Michæl McFarland Campbell

Some thoughts for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), Sunday 26 June 2022.

Following Christ means transferring our security

In today’s Gospel we read that Our Lord Jesus Christ is travelling to the city of Jerusalem for the last time. Along the way, He meets three men who have heard His call in their hearts. These encounters teach us three tough lessons about what it means to follow Christ. However, I’m only going to concentrate on one of them.

To follow Christ, we have to transfer our sense of security. We have to relocate it from ourselves to God. We have to unlearn our lifelong lesson of relying on ourselves for success and happiness. We have to learn to rely wholly upon God, plugging all our efforts in life into His Grace.

This is what Our Lord Jesus Christ means when He says that,

Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

St Luke 9:58 RSVCE

Christ is trustworthy, but He is not predictable. When we follow Him, we have to agree to go one step and one day at a time. He refuses to give us a full route map in advance. When we follow Him, we have to stop pretending that we can keep our lives under control all by our own efforts. In accepting the friendship of Christ, we agree to follow Him, to put our lives under His leadership.

We know by looking around us that foxes and birds have the security of their instincts and natural habitats. Christians, however, are on an unpredictable adventure. We simply do not know where God will lead us. We do not know what He may ask us to do. When we join Christ’s army, we have to hand him a blank cheque.

Elisha’s example

The prophet Elisha gives us an eloquent example of this transferal of security in the First Reading. When Elijah comes and calls him to become his successor as Israel’s prophet, Elisha goes back home to tie up loose ends. And he really ties them up. Elisha was a farmer, where his whole livelihood, his whole way of life, was linked to the farm. This was how he made his way in the world. Up until the time of his calling, this was the source of his security.

But, when God makes His will known, Elisha doesn’t hesitate to break completely with that former way of life. He doesn’t just leave the farm behind. He actually slaughters the most important farm animals and burns his most precious tools. In so doing, he offered them to the Lord as a sign that from now on he will depend on God for his livelihood and his happiness.

Not everyone is called to serve God in this way, not everyone is called to consecrate themselves completely to the Church. But all Christians are called to make a spiritual offering to God of our oxen and our ploughs, of those things, talents, or activities that we tend to depend on instead of depending on God.

God can only fill our lives with the meaning and fruitfulness we long for if we put Him first, trusting that He will lead us better than we can lead ourselves.

Resurrecting the Morning Offering

Each one of us wants to make this transfer of security from self to God. That is why we are at Mass. We know that we need God. We know that only by depending more fully on Him will our lives take on the meaning and fruitfulness for which we all long.

But how do we do it? How can we become more faithful followers of Our Blessed Lord, more hope-filled disciples, more stable and authentic Christians? This transfer of security from self to God is a virtue. It is the virtue of hope. Like all Christian virtues, this one was planted in our souls like a seed when we were baptised. It is already there. We just have to help it grow. We do this by exercising it.

One of the most effective ways to exercise this virtues is by practising the long-standing tradition of beginning the day with what is called a prayer of “morning offering”. Like all exercises, physical, mental, or spiritual, it is better if it is done regularly. Daily, if possible.

This is a prayer that we say before the day begins — maybe right when we get out of bed, maybe after showering, before we go to breakfast. It’s a short prayer, but everything is put in perspective:

Thanking God for the gift of another day;

Asking God for guidance and protection;

Renewing our commitment to accept and do whatever He asks of us as we continue on the adventure of following His unpredictable path.

This week, let’s resurrect this wise tradition, so we can all exercise more energetically this great virtue of hope, a virtue that foxes and birds don’t need, but that is absolutely essential for us.

Today, Jesus will come to us once again to assure us of His all-powerful Love. When He does, let us assure Him of our trust. Nothing will please Him more.

Sample morning offerings

A modern version

O eternal and ever-blessed Trinity, Father Son, and Holy Spirit, with all the angels and saints, I adore you. From the bottom fo my heart I thank you for all the favours and benefits you have bestowed upon me, but especially for having preserved me during the night, and for giving me this day to serve you. I wish to live only for you, for greater honour and glory, and for the salvation of souls. O good God, preserve me this day from all sin and all occasion of sin.

O loving God, I begin this work day by offering everything I am and do to you. Help me accomplish all the day’s necessary tasks, to be wise in making decisions and earnest in completing my work. Let nothing distress or overwhelm me. Help me to depend on you for the energy, wisdom, and courage I need to do an honest day’s work. And then help me to let go of any concerns and anxieties. Amen.

A traditional version

O Jesus through the most pure Heart of Mary, I offer You all my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father the Pope. Amen.

Reflection on Readings at Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Easter (Year C): Acts 13:14, 43–52; Psalm 100:1-3, 5; Revelation 7:9, 14–17; St John 10:27–30.

I realize of course that joy is not expressed the same way at all times in life, especially at moments of great difficulty. Joy adapts and changes, but it always endures, even as a flicker of light, born of our personal certainty that, when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.

Francis, Bishop of Rome, Joy of the Gospel.

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles today, tells us that the Apostles were filled with joy. Joy is the hallmark of Christianity. Joy is the gift of Eastertide: 50 days of celebration. Fifty days to allow the joy of Christ’s Resurrection to truly sink in.

We all have moments of suffering, sometimes they seem to last for more than fifty days. Joy, however, is possible in every situation. Joy comes from the certainty that we are infinitely loved.

Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that in the Gospel today. He says,

My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.

St John 10:27–28 NRSVACE

Then, in one of the most wonderful lines in the whole of Scripture, He says,

No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.

St John 10:27–30 NRSVACE

Joy is the certainty of being loved. We are loved by God Himself, Whose Love cannot change, Whose Love cannot let us down. Ever.

Our Lord does not promise an easy life. He does not say, “You will never have problems.”

Our Lord does not promise us success as we understand success. He promises that no one can snatch us out of his hand. He is God. He is one with the Father, in Him we are safe. In Him we are loved. This is the great lesson for today. Joy is the certainty of being infinitely loved by God.

The ultimate proof of God’s Love

We see around us the news of many children in our towns and villages making their first communion at this time. It was the same over a hundred years ago in northern France when a little girl made her first communion.

She had prepared for it, looked forward to it with excitement, and the day finally came. That little girl described the first time that she received our Lord in the Eucharist,

I felt that I was loved, and I said to Jesus, “I love you and I give myself to you for ever…” It was a fusion: Jesus and I were no longer two, I had vanished in him as a drop of water vanishes in the ocean. Jesus alone remained.

She ended her description of her first communion by recalling the joy she felt that day, the same joy she experienced every time she received Christ in the Eucharist.

Today, that little girl is one of the most famous saints in the Roman Catholic Church, St Thérèse of Lisieux. She illustrates that joy frlows from the certainty of being infinitely loved by God. E

Every time that we receive the Eucharist, we receive a living reminder of God’s Love for us. We too can say,

I know that I am loved. I know that certainty brings a joy that nothing can take away, because I am safe in the hands of Jesus.

The greatest gift

Imagine if we could hae a daily meeting with Queen Elizabeth II or with Tom Daley. We would probably consider it a tremendous gift. It would be. However, there is an even greater gift: the chance to receive God each day in the Eucharist.

The Curé d’Ars used to say that if we want to be saints, we need to receive communion often. Our Lord Jesus Christ left us this gift as his real presence. When we receive communion we receive God himself. We are united to Him in a way that surpasses anything else.

So, during the rest of Eastertide, why do we not consider attending daily Mass, where possible? If that is not possible then make sure we do attend the Eucharist each Sunday.

Joy comes from the certainty that when everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved by God. The Eucharist makes that Love present, here and now. We can see it. We can touch it.

As we receive Christ in the Eucharist today, let us all thank Him for His amazing Love for us. Let us ask Him to help us to love Him more and more each day.

Reflection on the readings at the Eucharist on the Second Sunday of Easter Year C (Divine Mercy Sunday): Acts 5:12-16; Psalm 118:2-4, 13-14, 22-24; Revelation 1:9–11, 12-13, 17-19; St John 20:19-31

The gift of Divine Mercy

Today, as we conclude the Octave of Easter and then continue on into the rest of the fifty days of Easter, we celebrate the gift of divine mercy. We find that it is easey to forget that we do not have a right to mercy. Mercy has been freely given to us by the Lord.

In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we read of the power of healing flowing from St Peter and the faith of the people who sought him out. St Peter over the readings during the Octave has been the first to tell us that the power comes from Our Lord Jesus Christ, not from him. Today, we read that people are trying to fall under St Peter’s shadow to be healed. It is likely that St Peter would admit that he is but a shadow of the Lord. However, our blessed Lord uses him to heal those who seek him, just as those who seek forgiveness and healing through the sacraments draw close to our bishops and priests, knowing that it is the Lord who heals and forgives through them.

In today’s second reading from the Revelation of St John the Divine, St John has a vision of Our Lord holding

the keys of Death and of Hades

Revelation 1:18 NRSVACE

The Lord is not revealed by name, but reveals himself as “the first and the last” (Revelation 1:17) to St John who is imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos for giving witness to Jesus. His keys represent His authority: specifically, to bind and to loose. If we ask Him to liberate us, He will, but we do have to ask Him. Our Lord’s mercy is the key to liberation from our sins.

Our Blessed Lord did not have to forgive St Thomas for his lack of faith in the Gospel, just as Adam and Eve did not have to receive mercy after the fall. That fall condemned all their posterity (all of us) to separation from God for ever. We did not commit the Original Sin, nor was the Lord obliged to forgive it or to redeem all of us from its effects. However, in appearing to the Apostles, the Lord’s message is one of peace and reconciliation, not one of condemnation. In today’s Gospel, He empowers His Apostles to be instruments of His mercy. When a bishop or priest absolves a penitent from their sins, that mercy and power come from Jesus. Instead of remaining in doubt and regret about whether we have truly been forgiven, the Lord has given us sacraments that in faith we know bring us His forgiveness. When we were baptized, we also had our sins wiped away.

All these means of healing and mercy are gifts freely given by the Lord. We do not have to receive them, but surely we would be fools indeed if we did not seek them out.

Jacob Marley’s Chains

In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, the ghost of Scrooge’s business partner, Jacob Marley, appears to him to encourage him to change his greedy ways. The chains that now bind Marley forever are weighed down with

cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel.

A Christmas Carol

When Scrooge asks the ghost why he is fettered, Marley replies,

I wear the chain I forged in life… I made it link by link and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it…

A Christmas Carol

Marley goes on to say that Scrooge’s chain has been much heavier than Marley’s for years.

Our sins reflect the things to which we are attached, just like the chains of Marley’s. What do we think ours look like? There is but one person who can free us all from those chains: Our Lord.

Freely give what you’ve been given

When the Lord sends out the disciples at the start of His public ministry, He tells them

You received without payment; give without payment.

St Matthew 10:8, NRSVACE

Today, we remember the peace and reconciliation He gave them without paying, and the ministry of peace and reconciliation for others that He asked them to carry out without pay as well.

We were freely given the gift of mercy. Let us give it freely as well, whether it is asked of us or not.

Some thoughts for the First Sunday of Easter. Readings: Acts 10:34, 37–43; Psalm 118:1-2, 16-17, 22–23 ℟ v.24; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-9

℣ Christ is risen, alleluia!
℟ The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia!

Joy is the best response

We were created for joy. We never hear someone say,

You know, this whole joy thing is not for me. I wish I had a little more misery in my life.

We are created for joy, but we come to realize that it’s not something we can just buy at the local supermarket. Thinking about the most joyful moments of our lives, is it not true that they were a surprise?

Today’s Gospel gives us an idea of the surprise of discovering the empty tomb. St Mary Magdalene had been there at the foot of the Cross. She had see Jesus die. Crucifixion was not a joke. Being such a horrible way to die, even the Romans eventually outlawed it. So it was, that St Mary Magdalene was not expecting an empty tomb. She knew that Jesus had really died.

So, when she sees the empty tomb, she does not know what to make of it. So she runs and tells St Peter and St John. Both of them run to the tomb. St John beats St Peter to the tomb, he looks in, and then waits for St Peter, the first among the Apostles. St Peter enters the tomb, and then St John follows him in.

What they saw surprised them. We should really say that what they did not see surprised them. The body of Jesus was gone. The burial cloth was there, but the body was gone. The Greek actually says that the burial clothing was lying there in its folds. It was as if the body of Jesus had just evaporated and left the clothes lying there as though there were a body. But a body there was not.

Imagine the surprise. What has happened here? We are told in the Gospel that St John saw and believed. He believed that Jesus had risen from the dead! The surprise must have overwhelmed him. But as he began to believe, he was filled with joy.

Joy is the best response to Easter. Who could have ever imagined that death could be conquered? That is the meaning of Easter. Our deaths are not the end. Just as Jesus rose from the dead, we will rise from the dead. Body and soul, we will live forever.

Suffering does not have the last word. Death does not have the last word. No. The Love of God, given to us in Jesus Christ, the Love of God has the last word. This is why the response to today’s Psalm is

This day was made by the Lord, we rejoice and are glad.

On Easter Day, we also are surprised by the presence of the Risen Jesus. We, too, are filled with joy.

When we realize the gift of Easter, joy is the best response.

The Saint of joy

The St Philip Neri, the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, was known as the Saint of Joy. His antics were legendary. On one occasion four Polish nobles came to visit him. He welcomed them and started to read a book of jokes to them. Every so often he would stop laughing to remark,

You see what wonderful books I have, and what important matters I have read to me!

They went away grumbling about this charlatan who pretended to be a saint. He would also go around Rome with large white shoes on his feet, or dressed in a marten skin cloak, or have his beard shaved off only on one side, or get a haircut in church while Mass was being sung. When he was being criticized by others for his supposed ignorance, he made sure to mispronounce some Latin words during the Mass while they were present. He once said that

a cheerful and glad spirit reaches holiness much more quickly than a melancholy spirit.

St Philip Neri, was a man who had been surprised by the incredible Love of Christ. He realized that joy was the best response.

This day was made by the Lord, we rejoice and are glad.

Tell your story

The Easter story is the most wonderful story ever told. But it is not simply a story told for fun, it is a story that also happens to be true.

Think about how fast good news spreads.

If I really believe that Jesus died for me and for each person, do I not want to tell others?

If I really believe that Jesus rose from the dead at Easter, do I not want to tell others?

If I really believe that Jesus is alive, and wants to fill our lives with healing, freedom, and joy, do I not want to tell others?

Our faith, Christianity, spread because Christians told their story. In our own time, people will come to find joy in Christ if we tell our own story about finding that same joy.

Today, as we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we know that He wants to be both our strength and our joy. After we receive communion, in church or at home, let us take a minute and ask Him, “What is my story?”

Surely every one of us will remember one moment when we realized that our life was different because I know Jesus Christ. Can we share that moment with someone else?

Someone else in this world is waiting to hear that story. Someone else is waiting to experience the joy of Easter.

As it is Easter, let us join in praise by singing the Regina Cæli:

Joy to thee, O Queen of heaven, alleluia;
He whom thou wast meet to bear, alleluia;
As he promised hath arisen, alleluia!
Pour for us to God thy prayer, alleluia!

℣ Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia!
℟ For the Lord is risen indeed, alleluia!

O God, who, by the Resurrection of thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, hast brought joy to the world: grant we beseech thee, that, through his Mother the Virgin Mary, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life; through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Some reflections on the readings at Mass on the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C), 1 Samuel 26:2, 7–9, 12–13, 22–23; Psalm 103:1–4, 8, 10, 12–13; 1 Corinthians 15:45–49; St Luke 6:27–38. Read them here.

Our in-built identity crisis

Each one of us has an in-built identity crisis. It is a constant thing. It’s impossible to get rid of it. And we will have it with us until the day we die. In today’s Epistle, St Paul explains what it is. In the first part of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, St Paul is writing about the resurrrection of the body, since some of the Christians in Corinth were saying that there was no such thing. St Paul says that we will be resurrected on the Last Day. The reason, he says, is because as Christians, we have received Christ’s own spirit into our souls.

At our baptism, God planted the seed of eternal life in the very depths of our souls. Ever since then, He has been nourishing it with His Grace. Through every reception of Holy Communion, every Confession, and through all the other Sacraments, as well as in many other ways, He has been feeding and encouraging the inside of our souls, this supernatural life. This supernatural life, the inner tendency to be more and more like Chirst, is transforming us from the inside out, like leaven does in a mass of dough.

The tendencies of our fallen nature are still at work in us, at the same time that God’s Grace is at work. The catechism calles these tendencies “concupiscence.” We still have the first Adam—our fallen nature—even though we have also received the second Adam—our Christian nature. We have the earthly tendencies of self-indulgence and self-centredness, but we also have heavenly tendencies of self-giving, self-sacrifice, and heroism. This is why we so oftewn want to do the right thing, but doing the wrong thing seems so much easier.

Our lives, therefore, are a constant battle, a struggle to resist the old, fallen-nature self and encourage the new, redeemed, Christian self.

St Maximilian Kolbe’s famous phrase

This is our permanent identity crisis. Waging this constant battle is the adventure of following Christ.

St Maximilian Kolbe had a clear understand of this battle. He was the Franciscan priest who was martyred in Auschwitz during World War II. One of the other prisoners had been condemned to execution, but St Maximilian offered to go in his place, since the condemned man had a wife and family.

Before the War, St Maximilian had founded a community of almost 700 religious brothers in Poland. They formed what was called the “Knights of the Immaculate.” They created a state-of-the-art media complex that included a printing press, radio station, college, and an airfield. Their most popular publication was a magazine that had more than a million subscribers worldwide.

St Maximilian suffered from chronic tuberculosis, which slowed him down but never stopped him. He used to tell the members of his community that when he died and went to heaven, he would be able to help them more than he was able to here on earth. Why? Because in heaven he would be able to use both hands to help them; here on earth, he could only use one hand.  He had to use the other to keep himself from falling.

That’s what our lives are like. We are always beset with temptations, difficulties, and problems. We are always on the verge of betraying our Lord through selfish, evil thoughts, words, and deeds. Within us, we bear God’s Grace, but it is mixed together with our fallen nature: the old Adam and the new Adam are fighting it out within our hearts.

Defusing frustration

This truth can help us overcome one of the great enemies of happiness: frustration. A certain amount of stress and frustration in life is natural. It will always be there. But when it becomes the dominant tone of our lives, it actually interferes with God’s action in our soul.

Frustration is a function of expectations. It comes about when our expectations are out of sync with reality. When we expect to be able to do a thousand things in one day, but in reality we can only do a hundred, we become frustrated. When we expect other people to be perfectly capable of doing exactly what we want them to do, and then in reality they fall short, we get frustrated. When we take on one hundred commitments expecting to have enough time to fulfil them all, but in reality we only have time to fulfil fifty, we get stresed out.

Unless we remember that each one of us has a built-in identity crisis, that we are only on our way to perfection, but we are not there yet, our expectations will always be out of sync with reality. 

If we do remember this lesson, if we remember that the seed of grace is growing inside this very imperfect garden of nature, we have a much better chance of keeping our expectations in proper perspective.

The Christian thing is to be idealisitic and realistic at the same time. This makes us wise, like the saints. It makes us energetic, but at peace.

Today, and throughout this week, let us thank Christ for teaching us this lesson. Let us ask him to help it to sink in. When we receive Him in Holy Communion, let us renew our confidence in Him, let us recommit to following Him energetically, but always with the interior peace He wants to give us.

Reflection on the readings for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C): Jeremiah 17:5–8; Psalm 1:1-4,6; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16–20; St Luke 6:17, 20–26

The Resurrection makes all the difference

St Paul has almost had it with the Christians in Corinth. He spent the first fourteen chapters of this epistle addressing their weak Church discipline and lax morals. Now, as he draws his epistle to a close, he takes up the much deeper question of doctrine.

Why? Quite simply, the Corinthians were flirting with some new interpretations of the Resurrection of Christ. St Paul had to stop them, because, as he puts it,

if Christ has not been raised… we are the most unfortunate of all people.

The Resurrection is the foundation of our faith. It is what separates our Lord Jesus Christ from every other world figure. It gives unique weight to His teachings. Many great historical figures have led exexmplary lives. Many great historical figures have taught wise doctrines, and many great historical figures have even died for the truth. But only one great historical figures has ever risen again. Among the vast array of the greatest heroes of history, of Christ alone can it be said,

he rose again on the third day, in fulfilment of the scriptures.

Why, exactly, is this claim so crucial?

First of all, in the Resurrection of Christ, goodness and power finally unite. No one was as good as Christ, but what good would that goodness have done if Evil had won the day in the end?

Secondly, in the Resurrection of Christ, love proves that it is stronger than death. In Christ and in His Resurrection, a new — a wildly new — hope dawns for all of mankind. This hope that if we stay united to HIm through the Love that springs from faith and grace, will see us rise with Him; will see us rise with Him from our graves, and see us live with Him in the vast and eternal adventure of heaven.

Not one other person offers such a victory and such a hope, because not one other person has risen from the dead to be able to offer it. Not one person but the Lord.

A reason for sacrifice

Without a vibrantm real faith in the Resurrection, we are unable to follow Christ in the way that we ought, as we don’t have any reason to make the necessary sacrifices.

In the sixteenth century, St Thomas More was condemned to death for refusing to support the claim of Henry VIII of England to be head of the Church. While in prison, awaiting his execution, King Henry sent Thomas’s wife to him to try to convince him to change his mind.

She begged him to obey the king so that his life might be spared. St Thomas answered,

And how long, my dear wife, do you think I shall live if I do what you ask me?

She answered,

For at least twenty years.

He answered

Well, if you had said twenty thousand years, that would have been something; but it would, indeed, be a very poor thing to live even that number of years, and run the risk of losing my God in eternity.

Every single one of us faces temptaions in life. Every week, every day, every hour, we are invited to compromise with out selfish tendencies. How can we stay faithful? How can we do the right thing? How can we be true to our friendship with Christ?

His Resurrection, His Victory over sin and death, can give us victory in our daily struggles, just as it gave St Thomas More victory in his. This is why it has been revealed to us.

Today, and each day this week, let us stir up our faith in the Resurrection. Let us polish it up, so that its light can inspire us and others to be better followers of Christ this week. As we say the Creed this week, let us really mean it when we say,

I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

A reflection on the Gospel for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time in Year C. Gospel: St Luke 5:1–11.

The Command of Christ has the power to revolutionize our lives

In the Gospel reading for today, we hear about the first day of the rest of the life of the humble Galilean fisherman, Simon Peter, whom today we know as St Peter the Apostle. From that first day, his life became meaningful, purposeful, and fulfilling. On that day there was a revolution in his life. That revolution is the revolution for which we are all thirsting. If we follow the example of St Peter, we can have it, too.

This revolution has two ingredients: firstly, like St Peter we have to be knocked out of our comfort zone; and secondly, we have to step into Christ’s comfort zone.

Our Lord Jesus Christ plays his part in the Gospel masterfully. He tells Peter to, “Duc in altum et laxate retia vestra in capturam” (“Put out into the deep and lower your nets for a catch.”^[1]) Peter was the expert at fishing, not Our Lord. The boat belonged to Peter, we could say that he was the CEO of a fishing company. Peter knew that you don’t catch fish in broad daylight, particularly not after a night without any catch at all. But Our Lord looks right at him, inviting him, challenging him; He is pushing Peter out of his comfort zone, into the deep water of the lake, and into the deep spiritual water of faith. That’s the first ingredient of the revolution, Jesus knocks Peter out of his comfort zone. Now comes the second ingredient. 

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Peter actually obeys: not because he understands, not because he can figure it out. No, he obeys for only one reason, because it is the Lord who tells him, “Praeceptor…  in verbo autem tuo laxabo rete.” (“Master… at your word I will let down the nets.”^[2]) Peter lets Our Lord push him out of his own comfort zone; he takes the risk of stepping into the Lord’s comfort zone. Isn’t this the formula for the Christian revolution, the revolution that brings meaning to life?

As St John Paul II said to the World Day of Prayer for Vocations in 2005,

‘Duc in altum’ [Put out into the deep]. The command of Christ is particularly relevant in our time, when there is a widespread mentality which, in the face of difficulties, favours personal non-commitment… Whoever opens his heart to Christ will not only understand the mystery of his own existence, but also that of his own vocation; he will bear the abundant fruit of grace… Trust Christ; listen attentively to His teachings, fix your eyes on His face, persevere in listening to His Word. Allow Him to focus your search and your aspirations, all your ideals and the desires of your heart. ^[3]

Blondin’s high wire act

The story is told of a great circus performer by the name of Blondin who stretched a long steel cable across Niagara Falls. During high winds and without a safety net, he walked, ran, and even danced across the tightrope to the amazement and delight of the large crowd of people who watched. He even took a wheelbarrow full of bricks and pushed it effortlessly across the cable, from one side of the falls to the other. 

Blondin then turned to the crowd and asked, “How many of you believe I could push a man across the wire in the wheelbarrow?”

Everyone held their hands high and cheered. Everyone believed he could do it!

“Then,” asked Blondin, “would one of you please volunteer to be that man?”

As quickly as the hands went up, they went back down. Not a single person would volunteer to ride in that wheelbarrow, to trust his life to Blondin. 

Many of us read or hear the Gospel because we believe in Jesus Christ. That’s why we go to Mass, but how much do we put that faith into practice? 

We are often content to have Our Blessed Lord sit in our boat, to hear His teaching, and to feel the comfort of His Presence. But when He asks something of us, when He pushes us out of our comfort zone, we resist. That is why we get stuck in our Christian lives; stuck on this side of holiness, stuck with mediocre happiness, stuck with empty nets. 

Our Lord has so much more to give us. He wants to fill our nets, just as he filled Peter’s. He just needs us to trust Him a little more, He needs us to climb into his wheelbarrow, He needs us to put out into deep water.^[4]

Inviting others to follow Christ more closely

“Duc in altum” – one way that God asks us to do this, is bearing witness to Him, inviting others to believe in Him, to follow Him, and to enter into a friendship with Him. All baptized Christians share in this mission that our Lord Jesus Christ gave to Peter that morning when He said, “noli timere ex hoc iam homines eris capiens” (“Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.”)^[5]

If we truly love our neighbours, we will want them to come closer to Christ, to only source of eternal life. Helping people come closer to Christ can make us feel uncomfortable; it pushes us out of our comfort zone. Yet, if loving others is the source of true joy, then bringing others to Christ—the best way of loving them—will be the source of greatest joy. 

I often wonder why so many more people go to Mass at Christmas and at Easter than during the rest of the year. Where do these people go on all the other Sundays and feastdays? There must be at least some faith; if there were not, they would not come when they do. Does their faith disappear for the other 363 days of the year? I suspect that this is not the case at all. Is it that we have not helped them to discover the satisfaction of a dynamic friendship with Christ? Are they just waiting for someone to invite them to follow Jesus more closely. 

St Peter was made to feel uncomfortable to row back out into the deep water in broad daylight. But he did it: because our Lord asked him to, and his nets were filled to overflowing. 

In the same way, Our Blessed Lord asks us to row out there too, to be fishers of men. It certainly can be an uncomfortable feeling, but it is worth it. But don’t take my word for it. Ask Him yourself, when He comes into your boat again when you receive Him in Holy Communion. 

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^[1] St Luke 5:4

^[2] St Luke 5:5

^[3] St John Paul II, Message for the 42nd World Day of Prayer for Vocations, 17 April 2005, Fourth Sunday of Easter. https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/vocations/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_20040811_xlii-voc-2005.html [accessed 2022-02-01] 

^[4] Adapted from “Hot Illustrations” © 2001 Youth Specialties, Inc. 

^[5] St Luke 5:10

Some thoughts on the readings at the Eucharist for the Solemnity of Christ the Universal King: Daniel 7:13-14; Psalm 93:1, 1-2, 5; Revelation 1:5-8; and St John 18:33-37

✠ In the readings at Mass today, we hear one of best known phrases of the Bible. Our Lord Jesus Christ affirms that He is a king, but He also affirms that His kingdom does not “belong to this world”. This was important for Him to mention, because Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor who was interrogating, was worried that Our Lord was trying to organise some king of political rebellion against the Roman Empire. Our Lord explains that he was not.

But, if Our Lord Jesus Christ is not a political king, what kind of king is He? If His kingdom is “not of this world”, what king of kingdom is it?

Pope Benedict XVI explained the answers to these questions in 2006:

[Jesus] did not come to rule over peoples and territories… but to set people free from the slavery of sin and to reconcile them with God.

Pope Benedict XVI. Angelus, 26 November 2006 https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/angelus/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20061126.html [accessed 2021-11-20]

Ever since original sin, our fallen world has been enslaved to selfishness and separated from God. Tempted by the Devil, our first parents believed the lie that they could achieve the fulfilment, meaning, and happiness they longed for apart from God. That lie led them to disobey God’s commands, to act as if they themselves were gods. That self-centred rebellion, instead of liberating the human race, poisoned it with suffering, death, and evil. By throwing off God’s rule, we made ourselves into followers of the very first rebel against God: the Devil.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came to save us, by bringing the Light of Truth back into our darkened, confused world. What is that truth, the truth that will set us free from sin? That God is love.

By accepting God’s love in our life, we accept the antidote to the poison and are reinstated as citizens of the Kingdom fo God, where Christ is the everlasting King.

As Pope Benedict said,

The way to reach this goal is long and admits of no short cuts: indeed, every person must freely accept the truth of God’s love. He is Love and Truth, and neither Love nor Truth are ever imposed: they come knocking at the door of the heart and the mind and where they can enter they bring peace and joy. This is how God reigns; this is his project of salvation, a “mystery” in the biblical sense of the word: a plan that is gradually revealed in history.

Angelus, 26 November 2006

Three steps to accepting the Truth

Accepting Christ’s kingdom is an interior freedom, a peace and strength of soul that only His grace can give us. If up to today, we have not experienced it as deeply as we should like, maybe that is because we have not fully accepted the truth that God is love. Fully accepting that truth, which Pontius Pilate refused to do, involves at least three things.

First, it means accepting it freshly every single day. Each day we remain free to decide how we will live. Therefore, each day we have to reaffirm our citizenship in God’s Kingdom, or else we will slowly drift away from Him.

Secondly, accepting the truth that God is Love means admitting that we need God. Trying to achieve perfect happiness by our own efforts, without God, will shut ourselves off from God’s love. The most direct way to admit that we need God, to allow His Love to be part of our lives, is to come regularly to the sacrament of reconciliation. There is simply no better way to acknowledge His Kingship over our lives, to acknowledge that the law of His Kingdom is mercy.

Thirdly, accepting the truth that God is Love means striving in our daily lives to love as God loves. St Paul summarised all the laws of Christ’s Kingdom as one: love your neighbour as yourself (Romans 13:9). When we refuse to forgive, to serve, to treat others as we would have them treat us, we distance ourselves from the God Who is Love, refusing to accept His friendship.

Today, as we celebrate Christ the Universal King, let us thank Him for binging us the Truth that will set us free. And, let us ask humbly for the grace to accept that Truth—that God is Love— every single day of our lives.

Some thoughts from the readings for the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time in Year B, 3 October 2021.

Readings: Genesis 2:18–24; Psalm 128: 1–6; Hebrews 2:9–11; Mark 10:2–16.

God is at our side

Two thousand years ago, before the first Christmas, most religions were designed to keep the gods at a safe distance. Pagan religions conceived of the gods as powerful, unpredictable, and dangerous. Your best bet was to lay low and to hope that the gods did not notice you, because if they did, they would invariably cause trouble.

But when Our Lord Jesus Christ came to earth, He revealed to us the truth about God. The truth is that God is not some kind of divine ogre; the truth is that God is on our side. He is our Father. He created us, He redeemed us, and He is lovingly interested in everything that we do. In the Epistle reading we are reminded of the undeniable proof that this is the case: the Incarnation, Passion, Death, and Resurrectino of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

God Himself, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, chose to become man in the womb of the Blessed Virgin mary. He chose to become our brother and to share in the sufferings that we all experience in this fallen world. He chose to walk by our sides.

Look at the conversation He had with the Pharisees in today’s Gospel. He patiently discusses with them a point of theology. He lowers Himself to their level, trying to get them to understand God’s plan for their lives, for marriage, for the family. What humility! What goodness He shows in giving those hypocrites so much attention.

Our Lord Jesus Christ didn’t come into our world ot make our lives miserable, to cause us trouble, or to condemn us. No. He comes to save us, to offer us His friendship, a friendship that will give us hope, wisdom, mercy, joy, and the key to everlasting life. That’s the kind of God we have gathered today to worship. That’s the kind of Lord that we follow.

St Vicenta Maria Lopez gets an early start

This burning desire of our Lord to walk by our sides, to be involved in our lives, is something that is reflected especially well in the lives of the saints. One especially eloquent example is found in the life of St Vicenta Maria Lopez, who lived in Spain in the 1800s.

As an only child of noble parents, she received a good education. Later in life, she founded a religious order dedicated to caring for poor girls— providing them with a stable and safe place to live, and giving them enough education so that they could find decent employment. It was an urgent apostolate for nineteenth century Spain. At the time, the industrial revolution was wreaking havoc on the traditional farming economy. Destitute peasant girls, dirt poor, neglected and vulnerable, were streaming into the citis looking for work. Many took up lodging wherever they could, and often fell in with bad company, becoming mired in lives of sin.

The fact that St Vicenta founded a religious order to care for them is not the most remarkable thing about her story. The truly remarkable aspect is when she started this type of work. She was seven years old and her family went to visit an aunt in Madrid. That aunt had started a care centre for these poor girls, called the Casita. As soon as Vicenta saw the girls, most of whom were older than her, she began to help her aunt to befriend and to take care of them. By the time Vicenta was ten she was working in the Casita almost full time.

St Vicenta was a shining mirror—even as a child—of God’s buring desire to walk at our sides, to share our lives, to be our companions through life’s difficult journey.

Staying close through the Eucharist

God wants to walk at our sides. He wants to be close to us as we journey through life, guiding, inspiring, teaching, and strengthening us. He wants to be a personal trainer for each one of us, leading us towards spiritual health and maturity. This is what God wants to be for us, how can we allow it to happen?

It is true that we do not have Our Lord Jesus Christ with us in the same way that Our Lady and the Apostles did—we cannot hear his footsteps beside us as we walk down the street.

But in his goodness and wisdom, he has found a way to continue to abide with us: he lives in our midst, in our neighborhoods, on our streets, through the Eucharist.

At every Mass, Christ becomes truly present in the Host: body and blood; soul, and divinity. When we receive Holy Communion, we really are receiving a transfusion of God’s own life into our weak and wounded souls. After Mass, he continues to stay with us. That is why in some churches, the Blessed Sacrament is reserved. The consecrated hosts are reserved precisely because Our Lord Jesus Christ wants to stay with us, to stay at our sides, to that at any time, we can come here and sit with Him. He is here for us to be our light and our life, as sanctuary lamps the world over remind us.

If we stay close to the Eucharist, through frequent reception of Holy Communion, and periodic visits to the Blessed Sacrament reserved, will we not give Him the chance that He needs to walk by our sides and fill us with His courage, wisdom, and peace.

As He renews His commitment to us during the Eucharist today, let us thank Him for the great gift of the Blessed Sacrament. Let us promise that this week, starting today, we will use it well.

Some thoughts on the Readings for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time in Year B: Isaiah 50:4–9; Psalm 116:1–6, 8–9; St James 2:14–18; St Mark 8:27–35.

Faith without works is dead

Is your faith dead or alive? This is an uncomfortable question, but today in the Epistle reading we are confronted with it anyway. St James explains that if someone truly believes in Jesus Christ, then that person will follow Him, loving God, loving our neighbour, just as Jesus commanded. We are all here today because we believe in Jesus Christ, His Church, and His teachings. So we can all say that our faith is alive, not dead, right? Not so fast. St James was writing to Christians who went to Church every Sunday. And yet, he warns them still against having a dead faith.

That ought to make us think. And the curious exchange in the Gospel today ought to make us thing as well.

On the one hand, St Peter professes his faith in Jesus Christ, calling Him the Christ. Our Lord is satisfied with that answers, acknowledging that he is right. It appears that St Peter’s faith is alive.

But, then, our Lord explains that in order to fulfil His mission as Saviour, He will have to be rejected, suffer, and die. St Peter objects. And Our Lord comes down hard on him for his lack of faith!

St Peter had faith, but it was not as alive as he thought. He was willing to follow Jesus throug the miracles, through the successful preaching engagements, but he was not willing to follow Jesus to the Cross. His faith was not completely dead, but neither was it as vital as it ought to have been.

We too, should not be so quick to assume that our fatih is alive as we think.

A strong, vibrant, mature faith, the kind that fill us wit true Christian joy and wisdom, can only be acquired through fidelity under fire: faith that doesnt’ produce works of fidelity is dead.

Mother Teresa wins a fight

St Teresa of Calcutta was an eloquent example of someone who expressed her faith through how she lived and what she did, not simply through what she said.

Her critics often accused of her of proselytizing, of forcing poor and dying Hindu people to become Catholics. It is certain that conversion did happen (and still do) among the people that she and her sister cared for, but they don’t happen because they were forced or tricked. Rather, they were (and are) won over to Christ by the sincerity and gentleness of the sisters’ care. The sisters claim to believe exactly what we believe: that every human, no matter how small or weak, is created in the image of God and beloved by Him. They demonstrate this faith by their actions.

St Teresa’s first clinic was a former Hindu pilgrimage residence, which she turned into a hospital for the poor and dying. The local Hindu leaders were not too happy about a former Hindu pilgirmate hostel being used as a place of Catholic proselytism. They suspected that the sisters engaged in secret baptisms of Hindus and Muslims inside its facilities.

Gangs of hostile locals harried the sisters as they roamed Calcutta’s slums, scooping up destitute people lying in the gutters. Neighbours threw sticks, stones, and dirt at the sisters as they carried in their patients.

Finally, a police commissioner arrived to close down the clinic. St Teresa invited him in. He entered and sasw the floor full of sick and dying poor people. He watched as the sisters knelt down beside these maimed, helpless, and abandoned people, not preaching at them, but bathing their wounds, cleaning them, and feeding them. The sisters were communicating their faith, not through trickery or force, but by the sheer power of self-forgetful love.

The stunned commissioner walked out the front door and dispersed the angry crowd, telling them that he would stop St Teresa only when the neighbours persuaded their wives and sisters to take over the work the sisters had started.

The daily examination of conscience

If we have a lively faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that impacts the way we live, then we will experience more fully the deep meaning in life that God wants us to experience. We will grow in wisdom. We will grow in interior peace. We will grow in patience. We will grow in courage, and we will grow in Christian joy. These are some of the fruits of a lively, healthy, growing fatih. All of us desire these things, because of all of us were created by God to desire them. So then, what can we do to keep our faith alive and growing?

One simple and practical exercise is what spiritual writers call the daily examination of conscience. It consists of five or ten minutes of prayerful reflection at the end of the day, in quiet and silence.

During this brief time of prayer, you look back at the day that is past, and speak to the Lord about how you lived it. You can go through the commandments and see if you have been faithful to them. You can examine your key relationships and responsibilities and see if they were lived with maturity and true Christian purpose. You can simply replay the major activities of the day in your mind’s eye, and see if your faith was alive or dead during those activities.

Whichever method you choose, the Holy Spirit will guide your thoughts and give you insights. At the end of the examination of conscience, you can thank God for the day’s blessings, ask pardon for your sins and failings, and make a personal resolution to live your faith more dynamincally the next day.

This kind of daily attention to our spiritual progress is something we can do to keep our faith alive. If we make an effort to do our part, we are assured that God will have more room to do His part.