13th Sunday Year B (Gospel: Mark 5:21-43) Created for life

 

Not long after I was ordained, I was working as a hospital chaplain. I remember coming across a young girl of about 12 who was very sick. She was in the hospital several times and she eventually died. I can still see her pale dead body in the intensive care room and her poor parents who were completely devastated. I remember feeling so helpless as a chaplain. I have often prayed for them since. Every time I read today's Gospel I think of that little girl and her parents. 

 

An event like that always brings up the most difficult questions. Why does God allow these things to happen? Why didn’t God heal her? The readings today address some of these questions. First of all death was not something that God intended for us. And although it is now a part of our earthly existence, it is only a stage of transformation, a doorway to another stage of our life with God. Our physical bodies die, but we don’t die.

 

The way that Jesus dealt with sickness and death also has a lot to teach us. Since Jesus was able to heal people and even bring people back from the dead, as He did on at least three occasions, why did He always want people to be quiet about it? In this Gospel He only allowed three of his disciples to be with him and when He got to the house He made as if the girl was not dead at all. Then He asked the family to keep the whole event quiet.  Why? You would think that it would be in his favour if people knew and that He would have more respect and that people would listen to him. Perhaps it was because his primary role was not about healing people physically, even though he had great compassion for people who were sick. His main role involved three things:

1.    To sacrifice himself for us for the forgiveness of sins, so that we might have eternal life with God when we die.

2.    To show us that God is with us in our sufferings. Jesus freely accepting death on a cross showed us this.

3.    To teach us about God and what our life is all about. 

 

Jesus wanted to teach us that God is not interested in condemning us, or ‘catching us out,’ rather, that God has made us to be with him and that God will make that happen if we allow him to. During our time on earth God is gradually transforming us and helping us to become holy, or you could say, ‘the best version of ourselves’ that we can be. The teachings that Jesus left us with are the path which leads us through this gradual transformation, so that we become more like God all the time. Jesus is saying, ‘If you want to be transformed inside, then live the way that I am showing you. Spend your life loving and serving the people around you. Don’t put yourself first and don’t spend your whole life trying to store up a wealth that will disappear the day you die.’ If we get too focused on the world around us, we will miss what our life is really about.

 

It is tempting to think that that kind of life, living the Gospel, is only for a few people and that our own life is too difficult or too demanding to be like that; but that is not true. If it was not possible to live this way of life, then Jesus would not have taught us about it. The truth is that all of us are given endless opportunities to live the way Jesus taught us, because we are all the time being faced with difficult situations where we continually have to make a choice for good or evil. All of these choices are shaping us and making us into better or worse people. The good thing is that even if we have made a mess of many of the choices we’ve been given, God keeps giving us more, because God wants us to grow into the kind of people that He knows we can become. It is the ordinary struggles that we are faced with every day which are shaping us and making this happen.

 

Often at funerals I hear people speaking about the person who has died as if they are gone forever, their existence extinguished, nothing else, but to see it that way is to completely miss the point of what our faith teaches us. What Jesus has taught us is that while we are on earth we are all the time preparing for the world to come, something which is unimaginably wonderful. If we really believe that then we can quietly be happy for those who have gone before us, even though being separated from them is painful, because they have already reached it, at least if they have chosen it by the way they live.

 

Knowing that something wonderful awaits us should give us both comfort and hope for those who have died. Sooner or later we will also be there. When tragedy strikes, especially when someone dies young, we usually see it as the worst thing imaginable and in many respects it is. But if what we believe is true, then it means they have gone ahead of us sooner than we expected. When we die we will be reunited with them again. That is the greatest hope we have, because all of us want to be with our loved ones again and to be happy and that is what God promises is waiting for us.

 

God is all about life. When people ask why we are always talking about euthanasia and abortion, it is because God is all about life. The first commandment that God gave Adam and Eve was to go and bear fruit, multiply. He didn’t put any restrictions on that, telling us not to over-populate the world. Everywhere in Scripture references to new life are always seen as a blessing, never as a burden. God is all about life and that’s why God keeps creating more life.

 

Sadly we live in a culture of death, where life is often presented as a burden. That is the opposite of what God teaches us, which is why we must continually try and help people see what God shows us, that life is a gift, not a burden and only God is the giver of life.

 

When we decide who will live and who will die, we are playing God, which is exactly what Adam and Eve were tempted to do and exactly what God forbade them to do. The original sin was to play God and God warned them not to do this, because it would be too much for them. We see what happens in our world the more we try and do this. Chaos follows.

 

On that note, the bishops have asked us to make you aware of a very serious referendum coming up to do with abortion, where the state of Florida is trying to make abortion part of the constitution of Florida, up to full term and without any restrictions. There is more information about it on our website and I would encourage you to read up on it. As is often the case, the language is misleading, but it is really important that we vote against this.

 

Although we will continue to live in a world where the laws of God are rejected, our approach to life and his teachings are the best witness we can give and this is what the Lord asks us to do.

 

Jesus took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,”

which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”

The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around.

12th Sunday Yr B (Gospel: Mark 4:35-41) Even the wind and the sea obey him.

 

 One thing that just about all of us struggle with is the mystery of suffering.  Why do good people suffer? Why do innocent people suffer and pretty much everyone suffers. Why is that? Working with the sick I often heard people saying to me, ‘Why has this happened to me, I never did anyone any harm?’ People often wonder is it some kind of punishment from God because they did something wrong. That is not so. If that were so, then God would be vindictive and that is not who we believe God is. That is not who Jesus revealed God to be.

 

A lot of suffering is caused by the evil choices of other people. All the wars that are going on, which inflict such terrible suffering on innocent people, are caused by the evil choices of people. Why doesn’t God intervene? Because if He did, then we wouldn’t have free will. God has given us free will, but that comes with responsibility. Our choices have consequences for good or evil, but Jesus continually taught that God will hold us accountable for our choices. If He did not, then God would not be just.

 

So often in this world, the people who do wrong, who commit evil acts, get away with it, because of power and corruption. But they will not get away with it when they die. There is no hiding from God and I find that comforting. Is that something we should be afraid of? No, because God also offers us his infinite mercy. What is important is that we repent when we do wrong and ask God to forgive us.

 

Sal Magluta

I was watching a documentary about some of the first major drug smugglers in Miami in the 80s. Two men in particular, Sal Magluta and Willie Falcon became infamous for their smuggling. Part of the documentary interviewed Sal’s girlfriend who said that when Sal was younger, in his late teens, he often spoke about heaven and read the Bible. He was sure that as long as he repented before he died, God would forgive him and he would go to heaven. He took that to mean he could do anything, so long as he repented before he died. He was eventually caught and is still in prison today.

 

God forgives anyone who sincerely repents, but to presume that and then think that you can do what you want, is making a mockery of God’s mercy. We will all be accountable for our actions.

 

But there is also so much suffering which is not caused by people. Sickness and the death of young people for no apparent reason. How do we deal with that?

 

The readings today give an interesting kind of answer to this question. The first reading from the book of Job doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense on its own, but the background to it is this: Job is the just man, he represents all those who are just and try to do what it right, but then unexpectedly everything begins to go wrong for him. He loses all his property and money and even his children who are killed and then he becomes physically ill himself. Then some friends come to console him and begin a big discussion with him. They say to him, ‘You must have done something wrong or he wouldn’t be suffering so. In other words they understood it as a punishment for his wrongdoing. But Job stands his ground and says he hasn’t done anything wrong. This is how most of us react when things start to go badly wrong. We say, ‘Why is this happening to me?  Did I do something wrong?’ God so often seems to be unfair. 

 

Eventually Job himself challenges God and says, ‘You are in the wrong and You shouldn’t be doing this to me.’  At the end of the book, God answers Job and the answer that He gives Job is basically this: He says, ‘Who are you to question me?’ God says to Job, ‘Were you there when I created the universe?  Can you understand all the mysteries of creation?’ What God is saying to us through this book is that we cannot understand these things, because they are beyond us, but the Lord asks us to trust him. At the end of the book everything is restored to Job.

 

Often God 'tests' us through suffering, not in the sense of seeing if we are good enough, but in the sense of making us stronger in our faith, just as you would push an athlete in training to make him or her stronger, or indeed the way you encourage your children to do something better, even though they may resist at first. You are helping them to grow. God is also helping us to grow. God does not want us to suffer, but God works through suffering. Of course we rarely see this at the time. Part of the suffering is that it doesn’t make any sense. We cannot see that any good could come from it.

  

What good could possibly come from my suffering? What good could possibly come from the execution and death of an innocent man on the cross? And yet look at what God did through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

 

I am sure that we will only make sense of much of what we go through, when we meet the Lord when we die. Then we will understand and we will see how everything fits together.

 

The Gospel relates to this too. When Jesus orders the wind and the sea to be calm, to the astonishment of the disciples, the forces of nature obey him. He is showing them and us that He is master of all things, even the forces of nature. The Lord knows what He is doing. All things are subject to God and so the Lord continually asks us to trust him. That is why He says, ‘Why are you so frightened?  How is it that you have no faith?’ God is saying, ‘Of course I know what is going on, but you must trust me.’ None of these events happened by accident.  All of them teach us something. 

 

We often can’t explain the things that happen to us and we often won’t have good answers for those cynical, but it doesn’t matter. What we have to do is ask God to help us trust and believe that He is with us and that He knows what He is doing.

 

‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’

 

11th Sunday Year B (Gospel: Mark 4:26-34) The Mustard Seed

 

Clonmacnoise monastery (544-1552)

 

For the last two week I was in Ireland catching up with family and some friends. I am always struck by the religious history that is there and I have a reason for telling you this. Two places in particular are worth mentioning. The first is the remains of a monastery called Clonmacnoise on the River Shannon. What is particularly striking about this monastery is that it was active for over 1,000 years! (544-1552). Even though it was attacked and burned many times, each time it was rebuilt and the monks continued. It was eventually wiped out with religious persecution, but the idea that there were monks there for over 1,000 years is amazing. Their faith was not deterred by persecution. That kind of determination comes from God, because there definitely were easier ways to live.

 

The other place I wanted to mention is called Skellig Michael. It has recently become famous because they filmed part of one of the last Star Wars movies there. Skellig Michael is a small island, or giant rock, 7 miles into the Atlantic off the southwest coast of Ireland. Over 1,200 years ago some monks built a small monastery on the top of this rock. It is 715 feet high. It is hard to imagine what the conditions there must have been like in winter. Today, even in summer, unless the weather is very good, they cannot land the boats there. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live there.

 

Why do I mention these places? It’s not just to tell you about my vacation. I always find it very inspiring to visit monasteries like that, because it is a reminder to me of the thousands of men and women throughout the ages who have dedicated their lives to God, not just in Ireland, but everywhere. That people would do that tells us that God’s Spirit is and always has been at work, inspiring people, giving people extraordinary courage to dedicate their whole lives to him, even in very difficult conditions. Whenever I find myself in places like that I always say a prayer to the people who lived and prayed there, asking for their intercession. They too struggled as we do, had questions about their faith just as we do and probably wondered sometimes if they were crazy, just as we do. But God inspired them enough that they were willing to sacrifice everything, in order to live for him. What God promises us is worth every sacrifice and difficulty we have to go through here.

 

That kind of thing is all in the past, right? Certainly not. There are numerous monasteries and convents throughout Ireland which are active today and there are hundreds of them here in the US and all over the world, but we seldom hear about places like that. I have two good friends in the Poor Clares in Galway, which is an enclosed convent. They were both professional accountants before they entered. They dedicate their lives to prayer and they are continually getting vocations. Most of the people who come to them are not just out of school, but are already working in different professions and they are usually already well educated. So you can't say, 'They are just simple people who don't know any better.'

 

Most people are not called to religious life. In fact, only a tiny percentage of people are. But all of us are called by God, inspired by God and spoken to by God, all the time. Our response to God is just as important as the monks and nuns throughout the ages. We live out that same calling in different ways. For most people it will be in married or single life. You will not be able to give the same amount of time to prayer and studying the Scriptures as those of us in religious life, but you are not expected to. Each of us lives out our relationship with God according to our circumstances, but it is always possible and can be just as alive for parents trying to raise a family as it is for a monk in a monastery, even 7 miles out to sea off the west coast of Ireland. In fact I am often astonished at how dedicated people are to their faith, even with all the demands of work and families. As a priest, people's faith always inspires me and you will hear most priests say the same. 

Our relationship with the Lord is real, but like any relationship we also have to work at it, or it ceases to exist. No relationship with someone you love will grow if you completely ignore, or hardly acknowledge the other person. A relationship needs our time and energy if it is to be alive. Our relationship with God is exactly the same.

 

I think we often underestimate how much we influence the world around us. We tend to think, ‘What difference could my faith possibly make to the world?’ But this is exactly what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel. The kingdom of God is like seeds planted in the ground. Seeds are tiny, but when they grow they affect the world around them.

 

Think for a minute of people you have worked with. If someone is obnoxious, we notice. If someone is very kind and helpful, we notice. And if someone has faith we also notice, even though we may never say anything, but we always affect the world around us, for good or bad.

 

When I was in the seminary they did a survey about influences on our faith. One question asked was, ‘Who was the biggest influence on your faith?’ The majority of people said their grandparents.

 

We all want to make our world a better place and that starts with me and how I choose to live on a daily basis. We tend to think that the world will improve as soon as other people begin to amend their ways, but in fact it starts with how I live. St. Teresa of Calcutta said, ‘If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.’

 

When we die, so many of the earthly things we give so much of our time to, will disappear into insignificance. The only thing that will matter then, is our relationship with God and how we loved and served the people around us. That is more important than anything else we can do.

 

All the monks who were in those monasteries I visited, are now gone to God. They struggled just as we do and now it is our turn, until we too are called home to be with God.

 

‘Then kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, that when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown it springs up and becomes the largest of plants, so that the birds in the sky can dwell in its shade.’