Nov 9, 2019
Gospel Reflection
He is God, not of the dead, but of the living.
Reflection & Dialogue: The Resurrection of the Dead and Life Everlasting
The Gospel (Luke 20:27-38)
The Nicene Creed ends with the words: “We look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come”. As this liturgical year draws to a close, all of us could profitably reflect on these truths.
With regard to the first of these, the resurrection, it is well known from the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and the contemporary historian Josephus, that in Jesus’ day, a chief tenet of Sadducee conviction was denial of the resurrection of the body on the last day. While the Jews had a very keen sense of God’s presence with them in the Temple, in worship, in prayer and in time of trouble, and while they believed firmly that God rewarded the good and punished the wicked, they had no belief in life after death with reward or punishment. They had no concept of a personal existence after death. The spirit of man, and all living things, at death returned to the God who gave it. Not that death meant total extinction. A shade of the human remained, and all the shades of good and evil persons were herded together in an underworld. This left the question of divine retribution and of personal union with God unanswered, questions on which intimations and questions are visible in earlier biblical literature. Matters came to a head with the fierce persecution of the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes in 167-164 BC and his attempt to wipe out the Jewish religion. Many martyrs sacrificed their lives from the faith. It was then that belief in a bodily resurrection at the end of time became formulated. The belief gave courage to the martyrs (as is clear from today’s first reading). The belief in the resurrection was strongly advocated by the Pharisees, but denied by the Sadducees. As Jesus reminds them in today’s Gospel reading, the power of the living God stands behind resurrection and eternal life. Belief in both is as certain as belief in Jesus’ own resurrection. Both are intertwined.
With regard to eternal life, one is often asked as to what we really know about it, going on credible sources and leaving imagination aside. We have the words of St Paul (1 Corinthians 2:9): “As it is written: What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him”. We can recall that it will not be as human life is here on earth, but as Jesus said to the Sadducees, comparable to that of the angels. We know, however, that in the Church we pray to the elect in heaven, that they hear our prayers, and intercede for the living on earth. They thus are aware of events on earth, a truth we profess in belief in the communion of saints.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
Oct 19, 2019
Gospel Reflection
God will see justice done for his chosen who cry to him.
Reflection & Dialogue: Prayer without ceasing. Reading the Scriptures
The Gospel (Luke 18:1-8)
Prayer without ceasing
The heading in today’s Gospel reading invites us to a subject on which to reflect – prayer without ceasing. All today’s readings, in fact, provide two clear topics for our reflection, topics mutually related. These are Jesus’ call for prayer without ceasing and Paul’s emphasis on the Bible as a guide for Christian life, an approach to the Sunday Scripture readings which we attempt to follow in these monthly reflections.
With regard to prayer, it must be regarded as necessary, since belief in Christ cannot be understood without a personal relationship with God in prayer. Christianity is a mystery, a mystery that demands this personal relationship. Without this there is no living faith. Of course there are many different forms of prayer, both public and private, but any of the forms need to have this personal relationship with God, and in the Christian tradition under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
With regard to the reading and the study of the Bible there is no better place to begin to examine their importance than today’s reading from the Second Letter to Timothy. This reading can serve as a timely reminder of the importance attached by the Vatican II Council to the reading of Scripture in the new revised liturgy, especially in the readings at the Sunday Mass. The Council goes beyond this and in its Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) there is an entire chapter on the place of scripture in the life of the Church, and in the various aspects of Christian living. In this chapter special mention is made of its importance for the all clerics – priests, deacons, catechists, and all with direct contact with the ministry of the Word, and a call on them to immerse themselves in the Scriptures by constant sacred reading (lectio sacra) and diligent study. In another Council document, in the Decree on the Ministry and the Life of Priests, the matter is attended to in greater detail, with a special section on the priests as ministers of God’s word, with an expressed desire that they endeavour to treat of contemporary problems in the light of Christ’s teaching – something the reflections on this website have been attempting to do over the years, from 2011 onwards.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
Sep 14, 2019
Gospel Reflection
Reflection & Dialogue: Searching for the lost sheep and the prodigal son today
The Gospel (Luke 15:1-32)
There will be rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner.
It was once easy to identify “lost sheep” and have a ministry to them. They were lapsed, or non-practising, Catholics. Certain zealous members of some Catholic organizations might seek them out and attempt to bring them back to the practice of their faith. They might also be visited by preachers during parish missions.
Matters are notably different in our own day. Many Catholics give up the practice of their religion at an early date. Some are just “lapsed” and go no further, remaining believers to a greater or lesser degree. But together with these there is now a growing denial of belief in God, and a tendency to make this denial public, as if such belief were incompatible with a truly human life. And with this goes denial of belief in any afterlife.
This explicit denial can be pronounced among the literati and learned class. It is not new, and has in history tended to accompany high points in physics and literature. We have a good example of it in the biblical Book of Wisdom (2:2-3), composed about 30 B.C., where the ungodly are made to say: “The breath in our nostrils is smoke, and reason is kindled by the beating of our hearts. When it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes, and the spirit will dissolve like empty air”.
For believers, the loving Father in heaven continues to address his saving message to all these, and it will be for believers to make this message known as befits each occasion. Rejection, real or apparent, of the Church among the young can come about from a variety of causes. With these in mind, it is good to pay attention to surveys done on the attitude of the young towards the Catholic faith. Some of their difficulties arise from an incorrect understanding of certain points of doctrine, such as the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, or in consecrated hosts. The task of bringing the message of God’s loving concern to the many groups in our own day is a daunting one, but not one to despair of, since the chief agent at work will be none other than God, the loving Father and Jesus Christ present in our world in a variety of ways.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
Aug 17, 2019
Gospel Reflection
I am not here to bring peace, but rather division.
Reflection & Dialogue: The Church in dialogue with division.
The Gospel (Luke 12:49-53)
Reflection
Today’s readings give us rich material for reflection. We, present-day Christians, are heirs to a great cloud of witnesses. From the very beginnings of the Church’s history, the followers of Christ experienced persecution of one kind or another. Early in his ministry, we find Paul and his fellow missioner Barnabas encouraging new converts and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). In the passage from the Letter to the Hebrews read today, strong stress is laid on perseverance. The same messages holds true for our own day.
Dialogue
What Jesus says in today’s Gospel reading on the connection between his person and division, even the absence of peace, provides us with a strong invitation for dialogue. Christ is the Prince of Peace who has made a strong plea for unity. All are well aware of his words that he is the good shepherd and that there were other sheep that were not of his fold, sheep that will heed his voice, so that there will be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:14-16). These words are often cited. But this does not permit us to forget the divisions connected with the person of Jesus by reason of the demands he makes and the mystery that is his person, continued in the Church which is his body. And indeed, already after his statement about himself as good shepherd, the Gospel text goes on to say that there was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Jesus came to the world and the world did not know him; he came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. In the early Church there was division between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. Division continued between Christians over the centuries, the major division in the West coming with the Reformation, and remaining with us today.
The examples we have considered concern divisions among Christian believers. The divisions today between Christ and what he stands for and much of contemporary society run far deeper, between the Christian vision and that of atheism, humanism, liberalism and other movements. For believers, Christ is the saviour of the world, and the Christian vision of personal and public morality covers many aspects of human behaviour. These other ideologies mentioned also have a vision of life and human society which they believe should be governed without any reference to, or influence from, the voice of God or of Jesus. The Church and believers must, as far as possible, engage in dialogue with the new reality.
It is a question of dialogue, not criticism. Both Christ, the Church and humanism have a rather absolute vision of the world, the human person, and matters relating to them. In the view of philosophical humanism faith is an impediment to human development. For Christ himself and his followers, Christ is the Saviour of the world. This dialogue implies that the arguments of humanism be examined and responded to by the Christian position. Believers should not be afraid of such dialogue. In a sense, fidelity to Christ and the Christian inheritance indicates it.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
Jul 20, 2019
Gospel Reflection
Listening to and living the mystery of Christ and the Church
The Gospel (Luke 10:38-42)
Martha welcomed Jesus into her house. Mary has chosen the better part. This is a charming narrative on the hospitality offered to Jesus by Martha, sister of Mary. We are not told what Mary and Jesus were speaking about, but we can presume it concerned the kingdom of God. Martha complained that Mary was not helping her. Part of Jesus’ reply, that Mary had chosen the better part, has appeared harsh to many. What Jesus most probably said is that only one thing is necessary, and Mary has made the right and better choice. This saying is the highlight of the narrative. This is an invitation to us to reflect on the joy that should be ours as we reflect on the central truths of our religion, the mystery of Christ and of his Church.
“Christ is with you, the hope of glory”
Today’s readings invite us to reflect on the dignity that is ours in living in the age of the fulfilment of the promises and the joy that this should bring, joy even in the sufferings that go with Christian living. Paul is happy, joyful, in his mission to preach the word of the Gospel, the good news that the mystery has been revealed. Jesus rejoiced that the secrets, the mystery, hidden for past ages had been revealed by the Father through him, to the “little ones” rather than to the wise and understanding (Matthew 11:25-30). For this, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit (Luke 10:21-22), just as Paul later would. The mystery was God’s saving plan through Christ, which could be variously expressed. For the epistle to the Ephesians it was God’s plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth (Ephesians 1:9-10). For Paul to the Colossians it was: “Christ is with you, the hope of glory”. With Christ in the Church there is the glory of God’s presence, and the hope that it brings for here and eternity.
The Church continues to use this term “mystery” and its riches of meaning to express her belief in her own nature and in the sacraments. The first chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church is headed: “The mystery of the Church”. As Pope Paul VI explained in his opening address at the second session of the Vatican Council (1961); “The Church is a mystery. It is a reality imbued with the hidden presence of God. It lies, therefore, within the very nature of the Church to be open to new and greater exploration.” The sacraments can be called mysteries, since the power of God is present in them, continuing the initial mystery of Christ and the foundation of the Church. St Ambrose composed discourses on sacraments which he described as “On the Mysteries”. The Eucharist is the mystery par excellence and in the Roman Missal (visible in particular in the revised English translation), mention is made of “these mysteries” in relation to it. The mystery of Christ is thus being continually proclaimed by word and sacrament. In the words of Christ addressed to Martha, “only one thing is needful”, attention to the word of God brought to us by Jesus, attention to this whether we are reflective like Mary, Martha’s sister, or busy like Martha herself.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
Jun 15, 2019
Gospel Reflection
Mystery of the Blessed Trinity and Mystery of the Church
The Gospel (John 16:12-15):
Everything the Father has is mine; all the Spirit tells you is taken from what is mine.
This reading from Christ’s Farewell Discourse is chosen for this feast of the Blessed Trinity because of the mention by Christ (the Son) of the Father and the Holy Spirit. Today we celebrate the feast of the Blessed Trinity, or in the formal title, “The Solemnity of the Holy Trinity”. The Trinity is something of an abstraction. We rarely, if ever, hear of devotion to the Blessed Trinity. The Trinity is recognized as the greatest and deepest of the Christian mysteries. It took centuries, with errors, heresies, and bad formulations, for the Church to arrive at the formulation of, or belief in, the Blessed Trinity as we have it today. Belief in the Trinity is belief in one God in three divine persons. As formulated in the latest Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraphs 253-260), the Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the “consubstantial Trinity”. The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves, but each of them is God, whole and entire. The divine persons are really distinct from one another.
So much for the theology of belief in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as the Trinity, the one true God. Such theology does not necessarily make for devotion, or a greater understanding of the mystery of the Trinity. This great mystery of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit reveals the innermost nature and life of God to us: God as love, as saviour, as unity. This mystery of the Blessed Trinity was revealed to us as source and model of our Christian life. In his farewell discourse at the Last Supper, Jesus prayed to his Father for his followers, in all ages to come: “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me, I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, … that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:20-24). This is practically what Paul says in writing to the Romans, summarised in the heading to today’s second reading: We go “to God through Christ, in the love poured out by the Holy Spirit”. The Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers makes them, makes us, aware of our dignity as children of God, called and enabled to live according to the pattern of the inner life of God himself, as revealed by Jesus, and continued in the mystery of the Church. The Church will never be properly understood unless viewed as a mystery, the Body of Christ, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit called to live in accord with that deep mystery which is the Blessed Trinity, and as a witness on earth to the living God, the source of true life.
Fr Martin McNamara MSC
