (we usually read through it during the intense liturgical seasons like Christmas and Easter), this created a perfect opportunity to spend a few weeks to go through this crucial chapter.
And so, for the next four weeks, we will have a chance to reflect on the lessons it contains. This is especially important lessons, because John Chapter 6 is all about the Eucharist, and the Eucharist is, as the Catechism teaches, us "the source and summit of the Christian life" (Catechism #1324).
That's a serious claim, and we would we wise to learn more about it. In today's miraculous multiplication of the loaves, Jesus teaches us two critical things about this most Blessed Sacrament.
Part I: The Eucharist Was Christ's Idea
The first critical thing is that it was his idea. Some critics of the Catholic Church argue that the central role of the Eucharist in Church life was a later invention. They say that as Church bureaucracy grew through the centuries, it invented devotion to the Eucharist as a way to give more power to the priests.
It is true that our understanding of the meaning of the Eucharist has increased as the centuries have passed. And it is true that practices like adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and solemn benediction were developed only as the centuries moved along.
But it is not true that the fact of the Eucharist itself was a "later invention." It was Christ's own idea. This will become clearer and clearer as we make our way through Chapter 6 of St John's Gospel - in fact, you may want to read through the whole chapter at home today, looking for clues that the Eucharist was the Lord's idea; you'll find plenty. But even before he starts talking about the Eucharist, we can see him preparing for it.
Notice, for example, how closely this multiplication of the loaves resembles the Mass, which is the perpetual celebration of the Eucharist. First of all, St. John tells us that "the Jewish feast of the Passover was near," and we know that on the feast of Passover, during the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist. Then St. John explains that a large crowd was gathering around Jesus, because they had seen his signs of healing.
Well, only baptized Catholics can receive the Eucharist, because they have been previously freed from original sin by the sacrament of baptism, a sign of spiritual healing. And then some people from the crowd bring a few offerings to Jesus - the loaves and fish, just like our offertory after the Creed. And what did Jesus do? He "gave thanks" and then "distributed" the food.
This mirrors perfectly the second half of Mass. In the Eucharistic prayer the priest gives thanks to God on behalf of the congregation, and then he distributes Holy Communion. And to top it all off, St John specifies that there were basketfuls of bread and fish leftover, and Jesus instructed his apostles to gather them together and preserve them.
That's exactly what we do with the hosts that remain after Communion; we gather them in the ciboria and reserve them in the tabernacle. All of this is no accident. Jesus is not just giving the crowds a free lunch to show them God's generosity and concern; he is also getting them ready to understand his coming discourse about the Eucharist.
This mirrors perfectly the second half of Mass. In the Eucharistic prayer the priest gives thanks to God on behalf of the congregation, and then he distributes Holy Communion. And to top it all off, St John specifies that there were basketfuls of bread and fish leftover, and Jesus instructed his apostles to gather them together and preserve them.
That's exactly what we do with the hosts that remain after Communion; we gather them in the ciboria and reserve them in the tabernacle. All of this is no accident. Jesus is not just giving the crowds a free lunch to show them God's generosity and concern; he is also getting them ready to understand his coming discourse about the Eucharist.
Part II: We Really Need the Eucharist
The second critical thing that today's Gospel tells us about the Eucharist is that we really need it. The crowds following Jesus had no food. And the disciples had no money to buy food. The five loaves and two fish were simply not enough to do the job.
The apostles were at the end of their rope; they were helpless; they could do nothing to satisfy the needs of the people. Some sceptics argue that actually the people had plenty of food, but they didn't want to share it. And so, the critics say, the real miracle is that somehow Jesus, by sharing what he had, convinced them all to do the same thing.
But to reading this passage, and the parallel passages in the other Gospels, in that way is to do violence to the Bible - it's distorting the words of the text, not interpreting them.
The fact that Jesus really did multiply the bread is emphasized by today's First Reading, where the prophet Elisha performed a similar miracle for a hundred people. Only the power of God was sufficient to meet the needs described by these passages of the Bible.
It reminds us of another Old Testament passage where God's power had to intervene when he sent the Israelites manna in the desert. That too was a foreshadowing of the Eucharist, the true bread from heaven, as next week's Gospel passage will remind us. If Jesus hadn't intervened with his miracle, those people would have gone hungry; they needed bread, and only Jesus could give it to them. The same thing goes for us today.
To live the lives of wisdom, courage, hope, faith, and self-giving that we are called to live, in a sin-infected culture that is like a desert, void of all those virtues, we need God's help. And he gives it to us, by feeding us with his very own wisdom, faith, courage and strength, through the Eucharist.
Conclusion: Living Mass Deeply
Giving us the Eucharist, the supernatural nourishment of Christ's own body and blood, was God's idea. And he came up with this idea because he looked out at us, saw the depths of our hearts, and knew that we needed his help, his love, his grace.
Every Mass is a celebration of this great gift of the Eucharist. As we continue with this Mass, let's make an effort to live it deeply. And we can live it deeply, by paying attention to the sacred words of the liturgy, by stirring up sentiments of gratitude and faith in our hearts, and by remembering that we are not alone,that through this Mass we are connected to Catholics throughout the world and throughout history who have gathered around the same altar and received the same Holy Communion, obeying our Lords' command: "Do this in remembrance of me."
We recognize that the Sacraments have a visible and invisible reality, a reality open to all the human senses but grasped in its God-given depths with the eyes of faith. St Augustine, in the 5th century described a sacrament as 'an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible grace.' It sounds like a very simple answer, but, to understand the depth of what that means, we need to probe rather more deeply. When parents hug their children, for example, the visible reality we see is the hug. The invisible reality the hug conveys is love. We cannot "see" the love the hug expresses, though sometimes we can see its nurturing effect in the child.
The visible reality we see in the Sacraments is their outward expression, the form they take, and the way in which they are administered and received. The invisible reality we cannot "see" is God's grace, his gracious initiative in redeeming us through the death and Resurrection of his Son. His initiative is called grace because it is the free and loving gift by which he offers people a share in his life, and shows us his favor and will for our salvation. Our response to the grace of God's initiative is itself a grace or gift from God by which we can imitate Christ in our daily lives.
The saving words and deeds of Jesus Christ are the foundation of what he would communicate in the Sacraments through the ministers of the Church. St. Francis de Sales said, "The Sacraments are channels through which, so to speak, God descends to us as we through prayer ascend to Him…The effects of the Sacraments are various, although they all have but one and the same aim and object, which is to unite us to God."
St John, in his gospel tells us 'God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.'(John 3:16) God's love for us, his will for us to participate in his life, is manifested in the Incarnation, God's giving of himself in the humanity of Jesus; 'the word became flesh and lived among us' (John 1:14) Jesus is the visible, outward sign of God's love for us. And, in turn, it is in the Church that Christ remains visible and tangible for us, most particularly in our encounters with him in the sacraments. The sacraments are where we meet Christ, where God's action, in Christ, through the Church, transforms us, bringing us to what God wants us to be. As baptised Christians, this is what we want too, we want to be what God wills for us. And what God wills for us is a life of joy in his presence and the promise of eternity.
The sacraments are "efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us" (CCC 1131). In other words, a sacrament is a sacred and visible sign that is instituted by Jesus to give us grace, an undeserved gift from God. (See also CCC 1084). Christ was present at the inception of all of the sacraments, which He instituted 2,000 years ago. Christ is also present every time each sacrament is celebrated.
Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church recognizes the existence of Seven Sacraments instituted by the Lord. They are the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist), the Sacraments of Healing (Penance and the Anointing of the Sick), and the Sacraments at the Service of Communion (Marriage and Holy Orders). The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that "the seven sacraments touch all the stages and all important moments of the Christian life" (CCC 1210).
Through the Sacraments, God shares his holiness with us so that we, in turn, can make the world holier. As actions of Christ and the Church, they are signs and means which express and strengthen the faith, render worship to God, and effect the sanctification of humanity and thus contribute in the greatest way to establish, strengthen, and manifest ecclesiastical communion. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy tells us, 'The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify, to build up the Body of Christ and, finally, to worship God. Because they are signs, they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it.'
My dear brothers and sisters, in this Sunday Gospel, St Mark gives us one of the most amazing phrases in his entire Gospel. "His heart was moved...". St. Mark told us this when Jesus gets off the boat and sees the crowd.
Jesus has a human heart - he took one on purpose: so that he could be close to us. He truly cares for us; he feels our needs and struggles even more deeply than we feel them ourselves. And he continually reaches out to be our leader, our light, and our strength.
When we accept these gifts, he is pleased, truly gratified. But when we reject them, he is hurt, truly stung by our ingratitude. This is the lesson of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which has, through the centuries, confided its sorrows to certain chosen souls, like St Gertrude and St Margaret Mary Alacoque.
When we are dealing with Jesus Christ we are not dealing with an idea, a concept, a philosophical "unmoved mover," as Aristotle described God. In Christ, God has become man, someone just like us; in heaven, this very moment, he exists as a man, body and soul, and he is "preparing a place" for us in heaven (John 14:2).
Through the Holy Spirit and the Church, he extends his friendship to us, trying to draw us more fully into the indescribable joys of his own divine life, so that someday, when the time is right, we may enjoy that place he is preparing for us in heaven.
We all know this, but how deeply do we believe it? Not deeply enough, that's why the Church constantly reminds us that God urgently desires our friendship. Every human being desire to live in communion with God; only those who find Christ get to live out that communion in the form of a real, human friendship.
God Becomes a Shepherd
This is what God is talking about in today's First Reading. He's complaining about the priests and leaders of Israel in the Old Testament. Their whole mission, their whole purpose in life was to communicate to God's people this passionate, real interest that God has in our lives. But those priests and leaders were so self-centered that they failed in their mission.
They plundered and scandalized the people they were called to protect and serve. And it made God mad! "You have not cared for my sheep," he says: "but I will take care to punish your evil deeds." God is not indifferent to these self-centered priests, because he cares about his people.
He cares so much, in fact, that he finds a radical solution.
If he can't depend on these priests and leaders, who keep rebelling against him, he will do the job himself: "I myself will gather the remnants of my flock... I will raise up a righteous shoot to David, a king who will reign and govern wisely."
This is a prophecy about Jesus Christ - God himself come to dwell among us and reveal the incredible depths of God's mercy and concern for us. And then God goes on to promise that he will also appoint new shepherds who are dependable. These are the priests of the New Testament, charged with administering the sacraments.
Making Sure Others Don't Have to Fight Alone
As we continue with this Mass, our hearts should be strengthened by this reminder that Jesus hasn't abandoned us and will never abandon us. We are precious to him, his valued friends, his fellow soldiers. The battles that each one of us will have to fight this coming week, even if they seem small in the eyes of the world, are big in Christ's eyes. We matter to him, and because of that we will never have to fight alone.
But all around us there are doing just that. They are fighting to build a meaningful, fruitful life, but they are doing it alone, full of much more fear and frustration than we have to face.
They are sheep without a shepherd, and maybe they have even been wounded and frustrated by the mistakes of false shepherds. Who will lend them a hand of encouragement if not us, we who are constantly being encouraged by the eternal and infinitely wise shepherd?
Who will tell them about the Savior, the Friend who, as St Paul says in today's Second Reading, can "be their peace," if they will let him? Us: we are his messengers. If we keep the message to ourselves, we will be no better than the selfish shepherds from the First Reading.
In a few moments, Jesus will renew his commitment to us, feeding us with the bread of eternal life, the Eucharist. When we receive him into our hearts, let's thank him for his interest in us, and renew our pledge to stay always actively interested in him and in building his kingdom.
Even if these priests fall into selfishness, mediocrity, or even sinful rebellion, the sacraments will still stand. Even if a New Testament priest is in mortal sin, God still sends his grace to this people through the sacraments that that priest celebrates. As Pope Benedict XVI put it: "the efficacy of the ministry is independent of the holiness of the minister" (Letter to Priests, 16 June 2009).
Of course, that's no excuse for us priests to be mediocre and sinful, but God's faithfulness doesn't depend on our faithfulness. So, despite themselves, priests of Jesus Christ are, through God's providence and power, dependable channels through which God continues to pour out his saving grace. That's how much he cares about us.
St. Anne's Church
1 Tung Tau Wan Road
Stanley, Hong Kong
Office Hours:
Sunday 8:30-1:30
Tue-Fri 9:00-12:00, 1:00-6:30
Closed on Statutory Holidays
Tel: +852 2813 0206
Fax: +852 2813 6908
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
