A few years ago a Dominican priest friend of mine told me the following story. He was based in Dublin, and because of renovations to their church, they were using a make-shift chapel at the time, which was a bit cramped. The chapel was jammed as they were celebrating the Easter Vigil and he said that the reader was reading the account of creation in Genesis in a rather posh accent. While he was reading this piece of Scripture a homeless man came up to the top of the chapel and sat down right underneath where the man was reading and listened to the reading. When he got to the part of the reading that says, ‘God saw all that He had made and indeed it was very good,’ the homeless man said out loud, ‘You’re havin’ me on!’ (You’ve got to be kiddin’). The reader continued to the next part and again when he got where it says ‘...and indeed it was very good’, again the homeless man said out loud ‘You’re having me on!’ While it might have seemed very ignorant of the man to interrupt the reading like this, what he was saying was that this might be what the scriptures say, but it certainly wasn’t his experience of the world.
How do we make sense of a reading like today’s Gospel which says that Jesus, the anointed one of God, came to bring ‘good news’ to the poor, to free prisoners, etc? For many people, such as that homeless man and indeed many others too, their experience of the world is that it is a difficult place where often things don’t work out. Think of the families who are living in the middle of war at this time, or even those who are really struggling to survive in our own country, veterans on the streets. What could possibly be ‘good news’ for them?
The ‘good news’ that the Son of God came to tell us is that there is a purpose to our lives. We are here for a reason. Our lives are not meaningless and the meaning of our lives does not depend on how ‘successful,’ or otherwise, things seem to be for us in this world. How well we do on the outside is not really that important. What is primary is what happens inside us, in the heart. God has created us to love and to serve and to blossom as people. Hopefully we will also do well on the outside and be able to provide for our loved ones and enjoy this life too, but whether or not everything works out well for us is really secondary. The only thing that really matters is that we realise what the purpose of our life is about—to love God and the people around us. This is something that everyone can do, no matter what their circumstances.
I used to visit a man in prison over two years, while I was studying to be a priest. He was in for a very serious crime and he was doing a life sentence. As far as I know he is still in prison. Having got to know him, I also realised that he was basically a very good man himself. The crime he committed, which was a murder, was one of these bizarre things that happened, where 30 seconds either way and he would never have met the person he killed. He was provoked, there was a fight and he ended up killing the other person. Now his life is apparently ruined and he will spend most of it in prison. Does this mean that his life is meaningless, or a total failure? Not necessarily so; it depends on what goes on inside him more than anything else, because that is what God sees and that is what God will judge him by. That is what God will judge all of us by: how we have loved. Whether we end up living on the street or being the president of some huge company, is really not that important. Of course we should try to make the most of the opportunities that we are given and strive to succeed and hopefully we will do well, but if we can see that the purpose of our lives is much deeper than just what we achieve on the outside, in the world’s eyes, then we will have an inner strength that will help us keep going, no matter what happens.
This ‘good news’ that Jesus mentions in the Gospel, is that we are loved, we are deliberately created by God, we are valued, that there is a purpose to our lives and because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, heaven also awaits us when our time on earth is complete. We are not just here by chance. God deliberately created us. God wants us here at this particular time in history, in the particular family that we are part of. If I cannot see this bigger picture then my life may appear to be meaningless, especially if things haven’t worked out the way I think they should have. But that is to limit my purpose to my own very limited way of seeing the world. If I try to see it with the eyes of faith, then I will see something quite different. To understand that is to give sight to the blind and freedom to those who are imprisoned. It’s not just prisons like ‘Mountjoy’ in Dublin where my friend was either, but the kind of prison of the mind that tells me that my life is a waste of time. No one’s life is a waste of time if we realise that God wants us here. Our job here is primarily to love and serve God and the people around us. The key for us is to see the bigger picture.
I heard a line from the series Downton Abbey, where one of the main characters, Lord Crawley, is talking to his son. His son has moved out on his own and is refusing to let his butler do his job. He feels that he doesn’t need a butler. But eventually his father says to him, ‘Everyone has a part to play and everyone must be allowed to play their part.’ The son realizes his mistake and begins to allow the butler do his job, so that he can fulfil his purpose too.
This is also what the second reading is talking about. All of us have a role to play and no one else can play that role. It may not seem terribly exciting, but it is the role that God has given us and therefore it is important. We will affect the people around us in a way that no one else can, because all of us bring our own unique gifts.
People often ask me how they will know what God wants them to do. If they have a specific role, or mission, how will they know what it is. If God has a specific mission for you, it will become obvious, but for most of us it is to blossom where we are planted. It may not seem to be a very exciting role, but it is the role that God has given us and it is important, because it is the role that God has given us.
If the Lord appeared to you and asked you if you would be willing to fulfil a particular mission for him, you would probably say, ‘of course.’ Then if He explained that the mission was to continue as you are, to love the people around you as best you can, and to continue to pray for them, would you say ‘no’? You may find yourself wondering why He would ask you to do something so mundane, but if this is what the Lord is asking you to do, then that is what He wants you to do and it is important, because no one else will do it in the way you can, because all of us are unique.
‘All of us have a part to play and all of us must be allowed to play our part.’
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