May 18, 2019
Gospel Reflection
In his departure discourse from this world, Jesus gives a new commandment –
a commandment for the new age to come with his resurrection and in eternal life.
It is in keeping with the vision of the New Jerusalem of today’s second reading, something worth reflecting on.
The Gospel (John 13:31-35):
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
1. New Heaven and New Earth.
One of the articles of the Creed is that we believe in life everlasting, where the just enjoy the presence of God in the Beatific Vision, the trials, persecutions, and worries of this present life behind them. It is obvious to believers, and has been down the centuries, that this world cannot be as God would have it. Paul has said as much to the Romans (Romans 8:20-23): “For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies”. There arose the belief that after history had run its course, there would be a new creation, as expressed in the Second Letter of Peter (2 Peter 3:13): “But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home”. This belief is also clearly expressed in today’s second reading (from John’s Apocalypse). The Church takes note of this expectation, both in the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes, “Joy and Hope”), paragraph 39,2, with the reminder that rather than take from, it should add to, our concern for the world in which we live: “Therefore, while we are warned that it profits a person nothing if he gain the whole world and lose himself, the expectation of a new earth must not weaken but rather stimulate our concern for cultivating this one”.
2. The kingdom of God is among us.
His kingdom would mean care for one another after his example and his command. He made this clear by washing the feet of his disciples and his explanation of the meaning of this: “I have given you an example”. He came to bring life in its fullness, life here and life hereafter. This life was about one’s soul, one’s true inner self, with a knowledge of the meaning of life and the handling of trials. The same message is still proclaimed in the Easter liturgy, as in the following text from one of the prefaces for the Easter Mass; when Christ our Passover has been sacrificed: “For with he old order destroyed, a universe cast down is renewed, and integrity of life is restored to us in Christ. Therefore, overcome with paschal joy, every land, every people exults in your praise and even the heavenly Powers, with the angelic hosts, sing together the unending hymn of your glory, as they acclaim: Holy, Holy, Holy”.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
Apr 20, 2019
Gospel Reflection
Reflection & Dialogue:
The Risen Christ Centre of Christian life. Christian witness.
The Gospel (John 20:1-9):
The Scriptures foretold that Jesus must rise from the dead.
The Gospel reading today is about the experience of the first believers on the first Easter morning, leading to faith in the almost incredible belief that Jesus had risen from the dead. These three, Mary of Magdala, Peter, and the Beloved Disciple, were passionate in their devotion to Jesus. The first missioner of the resurrection was the woman Mary of Magdala. From that day onwards, the mission of all believers, female and male, would be to bear witness to the resurrection of Christ and to the Christian life that inevitably followed from belief in his resurrection and ascension to God’s right hand from where he is still addressing his Church.
The message of today’s second reading is that all followers of Christ should be witnesses to the new life in Christ in a world that often has a contrary message. There is fruit for reflection in this for us today.
“Belief in the resurrection of Christ and of Christ at God’s right hand is, in a sense, revolutionary.”
Belief in the resurrection of Christ and of Christ at God’s right hand is, in a sense, revolutionary. It calls for Christian living and Christian witness in an indifferent or unbelieving world. By union with Christ in baptism, Christians in a sense have died to one form of living, and now have a new life – in the words of today’s reading, “hidden with Christ in God”. This is not a life of detachment from the world or human society, no more than Christ’s life in God is. As Pope Francis reminded us early in his pontificate, the centre of the Church is Christ, not the Pope. Without awareness of Christ as head and centre of the Church, Christian life is disoriented. The risen Christ, now in glory, is the same Christ who has given us the Beatitudes, and other teaching. He is the Christ who has sent his Spirit on the Church and has directed it confidently in the mission to pagans beyond Judaism, countering unacceptable pagan beliefs and practices.
The Church in Ireland is now at a turning point. There have been the clerical, and other, scandals, and independent of this a falling away from Church attendance, not necessarily a lack of faith. There is also a growing, and vocal, secularism and anti-clericalism. Believers need to put faith in the Risen Christ, as presented in today’s reading from Colossians, at the very centre of their religion. Presence at Easter ceremonies could be a call and a reminder from Christ that all who believe in him are his witnesses, witnesses to his passion and resurrection. Through his death and resurrection, Christ had conquered “the world”; that is, all forces trying to take believers away from him. And his followers would be witnesses to this new age.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
Mar 16, 2019
Gospel Reflection
Reflection & Dialogue:
We preach the Gospel not to please mortals, but to please God.
The Gospel (Luke 10:1-12, 17-20):
Eternal voices: Christ, Peter, Patrick.
Messages for St Patrick’s Day.
On this feast of our national apostle, there are many voices inviting us to listen. It is Christ himself who speaks when Holy Scripture is read in the church, and this voice is addressing Church authorities and all of us through the prophet Amos: “Go and preach to my people,” preaching to all to be faithful to the covenant, to the teaching of Christ and his Church. The voice of Paul reminds us that there will always be accusations (not all of them true), difficulties and obstacles to the preaching of the Gospel message. The voice of Paul also reminds us of the need of honesty and transparency for all involved in teaching the Christian message. Then we are reminded of the “voice of the Irish” to Patrick to return to Ireland and walk again among its people. His voice and his prayer for our fidelity are still with us. Then we have the voice of Jesus concerning Peter to have confidence, since his Saviour has prayed for him that his faith may not fail, but that he might confirm his brothers and sisters in this faith.
And now, as we have a call for a new evangelization, we have the successors of Peter, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, gently, but firmly, calling on the Church to return to her true self. Shortly before he retired, Pope Benedict XVI reminded the Church that while she was in this world she was not of this world. In his very first days in office, Pope Francis has called on the Church to be faithful to her true self, and called on believers help facilitate a spiritual renewal or face the possibility of the Church being considered a compassionate, pitiful, NGO. Of course, it is not that the Church is not concerned about such work; it is central to her mission. But her fundamental call is her relation to Christ her founder, and participation in his sufferings and resurrection.
It is hoped that reflections such as these may help on this feast of our national patron, to revive the fervour of the faith he preached and lived. As he tells us in his Confession, St Patrick prayed that God may grant that he may never lose the Irish people which God possessed for himself at the ends of the earth. In this time of great danger for the faith in Ireland, let us pray to God, through the intercession of our National Apostles, that this may be so.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
Feb 16, 2019
Gospel Reflection
Reflection & Dialogue with Questions of the Day:
Joy of the Kingdom of God,
God’s plan for those who accept him, unlike the others.
The Gospel (Luke 6:17, 20-26):
How happy are the poor. Alas for you who are rich.
Today’s Gospel reading gives us Luke’s version of the Beatitudes, somewhat different from the better-known text of Matthew. On an initial reading, one may be inclined to give a Marxist interpretation of Luke’s Beatitudes, as, so to speak, a triumphalist future victory of the proletariat over their oppressors! But nothing could be further from the truth. The first readers of Luke, as we today, would understand Luke’s Beatitudes within Luke’s layout of his work: the call of his first disciples, with emphasis on Peter, as read last Sunday, the call of Levi (of the detested tax collectors’ rank), and the objections to this, various healings and actions by this, followed by objections and queries to this new way of acting.
Jesus has been preaching and acting out his new message for his followers and humanity. Jesus next set about seeing that is work and message continues, a momentous event for him which he prepares for by spending the night on the mountain in prayer. His message from God requires contact with the divine. Then he comes down and chooses twelve of his disciples, whom he also names apostles. At the foot of the mountain, on a level place, there are many with different diseases who come to him to be healed, a model of future humanity. These are not his disciples. He then, in the Beatitudes and Sermon, addresses his disciples who will later carry his message.
Jesus is conscious that he is in the succession of the prophets and his version of the Beatitudes is best understood again the word of the prophet Jeremiah read in today’s first readings: Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, with the Lord for his hope. Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals. Who make mere flesh their strength. The poor in biblical tradition are a broad category, of neglected and so on. God’s coming plan, his kingdom, is for them. The hungry are those who avidly look forward for some positive future. Those who mourn, in biblical tradition are those in sorrow for the sad state of the holy city, their holy land, or general situation. The three positive Beatitudes of possession of the kingdom do not end in triumphalism, but in a call to rejoice in the rejection, suffering, or even persecution that will form part of living the Beatitudes, In Jesus’ eyes, it all belongs to the prophetic heritage, carrying a message of hope, which will be responded to by opposition.
These Beatitudes have still a message for us all and for the Church.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
Jan 19, 2019
Gospel Reflection
Reflection & Dialogue with Questions of the Day:
Wedding vision with reality
The Gospel (John 2:1-11):
This was the first of the signs given by Jesus: it was at Cana in Galilee.
Combining vision with reality is no easy matter, be it in religious, political, or other areas. Vision sustains us. It gives direction and courage to work for personal ambitions and the social structures one believes in. Israel’s prophets, in particular after the disaster of the Babylonian exile, were rich in their vision and their hope for the nation’s future, for beloved Zion. We have a good example of this in today’s first reading. The biblical narrative also tells us that the course of Israel’s history did not conform to this vision. A prophetic vision gives God’s plan. How this works in reality will depend on the human response. From Israel and Zion, this prophetic vision was transferred to the Church.
The Gospel reading on the wedding feast at Cana also contains a vision of Christ’s work. This began with the first sign at Cana and was completed at the hour of his glorification at the crucifixion and ascension. It symbolised the transformation of Jewish ritual and festivals. But this transformation, this divine mystery, had to be lived out in each Christian community, with all the attendant weaknesses and pettiness. We have an example of it in the Church at Corinth. Paul had to alert the followers of Christ to the dangers arising from the loss of concentration on the central truths of Christianity.
“By all means let us keep our vision alive, but let us wed it with reality.”
The problem of wedding vision with reality in a constant one Church life. As a current example, we may take the Second Vatican Council. It gave a new formulation of the Christian message, intended to have the Gospel message address the men and women of our own day. Sometimes today there is strong criticism of the Church for not having implemented the teaching, the vision, of Vatican II. In general, by using the term “the Church” in such a context, what is meant is what is often referred to as the institutional Church. In this regard, two points may be made. First of all, the Church first and foremost is the entire people of God, and one must thus ask how much have they implemented the Council’s teaching. Secondly, when there is a call to return to the “spirit” of the Vatican Council, in this and in other matters one must not forget the changes that taken place in Church matters since the Council: the growing movement of secularism and atheism, and various clerical scandals. By all means let us keep our vision alive, but let us wed it with reality.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
Dec 15, 2018
Gospel Reflection
The Bible in Dialogue with Questions of the Day:
Rejoice Greatly. The Lord is Near. Joy inspired evangelisation.
The Gospel (Luke 3:10-18): What must we do?
We are in the period of Advent, waiting for Christ’s coming, and the gospel reading for each of the Second and Third Sundays presents the person of John the Precursor, who first made Jesus’ coming known. John preached repentance. In today’s reading, he specifies for various persons who came to him what they should do to make their repentance real. He proclaimed that he was not the Messiah, a friend of the bridegroom who rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. “For this reason,” John the Baptist said, “My joy has been fulfilled” (John 3:29). Joy, rejoicing, has been a feature of the expectation of the future age by the prophets; it is a central message of the Gospels, from the Angels at Christmas, “good news of great joy for all the people” (Luke 2; 8), Jesus himself, and the early Church, as in today’s first reading. In the liturgy this day is designated, by reason of this reading, as “Rejoicing Sunday”. Reflection on today’s Gospel and the Baptist’s expression of joy invites us to reflect on the double theme of rejoicing and Gospel proclamation.
“Christian life, Christian joy, is witness that the Lord is near.”
These two are linked together by Pope Francis in his Encyclical Letter Evangelii Gaudium The Joy of the Gospel, 2013, an Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World, addressed to Bishops, Clergy, Consecrated Persons, and the Lay Faithful, all of whom in their own way are called on to proclaim the Gospel message with joy (253). The Pope addresses how each of these can, and should, be involved in evangelisation. We can make the following reflection here.
Today’s liturgy, Gaudete, “Rejoice” Sunday, is all about the joy and happiness that is intended to characterize Christian life. Christians should radiate joy, happiness, epikeikeia, gentleness, forbearance, understanding, based on the presence of God, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that gives conviction of Christ’s victory and presence. Christian life is witness to all this. Just as, for Catholics, the Sanctuary Lamp is witness to the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, so is Christian life a sanctuary lamp to God’s presence, to God’s kingdom, on earth. Christian life, Christian joy, is witness that the Lord is near, that in Christ salvation, redemption, has come as God has willed it.
“The sanctuary lamp is an image of the light of the human soul.”
From the point of view of dialogue with questions of the day we may note that the terms divine presence and salvation are matters that a good section of our modern world rejects. There are those who seek a salvation for humanity without God or organized religion, in particular without the Catholic Church. Lanterns and lamps can be signs of God’s presence in the world, just as the Sanctuary Lamp is a witness to the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The sanctuary lamp can be an irritant for those hostile to what it stands for. Salvation without organized religion is a theme in the thought of the Russian writers, and nearer home in that of Tom Murphy. The Internet Wikipedia entry on Tom Murphy notes that “recurring themes in his writings include the search for redemption and hope in a world apparently deserted by God and filled with suffering”. It further notes the Murphy’s play The Sanctuary Lamp explores major themes of redemption, love, guilt, spirituality, and the existence – or non-existence – of God. In common with much of Murphy’s work, the play deals with the battle against nihilism and finds a form of redemption and hope in mankind’s ability to show compassion, love, and find an individual spirituality. The Lamp itself becomes an image of the light of the human soul unattached to dogma or religion.
Without reflection, many today prefer to go their own way through life without the light of the Gospel. It will be for all of us to be a sanctuary lamp of Christian hope and Gospel joy.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
