Sunday Reading Reflections:

October 4, 2009
Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Reflection:

Here is the second poetic story of creation from the Book of Genesis. In earlier verses which are not part of today's reading, the story describes how God made the first man from clay. God then fashioned all kinds of birds and animals. But none of them were suitable partners for the man. So God made the first woman from the man's own body. Together the man and the woman became one body. They were equal and suitable partners for one another. In marriage, husband and wife enter a union blessed by God. The primary message of the story is that man and woman both come from God. We are God's unique creation in a world of wonderful creatures he has entrusted to our care.

Reading 2 Reflection:

The humble person does not look down on others or try to raise himself to a prominent position. Jesus, the Son of God, is a perfect example of humility. He made himself lower than the angels by taking on our human nature. He then made himself subject to suffering and death in order to gain our salvation. Jesus tasted death for all of us so that we can share in his glory with God the Father. He is pleased to call us his brothers and sisters. In return, at every Eucharist, we thank him for lifting us up with him.

Gospel Reflection:

Some people are more interested in the letter of the law than the spirit of the law. The Pharisees tried to test Jesus by asking him if he agreed with the law of Moses regarding divorce. Jesus draws their attention to the true meaning of marriage. He reminds the Pharisees of the teaching from Genesis about the man and the woman becoming one flesh. Jesus is focusing on God's loving plan for marriage partners. In the second story, Jesus scolds his disciples for trying to keep the little children away from him. He hugs, holds, and blesses the children. Once again he teaches that all who follow him must trust in God and openly accept the Good News.

Sunday Reading Reflections:

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Sunday, September 27, 2009

SOCIAL JUSTICE SUNDAY

Mark 9:38-48

Sometimes we act and speak as though we have the monopoly on access to the power of God.

We don't, and in today's gospel Jesus seems to be telling his disciples that God works through people of good will, irrespective of whether they are on the edge ('not one of us') or at the centre of the reign of God movement.

Much the same message is found in the first reading (Numbers 11:25-29) which has Joshua, assistant to Moses, trying to exclude two men from prophesying on somewhat tenuous grounds. Moses does not take Joshua's advice. On the contrary, he prays that the Spirit of God might 'rest on' and, by implication, work through all God's people.

Both the gospel passage and the reading from Numbers affirm the role of the community leadership and religious tradition in selection for public ministry but seem to be warning against attempts to control or domesticate the Spirit of God.

The second part of the gospel reading (9:42-48) brings a dramatic change of mood as it takes up the issue of scandalising the 'little ones'.

The reference to 'little ones' marks a return to the setting in the latter part of last week's gospel reading where Jesus takes a little child in his arms and instructs his disciples.

The horror of harming the little ones is dramatised in a series of sayings that challenge the most vivid imagination. These sayings are hardly intended to be taken literally. It may, however, offer some solace to those little ones who have suffered 'scandal' or worse to know that there is no stronger condemnation in the gospels than that reserved for those who bring harm to children and vulnerable others.

We are all called as church to heal the hurts of the past and to create conditions that ensure the protection and safety of our youth.

By way of footnote, today is Social Justice Sunday in Australian Catholic communities. Taking up the theme of last year's World Youth Day, the church is urging our young people to be gospel witnesses to the ends of the earth.

They cannot do this without theological and biblical education, our trust, and a massive injection of resources. Let those of us who have laboured for some time in gospel ministry put all our energy and resources into making it possible for them to take up the challenge of gospel witness.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Sunday Reading Reflections:

September 20th, 2009
by Larry Gillick, S.J.
Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

PRE-PRAYERING

The “spiritual life” is our way of living with and not leaving behind the ups and yips of life. Our faith with all its rituals and prayers constantly assures us that we are not abandoned, but neither are we excused from attending each day of life’s classes.

As we yip and trip through these days, as we move from being sent by one Eucharistic liturgy toward the next, we can check in on whether we have checked out of those classes of the faithfulness of god or did we show up. Grace flowing from the sacraments is a gift to abide with the great gift of being alive for a while here on earth.

REFLECTION

In our First Reading it would be easy enough to imagine a group of outlaws preparing to treat cruelly a particular man of virtue. It is easy also to project this as a prophesy concerning Jesus. It is in fact a verbal picture of a faithful Jewish person whom the Jewish author offers as a picture of how insulting the virtuous life is to others.

The final four verses of this chapter, (which are not presented in today’s readings) indicts the reasoning of the foreigners or outsiders. They do not have faith and hope in God’s promises and protection which support the faithful Jew at all times and in all circumstances. “They do not know the hidden things of God, they have no hope that holiness will be rewarded, they see no reward for blameless souls.”

This reading is from the Book of Wisdom which has various literary forms within it. What we have here is a boast of sarcasm. Throughout the book God is pictured as faithful during Israel’s history and especially during the hard times. The Jewish people are presented as called, challenged, cared-for and always God’s people. The virtuous Jew will be seen as poor and out-of-it as he trusts God. He will be tested and remain faithful.

Last Sunday’s Gospel recorded the “First Prediction of the Passion” in Mark’s narrative. Today we hear the second. Last week we heard Jesus’ rebuke of Peter who attempted to prevent Jesus from even thinking of it. Today the post-prediction story is quite different and yet a contrast for sure. Peter had understood well what Jesus was talking about. Here the disciples fail to get it. They continue walking and instead of questioning the meaning of what Jesus had spoken, they begin arguing about who would be the leader if Jesus were to actually be killed.
Jesus has just revealed an intuition about His future death and the disciples are planning on their future rankings. Then Jesus does something a bit strange. After reminding them about the role of a true follower by being servant, Jesus embraces a child as a visual aid. This has to be somehow united with the theme of His death and how a virtuous follower is to live.

Mark is presenting Jesus as a servant who is embracing His life, ending with His embracing of His cross and death. As easy as it is to welcome one little child into ones arms, a true follower of Jesus is to welcome the implications of that vocation. Jesus was available, welcoming and embracing of all the persons and events of His life including His welcoming of His death. The “child” becomes a convenient symbol of life and those who would be first of all, must let go of the importance of being first and so be last in the “ego-line”.

This past summer I spent a few days with my extended biological family, with young nieces and nephews! It was a joy to be with them and after a while, also to leave them with their parents. Here’s one story which I enjoyed. My three year-old grand-nephew ran to his father and complained that his little cousin wanted to take and play with his toy. His father told him that he himself had to “work it out” with his little cousin Lily. My nephew considered this “working out” for three seconds, turned to Lily and said, “This is mine and you can’t have it!” His mother turned to me and said, “That’s how men work things out I guess.”

I wonder how old the child was whom Jesus took into His arms.
The disciples and my niece’s son have a little in common; actually quite a bit. We also have a little in common with them as well. That ego-driven sense of self-priority is what Jesus is challenging. Where did my little Jakey obtain the sense that having things was making him better than Lily, who did not have. Lily had the same sense, but just then did not have the important toy. Blame it on Adam, parents, even perhaps grand-uncles? Jesus did not upbraide His followers. He knew what Jake’s parents knew that self is an energy as well as an identity. Jesus has been telling His disciples that He was being called to un-self, or surrender that self-energy even to the point of letting go of His life. Jesus welcomed the little-child within each of the disciples with all its self-centered preoccupations and tells the disciples that they have to do the same. If they are to be followers of Jesus they will have to face the constancy and hunger of the self. They then will be freer to follow Him through His Passion and Resurrection to their becoming servants.

Ultimately, Jesus is chiefly speaking of Himself throughout this passage. He is serving the disciples and the world by not allowing His self-energy to move Him to be first. He is guided to deny Himself, take up His cross and not say, “This is mine and you can’t have it.” He declares “My life is mine and you can have it to the full.”

“You have laid down your precepts to be faithfully kept. May my footsteps be firm in keeping your commands.” Ps. 119, 4-5

Sunday Reading Reflections:

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Sunday, September 13, 2009

Today's gospel reading leads us into a section of Mark's gospel that explores challenges which confront all disciples on their journey of faith.
The first challenge is to clarify the nature of our commitment as disciples of Jesus. If we fail to understand who Jesus is, then we have little chance of understanding the nature of our own call to follow him.

Two questions ('Who do people say that I am?' and 'Who do you say that I am?') are addressed to our forbears in faith communities of the latter part of the first century and to Christians across the millennia.

We are invited to hear these questions anew. Do we simply share what 'the people' say about Jesus? Are we like Peter who has the right language but only partial insight? Or do we have the wisdom to seek a deeper understanding of the identity of Jesus?
In response to Jesus' second question ('Who do you say that I am?'), Peter gets the words right: Jesus is the messiah, the Christ, God's anointed messenger.

It becomes clear, however, that Peter has a very different notion from Jesus of what it means to be the messiah or the Christ. This is understandable enough since there were diverse messianic expectations within first-century Judaism.

Many expected a royal militaristic figure who would drive out the occupiers and restore Israel's status as an independent nation. Jesus, as God's messiah, refuses the way of violent action. His way is to be true to his mission of bringing God's empire, even if it brings the most intense personal suffering.

Peter refuses to accept a suffering Messiah. He is severely reprimanded for his refusal and basically told to get out of the way, to get back to where a disciple should be, namely behind Jesus, following him, and not in front obstructing the path.
The bitter experience in recent years of conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq should make us wary of accepting militaristic messiahs. In our times, to know and follow Jesus as the Christos or Messiah is to seek and support more moderate and lasting responses to perceived injustice. It is to listen to the wisdom of those with insight and experience, to calculate with the utmost care the consequences of violent reactions to the problems in our world, in contemporary society, and in our homes.

That may well involve hard work, personal misunderstanding, physical and emotional trauma or, in other words, it may mean 'losing one's life' for the sake of the gospel.
It certainly calls for profound trust in the saving power of God.
Over the next few weeks, the Sunday gospel will call us into the ways of respect, of commitment, and of peaceful negotiation, to ever deeper insight into the ways of the anointed messenger of God's empire.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)

Sunday Reading Reflection:

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Mark 7:31-37

Those who are profoundly deaf frequently find themselves on the edge of the human and earth communities. Without access to birdsong, to spoken discourse, to the vast range of media communication, they often struggle to understand and to be understood. Their capacity to communicate their deepest wisdom, their hopes and dreams, their anxieties and fears, is limited not only by personal disability but also by the incomprehension of others.

In our contemporary technological world, sophisticated hearing devices and cochlear implants transform the lives of many who previously suffered from serious hearing loss and its social consequences. Whatever degree of deafness is experienced, relief from such an affliction offers far more than physical healing.

It brings insertion into the life of family and community and workplace. It opens up new horizons and unimagined possibilities.

In first century Palestine, the chances of relief from hearing deficiency and associated speech impairment were minimal. Desperate people put their faith in folk healers who used their healing hands and drew upon their knowledge of the medicinal properties in certain herbs and other plants.

It seems clear that Jesus was known as an effective healer and that he used some of the same methods as other healers of his time. Many of his contemporaries in that part of the world would have turned to Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, or his daughter Hygeia. Jesus turns, not to Asclepius or Hygeia, but to the God of Israel ('looking up to heaven ...') as the source of healing power.

There is layer upon layer of meaning in today's healing story.

Place features significantly. Jesus travels from Tyre on the northern Mediterranean coast to the Sea of Galilee via the non-Jewish territory on the eastern side of the lake. It was a regular route, but definitely not the most direct one.

The gospel writer seems to be stressing the all-embracing nature of Jesus' healing ministry.

As the gospel story has unfolded, we have found that the same healing power of God is available to Jews and Gentiles, to male and female, young and old alike. It is available to those with bodily afflictions and those who are paralysed by anxiety and fear.

There is irony in the telling of the story: a Gentile deaf man can be brought from no hearing to hearing, from 'speaking with difficulty' to clarity of speech, but Jesus' own disciples will shortly fail to hear and understand ('Do you have ears and not hear?'-Mark 8:18).

We open our ears to hear in the hope of understanding.

by Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)