27th Sunday, Year A (Gospel: Mat 21: 33-43) Justice or Revenge?

 

 

Faith always gives a different perspective to how we see the world. If we only look at what is in front of us through worldly eyes, we see one thing. If we bring faith into it, it can seem quite different.

When terrible crimes have been committed, like the assassination of Charlie Kirk and all the appalling shootings of the children in schools, there is always a lot of talk about the killers and how they should be dealt with: life in prison, the death sentence? When we are outraged by some terrible crime, it is normal to want to lash out and seek revenge. We should always seek justice, but that often becomes revenge, rather than justice.

 

In the Old Testament, from the law given to Moses, it says, ‘Whoever takes a human life, shall surely be put to death… an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth…whatever injury a man has given a person, shall be given to him.’ (Lev 24:17, 20, 21). That may seem like a call for revenge, but it is actually calling for a proportionate response, as opposed to revenge.

 

Then Jesus quotes that same law and takes it to a deeper level. He said, ‘You have heard how it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ but I say to you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.’

 

Jesus is bringing that teaching to a deeper level, calling for mercy.

 

There is a friend of mine in Ireland who is a paramedic. One of the calls that he got was to a house where there had been a domestic dispute between a husband and wife. Something had happened and the father had snapped. He ended up stabbing his wife and accidentally killing his nine-year-old daughter. My friend didn’t realize what he was being called to and then found himself faced with a nine-year-old bleeding to death. She died from her injuries. That is the kind of scene that you never forget. When he was telling me about it he said, ‘That man should never be forgiven.’ I could understand his anger.

 

There is another perspective to it that we don’t usually think about. We usually think of someone’s death as being the end, their life is over. However, from a faith point of view, their life on earth is over, but now they have gone on to what we call heaven, where they are no longer suffering, but experiencing a joy that we have never had. Presuming they are in heaven, I wonder what the person killed would say. Would they demand justice, or revenge, or mercy?

 

I want to share with you the life of one of the youngest saints in the Church, St. Maria Goretti, which speaks for itself and can make us think differently.

 

St. Maria Goretti was born in Corinaldo, Italy, in 1890. She died just before her 12^th birthday, in 1902. Her family were farmers, but her father died when she was young and so they ended up selling the farm and working as farm hands. Eventually they had to share a house with another family, the Serenellis, a father and two sons. The sons were into bad and sinful living and one of them, Alessandro, continually tried to seduce Maria. He tried to rape her twice, but she wouldn’t give in to him. Maria normally stayed at the house during the day, taking care of the younger children.

 

One day Alessandro arranged that he would be on his own with her in the house and he then tried to rape her. She refused and wouldn’t give in to him. She kept shouting that it was a sin and would offend God and that he could go to hell for it. In a fit of rage he stabbed her fourteen times and then fled the scene.

 

When Maria was found she was rushed to hospital but died two days later from her injuries. The surgeons were unable to give her anaesthesia as her body was too weak. During the surgery she woke up and told her mother what had happened and that Alessandro had tried to rape her two other times as well, but she was afraid to mention it as he had threatened to kill her if she did. While she was awake she also said that she forgave Alessandro and wanted him to go to heaven too. She died the next day from her wounds.

 

When the locals found out what had happened they tried to get Alessandro and would have killed him, but the police got there first. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

 

The only known photograph of St. Maria Goretti

Initially when Alessandro was imprisoned, he was unrepentant and bragged about what he had done. However, several years later she appeared to him in a dream and gave him fourteen lilies. As he took each one it burned his fingers and disappeared. He realized that each flower represented each of the times that he had stabbed her and that she had forgiven him. From then on his life changed completely. He became deeply repentant and changed his behavior so much, that he was eventually let out of jail early (after 27 years) because of his exemplary behavior.

 

After he was released he went to Maria’s mother Assunta and begged her forgiveness. He explained how she had come to him in a dream and had forgiven him. His mother said to him, ‘If Maria can forgive you, then I must forgive you too.’ They ended up going to mass and receiving Communion together on Christmas Eve.

 

Alessandro spent the rest of his life working as a layman in a Capuchin monastery as a receptionist and gardener.

 

Maria was canonised in 1950 and her mother and some of her siblings were present.

 

God is perfectly just and infinitely merciful. Even if people escape justice on earth, they will always be held accountable before God as we all will be. But God is also infinitely merciful, in a way that is hard for us to understand. That is one of the reasons why the Church teaches against the death penalty, as people can change, but being merciful doesn’t mean there is no justice.

 

'When they came to the place called the skull, they crucified him there along with two criminals… Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”'

26th Sunday Year A (Gospel: Mat 21:28-32) Confession and healing

 

Lourdes, France.

Over two summers I spent three weeks in Lourdes hearing confessions; nothing else, just hearing confessions. Lourdes is the town in the south of France where in 1858 Our Lady appeared to St. Bernadette who was just 14 years old. It is where Mary identified herself as the Immaculate Conception, meaning she was conceived without any sin. She is the sinless one.

 

Many people are often surprised to hear me say that it was one of the most beautiful experiences I have had as a priest. That may sound strange, but it is true. The Lord showed me two things through this: first the sickness of sin and second, god’s healing mercy. The human race is suffering from the sickness of sin. I listened to people from all over the world and they were all confessing the same things: adultery, abortions, injustice at work, cheating, broken relationships, dishonesty, everything and these are the people who are coming to confession. In one way you could see it is a horrible picture, but that’s not what I saw. What I saw was the sickness of the human race, but more importantly the mercy of God which brings healing. If this is how we are as a race, the mercy of God must be enormous to put up with us and of course it is. What I experienced more than anything else was the compassion of God for all these people, because the Spirit prompted them to come back to him through confession.

 

What I also see is people being healed, spiritually and physically. Sin affects us physically and spiritually. When someone confesses sin that they have been carrying for years, you can see the change in their face when they know they have been forgiven. They are physically changed and healed.

 

You know how stress can affect us physically. Our shoulders tighten up, or muscles in our back. We can get headaches and our mouth dries up. Stress is psychological and it affects us physically. How much more so with sin? The body will decay after death, but the spirit is immortal, so what affects our soul is far more important.

 

All of us are in need of healing, whether it be physical, psychological or spiritual. Much of this has come from Original Sin. When our first parents rejected God, sin came into the world and one of the consequences was sickness of different kinds.

 

Remember the story where people brought a man to Jesus who was completely paralysed, hoping Jesus would heal him. There were so many people there that they had to let him down through the roof to get to Jesus. The first thing Jesus did was to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ (See Mark 2:1-12). The religious authorities said to themselves, ‘This is blasphemy. Only God can forgive sins.’ And then Jesus said, ‘Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up and walk. But to show you that the Son of Man has the authority to forgive sins,” Jesus said, “I tell you, get up. Take up your sleeping mat and walk.” And the man was healed.

 

Why did Jesus begin by saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” I’m sure the people there could care less about his sins being forgiven. They just wanted the man to be healed. But Jesus was showing us that there is a direct connection between spiritual and physical healing. Sin affects us physically.

 

The greatest healing ministry of the Church is the forgiveness of sins and the primary way that God offers us that forgiveness and healing to us, is through confession.

 

There are a million reasons we can think of for not going to confession, but God keeps drawing people to him through this beautiful gift and that is what it is, a gift. Sadly many people have come to see it as a burden, as something we are told we have to do, as though it was inflicted on us, whereas in fact it is the complete opposite. It is a tool that God has given us so that we can be at peace, so that when we fall, we can come back to God, knowing that we are forgiven. It is a sacrament of healing.

 

Many people say, ‘I don’t have to go to a priest, I can just go and tell God that I am sorry myself?’ Well you can if you want, but it is not the same thing. The Lord knows what we are like and that we need a concrete way of being able to relate to him. That is one reason why He gives himself to us in the form of bread and wine. It is something we can see and touch and taste. It is the same with confession. We have a psychological need to confess what we have done wrong to another person. And if you don’t believe me just listen to the chat shows on TV and radio where you will regularly listen to people confessing their sins, and confessing to the whole country too! I’m sure you have often heard how someone in prison will often confess to another cellmate a crime that they have committed. We have a psychological need to confess, because when we do, it helps us to heal. That is why the Lord gives us a means of confessing in complete secrecy, to someone he has specially appointed for this. It doesn’t mean that priests are holier than anyone else, as we well know, but the Lord has given us this gift through the priesthood. Jesus said to Peter, ‘Whatever sins you forgive, they are forgiven. Whatever sins you retain they are retained’ (Jn 20:23). He was giving his power to forgive sins to the priesthood. In other words, it is God who forgives through the priest. The Lord has given us this because he knows how much we need it. Sadly many of us have neglected it and come to see it as a burden rather than as something the Lord gave us to help us.

 

Think also of this: who does not want us to confess our sins? Satan. He knows how powerful confession is and he does not want us to experience that healing and the grace, or what you might call the divine strength, that God also gives us through it.

 

It is interesting how in the many places where Our Lady has appeared on earth to help us, she always speaks about the seriousness of sin and how it is offending God. She also says, ‘Tell the people to go to confession.’ She doesn’t say, ‘Tell the people to tell God they are sorry for their sins,’ rather, ‘Tell the people to go to confession.’ If God the Father has sent Mary to appear to us, it must be for a very serious reason and it is. Sin is the one thing that can separate us from God for all eternity and God wants us to be with him and with our loved ones for all eternity. That is what He created us for. That is why God has also given us the forgiveness of sins through the priesthood. God has already won forgiveness for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus and God offers us that forgiveness, but we must ask for it.

 

The weeks that I spent hearing confessions in Lourdes and other places are where I saw real miracles. They were real miracles because I saw people being relieved of great burdens of guilt and shame, being able to leave in peace because they were at rights with God. Confessing and being absolved by the priest is a real gift.

 

In today’s Gospel Jesus says to us that the son that did the Father’s will was the one who did what he asked, and not the one who just said he would do it. The Lord also asks us to confess what we have done wrong, so that we can live in peace. In St. Matthew’s Gospel Jesus says, ‘It is not those who say, “Lord, Lord,” but those who do the will of my Father in heaven.’ (Mt 7:21). It is tempting to think, ‘I don’t need to do that,’ but think about what you are saying: ‘I don’t need to use what God has given to us, because I know better.’

 

The greatest healing ministry of the Church is the forgiveness of sins.

 

25th Sunday Year A (Gospel: Matt 20:1-16) My ways are not your ways.

 

 

There is a book called Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist  who ended up in one of the concentration camps during the Second World War. He noticed that the people who survived the longest were not necessarily those who were physically the strongest. It was the people who had a purpose, a reason to live, such as a wife, or husband they wanted to see again, or if they had faith. Those who lived the longest were the ones who had what you might call ‘spiritual purpose’.

 

An interesting thing is happening in the world at the moment. A large number of people are beginning to come back to their faith. Young people are discovering faith for the first time; not just beginning to go to mass again, but learning to pray and really trying to live their faith every day. Some of this I have seen directly and more of it has been mentioned on the news. Apparently in England and France large numbers of people are coming back to faith. I personally know of many people that it has happened to. There are friends of mine who are converting people at their work place, by the way they live and because of the zeal they have for the Lord. There are also prayer groups springing up all over the country. Also in confession I keep meeting people who have been away for decades, almost every week. I often ask them what prompted them to come back. Sometimes they are not quite sure, but they felt they needed to put their life in order. The Spirit had been speaking to them.

 

Over the last several years more adults have been coming into the Church each year, just in this diocese through the OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adultls) program. Three years ago over 500 people just in this diocese, became Catholic. Two years ago over 600 and last year over 1000. The Spirit is moving people.

 

I have also come across many articles about Jesus appearing to Muslims in dreams. Many of them have converted to Christianity.

 Several well-documented testimonies include:

• The Story of Nabeel Qureshi – A former Muslim and the author of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, Nabeel Qureshi described how dreams played a crucial role in his conversion. He experienced three significant dreams in which Jesus revealed Himself and challenged his understanding of Islam.

• Middle Eastern Testimonies – Missionaries working in restricted countries have documented multiple accounts of Muslims encountering Jesus in dreams and subsequently seeking out Christian pastors to learn more.

• Online and Social Media Accounts – Christian ministries often share testimonies of Muslims who reach out after experiencing dreams of Jesus, asking for Bibles and wanting to learn more about Christianity.

• The Story of Khalil – A young man from Saudi Arabia had repeated dreams of Jesus telling him to “seek the truth.” After grappling with fear and doubt, he eventually connected with a Christian community online and found answers in the Bible. Today, he is a strong believer despite facing persecution from his family.

• The Story of Fatima – A woman in Iran dreamt of Jesus standing beside her and saying, “Follow Me.” She was deeply moved but hesitant. After experiencing the same dream multiple times, she began secretly reading the Bible and later accepted Christ as her Savior.

• The Story of Ahmed – Living in Egypt, Ahmed was a devout Muslim who had a powerful dream of Jesus embracing him and saying, “You are mine.” Overwhelmed by love, he started reading the New Testament and realized Jesus was more than just a prophet. He is the Son of God.

• Former Imams and Religious Leaders – Several former imams have reported encountering Jesus in dreams, leading them to leave their positions in Islam and follow Christ. Their journeys are particularly significant because they come from a deep theological background in Islam, making their conversions even more profound.

• I read of another account where 200 Palestinian Muslim men had the same dream about Jesus and were all converted to Christianity.

 

Why is this happening? Because we are living in a time of grace, where God is giving us a chance to find him again. Our Lady has appeared all over the world in the last century and is telling us to come back to God, because the world is living as though God doesn’t exist. We cannot exist without God. God is the one who shows us the purpose of our life and how to live if we are to blossom both individually and as a society. God gives us very specific instructions about what we should and should not do. All of this is to help us, because God desires our happiness.

 

The history of the people of Israel shows the same pattern. When they were faithful to God things were fine. But when they became lazy and began to ignore God, or turn to other false gods, then their society began to fall apart, just as God told them it would. Then they recognized their sin and turned back to God.

Our society follows the same pattern. When people are faithful to God and try to live as God tells us to, things work. But when people turn away from God or reject God’s Commandments, our society falls into chaos, as we have seen happening. But that same chaos is often what makes people wake up and hopefully repent and turn back to God. I believe that is what we are seeing happening now. People see the chaos and recognize that things are not right and turn to God.

 

A friend of mine, a married man, who has come back to God, said to me recently that he would have separated by now, only for the fact that he had become a Catholic. It was his faith that had given him the strength he needed to keep going when things were difficult. And now they are doing fine.

 

We are not usually as strong as we like to think we are. And we are not half as independent as we like to think we are. We are full of pride and slow to admit that we need help. And men are worse than women this way. We tend to be slower to ask for help.

 

Working with the sick and dying, I am often amazed at how much people are consoled when the priest comes to visit them, because it reminds them that God hasn’t forgotten about them. It also reminds them of the more important things and they don’t feel so alone.  Many people have forgotten about God, but God hasn’t forgotten about us.

 

No matter what stage we are at in our life, it is never too late to turn to God and to ask him for his help, but pride often prevents us. We are stubborn, and we say, ‘I couldn’t begin to pray now, because I’ve never done it before. What would my friends think?’ What kind of an argument is that? Who cares what your friends think. They won’t be there when we are alone before God when we die. 

 

If you take faith out of the picture, everything changes. If there was no God, then why should we make sacrifices? We would have every excuse to just take care of ourselves and our loved ones and make ourselves as comfortable as possible. But our faith makes us see things completely differently. Because God is real and our destiny is to be with him for all eternity, then what we go through in this life takes on a different perspective, because it is only temporary and it all has a part in forming us to be holier people. You could describe holiness as being ‘the best version of ourselves, that we can be.’ Depending on how we face them, the trials that we go through can have a big part in forming us, in purifying us. That is also why suicide, abortion and euthanasia are not only sinful, but such terrible tragedies as well. The temptation is to thing that if my life ends, then all the suffering is over. In fact that is what you hear people saying all the time, when they are referring to someone who has died. At least they won’t suffer any more. But if cutting a life short, through suicide, or euthanasia, or abortion, is also cutting off some of the very trials that would have helped bring us closer to God, then we are missing out. It is normal that we don’t want to suffer, but there is a certain amount of suffering we cannot avoid and Jesus said that the path to heaven involves suffering. ‘Unless you take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple’ (Matt 16:24). ‘Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to heaven and few find it (Matt 7:14). We want the easy way and our world tells us we should be able to have the easy way, but that is not what the Lord tells us. Who will you listen to?

 

When we get to heaven, please God, I think we will look back and see that everything that we went through played a part in getting us ready to be with God. You can see it all the time, how suffering changes people. They mature and often begin to see what is most important in our life on earth. If we were not faced with those same trials/sufferings, would we see what is truly important? You know how the sickness, or death of a family member can change everything, especially if it is a young person. All our priorities change. The things of this world suddenly become almost irrelevant.

 

So many people at the end of their life go through sickness and pain, which often seems so unfair. But I am sure that it is often the final purification that God allows us to go through before we come into God’s presence. When people die we tend to refer to them as immediately being in heaven, but probably not many people are ready to come directly into God’s presence. It is so important that we pray for them and sadly it is something that is greatly neglected. We have reminders of them everywhere, but we don’t pray for them. I would rather that there be no reminders of me anywhere, but instead that people pray for me and have masses offered for me when I die.

 

Passing on our faith is probably one of the most important things we can do for the next generation, because our faith is what puts everything in perspective. If there was no world after this one, what a cruel world it would be for so many people, as most people suffer quite a lot.

 

It always grieves me when I hear parents saying that they are not going to teach their children about any faith, because they want them to choose when they grow up. First of all, if they are not given any grounding in some faith, it is very unlikely they will choose any faith when they get older. Secondly, their minds are going to be formed one way or the other. Would you rather that their minds be formed by the violence and evil that fills the internet and TV, or in the ways of God? We must do everything we can to teach the next generation about God. I know that many of you here are grandparents. Don’t underestimate the influence you have on your grandchildren. We have a different kind of respect for our grandparents. Don’t apologize for what you believe in. It may be the greatest favour you do for your grandchildren.

 

When we were in the seminary, they did a survey asking us various questions about our faith. One question was, who influenced us the most in our faith. The majority of people said it was their grandparents. When we are growing up we tend to rebel against our parents as we are finding our feet and our independence, but we listen to our grandparents in a different way. Don’t be afraid to talk about what you believe in.

 

What is the best way to pass on our faith? Live it as well as you can. When we really try and live our faith, we don’t have to say very much, because our actions and decisions say everything. People notice and it makes people think.

 

Jesus Christ is the only one who makes sense of what our life is about and why we are here. We are on our way to be with him in heaven. That’s what we have been created for. But he also told us to carry the cross, to try and be patient in suffering, because that is also part of the journey.

 

For to me, life is Christ and death is gain…

I long to depart this life and be with Christ

for that is far better.

Yet that I remain in the flesh

is more necessary for your benefit.

 

20th Sunday Year A (Matthew 15:21-28) God's answer to prayer

 

I think one of the frustrating aspects of prayer is that we often don’t seem to get an answer, or at least hear an answer. We are praying for something important, but God doesn’t seem to be listening, or is indifferent. Could this be true? Of course not. Jesus himself says, ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you’ (Matt 7:7). ‘Ask and it will be given to you.’ They are Jesus’ own words. That means that God always answers our prayers, but maybe not in the way we want, or in a way we recognize.

 

In this Gospel, Jesus does something which is uncharacteristic of him. At first he seems to ignore this woman who is looking for his help, because she is a pagan, not one of the Jewish people. He does answer her, but not with words. It says, ‘He answered her, not a word’. He did answer, but he didn’t use words. His appearing to ignore her, drew out her faith. It made her persist and even be daring and he acknowledges her faith.

 

A man called Marino Restrepo, from Columbia, grew up in a wealthy Catholic family, but in his teens drifted away from his faith until he no longer practiced at all. He was a talented musician and artist and became very successful in Hollywood as a producer and director. He lived a very sinful life, with non-stop affairs and drugs, seducing other women and being seduced and also introducing other people to drugs. He also got heavily involved in New Age practices, leading him farther and farther away from God.

 

On Christmas of 1997 he went back to Columbia to visit his family. His four sisters, who were still practicing Catholics, got him to go to church for Christmas, even though he no longer believed. It had been 33 years since he had been in a Catholic church. One of the devotions there, was a novena to the Infant Jesus of Prague. It began on December 16^th and concluded on Christmas Eve. He heard the priest say that anyone who prayed this novena with devotion, would receive a grace. This caught his attention, but not in a religious way; in a greedy and superstitious way. He figured that he might be able to get something out of this prayer. So he prayed to the Infant Jesus of Prague, that Jesus would change his life: that he would be able to retire with a lot of money and live like a king with at least three women on an Indonesian island he had seen in pictures. That is exactly what he asked for.

 

The day after the novena ended, which was Christmas day, he celebrated with friends and family. That night we went to visit an uncle on his plantation. When he arrived at the gates, he found they were shut, which surprised him. The he suddenly found himself surrounded by six masked men, who dragged him out of his car and took him away. They drove for a long time and then made him run through the jungle for hours. He had been captured by FARC rebels, who hoped to get a large ransom from his family. He spent the next six months tied up in a cave in the jungle. He very died from malnutrition and he was also being tortured psychologically.

 

Marino Restreppo

One night, during this nightmarish ordeal, he had a very powerful spiritual experience. He had an illumination of conscience (see the book The Warning, by Christine Watkins, for the full story, pp 183-212). The Lord showed him his soul and his whole life up to that point, everything he had done, every choice for or against God. It lasted about eight hours. He says it was a very frightening experience, because he had been living such a sinful and worldly life for so long. The Lord allowed him to see that if he had died at that moment, he would have gone to hell, because this was what he had already chosen by the way he was living. Needless to mention, the experience had a profound effect on him.

 

Six months after he was kidnapped, he was unexpectedly released. He didn’t know why. Physically and emotionally he was in terrible shape, but he survived and gradually recovered his health. From then on he completely changed his life. He sold his apartment in Manhattan, quit his job in production and began to live a much simpler and more prayerful life. He has dedicated the rest of his life to sharing his story and has travelled all over the world.

 

FARC Rebels

Why am I telling you his story? Apart from the fact that it is an amazing story, he prayed that God would change his life and allow him to retire with great wealth, etc. God did answer his prayer and changed his life, but not in the way he could ever have imagined.

 

The answers we get when we pray for things, may not be what we wanted and sometimes we may not even recognize the answer until years later, but Jesus assures us that He always answers us. ‘The one who asks always receives. The one who searches always finds and the one who knocks will always have the door opened.’ (Matt 7:8).

 

 Often God’s silence, which can be so frustrating, can be the very thing that helps us to grow in prayer. If we got everything we asked for instantly, would we grow spiritually? Probably not. But when we have to strive and persevere for it, we grow.

 

You don’t give your children everything they ask for, instantly, because you know that it can often do them more harm than good. You see a bigger picture when you are older. God sees the whole picture and knows what will help us and what will not. The answers we get may be silence, but God does answer us.

 

St. Monica, prayed for 33 years for the conversion of her son Augustine. He eventually became a Catholic, then a priest, then a bishop and today he is recognized as one of the great saints of our Church. St. Monica had great faith and never gave up. If the Lord had answered her instantly the first time she prayed, would her faith have grown as much? Probably not.  

 

A Canaanite woman of that district came out and called, ‘

Have pity on me Lord, Son of David. My daughter is tormented by a demon.’

But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her.

19th Sunday Year A (Gospel: Matthew 14:22-23) God in the gentle breeze is subtle and easy to miss

 

Every time I have moved from one place to another like here, it always makes me think about the priesthood and what my work is about. To me the greatest privilege of being a priest is that I can bring Jesus to people in the Eucharist, wherever I am sent. This is the most important part of any priest’s work. Everything else is secondary, because the greatest gift the Lord has given us, is the gift of himself, of his body and blood in the holy Eucharist. I am sure there are at least two reasons why He gives it to us. First, because He wants to be intimately part of our lives and everything we do. Second, because God knows how much we need his strength to make it through this life, which is difficult at the best of times and so He gives us his very self, which we can receive into our own bodies, every day if we wish. If we really believe this, then we can never say that we are on our own. The Lord is saying, ‘You are not on your own. I am here with you every step of the way.’

 

For the most part God’s presence among us is very subtle. It is easy to miss it and many people do miss it, thinking that God is not there at all. Think of how many people pass by a church each day and really believe that the body and blood of Jesus Christ is present there? Probably very few. The Lord seems to keep himself hidden from us.

 

The first reading about the prophet Elijah refers to this. Elijah is considered the greatest of the prophets and a man very close to God. God wanted to let him experience his presence and so He sent him to this cave on the mountain side. Then there was a great storm-force wind, something we can relate to in Florida. But it says that God was not in the storm. Then there was an earthquake and then a fire, all great signs of the power of nature which can be so frightening. The powers of nature remind us how small we are and how helpless, but it says that God wasn’t in these either. And then a very gentle breeze, or whispering sound and God’s presence was there. In some translations it says, ‘A still small, voice,’ something you could easily miss.

 

Why did God send the storm, the earthquake and the fire? I think that God is reminding us that his presence is very subtle and easy to miss, but just because God doesn’t come to us in the form of thunder and lightning, or something very dramatic, doesn’t mean that He is not there. How did Elijah know God was there in the gentle breeze? Because he was used to listening to God and he was able to recognize God’s presence. If he wasn’t paying attention, or only focused on what was dramatic, he could have missed it.

 

The powers of nature can be very frightening, as we know from hurricanes. But God is reminding us not to be focused on what is loud and dramatic, as that is not where we will find him. God is just as powerfully present, but we will not notice his voice unless we stop and listen. That is why it is good to try and be quiet when you come to the church before mass. We are about to encounter the all-powerful God, but we may not notice his presence if we are just talking. It is the same after we have received Communion. Try and be silent and listen. And it is not that we are listening for a message, or word, rather that we are being aware that we are in his presence. If we don’t stop and listen, we can miss it.

 

Then we have the wonderful image of the storm in the Gospel. Jesus comes walking across the water toward them. You can imagine how terrifying it would be to see someone walking on water if you were out at sea. Anyone would think it was a ghost. Then after asking Jesus to invite him to come across the water, Peter really does walk on water. I think that is the part that is easy to forget. Peter did walk on water, but when he took his focus off Jesus, he began to think rationally and that this couldn’t be happening and then he began to sink.

 

Just that event is a great image for what is happening around us. We are in a time of turmoil, with swirling clouds and stormy seas. All we hear about is the chaos and how terrible the world is and it feels like we are sinking. But the Lord is telling us to focus on him, not on the storm. When Peter focused on Jesus, he did what we say is impossible. As soon as he took his focus off Jesus and back to what was happening around him, he began to sink. The Lord is reminding us to do the same. If we focus only on the storm around us, with all the negative voices of the media, telling us of the terrible things happening in our world, we will become overwhelmed and we will sink. If we focus on the Lord, we will see something completely different.

 

It is heartbreaking to see so much suicide around us, but I have no doubt that is at least partly because people have lost faith and they don’t know where to turn. As a result they become overwhelmed with the world and despair. What they need is what we have: Jesus. In St. John’s Gospel Jesus says ‘In the world you will have trouble, but do not be afraid, I have conquered the world’ (John 16:33). He didn’t say we would have it easy, but He tells us to stay focused on him and then we will get through whatever we have to face. He is not asking us to do it by ourselves, but with his strength.

 

Sometimes I think that it might be easier if the Lord’s presence was more dramatic. Then we would have no doubt about God being there. It would probably be terrifying, but for whatever reason, the Lord prefers to stay hidden from us. His coming to us in Holy Communion is a great example of this. How much more hidden can you get? Who would believe that God comes to us in a tiny piece of bread? It sounds completely crazy and to many people it is crazy, indeed too crazy to be true, but this is what Jesus himself has taught us and that is why we believe it is true. It is the Lord himself who has taught us this.

 

Perhaps when you come up to receive Holy Communion today, think of the gentle breeze that passed in front of the prophet Elijah. God was in that gentle breeze. Jesus is also present to us here in the tiny host of bread that we receive, which has become his Body and Blood. That’s also why we should try and receive it with the greatest reverence. It is not a symbol; it is the Body of Christ. That’s also why you should never walk away with it, but consume it when it is given to you and then listen for the still small voice.

 

To help us believe, the Lord keeps giving us signs and wonders. So many Eucharistic miracles. Here is just one.

 

In the church of St. Francis of Assisi in Siena, Italy, in 1730, on the eve of the feast of the Assumptio, someone stole a ciborium from the tabernacle, which contained hundreds of hosts. As you can imagine people were very upset and searched everywhere for the hosts. The following day a lady in another church noticed some hosts sticking out of one of the poor boxes. They opened it and found the hosts. By now the hosts were dirty and covered in cobwebs. So they decided to leave them in a container to decay naturally. However, after several months they were still perfectly preserved and still smelled fresh. Today, almost 300 years later, they are still perfectly preserved and in a glass container for everyone to see.

 

Eucharistic miracles continue to happen all over the world right up to today. Many of them are where the host has actually turned into a piece of flesh. Scientific studies have shown each time that it is real human heart tissue, always with blood type AB. One of the more recent ones in Buenos Aires in 1996, showed that it was real human heart tissue, from the left ventricle of the heart and it was taken from a man who was under extreme stress, or badly beaten. The crucifixion.

 

After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.

When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak

and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

 

18th Sunday, Yr A (Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21) The need to forgive

 

 

One of the things that seems to cause the most division that people so often tell me about in confession, is bitterness in families over things like wills, where land or money has been left to someone and others in the family feel hard done by; sometimes over children who won’t forgive parents for their mistakes, or parents who won’t forgive their children, but especially over wills. It is very sad, but it is amazing how much of it exists. We decide that we can’t forgive, or won’t forgive, because we have been hurt too deeply. Unforgiveness is probably the single biggest obstacle to God’s helping us in this life. If I refuse to forgive someone, I am preventing the Lord from helping me, because this is one thing that the Lord tells us to do. 

 

No doubt all of us here expect to be forgiven by God when we die. That’s what our faith teaches us. It’s what we talk about all the time, but I wonder do all of us feel that we also have to forgive those who have wronged us. This is exactly what the Lord tells us we must do, if we hope to be forgiven ourselves. We say it every time we pray the Our Father: ‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’ There are also many parables that Jesus used to emphasize this.

 

Peter asked Jesus, ‘Lord how many times must I forgive my brother? As many as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.’ In other words, as long as someone asks my forgiveness I must forgive them.

 

Jesus then went on to give this parable:

There was a king who was settling accounts with his servants. (Matthew 18:21-35). One servant could not pay the debt and begged for time. The king was sorry for him and forgave the whole debt when he asked for mercy. But then that same man went out and refused to forgive one of his debtors a much smaller amount. When the king found out he was furious and condemned the servant for his lack of mercy and threw him in jail until he pay the whole debt. And Jesus finishes with the words, ‘And that is how my heavenly Father will treat you, unless you forgive your brother from your heart.’ (Matthew 18:35).

 

There is also a common misunderstanding to do with forgiveness, and it is this: many people have the idea that in order to forgive someone who has hurt them, they must feel like forgiving them. In other words they must have got to the point where they no longer feel the hurt, and so therefore they can forgive. That is not how it works. If most of us were to wait until we actually felt like forgiving someone who has hurt us, we would probably never forgive? This is where people get stuck: forgiveness is not based on how you feel, but is a decision of the will. I choose to forgive someone, because the Lord asks me to; and by doing that I then open the door to allow the Lord to begin to help me get over the hurt. Or to put it the other way around: if I refuse to forgive someone, I am preventing God from helping me to be healed of the hurt. I will not begin to heal as long as the unforgiveness remains.

 

‘Lord I forgive John, please bless him and help me to heal.’ When we decide to forgive, we are not saying that what happened no longer matters, or that it wasn’t wrong, or that we no longer feel the pain. We are choosing to forgive the person, so that we can heal. We are letting go of the resentment. We may have to say those words many more times throughout our life, but as long as we do, then we will begin to heal. If I refuse to forgive someone, I become consumed with the hurt, the resentment and anger. It eats away at me like a cancer. I am the one who suffers. We may feel that by refusing to forgive, we are punishing the other person. The truth is they may not even be aware of the hurt you are carrying. I am the one who is suffering and the key to healing is in my hands.

 

The deeper the hurt, the harder it is to forgive and the Lord knows that. That is why Jesus spoke about it so many times. When the Apostles asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He gave them the Our Father. The Our Father is a way of praying, not just a prayer and two lines of it are to do with forgiveness. ‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’ If we expect to be forgiven, we too must forgive.

 

It is a terrible thing to meet someone in the later years of their life who has refused to forgive. You can see it in their face. They are angry and bitter and they are not at peace. That is not what the Lord wants for any of us and so He shows us the way out. The key is in our own hands.

 

When I find myself angry with someone, it usually means I need to forgive them. I doubt if there is anyone who doesn’t need to forgive someone. So many of the stories people tell me, are about serious injustices. The bigger the wrong we have experienced the harder it is to forgive. But remind yourself, it is not about how I feel. It is a decision.

 

St. Maria Goretti, one of the youngest saints in the Church, died at the age of 11 in 1902, just before her 12^th birthday. Her father died when she was very young and as a result her family ended up having to hire themselves out as farm hands. They also had to share a house with a man and his two sons, the Serenellis. They were into very sinful living. One of the sons, Alessandro, kept trying to seduce her, even though she was so young, but she continually resisted. One day he arranged it so that she would be home alone when he was there. He tried to rape her, but she resisted, crying out that it would be a sin and offend God. In his frustration he stabbed her 15 times. She lived for another 24 hours while they tried to save her. During those 24 hours she said that she forgave him because she said, ‘I want him to be in heaven too.’ Alessandro was given a life sentence.

 

For the first three years he was completely unrepentant and bragged about what he had done. But three years after her murder, she appeared to him in a dream and gave him 15 lilies. As he took each lily, it burnt his hand and disappeared. He realized that each one represented each of the times that he had stabbed her and that she had forgiven him. From then on, he became deeply repentant, so much so that he was eventually let out of prison early (after 27 years) because of his exemplary behaviour.

 

After he was released he went to her mother to beg her forgiveness. His mother said to him, ‘If Maria can forgive you, then I must forgive you too.’ I can’t imagine the grief and anger that her mother must have gone through, but she forgave Alessandro and I have no doubt that will have brought her peace and set her free. Alessandro and her mother Assunta, were both present at Maria’s canonization in 1950. Alessandro spent the rest of his life working in a monastery.

 

Many times, after some of these terrible shootings where multiple people are killed, I have seen family members cursing and screaming at the killer in court. Their anger is very understandable. But sometimes you also see family members, usually parents, with extraordinary courage, saying through their tears that they forgive the killer. They will have to live with the pain of losing their child, but they have also set themselves free from the hatred that otherwise would consume them.

 

There is a tradition attributed to a tribe in South America, I believe. If someone is murdered and they catch the killer, he is tied to a barrel and thrown into a river, or lake. The family can let him drown, or save him. Revenge would make you want to let him drown. But if they save him, it sets them free of hatred and bitterness. Great wisdom.

When I am dying, will the injustices carried out against me still matter? Will I still refuse to forgive? We will not get into heaven until we forgive those who have wronged us and that is why it is so important. The key to healing is in our own hands, but it is a decision, not a feeling.

 

‘Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.’

 

17th Sunday, Year A (Gospel: Matthew 15:44-52) The hidden treasure

 

 

Poor Clare Sisters, Galway, Ireland

There are two lady friends of mine, good friends whom I’ve known for many years: Maura and Marina. Both were accountants, with good jobs and a nice lifestyle; great party goers and very popular. Then one day Marina announced to us all that she was going to leave everything and enter the Poor Clare convent, in my hometown. The Poor Clares are a contemplative order, which means they dedicate their lives to prayer. They don’t leave the convent, except for things like visits to the doctor, or to vote. Otherwise they spend the rest of their lives in the convent praying for all of us. People from all over the city and beyond, continually go into them asking them to pray for different intentions. About two years after Marina entered, my friend Maura did the same thing. This meant that they would give up their job and salary, their independence and nice lifestyle and also the chance to get married and have children. Marina’s family were very upset when she decided to do this, even though they were a very religious family themselves. In spite of their faith they found it very hard to accept. It is considered the highest calling in the Church and one of great sacrifice.

 

Six year later, Marina made her final profession, taking the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Two years after that, Maura, my other friend, did the same thing. They will spend the rest of their lives in that convent praying and interceding for people, helping us by the sacrifice of their lives.

 

Every time a man is ordained to the priesthood, he also dedicates his life to God and to service of his people. He gives up the chance to be married and have children. He chooses to do this, just like monks and nuns do. They feel called to dedicate their lives to God and they do. People often asked me did I not want to get married. I always say that I would have liked to, as it is the most natural desire, but the call to the priesthood was stronger and persistent. 28 years later, in spite of all the ups and downs, I am extremely grateful that God called me this way. I couldn’t imagine a greater privilege on earth.

St. Patrick's College Chapel, Maynooth, Ireland.
Over 12,000 priests have been ordained here.

 

It’s not only people who go into Religious life who do this, many other friends of mine who are married have also changed the direction of their lives and begun to live more closely to God, trying to give time each day to prayer and to living out the faith that they believe in as I know many of you here do as well. People make a conscious effort to live by the Gospel we believe in and this happens all the time.

 

Why did my two friends decide to leave everything and spend the rest of their lives in a convent? Many people consider it a total waste of a life. The Church says it is the highest calling that God can give to anyone, but what makes someone want to do this, or to become a priest, or to really try to live out their faith?

 

The answer is that they have found the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price that Jesus talks about. They have recognized that it is worth everything and so they have given everything for it. It is what Jesus often calls ‘The kingdom of heaven’. In other words, it is the discovery, or realization that God is real and that what Jesus has told us about God, is true. It is as if this suddenly clicks into place and they can see it and it makes sense. They realize that God isn’t just an optional extra, but that God is at the center and we are a part of his world. We are the optional extra. We are the ones who would not be here except that God created us. God is at the center of everything and our life only makes sense in relation to him and in relation to what Jesus told us about him. Apart from God, our life makes absolutely no sense. To come to know this is worth everything, because it is the truth and it makes sense of why we exist.

 

A pearl

Just because someone finds this treasure, as Jesus calls it, doesn’t mean that they have to become a priest or Religious. Most people are not called to be priests or Religious, but to continue on as normal in society, working, having families and giving witness to the reality of God by the way they live. That’s what most of you are called to, but the fact that some people are prepared to live a life dedicated to God, shows the value of what they believe in, of what we believe in. It testifies to the fact that what we believe in has a greater and more lasting value than anything we can know in this world. It is a sign that we believe there is more to come and that it’s worth waiting for, suffering for and making sacrifices for. That is also one of the ideas of celibacy, or the vow of chastity. People decide to give up the possibility of marriage, because they believe in the world to come. It is a sign of our faith in the next world, because that is how we will be in the next world.

 

 

One religious sect in Jesus time, called the Sadducees, who did not believe in life after death, tried to catch Jesus out, by asking him who would be married to whom in the world to come, especially if someone has been married more than once. Jesus explains that in heaven people don’t marry. They are like the angels. The primary purpose of marriage is procreation and that no longer happens in heaven. That doesn’t mean we can’t be with the ones we love, but it will be in a different way. We will be free in a way that we are not here. We will no longer have all the psychological baggage that we carry here. Love will be completely pure.

 

The idea of celibacy is that it is a sign of the life that awaits us in heaven. We begin to live it now. That doesn’t mean it’s easy, but nothing is easy. Every way of life requires sacrifice, perhaps marriage more than any other way.

 

Often when I’m finding it tough going and wondering why I’m a priest or what it’s all about, I think of my two friends in the Poor Clares and their witness makes me say yes, it is worth the effort.

 

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,

which a person finds and hides again,

and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.