2008 - 9th Sunday of Ordinary Time to

Sunday, 8 June 2008

10th Sunday of Ordinary Time - It is love that I desire, not sacrifice

Hosea has come down through history as the prophet deceived by his wife, whom he never stopped loving, in spite of her infidelities.
God, who had called him to speak on His behalf to an idolatrous and materialistic people, wanted His prophet to experience the grief and the shame of a betrayed partner.
The prophets reveal a God who feels a love so real and so personal for us that it can't be expressed in human words.
After being called by God, the prophet received the privilege of feeling and seeing things as God does: Hosea is going to carry the same cross as God's: constantly loving and forgiving a fickle and unfaithful partner.
This gift is the holiness recommended to us by the late John Paul 2 and now Benedict XVI.
Together with this holiness, Hosea would also shout indignation at Israel because of its sin.
He began to preach around the year 746 just as twenty years of decadence descended on the Jewish northern kingdom.
Today's passage from Hosea (Hosea 6: 3-6) denounces the disconnection between offering sacrifices and doing good.
They preferred to offer a few costly sacrifices, chosen by them, rather than do what God asked of them.
'It is love that I desire, not sacrifice'. (On one occasion Jesus refuted the Pharisees by quoting this saying.) Melbourne parishes are called to review their prayer/mission programme in the light of today's reading.
Today's Gospel passage (Matthew 9: 9-13) is short, but very important for any parish community. (Of course, religious orders, lay institutes and other spiritual movement will discover equally important things in the passage.) Inculturation is a spiritual process strongly recommended by Pope John Paul. It is a basic concept, dear to the hearts of the redemption (liberation) theologians of Latin America.
The European church feared that those theologians were drifting towards a Marxist-communist interpretation of human affairs. Nevertheless, you can't play with inculturation without getting your fingers burned. As did Jesus Himself, according to today's Gospel reading.
His heart was filled with pity because the locals were like sheep without a shepherd - all over the place, voiceless.
Matthew was spiritually correct but politically incorrect. Jesus asks each of us to serve humankind with our own God-given talents.
Our vocations directors say we should pray for more priests, religious and other ministers. Of course we should.
But normally every parish has to provide its own leaders/shepherds, pastoral and missionary workers, always too few, inculturated in the local environment.
Australians have a money culture. Good luck to them/us. But, the rich must care for the poor not just protect themselves.

Sunday, 15 June 2008

11th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Together, even internationally, we are a priestly family of faith

Now that the liturgical 'high season' of Easter is well over, our new recruits, freshly initiated and baptised, join the mainly born Catholics on a long course of instruction, ending with the feast of Christ the King.
The next few months give us all a chance to renew acquaintance with the key concepts of working Catholicism.
You and I have to 'make do' with our local Catholic church, which, mind you has its own 'geometry of love'.
So, first, to the gospel of the day to check, just briefly, the theme to be read out and proclaimed from scripture and tradition.
In the first reading from Exodus (Exodus 19:2-6), a book all about God's commissioning one ethnic group as His own community of true believers, we hear God giving Moses the ministry of teaching about mission: 'I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.'
The Israelites were to be to nations what their own priests were to them - mediators of God's word. It was the beginning of an intimate relationship between God and a select group of people. That relationship would go through good and bad patches, as do all genuine relationships. A small group would carry the torch for this relationship right up until the time of Jesus of Nazareth. Our Church has inherited this commission. Together, even internationally, we are a priestly family of faith.
Our gospel passage (Matthew 9:36-10:8) takes up and develops the theme of this commission. The mission given to the Apostles was a consequence of Jesus' compassion for the crowds. We must realize our identity and share it with all generations and cultures.
The mission was, as we have seen, first confined to the Jews, but soon, under the guidance of the risen Lord, was extended to all nationalities. Jesus' understanding of mission flew in the face of the contemporary Jewish concept of mission.
He did see himself as an itinerant Rabbi, but one who gathered and lectured students. Nor did he imitate the Pharisees who dealt exclusively with the elite in matters of religion. Rather, he sought out disciples in their own environments, where they lived and worked, as He did with Matthew, the author of today's Gospel.
Jesus called disciples to join Him in a ministry and mission of mercy and compassion. Going to the aid of the poor, the sick and the sinners was an entirely new concept.
These people were, all 'sheep without shepherds,' because neither priests, pharisees nor rabbis usually consented to deal with such people.
What is striking is that Jesus linked the calling of the apostles to special duties within the call to mission. He left the apostles to further develop, under the guidance of the Spirit, His missionary expedition.
Local Catholic churches have inherited this vocation. Secular societies are where modern Catholics should be found exercising the apostolic mission of pity and mercy.

Sunday, 22 June 2008

12th Sunday of Ordinary Time - God would always protect then spiritually

Jeremiah was called by God, in 626BC to live dangerously as a prophetic person. Such people can be said, in a way, to foretell the future in the sense that they have a grace of seeing through current affairs. They can tell what will happen if nothing changes.
By nature he was a timid soul, so he felt deeply, unjustified criticism, just as Jesus would much later. Indeed, Jeremiah's outbursts would be repeated by Jesus on the cross.
Today's verses (Jeremiah 20:10-13) come from one of Jeremiah's darkest hours. He had been reprimanded by the Jerusalem leadership and citizens for daring to denounce their lack of trust in God in the face of impending invasion from Babylon.
Jeremiah became deeply depressed. He even threatened not to do God's prophetic business any longer. It was all too much for him. But he pulled himself together and reaffirmed his loyalty to God and his mission. He recalled God's ongoing commitment to ordinary Jewish people who depended entirely on God, as Jeremiah himself did when he targeted the leadership. In those days the nobility and civil servants of Jerusalem lived as usual, without being concerned about the ongoing crisis facing the kingdom.
Yet, before long they would all be killed or exiled.
The same is also true now: rich countries and people are enjoying themselves and live with indifferences on top of a volcano.
Just as Jeremiah experienced great turmoil and personal suffering in the course of his prophetic mission, so would Jesus and those to whom the Gospel mission would be entrusted.
Today's gospel passage (Matthew 10:26-33) provides a few of Jesus' instructions to his disciples After His death and resurrection, they would be forced to leave Palestine, after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 6O AD, to take the Gospel to all generations and cultures. Our Lord had, as a friend, to warn them of the dangers involved. He anticipated in them, natural feelings of fear - even cowardice. So he assured them that God would always protect them spiritually.
He hadn't been able to hand on to them everything the Father had planned. And, he knew time was almost up.
The disciples would further develop the gospel to encounter, at the spiritual cores, all future generations and cultures. We call this adventure -inculturation. (Some call it evangelisation.)
Vatican II would reiterate this Gospel imperative, in the 1960s, especially in the magnificent decree' ~The Church in the Modern World'. As we now know, that decree didn't produce the desired results, as some of us naively expected.
Secular societies, naturally, don't take easily to prophetic criticism of their values. Nor do we to their criticism of us!
At his installation, Pope Benedict XVI announced Jesus' Gospel imperative to evangelise as the driving force of his Pontificate.

Sunday, 29 June 2008

Feast of Sts Peter & Paul

The earliest disciples of Jesus were Jews who continued, after Jesus' execution and resurrection, to observe Jewish laws of behaviour and worship.
They were Jewish Christians. They felt obliged to continue Jesus' preaching in Jerusalem in the hope that all their compatriots would accept Jesus as Messiah. They were sometimes arrested and imprisoned for promoting a hostile sect within Judaism. But they were released after a beating, time and again.
Today's first reading (Acts, iii: 1-10) marks a change in attitude towards the apostles. Herod had James beheaded. He had popular support. He then went after Peter, head of the apostles.
In this way persecution touched the whole community of early Christians. They were to experience the same ordeal as their Master. They would seem to be deserted as was Jesus.
But, they would also be delivered by God as was Jesus. Happily, Peter's arrest and deliverance occurred around Passover time when all faithful Jews were remembering their ancestors' deliverance from Egypt. They were assembled in prayer, powerfully interceding on behalf of their leader. It was God's plan to keep his church from the power of evil. The symbolism of this event is more important than the historical details.
The responsorial psalm, 'The Lord has set me free from all my fears' (Ps, 33) links the two main scripture readings.
On a personal note, I have been blessed to have been in a parish as SS Peter and Paul from 1973 until now. I have wondered over and over why Peter and Paul, the twin pillars of the church were never separated in either the ancient liturgy or in iconography. Is it as the Glennstal missal notes, 'Between institution and charism there must always be dialogue, even if, at times it leads to tension, for the Church must progress in the knowledge and practice of the truth.'
In the Gospel from Matthew (Matt., xvi: 13-19), we have the well-known incident when Jesus commissioned Peter as 'Rock' and 'door-keeper'. Later, after the resurrection, ascension and Pentecost, Our Lord commissioned Paul as 'my chosen instrument to bring my name to the pagan nations'. The earliest Church was both conservative, out of sensitivity to the Jewish Christians and innovative out of sensitivity to the Greek Christians. There was no tension between the two parties.
Peter was eventually convinced that there had been two Pentecosts: one for the Jews in Jerusalem, another for the pagan family of Cornelius at Caesarea. Paul soon reported to Peter and the Church at Jerusalem that the spirit was at work wherever he preached to non-Jews far from Jerusalem. Local churches in our own day need to be faithful to both Peter and Paul by keeping the faith and adventurously sharing with others. WYD workers hope to do just that.

Sunday 6 July 2008

Sunday of Ordinary Time - I will praise your name forever, my King and my God

As in our own day, Jewish people look always, to the future. Today's reading (Zechariah 9: 9-10) tells the Jews not to panic. Political peace and material prosperity still seemed to be eluding them. But, it was relatively quiet under Greek rule.
They should, as a nation, said Zechariah, be like King David. He never rode around on a warhorse. He was humble, a shepherd more than anything. He relied on God's strength.
Solomon, his successor, loved shock and awe.
Zechariah predicted that a future king, a messiah, would be like, spiritually, both David and Solomon. He would be spiritually humble and obedient to God. He would be, also, a spiritual expansionist, just as Solomon was a builder of impressive political systems.
All this reform wouldn't happen overnight, but it would eventually happen. Be patient. Trust God.
The opening verses of today's Gospel passage (Mathew 11: 25-30) present Jesus quoting the words of the young men saved from the fiery furnace, according to the prophet Daniel, by their innocent trust in God.
The scholars of Babylon had tried to convince the 'children' to renounce God. But, God had revealed Himself to the 'children' and confounded those who thought they knew everything.
Jesus, all His life, befriended Jewish people who, according to the religious elite, were ignorant and immoral.
He resented the way priests and rabbis created intolerable burdens of rules and regulations, which ordinary people couldn't carry. The elite never even tried to.
By contrast with the intellectualism and legalism of the religious teachers, Jesus turned to the ignorant, as one of their own number.
By contrast with rabbis, Jesus turned to those who groaned under the burden of religious laws, who were made guilty because of these laws. Jesus made Himself one of themselves.
He was, Himself, someone who had been accused of faults and sins, but He had liberated Himself from that sort of imposed guilt, and recommended that other victims do the same.
Catholics know about sin and forgiveness and reconciliation. It's an essential part of the Gospel package handed on by Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus personifies that link, never to be broken.
God knows, there's a lot of guilt about today, much of it within the Church itself. Counsellors and therapists are in great demand. (So, also, are Lawyers!)
Our local churches have a unique ministry and mission in the matter of reconciliation, amongst ourselves and within secular society.

Sunday, 13 July 2008

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time - God's forgiveness transcends the boundaries of human justice

Israel was beaten on its own soil by the Babylonians. To rub it in, Babylon deported the best and brightest Jews to Babylon.
Isaiah wrote after their repatriation to Israel. He reminded the Jews that despite the chaos spread everywhere in the wake of such national disruption (compare and contrast our own western societies after 11 September 2001), God still pinned His hopes for universal salvation on His chosen, even if devastated, people.
Even when human weakness, even sin, appears too great, God's forgiveness transcends the boundaries of human justice, because He is, also, merciful. So, today's few verses (Isaiah 55:10-11) are full of optimism, a timely antidote to the pessimism lying in wait for timid Catholic hearts.
All diocesan and parish pastoral planners read Isaiah! There are thousands of work-ready lay Catholics, around Australia, living proof that God's word has been successful, despite some appearances over 200 years of Australian Church development.
As today's responsorial psalm says, The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.
And, so, to our Gospel according to Saint Matthew (Matthew 13:1-9). Faced with the apparent failure of His preaching, Jesus wanted to share with His hearers God's optimism, already referred to by Isaiah. His work would finish well.
When the seed He planted found a good plot of ground, it would be extraordinarily fruitful.
To understand the parables of Jesus is to try to become this productive soil.
To quote Willy Barclay in his 'Gospel of Matthew', Humanly speaking, Jesus had very little success. The doors of synagogues were shutting against Him. The leaders of orthodox religion were His bitterest critics and obviously out to destroy Him.
True, the crowds came to hear Him but there were so few who were really changed, and there were so many who came to reap the benefit of His healing power who came only for what they could get. Today's parable of the sower and the seed applies very much to our own contemporary Church.
There's good and bad in our church. We've always known that. (We confess collective sin every time we assemble for weekend Mass). It may have taken some of us a long time to accept that scandals occur in Church, just as do innumerable acts of heroic virtue.
We don't have to accept this situation passively. But, we do need patience, another thing altogether. And, we do need to leave final judgement to God alone.
Secular society is in great need of a Church, humble, and always self-reforming, loyal to the Gospel!

Sunday, 20 July 2008

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Lord, you are good and forgiving

The writer of Wisdom knew that Judaism ran the risk of becoming isolated and fossilised. Yet, he also, believed that the spirituality of his ancestors was the world's most intelligent and compassionate to date (Wisdom 12:13.16-19).
At the time the Book of wisdom was written, most Jews were expatriates, dispersed among unbelieving gentiles, finding themselves in a situation not unlike that of their ancestors in Egypt , so long ago, or the descendants of the patriarchs In Canaan. They could wrap themselves up in a ghetto, physical or mental, to protect themselves against infection from the surrounding spiritually unclean environment. Or, they could practice tolerance and moderation towards others, just as God himself did.
However, the writings of wisdom literature fell mainly on deaf ears.
Judaism, even that practiced by Jewish emigre's, was generally, recessionist and suspicious of others. (so often our church has tendered to be the same).
At her best, however, our Church imposes tolerance on her members and absolute solidarity with all men, women and children.
Responsorial psalm 85: 'Lord, You are good and forgiving'.
Matthew's two short parables about the grain of seed and the yeast emphasise the contrast between the lowly beginnings of the Kingdom and the great future promised .
In the long parable about the weeds is a lesson in patience intended for those who are shocked by the slowness of God's justice and the parables moderate tone regarding evil (Matthew 13:24-33).
Why judge others, when we have the present time to, ourselves, produce results?
The patience shown by Jesus with his adversaries, the Pharisees, and those disciples chopping and changing allegiance, troubled the apostles. They feared the opposition of the Pharisees and the defection of the wavering disciples.
They wanted Jesus to inaugurate a sect of pure and steadfast believers. (This turned into one of the most influential para-Christian cults known as Gnosticism romanticised recently in the Da Vinci Code.)
Jesus opposed this view by teaching, as in today's parables that God delayed judgement so sinners would have ample time to repent. He, also, forbade the apostle to usurp God's prerogatives by judging others, by misusing the power of the keys given to Peter and the apostle.
The Jews, indeed, did expect the messiah to exercise power and judgment. Jesus made them uneasy and, eventually, hostile by preaching gradualness and tolerance. Only that way, said Jesus, could God co-operate with the fragile freedom of men and women.
Even some contemporary Catholics accuse our church of substituting a 'social welfare' mentality for strength in the face of modern evils. They should re-read the Gospel.

Sunday 27 July 2008

17th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Self reform is far better than reform imposed

Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba who implored her dying husband to make Solomon King, before conspirators enthroned another.
Today's reading (Kings 3:5 7-12) is meant to teach an important spiritual lesson about priorities.
Solomon, young as he was, felt the need to consult God about his royal commission.
He knew that God was the one and only true King. Therefore, the weight of his position as vicar of God of earth was a heavy burden for a young, inexperienced person.
He was concerned with his responsibilities and didn't want the people to be robbed of their great expectations of him.
In those days, as now, it was wise to plan for a long, comfortable life, devoid of troubles and not too demanding. Maybe that's what's meant by Solomon wisdom.
But, God granted Solomon more than he wanted. He gave the young king the virtue of discernment, absolutely essential for anyone looking to govern well.
May our own leaders, church and civil, be blessed with the wisdom of Solomon.
Responsorial psalm 118: "Lord, I love your commands".
Matthew 13:44-52
Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 13:44-52) provides two parables, Jesus' preferred teaching method.
The first insists that each of us, sooner or later, has to make a decisive choice about what we want most from life.
Jesus showed us by what He said and did, that He had chosen to do His Father's will - nothing less than that would do.
Faithful followers of the gospel must make sacrifices, be converted, on the way to achieving that special relationship with God, presented by Jesus as "the pearl of great price".
Some spiritual writers go further into the parable.
They see God as the one who makes the sacrifice, who strips Himself of divinity, as St Paul says, to become one of us.
From this point of view, it is God who pays the price to take possession of the human family.
The second parable applies very much to our Catholic church today.
There's good and bad in the church. It may have taken some Catholics a long time to accept that scandals occur in our Church, just as do heroic acts of virtue.
We don't have to accept, passively, this situation. We do need to be patient. We need to leave judgement to God.
But, we need, also, to be alert. Our Church has always accepted that we are a church of sinners and saints.
Self reform is far better than reform imposed.
Secular society needs a humble, self reformed church.

Sunday, 3 August 2008

18th Sunday of Ordinary time - ' . . .with the makings' already in their possession.

Cyrus, King of the Medes and Persians, had decided to 'take on' the Babylonians. The prophetic person (we call Isaiah 2) was moved by God to prepare the exiles for their redemption, their liberation (Isaiah 55:1-3).
They were to be the catalyst for the revival of authentic Judaism, back in Jerusalem. They had been devastated, as are all victims of a diabolical process known as ethnic cleansing.
A modern comparison would be aboriginal people today, if you accept that they have become displaced and alienated, taken away as babies and children from their natural communities. (Some Australians disagree).
Isaiah 2's message was Good News, which in Greek is translated as 'Gospel'. To his fellow refugees, the prophet proclaimed this first 'Gospel', a prelude to the complete Gospel of Jesus. He invited them to have renewed faith in God who was in charge of history, despite appearance, especially through Cyrus, the Liberator.
He called them to hope. They must prepare to return to Jerusalem, rebuild it and make it the place where all humankind would meet God.
He never tired of showing them the love and tenderness of the Lord, so similar to that of a mother.
We can only imagine the grief experienced by Jesus as the news that His cousin and colleague, John the Baptist, had been executed by weak Herod.
He took His disciples across the lake, just as Moses had led his followers across the sea of reeds. Matthew intended to present Jesus as the new Moses.
Our Lord would reinstate the Mosaic Law as the spiritual heart of Judaism. That law was not to pass away, to be ignored, but would need refinement, if it was to be of use in ordinary peoples' lives.
The people, who followed Jesus and the disciples, across the lake, were like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus had to teach all concerned, disciples and crowd alike, that they had to form a new community of faith, an assembly or church dependent on one another for spiritual nourishment (Matthew 14:13-21).
That wouldn't come from outside or high as in the case of Moses bringing enlightenment from Sinai. Jesus, on the contrary, ordered the disciples to feed the people with 'the makings' already in their possession. But, He first showed His primary and ultimate relationship with God by raising His eyes to heaven and blessing the loaves.
Our church needs to restate its primary relationship with God, through Jesus, and the equally important identification with those who hunger and thirst for spiritual food.
All of us, together, are the Church, not just our officials, who themselves need to hunger for thirst for justice and peace.

Sunday, 10 August 2008

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time - We know God to be silent - yet, we hear Him

The northern tribes of the Jews, known collectively as 'Israel', had invaded Canaan. It was about I 250BC. They were led by Joshua.
Over a long period of time, these Jews weakened in loyalty to the god who had led them through the desert to this promised land.
They intermarried with local 'unbelievers' and even attended pagan worship of local gods, or 'baals' at many spots reserved as pagan sacred sites.
Surrounded by such collective apostasy (defection), Elijah suffered discouragement, an occupational hazard for prophets.
He decided to confront, on Mount Carmel, some pagan priests. He wanted to show his people how ill-advised was attachment to any other 'god', except the God who met Moses on Mount Sinai.
Worn out with all the strife, Elijah decided to consult with God on that same Mount Sinai, just as Moses had centuries before. Elijah was glad he didn't find god in a storm, earthquake or fire as had Moses. It would have confused him. Had he not preached against worship of natural phenomena held in such high regard by those pagans?
But, meet God he did (I Kings 19:9, 11-13) - in a veiled presence within a gentle breeze!
So with us modern believers. Living as we do in a secular world, anxious in the face of rapid change, we know God to be silent - yet, we hear Him. Like Elijah, we cover our faces and emerge from out most sacred place, the Eucharistic celebration, to tackle our prophetic mission.
Jesus made his disciples get into a boat because, again He was confronted by people who wanted Him to lead a political revolution against a Roman occupying force and a corrupt local government.
Even some disciples were keen on this option.
It was, after all, perfectly natural for them to think this way. They were Jewish. The idea and hope of a military messiah had dominated the national mind for hundreds of years.
This misconception dogged Jesus steps all the way to Calvary. (A variation of it tempts His Church regularly down the ages.)
And 50 at this decisive turning point in Jesus' life, we have a dramatic redefinition of His real mission.
The role of itinerant rabbi, idol of the crowds, no longer corresponded to the Father's plan of salvation.
Jesus, indeed, is a crisis in the life of God Himself.
Consequently, Our Lord gave Himself exclusively to the task of intensive framing of the apostles, Peter in particular, whose successor has just visited Australia.
He would reveal only to them His messianic power. This would strengthen their confidence in him (Matthew 14:22-23). Walking on the water was directed to this goal.
He convinced Peter that He did have messianic powers to conquer Evil (symbolized by the water on which Peter trod).
And, He made Peter realize that it wasn't magic, but faith and trust. Church leaders at all levels are called to the same degree of fidelity and confidence, as well as transparency and accountability towards secular society.

Sunday, 17 August 2008

20th Sunday of Ordinary Time- We do not own God. He's out there where ordinary people are

Our first reading (Isaiah 56:1, 6-7) comes from a prophetic person known as the 'third Isaiah'. He wrote about 100 years after the Babylonian captivity (720s BC).
Predicting that, despite appearances, everything would turn out all right for the devastated Jews, 'third Isaiah' introduced an idea already mooted by the much earlier 'first Isaiah'. This idea was a shock to many Jews who had developed a mean streak of nationalism, probably out of self-defence. This idea was that of universalism.
When Martin Luther king's words rang out 'I have a dream....' He was restating Isaiah's prophecy. The people of Atlanta endorsed universalism when they reoccupied the city centre bombed during the Olympic Games, 1996. The city centre belonged to everyone, black and white. It was the closest the poor of Atlanta could get to a place of Olympic celebration. Urban terrorism occupied that special place so long as citizens were too afraid to return.
And, that's the kind of atmosphere predicted by Isaiah. Jerusalem would no longer be the centre of an exclusive religion. Non- Jews would take their places beside God's first chosen people. Admittedly, third Isaiah still predicted that the pagans would have to accept Jewish ways.
God's plan, however, went further. Only Jesus could preach and live true universalism, attracting more and more hostile attention from the Jewish authorities.
But the seed faithfully sown many centuries before, had sprung to life in Jesus of Nazareth and blossoms, producing results, wherever and whenever men and women choose universalism against destructive separatism.
So, he was forced to withdraw to the relative quiet and safety of the northern border of Galilee. In fact, he strayed across the border into Syrian occupied Tyre. (Does nothing change? That region, now Lebanon, is plagued with hostilities involving Syria.)
It wasn't God's plan that Jesus should preach anywhere other than the area occupied as homeland by the Jewish people.
He was to concentrate on training the twelve apostles. They could then cross all borders, territorial and cultural, to bring the Gospel to the whole of humanity.
Back to Jesus in Tyre (Matthew 15:21-28). A local woman, a pagan (meaning local), heard that an important person, a Jew, was visiting her area.
She had a young daughter tormented as they said in those days, by a demon. (In many parts of the world, even today, sickness is explained in the same terms.)
This mother begged Jesus, reputed to have healing powers, to cure her daughter. All parents will recognize her feelings of desperation. They will have waited patiently many a time for medical help for their children.
Jesus tested this mother a little further, not to torture her but to instruct the apostles who were racist and supremacist. They thought the pagan woman cheeky and presumptuous. Only this chosen race attracted favours from God!
Jesus put an end to this religious exclusivism. He healed the pagan child and praised the woman's faith. Church, take notice! We do not own God. He's out there where ordinary people are.
We are commissioned to make God's gifts more easily accessible to all His children.

Sunday, 24 August 2008

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time - Lord, Your love is eternal

Today's first reading (Isaiah 22:19-23) is about a disgraced civil servant, Shebna, palace steward of King Hezekiah. The Jews had been dragged into yet another coalition against Assyria between 705 and 701 BC.
Isaiah was doing his prophet's job of warning the king and ministers not to rely on alliances. They should get on with the business of establishing God's Kingdom where all citizens, of whatever rank, would live in peace and dignity.
The Jews were meant by God to be a beacon of hope, first in the Middle East, then throughout the world. After the division of the twelve tribes into Northern and Southern Kingdoms in 931 BC Jewish Kings and their relatives were, in the main, interested in what wealth and power they could accumulate for themselves and their families. It is within this context of institutional corruption or sin that Isaiah denounced the indolent and self-serving Shebna. His place would be taken by another public servant, Eliakim.
Isaiah insisted that this Eliakim must do his duty by working to build national life on just and moral foundations. This would be the way, announced Isaiah to prepare wisely for an unknown future, knowing that God is the one who has planned history long ago. Assyria and Egypt would soon pass away, but the Kingdom of God, built in Jewish minds and hearts, would never pass away.
Lord, your love is eternal, do not forsake the work of your hands.
Our gospel passage (Matthew 16:13-20) flows easily from the aforementioned prophecy of Isaiah. This gospel incident took place within sight of a dominating landmark, the fortress of Caesarea Philippi. It was built by the Provincial Governor Phillip to copy the grandiose edifices built by the Romans.
In its shadow, Our Lord announced that He would make St Peter the rock upon which the New Order, The Church, would be built. First, Peter declared Jesus to be God's special and unique agent, the Messiah. Then Jesus commissioned Peter to be the door keeper to the Kingdom.
He wasn't Master or Father, he was door keeper. In this spirit later Popes would rightly describe themselves as Servant of the Servants.
Jesus obviously intended that some in the Church would exercise leadership. Peter and his successors would exercise primary leadership.
There would be leadership, or if you prefer authority, also exercised by the apostles and their successors, the bishops.
There was no intention of a centralist Church. The Pope and the Bishops together, in a college, as they say, would exercise communal authority. Many other voices from the vast numbers of lay people would be raised over the centuries to help Pope and Bishops in their role as doorkeepers.
And there would be suffering, in imitation of Christ, to keep the leaders humble and compassionate.

Sunday, 31 August 2008

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - The sign of the cross overcomes

Jeremiah was only a boy when called by God in 626 BC, to be His prophet. He came from a family of priests. He seems to be a depressed person. One of his earliest missions of reform, against irregular worship practices in the Temple, almost got him killed. He was tried for sacrilege and eventually acquitted. However, he never really got over the ordeal.
We should read this extract from Jeremiah's prophecy (Jeremiah 20:7-9) not just as a personal complaint but also as a lingering doubt held by the whole Jewish nation about God's expectation for them.
Jeremiah was describing the misery of Israel. His own misery is almost palpable in today's text. He felt seduced by God. It was especially painful for him to be ostracized by his own community. He had merely done his duty, as imposed by God. He had reminded people of certain duties and given spiritual witness. Why was he being punished by these ungrateful people?
A person who reads about God and debates about God will never suffer the agony of the prophet.
Only the prophetic person will experience the pain of a close encounter with God.
But the pain is not destructive. It is the pain of love, since God is love.
It may well be that modem Catholics are called, individually and collectively, to experience such pain since, even more than good business management, the mission of prophecy in secular society lays on us a heavy responsibility.
And yet our responsorial psalm says: My soul is thirsting for you. 0 Lord my God.
So today's gospel passage (Matthew 16:21-27) shows Jesus of Nazareth taking over where Jeremiah left off. Here we have the basis of Jesus obedience of the cross, which our Eucharistic celebration summons us to share.
Peter is once again at the centre of the story. He has just identified Jesus as the Messiah, now he rejects the idea of suffering and death. Jesus turned his back on Peter's criticism as if it was a temptation.
What he said then is addressed to his followers of every age: only by following him on the way to the cross will they arrive at full spiritual development.
Peter's emotional knee-jerk reaction had to be countered by Jesus in a hard and blunt way. Time was running out. Official opposition to Jesus was growing. Popular support was weakening.
Peter had much to unlearn. He, too, had to experience a real conversion, a restoration of mind and heart. That's why Jesus attacked him so forcefully. He meant to teach Peter to seek new directions of thinking and living.
Peter and his successors had to preserve this new attitude for all time to come.
Only when office and spirit are given and fulfilled by Christ, only when they are sealed with the Sign of the Cross, do they overcome evil.
The shadow of the Cross has fallen over our Church due to the misconduct of a few Church Officials.
We shall indeed suffer but we shall rise again.

Sunday 7 September 2008

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Responsibility and Forgiveness

Ezekiel was called to be a prophet in extremely dangerous times for the Jewish people. The Babylonian army was preparing to overrun the entire region. To keep watch against attack, sentries were posted at all strategic points and on the ramparts of Jerusalem. Ezekiel used the current political crisis to call his people to accept responsibility for their inaction (Ezekiel 33:7-9).
He hadn't been listened to. The enemy was at the very gate. Why should he go on preaching? It was too late. All was lost! Not so fast, said God. A prophet must continue to confront society even if no one listens. Otherwise the prophet will be held responsible for negligence.
There is a salutary lesson in this prophecy for us modern Catholics. We must continue to strive to correct society's and the Church's past mistakes. We must also continue the unpleasant but necessary prophetic mission to challenge the present generation, both in society and the Church, to accept individual and collective responsibility for current affairs.
We live in an era, a culture, of conflict. Years ago we scoffed at the ease with which northern Americans used litigation to right wrongs. We laughed too soon. Australians are now catching up fast.
How do we implement Our Lord's directions in our own day and age?
It would seem that Jesus wanted His disciples to launch a new order of reconciliation stressing forgiveness, even in our pursuit of terrorists. Not only did He teach His followers to triumph over personal sin. He also showed them that to forgive another was to triumph over that person's sin (Matthew 18:15-20).
They gradually found out how serious Jesus was about self-sacrifice as the only way to salvation.
When Peter stood in front of Our Lord to block the path to destiny, Jesus recognized in His words the same spirit or demon that tested Him in the desert.
Church leaders can sometimes impede God's way forward. That is why they need collegiality as a salutary process in the discernment of the Spirit's plan for contemporary disciples.

Sunday 14 September 2008

Triumph of the Cross

The Jewish people, then and now, have guarded a god-given gift -memories. They have 4,000 years of memories. By the way the Chinese celebrated 4,000 years of memories at the Olympic opening ceremony. Ritual is needed if the depth of memory is to be successfully plumbed. The opening ceremony was a ritual performed by Chinese for Chinese. The rest of us were spectators.
Chapters 20-25 of Numbers returns Jewish people and, blessedly, we Christian and Muslim fellow travellers, to ancient traditions concerning the desert experience.
In the passage before today's, Moses himself is put to the test by God and severely reproached and punished when he fails.
Personal failure is one thing. Here is something else, probably understood only by tribalists and, in our own day, nationalists. I refer to failure affecting the collective. Moses wasn't fit to lead the Jews (Hebrews) into the Promised Land. No gold medal for him. And no glory for the Jews, just more insecurity based on doubt about leadership.
Today's passage is about the tribe itself. They complained again and again. They had freedom, admittedly, thank God. They wanted upward social mobility.
The story of the serpent is one of those biblical images with a hidden meaning. The cunning snake will be defeated by a 'smart' human. Humans are always researching and developing. We here at South Melbourne are seeking a cure for homelessness and hopelessness. We trust in the Lord and one another.
God didn't send His Son into the world to condemn but to save it by blood, toil, tears and sweat. Jesus gives meaning to the bronze serpent He skillfully links the story from the Jewish Torah with the current affair experienced by Himself and His contemporary Jews.
Today's readings (Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:13-17) are, also, a salutary reminder that worship (for Catholics, Mass) needs to be experienced as the launching pad for social commitment.
The bronze serpent, like the Eucharist, is to be looked through not looked at.

Sunday, 21 September 2008

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - An Expedition of Discovery

The following is a mix and match derivative from a 1892 parish newspaper. We should see our personal faith as an expression of Isaiah's dream.
All parishes have patron saints, sometimes that means nothing to local people except an identification tag. Often, parishioners know nothing of their patron's life and death and, so, cannot be expected to colour their lives with that saint's brand of Christianity.
What a pity! A patron can personalize a local church's view of itself and the world around it.
Our two giants of Christian strength, Peter and Paul, have made it easier for me, at least, to find a focus for South Melbourne pastoral and missionary strategies.
Ordained for the old church but destined to work in the new already inclined me towards ambivalence. Orthodox and unconventional is the style I personally adopt. To do the church's thing in one's own way is the best combination I can propose.
In a nutshell, Peter kept the faith, Paul made sure it was shared around
especially among people previously thought to be ineligible.
The faith has been preserved here in South Melbourne by staunch and loyal Catholics. But each generation has to find its own expression of Catholicism. This book (Isaiah 55: 6-9) illustrates that never-ending search for the contemporary presentation of the Word of the Lord.
Peter was blessed with a rock solid conviction that Jesus had conquered sin and death. Paul couldn't rest until everyone everywhere heard the name and had been shown the way.
According to this parable (Matthew 20:1-16), latecomers were paid the same lump sum as the early-birds. Jesus used a village social security office as part of this parable.
Men gathered there waiting for work to be offered.
The latecomers were everyone other than the Jews - the gentiles, the others, the Australians for example.
The kingdom of God has been developing in Australia as long as human beings have been here. The Spirit has been at work in hearts and minds since creation.
The Church came with the First Fleet. Aboriginal people already had a unique relationship with God through their own culture. There is a fashionable lobby at work to convince Australians that the old ways of dealing with God are the best.
But, we immigrant Australians are the latecomers. We have our own ways, one of which is to expect new revelations of the Spirit to speak to each generation.
Here, in our parish, a previous Aboriginal stomping ground, we Catholics are an expedition of discovery to uncover new religious treasures. That is the Jesus way.
We must not hoard the deposit of faith. We must develop it.

Sunday, 28 September 2008

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Remember, O Lord, Your mercy

Ezekiel, a young priest, shared exile in Babylon with thousands of other Jews. He wrote in the late 500's BC.
The best and brightest citizens were taken away in waves. The perpetrators had a primitive view of justice. Individuals received no mercy though personally innocent. If you were a member of a tribe, a family, an ethnic group, you were guilty by association.
The whole of chapter 18 is a skillful lesson in a revealed truth that God rewards and punishes only those personally responsible (Ezekiel 18:25-28).
Ezekiel knew that the exile would end soon or later, and that spiritually reconstructed Jews would return home equipped to rebuild the Kingdom of God in Palestine. They, with their new-found enthusiasm for good religion, would reform Judaism and prepare the nation to receive the promised Messiah. The torch carried by the 'true believers' would survive in families and groups until the voice cried out in the wilderness and another reform began on the banks of the River Jordan, 600 years after Ezekiel, but like one long night in God's time.
As usual, today's responsorial psalms links the two main scripture passages: 'Remember your mercies, 0 Lord'.
The gist of our gospel (Matthew 21:28-32) is this: when people recognize their error and change their ways, God is prepared to forget their earlier lapses and remember what they have done now.
The tax collectors and prostitutes accepted by Jesus had this experience of reconciliation.
We need to remember that Matthew's gospel was probably written in Antioch, Syria, for a pretty wealthy Christian community struggling to establish itself in the face of hostility from local orthodox Jews.
Matthew was very hard on the Jewish religious leadership for inciting persecution of the Christian minority. In this context, today's passage makes more impact. Matthew recorded Our Lord's criticism of the Chief Priests and the authorities. Well educated, as they were in the Law of Moses, they rejected John the Baptist's call to conversion, even though it was a reaffirmation of the core message of the revered prophets over seven centuries.
Instead, despised elements of Jewish society, prostitutes and money grabbing tax collectors, with little or no grasp of Jewish religious education, jumped at the opportunity to turn from sin and follow the Gospel.
There's a cautionary tale here for modern Catholics, especially the clerical, religious and lay leaders.
With respect, many of us persist in putting the new wine of the Gospel, for example, Vatican 2 insights, into old wineskins, outdated and arbitrary institutions and procedures, and then complain when the old wineskins burst and the new wine is lost to a whole generation.

Sunday, 5 October 2008

27th Sunday of Ordinary Time - The Church - God's Vineyard

All that follows casts a light on current affairs.
The ancestors of the Jews of Isaiah's time were semi-nomadic. After the settlement in Palestine, about 1200 BC, the Jews still tended flocks of animals, but also, planted vines to produce grapes. Vineyards became a rich source of imagery for prophets whose mission was to regularly call the Jewish people back to God and His ways.
In today's first reading (Isaiah 5:1-7) we have one of the strongest and finest examples of this prophetic use of the vineyard as image of the Jewish people in their intimate relationship with God.
Here we have God portrayed as their loving 'husband'.
The Jewish religion had become formalized with a heavy burden of regulations governing worship and morality. Isaiah wrote about God's impatience that His chosen people were unable to be fruitful, after hundreds of years since the first heady days of King David.
Isaiah foretold the disastrous consequences of preferring a narrow nationalism to an all-embracing spiritual mission to build the Kingdom of God on earth.
The vineyard would, unhappily, lie in ruins until the faithful minority would gather around a future Messiah, hundreds of years away.
The covenant or relationship would become so intimate then that the Messiah could say 'I am the vine, you are the branches'.
Psalm 74 links our two main scripture readings: 'The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel'.
At the time when Jesus preached today's parable (Matthew 21:33-43), the relevant circumstances were those of the contemporary economy. I'm grateful to Maertens and Frisque for the following insights: 'The country was divided into huge estates which belonged mainly to foreigners. The Galilean and Judean peasants, who rented these lands, displayed, under the influence of zealot propaganda, a lively opposition towards such owners.' It's improbable that Jesus had in mind the modest vineyard of Isaiah 5.
Christians must remember we are not greater than the vineyard. We are part of it.

Sunday, 12 October 2008

28th Sunday of Ordinary Time - The Church - God's Vineyard: I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life

During the last millennium BC, the status and performance of the Jewish monarchy deteriorated into chaos. Consequently, as we hear today from Isaiah (Isaiah 25:6-10), God's chosen people were called to return their throne to God or disappear from His story, as had all other human monarchies. Isaiah foretold a glorious reinvestiture of God as King. Without the help of audiovisuals, three dimensional pictures or rap around stereophonic sound, the prophet used powerfully the only tool available - words!
The status of the person enthroned was judged by the quantity and quality of the food and drink provided. Isaiah leaves nothing to the imagination in that respect. And the banquet would be open to all, not just Jews!
This is a special theological insight provided by Isaiah. It's a preview of the mission of the Kingdom launched by Jesus: universal, catholic and apostolic.
Responsorial psalm 22 provides the link between our two main Scripture readings. 'I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.'
We know now that the 'house of the Lord' isn't the temple in Jerusalem, St Peter's in Rome, or even, our own local church. It's a house of living stones, true believers or disciples, and is filled with the invisible Spirit. However, not everyone, even religious people, wants to live in the house of the Lord as described above.
The same misguided idea that dogged the spiritual development of the Jews, that God was with only special people in special places at special times, handicaps many a Catholic, even today.
Now to the first part of today's parable (Matthew22: 1-10), which echoes the controversies between Jesus and the Pharisees: their hostility to God's messengers and to Him would exclude them from the eternal banquet. Consequently, all manner of people would be invited to share in the glorious banquet of spiritual 'goodies'.
Matthew had a wide experience of early Christian communities. He, unlike Luke, realised that material poverty had little to do with justice of the Kingdom. He insisted more, for that reason, on moral performances and on right relations with God. He reminded Christians, then and now, that being born into the Church does not guarantee salvation.
Conversion and self-reformation must always be an essential part of individual and collective church life.
This is what is meant by the puzzling, to some of us, second part of the parable about the rejection of the man who sought to 'belong' without putting on the garment so kindly provided by the host for the poorer guest.

Sunday 19 October 2008

29th Sunday of Ordinary Time - The Church - God's Vineyard: Give to the Lord glory and honour

Conflict in the Middle East seems to be ageless. It's on and off as I write and you read. It was off for a while in about 550 BC. King Cyrus of Persia was enormously successful in battle. He had conquered Babylon. His first act was to liberate prisoners of war held there, including Hebrews.
In today's first reading (Isaiah 45:1,4-6), Isaiah, himself a prisoner, praises God's plan even though Cyrus was not Hebrew.
This is the only place in the Old Testament where a non-Jew is called 'the anointed one of God' just like David, a Jewish legend, if ever there was one.
This was an incredible compliment for the Jews who reckoned Yahweh was theirs and theirs alone. Thus, we are asked to recognize the work of God being done in society by people not of our persuasion.
Jesus Christ acted through those who did not yet believe in Him.
'Political and cultural changes, though they appear at times to be against Church interests, may destroy many superstitions and 'false gods' (Christian Community Bible).
Back to Cyrus. His intervention, doing the God of Israel's work, without even knowing it, was remarkable in its own style, especially in those bloodthirsty times. Cyrus did not reduce Babylon to a heap of ruins. The men were not massacred. The women were not violated; the children were not hurled again rocks.
The occupation of Babylon was achieved without the shedding of blood.
Psalm 95 links the two main readings, 'give the Lord glory and honour'.
Our Gospel passage (Matthew 22:15-21) deals with the entrapment tactics used against Jesus by a coalition of Herodians, Pharisees and Sadducees.
Matthew records for us Jesus' admirable way of dealing with the thorny question of paying taxes to the foreign Roman state. It shows Jesus as apolitical. For him, you could be a good citizen, (no matter who is in government) and, also, a God-fearing person.
He reckoned if you used the goods and services provided by the state, you had an obligation to contribute through tax payments.
From the beginning of European occupation of Australia, Catholics have had to spell out their relationship with civil authority. (Today, Muslims do!) They did so pretty successfully until the question arose of loyalty to the British crown, especially during two world wars.
A problem also arose when Catholic leaders in Australia fought for the right to Government support for church schools.
We are in for another period of soul-searching as Australians sort out their preferences in the current debate about abortion and euthanasia.

Sunday 26 October 2008

30th Sunday of Ordinary Time - The Church - God's vineyard: Rich nations still have a long way to go

The Exodus body of legislation (Exodus 22:20-26) was promulgated at the end of a long struggle, by a long line of prophets, for social justice. Economic disturbances occurred at the time because of a change from a rural economy, based on family and traditional infrastructure, to an urban one where isolated individuals could no longer depend on the resources of the clan. Strangers, orphans, widows, and numerous other poor people were dying of hunger, and no one in society rallied to their aid.
We can now identify those Exodus verses as the beginnings of that social legislation which was to be the hallmark of civilized peoples.
They also point the way for projects of international aid for the poor, an area of concern where rich nations still have a long way to go.
The spirit of these verses could well provide a basis of Australia's attitude to the rebuilding of East Timor, and relief for aboriginal people.
Psalm 17: 'I love you Lord, my strength'.
Our Lord, Jesus, took up the prophetic role, especially towards the end of this three-year campaign for a better world. The religious political factions took turns to bait Jesus.
In today's gospel (Matthew 22:34-40), it's the Pharisees' turn. They invited our Lord to publicly announce his version of the Jewish religion. These Pharisees were popularisers of that religion. They were like 'catechists'. Our Lord admired them for that. He didn't however, condone their elevating minor matters to the level of the Ten Commandments.
Their moralizing made it, almost impossible for the 'person in the street' the battler, to fully practice the Jewish faith. The little battlers of Israel were officially classified as sinners. Jesus understood their predicament. That's why He spent so much time with them. He loved them.
So, asked for His version of Judaism, He first appealed to the Pharisees strongly professed love of God. Then He included, before they could catch their breath, love of others as important as love of God.
He also introduced an advanced spiritual concept by recommending healthy self-love as a legitimate concern for true believers.
Today, we Catholics are called to re-assert that summary, provided by Jesus, in its comprehensive entirety.
Eminent economist, but also social philosopher, Kenneth Galbraith has described the way we, in the West, live as 'the age of contentment'. He says that our rich citizens have a vested interest in the continuation of poverty. His words, not mine!
Could this be the voice of secular prophecy?

Sunday, 2 November 2008

All Souls Day

The Book of Wisdom was written in Egypt between 80 and 50 BC by one of the many Jews living in a region influenced by Greek culture. In the last centuries BC, Greek culture spread by Alexander, had penetrated the Middle East. The Greeks had a new way of viewing freedom of the individual and nobility of spirit. They promoted scientific research and highly esteemed physical beauty and prowess.
The book of Wisdom is the first important effort to express the faith and wisdom of Israel, not only in Greek, but also in a form adapted to Greek culture.
It gives an answer to the anguishing question of evil, pain and death. It shows that God's mercy extends to all beings without exception.
Today's passage (Wisdom 4:7-15) is a magnificent example concerning the death of the good person and hope in eternity.
It hints, also, at a comforting answer to agonizing questions like, 'My partner was such a good person. Why did God take them?' or 'they were just a child. God was cruel to take them.'
Deaths of Australians overseas are recorded with harrowing detail in the press. These deaths weigh heavily on us, even though we weren't personal friends. See how the wisdom bestowed by God is the only real comfort for grief.
The feast of All Souls owes its beginning to seventh Century monks who decided to offer Mass on the day after Pentecost for deceased community members.
In the late 10th Century, the Benedictine monastery at Cluny chose to move that special Mass to 2 November, the day after All Saints.
This custom spread, such was the spiritual clout of the great Cluny monastery, and in the 13th Century, Rome put that date on the universal Catholic calendar, so that Saints and Souls could be celebrated together.
I chose today's gospel (Matthew 12: 25-28) from Matthew because it's my favourite at funerals.
It insists that ordinary people have deep insights into human affairs, like death, that 'nice and learned' people may well miss.
If you can get ordinary people to speak at funerals (I know there are rules about who, when, where and for how long!) you'll be struck by the commonsense wisdom of the common man, woman and child.
Such people, in their own often religious neutral language, convey the same message as Jesus, the patient and humble teacher, that God is just so merciful in our everyday lives and everyday crosses.
Today's gospel targets such ordinary, decent people by calling them 'all you who labour and are heavy burdened.'

Sunday, 16 November 2008

33rd Sunday of the Year - Happy are they who fear the Lord

King Solomon established a well-ordered government, provided for the security of the nation, took pains to advance his people culturally and promoted the common good. He also became known as the founder of a special form of 'wisdom literature'.These writings, including today's first reading (Proverbs 31:10-13.19-20.30-31), evolved over the next few centuries to take their place as sources of Divine Revelation together with the laws of Moses and the preaching of the Prophets.
One of the many topics tackled by wisdom literature was the place of women in a male-dominated Jewish society. Women worked more than men did. ('Has anything changed!' do I hear women ask?). While the men would sit 'at the gate' of the village, women would look after the children, house and orchard.
Today's reading is a poetic appeal to all husbands to praise their wives and be grateful to them. Today it may seem patronizing or inappropriate. Catholics must, at least, read 'the signs of the times' and participate in contemporary discussions about men and women sharing responsibilities both within secular society and the Church.
Our Gospel (Matthew 25:14-30) also deals with 'wisdom' taught by Jesus of Nazareth. By the way, a talent was a coin worth 30 kilos of precious metal a substantial gift. However, in this parable Jesus spoke of 'talents' as a unit of an intangible currency - skills and abilities given by God to each of us.
Older Catholics, like myself, were brought up with this benevolent view of God as Creator. We were sure God endowed each person, at birth, with unique qualities helping us discern and contribute to the establishment of His kingdom right here, right now. Waiting for the kingdom meant, for us, to work for it to come about.
So the servant, in the parable, who hid his valuable 'talent' represents the lazy or indifferent person who thinks faith is inherited ('I was born a Catholic') or the coward who never dares to take his risks on behalf of people outside his own circle of family and friends. God, however, needs the cooperation of us all! He risks his Word ('His overview') like a money manager invests his capital, expecting a productive outcome. (This is the theology behind the Church's protection of the unborn and concern about genetic engineering.)
Uninvested talent is devalued talent. Bury your talent and bury yourself. Today's parable warns us that, to use our Catholic treasure, we must become involved within secular society. A church afraid to risk her heritage, by involvement in humanity's struggle for justice and peace, would be in real danger of losing everything.