33rd Sunday, Year B (Gospel Mark 13:24-42). The Church is indestructible.

 

 

Since pope Francis was elected pope, many people have said to me that they have become disillusioned with the Catholic Church, because the pope has changed Church teaching. This is not true and in fact he hasn’t changed any Church teaching. He unnerves people because he has often said things that are open to different interpretation and when asked to clarify what he means, he doesn’t, which is not helpful as it can be confusing.

 

For example, in a document called Fiducia Supplicans, people think that he has approved gay marriage and that gay marriage can now be blessed by a priest. That is not what it says. The document says that a priest can bless any individual, but not a gay couple. Any individual can receive a blessing from a priest, that has always been the case. The problem is that it is very hard to bless two individuals together and not give the impression that you are blessing a gay marriage. It is confusing.

 

Recently pope Francis said that different religions are like different languages leading people to God. What people heard was that the pope said that all religions are the same. That’s not what he said. The part people didn’t hear is what he said next. He said, different religions are like different languages leading people to God, but that Christianity is completely different because it is revealed directly by God.

 

Remember that what you hear through the media usually has a spin on it to make it more controversial, to get us worked up and watch more news.

 

There is a big difference between a pope giving his opinion on something vs changing Church teaching. Most of what we have heard are his personal opinions. Changing Church teaching is a much bigger deal than you might think and doesn’t happen easily.

 

‘But isn’t what the pope says infallible?’ Generally not. The pope’s teaching is infallible only under certain conditions. It has to be a teaching given with the bishops from all over the world in agreement on a particular teaching. Then it is believed to be without error and so, infallible. In fact it has only been used twice in history: once to declare the Dogma (official teaching) of the Immaculate Conception and also for the teaching of the Assumption, which says that at the end of her earthly life, Our Lady was assumed body and soul into heaven. That is only twice in history!

 

So don’t be afraid of when opinions are given by the pope. They are important opinions since they come from the pope, but an opinion is not church teaching.

 

Having said that, there are a number of things going on in the Church, which I find very disturbing. For example, in 2022, archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, hired a lady to work in the Pontifical Academy for Life. The lady he employed, Mariano Mazzucato, is an atheist and proabortion. The cardinal said it was for her expertise. Is there no one among the 1.4 billion Catholics who has the same expertise? And that is no disrespect to her personally, or what she believes, but that is not right.

 

Things like that are very disturbing, but my work is to focus on being here in this parish and to try and guide you spiritually in whatever way I can, above all by bringing the Eucharist to you. We pray for the Church every day, but there is kind of healthy detachment needed on my part. I will continue to pray for our Church and indeed our country, but then I have to let go and remember that it is God’s Church and we all need to do the same: pray for the Church and then let go. It’s the same for our country. We do whatever we can to make our country a better place by the way each of us lives, we pray for our country, but then we need to let go.

 

In St. Matthew’s Gospel (16:18), Jesus says to Peter, ‘You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church and the gates of the underworld shall not prevail against it.’ The second half of that sentence is really important: ‘And the gates of the underworld shall not prevail against it.’

 

St. John’s Gospel says something similar, ‘The light shines in the darkness, the darkness has not overcome it.’ (John 1:5). God’s Church is indestructible, because it is from God. It will often take a beating because of the human side of it, but it cannot be stopped because it is from God.

 

When you think about it, what are the odds of an institution surviving all the sexual abuse scandals and financial scandals, bad example and corruption? That should be enough to stop people studying for the priesthood or religious life and cause everyone to abandon the Church. And yet, young men and women continue to give themselves to the priesthood and religious life and people continue to come to Church and not only that, but the Church continues to grow. God keeps inspiring people to dedicate their lives to him and people respond to it.

 

Last year over 500 adults made their Confirmation and were received into the Church. It was the biggest number ever in this diocese. What does that tell you? It is God’s Church and it is unstoppable.

 

With that in mind, don’t be afraid of scandals and bad example, or even opinions from the pope which are not always clear. It can be upsetting, but remember it is God’s Church and not of human origin.

 

Popes come and go, bishops and priests come and go and right now we are going through a very turbulent time in the Church, but don’t be afraid of that.

 

‘You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church and the gates of the underworld shall not prevail against it.

32nd Sunday, Year B (Gospel: Mark 12: 38-44) The Lord provides

 

Lake Dall, India.

I heard a story about an old Dominican priest by the name of Maurice Fearan. He was giving a retreat in Kashmir (India) in a place called Shrinagar beside the Dall lake. It is 7000 feet above sea level and a big tourist attraction; very beautiful. So many people came to the retreat that they could not give him accommodation where the retreat was being held, so they put him on one of the tourist boats. Each evening after the retreat he would go back to the tourist boat, have a light meal and sleep. 

 

One evening when he was eating, a young lady from Argentina joined him. While they were chatting a storm began to blow up on the lake and it was coming towards them. Eventually there were flashes of lightening near them and they were both getting nervous, especially since they were on the water. She leaned towards him and said, ‘Father, I’d like to go to confession, but before I go to confession I want to tell you something.’ And then she said, ‘Father, I don’t believe in hell.’ Maurice said, ‘Why don’t you believe in hell?’ She said, ‘I am an only child and my father loves me completely and I know that no matter what I do, my father would never reject me. Sometimes he may do things which embarrass me, but I could never do anything which would embarrass him. No matter what I do he would never reject me and so I don’t believe God would ever reject me either.’ I think that is such a wonderful approach. God will never reject us, though we may reject him and God wants to take care of our needs, just as any parent will with their children. 

 

I think we often ‘pray too small’ as you might say. We are afraid that we can’t have the very best, or that God might frown on us if we ask too much and yet Jesus taught the very opposite. ‘How many of you would give your child a snake if he asked for a fish; or a stone if he asked for bread?’ And then he said, ‘If you who are evil know how to give good things to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father look after you?’ (Matt 7: 9-11). It is a wonderful teaching and probably one that we should reflect on more. The Father wants to give us everything.  He wants the very best for us always, but He will wait for us to ask.

 

In the first reading, God is showing us never to be afraid, because if we trust in his word, He will never let us down. The woman had almost nothing left and the prophet Elijah asked her to share it.  She was afraid, but Elijah said, ‘Trust in the word of God and you will be alright.’  So she did trust him and she was alright.

 

God invites us to do the same. We are so often afraid that we won’t be able to manage and yet the Lord keeps telling us, ‘Trust in me and I will look after your every need’ and He does.

Something that the Lord has taught me as a priest is to never be afraid to give away money to people who need it. I don’t just mean people who come to the door asking for money, but people I come across who I know are in need of help. They are usually the ones who don’t ask, but the Lord often lets me see their need. People regularly give me money as a priest and it is part of my work to pass it on whenever the Lord shows me such need. But I have always found that every time I have given away money, sometimes reluctantly as I feel maybe it’s too much or that I might be short, within 24 hours I will be given the money back by someone else and usually more. This has happened to me so many times that I always believe it is God’s way of teaching me to trust him. He looks after all our needs and He will never be outdone in generosity. 

 

In the Gospel today Jesus sees the poor woman putting in what seemed to be a very small amount. But He knew it was everything she had. God sees what we do and He constantly encourages us to be generous, especially with those who are in need. Remember God will never be outdone in generosity. If we are generous, God will be far more generous. We forget that Our Father in heaven is the Lord of all the universe. God has lots of money. Any parent will give their children whatever they need and with great generosity if they can. Think of the wedding at Cana, where the couple ran out of wine. Jesus didn’t just replace what was missing, He practically created a river of wine. Our Father in heaven is never outdone in generosity.

 

This also holds true with the time we give to God. The more time we give to God in prayer, the more time He will give back to you.

 

When Mother Teresa began her work in India among the poorest people, she only had a few other sisters with her at the beginning. Very quickly they became overwhelmed with work. So many people were coming to them and there were so many people on the streets who needed their help. They didn’t know how to cope. So, they decided to bring it to God in prayer and ask what they needed to do. All of them felt that the Lord was telling them to give an extra hour to prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. That meant an hour extra in prayer and an hour less to work. This didn’t seem to make sense, but they believed this was what the Lord was asking them to do, so they began to spend an extra hour in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament each day.

Within a short time other women started to come and help them with their work. Soon they were able to do far more than before. Mother Teresa said this was a very important lesson for them. God must be first in all things. If we give him our time and money, He will give it back to us, but more generously than we can give him. I have found the same thing in my work. The more time I give to prayer, the more happens around me.

 

To our mind, it doesn’t make sense. How could giving more time to prayer make it possible to do more things, but it does. God is reminding us who is in charge.

 

A 'Mass Rock', where masses were celebrated in secret during times of persecution.

During my years of study, I always tried to make a point of not studying on Sundays, to respect Sunday as a holy day. I was never less productive because of it. God is never outdone in generosity.

 

In St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, ‘Why do you worry and say, “What are we to eat and what are we to drink, or what are we to wear?” The pagans worry themselves about such things. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be given you as well.’ (Mat 6:31-33)

 

If you want to see more things happening in your family and in your life, give more time to God. Come to adoration once a week, and rest in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. That’s what God taught Mother Teresa and her sisters to do. Jesus is saying to us, ‘Come and spend time with me and I will take care of your needs.’ Do you really think that you will get less done when you give God an extra hour of your time? He is the Lord and master of the universe. There is nothing He cannot do. And it’s not so much what we do during that time, as that we are giving our time to him. He will take care of everything else. What is it that a child wants from his parents more than anything? Their time. God wants us to do the same. Give him your time.

 

People often ask me what they can do to help their children who no longer practice, or how they should do to resolve a difficult situation, or how they can help our parish. The first answer is to give extra time to prayer, but people are not usually convinced of that. We tend to think of prayer as the last resort, rather than the first, when we have tried everything else. No. Give your needs to God by giving him your time and see how He will take care of your needs.

 

We have adoration every morning for almost two hours before mass and until 9pm on Fridays. What could be more wonderful than to come into the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and especially you who are retired and have more time. If you want God’s help, give him your time. God is never outdone in generosity.

31st Sunday Yr B (Gospel: Mark 12:28b-34) Heaven, Hell and Purgatory

 

 

At this time of the year we focus on the dead and we pray especially for them. The feast of All Saints reminds us of all our loved ones who are in heaven. Everyone in heaven is a saint. We celebrate particular saints, canonised saints, because of their witness and holiness of life, but everyone in heaven is a saint. The day after All Saints, is The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, also known as All Souls day, when we remember those who have died, but are not yet in heaven. I like this time of praying for the dead, because for me it is a kind of healthy focus on reality.

 

The one thing all of us are sure of is that we will die and it is good to be reminded of that every so often. Since we believe that we are destined for heaven, then we have nothing to be afraid of if we try to do what is right, but it is important not to take it for granted. Jesus tells us many times in the Gospels that we can lose heaven, if we are foolish. We must never take it for granted.

 

When we die, probably not many people are ready to come directly into the intense holiness of God’s presence. It would be too much for us. Think of when you wake up in the morning and you turn on the bed-side light. You turn away your eyes because you are not used to the light yet. Imagine getting the direct light of the sun? It would be unbearable for us. We have to gradually get used to it. Purgatory is something like this. It is the last stage of being made ready, before we can come into God’s presence; a purgation, or purification. It is also when we may have to atone for sins from our lives. People often scoff at this idea, but think of it this way: imagine someone who has lived a life of terrible evil, like Hitler, or Stalin. Millions of people died because of their evil choices. Suppose that shortly before they died, they looked back at their life and realized how much evil they had done and repented of it. They begged God for mercy. God promises his mercy to anyone who sincerely repents. So if they died the following day, would they go straight to heaven? That doesn’t make any sense. They would need to atone for their sin. That is what purgatory is. It is a final stage of purification or atonement.  

 

The Lord has also taught us that we can help those who have died by praying for them. That’s why we dedicate a whole month to remembering them.

There was a lady from Austria by the name of Maria Simma (1915-2004). For many years of her life she experienced a very unusual gift, that is, she was visited by the Holy Souls (souls in purgatory), who asked her for prayers. God granted her this gift of interceding for them, no doubt also to help us to believe in the reality of what happens after death. There is a short book about her called, The Amazing Secret of the Souls in Purgatory: An Interview with Maria Simma. I think it is worth reading.

 

The first time it happened she was in her twenties. One night she woke to find a man in her bedroom slowly pacing up and down. She said, ‘How did you get in here? Go away!’ but he ignored her. She tried to grab him, but there was only air. The following day she went to her priest and told him what had happened and asked what she should do. He told her that if it happened again she should ask him what he wanted from her. It happened again the following night and when she asked, What do you want from me?’ he said, ‘Have three masses offered for me and I will be delivered.’

 

When the souls came to ask her for prayers, many of them would tell her why they were in purgatory. What comes across more than anything else is the mercy of God.

 

One of the encounters that she had really struck me. She recalls that one night a young man of 20 appeared to her, asking her to pray for him. He told her why he was in purgatory. He had been quite a wild young man, with a bad reputation. He lived in the Alps and one winter his village was hit by a series of avalanches and many people were killed. One night when another avalanche struck, he heard the screams of people nearby for help and he ran down stairs to help them. His mother tried to stop him from going outside, knowing there was a good chance that he would be killed. When he went out he was in fact killed, but God allowed him to die at this time, because he was in the middle of doing something so good. In other words, God took him when he was at his best. I think that this is a wonderful way to understand what happens when people die. God does everything He can to help us. Such is the mercy of God. God will always give us the benefit of the doubt.

 

When she was asked to explain her understanding of purgatory, she said:

Suppose one day a splendid being appears, extremely beautiful, of a beauty that has never been seen on earth. You are fascinated, overwhelmed by this being of light and beauty, even more so that this being shows that he is madly in love with you—you have never dreamed of being loved so much. You sense too that he has a great desire to draw you to him, to be one with you. And the fire of love which burns in your heart impels you to throw yourself into his arms.

But wait—you realize at this moment that you haven’t washed for months and months, that you smell bad; your nose is running, your hair is greasy and matted, there are big dirty stains on your clothes, etc. So you say to yourself, “No, I just can’t present myself in this state. First I must go and wash: a good shower, then straight away I’ll come back.”

But the love which has been born in your heart is so intense, so burning, so strong, that this delay for the shower is absolutely unbearable. And the pain of the absence, even if it only lasts for a couple of minutes, is an atrocious wound in the heart, proportional to the intensity of the revelation of the love – it is a “love wound.”

 

That was her description of purgatory.

 

St. Pius of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio, also experienced the same gift and he said that more souls came to him from Purgatory asking for prayers, than pilgrims on earth. While it is natural to shed tears for them, it is more important to pray for them. We can help them by praying for them and offering the mass for them, which is the most powerful prayer there is.

 

How do we atone for sins? First we must ask for forgiveness: confession. Then we need to pray and perhaps to do penance of some kind. Also, almsgiving atones for sins.

 

In the book of Tobit, the angel Rafael is sent by God to heal Tobit who has gone blind, and to his son Tobias’ new wife who has been tormented by a demon. At the end of the book Rafael reveals himself to Tobit and Tobias. They had thought he was a stranger who helped them. This is what Rafael said to them:

Bless God, return thanks to him, proclaim his glory and render him thanks before all the living for all he has done for you. It is good to praise God and exalt his name… Do not be slow in giving him thanks… It is a good thing to accompany prayer with fasting, almsgiving and justice… Almsgiving preserves from death. It purifies from all sin. (Tobit 12:6 ff).

 

When we die there can only be three things: heaven, hell, or purgatory. We are created for heaven. The death and resurrection of Jesus happened so that we could go to heaven when we die. If heaven is real and we have free will, then we must be able to lose heaven too. If we had no option but to go there, then we wouldn’t have free will. If heaven is the total fulfilment of being in God’s presence, light, beauty, happiness and the company of other people we love, then to lose it would be to be left with the opposite, that is, darkness, pain, isolation, hatred and the knowledge of knowing that we have lost the possibility of eternal happiness. God does not send people to hell. People choose hell by the way they live, rejecting God and everything to do with God. God respects the choices we make. Many places where Our Lady has appeared, she has shown the visionaries heaven, hell and purgatory, to remind us they are real. It is not something we should take lightly.

 

What about people who no longer go to Church, or no longer practice their faith? Just because they don’t practice, doesn’t mean they don’t believe in God or try to live the right way. It may mean that they cannot relate to organised religion as we do, but we should pray for them, because having a framework is a great help. Continually going to church is going to help us stay tuned in to what is important, to what God is asking us to do and reminding us of what is right and wrong. It is not so easy to do this by yourself.

 

What about people who have never known Jesus? People primarily accept or reject God by the way they live. Just because they don’t understand God as we do, doesn’t mean they don’t believe, or that they reject God. Only God can judge us. Our job is to pray for those who don’t know God and hopefully to help them come to know him, by they way we live. Most of the people Mother Teresa’s sisters take in off the streets in places like Calcutta, are not Christian, but they don’t try to convert them. They simply love them and allow them to die with dignity. They say more about what they believe by those actions than by anything you could say.

 

If we make even the smallest effort to live for God, to live as God asks us, then we have nothing to be afraid of. The Lord continually assures us of his love and mercy for all who seek him. The important thing is that we remember that our choices have consequences.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You have faith in God, have faith also in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back to take you with me, so that where I am, you also may be. Where I am going, you know the way.”

Thomas said to him, “Master, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14:1-7)

 

 

 

30th Sunday, Year B (Gospel: Mark 10:46-52) What do you want me to do for you?

 

You know the story of the man trapped in a flood after a hurricane. The waters are rising fast, but he is a man of faith and prays to God for deliverance, confident that God will rescue him.

 

As the waters reach the second floor, he is at the window and sees a rescue boat coming. They call to him to get in, but he refuses saying, ‘It’s ok, God will rescue me.’ Try as they might, they cannot convince him and eventually have to leave.

 

As the waters continue to rise he climbs onto the roof. Another boat shows up and calls to him to get on board before it’s too late, but again he refuses, confident that God will rescue him.

 

Now he is at the pinnacle of the roof with the waters still rising. Then a helicopter appears and lowers a rope to rescue him, but again he refuses the help, assuring them that God will rescue him.

 

Not long after, he drowns. When he comes before God, he asks, ‘Lord, why didn’t you rescue me?’ The Lord replies, ‘I sent you two boats and a helicopter. What more do you want?’

 

Imagine for a moment if at one time before you die, the Lord himself appeared to you and asked you one question: ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ the same question he asked the blind man. Notice how He didn’t presume the blind man wanted healing, but asked him. What would you ask him? Maybe it would be a cure for a physical illness, or for someone you know. Maybe it would be to resolve a difficult situation to, like a marriage that’s in trouble, or maybe for help for your children. Perhaps it would be for more faith. If you are foolish it might be for lots of money.

 

I think I might ask God to give me more faith, faith to recognise what we already have, to see what is in front of me. We ask for help all the time, we ask God to be present to us, we ask God to forgive and heal us… and He does, but we often don’t recognise it.

 

Often we feel alone on this journey and wish that God was closer to us and not just observing us. We would like to know that Jesus is looking after us: and He is. In every mass Jesus becomes present to us in the Eucharist, when the bread and wine really and truly become the Body and Blood of Christ. We can receive Jesus into our own bodies every day if we wish. There is nothing more intimate than this. God is not just observing us from a distance to see if we measure up, He is present to us every step of the way.

 

We want to know that we are forgiven, so that we can be at peace and we want to be healed. Many people live in dread of the sins of their past. God offers us his forgiveness and healing through confession, but we often see it as a burden, something the Church tells us we have to do. If we could really see what it is, no one would have to tell us that we need to go. Everyone would want to go, because each time we go to confession we experience the forgiveness and healing power of God’s grace. Confession is one of the sacraments of healing, but Satan is clever and has managed to convince many people that this is just a power trip for the priests and that we don’t need to confess to anyone except God directly. Satan does not want us to go to confession because he knows how powerful confession is and how close it brings us to God. It always makes me sad when I visit people who are dying and I ask them if they would like to make a confession and they say ‘no.’ God has sent them a priest, but they don’t take advantage of it.

 

When I was working in Venice (Florida), I came to know a lady whose family were originally from my home town, so she felt a special connection to me. When I moved to Fort Myers she asked if I would come and see her, which I did. I ended up visiting her twice. Her family were originally from my hometown of Galway, in Ireland, so she felt we had a special connection. Each time she complained that her Church had abandoned her and would not come to her need. I pointed out both times that not only had God sent her a priest, twice, but a priest from her hometown, but she still complained, ‘My Church has abandoned me.’ She couldn’t see what was right before her.

 

I visited a young lady (40s) in the hospital one time. She said she didn’t want to see me, or talk to me, which is fine. A few hours later she died. God sent her a priest, but she turned me away. I’m not judging her on that, but God often sends us help that we don’t recognize.

 

There is a temptation to want to see God in a spectacular way, which would be nice, but usually that is not how God works. God’s presence is subtle.

 

We wonder if God hears or answers our prayers. Jesus says ‘Ask and it will be given to you, knock and the door will be opened to you, seek and you will find. Whoever asks always receives…’ (Matt 7:7-8). God always hears us and always answers us, but it may not be the answer we were hoping for, or we may not recognize the answer. God knows what we need the most, even though we may not see it. If your seven-year-old son asks for a chainsaw for his birthday, hopefully you won’t give him one. He may be angry and think that you are mean and don’t care about him, but because you are older and wiser, you know that that is not what he needs.

 

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, ‘So, do not say, what are we to eat, what are we to drink, what are we to wear? Your heavenly Father knows all your needs. Seek first the kingdom of God and everything else will be given to you as well.’ (Mt 6.31). God must be at the center and then everything else will fit into place.

 

Several times I have led the OCIA course (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults), for people who want to become Catholic, or who have been baptized but never received their confirmation. The course runs from October through Easter. It is always a joy for me to see the eagerness and excitement as we come near Easter and they are about to come into the Church. They can see all that God offers us with new eyes. Last year a lady was baptized, confirmed and received her first Eucharist at Easter. She said it was the most memorable day of her life, and it was really a joy to see.

How do we become more aware of this presence of God around us? Through prayer. That’s why Jesus spent so much of his time trying to teach people to pray, so that they would become aware of the reality of God with them and around them. When we pray and give time to God and the things of God, we start to recognise how much God is all around us, in everything we do, in people we meet. I always think it is great to see so many people calling into the church during the day, sometimes just for a moment; to be silent, or to speak to the Lord, or to ask for something. These are all different ways of praying, of being with God and simply acknowledging God’s presence.

 

We talk about God sometimes as if God were an optional extra in our world. You can choose to believe in God or not. The truth is the other way around. We are the optional extra. God is there one way or the other, whether we acknowledge him or not, but we are only here because God has created us and keeps us in existence. We need not exist, but God exists no matter what.

 

I heard a priest say once, ‘If God isn’t in your money He isn’t in your life.’ In other words God is meant to be in every part of our life, if He is there at all. Otherwise we are practical atheists. We can know that God is there but do nothing about him. That is practical atheism. You know that your next-door neighbor exists, but if you never speak to him, or meet him, or bother with him, he or she might as well not be there. That is practical atheism and there are a lot of practical atheists around. 

 

If God is to be part of our life, we have to continually communicate with him. That’s what prayer is. If you find yourself saying that you don’t have time for prayer, ask yourself how much time you give to your cell phone. When was the last time you decided that you would no longer eat or sleep, because you don’t have time? We make time for what is important to us.

 

Talk to God in your car on the way to work; that is prayer. Being aware of God in your home, even if it is noisy, is prayer. Reading the word of God; spending some time in silence. God has plenty to say, if we take the time to listen. The more we pray, the more we will recognise that God has already given us everything we need. God is deeply concerned about us, about every aspect of our lives and God always answers us when we pray. We have his word for it. ‘Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks, always receives’ (Luke 11:9).

 

 

 

28th Sunday Year B (Gospel: Mark: 10:17-30)

 

There is a priest by the name of Benedict Groeschel from New York, he died in 2014. He founded the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a reformed branch of the Franciscans. Fr. Groeschel is an excellent speaker and in one of his talks he was saying that there is a man he knows in New York who is a multi millionaire, with more money than he could ever spend, or knows what to do with.  Benedict goes on to say that he was talking to this man at a particular conference and he—let us call him John Goldman—was saying to Benedict that he would like to put his money to good use, but he didn’t know what to do with it.  He admitted straight out that he had more money than he could ever spend.  Benedict said that if he wanted he could give a donation to one of the orphanages that they run in the Bronx, as it would make a big difference to them.  In spite of the fact that it was John Goldman himself who brought up the subject and admitted that he didn’t know what to do with all his money and wanted to put it to good use, by the end of the conference he still hadn’t agreed to part with one cent of his money. Benedict was saying that it was as if he was possessed by his wealth. He had no freedom. His wealth controlled him.

 

Most of us don’t have that kind of problem. In fact, most people have the opposite problem, but it is still very easy to become consumed even with the desire for money, or riches, or indeed anything. The problem is not the riches themselves, but our attachment to them.

 

In the Gospel, see how Jesus responds to the rich young man who is keen to live the right way.  When he asks Jesus what he should do to get to heaven, Jesus doesn’t say ‘You should sell all your possessions,’ first He says, ‘You know the commandments; live them.’ It is only when he is pressed further that Jesus says, ‘Go and sell all you own...’  What is he doing? Jesus is showing the young man that he is not as free as he thinks he is. In spite of the fact that he could probably buy anything he desires and do anything he wants because of his wealth, he is in fact a slave to his riches. Jesus is not trying to make the young man feel bad, or guilty, rather, since he did ask, Jesus is pointing out where the problem is for him. The problem is not in having riches, since riches are neither good nor bad, but that we get so attached to them that we are no longer free. No doubt the young man felt he was living a good life and probably was, but the Lord wanted him to see that he was not as free as he thought. You don’t have to be very wealthy for that to happen. 

 

St. John of the Cross says that if you become too attached to your rosary beads, get rid of them. He also says there is no point in taking a vow of poverty if you are still consumed with the desire for the things that you have given up. The freedom from them is what is really important.

 

There is a story of two monks out walking on a journey. They come across a creek and they meet a young lady who is trying to get across, but she is afraid. So one of the monks offers to carry her across. She accepts and he carries her across the creek, lets her down and then they part ways. After some time the other monk says, ‘You shouldn’t have carried that lady across the creek. You are a monk!’ The first monk says, ‘When I carried her across, I left her down and walked away, but you are still carrying her in your mind.’ We can become obsessed with anything.

 

Thank God for what you do have, but ask yourself are you free from it, or a slave to it? Because if you are a slave to it—thinking that you could not do without it—then it is the master. Think of your cell-phone. Most of us would find it pretty hard to do without it.

 

God wants us to be free to open ourselves up to God and to enjoy this beautiful world that He has given us, but God is the only thing that is really important. Everything else is going to be left behind when we die, even our bodies. They will disintegrate. That is why Jesus is telling us not to get caught up with what is ultimately trivial and forget the only thing that matters. We should enjoy what we have, but don’t let it become the master.

 

For those of you who have children. How much time and energy do you put into preparing them for this life, which is temporary? Probabaly a lot! But how much time do you put into preparing them for the world to come, which is eternal? Probably not as much.

 

When people hear this gospel, many people only hear the part where Jesus says, ‘How hard it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.’ But perhaps the most important part of this Gospel is the last part. When Jesus says, ‘How hard it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God,’ the apostles are astonished, just as most of us probably find this hard to understand too, since the general thinking is that if we had enough money, it would resolve most of our problems. But when the Apostles ask, ‘Then who can be saved?’ or in modern English, ‘Who can get to heaven?’ then Jesus says, ‘For people [by their own strength] it is impossible, but not for God.  Everything is possible for God.’ That is the really important thing to remember. Everything is possible for God. By our own strength we are very limited in what we can do, despite our best efforts, because we are weak and we easily get distracted by wealth, or work, or relationships or whatever. God knows that we often get caught up in all the wrong things, just like the rich young man in the story, but God is bigger than all of this. God is bigger than the mistakes we make, bigger than the mixed motivations for what we do. That is why we just keep coming back to him and asking him to help us, to forgive us, to guide us: and He does. The wonderful thing that God continues to teach us, is that it is never too late to come back to him.

 

The disciples said: ‘If that is the case, then who can be saved?’ Jesus said: ‘For people it is impossible, but not for God; because everything is possible for God.’

 

26th Sunday Year B (Gospel: Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48) Different paths to God

 

 

One of the things I was very blessed with as a young priest, was getting to know a Baptist minister and his wife who worked in Galway: Kelly and Susan Curry. He and his wife came over from the States, because they felt the Lord was calling them there on a mission, although they didn’t know exactly what He was asking them to do. They ended up in my hometown and they set up a centre to encourage people to come back to their faith. They weren’t trying to convert people to become Baptist, rather this centre was about encouraging people to take their faith more seriously and since most of the people who came there were Catholic, they ended up helping more Catholics than anyone else. They started giving retreats in high-schools and they have had more and more requests from the schools. At this stage they are giving retreats to several thousand students every year. He also said that the schools are asking them to come to their schools because they have so many problems, but they also ask them if they can give the retreats without talking about God. And they said ‘no,’ they will be talking about God.

 

I have always admired Kelly and Susan’s open-mindedness, but the reason I feel very blessed to have come to know them is because it opened my mind to different ways of faith. I got to know Kelly best. He was obviously a man of God and filled with the Spirit. Kelly has been a great source of encouragement and support to me as a Catholic priest. As I got to know him it helped me to realise that God was working in and through him, just as much as through any priest I knew. Maybe that should be obvious, but when you grow up in one particular way of faith, without much exposure to many other ways of faith, it is not always obvious and often we can be suspicious of people who don’t see things as we do, but God works through different people in many different ways. Many people I know have been greatly helped by the work they do there in that centre. It is called An Tobar Nua which means The New Well.

 

I know that at this time, many of you as parents and grandparents are distressed as you see your children no longer practicing their faith, or going to church. While it is a tragedy to us, it doesn’t mean that they have no faith. We believe God offers us an extraordinary treasure in the mass and through the different sacraments and of course we would like that for others, especially for our children, but at this time many young people have become disillusioned with the Church and with official religion and often for very understandable reasons. In many ways it is hard to blame them, they have probably more reasons than most to be turned off by it, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have faith, or that they are not searching for God. People are always searching for God. It is an instinctive need God has given us. While they may find it difficult to relate to the Church at this time, that doesn’t mean that God is not reaching out to them, or guiding them.

 

Just as getting to know my Baptist friend Kelly helped me to realise that here are many ways God speaks to people, it is good for us to remember that God continues to speak to them and reach out to them, often in ways that we do not recognise, or would never have imagined. I am often struck by the great goodness that I have met in so many people, often people who have no interest in the Church at all, but they do their best to live good lives and help the people they meet, often with great generosity. Many do believe in God, but they don’t relate to God through the means that we are used to.

 

It is also surprising how people are still being drawn to the Church and to religious life. Nine years ago I spent a year with the Dominican order in Ireland. That year 5 young men joined the Dominicans in Ireland. The previous year 6 entered. The year before that 2 entered and the year before that 13. God is at work around us all the time and that should help us take heart.

 

The readings today remind us how God gives his Spirit to whomever He wishes, often in ways that we don’t expect. The Apostles were surprised, just as the men in the time of Moses were surprised, when they found others teaching and healing in God’s name, but Jesus said to them, ‘Don’t stop them…If they are not against us, they are with us.’ They were also surprised when the Gentiles—those who were not Jewish—received the gift of the Holy Spirit, sometimes even before they had a chance to pray with them. God was showing them that He is bigger than all of us and not just there for one group of people.

 

Peter and the other apostles were unclear about this in the beginning. When Peter was praying he had a vision of something like a big sheet being let down from heaven, which had all kinds of birds and animals on it. Then he heard a voice say, ‘Get up Peter. Kill and eat.’ Peter replied, ‘Certainly not Lord, I have never eaten anything profane.’ The voice said, ‘What God has called clean, you have no right to call profane.’ (see Acts 10:9-16). This vision helped him to understand that God was there for all people, not just the Jewish people.

 

Later on when challenged about this Peter said, ‘What I have come to realize is that all people who fear God and do what is right, are acceptable to him.’ (Acts 10:35).

 

Mahatma Gandi

Does that mean that all religions are the same? No. God uses different ways to guide people to himself, but Christianity is different because it is what God revealed to us. And what God has revealed is that ultimately no one can come to him except through Jesus. Jesus said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ (Jn 14:6). Does that mean that everyone has to be Christian to go to heaven? Not necessarily, but when everyone dies, they will instantly know who Jesus is and that it is because of his death and resurrection that we can go to heaven. During their life, even if they don’t know anything about Christ, what is important is what Peter said: ‘What I have come to realize is that all people who fear God and do what is right, are acceptable to him.’ (Acts 10:35).

 

We believe that the path we follow as Catholics, is directly from God through Jesus and we are blessed to know these things. Jesus has given us the most extraordinary gifts to help us: above all the Eucharist, the gift of his Body and Blood; the Word of God; the healing we receive through confession and many other things.

 

We hope and pray that others will come to know these treasures too, but God goes on reaching out to people all around us in many ways which we will probably never know about until we get to heaven. Part of what we are called to, is to pray for the people around us that they will come to know God too. We are blessed to have been given the gift of faith and the more we live it seriously, the more we will be a signpost to God, to the people around us.

 

I remember hearing a story of an elderly woman living in the suburbs of New York. Each morning she walked to church to go to mass and receive the Eucharist. There was also a lawyer who drove past her each morning on his way to work and scoffed at this old woman and her superstitious beliefs. On her way to the church she had to make her way up a steep hill and she was slow on her feet. One morning in winter there was a lot of snow and ice on the roads. The lawyer didn’t expect to see her. But then he passed her on the way up the hill on her hands and knees. Her faith and desire to receive the Eucharist was so strong, that she was willing to do this. He was so astonished that this lady would not even let ice and snow stop her, that it actually brought about his conversion.

 

Living our faith seriously is one of the most powerful ways we can help other people, especially during times of scandal. When people see that we are just as committed to our faith despite scandal or division in our Church, it makes them think. They may not say anything, or they may even make sarcastic remarks, but people do notice. If you want excuses to walk away from the Church, you have 2000 years of scandal to choose from.

 

At this time people need the witness of those who have faith more than ever, because so many have lost faith and don’t know where to turn. God has made us in such a way that we are not complete without him and even if people are not aware that God is what is missing, they know something is missing. In wealthier countries such as ours, people will try to fill that void with material things, but that can never satisfy. We may hope that our spouse will be our total fulfilment, but no matter how much we love them, even they cannot totally fulfil us, because only God can do that. I have no doubt that one of the reasons the suicide rate is so high is because of a lack of faith. If you don’t believe in anything beyond this life, then where do you turn to when everything seems to be going wrong? When you do have faith, even when everything is going wrong, we do not give up, because we have the hope of knowing that this world is temporary. We have what people are looking for and the best way we can help them, is through prayer and by living our faith as well as we can.

 

‘Jesus said to the Apostles, “What about you? Are you going to go away too?” Peter said, “Lord where else can we go? You have the message of eternal life. We believe and know, that you are the holy One of God.”’ (John 6:67-69)

 

‘There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name, who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us, is for us.’

25th Sunday, Year B (Gospel: Mk 9:30-37) Abortion

 

By the time the average child has finished elementary school, they have seen approximately 8,000 murders on TV. By the time they reach 18 they have seen approximately 30,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence on TV. That means that we are being told that life is cheap, killing is a normal part of our society. Saint John Paul II called it a culture of death.

In many assisted living homes for the elderly, where they are so well looked after materially, there is often terrible loneliness, because people are often abandoned by family. We need the love of other people because we have been created for love.

St. Teresa receives Nobel Peace Prize

In 1982 Mother Teresa, now Saint Teresa, received the Nobel Prize for Peace. She was also invited to speak at Harvard University and at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC. She primarily spoke about abortion. She said that abortion is the greatest threat to peace in our world.

“America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father's role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts—a child—as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered dominion over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters.” 

“As long as mothers are prepared to kill their own children, how can we ask grown adults not to kill each other?” - Mother Teresa of Calcutta 

In India, her sisters—The Missionaries of Charity—continually ask women not to have abortions, but to give up those children for adoption to so many couples who long to have a child, but are unable.

I saw a video of a young couple receiving a newborn baby for adoption. It was such an amazing sight. Everyone in the room was in tears for the joy of what was happening. That is what God wants for us, the joy of life. 

As long as a child is seen as an inconvenience, it means that we are focused only on ourselves. But God is asking us to give of ourselves until it hurts. Jesus completely gave of himself for us, even to the point of death and we are called to imitate him. An unexpected pregnancy may turn a woman, or a couple’s plans on their head, but this is a sacrifice that God asks us to make. With love comes responsibility.

Couple seeing newly adopted child for the first time.

We believe that at the conception of each human being, an immortal soul is created by God and given to us, a soul that will be in God’s presence for all eternity. All of us have souls, given to us by God and that is the part of us that lives on for eternity. Remembering that can change our outlook on how we see a pregnancy. Every time a child is killed, the role that God had given them in this world, is taken away from them. When Andrea Bocelli the—world renowned tenor—was in the womb of his mother, she was advised to have an abortion because of complications. But she refused and now the world has that wonderful singer. How many other people of great talent and knowledge have been lost?

The other side of this is that many women, probably the majority, have abortions under severe pressure from boyfriends, or family. How do I know that? because so many women have told me this in confession. I have yet to meet any woman who didn’t regret it. Even several decades later many still carry that terrible pain, because we instinctively know that it is wrong. This could never come from God. Part of our work is also to help women heal from this. God is always the one to create life and the one to heal us. 

If you were able to ask Jesus if an abortion was the right decision in any situation, what would He say to you? The answer is obvious. He would say, “never.” I have no doubt whatsoever, that it is the greatest evil in our world and the greatest sin against God. Satan wants to destroy God’s creation and what better place to start than at the very beginning of human life, because it is God’s creation.

Think of the words of the consecration at mass: ‘This is my body, which will be given up for you.’ The thinking behind abortion is the opposite of that: ‘This is my body and it will not be given up for you.’ That is how you know what is behind it is evil. 

In Sep 2019, a group of pro-abortion activists tried to burn down the cathedral in Mexico city. Why attack a Catholic church? There are plenty of other groups that oppose abortion too. Doesn’t that tell you something? Satan rages against God and will continue to try and destroy everything that God creates.

Another part of it, which is largely overlooked, is that we must teach our young people that sex is only for marriage. If that was really lived, it would drastically reduce the amount of abortion. But that has been lost sight of and often seen as old fashioned. However, it’s not. It is called fornication and is a sin. But the problem we are up against is that in every kind of media, sleeping around is considered the norm. Yet God tells us that it is a sin and offensive to him.

It always goes back to listening to what God teaches us, which is always for our good. 

We will continue to work hard for the preservation and dignity of life at all its stages. It is God’s greatest gift to us.

You have seen the various signs saying Vote No on 4^th. This is about changing the 4^th amendment of the constitution of Florida. If passed it essentially says that no law can be passed that will restrict abortion in any way. That would be the most extreme law in the country regarding abortion and the bishops are strongly encouraging us to vote against it. Since I was ordained 26 years ago, I have never seen the bishops take as strong a stance on anything as this. They have asked us to say the St. Michael prayer at the end of each mass especially to defeat this bill. As is often the case, the language of the amendment is misleading. Voting 'no' is voting against abortion and against this bill from being passed. We must protect life at all costs.

God is all about life. God keeps creating and God has made it possible for us to be part of that creating, which is a great privilege and a wonderful thing, but we must never let ourselves be complacent about it.

‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it.’ (Gen 1:28)

‘I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.’ (John 10:10)